The happy little days of the Ye family

The last person to learn beekeeping was Ye Qiushi, the village chief's eldest son, and Ye's father.

Mr. Ye and the village chief wanted to go by themselves, but they were held back by their family members.

There is no way, the village chief usually has to deal with all the big and small things in the village, so he can't leave at all. Moreover, the village chief is over 50 years old and has to ride a donkey cart for more than three hours to learn beekeeping. The family is worried that he will not be able to bear it.

Mr. Ye is in his 40s this year. Not to mention that he is in his prime, he is still in good health. However, Mrs. Ye thinks that he is old and is worried about him going to such a far place.

Moreover, the summer harvest is only a month away. This is the critical time for rice, and Mr. Ye really can't get out of it.

Tomorrow he will set off to learn beekeeping, and Father Ye is packing his things happily.

Mr. Ye brought 2 pieces of bacon and a small jar of wine over, "Don't be surprised if there are many people. Remember to give these wine and bacon to others. Be diligent when you go there and have a sweet mouth."

Father Ye put his arm around Mr. Ye's shoulders and said with a playful smile: "Don't worry, I know. I will keep it for the master to make him happy."

Mr. Ye worriedly warned Father Ye a few more words before leaving.

Not long after Mr. Ye left, Mother Ye came back from washing, took out a small purse from the drawer of the dressing table, and handed it to Father Ye.

Father Ye poured out the silver from his purse. It was quite a lot of money. There was one 50-tael of silver, two [-]-tael of silver, and one tael of broken silver. There were also [-] copper plates.

"If you are poor, you must take good care of yourself outside. Money is only an external possession."

It would take several days at best for Ye's father to come back from his trip to learn beekeeping. It was the first time he had been separated for such a long time, and Ye's mother was still a little reluctant to leave.

Father Ye hid two taels of silver and one tael of silver in different places, leaving only one tael of broken silver and copper plates in his purse.

After thinking about it, Father Ye took another bunch of copper coins and put them in his purse.

In rural areas, copper plates are still used a lot, and wealth does not reveal wealth, so it is better to use less money.

"Don't worry, I will take care of myself. I will be back in a few days." Ye's father held Ye's mother's hand and comforted softly.

Before dawn the next day, Mother Ye and Mrs. Ye got up.

Old Mrs. Ye and Ye's mother worked in the kitchen for a long time, making many pancakes for Ye's father to eat on the road.

Ye's father drove the donkey cart to the village chief's house, picked up Ye Qiushi and set off together.

The village chief's distant relative is actually his distant cousin. The distant cousin married to Xiaoxi Village in Dazao Town, below Qiuling County, and the man she married to made a fortune from beekeeping.

Ye Qiushi went to her cousin's house last year and still remembered the way there.

My cousin's surname is Lin. My cousin and my cousin have two sons and two daughters. The children are all married. My cousin is doing business in the town, while my cousin stays at home and keeps bees with my uncle.

Two years ago, my cousin Lin bought a hill for beekeeping, and I heard it was doing pretty well.

The two set out at dawn, and it was already afternoon when they arrived at Xiaoxi Village.

After riding in the donkey cart for most of the day, Father Ye felt that all the bones in his body were falling apart.

Because the Lin family keeps bees, their house is built at the foot of the mountain. Before I even got close, I could smell a strong floral fragrance from a distance.

Father Ye smelled it carefully and felt the fragrance of jujube flowers and sunflowers.

The Lin family's yard is very large. There are several tall longan trees and lychee trees planted outside the yard, and some jujube trees and sweet-scented osmanthus trees planted inside.

The longan tree and lychee branches were covered with small round lychees and longans, and the jujube flowers were in full bloom in the yard.

Half of the slope at the foot of the mountain not far away was planted with sunflowers and half with rapeseed. The sunflowers were blooming very well, and the rapeseed was covered with dense rapeseeds.

Ye's father parked the donkey cart at the entrance of the courtyard. Ye Qiushi shouted a few times at the door, and an old lady who was more than 50 years old came out of the house.

Ye Qiushi: "Cousin."

Cousin Ye: "Here he comes."

Ye Qiushi introduced Father Ye to Cousin Ye, "Cousin, this is Ye Fengshou, a brother from the same village."

"Hello, cousin, just call me Fengsheng."

"Okay, okay, come in quickly." Cousin Ye was very enthusiastic and led the two of them into the house.

Cousin Ye brought water to the two of them, "I received a message from your father yesterday. I specially killed the chicken and waited for you. I am stewing the chicken."

"Cousin, you are too polite. This is my little thought, and this is the ration I brought." Father Ye handed the bacon and wine, as well as a small bag of grain, to Cousin Ye.

Cousin Ye looked at the two pieces of bacon weighing more than a kilogram and the large amount of grain, and the smile on her face became even brighter.

Ye Qiushi on the side also quickly handed the snacks and rations he brought to Cousin Ye.

Because they didn't know how long it would take to study, both of them brought a lot of food.

"Your cousin is harvesting honey at the foot of the mountain. I'll take you over to have a look." Cousin Ye put down the things and happily led the two of them to the sunflower field.

I happened to meet my cousin who was preparing to go back with two buckets full of honey.

"Cousin, this is Ye Fengshou, our brother from the same village."

"Hello, cousin, just ask me for a good harvest." After saying that, the two of them hurried forward to help carry the things.

Back at Lin's house, Uncle Ye took the two of them to visit the beehive. It was actually a large shed with 12 beehives inside, and each beehive had industrious little bees going in and out.

Ye's father looked at the dense bees and felt his scalp numb.

"It's close to the mountains, and bees come into the mountains every day to collect nectar. In summer, it's mainly flowers from various fruit trees and sunflowers."

After saying that, he took the two of them to the sunflower field, where there were also a few swarms of bees.

My cousin introduced the two of them as they walked. "I bought this hill more than ten years ago. There are many jujube trees, lychee trees and longan trees planted in the hill, as well as various other fruit trees."

"Honey is obtained by bees collecting nectar from flowers. The main thing is to ensure that there are enough flowers for bees to collect nectar."

"Every flower blooms in spring, so there is basically no need to worry. In summer, the flowers of various fruit trees that bear fruit in autumn are mainly flowers, and you can also plant some sunflowers."

"In autumn, the main flowers are osmanthus, chrysanthemum, sophora flower and duckfoot flower. In winter, the main flowers are rapeseed, osmanthus and duckfoot flower."

"These are the more common flowers, and you can also plant other plants that bloom more depending on the local conditions."

Father Ye listened very carefully and was going to record these things when he went back.

Cousin Ye made a sumptuous dinner to welcome Ye's father and Ye Qiushi, and also took out the wine brought by Ye's father.

A few people drank and chatted for more than an hour before being urged by Cousin Ye to wash up and rest.

Father Ye and Ye Qiushi rested in Cousin Ye's house at night. They were both a little excited after washing up.

Father Ye: "Beekeeping doesn't seem to be difficult, just plant more flowering plants."

Ye Qiushi: "It sounds quite simple. I guess there are still some skills that haven't been taught to us. We won't be officially taught beekeeping until tomorrow."

Father Ye: "Flowers bloom in spring, jujube and honeysuckle in summer, and some sunflowers will be enough. What kind of flowers do you think we should plant in autumn and winter?"

Ye Qiushi: "There are many sweet-scented osmanthus, duck-foot tree, chrysanthemum and sophora japonica on the mountain. We can dig some from other mountains and plant them."

Father Ye: "It makes sense, we can also grow some rapeseed."

Ye Qiushi: "Go to bed early, I have to learn beekeeping tomorrow."

Neither of them continued talking and fell asleep amidst the fragrance of flowers.