Xiao Qiao enters the farm gate

"Ah Zheng, it's just in time to come back. Help me get some juice. I've made enough watermelon flavor. I don't need it for now. Let's make peaches and plums." Qiao Mo ordered the work first, and then Fang Jinnian said: "It's fructose , fruit candy, you can try it."

The few candies he initially chose were relatively simple, and the most troublesome one was milk candy, because he needed to buy milk.

Fang Jinnian was not polite, took a red one, and put it in his mouth: "Mmm...it tastes like watermelon, really sweet."

Although it is very sweet, it is not greasy, but has the sweetness of watermelon.

"That's watermelon-flavored fruit candy." Qiao Mo inspected the pan that Lin Zheng brought back, and started to operate the briquette machine, thanking Fang Jinnian again: "Thank you for helping me buy coal. Count the money to you. You, a big boss, are too busy to come here once in a while, and there is nothing good to entertain you."

"You're welcome. What do you want coal for? It's inconvenient to buy coal here. I got you three cars at a time. Just let me know when you want it again." Fang Jinnian said, focusing on the things in his hands. On the way, I saw Lin Zheng holding this thing and asked him, but he couldn't tell, it seemed to be related to coal.

Fang Jinnian watched him fiddle with it: "This thing is interesting, what is it for?"

"Make coal." Qiao Mo pointed to the fixed stove that was set up earlier, and explained: "Because the fire needs to be used evenly to be effective, and the firewood stove is not good, so I thought about using coal. If you want to use it, you have to dispose of the coal as well." , I want to make the matcha into a shape, which is easy to burn and easy to fill.”

Fang Jinnian became interested: "When will you do it?"

"It's okay right now, let's do it." Qiao Mo thought that time was precious, so he made it early and used it early, so that he could get all the goods out.

"Let's go to the west courtyard." Lin Zheng heard what he said about how to do it, and while walking ahead with the briquette machine, he said, "I'll go outside to pull some soil back, and I'll smash the coal when I come back later."

The bought coal is all lumps of coal. You need to use a hammer to break it yourself, and then adjust the coal and soil to a sticky state with water according to the ratio of 4:1, and you can use the honeycomb coal machine to beat the coal.

Fang Jinnian also brought a few people with him, so he simply asked them to help smash the coal.Several people had great strength, and it didn't take much trouble to do this job. By the time Lin Zheng pulled the soil back, he had smashed half a carload of coal.

The ground in the west courtyard has been compacted, and it has been sunny recently, so it was directly mixed on the ground.After some busy work, the coal is mixed, and then it's time to check whether the briquette machine works well.

Although Qiao Mo had never done it, he often saw people doing it in the countryside when he was a child, and he didn't find it difficult.

Pick up the machine immediately, soak it in the water basin, then smash it on the coal pile, and grind it down hard, so that every gap is filled with slime, so that the honeycomb coal produced in this way is beautiful and strong, and it is also resistant to burning .After stuffing it firmly, lift the machine to the open space on the side, press it on the handle, and there will be a round iron plate underneath to slowly push the formed briquettes out of the machine, and land firmly on the ground.

"This is briquette? It's pretty impressive." Fang Jinnian is a businessman. When he sees this thing, he sees a lot of business opportunities and countless money.Staring at the machine in Qiao Mo's hand, he thought about how to cooperate.

Qiao Mo was also very satisfied. Counting the twelve holes on the briquette, one was not blocked. It was a great success.

"I'll do it." Seeing his demonstration, Lin Zheng immediately took over.After all, it's hard work, so don't stick to it if you can.

Lin Zhenggang didn't master knocking well at the beginning. When the briquettes were coming out, they either got stuck or came out in the wrong shape. After practicing twice, he was fine.Fang Jinnian also became interested in watching it, so he insisted on trying it out, and made a row of a dozen or so before he was satisfied.

"It's not difficult, it doesn't take much effort, and from what you said, it's also easy to use and durable, much better than briquettes. I think this business can be done." Fang Jinnian's eyes lit up.

"How to do it?" Qiao Mo didn't think about using this to make money, but when the other party mentioned it, he also thought it was feasible.Anyway, he doesn't worry about it, and if he has money, he doesn't take it for nothing.

"Although I also have channels to buy coal, it is definitely not enough to start this business. I have to find a partner, and then find a big place to sell the finished product. As long as I know the benefits of honeycomb coal, it will definitely be indispensable. Buyer, even if it is more expensive than firewood, it is worth it." Fang Jinnian is very confident about this.

"Then I won't mix it up, just like the seasoning recipe before, let's buy out the money." Qiao Mo felt that the business was too big, and he was useless except for "invention patents", so he might as well be honest Do your own little business.After all, in ancient times, coal was not something that ordinary people bought casually.

"Then you're at a disadvantage, how about giving you a [-]% profit?" Fang Jinnian has benefited a lot from Qiao Mo, and they are friends with each other sincerely, so he doesn't want him to suffer too much.What's more, I always feel that there will be many opportunities for cooperation in the future.

"... That's fine, anyway, I don't care about anything, I just wait for you to send money every year. By the way, don't mention me with your partners." He was afraid that because of a briquette machine, he would attract a big shot that he couldn't afford, and the loss would outweigh the gain. , he still wants to live a quiet life.

"Don't worry." Fang Jinnian also understands his concerns, knowing that he is not the kind of person who loves fame and profit, and has decided to keep a secret for him, and the profit will be paid out of his share.

Fang Jinnian, who originally planned to stay for two days, packed a few watermelons for lunch and left because the business was not delayed.

Lin Zheng finished all the coals that he had reconciled with before, and they were neatly stacked to bask in the sun on the flat open space. There were about three hundred of them.In summer, the sun is very strong, and it will dry out after two or three days in the sun. As long as it is protected from moisture, it can be used for a long time.Lin Zheng planned to get rid of the three carts of coal in one go, and dry them well, so as to save trouble later on.

In the afternoon, Qiao Mo had to teach the villagers. By the way, he continued to inquire which village had more cows and wanted to buy milk.

I bought some before, all collected from the village, very few.There are not many cattle raised in the village, all of them are buffalo or yellow cattle, which are used for plowing the fields.Two of them are breastfeeding. I bought some milk and tasted it. The taste is average. If there are specially raised beef cattle, the milk may be better.

Of course, what he wants most is the cows on the grassland, but the journey is far away and the cost is too high.

The bought milk can't be put away, especially in such a hot summer, Qiao Mo made all the toffee.Although it doesn't feel good to drink alone, but it tastes good when made into toffee, because there are either crushed peanuts, hazelnuts, almonds, or walnuts in it, which not only makes more toffee with limited milk, but also increases The type of taste of toffee.

It took less than half a month, and Lin Zheng finished all three truckloads of coal.

The ones that were dried earlier have been put into the inverted warehouse, which is mainly next to the kitchen.Li Xue, who came to work every day, looked at it for a few days, and even counted them for them. There were more than 300.In addition to the ones stored in the warehouse, there are nearly two thousand briquettes. Except for making pastries, they are used to boil water in a kettle at other times. No matter how extravagant, it will be enough to burn until next year.

That day, after teaching in the grain drying field, he was about to go home when someone called to stop him.

Looking back, it turned out to be Li Xi.

"Is there something wrong with Grandma Li?" There are many people with the same surname in the village. Of course, Grandma Li and Grandma Lin will distinguish them behind their backs.

"I heard Xizi say that your family wants to raise a dog. I know a person from Yangjia Village. His dog just gave birth to a few puppies. If you want me, I will send you one." I chose Li Xi, five qian silver a month, really a good job, Li Xi was naturally very happy, so I heard that their family wanted to raise a dog, and they were very interested.

"Then thank you, Grandma Li." This was a surprise for Qiao Mo. At the same time, he also remembered that Grandma Li Xi has been cooking noodles in various villages all year round. She knows a lot of people and must know a lot many.So he hurriedly asked: "Grandma Li, do you know who raises more cows?"

"Raising cows?" Grandma Li understood his purpose after thinking about it for a while: "Why, do you still want to buy milk? There is a family near the forest in Yangjia Village who happens to raise a lot of them. Generally, country people don't eat beef. Cows are precious, so who would be willing to eat beef? All his cows are sold in the county, and there must be a few of them producing milk now."

"Is it easy to find? I'll go buy some." Qiao Mo needs milk here, and has to make some pastries.

"It's easy to find, since you're going, then you son of a bitch can pick it out yourself." Li Xi said.

"Alright, you can tell me about his family." Qiao Mo memorized the other party's name before returning home.

After going home, they told Lin Zheng about the matter, and the two decided to go there early the next morning.That night, Qiao Mo found a large wooden barrel with a lid, washed it, put it in the yard to dry, and took it to Yangjiacun the next day.If there is any milk for sale there, there must be a container for it.

Before leaving home, he went to Grandma Li's house and gave Brother Qiu the key to the gate of the west courtyard. The time for them to go to work was fixed, so Brother Qiu took the key to open the door.

Lin was driving, and Qiao Mo was sitting in the car with a wooden barrel.

After arriving at Yangjia Village, go to buy milk first.According to Grandma Li Xi, it was easy to find that family, because they were the only family on the edge of the forest, with a large yard, half of which was a cowshed.From a distance, you can hear the "moo moo moo" of cows, which is also mixed with the sound of human footsteps.

Lin Zheng stepped forward to knock on the door, and after a while, someone opened the door.

"Who are you looking for?" It was an old man who opened the door, and he couldn't help but be puzzled seeing the unfamiliar face.

"We are from Shanglin Village. Your family has a lot of cows. I don't know if there is any milk. We want to buy some." Lin Zheng explained the reason for his visit.

Hearing that they were here to buy milk, the old man opened all the doors and warmly greeted them to come in: "Why do you buy milk? Give it to the dolls at home? Usually not many people eat this, and there happened to be a few cows who just gave birth. There is plenty of milk, how much do you want?"

Qiao Mo couldn't help but think of some strange things when he heard the words before, and felt uncomfortable all over.The only consolation is that I haven't seen any little brother who feeds the child himself, and I don't remember it. I think the little brother doesn't have this function.

"Ah Mo, how much do you want?" Lin Zheng was not clear about this.

"Can this wooden barrel be filled?" Qiao Mo asked, pointing to the wooden barrel on the car.

The old man estimated it, and said: "It can be squeezed out, but there are still a few calves, so we must save some. Let's fill more than half of it."

Qiao Mo was already very satisfied with this quantity, but he had to inspect the goods before buying.The raw milk had a strong fishy smell, and the old man was so enthusiastic that he asked his daughter-in-law to boil it. Qiao Mo didn't want to add sugar, so he took two sips and thought it was good.When asked about the price again, the other party did not raise the price, and Dang even paid to buy it.

Before leaving, Qiao Mo said to the other party: "Uncle Yang, I will come to your house to buy milk every month from now on, so you have to leave the milk to me."

"This milk is not allowed to be squeezed out. You say how much you want, and I will ask my son to send it to you." Raising cows is also hard work. Buying some milk is more or less an income, let alone a long-term business.

Of course, it would be even better if the goods could be delivered to your door, so Qiao Mo reported his home address: "Our home is easy to find. When we arrive at Shanglin Village, we can ask for Lin Zheng. The yard on the far west side of the village is there. If you have time, milk can be bought every [-] One time per day, half a barrel or one barrel at a time will do.”

"The one with the newly built big house?" The old man's daughter-in-law cried out in surprise, and the old man and his son opened their eyes in surprise, obviously they had heard of it.

"Well. We have built a few new rooms in our house." This is the case in the countryside. Everyone who has a family who has a rumor of power is well known, and they are considered celebrities.

"Okay, I will let my son deliver it on time." Old man Yang became more relieved, after all, such a rich family would not depend on him for such a little milk.

After buying the milk, the two inquired about the place where the pup lived, and hurried over.

It's still early at this moment, but when the sun comes out and the temperature rises, the milk can't be kept, it will easily spoil.I have to buy a puppy and rush home to use up the milk.

That family was easy to find, Lin Zheng went in to choose the puppies, while Qiao Mo sat in the car and looked at the milk bucket.

"Are you Qiao Mo from Shanglin Village?"

Qiao Mo was thinking about making cakes when he went back, when he suddenly heard someone talking to him, he looked up following the sound, and saw a little brother standing at the door of the neighbor who sold puppies.This little brother probably works all year round, his skin is a little tanned, but his facial features are still quite handsome. He looks like he is in his early twenties, and his whole body is full of freshness.

"I'm Qiao Mo." I don't know if it was an illusion, but Qiao Mo felt that the other party looked at him a little strangely.

After hearing the affirmative answer, the little brother walked over and did not stop until three steps away.

"I'm Yang Jiabao."

Qiao Mo couldn't help but be surprised when the other party introduced himself. This person is the legendary Yang Jiabao?

Qiao Mo was very curious about Yang Jiabao, not only because of the disgusting incident caused by Grandma Chun, but also because of the rumors about Yang Jiabao in the early years.Although it is admirable to dare to resist arranged marriages and pursue freedom and happiness, the premise is that it is not easy to destroy other people's marriage happiness at the expense of it. Don't say that this is immoral. Just based on Qiao Mo's own personal experience, he hates the first one. three.Therefore, despite Yang Jiabao's admirable shining points, he still doesn't like this person.Just think about it, if the scholar's husband was not a tough rouge tiger, Yang Jiabao might have entered the family room long ago, and the situation of the original husband can be imagined.

However, why did Yang Jiabao come looking for him?Do you still want to continue recommending yourself?Thinking of what happened to Grandma Chun, she couldn't help frowning.

"You don't have to worry, I'm not interested in Lin Zheng." Yang Jiabao's words and deeds were indeed very different from ordinary little brothers, and he was extremely bold and straightforward. "I didn't know what my uncle did a few days ago. I suffered a lot. I will never be a petty person again in this life."

Qiao Mo didn't know how to answer, let alone whether Grandma Chun knew about Yang Jiabao or not.

Yang Jiabao didn't turn around and leave, but stood quietly for a while, and suddenly said: "You are so lucky."

Qiao Mo raised his eyebrows slightly.

Yang Jiabao didn't care about his silence, and said directly: "I originally planned to never get married for the rest of my life. I have hands and feet, and I can support myself by farming. Originally, my family didn't object, but now I can't. Now There's everything outside, and it's stronger than it was five years ago, and the family can't keep me anymore."

Qiao Mo understood what he meant, that Grandma Chun's matchmaking could not be hidden from others.It's disgraceful to be a petty book for others, not to mention that if you fail to do this, you will lose your adults, not to mention that Yang Jiabao has a "criminal record", so people will inevitably talk about it.What happened five years ago had finally calmed down, but now there are sudden waves, how can he live in the local area.

Qiao Mo couldn't help but look at him, just in time to see his slightly furrowed brows and blank eyes.

Until Yang Jiabao left, Qiao Mo didn't say anything, he really didn't know what to say.Yang Jiabao didn't need him to say anything, the two of them were complete strangers, probably because they had been suppressed for too long, so they couldn't help but confide in front of a stranger.

Seeing Yang Jiabao like this, most of the repulsion and disgust in Qiao Mo's heart dissipated. No matter what he did wrong, he has already paid enough.

When Lin Zheng came out with a little dog in his arms, Qiao Mo didn't mention it. After returning home, he was busy making toffee and cakes.It wasn't until a few days later that I heard that Yang Jiabao was married. The other party was a widower who was nearly forty years old. He had a five-year-old boy and his family was very poor.

Qiao Mo also just sighed twice in his heart, and then threw it away, after all, everyone has their own life.

Right now Qiao Mo is busy making cakes.

In ancient times, there was no oven, no baking powder, and cream and butter had to be made by yourself. In addition, the shop was only opened, and it was not planned to make things that cost too much, so the pastry ingredients selected were as simple as possible.For example, the cake I made at the moment, because there is no salad oil, and ordinary soybean oil and rapeseed oil has a strong taste, so I specially added two catties of corn oil.The ingredients are eggs, homemade low-gluten flour, corn oil, sugar, milk, white vinegar, and salt.

The previous one is very simple, just follow the procedure step by step, because there is no tin foil, so I have to brush oil on the bottom of the pan.Wait until the pan is hot, pour the cake batter into it, and then keep an eye on the heat, otherwise it will burn easily.

After all, I have never done this before, the first two failed, the bottom is mushy, but the top is not yet cooked.

Fortunately, I gained experience after practicing twice. After the pan was hot and the cake batter was poured, I closed the two vents of the stove, baked it slowly with the lowest fire, and turned the pan from time to time.After such painstaking efforts, I finally baked a successful cake. When I smelled the long-lost cake aroma, I felt a strange taste in my heart, which was sour, sweet and astringent.