Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

Jinghan has a new perspective on this little sister. It turns out that this little guy sees things from afar. "Jingxian, these things are not something we can decide. Whether we live in the mountains or move down the mountain, whether we live poor or rich, we will all encounter different troubles. As long as our family's hearts are together, I think about everyone, whether we live together or not, we are all a family, right?”

Jingxian nodded and said nothing more.

"Okay, let's go back. We can probably pick silkworm cocoons tomorrow. We'll still be busy then." Jinghan said and led her two sisters back to the venue.

Wencheng came back from town at noon and all the elm and yellow mushrooms were sold. I picked four baskets of mushrooms this morning, which weighed about a hundred kilograms. Unexpectedly, they were all sold out in the morning. Wencheng handed the money to Mrs. Chen, "Grandma, the total amount of fish sent today is 650 yuan, and the total of elm and yellow mushrooms sold is 950 yuan." Wencheng gave a lot of copper coins to Mrs. Chen.

"Hey, I didn't expect that this elm mushroom has been sold for less. I can earn more than one or two and a half silver this day. If it happens like this every day, it will be amazing." Mrs. Chen took the money and said with a smile. With.

"Grandma, how can it be like this every day? You have to pick a crop of elm mushrooms every few days." Jinghan just came back from outside and said. "By the way, grandma, I'm going to pick silkworm cocoons tomorrow. Maybe everyone in the family will have to help, otherwise it will be too busy." A female moth can lay 200 to 400 eggs. Jinghan selected a total of 200 to 400 eggs this year. Three hundred female moths would probably have to hatch more than 100,000 silkworm eggs. Even if some were lost during the stocking process, there would still be 50,000 to 60,000 silkworm cocoons to be recycled, which would not be enough if there were fewer people. It’s not that I don’t know, but I was shocked when I calculated it. Jinghan was shocked after such a rough calculation.

Mrs. Chen nodded after hearing this, "I know, we'll all go tomorrow. There's nothing going on at home anyway, so just leave your grandpa to watch in the market. Let's get the cocoons back quickly so we don't have to worry about anything else." What a disaster. "This tussah silkworm is a very delicious thing, and tussah silkworm pupa is also the best thing to nourish the body. Generally, wild tussah silkworms have many natural enemies, and various animals and birds love to eat them, so the survival rate is relatively low. Even if they are artificially bred, they must be carefully cared for, otherwise the losses will be serious.

Wen Cheng naturally had to go to town early the next morning. Today there were less elm mushrooms, only two baskets. After Wen Cheng left, everyone started to pick silkworm cocoons in the woods to the north.

On the oak trees in the forest, as long as the leaves are curled, there will be silkworm cocoons inside. Everyone took scissors and other tools and cut down when they saw leaves like that. The tussah cocoons are actually larger than mulberry silkworms. On average, one hundred cocoons weigh nearly three kilograms, so the women cut down. Zhixin and Zhiming Just go back and everyone is busy. In this way, it took a total of two days of work before they were all cut and transported back to the ginseng field.

Since Jinghan and the others were quite careful in handling the cocoons, this year's cocoon output was really good, with around 80,000 cocoons left. Everyone spent several days plucking off the oak leaves from the outside of the cocoons, and then selected 10,000 seed cocoons of better quality. After ventilating and drying, Jinghan properly preserved the cocoons.

The remaining ones, because they needed to be kept for reeling, were dried in the hot sun for a few days, so that the silkworm chrysalis inside could be killed. After getting so many cocoons, Jinghan became worried because no one in the family knew how to reel silk. It is impossible to raise mulberry silkworms here in the Northeast, so none of Mrs. Chen's wife has ever played with this thing, so how can they reel silk?

In her previous life, Jinghan believed that her grandma had told her something about silk reeling, but she had never seen it before, so how could she dare to do it herself? What if the cocoons were destroyed? So, everyone sat together, worrying about what to do.

"Second sister, doesn't Brother Wenhan's classmate's friend own a silk shop? There must be someone in their family who understands this, right?" It was Jingxian's words that woke up the dreamer.

Jinghan clapped her hands and almost jumped up, right? There will always be someone in Yue Pengcheng's family who understands. "Second brother, I have to trouble you. Go to the town to find your eldest brother and ask him to talk to the Yue family and see if you can find someone who understands."

After hearing this, Wencheng immediately drove the bullock cart to the town, while his family was waiting anxiously. Until the morning of the next day, Wen Cheng led several people to the venue, and one of them turned out to be Yue Siyuan.

Zhixin came over quickly when he saw Yue Siyuan, "Brother Yue, I didn't expect to invite you here. Come on, come and sit in the room."

Yue Siyuan waved his hand, "Brother Xu, you're welcome. Last night Pengcheng came home and said that you got a kind of silkworm cocoon at home, which doesn't know how to reel silk. You want to find someone who understands from me. You are really asking for a coincidence, my family Your sister-in-law is from the south. She was married with two servants. Both families are good at growing mulberry and raising silkworms in the south. So, I will bring you two people to see if you can. I can't help you." Yue Siyuan was also curious. He had never seen any silkworms in the Northeast, so he insisted on following them.

Zhixin had no choice but to take these people to the two houses where silkworm cocoons were placed. The two people behind Yue Siyuan were a man and a woman. They looked like a couple, and they were in their forties. The two people stepped forward to take a look at the cocoon, then examined it carefully, nodded to Yue Siyuan and said, "Master, this is really a cocoon, but it is different from the mulberry silkworms in the south. It seems that it can reel out silk."

Yue Siyuan quickly told Zhixin to prepare things according to the two people's requirements and see how the silk was reeled out. Zhixin started to get busy, and after a while, he found what he wanted.

Reeling silk using the local method is actually very simple, just put a pot of boiling water in the pot. You don't need too much water. Just throw the cocoons into the pot and stir them with chopsticks. The silk heads will come out and wrap around the chopsticks. Generally, a single strand of silk is too thin, so several strands are put together. The silk itself contains sericin, so it is easy to stick together. Usually four or five silkworm cocoons are thrown into the pot. Find the head of the silk, and then pick out the silk on one side. On the other side, put some mung beans or something in a dustpan or other household items, spread a layer of silk, and cover with a layer of mung beans. This way the threads won't stick together. When the reeled silk is cool, you can wrap it up. If the silk looks thin, throw one or two silkworm cocoons into the pot so that the silk can continue to be drawn out.

The two people brought by Yue Siyuan used this simple tool to pull out the raw silk bit by bit. Jinghan took a look and found that it was indeed similar to what her grandma said in her previous life. This thing is a matter of proficiency. If you are familiar with it, it should be pretty fast.

The two of them worked for a while, then stopped and said to Yue Siyuan, "Master, I just tried it. This kind of silk is thicker than mulberry silk, but has good elasticity. It should be able to be used like mulberry silk. As for other things, now Not much has been discovered yet, after all, this is a new thing.”

Yue Siyuan nodded, that's good, he can see this in a short period of time. "Brother Xu, how did you come up with this?" He was very curious. Since the Xu family could discover this thing, it proved that this thing should have existed for a long time and definitely did not appear just now. So how did the Xu family discover it? ?

Zhixin smiled and said, "I won't hide it from my brother. It was my daughter Jinghan who discovered it by accident. I managed to get some seed cocoons last year, and I only raised so many this year."

Yue Siyuan looked at the large baskets on the floor in the room, which were filled with such silkworm cocoons. The cocoon of this tussah silkworm is not as white as the mulberry silkworm, but has a yellowish brown color. It is estimated that this color will not be easily removed, and it should be a characteristic of this kind of silk. "Brother, what are you going to do with this thing? If you reel it all into silk, you may not be able to complete it. In this way, I will take back these cocoons of yours, and then try to see what kind of silk can be produced, and then see Whether it’s silk or something else, don’t worry, I’ll give you a fair price.”

Zhixin thought for a moment and said, "Brother-in-law, can I discuss this with Jinghan? After all, she did this. I have to ask her if she has any plans."

"Just in time, I want to see this little girl of yours. I've always wanted to see how a clever girl can grow mushrooms in winter. Unexpectedly, there are more such silkworm cocoons now. Come on, let me see your little Jinghan." Upon hearing this, Yue Siyuan couldn't wait to take a look at this famous little girl.

Jinghan was naturally reluctant to come forward when adults were talking about things, so she didn't come out just now. Now Wen Cheng hurriedly went and called Jinghan.

Jinghan came out of her house and came to the house here. As soon as she entered the house, she saw a man who was less than forty years old, with a man and a woman standing beside him. The man in the middle looks somewhat similar to Yue Pengcheng. He should be Yue Pengcheng's father. Jinghan stepped forward and saluted, "Jinghan has met Uncle Yue."

Yue Siyuan also looked at the little girl in front of him carefully. She was pretty good-looking, not stunningly beautiful, but she was still pretty and charming. There is a kind of agility in the whole person, unlike ordinary girls who are rigid. Yue Siyuan couldn't help but nodded. Only such a person could have so many clever ideas. "What a smart little kid, he actually knows my last name. Why don't you guess that I am the steward of the Yue family?"

Jinghan smiled slightly, "Back to Uncle Yue, it's because your appearance is somewhat similar to that of brother Pengcheng, so Jinghan made a bold guess. If I'm being presumptuous, I'd like to ask Uncle Haihan." Jinghan saluted again.

"Forget it, you are so smart, it's too late for uncle to like you. Come on, come over and tell uncle how you discovered this thing?" Yue Siyuan waved his hand towards Jinghan, asking Jinghan to come to him.