As the sun set, the sky and water were dyed red, and the wild geese were singing in the afterglow. The wild geese were singing in harmony with the wind. The geese were calling home geese, and the kind mothers were calling their children softly. The evening was shrouded in smoke.
After summer, there was still a month of work to be done in the field. The weather was getting hotter and hotter. At night, some people who couldn't sleep would go outside to look at the night sky and the stars. Of course, the farmers who were tired from a day's work would not waste their time like this. Only some of the farmers had the leisure to do so.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan ate steamed buns stuffed with chives for dinner. After drinking some spinach soup, they were full. They lay on the couch and soon fell asleep. When they were woken up by Pomegranate about four hours later, they found that there were still people outside who couldn't sleep and were wandering around.
"Xiaobao, everyone's energy is too exuberant. Find something for them to do. Now that they can't sleep at night, when the weather is at its hottest, won't they have to stay awake for the entire night? It will delay their work the next day. "
Wang Juan sat in front of the desk and was ready to study. She saw the light at the back window changing. It should be because the torches in the yard were blocked by people and then left.
"No entertainment will work. If you ask them to play mahjong, they will probably play all night. This means that there is less work during the day. The main thing is that there are more people in the yard. If we divide the work, there won't be much work left. Since they can't sleep, let's study."
Zhang Xiaobao spread the paper and opened the book. He thought of the knowledge he learned from his father and began to review. He admired the energy of these servants. While grinding the ink, he said to Wang Juan, "You can find some things to do during the day.
Let's go up the mountain to pick wild vegetables. If there is fern, let's see if we can find monk's head. It's a four-color flower. Its scientific name is Platycodon. Pick more and pickle it with salt when we come back. Seal the jar and dry it. We can eat it in winter when there is no food. "
"Okay, let's do that. It seems that we need to find more work for them in the future. If they are tired, they can sleep at night." Wang Juan thought it was a good idea. Those who were still wandering outside didn't know that the young master and young lady had found something fun for them.
Early the next morning, most of the people in the two main families' courtyards took their food and drinks for the day and walked up the mountain. The task had been arranged. As long as it was something edible, they had to pick it back. In groups of two or three, they had to be careful of snakes and insects.
When the children who were originally playing in Zhuangzi saw that so many people had been mobilized, they thought that something big had happened and went forward to ask. When they learned that it was to pick mountain vegetables, they gathered together and discussed it. They also went up the mountain to pick. They didn't dare to go too far, so they looked for it nearby. They ate and played while picking, so they didn't feel tired.
When night fell, the children first delivered the things to the main family. Although they were small, their speed of picking mountain vegetables was not slower than the adults. A group of children actually got two big sacks of mountain vegetables and put them outside the main family's courtyard, waiting for the people inside to come out and pick them up.
The people in the courtyard should go out to work, so there was no need to give extra pay. The children had been busy the whole day, so of course, they couldn't take it for free. The housekeeper took out some salted duck eggs and gave each child two. The children were satisfied with something, and two salted duck eggs were not a small amount. If they ate sparingly, they could eat for five or six days. They put the duck eggs in their pockets and left happily.
The people in the courtyard came back later. They didn't know how far they had walked, but they were all listless. The dozens of sacks weighed more than three thousand catties. If they were to use salt to pickle them, they would need to use a lot of salt, which was naturally impossible.
They had to pick some good ones and use salt water to brine them. The others were taken to a cool place to dry and hung in a ventilated place. They could be stored for a long time. Those people hurriedly ate dinner and were about to go to bed. At this time, they were instructed to learn to read. The three special class maids in the courtyard were responsible for teaching them.
After learning for two hours, these people finally couldn't stand it anymore. They went back to their rooms one by one and fell asleep. This night, no one was energetic enough to sleep.
"How is it? This method is good, right? We have gained a lot of things and solved other people's insomnia problem. "When they were learning in the evening, Zhang Xiaobao said to Wang Juan.
"Good, but what about the mountain vegetables in two days? What do you want them to do? They can't go to the mountain to chop wood, right? You have to arrange something for them that they can do for a long time. Except for some festivals and during the farming season, they can help. Usually, they don't seem to do much work. "
Wang Juan found that since she found more people to work in the courtyard, there was less work to do. She and Zhang Xiaobao helped to plan most of the work. Efficiency increased, and there was a surplus of manpower. She wasn't stupid enough to let the people in the courtyard live a life of nine to five in the morning and a life of nightlife.
Zhang Xiaobao also didn't want to see so many people idle. It was easy to form a kind of lazy mentality. If they were idle, they could do something by themselves. It showed that they had a yearning for life. But if they were idle and didn't know what to do, it would be troublesome.
They must have a goal, even if it was passive and blindly follow the goal. When he heard Wang Juan ask him to think of a long-term method, he thought for a while and shook his head. "No, we can't imprison them with a long-term job. We must let them feel the freshness of the work at all times.
Pomegranate, Xiao Hong, and Cherries are exceptions. They have already regarded that job as an honor. They love it from the bottom of their hearts. If we change them, they will think that we are denying them.
Let these people pick mountain vegetables for two days. When the time comes, they will pick lotus flowers. County Magistrate Cheng found so many lotus flowers and put them in the pond, right? Let them do that first. After two days, let them raise prawns and crabs. Don't let them be too familiar with it. After a few days, they will change to other things. The others will change with them.
The disadvantage of this is that the animals we raise will not have a high output and will die easily. The advantage is that when they meet something they are not familiar with, if they want to satisfy the master, they have to learn. They learn from the people who did this before. Those people also have to learn from them. "
"I know. In the process of teaching others, there will be a kind of spiritual reward. It strengthens the communication between them. At the same time, it will force them to treat everything seriously. Otherwise, when others ask them, they will not be able to answer. If others say it out loud, it will be embarrassing."
After hearing Zhang Xiaobao's words, Wang Juan also understood. They were using their money to train people. When a person developed the habit of working seriously, they would keep it in other jobs. In order to be able to teach others better, they could only learn hard, think seriously, and sum up some experience.
The two of them wrote a few more lines. Wang Juan spoke again, "In fact, we won't lose much money. The so-called loss refers to the difference between the expected output and the actual output. The transplanted lotus flowers don't cost money. There is a ready-made pond. We can get the prawn and crab seedlings from those who sell prawns and crabs.
I think it's okay. In addition to these things, some of the vegetables in the backyard should be able to be grafted. The same goes for the fruit trees. There will always be new things waiting for them. Continue writing. We will go to sleep after a while. "
Unknowingly, the Dragon Boat Festival was coming. The spring plowing had finished a few days ago. They took care of it a little and waited for the harvest. The first batch of wheat had been harvested. The second batch would be later.
At the same time, the construction of the restaurant in Zhuangzi had been completed. The supply of MSG to the three restaurants in the county had always been the same. They were preparing to use it on their own businesses. Of course, these businesses were not under the name of the Zhang Family and the Wang Family. Zhang Family and the Wang Family had always been pure farmers. The ancestors of the Zhang Family had made some contributions, so they could be considered as the descendants of good and loyal people.
As for the business, it had nothing to do with the Zhang Family. Outsiders were outsiders. They occupied the land of the Zhang Family and the Wang Family. Even the mountain in Little Luoshui was bought by the head of the Zhang Family and sublet. What the sublet did was unknown.
The project in Little Luoshui was not completed yet. The river had to be dug, the dikes had to be repaired, the houses had to be built according to the specifications, and the wharf had to be built. These projects were carried out at the same time, which solved the problem of idle labor in the county. The paths and pavilions on the mountain, as well as the artificial lake below, had to wait until other things were done.
On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, those who picked wormwood and other medicinal herbs also took advantage of this time to pick everything that could be picked. Zhang Family and the Wang Family also bought a lot of things in Zhuangzi this time. It was Zhang Xiaobao who paid for these things to be hoarded. After a while, when the medicinal herbs shop was almost used up, they would be sold together.
On the Dragon Boat Festival, Zhang Family and the Wang Family began to distribute Zongzi to the villagers in Zhuangzi. The restaurant also opened on the same day. Strings of firecrackers rang out as if they were free. County Magistrate Cheng brought some people from the yamen to congratulate them. Zhou Qiong did not lie. He also invited people from the province to eat and drink here for free.
Song Jinggong's reputation spread far and wide, so he attracted many literary friends to come here to support him. These people knew about it two days ago. Every one of them took advantage of the time and worked hard at home to write poems, waiting to show off when they arrived.
Tuqiao Village was such a remote place, but because of the opening of the restaurant, it became very lively. This made the villagers of the three Zhuangzi happy together.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan could not participate, let alone stand at the door to welcome the guests. The adults in the family had all gone, leaving only the two of them to play in the courtyard.
"Xiao Bao, do you think there are any Zongzi that children can eat? Just like us. " Wang Juan looked at other people steaming or boiling Zongzi. She was a little hungry, but she was worried that it would not be easy to digest, so she asked Zhang Xiaobao out of boredom.
"There should be, right? I don't want sticky rice. I'll just use ordinary rice with some minced meat in it. Then I'll wrap it up and steam it in a pot. When the time comes, it will be ready to eat. "Zhang Xiaobao analyzed.
"Don't say anymore. How can that still be called a Zongzi? If that Zhou Qiong comes to ask about it later, we have to answer him correctly. "Wang Juan lay on the chair, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
