Crossing the green wheat ears

The summer wind was blowing, and Xiyuan was lying under a willow tree by the pond, with a straw stick in his mouth, his eyes closed, a book on his stomach, and a sack under his body.

In the pond not far away, a large group of ducks and geese are swimming happily, some are flapping their wings while swimming, some are poking their beaks into the water to find food, some are stretching their necks and squawking... …This is the one hundred geese and one hundred ducks that Xiyuan advocated raising. Two of the ducks were lost and three died, and now there are only 95 left; One was bitten, but was not rescued, and now there are 99 more.This is already a very good result, and few poultry farmers in the village have such a high survival rate.

Every day when Xiyuan and his two younger brothers drove the geese and ducks out of the house, the passing villagers would stop and watch with envy and jealousy in their eyes.

"This large flock of ducks and geese will sell for two taels of silver in autumn?" Some villagers said.

"Two liang, can two liang be enough? You don't know, his family also has a large group of chickens, and it's hard to manage when they spill out, so they are kept in the yard!" Another villager returned, smacking his lips.

"Hey, look, this is out of order!" This is the famous Aunt Li in the village.

"What can the children do? Look at these three. The older one is only eleven, and he can lead the two younger ones to release so many ducks and geese." Aunt Zhang, who was talking first, looked at Brother Xiyuan driving the ducks and geese The distant figure muttered.

"I don't know how his family raised them. I also raised [-] little ones that year. I wanted to sell them for some money in the fall. Who knew that just after the summer, I was about to pay for it. It was just in time for the plague. Dead." Another aunt surnamed Hua took up the conversation.

"But it's true, you said we can ask his family if they can tell?" Aunt Li was a little moved.

"If there is a way, maybe I can tell, but I guess it is due to the family's fortune this year. I have never seen his family raising so many people every year. When there was a plague before, there was nothing left of his family." Aunt Hua is a real person. people.

"Yes, I heard that Xi Mingquan, the third child in his family, had been chatting with the couple a few days ago." Aunt Li whispered mysteriously.

"Ah? Why?" The other two became curious.

"Why? Didn't you see how much money Mr. Xi brought in this year! As far as I heard, the Chinese cabbage in spring sold for six or seven taels of silver."

"I know that, the head of our family helped out that day when we sold cabbage."

"That's right, I sold the green vegetables from the garden later, and it sold for a lot of money! Tsk tsk." Aunt Li said with two big eyes rounded.

"Yeah, I don't know why their vegetables come out so early. My place is not as high as my calf, and theirs is in bloom." Aunt Hua was a little envious.

"Then Ximing Almighty doesn't know about this? He offended his elder brother and sister-in-law because of Xi's second behavior, but now he can't open his mouth when he wants to get in, and then he finds the old man and the old lady, and wants the old couple to talk about it." Affection."

"What is he thinking, and he wants to make money as well?"

"The master who sees money with eyes open, can he not be jealous when his elder brother's family makes money?"

"Did the old lady tell you?"

"It doesn't seem to be the case. The third brother Xi is not happy when it's over. He said that this is still a family, and there is no way to make money. He said that the old couple is partial, and they don't tell him how to make money, which makes Lao Xi very angry. Fall back."

"This old Xi's house is quite lively. Why didn't you think it was a family when you were fighting for his second brother's land two years ago?"

The three of them were chattering about the matter of Xiyuan's family.

This is how the village is, usually there is nothing to do, and the days are as calm as running water, so anyone who has a little trouble in the house will become the talk of the villagers.

Not only the eyes of those women, but also the men in the village clicked their tongues enviously after seeing Ximing Wen's family live well in the past half a year.Because I was afraid that the villagers would become jealous from envy and become malicious again, my grandfather and father took turns sleeping at night, and they got up for an hour to make a round, lest someone would harm the chickens, ducks and geese at home.Seeing that the adults couldn't even sleep well, Xiyuan secretly made up his mind that next year he must build a nice house with a large courtyard, and then build a row of chicken, duck, and goose coops.But now there is no such condition, so we can only work harder.

Later, my father brought back a little stupid dog from the house of Grandpa Wang San in the village. It was thick-headed and thick-headed, and it was the biggest and fattest in the litter. Xiyuan named it Huzi.Inspired by his son, grandpa went out one day without making a sound, and came back the next evening with a little wolf puppy in his arms, which looked thin and small. Grandpa said, a litter of dogs All the cubs were taken away by other families and only this one was left. In the past, they couldn't grab the milk and grew small.

Grandpa is a pup from a brother's family fifty miles away. His brother's family is close to the mountains, and sometimes he goes hunting in the mountains, so there are two wolf dogs in the family.Looking at the little wolf dog's gray appearance, messy dog ​​hair, and small body with no flesh, Xiyuan wondered if he would grow into a majestic big hunting dog?So he was given a name - edamame.

After arriving at Xiyuan’s house, due to the good food supply—Xiyuan fed the two puppies with goat’s milk every day, otherwise they would not be able to feed them, so the edamame would grow round and round in a short time, with dark brown fur all over their bodies , both ears stood up, and showed the cleverness of being a wolf dog.Now at home, my grandfather and father basically wake up once in the middle of the night at home. Usually, Maodoujiao and Huzi sleep in the doghouse built by my grandfather next to the poultry nest, and they will bark vigorously when there is a little movement.Two days ago, a weasel entered the yard. It was Mao Doujiao who called the police in time. Grandpa and father got up and chased it away, otherwise it would have only harmed a goose.

Now, after more than two months of feeding and training, Maodoujiao and Huzi can also help look after chickens, ducks and geese. Of course, Maodoujiao is the main one, and Huzi is a small follower.Xiyuan's pond where ducks and geese are now kept is a little farther away from the village, about four miles away, but because this area is a plain, and there are peasant families tending the crops in the big fields next to it, so it is not remote.Other children or old people who keep ducks and geese by the pond near the village will go. Xiyuan doesn't want to mix his own with other people's, in case he gets infected with duck plague and goose plague again; It's not easy to stand out after mixing with others, so Xiyuan chose this place far away from the village, where others don't like to come.This pond is very big, surrounded by wild grassland. After playing in the water enough, the ducks and geese quacked and came ashore to find grass and wild vegetables to eat. When they returned in the evening, the crops were all crooked. feed.

Grandma sewed a red cloth strip on the wings of each duck and goose, so that even if they were accidentally mixed together, she would know which one belonged to her.

Xiyuan was afraid that the ducks and geese would go far away after eating on the bank and would not be able to find them in the grass nest, so he led the children in the village to step around the pond to draw a range of activities for the ducks and geese. Some ducks and geese After crossing the boundary a little, Xiyuan yelled at Maodoujiao to rush back. As time passed, now without Xiyuan's voice, Maodoujiao could spread his short legs and run over in time to teach the disobedient guy a lesson.

After more than three months of feeding, the young chicks have grown to half their age.Xi Yuan closed his eyes and thought about what to do.It has already entered July, it is midsummer, and the wheat will be harvested in a few days. This place is called Kaili, and the interval between wheat harvest and autumn harvest is more than a month. Xiyuan plans to take a long trip during this free time.The adults in the family will also go with one, and the family will be short-handed by then, but they still have to go.

"Brother, brother," Wei Cheng saw that Xiyuan hadn't moved for a long time, and thought he was asleep, so he pointed his finger at his brother's eyelids and called Xiyuan.Grandma said, my brother is a lazy person, he will never sit up if he can lie down, but he is not allowed to sleep in the wild. Even though it is summer, there is still wind in the wild in the north. If something goes wrong while sleeping, it will be bad, so He shouldered the heavy responsibility of watching his brother and not letting him sleep in.

"Didn't sleep, brother is thinking about something here." Xi Yuan quickly opened his eyes.The book on his stomach slid down as soon as he moved.Wei Cheng picked it up and put it on Xiyuan's belly.

Xiyuan got the books from Dr. Li. After Xiyuan finished reading "Hundred Surnames", "Thousand Characters", and "Three Character Classics", Dr. Li said that he had nothing but medical books, so Xiyuan had to take them. Judging from a medical book, it is better than nothing, anyway, he just wants to know how to write all the words.

Every time Xiyuan fetches medicine or borrows books, Dr. Li will take the opportunity to ask about the contents of Xiyuan's books, and sometimes he will take out herbs from the drawer where the herbs are placed for Xiyuan to read, and tell Xiyuan about each kind of medicine. The performance of the medicine, Xiyuan's left ear popped out of the right ear, which made Dr. Li very sad. In order to comfort Dr. Li, so that he would no longer show that sad expression, Xiyuan took some mental notes, and Dr. Li asked again. Xiyuan was able to answer very well, Dr. Li was so happy that he had to ask his daughter to cook something, and he wanted to drink a cup of wine.

There's nothing wrong with Dr. Li!Xiyuan had no choice but to force himself to continue to remember those flowers and plants.

A few days ago, on a whim, Dr. Li led Xiyuan to the wild to find herbs for Xiyuan to identify. He also said that when he had time, he would take Xiyuan to the mountains dozens of miles away to collect herbs, which made Xiyuan very worried. No, you don't always look at your legs and feet, even walking on flat ground is strenuous, and going to the mountains is unbearable.But Xiyuan didn't say clearly that Dr. Li was so excited, he couldn't bear to beat him, and at the same time he made up his mind to buy a little donkey for Dr. Li when he had money, so that Dr. Li wouldn't have to worry about going anywhere.

"Brother, brother, we caught several frogs just now, and I also shot two birds, you will burn them for us later." Seeing that Xiyuan was really fine, Wei Cheng began to make demands.My brother won't let them play with fire, but my brother will do whatever they catch.

"Okay, bring it here."

"Hey! Xiaowei, hurry up, brother, tell me to bring it here." Wei Cheng called Xi Wei and the others while running to the place where the little guys put their things.

"Ah, I got it." Several responders from Xiwei ran towards Xiyuan quickly.The children looked like mud monkeys, so every night when Xiyuan went back, he had to bathe the two little guys, and then wrapped them in a big cloth towel and hugged them on the kang. There was a lot of fun inside.

Xiyuan set up the firewood picked up by a few children, lit it with flint, peeled the frog, spread salt and a little lard oil, and put it on the fire, carefully turning and roasting. The two birds were a sparrow and a sparrow. It was a bird whose name was as big as an adult's fist, and Wei Cheng didn't know how to call it. Xiyuan cut the two birds open and cleaned them, and coated the insides with salt.The big one was stuffed with some mushrooms picked by Wei Cheng Xiwei after the rain two days ago, and some chili powder and pepper powder were sprinkled on the mushrooms; in addition, several wild vegetables and perilla leaves that Xiwei had just picked were placed.Then move the fire away, bury the two birds under it, and move the fire over.

The little guys stopped playing, and they all sat around Xiyuan, drooling and waiting.

Now they are all willing to play with Wei Cheng. Wei Cheng can shoot birds with a slingshot and catch frogs.If they caught something to eat, Wei Cheng's brother would take care of it, and they were good friends with Wei Cheng, so they could also eat a few bites.It’s summer now, and my family spent almost all the money on food sales last year, and the food at home doesn’t even smell like meat, so the kids can’t get enough of it; besides, Xiyuan’s food is the best, better than that made at home during Chinese New Year All delicious.

After a while, the frogs were roasted first, and Xiyuan gave one to each child, and the remaining two gave him two radish heads without hesitation. If it wasn't for helping Wei Cheng win over these children, he would have Are reluctant to give.The little guys ate their tongues.Zhu Zi only ate half, and he wanted to save the remaining half for his younger sister, who didn't come today because she was feeling sick.Xiyuan also likes this sensible child very much. He is the eldest son of Grandpa Wang's family. The relationship between Grandpa Wang's family and Xiyuan's family has always been good. Zhuzi and Xi Wei have always played well.Zhuzi's younger sister is just four years old, two years younger than Xi Wei. Every day when Zhuzi comes to play with Wei Cheng and the others, she has to lead her sister. The little girl is not as naughty as a boy. She often sits next to Xiyuan and watches Xiyuan. Make something up for him.

Thinking that the birds down there were fine, Xiyuan went to the field next to him and picked two pumpkin leaves. The pumpkin leaves were big, so Xiyuan put them on the ground and took out the birds wrapped in yellow mud from the soil. Knock off the yellow mud outside, put the meat on the pumpkin leaves, and then tear the other pumpkin leaves into small pieces, one by one, put the meat, wild vegetables, and mushrooms given by Xiyuan on it.

"It's so fragrant, Chengzi, your brother is so kind!" Zhuzi admired sincerely. Now he envies Xi Wei for having an older brother. He even had a fight with the adults when he returned home. He insisted on having an older brother. Afterwards, the adults in the family couldn't do anything about it. He took him to Xi's house, and Xiyuan coaxed him to take him when he played in the future.

"It's my brother too!" Xi Wei immediately said proudly.

"Brother Xiaoyuan said he would play with me from now on..." Zhuzi also argued.

"Chengzi, I'm good to you. You can play with me every day from now on." A little guy named Goudan flattered Wei Cheng.

"I'm also good friends with Wei Cheng, and Wei Cheng also plays with me. When I see an ugly girl, I will help Cheng Zi beat her." Another child named Dong Zhi shouted, he was born on the day of Dong Zhi.

The children nodded when they heard that, yes, they will never play with the ugly girl again, the ugly girl doesn't know how to beat delicious food, and she loves to cry, if she can't play well, she tells her mother to find someone else's house.

Xiyuan smiled and watched the little guys eating together around Wei Cheng, talking loudly at the same time.He wants to slowly make Wei's second child no longer be able to influence Wei Cheng.

After eating, Xiyuan got up and led the soybeans and tigers to check the situation of the ducks and geese.Next to him, under the willow tree where he was resting just now, Xi Wei, Wei Cheng and a few friends were rolling yellow mud into balls to make projectiles. This place is all black soil and there are no rivers, so there are relatively few stones, and the children are playing slingshots. The projectiles used are all made of yellow clay to make mud balls and dried in the sun. The braziers used in the village for heating in winter are also made of yellow clay by adults. There are also adobes for building houses. It is best to have clay, which is stronger.Maybe these clays can be fired into pottery or porcelain, Xiyuan thought, but unfortunately he doesn't know how to make pottery or porcelain.