The boys working in the brick kiln were all stunned on the spot.
Their numb faces finally showed some expression, and they all froze in place and looked at Liu Laozhu in disbelief.
After whispering to each other to confirm that it was true, they finally moved their feet wearing straw sandals.
Three, five, ten or twenty, the boys from Erdaohe Village gathered more and more and walked towards Liu Laozhu.
When I heard Uncle Li Zheng ask them again: "Where is the luggage?" a small fire seemed to burst out in my heart, and then it gradually became like a fire.
Liu Laozhu got into the cave and personally packed the luggage for these boys. In his mind, all of them had black noses and eyes.
Even their noses were clogged with soot. Even though they were wearing rags, they were so skinny that their clothes hung like tattered gowns.
Liu Laozhu carried the tattered luggage packages one after another. His heart had never been more determined. He kept repeating the words of Mrs. Xu in his mind:
Stand up, get rich, get strong, all stand up, and they will fulfill them one by one.
Don't let the village boys come out to do this kind of illegal work.
The boys in our village can be miserable or tired, but they can no longer do this kind of work that doesn’t treat us as human beings. As long as he is here, he must stand in front and lead these young boys to earn money with bright eyes and enthusiasm. money.
The whole process was broadcast live by Xu Tianxin. She also helped pack the luggage in the dark cave dwelling, tied the mats on the ground into piles with hemp rope, and carried them out with Grandpa Liu.
She is currently Grandpa Liu's secretary, mainly working as an accountant to help with the accounts.
So Grandpa Liu went all the way to the Bai family and the main family in Geli to write IOUs and ask for help. Xu Tianxin, as his secretary, felt it more deeply than anyone else.
For example, the first time Grandpa Liu told someone that he owed money first after many years, he really opened and closed his mouth and was extremely embarrassed. Later, he became more and more skilled.
For example, right now, she knows better than anyone else that Grandpa Liu will have a financial hole after settling the bricks in one lump sum, and they haven't gone to the county to purchase goods yet.
But so what, the more difficult it is to dig into such a broken cave dwelling, the more determined you become. As long as everyone goes home, there are always more solutions than difficulties.
At this time, Grandpa Liu’s bullock cart was filled with luggage from uncles in the village.
Xu Tianxin walked backwards.
She had the live broadcast of the envious expressions of other people in the black brick kiln who were coming to pick him up from Erdaohe Village. She also captured the smiles slowly appearing on the faces of the uncles in the village, who were walking home faster and faster.
Xu Tianxin waved to his uncles.
Uncle Mingzi, the youngest son of Liu Yongtian who had his leg broken by Wangjiagou, had only white teeth in his smile. He also waved to Xu Tianxin.
Xu Tianxin also explained to his uncles the recent events in the village along the way.
Liu Laozhu was listening next to him with a calm expression on his face, but whenever Xu Tianxin was excited and walked backwards, he would show Xu Tianxin the road and remind him not to fall if there were rocks, puddles or the like ahead.
After hearing this, the uncles once again expressed disbelief: Is this our village?
"Uncle Li Zheng, is what Tian Xin said true?"
Liu Laozhu then turned around and smiled at the young men, and said in a low-key voice, "Yes."
When they heard Xu Tianxin talk about fighting, everyone secretly hated themselves for not being in the village.
Xu Tianxin even recorded this one. Grandpa Liu went to each village to take the lead in shouting, and the uncles in the village shouted together: "Collect sweet sorghum seeds, collect sweet potato seedlings and broken rice..."
The uncles heard that they were all bought for the village, and one by one they picked up burdens, sacks, and bamboo baskets on their backs. Grandpa Liu said that they could not carry any more until they could no longer carry them, but they disagreed and rushed to fill them up at various places along the way. Autumn cabbages and radishes harvested in the village.
So Xu Tianxin was exhausted all the way down. She had to gossip with her uncles and gossip with the aunts in each village. She had never been so talkative: "Grandma, that's not how the accounts are calculated. You see, your mustard knots can't be the same as sweet sorghum." One hundred kilograms of fish, one kind of sweet sorghum, and seven kilograms of mustard knots..."
Before Xu Tianxin could finish his words, someone grabbed his shoulders: "Girl, give me a ticket for this pumpkin first."
"Okay, okay." Xu Tianxin quickly drew a small ticket for the aunt standing behind him, and with the ticket, he would go to their Erdaohe Village to collect the fish in seven days.
Liu Laozhu's mouth was dry when he talked about it. He felt like he was surrounded by a group of old ladies selling almost everything. He frowned and said: "I don't accept gourds and ladles. Our village has plenty. I want this thing from you." What to do?"
The aunt said unhappily: "Didn't you say you would accept everything? It would be great to leave this gourd and gourd filled with salt and water."
"But what can I do in exchange for accepting the gourd?"
Why do you give me fish scales? Give us fish and we won’t do it, not even a pound.
Liu Laozhu had no choice but to shout out what he wanted again. He still stood on the big rock, pointed at the center of Kuandianzi Village standing in the distance with his feet raised, and shouted to the villagers:
"I am Erdaohe Village Satomasa, and I know you Satomasa very well.
Even if I’m not familiar with him, he can’t allow me to scream in your village, right?
So I can do what I say. If you go to collect the fish with your ticket after seven days, you will definitely get it. You don’t need to ask again and again. I'll borrow your shoulder poles and sacks first and return them as well. Yes, use them to hold fish then.
In short, in one sentence, you can rest assured that we are doing things in Erdaohe Village! "
This made the Kuandianzi village think that Liu Laozhu was crazy, and it was not normal since he was kicked out in the county last time.
Do you think that Liu Laozhu's behavior will also affect his weight in the hearts of the villagers, who feel that everyone is like this?
The first daughter-in-law in Kuandianzi Village also stared at Liu Laozhu, disgusted and embarrassed.
So in Kuandianzi Village, when he wanted to step forward to ask Liu Laozhu what was going on, he was grabbed by his wife.
"I'm just going to ask him, Liu Laozhu, if he is really too bold and wants to confront Wang Lizheng." Look at this situation, he is willing to fight to the end.
"You're not allowed to go there, why are you so trustworthy? I'm telling you, he's coming to my house for a while, and I won't welcome him. Look, he's got a bunch of people who buried him. I'm afraid he'll be full even if he touches the threshold of our house. The house is crawling with lice.”
Liu Laozhu glanced at the back of Kuandianzi Village who was turning around to leave while he was busy, and sneered in his heart, thinking: It doesn't matter.
He asked the villager who had just sold him a lot of sweet sorghum: "Sister, our village is still a few feet away from your village. It's a bit far away. Could you please give us a sip of water?"
The boys have to carry a lot of stuff, and at least they need to drink water.
The woman in question said enthusiastically: "Okay, come on, come on, come into the courtyard."
The young men in Erdaohe Village did not enter the villagers' yards. They only stood in front of the villagers' houses with wells, drinking water from two gourds and ladles in turns.
After drinking, Xu Tianxin was about to help others wash the gourds and gourds. Liu Laozhu grabbed the brush and said while washing, "Thank you, sister, and thank you fellow villagers in Kuandianzi Village."
Before leaving, he waved to the villagers and said: "In Erdaohe Village, everyone is welcome to exchange gifts for fish at any time. The fish here are big and fat."
Liu Laozhu made a note in his mind that when people from other villages go to pick up the fish, our village will set up two large pots with firewood at the entrance of the village and give hot water to everyone who goes to pick up the fish.
…
It was almost midnight when Xu Tianxin arrived home that day, but the entire Erdaohe Village was very lively.
Almost all families came out, holding torches to welcome these people who returned in the middle of the night.
Some people cried and others laughed: "If you don't go out anymore, Aunt Xu said, you will have enough work in the village from now on."
"Mingzi, your father's revenge has been taken. Mom is just waiting for you to come back and burn the paper."
When Akiko's two brothers saw how thin their younger brother was, they also hid in the dark and wiped away tears. I heard that it was the wages that Li Zheng had begged for, and the resentment in my heart towards Li Zheng was also felt at this moment when I saw the exhaustion on Liu Laozhu's face disappear.
There is only regret that their father did not see this day.
More villagers greeted happily: "Boys, let's go and see the dam?"
"Let's go." Even if they are hungry in the middle of the night, they must first take a look at their river and their boat.
Mrs. Xu and her fourth uncle reported to Liu Laozhu the quantity of rice, flour, grain and oil that each family wanted to purchase. The fourth uncle also told that the wasteland had been set on fire and the grass would be burned, and the foundation could be dug tomorrow.
Liu Laozhu also reported to Mrs. Xu and his fourth uncle what they owed during this trip. The vats and jars would be delivered tomorrow, and two days later, many adobe bricks ordered in the six villages would be delivered one after another. in place.
In addition, I still owe several kilograms of fish, which has already reached the second wave.
At present, the fish that belong to the public of the village committee are arranged in this way. The fish caught every three days, that is, on the fourth day, no matter how much is caught, all belong to the village committee. This is agreed by the whole village with thumbprints. The fish caught within three days will be distributed to the villagers according to their work points.
Because there are countless fishing boats, they are fishing again after many years, and even the boats are like starting from scratch, so the fishing boats belong to everyone and cannot be attributed to anyone.
As for the fish belonging to the village committee, Liu Laozhu has already owed the second wave based on the current average number of kilograms caught every day.
The fourth uncle understood. This was really tearing down the east wall to make up for the west wall. Even before the fish were caught, they were all caught one after another.
He looked at Liu Laozhu, who was in his fifties, and his voice was hoarse.
The fourth uncle could feel that what Liu Laozhu and the eldest niece of the Xu family wanted to do was a great thing for the good of the whole village. He said with relief and determination: "Just go ahead and do it boldly. We can build a ship in two days." The boat happened to be the village’s turn to fish that day.”
But the plan did not change quickly, and the weather became cloudy the next day.
Everyone first cursed, "Oh my God, the rain has not stopped this year. It is enough to flood our fertile fields and cause a harvest failure. It is also raining in this autumn. It will hurt your grandma. You said we want pickles and pickled fish." There is also a request from the village to find where to dry the urala grass that has been harvested.
In the Xu family's house, the kang is also filled with half-dried vegetables. It's hard to describe the smell of the whole house.
Salted fish, cured fish, fish maw, dried radish, cucumber money, Japanese melon, cabbage, green onions, dried coriander, and the smell of various hays that were left to dry and fed to the mules and horses, and the old lady Xu couldn't go out when it was cloudy and rainy. Pickling sauerkraut in the kitchen.
Xu Tianxin had to plug her nose and eyes with wet cloth. She was not being pretentious. She had been dizzy from the smoke since she woke up in the morning. If she smelled it for a while longer, she would have to vomit it out. In that case, it would be a waste of food. Don't you feel hungry after vomiting?
As for the Xu family, it was considered a large family in the village with many houses, and each house was also filled with ropes to hang fish. When Xu Tianxin goes up to the kang to pick up something, he has to tiptoe carefully to avoid stepping on the vegetables being dried. It is conceivable that a farmhouse with a large population and few rooms does not even have a place to stay.
But as another day came, the sky was flashing with white lightning as if it was about to explode. The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and an evil wind was blowing. At noon, the house was as dark as midnight. During the day, you had to light a lamp and oil brazier to do it. Live, the whole village stopped cursing, and began to pray to God.
Stop the rain. We have just dug the foundation, and it will have to be soaked in such heavy rain.
Stop getting off, our boat can no longer go down the river or fish.
Liu Laozhu and Mrs. Xu, wearing raincoats and a group of strong laborers, also began to inspect the dam. When they found signs of loosening in the sediment flow, they quickly transported truckloads of stones to the dam to block it again.
Liu Laozhu wiped the rain off his face and prayed for one thing more than other villagers, that is: Villagers from other villages must not come, because there would be no fish for him.
Since the evil wind blew, their village has been affected by the rain for many days and they dare not get out of the boat to fish. Although it was raining heavily and I could see fish jumping out of the river, it was still fatal. A strong wind would cause the boat to capsize in the river.
Liu Laozhu was sure that the adobe bricks saved by the villagers would not be delivered at this time.
He was just worried that those who collected the radish and cabbage from each village first would come to ask for it.
Sure enough, even all the knives in the world can't stop the desire for food, and moreover, representatives from one village after another are sent together.
Liu Laozhu shouted that some women should come to his house to help boil and pour water. He even collected the houses from Yi Er's house next door and Sun's house on the other side, and quickly made room for people from other villages to sit.
Don't show off your things, don't show off your wealth.
While giving Pepper a wink, he asked Miss Xu to go to the dam to help him think of a way to explain to others that the delivery was not delivered as scheduled.
Let’s just say, is it okay for him to write an IOU again and set a date? Does he have to give money?
His whole family only had thirteen taels of silver left in their pockets, and they still needed to keep some for stocking.
Once this is given, what will he do if the rain stops in two days and he can lead his team into the city to batch the goods.
In fact, this is not enough. I only make a profit of thirteen taels. How much can I earn if I go back to wholesale and make money? He planned to pass by his eldest brother and ask for the twenty taels of silver he had given to him in vain because of his unscrupulous conscience. Wouldn't it be okay to let him have a conscience later when he has money? Just imagining that scene is like seeing the expression on the eldest brother's face that he wants to scold someone, and he might even get kicked at his age.
Liu Laozhu was chatting politely with people from other villages: "On a rainy day, you have nothing to do, so you came to get fish, right?"
"No, let's take advantage of the fact that there is no thunder and no one can be struck today, so we are here. So what, Liu Lizheng, where is the fish?"
Just when Liu Laozhu wanted to say that you can rest assured, there is no fish, I will convert it into copper coins for you at worst, and I must let you know that we people in Erdaohe Village are very reliable in doing things, Pepperhead wore a bamboo hat and ran back soaked .
"Have you met the girl?"
"Emma, dad, something is wrong. The river bank on the Wangjiagou side collapsed, and the river rushed into their village. My sister asked you to wait. She will take the strong boys from our village to help first."
"What?" Liu Laozhu stood up suddenly.
Why should you help them? Believe it or not, if our village is flooded, the other side will laugh out loud!
Besides, this is too much love. I still have a lump on my forehead and can’t do the dam work, so I’m going to help the Bastard Village? I really forgot how to beat us.
"Then go call Tian Xin and ask that girl to come over and help me settle the accounts."
"Tian Xin went too."
The loving Mrs. Xu and Xu Tianxin, with rainwater dripping down their faces, were standing at the gate of Wangli's house in Wangjiagou Village, directing the strong men from Erdaohe who rushed in to use basins of water to scoop out fish.
"The fish have entered the village, help them!"
