While he was sleeping, he had a sweet dream. In the dream, he was covered with a thick quilt by his junior sister Liu Xia, who felt warm.
"Hey, get up, hey, get up." A rough voice sounded in Liu Fang's ears, and then his arms were shaken. Opening his eyes, he saw the face of a weather-beaten man looking at him in confusion. Behind the man's short stature was a cart pulled by a donkey, with an oil drum placed upside down on the cart. The morning sun is bypassing the adobe wall and shining on me. The warmth in my dream comes from this warm sunshine.
Liu Fang quickly opened the plastic bag, held the handbag in his arms with one hand, and supported the ground with the other. He stood up and asked, "Uncle, where is this?"
"Ten green onions." Perhaps because he had never seen anyone here who could speak Mandarin, the uncle responded word by word with a certain accent.
Ten green onions, Liu Fang thought to himself that the place name here is really weird. But he couldn't think too much and asked quickly: "Uncle, how far is it from the village?"
"Are you going to beat up Han Ni in the village? There is still more than ten miles."
"I want to sell something."
"We are extremely poor here. We have no money and no hope of food and clothing. What are you selling?"
"I sell needlework, look." As he spoke, Liu Fang opened his handbag. At this time, Liu Fang found that his hands were dark and stained with soot, and his white vest was also black and yellow, with sweat stains in circles. Yes, he retracted his hand in embarrassment. The uncle didn't care, because he himself was slovenly and not much better.
"Oh, how to sell it?"
Liu Fang was stunned for a moment because he hadn't figured out how to sell it yet.
"2 cents for a pack of needles, 5 cents for a handful of thread, and 2 cents for a thimble." Liu Fang immediately made the price. Because if he wants to double his sales, he won’t lose money.
"It's too expensive, it's too expensive," the uncle said while shaking his head, "I can't afford it."
"Can't you afford it at such a low price?" Liu Fang deliberately pretended to be very sophisticated.
"It's a green onion, I don't know yet." Liu Fang understood. It turned out that the person he was talking to was the village chief. He said that the place names here are ten "onions", which are ten "villages". Liu Fang quickly put down his handbag, walked forward, held the village chief's hand with both hands, shook it gently and said, "Hello, leader! Hello, leader! I didn't expect to meet the big leader when I first arrived."
When Liu Fang was studying with his master in his hometown, he would do this every time he saw his master receiving visitors from the electrical appliance factory, so he pretended to learn it.
"Uh-huh, you're not a leader, you're just like a green onion, you're selling it too expensively." The village chief was flattered and began to pretend to be a leader.
"Leader, how much do you think it can be sold for?" Liu Fang still held the village chief's hand and sincerely asked him for advice.
"Needles are too expensive. One or two dollars is still enough."
“How much does one or two cost?”
"Oh, it's just 1 or 2 cents!" the village chief replied a little arrogantly.
Liu Fang's heart skipped a beat, and he thought to himself: "It's so cheap, so it won't be a big loss." Before he could think of a reply, the village chief said again: "How much should I take?"
Liu Fang quickly let go of his hand and said, "Ah!" His jaw almost dropped in shock. "It costs 1 or 2 cents per bag. I have already paid it to my grandma's house. Do I still want to give him a share? I think it's better to move to another place quickly." Liu Fang thought to himself.
The village chief ignored him. He turned around and walked to the base of the adobe wall. He pulled at the place where Liu Fang had slept just now. A cover made of wooden boards was exposed. The village chief gently opened it, revealing a hole. Then he turned around. He went to the shaft of the car and took down an iron bucket with a rope tied to it. He put the bucket into the hole and started to pull the rope out of the bucket. After a while, he lifted it up again. It turned out that it was a wellhead. Liu Fang broke out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, the lid was on, otherwise he would have fallen in and drowned.
The village chief fetched water from bucket to bucket and poured it into the oil drums that the truck had dumped. Liu Fang was thinking at this moment: "I just said a pack and didn't say how many sticks a pack has. I guess it's because of the information asymmetry with what the village chief said. Let me ask." Waiting for the village chief to fill the oil drum , Liu Fang stepped forward again and handed over the only remaining tomato. The village chief looked at him, took it, washed it in the bucket, and started eating.
"Leader, how many needles can you say for one or two dollars?"
"It's just one, how many more can I have?" Liu Fang was instantly relieved. It was no different from his own quotation. In addition to removing the thread and thimble from the set, the ten needles in a pack are also sold separately.
"Leader, where are the thimble and thread?"
"Oh, I don't understand this very well. If you want to share it with me, just follow me. You can ask Auntie Me!"
"Divide, divide, leader, I have a big bag of 300 sticks. I will give you 1 yuan after selling out." Liu Fang imitated his way of measuring money and said.
"Okay, let's go." The leader cracked his whip, and Liu Fang was startled. Then the village chief made a sound of "嘚, 嘚" in his mouth, the donkey began to exert force, and the car squeaked and moved forward.
Liu Fang followed him until his back ached and his legs cramped, with no intention of stopping. When he was tired at first, he could still hold on to the cart and follow. As noon approached, the loess road without any vegetation was filled with heat. Liu Fang gradually couldn't bear it anymore, and he was slowly pulled further and further away.
"Leader, I can't walk anymore." Liu Fang put his hands on his knees and shouted with all his strength. The leader in front reacted after hearing this, calling the donkey to stop and stopping the car. Liu Fang stood up and walked forward step by step. He walked up to me, struggled to lift the plastic bag he was holding, and said, "Boss, let's take a break and eat some melon."
Yang Liufang took out the only remaining melon, cracked it open on the edge of the iron bucket, and handed the larger side to the leader. The leader took it without politeness and ate it. Yang Liufang also walked to the roadside and put the empty plastic bag away. He put it on the ground, sat on it, and started eating hungrily. The juice of the melon enters the throat and is as sweet as sugar.
Before Yang Liufang could recover, the leader began to urge him to continue moving forward. Yang Liufang stood up and held on to the shaft of the cart to use his strength to move forward. Soon he was too tired to walk anymore. His feet felt like they were filled with lead. heavy.
After seeing this, the leader, maybe because of the strength of Melon, or maybe because he felt that he was a burden, asked him to sit on the shaft of the car. Liu Fang gratefully sat on it. Although it was a bit painful, it was better than dragging forward with his own feet. Much more comfortable.
When they arrived at the village under the scorching sun, they saw "Shige Village" written in white on a low earthen wall at the entrance of the village. Only then did Liu Fang realize that because of the pronunciation of the dialect, the leader's word "Shige Village" It turned out to be "Shige Village". There are no houses in the village, but some are blocked by wooden boards on the cliffs, some are blocked in a row with crop poles, and some simply leave the holes empty.
Liu Fang sat on the shaft of the cart in confusion until he entered an open space with two poplar trees in the center of the village. There were more than a dozen villagers wearing rags, some carrying earthen basins, and some carrying iron. Tong was enjoying the shade in the shade of a tree. When he saw the donkey cart coming, they all gathered around him.
