Xu Ling was not in a hurry to go back. He found an excuse to do some errands in the town and asked Gu Litian to wait at the entrance of the town. He ran to a deserted place and packed a few bags of wheat, rice and soybeans in the space and put them in the car.
Except for soybeans, wheat and rice are not shelled.
Shelling requires a stone grinder, and it would be too time-consuming for Xu Ling to grind it like a donkey in space, so he simply found an excuse to take it out and let his family do it.
Gu Litian knew that he had something to do, and he didn't have the slightest doubt.
When Xu Ling came back after finishing the work, Gu Litian just asked: "What else did you buy?"
Xu Ling smiled: "I asked a friend to help me get some wheat and rice seeds. I heard that the yield is very good."
"Is there such a good thing?" Gu Litian did not doubt that he was there. He was as curious as a cat tickling him. He wanted to open the bag and take a look. Xu Ling opened the bag and let him grab a handful. Gu Litian pinched a few and put them away. Look carefully in the palm of your hand.
Although the wheat has not yet been shelled, you can still see that the seeds are plump in shape. Each seed looks like the belly of a buffalo after a full meal. It is so big.
Gu Litian grabbed a handful, looked at it carefully, and couldn't help but admired: "Your friend is a real person. The rice I found for you must have been carefully selected, and not even one has been bitten by insects."
He threw the wheat back into the bag, and Xu Ling tied the bag, "Of course, he is very busy and has no time to shell the wheat, so we have to do it ourselves."
"It's not difficult. When the weather gets better, we'll do it slowly."
Weng and son-in-law pushed and pulled the cart back to the village. Their buttocks were still hot from sitting on the cart, and they ran non-stop to look at the land and measure the land.
Xu Ling got a total of twenty-eight acres of wasteland from Sun Baoyao this time. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is wasteland. If it were not for the shallow ridges, you would not be able to see the grass roots half as tall as a man. It turned out to be a field.
"These fields are no longer fertile. We need to find someone to burn the grass and plow it several times. We will plant some alfalfa to fertilize the fields next year. It won't be too late to plant crops in the second half of the year."
The crop consultant Xu Ling found was right. Gu Litian went to the field, took a handful of soil, shook it, took a look, and came to this conclusion.
Xu Ling, a dabbler, would listen to whatever Gu Litian said.
With just over twenty acres of land, just weeding and plowing is a big project.
Especially now that the weather is cold and the ground is frozen solid, Xu and Gu's family only have four men in total, and they can't finish the work even if they are exhausted.
Eight acres of the land are wasteland in other villages, not far from Lianhuawanzi, just downstream in Fengjiacun and Hejiazhuang.
Xu Ling and Gu Litian went to the village chief in their village. They handed over the land deed first, crossed the open road, and then asked someone to find someone directly in the village to help burn the grass in the field.
Xu Ling gave money and someone was willing to do it, and he found the person quickly.
However, Xu Ling went to see the twenty acres of farmland first. It was no different from other abandoned fields, and there were no people living around it.
Gu Litian said that there used to be military camps nearby, but they have now moved away. It is a pity that these lands have been deserted for who knows how long.
However, these lands were basically dry land with inconvenient water diversion. If he wanted to grow rice, he would have to divert water from the river. Xu Ling was afraid of the trouble and decided to plant wheat on this piece of land.
The terrain of this piece of land is higher, and it goes down a hill. There are some small trees suitable for firewood, and lush grass. There is a small river not far away, but the water in it is almost dry.
At first glance, the land was somewhat hidden, and Xu Ling was quite satisfied.
For several days, Xu Ling wandered around the fields, thinking about how to farm the land. The 20 acres of land left the village and crossed a small river to the east. It was in front of the wasteland where Xu Ling used to pick dates, just a few meters away from the village. It's not that far away. He used the excuse to go to the fields, but actually went to space to plant another crop of food.
Winter has arrived, and the reeds on the riverside have turned yellow. Two small awning boats lie on the quietly flowing river.
The two boats were brought together, and the bows were tied with a rope, and the other end of the rope was tied to a willow tree on the shore. There are charcoal stoves and earthen pots on the bow, fishing nets and fish baskets are hung on the side of the boat, and a bamboo dustpan is placed on the cabin canopy. The dustpan is full of dried small fish.
When Xu Ling came to the river, a man wearing thin clothes was closing the net, picking off the small fish stuck on the net, and throwing it into the wooden barrel by the well.
The heart-rending coughs of an old woman were heard from the other boat, one after another. Both boats shook slightly, but Chen Sheng seemed not to feel anything and continued to immerse himself in picking fish.
Xu Ling stood not far away and watched for a while. Chen Sheng noticed it, glanced back at the shore, and then started working again.
Xu Ling coughed twice.
Chen Sheng raised his head and looked at him again and continued working.
Xu Ling: "...Chen Sheng, I am Xu Ling."
Chen Sheng stared and looked again and again, "Xu Ling? Why are you here?"
He jumped from the awning boat to the shore and walked to Xu Ling. He finally saw Xu Ling clearly and smiled sheepishly, showing his big white teeth: "I'm really sorry. My eyesight is not good. When it gets dark, I can't see clearly, I thought it was someone from the village just now, don't you blame me?"
Xu Ling smiled and said, "How could that be? I was walking this way today too. When I saw you, I wanted to come over and say hello."
"Oh, okay!" Chen Sheng responded with another smile, and then he was speechless.
Xu Ling saw that he was not very good at words, and he was similar in age to him. He did not call him brother, so Chen Sheng did not play any tricks with him. At first glance, he seemed to be uninterested.
Xu Ling broke the silence, "Where is your brother?"
"He went to town to buy medicine for my mother and hasn't come back yet." Chen Sheng looked back at the awning boat. His mother was still coughing. He pinched his palms and rubbed them. "It's quite cold outside. Why don't you—— "
"Forget it." He gave up the plan of inviting Xu Ling to sit in the house.
"Hey, you're already here, Chen Sheng, why don't you invite me in for a bowl of water?"
Seeing that Xu Ling had no airs, Chen Sheng walked ahead of him and jumped onto the boat with a look of eagerness on his face, and quickly told him to slow down.
Xu Ling was a little inexperienced and actually landed on the boat. The two boats couldn't stop shaking. Chen Sheng also jumped over and picked up the things that were shaken off as if walking on flat ground.
"Be careful, my family is small," Chen Sheng said, opening the straw curtain of the awning boat and letting Xu Ling sit down in it.
The weather is bad today, it's gray outside, and it's even darker inside the boat. The cabin is not big, and there is no table, but there are folded beddings, which should be where the brothers sleep.
"Are you okay, aunt? I heard she was coughing quite badly."
"Hey, it's an old problem. It freezes on the river. When winter comes, the cold wind blows."
Chen Sheng's face looked numb. He took out a pot and placed it on the charcoal stove outside. He boiled water and poured Xu Ling a cup. He didn't forget to give his mother a cup as well.
The money the two brothers earned throughout the year was not enough to pay for his mother's medical treatment.
His mother committed suicide in the past and got into trouble when she jumped into the river. The brothers would rather fill this hole year after year than see their mother leave.
Only a mother can have a family. Without her mother, the two brothers would only have these two awning boats, and they would not even have a reason to go ashore.
