Reborn in 1977

Chapter 333 Wait Until the End of the Year

The continuous plum rain just wouldn't stop.

It wasn't like it was raining non-stop, because if it were, the ground wouldn't be able to take it, and neither would the heavens.

It would rain for a while, then stop for a while, then rain for two or three or four or five days in a row, then stop for a day or two, continuing intermittently for about a month.

If it exceeded a month by too long, and the rainfall was too heavy, then the area was very likely to flood that year. If it was less than a month, and the rainfall was too light, then there might be a drought.

From the first plum rain until today, it had lasted for a full month.

Taking advantage of this relatively idle time, whenever the weather cleared up, Chen Fan would do something he had wanted to do for a long time: brew wine!

Now it was already the end of June, the middle of the fifth lunar month, and today was the sixth time to open the pot.

That is to say, it had only been sunny six times this month.

In front of Chen Fan's new house, two large pots were set up. One pot contained sorghum, and the other was boiling water, which was then scooped into a large water tank next to it to cool.

The miscellaneous grains that had been requisitioned from the brigade headquarters were now only this little bit of sorghum left.

Chen Fan had thoroughly mastered the brewing process and techniques. Not only that, but Huang Ying and the other three were also very familiar with the brewing process.

So he pulled up a chair and sat under the long veranda, crossed his legs, and watched the large stove from a distance.

Mainly because the weather was starting to get hot now, and it was uncomfortable to be too close to the fire stove.

On both sides of him, inside the veranda, with the main door as the center, there were 6 large vats, each one meter high, arranged on each side, for a total of 12.

Eleven of them contained the results of his previous brewing, all of which were fermenting quietly, and the last empty vat was prepared for this pot of sorghum.

At this time, he held a small teapot in his hand, taking a sip from time to time to replenish moisture, with Duo Duo and Qiu Qiu playing around at his feet, and two little goats jumping around not far in front of him, along with a little foal running back and forth, having a great time.

The little foal had grown a lot taller, with a shoulder height of nearly 1.3 meters. It was estimated that its adult height might reach 1.65 meters, making it a tall one as well.

The little mare was resting in the stable. Without its mother by its side, the little foal was running wild, always liking to get close to the stove, watching for a while and then running back, and then couldn't help but come closer again, repeating this cycle, even more mischievous than Duo Duo and Qiu Qiu.

The giant panda Gun Gun was leaning against the chair Chen Fan was sitting on, letting him touch its head, munching on bamboo non-stop, turning a blind eye to the two babies on the grass mat next to it, who hadn't opened their eyes yet and were crying with their mouths open.

The panda babies were already 36 days old, and you could see that their eyes looked like they had been punched. Their bodies had also grown to more than 20 centimeters, but unfortunately, their fur was still relatively sparse, and you could clearly see their pink flesh.

The most outrageous thing was that even though they had grown so big, after more than a month, they still hadn't opened their eyes.

Chen Fan had very rich breeding and veterinary experience, but he didn't know when these two little guys would open their eyes to see the world. He couldn't help but keep wondering, how long would he have to raise them before they grew into the way Hua Hua looked?

Huang Ying walked over with a steelyard scale, first pinching Gun Gun's cheeks, "Eat, eat, eat, all you know is to eat, you don't even care if the babies are hungry."

Gun Gun didn't move at all, eating bamboo on its own, its two small eyes staring at her intently, wondering what this person was going to do again?

Huang Ying picked up Chang Chang and placed it on the weighing pan, deftly moving the weight, "Hmm, two jin and four liang."

Chen Fan nodded slightly, 1.2 kilograms, not bad.

After putting Chang Chang back on the mat, Huang Ying picked up Shui Shui again, "This one is heavier, two jin and nine liang."

Chen Fan looked at the chubby Shui Shui and couldn't help but grin. It was almost three jin, definitely a big fat boy.

After Huang Ying put Shui Shui down and took the steelyard scale into the house to make a record, Jiang Lili came over and picked up a panda baby and stuffed it into Gun Gun's arms.

Gun Gun instantly understood, threw away the bamboo, and lay down on the ground, letting Jiang Lili pick up the other baby and put it on its stomach, letting them eat a buffet without moving.

Yang Ju and Liu Dan were guarding not far from the stove, seeing that the fire in the temporary earthen stove had become a little smaller, Yang Ju turned to look at Chen Fan, "Teacher Chen, do we need to add more firewood?"

Chen Fan smelled the aroma and said loudly, "No need, it should already be cooked through, but to be safe, let it simmer for a little while longer."

The two of them breathed a sigh of relief, and then a happy smile appeared on their faces.

After learning pottery and cooking, they had also learned how to brew wine, which was great!

Guarding Teacher Chen was like guarding a great treasure. You never knew when you could get some treasure.

This was brewing wine!

There were only so many people in the commune. People could buy pottery and use it all the time, and maybe one day they wouldn't be able to sell it anymore. Learning cooking might not necessarily be used to make money, unless they could enter a state-owned restaurant, or become a wandering craftsman like Liu Jujiang, but who would hire them, a few young girls?

But wine was different. As long as people still drank alcohol, they wouldn't be afraid of not being able to sell it. As long as the wine tasted good, no one would care who brewed it.

Old Tang from Team 7 became a well-known "rich household" because he knew how to brew wine. The money he earned from brewing wine every year was more than the work points he earned from working.

He also didn't take apprentices. Every time he brewed wine, he would lock himself in his backyard, at most letting his two sons help, valuing his skills more than anything.

Through this month of study, they had all initially mastered the art of brewing wine, and there were several different kinds of wine. As long as these wines turned out to be okay in the end, they would be much better than Old Tang.

This one gain alone was worth living in the educated youth spot.

Thinking of this, the two of them looked at Chen Fan at the same time, thinking silently in their hearts, if they could tie down Teacher Chen, then that would be…

Then the two of them looked at each other again, and a fake smile squeezed out on their faces at the same time.

Then they silently complained in their hearts: So fake, Teacher Chen definitely doesn't like her!

After a while, Chen Fan put down the teapot, got up and walked to the stove, and began to carry out the next step of work.

Spreading the sorghum to cool, then mixing it with yeast, and putting it into the vat…

After a series of procedures, the four girls were already covered in sweat.

Chen Fan?

Since they wanted to learn how to brew wine, then they definitely had to operate it themselves. Seeing it ten times was not as good as doing it once. Chen Fan would point out the key points next to them, letting them learn as much as they wanted. This was giving them a chance.

After covering the lid of the last vat, Huang Ying let out a long breath, raised her arm and wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve, turned to look at Chen Fan, and asked, "Teacher Chen, when can we drink these wines?"

Chen Fan hummed twice and said with a smile, "The yellow wine will be almost ready to drink next month, but it's best to store it in a cellar for a while. The white wine is still early. White wine needs to ferment for more than 3 months, and then it needs to be put into jars and stored in a cellar. If you want to drink these wines, wait until the end of the year."

Some white wines only need a few days to ferment before they can be taken out for distillation, but the recipe in Chen Fan's hand requires fermentation for more than 3 months.

But the final distillation only takes a few hours, so let's just wait.

The four girls couldn't help but feel a little disappointed when they heard this.

Yang Ju weakly sighed "Ah," and leaned against the porch pillar, groaning, "We still have to wait until the end of the year?!"

Huang Ying's eyes darted around, "Wouldn't it be a big loss if we sold the wine we brewed?"

"What loss?"

Chen Fan pointed to the row of twelve large vats, "If it hadn't rained, we could have brewed this much wine in a week. After more than three months, when we complete the final step of distillation, the yellow wine won't even need to be distilled. We can sell it directly. How long will it take to sell a vat of wine? Half a month or a month? Isn't that enough time for you to be idle?"

Yang Ju suddenly realized, "That's right, brewing wine doesn't take much time, and we can do it in the evenings. No wonder I heard them say that Master Tang of Team 7 hardly ever misses work. It's like earning money for nothing."

The other three nodded gently.

They discovered another advantage of brewing wine over firing pottery. Firing pottery requires making clay blanks, which might delay work, but brewing wine doesn't.

Chen Fan smiled, stretched lazily, and waved his hand at them, "There's still some unused boiled water in the water tank. Go get some water to wash up."

The four girls glanced at each other, noticing their disheveled appearances, and their pretty faces immediately turned red. They giggled and ran off.

Chen Fan was just about to go inside when a shout suddenly came from afar, "Is Teacher Chen home?"

Hearing the voice, he immediately strode out.

The continuous rain had already soaked the ground, especially here, where it was newly excavated soil, so it was a bit muddy and difficult to walk.

Chen Fan's steps were steady, but when he reached the bottom of the slope, he saw Master Wang and the others wearing rain boots and wooden clogs, climbing up with their feet covered in mud.

Behind them were several mule carts.

They were delivering furniture to Chen Fan.

A month ago, Master Wang was ordered to make furniture for him. Now, a month has passed, and with the joint efforts of several carpenters from Team 4, all the furniture has been completed.

Several batches had already been delivered, and today was the last batch.

Chen Fan greeted them first and hurried over to help push the carts, pulling all the carts to the top of the slope. Then, he took out cigarettes and offered them around before saying to Master Wang, "Why did you come today, just after the rain stopped? You could have waited a few more days until the road dried."

Master Wang waved his hand and laughed, "No waiting, no waiting. This plum rain season is probably coming to an end. Once the plum rain season is over, it will be the busiest time for our construction team. Let's finish things here with you first, so we can focus on the unit's work."

What else could Chen Fan say? He could only cup his hands in thanks, "Thank you, thank you."

Since they were all old acquaintances, Master Wang didn't stand on ceremony with him. He waved his hand and said, "Hurry up and move everything in. After we're done, we'll freeload a meal from Teacher Chen tonight."

Chen Fan immediately laughed heartily, "This isn't freeloading. Hospitality is a must. It's just that the dishes aren't very good, so don't be disgusted."

An old master placed his hands behind his back, carrying a large sofa inside, with a cigarette in his mouth. When he stepped onto the porch, he shook off the muddy wooden clogs on his feet and walked barefoot on the steps, laughing, "If the dishes in your house aren't good, then there won't be any good dishes in the entire Lujiawan."

Chen Fan looked helpless, "Why take off your shoes again? Just walk straight in. We can sweep later."

But no one paid attention to him.

It wasn't that everyone was giving him special treatment, but mainly because people here, when going to someone else's house on a rainy day, would scrape the mud off the soles of their shoes before entering, so as not to bring the mud inside.

And his place looked clean, plus they were carrying heavy furniture, so they simply shook off their shoes and went inside.

After a few trips back and forth, all the furniture was carried in, and then the final assembly work was completed, and all the furniture upstairs and downstairs was in place.

The furniture was made of camphor wood and fir wood, which are the most common types of wood in Lujiawan. Although the workmanship didn't have too many fancy frills, the materials were solid, and each piece was heavy. The craftsmanship was all mortise and tenon structure, without using a single nail.

After it was made, it was first sanded smooth, so that there were no burrs on the surface of all the wood, and then two layers of self-made pure tung oil were brushed on, making the surface of the furniture shiny and bright, which looked very comfortable.

If it was mixed tung oil, it would have a very strong pungent odor, and the chemical components in it would also be slightly toxic, but pure cooked tung oil would not. Unless someone had a particularly sensitive sense of smell, they would only be able to smell a slight odor, but it wouldn't be pungent, let alone harmful.

Master Wang had said before that the furniture made for outsiders used mixed cooked tung oil because it was slightly cheaper, and the effect would be the same after the odor dissipated. But the furniture made for Chen Fan used pure cooked tung oil, which had almost no odor.

After the last chair was assembled, Master Wang put away his tools, pointed to the various pieces of furniture in the living room, and smiled at Chen Fan, "See, does it meet your requirements?"

Chen Fan gave a thumbs up without saying a word, "Absolutely nothing to say."

Master Wang immediately raised his head and laughed heartily, and the other masters also had smiles on their faces, seemingly very happy to be recognized by Chen Fan.

Chen Fan pointed to the sofa and smiled at everyone, "Don't stand there, masters. Sit, sit, sit. I'll go ask them to pour tea."

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Lili came in carrying a teapot, followed by Liu Dan holding a stack of teacups. Huang Ying held two boxes in her hands, filled with melon seeds, peanuts, and candies. Yang Ju walked last, carrying a large plate, which was surprisingly filled with washed tomatoes and cucumbers.

With many people, things were done quickly. Soon the tea was poured, and the fruit plate was set out.

Master Wang gave Chen Fan a thumbs up, "These girls are learning etiquette and propriety from you. They will definitely not have to worry about finding a husband in the future."

The four girls blushed slightly when they heard this and ran out lightly.

Chen Fan sat on the sofa, looked at their backs, and greeted them first, "Don't be polite, everyone. Help yourselves."

After a pause, he smiled again, "I don't have any fruit here, but I happen to have fresh vegetables, so let's use these two as substitutes."

Someone immediately said with a smile, "These two things are fruit in our countryside."

As he spoke, he picked up a tomato and took a bite.

Chen Fan laughed twice and turned to smile at Master Wang, "Huang Zhihao and Wang Chunling in your team are also very good. They are learning and improving quickly."

When Master Wang heard this, he couldn't help but laugh, "Isn't that because they're learning from you?"

Huang Zhihao is the veterinarian of Team 4, but unfortunately, he didn't win against Yang Zhijun and the others in the exam, so he could only be the veterinarian of the small team. Wang Chunling is from the girls' tutoring class and is now learning junior high school and physics and chemistry knowledge from Chen Fan. Moreover, she is Master Wang's niece, so he was naturally happy to hear this.

I wish everyone a happy New Year, good health, peace and prosperity, and good luck in the Year of the Dragon!!!