"San'er, you must have basic furniture such as beds, wardrobes, tables and chairs, etc. (I) can't lose face when marrying a woman. You can decide for yourself the rest (below). Silver Flower Buddha (said) you want Are you making her bedside table?"
"Yes, big! We all have what others have, and we will try our best to satisfy her whatever she wants. Also, we are juniors, and we don't understand anything. It's up to you and me to take care of it!" Chen Shan was eloquent, and Village Chief Zhao was very pleased with what he said.
"That's good, that's good. The wood is still pulled back by E's family, and we use the tractor in Cong (Village). Xiao Yang Carpenter, when you were making furniture, you lived in Cong (Village), Emeng (our). The place is E Meng. I’ll find it for you, but you have to find a way to eat on your own.”
"Okay, Uncle Sou, I'll listen to you, and you can supervise me to see my craftsmanship. I can take care of the food myself." Liu Fang replied.
"Da, Xiao Yang still has some wood sold out. Do you think there is any need in the village?"
"What are they all about?"
"Uncle, there are some needles and threads and some medicines. The medicines are mainly cooling oil and metamizole."
"how many?"
"Sou (uncle), there are 50 sets of needlework, 48 tablets of metamizole, and 40 boxes of cooling oil." Liu Fang said truthfully.
"Huh? Xiao Yang, look at you, didn't you and my brother-in-law say that there are still hundreds of bottles? Why are there only 48 bottles, and there are hundreds of boxes of cooling oil. It's okay, let me Please think of a way. After you finish it, beat (make) furniture for Emeng (us) as soon as possible." Liu Fang suddenly understood something, took over the conversation and said:
"Yes, third brother. Uncle, I did have a total of 128 bottles. This time I brought 48 bottles of metamizole and 40 boxes of cooling oil. I left 80 bottles of metamizole and 150 boxes of cooling oil, needlework and thread in Yantan. There are more than 200 sets. Because the child of the Zhang family’s sister-in-law in Third Brother’s village is very sick, I only brought these back. One bottle was left in their village, and half a bottle was left in Shiyi Village, leaving only 48 complete bottles. "
"Well, there are so many. Well, I can buy more in the name of Cong (Village). But now when the young people who have tractors in Cong (Village) go to the city to sell sand, it is convenient to buy things, eh, it's not good. Intervention. Let’s do this, you can leave what you have brought here (Part 2), and bring 50 boxes of cooling oil back to Emeng (our) village as a five-guarantee product for the elderly. You who are left with Ha (Part 2) I'll take them back next time I go to town. I'll give you a certificate and let San'er take you for a walk in Ermeng (our) Zhaomachuan. You should be able to sell them for about the same amount. Don't do this kind of small business in the future. Give Emeng a good beating (make) furniture."
"He's older, don't say that, let me eat." The three of them were chatting, and Yinhua's mother walked into the cave dwelling carrying a pot of fragrant chicken stewed with potatoes and said to Village Chief Zhao. Yinghua followed her mother, carrying a basin of lasagna, placed it on the square table and walked out.
"Hey, okay, let's eat, eat. Try the big plate chicken here in Emeng."
"Mom, you and Yinghua should eat together."
"Hey, my baby is so good. Let's go outside. You and your guests will eat and chat about business while you are here!" Everyone stopped being modest.
This pot of potato stewed chicken nuggets with strong northwest characteristics has a more beautiful color after adding green peppers and red peppers. The tangy aroma stimulates Liu Fang's taste buds and makes him drool uncontrollably. Yang Liufang, who has not eaten meat for many days, sandwiched the I picked up a piece of chicken and put it in my mouth. The chicken was firm but not sticky, and very soft. It must be due to the long stewing time or the unique cooking method of northwest people, which makes the spicy and fresh aroma penetrate deep into the inner layer of the chicken, and even the chicken bones are crispy when you bite deeply. Take another bite of the potatoes cut into pieces and blended with the aroma of green pepper and chicken soup. They are as soft as bean paste and melt in your mouth. The two young men, Yang Liufang and Wang Shan, devoured it and couldn't stop at all.
Seeing that the chicken nuggets and potatoes were getting less and less, Village Chief Zhao poured in the lasagna and stirred it up with chopsticks. Yang Liufang picked up a noodle and put it into the bowl in front of him. The chicken soup was rich in aroma, and it was full of chewy texture after entering the mouth, making it even more delicious. He huffed and puffed and ate a large bowl of noodles until he felt uncomfortable even sitting down. Only then did Yang Liu finally stop talking with satisfaction. After the meal, Village Chief Zhao took out a box of cigarettes for Chen Shan and Liu Fang to smoke. Liu Fang didn't know how to smoke and found a very professional reason for his refusal.
"Uncle, since we carpenters always deal with wood, there are inevitably shavings, sawdust, and flammable paint around us, so we have been strictly prohibited from smoking since we were apprentices."
"Oh, that's right, San'er, do you want to smoke?"
"Big, uh (I) don't smoke much, I'll smoke a big (tree) with you." Chen Shan took one and took out one and started smoking with Village Chief Zhao. He lit the cigarette and took a deep breath, spitting out the smoke ring. The smoke obscured his angular face, and his expression of satisfaction was palpable.
After smoking, Chen Shan went outside to talk to Yinhua's mother and Yinhua for a while, asking for their opinions on the furniture. Under the leadership of Village Chief Zhao, he went to the village headquarters to deliver the needles, threads and medicines. At the same time, Village Chief Zhao wrote a letter of introduction and stamped the official seal of the village. The two drove the carriage back to Chen Shan's village. Before leaving, Village Chief Zhao asked Liu Fang to select good wood and asked Chen Shan to go back and set a time with him to cut down the trees so that he could notify him to send a truck to pull them.
Chen Shan drove the carriage onto the main road, and Yang Liu just dared to ask: "Third brother, third brother, you asked me to quote so many goods, weren't you lying?"
"Silly boy, if you don't make the money you should make, it's not a good conscience!"
"Why?"
"Do you think they, Zhao Magou, were born rich?"
Yang Liufang shook his head and was at a loss.
"Well, the road is still long anyway. Let me tell your son the story of our place in Emeng. This place in Emeng is called Hanwangchuan. I heard from the older generation that it used to be a sea, but then the sea dried up and slowly... It turned into an open and flat Gobi Desert. It is located at the junction of the three provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, so it became a natural battlefield. During the Han Dynasty, it became a battleground for military strategists. For hundreds of years, wars continued. Until the Ming Dynasty Our ancestors came here to farm, but the land formed by the sand and stones in the sea could not maintain moisture. In addition, the rains were very short in a year, and the British soldiers often passed by, so the crops were not planted. It’s dead, so it’s not suitable for farming until now.”
"British soldiers passing through? Third brother, what are British soldiers? Have British soldiers been here?" Liu Fang interrupted Wang Shan curiously and asked.
"No, you little melon. The British soldiers are the generals who fought here in ancient times. They are soldiers from the underworld. The war flags are flying, the horses are neighing, and the shouts of killing are gone after a while."
"Oh, you are talking about Yin soldiers. I remember it was mentioned in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", but it was in Yunnan."
"I don't know about that, but we can still see it here occasionally. When I was in elementary school, every year in May and June, the weather would be hot as soon as the crops were planted. At this time, every family would pay homage. Each village sent the village chief and The oldest people in the clan come to burn incense, kowtow, and set off firecrackers to send off the Yin soldiers, otherwise the crops will die. Sometimes they die after worshiping, and the common people can only starve or flee to Xizhou City. Therefore, within a radius of dozens of kilometers, everyone Just as poor.”
