binnovel Chapter 138 Preparation
Chapter 138 Preparation
Lu Ming and Fu Nian, who had been sitting silently aside, heard that the Song family was hiring people for work, and they immediately and enthusiastically started to sign up.
"Count me in as one. Although I am blind, I have worked in the fields a lot over the years. I am familiar with the work in the fields."
Fu Nian was not to be outdone: "And me, now that I have this wheelchair, I can do some lighter tasks, and I can also use it to deliver things to you."
Song Dahe stared at Fu Nian's wheelchair with envy in his eyes: "Wheelchairs are good, you don't have to walk."
Fu Nian understood that he was not making fun of him, but he really felt that sitting in a wheelchair was very convenient. For a moment, he did not know whether to laugh or cry.
Song Dazhuang slapped his brother's head and said, "You just want to be lazy, right?"
Song Daha held his head and grinned foolishly. Although he was not as slow as before, his thinking ability was probably not as good as that of three-year-old Song Xiaobao. He did not resist his brother's "bullying" at all, but thought that his brother was playing with him.
Looking at his silly brother, Song Dazhuang couldn't vent his anger and could only urge him to work faster.
The Song family built a workshop last year. Song Chunlin wanted to make some potato flour to test the waters, so Song Dazhuang decided to plant potatoes on ten acres of land, plant wheat on the remaining half, and plant rice on the other half. Corn was still planted directly on the reclaimed wasteland, as well as the improved peppers.
After being improved by the spiritual spring water, the peppers have already taken shape as chili peppers. This kind of pepper is very suitable for making chili sauce. Song Chunlin plans to add some other varieties of red peppers in the space after the harvest to make chili sauce together, and then wholesale it directly to the sauce shop, and they will not participate in the sales themselves.
In addition to peppers, Song Chunlin also plans to try growing some cotton. Most of the materials they wear are linen, and only the inner clothes are silk or cotton cloth found in Song Chunlin's space. Silk is too expensive and cotton cloth is scarce. Song Chunlin has had the idea of growing his own cotton for a long time, but it has not been realized in the past two years. This year, the family hired 25 helpers at once, and the work in the fields was completed in a few days, and the idea of growing cotton came to his mind.
The people who came to help had never seen cotton before. After planting it, they asked what it was. Song Chunlin replied that it was clothes. Everyone looked unconvinced, but since the host was unwilling to say, they naturally did not ask any more questions.
Song Chunlin didn't want to explain anything. The people here had never seen what cotton looked like. To be honest, they wouldn't believe it. Once the cotton was harvested, they would know what it meant to grow clothes.
Because it was his first time planting cotton, Song Chunlin had no experience and just copied what he saw in a book. Also, the area around the capital was not a good place to grow cotton. Cotton prefers loose and breathable soil, and it is a light-loving plant. It grows better under abundant sunlight.
The place chosen by Song Chunlin has sufficient sunlight, but it is still not as good as that in Xinjiang. Now he only hopes that the cotton can bloom and produce bolls smoothly. As for the yield, he really has no requirements.
The surrounding villagers were very curious about the new peppers and cotton planted by the Song family. Even Gu Fengyun sent Gu Fengyue to take a look after hearing about it.
Gu Fengyue and Song Chunlin were walking in the pepper field, looking at the tiny pepper seedlings on the ground. He had eaten this thing before at the Song family, and it tasted really good, especially when used as a cold dish. It tasted cold at first, but it had a spicy flavor.
"With so many peppers, are you going to make hot sauce out of them?"
Song Chunlin nodded wildly: "I plan to make three kinds, pickled peppers, chopped pepper sauce, and garlic chili sauce. You have eaten all of these three except the pickled peppers, especially the chopped pepper sauce. The chopped pepper fish head you ate last time was made with chopped pepper sauce. Isn't it delicious?"
Gu Fengyue savored the delicious taste of the chopped pepper fish head, swallowed her saliva, and nodded wildly: "It smells good."
Song Chunlin raised his chin proudly, looking like my little tsundere.
Gu Fengyue couldn't help but pinch his face, and was elbowed by him.
After playing, the two went to the cotton field again. Wang Qin and Wang Mian helped to pull weeds in the field. There were no herbicides in that era, and weeding was done entirely by hand. When the Wang brothers saw Song Chunlin coming, they stood up and greeted him.
"It's sunny today, why are you here? You've got a tan."
Song Chunlin said nonchalantly: "I can't get tanned, Brother Wang Qin, I'm here to bring you some tea."
The two brothers were now familiar with the Song family, so they were no longer polite when they heard this. They walked to a nearby tree, drank some water, and rested.
Song Chunlin pulled Gu Fengyue into the cotton field, pointed at the cotton in the field and told him happily: "This is the cotton I told you about. When it grows up, you can harvest it to make quilts, spin cotton yarn, and make clothes to wear."
Gu Fengyue squatted down and observed the small seedling that was less than the height of his palm. He looked left and right but could not make any sense of it.
"Does the cotton you're talking about grow like a flower? Or does it grow like hemp, a thin, tall strand?"
Song Chunlin thought for a moment and said, "It should be like a flower. No, it's not the same. Cotton also has flowers. Cotton bolls will form after it blooms. Then, after the bolls have gone through the cotton-opening period, they will burst open when they are mature, just like a flower."
Seeing that Gu Fengyue still didn't quite understand, Song Chunlin turned sideways and smuggled a fully grown cotton flower out from the space.
The white cotton balls were arranged in the shape of a flower. Gu Fengyue reached out to take it. He stroked the soft cotton wool with his fingertips and pulled off one of the cotton balls at Song Chunlin's signal.
The cotton ball looks similar to a silk cocoon, but unlike a silk cocoon, it contains cotton seeds instead of insects.
"Is this cotton? It's amazing! I thought only silkworm cocoons could be used to make silk, but it seems that cotton can also be used."
Song Chunlin smiled and said, "Silkworm cocoons can be used to spin silk directly, but cotton cannot. The seeds inside the cotton must be removed first, and then the cotton must be combed and knotted to make cotton strips. After spinning, it can be turned into cotton thread, and then it can be used to weave cloth."
"Of course, if you want to make cotton-padded clothes or quilts, you don't need to make them into cotton strips. You can just fluff the cotton until it's soft and then fill it into clothes and quilts. Wearing cotton-padded clothes and covering yourself with quilts in winter is very warm."
Gu Fengyue looked at the cotton in his hand and asked Song Chunlin: "What is the yield of this thing? How to grow it?"
Without saying a word, Song Chunlin took out a booklet. These were the outlines of cotton planting that he had copied out from a book, explaining everything from how to choose the land, how to fertilize, sow seeds, to harvesting. As for how to weave and fluff cotton, he had not had time to copy them yet.
"Show this to the Marquis first. This is the first time our family has planted cotton. We are just copying others and don't know what the yield will be. If it's not good, you are not allowed to laugh at me."
"Okay, okay, I won't laugh at you. Everyone has a first time, and I definitely won't laugh at you."
"That's pretty much it."
After the spring, Song Chunsheng stopped going to school. There was no imperial examination in that era, and sending him to school was just to teach him to read. He had already studied in that school for two years, and had basically taught himself everything the teacher could teach. Song Chunsheng didn't want to be a great scholar or a poet. It was enough for him to recognize a few words and barely understand the classical Chinese. His requirements were not high, and the Song family's requirements of him were not high either.
It was only after Zhou Ning got married that she discovered that everyone in the Song family was literate, including the youngest member, Song Xiaobao, who could even write his own name in quite realistic handwriting.
Song Chunsheng seemed to see the envy in Zhou Ning's eyes. After returning to his room that night, Song Chunsheng took out a stack of picture-based recognition cards as if he was presenting a treasure.
Zhou Ning looked at the colorful cards and his eyes suddenly lit up, but then he felt a little uneasy.
"These pieces of paper are so beautiful, I'm afraid they cost a lot of money. No, they are too expensive. You should return them tomorrow morning."
Song Chunsheng chuckled when he heard his young husband's worries.
Zhou Ning hit him angrily: "How dare you laugh? Do you have some private money behind my back?"
Song Chunsheng quickly explained: "No, no, I don't have any private money, and I didn't buy this. Look carefully, there are folds on these cards. These are not new. I got them from my third and fourth brothers. They don't need these cards anymore. You can't read, right? I'll give them to you. You can look at a few cards every day to see if you can recognize the words on them. I'll check them for you in the evening. How about that?"
Zhou Ning pointed at himself in shock and said, "Give it to me? Let me learn to read?"
Song Chunsheng nodded repeatedly: "Why, don't you want to learn to read?"
Zhou Ning: "Of course I do, but I'm just a boy, what's the point of knowing how to read?"
Song Chunsheng didn't like him giving up on himself like this, and somewhat disagreed with his statement: "Who said that it's useless for a boy to know how to read? Our Chunlin can read too, isn't he also a boy?"
Zhou Ning stammered, "That's different..."
"What's the difference?" Song Chunsheng was immediately dissatisfied: "In our family, there is no such thing as being literate. No matter who you are or what your status is, you can be literate. It's nonsense to say that being literate is useless. If being literate is useless, then why are all those dignitaries fighting so hard to get into the academy?"
Zhou Ning had no way to refute, so Song Chunsheng made the final decision.
"From now on, take an hour every afternoon to look at these pictures. We don't need to know any poetry or songs, as long as we can recognize what the characters look like. What if people bully you for not knowing how to read and ask you to put your fingerprints on some messy documents? Good wife, just listen to your husband."
Zhou Ning was really helpless and could only take time out every afternoon to look at the cards. The pictures for recognizing words were all for children. Zhou Ning seemed to have no pressure at all and soon he could recognize most of the words on the cards, but he still couldn't write them.
In order to make it easier for the children at home to write, Song Chunlin asked Song Dazhuang to make a sand table for each of them, so that the two younger ones could practice writing on the sand table. Now that the younger ones can no longer use the sand table, Zhou Ning has to practice writing on the sand table.
Time passed quickly and came to the end of March. Song Qin's belly was already very big and the doctor said she was about to give birth. Song Dazhuang had already made an agreement with the midwife in the village that she could come and pick her up when her water broke.
Because it was the first newborn in the family after moving to Beijing, everyone paid special attention to the child. Grandpa Song and Grandma Song prepared silver locks, silver collars and other things for the child early on, as well as small clothes for the newborn. Grandma Song also washed them early on, and only put them away after the fabrics were softened.
Song Chunlin was responsible for contributing small blankets and mats for the newborn, as well as disposable diapers, but Song Amuo still felt that some diapers should be prepared, for use during the day and diapers at night, so that adults would not have to get up frequently at night to change diapers. Moreover, diapers are now a non-renewable resource, and even though Song Chunlin still has a lot in his space, Song Amuo still doesn't want to waste them.
Song Chunlin wanted to persuade Song Amao, but Song Amao asked him back, "Do you know how many diapers a newborn baby needs to have a day?"
Song Chunlin said he didn't know, and Song A-mo snorted coldly: "At least ten pieces!"
Song Chunlin's shocked face.
Aunt Song gave him some scientific knowledge: "A baby under three months old has a small appetite and fast digestion. Not only do they need to be fed many times a day, but they also poop a lot. Ten tablets are not enough. If they poop a lot, ten tablets will not be enough. If you don't change this thing frequently enough, the child will easily get a red bottom, and then both adults and children will suffer, so you must not be lazy."
Song Chunlin said he seemed to understand, but the key point was that he had never taken care of a baby. How did he know that a baby could poop so many times a day?
"You should save as much as possible on your diapers. At worst, we can wash them more frequently. Your elder brother and his wife don't have children yet, so shouldn't you save some for your little nephew?"
After hearing what Amma Song said, Song Chunlin suddenly felt that the inventory in the space was a little stretched.
In addition to diapers, there are also milk powder, bottles, and thermos pots. He has never collected those things, but he has quite a lot of thermos bottles. He put one in everyone's room at home. Song Chunlin prepared a few new ones for his soon-to-be-born sister, so that he doesn't have to get up at night to boil water when making milk powder.
In addition to the things prepared for the newborn, there is also a diaper pad prepared for Song Qin. Song Chunlin has never given birth to a baby, but he vaguely knows that a mother needs this.
There are also some medicines to deal with various emergencies. Song Chunlin doesn't really want to use them, but it's better to be prepared.
In addition, there are various ingredients and medicinal materials needed for postpartum conditioning. Not long after Song Qin became pregnant, Aunt Song specially caught twenty chicks and brought them home to raise. She specifically asked Song Chunlin to feed the chicks with spiritual spring water every day. Now those chicks have become old hens. The old hens fed with spiritual spring water are particularly strong and beautiful. Song Chunlin guessed that they must taste delicious.
With chickens, there naturally also need to be pig's trotters, and various kinds of sea fish. The sea fish were turned out from the frozen goods. Song Chunlin found some cod. It is said that postpartum women should eat more deep-sea fish. Song Chunlin didn't know whether it was true, but he prepared them all.