Li Xiulan had known for a long time that the children would be coming back today, so she killed a chicken early in the morning and stewed it with mushrooms. The sweet-smelling grandchildren kept surrounding her.
"Auntie and Third Aunt are back." Gu Hong led her two younger sisters and stood at the entrance of the courtyard. They just saw Gu Xingping and Chen Lishu and hurried back to report to Li Xiulan.
"How old are you, why are you still so unsteady?" Zhang Qin saw her running, and behind her, Gu Feng and Gu Pan also ran back like little ducks with their hands tied. They were afraid that the two little ones would fall, so she scolded them.
Li Xiulan smiled and nodded Gu Hong's little head: "They say that adopted daughters follow their aunts. This is absolutely true. Xingping was like this when she was a child."
"Mom, what are you saying behind my back?" Gu Xingping immediately shouted dissatisfied when she heard her name as soon as she entered the door.
"Did you see that it's still like this at such an old age?" Li Xiulan laughed, and Zhang Qin couldn't help but laugh too.
"Xiao Song, go to the mountain to see why your father and the others haven't come back yet so that we can have dinner." After Li Xiulan ordered Gu Song to call someone, she turned around and greeted a few people into the house.
Chen Lishu sent the bag she was carrying to her room. When she came out, she asked curiously: "My dad and the others went to the mountain?"
"The cantaloupe garden will be opening in the next two days. There will be people coming to see it early in the morning. Your dad and the others should go over and keep an eye on it."
This year, in addition to growing medicinal materials, they also planted more than ten acres of cantaloupe melons on the mountain. Chen Mandun took good care of them. They are big and sweet and crispy. They will be sold in a few days.
A few people were talking, and Gu Shoufu and Gu Xingguo came back. Everyone set the table and started eating.
Because she was worried about the situation on the mountain, she told her family after dinner, and then went to the mountain.
In just a few months, the mountain has changed drastically. Twenty-five thousand saplings have been planted in the ground. The breeze blows, and the thin branches seem to say hello to Chen Lishu.
In the relatively flat area, dandelions, evening primroses and potato seedlings are blooming with large yellow, pink and white flowers, which are beyond beautiful.
Chen Lishu walked up the winding steps. Halfway up the mountain, there was a red brick house with ten rooms. The house was surrounded by branches as screens to form a large yard. In the yard, hundreds of half-sized chickens were walking back and forth and pecking at each other.
Food.
"Girl Li Shu is back?" Hu Si'er was about to pick up Lin Dazhong after dinner. When he saw Chen Lishu as soon as he went out, he happily walked two steps to greet her and said with a smile: "I heard from your dad early in the morning that you were coming back.
."
His eyes fell on the cigarette bag in his hand: "Uncle Fourth, are you going out?"
Hu Si: "I went to the melon field to work with Lao Lin. I saw the melons were ripe and I was worried that someone would steal them."
There are chickens and other things at this end of the house, and they also need someone to watch over them.
"It just so happens that my fourth uncle and I will go over there to take a look."
Hu Si locked the courtyard door and the two went to the melon field together.
Because it was the first year of development of barren hills, the soil quality and fertility could not keep up, so a total of about 13 or 14 acres of melons were planted. According to estimates by Chen Mandun and Hu Si, the yield per acre was only about 400 kilograms, which is relatively
Compared with melons grown on cultivated land, the difference is more than 100 kilograms per mu.
Although the output was a bit low, the quality was definitely good. Before she even got there, Chen Lishu smelled a sweet smell from afar.
"This year, we are the only ones growing melons in our eight villages in ten miles. People came to make reservations early. This crop of melons is the best, and some people even paid 40 cents a pound." Hu Si said with some excitement.
Since the opening of the rural market, many smart people have come up with something to sell. This melon is a rare thing. Although every family will plant two of them on the courtyard wall, Chen Lishu is the only one in the eight villages with a large area to plant it.
One serving.
A simple melon shed was set up in the melon field. After greeting Lin Dazhong, Hu Si went to the field to pick a melon for Chen Lishu, rinsed it with water and handed it over.
Chen Lishu broke it open and took a bite. It was indeed sweet and crispy.
"Old Chen is really good at growing melons. When they sprout, plant them, and pinch the tip to know what is missing in the melon seedlings." Lin Dazhong still admires me when he talks about it.
This may be because chickens have their own reasons for not peeing. Chen Mandun is usually said to be honest and arrogant, but in fact he has a rather cowardly personality, but he is really good at growing melons.
Chen Lishu chatted a few more words with the two about the situation on the mountain, and then walked back with Lin Dazhong.
When returning to the village, Chen Lishu went back to her parents' house to sit for a while before returning home.
Because the opening of the road brought great convenience to the village, Chen Lishu took the car to the town early the next morning.
There are only two shuttle buses passing through the village every day, going to the town at 7:30 in the morning and returning from the town at 2:30 in the afternoon.
It was only after eight o'clock when Chen Lishu arrived in town. She didn't go to the store. She went straight to the medicinal materials company.
It was already July, and in a month or two it would be the harvest season for dandelions and evening primroses, so she was anxious to go to the medicinal company to check on the situation.
"...There are about twenty acres in total, yes, there are dandelions, evening primroses and a small amount of isatis root."
After hearing what Chen Lishu said, the other manager clicked his lips, frowned and said, "This problem of yours is a bit difficult to solve."
"When we purchase several medicinal materials, we sign a supply and demand contract with the team in the first year. Otherwise, the purchasing station will occasionally collect some loose medicinal materials. If such a large area as yours suddenly needs to be sold, it is not within the scope of our plan.
ah."
This was indeed Chen Lishu's lack of consideration. She only learned later that generally before planting, they would sign a supply and demand contract with the medicinal material company to determine the number of acres to be planted and the price. In her current situation, she was actually very passive.
If no one collects it, it will definitely rot in the ground, which is equivalent to a year of work in vain.
"Can't you accept it at all?" Chen Lishu looked at the other party and smiled: "Can you please be accommodating and make the price cheaper?"
She had inquired before coming here and found that the prices of several medicinal materials were about the same, at eight or nine cents per catty. If the medicinal material company was willing to accept it, she could accept it if it was a cent or two cheaper.
The man clicked his mouth again, shook his head and said with an embarrassed look: "It's not about how much it costs, it's just that your thing itself isn't worth much. We worked hard to get it back, but it has no other use than taking up space."
Chen Lishu knew that he was just trying to bargain down the price. After all, medicinal plants were relatively rare nowadays, so it was impossible for them to be useless as he said.
After thinking about this, she went straight to the point and said, "Manager Yang, just give me a price."
The man looked troubled: "How do you ask me to give you a price? You have planted so much, and our company will definitely have a backlog if we buy it."
The man hesitated and refused to give the price.
Chen Lishu already knew that the man already had a price in his mind, and just wanted to wait for her to panic and retreat before taking advantage of this big deal at the lowest price.