Rushing to the sea: I can see the prompts

Chapter 73 Rice Hulling
In the morning, after breakfast, Zhang Yaowei and Shui Wang went out to look for a boat.

"The rice vat is out of rice." Mom said to dad and asked him to pick up a load of rice to shell.

In their village, the canteen has a shelling machine, which costs five yuan a time.If you don’t want the chaff, there is no charge.But rural people basically have to take back the chaff and feed chickens and ducks.

"I'll go!" Zhang Yaohua said.

Lao Zhang was happy because his two sons were at home and he didn't need to do a lot of work.

So, Zhang Yaohua took the snakeskin bag to the barn to load the rice, which was newly harvested some time ago.Now their family doesn't grow much rice, which is not enough to eat. They have to buy more than 300 kilograms every year.

The mother found two baskets. When she saw her son using a snakeskin bag, she asked, "No baskets?"

"Forget it, just put it in a bag!"

The last time I was using a basket, I accidentally pricked my finger with a piece of bamboo. Zhang Yaohua's memory was still fresh in his mind.

Among them, baskets woven from bamboo strips are the mainstream tool for carrying things. Even when marrying a daughter, some of the dowry must be carried in bamboo baskets.

The bamboo basket in Zhang Yaohua's home was woven by the old man himself.

Among the older generation, who is not a craftsman?

Almost all the tools used at home are handmade by myself. If you can make them yourself, you will never spend money to buy them.

Just like the rice measuring cups in Zhang Yaohua's home, they are made of bamboo tubes and have a history of 30 to [-] years.Some families use the lid of a thermos kettle, and some use unknown iron cans.

As soon as Zhang Yaohua packed the bags, Ah Jiu came over.

"Brother, let me pick." He said and grabbed the pole.

have to!Zhang Yaohua did not argue with him.

The two came to the canteen and shouted to the boss.The shelling machine is in a small room next to the canteen. The machine in front of me has been used for a long time.

Ever since Zhang Yaohua can remember, this shelling machine has been there.

"Want chaff?" the boss asked.

Zhang Yaohua nodded, took out five dollars and gave it to him: "Yeah! I want it."

The boss took the money and started getting busy.When the machine starts up, the noise is a bit loud, but considering its age, there is nothing to complain about.

In addition to being noisy, small broken rice will be produced during shelling, which will come out from the other opening.

"Is this shelling machine older than me?" Ah Jiu said with a smile.

Zhang Yaohua nodded: "She should be older than you."

Ah Jiu added: "We no longer farm in our village. We only grow sugar cane and other fruits. You can't make any money from farming."

The price of grain is really low and has not changed in more than 20 or [-] years. Some people even joke that a pound of rice is less valuable than a pound of mineral water.

"Of course, you can't make much money by growing sugar cane. Our village is fine. You can decide what you grow. In some places in our town, it's almost semi-mandatory to grow sugar cane," Ah Jiu revealed.

Zhang Yaohua was stunned for a moment. In this day and age, there is still such a thing?

Is that something that only happened in the era of planned economy?
"No way?"

Ah Jiu nodded seriously: "I heard that many sugar factories are owned by state-owned enterprises and must ensure output. So, brother, you know."

In an arm wrestling match with state-owned enterprises, you have almost no chance of winning.

"What's even weirder is that food must be grown in some places. Some people in our village are worried that they have to cut down those fruit trees and plow the fields again." Ah Jiu continued.

Zhang Yaohua had heard of growing food. After all, our country has a red line for cultivated land to ensure food production.That is a consideration at the national level, and it is not easy to discuss it too much.

Chinese people are very persistent and attach great importance to food. Food must not be controlled by others.Although rice and other grains can now be imported in large quantities at relatively low prices, the state still invests huge subsidies to encourage farmers to grow grains.

They chatted at the door for a while, and then they came out of their shells.

The white-flowered rice exudes the fragrance of rice.

What you grow at home is just as good as what you eat outside. It loses the texture and flavor of rice.

"Brother, have you noticed? The rice sold outside is more shiny. Does it look good or not?"

I thought about this with Zhang Yaohua.

"Yes! That's right." Zhang Yaohua nodded.

"I heard people say that it was polished rice, but I always thought it was impossible. How much would it cost?" When Ah Jiu heard what others said, she didn't believe it.

After all, the retail price of a lot of rice is about three yuan. He couldn't imagine the amount of work it would take to polish every grain of rice.

"It's not surprising. There is a professional polishing machine and it can be done once. It's not as difficult as you think." Zhang Yaohua said.

He suspected that some of the delicious ingredients in the rice were lost after polishing and other processes, so it didn't taste good.

This reminded him of a little knowledge that his teacher once taught, saying that there is a layer of substance on the surface of rice that is very nutritious. When washing the rice, be sure not to rub it hard.

The teacher also told a story that there used to be a family. The daughter-in-law was a very filial person. Every time she made porridge, she would give the rice to the old mother and eat the thin soup herself.However, the old mother is getting thinner and thinner, and the daughter-in-law is getting taller and better.

Of course, this story is a bit exaggerated, but it is not groundless and it shows that there is some truth to it.

In addition, the reason why we feel that the rice bought outside is not delicious is because we bought old rice.The taste of new rice and old rice is really very different.

Rice also seems to have a shelf life.

Speaking of delicious rice, this reminds Zhang Yaohua of the two years after graduation, when he traveled to Northeast China during the annual vacation. The rice there was really delicious.

It was the most delicious rice he had ever tasted. He had also tasted some Thai fragrant rice, but it smelled delicious, but the taste was not as good as Northeastern rice.

After he came back, he tried to buy some Wuchang rice online, but he couldn't taste the taste and texture at all.

He knew that he had bought a fake.

Later, someone told him that the annual output of Wuchang rice was hundreds of thousands of tons, and the sales volume of Wuchang rice on the market exceeded [-] million tons.

Oh shit!It's outrageous.

It was Ah Jiu who carried rice home, while Zhang Yaohua carried two bags of lighter chaff.

After pouring the rice into the rice vat, Ah Jiu took his son out to play again and walked to the beach.For those who live inland, the sea is always fresh.

Zhang Yaohua was called by his mother to hoe behind the vegetable garden.

have to!I promised my mother that I would help her expand the vegetable garden.

When he was hoeing, a group of chickens and ducks were surrounding him. Every time he hoeed and turned over the soil, the chickens and ducks would swarm over and eat the bugs, earthworms, etc. hidden in the soil.

"Go aside." Zhang Yaohua rushed with his feet.

I'm really afraid of cutting off one or two chicken heads with a hoe.

As soon as he finished speaking, the two chickens started fighting over an earthworm.That’s intense!No wonder some people like to watch cockfights, they are indeed quite interesting.

It just sheds a lot of chicken feathers.

My mother quickly came over to "break up the fight" and gave each of them [-] blows.

(End of this chapter)