Wen Qizhou turned to look at the people in the car. After they got off the car, they followed the man to the back of the yard.
After some introductions, a man named Zheng Yuanyang told them: "We are at the end of Honggou Village."
Honggou Village belongs to Gufeng Town.
Due to the remote location and inconvenient transportation, more than half of the people who originally lived in the village moved to the towns to find a living. It was only after the end of the world that they moved back one after another.
But not many people have moved back. So far, there are only 14 households of locals and three households of outsiders living in Honggou Village.
"How many households are there at the end of the village now?" Mingzhang asked curiously when he saw clothes hanging to dry in the yard of a brick house.
"Five households." Zheng Yuanyang led them around the second row of brick houses and through the bamboo forest to a gurgling stream: "The people in Honggou Village are somewhat xenophobic. If you want to stay, Don’t go to the village either.”
"Aren't you a local?"
Wen Yaxian was surprised for a moment.
His appearance and temperament fit the image of a rural man, and she thought he was a native of the village.
"No." After all, they were not familiar with each other. He only said that he was from Shangyang and had escaped with his wife and children. He didn't say anything else.
They are also very measured.
No personal questions were asked about him.
Chi Yue looked back at the two rows of brick houses and decided to stay and rest for two days: "Brother Zheng, which house is more convenient for us to live in?"
Five brick houses are still vacant.
Zheng Yuanyang thought that with so many of them, they would have to live in two apartments at least, so he said: "There are two apartments next to each other behind my house, so you can live there."
"Do I need to hand over supplies?"
"No need." He paused for two seconds and pointed to the two rooms at the end of the first row: "Those two rooms are occupied by locals from Honggou Village. You will pack them up later, so you can go over and say hello if you want to carry something. Come on, so that no one will gossip."
Chi Yue nodded: "Yes." She took a box of cigarettes worth about twenty yuan and handed them to Zheng Yuanyang: "I'm sorry to trouble you today."
"No, it's not a big deal."
Zheng Yuanyang refused to accept it.
He avoided the hand offering the cigarette, saying that the work was not done yet and had no intention of staying any longer, and left in a hurry.
As soon as the people left, Chi Yunyan led Yunqi and Xunsong to the stream, held a handful of sweet stream water, and took a few sips.
"It's so refreshing!" The cool stream flowed through his throat. It was so refreshing that he wanted to jump in and soak in it.
Seeing how pleased he was, the people standing by couldn't help it, and squatted down one after another to drink a handful of water.
They first took in enough water, then took cups filled with stream water and headed to the brick house Zheng Yuanyang said.
The door creaked.
A musty smell hit the tip of his nose, and the breeze picked up the dust that had fallen on the furniture and danced in the pouring sunlight.
Wen Qizhou opened the window to disperse the smell.
He glanced at the plainly decorated living room, followed Chi Yue's steps, and walked around the bedrooms on the left and right sides.
The three bedrooms all have Kangs, which are nearly two meters wide, next to the windows. There is a wardrobe at the end of the Kangs or on the left wall. The layout and area of each bedroom look similar.
They walked out of the bedroom, opened the kitchen and bathroom doors to take a look, and then walked around the brick house next door with the others before assigning them the rooms they would stay in tonight.
Chi Yue: "Let's clean up first." Even if we only stay for two days, we must have a clean and tidy environment.
Ge Qinyao: "Okay."
She and Chi Yue swept and mopped the floor, while Wen Qizhou took three wet handkerchiefs and handed them to Xie Changxiao and Chi Yunyan, and together they wiped the dusty furniture and kang.
The six Mingming people next door also rolled up their sleeves to clean, and after a while of busy work, they moved their luggage into the courtyard gate.
"Brother-in-law." Chi Yunyan, who was sorting out supplies, raised his head and asked him, "What should we bring to visit those two families?"
"What's there now?"
"Three hares, five pheasants, thirteen or fourteen pounds of sweet potatoes, a five-pound bag of rice, and two heads of cabbage."
"Take two hares."
There are mountains all around Honggou Village, so hunting is easy for them. It doesn't matter if they give them two hares.
Wen Qizhou tightened the lid of the cup.
He picked up the bucket under the table and prepared to go fetch water with Chi Yue: "You can just make a trip, there is no need to go all the way."
"Okay." He and Xie Changxiao took the hare and went out with them, leaving Ge Qinyao at home to take care of the poultry.
They walked to the next door, called the six Mingming people who were idle, took water containers, and walked slowly to the stream to fetch water.
When they were brought to the stream by Zheng Yuanyang, they didn't bother looking for fish. Now that they had free time, Yan Shuo and Ge Huai took off their shoes and socks and walked downstream to concentrate on catching fish.
Water splashed everywhere.
The sound of running water and the chirping of birds mingled in my ears.
They were fetching water and catching fish. It was rare for them to relax, and they were all in a state of neither arrogance nor impatience.
The barrel that Chi Yue placed by the stream, through the efforts of Yan Shuo and Ge Huai, produced six more fat fish that flicked their tails and blew bubbles.
Her fingertips were submerged in the water, and just as she was about to touch the bubbling fish, she saw it suddenly flick its tail, slap the back of her hand, then twist around and jump around in the cramped bucket.
Seeing it squeezed into the middle of five other fish, she raised her eyebrows slightly and reached out her fingertips to poke its scaly body again.
"Is it fun?"
A shadow enveloped quietly.
Wen Qizhou's gentle voice, with a doting smile, brushed against her ears.
Chi Yue, who caught a fish and poked it, was momentarily uncomfortable with her sudden childlike innocence. She looked up into the smiling eyes and the tips of her ears were red: "I'm measuring its length."
"Have you measured it?"
"Yeah." She glanced at the fish in the bucket and measured it with her naked eyes: "It's about 20 centimeters."
(End of chapter)
