Bianshanhan [farming]

The candy sold to the shop can be settled immediately, and after getting the second candy money from the salesman Qiu, the heavy pile of copper coins almost caused the Li family's house to be overturned.

"So much money, our family has so much money at once!" Li Qinghong was so happy that he didn't know what to say.

Jiang shi didn't speak, but her eyes were red with excitement. It's not just because of the money, but because she feels that she has great expectations in the future. She has just started doing it and there are so many in the account. If she continues to do it in the future, she should not be wrong. .

Li Qingfeng put his arms around Li Qingwen's neck and murmured for a long time, "With this money, I can have enough food for half a year."

Children also know that copper coins represent delicious food. Three-year-old Li Zhengming drooled looking at the copper coins, "Eat meat!"

Looking at the shining eyes of the big and small children in the family, Li Maoxian was happy again, but also a little sour in his heart.

Mrs. Chen counted the copper coins several times, put away the money under the scorching gaze of the crowd, and did not forget to tell: "Don't go out and talk nonsense."

I am happy today, the smell of lamp oil is not so pungent to Li Qingwen, his head was restrained by the little brother, he turned his head and said: "Father, let's talk to Uncle Tan, let's buy back those guys from your craftsman first? "

At his words, those sitting on the kang and those standing on the ground were stunned for a moment. Mrs. Chen glanced at the head of the family, but said nothing.

Li Qinghong nodded, "Zai'er has been thinking about this, it's good to give some more money, those things have been used by Dad for many years."

Li Maoxian stretched out his hand and stroked his youngest son's head, "Zai'er, Dad knows you have intentions, but even if we have money, we can't buy this thing back."

"Why?" Li Qingwen asked puzzled.

The others didn't understand either, they all looked up at Li Maoxian.

"Father cherishes those things, and you, Uncle Tan, know that he has always liked them, but he has never opened his mouth to me. This is what is said in the book, 'A gentleman does not take away people's love'." Li Maoxian said: "Our family needs money. When I was looking for you, Uncle Tan, not only did he not take the opportunity to lower the price, but he also insisted on giving me more, just for this kind of love, and he couldn’t take it for us.”

There was a moment of silence in the room, Li Qingwen nodded, "Father, I understand."

After Li Maoxian got the money, he immediately went to the county to buy the glutinous rice back. It was a little late when he arrived at the village. The next day, he and the Chen family weighed the glutinous rice and returned it to the few families that had borrowed it before.

When Mrs. Chen returned the rice, she also brought maltose. Although the glutinous rice was only borrowed for a few days, it could not be borrowed for nothing.

It is very common for neighbors to borrow and return things directly. Those families were embarrassed to accept them. Mrs. Chen had a sharp mouth and said a few words.

Someone in the village has already started reclaiming the land, and Li Maoxian also took out the sickle at home to sharpen it. The wind in the past two days has been a bit embarrassing, only the two nurses have added a layer of clothes, and the adults still have the same layer of unlined clothes.

On the day when Li Qingwen's family harvested the crops, before dawn, there were noisy voices in the yard. When Li Qingwen got up, he was shocked to see twenty or thirty people standing in the dark outside.

"Uncle, we know where your land is and which piece to cut. Let's go there first."

"Yeah, Uncle, it's really cold standing up, but when I work, my body gets warm..."

Generally speaking, at this time the whole village is busy with the autumn harvest, and no one comes out to help. These people are not only from the Li family, but also from the south and east of the village. Li Qingwen has never seen many faces.

Mrs. Chen put the fire on the stove and came out to greet people to come in for breakfast. People who came waved their hands one after another, "Don't worry about it, auntie, we've already eaten."

Some people directly said that they came to help because they wanted to finish collecting his land early so that they would have free time to grow sweet sorghum.

Of course, not all of them are sweet sorghum grown at home this year, and there are other ideas.

If sugar can be squeezed out, everyone will plant it next year. There are not so many seeds, and only Li Maoxian knows where to find them, so he has to bother to buy them.

With so many people waiting, Li Maoxian didn't bother to eat, so he just grabbed a warm pancake and went out.

Li Qingwen and the others went up the mountain after eating, and they had already mowed more than two acres of land. The sorghum stalks were still wet at this time, and they could only be pulled back after drying in the field. He pulled the cart out of the ground with a heavy breath.

More people work faster!

It was the first time I saw so many people working on a piece of land, and the surrounding people frequently looked at it, envious.

Those who came to help brought their own sickles and pockets, and went straight to the next one without stopping.

Li Qinghong was still able to follow these people to do things. Li Qingwen and Li Qingfeng were stuffed into a pocket, and went to pick up the fallen sorghum ears in the harvested fields.

Every household has more or less labor, and the young and strong will naturally have to do heavy work. The work of picking up tassels in the field is mostly done by the elderly and children. Li Qingwen and his brother stand out among the crowd of people with cat waists and buttocks.

The two brothers took their elder nephew to walk twice in the field, and the tassels they picked up were only put in the bottom of a pocket, and they didn't dare to stay, so they hurriedly chased to the next field with their pockets on their backs.

The land of the Li family is only a dozen acres. With so many people coming, they harvested it all in less than a day. The sorghum and millet tassels were put on the yard behind the village to dry. After finishing their work, these people went home on their own. , I didn't eat at Li's house at noon or evening.

Afraid of delaying others' land requisition, Li Maoxian and the Chen family did not insist on keeping them.

At this juncture, everyone is rushing to harvest crops. Regardless of the day or night, as long as there is light, you can see that people will definitely not go home in the field.

It was a cold day in autumn, and in the morning of the next day, Li Qingwen was covered with a quilt, barely showing his belly, and the cool wind came in through the cracks in the window, and only for a while, his stomach rumbled, and he quickly got up and ran outside to the latrine .

Li Qingwen squatted in the latrine for a while, Li Maoxian and the others went to Qianjie to cut off half an acre of sorghum in the courtyard, and pulled it back.

The two sugarcane beds had been washed by splashing water a long time ago, and they were properly placed in the middle of the yard. A circle of people gathered around something like a wooden bench, watching without blinking.

The so-called sugarcane bed is a simple tool for squeezing juice. It looks like a bench at first glance, but it is actually not much more complicated than a bench.

A circular groove is cut on the surface of the bench, and an opening is opened from the circular groove to one side of the stool surface. This opening is oblique, so that after the juice is squeezed out, the things placed in the circular groove can flow down the opening to the next bowl Or in a basin. (Note: 1)

Two wooden sticks are nailed to one side of the stool, and a beam is inserted between the sticks. A pressure plate is placed under the beam, and a protruding piece of wood is put on the place where the pressure plate is next to the round groove when the pressure plate is flat on the stool.Using the principle of leverage, put the straw on the round groove, press the pressing plate, the straw is flattened, and the soup in it will flow out along the round groove and the opening. (Note: 2)

Li Qingwen had drunk ready-made sugarcane juice in his previous life, but he had never seen the juice squeezed. He saw the sugarcane bed in a museum, and he remembered it because of its simple shape. He didn't expect it to come in handy at this time.

Under the watchful eyes of a group of people, Li Maoxian plucked off the leaves of sorghum stalks, put the freshly cut lower end on the sugarcane bed, pressed down with the other hand, and the light-colored juice was pressed out.

This kind of sorghum stalk is greenish, not very thick, nor very hard, and it is not difficult to squeeze, but there is not much juice in the stalk. After pressing a whole stalk, there is only a thin layer of juice in the bowl, and there is no groove. There are many left in it.

Seeing this, the excited expressions on the faces of the surrounding people became a bit dull.

One sorghum stalk needs to be pressed more than a dozen times. How long does it take to press so much straw in one mu of land?

Moreover, this thing doesn't seem to produce much juice, and it seems that it can't be squeezed out even if it is squeezed hard.

When the surroundings became quiet, Li Maoxian said, "This is just an ink job. The fields are busy now, so you can do whatever you want. Don't stare at it. No matter how much you produce, cook sugar at night!"

Hearing this, some people who joined in the fun hurried away. Some people felt that they had wasted so much effort. Their ancestors had planted sorghum for so many years, and they had never heard that straw could be used to make sugar. It was more outrageous than dreaming. !

There are also some people who are seriously suspicious and think that Li Maoxian may have done it on purpose. He said that he didn't make it before, so why can it be done this time?I'm afraid it's not a fool who helped his family reclaim the land.

Seeing the shallow juice dripping down, most of the people who stayed were disappointed, but no one said anything. After all, Li Maoxian told them a long time ago that this thing may or may not work. Can't complain about anything.

After all, Li Maoxian's family didn't grow a single sweet stalk sorghum this year, so it wasn't for him to make such a fuss.

The groove of one of the sugarcane presses was a bit narrow, and the juice would flow to the side. Mrs. Chen took a large bowl and put it under it. It didn't produce much juice in the first place, and it would be a pity to waste it.

While rubbing the dried tassels, Jiang looked at the middle of the yard, and felt a little nervous. If there was such a big commotion before, if nothing could be made out, some bad words might come out again.

She doesn't really care about those long tongues, but her parents-in-law want face, and it will take a while if they don't keep them together.

After pressing and pressing, I found some tricks, such as how to save effort and time.

Juicing by two people saves the most time. One holds the straw and passes it up the round trough, while the other holds the board and presses it. When tired, they switch positions and repeat the action.

At this time, Li Qingwen began to miss those juicers from his previous life, it was so convenient.

The two sugarcane beds started to be pressed at the same time, and the stalks that had been squeezed out of juice were messy, but they could still continue to burn in the sun.

Before noon, there were only some half-grown children left in the yard. Some of them greeted Lin Maoxian when they left, and some left without saying a word. As for the ones whose faces were not very good-looking, Li Maoxian didn't say a word Character.

There are a lot of straws in half an acre of land, but no matter how many there are, they are pressed one by one, and the juice is filtered by a fine cloth, and then poured into the pottery pot in the house, one bowl after another, and in the evening, a stack of straws It turned into a pile of dregs, and the squeezed juice was not contained in two large pots.

Those who just came back from the field were unwilling to give up, so they ran over to take a look, but they surprised themselves, "This, these are all pressed out today?"

Not to mention them, even Li Qingwen, who has been squeezing the juice, was surprised. It was really a mountain of soil and a tower of sand. It was difficult to squeeze a bowl at the beginning. Who would have thought that so much could be squeezed out in one day! !

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Note 1: from the network

Note 2: from the network