Chapter 12 12. Village Chat
The end of February and the beginning of March is a rare leisure time for farmers throughout the year.
The new year has come to an end, and the children have flown away with their families. The swallows on the roof beams have not yet returned. More and more land is abandoned, with withered yellow and gray-brown tones occupying large areas of land.
Except for the green hills in the distance and the vast expanse of greenery, the entire village was lonely and silent.
Today, the fields beside the bamboo forest of the old Song family are bustling with activity again.
“Song Sancheng, what’s going on with your family this year? Are you getting rich and ready to do something big? Do you have to clear up so many fields?”
“Old Song, what are you going to plant? There were two tea trees in the field, so you don’t want them anymore?”
Everyone was invited by Song Sancheng to clean up the fields.
In the corner, the cultivator was rumbling, and before plowing the land, they first had to clear away all the weeds and trees in the field.
Otherwise, the little machine might get stuck.
Fortunately, there are many people, so working together is not only fun, but also very efficient. After clearing one area at the front, the tiller plowed it twice more at the back, and the combination was just right.
Those who came were all about the same age as Song Sancheng.
At their age, they can go out to work, and most factories don’t want them.
Those who do hard work can relax the age requirement, but their bosses are also afraid of getting into trouble.
In addition, people in their forties or fifties, who endured hardships and hardships when they were young, often still have physical ailments and the like...
Staying in the village now means taking a break from work and trying not to burden the children.
Therefore, Song Sancheng said that if he asked people to work, it would not be a good job to bend down and exert force for 150 days, but everyone was willing to come.
As I get older, I also want to have fun.
Song Sancheng also sighed: "This tea is not worth much, and there is still such a large area on the hillside. I haven't taken care of it here for many years... What are you doing with it?"
This is true.
They are not a famous tea town, just ordinary tea in the mountains. After frying it, we take it out for takeout. It costs fifty yuan a pound to drink it and it tastes delicious. There are really not many people outside who are willing to pay for it.
The tea trees in this field are simply the bare ones that could not be seen in the field...
But I’m older!
“Then what do you want to do, you who are tidying up both land and mountains?”
The person asking the question was neighbor Li Baoni.
Speaking of this, Song Sancheng didn't know how to speak.
How to say it?
Your daughter is not going to work and you plan to come back to farm?
How many young people these days know how to farm? People in the village will laugh to death if they tell you!
So he said lightly: "It's nothing. My Tantan works too hard and her body can't bear it anymore. I told her that she needed help in farming at home and let her rest at home for a year and a half before going out. work."
This is true.
Who's young people don't try their luck outside?
Neighbor Li Baoni also sighed: "It's true. My daughter came back during the Chinese New Year with a sallow complexion. When asked, she worked overtime until one or two o'clock - her salary was only so little, and she had nothing left at the end of the year."
Li Baoni’s daughter sells clothes in a chain store. He is sweet-tongued and talkative. Now he is a supervisor. From time to time, he does inventory late at night and travels to expand stores and the like. It is also hard work.
It just so happens that the environment has been bad in the past two years, wages have not increased, and we have to worry about whether there will be layoffs...
Speaking of children, every household has a difficult book to recite.
“I have to take care of my children, send them to kindergarten in the morning, pick them up and send them to interest classes in the evening, and they are not even in the same place. I am so confused when taking the bus. The air conditioner is blowing on every day in the house, so there is no way for us to burn the stove to keep warm.”
“I stayed there for a week and couldn’t bear it anymore, so I decided to come back first.”
As for the old lady at home, of course she still couldn’t bear to part with her grandson and stayed there to take care of her as best she could. Regardless of whether farming is reliable or not, the reason Song Sancheng came up with is pretty decent:
“Tantan also said that the food in the past few years has not tasted as good as before. I thought, since people are staying here anyway, I might as well plant some vegetables and rice for the children, and it will be delicious for myself.”
The villagers were happy to hear it.
"Song Sancheng, now you are the one who farms the most in the village and has become a landlord - when your rice is ripe, I will not buy rice, but yours."
"Yes, yes, I will buy it too. The rice outside looks white. It is all polished and has no nutrition at all. It costs several yuan per pound, and it is not as fragrant as the rice I grew myself before."
Song Sancheng didn't dare to agree: "My family only farms two fields, and it's not enough for my family to share. I won't sell it if I don't."
Who here has never farmed?
When everyone heard this, they were not happy: "The two fields add up to several acres. What, how many kilograms of rice does your family eat a year?"
Song Sancheng also laughed: "What should we do? My rice seeds are good and taste good, but they are expensive. The best yield is one thousand jin per mu. One thousand jins yields 700 jins of rice, which is enough for two or three people. Year."
“Look back, my old man, my old lady, my children’s grandma, uncles, aunts and uncles...don’t every household deserve some points?”
“This is enough for my family to eat.”
The relationship between people in the village is like this. Neighbors and relatives always have to give a little, not more, but they have to show their affection.
●When everyone calculated, it was not much more, but it was definitely a lot: "No, I have to eat your rice this year, otherwise I won't come when your family transplants rice!"
Everyone responded.
What I mean by that is that I am helping to plant rice without asking for money.
Song Sancheng didn't dare to respond: "With just two fields, it won't take us two days to transplant the rice ourselves...Eat, eat, eat. Come and help when the rice is actually harvested. The rice will satisfy you!"
Everyone was laughing and joking. When a field was cleared and ready to be moved, someone finally remembered:
“Then if you clean up these twenty acres of land, just plant a few acres of rice. What are you going to do with the rest?”
Song Sancheng didn’t hide it either: “Let’s grow vegetables.”
"I'm thinking that if we don't spray medicine, we can take the shuttle bus to the market to sell it, so we won't lose money."
That doesn’t mean you can earn much.
Without spraying pesticides, the grass and insects will be layer by layer, and it will be too late for the couple to clean them up, not to mention worrying too much.
What's more, the road is not easy for them to travel. There is a shuttle bus to every village once a day, and it costs 40 yuan for a round trip...
The vegetables need to be fertilized and labored, and so many vendors in the vegetable market are from rural areas near the city. They are closer than them and the competition is greater...
Everything you earn is hard-earned money.
Everyone has made a calculation in their minds. It’s really not a good deal!
But after thinking about it: "That's okay, Lao Song, your family Qiao Qiao has to be watched. We are old and no one wants to work. It's good to grow our own vegetables."
“I’ll come to the field to buy and pick now!”
…
…
Most of the varieties grown in the village are single, and the ripening seasons of each household overlap, so vegetables often need to be bought.
In addition, it is now allowed to sell pigs in rural areas, and you can kill pigs to eat yourself. It is illegal to kill pigs and sell them, so you cannot.
Tantan’s next step is to grow rice, watermelons, various vegetables, chestnuts from the mountains...and beekeepers, because milkvetch nectar is really not to be missed! There are also many wild vegetables.
Raising pigs, dogs, chickens, ducks and geese, as well as fish, shrimps and water chestnuts.
What other crops do you like more? You are welcome to leave a comment!
(End of this chapter)