The Life of a Son-in-Law in a Courtyard House

Jin Haiye had been shocked by all the meat, but now he finally came to his senses.

"No, Dalin, how much does this cost? You can take it home, we'll only charge you a small amount."

We'll keep two pounds of meat; you can take the rest back.

That's too much.

"Uncle Jin Hai, we're all family. I haven't been back for two years. I didn't spend any money on these things; I hunted them and traded them with people. Don't worry."

Look, this meat is from a wild sow. I hunted it myself, not from domesticated animals. Otherwise, I wouldn't have enough meat coupons to buy it.

Everything else was obtained through hunting; it didn't cost much.

It took Yang Dalin a while to convince them.

Yang Dalin returned to the main room and continued to drink tea and chat with the others, including the village's headman, Uncle Zhu Yuxiang. The tea was naturally provided by Yang Dalin.

Nowadays, how many families in rural areas have good tea?

Although Yang Dalin managed to get the freight station and a local driver's company he knew to buy more fruit from his hometown, the area is densely populated with many children and little land, so the locals are still barely making ends meet.

Because the land produces very little, the yield is low, and people can eat it all.

Fortunately, the pear trees planted by the older generation can still be sold for some money; otherwise, life would be even more difficult for Zhujiazhuang.

They chatted in the main room until it was time for dinner. Captain Zhu Yuxiang got up and pretended to leave to go home for dinner, but Yang Dalin and his family forced him to stay.

I guess Grandpa Yuxiang knew there was some good fortune to be had today, and he wasn't really willing to leave. Otherwise, if he really wanted to go, no one could have stopped him.

Let them have a meal; if we have the means, we're not afraid.

If that's not possible, then forget it.

Yang Dalin didn't care much about this small matter.

As the brigade leader, he should take better care of the Yang family.

You have to understand that the Zhu family is the largest in the village, and the Yang family is the second smallest. If the brigade leader shows any favoritism, they might really suffer in the village.

Like that Guo family in the village.

There was only one family.

That's because they truly have no presence.

No one dares to mess with them.

It's because they're the only family with the surname Guo.

The Yang family is small, so they are more united.

Like another Zhang family in the village, there were only a few more than the Yang family.

If we are not united, we will be bullied.

There's no way around it; half the people in the village are surnamed Zhu.

Fortunately, the Yang family's land was not adjacent to the Zhu family's land.

Otherwise, just wait and see; there's bound to be trouble.

Zhu Yuxiang, the brigade leader, was relatively fair.

His reputation is alright.

There has never been any deliberate favoritism.

However, it won't be absolutely fair; there will definitely be some consideration for the Zhu family, which is already quite good.

Now, most of the fruit in the village is bought up through channels introduced by Yang Dalin.

They don't even need to transport it out.

Zhu Yuxiang still values ​​Yang Dalin and takes care of the Yang family.

While they were chatting, Grandpa Jin Hai would occasionally have his son call the rest of the Yang family out.

He was called out to deliver pork home.

That's why everyone who delivered the meat to their homes was even more enthusiastic towards Yang Dalin when they returned.

Grandma Jinhai and Grandma Jinjiang used the meat and oil that Yang Dalin brought to cook several meat dishes.

To be honest, Yang Dalin thought the dish was just so-so.

There was nothing I could do; my family was too poor, so I rarely had the opportunity to cook meat, and I simply lacked experience.

However, for people in rural areas nowadays, having meat is already a good thing.

Don't even mention meat, it's still so big.

Six or seven men drank only two bottles of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor).

Yang Dalin wanted to open another bottle of wine, but Grandpa Yuxiang said, "Dalinzi, that's enough. This is good wine, so drink it."

Don't open it anymore, just taste it once.

"How can you drink your fill in one go?"

Since Grandpa Yuxiang won't let us drive it, then we won't drive it.

While everyone was drinking water and chatting, Yang Dalin went back to the car and brought back another bag.

Yang Dalin told everyone, "These are wheat seeds, corn seeds, cotton seeds, soybean seeds, and peanut seeds that I collected while driving my truck."

Everyone get a portion and go back to try it out.

"Grandpa Yuxiang, please share what's left with the rest of the villagers."

Captain Zhu Yuxiang, who hadn't drunk much, said quite soberly, "Dalinzi, our brigade doesn't have much uncultivated land. There are regulations from higher up that we can only plant one season of wheat and one season of corn."

These other seeds, this…”

Yang Dalin smiled and said, "Uncle Yuxiang, these are high-yield seeds that I collected for my family back home while I was away."

There's no space on the land. Wouldn't it be more convenient to use the small plots of land under the pear trees in our brigade, between the pear trees?

This area contains seeds such as wheat, corn, cotton, peanuts, and soybeans, which can be described as covering food, clothing, and oil.

Each family gets a small share, just enough for a few plants. If it's really good, you can save seeds and expand the scale next year.

If the yield is average and it doesn't occupy the main arable land, what are you afraid of?

And it won't affect the output of the main fields?

"Slap!" Captain Zhu Yuxiang slapped his thigh.

"Yes, I was a little tipsy from drinking."

We can just find a few plots of land among the pear trees.

Okay, Dalinzi, I believe you.

I'll have everyone plant them later.

If it really yields a high harvest, the whole village will thank you again.

Everyone was very happy to hear that the seeds were high-yield seeds that Yang Dalin had specially collected.

However, having never planted it before, I didn't dare to experiment with the vacant land in the village.

If these seeds don't work, the entire year's harvest will be lost.

No one dares to try it lightly.

However, it might work if you try it on the small plot of land between the pear trees.

Originally, each household received only one seed, which wasn't much.

The large pear trees in Yang Dalin's hometown were all planted during the reign of Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty.

It has been more than one hundred to two hundred years since then.

They are all large pear trees, with large gaps between each tree.

They are mainly concentrated in the north of the village because the land there is sandy soil.

In Yang Dalin's hometown dialect, it's called Shatuwo.

Growing ordinary crops won't work because there's too much water.

So our ancestors planted pear trees.

I didn't expect the pear tree to grow so well.

At that time, they were planted here and there, with little density in between.

Unlike the scientific planting methods of later generations, there are many edges between the pear trees here.

Previously, the edges and middle of those fields were vegetable gardens where people grew vegetables, or supplemented their crops with grains, cotton, or peanuts.

Planting them directly under pear trees won't work.

Because of the lack of sunlight, the pear tree will die from its heat.

Because half of the village is pear orchards, the average income per person in ordinary white-land villages is even lower.

It has less uncultivated land per capita than the surrounding villages that do not have pear orchards.

If it weren't for the fact that pear trees could be exchanged for some money, Zhujiazhuang would really be very poor.

In places where grain production is the main source of income, if there is less land than people, how can they not be poor?

Captain Zhu left afterward, carrying two bottles of wine, two packs of cigarettes, and half a bag of seeds given to him by Yang Dalin.

Other elders of the Yang family also left one after another.

Yang Dalin spent the night at Jin Haiye's house.

Yang Dalin's old house was no longer habitable.

Yang Dalin is not in a hurry to rebuild his old house.

I only come back once every few years, why rush to build it?