Mother Qiao looked at the moon in the sky, which was a little brighter than usual, and couldn't help whispering a few words that others couldn't understand, with sadness on her face.

Qiao Jiayue felt the same way, and stepped forward to hug Qiao's mother, "Auntie, are we all here?"

Qiao's mother touched Qiao Jiayue's head, she didn't miss her eldest son.

It's for the lost family, where are they now?

There is a grapefruit tree in the brigade, but the pomelo that grows is small, the skin is thick, and the fruit is sour, making it difficult to eat.

Qiao's father got two and took them home, and the three children didn't want to eat them.

Qiao's mother tasted the taste and decided to take the grapefruit peel to pickle, and as for the pulp, she handed it over to Qiao Jiayue to deal with.

Qiao Jiayue thought about it, first chopped the flesh of this grapefruit, added a little brown sugar and strawberry sauce to boil, but the taste was a little strange, she tasted it and put it aside.

Qiao Hongyuan and Qiao Hongliang tried it and said they didn't like it, but they didn't hate it either.

As long as the thing is not broken, no matter how unpalatable it is, it can be swallowed, and there is no reason to waste it.

Qiao Jiayue smashed her mouth, she thought about it, went outside the house to find some mint leaves, and took out the tangerine peel and other things in the jar.

She tossed it around, and the final product was not bad.

The jam is brown in color and a little sticky, scoop a spoonful into a bowl, pour in boiling water, drip mint juice, and it feels pretty good.

One person and one bowl, the family sat outside the house, bathed in the moonlight, and talked about the moon.

In the end, it is inevitable to mention Qiao Hongzhi, he has been a soldier for so long, which district he was assigned to, why hasn't he written back yet?

Qiao's father didn't care about it on the surface, but he was actually very worried that his eldest son would be assigned to the northwest, not to mention the difficult environment, and the conflict on the border was also fierce.

They chatted until late, and fell asleep to the low and sparse sound of insects, and I am afraid that the day of the reunion will have to wait for a long time.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the weather seems drier and the temperature is much lower.

In the cotton field, the cotton bolls grinned heartily and bloomed one after another snow-white or gray cotton.

The members of the fourth team were a little excited, and they succeeded in planting cotton for the first time! It seems that they are also very talented.

While the cotton was being picked, the young women went into battle in unison, surrounded by many people, all staring intently.

Cotton is a plant that has been harvested many times, and after it begins to flocculate, a small amount of cotton that has matured prematurely or fallen off is picked one after another.

This time, it is the cotton that matures in large quantities before it is officially harvested, so the members of the club attach great importance to it.

Because cotton is different from other crops, Qiao's father specially asked people to inform all the precautions in the planting manual.

For example, the hair of the women who are picked must be tied and wrapped in a clothcloth, and the hands must be clean, without peeling, sweating and other problems.

The bag for cotton is a cotton bag, not the usual coarse sack for rice.

Therefore, the bag was large and small, and the members rummaged through their homes.

Because of the difference in variety, the cotton that grows is different, so it is picked separately.

After the soybeans were harvested, sweet potatoes were cut in the cotton field, and now after two fertilizations, they grow quite lushly.

However, when harvesting cotton, if you don't care about the road, you will step on sweet potato vines under your feet.

If it was in the past, everyone would definitely be distressed to death, but this year is different, this is cotton!

Qiao Jiayue has seen that the quality of gray cotton is the best, and the yield is also the largest, so it is really easy to be deceived by its color.

Picking cotton is not an easy task, and the women are not skilled in it for the first time, so it takes a lot of time to finish harvesting one.

After all, there is not much experience, and the women are careful to do it, let alone ensure that the cotton in each shell is clean.

The harvested cotton is placed in front of the ancestral hall to dry, and the bamboo plaque is first set up on a chair, covered with a clean tarpaulin, and then poured into it.

The poured out cotton was in large balls, looking like white clouds falling from the sky, making people want to lie down when they saw it.

Fortunately, the cotton wool does not need to be dried repeatedly like rice, and it can be harvested after a little drying.

Qiao Jiayue quietly pinched the cotton, it was soft, if you made a big pillow and stuffed it with cotton, it must be too comfortable!

The cotton field is not large, and at the end of the day, all the ripe ones are picked, and the rest will have to wait for another week or so.

The cotton is also separated from the seeds, which are then packed into cotton bags and then loaded into warehouses.

The dew on the mountain is heavy, and even if you put cotton in the warehouse, you have the feeling that they are easily damp.

The cadres of the entire brigade headquarters personally touched a handful of cotton and learned about its approximate yield, which was not high at all, and it was not as cost-effective as planting sweet potatoes.

Who let the alpine brigade have too little land, and there is really not much land that can be used to grow cotton.

But the lack of fabrics and quilts makes people willing to give up cotton planting, accumulate little by little, save for three or five years, and there is always a quilt weight.

After the first batch of cotton is removed from the cottonseeds, it is only about 80 catties, several acres of land, this amount is too small, but fortunately, it can be harvested two or three times later.

But whether to supply and sell social cotton, the brigade headquarters debated endlessly.

Cotton is a cash crop, but their southern brigade does not have a cotton mission, let alone a special purchase point for cotton.

Now the brigade headquarters has two opinions, to hand over the cotton to the commune, and the other opinion is that the commune does not have this task, and they will plant it to the brigade.

But as far as Qiao's father is concerned, he naturally supports the report, because the land of the Alpine Brigade is too small.

It is not realistic to use all the land to grow cotton, and the yield is not as expected.

Rather than saving cotton by themselves, they should leave this matter to the commune, and if the commune planted it in large quantities, they would just go to the commune to buy it.

The people who supported self-retention were only a minority, and they were quickly convinced, and no one could afford to be discovered.

Qiao Tie suggested that Qiao's father first go to find out the tone of the supply and marketing cooperative, and then the brigade discussed what to do in order to seek the greatest benefits.

Naturally, Qiao's father would not object, so he went to the supply and marketing cooperatives first and talked to Liu Dongyang about cotton.

"Did your brigade really grow it?" Liu Dongyang's voice rose a few points, looking incredible, "Really?"

"Really. Qiao's father also took out a few cotton flowers to show Liu Dongyang.

Liu Dongyang stared at the cotton on the table, was dumbfounded for a while, and his face gradually became serious.

"Do you know what it means for your brigade to grow cotton?"

"Have you noticed that the supply and marketing cooperatives are very short of many things this year, and they often can't buy things?"

Liu Dongyang was not in a hurry to give an answer, but asked Qiao's father.

Father Qiao nodded, he knew this, the members of the club usually complained, and people who borrowed fire could be seen everywhere in the team.

"This year's tense border situation and the country's full-scale preparations for war have reduced industrial production in terms of people's livelihood and expanded the production of weapons and equipment. ”

As a result, the overall economy of the country has declined, goods are in short supply, and the life of the people is even more difficult.

"Since last year, the supply of cotton cloth has decreased, and this year, we have no place to buy cotton to make a new quilt. ”