Ba Zong's rural life [farming]

The next day was still sunny, Ruan Xishi and Lu Ze had breakfast at home, and waited for the sun to rise before going to the grain drying field to spread out the millet to dry.

Millet is smaller than peanuts and corns, and has a larger average heating surface, so it is easier to dry than peanuts and corns. The millet was almost dry in only half a day yesterday. If you dry it today, you don’t need to turn it over an hour like yesterday. Two hours of hard work.

Even so, in order to dry the millet more evenly, we still have to turn it over diligently, but everyone has the idea that it has been almost dried, so there are a lot fewer people in the sun-drying field, and occasionally a few people come to look through it. Guzi is much quieter than yesterday.

Everyone else was slack, but Ruan Xishi didn't dare. These millets are his food for the second half of the year. If he doesn't take good care of them, he and Lu Ze may not have enough rice for the second half of the year. So he pays special attention to them, unless they are big or small. Never leave the grain drying field for half a step.

He was so persistent, Lu Ze also accompanied him, no matter how Ruan Xishi persuaded him to go home and rest, it was useless.Lu Ze's body is hot, and he sweats more easily when he is exposed to the sun outside. Ruan Xishi saw that he was sweating profusely, and felt very distressed, so she had to wipe his sweat with a wet towel, and said, "Wait later!" Tomorrow, we can take the millet home and don’t need to sun it anymore, after that, you can take a good rest for a while, you can see that you are all tanned.”

Lu Ze squinted his eyes and enjoyed his sweating comfortably, and said, "It's okay, I'm a man, it doesn't matter if I get tanned a little bit. But you, who are white and tender, should spend less time in the sun. Just let me do it."

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and pinched Ruan Xishi's baby-fat cheeks. Ruan Xishi's face was smooth and tender, like tofu, and he didn't know how it grew.Is it inherited from my parents, or because I have never been exposed to junk food and radiation since I was a child, and I eat all natural and pollution-free food and drink sweet ground water.

Ruan Xishi wanted to avoid it when he touched his face, because being touched by a man is really a shy thing, even though he is also a man, he still finds it a bit strange, although he likes to contact Lu Ze, but because That's it, he was afraid that Lu Ze would find out his own thoughts, which would make Lu Ze feel that he was abnormal, so he would stay away from him.

The summer wind blew slowly, dissipating some of the heat, Ruan Xishi listened to the boring cicadas, and felt that it was like a monotonous lullaby, which made people drowsy.

He yawned a lot. When Lu Ze saw him, he hugged him. The two of them were next to each other. Lu Ze said to him, "Go to sleep for a while, and I'll look after the millet for you."

Ruan Xishi glanced at the scorching sun outside, and said to Lu Ze: "You don't need to look at it, it's okay, the sun is so big, it shouldn't rain today, Brother Lu Ze, you should sleep for a while, you can almost harvest the millet when you wake up."

Lu Ze hummed, leaned against the tree trunk with his arms around him, and closed his eyes.

Half awake and half asleep, Lu Ze seemed to hear a noise, and then a woman scolded: "You two brothers can't get along well for a day, and you have to fight when you are together. Those who don't know think you two are enemies. They're not real brothers! When will you two save me some trouble? Look, Teacher Xiaoruan and brother Ah Ze, brothers who are not related by blood, are still in love with each other at such an age, so you can't learn from them?"

When Lu Ze overheard these words, the corners of his mouth slightly curled up, revealing a faint smile, and he tightened his grip on Ruan Xishi.

And Ruan Xishi was already fast asleep, completely unaware of what happened.

The sky in August changes as it says, the sun was shining brightly one second, and a dark cloud came from nowhere in the next second, covering the sky and covering the sun, scaring the farmers, running around telling them that it was going to rain. More and more people picked up their tools and ran out of their homes in a hurry before they even had time to put on their clothes and shoes, and rushed to the grain drying field.

"It's raining! Harvest the millet!"

I don't know who yelled such a sentence on the grain drying ground, which woke Ruan Xishi from his sleep. He didn't care to wipe off the saliva left on Lu Ze's chest, he picked up the straw hat and ran out to look at the sky.

Sure enough, a dark cloud was floating over the grain drying field, looking very scary, Ruan Xishi hurriedly took the shovel and broom and the tarp snakeskin bag, and collected the grain in a panic.

Lu Ze was also woken up by people's yelling. He opened his eyes and felt that his arms were empty. He saw that Ruan Xishi had already gone to nowhere. , suddenly frowned.

He just checked today's weather forecast on his mobile phone last night, and it showed sunny days and no rain. Why did there suddenly appear dark clouds?

He didn't have time to think too much, because he saw Ruan Xishi harvesting millet by himself, so flustered that he almost tripped over the broom.He went over to help Ruan Xishi, picked up the broom and helped him sweep the grains together.

After finally shoveling the millet into a pile, the sun came out again. The sun was too strong for a while, and people couldn't get used to it, so they squinted their eyes to look at the sky.

The dark clouds had drifted away, and it seemed that it didn't intend to rain here. People made a false alarm, but they didn't dare to relax, for fear that it would suddenly rain heavily.

During the handover season between summer and autumn, even if the sun is in the sky, there will be heavy rain for no reason. The people in the village have experience, so they are not in a hurry to go home at this meeting, but continue to guard the grain drying field. Spread out, but not bagged either.

If it rains suddenly, just cover the grain pile with a waterproof cloth to avoid getting all wet. If it does not rain, just flatten the grain pile to save manpower.

Everyone waited for a while, but there were no raindrops. Uncle Niu even smoked a hookah and said vaguely: "It seems that it will not rain today."

Some people are more courageous, and they have already spread out the grain piles to dry again. Seeing someone taking the lead, they all flattened their own grains and dried them again.

Ruan Xishi was still a little worried that it would rain, holding the snakeskin bag in her hand and not daring to act rashly.

Seeing him trembling, Lu Ze comforted him and said, "It won't rain today. I checked the weather forecast last night. It hasn't rained for two days. Let's spread out the millet and continue drying."

Ruan Xishi didn't have any doubts about Lu Ze's words. He only thought that Lu Ze turned on the TV to watch the weather forecast while he was taking a bath last night. Put down the snakeskin bag, and spread the millet evenly with a bamboo rake.

After making such a fuss, and returning to the shade of the tree, Ruan Xishi did not feel sleepy at all. Even though he was very tired, he was frightened and worried that he would fall asleep in a while, and it would rain suddenly and it would be too late to harvest the millet.His eyes were wide open and he looked outside, like a vigilant little animal, so cute.

Lu Ze couldn't help but patted his head, bent his mouth and said, "Okay, okay, it's okay, you can sleep for a while, it's still early."

Ruan Xishi shook her head: "I'm not sleepy anymore, Brother Lu Ze, go to sleep, I'll watch the sky."

Lu Ze had been busy for a while, and he didn't feel sleepy now, but it was boring to sit and wait like this, and he didn't know the other people in the village very well, so he couldn't get together, so he grabbed a handful of straw from the side and came over to play .

When Ruan Xishi saw the stalks, she had an idea, grabbed a handful herself, and put it in her hand to weave and weave a dragonfly in the end.

He handed the stuff made of straw to Lu Ze as if he was offering a treasure: "I'll play with you, Brother Lu Ze."

Lu Ze took the dragonfly and said with a smile, "You still know how to make this up."

Ruan Xishi laughed and said, "This is what my grandfather taught me. He is better than me. He can also weave straw sandals. He said that when the village was poorer, people couldn't afford shoes, so they kept straws to make straw sandals." Instead, I also wear straw sandals in winter, and my toes are about to fall off from the cold.”

Now that he mentions his grandfather, he is not as sad and uncomfortable as before. He doesn't know if this is a good sign, but he does let go a lot and relax a lot, all thanks to Lu Ze.

Lu Ze had never seen anyone wearing straw sandals. After hearing Ruan Xishi's words, he was a little surprised and couldn't believe that kind of poor life.He touched Ruan Xishi's head distressedly and asked, "Then have you ever worn straw sandals?"

Ruan Xishi shook her head and said, "The living conditions in the village were better when I was born, and shoes were still affordable."

It’s just that the quality is not good. If a pair of shoes don’t fit well, you have to keep wearing them until you can’t fit them or they are worn out.

He didn't tell Lu Ze about this, because it would make Lu Ze feel sorry for him, and he didn't want to win Lu Ze's sympathy, and it was all in the past, and now it's just an embarrassment for himself.

Before the sun went down, Ruan Xishi and Lu Ze put away the millet. There were people burning straws around the sun-drying field, and there was dusty smoke everywhere, and even the air smelled of plant ash. Although it didn't smell good, but It is also more acceptable than the pungent car exhaust in the city.

Ruan Xishi also went to the stack of straws left in their house. After two days of exposure to the sun, the moisture in the straws completely evaporated, making them dry and yellow. Go home and store it.

Lu Ze picked out two bundles for him, and asked inexplicably, "Why did you bring the straw home? I think other people's houses were burned directly."

Ruan Xishi explained: "Stalks are useful for many purposes. They can be used to feed cattle, make nests for chickens and ducks, be used as fuel, and can also be burned into ashes to make fertilizer. In late autumn, if you want to grow vegetables, spread a layer of straw on the ground. The poles also keep you warm."

Only then did Lu Ze realize that the straw was a treasure.

When the two of them returned home, Lu Ze cooked, and Ruan Xishi fetched water to water the vegetables outside. The sun has been shining for the past few days, and the vegetable fields were dry and cracked, and the vegetables were wilting.They were busy harvesting during this time, and had no time to take care of the vegetable garden for a long time, Ruan Xishi thought that in a few days they would not have to be so busy, now they had to hurry up and get the vegetables ready, and then they could continue selling vegetables to make money.

Aunt Li, who was passing by on the road, saw him and said to him: "Shizai, have the straws in your house been burned? The village head asked us to dispose of the straws in the next two days, saying that the troupe will be invited to sing an opera the day after tomorrow." Woolen cloth!"

Ruan Xishi was surprised and said, "Is there going to be an opera in the village?"

Aunt Li was obviously full of expectations for the singing, and replied with a smile: "That's right, the village head just posted a notice on the grain drying field. He said that our village has a bumper harvest this year. The town government knows about it and allocated a sum of money for us." Money is used as a reward, and the village head hired a troupe as soon as he was happy. I heard that the next season will be sown, and the town will have subsidies."

When Ruan Xishan heard these two news, he also became happy, and said with a smile: "That's good, I'll go and burn our straw tomorrow night."

Back home, Ruan Xishi shared the good news with Lu Ze while washing the vegetables. Lu Ze was not surprised by the subsidy in the town. After all, he asked Zhu Wen to do it. He was more interested in the opera troupe singing. I've never seen it that big.

Ruan Xishi was obviously overjoyed, and when it came to the dancers behind, she gestured to Lu Ze and said, "In the past, the village also invited opera troupes to sing during Chinese New Year. Many people went to see the opera, and people from other villages also came to see it, attracting small vendors from other places to sell snacks and fireworks.”

Seeing his happy look, Lu Ze also looked forward to such a lively scene, touched his head and said, "Then the night after tomorrow, let's go to the theater together."

Ruan Xishi nodded excitedly: "Okay, let's go early so we can find a good seat."

The author has something to say:

Grabbing harvest is really a nightmare, the kind that can make people nervous. The most annoying thing is that sometimes in summer, when the sun is out, it will suddenly rain heavily, and the rain will soak the grain. .