My 1995 Small Farm

   Chapter 126 Flower Bread

  On the third day of the eighth lunar month, Zhao Dahai happened to come back, drove a black pickup truck, pulled a lot of things from the city, drove directly into the village, and stopped in front of Chen Ling's house.

  The dolls in the village have never seen such a car with a car body. One by one, they were so excited, they ran from the village entrance behind the buttocks of the car.

   Just when Zhao Dahai came, he also bought a large package of popsicles from the county seat. After parking the car, he didn’t enter the house, so he launched popsicles to the little dolls, and the adults also gave them, everyone had a share.

   Few people came to work today, it was originally relatively clean, but Zhao Dahai's involvement made the front of Chen Ling's house lively again.

   "Uncle Fugui, Uncle Fugui, look at it, there are a lot of paintings here, including you and Aunt Susu."

  Many little kids couldn’t get enough of the popsicles. They climbed into the car one by one, squeezed together, turned the steering wheel, and honked the horn “didi”.

   After a while, there was a little boy who saw a few paintings in the back compartment, and suddenly shouted loudly.

   "Oh, my little ancestors, this painting has just been framed, so I don't want to touch it."

   Zhao Dahai was startled when he heard it, and hurried over to drive the little dolls down.

   "What painting? Brother Hai."

   "The oil painting, painted by the cuckoo, I will bring it to you."

  Zhao Dahai wiped the sweat from his forehead and took a few framed oil paintings from the car.

  Chen Ling stepped forward and took a look. The pictures were the photos he and Wang Susu had taken before, but Du Juan repainted them in the form of oil paintings, both horizontally and vertically, and they were quite beautiful when framed.

   The other villagers stepped forward to take a look, and were amazed.

   I said in my heart that this baby is really amazing this year. I made some friends with skills. I didn’t talk about it when the car drove to the door. I even painted pictures for the young couple, which was very foreign.

  Chen Ling called Wang Susu out and saw that Wang Susu was also very happy.

   "This painting is so beautiful, Sister Juan really has a heart."

   "When the house is built and the paintings are hung in the house, it will definitely look better."

   There is a group photo of her and Chen Ling on the painting, as well as two people with a dog and a bull riding, and a little doll to deliver things.

   I thought that such a good painting must not be cheap. When Sister Du Juan comes back to the village, I would like to thank her.

   "Auntie, look at this, do the little kids in this painting look familiar?"

   "Familiar, what's wrong?"

   "No, it looks familiar. This is a picture of us, hehehe."

  Wang Susu of course knew how many of them they were, and only deliberately teased them.

   "Come on, wash your hands after eating the popsicles, and help Auntie take the painting home."

   Zhao Dahai brought a lot of things with him this time. He took off the oil painting and started unloading the car. Wang Susu called all the monkeys into the yard to avoid running around the car and delaying the adults’ work.

   "Fugui, what kind of friend is this? After pulling so much rice noodles, it's full of trucks, at least enough to eat for half a year."

   "Have you never seen this person? The leader of the high-voltage power line in the city."

   "Hey, the leaders of the city? Why is the rich and noble still on the line with the leaders of the city?"

   "Who knows, I used to say that people spend all day messing around in the county, but I don't think so. This baby is better than a monkey with hair on it, and will deal with people outside."

   "That's right, Jusheng didn't communicate much with the villagers before, but now he's getting close to the wealthy."

  Chen Ling and the others were unloading the car, while a group of villagers kept murmuring beside them, looking eagerly at what Zhao Dahai was carrying on the car.

   "Okay, Brother Hai, I'll take the rest to Brother Jusheng's house. My family has enough to eat."

  After unloading a few bags of rice and two bags of grains, Chen Ling put the bucket on the truck and stopped unloading things.

   Zhao Dahai came here, originally for his family, for fear that his family would be short of food after the disaster.

  Although he wasn't polite to Zhao Dahai, he couldn't unload everything to his own home.

   "Don't be rich."

  Wang Jusheng saw the situation and immediately quit: "When your family was employing people, the beams hadn't even been built, and the front yard was not cleaned up, so I'll unload a few more bags."

   "That's right, you carry the rice down and unload a few bags of noodles."

   Zhao Dahai also said.

"No, no, my family has prepared the food before building the house. There are more than 20 bags of wheat piled up at home. Is there enough to eat? I just saw that you have pulled the rice and miscellaneous grains, look at the freshness, unload a few bags to taste, and change the taste. That's it."

  Chen Ling waved his hand. Their county has few paddy fields and a lot of dry land. People here don’t eat rice several times a year. The staple food is noodles and steamed buns.

"you…"

  Wang Jusheng was helpless and didn't know what to say: "With so much left, my family of four will have to eat until next year."

   "How about you..."

   "Don't, I won't pull it back."

   Zhao Dahai knew what he was going to say when he saw Wang Jusheng like this, and hurriedly interrupted.

   "I give gifts to others, and they all think too little, how can there be too many like you two."

   "Haha, you are the leader."

   "Ouch, you rich and noble, you haven't seen each other for so long, and you started laughing at people without saying a word when we first met, didn't you?"

   After a while of laughter, he finally took the rest to Wang Jusheng's house.

   It's just that Zhao Dahai left two heavy bags of kelp.

   "On the fifth day of the first year, do you want to go to the big beam?"

   "Well, the fifth day."

   "Then when will this front yard be demolished?"

   "The beams are installed, the roof is repaired, and then the roof is removed. In fact, the front yard saves trouble. The house is demolished, and the courtyard dam can be repaired. It can be done in two days at most."

   "In this case, it really saves a lot of trouble. What about the gate? Is the gate repaired?"

   "The gate is not in a hurry. When the harvest is in autumn, I plan to start a village in the field, and then we can do it together."

   "Yo, that's good, I'll come when the time comes."

   "Bring my sister and my little sister here too. My little sister can sing opera. After building Zhuangzi, I will sing a big opera for you."

   "Okay, I'm still thinking about getting ready to put on a movie, it's better to have a play and sing."

  Chen Ling and Wang Jusheng sat in Zhao Dahai's car, chatting while walking.

  After the renovation of the house in the village, the road has become wider, tractors can go, and cars can enter.

After Zhao Dahai drove the two of them around the village, he knew that Wang Jusheng was going to help Chen Ling go to the county to buy meat, so he drove the two to the county, but it was still early, so he dragged the two of them along. Jinshuihe strolled for a while.

  The embankments and dams are similar to those on the Chenwangzhuang Reservoir, and they have been increased and reinforced a lot.

   "This guy, there's quite a lot of cement left, or I'll tell you and pull it home. The courtyard was repaired with cement. It's strong and not afraid of blisters."

   "There's no need for that. We'll have to grow things in the yard in the future. It's inconvenient to repair with cement."

   "How about Jusheng? Can you pull some?"

   "I don't need it either. After the cement floor is laid, the yard will dry, and it will be very dry in summer."

   "Okay, then let's head to the county seat."

  From the outside of Kinmen Village, you can walk along the Jinshui River to the Nansha River embankment in the county town, but it is a bit far, nearly half an hour longer than the mountain road. Except for Taoshugou, basically no one walks like this.

   Zhao Dahai is driving today, so naturally I don't care about that.

   While chatting with the wind blowing outside the car window, we soon arrived at the county seat.

  After the flood, the water level of the Nansha River is much higher than in previous years, and this year there are also a lot of fish and shrimp in the river. Like the Chenwangzhuang Reservoir, these are all rushed from upstream or other rivers.

   When they drove past the dam, there were still people blocking nets in the river, and some people on the shore had already caught a lot.

   "These fish look good, I'll get a few when I come back."

   Zhao Dahai muttered and drove over, they were in a hurry to buy meat.

   This year, people are poor and things are expensive. In the county seat, there is only a meat shop in Chengdong Old Street. Only one pig is killed every day.

   But the more so, there are still a lot of people waiting in various places every day, most of them are butchers, who pick and choose. If you go late, you won’t be able to buy any good meat.

   Buying meat is buying meat, but Zhao Dahai still thinks about fish.

   Knowing that the fish made by Chen Ling was delicious, he kept talking about it, but Chen Wangzhuang was guarding the reservoir. In the eyes of the villagers, this fish was not a valuable thing.

   is nothing compared to pork.

   Those who come to work for Chen Ling are willing to work hard, and he is embarrassed to save this little money on food. Since everyone thinks that pork is a good thing, then buy more pork.

   "You don't have to be so troublesome. There are more fish in the reservoir now. I want to eat them back and get a few for you. I caught them a while ago, and they came from upstream. They are very delicious and delicious."

   "Hey, that's good, I'm going to trouble you to open a small stove."

   When Zhao Dahai heard this, he was drooling with greed, "By the way, what are you doing after buying the meat?"

   "I'll send something."

  Chen Ling knew that Zhao Dahai was going to take them to the county seat, so he brought some grapes and jujubes from home, and planned to send them to Qin Rongxian and Liang Hongyu.

   He also saw Zhao Dahai driving rice noodles today, and he remembered what happened last time.

   The old couple are warm-hearted to themselves, and they can't always say nothing.

  The last time they went home, the two also said that they would come again when the grapes and dates were ripe. They looked good and wanted to taste it, so Chen Ling brought them here this time.

  I didn’t take the peaches. It’s hard to pick them up and put them away. I thought I’d hang them on the tree, but I didn’t pay attention to them in the past few days.

After buying the meat, Chen Ling carried a large bag of dates and a basket of grapes into Liang Hongyu's house.

   "Auntie is at home, that's just right."

   "Rich, come in, come in, why did you bring so many things."

  Liang Hongyu was wearing glasses and was sitting under the tree in the courtyard sewing clothes. She was very happy when she saw Chen Ling entering the door.

   "Rong Xian, Rong Xian, come out quickly, riches are coming."

   shouted Qin Rong successively, Liang Hongyu looked back again, "Where's Susu, didn't Susu follow?"

   "She didn't come. She has to work at home these days. She has to stay at home."

As Chen Ling said, Qin Rongxian had already come out of the house, holding two small raccoons in his arms, and a few of them were following at his feet, all of them chubby. When he saw Chen Ling, a stranger, he just glanced lazily. He glanced at it, and then walked slowly to Liang Hongyu, rubbing back and forth, whimpering.

   "How rich and noble, look at how strong this cat was raised by me and your aunt."

   "Yes, it is quite sturdy."

  Chen Ling was speechless for a while, the wild cats of this guy's "Sharp-mouthed Monkey Gill" let the old couple grow up, and they will become fatter if they eat it.

   "Uncle, aunt, the grapes and dates at home are ripe, I brought some for you, you can try it."

   "Oh, that's what we said, you still remember, you are so busy, why did you send it here on purpose?"

   "It's nothing, I just came to buy meat today."

   "When will you get on the beam?"

   "The fifth day of August."

   "The fifth day of the first month? The day after tomorrow, then I and your uncle will go there early to congratulate you."

   "Okay, but the mountain road is not easy to walk for a while, so let me pick you up and Uncle Qin."

   "What to pick up, how busy you are on the beam, we are not old and can't walk anymore."

  The old couple waved their hands. Today, Chen Ling came to the house by himself, without Wang Susu, and they didn't leave any meals. It was just that when Chen Ling left, Liang Hongyu wanted to stuff him again, so he ran and jogged to hide.

   "Rich, I forgot to tell you, we forgot to buy paint, and we ordered flower buns when we went to the beam."

   Back in the car, Wang Jusheng reminded.

   "Ouch, I really forgot."

  Chen Ling slapped his forehead, red cloth and firecrackers, and brought Wang Susutou back when he came back to sell vegetables, but the other bits and pieces were far from enough.

   So the three of them drove the car and went to buy paint.

  …

   Two days passed quickly, the beams were trimmed on the fourth day of August, and the beams were about to be installed on the fifth day of August.

   This day is an auspicious day, suitable for breaking ground, building houses, installing beams, and installing gates.

   If you can pick sixty-nine in rural Shangliang, you can pick sixty-nine. Without sixty-nine, it will be another day.

   So on the fifth day of the first day, Chen Ling got up early and started to pack up. There are a lot of things to be busy with today, and there are many people coming, so we must prepare in advance.

   "Uncle, uncle, what time do you get on the beam?"

   was cooking when a group of small heads crowded into the kitchen.

   "It's half past eleven, what's wrong?"

   "I asked me to come over and ask if I would like to put money on the beam, and I want to punch a hole in the beam."

  Chen Ling turned around and replied, "Tell you Da, you don't need to punch a hole, just tie it up when the time comes."

   Just a few silver and copper coins, no one is stealing this now.

   On the other hand, after the holes are drilled, the roof leaks, or the weather is humid, and it is easy to rot over a long time.

  Building a house in the countryside is a big deal, no matter which one, whether it is poor or rich, it is closely related to the best materials. In particular, the beams need to be made of high-quality wood, which can be used for decades without any problems.

  Sometimes it’s okay if the house collapses.

   This is the so-called "houses collapsing beams constantly".

The beams will be damaged. Many times it is not caused by insects or the holes made by the money on the beams. Just like the beams in the backyard of Chen Ling's house, there is basically no problem except for the one where the money is placed. I will build a cowshed in the future. The stables are still available.

   "What about flower buns? Do you still sprinkle flower buns?"

   "Sabai, didn't you steam it all yesterday afternoon? You didn't see it."

   "They didn't see me, I saw it. It was steamed in my house, and it was painted. Red, yellow, and blue are all available. It looks good."

   "But I don't like flower buns, I like candy, hehe."

   "Me too, uncle, you can put more sugar then."

  According to the custom, you should sprinkle flowers, steamed buns and candies on the beam to make it festive, make the new house safe and good luck.

   "Just remember to eat candy, have you eaten breakfast yet?"

   "No, my mother said that Uncle Fugui's house is on Daliang. Today's lunch is good and there is a lot of meat, so I'll wait for lunch on an empty stomach to eat more."

  Good guy, it's still like this after all the years, these women are not afraid of lack of energy to work.

  Chen Ling was speechless. He was like this when he was a child, because he was really poor at that time, waiting for someone in the village to marry a wife and go to the beam to pick up something to eat. It felt like a pie falling from the sky.

   "Hungry or not, eat an egg later."

   "I'm not hungry, let's wait for noon, uncle, you have dinner, let's paste the couplet for you."

"Okay."

   "After the beam is finished, can you leave me some cannonballs?"

   Good guy is waiting here.

   (end of this chapter)