Joe's Farming

Qiao Yu and Gu Feng helped in the shop for several days. After Wen Ge'er and others got the hang of it, he completely handed the shop over to Wen Ge'er. Wen Ge'er had learned simple arithmetic and some common words from him since the first day he set up the stall with him. So now he can barely keep track of the accounts. Every day he would give the money he received and the account book to Qiao Yu. In this way, there was nothing valuable in the shop and there was no need to send someone to guard it.

Qiao Yu hired Linda's bullock cart to pick up Wen Ge'er and his friends every day. Because the store was short of staff, Qiao Yu also hired Wen Ge'er's younger sister to help. In this way, Qiao Yu really didn't have to worry about the business of the snack bar except collecting money and paying wages. Wen Ge'er was also very helpful. Although there were many typos in the accounts he kept, he never made a mistake.

Qiao Yu and Gu Feng were busy decorating their new house at home. There were not enough furniture, so they had to customize some, and the yard needed to be tidied up. Gu Feng made a plug for the bamboo pipe connected to the mountain spring, wrapped it with a layer of rubber band, and plugged it in to block the pipe mouth, so that tap water could flow smoothly.

They made some money these two days, about 7-8 taels of profit every day, so Qiao Yu gave her husband 20 taels to buy some big things for the family. For example, Gu Feng wanted to add a big water tank in the yard and raise some fish. He found that her husband and children liked to eat fish. But there was no one selling fish in Shangtian Village, so they ate less.

Qiao Yu certainly supported it: "Okay, okay, we can also buy some water lily seeds and plant them to make them look beautiful when they bloom. And there are fish, they can eat mosquito larvae, so we don't have to worry about mosquitoes growing in the tank."

Gu Feng didn't understand how his husband could think of growing mosquitoes in his little head, but as long as his husband was happy, he was happy.

When the new house was almost ready, Qiao Yu and Gu Feng bought oil paper and started to paste the windows with the whole family. The rice paste was thick, Qiao Yu was responsible for cutting, the three children were responsible for brushing the rice paste, and Gu Feng and the grandfather were responsible for pasting.

There are eight rooms in total, and except for the main room which is open, all of them need to have window paper pasted on them.

It took the family two afternoons to finish pasting it, and then they waited for the furniture to be customized, cleaned the house and moved.

Frost Descent is here. It is the last solar term in autumn. After about a week, the temperature will drop sharply and it will rain.

Qiao Yu led the children and Gu Feng to pick persimmons in the backyard. Qiao Yu and Xiaoxing put their shirts in their pockets, and Gu Feng threw the persimmons in. Some persimmons fell by themselves, so Xiaoxue and Xiaoyan went to pick them up. The two treasures picked up a few, and Gu Xiaoyan secretly took a bite.

The little face was wrinkled.

Qiao Yu laughed out loud when he saw this: "This persimmon needs to be soft before it can be eaten. It's very bitter now."

Gu Xiaoyan pursed her lips embarrassedly, it was really bitter.

Soon, a full basket of persimmons was picked. Qiao Yu kept half of them, letting them slowly soften on the tree and then pick them when they were ripe. The picked persimmons were already red, but the flesh was still hard, which was best used to make persimmon cakes.

Qiao Yu washed the persimmons with clean water, drained them, and then sat in the yard to peel them. The persimmon stems must not be removed.

Xiaoxue asked curiously: "Little Daddy, why do you have to peel it?"

"It's to make dried persimmons. You'll know in a few days."

Xiaoxue nodded.

Fortunately, the family had bought a lot of bamboo screens and bamboo winnowing baskets for drying things, and Qiao Yu took advantage of the good weather to peel all the persimmons in the basket. Of course, he couldn't move that fast alone, so Gu Feng felt sorry for him and sat down to peel them with him.

After peeling the persimmon skin, Xiaoxing planned to throw away the persimmon skin.

Qiao Yu hurriedly stopped him: "Don't throw it away, dry it separately, you will need it to cover the white frost later."

The children helped their two fathers to place the peeled persimmons on bamboo screens and bamboo winnowing baskets to dry in the sun.

Looking at the neatly arranged persimmons, Qiao Yu clapped her hands and said, "Alright! I hope the sun stays out for the next two days. Wait. We'll be able to eat sweet persimmon cakes in a few days."

During these two days, Qiao Yu came over from time to time to turn the persimmons over. After two days, the persimmons became soft and wilted due to being dried in the sun, so he pressed them down with appropriate force and continued to dry them in the sun. After repeating this for a few days, the persimmons were almost dried.

The next step is to cover the white frost. Qiao Yu prepared a wooden box that was used to store old clothes, and put a layer of persimmon peels and a layer of persimmon cakes in it. Finally, because it was not full, he put some straw to press it down. After covering it like this for about ten days, white frost will grow. The longer it is covered, the more white frost there will be.

The persimmon cakes are actually edible at this time, but because Xiaoyan had been fed up with the astringency of persimmons before, he was not the first to ask to try them this time.

Qiao Yu didn't force him. She broke it in half first and shared half with her husband.

"Is it tasty?"

Gu Feng nodded: "Glutinous and sweet."

Qiao Yu only kept a few for tasting. When Xiaoxue heard this, she took a small bite of one. After making sure that it was exactly as her father said, she ate all of them with a smile on her face. Xiaoxing gave one to Grandpa and Xiaoyan, and took one for herself last.

Qiao Yu smiled: "There are still four left, take your time to taste. Persimmons are delicious, but you can't eat them on an empty stomach, and you can't eat too much, or you'll get a stomachache, you know?"

Every winter, he sees news reports about people who ate dried persimmons and developed gastric perforation or gastric stones. Considering the current level of medical science, he must make this point clear.

The children all nodded solemnly, they would definitely not eat more.

-

Before the persimmons were dried, Qiao Yu and his family moved into their new home. The new home has three bedrooms, two guest rooms, a main room, a large kitchen, and a shed for firewood and fodder. The entrance to the cellar is on the ground near the kitchen. The cellar is deep and has enough space to store food. Qiao Yu also divided the area, with vegetables, chestnuts, and sweet potatoes separated. Ice can also be put in in winter, so if enough is stored, there will be ice available in summer. It was this cellar that cost Gu Feng five taels of silver to hire someone.

Because Grandpa and Xiaoxing didn't want to move, Qiao Yu and the others found someone to build a brick bed in the large bedroom where they had lived before, and then remodeled the chimney and other things.

The moldy thatch on the original roof was replaced with a thicker layer. The roof of the new house was also thatched, which is better than tiles for keeping warm in winter. During those days, the children and adults were busy mowing the grass, and all the grass on the surrounding hills was mowed.

We hired an old craftsman from the village to weave the straw mats, which were dense and strong. Xiaoxue and her family used their room as a storage room, and then we took down the wall of the main room to build a door, which was reinforced with a wooden frame. The fence in the backyard was also taken down and connected to the vegetable garden of the new house, so that the yards on both sides were connected and the two houses became one.

Qiao Yu looked at his home with satisfaction. The vegetable garden had doubled in size, the water source had been solved, and Brother Gu didn't need to fetch water every morning and evening. The area of ​​the front yard had also doubled, so there was no problem growing flowers and grass. In the modern world, he would be a rural tycoon! He was very happy.

However, Qiao Yu couldn't lie down for the time being, because the family now had more land, and he had to make plans in advance. But before that, he remembered that his husband had promised him to take him hunting. He didn't have any requirements for himself, as long as he could catch a rabbit, or a pheasant, and if that didn't work, he would just treat it as a hiking exercise.