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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He first went to the tool room and put on the dark gray rubber overalls, which unexpectedly fit him. He couldn't help but feel strange. After thinking about it, maybe it was left by the old lady's husband, so he didn't feel strange anymore.
He pushed the cart to the pond, squatted down and tested the water temperature. The tentacles were cold but not bone-piercing. He stood up and took out the birch-handled shovel from the pushcart. He slowly poked the shovel into the pond, shook it left and right to make sure the shovel head touched the bottom. Only then did he hold on to the handle of the shovel and slowly enter the water.
The overall insulation effect is very good, and I don't feel the coldness of the water at all.
He leaned his left leg against the pond wall to prevent himself from slipping, and stepped hard on the shovel head with his right foot through the rubber sole. After taking a deep breath, he bent down and pressed down on the shovel handle, and a large piece of mud became as soft as He scooped it up as lightly as a pudding cake and poured it into the trolley with his hand.
This process continued until the sun gradually rose above his head, and most of the mud at the bottom of the pond was cleared out.
Although the water is still turbid now, it will be clear in a short time. Maybe you can raise fish in the future. Of course, this will also require the consent of the old lady. Dong Qiangqiang threw the water pipe faucet into the pond and refilled the pond. At the same time, this gap was used to pile the shoveled mud into the roots of the apple trees and the woods outside the fence.
The mud was piled just right. Dong Qiangqiang clapped his hands with satisfaction and pride, and was about to leave when he suddenly noticed something on the ground a few meters away from the tree.
He came closer to take a look, and suddenly found several huge chestnuts lying on the ground.
Huge means that it is bigger than the chestnuts he has eaten before, and the surface is smooth, round and very plump.
Dong Qiangqiang didn't expect that he could still pick up delicious food after pouring mud. His eyes were shining brightly, especially after shoveling the mud for a long time. The little food he had eaten in the morning had already been consumed, and he was thinking about where to go to get some food. , "It just comes to whatever I want..." he said to himself.
He threw the shovel on the ground and began to concentrate on picking up chestnuts. When his hands could no longer hold them, he would throw them back into the cart. Before long, he had already picked up half a kilogram.
He estimated that it was almost enough to give him a meal, so he pushed the cart back.
When he passed a large field of dogwood trees half as tall as a man, for some reason, his intuition suddenly told him: something was different here. He immediately stopped and looked around.
A quick glance revealed a problem: the surrounding area was full of tall and tall bushes, but the bush next to him was swaying, forming a strong contrast with the other green plants.
He slowly squatted down and looked around curiously. Suddenly, a series of strange marks on the mud came into view.
Using the sunlight between the leaves, he observed carefully for a moment, and immediately recognized that it was the hoof print of a wild boar that he had often seen before.
He suspected that he was wrong, so he simply lay down on the ground to observe. Although he was not an experienced trapper, more than a year of hunting experience made him believe that he was not wrong.
This discovery suddenly shocked him, his shoulders tensed up instantly and his hair stood up.
He hurriedly stood up and looked around, but saw that the cascading trees blocked the sunlight above his head, and the gentle breeze in the forest rustled the lush branches and leaves. The green leaves of different shades were still and moving, as if a wild boar was hiding among them. The occasional chirping of birds no longer sounded pleasant, but instead sounded like some kind of stern warning to him to stay away from the woods.
He hadn't expected to encounter a wild boar at this moment.
Just as he was holding his breath and concentrating, the neighing and faint sounds of poultry suddenly came from the direction of the yard. His heart sank, he picked up the shovel and ran back.
Feathers of various colors were flying in the air above the pond, and there were many floating on the water. While swimming around the pond, the ducks roared threateningly at the geese floating gracefully on the water, but did not dare to step into the water.
Several burly crows landed behind the ducks vigilantly, and when the ducks were not paying attention, they swooped up to take a few sips of water from the pond.
"Radar" was paying full attention to the changes in the battle situation. Its body was covered with grass clippings, and it looked like it had just rolled on the grass.
The geese rested calmly on the water, enjoying the unquiet victory.
What Dong Qiangqiang didn't know was that the ducks were the first to realize that the pond had changed. They rushed to jump into the pond, and more water than before made these elves experience more happiness. They all quacked happily, like Thanks to Dong Qiangqiang.
The ducks had just started playing in the water, and the geese, which had been relatively friendly before, had already come over with great arrogance. They spread their wings and drove all the ducks to the shore in a domineering manner, announcing that they were the new owners of the pond.
The unwilling ducks immediately launched a counterattack. However, although they had the numerical advantage, the body size gap was too large. The geese further consolidated their advantage with their physical advantage.
Seeing that the expected wild boar did not appear in the yard, Dong Qiangqiang breathed a sigh of relief.
Like many young people, he grew up in the city and had no idea of rural life. Hannover, where he lived before, is an industrial city. Apart from the language difference, it is not much different from his life in China. But the old lady’s house is located in the suburbs of Trier, with blue sky, white clouds, forests, green spaces, and fresh air. The colors are highly saturated, full of visual impact, and refreshing. Although there was an unfriendly chill in the late autumn morning, the labor made him sweat a lot. What was even more unexpected was that today's labor did not make him feel upset or tired, but instead made him feel tired after a long period of tension. Relaxed and light.
The anxiety seems to have started when he got his preparatory diploma, followed by applying for university, exempting classes, looking for a house, moving, extending his visa, auditing, looking for reference books, previewing... one after another, one after another, It made him almost breathless, but when he thought about it carefully, it seemed that the anxiety started earlier, maybe as soon as he came to Germany. No, maybe even earlier, before he started working in China or even went to college. here we go.
Looking at the vibrant courtyard, the lush green plants, colorful flowers, cheerful and lovely animals, the mirror-like water, the blue sky and white clouds reflected in it, and the passing birds, Dong Qiangqiang felt like he was listening to the sonata of nature. Likewise, an idyllic feeling arises spontaneously.
Maybe this is what Tao Yuanming meant when he wrote, "After being trapped in a cage for a long time, you can return to nature." He sighed with emotion as he pushed the chestnut and the pushcart back from the forest.
Another reason he felt relaxed was that the landlord never showed up while he was working. He had worried that the old man would stand aside and turn into a gesticulating overseer, nagging beside him to instruct him on how to do things, but the fact was that he didn't even see a person, and he achieved maximum peace and quiet.
In fact, he didn't see that the old lady had been watching him silently from behind the window of her room. When she saw that he was doing things in an orderly and orderly manner, she had a look of approval in her eyes. After Dong Qiangqiang changed into work clothes, the old lady's expression became even more excited. After a few minutes, she wiped the corners of her eyes, turned and left the house.
Dong Qiangqiang wanted to finish everything in the morning, go to the Turkish barbecue restaurant next to the university for a large meat bun at noon, and go to the library to read in the afternoon, but he didn't know that there was more and more work to do, and he didn't just deal with it. As soon as the errand man was serious, time passed quickly. Even though he had already placed an apple on the table, his stomach still growled.
Because he didn't want to get into trouble with the old lady over the cooking issue, he didn't plan to have lunch at home at all. But now that the work was not finished, it would be too much trouble to go to the university to eat and then come back to clean up, so he might as well consider solving it on the spot.
I could go to the kitchen and make myself a bowl of noodles, an egg, and two slices of bacon, but this would require me to communicate with the old lady (Dong Qiangqiang didn’t know that the old lady was not at home). He was thinking to himself, and his eyes fell unconsciously. Got to the grill.
Since there is a barbecue grill, it means that the old lady usually barbecues.
But now that he has the tools, Dong Qiangqiang is still worried because he never thought about barbecue at home before, so he didn't have any vegetables suitable for barbecue at all. Although there are a lot of fruits in the vegetable field, they are all the fruits of the old lady's labor. It is unjustifiable for me to eat them directly. After some thought, he thought that there was a bag of Russian potatoes in the kitchen. The potatoes were big and round, just right for roasting and eating.
The reason why he considered potatoes was that, first of all, potatoes can be baked and eaten, and secondly, potatoes can be bought in supermarkets, so that he can spend money to buy them from the old lady. He does not intend to steal the old lady's potatoes, even if the old lady may I had no idea how many potatoes were in the bag.
Potatoes plus freshly picked chestnuts should be enough.
When he returned to the house, he found that the old lady was not at home, so he had to call the other party and generously expressed his willingness to buy the other party's potatoes and roast them on the barbecue.
The old lady readily agreed, saying that Dong Qiangqiang could get the potatoes for free without paying, and that he could also use all the condiments in the kitchen.
Dong Qiangqiang expressed his gratitude and hung up the phone. He found a pen and paper and wrote a receipt for the old lady. Then he put the receipt and money on the kitchen table. Then he took a few potatoes back to the backyard with confidence.
