The ancient life of a master craftsman

They ran to the plum tree to pick up a few purple plums, and returned home when they felt tired. Most of the time they get together to play is at Yunli's house.

On the one hand, Yunli’s house is big, and on the other hand, there are no elders, so they are more relaxed. Li Enbai and Shuangzhong will not come to join in the fun when they are around. Brother Jiu is also familiar with them, and they play together Always take good care of them.

So they all like to go to Yunli's house, because they are comfortable.

"Jiu Geer, Jiu Geer, Li Zi said that there is a new snack today, quickly bring me a taste!" Qing Geer was the first to run to Zhang Jiu with a basket, grinding his begging for food.

Zhang Jiu greeted the four of them, and took Brother Qing to the kitchen to get some snacks, "Today, there are newly made spicy meatballs, young master Qing, do you want to try it?"

Brother Qing loves spicy food, his eyes lit up when he heard it, "Yes!"

The two of them went straight to the kitchen, Brother Yu wiped off his sweat, "Brother Jiu is too used to Brother Qing, look at Brother Qing, he must have stolen food, he is already fat!"

Among the five of Yunli and the others, Brother Yu is the one who is the most restless. He is not like a little brother who is very energetic. Now, besides Duoduo, who is still selling wooden hair ornaments and silk flowers in the village, he is the one who can always draw out Time to go to other villages, earn a little money, and often go to the factory to help.

If he hadn't been engaged to Zhang Song and his family wouldn't let him work in the factory, he probably should have applied for the job.

Every day from morning to night, he is not idle, either making money or working. When he goes out to play with his brother and friends like this, it is his time to relax.

Yunli led them to the living room, where Zhang Jiu made herbal tea and put it on the ice basin. Making ice with saltpeter is not uncommon here, and many rich families know about it, but there is still enough ice in winter for summer.

Although Li Enbai forgot to dig the cellar at first, Shuangzhong remembered that he arranged for workers to dig two large and deep cellars in the backyard, so that he could store ice this winter.

Li Enbai bought two bags of saltpeter to make ice this summer. When Zhang Jiu heard that he wanted to buy saltpeter, he was a little surprised. The entire city of Stone knew that there were no more than five households who knew that saltpeter could make ice. I don’t know where the master knew of.

But he is not a curious person, as long as there is ice available.

Now there are two ice basins in every room of the house. In order to make full use of them, Zhang Jiu will put some things that need to be cooled on the ice basins, such as putting boiled herbal tea in a teapot, and putting the teapots on the ice basins , Shake it when you want to drink it, and what comes out is the cold herbal tea for cooling down the heat.

Or he will put some fruits in a smaller basin, pour well water, and then put them on the ice basin. The well water is very cold, and the soaked fruits will be cool, and with the blessing of the ice basin, there will be a whole afternoon Cold fruit can be eaten.

Sometimes he would replace herbal tea with mung bean soup, soy milk, sour plum soup, etc. What Yunli likes most is to run to the ice basin in the living room, pick up the kettle and pour a bowl of it to drink, which cools him down.

For convenience, Zhang Jiu also put a small square stool near the ice basin, with four or five bowls on it, and whoever wants to drink it cold can just pour it out by himself.

"Today is herbal tea. You should try it, brother Yu. You should like it." Yunli got a bowl and looked at the color. It wasn't his favorite mung bean soup, so he handed it to brother Yu to drink first, and then gave him and Xue Geer fell down.

Brother Yu likes to drink herbal tea. Although it has a little taste of traditional Chinese medicine, it will be really refreshing after drinking. It is not bitter, and the sweetness is faint, but the aftertaste is sweet.

"Brother Jiu's herbal tea is the best, it seems like he stole Brother Jiu home." Brother Yu squinted his eyes enjoying the herbal tea.

Zhang Jiu came in with snacks, just in time to hear him say that he wanted to steal him home, saw him holding the bowl, and laughed, "If Mr. Yu likes it, I'll teach you how to make herbal tea, how troublesome it is to steal me .”

Brother Yu was holding a bowl of tea, and said very confidently, "Hee hee, brother Jiu is so good at craftsmanship, everyone wants to steal it home~"

"Okay then." Zhang Jiu's face was full of smiles, "Young Master Yu praised me so much, I have to behave well, today's new snacks are available in sweet and salty ones, young master, you can try them."

Everyone was waiting for this sentence, washed their hands, and sat down around the table one after another. Those who like sweet stuffed the sweet ones into their mouths, and those who liked salty also picked up the salty ones first. Zhang Jiu gave a thumbs up, "It's delicious!"

After a while, Brother Qing came late with a plate of spicy meatballs. He was still chewing on the springy but not hard meatballs, and his lips were red from the spicy food. He put down the meatballs and ran to the corner I poured a bowl of herbal tea from the ice basin and drank it to relieve the spicy energy.

"Brother Yu, eat this quickly, it's so delicious! It's so spicy, spicy and fragrant, I can't stop it!" Brother Qing strongly recommended Brother Yu to eat spicy meatballs, and turned his head to encourage Yunli and Xue Brother, try it, "Pear, Brother Xue, you two should try it too, it's really delicious!"

Brother Xue seemed to be distracted, after hearing what he said, he actually stretched out his hand to pinch it, and almost shed tears from the heat, so he quickly drank some herbal tea to suppress it.

"Brother, what's wrong with you? I've been distracted since I went down the mountain." Brother Yu took the spicy meat a little farther away. Brother Xue couldn't eat spicy meat at all, and he wouldn't take the initiative to touch it at ordinary times. What happened today?

Brother Xue shook his head, "It's okay, it just feels a little strange..."

The second half of the sentence was said in a very low voice, and everyone couldn't hear it clearly, but seeing that he cheered up, he didn't say anything more.

They shared the fruits they picked at Yunli's house, set aside a portion for Duoduo, washed and ate the rest, and returned home before dinner time.

Brother Yu took Duoduo's share of fruit and sent it to Zhang's house first. After talking to Duoduo, he went home with Brother Xue. They took a detour, and the village was already full of It's all delicious.

Brother Xue stopped suddenly when he was about to get home, "Brother, can you accompany me to the back mountain, where we picked wild berries today."

"Now?" Brother Yu looked at the sky. The days are long in summer, but the sun is also westward at this moment, and it will be dark soon.

Brother Xue said firmly, "Well, now, I always feel a little concerned."

After staring at him for a while, seeing his persistence, Brother Yu compromised, "Okay then, but we have to call Zhang Song."

They were going to the back mountain, not too far from the direction of the factory, and the factory was closed at the moment.

Zhang Song heard Brother Yu said that he was going to Houshan, so he went to the team leader to ask for leave without saying a word. The factory had to deduct money for non-holidays, but he still asked. It was late and let the two brothers go by themselves. He was worried about Houshan.

When Zhang Song changed out of his overalls and came out in his own clothes, Brother Xue was already a little anxious, but he still waited obediently.

"Let's go." Zhang Song held two unlit torches in one hand, in case he arrived late, he could still light them up, and held a hatchet in the other hand.

The three of them climbed up the mountain silently. The speed was very fast. It was a bit difficult for Brother Xue to follow, but it didn't make Zhang Song slow down. It was always unsafe at night, and it was best to go early and return early.

When they got to the place, Brother Xue was already sweating profusely, breathing quickly, and swallowed several times before he could speak smoothly, "Brother Xiaosong, I want to go over there to see, can you wait for me here for a while?"

He pointed to the side where the wild berries were picked during the day, the side where there were only two or three berries. Zhang Song was looking around. He felt that the neighborhood was a bit strange, but he couldn't tell where it was.

Looking at the direction Xue Geer pointed, the grass on the ground has been overwhelmed, and it seems that there is no danger, "Let's go together, the grass over there hasn't been removed yet."

Zhang Song led the way, passed the two or three wild berries, and then went inside, the grass was getting higher and higher. After a distance of only three to five meters, the grass was as tall as someone, and it was actually a downhill slope.

"Be careful, this is downhill. It should be a big pit. I don't know what's underneath." Zhang Song took a hatchet and opened a path, letting Brother Yu and the others follow.

The more he walked, the more he felt something was wrong. Zhang Song felt that he was no longer going downhill, but he stopped, "Brother Xue, why do you want to come here?"

Xue Geer was behind him, looking into the grass, always felt that there was something in the grass, "I think it's too quiet, let alone snakes, I didn't even see a few insects and birds, it's a bit strange, and during the day I When I came here, I always felt that there was a small movement in the grass here."

Zhang Song carefully identified the direction in the dim twilight, and then slowly cut down the overgrown weeds with a hatchet until...

"Yu——" The animal that was lying down seemed to sense the threat, and neighed vigorously, looking up at the person coming.

"Why are there horses here?" Zhang Song looked at the fat horse in surprise. The smooth mane and beautiful fur color proved that this horse was extraordinary.

Brother Xue pointed to the corner of the clothes exposed on the front legs of the horse, "Brother, there is someone there!"

Seemingly realizing that he was pointing at the person behind him, the horse neighed again. It was obviously a horse grazing, but its momentum was so strong that Zhang Song and the others stepped back a few steps in fear.

Brother Xue slowly moved a few steps horizontally, and the horse also turned its head to look at him, his eyes as big as copper bells were full of defense, Brother Xue even lowered his breathing a lot, moved a few steps, Finally saw the man behind the horse.

"Brother, it's a young man, he's injured!" Xue Ge'er looked at the dazzling red, a little anxious, and took a few steps forward.

The lying horse stood up at once, looked at him vigilantly, "Yu—"

Brother Xue was startled, thinking that the horse was going to kick him, and said quickly, "I want to save him! He's injured! We can save him!"

I don't know if the horse can understand, anyway, after looking at each other for a while, the fat horse slowly stepped aside and lay down on the ground.

Brother Xue slowly came forward, seeing that the horse didn't stand up again, thinking that the horse understood what he meant, and checked the boy's condition, it seemed that he fell from the horse, but the wound was not a fall, it was more like being hit Slashed with a sharp weapon.

"Brother Xiaosong, can you help me carry him down the mountain?" Brother Xue couldn't move the boy, so he could only ask Zhang Song for help.

Brother Yu also leaned forward, but the horse just neighed, but didn't stand up. Brother Yu ran over as soon as he saw that there was no danger, his brother's hands were already stained with blood.

Glancing at the young man, he found that he should be about the same age as them. Brother Yu immediately pulled Brother Xue away, "Brother Song, you carry on the back, let's go down the mountain, it's getting dark."

It was getting dark faster in the mountains, and they had to go down the mountain quickly, otherwise it would be hard to say what beasts would be attracted by the smell of blood.Zhang Song handed the torch and hatchet to Brother Yu, and carried the person on his back, "Let's go down the mountain."

They rushed down to save people, but after walking a few steps, they realized that the horse hadn't followed. Xue Geer turned around and found that the horse was looking at them with sad eyes.

"Brother Xiaosong..." Brother Xue didn't understand why the horse didn't follow, it had been guarding the boy all along.

"Its left hind leg is broken, so it can't walk." Zhang Song saw it just now. The horse must have fallen from the top and broke its leg because of its exhaustion. It must have exhausted its strength when it stood up just now.

"However, if you leave it, it will die." Brother Xue felt pitiful, and simply ran back to lead the horse rope, "You come with us, just go down!"

It's a pity that the horse can't understand human language, and Brother Xue can't communicate with the horse. He pulled for a long time, but the horse just lay down.

"Brother Xue, hurry up, it's getting dark, we have to go down the mountain quickly!" Zhang Song urged.

Brother Xue had no choice but to pull out a few handfuls of grass and put it in front of the horse, "Eat! Then come down to find us, just go south along this slope!" Pointing to the direction, Brother Xue was urged by Zhang Song leave.

The horse watched them leave until they were no longer in sight.

When Brother Xue and the others went down the mountain, it was already dark. The parents of Brother Xue and Brother Yu were worried, and they had already come out to find someone, but they didn’t expect them to go up the mountain, and they were still angry when they met near the foot of the mountain. Hit them twice.

Brother Yu stopped him from hitting Brother Xue, "Dad! Dad! It's important to save someone! We rescued a man from the mountain and he was seriously injured. You should call the doctor!"

Brother Yu's father heard this, and hurried to find a doctor, and their mother took a few people home, cleaned up the utility room, and could barely accommodate the people, and waited for their father to bring the doctor from the village back to treat the wounded and save people.

During this period, no one noticed that the boy woke up once in the middle, and he seemed to pinch something in his hand, and then fell into a coma again.