Chapter 248 Filial piety and strength are not in vain
Li Long actually originally planned to return to the compound tonight, stay one night and then go to the mountains tomorrow morning.
I just had to help Gu Boyuan dispose of the meat and bones, otherwise it might stink tomorrow, so this time was delayed.
Then let’s leave tomorrow.
Back home, the smell of meat is still filling the yard, and the bones are still cooking in the pot, but the fire has been turned off.
Four adults, Li Qingxia, Du Chunfang, Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei, were all sitting and chatting in the yard. Li Juan and Li Qiang were not here and must have gone to bed.
The radio is placed on the windowsill, playing music at the moment.
"Electricity should come in a few days." Li Jianguo said, "The night will be better then."
"Well, wait until the electricity comes, and then buy a TV ." Li Long took over, "I'll be fine tonight."
"Where can I buy a TV?" Li Chunxia waved his hand quickly, "That's so expensive!"
"When you sell the pigs at the end of the year, you can buy one!" Li Jianguo also agreed with Li Long, "It's so exciting to watch TV at night!"
Du Chunfang and Liang Yuemei didn't speak, just listened to the three Men were debating whether to buy a TV or not.
"Then you bought a TV, and then you are not satisfied that the yard is full of people watching TV?" Li Qingxia came up with another reason, "What kind of chaos can the yard become?"
Li Jianguo thinks this is a reason. Although he likes the excitement, it is quite annoying to think about a group of people watching TV in his yard every day.
"Brother, how much wheat has been cut in the field?" Li Long changed the subject. Since it's not easy to buy here, let's buy it in the big yard first. Watching TV there won't have any impact, and no one will go to the yard to watch.
"Our group has cut half of the crops," Li Jianguo said. "Most of them have been brought to the field. After two more days of cutting, I will be pulling the horses to work on the field, and the wheat harvesting will be left to others."
< br>"Today I looked at Daqiang. He was stung by a wasp when he was cutting wheat..." Li Long smiled and said, "He asked me if I had caught any fish yet. I said that he would come over tomorrow and the day after tomorrow to get the net. , let him take it.”
"Nazhong, I will go fishing with him then." Li Qingxia became interested as soon as he heard this, "Then I will sell fish in the morning... I have a bicycle at home, so I will leave it alone..."
“ You can!" Du Chunfang said habitually, "It's different here. Can you sell the fish?"
"How will you know if you don't try?" Li Qingxia wasn't angry either. He responded with a smile. He has a good temper, sees a lot of things, does not touch the bottom line, and will not get angry for no reason.
After chatting for a while, Liang Yuemei said that the bones were cooked. Each of them tasted a small piece, and then the rest was taken to the kitchen.
Bone soup was also produced, and Liang Yuemei planned to use this to cook noodles tomorrow.
Li Long went back to Lao Mahao and brought some cooked meat to Uncle Luo.
"Xiaolong, I heard that you are back this afternoon. I am still thinking about whether you will come to the horse number." Old Uncle Luo looked at the meat very happily. In fact, there was bacon in the kitchen, so he could eat less. After all, Li Long had brought all the meat here, so he couldn't eat it all by himself.
But Li Long was away for a long time, and it was hard for him to eat much.
"I'm a little busy at home." Li Long said with a smile, "Uncle Luo, how are the animals in this pen?"
"Everyone is fine." Old Uncle Luo smiled. Said, "With those sugar dregs you got, I Cut some grass every day, they will be cute to eat. The deer and roe deer run around in the outer circle every day, and they are busy in the inner circle. "
"Just get used to it." Long could only say this, " How are the vegetables going? I’m going to pick some vegetables and take them to the county tomorrow.”
“Okay, I’m worried about what to do with so many vegetables.” "Old Uncle Luo was happy when he heard this, "You pick more Some. Is Xiaoxia working in the county? Bring more. You have to buy all the food there. You can just bring it with you! As a person, Li Long sounds quite warm.
When he got up early the next day, Li Long originally wanted to make breakfast, but it turned out that Uncle Luo had already cooked corn glutinous rice porridge, cut a plate of cooked meat that Li Long had brought back yesterday, and mixed a plate of green chili seeds. of pancakes.
Li Long had breakfast with Old Uncle Luo, and then went to Li's house. Old Uncle Luo told him not to worry about it, just come over when he leaves, and he would pick the vegetables for him then.
Li Long went to Li's house to say goodbye to his family, and then saw that Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei had gone to work, but Li Qingxia was there, playing with tires.
Li Qiang was also there, so Li Long asked:
“Qiangqiang, where is your sister?”
"Go to school." Li Qiang was watching Li Qingxia blowing up the tires. When he heard Li Long's question, he said, "My sister said that they will also have a holiday in the next two days, and there will be a parent-teacher meeting tomorrow. It seems that it is my dad. It’s better for my mother to go.”
Li Long knew that Li Juan’s grades had improved a lot this semester, and Li Jianguo or Liang Yuemei would definitely be willing to attend her parent-teacher meeting.
Li Long saw that there was nothing going on in the yard, so he simply walked to the wheat field.
There are now several large piles of wheat sheaves piled around the wheat field, and a layer of wheat sheaves whose waists have been cut is also drying in the center of the wheat field. The Lu family's sister-in-law and two other women were spreading the ears of wheat on the wheat field to make it easier to fight later.
Before the popularity of combine harvesters, harvesting wheat was a very cumbersome process. In the beating field, the wheat must be spread out first, and then the horse pulls the roller to press the wheat ears in circles. The main function is to press the wheat particles down from the wheat ears.
Because the spread is thick, it often takes two or three hours to plow the wheat with a puller and a roller. Even if four-wheel tractors became popular in later generations, it would still take more than an hour to plow the field with a tractor.
The roller will completely flatten the wheat stalks and knock off as many wheat grains as possible from the ears. Next, the wheat straw will be picked out. The remaining wheat grains will contain broken wheat straw and wheat tails. Sweep piles.
This goes back and forth until all the wheat sheaves are beaten, and then the next step is to spread them out and knock them down.
You have to wait for the wind to raise the wheat field, so the wheat field must be built in an open area with few buildings around to prevent the wind from entering. The wind should not be strong. If it is too strong and the wheat grains are blown away, it will be a waste and troublesome.
Winding is to use a wooden shovel to lift the previously swept wheat grain mixture into the air, and use the wind to blow away the broken wheat straw and wheat tails. The wheat grains are relatively heavy and fall down in place.
The winnowing usually requires the cooperation of two people, because it is not just the wheat grains that fall down, but also some impurities such as ears of wheat, clods of soil, and stones that have not been pressed properly. This is the job of the person who knocks down the fields. When the person lifting the shovel makes his first shovel, the person knocking it down will watch. When the thing he lifted falls, the person knocking it down will have quick eyesight and quick hands to gently sweep aside the impurities on the wheat grains. And this At this time, the person who is in charge is ready to fall.
People who cooperate with each other tacitly rise and fall in a very rhythmic manner.
Li Long watched and thought. There was no wind in the wheat field at this time and it was very hot. Although he was not close to the wheat pile, it seemed that the wheat awns might hit him at any time, so Li Long turned around and walked away. .
It’s better not to do this job.
After walking back a few steps, I saw someone riding a bicycle coming this way.
Behind the bicycle was a white wooden box covered with a quilt. Li Long was delighted.
Isn’t this a popsicle seller?
When the man saw Li Long and the wheat field, he also shouted loudly:
"Popsicles! Selling popsicles! Popsicles! Selling popsicles!"
"What about popsicles? Sell?" Li Long stopped the man and asked.
"Three points for popsicles and five points for creamsicles," the man said. Quite cheap. Although there is no doll head, there is cream popsicle, which Li Qiang must like to eat.
"You give three to each of them first." Li Long took out a dollar and waved it, "I'll wait for you here. When you come back, follow me to my house. Right there, I'll buy more."
"Okay!" The middle-aged man selling popsicles immediately became happy when he met a big customer. He got on the car and went to the wheat field.
The reason why Li Long bought popsicles for the Lu family's sister-in-law and the others was that they had actually seen him passing by just now, but then returned halfway. Li Long was still a little embarrassed.
It’s not a few cents short anyway.
The popsicle seller looked back while riding, as if he was afraid that Li Long would run away.
Li Long stood there, waiting for the popsicle seller to take three popsicles and give them to the Lu family’s sister-in-law and the others. Seeing the Lu family’s sister-in-law shaking her hand at him, he also responded. After coming back, they went to Li's house together.
"Get ten cream popsicles." Li Long said, "You change the money first." This was to give him peace of mind.
The man happily found 41 cents, then opened the lid and started taking popsicles from inside.
"Qiangqiang, get a basin." Li Long instructed Li Qiang to work. Li Qiang was very happy and ran to the kitchen and ran over with a clean enamel basin.
Ten cream popsicles were put in, and the popsicle seller left with a smile.
"How to divide?" Li Long teased Li Qiang.
"One for grandpa, one for grandma, one for dad, one for mom, one for uncle, one for me, one for my sister..."
"How many are left?" Li Long asked again .
"There are still..." Li Qiang is very good at verbal calculations and has already passed the stage of counting his fingers. He immediately said, "There are three more."
"How to divide the remaining three? "
"One for my sister...one for me, and the rest...for my uncle!"
Li Long laughed and touched Li Qiang's head. The pain was not in vain! ah.
"I don't like eating this..." Du Chunfang took the popsicle handed over by Li Qiang, her face was obviously happy, but she still said a habitual sentence.
"You have so many things to do, just eat it!" Li Qingxia didn't tolerate her, "How can you think of having a grandson giving you popsicles in your hometown?"
It's not that the children and grandchildren in your hometown are unfilial, it's that they are not filial. this economic condition.
"Put the rest in the kitchen." Li Long took the popsicle and ate it while instructing Li Qiang, "Cover it with a small quilt. When your parents come over with the wheat bundles, you can They took it over..."
"Okay!" Li Qiang happily agreed while licking the popsicle.
The watermelon is already cooling in the bucket next to the well, but watermelon is as good as watermelon and popsicle is as good as popsicle.
Riding his bicycle, Li Long left Li's house and went to Lao Luo.
Old Uncle Luo has picked a lot of vegetables and put them in two big baskets.
"You can just tie the basket to both sides of the bicycle. It is better to put the vegetables in the basket than in the bag, and it will not spoil easily." Old Uncle Luo said.
There are sword beans, cowpeas, eggplants, peppers, cucumbers, etc. in the basket. There are also two or three tomatoes, not many.
“The seedlings were planted late this year, so not many persimmons are ripe.” Old Uncle Luo explained, “In a few months, we won’t be able to finish them all.”
"If you can't finish eating, make sauce and dry it in the sun." Li Long answered, picked up two baskets with a wooden stick, and tied them to both sides of the back seat of the bicycle.
"Uncle Luo, I'm leaving, do you need anything?" Li Long first took out twenty yuan and handed it to Uncle Luo, which was the promised salary, and then asked again.
“No more.” Old Uncle Luo said with a smile, “When you save enough money, just buy me a radio.”
“Okay, I’ll bring it to you next time. "Li Long smiled.
Li Long left the village with the vegetables and headed for the county.
After passing the middle school, he looked over there and saw that there was nothing to see now.
Continuing forward, looking at the wheat fields on both sides, it seems that there are fewer wheat sheaves than before. There are scattered people picking up wheat ears in the wheat field. It seems that Li Juan and the others will also have a work-study assignment for Maizi when the school starts next semester?
For the work-study program at this time, students were required to pay in kind or money at the beginning of school in Qiuli. For example, if the task is to pick up wheat ears, then when school starts in September, you should hand in wheat, about five kilograms.
The current task is simple, but in the future the tasks will be diverse, such as handing over hops, handing over melon rinds (for medicinal purposes), handing over safflower, etc.
Because there are few safflowers, melons and hops, so in the end you have to pay - converted money.
In the next few years, the work-study program turned into cotton picking. There was a time when schools in the entire county would organize students to pick up cotton in September, and even the lowest grade was assigned to the third grade - the second graders really couldn't pick up cotton, otherwise they would be dragged there.
Later, I was reported by my parents. This thing was really a bit "crazy". After all, so many people come from the mainland every year to collect flowers and earn money. Why do students at such a young age have to go?
Later, when cotton picking machines became popular and the army of flower pickers declined, this work-study program became history.
While he was thinking about it, he was riding forward. Suddenly a child jumped out from the roadside in front of him. Li Long hurriedly applied the handbrake to the bottom. The tires of the car stirred up many stones on the ground. Fortunately, he hit the car. The child had stopped before.
The child was so frightened that the small handful of wheat ears he was holding spilled on the floor. After a few seconds, he cried "Wow".
It's a little girl.
Li Long braked hard and a lot of vegetables fell from the basket behind him. He sighed, pushed the car to the side of the road and parked it. He walked up to the little girl and asked:
"Are you okay? Where is your home?"
When the little girl saw Li Long approaching, she was so frightened that she backed away on her hands and feet, shouting loudly as she backed away:
" Mother! Mother!”
It was as if Li Long had done something to her.
Li Long quickly retreated, there must be no misunderstanding!
Seeing Li Long retreat, the girl felt less scared. She got up and ran to the east of the road without giving up the ears of wheat.
It was only then that Li Long saw an abandoned cement culvert on the east side of the road beside the main canal, and a woman walked out of it.
Both women were dressed in rags and looked quite pitiful.
(End of this chapter)