Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 432 Chapter 431
When the northwest wind blows through treetops, courtyard walls and other obstacles, the fast wind speed causes friction and makes a humming sound.

It was hard for Zhang Guifang not to notice that when she left the main house and stood in the yard looking towards the northwest sky, large dark clouds were quietly approaching.

"Oh, the weather is getting cold, and it might even rain." Zhang Guifang muttered to herself, then turned around and found the only few worn-out straw mats from the corner of the wall and covered the firewood bought by Tang Zhitong.

"Mom, there's no need to cover it. The rain isn't heavy now, and it might turn into snow after a while. Just shake it out when you need it later." Tang Zhitong saw his mother busying herself when he entered the door, and he stopped her.

There were only a few broken straw mats in the house, and they had been used for several years. Zhang Guifang used them to cover vegetables when the weather was cold.

"What do you know? It rains at the beginning of winter. If it rains today, there will be few good days this winter." Zhang Guifang glanced at her son and shook her head.

Tang Zhitong smiled and didn't say anything back. He walked over and pulled out a few firewood sticks from the pile, covered them on the straw mat and pressed them down, fearing that they would be blown away by the wind.

Straw thatch, also called straw curtain or straw mat in some places, is a kind of mat-like thing woven with straw and is very useful.

Some people are poor, so they buy a few mats to put on the bed, which can help keep the bed a little warm.

Some people buy them and modify them to use as raincoats.

It can also be used for flood prevention when encountering waterlogging.

There are people using it in the fields, but just a few.

Probably its biggest use right now is to cover things, and it is used more frequently in factories.

In a few decades, this kind of straw felt will be produced by machines and used in plastic greenhouses for warmth. It will also be used in the production of red bricks to prevent scorching sun and shelter from rain.

While the mother and the two were talking, the northwest sky suddenly brightened, and ten seconds later there was a rumbling sound of thunder.

"It's thundering in winter, and nine out of ten cow sheds are empty. Oh! What the hell is going on? Does God want us to live?" Zhang Guifang complained with a sad face after finishing her work.

"Grandma said we shouldn't blame God, so be careful of being struck by lightning." Just as Tang Zhitong finished speaking, another bolt of lightning struck from the northwest, followed by thunder. This time, the interval between the lightning and thunder was shorter.

The speed of sound propagation is about 340 meters per second. Tang Zhitong calculated silently that the thunder was about three or four kilometers away from his home, and the straight-line distance was from the Forbidden City to his home, which could be said to be very close.

"Alright, alright, come in quickly." As her son spoke, thunder sounded, and Zhang Guifang felt inexplicably guilty.

The beliefs of ordinary Chinese people are very practical. They will believe in whoever works and is efficacious. However, there is one exception: God.

Tang Zhitong has never figured out which god God is and what position he holds.

Many novels call it the Way of Heaven, which is a very transcendent existence.

Seeing the dark clouds coming, Tang Zhitong first carried some firewood into the house and lit the stove.

When we came out, it started to drizzle.

Tang Zhitong went into the main house and ate three steamed buns to make up for the lunch he missed. After drinking some water, he went outside to smoke.

In order to prevent cold wind from entering the house, Tang Zhitong closed the door of the main room.

When it rains is the happiest time for children. As there has been less rain this year, Fengzhi wants to make up for the happiness that she lacked in the summer at this time.

She didn't dare go into the yard. Getting wet in the cold weather was no joke. Besides catching a cold and feeling uncomfortable, she would definitely get beaten.

So Fengzhi stood under the eaves and reached out to catch the raindrops to play with.

From the perspective of adults, rain is nothing special and nothing fun. But it is different for children. As long as they can slack off and not do their homework, they will find it fun.

Tang Zhitong stood under the eaves, lit a cigarette, and watched his sister stretch out her hand to catch the rain, then squatted down to look at the small holes on the steps made by the rain dripping down the eaves, and from time to time she would reach out to touch them.

"Brother, why is there a small pit here?" Feng Zhi waved at Tang Zhitong and asked, pointing at the stone pit on the steps.

“It doesn’t hurt when raindrops hit your hands, right? But if the raindrops keep falling on the same spot over the years, small holes will slowly form on the stone.

There is an idiom called "dripping water wears away the stone", which refers to this matter. It means that although the power is small, as long as you persevere, you can accomplish difficult tasks.

The same goes for your studies. Only by constantly working hard can you be like your sister, get into junior high school, then go to high school, and then go to college."

Tang Zhitong lost no time in giving a teaching lesson.

"Oh, he just wanted to persuade me to go back to my house and do my homework." Feng Zhi curled her lips, patted the rain off her hands, and prepared to go back to the house.

"Yes, I asked you to do your homework. Stop wasting time and go now." Tang Zhitong rubbed his sister's head. Procrastination is something almost everyone has.

The reason for procrastination is nothing more than tiredness. In fact, it cannot be considered a disease. It is just that the body, under the control of the brain, postpones heavy or irrelevant work to give the body a chance to breathe.

Tang Zhitong threw the cigarette butt into the yard, letting it be extinguished in the rain, and followed his sister into the house.

There were dark clouds outside and the light inside the house was not very good. At this moment, the lights were on and Fengzhen was quietly doing her homework at her desk.

Student Xiao Wang was sitting aside crocheting a sweater. She had already finished knitting her man's sweater and was wearing it. The one in her hand was for Fengzhen.

My sister-in-law has grown up and has reached the age where she loves beauty. I originally wanted to finish knitting before the heating came on, but the temperature suddenly dropped today, so she had to work overtime to finish it as soon as possible.

Zhang Guifang was squatting on a stool, guarding the stove. She was using a pin, a thimble and pliers to make cotton shoes.

In Zhang Guifang's opinion, no leather shoes are as warm as the cotton shoes passed down by the older generation. She had already sewed the soles a while ago. Now she just needs to stuff the uppers with cotton and then sew them together with the soles.

Everyone was doing their job, and although it was quiet, Tang Zhitong felt it was very warm.

It would be even better if I could have a pot of tea, a recliner and read a novel, wow, wow, wow, wow, that would be even better, Tang Zhitong thought happily.

Whether it is beautiful or not depends on whether God is favorable. Otherwise, there is no such thing as "unfavorable weather".

Unlike in the past, Tian Jin'er's temper was not very good. After a while, a slight "crackling" sound came from the roof.

"Are these snow particles?" Zhang Guifang obviously heard the noise, stopped what she was doing, and listened carefully.

Snow particles are also called ice particles or ice chips in some places, and are called "hail" in meteorology.

The diameter of snow particles is generally between 2 and 5 millimeters. Although they are much smaller than hail, they are spherical or conical in shape and have a strong granular feel. When they hit tiles, glass, or the ground, they make a relatively crisp sound. "It seems like it, the tiles make a sound," Tang Zhitong replied. This sound is a bit similar to the sound of hail hitting tiles, but much smaller than that.

Many people envy living in a courtyard house, but due to the building structure, the roof of today's bungalows is not thick, and the insulation, heat insulation and soundproofing effects are not good. This is one of the reasons why many people prefer to live in buildings rather than bungalows.

Zhang Guifang was worried, so she stood up and went out to check the cabbages.

It is true that cabbage has a high yield per mu, but it is afraid of freezing. Once frozen, it will rot easily and cannot be preserved at all.

After a while, Zhang Guifang came into the house and asked hesitantly and strugglingly, "It's snowing. Anzi, do you think we should harvest the cabbages?"

"It will be more troublesome if it freezes. Let's harvest it. The cabbage will grow even more and need more water. We planted a lot, so even if we harvest a little, it will be enough to eat." Tang Zhitong understood what Zhang Guifang was hesitating about and comforted her.

Now is not the best time to harvest cabbage. Harvesting early means losing weight.

However, there is a high probability that there will be more snow behind the snow particles, and the cabbage will be frozen after the thaw.

Although Tang Zhitong had space, he couldn't just take it out without restraint in front of his family.

Since harvesting early would mean a loss, harvesting late would also mean a loss, Tang Zhitong could only choose the lesser of two evils. He did not dare to bet that it would not snow later.

"Okay, let's take it!" Zhang Guifang gritted her teeth and made up her mind.

In previous years, the Tang family planted different amounts of cabbage. When there was less, they would plant more other crops such as onions and ginger.

This year we planted a lot, over a hundred cabbages. Except for the path and some onions in the yard, almost all the open space was planted with cabbages.

Harvesting cabbage is a big job and the whole family works together.

Tang Zhitong was responsible for pulling them up by the roots and rubbing off the soil at the roots. Xiao Wang and his two sisters were responsible for transporting them to the main house. Zhang Guifang made two trips and then left them in the house to arrange them neatly.

There are two ways to harvest cabbage, with roots and without roots.

The cabbages grown in the city usually do not have roots. No one is willing to spend the money to buy the roots, so most vegetable farmers will cut off the roots with a sickle.

When farmers keep the cabbage for themselves to eat, they usually keep the roots.

There are many advantages to keeping the vegetables with roots. They will not fall off, fall apart, rot, or shrivel. Not only can they be stored for a longer time, but the vegetables can also grow slightly with the roots. For those vegetables that have not yet balled up, keep them with the roots for two or three months. When you open them again, the vegetables will be firmer than when they were picked.

The snow particles, blown by the northwest wind, hit my face painfully.

Fengzhi is young, but she is sensible and knows the difference between good and bad.

Even though he was not very strong, he still did the work to the best of his ability. Although he could only hold one cabbage at a time, he never complained.

In about half an hour, the family had harvested all the cabbages in the yard.

Even though everything has been brought into the house and neatly arranged, it’s not the end yet.

Since it just rained, the next step is to wait until the weather clears up, transport the cabbage out to dry, and then adopt appropriate storage methods to survive the winter.

"Mom, shall we dig a cellar?" Tang Zhitong took the towel handed to him by Xiao Wang and wiped his hair. He was still thinking about having a cellar to store a batch of wine with financial management properties.

Wine is different from other things. If it is left in space without fermenting over time and is taken out decades later without the flavor of years, it will most likely be identified as fake wine.

"No, what's the point of digging that? It will cost a lot of money to build it." Zhang Guifang refused without hesitation.

"We harvested a lot of cabbages this year, and it's not appropriate to just keep them in the house. We need to plant them every year in the future. We can't dig a hole and bury them in the soil every year, right? Not only is it dirty, it also doesn't save us effort. If we do this two or three times, we'll need to dig a cellar." Tang Zhitong made up far-fetched excuses to achieve his goal.

In Tang Zhitong's memory, when there are few cabbages grown at home, they will be placed directly outside and covered with several layers of straw mats. If the weather is very cold, they will be temporarily moved into the house to keep warm.

When there were a lot of cabbages planted, Tang's father would dig a hole in the yard, put the cabbages in it, then cover it with straw, and then add a thick layer of soil.

"It seems like a lot this year, so give half to your mother-in-law, and then get some from neighbors like gifts or loans, so there won't be much left." Zhang Guifang still shook her head stubbornly.

"Jingwen's mother lives in a building, and there is heating at home, but there is no place to put the cabbages. If too much is sent over at once, they will go bad. I have no objection to neighbors lending or giving some away, it's up to you. But if there are too many cabbages in our house that people can see, I'm afraid more people will come to borrow them, so you have to be prepared. Besides, our unit has also planted some this year, so we can get a few dozen kilograms." When Tang Zhitong said this, he immediately realized that the cabbages at home were afraid of freezing, and the escort department was outside the city, and it was even colder there!

Before Zhang Guifang could reply, Tang Zhitong immediately put up the towel and hurriedly said to Xiao Wang: "Help me find a cotton-padded jacket. I'll change into it when I go to work. I also need to harvest the cabbages over there so they won't freeze tomorrow."

"Put on your hat and raincoat." Zhang Guifang said to her son and daughter-in-law who rushed out the door.

"I got it, Mom. Don't worry." Tang Zhitong returned to the room without even turning his head. He first added a few more firewood to the stove, and then immediately undressed and prepared to change clothes.

"I think you'd better go find your section chief first. It would be best if he could organize this matter." Student Xiao Wang took out Tang Zhitong's cotton coat and trousers and placed them beside the bed for her man, then turned around to find a hat, gloves and raincoat for him.

"Okay, I'll go find him first." Tang Zhitong nodded and agreed. In a hurry, he was thinking about using the space to grab all the balls in one go in order to avoid losses. It seems that this cannot be done. Not only can he not explain it, it is also against the rules.

Throughout the year, snowflakes fall less frequently than snow. But snowflakes are quite annoying. Not only do they hurt when they hit your face, but the roads are also slippery, especially when they are compacted. If you are not careful, you will fall flat on your face.

Tang Zhitong was wrapped tightly and rode to Fang Yuan's house tremblingly. After asking, he found out that Fang Yuan had gone to the escort department and had just left.

Tang Zhitong breathed a sigh of relief. Fang Yuan must have gone to the escort department at this time to harvest the cabbages, but since he was already here, he couldn’t turn back just because Fang Yuan went there. Otherwise, when Fang Yuan got home, he would hear that he had been there, but he didn’t show up in the escort department. What would happen to him then?

I am a person who pursues limited progress!

You're here now, right?

When Tang Zhitong arrived at the escort department, everyone on duty had been asked by Fang Yuan to stop their work and come out to harvest the cabbages.

For this purpose, two empty rooms were found to store the cabbages.

The young girls and wives who were sorting the cabbages, those with braids and those with short hair, were all picked in the fields and then carried them towards the warehouse.

"Xiao Tang, you came at the right time, saving me the trouble of calling you. I was just about to tell you that the cabbages will be distributed tomorrow! You can estimate later to see how many kilograms the total output will be." After seeing Tang Zhitong, Fang Yuan spoke to Tang Zhitong in a hoarse voice in front of his colleagues from the escort department.

"Okay!" There would be no problem with the division. At worst, I could call the school to ask for leave later. However, the harvest was rushed this time and there was no weighing process, which made it difficult to estimate the weight. Even so, Tang Zhitong still agreed readily.

If there is no way, then think of a way. Fang Yuan gave me face in front of so many people. I can't say in front of so many people that I can't do it, right?
(End of this chapter)