Wang Ke's heartache at this time has not been alleviated much by Ye Qianquan's departure. On the contrary, it has become more and more serious.
It wasn't because of the wax pill, but because of the decision made by his godfather, Professor Wen, before they left.
What's going on? Ye Qianqian has a pair of red agate bracelets from his sister, and he has a pair of red agate bracelets from his sister. One day in the future, if Ye Xianqian finds out, there will be an uproar and he will not be able to escape.
"Platoon leader Xiao Wang, please withdraw the fire." Uncle Geng's wife said to Wang Ke, but Wang Ke didn't seem to hear him, and instead filled the stove with a handful of firewood.
"Platoon leader Xiao Wang, Platoon leader Xiao Wang." Uncle Geng's wife shouted anxiously, and Wang Ke woke up.
"Aunt, I'm sorry." Wang Ke hurriedly withdraws the fire.
"Platoon Commander Xiao Wang, I think you are too tired. And that teacher Xiao Ye, are you interested?"
"Aunt, it's nothing."
"I think it's probably true. The way she looks at you is wrong!"
"Aunt, don't talk nonsense, Professor Ye is here!"
"Auntie knows, I know. I think your soul will be gone as soon as she leaves." Uncle Geng's wife said with a smile, and she raised her hand to remove the cake stuck in the pot.
"Auntie, I went to fetch water." Wang Ke stood up and didn't want to explain. He fled to the door and patted the firewood on his body. I thought to myself, I have to leave this place of wrong as soon as possible.
Carrying the bucket, as soon as I walked out of the courtyard, I met Uncle Geng. He was carrying a basket full of dishes and chopsticks.
"Uncle Geng, why are you carrying so many dishes and chopsticks?"
"Aren't those female soldiers coming tomorrow? How can we have porridge at noon without a bowl?" Uncle Geng traveled throughout the village and borrowed dozens of spare bowls and these chopsticks.
"Uncle Geng, you have thought carefully." In Longquanzhuang, apart from the porridge with stick residue, there is no other way to entertain guests.
"Platoon leader Xiao Wang, I want to discuss something with you. I have asked someone to buy seven sheep, three large, four small, and seven in the village above. We will go to the market tomorrow morning. I will drive them back."
"This is a good thing!" Wang Ke was very happy when he heard this. The money he "lent" to Uncle Geng finally made him decide to buy a sheep.
"A good thing is a good thing, but the sheepfold hasn't been set up yet. After dinner tonight, you have to help me, and we put up the sheepfold first."
"No problem, Uncle Geng. Not to mention sheep pens, I can also build donkey pens." Wang Ke said amusedly. When he was in Nanshao Village, he helped many farmers build donkey pens. It should be said that they are all similar.
But Wang Ke thought it was easy. After returning from carrying water, Wang Ke put down the bucket and went to prepare the materials.
"Platoon Commander Xiao Wang, please wait until after dinner."
"It's okay, I'll prepare the materials first."
"What if we don't have any materials? We need to cut down some trees."
"Uncle Geng, you said you don't have the materials? How can we build it?" Wang Ke was stunned this time. It's hard to imagine that Qiao's daughter-in-law would not be able to make a living without rice. It was almost dark and it was too late to cut down the trees.
"It's okay, let's dig a hole first."
"Uncle Geng, do you want to dig a pit like the pigsty?" It's like this in Xishan. The pigsty is dug more than one meter deep and the toilet is built on the other side. Human feces falls directly into the pigsty. After pig arching, food will be saved.
"Yeah, just leave a slope, cut down the trees tomorrow, and put up a roof."
"Then where can I take it?"
"Just next to the pig pen."
Wang Ke took a look and saw that the amount of the project was not small. If we had to dig a hole the size of a house, two people would definitely not be able to do it tonight. "Uncle Geng, this is too hard. You go out with me in the evening, and we will chop down trees. We will build a shed and a circle on the ground first, and then we will dig when we have time."
"No, no, it's too dark. It's impossible to cut down this tree."
"It's okay, Uncle Geng. Just take my three-section flashlight and I'll climb up and chop it down while you take care of me from below." Wang Ke said, turning to look at the three white poplar trees on the opposite side of the yard and beside the road out of the village. .
The three trees are tall and straight, and the branches on them are also straight. They are good materials for building sheepfolds.
"Platoon Commander Xiao Wang, you don't want to climb up those three trees, do you?" Uncle Geng felt dizzy at the sight of them. No one in the village has ever been able to climb those three trees. They are more than ten meters high, and the middle tree alone is The position of the branch is seven or eight meters high.
But Uncle Geng didn't know that during the command platoon's pre-war training, when the entire platoon came back from running ten kilometers every day, Wang Ke would organize the entire platoon to climb these three trees, and he had already developed a good skill.
"yes!"
"Platoon Commander Xiao Wang, can you really climb up there?"
"Why not?"
After dinner, the three of them had dinner. Wang Ke took the ax and the kitchen knife from Uncle Geng's house and walked out of the yard directly with his own flashlight. He wanted to chop as much as possible before it was completely dark.
"Platoon Leader Xiao Wang, wait, I'll go with you." Uncle Geng shouted, making Professor Wen and Professor Ye Rongguang unable to sit still.
"What's going on? What are you doing?"
"I asked Platoon Leader Xiao Wang to help cut down some branches and prepare to build a sheepfold." Uncle Geng picked up the rope from the corner of the house and chased after him, turning back and saying.
The two professors looked at each other and immediately stood up. This Wang Ke just couldn't stay idle. He was tired all day and now he went to chop down trees. How could they feel relieved, so they followed him out.
Wang Ke came to the foot of three white poplar trees and looked up.
This hairy white poplar is very interesting. Each branch that is cut off will slowly grow into the shape of a human eye. So if you stand under the tree and look at the straight trunk, you will find that there are many eyes on it, silently speaking. Staring at Longquanzhuang.
Wang Ke spit on his hands, then rubbed them, separated the kitchen knife and axe, put them on his lower back, kicked his feet, hooked his hands, and started to get up.
By the time Uncle Geng chased him to the bottom of the tree, Wang Ke had already climbed to the middle branch. He stood with his feet on two tree branches, pulled out a kitchen knife from behind his waist, and started chopping.
In a few strokes, a branch as thick as an arm broke off.
"Uncle Geng, get out of the way." Wang Ke became more motivated when he saw Professor Wen and Professor Ye Rongguang coming under the tree.
Standing at this tree branch, it can be said that the entire Longquanzhuang has a panoramic view. The sunset glowed red in the sky in the west, giving the dark mountains a layer of gold.
Wang Ke cut quickly, and soon there were seven or eight branches five to six meters long and as thick as an arm piled under the tree.
It is no longer possible to climb above, and another tree must be replaced. Wang Ke reluctantly looked at the tree, then raised his head to look at another tree.
Suddenly his eyes froze. Past the tree is the road on the opposite side. And there was a man squatting under the tree on the other side of the road. The figure of the man looked so familiar. Wang Ke rubbed his eyes and looked carefully. Although he couldn't see clearly, he was sure that he had seen it correctly. The squatting man was looking towards him.
This person is none other than the old salesman who has disappeared for several days.
"Uncle Geng, get out of the way." Wang Ke said, sliding down the tree, leaving the kitchen knife and ax behind, and ran away. As he ran, he turned back and shouted: "Daddy Wen, tomb robber!"
"Grave robber?" Professor Wen didn't react for a moment. He watched Wang Ke run across the stone bridge and towards the road, and gradually only his back was left.
Wang Ke ran across the road in one breath and ran to the tree on the opposite side of the road.
In the dusk, who is the old salesman squatting under the tree? When he saw Wang Ke running over, his cloudy eyes raised, glanced at Wang Ke sadly, and then lowered his head.
"Uncle, uncle." I don't know what happened. Wang Ke saw the old salesman and didn't know what to say.
"Comrade of the People's Liberation Army, have you taken all your stuff away?" The old salesman's eyes had completely lost their former light, and he seemed desperate. It seemed that in the afternoon, or even earlier, he had witnessed the entire excavation process, witnessed the process of Gu Maolin and him pulling the two cylinders back, and witnessed the process of Gu Maolin and Dr. Xiao Zhang carrying the box into the car and driving away.
Wang Ke suddenly felt a twinge of sadness. After all, this old salesman still had a conscience. He just gave him a few pieces of cake. In the end, he used fifteen yuan plus a "琖" to exchange for a pair of bracelets worth tens of thousands to Gu Maolin. , and bought a lamp from myself for more than ten yuan, and finally kept it for myself.
Let’s not say whether the treasure in the gloomy wooden box was stolen from the tomb, but there was almost no cultural relic in it, and none of it could prove that it was stolen from the tomb.
He and Gu Maolin led others to dig out and confiscate all the things that his ancestors had buried for decades. They felt even more uncomfortable than that time when they were forced to buy and sell.
"Uncle, have you been squatting here for a long time? Have you eaten?"
The old salesman did not directly answer Wang Ke's words. Now that it was slowly getting dark, the old salesman stood up and wanted to leave.
Wang Ke suddenly stepped forward and grabbed the old salesman's clothes. "Uncle, can you wait here for a moment? I have something to give you."
The old shopkeeper still didn't say a word, still carrying the robe on his back and holding the rattle in one hand, and walked forward unsteadily.
"Uncle, can't you trust me?" Wang Ke's voice obviously changed its tone, and he suddenly felt that he was very sorry for the old salesman in front of him.
The old salesman hesitated for a moment and stood there.
"Uncle, just wait for me here, and I'll run back and get it for you."
The old salesman was noncommittal and leaned feebly on the tree next to him.
"Uncle, you must wait for me, just for a moment. I will be back in a moment." After saying that, Wang Ke ran back as hard as he could.
He ran to the white poplar tree in one breath and saw that Uncle Geng and two professors were cutting branches there. Wang Ke didn't stop and continued running over.
At a speed of 100 meters, he quickly ran back to Uncle Geng's house. When he entered the yard, he shouted: "Auntie, do you have anything to eat? Give me two pieces of cake."
Wang Ke rushed to the main room and quickly found several pieces of leftover pastries and some vegetables. Wang Ke found a newspaper, wrapped it up and left. He rushed to the west wing again, took off his satchel and stuffed food into it. Then he pulled out his shell box, quickly opened the lock, and took out the pair of bracelets wrapped in brocade cloth and the lamp. After thinking about it for a moment, he took out another fifty yuan and wrapped it with the bracelets. Stuff it into your satchel.
Just as he was about to lock the shell box, he seemed to remember something again. He opened the small cloth bag, hesitated, took out one of the five opal stones, and held it in his hand. Then he locked the shell box, picked up his satchel and ran away.
This round trip only takes a few minutes.
It was completely dark, Uncle Geng had already turned on the flashlight, and Professor Wen and Professor Ye Rongguang were tying the trimmed branches with ropes.
With a "swish" sound, Wang Ke ran over. Fortunately, he was familiar with this road and didn't care about its smoothness.
Finally I ran across the road and ran to the tree where the old salesman was leaning just now.
Huh? Where are people?
"Uncle, uncle!" Wang Ke shouted anxiously.
The old salesman slowly came out from behind a tree and said, "Comrade of the People's Liberation Army, I'm here."
"Uncle, here you go." Wang Ke pulled the satchel with his right hand, reached out and took out the food wrapped in the newspaper, and handed it to the old shopkeeper.
The old shopkeeper took it with trembling hands and stuffed it into his trousers.
"Uncle, I'll return these onyx bracelets to you." With the last light, Wang Ke saw clearly the elusive light shining in the old salesman's eyes.
"What are you..." The old shopkeeper pinched the brocade with his hand, feeling very puzzled.
"Uncle, I've seen this pair of bracelets with an expert. It's worth a lot of money, at least over ten thousand. You keep it, it'll be enough for your retirement." Wang Ke said, taking out something else from his satchel with his right hand.
"There is also this lamp. I think it must have belonged to your father's generation. Keep it as a thought." Before the old shopkeeper could open it, Wang Ke handed it over again.
"This..." The old salesman squatted down. There were too many things in his hands, and he was afraid of falling.
"There is one last thing. It may help you in the future, or it may hurt you. This is the snake stone I got accidentally. I will give it to you. You go back to your hometown and don't stay here." Wang Ke finished. He squatted down and grabbed the old salesman's right hand, and gave the old salesman the red cat's eye stone on his left hand.
"Snake stone?"
"Yes!" After finishing all this, Wang Ke stood up and left. So far, the two have nothing to do with each other, and at least their consciences are at ease.
