Defeat natural disasters with farming

Ye Yu picked a few long and straight bamboos and planed them, and cut them into straight bamboo slices. Then he and his second uncle ground the bamboo slices into round shapes with pointed ends on both sides. It has begun to take shape, but the surface is rough and feels a little rough to the touch, and it needs to be polished again with a whetstone.

Ye Lao Er polished it and looked at it, handed it to Ye Yu after a while, and asked, "Brother Bao, is this okay?"

"Okay, thanks for your hard work, Uncle."

The stick needles were smooth, but Ye Yu still felt a little astringent when he touched them. He thought for a while and took out facial oil from the kang cabinet, used his index finger to scoop out a piece and spread it evenly on the stick needles, and the stick needles instantly became shiny shine.

"What's this called?" Mrs. Ye picked it up and asked curiously.

"It's called a stick needle." Ye Yu gestured strangely with a stick needle. He has never knit a sweater, but he just read it in a book last night, and he still remembers the specific steps.

Looks like forty stitches are needed?Because Ye Yu was not proficient, her movements were a bit slow, and she didn't knit for a long time. However, when the old lady saw the situation, she quickly took the needle, "I'll do it, you will teach me by the side."

She is obviously very dexterous, and the stick needle, which is not at all obedient in Ye Yu's hands, is particularly handy in her hands.

Under Ye Yu's guidance, Mrs. Ye quickly succeeded in getting the needle, and there were densely packed small circles wrapped around a stick needle.

The next step is to knit the sweater with the needles up and down. As for the pattern, Ye Yu only chose the simplest one. This pattern looks like wheat ears after knitting, which looks simple but beautiful.

It's just that it takes at least one and a half months for a novice to knit a sweater, so no matter how curious the Ye family is about what the sweater looks like, they can't see it for themselves.

But without a sweater, you can have wool socks or wool gloves. These two are small in size and easier to knit. The three sisters-in-law each knit one in a few days.

Mrs. Ye put down the sweater in her hand, touched the wool socks and said, "It's smaller and lighter than the socks I wear now, but I don't know how to wear them."

Poor people can't afford to wear socks now, even if their home clothes are also made of linen, with a lace sewn on it, you have to tie the lace when you wear it, not to mention the hassle, and it's very painful to the feet.

Ye Yu's feet were worn out by that kind of socks before, and later his mother bought cotton cloth for him and sewed them into socks, which was much better.

"Girl, try it first." Ye Yu gestured the size of the sock, and he knew it in his mind. It seems that his mother specially made a slightly larger one, which can be worn by several adults in the family.

Mrs. Ye didn't refuse. She took the socks into the room and put them on. When she came out, she stamped her feet, and a look of surprise appeared on her face, "It's so warm, it doesn't rub your feet at all."

Ye Yu was sure when he heard what she said, and it was as expected, no matter how many shortcomings the woolen socks have, they are still better than the socks they are wearing now.

Because there is no dyeing, the color of the wool socks is not good. The yellow and white color is slightly dirty, but it is worn in the shoes and cannot be exposed. This shortcoming is not a hindrance.

Now that woolen socks are loved by everyone in the family, woolen gloves are no exception. Compared with leather gloves, which are sweaty and inconvenient to move around, woolen gloves are much lighter, and as far as Ye Yu knows, wool can also be knitted It is more convenient to form a half-finger glove.

"Wool can be woven into such fine things."

Ye Laoer was very surprised, and he couldn't put it down holding the two pairs of socks that Ye Er's sister-in-law knitted for him.

But Ye Yu said: "Wool socks are very warm to wear in spring, autumn and winter, but not so good in summer, it's too hot."

Ye Laoer shook his head when he heard the words, and said in disapproval: "Even if it can only be worn for three seasons, it's good. Who wears socks in summer? Some people in our village don't pay much attention to wearing straw sandals with bare feet."

It's true, it's really impossible to sew a few pairs of cotton socks in summer, and the cold weather here will last longer. From this point of view, wool socks are really a good item.

Ye Yu thought of this, and suddenly remembered that Chu Xufeng seemed to have said that every household in the border town where he lived raised sheep, and there must be no shortage of wool there. This way, he could cooperate with him to sell the woven wool products.

As the saying goes, some things cannot stand talking about.

He just thought of Chu Xufeng, when he saw Chu Xufeng smiling at him in a plain blue shirt with white jade buttons at the door after school that afternoon.

"haven't seen you for a long time."

Ye Yu was surprised, "Why are you here?"

As soon as he said this, he always felt that something was wrong, and quickly changed his words: "I mean, is there anything else you need to do here?"

It seemed that the more he said, the more something went wrong, Ye Yu closed his mouth in despair.

Fortunately, Chu Xufeng understood what he meant, stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "I will stay in Heihe County for a while."

Ye Yu took his hand and walked into the house, "Come in quickly, grandma was still thinking about you yesterday."

As soon as he walked in, he couldn't wait to shout: "Grandma, come and see who is here."

Mrs. Ye opened the curtain, her eyes lit up when she saw Chu Xufeng, and she greeted excitedly: "Brother Xu is here! Come in and have a rest."

Chu Xufeng was placed on the stool by Ye Yu. As soon as he came in, he smelled a faint fragrance, so he asked, "What is so fragrant?"

Ye Yu sniffed it carefully, and then replied: "My mother is making goat milk cake in the kitchen, what you smell may be the scent of goat milk."

Goat milk?Chu Xufeng wondered why the goat milk smelled like smoke.

It was Mrs. Ye who solved his confusion, "It is estimated that the smell of the mugwort that was burnt earlier has not dissipated, and the mugwort bag hanging on the door."

This makes sense, but Chu Xufeng soon had a new question, "What is this goat milk cake?"

He grew up in a border town. It's not that he never drank goat's milk, and his father also tried every means to remove the smell from the wool, hoping to make the soldiers who raised sheep in the border town more comfortable, but it didn't work. Even if goat milk is made into cakes, it still tastes bad.

Ye Yu said mysteriously: "You will know after a while after my mother finishes making it."

In his opinion, goat milk and goat milk cake are also foods that can be eaten with Chu Xufeng.

He thought for a while after saying this, put down the book bag in his hand, went to the kitchen and brought two bowls of hot goat's milk, and placed them next to Chu Xufeng and Jia Yi respectively.

"Have a bowl of hot goat's milk first."

Chu Xufeng picked up the bowl and took a sip. The goat's milk with rich frankincense flavor amazed him as soon as he tasted it. The goat's milk tasted very strong, like honey, and there was a bit of smell in the tail, but this did not affect its delicious taste. , On the contrary, it brings out the sweetness even more.

"How is it?" Ye Yu looked at him with a pair of shiny cat eyes.

"It's delicious!" Chu Xufeng praised, and after he put it down, he pondered for a while, "You guys have a way to get rid of the smell of goat's milk."

Although it is a question, it is a positive tone.

Ye Yu was not surprised, he took out wool socks and wool gloves and put them in front of them.

"It's made of wool. I remember that every household in Jingbian City raises sheep, right?"

His implication is naturally self-evident.

Hearing this, Chu Xufeng fell into deep thought again, stroking the woolen socks with his hands, looking thoughtful.

Ye Yu pointed to her room and said, "You can go inside and try it on, the size should be right."

"it is good."

Chu Xufeng responded, and then took the socks into the room and changed them. As soon as he put on the shoes and stood on the ground, he felt that the socks had fully covered his feet, soft and comfortable. Compared with ordinary socks, these wool socks were more comfortable. Skin-friendly, no looseness at all.

Apart from covering your feet a bit when you wear it in summer, there are no other problems.

He was thoughtful, and when he looked at the wool gloves on the table, many thoughts came to his mind, such as the sheep raised in Jingbian City finally had other uses besides killing them for meat.

Goat milk can be used for desserts, and wool can be woven.

His father had been thinking about how to get rich for so long, but he didn't expect it to be presented in front of him in this way.

When Chu Xufeng came out, Mother Ye had already brought out a plate of goat milk cakes. They were squeezed together layer upon layer, which looked extremely attractive.

There were people from the village waiting at the door of the house. As soon as they saw the goat milk cake in her basin, they gathered around and picked out each other. Basically, everyone bought a copy.

It hurts when someone pays for it, but once they get the goat milk cake in their hands, they don't care about the money, and their hearts and eyes are full of sweet goat milk cake.

Chu Xufeng looked at it carefully for a while, and then turned and went in after hearing Ye Yu call his name.

"You also eat a few pieces of goat's milk cake to pad your stomach. Grandma has already gone to the kitchen to make dinner. Today is considered a blessing. I happen to have fresh carp at home, so I can make braised carp."

There is no need to repeat the delicacy of the goat milk cake, anyway, Chu Xufeng and Jia Yi ate it full of praise.

During dinner, Mrs. Ye asked him, "Do you have a place to live now?"

Chu Xufeng put down his chopsticks and replied, "Don't worry, I have brought three guards with me this time, and they will live in my grandfather's house together."

His maternal grandfather, Zheng's family, was a second-rank member of the court before he became an official, but his descendants did not live up to it. After all these years, the most promising son was only a talented official to the county magistrate of Heihe County.

This time he came here because his grandmother was seriously ill, and maybe he couldn't survive for a few months, so he had to do his filial piety for his mother.

The Ye family already knew who his grandfather was, so they were all relieved and didn't say anything more.

It was not early when Chu Xufeng came, and the two of them had to leave after eating.

Ye Yu sent them to the entrance of the village, and took out Tian Huangshi's seal on the palm of Chu Xufeng in the slightly drunk evening wind.

"Hey, return it to its original owner. I will keep it for you."

Chu Xufeng held the seal tightly, and touched Ye Yu's head with the other hand, "Then thank you, Brother Bao."

Before he left, he seemed to think of something again. He stopped and asked, "Did someone carve your Tianhuang stone?"

Ye Yu shook her head when she heard the question, and replied, "In such a short period of time, where can I find a master sculptor with good craftsmanship?"

"Then you might as well hand over Tian Huangshi to me. The master who carved the seal for me has returned to Jingbian City. I'll send it to you after he finishes carving."

Seeing the hesitation on Ye Yu's face, Chu Xufeng explained: "My father has a kindness to Master Liao, and he regards good materials as his life. Even if such a piece of Tianhuang stone can be carved upside down, he is willing to come."

Ye Yu felt that what he said should be the truth, so she also gave him her piece of Tian Huangshi.

"Is the name engraved on Ye Yu?"

"No, just the word Yu."

Yu who is also the brilliance of jade.

Ye Yu watched the two of them go away, and waited until they could not see their backs;

Turning around and going home, he discussed with Mrs. Ye who was knitting a sweater under the oil lamp, "Grandma, the private school will not go to school tomorrow, I want to go to the county with my second uncle to find my father."

I have to discuss with his father how to do this wool business.

Mrs. Ye nodded, "Go, it just so happens that Brother He is also on vacation tomorrow, so you two will take him home together."

The martial arts school stipulates that they can rest for three days in the middle of each month, and these three days are naturally the days for disciples to reunite with their families.

"No problem!" Ye Yu thought of his second brother, and it was weird to not see him for a month.

"Grandma, the light is so dim, stop knitting, and wait until tomorrow."

Mrs. Ye stopped, patted his head, and said comfortingly: "Baby knows how to love grandma, okay, I won't knit, let's talk about it tomorrow."

"Go and wash up."

Before going to bed at night, Mother Ye took the burnt mugwort and smoked it around the house, and she took great pains about it.

"When you were just born, you didn't fumigate the house frequently in the summer, and a long worm crawled into the house in the middle of the night. Fortunately, it was not poisonous. Even so, it was a shock."

Ye Yu is actually quite afraid of boneless animals, especially snakes. He shrank his head after hearing this, "It's really scary."

"It's not, but don't be afraid. Over the years, it's only one time to get worms. As long as you smoke it every day, those snakes, insects, rats and ants are not willing to crawl to places that smell disgusting."

"And the sachet I sewed for you, remember to wear it on your body every day, it also repels mosquitoes."

Ye Yu nodded obediently when she heard the words, but it was another night without dreams.

Early the next morning, Ye Laoer took Ye Yu to the county seat in a donkey cart. The donkey cart was full of slaughtered chickens, ducks and geese, as well as various vegetables such as cabbage and winter melon.

Father Ye, who was arranging things in the shop, saw Ye Yu come in, and quickly stepped forward, "Brother Bao, why are you here?"

Ye Yu told his father all about his ideas about cooperation. Firstly, they had an idea, and the Chu family had materials, so they just joined forces; secondly, the Chu family had a big business after all. It can resist one or two.

The most important thing is that he learned from Chu Xufeng that Jingbian City is basically a city where soldiers and civilians live together, and many soldiers will get married there, thus forming a unique atmosphere there.

Moreover, the emperor of the dynasty emphasized civility over military affairs, and the military expenditures sent every time were short of catties, not to mention how many battles were fought outside the city due to the raging bandits outside the city. Military expenditures alone would definitely not be enough for these expenditures. Most of them had to be figured out by General Chu himself.

If they can really cooperate, it should be able to improve the living conditions of the local residents, at least...

Ye Yu thought, at least the bloody and sweaty soldiers should not be allowed to eat chaff.

Father Ye didn't expect his son to think so far. He thought for a while, and said decisively: "You tell me to think about this matter first."

"it is good."

This is not a trivial matter, and Father Ye must consider it carefully.