Chapter 100 Shotgun
On the first day of May in the lunar calendar, the sky was gloomy all day long, and it started to rain lightly in the afternoon. The villagers were worried that there would be too much rain this year, so they all wore straw hats. , carrying a shovel to the fields to drain water.
Before the wheat is ripe, the most fearful thing is that it will rain for several days in a row. If the watermelon grows in the ground and is soaked by the rain, it will easily crack and become rotten, or the sugar content will drop and it will no longer be sweet. This will only affect sales. The price of melons is high, but wheat is even more serious than this. Mature wheat will sprout in the fields if it encounters continuous heavy rains. Farmers' half-year's hard work will be in vain, and the losses will be huge.
Fortunately, on the afternoon of the second day of May, the sky cleared up completely. After a few days of southeasterly winds, the yellow wheat waves covered the sky. At this time, the wheat field had to be cleared and repaired, and the animals were hitched first. Pulling a rake studded with iron teeth. A layer of floating soil is drawn out, and then people pull a broken big pot with a rope, use the edge of the pot to carefully scrape it, pour water on it, let it dry for a while, spread the wheat straw from previous years, and repeatedly crush it with a zhou. . Repeat this process several times, and then dry the surface in the sun. The surface will be flat, hard, and smooth.
On the fourth day of May, it is inappropriate to call wheat harvest or wheat harvest at this time. It is more appropriate to call it "taking sickle". Before taking the sickle, the county's opera troupes will also join in the fun and sing at the county temple fair. , the harvest opera is sung, and the happy sickle is played. As the Dragon Boat Festival is approaching, it is also a beautiful thing to attend the temple fair, eat rice dumplings, and listen to the opera.
At the temple fair, summer harvest tools such as sickles, brooms, and sieves and dustpans crowded the stalls. This made Chen Dazhi’s business unprecedentedly good, and his face was all smiles. Wang Lixian’s family went to the farmer’s market a few days ago to catch a few people at three in the morning. At the fruit and vegetable morning market at four o'clock, less than half of the watermelons were sold. They also set up stalls to sell melons at this temple fair, and the business was also very good.
Chen Ling also joined in the fun and listened to two plays. He was mainly driven over by Wang Susu to buy glutinous rice to make rice dumplings tomorrow, but by chance, Liu Xingeng, the owner of the oil shop, held his granddaughter beside the stage. When Chen Ling saw it, he came over and ordered several thousand kilograms of peanuts from him. After Chen Ling agreed, he gave him the address of the small courtyard in the south of the city and asked him to just put a note in there whenever he needed it.
After the temple fair, the festive atmosphere became very strong. After Chen Ling bought the glutinous rice, Wang Susu soaked all the glutinous rice, peanuts and red dates. Early in the morning of the Dragon Boat Festival, she went to pick fresh reeds. Leaves, ready to start making rice dumplings.
But just after picking up a few, Liu Nier arrived in a hurry with a bunch of little dolls.
"Uncle Fugui, Uncle Fugui, we are here to feed the fish. Look at these earthworms, so thick and long."
"Good guy, where did you dig it, and there are so many of them?"
"Just outside your yard."
Since the lotus pond was dug and the fish were raised, it still remains the same. Beautiful and strange fish, Liu Nier and the monkeys must come every day. Those who are in elementary school are on wheat holiday, and those who are not in elementary school are running around like crazy every day. When they come to Chen Ling's house, they all carry small buckets and catch them. Little crickets, little grasshoppers, and tadpoles were brought over to feed the fish.
However, after a heavy rain, the water in the fish tanks and lotus ponds in the front and backyard flowed out, causing grass to grow crazily in the two yards, and earthworms and insects were also everywhere. .
Bunches of small green grapes began to hang on the grape trellis in the courtyard.
Immediately afterwards, more birds came to Chen Ling's yard. In addition to house finches and swallows, white-faced birds, orioles, grosbeaks, woodpeckers, etc. also seemed to be in trouble. They would sit on the trees early and chirp all day long. Of course the magpies also came, but after learning the lesson from last time, they still didn’t dare to get too close.
So it’s not surprising that Chen Ling listened to Liu Nier’s words.
But what he was more puzzled about was that it was a holiday today. With Wang Lixian’s temper, how could he let this child come to his house? After a while, Wang Lixian also came, taking Da Nier with him. The truck unloaded twenty or thirty watermelons for him.
"Brother Xian, what are you doing? Just give me one or two. How can Susu and I finish eating so much? There was still a lot left over from what Liu Nier sent last time."
Chen Ling was stunned when he saw so many watermelons and didn't know what to say.
"It's the festival, so I'll give you some more. Eat it when the weather is hot."
Wang Lixian smiled: "You also know that the land our family is allocated this year is at the bottom of the slope, which is a depression. It rained heavily. The water from other people’s wheat fields flows into our melon fields. If the melons are soaked in the water, they will just stare and struggle to drain them out. It’s all thanks to the help of you and Jusheng.”
The two said. As she spoke, Da Nier carried a basket and delivered a basket of candied dates to Wang Susu in the house for her to make rice dumplings.
Then Chen Ling and Wang Susu sent the father and daughter away, and they went to deliver melons to Wang Jusheng's family.
It was still early. After Wang Lixian left, Chen Ling and his wife were wrapping rice dumplings and watching the children playing with grass in the yard. It is an old custom to fight with grass during the Dragon Boat Festival. In fact, it is boring at ordinary times. I can also play. I find leaves, hold a thick pile in my hands, hook each other with the petioles, and pull hard. The one who breaks is the loser.
Fresh leaves, with green and crisp petioles, are often no match for the tenacity of sun-wizened fallen leaves. Not Liu Ni'er took a sun-red petiole and shouted loudly: "I've defeated you all." , I, the 'old red wilted child', am the king."
There is no ventilation in ten miles, and the customs are very different.
In some places, various grasses are used to fight grass, and in other places, just like here, the petioles of various leaves are used, but they are all the same kind of game.
This year’s Dragon Boat Festival coincides with the wheat harvest, and no one will race dragon boats on the Jinshui River, let alone invite a theatrical troupe.
Bull grass can also relieve boredom.
The young couple, Chen Ling, smiled and watched them play. Now that the baby is not yet born, they are the only ones in the house, so it would be better to make it lively. After playing around for a while, all the little boys ran home after ten o'clock. If they didn't leave and waited for their parents to call, it would not be as simple as pulling their ears.
Eat rice dumplings, boil salted duck eggs, put some mugwort leaves at the door... This year's Dragon Boat Festival has passed like this.
After the Dragon Boat Festival, the wheat harvest officially begins. As long as the family grows wheat, the whole family, old and young, will go into battle to grind the sickles in the wheat fields.
It’s time to work hard, but I can’t hide the smile on my face. This is the joy of a good harvest. The wheat fields are crowded with people. Almost every house is filled with a large group of people, shouting and responding. It cut to the other end of the ground one after another, and the yellow wheat fell down. All the small animals hiding in the wheat field lost their hiding places and ran out as hard as they could.
Rabbits, hedgehogs, pheasants, and quails were flying around. Often someone was cutting wheat and suddenly a plump rabbit would jump out from under their feet. Then a group of people would yell, throw their sickles and start chasing the rabbits. The scene was really lively.
At noon, the men sat in groups of three and five under the shade of the trees next to the wheat field, drinking large bowls of tea brought by the women and chatting. It's nothing more than saying that this year's wheat has grown so thickly that it will make your arms useless.
Chen Ling was sitting with Wang Lixian and Wang Jusheng. Today they were here to help Wang Jusheng harvest wheat. The three of them were guarding a big watermelon that everyone around them was envious of. , let out a hearty admiration, making other people's eyes widen and they kept swallowing their saliva.
After eating the melon and sitting for a while, Zhang Qiaoling held the big head and brought a large basket of food over. The three of them didn't bother to wash their hands, so they each picked up a steamed bun with chopsticks and ate it. We had a lunch of stir-fried vegetables in a basket. One steamed bun was eaten in four or five mouthfuls, and Chen Ling finished eight of them in one pot.
The others were dumbfounded. Wang Jusheng and Wang Jusheng had long been used to it. They only asked Chen Ling and Wang Lixian to have a meal at home in the evening, which meant they were inviting them to drink.
Unfortunately, it didn't work out. Wang Lixian was busy selling melons and had to leave early in the morning, so he postponed it to next time.
Not long after, Du Juan came over and chatted with them. This woman spent the whole morning walking around with a camera, cutting and harvesting wheat. Good guy, she really accumulated a lot of material. These days she was in Chenwangzhuang The harvest is huge, it is a period of inspiration, and people are full of energy.
Chen Ling asked her about Shanmao, and she didn't hide much. She said that something happened to Shanmao's elders and friends on the ancient trade road in the mountains, and Shanmao had to deal with it.
After hearing this, Chen Ling didn't ask any more questions.
"Count the yellow, then cut...count the yellow, then cut...", the bird is still chirping, urging the farmers to cut the wheat.
It is said that this bird was transformed from a human being. It is said that there was a farmer who was quite stupid in the past. He would not cut the wheat when it turned yellow, but would wait until it was almost fully ripe in the field before cutting it. Unfortunately, there was a heavy rainstorm, and all the wheat was soaked in the field, and there was no harvest. The farmer was so angry that he turned into a bird. Every year during the wheat harvest season, it kept chirping day and night to remind the farmers that the wheat was overrun. When it turns yellow, prepare to harvest early.
Although farmers all understand this truth, the bird will still crow until the wheat harvest is over, until it cries blood from its throat. At this time, you can listen again, and the cries become "cuckoo...cuckoo..." …”.
Because it’s time to plant corn after the summer harvest.
The wheat harvest season has passed, with the wheat field being pressed, dried, winnowed, and new wheat straw piles set up outside the wheat field.
Everyone in the village is busy, only Chen Ling is very leisurely, leading two dogs to run around on the field ridges, chasing rabbits and chasing pheasants. Today's Heiwa Xiaojin is not comparable to what he used to be. A good hunter, in less than half a day there were several pheasants and rabbits at Chen Ling's feet, which made people greedy.
Although he had a smile on his face, he was cursing in his heart that this lazy guy didn't do anything. Just these two dogs could eat meat all the time. It was so fucking unreasonable.
What others don’t know is that Chen Ling actually did nothing. After helping Wang Jusheng’s family harvest wheat, he not only went to the county to deliver peanuts, but also planted pepper and cumin on the edge of his own field. Seasonings, these are either perennials or annuals. They don’t need to be taken care of at all. They are easier to maintain than fruit trees. Chen Ling planted many of them.
“The flood is coming in more than a month. After the flood is over, we will find something to do.”
“For the sake of future children, I must have some heirloom skills. No?"
Chen Ling was thinking about it while walking in the harvested wheat stubble field. The crunching sound under his feet actually sounded strangely comfortable.
In the next few days, every time the two dogs went out, they would find something, including chickens, ducks, rabbits, and quails. Sometimes they would even come back with wild cat cubs in their mouths. Chen Ling and his wife were almost tired of eating meat every meal.
But forget it, what he didn't expect was that one day when it was raining, Hei Wa came back from nowhere with a shotgun in his mouth.
(End of this chapter)