"Go and hatch the eggs, hahaha..."
"spit!"
"Hahaha..." The crowd that had just been quiet became chaotic again, and Leader Shitou patted the box to quiet it down.
Next was Maodan's wife who was joked about "hatching eggs". She carefully handed over an egg. Village Chief Shitou took it, shook it by his ear, and looked at it under the light of the window. Put it down against the wall.
"What do you want?"
"Two No. 1 needles, a thimble, and a handful of white foreign thread (people refer to bundles of thread as "yangxian"). Alas, Gawa has grown up and needs shoes."
"Stop the gawa gawa, it's time to give it a name." The leader said, taking out the change from selling water in the morning and picking out a 1-cent note from his pocket.
"Brother Shitou, I want to get one for my child someday. He and I are illiterate."
"Mmm..." Village Chief Shitou agreed.
Liu Fang prepared the goods and handed them to Mao Dan's wife.
"Give me that paper bag so it's easy to take." Yang Liufang quickly took out the remaining 6 needles, put them into another needle bag that had already taken out a large needle, and handed the empty needle bag to Mao Dan's wife. She left with satisfaction.
It went on like this one after another until the sun was setting in the west, and everyone dispersed. The leader calculated that a total of 24 eggs and scattered coins were collected, which was 2 yuan and 30 cents in cash. There are still more than 70 needles, 13 thimbles, and 10 threads.
The leader calculated the money, deducted the 1 yuan he deserved, and took out all the change from his pocket. When he was still short of 2 yuan, he asked Liu Fang and himself to go home to get it.
Village Chief Shitou handed the collected eggs to his mother-in-law, walked into the inner room and took out the money and gave it to Liu Fang. Liu Fang was very grateful for Village Chief Shitou's help, so he took out a handful of white thread and gave it to the village chief's mother-in-law. After pushing and pushing, she accepted it.
Perhaps moved by Liu Fang's sincerity, the head of Shitou Village said: "I'll take you to Linconong (Village) to sell the remaining needles and threads you have."
"Thank you, leader!" Liu Fang was a little excited after hearing this, and he half-bent down to shake the hand of the village chief Shitou to express his gratitude. The village chief waved his hands and dodged.
"Mu Ma Da (Xizhou dialect: It's okay)! You are quite honest, unlike those who come to sell things from other places. Um (I) are older than you, so just call me (me) brother."
"Brother, how far is the neighboring village?"
"The demon (about) touches 15 miles"
"Oh, that's it, brother, I'll leave the rest here and go to Lanzhou to buy some goods. Can you take me there when I get back? This way we can both earn more."
"Hey, numb!"
In the evening, Yang Liufang had dinner at the head of Shitou Village. It was still steamed potatoes and pickled radish strips. After making money, Liu Fang ate very delicious food, but when he went to bed at night, the mosquitoes buzzed and bit him so much that he couldn't sleep. So when the village chief got up to feed the animals the next day, Liu Fang hurriedly got up.
As soon as the sky dawned, the two of them sat on the carriage shaft and set off on the road. On the swaying donkey carriage, Liu Fang fell asleep beautifully while leaning on the water bucket transformed from an oil drum. The village chief Shitou woke him up when he arrived at the mouth of the well where he was fetching water. By then the sun had already risen to eight or nine o'clock.
Liu Fang jumped off the donkey cart and heard the head of Shitou Village say: "Brother, we can't live without fertilizer (water) in the onion (village). I won't give it to you. You just keep walking forward until you reach the three-way road." Wait there for the truck carrying goods to enter the city."
Yang Liufang thanked him, told Shitou that the village chief would be back as soon as possible, and hurried forward. Since I had nothing to hold me back, I started to walk more easily. The whole way was this narrow loess road, with high and low red hills on both sides. There was very little vegetation. The road was full of loose soil, so I couldn't walk very far. Liu Fang's shorts were already covered with dust. It was almost noon, before he saw the three-way intersection, Liu Fang was already sweating profusely, his mouth was dry, and his condition was getting worse. Seeing the sun in the sky becoming more and more fierce, Liu Fang did not dare to stop and could only rely on his thoughts to move forward step by step.
Suddenly hearing the sound of a tractor, Liu Fang became excited and rushed forward. Due to the sweat on the soles of his feet, he slipped and fell. His front feet came out of the slippers, and the upper part of the shoe on one side was removed. It was half cracked, and the hot loess foam on the ground still burned my feet and buttocks.
"Mother, I'm sorry!" Liu Fang cursed angrily in his hometown dialect, but couldn't allow him to think too much, so he curled up his legs and retracted his soles, then stood up and continued running forward. Looking at the back of the tractor that was raising dust, Liu Fang ran and shouted, but it was too late. He could only helplessly watch the tractor go away little by little. Finally, the sound of "chuchuchuchu" gradually disappeared with the figure of the tractor. In the rolling hills.
Under the whitening sunlight, Liu Fang stood bent over at the three-way intersection, supporting his knees with both hands, breathing heavily, sweat beads falling into the dust, his throat was dry, and he felt like the smell of blood was coming out.
It took a long time to recover. Liu Fang's hands left his knees. When he stood up, his head was dizzy and he almost fell to the ground. Liu Fang could only drag his legs to the edge of the slightly protruding hill. He ignored the dirt and lay down on his side. To save energy, his double eyelids are heavy and he always wants to fight. Liu Fang can only hold on and tell himself over and over again, "Can't sleep, can't sleep..."
The sun on the Loess Plateau was scorching the earth, and Liu Fang's lips began to become dry and cracked. Just after moisturizing them with his tongue, they became dry again, and slowly began to peel. Liu Fang, who was so hungry and thirsty, bit off the dead skin on his lips bit by bit with his teeth. He was reluctant to spit it out and had no strength to spit it out. He chewed it in his mouth to give himself some psychological comfort.
Liu Fang, who was half lying down, looked at the sun from the top of his head to his shoulders through his blurred eyes. When he was about to collapse, he heard the sound of a tractor, and Liu Fang pinched it with his hand. My thighs were definitely not an illusion. I quickly turned over and tried to get up, but I didn't have any strength in my body. I could only struggle and crawl down on the loess road, waving at the same time.
"Click", with a sudden sound and the sound of the truck body hitting the front tow hook, the tractor stopped.
"Fat (who), beat up Sani! You fucking don't want to live anymore!" A barrage of rude Xizhou dialect came out. The driver got out of the driver's seat, came to the front of the car, bent down and looked at the man lying on the front of the car. Willows on the ground. Yang Liufang wanted to speak, but no sound came out when he opened his mouth. He finally said quietly in a hoarse voice: "Master, I'm going to Yantan Station..." Then he fell down on the loess.
The driver pulled Liu Fang up by his arms, carried him to the car seat, and asked Liu Fang to lean against the wheel guard. Teng stretched one hand to the edge of the driver's seat, picked up a towel and beat him He picked up the loose soil on his body, beat him, and said: "Young man, if you hadn't met me, you would have died (Xizhou dialect: death)!"
