After I became a general, I went back to my hometown to farm

Chapter 103 Digging Potatoes

◎If you buy a rake, the yield of potatoes per mu is astonishing. ◎

It's just that the little brothers on the road will look at them with envy, hoping that they can also find a man who pampers them like this.

But the grandma and the men didn't understand the meaning. The grandma who was carrying the basket mostly felt that the couple was still sticky, reminding them of when they were young.

Most of the men are careless, and think this couple is very seductive.

Seeing this scene, Gu Zeyu leaned close to Brother Cheng's ear and whispered, "Look, Brother Cheng, everyone is very friendly, no one talks about us, don't be shy."

That's right, although Brother Cheng pretended to be walking calmly, his heart was still beating non-stop. Although Gu Zeyu's voice was soft, but when he spoke close to his ears, it still rang through his ears like a thunder.

He was startled, so he turned his head and gave him a small look, "Got it, don't look at me, just focus on the road."

Brother Cheng squeezed Gu Zeyu's big hand to signal him.

Gu Zeyu laughed lightly, and the vibration from his chest was transmitted to Brother Cheng.

After all, the two are still holding hands, so Gu Zeyu didn't dare to tease her too much.

"Okay, let's go to the blacksmith quickly."

After another street, at the end of the alley, I saw a small shop door, dusty and dirty, without a signboard.

However, the sound of ping-pong-pong and iron tools being hammered is endless.

As soon as I got close, I could feel the heat from inside, and when it touched my face, it made me hot in a short while, let alone the summer in July.

Who would come to the smithy if it wasn't for business.

When the two went in, they saw a strong man wearing a short jacket with half of his shoulders exposed. He didn't have a few buttons on his upper body, and he was working hard to forge iron with a hammer.

Seeing a customer come in, he wiped the sweat from his brow, and said in a rough voice, "What do you want to buy? The shop has everything."

Gu Zeyu took a step forward and asked, "I want to buy two rakes, do you have them here?"

The man thought for a while, and said: "A few days ago, a new batch of nail rakes was made, and a few were not sold. Take a look at the pile on the east side, see if there is any one you like."

Gu Zeyu took Brother Cheng over to look, then picked out two rakes of moderate length, tried them in his hands, and they were not too heavy, so he said he wanted these two.

Then asked the price.

The man was very happy to see that they really bought it. There are very few villagers here who buy rakes, so he regretted making this batch of goods.

Now, if someone buys it, I will be happy.

Then he said: "This ironware has always been expensive, and you will be charged two taels of silver for these two nail rakes. What do you think?"

Gu Zeyu didn't know the price of iron, so he looked at Brother Cheng.

Brother Cheng knew that the price was a bit expensive, so he bargained with the fierce-looking man.

"Shopkeeper, I remember the last time I came here to buy a hoe, it was only a few hundred renminbi. Why is it so expensive for a hollow rake this time? Even if the price of iron has risen, it won't be so much. Don't bully strangers, I I also came here to buy farm tools and repair farm tools, so I know a little bit about the market.”

In fact, the man just thought that rakes were not easy to sell. He was lucky enough to sell two of them this time, so he hurriedly raised the price. The store is famous for its high quality and low price.

He smiled, glanced at Gu Zeyu, and said to him: "I didn't expect your husband to understand quite well, that's all, it's good if you can sell two, let me tell you the real price, one or two half two, don't you I think it’s too expensive, but the rake is hollow and needs to be hammered repeatedly, and it’s very difficult to control how many nails there are.”

Gu Zeyu smiled, guessing that the man was talking about an honest price, then he glanced at Brother Cheng again, and seeing Brother Cheng nodded, he said, "Okay, let's take this price."

Then take out your purse and pay.

I also put two rakes in a thick bag from the store. After all, this is a dangerous thing, very sharp. Although it is a farming tool, it is also capable of hurting people.

Brother Cheng was also very happy to see that he had successfully taken down the two rakes. Both of them smiled when they came out of the store.

Brother Cheng was laughing at Gu Zeyu's performance, but he didn't expect Big Brother Gu to understand something, no, it depends on him to bargain for the price of farm tools.

Gu Zeyu simply thought it was nice to have a daughter-in-law. The two of them went out shopping together, which made him feel happy, not to mention the bargaining in the store by Brother Cheng. tight.

The vibration from his chest reached his ears. Brother Cheng smiled and glanced at the man, knowing that Gu Zeyu was also happy, so he said, "Brother Gu, it's not easy to come to town here. Let's go for a stroll. Let's buy something."

Gu Zeyu nodded, there was indeed a shortage of things at home, and he was also hungry for meat, so he said: "Brother Cheng, let's go cut some meat, we have to dig potatoes for the next two days, and we need to make up for it."

Brother Cheng didn't know Gu Zeyu well, but he knew that his man simply wanted to eat meat, and it had nothing to do with whether he worked or not. Although he had only been married for a month, he already knew him very well.

The whole man is a man who loves meat, and the family buys meat from time to time, and if he doesn't eat it for three days, he will feel bad.

Brother Cheng didn't stop him either, after all, all the money in the family was earned by Gu Zeyu, so with so much money, it was just a piece of meat, and no matter how much it was bought, it would only cost a small amount of money.

So he let buy every time, never say this.

Now that he came to the town, seeing Gu Zeyu immediately said to buy meat, he was not surprised, and said with a smile: "The butcher's shop is on the east street, let's go there for a stroll, it happens that there are meat shops there. A spice shop, I'll go to add some soy sauce, salt, etc. to the house."

Gu Zeyu was surprised, "I remember that there is still half a jar of salt at home, why should I buy it?"

Brother Cheng explained helplessly: "There is only half a jar of salt left. You have a strong taste, and you can't last long for cooking three meals a day. You should buy it in advance, or when you want to eat salt, it will be gone." ,what to do."

Brother Cheng has a habit of hoarding things, so we have to take precautions before they happen.

Gu Zeyu scratched his head and said, "Understood, let's buy more at once."

Brother Cheng dragged him to the spice shop.

I bought a jar of salt and a jar of soy sauce, both of which were packed in jars, so they were fragile. Brother Cheng held them carefully like a baby, for fear of accidentally dropping them.

Gu Zeyu was still holding the rake bag in his hand, and he had only one free hand left, but he still wanted to take the jar, but Brother Cheng refused, so he raised his face and said, "Brother Gu, just concentrate on holding the bag." Well, I have one in each hand, just enough to hold it, and I will buy something later, and you can take it again."

Brother Cheng feels that he can do it.

Gu Zeyu didn't say anything, but just glanced at Brother Cheng's hands holding the jar, both hands were holding the jar in front of his chest, unable to get out.

His eyes were a little aggrieved, and he exuded an unhappy breath.

Brother Cheng became anxious, and asked him: "Brother Gu, what's the matter, didn't you just not let you take it? He got angry." He thought to himself, only children would do this.

Seeing that his wife was worried about him, Gu Zeyu felt a little better, and leaned over and said, "You are holding the pot with both hands, so we can't hold hands, so we can only go one way."

Brother Cheng didn't expect it to be this, so he didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and he glanced at the man, "It's because of this, I think it's better not to hold hands, it's a hot day, your hands are sweating, and my palms are wet, just I don't feel very comfortable."

Gu Zeyu was unhappy with himself, but he didn't expect Brother Cheng to say no to holding him.

He pursed his lips and sighed, "Daughter-in-law, it's not my fault that my palms are hot, it's all because of the damn weather, it's too hot."

The two of them looked at the blue sky together. There were only a few white clouds, and at a glance, there was a hot sun, which was very dazzling. Even birds would not want to fly over the clear sky.

Brother Cheng touched him with his arm and laughed at him, "Let's go, Brother Gu, we are the only ones standing here talking in this hot day."

Indeed, there are not many people on the street now, most of them are in a hurry, and most of them are wearing cloth towels to cover some sunlight.

Soon I bought some meat and brown sugar, and I bought a lot of burlap bags specially for potatoes.

After all, after harvesting, they can't just be piled up one by one in the house, they can only be put into cloth bags, or they can be stored in the house.

After buying things, the two went home quickly. After all, it was too hot and no one wanted to stay in the town.

It was almost noon when I got home.

After a short rest, Brother Cheng washed his hands and was ready to cook. He was going to make the stewed pork with potatoes that Gu Zeyu mentioned today. All of them will rot as soon as they are stewed, so they should be almost the same.

First stew a pot of white rice, and then cook, cut the pork into cubes, then stir-fry in the pot, then cut the potatoes into cubes and stew in the pot, add some seasonings, then add water and stew for about a quarter of an hour .

Gu Zeyu was not idle here either, he took out the dirty clothes of the two of them, washed them, wrung them out and hung them in the yard.

Then I took a big broom and cleaned the yard again. Although the house is a dirt yard, there is dust after sweeping, but there are still some fallen leaves, or other dirty things, I don’t know where they came from, and it seems that the yard is not very clean. up.

Brother Cheng went to the yard and called him: "Brother Gu, the meal is ready, let's eat."

He brought the cooked dishes to the table. Fortunately, they were covered with heat-insulating things, and it was too hot just out of the pan.

Gu Zeyu responded, "Okay, I'll come right away."

As he said that, he put down the broom, fetched water, washed his hands and face carefully, and then went into the house to eat.

At this time, Brother Cheng had already set the meal, and he smiled and beckoned Gu Zeyu to sit down.

With bright eyes, he looked at Gu Zeyu and said, "Try this dish, cook as you said, cattle are very important livestock here, and cattle are rarely slaughtered, so beef is rarely eaten. The potato brisket you mentioned is delicious, but we don't have any beef, so we make it with pork."

Brother Cheng handed the chopsticks to Gu Zeyu who had just sat down, propped his chin, and looked at him expectantly.

Gu Zeyu looked at the little brother who was still steaming in front of him, and wiped his sweat with a handkerchief in distress, from his forehead to his cheeks.

Seeing him approaching, brother Cheng didn't react yet, his already hot face turned even redder, he froze and watched Gu Zeyu wipe his sweat carefully, his face became even redder, like a red apple, It was red, and because of her fair complexion, she was rosy in the white.

Seeing Brother Cheng's face turning red at a speed visible to the naked eye, Gu Zeyu asked worriedly while wiping his sweat, "Brother Cheng, are you sick? How about I take you to see a doctor."

Brother Cheng shook his head like a rattle, his face flushed, but he forced himself to calm down: "It's okay, Brother Gu, I just got hot while cooking, the kitchen is too hot."

Gu Zeyu also knew that the kitchen was relatively small and there were no windows for ventilation, so it was sure to be hot. Unexpectedly, the temperature outside was also very high today, which made Brother Cheng, who was cooking in the room, very hot and sweaty.

He made up his mind: "After the potatoes are dug, I will find someone to build a window in the kitchen, so that I can open the window when cooking, so it won't be so hot."

Brother Cheng nodded and agreed, but he was a little scared. The kitchen was already built, so he was going to smash the wall when he was chiseling the windows. I was afraid that the whole wall would be ruined if I smashed it, and I had to rebuild the house.

"Be careful when smashing the wall. Find someone who is good at it. I'm afraid our wall is too big and we have to mend it." Brother Cheng was still worried, looking at the food in front of him, he didn't even feel delicious.

Gu Zeyu nodded, "You still don't trust me." He looked confident.

Brother Cheng smiled: "Brother Gu, I remember you haven't done this job before, you should ask the elders to see if there are any good players." The implication is, don't be so confident.

Gu Zeyu was aggrieved: "Got it." He really didn't understand this aspect of work, smashing walls, windows had already been planned in modern times, and smashing walls is usually because the wall is not needed, and only smashed during decoration.

The walls are also generally of a lighter material.

Unlike this house, the green brick and tile house is very solid.

It's okay to live forever.

Brother Cheng changed the subject again and tried to persuade him to eat, "I've been cooking for a while, let's eat quickly, and just talk, you haven't tasted it yet, is it delicious?"

Gu Zeyu smiled in a good mood again, his mood changed very quickly, with his wife's concern, he didn't think so much anymore, he was already hungry after eating.

Looking at the delicious pork stewed potatoes in front of him, he sniffed hard, grinned, and picked up a chopstick of meat, "Well, it's delicious, the taste is just right."

Afterwards, I added potatoes, which were stewed soft, and cooking in an earthen stove is delicious. "Potatoes are also delicious, sweet and soft, and have a meaty taste."

Brother Cheng himself had tasted it in the kitchen a long time ago, and his eyes narrowed when he saw Gu Zeyu eating, and he was also happy. Someone affirmed the dishes he made.

"Eat more if it tastes good." He frowned and smiled.

Gu Zeyu also persuaded Brother Cheng to eat: "You eat too, Brother Cheng, it's hard work cooking."

Because the weather was a bit hot, neither of them ate very quickly, and they enjoyed it when the food cooled down a little.

-

After eating, Gu Zeyu prepared to dig potatoes at home.

A rake, a burlap bag, and a cart, a cow, and two larger baskets.

This afternoon, he was going to dig potatoes.

Who knew that only half an hour after dinner, someone came to the door.

Uncle Gu and Father Cheng came to the door at the same time.

Gu Zeyu hurriedly welcomed the two into the house.

He asked, "Why are you here today? What's the matter?"

Brother Cheng also brought tea to the two of them, he was also puzzled, so he stood next to Gu Zeyu.

Uncle Gu chuckled, scratched his head and said, "It's not that you brought potatoes over yesterday. I ate them and they were delicious. I just thought that you might be digging potatoes in the next few days, so I came to ask you , when to dig, I can come to help, this new crop, I am very fresh."

Seeing Uncle Gu's face full of interest, Gu Zeyu couldn't refuse. He just smiled and said, "Uncle, if it's fresh, you can come and work for a while. It's only five acres of potatoes that can be dug in a few days."

Father Cheng had the same idea. He said, "It's okay to be idle at home these days. His mother said that it would be fine to help dig potatoes. I haven't dug potatoes yet."

Gu Zeyu smiled, "How can the boy He De be so loved by his relatives, thank you uncle and father."

Father Cheng was also a little moved when he heard his words, but he would not say it out loud. He saw that Gu Zeyu was going to dig potatoes with Brother Cheng.

He came here for his brother. He grew up doting on Brother Cheng. Although he also did farm work, he did his best to pick up light work. I don’t know if it’s tiring to dig potatoes, but he does it under the sun. The job must be to tan brother Cheng's little face red and tan.

Uncle Gu's idea is very simple, he is here to help his nephew with work, he is growing fresh potatoes, he is a farmer who has been farming for many years, naturally he is very interested in new crops, and he has confidence in his nephew.

I just want to see the yield per mu of potatoes.

Brother Cheng saw that his father came here because of this, and he didn't persuade him. He went to dig potatoes yesterday, and it felt quite simple, much better than cutting wheat.

At worst, he can do more.

Why not just dig potatoes.

-

In the afternoon, the weather was not too hot, so Gu Zeyu took his wife, uncle and father-in-law to the field together.

First, I taught Uncle Gu and Father Cheng how to dig potatoes.

They didn't stop until they tried several times and learned everything.

Then they took the tools and dug a ridge one by one and walked forward.

It was much better with a rake, and the potatoes were easily dug out.

Uncle Gu smiled happily, and said, "I didn't expect a single seedling to bear so many potatoes, it's pretty good."

Father Cheng also touched the larger potatoes and said, "I think this mu of land can harvest hundreds of catties of potatoes, and I don't know if it can surpass wheat."

Uncle Gu was not sure, and said: "You are thinking too much, right? One acre of wheat yields a lot of catties, and potatoes are sparsely planted. Even if there are more potatoes, it may not be as good as wheat."

Because the land here is good, the average yield of wheat per mu is about [-] to [-] jins, which is considered a high yield.

Gu Zeyu knew that one mu of potatoes had an output of at least three thousand catties in modern times, but in ancient times, it could have yielded seven to eight hundred catties.

Both Uncle Gu and Uncle Cheng underestimated the potential of Tudou.

Sure enough, in one afternoon, more than an acre of potatoes was dug.

A few people stood up and looked at the potatoes all over the ground, a little shocked, this seems too much, right?

Fortunately, I took a lot of bags, and after putting all the potatoes in, there were not enough bags.

A bag of potatoes weighs about [-] catties, and [-] bags are filled, and there are still some potatoes that have not been filled and are placed on the ground.

But Gu Zeyu could only transport some home first.

Uncle Gu watched Gu Zeyu drive the car home, standing there wondering what he was thinking.

Brother Cheng was also quite surprised, but he had blind confidence in Gu Zeyu, and he had a filter, so he raised his chest proudly and smiled happily.

Father Cheng looked at the potatoes in the field, his eyes shining brightly. Even he knew that the yield per mu might be [-] catties.

Potatoes are a good thing. Yesterday, Aunt Liu not only fried them, but also tried them boiled. Boiled potatoes are quite anti-hungry, and they can become a staple food. Although they are a bit choking, at least they don’t make a loud noise. Semolina and brown rice are much better.

-

Several people were talking in the field from time to time, all marveling at the high yield of potatoes per mu.

When Gu Zeyu brought a new bag, they quickly packed the potatoes.

Then Gu Zeyu shipped the potatoes twice more before finishing shipping them.

In the end, a total of 23 bags of potatoes were brought home.

Gu Zeyu directly gave Uncle Gu and Father Cheng a bag of potatoes and told them to eat first, and helped them move them back to their house.

And then went home without rest.

After sitting for a while, the village chief came with a few men.

They're all here for the potatoes.

The author says:

I kept hiccupping while writing, which made me want to cry without tears. I will try to write as much as possible tomorrow.