Bianshanhan [farming]

It was late at night when the sugar was boiled, and even though the smell spread out with the heat, no one came to watch the excitement, which saved the effort to deal with it.

When it was about the same time, Chen and Jiang started to make candy, Li Qinghong and Li Qingfeng took over the two pots in the house, Li Qingwen had to guide and paste the words, so he couldn't be distracted.

It's not difficult to make candy, but it's really a bit taxing for the eyes to see the real thing under the dim oil lamp.

Li Qingwen secretly made up his mind that next time he must not boil sugar at night.

I don't know if Zitang is selling well. For the time being, I only made ten catties, and there are two catties of sesame noodles left. This is not much, and it will be used for other purposes later.

This time, I made a lot of sugar, and it took a long time to boil the sugar. When the first pot of sugar liquid was boiled, I could hear the crowing of chickens in the village.

I deliberately made different amounts of sugar water in the pots without openings, and put out the pots one after another, staggering the time to pull the sugar.

This time, there is too much sugar to pull with both hands. One end of the sugar is hung on the wooden wedge, and the other end is passed through with a clean wooden stick. Li Maoxian holds the wooden stick, stretches the sugar and puts it on the wooden wedge, repeating .

At the same time, Li Qingwen also scooped up the sugar juice to reconcile the remaining sesame noodles.

When the sugar is white, twist off a section with hemp rope. Regardless of the hot hands, Li Qingwen quickly rolls the white sugar and black sesame noodles into a few circles, then rolls out a few pieces of dough with different widths, and stacks them in order , and finally wrapped in black and white dough.

The hotter it is, the easier it is for the sugar to stretch. If it cools down, it won't be easy to shape. Without gloves, Li Qingwen can only bite the bullet.

Or pull the sugar ball apart like making word sugar, until it is about the same width, and cut it with a knife.

Last night, Li Zhengliang was driven by his mother to sleep with his younger brother. He got up early and sat around the table for a long time. He reached out to pick up a piece of cut candy, and said "Wow", "Black ears, black nose, Black eyes, it looks like there's a dog on it!"

Jiang stared at the candy for a long time, and said, "Zai'er, isn't that a word?"

Li Qingwen nodded and said, "Sister-in-law, this is a panda head."

"What is a panda?" several people asked.

Li Qingwen thought for a while and said, "The most popular bear in the world..."

"Hey, they really look alike." Mrs. Chen looked puzzled, "Look, these black eyes are really big, they look quite rare."

Li Qingwen: "..." The big ones are not the eyes, but dark circles.

"Zai'er is really amazing, he can even draw pictures in candy." Jiang looked at the panda candy from both sides, with an incredulous expression on his face.

"Uncle, why does this bear look so much like a dog?" Li Zhengliang said solemnly: "Grandma Seven's dog looks like this."

"A dog's face is not so round." Li Qinghong looked carefully, "The ears are not like this either."

Li Zhengliang immediately threw the candy into his mouth and said loudly, "I ate the bear!"

Everyone burst into laughter, and hurried to replace Li Maoxian after laughing. Pulling candy is not an easy job.

After the three pots of sugar were pulled out, it was broad daylight, and the whole family stayed up all night. After cutting the maltose, they quickly lay back to catch up on sleep.

Li Qingwen slept for a long time yesterday, but he wasn't that sleepy yet. When he was making panda candies, his palms were scalded, but now it hurts so much that he didn't fall asleep after lying down for a while.

Mrs. Chen didn't go to bed right away when she returned to her room. She searched the closet for a long time and found a small box.She took the box to the west room and saw her little son lying bent over, knowing that he was not asleep, she whispered: "Zai'er, does your hand hurt?"

Li Qingwen turned over when he heard the sound, and Mrs. Chen pulled his hands over to take a look. Both palms were red, but there was no blister.

Feeling distressed, Mrs. Chen opened the box in her hand, dipped the white ointment inside and rubbed it on the palm of Li Qingwen's hands, "This is badger seed oil, it's not for burns, be careful not to get wet these two days..."

After applying the ointment, the palms of his hands were not so dry and painful, Li Qingwen nodded again and again.

"Teach mother about this, and Zai'er won't have to suffer this crime in the future." Chen Shi said.

Li Qingwen shook his head, "Mom, I will work a lot in the future, so I won't be afraid if my hands get rough."

Seeing how well-behaved he was, Chen couldn't help but think of the gossip about his youngest son when he didn't understand things. With a sore nose, he patted Li Qingwen's arm, "I'll put the ointment on the side. If it hurts, just rub it on."

Fearing that the ointment might get on the kang, Li Qingwen was thinking about how to put his hand more comfortably, when he saw his third brother's hand groping under his body, and without feeling wet, he retracted consciously.

Li Qinghong watched his younger brother for nearly ten years, and Li Qingwen knew that the habit would not change for a while, and he and they both needed time to get used to it.

There are more than a dozen roads leading in different directions around Liushan County, and each road extends to the surrounding area, connecting dozens of large and small villages.

Villages closer to the county seat are usually wealthier than villages in the ravines. Villagers do not waste their time in planting the vegetables they grow at home, firewood collected from the mountains, and chickens and ducks raised at home to sell in the county seat.

At first glance, this kind of income is not much, but it can't stand the accumulation of time. After a few years, ten years, or decades, the family's wealth is not a little bit richer.Because of such a good location, it is very easy for the villages near the county seat to marry a wife. Just a good day.

Those villages nestled in ravines are not so beautiful. Most of the people there only grow crops, and how much they eat depends on the face of God. Some people have never even been to the county seat from birth to death.

The remote and closed villages are not completely closed to foreign affairs. Every year, people come to the village to collect taxes and food.

Every once in a while, the sound of bells came from the path in the mountains. At this time, the children in the village had ears that were stronger than dogs, and they ran madly towards the path at the entrance of the village.

The shopkeeper carrying the burden was surrounded by a group of children as soon as he showed his head. The two baskets in front of and behind the burden were where the children stared. There were many things in here, including colorful papers and sweet snacks.

The shopkeeper came under the big tree in the village, and the kind aunt scooped up a bowl of water. After the shopkeeper finished drinking, he gave the auntie's little grandson a hard white object the size of a finger, and said, "My dear boy, eat it, it's sweet."

The four or five-year-old baby licked it with his tongue, and his eyes suddenly lit up, "It's so sweet!"

He licked it happily, and the children around him drooled and asked what it was.

"This is maltose, made of the best grain." The salesman fanned his clothes to the wind. Although the hottest time had passed, he was still sweating profusely after walking down the mountain road for dozens of miles.

The child was so greedy that he couldn't stand it, so he ran home and begged the adult, but the adult's clothes were grabbed, and he was persuaded after a while, and went to the tree to ask the shopkeeper how the candy was sold.

The peddler said that it would be fine to exchange grain and mountain products, half a catty of sugar for a catty of millet or dried mushrooms, more sorghum, and half a catty of sugar for two catties of sorghum.

The small village is in the mountains, and there are no stretches of land. They are all on the hillside, in patches, the big ones are only one or two acres, and the small ones are as big as half a yard.It's just that the mountains on their side are all soil, and crops have been planted in every corner. After a year, the harvest is not bad.

This year's situation is good, so they may collect a few more buckets of grain, and people who live in less difficult times will readily exchange a catty and a half catty of sugar, give a few pieces to the children's sweet mouth, and use the rest to entertain guests during the New Year.

However, most of the villagers exchanged millet for sugar, which tastes better than sorghum, but one catty of millet is not worth two catties of sorghum to fill their stomachs.

Seeing someone change the candy, the other children became even more greedy. They patted their chests and told their parents that they would eat less and work more, not run around, and go up the mountain to pick more mushrooms.

Under the big tree, except for children, women are the most numerous. After covering the mouths of their children with sugar, the women began to exchange needles, thread, brains, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar they wanted. Those who can exchange things will not cost money.

People in the village went out to sell grain, and the wheelbarrow traveled so far on the mountain road. When they arrived at the county town, the people in the grain shop picked and picked, dried and sifted, and classified them into upper, middle and lower grades, and finally brought back dozens of them with a sigh. Hundreds of dollars.

The fact that money is hard to earn is like a brand, deeply burned in everyone's mind.

Needlework and daily necessities are essential, and there are many things that can be replaced, such as eggs, rabbit skin, horse's mane, human hair, etc. Of course, the hair is not cut, it falls off when combing Don't throw it away, rub it together and tangle it together. If you have a large family, you can save a large group in a month.

The bell rang non-stop with the wind, and more and more people came to exchange things. The things in the peddler’s burden were replaced with food and miscellaneous things. If he said that, he would leave the village tomorrow with a load on his shoulders.

When he was leaving, the children in the village followed him a long way, and asked him when he would come back, the shopkeeper responded with a smile, and then the children had sweet hopes.

The seventy catties of malt candy sold by Qiu Merchant and Papa Qiu were finished in a few days, and the word candy and panda candy were brought to the shop in the county by Qiu Merchant. Because they were fresh and convenient, they sold very smoothly. The word candy was auspicious, and the panda candy was loved by children , even if it is not very sweet, it is not worried about selling.

The Qiu family father and son brought more than 200 catties of grain over, and the story of the Li family selling sugar for money quickly spread throughout Yangshu Village.

The earthen walls in the village are not as high as Li Qingwen's, and all the houses are next to each other, so they can't hide anything.They lived in the front and back, and everyone knew what they ate for three meals a day. Li Qingwen's family made a lot of candy. At the beginning, the villagers only knew what they were eating.

When someone asked about it, Li Qingwen's family didn't shy away from it, and said it generously.

Li Qingwen didn't care what the village chief said. With the money and food, he first calculated the profit and loss of this candy business in his heart, and finally found out that only [-] catties of maltose earned [-] to [-] catties of grain, and he sold Zitang and Panda Candy. The money converted into food is more.

In fact, the grains used for the two kinds of sugar are not much different, but because the people who buy them are different, there is such a big difference in price.

Those who exchange maltose are ordinary people. In order to get a sweet bite for their children, those who buy word candy and panda candy are more rare. The family is not short of such a candy, and they don’t care if it costs one or two copper coins.