1980: I have a spiritual spring

Chapter 22 We can't let our elder brother repeat the same mistake.

Over the next few days, Qiao Erhe focused his main energy on catching fish. This time, he didn't just catch big fish like before, but caught them all regardless of size.

Of course, the main goal is still the Seven-Star Blackfish, and I bring back quite a few Seven-Star Blackfish every day when I go out.

In just a few days, Qiao Erhe had put no less than a thousand fish of all sizes into the trench. To avoid being seen, most of them were put in at night, and the ones he brought back during the day were just for show.

At the same time, Qiao Erhe would pour some diluted spiritual spring water into the trench every now and then to supplement the fish with the nutrients they needed to grow.

After all, he doesn't have enough feed to feed these fish right now. Unlike a river, this newly dug trench doesn't have everything. It's definitely not enough for so many fish to just drink ordinary water and some microorganisms.

But with spiritual spring water, things are different. As long as the amount of spiritual spring water is controlled, these fish can grow normally, and although their flesh will change, the change will be limited. This small amount of diluted spiritual spring water will not produce fish with unimaginably good flesh.

While Qiao Erhe was busy catching fish, Qiao Dajiang was not idle either. Instead, he and Lao Si were tinkering with the egg-laying boxes.

The timber we bought from the brigade's forest farm before was not all used up, and it can be used to make egg-laying boxes.

The idea of ​​building egg-laying boxes naturally came from Qiao Erhe. Although he did not have large-scale chicken and duck breeding experience in his previous life, his family had raised dozens of chickens and ducks at most. If egg-laying boxes were not specially built for those chickens and ducks, they would just find any place to lay their eggs.

At that time, most of these chicken and duck eggs will be covered in chicken and duck droppings.

Although chicken droppings on the surface of the egg does not affect its edibility, it has to be said that this thing looks rather disgusting.

Some people who don't understand might ask, "Even if the eggs are covered in chicken droppings, can't you just wash them clean when you pick them up?"

Things are not that simple, of course. Anyone who has raised chickens and ducks knows one thing: eggs should not be washed with water.

Because eggs have a natural protective film on their surface that seals the tiny pores in the shell, this protective film can prevent external bacteria from entering the egg and also prevent excessive evaporation of moisture and carbon dioxide from inside the egg.

Washing eggs with water will directly wash away this protective film, allowing bacteria to enter the egg through the pores in the shell, multiply, and cause spoilage.

In short, eggs washed with water will spoil very quickly.

Although most rural people don't know how eggs spoil, they do know that eggs cannot be washed with water. So even if an egg gets covered in chicken droppings, they can only carefully wipe it off with a dry cloth. As for how much chicken droppings remain, they can only ignore it.

But with the laying boxes, things are different. When the hens lay their eggs, they will obediently go into the laying boxes to lay them. As a result, most of the eggs will be clean and look much better than eggs covered in chicken droppings.

These days, Qiao Sanduo is extremely busy. In addition to washing clothes and cooking, she also has to feed the pigs and chickens, and carry water to water the vegetables. She can only really relax after dinner.

As for the fifth, sixth, and seventh brothers, they have been studying hard these days since Qiao Erhe gave them a pep talk. It's hard to say how long they can keep it up, but none of the three of them have shown any signs of giving up in the past few days.

The only person with free time in the family is Huang Hongmei, the mother.

Even in the entire Qiaojiawan village, you couldn't find anyone more idle than Huang Hongmei. She did nothing all day at home, and after eating, she would take a fan and wander around the village chatting with people. There wasn't a single gossip in the village that she didn't know. The Qiao siblings were already used to this.

That afternoon, Huang Hongmei went out to visit neighbors as usual, and returned happily after dinner.

"Boss, I just visited your Aunt Ying's house, and we ended up talking about your marriage."

Sitting at the dining table, Huang Hongmei said to her eldest son with great enthusiasm, "Your Aunt Ying has a niece from her maternal family. She is 20 years old this year. I heard that she is quite good-looking, hardworking, well-educated, and very filial. Her father is also a teacher. If you are interested, your Aunt Ying can arrange for you to meet."

Qiao Dajiang was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, then shook his head and said, "Forget it, all the money is invested in raising chickens, how can we afford to get married!"

Huang Hongmei said, "We don't have money now, but we'll have money when the chickens start laying eggs. We're just letting you meet first to see if you're compatible. It's not like we're asking you to take out money to get married right now."

Qiao Dajiang said, "If this girl is really as good as Aunt Ying said, then why would she be interested in me?"

Huang Hongmei rolled her eyes at her eldest son and said, "Now that we raise so many chickens, the whole Hongshan Brigade knows about it. What's so strange about someone taking a liking to you?"

Qiao Erhe chimed in, "Brother, you need to change your mindset. Although our family is still poor, it's only temporary. Once these 1000 chickens grow up and start laying eggs, our good days will begin."

However, there's no need to rush your meeting with Aunt Ying's niece. I have someone better than her to be our sister-in-law.

Qiao Dajiang's eyes widened as he asked, "Second brother, do you have a better candidate?"

Huang Hongmei frowned and said, "Second brother, what trouble are you causing?"

Qiao Sanduo and Qiao Sihai also looked at their second brother, clearly unaware that he had started helping to find a sister-in-law.

As for the sixth and seventh brothers, they were still young and didn't care much about their eldest brother getting married. The two little ones were busy eating.

Qiao Erhe nodded and said, "That's right, I do have a better candidate. I heard that there is a girl named Xu Cuihua in Xujia Village of the Orienteering Brigade. She is a well-known good girl in the village. She is not only kind and filial, but also very capable when it comes to work."

In short, everyone who told me about this girl praised her to the skies.

I'm planning to go to Xujiatai these next couple of days to inquire carefully for you, brother, to see if there's such a wonderful girl.

If this is true, then brother, you can ask a matchmaker to go and propose marriage. A wife like that would surely bring prosperity to the family.

In his past life, the eldest brother married a woman casually in order to save money for the family. In the end, not only did he lose his wife and children, but he also developed a bad temper, which caused the brothers to have no peace for two or three decades. Whenever they got together, they would inevitably quarrel, which was extremely annoying.

In this life, Qiao Erhe will definitely help vet the choice of his sister-in-law, and absolutely cannot let his elder brother repeat the same mistakes.

(End of this chapter)