Ba Zong's rural life [farming]

On the way back, they met Uncle Zhang and his son in the village. They were transporting bundles of locust branches down the mountain, and there were already many bundles on the wooden cart by the roadside.

The road on the mountain was narrow, so Ruan Xishi had to let Uncle Zhang and the others who were carrying the wood go first. Uncle Zhang nodded to him and greeted him. Seeing the round snakeskin bag beside him, he asked casually, "Shizi, why don't you go up the mountain to pick it?" What good stuff?"

Ruan Xishi replied: "I picked some persimmons, Second Uncle, if you want, I'll give you some to take home."

Uncle Zhang said with a smile: "Hey, no need, just take it back and eat it. There are quite a lot of persimmons this year."

Ruan Xishi said: "It's so-so. It hasn't been taken care of for many years. It's no wonder the persimmon tree still bears so many fruits."

Uncle Zhang said with a smile: "Blossoming and fruiting is the mission of trees. Even if they live in adversity, they will not forget their mission to give back to human beings and nature."

Ruan Xishi also laughed: "Maybe so. Second Uncle, you cut so many locust trees, are you going to burn the kiln again?"

Uncle Zhang put the locust locust tree on the wooden cart, clapped his hands and said, "Yes, it's almost winter, now that the weather is good, I can go up the mountain to chop more wood, put it in the kiln and burn it, and then I can sell it in winter." .”

Ruan Xishi looked at the cart full of black locusts, and sighed: "With so much wood, there must be a lot of charcoal burned, so you don't have to worry about the money for the New Year."

Zhang Ershu laughed and said: "It's okay, it depends on whether it's cold enough this year and whether the price of charcoal is high. If the price can reach two yuan a catty, then you can make a lot of money. But it's up to your family A Ze to make money. It’s a good comparison, you see that your family has used rice cookers and washing machines.”

Ruan Xishi said modestly: "Brother Lu Ze is just lucky, not as stable as you guys."

Uncle Zhang pushed the wooden cart and walked to the other side of the hillside. There were many kilns on that hillside, both for bricks and charcoal.

From a distance, I only heard Uncle Zhang say: "It will be cold by then, Shizi, you can ask Uncle Zhang to get some charcoal for warmth."

Ruan Xishi watched Uncle Zhang and his son go away, and said hello.

When they were gone, Ruan Xishi and Lu Ze continued walking towards home.

Lu Ze didn't quite understand the content of the conversation between Ruan Xishi and Uncle Zhang, so he asked as he walked, "Uncle Zhang, did he chop so much wood and use it as firewood?"

Ruan Xishi explained: "Those raw logs are used to burn the kiln, that is, they are neatly piled into the kiln, sealed, and then a fire is lit in the kiln to let the smoke carbonize the wood. After a period of time, the kiln is opened, and the wood It will turn into sticks of charcoal, which are used for heating in winter. People in several nearby villages burn kilns to make charcoal every autumn. There is no heating equipment in the village, so they can only rely on the fire to keep warm. Even in the town, there are few people If you can afford electric heaters at home, charcoal will sell very well.”

Lu Ze: "Should we also burn charcoal for warmth?"

Ruan Xishi said: "You should, it depends on whether it's cold or not this year."

Lu Ze whimsically said, "Then why don't we chop some wood to burn charcoal, so that we don't have to buy other people's wood in winter?"

Ruan Xishi laughed: "Firing a kiln is not that simple. First of all, we have to find a slope with a good wind direction, and then dig two cave dwellings. The specifications of the cave dwellings have strict requirements, otherwise we will not be able to burn charcoal. It takes a lot of effort and time. The fire is also particular. If the fire burns for a long time, the wood will turn into ashes. If the fire is short, the fire will be small, and the wood will not become charcoal. I have never learned how to make a kiln, and it is not so easy to learn. Uncle Zhang Their family has passed down the craftsmanship from generation to generation, and their ancestors have improved the method many times, and occasionally it will fail for a year or two. If the kiln fails to fire, it will be a waste of work for that year."

Lu Ze was distressed: "That means we can only buy from others?"

Ruan Xishi smiled: "Charcoal is not very expensive. It costs a few cents a catty when it is cheap, and only two or three yuan when it is expensive. A catty of charcoal can be burned for one night. We don't get too cold in winter here. It will only be cold for two months at most, and it will only cost tens of dollars or hundreds of dollars."

They had already returned to the door of the house while they were talking, Lu Ze opened the door and said with a smile: "It still can't be burned. Let's go to bed early when it's cold in the future. Let me keep you warm. It's better than a fire."

Ruan Xishi blushed and glanced at him, then laughed too.

The freshly picked persimmons are still very fresh. Although the surface is already yellow, they cannot be eaten directly. The flesh is astringent and contains tannic acid, which is not good for the stomach. Generally speaking, it must be sun-dried or ripened before eating. , You can only eat one or two a day, and you will have a stomachache if you eat too much.

Lu Ze saw that Ruan Xishi was washing the persimmons and thought they were ready to eat. He took a fruit knife to peel the persimmons and wanted to eat them directly. Fortunately, Ruan Xishi stopped them in time.Lu Ze was puzzled by this. He had seen persimmons sold in fruit shops that could be eaten directly.

Seeing his impatient look, Ruan Xishi said helplessly, "These persimmons are not fully ripe. Eating them directly is not good for the stomach. They need to be processed before they can be eaten."

The flesh of peeled persimmons is yellow and orange, and a layer of fine sand will soon float on top. This is the sugar content of the persimmons, but the persimmons are not fully ripe yet, even if there is sugar sand, it will only taste for a short time. After a while of sweetness, you will find that the tongue is numb like a knot, so it still needs to be processed.

The so-called processing is to peel the persimmons and put them in the sun for two days, then put them back in the pot to steam, then continue to dry, repeat several times, until the surface turns a hard brown, but not the whole Hardened enough to eat.

Or put the skin directly under the sun to dry, until the pulp becomes soft, you can directly break open and eat the pulp inside.

Another method is to put the persimmons and quicklime in a jar, add water to heat the lime, and ripen the persimmons. After a few days, you can fish them out and peel them to eat. Still crunchy, but sweeter than freshly picked, without the astringency.

After Ruan Xishi explained to Lu Ze, he picked up a fruit knife and peeled the cleaned persimmons. He planned to make some of each for Lu Ze to taste.

Seeing Ruan Xishi peeling the persimmons intently, Lu Ze moved a bench and came over to peel the persimmons with Ruan Xishi. The autumn afternoon sun shone lazily on the yard, and the temperature was right, not too hot, but rather comfortable. .

The peeled persimmons were placed on the dustpan, and Ruan Xishi put them on the wall to dry. The remaining skinned persimmons were divided into parts and dried directly, and some were ready to be soaked in lime water.

After drying the persimmons, Ruan Xishi was about to go out. He thought about who in the village was building a house recently, and went to borrow a piece or two of quicklime. Based on the principle of reciprocity, he even packed a dozen persimmons in bags when he went out.

Lu Ze originally wanted to follow, but Ruan Xishi thought it was just a matter of borrowing a few pieces of lime, and there was no need to mobilize the crowd, so she let him stay at home. In order to prevent him from getting bored, she gave him a task that seemed important but was not necessary ——Turn over the persimmon.Lu Ze didn't know the process of drying the persimmons, seeing Ruan Xishi's serious look, he believed it, and climbed up the wall every once in a while to turn the persimmons over.

When the persimmons were exposed to the sun, all the sugar came out, and they exuded a sweet smell, and the color of the persimmons was very attractive. Lu Ze couldn't help but want to taste it several times, but he remembered what Ruan Xishi said, as if It looked very serious, so I gave up the idea of ​​stealing food.

Ruan Xishi soon came back with a few pieces of limestone. He found an idle jar, washed it, put the lime and persimmons in it, added water that did not reach the surface, covered the mouth of the jar with a wooden plank, and pressed a brick on it. After finishing, he said to Lu Ze who watched the whole process curiously: "It can be eaten after soaking for three or four days. It takes patience to eat delicious food."

Lu Ze thought of yellow and orange persimmons, so he endured it!

After two days, the surface of the sun-dried persimmons was a bit dry. Ruan Xishi put the persimmons on the steamer after taking them back that night, steamed them in a pot, and took them out for drying the next day.

And the sun-dried persimmons with skins had already started to soften. Ruan Xishi took one off and broke it into two halves with his hands. The orange-yellow scoop inside was soft, and the sugar was condensed into grains of sand, exuding a sweet fragrance.

Ruan Xishi was afraid that the persimmons were not yet ripe and would make his tongue stick out when he ate them, so he licked the flesh first to taste whether it was sweet or not. The core of the persimmons was smooth and sweet, although they were still a little bit astringent, but it was also a normal phenomenon.

The flesh next to the skin was sticky and full of sugar, Ruan Xishi licked the flesh, but before he finished eating it, Lu Ze came out of the room and grabbed him.

Lu Ze strode over feigning anger, and said, "Okay, you little bastard, you told me you can't eat persimmons, but you sneaked out to eat persimmons behind my back, huh? Let me teach you a lesson."

Ruan Xishi was amused by his appearance, and cooperated with him to run in the small courtyard with a smile to prevent him from catching him, holding two halves of persimmons in his hand, and his lips were covered with orange pulp.

Lu Zeren was tall and had long legs, so he caught him in two or three steps, pulled him into his arms, hugged him tightly from behind, twisted his chin with one hand, and looked down at him.

Ruan Xishi's mouth was full of persimmon jam, sweet and fragrant, very tempting, he couldn't help himself, stretched out a small piece of tongue to lick his lips, didn't know that this action was full of challenges for Lu Ze/ tease.

Lu Ze pinched his chin, lowered his head and kissed his mouth, carefully licked off the fruit pulp around his mouth, then put his tongue into his mouth, entangled with his tongue, sweet The fruit pulp was constantly stirred by the two tongues, and melted into each other's body fluid, part of it was swallowed, and part of it flowed out from the corners of their mouths, and was quickly dried into an orange trace.

The first time Lu Ze tasted persimmon was in Ruan Xishi's mouth, which was different from what he originally thought, but it didn't affect his interest. He even thought that the persimmon in Ruan Xishi's mouth was sweeter.

Ruan Xishi didn't expect that her kindness to try the taste of persimmons for Lu Ze would become a reason for Lu Ze to "punish" him. He wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth with a flushed face, and stared angrily at Lu Ze, while the instigator was holding him. The broken half persimmon is eating with relish.

Sun-ripe persimmons can't be kept for too long, and they can only eat one or two a day. The two of them couldn't finish them, so they had to give some to their neighbors.Ruan Xishi thought that Aunt Li had made black glutinous rice for them during the Double Ninth Festival, so she packed several persimmons and sent them over as a return gift for the glutinous rice.

After a while, you can eat persimmons soaked in lime water in jars. Because the environment is sealed, the soaked persimmons have a little smell, but as long as the peels are not rotten, they can still be eaten, just wash them well.

Lu Ze pinched his nose and looked at Ruan Xi when he fished out a few persimmons from the jar, and asked suspiciously, "Is this really edible? Could it be rotten?"

Ruan Xishi saw his dislike, laughed and said, "Don't look at it smelly now, after washing it and peeling it, you will find it delicious."

Lu Ze raised his eyebrows noncommittally. Could this be a large-scale Zhenxiang scene?

Ruan Xishi washed the lime that had settled on the peel, and peeled off the peel with a fruit knife. The pulp was suddenly exposed to the air, and the sugar quickly condensed into grains of sand, which were no different from raw persimmons, but less than sun-dried persimmons. A little sweet and greasy, only a light fragrance can be smelled.

He put the peeled persimmon in Lu Ze's mouth for Lu Ze to eat. Seeing that Lu Ze was still hesitant, he coaxed, "Brother Lu Ze, why don't you try it, it's really delicious."

Although the smell was gone, Lu Ze still had doubts about the edibility of the fruit. He stared at the persimmon in Ruan Xishi's hand, wondering if he should take a bite.

Ruan Xishi saw that he looked like he was facing an enemy, smiled and put the persimmon near her mouth, took a big bite and chewed it in her mouth, and said inarticulately while eating: "It's sweet and delicious." It's crispy, but it's delicious, if you don't eat it, I'll eat it myself."

Lu Ze was not yet mentally prepared. He suddenly saw that Ruan Xishi ate the persimmon. He didn't care about whether he could eat the persimmon. He was afraid that Ruan Xishi would have trouble eating it by himself, so he immediately snatched the persimmon from Ruan Xishi's hand. I gritted my teeth and ate all the persimmons I had eaten, and if something happened, everyone would do it together.

It turned out that the persimmons were of course not a problem, not only not a problem, but also a little delicious, as Ruan Xishi said, it was sweet and crisp, Lu Ze ate one, and looked straight at the remaining ones on the plate. It looks like I still want to eat.

Ruan Xishi smiled slyly, and took a knife to cut another one for him: "If you eat this, you can't eat it again today, and save the rest for later. This persimmon can be soaked for half a month."

Lu Ze thought that he would be able to eat sweet persimmons next time, so he nodded cheerfully while eating.

……

Because it has not rained for a long time, the ground is a little dry, and even the water level of the pond and the stream is much lower. Standing on the shore, you can see the bottom of the water.

It is the season when winter is coming at the end of autumn, and hibernating animals start to store food desperately, or eat themselves fat to prepare for hibernation.At this time, the snails are the most plump, and the seeds in the body have been drained, so they are most suitable for catching and eating.

The sun is very warm in the afternoon. This time is the most suitable time for people to touch snails in the water. Such a dry weather is also suitable for eating snails. Take the snails home and raise them in clean water for two days. After the mud in their bodies is drained, they can be eaten Cut and eat.A pot of snails, put a lot of red peppers, with ginger and perilla, it is fragrant and spicy.

People touching snails can be seen everywhere in the stream and ponds. Both adults and children participate in it, talking and laughing while touching.

Ruan Xishi and Lu Ze took the quilts in the closet to the roof to dry, and it will be winter in a while. The temperature difference between day and night is huge. Even if you only wear a long sleeve during the day, you have to wear a coat at night and cover it up when you sleep. The quilt will not catch a cold.

With Lu Ze around, drying the quilt is much easier. Ruan Xishi watched him put the quilt on the fence on the roof, and when he heard someone laughing not far away, he glanced in that direction.I saw a lot of people standing in the pond in the vegetable field. They bent down and touched the stone crevices around the pond. Did they burst into exaggerated laughter once or twice? They should have touched a big snail.

Ruan Xishi has seen others touch snails since she was a child. Everyone stood in the water below the calf, bent down and stretched their hands into the sand at the bottom of the water, and touched a hard spiral-shaped object, which was the snail. The meat is rich, and the small ones are delicious. Everyone always welcomes them.

The boiled snails are also delicious, spicy and salty, and you can’t stop eating them with greasy hands, runny nose and tears. It can be used as a dish or as an after-dinner snack. It is a good free meat.

I heard that in the past when the village was the poorest, the villagers had no food to eat. They ate grass roots and bark. They had no meat to eat. They all caught and ate anything that flew in the sky, ran on the ground, swam in the water, and got in the mud. Although the snails were troublesome to eat , but it can't stop the villagers from wanting to eat meat. In a few years, the snails were almost eaten by the villagers.

After drying the quilt, Lu Ze saw that Ruan Xishi was fascinated by watching something on the other side, so he leaned over and asked, "Baby, what are you looking at? What are there so many people doing in the water?"

Ruan Xishi said without looking back: "They are touching snails, it's so lively."

Naturally, Lu Ze had eaten snails before, but it was strange how the snails were touched in this way, he leaned on Ruan Xishi's back, half hugged Ruan Xishi from behind, and watched others touch the snails with Ruan Xishi: "It seems very interesting. "

Ruan Xishi smiled and asked, "Brother Lu Ze, do you like to eat snails?"

Lu Ze wanted to say that it was so-so, but he remembered that he had never eaten snails in the village for so long, and he was a person with "amnesia", so he probably didn't know the taste of eating snails. "Maybe I like it? I don't really remember."

Ruan Xishi tilted her head to think about it, and suddenly said with a smile: "Then let's touch the snails too, and I'll cook the snails for you."

Lu Ze was full of interest in the activity of touching snails. When Ruan Xishi said that he wanted to touch snails, he was the first to raise his hand in favor.

Ruan Xishi left as soon as he said that, he found a small bucket, and took Lu Ze out to the pond.

There were quite a few people in the pond touching the snails, and when they saw the two of them approaching in this outfit, they jokingly asked, "Shizai, are you here to touch the snails too? Ah Ze also came along."

Ruan Xishi responded with a smile: "Yes, brother Lu Ze said he wanted to eat snails, so I'll bring him to touch some. Auntie, are there still many snails in the pond?"

"Hey, there are a lot of them. Come here and touch them. There are snails in the crevices of the rocks." She touched them out, and the palms of her hands were full of snails the size of fingers.

Ruan Xishi took off his shoes and put them on the field ridge, his trousers were rolled up to his knees, revealing two graceful, white and thin legs. He couldn't wait to step into the pond. I don't feel anything, but I feel a little comfortable.

He walked in the pond twice, and said to Lu Ze on the bank, "Brother Lu Ze, come down too, the water is not deep, and it's very comfortable to soak in."

This is true, the temperature in the afternoon is still a bit hot, the sun makes the water a little warm, not very cold, the water temperature is just right.

Seeing Ruan Xishi playing in the water, Lu Ze took off his shoes, put them next to Ruan Xishi's shoes, and walked into the pond. Because he was tall, the water only reached his calves, so he didn't have to pull his trousers like Ruan Xishi did. to the knee.

Ruan Xishi stepped on something round and reached out to touch it. It was indeed an escargot. He showed it to Lu Ze and said, "This is an snail. Let's grab a finger-sized one. If it's too small, it's inconvenient to handle. You can keep it." Eat it again next year."

Lu Ze followed Ruan Xishi to the rocky side, imitating Ruan Xishi, reaching into the crevices of the rocks and groping, and sure enough, he grabbed a handful of snails. He thought it was a bit amusing, and smiled and handed Ruan Xishi the fruits of his labor.

Ruan Xishi frowned and praised him: "Brother Lu Ze is so amazing."

Lu Ze was shaken by his smile and his heart rippled like water. If it wasn't for someone here, he would have leaned over and kissed Ruan Xishi.

Because two people touched it together, after about half an hour, they touched half of the bucket. Only the two of them ate it in their family. The fried half bucket made about one plate, which was enough for the two of them to eat.

The sun is also westward, and the water is still a little warm. It's not time to cook when we get home. It's rare for Ruan Xishi to stay in the water for a while since no one cares about him playing in the water.

He stopped touching the snails, and just waded in the pond, feeling the gentle waves caressing his body.

Lu Ze saw his playfulness, so he sat on a rock in the shade with a bucket in his hand and waited for him to play. Ruan Xishi felt his focused and affectionate gaze, and suddenly turned to look at him, then smiled lightly , walk towards him.

Ruan Xishi's face was slightly reddened by the sun, and Lu Ze felt that he looked more and more beautiful, so he couldn't help but raised his hand to pinch his face affectionately, and said with a smile, "My face is red."

Ruan Xishi rubbed her face shyly, and said, "It's the first time I play in water like this, I'm so excited. Before, my grandpa wouldn't let me go into the water, for fear that I'd drown, or catch a cold and have a fever."

Now that he mentioned the past with his grandfather, he is no longer as sad as before. This shows that he has almost come out of the shadow of the death of his relatives, and Lu Ze is also happy for his change.

With Lu Ze's help, Ruan Xishi also sat on the rock. He shook his wet feet, watched the sky and clouds with Lu Ze, and chatted about some things.

Suddenly there was a rumbling sound in the sky, and the sky was still clear at this time, it didn't look like it was going to thunder and rain. Ruan Xishi looked up at the sky, and suddenly pointed to the sky excitedly and said to Lu Ze: "Brother Lu Ze, look quickly!" , there is a plane!"

Lu Ze also raised his head, and sure enough, he saw a black shadow in the blue sky, separated by a long distance, if it wasn't for the cloud stripes behind the plane, he wouldn't even be able to recognize it as the plane.

He has been flying countless times since he was born, and this is almost one of his daily means of transportation. Seeing an airplane is a very common thing for him, but this time he observes it from such a long distance Airplane, this experience is still a little strange.

Ruan Xishi next to him watched the plane fly by like a child. For children like them who grew up in backward villages, the outside world is so new. Maybe some people will never see a real plane in their lifetime. Just looking at it from such a long distance makes me excited for a long time.

Lu Ze looked at Ruan Xishi's yearning expression for the plane, and suddenly wondered in his heart whether the plane he took had passed by here in a certain year, month and day in the past. He sat in the comfortable cabin and enjoyed the first-class The high-class service of the cabin, while the little Ruan Xishi stood on the land thousands of miles away, looking forward to him with longing and concentration.

Thinking about it this way, Lu Ze's heart became very sore. People can't choose their own birth. Some people are born with everything they need, while others are born with suffering. He and Ruan Xishi are such two kinds of people. If it wasn't for a coincidence , but the two of them will never have an intersection in their entire lives.But because of a little accident in Anshun's life, he came to Ruan Xishi's side and gave him a chance to take care of Ruan Xishi.This is such a rare opportunity among hundreds of millions of people, but he met it, maybe this is the marriage destined by heaven.

Lu Ze smiled softly, brushed away Ruan Xishi's hair that was blown to the corners of his eyes, and said softly to him, "I'll take you to take a plane when I have a chance in the future."

Ruan Xishi only thought that Lu Ze was trying to make her happy, and nodded with a smile, saying, "Then let's work hard to make money, and we will have the opportunity to fly in the future."

Lu Ze looked at him with infinite tenderness, and nodded accordingly.

The author has something to say:

Picking fruit, catching fish and touching snails are really the three major pleasures in the countryside!Although I don't like eating snails very much, if I love touching snails, there may be leeches. . .