Gao Mingcheng firmly refused, and the village party secretary could only leave in disbelief.
What Gao Mingcheng didn't expect was that as soon as the village party secretary left him, he turned around and went to find his elder brother Gao Mingpeng.
Gao Mingpeng also has a junior high school education and has now formed a construction team to take on work such as building pig pens, cattle pens, kitchens, etc. in nearby villages.
He also had the personal ability to be a good accountant, so when the village party secretary asked him to work as an accountant in the village committee, Gao Mingpeng agreed without much thought.
Gao Mingpeng agreed to be an accountant, firstly because he thought he had the ability, and secondly because it would improve his prestige in the village, so that when he received a big order in the future, he would be able to form a construction team faster and better.
When Gao Mingcheng found out, everything was a foregone conclusion, so Gao Mingcheng didn't say much. Anyway, there are still eleven years left until 1999. Let Gao Mingpeng work for a few years first, and then call Gao Ming when the situation goes wrong. Peng can just resign.
Gao Mingpeng was quite happy. He even called Gao Mingcheng to come to his house for dinner. He bought two kilograms of meat and fried a plate of loach. Together with the vegetables grown in the ground, the dishes on the table were quite rich.
Gao Yuan was also very happy and took out the fine wine he had collected. The father and son drank to their heart's content.
During the dinner, Gao Yuanyuan held his one-year-old grandson in his arms and even dipped his chopsticks in wine to feed him.
The one-year-old child didn't like this exciting taste. His facial features immediately wrinkled up, he struggled to get off the ground, and ran to his grandma Luo Xiaohua.
Luo Xiaohua comforted him with a smile and said that he would give him sweet wine during the Chinese New Year. It was sweet and delicious.
The child didn't know what sweet wine was, he only knew the word sweet, so he shouted to eat it.
Gao Mingcheng glanced at his eldest nephew. The little guy looked pretty good, and he was a handsome boy until adolescence. Unfortunately, he became addicted to cigarettes later, and his teeth turned yellow at a young age, and his face also looked like he had aged several years. .
Just as he was thinking this, Gao Mingcheng smelled the smell of smoke. It turned out that he was already eighty percent full with the meal. Gao Yuanyuan and Gao Mingpeng both took out their cigarettes, lit them and started smoking.
Amidst the smoke, his vision became blurry, but Luo Xiaohua still sat and played with the little guy in his arms.
At this moment, Gao Mingcheng was glad that Duomei didn't come over to eat because she was called over by her second sister.
After drinking and eating, Gao Mingcheng didn't stay much longer and planned to go to Duo Yu's house to pick up Duo Mei.
While walking in the lane of the old village, I met Gao Liang carrying a bucket. When Gao Liang saw him, he immediately said hello: "Ming Cheng, do you want to take a bath in the reservoir?"
Gao Mingcheng glanced at his bucket. There was a set of clean clothes and a piece of soap in it.
Suddenly, Gao Mingcheng also wanted to take a dip in the water.
When I lived in the county, the longer I lived, the more suffocated I felt, and I had not gone swimming in the reservoir this year.
So he immediately agreed.
"You go first, I'll go back and get a change of clothes."
"Okay, then I'll wait for you!" Gao Liang said with a smile, and went to the reservoir first.
When Gao Mingcheng came over with a change of clothes, he found that many people were already bathing in the reservoir. Some were swimming in the water, while others were bathing not far from the shore.
Basically all the people here are men, because women will take a bath in another small reservoir.
It was a little dark, but that didn't stop everyone from recognizing each other.
Gao Mingcheng put his clean clothes on the bushes by the water, then stripped off his clothes neatly and plunged into the water.
He swam a few meters away before emerging from the water.
"Mingcheng, are you coming to compete?" Gao Liang also swam to his side.
"Okay." Gao Mingcheng agreed. Not only Gao Liang, but also several other young people came over and said they wanted to compete in swimming together.
He also said that the loser should buy a pack of cigarettes for everyone to smoke.
While talking, everyone was ready, and they agreed that the first person to swim to the other side would win.
The reservoir in Gaojiacun is not big. This reservoir is relatively long and narrow. It is formed around two mountains and the longest distance is three hundred meters away.
Even though we only live in a small mountain village, these boys grew up soaking in the reservoir every summer, so their water quality is not bad at all.
With the sound of "start", everyone swam hard towards the other side.
Gao Mingcheng also swam hard, not even thinking about letting go, because he hadn't swum in nearly a year, and at first he couldn't swim as fast as Gao Liang and the others.
But fortunately, he has a good physique and strong endurance. As he chased her step by step, he was almost able to catch up.
One hundred meters, two hundred meters, three hundred meters!
Swimming requires skills as well as physical strength. When the swimmer reached 200 meters, some people were gradually exhausted and their speed slowed down. However, Gao Mingcheng's speed was not affected and he continued to move forward.
In the end, in the last ten meters, Gao Mingcheng surpassed everyone else one by one and won the championship!
Gao Mingcheng stood on the other side and laughed loudly and said: "I won! Haha!"
As he laughed heartily, Gao Mingcheng felt that his body and mind were filled with joy, as if his soul was that of a real twenty-year-old boy, so he felt very happy just because he won or lost.
"Hey, you are awesome!"
"Mingcheng, did you also go swimming in the county?"
Gao Liang and others all lost, and they were all a little frustrated, but not angry, so someone asked Gao Mingcheng.
Gao Mingcheng naturally said that he had never gone swimming before. He said: "There is a Fuling Reservoir in the county, but it is far away from where I live, so I have never been there. There is also the Houxi Reservoir, the largest in the county, but there is Just further.”
Gao Liang said: "We have been in the water since May, and we can't even compare to you!"
Gao Mingcheng laughed and remembered the bet from the beginning, so he said: "Let's do this, I will buy cigarettes for everyone to smoke, so that everyone can enjoy my happiness!"
As soon as he said this, everyone immediately became happy.
A few people had just swam three hundred meters and were a little tired now, so they sat on the shore and talked.
"Mingcheng, you have been to other places and have a broad vision. If we go out to work, where do you think we should go?" The person who asked this was Gao Liang, but others also looked at Gao Mingcheng, waiting for his answer. .
Gao Liang was also caught in the previous tree theft. Although Gao Guobing came forward to save them all afterwards, he was also warned not to steal trees and sell them again.
After losing the income from selling trees, the young people in the village became restless.
There are naturally reasons for the formation of the wave of millions of migrant workers in 1988.
In Gao Mingcheng's impression, young people in Gaojiacun went out to work relatively late, having to wait until the 1990s.
But now he looked at the expectant eyes of Gao Liang and others, and realized that everyone had been looking forward to going out to make money as early as this time.
This may have something to do with him building a house and opening a clothing store in the county, or it may have something to do with Gao Mingwan. Every time Gao Mingwan came back, he would brag to the villagers about what he saw and heard in the sports car, and described the outside world in a colorful way. Colorful.
Hearing this a lot makes people unconsciously curious and yearning for the outside world.
Gao Mingcheng pondered for a moment and decided to tell the truth about what he saw and heard in Yangcheng, and said: "It's not that I want to advise everyone to stay in the village, but the situation outside is not very good now. If you have someone with you, If you have a clear place to go and a clear thing to do, then you can go, but if you don’t have that, you may not be able to find work if you rush to a big city.”
This year, a large number of migrant workers in Yangcheng and other places cannot find work and can only wander on the streets. Wait until next year, because of the triangular debt, a large number of companies will close down, or they will not be able to pay wages. By then, the workers in the factories will not have an easy life.
The prospects for going out to work at this time are naturally not good.
"The price of rice has been rising every year in the past few years. If you can grow more rice, you will definitely make a profit. In addition, you can also raise more pigs and chickens."
"If you really want to go out to make money, then I have two suggestions. One is to start a food business in the county. Set up a stall in front of the school or factory to sell fried noodles, tofu, jelly and other food. The other is to go The county picks up scraps and sells them.”
"But these two have to solve their food and housing problems in the county."
Gao Mingcheng gave his advice sincerely, and it was up to them whether to listen or not.
Gao Liang and others were indeed deep in thought, and no one spoke for a while.
But after a while, a person suddenly said: "Mingcheng, my family wants to keep bees. Do you think you can find a queen bee in your beehive?"
Gao Mingcheng looked at the person who spoke. He was two years older than him and was also from Dafang's side.
He said: "I have to go to the mountains tomorrow to see if I can separate the queen bee. If I can, I will share it with you."
"Hey, thank you." The man thanked him happily immediately.
The price of honey is quite high, and when people in the village saw that Gao Mingcheng was keeping bees, it seemed that it was not too troublesome, and some people started to be interested.
But when it comes to beekeeping, if you look at other people’s beekeeping, it doesn’t seem to require much management. You can easily get honey and sell it for money, but there are many ways to do it.
In addition to the technical aspects, the most important thing is that you have to overcome your psychological fear. When you open the beehive to get honey, there are dense bees inside the beehive. They will fly around you. Once they realize that you are harming them, they will immediately attack you. Just sting you.
When you are stung by a bee, the pain is unforgettable.
Therefore, when taking honey, you must wear long sleeves and long pants, a hood, and gloves to prevent bees from stinging you. Then use a brush to gently brush off the bees, and then go aside to shake the honey.
Gao Mingcheng no longer wore a hood because he found that the bees were very friendly to him and did not attack him. Even if the bees landed on him, they did not sting him.
Therefore, he didn't bother to wear a hood and gloves. He just wore it like this, which would make him faster.
He didn't know if this was related to his meditation, but in his previous life, he did see a beekeeper's naked body on the Internet. The bees covered his body in layers, but did not harm the beekeeper.
In addition to the beekeeper, he also saw the snake keeper. It was obviously a venomous snake, but the venomous snakes crawled all over the snake keeper's body, but did not harm the snake keeper.
This may have some unique skills, or it may be due to the fate of that kind of species.
The night is getting darker and the stars are shining brightly.
The elderly people had already taken a shower and went home. Young people like Gao Mingcheng also put on clean clothes and took the dirty clothes home while talking and laughing.
Each goes back to his own home, each looking for his own... wife!
Because he went swimming in the reservoir, Gao Mingcheng came home late. When he returned home, Duo Mei was already at home and was listening to songs on the radio. She listened and sang along.
The small courtyard was filled with her singing.
Gao Mingcheng stood at the door of the courtyard and listened for a while. After the song ended, he walked in.
"The singing is so beautiful." Gao Mingcheng praised his wife generously.
Duo Mei blinked and smiled sheepishly.
Gao Mingcheng saw that she had already changed into pajamas, and couldn't help but said: "You went to fetch water by yourself? Why didn't you wait for me to come back?"
Duo Mei said disapprovingly: "It's just a few buckets of water, it's not tiring. Besides, the water level in the well was high in the first half of the year, so I lifted it up all at once."
She has been pregnant until now. Except for the hardships she suffered in the first trimester, she felt that she was in good physical condition at other times. Besides, after the women in this village became pregnant, which one did not work hard until the day she gave birth?
When giving birth to a child, it is okay if the farming season is slack, but if the farming season is busy, the child will be born in the field.
"I know you care about me, but I'm not that delicate." Duomei said.
Gao Mingcheng looked at his wife's pretty little face and said nothing. This is the situation now, unlike in later generations, when women in later generations were eager to offer sacrifices after they became pregnant.
"By the way, some of the cucumbers grown in our family are old. My brother is also an honest man. I asked him to help take care of the vegetable field. He didn't pick the vegetables when they were old. I went around the vegetable field today and picked up all the old cucumbers. Pick it and let him take it back to feed the pigs." Duo Mei said.
"Okay, just look at the arrangements."
The couple chatted a few words at night and then went to bed.
…
The next morning, Gao Mingcheng got up early.
Breathing the fresh air, Gao Mingcheng ran all the way into the mountains. After practicing boxing as usual, he broke out in sweat and felt so comfortable all over his body.
It was only six o'clock when he returned home all the way down the mountain. After boiling the porridge and rice, he put a big piece of wood in the stove and burned it, so he didn't need to worry about it anymore.
"Black Tiger, Elf, let's go to the market!" Gao Mingcheng whispered, leading the two dogs all the way to Junling.
Today is the market day in Junling, and he plans to go there to buy some fresh meat and other food.
By the time we got to the market, it was already bustling with people. People from more than a dozen nearby villages came here to attend the market.
There is never a shortage of customers in front of the meat stall, and many people gather there to buy meat. Now when buying meat, it is up to the butcher to cut it, and customers cannot point fingers.
When Gao Mingcheng saw that he was cutting front leg meat, he immediately asked for two kilograms, and also asked for tube bones and flat bones. After weighing them, he put them directly in the basket without putting them in bags.
Ever since he got a dog, he likes to buy bones. The soup stewed with the bones is delicious. After eating the meat, he can throw the bones to the dog.
"Mingcheng, come to the market too. Take some of the tomatoes and eggplants I grow at home to eat!" A middle-aged woman's voice sounded. Gao Mingcheng looked around and saw Huang Dazhi's mother.
She was bending over to take something from her own basket, and while talking, she was about to put it into Gao Mingcheng's basket.
Gao Mingcheng turned sideways and avoided it. He smiled and said: "No, my family has grown vegetables, so there is no shortage of vegetables to eat. You'd better sell them for money."
Huang's mother was very enthusiastic. She had a good impression of Gao Mingcheng, so she was willing to give vegetables to Gao Mingcheng. Finally, with her insistence, the tomatoes and eggplants were finally put into the basket.
Gao Mingcheng stopped refusing and asked about Xiaoguai again.
When it comes to Xiaoguai, Huang's mother is still a little dissatisfied, because she thinks that if she wants to adopt a child, she can just adopt an unwanted girl nearby, and it will still be healthy.
But after all, after raising him for a while, Xiaoguai was really well-behaved and easy to take care of, so she smiled and praised Xiaoguai.
"The child is very good. Xiao An also cares about her and takes good care of her. He also said that he would change the wheelchair he used to sit in into one that the child can sit on."
"It's pretty good. I sit and crawl around a lot. Now my child can sit firmly, so I can put it in the car and push it around without worry." Gao Mingcheng agreed.
He decided that after his son was born, he would also build a stroller for the child so that he could push it around. It would save him so much trouble!
(End of chapter)
