"Grandpa and grandma, we are not allowed to go back tomorrow, and we are not allowed to have a holiday. We have to stay in school to make up for classes. We will not have a holiday until we get our academic report cards." After the last test of the day, Xiang Jin and the others were having dinner.
When she was there, she said to her grandparents.
"Oh, it's okay," her grandparents nodded, and then her grandma said, "Are you still going to have self-study tonight?"
Xiang Jin said, "Teacher is considerate. You don't need to do the evening self-study tonight to let everyone relax for a while, but you will have to do the morning self-study tomorrow morning."
Yan Chen said, "We have to study in the evening."
"Your class still has evening self-study?" Xiang Jin was surprised, and Xiang Jin's grandparents were also surprised.
"Yeah," Yan Chen nodded slightly.
Xiang Jin complained, "Then your head teacher really controls you very strictly. He doesn't even give you a moment to breathe. It seems that our head teacher still has some human touch."
Yan Chen said, "We will spend the first half of the time talking about the comprehensive test questions that we have not finished before, and the second half of the time will be used for class meetings."
Xiang Jin immediately changed his words and said, "Then your class teacher is still a bit humane."
Everyone at the table laughed.
Then her grandfather asked, "Your test results will not be available until a week later?"
"Yeah," Xiang Jin nodded.
Her grandparents were calculating in their hearts, and then her grandma said, "When will it be then? The 23rd of the twelfth lunar month or the 24th of the twelfth lunar month?"
Xiang Jin said, "Twenty-fourth of the twelfth lunar month."
"Ouch, it's already so late?" Her grandmother was a little worried in her heart, "Then will it be too late to let you, Aunt Liao, and the others slaughter the New Year pig? Didn't you say that your Uncle Tao will be on the 27th or 8th of the twelfth lunar month?
Are you coming? Then where will there be bacon for him to drag back?"
Xiang Jin said, "That's right."
Yan Chen suggested, "Why don't we call back and ask Aunt Liao and the others to kill the pig in these two days and help us marinate the bacon. Anyway, they all know how to marinate the bacon."
How to make it, we can pay her when we go back?"
Xiang Jin frowned slightly and hesitated, "But they are so busy, how can they have time to help us marinate bacon? In the past, your grandpa and grandma had time in the afternoon, so they could still help us, but now they
I also have to pick vegetables in the afternoon.”
Then Xiang Jin and her grandparents suggested, "Well, your grandpa and I will help you pickle the bacon. We will follow them to the vegetable store. They will stay there."
It’s almost two hours, and two hours is almost enough for us.”
Xiang Jin looked at Yan Chen, "What do you think?"
Yan Chen hesitated for a moment and then nodded and said, "Then I'll leave it to Grandpa Ouyang and Grandma Qiao!"
Xiang Jin's grandmother waved her hand and said, "Oh, it's okay, it's okay. We don't have anything to do at home anyway, so it's a good thing to go out and stretch our muscles."
Xiang Jin and Yan Chen nodded, and then Yan Chen said, "Then I'll call home later?"
Xiang Jin nodded, "Okay!" Then she looked up at her grandparents, "Grandpa and grandma, I will write you a list then, and then you will follow my list when you go to the vegetable market tomorrow.
As mentioned above, buy some spices and salt and bring them back to make bacon.
In order to avoid wasting time by frying salt when we get there, let’s just do everything right here, and then we can just rub it on the meat.”
"Oh, okay, okay," her grandparents nodded, and then her grandmother asked, "How high should the salt and spices be mixed and stir-fried?"
Xiang Jin said, "Until the salt turns slightly yellow, then it must be completely spread out and cooled before it can be bagged."
Her grandparents nodded again.
After dinner, Xiang Jin and Yan Chen went to call home first. After agreeing on the time to slaughter the New Year pig with them on the phone, Yan Chen went directly back to the classroom for evening self-study, while Xiang Jin went directly home.
.
When she was writing the recipe for the marinated bacon with her grandparents, she said, "Aunt Liao and Grandpa Zeng said that they would slaughter the New Year pig the day after tomorrow. I told them that we would prepare the marinade here and let them do it.
No need to prepare."
Xiang Jin, her grandparents, nodded and said, "Yes, it should be," and then her grandmother asked, "When we slaughter the New Year pig the day after tomorrow, should we just slaughter your pig first, or all three pigs?"
Xiang Jin said, "All three will be killed!"
"Aunt Liao and Grandpa Zeng are so busy, why don't you come over? They still have to pick vegetables?"
Xiang Jin said, "Come here if you're busy, Aunt Liao said she would teach her two brothers and nephews from her mother's family to come over and help."
Her grandparents nodded again, "Oh, that's good, that's good! Are you going to slaughter them the day after tomorrow?"
"Well, it will be slaughtered in the morning the day after tomorrow. After it is slaughtered, they will ask the pig butcher to cut up the meat. When the time comes, you can just start rubbing salt on it!"
Xiang Jin handed the written list to her grandparents, "I have seen Aunt Liao's pig before. Aunt Liao said it weighed about two hundred and twenty or thirty kilograms. Now it has grown for a month, and it should be in
It weighs two hundred and fifty-six pounds.
According to long-term practice, a pig weighing 200 kilograms can produce about 150 kilograms of meat, and three pigs can produce a total of 600 kilograms of meat.
I mixed this marinated meat according to the ratio of ten to one. This kind of marinated meat will be neither salty nor bland, and the taste is just right. So you will have to work harder tomorrow. You will have to fry sixty pounds of salt.
come out."
Then her grandma asked, "We also need to stuff some sausages, which weigh about thirty kilograms. Can you deduct some of the salt from that?"
Xiang Jin said, "Oh, that's not true. Thirty kilograms is only about three kilograms of salt. Then you can buy three kilograms less tomorrow."
"Oh, okay!" Her grandma said, but her grandpa said, "That's not necessary. What if Aunt Liao and Grandpa Zeng's pig is as big as that, and they will need to use more than sixty kilograms of salt.
I think it’s better to prepare them as heavy as sixty pounds, and they can still use them for food when they are not used up.”
Her grandma nodded again, "I think it will work!"
Two days later, when she came home from school for dinner in the afternoon, Xiang Jin asked her grandparents, "Is the salt you brought enough?"
Her grandparents nodded and said, "That's enough, that's enough!" Then her grandmother added, "The salt is not used up yet, at least there is about ten kilograms left."
"So much is left?" Xiang Jin was a little surprised.
Then her grandma said, "If the meat, ribs, etc. are all marinated into bacon, the amount you calculated would be appropriate, but your Aunt Liao and Grandpa Zeng will also have to fill it with sausages.
Also, your Aunt Liao’s meat was given to her natal brothers and her parents, who also took some back with them, about ten kilograms or so.
As for our meat, we cut it for the proprietress and her family, weighing about five kilograms, and gave it to the young driver who pulled the goods, about three kilograms.
Usually they often bring us food and never charge us a penny. They always take care of you when you eat at their house. The young driver who pulls the goods is usually kind and righteous.
Nowadays, there are very few pigs in rural areas that do not eat compound feed, so we cut some for them and show our appreciation."
Xiang Jin nodded, and then her grandma continued, "Well, Lei Jia and his family have brought us ingredients several times before, so when we passed by the street, we also dumped a few kilograms of meat for them.
There, plus we brought some fresh pork back to eat, as well as the meat for sausages, so there was so much pork that did not need to be cured, so there was so much salt left.
.”
Xiang Jin asked, "Then we don't have much cured bacon at home?"
Xiang Jin and her grandfather said, "It's about fifty kilograms, but it's almost enough. Last time we bought dozens of kilograms of meat at the vegetable market and marinated it into bacon."
Xiang Jin nodded, "That's okay. Let's make a few more cured fish then."
Yan Chen suddenly laughed and said, "You are quite persistent about this fish, and you will never forget it!"
Xiang Jin said, "That's because I made so many cured fish last time, but I didn't even taste them properly. I was really at a loss."
Yan Chen nodded, "Okay, then we will have a holiday and go to Miyun Reservoir."
Xiang Jin smiled proudly, "Okay, okay!"
Xiang Jin and her grandparents also smiled, but their eyes were filled with doting and helplessness.
"Hey, why are you here today?" In the blink of an eye, the day came for Xiang Jin and his school to issue final exam transcripts, and this day was also the official winter vacation for Xiang Jin and his entire third grade of high school. Xiang Jin returned from the class meeting
When I got home, I saw Ouyang Bo sitting carelessly in the living room, flipping through the TV channels.
Ouyang Bo immediately pressed the remote control to turn off the TV, and then gave her a thumbs up, "Awesome!"
"What?!" Xiang Jin saw some fresh food placed on the coffee table, so he reached out and took one from it, then opened it and ate it. Without thinking, he knew that it was brought by Ouyang Bo.
Ouyang Bo said, "I was standing by the playground with my grandparents today, and I saw you and Yan Chen receiving high scholarships at your school's commendation meeting. Well done. I'm happy for you."
!”
Xiang Jin said, "I thought you were talking about something, but it's actually nothing. We get scholarships every time, so we don't have anything to show off."
Seeing her indifferent look, Ouyang Bo's eyelids twitched uncontrollably, and he teased, "Are you a typical person who becomes soft-hearted after receiving a scholarship?"
Xiang Jin said, "I don't have any mercy. No matter how much money I have, I will still be able to take it. It's just that I'm used to it."
"Domineering!" Ouyang Bo gave her a thumbs up again, and then extended his hand to her, "Show me all your exam papers?"
"Under that pile of books, you can look through it yourself." Xiang Jin was tearing up a snack bag, and his hands were not free, so Ouyang Bo had to look for it by himself. Then when he saw the nearly perfect answer papers,
, he couldn't help but burst out again, "Monster!"
This heaven-defying academic performance is simply excellent. There is not a steel fork, and there is not a half-crossed and half-crossed one. Apart from a patch of pink hooks, there is still a patch of pink hooks. It is simply a 100% accuracy rate.
ah!
Even those with the best academic performance in their school could not have such a perfect answer rate.
Xiang Jin's grandparents heard her voice and walked out of the kitchen with smiles on their faces, "Xiao Jin is back?"
"Well, I'm back. Grandpa and grandma, are you cooking?" Looking at the apron her grandma was wearing, Xiang Jin first nodded to them and then asked.
"Well, prepare early. Don't you want to go back to Grandma Mo and the others after dinner?" Her grandma nodded, and then the two elders nodded towards her.
Ouyang Bo asked, "I just came here and you are going back?"
Xiang Jin said, "That's not bad. I'm leaving. You can stay with your grandparents for a few more days. Then grandma will sleep in my room, and you and grandpa will sleep together."
Ouyang Bo said, "Hey, why can't I just sleep in your room?"
Xiang Jin pretended to be disgusted and said, "I don't want you to sleep in my room, you stinky boy, you will stink up my sheets and quilts, so you are not allowed to sleep in my room!"
Ouyang Bo was not happy to hear what she said, and retorted unconvincingly, "Hey, how can I have the smell of sweat? Smell it, smell it, I don't have any odor at all.
I usually love to be clean, okay? No matter it’s sunny or rainy, summer or winter, I have to take a shower almost every day, okay?”
Xiang Jin pushed him away and said, "I don't smell it. I don't care if you smell bad. In short, you just can't sleep in my bed!"
"Why? I'm your brother, your biological brother, what's wrong with me sleeping in your bed?" Ouyang Bo was puzzled.
Xiang Jin said, "No reason, I just don't like others touching my things!"
Ouyang Bo asked, "Am I someone else? I am your brother, your biological brother! Then why can grandma sleep in your bed?"
Xiang Jin nodded and said, "You don't need to stress, I know you are my brother, but that is only a biological and genetic relationship, and the emotional relationship between you is far from the one between me and my grandparents."
Intimate familiarity, so you can’t sleep in my room!”
Ouyang Bo opened his mouth, but was immediately silenced.
Seeing the two brothers and sisters bickering, Xiang Jin and her grandparents didn't care. They just laughed and laughed. Then her grandma asked, "Why didn't Xiaochen come back with you?"
Xiang Jin said, "He was talking to his head teacher, so I came back first."
Her grandparents nodded.
Xiang Jin suddenly remembered something, and after putting down the half-eaten snacks in her hand, she took out a thick wad of money from her down raincoat pocket, and then counted them directly from it.
She came out with two thousand yuan and handed it to her grandma, "Take this, and you can buy whatever you want to buy by yourself!"
Ouyang Bo stood by and watched in a daze, and at the same time he was a little envious. It would be great if he had the ability to get a high scholarship, so that he could also be very proud of their grandparents.
I would like to donate a dozen dollars to honor them both.
"Hey, what's this for? This is your scholarship. You can keep it yourself." Her grandparents naturally refused to accept it.
Xiang Jin said, "I know this is a scholarship, but the scholarship must be used," she said, taking a step forward, and then directly stuffed the wad of money into her grandma's hand, "Take it,
Then I won’t be too lazy to save it!”
Her grandma then said, "Didn't you say that you would also reserve land to grow fruits?"
Xiang Jin said, "It's not like you're short of money." After that, she counted out another five hundred yuan and gave it to Ouyang Bo, "Here's this for you, you can use it to make scraps!"
Ouyang Bo was startled, looking at the money in his hand, he suddenly couldn't laugh or cry. At the same time, he also felt a little uncomfortable in his heart. He, the elder brother, was actually stuffed with money by his sister who was several years younger than him. His elder brother also felt uncomfortable.
He seems to be so incompetent and incompetent. It seems that he has to work hard to succeed. Otherwise, it would be too shameless to ask his sister to give him money every time.
Looking at his changing expression, Xiang Jin knew what he was probably thinking. He was probably a little embarrassed and inferior, so he said, "I usually don't have the habit of putting too much money on me. This money
I lent you the money to spend. When you have money later, you can give it to me to spend the money!"
Sure enough, Ouyang Bo looked much better after hearing what she said, so he nodded and said, "Okay, then I will keep this money for you. If you need it later,
, just tell me and I’ll give it to you!”
"Okay!" Xiang Jin nodded slightly, then looked at her grandparents again, "How much was the total money for the pork at Aunt Liao's house last time?"
Her grandma said, "It's one thousand six hundred and eighty yuan, but we only gave us half a piece of pork, which costs five hundred and seventy yuan, because you said you and Xiao Chen paid for that one pig."
I had to go back and give it to you, so we didn’t give it to you.”
Xiang Jin nodded, "Yes, we will pay it ourselves. That's 1,110 yuan?"
Her grandma nodded, "Well, yes!"
"Okay, I got it. We'll pay Aunt Liao when we get back," Xiang Jin nodded, and then put the remaining money in his pocket.
Then her grandma asked, "Do you have enough money there? How about you take some of this money back?"
Xiang Jin said, "That's enough. I still have more than 1,800 yuan here, which is completely enough. Besides, Yan Chen also has money there."
Her grandparents nodded, and then the two old people went back to the kitchen to prepare lunch. Only Xiang Jin and Ouyang Bo were left in the living room. Suddenly Ouyang Bo took out a picture book from his backpack.
The book full of maps was handed to Xiang Jin, "Oh, by the way, my mother asked me to bring this to you. She said you needed it, but I almost forgot about it!"
Xiang Jin took it and started reading it, and then asked, "Dad, do you know what the situation is over there now?"
"You mean to discuss growing vegetables in greenhouses?"
"Yeah," Xiang Jin nodded slightly.
Ouyang Bo said, "It seems that we have some clues. We have been convening leaders from various counties for a meeting in recent days, but the meeting does not seem to be going very smoothly.
Some people agree that the city should vigorously develop planting, animal husbandry, and fishery and animal husbandry, but some people hold objections, saying that the most important thing now is to build new canals and reservoirs.
When summer comes, our area is prone to drought, and water from the Miyun Reservoir cannot be diverted. People have to rely on manual labor to fetch water from wells to irrigate crops, which is very inconvenient.
Some county leaders in remote areas say that if you want to get rich, you must first build roads. If the roads are impassable, it will be useless to plant things that cannot be exported. So now there are three different opinions.
But now the money available to the city’s Ministry of Finance is very limited. If several projects are carried out at the same time, the finances will inevitably be very tight.”
Xiang Jin nodded, "That's true, but as long as it's not hardened roads and paved with cement, asphalt, and cobblestones, it's not that difficult.
It is okay to let the cadres and comrades of each village community organize and mobilize their local farmers to build a wider dirt road. After all, this is what they want to walk. I believe they can understand that there will not be much of a problem.
problem."
Ouyang Bo nodded, "Well, dad and the others said the same thing, but there are still two things that are difficult to solve. The most critical thing is the new water conservancy project. So dad said if it doesn't work, let's move in the direction of Miyun Reservoir.
Several districts and counties in China will first build pilot planting and breeding bases, and then other districts and counties with drought and water shortage will build water conservancy projects first. However, in this case, it is estimated that this project will have to be postponed for several years, but by then
If the time comes, we will probably lose the opportunity.”
Xiang Jin nodded, "It's indeed possible!"
Ouyang Bo then added, "Well, at the back of your book, Mom put some pieces of paper for you. On them are some soil pH test results of various districts and counties. Take a look."
Xiang Jin turned to the back of the book and saw several neatly stacked papers lying there. She took them out and unfolded them, and then started to read them carefully. As she looked, she saw
There was actually a piece of barren sandy land up there, and the area was quite large, covering dozens to hundreds of acres. She was immediately happy.
Seeing the excitement on her face, Ouyang Bo stretched his neck and looked at the paper in her hand, and then asked with some confusion, "Did you discover some treasure?"
Xiang Jin raised his eyes and glanced at him, then with a smile on his face, "It is indeed a treasure land, but I will keep it a secret for now and I will tell you later!"
About half an hour later, Yan Chen arrived, and Xiang Jin waved to Yan Chen, "Yan Chen, come on, come on, I have something good for you to see."
"What?" Yan Chen walked over and sat down on the stool next to her.
Xiang Jin handed him the book that recorded the regional history of each district and county in their city and the pH test report of the soil in each district and county that her mother had brought to her, "Look, the main thing is to read the words on these pieces of paper.
of."
Yan Chen nodded, then lowered his head and looked at it seriously. Then he pointed to the barren sandy land above and said, "This land is not bad!"
Xiang Jin's eyes suddenly narrowed with a smile, "You think so too, right?"
Ouyang Bo turned his head to see what they were talking about, and when he saw the barren sandy land, he immediately said with disbelief, "No, this is just a piece of sandy land, what can be grown?"
No one wants it!”
Xiang Jin told him, "Growing food crops is indeed of little value, but it can be used to grow other crops, such as watermelons, melons, grapevines, pear trees, etc."
Ouyang Bo asked, "You can't get anything out of water, how can you survive farming?"
Yan Chen said, "These crops do not require much water, they all like sunshine, and they can also grow peanuts, as well as some Chinese medicinal materials such as salvia miltiorrhiza, Codonopsis pilosula, skullcap, astragalus, licorice and so on.
"
Ouyang Bo saw how confident they were in their words, but he still had some doubts, "Are you sure?!"
Yan Chen asked him back, "Have you ever eaten cantaloupe and grapes from northern Xinjiang, and that fragrant pear?"
Ouyang Bo nodded, "I've eaten!"
Yan Chen said, "The soil in that place is drier than in our place. It rarely rains all year round and is exposed to strong sunlight. But you can see that the cantaloupe there is very sweet, and the grapes and pears are also water-free.
Very sufficient.
So if we choose to plant these fruits in this place, it should be feasible. There is a river next to this sandy land. I think the river written on it seems to have never been dry. If it is irrigated,
It would still be convenient.”
Xiang Jin nodded, "Yeah, I think so too! The key is that I discovered that this sandy land was not sandy land at the beginning. It was originally cultivated land for agriculture. It was created because people had excessively cut down the surrounding trees in the past.
Gradually being deserted, people felt that
The yield of food grown on it was not very good, and the government later encouraged land reclamation in the south of the river. Therefore, as people gradually moved south, that land was directly abandoned.
, it was later taken back by the government."
"Well, that's true. The county records also contain the names of the villages of the people who lived on that land before," Yan Chen also said.
Then the two of them will check which district or county that place belongs to, and then they will have someone talk to the district or county government of that place about contracting the land.
Seeing that the two of them had directly decided to lease the piece of desert land, Ouyang Bo felt that they were too hasty, so he said, "No, you really want to rent that piece of land? Don't blame me."
Let me remind you, you have to rent such a large piece of land, be careful when the time comes, you will lose everything if you take the contract, right?
I think you should be more cautious. Look at these, these are places with abundant water. I think it is much safer for you to pick a piece here than that place."
Xiang Jin nodded and said, "Thank you for the reminder, but we think the future income of this land should be good, and we also think that based on the current situation, the rent of this land should not be very expensive."
Yan Chen said, "Let my grandpa or your aunt go to the local government to find out first."
"Okay," Xiang Jin nodded, and then sighed, "It's a pity that time is too tight. Otherwise, I really want to carve out two pieces of land and plant one into grapes and the other into pear trees.
.”
Yan Chen said, "The same goes for planting watermelons and melons first. This can be planted at three times a year, and the results are the fastest. If you plant grapes and pears, it will take at least several years to bear fruit."
Xiang Jin nodded, "That's true."
After lunch, Yan Chen and Xiang Jin were about to go back, and then Yan Chen sent an invitation to Ouyang Bo, "Would you like to stay in the countryside with us for two days?"
Ouyang Bo was immediately surprised, then he looked at his grandparents and then at Xiang Jin and Yan Chen, "I'm going to stay in the country for two days? Is it convenient?"
Xiang Jin and her grandparents were also smiling.
"Well," Yan Chen nodded slightly, "It's not inconvenient. My grandpa's house has many rooms, so you don't have to worry about having a place to live. Xiang Jin and I plan to go to Miyun Reservoir in the next two days to buy some fresh fish.
If you are fine, you can come with us then."
Ouyang Bo became extremely excited after hearing this, "Really? Oh, yes, yes, I'm fine, I'm fine, I haven't been to Miyun Reservoir yet!" As he said that, he looked at his grandfather.
Grandma, "What about grandparents, then I can go to the countryside with them to stay for two days?"
Their grandparents did not stop them. After all, young people should have their own circle and way of life. Instead, they said, "I'm going to help your Grandpa Zeng and Grandma Mo, or Xiaojin and her Aunt Liao to harvest the vegetables. Don't be too old."
Just for fun?"
"Yeah, got it!"
So the next three people carried their backpacks and walked out of the room together. Seeing that he only had a suitcase in his hand, Xiang Jin asked Yan Chen, "Oh, by the way, you won't come next semester, then
How do you deal with the sheets, quilts, and other daily necessities in your dormitory?"
Yan Chen said, "Except for bringing back the sheets and quilt covers, everything else was distributed to the students in the dormitory."
After Ouyang Bo heard this, he was surprised again, "Why, are you no longer studying in this school?"
Xiang Jin explained to him on behalf of Yan Chen, "Yan Chen's household registration is in the provincial capital, so he has to go back to the provincial capital to take the college entrance examination. In order to adapt to the questions in the provincial capital, he will study directly in the provincial capital from the next semester.