As long as there is fire and firewood, it is not difficult for Dong Qiangqiang to make a fire. He still remembers that in the winter when he was a child, several friends would go to the construction site in the compound to play in the sand when they had nothing to do. When they were tired from playing, they would bake potatoes and sweet potatoes together. Unexpectedly, more than ten years later, this skill can still be used in a foreign land.
He pricked all the potatoes with a fork several times on the top, bottom, left and right, and made several holes. These holes help create an even baking environment and help the potatoes release steam inside as they bake. He experienced the horrific scene of potatoes exploding in a fire when he was a child, and he still has lingering fears. After doing this, I spread a thin layer of butter on the potato skins, and then used a dozen branches of different thicknesses to build a cone-shaped fire. Use the branches to build a support in the middle of the cone, and place the potatoes sequentially. On the stand, the potatoes will naturally fall into the coals below after the branches are burned.
Then he found a lighter and a few piles of crumpled newspapers, twigs, dry leaves and hay as kindling materials. He evenly spread the kindling materials other than newspapers to the bottom of the fire. After lighting the newspapers, he also added all the kindling materials. ignited one after another. When the kindling fire was burning brightly, he quickly covered the area with the hottest fire with medium-thick branches mixed with dry grass. At the same time, he gently blew on the bottom of the flame to ensure a steady supply of oxygen. After tinkering like this for almost ten minutes, the flame gradually stabilized. At this time, he was not in a hurry to throw the chestnuts into the fire. Instead, he spread more dry leaves and branches around the existing fire to ensure that the scope of the flame would continue to expand. After he finished chopping the firewood, the fire would continue to grow. When it gets more intense, throw the chestnuts into the fire.
Although there was "chopping firewood" on the task list, the old lady did not ask Dong Qiangqiang to go to the woods to pick up wood and chop it. Instead, she just split the ready-made cylindrical wood block bought from the supermarket at the foot of the mountain into two halves.
Seeing the cylindrical wooden block, Dong Qiangqiang was puzzled: Why didn't the Germans just cut the wooden block into two halves? It also needs to be chopped manually. Isn’t it unnecessary to take off your pants and fart?
But if you don’t understand, you still don’t understand. You have to keep doing the work.
Unexpectedly, this seems simple, and it seems that something that can be easily accomplished with effort is actually not easy to do. Sometimes he clearly aimed well, but when the ax fell, the wood flew directly away, and even almost hit him when it bounced several times. Sometimes, although you can hit it, it doesn't exactly split in half. Instead, a corner of the wood is shaved off, and you have to rearrange it and try again. When all the wooden blocks turned into well-proportioned wooden strips, he realized that his hands were burning. When he took off his gloves, he saw blisters on both hands.
Dong Qiangqiang appeared in the yard longer and longer, and "Radar" showed less and less hostility. It followed Dong Qiangqiang hurriedly back and forth, watching him clean up fences, drains and ponds. On the way, it chased the geese and went to roll around on the lawn. When Dong Qiangqiang started chopping firewood, he came over with a smile on his face. Dong Qiangqiang understood, picked up a short branch from the ground and threw it outside the fence. It rushed out like an arrow, picked up the branch back to his feet, and then shook its head and tail to signal him to throw it again. With the companionship of his dog, Dong Qiangqiang no longer finds labor boring.
The old lady asked him to pile the split wood strips into a wooden house so that most of the moisture contained in the wood strips could be evaporated so that they could be burned more fully in the future.
Looking at the wood sticks that almost filled the room, Dong Qiangqiang realized why the Germans didn't directly process the wood into the final firewood. Just like eating melon seeds, the melon seeds bought directly did not have the aroma of being kneaded by oneself.
Although it was strenuous work that took up a considerable amount of his time, he found that spending the day outside in order to complete the task also brought him a lot of simple pleasure and satisfaction. This sense of satisfaction seems to be traced back to the most primitive human instinct to gather and store resources when the weather is warm and pleasant, so that when the winter chill comes, everything will be ready. In fact, he has begun to unconsciously look forward to the cold winter nights arriving as soon as possible, so that he can sit by the fire and feel the warmth of the flames while enjoying delicious food. A real fire will definitely make him feel more relaxed and content. .
As he was chopping firewood, he could occasionally hear the crackling of branches and see sparks flying into the air and exploding like fireworks. The air also smelled like a mixture of toast and espresso.
After chopping the firewood, he immediately checked his barbecue work, and all the potatoes fell into the fire as he expected. He turned the potatoes one by one with iron tongs to ensure that they were roasted as evenly and thoroughly as possible, added new firewood, and then cracked the shells of the chestnuts that had been waiting for a long time and threw them into the fire one by one.
There is also a large vegetable plot near the eaves, but like the pond, the old lady did not give Dong Qiangqiang the task of cleaning up the vegetable plot.
Tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, green onions, beans, and beet-like tuber crops with most of their body exposed above the ground are all here. The red and green colors are pleasing to the eye. Although he does not need to pick them, they also bring him a heavy harvest joy.
I don't know if the old lady did it intentionally, but the thorns spread out beside the vegetable field, dangling in a disturbing way. When he passes by, his clothes will get caught if he is not careful. But they also create a barrier to keep the unruly chickens and ducks out of the vegetable patch, preventing them from destroying the fruits.
Just as Dong Qiangqiang was sweating profusely, the sun gradually climbed to the top of his head. He also finally faced the last task on his to-do list: mowing the lawn.
Parked in the tool room was a simple-looking push lawn mower. After Dong Qiangqiang started playing with it, he discovered that it was a moody "classic car."
I say moody because the lawn mower often swings from side to side during the mowing process, looking shaky and ready to fall apart at any time, or the engine may overheat and refuse to restart when it has not rested enough, much like the behavior of an elderly man. temper.
Since it was burning diesel, the motor felt a strong vibration when it was running. Even though Dong Qiangqiang was tall and tall, he had to hold the lawnmower forward slowly. Even so, his arm was still sore and numb from the vibration of the machine.
In addition, the capacity of the grass collection bag at the rear of the lawn mower is also very impressive. The accumulated waste grass will fall from the semi-open bag within 5 minutes of walking. Usually at this time, his arms would tremble like a Parkinson's patient. He could only stop, wait for his arms to slow down, pour the grass in the straw bag into the trolley, and then pile the grass to the old lady's request. Fertilizer is made under the apple trees and in the grove outside the fence.
Although a lawn mower is much more convenient than pulling by hand, there are still places in the yard that the lawn mower cannot cut (such as raised tree roots), and in this case, manual labor is needed.
However, his hands had already blistered when he was chopping firewood, so he couldn't do it with bare hands now. He had no choice but to put on his gloves again, bend down, and clean up the weeds in the yard like an old scalper.
When the weeds were finally cleared, all the items on the old lady's task list were completed.
Looking at the courtyard that had become more dynamic through his own efforts, he suddenly had an epiphany: it was not just the results of labor that provided pleasure, a sense of achievement and satisfaction, but also the process that had to be experienced in order to achieve the results.
His palms were even more burning than when he was chopping firewood. He carefully took off his gloves and found that the blisters that had been red and white had burst like deflated rubber balls, and the white skin soaked in pus was shriveled and weakly attached to his palms, as if They were mocking his tender skin and poor hard work.
Labor kisses me with pain, and I should repay it with song.
He wanted to sing loudly, drink from a large bowl, and call everyone he knew.
The mixed aroma of roasted potatoes and roasted chestnuts filled the courtyard. In order to ensure that the potatoes and chestnuts were roasted even more rotten, he decided to let them simmer in the charcoal fire for a while longer. Taking advantage of this time, he threw himself into the embrace of the apple tree, crossed his arms behind his head, stared at the sky thoughtfully, and let his thoughts spread freely.
The sun was just right at noon, and the temperature was neither cold nor hot. The fluffy clouds moved very quickly, floating from above the woods to above the apple trees in the blink of an eye, and he suddenly felt cool on his face.
Before the labor, he thought he would be able to finish it all in less than three hours. Unexpectedly, it was almost noon when he was done. After coming to Germany... Oh, no, it should be said that he had never done such intensive labor in a short period of time in his life. , completely different from the tiredness of catching wild boars before.
He knew in his heart that even if the old lady allowed him to cook, he would not have the energy to cook anymore after such a workload. He felt a little lucky that he had cleared out the barbecue area early in the morning. Even more fortunately, the old lady still had potatoes, and he also picked up chestnuts. He reminded himself to prepare sausages and steaks next time, and then go on the roof like that The former banker thanks his fellow inmates for a cold beer.
He reminded himself that the current lawn mower was very weak. He should find time next week to throw the lawn mower into the pickup truck, take it directly to the garage to ask if it could be repaired, and then go to the supermarket to get a replacement with the same card slot capacity. Use a larger straw bag to avoid affecting his subsequent work efficiency.
But having said that, even though the lawnmower didn't work, the yard was not overgrown or messy. You can imagine how much hard work and effort the old lady put into managing the grass (he didn't expect that the old lady might outsource the lawn mowing. ).
Another important point is that although this job makes money, there is less time to study on weekends. His experience is that studying still requires a whole time. Maybe he should try to communicate with the old lady: If every time he cleans the yard, he will If it doesn’t change, can you change it to doing part of it every day? In this way, he can effectively use his time every day without taking up the weekend (I'm afraid there will be exams, group tours and other other things in the future), and he can also avoid being too tired at one time. I don't know if the old lady agrees.
Just as he was thinking wildly, the clouds blocking the sun above his head were blown away by the wind, and his face was bathed in the sun again. He felt warm on his face and lazy all over. In less than ten seconds, he fell asleep.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw "Radar" lowering his head and licking his hand. When he saw him waking up, he quickly threw a short branch to his hand, then stared at his face expectantly, and then looked up again. distance.
Dong Qiangqiang stood up holding the trunk of the tree, raised his hand, and the branches were thrown out with the sound of wind. "Radar" barked low and jumped out of the fence.
The hunger in his heart urged him to go to the barbecue grill in three steps and then pull out the potatoes and chestnuts that had been roasted extremely black from the still warm charcoal fire. They should be ripe after roasting for so long. .
He took the tray, knife and fork and various seasonings from the kitchen, put all the potatoes and chestnuts on the plate, leaned against the apple tree happily, and carefully used the knife and fork to peel off the charred skin of the largest potato, and then The golden potatoes are divided into several pieces, then sprinkled with a little salt, black pepper and green onions, and topped with tomato sauce and salad dressing. The tangy aroma is stronger than before, and the mouth is soft, just like the classic advertising slogan says: Just melts in the mouth.
When he was about to finish the second potato, an idea suddenly flashed in his mind: If you can barbecue outdoors, can you stir-fry in the yard? In this way, there is no smell of oil smoke in the kitchen, corridors and bedrooms. He can just finish eating outside and then come back inside to wash the dishes. If the old lady agrees to do this, it will definitely be fine in spring, summer, autumn and winter at least. It will be colder in winter, but he There is no need to light a fire to cook. Electrical appliance supermarkets sell induction cookers, and you can use electricity to cook by just pulling on a wiring board. And also consider transitioning from the grill to your own balcony.
The more he thought about it, the happier he became. He wished he could incarnate outside his body, patted himself on the shoulder and said: Old Dong, this has made you think, I really belong to you!
Potatoes are very filling, so he decided to save the uneaten ones for dinner and try a few chestnuts first.
The golden chestnut meat was exposed from the open chestnut shell. Dong Qiangqiang quickly peeled out a plate. After throwing a chestnut meat to "Radar" who ran to him again, he couldn't wait to pick the largest chestnut and stuffed it into his mouth and chewed it. Before he finished chewing, he couldn't wait to swallow the last bite of potatoes. Go down.
He was a little too anxious.
He thought "Radar" would swallow the chestnuts without hesitation, but unexpectedly it just lowered its head and smelled it for a second before kicking it aside, showing disdain.
Dong Qiangqiang was feeling strange when he suddenly felt a bitter taste in his mouth. He vomited twice, then suspiciously picked up another chestnut and looked at it carefully. He was confused: The chestnut just now seemed to be bitter? Is it bad?
The chestnut flesh, which glows russet in the sun, looks plump, firm and healthy, with no sign of rot or mold.
He put the chestnut into his mouth. This time he did not rush to chew it, but carefully touched it with his tongue. There was no bitter taste. He took another bite and spit it out in less than a second: "I'll go! So bitter?!"
Puzzled, he picked out a few more good-looking chestnuts and put them into his mouth to chew, but he spat them out again.
Why is it all bitter? Before he could figure out what was going on, he felt that the sunlight instantly became dazzling, and the tree crown above his head began to rotate in a deceptive way. The surrounding environment was distorted like an image in a mirror, and the wind in his ears sounded like someone's heavy sigh. . His breathing became rapid, and he lost the feeling in his mouth. The moment he fell, he saw "Radar" tilting his head and shouting at him.
WTF! These were the last words that came to his mind.
