After staying at the Hanwangchuan Health Center for two days, as soon as things started to improve, village head Shitou and Yang Liufang took Wang Shan's carriage, which had just returned from hauling water from Shige Village, back to their carpentry workshop in Zhaomacuan. It turned out that the head of Shitou Village was supposed to go back to pull water for the villagers yesterday, but he couldn't go back because he was poisoned by spray paint, so he asked his brother-in-law to go back and help pull two cars.
"Second brother-in-law, why don't you buy a bucket for each household with the village collective's money, so that everyone can store water for two or three days." Along the way, Wang Shan began to complain about his second brother-in-law, the village chief.
"Third brother, you don't understand. Emeng (we) have little money. The little money in the village, let alone one bucket for each household, is not enough for ten households. We still have to take care of those who have no food." Village Chief Shitou has him. My own unspeakable secrets.
"Brother Shitou, why don't you let the villagers go out to work?" Li Tongfu asked in confusion.
"Mu Culture! Some people have never been out of Cong (Village) in their whole lives, and they can't even write their own names, so why not go there! I know you are doing it for your own good and caring about Cong Cong (our village) In terms of development, I have been trying to figure out how to remove the poor roots of this village for so many years."
"Brother Shitou, Wang Shan and I have been going to the countryside these days and have discovered a problem. Logically speaking, you and Wang Shan's place is closer to the provincial capital Xizhou. How can it be better than Zhaomacuan, Hongtu Village, or even Wangqingchuan, which is next to other cities? Are they all poor?”
"You didn't realize that Zhaomacuan digs sand, Hongtu Village makes bricks, and Wangqingchuan makes boots, wine bags, and milk bags for the herdsmen in Qinghai and Ningxia. Each of them has his own way! Mengcong is in a state of disrepair. Even though it is close to the city, the transportation is poor, there are no roads, and there is a lack of water, so there is no source of income.”
"If I get married to Yinghua, Emeng Village will be better off. Ezhang's people have found a way to make a fortune, and they are going to let Emeng wash away the sand." Wang Shan interjected.
"Wash the sand? How to wash it?" Yang Liufang asked doubtfully.
"You don't understand. Look at the sand brought to Xizhou. Now it contains soil and cannot be sold at a high price. When it arrives at the Xizhou sandfield, it has to be washed with water. In this way, the price of the sand sold from the sandfield is higher than that sold directly from here. It costs 1 yuan per cubic meter to pull out. If we wash it here directly and then sell it as finished sand, we will make money on the sand, and we will also make money on the sand washing fee."
"That sounds good. How can we wash it when we don't even have water here?"
"In the name of the village, we are going to bring the strong labor force of the village to Emeng Village in Zhaomagou to dig a few deep wells and draw water from them when the freeze thaws in the spring next year. In this way, each household will pay for washing the sand. One person, everyone makes money.”
"That's a good idea."
"Not bad! It's a good way to make a fortune."
Several ignorant young people, who did not understand the importance of environmental protection at that time, kept applauding Wang Shan's good idea along the way to help the villagers get rich and also make themselves rich.
Seeing that the village chief Shitou was deep in thought, Yang Liufang turned around and comforted him: "Brother Shitou, it will be fine. Now that we have reformed and opened up, the country advocates economic construction as the center!"
A few people chatted and arrived at Zhaomacuan unknowingly. The village chief felt relieved when he saw that they were fine.
"You won't be poisoned again this time, right?"
"No, no, uncle, look." As he said, Yang Liufang took apart a gas mask, brought it to his face, and covered his entire mouth and nose. There were two more on the plastic hard shell of the mask. The white wheel looks like Zhu Bajie from the Little Man book when he puts it on.
With the protection of masks, it is much easier for Yang Liufang and Village Chief Shitou to spray paint. A lesson learned. This time they also smashed the window paper in the room used for spraying. The air came in through the door and circulated. The paint mist dissipated quickly during spraying and no longer choked people. So, I sprayed all the furniture in one day. Although the mirror effect of the furniture that has been spray-painted has not yet come out, it looks much better than before without paint, and there are no traces of brushes at all.
The next day, the two continued to spray for the second time. They took turns stepping on the air pump and spraying. By night, the second coat of paint was completed. The paint was not dry yet, but the furniture already had a faint luster under the lantern. On the third day, because the head of Shitou Village had to go back to fetch water for the villagers, Yang Liufang made furniture alone for a day.
At noon on the fifth day after they returned from infusion and detoxification, the furniture that had been sprayed for the third time and dried overnight on the stove was dappled with winter sunlight shining through the rotten window paper, making all the furniture shine indoors. People can be reflected when standing in front of it, and it feels silky to the touch.
"We're done, we're done! Hahaha..." The two hugged each other and shouted excitedly, smiling.
Their shouts and laughter attracted the village head Zhao, who knocked on the door to see what was going on. I thought these two people were poisoned again, they were crazy! Village Chief Shitou opened the door and anxiously held his hand and came in.
"Uncle, look, come and see!"
"What! Ah! Okay? Well, so flat, so slippery! Okay, okay, okay! You did a good job!" Village Chief Zhao looked at it, touched it, and praised it.
"Uncle, please call a tractor later and take these finished furniture to your house first."
"Okay, okay. No need to be late, I'll do it in the afternoon! Let everyone see it, and I'll give you free publicity. It just so happens that Wang Shan and the others are about to start drinking."
"Thank you, uncle. What is drinking wine?"
"Oh! They are here to give you the bride price. Don't forget to go over for a drink then. We (we) have to thank you very much! Xiao Yang."
Before they could finish making lunch, three or four young men and two tractors arrived at the small carpentry yard under the personal leadership of village chief Zhao. The sound of them laughing and installing furniture alarmed the old horse dealer who often came over to see and care about the progress of his furniture. He came to the car, touched the furniture that had not been loaded onto the car, nodded his head, smoked a dry cigarette, and admired it. And said to Yang Liufang, "Xiao Yang, you, the Emeng (our) family, are also worthy of my attention!"
"Don't worry, Da Da!" Yang Liufang replied affirmatively and confidently.
Two tractors pulled exquisite furniture from the carpentry courtyard to the village chief's house. Although it was very close, Yang Liufang's craftsmanship had spread throughout the village. People in need of furniture began to try door-to-door consultations. Yang Liufang was busy making furniture for the old horse dealer's house, and it was difficult to socialize. It was the village head Shitou who helped him communicate with customers. He only asked Yang Liufang when he wanted to negotiate the price.
In this way, many scattered small tasks such as chopping boards, wooden doors, rolling pins, etc. followed. If there was a need to make a complete set of furniture, Yang Liufang asked the head of Shitou Village to push it to him until after the new year. The sound of machines in the entire carpentry yard was endless all day long, and it was bustling with people coming and going.
When people are busy, time always flies by. December 14, 1986, is here in the blink of an eye. This is the day when Wang Shan and his family make wine. The so-called wine ceremony is when the man sends a bride price to the bride’s family before getting married. A few days ago, Wang Shan had asked Li Tongfu to rent Zhang Feng's car in Xizhou. As usual, Yang Liufang asked Li Tongfu to pay the rental fee in advance. Zhang Feng arrived at Wang Shan's house one day in advance and loaded two bottles of wine, two cigarettes, flower buns, wedding candies, "prescriptions" and a suitcase filled with four-season clothes into the car in advance. Before setting off, he carried another gift box wrapped in red silk into the car.
On the morning of the 14th, Zhang Feng took the matchmaker, Wang Shan's father, Wang Shan, and three close relatives in the village, and Zhang Feng and his group of seven arrived at Yinhua's house. The two matchmakers bowed to each other and introduced the situation. Then they began to "lay out gifts" according to local customs, and placed all the gifts brought by the Wang Shan family on the four tables prepared in advance in the courtyard of the Yinhua family. Finally, the gift box was opened, revealing the cosmetics, jewelry, and two bundles of gifts wrapped with red paper strips.
The elders, parents and three close relatives of the Yinhua family were also a group of six people who watched the ceremony under the leadership of the matchmaker. Since they were all discussed during the engagement, it was just a formality.
After the ceremony was completed, the guests were led into the cave, where incense and candles had been prepared. Yinghua opened a bottle of wine brought by Wang Shan. Wang Shan stepped forward to take it according to the teachings of his father and matchmaker at home. Then, three glasses of wine are filled under the memorial tablet of the ancestors of the Yinhua family, candles are lit, and three pillars of incense are lit with candlelight and inserted into the incense burner. Kneel on the ground and kowtow three times to complete the salute. Everyone returned to the courtyard and began to have a banquet and "eat wine".
Yang Liufang, the village head Shitou and Zhang Feng, as members of the groom's family, also attended the banquet. The lively four-table banquet lasted until the sun went down. The men made fists and drank in various ways until the people brought by Wang Shan's family They couldn't drink any more, so they left the table.
