Siheyuan: The romantic and suave Xu Damao

Walking carefully along the ridge of the field towards the roadside, Xu Damao felt waves of warmth coming through his palms and arms.

After all, it is still the hottest season of autumn and people are wearing very thin clothes.

The woman weighed about 80 pounds and was not heavy. Xu Damao carefully placed her on the back seat of the bicycle.

"Sister, just sit like this and put your feet in this basket."

"There's nothing in there, right? Don't step on it."

"No, just step on it. When we get to your door, tell me and I'll put you down."

"Okay, thank you, bro."

The woman lowered her head shyly. After all, she was still a little uncomfortable with being hugged by such a handsome young man.

Two pink clouds appeared on her white cheeks, making her look even more beautiful.

"The smallest house in the village is my home."

When the woman saw Xu Damao riding his bicycle into the village, she hurriedly told him the location of her home.

"Don't say that. Just watch me walk and tell me how to turn in that direction."

"Just keep walking. It's not far from the village entrance."

"Okay, hold on tight, I'll speed up a bit."

Xu Damao followed the route the woman pointed out and soon arrived at her doorstep.

"Sister, what's wrong with you? Who are you?"

As soon as I stopped the car at the door, I heard a crisp voice coming from inside.

Xu Damao said nothing and turned to look at the woman in the back seat.

The person who came to open the door was a young lady of about eighteen or nineteen years old, who looked very cute.

Although her body looks a little thin, her face still has a bit of baby fat. She has a baby face, big black eyes, and long eyelashes, and she looks like a Barbie doll.

"Cuinong, I fell down in the field and my legs hurt so much. Luckily this young man passed by and brought me back. Why don't you thank him quickly?"

"Thank you, brother. Please come in and have a rest and have a cup of tea."

Cuinong is very sensible and behaves very appropriately, which makes people feel very comfortable when watching her.

"No need. I just came from the city and happened to come to this village to complete the screening task. I'll help you if I see you."

"Your sister should be fine. She just strained her leg tendons. She just needs to rest for a while. I'll be back first. I still have a screening to do."

"That won't do. You helped my sister. Come in and have a glass of water."

"No, no, how about this, after the movie is over, let me come over for dinner. I have some vegetables in this basket."

"Okay big brother, you must come after the show is over."

"Okay, it's a deal."

Xu Damao rode his bike to the village commune.

After meeting the village chief, the village loudspeaker began calling on the villagers to come to the threshing ground to watch the movie.

"You don't need to set up a pole over there. You can just use the branch that's leaning over from the tree. Just tie one corner of the curtain to the branch."

In the threshing ground, Xu Damao was directing the men who came to help. After the work was done and everything was ready, he took out a pack of Daqianmen cigarettes and distributed it around.

Several people gathered in a circle and lit their cigarettes using just one match.

"This cigarette is really good to smoke, much better than Old Li's dry tobacco, his cigarette can choke you to death."

A man took a puff of his cigarette, exhaled a puff of light blue smoke and laughed.

"That's not true. These cigarettes are much more expensive than those sold by Old Li!"

Another man next to him chimed in.

People came here one after another, and almost everyone held a small stool in their hands.

Young people and children were all excited. After all, in this era, watching a projectionist show movies was considered a high-end activity and form of entertainment.

Not long after, Xu Damao saw Cuinong, who had two pigtails, also came over with a small stool.

"Come over here and sit in the front."

Xu Damao shouted to Cuinong to sit in the front row, ignoring the strange looks from the people around him.

Cuinong was a little shy at first, but then she walked over confidently and sat next to Xu Damao.

Xu Damao only felt a faint and elegant fragrance coming over.

This fragrance is not the body odor of a young girl. Body odor is not so strong. Xu Damao is very knowledgeable about this.

"Oh, this little girl even put on a little bit of makeup."

"Brother, my sister said that if you hadn't stopped by to help, she wouldn't know what to do. You must come to my house for dinner later. She will cook delicious food for you."

Cuinong whispered beside Xu Damao.

"How can she cook with her injured leg?"

"I will do it. Don't underestimate me. I am also a good cook. In the past..."

Having said that, Cuinong's eyes were a little dim, and there was some yearning, but her lips trembled, and she stopped talking. She held her chin with both hands, stared at the curtain with her big eyes, blinking, and her long eyelashes fluttering.

"Just stay here and watch the movie. Big brother has to go to work."

Xu Damao patted Cuinong's shoulder lovingly, went back, and started turning the film to show the movie.

……

After the music ended, people dispersed and Xu Damao began to clean up the mess. Two men from the commune, Cuinong and several children also stayed to help, packing up the projection equipment and putting it aside.

Xu Damao gave the two men some cigarettes as a favor and, as usual, used the snacks and asked the children to help watch over the projection equipment on the ground. Then he got on his bike, let Cuinong sit on the back of it and left.

"Sister, we are back."

Cuinong opened the door and walked in, but she didn't find her sister in the yard, so she couldn't help but call out softly.

"I'm taking a shower in there. I'll be done soon."

"The guy who was screening it is coming over, so I will cook first."

It was almost noon and Cuinong started to get busy. Seeing this, Xu Damao went over to help, fetching water, and washing wild vegetables. The two of them were busy and having a lot of fun.

Cuinong waited until her sister Cuilan came out after washing before Cuinong went into the house to get the cornmeal. Seeing this, Xu Damao followed her.

The house is very small, with only two rooms, the outer one is the main room and the inner one is the bedroom.

There were two small stools, a wooden basin and two medium-sized vats in the main room, and on the floor were some dried wild vegetables that Damao couldn't name.

There was still half a basin of water in the wooden basin, which should have been used by Cuilan for taking a bath just now. It looked empty.

There was only a bed and a wardrobe in the bedroom. On top of the wardrobe were two wooden boxes, one large and one small. Cuilan and Cuinong slept on the bed.

Cuinong walked to a jar, opened the lid, bent down, scooped out some cornmeal with a ladle and walked out.

Xu Damao stretched his head and saw that there was not much cornmeal left in the jar.

"Cuinong, what are we going to eat for lunch?"

Seeing this situation, Xu Damao felt that Cuinong was lying when she said she would make him something delicious.

"Cook some steamed buns, and kill a chicken to stew. My sister's leg is injured, so she needs some to recuperate."

Cuinong, who was kneading dough, pointed to the only three chickens in the yard and said.

"Okay, I'll go help catch and kill the chickens. I'll keep the hens for laying eggs, and I'll take that one cock that looks so arrogant!"