Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

It started to snow again outside, and snowflakes were flying all over the sky, covering the entire land. After the snow fell, Jinghan had no chance to go up the mountain again, so naturally she could only stay at home. Under Jingya's attention, Jinghan picked up the needle and thread again and began to learn to sew and mend. When she started learning, Mrs. Xue naturally didn't expect her to learn anything. He just gave her some old clothes and asked her to learn how to mend them. Jinghan held the needle and sewed it stitch by stitch, which looked pretty good.

Jingya took the time to look up at Jinghan, and saw that the patch she patched was quite satisfactory. Although the stitches were a little uneven, it was still okay, "Isn't this good? You're not stupid, you're just impatient. Take your time. Practice on the ground, and after a while, I will teach you how to sew socks and put on insoles, little by little. As long as you can persist, you will not be worse than me. "

Jinghan nodded. She had a bad temper. If she got into a fight with something, it wouldn't be over until she understood it. Now that she had nothing to do, she naturally got into a fight with needlework. "Sister, I know, I still don't believe it. Can it be difficult for me to do just such a needlework?"

Jingya smiled, then lowered her head to embroider. Jinghan was sewing patches there, and the two of them were doing their own thing without disturbing each other. Just then Mr. Xue came in, holding a dustpan in his hand. There were some soybeans in the dustpan. "Hey, don't tell me, our Jinghan's needlework is still good. If you practice hard in the future, you should be good." When learning needlework, some people are very upright at the beginning, while others are crooked. Jinghan is okay, at least the stitches are straight.

When Jinghan saw her mother coming in with so many beans, she asked, "Mom, what are you doing?"

"Cook some bean sprouts. The sauerkraut hasn't been pickled yet. I'm tired of eating cabbage and potatoes all day long. Let's make some bean sprouts for a change." Unlike some women who stew a large pot of cabbage at once and eat it for one meal and the next.

When Jinghan heard this, her eyes widened, "Mom, can you grow bean sprouts? Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Fortunately, she is still thinking about what to do to make money every day, so as not to be idle at home in the winter and have no income. No.

"What's there to say? You can breastfeed, she taught me. Your breasts can also produce mung bean sprouts. They are white and tender, but the water is clear." Ms. Xue looked at her daughter and felt that this girl must be I couldn't go up the mountain and was making a fuss at home.

"Mom, let me ask you, does anyone in town sell bean sprouts?" If someone is already selling bean sprouts, then they can't get them. After all, people at this time don't buy vegetables often.

"I've never seen this before, maybe not? Every household has vegetables, who would buy this? I just wanted to give you something different, so I got some." Xue shook her head and said no. Too clear. People at this time still have a strong sense of small farming. They are generally self-sufficient and will only buy things they really don’t have at home. Similarly, most people don't think of selling anything. Most of the things are kept for their own consumption or as favors.

"Mom, let's go to the town tomorrow and see if it's okay. I want to know if anyone sells these bean sprouts. If no one sells them, we can sell them in the town. We don't care how much money we make. We are idle in winter anyway. . It would be nice to come back with some meat.” After all, I still want to eat it.

Mrs. "Okay, let's go and take a look tomorrow. If there's nothing for sale, let's get some to try. If it's really easy to sell, mom will buy meat for you to eat." This girl Jinghan just has an eye for food. son. Xue took down a clean curtain from the wall and went out. This was for picking beans.

As soon as Jinghan heard that bean sprouts were about to grow, she started to grow hairy in her heart, wiggling left and right. When Jingya saw her like this, she straightened her face and said, "Please finish these stitches properly, or you won't even want to go to town." Upon hearing this, Jinghan quickly sat down and continued to sew the patch in her hand.

Early the next morning, Jinghan followed her mother to the town. When she walked around the market, she didn't see anyone selling bean sprouts, but there were some selling cabbage and potatoes. People in the town usually have to buy vegetables to eat. Some people also have small gardens, but the vegetables they grow are simply not enough to eat. Jinghan looked at it and gained a lot of confidence in selling bean sprouts.

After returning home, Jinghan made arrangements for her mother to soak the beans. Mr. Xue picked out some soybeans yesterday, and picked some more today. Then she found a big basin, added some warm water and soaked the beans. The water for growing soybean sprouts should not be too hot, otherwise the beans will rot.

Jinghan does have some knowledge about bean sprouts. In her previous life, many people would produce bean sprouts to sell in winter. At that time, her grandma would also make some, and Jinghan often helped, so she was familiar with this. Looking at Mr. Chen's skillful way of soaking the beans, I knew that there should be no problem.

The bean sprouts take seven days to grow, so even though Jinghan really wanted to know whether the bean sprouts could be sold, she had to wait patiently. Jingya still watches Jinghan doing needlework every day. Jinghan also understands that this is something a woman must have, so she doesn't reject it and calms down and learns needlework every day.

Winter in the Northeast is longer and colder. Fortunately, there are kangs in the house. The kangs are very hot and don't feel too cold. When it gets too cold, you can still burn the fire wall, which will make the room much warmer. However, relatively speaking, firewood is also used a lot. Zhixin has been going up the mountain to collect firewood every day these days. Gathering is a saying here. In fact, it means going to the forest to find dead trees, knocking them down and bringing them home. Good trees are generally not allowed to be cut down. These are some established rules and do not require anyone's deliberate supervision. Zhixin sometimes picks up some tree roots. These roots are stronger and more resistant to burning when used in stoves. The old man was also a restless person. He followed Zhixin to the mountains all day long, and the two of them looked after each other.

In addition to growing bean sprouts, Mrs. Chen and Mrs. Xue naturally have a lot of work to do. They have two pigs at home, and they are now about the same size. At this time, Mrs. Chen mixed the soybean hairs and bean pod skins obtained when beating beans with ground acorns and fed them to the pigs. The pigs were very satisfied with the food. At this time, they had to quickly promote fattening. It's easy to sell before the Chinese New Year.

In addition, Huixin's wedding date has been set, and various dowries should be prepared. Fortunately, Mrs. Chen has saved some more or less in the past few years, and can just buy more to add to the rest. Mothers are afraid that their daughters will have a difficult life after getting married, so they all want to give more gifts to their companions, and Mrs. Chen is naturally no exception. From clothes and fabrics, to head and face jewelry, to furniture, decorations, etc., I have thought of everything.

Huixin naturally embroidered the wedding dress at home. When this woman got married, she had to do a lot of needlework. In the past few years, Mrs. Chen asked her to keep some of the fine needlework that Huixin had made as a dowry. The rest is to make some close-fitting clothes, even for celebrating the new year. These are all necessary. So Huixin was also very busy and could only hide in the West Room doing needlework every day.

Time went by very quickly, and seven days passed in the blink of an eye. Jinghan watched the bean sprouts grow day by day with her own eyes, until on the seventh day, Xue pulled out a large pot of bean sprouts, washed them, put them in a big pot, and covered them with a small quilt. After breakfast, Mr. Xue pulled out the sledge, put the big pot on the sledge, and was about to go to town.

Naturally, Jinghan wanted to follow. She quickly changed her clothes, put on her hat and gloves, and followed her mother to the town.

The mother and daughter arrived in the town in less than half an hour. They went directly to the market and found a place to stop. At this time in the morning, people just wanted to buy some food to take home for lunch, so the market was really busy with people coming and going.

Jinghan grabbed a few bean sprouts and put them on the quilt, and then shouted, "Come and take a look, the juicy bean sprouts are there." She was small and had a crisp voice, so many people looked over. , are quite curious about what they are selling.

A woman came over and said, "Little girl, what are you buying?"

"Auntie, they sell bean sprouts. Look at these bean sprouts. They are white and fat. It would be great to buy some and fry them at home. You can also stew them with radishes, potatoes, pickles, and kelp. They are very fragrant. Auntie wants Why don't you try some?" Jinghan naturally told the woman how to eat bean sprouts.

In fact, many people know this thing, but they may not be as good as Chen. Besides, some people don’t have the patience to get a pound or two of bean sprouts themselves. So as soon as they saw the bean sprouts, many people gathered around and asked about the price. Jinghan and her mother discussed it at home. The bean sprouts would cost three cents per pound, which was estimated based on the cost of the beans. So I told them the price.

When everyone heard it, it was not expensive. You must know that one pound of soybeans can be sold for three or four cents, and one pound of soybeans can produce five pounds of bean sprouts, but this is calculated on a net basis, because there are a lot of broken beans to be picked out. So one pound produces four pounds of bean sprouts. Calculated this way, a pound of bean sprouts sells for three cents, including labor and other expenses, which is quite reasonable.

After hearing this, many people wanted to weigh some and go home for a change, otherwise they would get tired of eating cabbage and radishes all day long. So you give me two jins, and I weigh three jins. A large pot of bean sprouts only weighs more than 20 jins, and it was sold out in a short time. There was someone nearby who hadn't bought anything yet, so he asked if there was any more. Mr. Xue said there would be more tomorrow, and that person left.

When Mrs. Xue and her daughter saw that the bean sprouts were sold out, they were very happy and hurriedly pulled the sledge home. When they got home, they had nothing to do but asked Mrs. Chen to soak some more beans. Naturally, there were no plastic sheets or buckets at this time. Fortunately, there were some broken vats at home. Chen originally used these broken vats to grow bean sprouts. So Chen found a big vat, cleaned it inside and out, and prepared it for growing bean sprouts.