Chapter 62: The Joyful Arrival Was So Gentle
It's almost the end of Wu De's eighth year, and my uncles are all excited. Not only is this year's harvest good, but also three aunts have successively become pregnant. Although it's not as coincidental as Yang Heng's mother and younger aunt who got pregnant at the same time, they've all found out they're pregnant one after another, which is also something to be happy about.
The first to find out was Aunt Wu, then half a month later it was Aunt Er, and next was Aunt San. But this time, the young ladies didn't all say it was a boy, some said boy, some said girl. However, whether they said boy or girl, the aunts were all very happy, they had no pressure at all, just that boys are easy to raise, girls are easy to marry off, if it's a boy, there will be a family business for him to inherit, if it's a girl, there will be enough dowry for her to get married happily. All of this is thanks to the good fortune of Nephew Heng! Just look at the crops in the new field, they are even better than those in the best fields outside, with yields several percentage points higher, and in recent years, not even needing fertilizer, nor even needing a break from farming. In the past, it was said that the land needed a break because the wasteland hadn't been cultivated yet.
Fertilizer, every household has accumulated a lot now, all of Yang Heng's ideas, putting manure and some weeds together, then fermenting, after fermentation is done, it becomes black fertilizer, not in use now, all stored in a large pit first, after having livestock later, this fertilizer will become more and more.
Feng Bo, now basically doesn't work much anymore. Some farming tasks have been handed over to Da Ge. Feng Bo's main task is to take care of the chickens, ducks and geese. The chickens are driven to the fields from spring to winter to forage, but they need to be careful not to harm the young crops during the initial growth period. The ducks and geese are occasionally driven into the paddy fields or even small rivers, but most of the time they are driven into the paddy fields.
Feng Bo also had the task of artificially incubating chicks, ducklings and goslings. "Feng Bo, look, if you hold it up to the sun and can see a black spot in the middle of the egg, then it's an egg that can be hatched into a chick or something else. If there is no such point, or even if it's not clear, don't use it." This was the first step in selecting eggs. The second step was incubation. Incubation meant putting them on the kang, adding heat to the kang, heating it up to a certain temperature, and then keeping it that way. After 21 days, the chicks would hatch. Yang Heng only knew the hatching time of chicks, but not the time for ducklings or goslings. However, their incubation temperatures were roughly the same, but how did one grasp this temperature?
First, you can use your hand to test the temperature. First, put your hand on your body to warm it up to the same temperature as your body, then place your hand on the kang and if you feel that the temperature is slightly higher than your hand's temperature, around 38 degrees, it's done. However, this method is difficult to grasp. Another way is to find a hen incubating chicks, use your hand to touch the temperature under her body, and then touch the kang's temperature, which is easier to grasp.
In Yang Heng's previous life, some rural women could even incubate chicks without having to touch the temperature under the mother hen. They were all familiar with this method of incubating chicks, but it required a quiet place. If there were often loud noises, they would startle the eggs and make it difficult for the chicks to hatch. Even if they did hatch, the chicks would not survive.
Although using a fire incubator can hatch many small chickens, if you want to hatch more, this fire incubator is not enough. At that time, large-scale incubation equipment is needed, and the temperature of this large-scale incubation equipment needs to be grasped more accurately. This is not urgent, after Feng Bo masters the use of fire incubators for hatching, he can even skillfully hatch eggs, and then switch to using large incubators. The incubator is nothing more than stirring the temperature in a box evenly with a fan, and then keeping it constant. Although there is no electricity now, people can completely manually turn the fan, use charcoal to burn iron plates or something outside, raise the temperature, and send hot air into the incubator through the air ducts. By adding several temperature-measuring holes on the incubator, the temperature can be grasped. In short, the future is bright, but it also requires carefulness. This task was originally intended to be done by Lian Jie, but later he realized that letting Feng Bo do it would be more stable.
Although these chickens, ducks and geese have not hatched yet, the uncles have already booked them. After they hatch, five families will share them equally.
The young uncle's family moved back to their new home after the child was full moon, and it's worth noting that they had never lived in their new home before. However, since it was summer, there was nothing inappropriate about moving house, mainly just to prevent moisture. This is easy to handle, just put some charcoal in the corners of the room, which can remove the damp air, and these charcoals can be reused after drying in the sun.
His brother's family had a maid named Xiaohua, and also a clever daughter, so naturally he didn't need to be at home all the time. Therefore, in his free time, he continued to hang out at Yang Heng's house, not that Yang Heng suddenly had something to do.
As expected, Yang Heng really had something to do, that is, a baby stroller. The iron one didn't work out, it was too wasteful of iron, and even if it was made, it would be too heavy, only usable in fixed places, and couldn't be moved around easily. So the little uncle used some hardwood to make one instead.
This cart is simple, just four wheels, a frame on top, a canvas spread on the frame, and another canopy set up on top. If this were placed in front of Yang Heng's previous life, it would probably be something that no one would even look at. But at this time, Fourth Uncle actually treated it as a treasure. He quickly made one for the big cow in the Yang Heng family, and then another one for the small cow. The other uncles wanted some too, but Fourth Uncle wouldn't agree, saying "Wait until your children are full moon, I'll make some for you too. But for now, I can prepare the materials for you." This is just how petty Fourth Uncle was, he was afraid that if someone else learned this skill, they would no longer be able to learn it themselves. A very simple-minded idea.
"Little girl, slow down, slow down, be careful not to fall." After having this stroller, it became a toy for the children, especially Xiaoniang and Niuzi. Niuzi was pushing her own little brother Xiaoniu, while Xiaoniang was pushing Yangheng's little brother Daniu. This scared the two maids half to death. They pushed with all their might, but very fast, especially since the road in front of the gate was very smooth and there were no obstacles. The two little girls pushed the stroller so fast that they ran like flying, especially since these children had been trained a lot and even the two maids couldn't keep up with them. They could only shout anxiously from behind, while the two little ones were very proud and laughed happily whenever they ran fast, enjoying the thrill of it all, but unaware of the danger of tipping over or bumping into something.
While other boys could only envy from the side, "Our mother will soon give birth to a little brother or sister for us too, and we won't let you push." Ah, this is also jealousy. Right, at that time, there was no word for jealousy yet? This housewife, you have to work hard and try to create this word as soon as possible!
