Reborn in 1977

Buckwheat, corn, sorghum?

Chen Fan muttered to himself as he walked to the broadcasting room, first turning on the broadcasting machine to start broadcasting on time.

Then, he pulled open the drawer and took out the book he had bought, "Rural Sideline Production Knowledge," flipping through its contents.

Last time, he asked Zhu Hao to buy 18 books, and he only finished reading 3 medical books and one "Earthen Kiln Pottery." Recently, he started reading "Rural Sideline Production Knowledge" and "Common Rural Breeding," also for the sake of building a breeding farm. He didn't even have time to focus on "Construction Technology" and "Earthen Method of Grass Pulping and Papermaking," let alone other books.

Now that Ye Shubao was asking him for help, regardless of whether it was genuine or a joke, he had to show some attitude and give him an answer as to whether there was a solution or not.

Of course, it would be best if there was a solution, so that the relationship could deepen through interactions.

Chen Fan first looked at the table of contents, searching for projects that could utilize these miscellaneous grains.

The countryside has "five industries," which are "agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishery, and sideline."

The first four are easy to understand, but the scope of the last one, "sideline," is broad. It includes all rural production activities other than planting, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery.

Another meaning is the auxiliary production of rural areas or farmers to serve agricultural production and people's lives. For example: transportation, collection, fishing, hunting, processing of agricultural and sideline products, handicrafts, and other auxiliary production that does not belong to agriculture.

In general, the scope of sidelines is almost all-encompassing.

Of course, limited by realistic conditions, there are not many common rural sidelines. Making tofu, extracting oil, boiling sugar, bamboo weaving, grass weaving, woodworking, and brewing are more common.

Brewing?

Chen Fan flipped to that page according to the table of contents and carefully read the content. The most common brewing products are vinegar, soy sauce, and wine. Buckwheat, corn, and sorghum can all be used to make wine. Since the brigade headquarters has surplus miscellaneous grains, why not use them to make wine?

He picked up the book and ran downstairs. When he arrived at the brigade office, he saw Captain Yang and the others walking out one by one.

Chen Fan was stunned, "Are the leaders going out to inspect again?"

"Inspect my ass, going to the fields!"

Xiao Liewen turned to look at him, then looked at the book in his hand, "What? Can't read? If you don't recognize the words, then no one here definitely recognizes them, uh… unless you go find Grandpa Lu Si."

Chen Fan clicked his tongue, "You're also a deputy captain, you attended the literacy class in the army, and you can write calligraphy. Can't you act a bit more like a cultured person?"

Xiao Liewen walked up to him, "I can't be associated with 'cultured people' in this lifetime."

As he said that, he beckoned, took the book from his hand, "Let me see what this is, brewing?"

He turned his head to look at Chen Fan, "You want to brew wine?"

Chen Fan looked at Ye Shubao, "Didn't Captain Ye say that there are a lot of miscellaneous grains in the warehouse that can't be sold? I thought it would be good to use those miscellaneous grains to brew wine. I heard that Old Tang from Team 7 knows how to brew wine. Have him use these to brew wine, and then take it to the market to sell. Wouldn't that be a win-win situation, both getting rid of the miscellaneous grains and earning more income?"

Ye Shubao chuckled twice, took out a self-rolled cigarette, lit it, and said with a smile, "Old Tang is from my team. If you can think of this, couldn't we think of it?

I'm telling you, not only Old Tang knows how to brew wine, but there's also an Old Hou in Team 12 who knows how to brew wine. It's just that their skills aren't good. They only know how to brew wine with rice and wheat, and then there's rice wine. If they use other grains to brew, they can't control the heat well. Either the taste is wrong, or they get a headache after drinking it. After trying it twice, they were afraid of wasting grain, so they didn't dare to try again."

As he said that, he looked at Chen Fan and smiled, "Why don't you give it a try?"

Chen Fan's mouth twitched slightly, "It's just different types of grain, it shouldn't be that complicated, right?"

Ye Shubao spread his hands, "It's not complicated, but they don't know how."

Xiao Liewen returned the book to Chen Fan, put his hands behind his back, and said, "The fermentation time and the ratio of distiller's yeast are different for different grains. If the ratio and process are wrong, it's not that the brewed wine can't be drunk, it's just that the quality is a bit poor. People who aren't picky can drink it, but if you want to take it to the market to sell, it probably won't fetch a good price."

Captain Zhang also said with a smile, "The main thing is that they don't lack rice to brew wine, so there's no need to brew this unfamiliar miscellaneous grain wine and ruin their reputation.

For our brigade headquarters, a thousand catties of miscellaneous grains isn't worth the trouble, so these miscellaneous grains are basically divided among the teams as fattening feed for the New Year pigs."

Ye Shubao walked over, patted Chen Fan's arm, and said with a smile, "Young man, not bad, your attitude is commendable. Although this idea isn't great, it still needs to be praised."

After saying that, he threw away the cigarette butt, put his hat on his head, and said, "You think about it slowly first. It would be best if you can think of a solution. It doesn't matter if you can't think of a solution. In the afternoon, you bring the grain over, find Old Luo to put it in storage for you, and just make a registration."

He waved his hand and turned to leave.

At this time, Chen Fan suddenly asked, "If I store rice and take miscellaneous grains, how much can I take?"

Ye Shubao turned back to look at him, and asked in surprise, "Take miscellaneous grains?"

Xiao Liewen stared at Chen Fan and asked with a strange expression, "You wouldn't want to brew wine yourself, would you?"

When the others heard this, they first thought it was absurd. Is brewing wine that easy to learn?

But thinking about Chen Fan's previous "achievements," it didn't seem impossible.

He could even learn veterinary medicine by reading a book, so what's learning how to brew wine?

Chen Fan said in a serious tone, "That depends on the price of the miscellaneous grains."

Ye Shubao's eyes flickered slightly, and he said, "One catty of rice is equivalent to five catties of corn or ten catties of buckwheat and sorghum."

These miscellaneous grains are generally planted using wasteland, not occupying rice paddies, and are not even considered "intensive cultivation." They are planted entirely to complete the small production tasks assigned by the commune.

Even so, there is still a lot left after completing the tasks. Each team submits tasks to the brigade headquarters, first using miscellaneous grains to make up the numbers, which allows the brigade headquarters to have a lot of miscellaneous grains left over every year. In fact, at the end of the second year, these miscellaneous grains are returned to the team in the form of subsidies.

It's just a little bit of stuff, pushing it back and forth, it's an old tradition.

Hearing Ye Shubao's words, Chen Fan immediately said without hesitation, "Then leave these miscellaneous grains to me."

Captain Zhang approached Chen Fan and looked at him with a surprised expression, "You want these miscellaneous grains, you're not really planning to brew wine, are you?"

Ye Shubao's eyes flickered slightly, and he said to him, "Like this, if you take it to brew wine, it won't count as an exchange. Just bring back half of the wine later, how about that?"

As a result, Chen Fan shrugged, raised the book in his hand, "I'm just learning from the book. As for things that go into the mouth, I'm afraid that I dare to brew it, but you don't dare to drink it."

The four of them looked at each other, thinking about it in their hearts.

Secretary Yang then coughed, "Anyway, a thousand catties of miscellaneous grains can't be exchanged for a bag of his rice, might as well exchange them."

After saying that, he left with his hands behind his back.

Captain Zhang and the other two also chuckled twice and followed along.

Chen Fan walked back with the book in his arms, pondering silently in his heart. It seemed that brewing wine wasn't that complicated. He could start working with a pot, and then get a few jars… Hmm, he'd try it when he had time.

He now had more and more of a feeling of playing a game. He made his own house, fired his own pottery, and although he didn't grow the grain himself, it grew up around him, so it was almost the same. There was also tailoring, calligraphy, painting, breeding, veterinary medicine, Chinese medicine, fishing and hunting…

Looking at the "Rural Sideline Production Knowledge" in his hand, he suddenly had a feeling that once he learned the things in those dozen books, let alone 1977, even if he was thrown into the 7th century, he could probably live very comfortably.

…

After getting off work, Chen Fan rode his little mare, dragging the cart back. As he passed through the rice paddies of Team 5 and reached the territory of Team 6, he suddenly spotted a familiar figure in the paddy field and immediately shouted, "Brother An, you can still plow fields?"

An Quan, while holding the plow, shouted loudly, "Plowing fields is nothing, I can still eat."

Chen Fan burst into laughter. He thought he was being ridiculous enough, but he didn't expect this old senior to be even more ridiculous than him. Sure enough, Captain Yang didn't deceive me, he really is someone who talks nonsense.

However, although he was unreliable in words, An Quan's way of doing things was very reassuring.

He had only come to squat here yesterday, and this morning he started plowing the fields, getting his body covered in mud. Not only was his attitude good, but the quality of the plowing was also not bad. It seemed that the old skills he had learned before hadn't been lost.

Chen Fan smiled and shouted loudly, "Have you made arrangements for lunch today? How about coming back with me to eat?"

An Quan, "You're too late. I've already arranged to go to Huang Lao Si's house. They just built a new house and insisted on inviting me over."

Someone next to him shouted, "Old An, then you're missing out. Teacher Chen is very good at cooking."

When An Quan heard this, he couldn't help but be a little surprised, "Really?"

Chen Fan, "If you don't believe me, how about coming to my place tomorrow?"

An Quan thought for a while, "Anyway, you're not an educated youth, just temporarily living in the educated youth spot. Okay, tomorrow night I'll go to your place for a good meal."