Yipin Farmer

According to the rules of the village, whoever kills a pig must entertain the butcher on the same day, eating meat and white flour buns.

Mrs. Li set up a large firewood-burning pot, poured the bones into it and boiled them, and split the thigh bones with an ax to expose the marrow.Don't worry about cooking the liver and pork belly together.

Then cut the ribs of the front legs and buttocks into mahjong-sized pieces of meat, heat the pot, add onion, ginger and garlic, and then fry the meat. When the meat turns yellow, add noodle sauce, fry sugar, pour soy sauce, salt, pepper, Cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, tangerine peel or something.After burning, remove half of the firewood and simmer slowly.After a while, the smell of meat permeated the whole courtyard, two dogs were wandering around the door, Ting Qiu and Xiao Ye were also sniffing hard by the pot.

Soon, a pot of standard country big pot dishes will be ready.Red pieces of meat and white cabbage, yellow fried tofu, and oily sweet potato vermicelli all tempt the appetite.Another plate of heart and liver, a plate of white meat, and a plate of big bones were cut.

Sitting on the kang were Ting Shuang and Li Dongsheng. They also invited Li Zheng Li Changfu, Shenjian Zhang Daquan and Li Dazhu.Sitting at the other table were Zhou Gen, Ma Yaozi, a few good neighbors and two relatives, and Ting Hui for company.The other family members ate with Aunt Zhou in the Westinghouse. Xiaolan and Tingqiu each held a big bone and gnawed it with great enjoyment.

When he was full of wine and food, Li Changfu asked: "Your family owes such a large debt, what do you plan to do?"

Ting Shuang already had a plan for this problem, and said: "I plan to raise a few more sheep in the spring, and then raise more chickens and ducks, and send [-] more roast chickens to the city every day, but I don't dare to raise too many chickens for fear of chicken plague. Sometimes I have to buy chickens from other villages or even the city. I want to distribute this business to the villagers, and let the villagers spend a lot of money. Uncle Li told the village that those who can raise chickens should raise more chickens, and they will raise them for a hundred days. Broiler chickens."

"In the middle, I'll tell those in the village who know how to raise chickens to have more broods next year." Li Changfu had another question, "How big will it grow in three months?"

"You have to use good ingredients, crushed corn, wheat bran, and earthworms and grasshoppers."

"You raise so many chickens, and let the villagers raise more chickens, do you still want to open a restaurant?" Li Changfu's face darkened, "Do you still want to borrow money, kid?"

"I just want to borrow it now, and I'm afraid people won't lend it if they know about my family's situation." Ting Shuang smiled wryly, and then said, "I plan to go to the city in the spring to help restaurants, save money while learning, and open restaurants to get money It's fast, and it doesn't cost money. This year, I will take advantage of the winter to go out and do a part-time job."

Li Dongsheng answered: "I asked someone to ask you. Dafeng Grain Company recently has a batch of goods to be shipped to Xinyang, and they are looking for people to drive them. They will pay ten taels of silver per trip. If you use your own animals, the wages will be even higher." Gao, if you want to go, I will talk to someone."

Just as Ting Shuang was about to agree, Li Changfu answered first: "How can this be done? It's too late to run outside. If you want to do odd jobs, do some work in the county town. Don't run far."

Aunt Zhou, who was having dinner in the West Room, also raised the curtain and came in: "That's right, I told you before that the third son went out to look for work, and you can't do it if you are in a rush, let alone it's getting colder and colder. Those who do the work are rushing home, but you run outside. What if you can’t make it back by the twelfth lunar month?”

Ting Hui also said: "If you go to Xinyang and come back again and again, you will definitely not be able to make it back to Laba. Don't go."

Ting Shuang smiled and didn't say anything, but raised her eyebrows at Li Dongsheng. Li Dongsheng understood, didn't say anything, and continued to eat with chopsticks.

When the guests dispersed, Aunt Zhou stayed behind and said to Ting Shuang, "You were winking with the Li family just now, but you still want to go out?"

"If you go out for a trip, you can earn ten or two taels of silver, and you can still enjoy the scenery, so let's take it easy." Ting Shuang remained firm.

"Why are you distracted by the weather?" Aunt Zhou was angry and anxious, "Why don't you listen to your lord? I know your family is in trouble. You are anxious to make money, but you don't have to work so hard to revitalize your family business. It's risky to rush."

"If you want to revitalize your family business, how can you not work hard?" Ting Shuang disapproved, "You have to take some risks in everything you do, including farming. Maybe a locust hailstorm will waste a year of hard work."

"I can't see the ready-made good method." Aunt Zhou pointed out to him, "Look at Xiaolan's appearance, she must be a beautiful woman when she grows up, if you bind her feet well now, she will definitely be able to marry a rich man who will become a high-ranking official in the future People, whether a girl marries well or not depends on her feet."

"How could an official and wealthy family marry a farmer's daughter?" Ting Shuang felt that it was better to have fewer sweet dreams.

"It's okay to be a small boss. I'll make a side room for some high-ranking official's family or some prince. If I just give you a hand, your family will rise again. In the future, your family Zhizhi will also have help when she becomes an official."

"Is this the good way you pointed out?" Ting Shuang was angry and funny, and went around in a big circle, and she still went to the way of being a concubine for a rich family, so why bother to try her best to get Xiaolan out of Chen home.At any rate, the bastard surnamed Chen is young, beautiful and famous, better than the high officials and princes in their seventies and eighties.

Besides, no matter how incompetent he is, even if one day he is forced to go up the mountain to become a robber, he will never sell his sister to give him a better life. It's not that he looks down on women and asks him to put the burden of revitalizing the family business on women On the hem of the skirt, he wouldn't even think about such a thing.

Ting Shuang said without any room for negotiation: "It's impossible to even think about relying on Xiaolan to curry favor with wealthy people."

Seeing that he was determined, Aunt Zhou didn't say anything more.Bao Qi gave a thumbs up: "Well done, you are shameless at taking your sister's body to find a way out for yourself, I support you."

Ting Shuang rode the family's donkey to the city to deliver the goods to Dafeng Grain Bank to ask for work, and found Zhang Wuge, who helped him buy rice seeds last time.

"What? Do you want to be a catcher?" Brother Zhang asked him with a cigarette pot in his mouth.

"My family doesn't want it, so I just do it temporarily during the winter slack,"

"It's good to be a catcher, free and easy. If you have a small family, it may not be very comfortable. My wife is not happy to sleep on the empty kang." Brother Zhang Wu is an old long-term worker, and he is also proficient in crop work. He used to have a wife, because he could not support her. , so he ran away with others, and he simply became a chaser. He has been chasing Dafeng all these years, and drank it when he had two dollars. He is very prejudiced against women, and he doesn't ask for a wife. Bury me on the spot."

Ting Shuang has a warm home, so she doesn't envy this kind of free life, and only wants to be a temporary backer during the winter leisure time.

"Have you any livestock?"

"I only have this donkey available." Ting Shuang pointed to the donkey he brought.

Brother Zhang Wu said: "The donkey will miss. To pull such a heavy thing for a long distance, you have to use a mule."

"How much does a mule cost?"

"About 80 taels a head."

"My God! It's so expensive, even more expensive than a good cow." Ting Shuang exclaimed.

"A cow can last for five to seven years. A good mule can last for 30 years, and a mule can last for 20 years. And breeding is not easy. Of course it's expensive."

"I don't have a mule, and I can't afford it, so I just follow along?" Ting Shuang gave up the idea of ​​buying a mule.

"In the middle, you just follow everyone." Brother Zhang Wu told him some necessary skills for driving.

"To be a good driver, you must first be able to load a car, even if it is ice, if you load the slippery ice cubes on the car, the size is neat, and if you trip the rope, you can walk a hundred or eighty miles without a piece falling off. It counts as a trick."

"I often go to the city to deliver goods. Although I have never transported ice, I still know a little bit about loading and unloading." Ting Shuang thought of the rotten pear, and his forehead was a little sweaty, and he added, "I will learn from the shortcomings. "

"Second, you have to know the sky, know when it rains and snows, get out of the store when you should get out early, and go one stop ahead when you should go forward, and you have to have the experience of going out to be familiar with the terrain and human conditions." "I don't have any." I have traveled far, and I only returned home from the provincial capital to help the coffin at the beginning of this year, and I still know a little about the road from the provincial capital to our county." Ting Shuang was very modest.As for the weather, after doing farm work for so long, I can barely make it.

"That's right." Zhang Wuge nodded, and said, "Thirdly, you must know how to feed the animals. The old saying is good: the same grass has the same material, and different feeding methods have different fats. There are specialties in feeding. You must also be able to feed the animals." , let the animals work hard, but the animals cannot be exhausted. In addition to this, you have to know how to look after the animals. If you have a minor ailment on the road, you can take care of it yourself without going to the veterinarian.”

"Oh, my family has cows and donkeys. I can feed the animals and make donkeys, but I'm not sure about seeing a doctor." Ting Shuang's forehead became more and more sweaty.

"This, I'll teach you slowly on the way." Brother Zhang Wu continued to teach him, "Fourth, you must know how to weave whips and bridles. There is no good whip, no grooming, no I am ashamed to say that I have overtaken my feet."

Ting Shuang immediately showed the beautiful whip left for him by the surname Geng: "Look at this whip, isn't it beautiful?"

"Good job." Brother Zhang thought he made it up himself, praised him, and said, "Finally, you have to know how to put on a saddle. If you don't know how to put on a saddle, you are not qualified to be a kicker."

"I don't know how to do this, you teach me." Ting Shuang hurriedly asked for advice humbly, feeling that it was not easy to carry out long-distance transportation in ancient times.

"Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow are auspicious days. You have to go on the road early in the morning, so you have to hurry."

Ting Shuang followed Zhang Wuge to learn how to put on a saddle, which is a necessary job to protect the livestock from injury.The semi-circular saddle frame is prepared on the mule's back, and the inside should be filled with cotton. Somewhere on the back was injured and the fur was damaged, and the saddle had to be replaced immediately to adjust the cotton.The spine should be thinner, and the abdomen should be thicker. There is a lot of attention here.

Ting Shuang was a quick learner, and after a whole afternoon of hard work, she finally managed to pass the test.

Seeing that the sun was westward, I drove the donkey back.

Before reaching the door of the house, I heard Xiaolan's miserable crying coming from the house next door.Ting Shuang's face changed drastically, and she rushed to Zhou's house in three steps at a time.

On the Westing Kang, Xiaolan cried until her eyes were swollen.

"What's the matter? What's the matter?" Ting Shuang was so anxious that her voice changed.

"Well, my feet hurt." Xiaolan stopped crying and said sobbingly.

Ting Shuang looked down, only to find that her feet were tightly bound by white cloth, and she was furious: "Who bound you?"

Aunt Zhou hurried over, wiped her hands on the apron, and said, "Xiaolan wanted to wrap it up herself, so I wrapped it up for her."

"Aren't you the most afraid of pain and hate bound feet?"

Xiaolan sobbed and said, "Well, yesterday I heard you talk to Aunt Zhou, saying that if I get my feet bound, I can marry a rich man and be my concubine. My brothers don't have to work so hard, and my elder brother doesn't have to work outside in winter." Now, my little brother can be an official too..."

"Shut up." Ting Shuang was so angry that her lungs would explode, she slapped the table hard and shouted at her: "With brothers around, when will it be your little girl's turn to worry about family affairs? You want to be mad, don't you?"

Xiaolan had never seen her brother angry with her before, and seeing Ting Shuang blushing and yelling at her, she was so frightened that she "wow" and started crying again.

Seeing him yelling at Xiaolan, Aunt Zhou hurriedly hugged Xiaolan to coax her, and then yelled at him again: "What kind of quarrels are you guys having with a little girl? Seems like the baby was scared to tears."

When Dayingzi and Xiaoyingzi heard it, they also came to help out, and women of all ages formed an alliance to besiege Tingshuang.

The men in the nearby Meng family's yard heard the Zhou family's children crying loudly, so they hurried over to have a look.

Tingzhi has stopped going to school since the autumn harvest, and instead studies at home. When she heard the noise next door crying and making noise, she hurried over to ask what happened.Knowing what had happened, Ting Zhi's face also dropped, but she didn't get angry, and said in a good voice: "Xiao Lan, you are still young, don't worry about family affairs, the sky will fall and your brothers will support you, and your brothers are all big men." , if you have to rely on women's glory to live a good life, brothers will lose face. Why do you want to be a rich man's concubine? How do you put these things in your little head?"

"But..." Xiaolan sobbed, "The sisters in the beautiful house said that a good-looking girl is a good way out for the rich..."

Ting Zhi's face became even more ugly: "You should forget about the messy practices in the brothel as soon as possible, and don't even mention it, or the brothers will be very angry and will never talk to you again."

When Xiaolan heard that her brothers would be angry and ignore her, she was too frightened to say anything.

After Baoqi knew the reason, she said to Ting Shuang: "Although Xiaolan is young, she also knows that she loves her brothers, and after listening to the conversation between you and Aunt Zhou, she came to think that way. You are not happy, tell her Just talk about it, why are you getting so angry? A big man is quarreling with a little girl, thanks to you for doing it."

Ting Shuang had already calmed down, sighed and said: "I worked hard to revitalize the family business earlier and took her out of the Chen family, just to find a good way out for her in the future, unexpectedly she would rush to give it to others by herself. As a concubine, can I not be angry?"

Baoqi tried to persuade him: "As you said, even the biggest hurdles can be overcome, and the difficulties in front of you will be overcome. You see that you have such a temper these few days, and you are always angry."

"Is there?" Ting Shuang refused to admit it, "How can I not lose my temper?"

"You've been on fire for the past few days, and you're constipated again. Ask Mrs. Li to cook some mung bean soup for you."

"How do you know I'm getting angry and constipated?" Ting Shuang still refused to admit it.

Baoqi was angry and funny: "If you still don't admit it, it will take half an hour for you to squat in the toilet, and others can't wait to go to the pigsty to solve it."

"Oh." It was only then that Ting Shuang realized that the toilet renovation project was not very successful. There was only one latrine for so many people in the family. It was indeed a problem when someone squatted for a long time.

"Even I know I'm constipated, you really love to worry about it." Ting Shuang muttered in a low voice.

"You think I'm worrying?" Bao Qi gave him a dissatisfied look, and said, "I'll go with you this time."

"No." Ting Shuang immediately objected, "How can you get away with your injured foot?"

"My wound is not deep, and it has started to scab. I sprained my foot and it will heal within a few days."

"I'm leaving tomorrow, the day after tomorrow. Can your feet be so neat?" Ting Shuang firmly disagreed, "It's not easy to keep your feet up. If you take good care of my family at home, it's just for me."

Ting Shuang resolutely prevented Baoqi from following her, and began to pack up the things she needed to go out, including bedding, sheepskin jacket, felt boots, and arranged for the family to let Ting Hui be in charge of making roast chicken deliveries.Sister-in-law Li Tingqiu feeds the family's cattle, sheep, chickens and ducks, especially the two deer. Xiaoye Pingan takes advantage of this time to store some ice.Hearing about fifth brother Zhang's mention of transporting ice reminded me that I should save some ice while the weather is cold, and use it when selling fruits in summer, and I can make a fortune.

After arranging everything in the house properly, the head of the family packed up and went out full of worries.

This time, Dafeng Grain Company drove dozens of mules and dozens of carts to transport goods, including fur, medicinal materials, mountain products and special products.Early in the morning under the starry sky, Zhang Wuge, who was in charge, led the riders to brave the severe cold, prepare the saddles, put on the bridles, bridles, and hang the string bells on the animals.Then load the cars on the shaft and line up neatly.

The head mule at the front was the most beautifully dressed, with copper bells hanging on his chest, a red kick chest, and a bridle made of navy blue rope on his head. Xiaofeng began a long journey.

The owner of Dafeng Grain Bank is the property of the Hu family, the richest man in the county. The Hu family also has other businesses in the county. Their ancestors were farmers. Later, they started a grain business and grew bigger and bigger, becoming the richest family in the county. Then he developed his official career and produced two candidates.

This time, it was the third young master of the Hu family who went to Kaifeng to do business. Although he was young, he was capable. He carefully inspected the convoy, inspected the pack mules and goods, and asked the names of some unfamiliar porters. When he heard Ting Shuang's name , Young Master Hu asked: "But it's from Sanhua Village?" Ting Shuang replied yes, Young Master Hu's face became very ugly, and he waved his hand to let him go on the road without saying anything.

Young Master Hu was riding a tall, strong and beautiful livid walking mule, which ran fast and steadily, leaving the convoy behind in a short while.Looking at his haughty back, Ting Shuang quietly asked Fifth Brother Zhang: "Who is this young master? You seem to hate me when you hear my name."

Brother Zhang Wu took a sip from the small jug he carried with him and said, "He is Hu Junxian, the third young master of the Hu family, the richest man in our county. What an intersection."

Ting Shuang felt that Hu Junxian had heard the name somewhere before, and after thinking about it for a long time, she suddenly remembered that it seemed that he was the one who beat up Ting Hui a few months ago, and now he actually works for his family.