Return to 1981 and start from breaking off the engagement

Chapter 93 Sister-in-law’s Experiment

"Uncle Shoushan, what did you do with the red dates that were harvested from the Zaolinzi in previous years?"

Yao Weijun was a little curious. At this time, he already had some ideas in his mind, but he still had to ask clearly before talking.

"In previous years, the land hadn't been divided yet. The jujubes harvested were usually equal to part of the work points in the village and distributed to each household."

Chen Shoushan waved his hand and smiled, "As for what the villagers do with the dates they allot, they just give some to relatives and eat some on a daily basis, and in winter, they use wine to make drunken dates and the like, which is pretty much the same. It’s all consumed.”

When Yao Weijun heard this, he couldn't help but laugh too, but there was a hint of emotion in his smile.

He really didn't pay attention to the jujube trees in the village in previous years.

At that time, Jian Tian'er went out to have fun and play freely. He never bothered to ask what things were given to his family after autumn every year.

If you want to eat red dates, you will already have enough while they are still hanging on the tree.

"Well, Uncle Shoushan, please find someone to dry those dates first, and try not to break the skin. After I finish the wedding, I can find some sales in this area through connections."

Yao Weijun happily nodded in agreement and smiled to comfort Chen Shoushan, "Don't worry, Uncle Shoushan, we don't have to worry about selling these dates!"

"That's good, haha... let's go up and smoke one!"

Chen Shoushan was overjoyed. In his eyes, Yao Weijun was now the most capable person in the entire Jiachang Village. This ability did not refer to how big a leader he was or what skills he had, but to his ability to do things and his personal connections.

The two walked out of the cellar to smoke. Yao Weijun smiled and said:
"Uncle Morishan, where are the red dates that I've knocked down? I'll go over and have a look, and I'll bring back half a bag. It will be convenient for me to negotiate the acquisition then."

"Okay, after harvesting, I will put it in Shuliang's yard. He lives in the south of the village. The yard is quite big. As the property of the village, I don't have to hire anyone else to look after it."

Chen Shoushan nodded in agreement without thinking, and then added:

"Is half a bag enough? How about you move a bag? You can go there anytime. Just tell Shuliang there and ask him to cross it out on the account he has calculated. I will sign it afterward! "

"Let's take a look, it's not necessary if there are too many." Yao Weijun nodded noncommittally, chatted with Chen Shoushan for a while about the progress of the cellar, and then returned home.

The village collected six to seven thousand kilograms of red dates. This news was definitely a surprise for Yao Weijun.

The two village leaders, Chen Shoushan and Li Qiming, only thought about how to sell these red dates for money, but Yao Weijun didn't think so.

In this day and age, raw materials are not valuable, especially the crops harvested by farmers from the fields. Under unified control, the price is basically the same across the country. Whether you sell more or less is determined by the cost you pay. How much can you earn? The money is available, but it is quite limited.

But if it is simply processed, it will be different.

The current policies encourage economic development, and for processed goods, the profit margins immediately increase.

Yao Weijun originally thought about waiting for the spring after the new year before tinkering with canned yellow peaches. After all, the conditions are not very mature now.

Because of its high nutritional content and fresh flesh, yellow peach is a fruit that is highly perishable. Now that the weather is getting colder, there may still be fresh fruits in the south, but the cost of long-distance transportation in large quantities cannot be estimated at all.

Besides, he is now engaged in the roasting business and has built a greenhouse in the village. If he goes to the commune with great fanfare and applies to transport fruits to the south, Director Xiao will probably slam the table.

The road must be taken step by step. At the very least, the greenhouse matter should be implemented first so that the commune leaders can see hope, and then they can talk about other things.

But now Chen Shoushan's words aroused Yao Weijun's interest.

We can’t can canned yellow peaches for the time being, but we can also can canned red dates with rock sugar!
Even apples from the north are easy to buy this season. When the time comes, a combination of canned apples with dates and candied dates will definitely be in demand when city dwellers visit relatives before the end of the year.

Yao Weijun is a person who does what he thinks of. He just told Chen Shoushan that he wanted half a bag of red dates, but it was actually to do an experiment first.

Don’t plan everything very well, but in the end something goes wrong with the canned red dates, and everything becomes a daydream.

After he returned home, he went to the bedroom again and found that everything was as usual. There was no trace of any movement at all, and there was no residue or dirt on the ground. Then he was completely relieved and went out. He took the two bags of broken bricks and garbage that had been thrown in the yard and threw them to the reservoir behind the house.

Then he went home, got on his motorcycle, and went to Zhao Shuliang's home in the south of the village before it got completely dark.

They are all from the same village, and Yao Weijun is now the leader of the village's sideline business development. Zhao Shuliang readily nodded and agreed to his request for some red dates.

After signing the account book, Yao Weijun declined Zhao Shuliang's offer to have dinner with him, and returned home carrying more than half a bag of red dates totaling fifty kilograms.

It was already dinner time. He weighed out ten kilograms of slightly shriveled red dates and put them into the large pot in the south courtyard to soak. After finishing these tasks, he returned to the old house for dinner.

After returning in the evening, grandma and Xiaohua went to the main house, and he and his sister-in-law started making canned red dates.

After soaking for a period of time, the wrinkles on the surface of the red dates have all relaxed. Next, I discussed with my sister-in-law and started boiling sugar water, dividing the red dates into bowls, adding appropriate amounts of sugar water, and steaming them in a pot.

After tinkering for nearly an hour, seven bowls of red dates in sugar water were officially cooked with steaming heat.

There were some soaked red dates in the pot next to it, but Yao Weijun did not steam them all at once.

Since it is an experiment, you must try it again and again in order to gain effective experience in aspects such as sugar water concentration and cooking time.

"Sister-in-law, try it!"

Yao Weijun was an expert at frying seeds in his previous life, but when it came to making canned food, his only experience was eating it.

Therefore, the first batch of red dates in sugar water were basically handled by the sister-in-law, and he only followed suit.

"Try it too. It seems it's not sweet enough. Why don't you try steaming it in a pot?"

My sister-in-law ate a jujube and suggested with some embarrassment. "Well, let's have another pot. Sister-in-law, you don't have to think it's a waste, just try it!"

Yao Weijun saw that his sister-in-law was a little distressed and comforted her gently.

The process was obviously much faster the second time, and half an hour later, it was cooked again.

"Junzi, it's sweet this time. You can try it again, but the cans sold by other agencies are all in bottles. These are just food bowls. Who are we selling them to?"

The sister-in-law smacked her lips with a helpless smile on her face.

"I will contact you after the cans and bottles are released. Right now it is mainly about the taste. Sister-in-law, do you think there is anything that can be improved?"

Yao Weijun frowned and tasted the taste of red dates in his mouth. He always felt that it was a little different from other cans sold by agencies outside.

"This is what I heard from the older generation in the village when I was staying at my parents' house. I really don't know how to do anything else."

The sister-in-law shook her head as she spoke, and her expression darkened when she saw Yao Weijun frowning.

"Try another pot to steam out all the remaining dates. Let's steam them for a while and then lift the lid!"

"Ok!"

Half an hour later, the two made the third pot of red dates in sugar water.

……

"...Well, I'll ask someone else to taste it tomorrow and see if he can give some suggestions."

Yao Weijun said thoughtfully after tasting it.

He found that he still couldn't do it behind closed doors. After all, neither he nor his sister-in-law were experts in canning. At this time, he could only make slight improvements based on the experience of others.

As for the candidate, Yao Weijun has already thought about it.

Professor Ling.

As an expert, he has been stationed throughout the country all year round. He has extensive knowledge and experience, and may be able to provide some useful guidance.

Yao Weijun and his sister-in-law experimented with red dates in sugar water. They worked until about ten o'clock in the evening, and then they went back to their houses to rest.

The next morning, people from the county agricultural technology station drove over to deliver mushroom strains.

After Yao Weijun settled with the visitors, he took seven or eight villagers who were willing to learn mushroom cultivation techniques and began to cultivate the strains in the greenhouse.

The wood materials are all basswood sticks bought in advance, which are exactly the same as the wood used during training at the agricultural technology station.

Yao Weijun was very attentive when he first went to study. Whether it was Professor Ling's lectures on theoretical knowledge or on-site practical operations, he completed it seriously to ensure that he had mastered it proficiently.

Now that Professor Ling is on hand to provide guidance, the entire cultivation process goes smoothly.

One day passed, and the mushroom strains were almost fully cultivated in two of the five greenhouses.

This is still the case for those villagers who come to learn. At first, they can only help and learn from the side, and cannot operate alone. In Yao Weijun's view, as these people become more and more skilled, these five greenhouses will not be able to operate until the morning of tomorrow at most. You can get it all done.

It was getting dark, and those who came to study began to go home for dinner. Yao Weijun washed his hands on the water well in the threshing floor and invited Professor Ling to his home for dinner.

As an old professor invited by the County Agricultural Technology Station, Professor Ling is subsidized when he goes to work in the countryside. At the same time, the commune has also instructed the village to arrange food and accommodation.

During his stay in Jianchang Village, Professor Ke Ling preferred to leave the threshing floor to cook by himself, and rarely accepted invitations to eat at the village headquarters or at individual homes.

"Professor Ling, eating is secondary. I am catching up on cultivating bacterial strains in the past two days. I still have some technical questions I want to ask you. Let's go!"

Yao Weijun wiped his hands and invited again with a smile.

When Professor Ling heard that they wanted to discuss greenhouse planting, he couldn't refuse any more, so he nodded and agreed with a smile.

The two left the threshing floor and walked towards the east end of the village.

When he went out in the morning, Yao Weijun told his sister-in-law that he would entertain Professor Ling in the evening, so after they entered the room and sat down, their sister-in-law and Chuntao brought the wine and food one after another.

"Weijun, let's stop drinking. Let's have a simple meal and mainly talk about cultivating bacterial strains."

Professor Ling saw there was wine on the table and quickly waved his hand and said.

"Okay, then I won't be polite to Professor Ling anymore. After our greenhouse is completed, I will have a few drinks with you, Professor Ling!"

Yao Weijun didn't try to persuade him too much. After all, Professor Ling drank wine, and the sugary red dates he made might not be so accurate when he tasted it later.

After a simple meal, Yao Weijun removed the banquet, made tea for Professor Ling, and took the lead in chatting about the greenhouse.

In order to avoid missing some details, he took the initiative to bring a notebook and pen and carefully wrote down some technical expertise from Professor Ling.

"Professor Ling, thank you for your patient explanation. Don't just drink tea, try this."

After talking about the greenhouse, Yao Weijun took some homemade red dates in sugar water and placed them in front of Professor Ling with a smile.

(End of this chapter)