Chapter 32.0 - Mulberry Picking (After the Little Landlord Fell into Poverty)

 Chapter 32 - Mulberry Picking

　　Although he tried hard to hold back his gluttony during the day, Yao Kang still got a plate of fried rice candy at night.

　　Meng Xiaoxi saw that the two of them didn't eat much for dinner, and it was obvious that they were new and couldn't let go, so she asked them to take it back to their own yard to eat.

　　Yao Daocheng and his son felt like they were dreaming that day. After months of wandering, they finally settled down. Although they had to stay at the Meng family house for a few years, they were not working for nothing. They were all paid.

　　Their gift only consisted of a few old clothes and a broken pot for cooking. The new owner added a lot of things to the yard, such as wooden basins and quilts, and the dinner was so delicious.

　　Although they were very hungry, they didn't feel embarrassed to eat more. Who knew that after dinner, a plate of sweet rice candy was delivered!

　　They hadn't worked for a whole day!

　　Yao Daocheng said to his son, "Kang'er, it seems that the new owner is a rare kind person. You should work more seriously in the future, try not to be stubborn, learn more from housekeeper Shen, and help the owner take care of the farm affairs."

　　He saw that Shen Qingzhou was also working here, but he was not like an ordinary farmhand. The owner also said that they were family members. He never guessed what kind of family they were. Maybe they were life and death friends who had been through hardships.

　　They are family members and look like brothers, but the head of the family is actually only Meng Xiaoxi, so the address becomes a problem. You can't call them the first and second bosses, right? It sounds like a bandit's den.

　　It's embarrassing to call him by his name, so he calls him housekeeper Shen. The two of them looked a little strange after hearing this, but they didn't correct him.

　　His son didn't say anything, and Yao Daocheng got used to it. After a long time, he heard a sentence: "I know it in my mind."

　　Under the oil lamp, Yao Kang looked at his thin arms, and then thought about Shen Qingzhou's strong body. He couldn't help but feel inferior again. He didn't know when he would be able to train like him.

　　But it's always right to eat more and work more.

　　On the first day of work, Yao Daocheng didn't go to the fields, but repaired the pile of racks and baskets at home. By the way, he cleaned the house and smoked it with smoke, preparing to start raising silkworms.

　　Meng Xiaoxi and the others took Yao Kang on a bullock cart to the county silk workshop to see the silkworm seeds. In fact, the ant silkworms are very small and can be brought back by one person. The main purpose is to take him to see the world and learn how to do things.

　　There was also a sense of holding someone hostage. These two people had just arrived, so even if they looked honest and loyal, they could not leave their home to them for the whole day. One must be on guard against them. Only when they were really familiar with each other would they trust each other little by little.

　　There were very few silkworm farmers in Qinghe Town, and there were not many farmers raising silkworms in the entire Linping County. The spring silkworm seeds in the silk reeling workshop had already hatched, and occasionally people who knew the news came to buy them in twos and threes.

　　The cheapness of silkworm seeds mainly depended on the effort spent by each family, the appropriate temperature, a clean place, and careful feeding, so that white and plump cocoons could be harvested and sold at a good price.

　　Lingshui Village was forty or fifty miles away from the county town, and the ox carts moved slowly. When they came back, the sun had already set.

　　Yao Daocheng washed the basket after repairing it, and it was now dried.

　　The newly bought ant silkworms were very small, black, thin and weak, and could not be touched by hand. If you change the basket to clean it, you have to use a goose feather to carefully dust them.

　　The young silkworms consume very few mulberry leaves, so Shen Qingzhou picked the two most tender ones at the top of the branches.

　　After three or four days, the originally cheerful little thing slowly stopped eating. Meng Xiaoxi asked anxiously, "What's wrong? Is it sick?"

　　The father and son of the Yao family only know how to repair baskets, and have never raised this thing before, so they are also confused about this.

　　Shen Qingzhou checked it in advance and said calmly, "It's okay. It will enter its first dormancy period, and then molt. After molting, it will eat again. After that, it will be dormant every few days, and it will spin silk and make cocoons in about a month." "

　　Is that so!" Meng Xiaoxi was relieved, but also a little ashamed. When his mother raised them before, he only knew how to eat and play, and never watched the silk worms carefully. Thanks to Brother Shen and his omnipotent mobile phone.

　　After that, it was just as he said. After molting, the color of the young silkworms became lighter and lighter, and their appetite became larger and larger. As soon as you enter the silkworm room, you can hear rustling sounds.

　　When changing the baskets to clean the silkworm feces and leaves, it is necessary to manually move them. The young silkworms are very cute because they are white, but they are soft and fleshy, so it still takes a lot of courage to do it directly. Most of the time, it is Shen Qingzhou who does these things. Yao Kang is brave and helps him to change them and pick mulberry leaves.

　　Meng Xiaoxi only cooks, takes care of the vegetable garden, and takes care of the chickens and ducklings.

　　After Yao Daocheng recognized the boundaries of his family's fields, he took the initiative to take care of the work in the fields. Every day, he weeded, removed seedlings, and made ridges, fertilized the weak areas, and carefully took care of this large piece of land.

　　Meng Fengchun helped to go to the county government household office to change the indentures for the two people, and finally signed for five years.

(T/N: Pt.2 will come in a few hours!)

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