In early October, the weather has cooled down.
The footsteps of winter have come to the capital.
At this time in previous years, many businesses were already preparing to leave the capital. I'm afraid that later on, the river will freeze and the roads will be difficult to walk, which will delay my return home for the New Year.
But this year, merchants appear to be taking their time.
There are more goods that are being transported to the capital continuously.
The capital city is unprecedentedly lively.
Unexpectedly, in this season, you can still eat fruits from the south, which is really surprising.
"Have you heard that the concrete road from Beijing to Luozhou is almost finished."
"I've heard it a long time ago. It seems that there are only a few tens of miles left before the two ends can be closed."
"Recently, the butcher shop of Sihai Commercial Bank has added a lot of new varieties. It seems that they are all shipped from the south, and the price is not expensive."
"Why is it not expensive? An orange that is so big costs two pennies. Two pennies can buy a few eggs."
"I tasted something fresh yesterday. The oranges are really sweet. I heard that they are different from the ones we have here."
"There are also dried sweet potatoes."
"I've only heard that there are sweet potatoes growing in the south, but I didn't expect that thing to be really hungry."
"I heard that sweet potatoes can also be grown in the north."
"Really? You can't talk nonsense about this."
"What nonsense. My sister-in-law's sister-in-law's brother's brother-in-law's cousin works on the Zhuangzi. I heard that many Zhuangzi have planted sweet potatoes this year, and an acre can produce thousands of catties."
"Really? Oh my god, with a yield of over a thousand catties per mu, doesn't it mean that you don't have to worry about starvation when you don't receive it?"
"It's not enough to just grow sweet potatoes. There is no way to use sweet potatoes to offset the annual tax and corvee. We have to grow wheat and rice."
"That's true."
"The sweet potato has a high yield per mu and can be used as dried sweet potato, is there anything else?"
"Why not, it's very good to feed pigs. It can also be ground into powder to make sweet potato vermicelli. I heard that it can also be used to make wine."
"Can sweet potatoes really make wine?"
The owner of the restaurant even joined the conversation of several porters.
"I have always heard people say that sweet potatoes have a high yield per mu. They can be eaten boiled, steamed, or roasted. If you are hungry, you just have a lot of farts. It is also very good to feed pigs. Pigs eat sweet potatoes. Meat grows fast. It is also said that it can make wine, but I have never seen it.”
The owner of the restaurant said: "If I can really make wine, I will plant ten or twenty acres."
"I don't know if it can really make wine."
"What kind of sweet potato fans are you talking about?"
"Go to the butcher's shop in the Dahuaishu market. They sell some of them. They are good and not expensive. I'll go buy half a catty tomorrow and try something new."
The porters drank big bowls of tea, rested for half an hour, and went to work again.
The owner of the restaurant paid attention to sweet potatoes, gritted his teeth, and spent money to buy dried sweet potatoes and sweet potato vermicelli. He also weighed dozens of catties of sweet potatoes and came back. He was going to learn how to cook, steam, and bake.
This tea house is the lowest-grade tea house on the roadside, a straw shed, not sheltered from the wind, but only protected from rain and snow.
The owner of the restaurant has been in business for many years, and all he earns is hard money.
After finally saving money, he bought more than ten acres of sloping land and a few acres of irrigated land, which is considered a small fortune.
The owner of the restaurant has made a plan. While he is in good health, he will work for a few more years and buy more land. When I am old, I will go to the countryside to provide for the elderly. Relying on dozens of acres of land, a family can live.
If the yield per mu of sweet potatoes is really that high and good, the owner of the restaurant feels that the plan to buy dozens of mu of land may be realized ahead of schedule.
In the next few days, the restaurant owner and his family ate sweet potatoes in different ways.
Not to mention, the taste is really good, sweet and glutinous. Roasted is the best, fragrant.
Sure enough, as those porters said, sweet potatoes are very hungry, but they have too much fart and are indecent.
After eating sweet potatoes, the owner of the restaurant is looking forward to the day when sweet potatoes can be used to make wine.
Must be able to make wine.
As long as he can make wine, he will plant all his hillsides with sweet potatoes.
As for where the seeds come from, the owner of the restaurant has not thought so far.
Anyway, when it's time for spring plowing, I can always find a way to get seeds.
…
Balipu, which is three hundred miles away from the capital, is located on the official road from the capital to Luozhou.
Since the engineering team came to build the road last year, this small place in the col has become lively.
Those who build roads, burn cement, and deliver supplies...
In the coldest winter, the engineering team did not rest and was still burning bricks. Said to build a house.
The local people don't understand the relationship between building roads and building houses.
They only knew that after the engineering team arrived, life at home got better.
The men went to work on the construction site, and they had two meals a day, and they also had broth to drink and wages.
The woman helps to cook, and the food is also included and paid for.
When no women were found, they took over mending jobs.
The engineering team is full of big men, who earn a lot, have loose hands, and are willing to pay someone to do laundry.
The people near the construction site have benefited.
In addition to these, the engineering team wanted livestock and poultry that could not be sold at a price before, and the price was fair. It also set off a small wave of raising poultry.
The wood, stone, and worthless lime that cannot be transported out are all sold by the engineering team.
The lives of ordinary people in Balipu seem to be getting better, but this section of cement road has also been repaired.
The engineering team left, and the local people all looked regretful and disappointed. With the departure of the engineering team, the good days also left.
In the days to come, I am afraid that I will return to the poor and old-fashioned life of the past, where I cannot eat a full meal all year round.
Unexpectedly, after the engineering team left, there were two more magnificent houses beside the cement road.
The surrounding land, mountains and forests were also bought.
Soon, a sign was hung on the house, and two rows of tall wooden fences were added on the cement road at the entrance.
Tong Sheng, the only educated student in the nearby village, pointed to the two signs hanging on the door and said: "Toll station, rest station."
"What is this stuff?"
"have no idea?"
"It's understandable whether the rest station is a post station. What is a toll station? Maybe we will have to pay for this road in the future."
As soon as they heard the money was given, the villagers fled in despair, for fear that some vicious people would run out of the grand mansion and ask them for money.
The only child, standing awkwardly in the wind. I wanted to escape with the villagers, but felt that it would be disrespectful. Staying here, he was afraid again, the two were fighting, and he was about to pee his pants.
Beep!
Sure enough, a person came out of the magnificent mansion. A young man with gentle looks and shrewd eyes.
"Hey, aren't you running?" the young man asked the old Tongsheng.
Lao Tongsheng is thirty this year and his surname is Wang. The farthest place he has been to is a county town dozens of miles away.
He licked his lips and said nervously, "Go, go now."
"Don't be busy." The young man grinned, "I heard you just now, are you literate?"
Wang Laotong nodded, "I have read the book."
The young man looked at the old Tongsheng's clothes and his disheveled face. He was obviously a pauper, and he was a little inexplicably noble.
"We are recruiting literate people here, are you coming? They will include food and wages."
Wang Laotong let out an "ah" at first.
The young man chuckled, "Ah what, do you want to eat meat every meal? Do you want a salary of one tael a month? You can get rewards at the end of the year if you do a good job, and you can buy good things from the owner at internal prices. Are you really upset?"
"What are you doing here?" Old Wang was moved, but he still hesitated.
As the young man guessed, he was a little inexplicably aloof. As the only literate person in the village, it is not without reason that he can live in such a poor life.
The young man smiled and said, "You know how to read, of course you do copying work. Don't tell me you can't read?"
"I can see people, I can see people. Can I think about it?"
"Why are you so dawdling? Our boss went to the county to recruit people today. If you don't agree now, you won't have a chance until tomorrow. People in the county really care about us."
Old Wang Tongsheng became anxious immediately, "Aren't you going to recruit people tomorrow?"
"Everyone is fully recruited, so of course we won't be recruiting. You know, all the people who come from the county are familiar with it, and they can use it when they come. Just you, you have to go to a training class for half a month before you can start working."
What kind of training class, what job, Wang Laotong half understand. But he understood what it meant.
If he doesn't agree now, the job will slip through his fingers.
After a while, Wang Laotong swallowed his saliva in frustration.
The salary of one tael per month is so smooth that Old Tongsheng Wang's heart skipped a beat. Even more exciting than sleeping with a little lady for the first time.
He looked at the two magnificent houses in front of him, the one with the toll booth was a two-story building, and the one with the rest station was a very deep house. It seems that the courtyard is deep, and I don't know what is going on inside.
The young man came out of the rest stop just now.
Old Wang Tongsheng judged with his not-so-intelligent head that if he missed the opportunity in front of him, he would never find a better job than this.
He breathed a sigh of relief, it was cold early in the mountain. The chill comes a month or two earlier than it does outside.
The young man didn't urge him, instead he was eating with a huge ceramic bowl.
The glistening fat made Wang Laotong, who hadn't smelled meat for several months, stare at his eyes, and kept saliva secreting from his mouth.
The young man asked him, "Want to eat?"
Wang Laotong nodded subconsciously.
The young man grinned, "Now that you have signed the employment agreement, you can also eat this meal."
"Can you eat now? As much as you?"
"That's right. We work here as errands, from the station master to the handyman, we take care of everything."
Wang Laotong didn't understand what a station master was. No matter what, he understood.
"I'm going to work, and I'm going to do it now. I'm sure I can eat."
"Yes! Guaranteed to kill you."
Wang Laotong touched his stomach so hungry that only ribs were left, he wanted to be full even in his dreams.
"hey-hey… "
In a daze, he followed the young man into the rest stop, signed an agreement, and then ate the white fat.
Old Wang Tongsheng cried while eating.
The station master chattered to the young man, "Here comes another idiot."
"A literate fool." The young man laughed.