Xing'an Mountains 1984: Starting from climbing mountains to support the family

Chapter 93: Northeastern Kang, Going to the Countryside to Grind Flour
"Weidong, am I going to boil the dog food?"

Liu Xueting asked.

"Ah."

Chen Weidong nodded. One or two hundred kilograms of dog food had been made. All they had to do was steam it. When the puppies were ready to eat, they could just soak it and eat it. As for the black tiger and white tiger, they could eat it directly.

This kind of dog food pressed by a mold, after drying, is equivalent to the kind sold in later generations, and can be stored for a long time.
Moreover, so much dog food, plus the leftovers from daily meals, is enough for these dogs to eat for more than half a month.

After steaming the dog food, Chen Weidong stayed at home with his wife. The children were outside, which gave Chen Weidong and Liu Xueting a world for two. He chatted with his wife and relaxed.

At noon, a family of eight had pork stewed with vermicelli.
This kind of black pork has delicate meat and is more delicious when used to make pork stewed with vermicelli. The little ones each ate a big bowl.

After dinner, Chen Weidong took Shitou and Bingzi up the mountain.

After the three arrived at the destination, they did not dig Platycodon first. People are greedy, and Chen Weidong is no exception. Since Gastrodia elata is valuable, he will definitely continue to search for Gastrodia elata first.
The three of them searched around for four or five hundred meters, but unfortunately, they didn't find any Gastrodia elata, so they gave up and continued to dig Platycodon grandiflorum. They dug up almost three hundred kilograms of it, and Chen Weidong took the two of them home.

~

Five days passed in a flash. During these five days, Chen Weidong took Shitou and Bingzi to Lao Laoyu Valley. However, the three of them did not catch any wild boars or sika deer, but only a few rabbits.
As for the Platycodon grandiflorum in the muddy pond, they had all been dug up long ago and were still drying in Chen Weidong's house. They were not dried well, so they were not sold.

Apart from that, Chen Weidong took two people to hunt some small prey on several nearby hills. As for wild boars, deer, etc., they didn't see any, which made Chen Weidong helpless.

Chen Weidong decided to take them to Erlonggou tomorrow.

Chen Weidong heard that there were many wild boars in Erlonggou, and there was a group of jujube trees and a meadow over there.

So, I heard there are a lot of wild animals over there.

After one batch is beaten, another batch comes.

Of course there were many wild animals, so there was a reason why Chen Weidong didn't go there immediately.

That place is too far away. Without horses, we have to walk 20 to 30 miles along the mountain road.
It took most of the day to go back and forth deep in the Laohei Mountain, leaving little time for hunting.

So hunters usually go into the mountains to hunt,
In order to hunt prey, it is very normal to go into the mountains for a few days or even more than ten days without coming down.

Right now, the temperature has dropped quite a bit in the past few days. The little ones have put on their new cotton-padded jackets and trousers, and wrapped themselves up like little dumplings.

Today's temperature seems to be much colder than yesterday. After Chen Weidong fed the dog,
He didn't stay in the yard for long. He turned and went into the house and added a few pieces of firewood to the stove in the east room.

The little ones were playing on the kang, and Liu Xueting was sitting on the kang, busy making a wolfskin hat for Chen Weidong.

Chen Weidong sat in the main room, watching a group of big and small dogs playing happily outside.

In the Northeast, there is always a stove in the main room. In winter, many families cook directly in the main room, and the stove is connected to the earthen kang in the inner room.

When making fire to cook, the kang can also be heated up at the same time, which can save firewood.

However, Chen Weidong's family has a kang stove, which cannot be used for burning fire and cooking. It is directly connected to the inner room, and there is a hot pack outside.

In this way, by burning fire in the kang stove, not only the kang in the inner room will be warm, but the main room outside will also be warm because of the heating pack.

"Xue Ting, there is not much food left at home. I'm going to Uncle Guofu's house to buy some food."

Chen Weidong said slowly.

"Dad, come back soon!"

Before Liu Xueting answered, the little girl Wu Ni answered in a baby voice.

"Ok."

Chen Weidong pulled the cart out of the house. The four puppies who were originally playing around saw Chen Weidong go out and immediately followed him.

Following closely behind.

After leaving the yard, the four puppies suddenly became energetic.

Running back and forth around Chen Weidong, sniffing here and there.

They also haven't forgotten the traditional habit of dogs, which is to mark their territory by peeing.

Along the way, the four puppies, the corners of the walls, and the big trees all became their territory.

This is also a talent of dogs. They can pee whenever they want.

Although the four puppies were running back and forth,

However, what satisfied Chen Weidong was that the four puppies would not leave him too far. When they saw something curious, they would run over to check it out and then return to Chen Weidong.

Chen Weidong was not in a hurry. He chatted with the women passing by on the road while strolling to Wang Guofu's house.

"Uncle Guofu! Aunt Xiuying is at home!" Wang Guofu and his wife Liu Xiuying were both staying at home on the kang during the winter.

"Weidong is here! It's so cold, where is home?"

Liu Xiuying and Wang Guofu both greeted Chen Weidong with a smile.

"What's the matter? You are capable now. You even bought a donkey cart. You are more promising than your father."

"Uh..." "Uncle Guofu, I came here to buy some food! Do you have any at home?"

"Food? Yes, there is, but it's all unshelled. Do you want it?"

Wang Guofu said that his family had stored grain for several years and there was still a lot left. He was eager to sell it to Chen Weidong because the price of the grain was too cheap if it was sold to the grain station.

"want."

"I want rice and wheat, some corn, and 200 kilograms of soybeans."

The price without the shell is cheaper, so Chen Weidong plans to buy more.

"Everything else is fine! But we're out of soybeans."

Wang Guofu simply got down from the kang. He was not afraid that Chen Weidong had bought all the remaining food at home. He could just buy some from his acquaintances in other villages. As long as he had money in his hands, why would he be afraid of going hungry?

After weighing the food, Chen Weidong first sent the four puppies home, said hello to Liu Xueting, and then took the dozens of kilograms of food he had dug from the badger hole, led the black donkey,

They came to Wang Guofu's house, fixed the donkey cart, and put the food into it.

Then he drove the donkey cart directly to the countryside.

Right now, the rice has not been husked yet and is still just paddy rice. The wheat has not been ground into flour yet, and the same goes for corn.

There is no mill in Jiuqutuntun. To be more precise, there is no electric mill in Jiuqutuntun, so Chen Weidong has to go to the countryside.

Grind wheat and corn into powder, and shell rice and sorghum.

There is a stone mill in Jiuqutun. Most people in Jiuqutun use it to grind flour and husk rice.

Because it is not easy to separate the bran and flour when grinding with a stone mill, the flour ground with a stone mill is called whole wheat flour, and the steamed buns made from it are all black.

Many people in later generations said,
The flour ground with a stone mill has a wheaty aroma and tastes better than the flour ground with a steel mill.

In Chen Weidong's view, this is a reminder of the past and sweetness of the past. If one really lived in this era, he would know the importance of white flour.

Chen Weidong still likes to eat flour ground by steel mill, which is white, soft and just as sweet.

You should know that people in the village would also go to the township to grind some flour with a steel mill, which they would keep for entertaining guests and would not eat it themselves.

Chen Weidong drove a donkey cart all the way to the village. His face was hurt by the wind and the cold wind went into his neck through the collar, making him shiver all over.

The little ones wanted to come along.

Chen Weidong stopped me. Why do people in Northeast China like to hibernate in the winter? It’s because the weather in Northeast China is too cold.

In the township, on the northernmost street, there is the only home appliance mill in the township.

Chen Weidong parked the donkey cart and walked into the electric grinding room first.

"Young man, you should find someone to grind the flour."

An old man in his fifties saw Chen Weidong coming and asked.

"Uncle Song, I'm from Jiuqu Village. I came here to grind flour."

These days, the electric mill in the village is extremely famous. Many people from all the villages in the village would come here to grind rice and noodles. Chen Weidong had come here several times with his father Chen Guangtian and knew the old man in front of him.

"Oh, you're from Jiuqu Village! I was wondering why there was a shortage of flour. But your village chief Wang Guofu came here a few days ago and harvested a lot of sorghum!"

The old man stared at Chen Weidong for a while, but couldn't remember who he was. The villages of Laoheishan and Yushugou were quite remote, and he didn't know many people there, but he was familiar with Wang Guofu from Jiuqu Village.

"You're here to grind flour, right? Wait, I'll call someone for you!"

The old man didn't care. He said something and then turned around to call for Chen Weidong.

Electric mills are considered high-tech these days, and not everyone can operate them. The old man just came to help out, and the one who actually operated the electric mill was his son Song Dawei, also known as Song Laoer.

Not long after, Song Lao Er came in and asked, "Are you grinding wheat flour or corn flour?"

"They are all ground, and the rice and sorghum need to be husked." Chen Weidong said with a smile.

"No problem! I'll help you move the food in." Song Laoer said.

"That's troublesome."

The two men carried the grain in. As the electric grinding machine started to work, with the help of Song Lao Er and Song Lao Tou, Chen Weidong ground all the grain into powder or shelled it.

"Do you plan to pay the money or keep half of the bran as the cost of grinding rice and flour?" asked Song Laoer.

In these days, to make rice and noodles, you either pay money or pay low wages with bran. However, money is precious these days, so most people pay low wages with bran.

In fact, it is more cost-effective to pay, especially since Chen Weidong's family has chickens to raise.

So Chen Weidong decisively gave the money, loaded the grain and bran onto the donkey cart, and left the electric mill.

(End of this chapter)