Song Sanniang's Journey to Wealth

Song Laoer's family took advantage of the candlelight to count today's bills. After deducting the expenses, they still had an income of about two taels. Song Laoer put the money away.

Then the family started discussing the menu for the next day. The fourth and fifth mothers wanted to eat this and that, which made everyone laugh.

The next day, while Song Lao Da and his four companions were busy in the rice fields, Song Lao Er and his family also started their day's work.

Song Ersao handed the task of making breakfast to Song Sanniang. She and Song Laoer went to the threshing ground to thresh the rice harvested yesterday, and then spread it out to dry.

The drying ground was already covered with golden rice that others had hung out to dry, which made people happy. However, after harvesting the rice, taxes had to be paid.

Song Lao Er muttered, "Let's see how much the government has collected this year. We split up the family this year. I wonder if the taxes should be paid according to the amount paid before the split or after the split."

After hearing what he said, Mrs. Song felt a little worried. She had always lived a tight life, and even though she was making money now, she still felt that taxes were a scary thing.

However, the couple did not have much time to think about it, and they continued to work after a while.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Mrs. Song left Song Laoer alone there to thresh the rice while she went back to make sugar water.

Si Niang and Wu Niang happily came to bring breakfast and water to Song Lao Er. Breakfast was usually very simple. The egg yolks left over from making double skin milk milk were either made into steamed eggs, fried eggs, or various kinds of eggs every day.

Everyone is not tired of eating it yet. When they get tired of it, Song Ersao plans to give the egg yolks to Cuihuasao, Niu Laosan or her brother.

Today, Song Sanniang used flour, eggs, and vegetables to make pancakes, which made Si Niang and Wu Niang very happy, as they had never eaten pancakes before.

Song Ersao returned home soon. Song Sanniang had already returned with the milk and was preparing to wash the fruit.

Mrs. Song did her work swiftly, and the mother and daughter were very busy. However, they still had time to talk and chat.

Song Sanniang still had memories of harvesting rice in the past, and asked Song Ersao, "Mom, can you thresh and dry the rice by yourself? Otherwise, I will talk to my uncle and ask my aunt and cousin to help. After you finish harvesting rice for my uncle's family, you can help them."

In previous years, the ten acres of rice were worked by the entire family of Song Lao Da and Mrs. Song. Except for the fourth and fifth aunts who were unable to work, the other three members of Song Lao Er's family all went.

It takes a family of ten people to complete the work. It takes three or four days to harvest the rice, two or three days to thresh it, and four or five days to dry it if the weather is good.

This is not the end. After drying, you need to use a grain blower to filter out the empty rice husks in the millet. Then put the rest into bags or bamboo baskets and carry them back home for storage. Take them out when you want to eat them.

There are two ways to turn paddy into rice, one is pounding and the other is grinding. Pounding paddy usually relies on the rotation of a waterwheel to provide power, using the principle of leverage to pound the paddy in the mortar back and forth to remove the rice husk.

However, the rice pounded in this way is easily broken and the efficiency is relatively low.

Therefore, most people use the milling method. Rice milling uses a magical tool called a rice huller. There are two types of rice hullers: wooden rice hullers and earth rice hullers.

The principle of hulling is similar to that of grinding, but the gravity of hulling is much smaller, it just rubs off the outer shell of the grain, while grinding crushes the grain.

Wooden rice hullers are made of wood, and earthen rice hullers are made of loess and bamboo.

Wooden rice husks are more durable, but earthen rice husks utilize the principle of leverage, which is more labor-saving and can be used by women and children at home. Therefore, most people use earthen rice husks to husk rice.

After removing the husks, there are still a lot of rice grains that have not been husked successfully. They need to be sifted out with a winnowing basket and husked again. Keep rubbing back and forth until all the rice grains are rubbed into rice.

Do you think this is the end? Not yet.

The rice that has been husked and rubbed is mixed with rice husks and needs to be sieved again with a grain blower so that complete rice can be obtained in the end.

In an era of low productivity, who knows that every grain of rice on the plate is the result of hard work, which is the most true portrayal.

Mrs. Song thought about the rice harvest in previous years and said, "Let your father and uncle talk to you. Don't get involved."

Song Sanniang thought about it and agreed.

When Song Laoer returned home, Song Ersao had already prepared lunch. After the family finished their lunch, they packed up the sweet soup and waited for Song Dazhi to come over.

When Song Dazhi came, he actually brought more than 200 bamboo bowls. Song Laoer asked in surprise, "You still have time to make bamboo bowls? Aren't you busy with the autumn harvest?"

Song Dazhi said nonchalantly, "What's the big deal? There are so many people in my family, so just leaving two people at home is enough. The old man is old, so he will go to direct the autumn harvest and come back to do it. My eldest brother, second brother, and third brother, they can take turns to stay at home for a day to help, which is also a rest. Besides, at worst we can ask someone to help."

Song Lao Er understood. The Song clan leader had five children in total, four sons and one daughter. So he especially doted on his daughter and carefully selected a son from the village head's family as a husband for her.

Because of his relationship with the village head, Patriarch Song has more influence in the village.

Unfortunately, Song Zuen is the only one in his family who reads. The other grandchildren only learned to read for two years and then refused to read any more. On the contrary, his grandson loves to read and never puts down his book.

After chatting for a while, the three of them set off.

Ever since Song Sanniang's sweet soup became well-known, the daily sales volume has stabilized at around 300 bowls. The Qin Haodong brothers would make two or three trips to the dock to sell, and Song Laoer and Song Sanniang would basically sell out even if they just stayed at the stall.

Sanniang has already started thinking about opening a shop. In another month or two, when she has saved enough money and built the house, she can open the shop.

Thinking of this, Song Sanniang planned to go to the town with her family for some shopping after the autumn harvest. She had planned to buy new clothes and shoes for everyone, but that has not yet been realized.

After closing the stall in the afternoon, the father and daughter started purchasing ingredients again. Today, Song Sanniang's three cousins ​​came to help, so naturally the number of meals had to increase.

They bought a chicken, a large tilapia, a pig's head, and a bunch of pig offal, and vegetables such as Chinese cabbage, beans, and cucumbers. The father and daughter returned home with a full load.