Chapter 47: I didn’t get to eat, but I gained a lot

Chapter 47: I didn’t get to eat, but I gained a lot

The sun was shining brightly, casting mottled shadows on the trees. Dozens of people stepped on the fallen leaves, some deep, some shallow. Wooden sticks pushed aside the leaves, revealing piles of acorns underneath.

They picked up acorns with both hands and threw them into the baskets and backpacks, which were soon full. The men picked up the shoulder poles and carried them back to their destination.

Lin Zisu took the shovel and shoveled the acorns into the basket with one shovel on the left and the other on the right. Cuihe, Xiatao and Qiuyue were responsible for pushing all the fallen leaves aside and scraping the acorns into a pile for easy shoveling.

Lin Xianwen was holding another shovel and working on the other side with more than a dozen cousins.

To pick acorns, you only need your hands. If you don’t have any tools, you can just use a stick to pick them.

Everyone showed off their skills, picking up acorns and packing them.

The difficulty lies in getting the acorns back from the foot of the mountain. Acorns are quite heavy, especially when they are filled into baskets or backpacks. Whether carrying them or carrying them on the back, it takes an adult man to do it.

Bringing back acorns is a physical job, so you get more work points. Picking up and packing acorns is easier, so you get fewer work points. Everyone divides the work and cooperates, and points are recorded according to the work. Public materials are also exchanged according to points. Of course, the more work points, the better.

It is not that those who are physically strong should do more, and those who are weak should take it easy. Both the elderly and children should work. The more you work, the more you earn; the less you work, the less you earn; if you do nothing, you earn nothing. How much you earn depends on your ability.

If they really cannot work, either because they are too young or too old, then it is the responsibility and obligation of their families, and it is their responsibility to work and support them.

No one is forced to work. If they don't want to work, they don't have to work. They don't ask for work points, and they don't share the public materials. But if you don't do anything and don't do any work during the journey, you have to pay for food. Enjoying the patrol protection of 10 groups of people day and night is not for nothing.

However, there is no such family in this team of more than 300 people. Everyone is very active in doing everything.

Everyone decided to pick acorns, so the team moved the vehicles to the wild field beside the road and set up camp. The patrolmen patrolled according to the duty roster as usual and watched the team's luggage. At night, two groups were on duty for one hour, and during the day, one group was on duty for one hour. After their shifts, they could go pick acorns and carry acorns to earn another work point.

Although everyone has not yet eaten the rations made from acorns, they are all excited and full of energy.

Tao Mingyuan and Lin Youcai stayed on the mountain and weighed the acorns. How much do the acorns weigh? Who picked them up, or how many people picked them up together, the names and the weight of the acorns were all recorded in the notebook. Who carried how many baskets of acorns back, who carried how many baskets of acorns back, all were written down clearly and clearly. Only by being fair and just can everyone work together for a long time and be full of energy.

When the first batch of acorns were brought back, the old, weak, women and children with limited physical strength sat down to peel the acorn shells. The peeled shells and kernels were weighed together and work points were calculated based on the weight.

No matter whether one is capable or not, everyone can find work and earn work points.

Lin Zisu stood there, panting, drenched in sweat, looking at the acorns all over the ground, and suddenly remembered something...

"father!"

Lin Youcai wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, and wiped the sweat on his clothes with the back of his hand to avoid blurring the handwriting. Without raising his head, he remembered the important thing, "What's wrong, girl."

"We seem to have forgotten one thing..."

"What's the matter?" Lin Youcai looked at his daughter after finishing writing.

“We don’t have a millstone!”

The wind blew away the heat, and the forest suddenly became quiet.

Everyone who was working stopped and looked at Lin Zisu.

Lin Youcai was stunned for a moment, "It's okay, but we can't eat tonight. Let's prepare first. If we pass by the village, we can borrow their mill for a few copper coins. We have our own animals to pull the mill, so it's no problem to just borrow the mill."

Lin Xianwen patted the mud off his hands, picked up the water bag and took a few sips, then continued: "Yes! If you encounter death... in an empty village, you can still use it for free!"

"It's not a big deal! What's there to be afraid of as long as we have food? If there's no stone mill, we can grind it by hand!" The granddaughter was always frightened. Grandma Wang squatted down again, pulled away the grass leaves, and continued to pick up acorns with her nimble hands.

"That's right! The strong never complain about the environment! If there are no conditions, we will create them!" Standing high, seeing far. Lin Zisu looked at the sunset in the distance and regained her confidence.

"If you have cows or mules at home, there won't be much chaff left. You can still feed them with acorns! Eating acorns will help them grow meat! The more acorns, the better! Don't worry, they are very useful! You won't pick them up for nothing!"

When everyone heard this, they all felt relieved. As long as they could eat, it was fine. They prayed that the next village would have a stone mill to grind the pulp smoothly.

As it got dark, everyone took their tools and went down the mountain, carrying acorns on their backs.

Everyone returned to their destination and looked at the acorns piled up like a small hill, feeling very secure.

A large fire was burning, torches were lit to illuminate the place, and the sound of knocking acorns could be heard from each house as several people sat together, chatting and peeling them.

Some were busy cooking and some were boiling water.

Lin Youcai and Tao Mingyuan had just taken a sip of water and had no time to sit down and rest before they were busy weighing the kernels and shells for everyone.

Lin Zisu didn't care about all this. She was playing rock-paper-scissors with her brother. Whoever won would take a shower first.

"Hahaha~ I admit defeat, get out of here! I'll wash first!" Lin Zisu slammed the car door unceremoniously, feeling sticky and uncomfortable. Although the weather is not as hot as in September, it is still hot and sweaty when doing things.

"You should be content. You have to compete for the first place to take a bath. Who has water to take a bath? You have to save water when drinking! That is..." Shen Xianglan gave her son a white look and raised an eyebrow. "Your father is too busy to rest. Go and help!"

"Oh~~~Lin Zisu has finished washing, call me! I haven't washed for several days!!!" Lin Xianwen walked towards his father indignantly.

This bookkeeping job seems to be just writing, recording, and calculating. But it is actually very tedious and tiring, and not easy at all. There are big and small things in the team that need to be recorded, and there is something to record every day, so there is no time to rest.

Zhao the butcher slaughters pigs and sells pork. The scale he uses to weigh acorns today is the large scale passed down from his family!

Lin Youcai looked at Zhao Qiang and said, "Thanks to Uncle Zhao's scale today, I'll give Uncle Zhao two work points. What do you think, village head?"

Butcher Zhao waved his hand and refused, "No need, it won't be a small amount if I use it, so I don't need to record it in the work points."

Li Zheng touched his pipe and said, "Remember it. But don't remember it every time you use it. Remember it once a month! I don't know how many opportunities I will have to use it. There aren't many points in a year. It's a token of my appreciation."

Butcher Zhao said quickly, "Then Youcai needs to record work points even more! He was the one who told everyone that acorns are edible, and he also told us how to collect acorns and what to do. We must record more work points!"

Tian Daniu affirmed, "Yes! If Mr. Lin hadn't said it, the acorns all over the mountain would have been wasted, and everyone would still be hungry!"

"The acorn powder hasn't been made yet! Let's wait until everyone has tasted it first!" Lin Youcai waved his hand. He should wait until everyone has tasted it first. Now he just wanted to rest.

"That's it, everyone is tired after a day's work, let's take a rest! The better you go to bed, the more you can pick acorns tomorrow morning." After saying this, the head of the village put his hands behind his back and walked towards the place where he cooked.

"By the way, before going to bed, put out everyone's buckets and basins. Soak the peeled kernels in water. Soaking the kernels in water is more effective in removing the astringency and bitterness than soaking the kernels in water with the shells. If you don't have water, come to my house. I have some water in my car. Anyway, there are people on duty at night, so there is no need to worry about losing it. What if we encounter a village tomorrow or the day after tomorrow and borrow a stone mill?"

Everyone's eyes lit up when they heard this, they thought they could only soak it in the shell!

"Okay, I have a bucket at home."

"I have buckets and basins at home!"

"I'll bring it to you after you finish your porridge."