NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16 Autumn Harvest
After several consecutive days of autumn rain, the rice fields were not drained in time, causing heavy losses to the tenant farmers in Liujia Village. Three acres of seedlings in the ten acres of rice fields owned by Shu Xi's family died.
Fortunately, there were five consecutive days of sunny weather, and the seedlings grew again.
The floods had just subsided, but then the temperature returned and the rice was gradually maturing. Mao Xi remembered the words of the street beggar Lao Li Tou that day. He predicted that there would be a locust plague and that the rice must be harvested early. So even though some of the rice was not yet ripe, she and her mother-in-law Chen harvested it ahead of time.
With Luda's help, harvesting became much easier. Neighbors saw that Mao Xi had harvested in advance, so they followed suit and harvested in advance.
"Brother Luda, did Brother Muyuan say when he will come back?" While harvesting rice, Mao Xi did not forget to ask Luda about Mu Zhiyuan's current situation, guessing that there might be letters from Feige among them.
"Perhaps something delayed, or maybe you harvested the rice early, and Muyuan miscalculated the time to return to the village." Luda has an open-minded and straightforward temperament and works hard. Before his own sweet potatoes were harvested, he came to help Maoxi's family harvest them. rice.
"Brother Luda, when the rice harvest is finished, I will help you harvest the sweet potatoes. I also pickled some crispy bamboo shoots and bacon at home. Remember to pick them up later."
"Those who know me well will love wine and bacon in my life!"
Lu Da was strong, and he could harvest 2 acres per person in one day, which was as much as Mao Xi and Chen combined. Three days later, all the rice and sweet potatoes in the field were harvested.
After harvesting the millet, the weather was still hot. Mao Xi and Chen spread the millet in the yard to dry, turning it back and forth with a wooden rake from time to time.
"Ah Xiao, I have finished the autumn harvest these days and brewed the glutinous rice wine. When are you going to send it to Qingxiang Tower?"
"Auntie, I'll wait until the millet is dried and harvested before I go. If no one is watching, I'm afraid birds may steal the food, and the fields will have to be plowed again so that they can be cultivated next year."
When the rice fields were just earing, there were flocks of birds pecking at them. Fortunately, she inserted a wooden pole in the rice field and tied it with a red cloth strip and a fake eagle to avoid any losses.
"After Xiaodouzi comes to school, let him look at the millet while I go to work with the oxen to plow the fields." After Chen's illness, his body has gradually returned to normal work, but Mao Xi usually doesn't want his mother to run around and set up a stall in the town. She did it all herself.
"I'll go find the owner of Qingxianglou in the afternoon and make an appointment with him to deliver the wine."
Xiaodouzi came to school from Songjian Academy, and Mao Xi picked him up at the door.
She took over the cage that Xiaodouzi used to go to school: "Let me see, what have you learned from Xuexue Su recently?"
"Sister, it's "The Thousand-Character Essay" and "Hundred Family Surnames"."
"What have you learned in "The Thousand-Character Essay"? Read some to my sister."
"The sky and the earth are dark and yellow, the universe is ancient...cold comes and summer comes, autumn harvests and winter hides..." Xiaodouzi kept chanting all the way, but he still didn't finish his thoughts and kept chanting.
Liu Mingxi briefly looked through it, and found that she only saw some traditional Chinese characters that she rarely saw. It was basically fine to read in the Huai Kingdom, but she didn't know calligraphy.
When they arrived at Qingxiang Building, Mao Xi met shopkeeper Hu and agreed to deliver the goods tomorrow and pay the balance on delivery.
A bucket of wine weighs 25 kilograms. We agreed with Shopkeeper Hu that we would send ten buckets of wine in total. She went to a rental shop and rented a donkey, which she could use to pull the cart. With the money, she could rent a shop right away.
She led Xiaodouzi and walked from Beixunmen in Lihua Town to Hengjie, passing through corner shops and tiled railings, looking for a suitable place to open a small restaurant. She searched and searched, but she still liked the place where she originally set up a stall. Location, there are several small shops for rent here, after much thought, I decided to rent here.
Early the next morning, Mao Xi drove a donkey cart carrying a cart of glutinous rice wine to Qingxiang Tower in Lihua Town.
Qingxiang Tower is located on the east side of Cross Street, where there are many people and it is very lively.
A stage was set up next to the restaurant, and a song was being sang. There were a lot of spectators in the audience, and the three of them were having fun among the crowd. One person was shirtless, his long braid was grabbed and torn to the left, and his right arm was grabbed and held behind his back by another person.
Liu Mianxi tried his best to stay away from these three people and carefully drove the donkey cart to Qingxiang Tower.
Behind the rioter, there was an old farmer carrying a bag of grain on his shoulders. He drove three donkeys past, each carrying a bag of grain and flour. The donkeys were frightened by the rioter and kept barking, "Yeah!" When one donkey brayed, all the donkeys followed. The donkey in front of Maoxi's wine cart was also frightened, and screamed "Yeah" and seemed to be running around.
Mao Xi was afraid that the car would overturn, so he hurriedly stepped forward to comfort the donkey, but the donkey brayed even more fiercely. At this moment, a black figure appeared in front of him.
This man was dressed in dark casual clothes and was very agile. He was able to subdue the frightened donkey with just one move.
"Ah Shao, are you okay?" came a familiar voice.
"Brother Muyuan! You're back!" Mao Xi took a closer look, and her expression was bright. This was the brother Muyuan she had longed for.
Seeing that the donkey calmed down and stopped making noises, Liu Maoxi hurriedly sent a cart of wine to Qingxiang Tower. Shopkeeper Hu checked the wine and paid the remaining 15 taels.
Mu Zhiyuan accompanied Mao Xi to the market to buy some vegetables and grilled meat, and then returned to Liujiacun together. There was a drought and locust plague in the north. I thought the locusts flying south would affect the harvest, but I was very happy to see good harvests of local rice and sweet potatoes.
In the evening, Mu Zhiyuan and Lu Da had dinner at Ah Shu's house. Shu Xi took out two frozen fresh bamboo shoots from the space cold storage and prepared to stir-fry two dishes. One was Lu Da's favorite "stir-fried bacon with pickled cabbage and fresh bamboo shoots." , and the other dish is the cold "Three Crispy Soup".
"The taste of mountains and forests is naturally sweet." The three-crisp soup is a cold dish with wine. It is made from materials from the mountains. Cut wolfberry leaves, bamboo shoots, and wild mushrooms into shreds and blanch them in water. After draining the water, add sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, and pepper. , salt, mix well.
I ate this three-crispy glutinous rice soup on the street once after closing its stall at the night market. I didn’t expect it to taste so fresh and crispy. The food of Huaihe is worth exploring.
Mao Xi took out the remaining two jars of home-brewed glutinous rice wine and gave it to Lu Da: "I am harvesting rice this autumn. Fortunately, Brother Lu helped me. I gave the two jars of rice wine to my elder brother for a drink."
Luda accepted them all without any hesitation.
"Brother Muyuan, will you stay in Liujia Village in the future?" Shu Xi asked cautiously.
"I will stay at Luda's house from now on. If you still need help on the farm, just come to us!"
"That's great~" Xiaodouzi jumped up happily when he heard that Mu Zhiyuan would live in Liujiacun forever.
After the meal, Mu Zhiyuan left Ah Shao's house with Lu Da, who was slightly drunk.
"I gave you wine and millet, but you drank half the jar." Mu Zhiyuan complained.
Lu Da burped, holding a jar of rice wine in each hand and a strip of bacon in his hands, and staggered home with the support of Mu Zhiyuan.
"I...I, Luda, am happy today! Brother Mu...well, no, Mu Zhiyuan, you said it. From now on, we will no longer care about the affairs of the world! Just open up wasteland and plant sweet potatoes in Liujia Village."