Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

Yue Siyuan and Jinghan talked for a long time, and then Jinghan agreed to sell these silkworm cocoons to Yue Siyuan. Although the silkworm chrysalis inside is a good thing to nourish the body, no one can eat so much at once, so the value of this silkworm chrysalis can be ignored for the time being. The price given by Yue Siyuan was ten cents per kilogram of silkworm cocoons. There were still nearly two thousand kilograms of cocoons at home, which meant that they could be sold for about twenty taels of silver. Jinghan did the math and found that it was pretty much the same. They didn't spend anything else. They just lit some fires when heating the incubation at the beginning. The rest was what the girls had watched for fifty days. time. It's not bad to be able to sell it for twenty taels of silver.

Now that the negotiation was settled, Yue Siyuan agreed to have someone take it away tomorrow, and also said that next year's cocoons would also be left to him, and he would study them carefully. Naturally, Jinghan didn't have anything to say about this. It was rare to meet a knowledgeable person, so I had to leave it to him. "Uncle Yue, this tussah silk has some yellowing on it, but it is a little difficult to dye. In addition, this tussah silk has good elasticity and is relatively washable. The yarn woven with it will have natural wrinkles, which is very beautiful. ." Jinghan decided to tell some of the characteristics of tussah silk and let Yue Siyuan use it as a reference. "Also, this kind of silk can also be used to make quilts. It is not as soft as mulberry silk and is a bit hard, but it has good warmth retention properties."

Yue Siyuan nodded and did not ask Jinghan how she knew. This little girl was a bit mysterious, but Yue Siyuan was not the kind of person who would just pry around when she had nothing to do. "Okay, I remember what you said."

After discussing this, Yue Siyuan went to the old man's house to see the old man and the old lady. "Uncle, aunt, I was too anxious to see the tussah cocoon just now. I didn't come over to see you two first. Please be careful." Don't be angry." Yue Siyuan entered the house and apologized to the two old people.

"Oh, how can I dare to take it? We are very grateful that Mr. Yue can come to this mountain in person. Besides, this silkworm cocoon is a big deal, and we don't dare to apologize to Mr. Yue." The old man quickly stood up to greet him.

"Uncle, don't call me master or master. Zhixin and I treat each other as brothers, so you can just call me Siyuan. Wenhan and Pengcheng are classmates, and they have always known each other. Our two families are just like relatives. ." Yue Siyuan stepped forward to greet the old man, and then helped the old man get on the kang, where the two of them chatted. Mrs. Chen went out to boil water and make tea.

Everyone sat down in the room, and then talked about seeing ginseng on the mountain. Yue Siyuan couldn't help but sigh after hearing what happened to the Xu family over the years. "Uncle, you don't have to think too much. I think it's good. Who can live without ups and downs? Even if you are a first-class person in the dynasty, you can't say that there will never be a bad day. We are looking at suffering in front of us. But these children in the family are all capable, and they will not be ordinary people in the future. Uncle, you are always a lucky person, just wait and enjoy the blessings in the future." Yue Siyuan patted the old man's hand and said. .

"Okay, thanks to my nephew's good advice, I, an old man, am waiting to enjoy the blessings of my children and grandchildren. Don't leave at noon, let them prepare some good dishes, and we men will have a few cups." The old man and Yue Siyuan became more and more speculative as they chatted. , let him stay for dinner.

"Uncle, I appreciate your kindness. I can't do it today. I have to transport these cocoons back and then think about it carefully. Besides, there are a lot of things at home, so I have to go back and be busy. Another day, another day I will arrange things That's it, and then I went up the mountain to meet my uncle for a drink, don't you think so? "Yue Siyuan's family has a lot of property. If he hadn't heard about this kind of silkworm that he had never seen before, he would not have had time to come up the mountain.

The old man also understood that he was busy, so he didn't force him to stay. He had no choice but to nod, "Sure, then we've made an agreement. If he has time, he will definitely come."

Yue Siyuan chatted with everyone for a while, then stood up and left. Naturally, those cocoons could not be transported in one cart. They took three hundred kilograms with them and left, and sent people to pull the rest when they got back. The two servants of the Yue family are all good at peeling cocoons and reeling silk. If you take these back, it won't take long to finish them.

There is a big scale on the mountain, and everyone weighs baskets of them. These baskets were made by the brothers Zhixin when they had nothing to do. Everyone in the village knew how to make these baskets, and it didn’t have to be beautiful, as long as they were usable. A basket of cocoons weighed about two hundred kilograms. Yue Siyuan and the others took away two baskets of cocoons and agreed to have the rest taken away tomorrow.

Seeing the shadow of the carriage disappearing, Jinghan breathed a sigh of relief. At least she sold the cocoon, otherwise, she was really afraid that it would fall into her own hands and be useless. "Grandma, these cocoons can be sold for about twenty taels of silver, which is a lot. If you keep more this year, it will be better next year. Next year there will be a lot more than this year." Jinghan was still very excited, and then left Nearly a thousand seed cocoons were sold for twenty taels of silver. If all these thousands of seed cocoons are hatched next year, it will be ten times as much as this year's? That's a lot. Jinghan couldn't help but imagine that situation.

"Our Jinghan is still capable. We can actually sell a bug for money when we encounter it on the mountain. It's amazing." Zhiming gave a thumbs up to Jinghan.

"Third uncle, you can't say that. If Jingwan and Jingxian hadn't helped me, how could I have been so busy?" Jinghan smiled, "Okay, I won't tell you anymore, I made it new The strains are almost ready, we have to grow mushrooms in two days. Everyone is tired from the past two days, so let’s rest first." After Jinghan finished speaking, she led Jingwan and Jingxian back to their house. , went to rest. No matter how energetic a child is, they can't help being so busy all the time.

The next day, Yue Siyuan sent someone to pull away the cocoons. After soaking them all and weighing them, there were more than two thousand kilograms of cocoons, which were sold for a total of twenty-one taels of silver. The steward of the Yue family directly gave the money to Zhixin, and then asked people to drive away.

Ms. Chen said she would let Jinghan take the money, but Jinghan didn't ask for it and asked Ms. Chen to save it.

After busying with these silkworm cocoons, the next step is to grow mushrooms. Just like last year, use a punching tool to drill holes in the wood, then fill them with bacteria, and then cover them with wood. There are more types to grow this time. The ones from last year were still producing mushrooms, so I will plant less this time. It's not July yet, but these mushrooms have been planted, and it is estimated that there will be a crop this year. The quality of fungus grown in autumn is better than that in spring.

Because there are only two houses at home and the space is not big, Jinghan can only grow less elmgrass and oyster mushrooms, and more hericium and fungus. If I buy a house in the future, I really have to build a few big houses specifically for growing mushrooms in winter. Otherwise, there will be no need to do the business of mushrooms. Jinghan was thinking about the future.

After planting mushrooms, it’s time to pinch the ginseng seeds at home, and then harvest the ginseng seeds. There were several people missing from the family to work, so we had to work together and try to work as quickly as possible.

Wen Han and the others were going to take the college examination, so in mid-July, Wen Han left with Zixuan and Pengcheng. Before leaving, Wenhan went back to the examination center. Mrs. Chen gave Wenhan thirty taels of silver to use for the college examination. Because there were others traveling together, and the family was really busy, so no one from the Xu family accompanied them. On the other hand, the Yue family sent two servants to follow him.

As soon as Wenhan left, Mrs. Chen would recite a few words every day. Everyone said that her son could not even keep up with her grandson, so Mrs. Chen let it go and stopped talking about it.

Next, it was time to collect the grain from the fields, and the village decided to start the festival on August 12th. This year, the manpower was not very sufficient, so it was very busy now. Everyone worked up early and late at night, and it took six or seven days to collect all the crops in the field and process them one by one. Wenxuan and Wenchang came back on the tenth day of August to help the family with sticks and other things.

This year we asked for another 30 feet of ginseng soil, so I handed over the 120-jin mallet. With 170 kilograms left, Mrs. Chen led her daughter-in-law and granddaughters to brush the mallets and steam them. Wencheng no longer delivers fish to the town. Everyone goes into the mountains to paddle and haul various things. There are only a few good days in a year, who wants to waste it?

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Qingnian and Zhide families also came back and helped the family with work for two days before leaving. At any rate, we have stopped all the places where sticks were picked up. The sticks that were stopped are probably about the same as those in the previous two years. Everyone, Chen and the others, steamed them all again.

The weather this year started to get messy at this time. It rained all day long and there was no sun. This made Mrs. Chen very worried. These sticks were steamed and had to be dried outside. But in this kind of weather, let alone drying the stick outside, it is impossible to put it inside the house. Seeing that the stick was about to grow hair if it was not dry, Mrs. Chen was so worried that her mouth blistered.

"Grandma, why are you worried about this? Aren't there fire walls and stoves in the two idle houses of ours? Bring the mallets into the house, then put them on the fire and cook them. Pay attention to the ventilation, and you can still cook them. "It's dried with a stick." Jinghan asked her why grandma was anxious, and then she said in a dumbfounded voice. In my previous life, there was a warehouse dedicated to making ginseng just for drying it. The weather in the past few years was good, so Jinghan didn't think about it.

After hearing this, Mrs. Chen said doubtfully. "Is this possible? Have you never tried it before?"

"Grandma, don't worry, it's okay. The color of the dried mallet is slightly darker than that of the sun-dried mallet. It's fine if you don't look carefully. It's better than what we did and the mallet grew hairy." Jinghan advised Chen.

Mrs. Chen had no choice but to agree to Jinghan's method. She put up some shelves in the two houses, then carried the sticks and forks in, and put on the fire wall and stove in the house to roast the sticks. This method worked really well, and the mallet gradually dried up.