Two vegetable dumplings are just enough to fill the belly.
Every time Xu Youcang eats dry food, he has to drink a few more scoops of cold water to fill his stomach.
While he was pouring water into his stomach, the forest farm manager came out of the oilcloth shed. He looked up to the west and saw that the sky had turned dark again. He felt very annoyed.
Logically we should stop in this kind of weather, it is more dangerous, and wet trees are heavier, so we should stop work early today.
But the boss was in a hurry, and they were delayed a lot by the bad weather.
If a day laborer is supported for an extra day and food is wasted for an extra day, his employer will scold him.
The person in charge could only say:
"I see it's getting cloudy again over there. Those who go up the mountain must pay attention to their steps. If it rains heavily, stop in the woods!"
There is also an awning at the logging area on the mountain.
Xu Youcang and other men shouted back: "I understand."
Xu Youcang put down the water ladle and tied the tools again.
The only tools he had to carry the wood were a pair of back clamps and a cane.
He had already figured out that the real weight bearing position was the shoulders.
His shoulders and back were already scarred by months of wear and tear.
Xu Youcang also felt that the most severely worn areas were bleeding and edematous. Everywhere he touched the work shed where he slept at night was wet. When he woke up, he saw blood on the straw mat.
However, Xu Youcang never took it seriously, thinking:
Just wait until you get home.
When he goes home, if his mother can make him some hot noodle soup, he will get better faster.
Thinking of the noodles made by his mother, Xu Youcang walked up the mountain faster.
Arriving at the logging point halfway up the mountain, Xu Youcang steadied his horse and asked people to pile wood onto his shoulders.
"Is it okay? Can I add one more?"
"Come."
What does it mean to be able to do it? Men can't say no.
When Xu Youcang was carrying wood down the mountain, he saw a worker named Dachengzi stopped halfway.
At night, Dachengzi's mat was next to him.
Xu Youcang also heard that this man in his early twenties came to carry wood to earn money to treat his two-year-old daughter.
Some workers said, "Why treat a girl? If you collapse from exhaustion, can she take care of you?" It would be better to have another one quickly.
Dachengzi was very angry, saying that it was the couple's first child, and it would never be like this again. Moreover, even though his daughter was only two years old and was very sensible, she would not care about him when she grew up.
When Xu Youcang heard this, he thought of his niece and said, "Stop talking nonsense, what's wrong with the baby girl? My niece will be a filial one. My mother said that the baby girl will be filial, even down to the shoes and socks she cares about for her mother's family." If you buy it, you are old enough to give money to your mother’s family. Brother, you have to work hard to get medicine for your baby, and you will have good luck behind you.”
"How old is your niece?"
"Thirteen."
Dachengzi: "..." He is not much younger than your uncle.
But because of this incident, the relationship between the two became closest this month.
Xu Youcang saw Dachengzi stopped on the side of the road and took a glance.
But he didn't dare to delay, for fear of affecting the workers who were following him.
Just a reminder: It is difficult to put the wood on your shoulders when it is placed on the ground. Use your shoulders and the crutches in your hands to support it and rest for a while.
At this time, Dachengzi's face looked a little abnormal. When he was carrying the wood just now, his legs suddenly lost strength.
On the slippery mountain road, you have to be careful when walking lightly, let alone carrying a heavy load, and your knees have problems.
So the accident came so suddenly.
After Xu Youcang walked over, the thick wood on Dachengzi's back slipped from the uphill slope. Dachengzi knelt on the ground and was dumbfounded. He felt that it was too late to remind him.
And all the way downhill were workers carrying logs next to each other.
Xu Youcang's ears twitched. It would have been impossible for anyone else to smoothly remove the wood from his shoulders and at the same time be able to hold onto the fallen thick tree and roll it to the side.
Xu Youcang relied solely on his brute strength.
When the workers were struggling to carry Xu Youcang down the hillside, the manager was so frightened after hearing this.
If such a thick tree did not block Xu Youcang from reaching the grassland next to it, it would knock down a group of people. At least many people would roll down the mountain, and at worst, many people would be crushed to death by the wood they were carrying.
The young man in front of him hugged the tree trunk and changed the direction abruptly. Only a small change could save everyone's lives.
It's just that I was seriously hit by the tree trunk that rolled down with inertia.
The steward used his trembling hands to wipe the blood on Xu Youcang's mouth with his sleeve.
There is no doctor nearby, what can I do?
If he still doesn't wake up, he can only take him to the orchard village, where there will be a doctor and medicine.
Xu Youcang felt a little tinnitus and his bones ached all over his body.
He vaguely heard the steward say: "Little brother, can you hear me? Wake up. You don't have to do anything when you wake up. I'll give you six taels and you can go home. Don't you want to go home? Come back." Home."
"real?"
Xu Youcang waited for a while, feeling that his body could move, and then he grinned at the manager and said, "Thank you, shopkeeper."
The manager couldn't bear to say, "I should thank you. Without you, something big would have happened. I will not only pay you six taels of wages, but also write you a note. You go to Guolin Zhuangzi and let the doctor feel your pulse and get some medicine." Go home and drink."
When Xu Youcang heard about Guolin Zhuangzi, he quickly sat up and wiped the blood from his mouth and said: "Shopkeeper, I really don't have anything serious to do, so I just spit out blood and look at people to bluff. I don't want to find you later, and I won't be a rogue... then... Can the medicine be exchanged for fruit?"
"What do you want fruit for?"
He has a niece who has no father or mother.
Mother said that it would be nice for those of them who are uncles to be kind to Tian Xin.
He didn't know what to say was good for the child, and he didn't understand the twists and turns, so he could only act as the big brother.
He thought that if his eldest brother were alive, he would probably use his wages to exchange some fruits for Tian Xin'er before returning home.
So Xu Youcang, the third child, carried a sack of autumn pears covered with luggage rolls to protect them from the rain, and carried six taels of warm silver in his arms, happily walking on the way to the county in advance.
At the same time, the second and fourth children in the county were smelly and wet and had just finished eating. They were looking for a corner of the shed to squat together while eating and talking.
"Second brother, have you come up with any ideas? What should I tell my mother when I get home? What kind of work should we do outside?"
As for being in the orchard all the time, grandma will reveal her secret when she returns.
But I can't always tell the truth, lest my mother would feel uncomfortable hearing it.
"You kid is smart, you think."
Uncle Xu, who was only four years older than Xu Tianxin, looked at the opposite side who was building a dam despite the rain: "We have found a fishing job outside. As for why we earn so much..."
Xu Youyinchang thought: "Second brother, you helped people repair their boats. Third brother is very strong and can cast the net far. I am good at swimming, so they will reward us three brothers with a lot of money."
Xu Youliang laughed: "Okay, let's buy two fish when we go back. Uncles like us are out for a trip, we can't go back empty-handed and let Tian Xin eat the fish."
"Hey, it would be great if Tian Xin could leave me a fish head." Xu Youyin also wanted to eat fish, but he knew it was impossible because his niece was very protective about eating.
(End of chapter)
