In three to five days, most families in the village had finished harvesting rice, but the Chen family was stunned to have to harvest rice for seven whole days.
After all the rice is threshed and dried, it needs to be removed.
A workshop was built next to the ancestral hall in the village, and several windmills were placed in it for the use of villagers who did not have windmills in the village.
There are not many families with windmills, so those who arrive first usually use it first. If you arrive late, you have to wait in the back.
The main people in the Chen family are Old Man Chen and Chen Dashan, while Chen Dasong and Chen Yuanxiu are lazy. They start to sigh after working twice, complaining about pain here and there.
After most of the families in the village had used up their windmills, it was the Chen family’s turn.
As for the other half, they are those whose families have less labor or own a lot of land.
"Datou, why did you come to your house just now?" Chen Li, an old friend who was familiar with Old Chen, asked with a smile.
"Alas..." Old Man Chen didn't know how to answer.
"Dali, it's not because there is no kid named Da'an this year." The speaker was Chen Mancang, who was at odds with Old Man Chen.
"Look, isn't this reflected? Big head, you are so confused..." Chen Li patted Old Chen on the shoulder.
"I can see clearly that your big boy doesn't feel sorry for you at all these days." Chen Mancang continued to sneer when he saw that Old Chen's face was not good.
When Old Man Chen heard this sarcasm, he was so angry that he almost died. This was definitely not the case in previous years.
Chen Daan is a good worker and is one of the first to use the windmill every year.
He had often ridiculed Chen Mancang because of this, but now he was ridiculed by others, which made him feel better, and his dissatisfaction with Chen Dasong increased even more.
He began to regret secretly again. A few years ago, Chen Daan persuaded him to buy a windmill. Mrs. Chen was reluctant to part with the money, thinking that Chen Daan was capable anyway.
Now that Chen Daan is dead, most of the work in the family is done by him and Chen Dashan.
It is still Old Man Chen and Chen Dashan who come and go in the Chen family.
Chen Dashan is responsible for moving the basket filled with rice to the windmill and pouring the rice into the feed bin.
Old man Chen shook the handle of the windmill vigorously, and the windmill began to rotate slowly.
As the windmill rotates, a weak wind gradually blows across the rice fields.
The speed of the windmill gradually increased, and the wind became stronger. The rice is rolling in the wind, and the chaff is blown away by the wind, revealing the full rice grains.
The rice after the grain is removed is packed in sacks and stored in the family's warehouse. Some are reserved for autumn grain delivery and some are reserved for the next year's rations.
At this time, most families still have old rice, so clean rice is packed into bags for storage.
However, the Chen family does not have much food left. They plan to grind some of the new rice, sell it in the town, and then buy some cheap old rice to eat back.
Several processes are required to convert rice into rice.
After the hulling is completed, shelling and membrane removal are also required.
The tool used for shelling is soil rice flour. Fortunately, Old Man Chen has this tool at home.
This was what Chen Daan had acquired in exchange for his prey, Carpenter Chen from the same village, and was scolded by Mrs. Zhou at that time.
Now, Old Man Chen feels extremely lucky.
Old man Chen poured the rice that needed to be shelled into the soil. Chen Dashan on the side was bent down, holding the handle of the earthen rice bag tightly with both hands, and began to turn it rhythmically.
As the rice hulls rotate, the rice grains constantly rub against the inner wall of the soil hulls, making a crisp "rustling" sound.
Gradually, the husk of the rice began to crack, revealing the darker brown rice inside mixed with the husk.
During the rotation, some pieces of the rice husk fell off.
After a while, the rice in the rice hulls was completely shelled.
Old man Chen called to Chen Dashan to stop what he was doing, and then he carefully poured out the shelled rice grains.
He carefully inspected the rice grains to make sure there was no remaining shell.
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The rice that has been hulled by earth hulls is still mixed with chaff, and needs to be fanned by a windmill to separate the rice grains from the chaff.
Clean brown rice cannot be used directly and needs to undergo a film removal process.
To remove the film, you need to use a wooden pestle. Fortunately, the workshop in the village has it.
The two of them carried the clean brown rice to the wooden mortar, and Old Chen poured the brown rice into the stone mortar.
Chen Dashan inserted the crossbar into the head of the rice mill, and then stepped on the end of the crossbar with his feet to pound the rice.
After pounding, the husks turn into powder, which is "fine chaff".
The fine chaff is lifted up and removed by the windmill, and the skin film and dust are screened out, and pure white rice can be obtained.
Finally, Old Man Chen carefully cleaned up the fine chaff on the ground and put them into bags one by one. These fine bran will be mixed into rice noodles and can also be eaten as food.
Zhu Family
"Zhu Hong, your brother-in-law's family is dead. Now all the land under his control must belong to your big house, right?" Mrs. Jiang was sitting at the dinner table, using She looked at Zhu with her cloudy eyes and asked unhurriedly.
"His wife and children are still at home eating for free." Mrs. Zhu replied angrily.
"Don't you only have one daughter? She's just a loser. Just get married as soon as possible."
When she said this, Mrs. Jiang showed a look of disdain on her face, and she was also a bit mean.
"I married the younger one, but there is still an older one. Mom, you don't know, the younger one has gone crazy and made a lot of noise recently. It is estimated that it will be difficult to get married in the future."
p>Mrs. Zhu thought of the crazy Chen Wanbai, and felt a little regretful. If she had known better, she should not have leaked out the story of her using a knife to chop Qian Lezi.
Nowadays, everyone in the ten miles and eight villages basically knows that Chen Wanbai is crazy. Who would be willing to marry such a crazy girl?
"How old is that woman? I remember she is younger than you, right? Wouldn't it be better to marry her off first. When the older one is gone, will it be difficult to handle the younger one?" Mrs. Jiang said in a triangle His eyes were slightly narrowed, and his withered mouth opened and closed, revealing some shrewdness.
"She is only in her twenties, she looks like a vixen, and my Dasong is always protecting her."
"This is absolutely not okay, I tell you, it must be You have to marry her off. Otherwise, as a young widow, she can't bear the loneliness. With the convenience of being near the water, wouldn't she hook up with Da Song? What will you and your children do then? "
Mrs. Jiang has a very deep understanding of this kind of thing. The more she talked, the angrier she became. She put down the bowl and chopsticks and kept waving her hands in the air.
"There is no suitable person, and at this time, the matchmaker will not come to the door at all." After hearing what Mrs. Jiang said, Mrs. Zhu also became a little irritable.
During the period before and after the busy farming season, matchmakers will not go to any house to propose marriage. We have to wait until the farm work is over before we have time to wait at home for the matchmaker to come.
"Mom, eldest sister, I do have a candidate here." Wu Juhua, Zhu Er's daughter-in-law, suddenly interrupted.
"Second daughter-in-law, please tell me. But forget it if she is from such a nice family, her vixen looks are not worthy of her." Mrs. Jiang hated that beautiful woman the most. .
"He is a widower. He is the only one left in the family. He is fifty-seven years old. I was collecting firewood in the mountains last year and picked up two ginseng sticks. I heard that they sold them for a lot of money."
"How did you know he was going to marry a wife?" Mrs. Zhu asked with confusion on her face.
"During the Dragon Boat Festival, didn't my natal brother come to give me rice dumplings? We talked about it in conversation at that time. I just don't know if Wu widower's daughter-in-law is married now."
"You go back tomorrow to inquire about it. Go in the morning and come back at noon. If it's late, you won't come back." Mrs. Jiang made the final decision and slammed the table as she spoke.
Now that the two daughters are back, it doesn’t matter to Miss Wu. The affairs of the eldest daughter's family were more important, and there was no doubt that Wu Wu, the widower, would give some benefits if the matter was successful.
Thinking like this, a smile appeared on Mrs. Jiang's face involuntarily.
"Okay, I'll go back early tomorrow morning. I'll keep it and come back at noon." Mrs. Wu was very happy to be able to go back to her parents' home during the holidays, and she also wanted to take the opportunity to go back and see it. Look at your parents.
"You go back to eat in the morning and come back after lunch." Mrs. Jiang told her again, it would be good if she could save a mouth.
"Mom, what should I bring back?" Wu asked cautiously.
"Go to the field and pick two pumpkins to take back."
"Oh, okay." Ms. Wu lowered her head and did not dare to speak anymore. Her mother-in-law also had a lot of pumpkins. It would be too shabby to bring two pumpkins back from afar.