12dz Chapter 302: My face turned red
Chapter 302: My face turned red
After the resounding and joyous firecrackers, Village Chief Liao shouted to the villagers who were walking to his house to watch the fun. Then everyone realized that it was time to catch toads! So what are you waiting for? One toad, two chickens, ten toads... Oh, forget it, anyway, this year will definitely be a good year!
The Toad Village really lived up to its reputation. Bai Tieying had not spoken to the girls for long when someone came back carrying a basket of toads.
The basket wasn't big, but at last count it contained nearly a hundred of them. I didn't dare put more in because if I put more in they would pop out.
Bai Tieying helped count, and after Village Chief Liao wrote it down in a notebook, she washed her hands and planned to see how the girls performed. After a while, Bai Tieying was relieved, as these girls were much better than her.
Especially the little girl named Song Meiyu, who looked delicate and weak, did not hesitate at all. After a while, she drew the third one. She even had time to look up at others and then at Bai Tieying, as if she was waiting for adults to praise her. Her cute and innocent look was especially adorable!
There are two ways to obtain toad oil. One is to air-dry it first and then peel it off, which is in the form of block oil. The other is what Bai Tieying chose, which is to kill it with warm water and then directly extract the thread oil.
Toad oil is not oil, but the oviduct of the toad. Bai Tieying limits the size of frogs to be captured, that is, the frogs must be more than three years old, so the extracted forest frog oil is nearly one foot long and weighs six to eight cents per frog, and some even weigh more than one cent.
When Village Chief Liao heard Bai Tieying say that the frogs sent were enough for a thousand, he asked the villagers to stop catching them. These were enough for the children to work for a day, and any more would be tiring.
Besides, there is still a month before the beginning of winter, and we can catch the frogs that have come down the mountain for at least another 20 days. By then, we can definitely pay back the money for the water truck.
Chai Lao Da said that their village spent less than 300 taels to build a waterwheel, and the rest could be used to repair the road. Thinking that next year they would no longer have to carry buckets of water up the mountain, and the dirt road to the county town would be wide and solid, Village Chief Liao felt full of energy.
So when he heard Bai Tieying say that they would have to deliver the toad meat to the county town from tomorrow, he didn't even frown. What's the problem? A female leopard with the marrow of the Snow Girl is worth three cents! If we deliver a thousand toads a day, we can make money... Anyway, we will have a lot of piglets and chickens next year, and we can even invite a matchmaker to the village!
Bai Tieying didn't know that Village Chief Liao was thinking so much. She took a general look and then went to the village to chat with the grandmothers and aunties of each family. If the people who manage the household and control the financial power in a family pay attention to it, toads will not be caught in secret and mountain products will not be sold as good ones.
"Tieying! We caught some male dogs, don't worry, we released all the female leopards, so we know that waiting for two years is money. Well, grandpa just wants to ask, does your method of stewing toads have to use pork belly?"
When Bai Tieying came for the first time, he was not empty-handed, nor did he bring anything valuable. He just cut a strip of pork belly and put half of it into the stewed toad. This is the strange thing about stews. The most delicious part is often not the main ingredient, but the side dishes.
Of course, pork belly itself is delicious. But she couldn't just give out well water, and there were no potatoes or peppers here. In Bai Tieying's limited menu, she only knew that pork belly and soybean paste could be added, and she didn't dare to say anything without trying it.
"Grandpa Qiu, it's not that I don't want to tell you! The truth is that I'm not very good at cooking, I just put enough oil and ingredients. I think grandmas and aunts must have more experience than me."
"Hey, that's fine too. Tell me what you put in that day, and I'll go back and ask Grandma Qiu to make it at home."
"Uncle Qiu, how can you just ask about this? Tieying, don't listen to his nonsense. This is called a skill. How can you tell everyone who asks?" The youngest village elder, whom Bai Tieying called Uncle Shi, happened to pass by. When he heard this, he quickly stepped back to stop him.
"Uncle Shi, what have you been doing? It's okay. There's no special trick, and it can't be called a skill. I just stir-fry the scallions and ginger in the pot, and then add the toad, pork belly and soybean paste to stew together.
That is to say, Grandma Qiu has never eaten the toads I made, otherwise she would know after tasting them. But toads are cold in nature, so people with phlegm, cough and loose stools should not eat them! "
"Hey, kid, you're not stingy." Bai Tieying didn't care, so Uncle Shi naturally had nothing to say. "I didn't do anything. I went up the mountain to dig some wild sesame seeds. I'll have something to use when I have a headache or fever."
"Uncle Shi also knows about herbs?"
"What do you know? These are all passed down by the elders in my family, so I just know them."
Bai Tieying didn't say much, this was considered a greeting. Normally when meeting acquaintances, they would just say a few words, and then go their separate ways after saying hello.
Sesame, according to Uncle's herbal illustrations, is also called night-blooming jasmine, and is mainly used to treat colds and laryngitis, and has a fever-relieving effect. Its seeds can also be used as medicine. The name Bai Tieying originally heard was evening primrose, because every time she got home from school, evening primrose would bloom with tender yellow flowers.
Looking at the tiny flowers dotted along the way, which were so different from the other flowers that had wilted and dried after being exposed to the sun for a day, she remembered this plant that could be found everywhere on the roadside, on the slopes, and in the grass.
Because they were all from the north, she learned that many common grasses had medicinal value. One of the reasons why Uncle Ye was so "famous" and respected in the south of the city was that most of the herbs he used were considered weeds by others, so the price of the medicine was naturally not high.
But the resources in the north are more or less. She wants to develop the herbal medicine with the people of Xianhe Village first, because there is an old man in the family. So even if many herbs can be said to be everywhere, she will not be too naive. As for the future, let's talk about it later. Don't look at what's in the pot, you haven't eaten what's in the bowl yet!
After chatting with the villagers for a long time, Bai Tieying achieved her goal. When she returned, the girls had already processed more than a thousand female leopards, that is, female toads. The drying racks in the yard were full of strings of light yellow toad oil. Village Chief Liao and the two village elders who were on duty today were counting them. Listening to them checking them one by one, Bai Tieying couldn't help but feel a headache.
After "in-depth exchanges" with the grandmothers and aunts in the village, Bai Tieying learned that the main reason why Village Chief Liao was able to become the village chief was that he could read. But knowing how to read does not mean knowing how to count. Didn't you see that those girls could only count up to twenty?
Bai Tieying couldn't help but blush when she thought about her dismal math grades in her previous life and having to be a math teacher here.