Tip before reading: There is no plot progression in this chapter, so don’t order if you don’t like it.
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The old lady handed Dong Qiangqiang a work list and a bunch of keys, and allowed him to use all the tools in the tool room. She told him to clean up the yard and then hang the keys back on the living room cabinet. She would wait until she came back from going out. Dong Qiangqiang is paid according to his labor time.
After handing over the task, the old lady went to do her own business, while Dong Qiangqiang opened the tool shed in the backyard.
The furnishings in the tool room have been divided into four areas: In the first area, there are two tall wooden shelves standing overhead. On some floors of the wooden shelves, toolboxes of the same size are neatly stacked, with labels attached to the boxes, while on other floors they are piled high. Jars and boxes of various heights were filled with various nails, nuts and screws, and some were layered with boards and strips of varying widths. The most occupying space in the second area was a rectangular log table. The table top was uneven and had obviously been used for many years. The wall behind the table was covered with all kinds of hardware. He couldn't even pronounce the Chinese names of some of the tools. . Hanging on the wall in area three are two sets of dark gray rubber overalls, a poncho, several hard hats, beekeeping hoods, straw hats, as well as gloves and boots of different lengths and materials. In the fourth area, there are lawn mowers, wheelbarrows, ladders of various heights, jacks, hoes, shovels and other larger things.
He had always heard that the Germans had many tools, but he had only heard of their names and never seen their people. Because the old lady lived alone, he took it for granted that she didn't have too many tools. Unexpectedly, when he opened the door, he was shocked even though the sparrow was young and full of courage.
Especially after seeing the beekeeping hood, he was really shocked. He quickly took out the work list written by the landlord and read it several times. He was relieved when he was sure that there was nothing in the list asking him to clean up the hive.
He casually put on a straw hat and picked out a pair of thick gloves. He walked slowly towards the courtyard while carefully looking at the entire courtyard.
Although there is plenty of sunshine in the morning, it feels a little cool on the body, but strangely enough, it is already late autumn, and spots of withered yellow are beginning to appear in the green grass in the backyard, but the leaves are still green, covered by the night dew. The soil moistened by the morning mist exudes a refreshing herbal scent, and the crystal dewdrops sparkle in the grass. Hyacinths and dandelions bloomed cheerfully and swaying in the wind beside ponds, hedges and woods, attracting buzzing bees and other flying insects from time to time. Dogwoods flashed silently through the green, shrubs The small pink flowers are blooming and fluttering in the wind, attracting butterflies to dance. Dark purple wild blackberries playfully jumped over the fence and meandered deeper into the woods, while the blackberries scattered on the ground became a natural dessert for a group of colorful chickens. The sunshine has given all the plants a golden edge, sending out the last warmth of autumn.
Along with the chickens, there were five geese and six ducks wandering in various corners of the yard. When Dong Qiangqiang moved his eyes away from the two beehives placed in the corner of the backyard, he discovered that there were also several white rabbits and gray rabbits. Sneak around and poke your head around to try to escape through the fence.
A nice little farm.
The old lady assigned many tasks, and Dong Qiangqiang decided to go from easy to difficult.
He first straightened the fallen fence around the yard, replaced the damaged fence with a new one after being exposed to wind, sun and rain, and tightened it with iron wire. The fence wall suddenly had a new look, and he also cleaned the barbecue area. Clean, then clear out fresh and rotten leaves that have accumulated in the gutters around the house and re-open the drainage system, as well as clear poultry houses of manure, clean troughs and add feed to automated feeders. After finishing these things, six or seven items were immediately missing from the list. Less than half an hour had passed, and the sense of accomplishment in labor was overwhelming.
Perhaps attracted by the sunshine and greenery, the geese are happy to waddle around in the yard looking for food. Although they are larger than chickens and ducks, they are not aggressive. They are neither as nervous as chickens nor as noisy as ducks.
Dong Qiangqiang guessed that for the geese, this may be their favorite scene of the year. Take a brisk and joyful visit to the roots of their favorite and only apple tree in the yard to see what unexpected harvest they have gained overnight.
The apple tree grows at the junction of the yard and the woods. It is almost two stories high. The overlapping branches are very dense. The red and green round apples look slightly smaller than a fist. The sight of a tree full of apples makes people feel like they have a good harvest. joy.
The geese seem to follow a strict apple finder code and never try to steal the fruit from other geese.
Not only does the chicken cultural circle not have such a tradition, but large-scale quarrels and melees, both internal and external, often break out over the ownership of rotten apples. Even if they are facing Dong Qiangqiang, they will show an aggressive momentum and drive him away from the rotten apple without politeness.
Dong Qiangqiang took a long ladder and leaned it against the tree trunk, carefully climbed to a high place, and tried hard to pick the apples one by one and put them into the basket on his back. He could only look at the fruits that could not be easily reached even with a ladder. And sigh.
The wind got stronger when he climbed higher, and his straw hat was blown off. After a quick and fruitful negotiation with the geese, he got his hat back.
Standing at a high place, he leaned his upper body against the recess of the tree, picked out a red, green, and juicy apple from the basket, rubbed it briefly on his sleeve twice, and then bit it. The apples are sweet and sour, crisp and juicy, completely different from those sold in supermarkets.
While sighing that these were real apples, he looked down at the poultry roaming happily in the backyard, and suddenly felt that they were the real owners of the backyard.
Before coming down from the ladder, Dong Qiangqiang inadvertently noticed that neither the ducks nor the geese seemed to like playing in the pond, but it was supposed to be their paradise.
He chewed an apple and walked around the pond twice and saw the clue: although the water surface of the pond was not small, it was very shallow, and it was not an exaggeration to call it a puddle.
He found a long branch and tried to poke it at the bottom of the pond. The branch was submerged into the water little by little in his hand. When he felt that he couldn't poke it anymore, he pulled it out and found that the depth of the mud was about 50-60 centimeters, and the distance between the top layer of the mud and the water surface was less than 10 centimeters.
Dong Qiangqiang understood now that the pond was the same as the drainage ditch before. It seemed that the old lady didn't like to do these things by herself, so the land was taken over by fallen leaves and weeds.
He glanced at the task list again. The old lady just asked him to clean up the fallen leaves on the water, but Dong Qiangqiang felt that this was not enough.
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(End of chapter)
