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Chapter 460: I Like It
Chapter 460: I Like It
Zhou Chenglei and Zhou Chensen both glanced at the person who had appeared at the courtyard entrance.
Zhou Chenglei spoke calmly, "Second Sister-in-law."
Jiang Xia also called out, "Second Sister-in-law is back."
Zhou Chensen remained silent, only looking at his daughter.
Zhou Ying ran into the courtyard and directly climbed onto Zhou Chensen's back, "Dad, is your illness better? Does your head still hurt?"
She missed her father so much; her mother was always scolding people at home.
One of her homework books had been torn up by her mother.
Her mother was so fierce that she scared her to death!
Zhou Chensen stabilized his body and reached back to catch his daughter, smiling, "It's fine, it doesn't hurt anymore."
Li Xiuxian's face darkened, and she turned to push her bicycle and leave, heading straight back to the old residence.
Even after recovering, he stayed in the village and didn't return home. What did that mean?
She was alone in town, had to work, take care of her daughter's meals, and help with homework. Did he know how hard it was?
If the weather wasn't good tomorrow and they couldn't go out to sea, she would have gone back to town immediately!
Zhou Chensen also ignored Li Xiuxian and said to his daughter, "Go play with your sister. She went to the fields to look for tadpoles. Dad needs to finish nailing this box."
Zhou Ying responded and climbed down from his back, running out.
Just then, Zhou Zhou, Zhou Wenzong, and Zhou Xie returned with over ten tadpoles in a broken enamel cup, which they poured into a wooden basin to keep.
The four children sat there, watching the tadpoles swim around, their bottoms sticking out.
They chatted excitedly, guessing how long it would take for the tadpoles to grow legs and turn into frogs.
The bee box had already been nailed together; they had made three of them. Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia carried the bee boxes to the old residence, preparing to carbonize them.
Zhou Chensen didn't bother going over to face Li Xiuxian, so he decided to stay and cook instead.
Zhou Chenglei fetched some straw, firewood, and some broken honeycomb pieces from the stove room in the old residence.
He had obtained the honeycomb fragments from a beekeeper in the neighboring production team when he went to buy honey and beeswax.
Zhou Chenglei lit the straw and firewood, throwing them into the bee box.
Seeing them starting a fire there, Li Xiuxian's anger rose, "Why are you starting a fire here? Go start it in the fields! You won't even have to clean up later! Aren't you making the courtyard dirty?"
Zhou Chenglei didn't even glance at her, "Did we dirty your courtyard?"
Jiang Xia also didn't look at her, "I like starting fires in my own courtyard. Is that not okay, Second Sister-in-law?"
Li Xiuxian: "..."
Were these two ganging up on her?
She turned and walked back into the house.
Once the fire was blazing, Zhou Chenglei extended his hand to Jiang Xia, "Give me the honeycomb."
Jiang Xia: "Are you going to throw it into the fire?"
"Mhm."
Jiang Xia tossed the fragments into the fire, and thick smoke began to rise.
After the fire and smoke had filled the box for a while, blackening the surface of the wood, Zhou Chenglei tipped the wooden box over and emptied the firewood inside.
Then, he used the fire to blacken the exterior of the box as well.
The carbonization process, in simple terms, involved using fire to blacken the surface of the wooden box.
Bees preferred dark places, and the carbonized boxes would cater to their preference.
Additionally, carbonization helped remove any strange odors from the box and served as a disinfectant.
The carbonized bee boxes were also more durable.
After the carbonization process was complete, Zhou Chenglei applied a bit of saltwater inside the bee box.
Meanwhile, Jiang Xia went to melt the beeswax that Zhou Chenglei had bought for attracting bees.
During this season, there were many bees in the fields, and the loquat tree in Great-Grandmother's backyard was also in bloom, attracting bees to collect nectar every day.
Jiang Xia had also planted flowers in the courtyard, which occasionally drew bees.
So, after melting the beeswax for a while, two bees were attracted and flew over.
Zhou Chenglei then applied the melted beeswax to the inside of the box.
He applied a relatively thicker coat near the box lid and the entrance to the hive.
Due to the cold weather, the beeswax solidified quickly.
After finishing the application, Zhou Chenglei used yellow clay to patch up any holes or cracks in the bee box.
He had seen others use cow dung for this, but he opted for yellow clay.
Then, he directly installed the bee box under the eaves in a shaded area at the back of the old residence.
Bees prefer quiet and cool environments, enjoying the warmth in winter and coolness in summer. The eaves behind the backyard house provided shelter from the wind and rain, offering a shady spot in summer, and with fruit trees growing there, it was an ideal spot for beehives.
Zhou Chenglei hammered in three beehives, with two more to be placed in the small hill outside the village the next morning to attract bees.
The next day, after his morning run, Zhou Chenglei carried the two beehives and headed out.
Jiang Xia wanted to see where he was going, so she followed.
Their village didn't have any mountains, and what they called a small hill was just a slightly elevated area covered with trees.
In Jiang Xia's opinion, "This shouldn't be called a mountain, it's more like a small forest."
Zhou Chenglei pulled her along, "People in the village call it a mountain, we're used to it. It's like at my grandmother's place, they call the riverbank by the river the seaside."
Jiang Xia remembered visiting Zhou Chenglei's grandmother's house during the Chinese New Year, where her cousin promised to take them to the seaside to dig for clams and catch fish. She was surprised that there was also a 'sea' there.
But when they climbed over the riverbank and walked down to the river, that was the 'seaside' her cousin spoke of. The only similarity was perhaps the presence of a beach.
The water wasn't even the same.
Jiang Xia accompanied Zhou Chenglei to find a suitable spot for the beehives.
Zhou Chenglei asked her, "Are you scared?"
"No," she replied.
This small hill was also the village's feng shui treasure site, where their ancestors resided, blessing future generations.
Nearby were vegetable gardens, sweet potato fields, peanut fields, and other dry lands.
No wonder Tian Caihua said she was afraid to come and pick vegetables after dark.
Jiang Xia thought she wouldn't dare to come at night either.
But during the day, she wasn't afraid.
Zhou Chenglei found a spot under a large tree and nailed the wooden box securely.
As he hammered the boards into the ground, he explained, "This place was where I was once so badly injured that everyone thought I wouldn't make it. My father, after receiving the news, found this feng shui treasure site for me."
Jiang Xia: "..."
"You'll live a long and healthy life," she helped him by supporting the beehive.
"Yeah, and we'll live long together," he wanted to accompany her in a long and healthy life.
After setting up the beehive, they placed a board and some branches on top to insulate and shield it from water.
Then, the couple went to the forest near the fields and installed another beehive.
By the time they finished, it was already past nine o'clock.
Upon returning home, Zhou Chenglei called out to Zhou Fu, Zhou Yongguo, and Zhou Kangping to join him for a trip to the sea.
The boats from the first and second houses had already set out before four in the morning.
This was their first trip to the sea after the New Year, and everyone was eager to go.
Some villagers had already braved the rain to go to sea, while others had been going out to sea throughout the first month.
Families in need of quick cash would do this to earn more.
Dong Shu was in the hospital, so Zhou Guodong and his two brothers took turns going to sea during the first month to earn money.
With many people visiting relatives and hosting guests during the New Year, the demand for seafood was high, and prices were significantly higher than usual.
To earn more money for their father's treatment and to pay off debts, the three brothers didn't rest during the holidays, taking turns going to sea every day.
Zhou Guodong was also a grateful person, and knowing that his family hadn't gone to sea, he shared some fresh fish and shrimp with them every day after his trips.
Fortunately, Dong Shu woke up twenty days after his surgery and was discharged from the hospital two days ago. He is now recuperating at home.
His speech is a bit stuttered, and his limbs are less agile, but with practice, he can still walk. However, he can no longer go fishing or work as he used to.
With Dong Shu's discharge from the hospital, he needs time to recover, so Zhou Mu started arranging a match for Zhou Guodong.
The two families agreed to meet today.
Jiang Xia, knowing that today's trip to the sea was not for fishing but to retrieve the ropes used to collect young mussels on the island, decided not to join them. She wouldn't be of much help, and it was better not to hinder their work on the boat.
Jiang Xia stayed home to help with the cooking.
(End of Chapter)
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