Chapter 21
The next day, Gu Nanfeng went up the mountain early in the morning. He went to cut white grass and pick up mushrooms. Now he also had to start stocking up on winter vegetables.
When the sun was about to cover the entire village, Gu Nanfeng came back carrying several bundles of white grass and a basket of small mushrooms.
When he was still some distance away from home, he found someone plowing in front of his house, and his eldest and second brothers were giving him a piece of land. When they were a little further away, Gu Nanfeng could only recognize the figures of the two brothers from the Mei family. When he got closer, he could tell that the person helping with the plowing was Aunt Mei's husband, the uncle of the Mei family.
"Uncle, eldest brother and second brother." Gu Nanfeng had lived in the Mei family for half a year at that time, and naturally met many relatives of the Mei family. At that time, he refused to call Mei A'niang and Mei A'dad as his parents. Instead, he called his relatives Mei's family after his two brothers.
My uncle's surname is Zhang. He is only forty years old this year. His facial features are just straight. He is not tall and has dark skin, but he is very strong. He is best at taming some fierce domestic animals, even cows and horses with strong tempers. When he gets to It will also behave well in the hands.
My uncle's family is not from this village, but it is very close to Meijia Village. It is just a hill away from Meijia Village, and it only takes a stick of incense to climb over from the village entrance.
Gu Nanfeng called someone, and his uncle replied with a smile, "Brother Nan has a very good memory. He still remembers uncle."
"I remember." Gu Nanfeng remembered all the people he met in Meijia Village, or those who were kind to him.
He remembered his uncle, and naturally he also remembered Aunt Mei.
He remembered that his aunt was very beautiful, fair and quiet, and she looked more like a lady from a wealthy family than a country girl. There was a big difference between the aunt and his uncle when they stood together, and they looked like they didn't match each other at all.
But people in Meijia Village say that my aunt has a good life, and that her husband will make money, which is good for her, and he is also very good to her family. When the farming is busy, they will come back to help, and this continues every year after the marriage. Son-in-laws from other families can at most come to help before marriage, but only a few will come to help in the first two or three years.
Uncle and the others must have arrived right after Gu Nanfeng left home. The wasteland in front of the house and next to it had been plowed out, and now only the back of the house was left.
There was no one to entertain people at home. After Gu Nanfeng returned, he was worrying about what to make for breakfast when Brother Mei came over from the fields.
"Nan Feng, you are not an outsider, so stop working blindly. This land is just a convenience. My uncle will have to go to the village to work in a while. He is eating at the house where he is helping, and my mother-in-law is also waiting for us to go back for breakfast. "After Brother Mei said this, Gu Nanfeng knew that his uncle was about to leave, so he hurried out.
Sure enough, as soon as Gu Nanfeng went out, he saw that his uncle had collected the plow and was about to leave. He quickly turned back and poured someone a bowl of water. After drinking it, his uncle simply took off the water bottle from his waist and asked Gu Nanfeng to fill it up for him.
Gu Nanfeng filled the man's kettle with water, and his uncle tied it around his waist again and left.
After his uncle left, Gu Nanfeng took the hoe and went to the fields to work with his two brothers.
This land was originally wasteland. After it was plowed out, the soil was all in the shape of an iron plow. It was also necessary to use a hoe to make small pieces of the land and level it, so that it would be convenient for planting.
The three of them were chatting while playing in the field, and they were all talking about farm matters at home.
After the land was released, they were going to help Gu Nanfeng dig ditches. Since they wanted to raise ducks, the land had to be cleared quickly so that the ducklings could have space to raise after they bought them.
"Nanfeng, there are a lot of small screws in the ditches in the paddy fields in the village. Those little things are good for feeding ducks. The little ducks will grow faster if they eat some meat." In addition to feeding ducks at home, the main thing is for the ducks to forage for themselves. But if they are kept in captivity, the place is so big, and the little bugs inside will be eaten by the ducks sooner or later.
Ducks don't have bugs to eat, so they won't grow well if they just eat some duck food prepared at home.
Brother Mei was talking to Gu Nanfeng, but the work in his hands didn't stop. Gu Nanfeng agreed, and the picture of chasing a group of ducks and picking up duck eggs was already in his mind, and it was suddenly beautiful.
Although the three of them were talking, they kept moving. After Gu Nanfeng worked for a while, he was ready to go back to cook. He also specifically asked his two brothers not to go back, otherwise the noodles he cooked would be wasted.
"I picked up small mushrooms this morning. Let's make bacon and mushroom noodles." The three of them were young and moved quickly. They cut through more than half of the land in one morning.
The sun is good today, the sun is shining brightly at noon, and even the autumn sun is very hot. Gu Nanfeng thought that he would not go to work in the fields after breakfast. He would cut some bamboo and go home to weave a fence. He didn't know how to carry a basket, but the fence was very simple. He thought he could make it himself.
When they moved earlier, the Mei family gave them a piece of bacon weighing seven to eight kilograms. Gu Nanfeng was reluctant to eat it, so he only sliced a few pieces and boiled them in oil.
Today, he specially cut a large piece, sliced it, fried it together with the mushrooms he picked up this morning to make toppings, and used the wild vegetables next to the house to cook them with the noodles, and then added the bacon mushrooms Topped with the toppings, you have a bowl of fragrant bacon mushroom noodles.
You don’t need to be a good cook to cook this bowl of noodles, as long as you are willing to put in the ingredients, it will be delicious.
The three of them sat at a small table, each with a large bowl of noodles in front of them. After Brother Mei took a large piece of bacon and put it in his mouth, he was satisfied with the meal and frowned sadly, "Mom knows we are eating here. Gotta get beat up.”
Mei Qingshan nodded in agreement with his elder brother's words, and gave Gu Nanfeng a piece of fat and thin bacon in his bowl, and then began to eat noodles. After seeing this, elder Mei Qingshan also wanted to pick out the meat in his bowl and give it to Gu Nanfeng. , Gu Nanfeng quickly stopped him.
It was the second brother who was caught off guard, and the meat was thrown directly into his bowl. It was not good for him to throw a piece of meat around. He couldn't eat any more of the elder brother's.
After finishing a bowl of noodles, the three brothers also discussed raising ducks. They agreed. After breakfast, Mei Qingshan and Gu Nanfeng cut bamboos to make fences at home, while Brother Mei went to chop wood piles.
The small ditch dug out will probably require a lot of fences, and naturally it will need a lot of wooden stakes to fix the fences.
After the meal, Gu Nanfeng put away the dishes. Brother Mei went back to talk to his family and went up the mountain, while Mei Qingshan went to chop bamboo.
When Brother Mei came home, Aniang Mei thought he was going back for dinner and wondered why she didn't see the second brother.
Hearing that the eldest son said that the meal had been eaten, he was about to curse a few words, saying that he had to eat a meal for doing some work, but the eldest son ran away with a machete and a backpack, saying that he was going up the mountain to give food to others. Gu Nanfeng chopped wood piles.
Seeing that the two of them were still helping with the work, Mei Aniang said nothing and greeted the idle father and daughter at home to have breakfast.
"Don't wait for the brothers. They ate at your third brother's place."
After Gu Nanfeng tidied up the kitchen in just a moment, he took a machete and went to help chop bamboo. He had just chopped two plums, and Qingshan stopped letting him chop it down and asked him to go home and sort out the white grass.
"Didn't you cut the white grass this morning? Cut it and take it to the town tomorrow to sell." The white grass in the back mountain is different from the wild grass on the side. The grass stems are very flexible and the color is light white.
White grass can be used to make straw shoes, mats, futons, and various utensils. The finished product looks more delicate and beautiful than ordinary straw products, so the price is much higher, so the white grass can be sold for money.
Although white grass can be sold for money, it is not easy to make this money. After cutting the white grass and returning home, you still need to remove the excess blades of grass, leaving only the stems that can be used to make things. Usually, you can only sort out one or two bundles of white grass from ten bundles, but only one bundle. It can also be sold for more than a dozen copper coins.
Gu Nanfeng had planned this way before, tidying up the white grass after dinner, but now his two brothers were helping him work under the sun. If he was willing to be lazy, he would naturally not go home.
"Second brother, I'm not hot. Let's cut the bamboo first. It'll be fine in half an hour at most, right?" Gu Nanfeng still had an idea of how many fences were needed to raise ducks. He thought that at most Cutting down a dozen bamboos is enough.
They didn't even have to drag the bamboo home. Anyway, the fence was to be installed by the ditch next to the bamboo forest. The bamboo forest was just right to provide shade, so they weaved the fence here without dragging the bamboo back and forth. It's quite fast.
Mei Qingshan had never been able to defeat Gu Nanfeng. The two of them cut the bamboo faster than expected, and a piece fell down in a while. After Mei Qingshan saw that it was enough, he began to skillfully break the bamboo, take out the strips, and start weaving bamboo. fence.
Gu Nanfeng had only seen other people weaving fences before. He thought it was very simple, but when he actually started to do it, he was stopped at the step that he thought was the easiest. He couldn't take the strips.
Bamboo can be divided into two parts. The outer cyan part is more flexible and strong, and the inner yellow part is easy to corrode and brittle. Therefore, when weaving bamboo things, the inner yellow part is always removed, leaving only the flexible part, which is The part called the strips.
Gu Nanfeng didn't know how to take the bamboo strips, and he couldn't get it right after trying many times. Mei Qingshan was amused for a long time, and finally told him not to force it, because there were some things he just couldn't do.
"This requires physical strength and skill. Why don't you show off? Just go ahead and sort out the white grass if I ask you to. Leave it to me." Mei Qingshan was quite happy at first, but seeing Gu Nanfeng... After getting really frustrated, the smile on his face faded, and he quickly comforted him: "Why are you so frustrated over such a trivial matter? I can't do the things you know how to do. Everyone has their own strengths." That’s how it comes about, wouldn’t it be great if we each do what we are good at?”
"Then I'm going back." He raised his head and glanced at the sky covered by the bamboo forest. There was still a cool breeze blowing on his face. After Gu Nanfeng really felt that it was not hot at all and it was quite comfortable, he looked up at the mountain behind. direction.
"Hey, thank you for your hard work, brother." The eldest brother was the most tired when he went up the mountain to chop wood piles.
After Gu Nanfeng went back through the back door, as soon as he opened the door of his home, he saw the backs of two figures, one large and one small, in the yard of the house. The younger one looked familiar and seemed to be preparing to leave.
Presuming that the two people thought that there was no one at home and wanted to leave, Gu Nanfeng quickly stopped the people. They must have come to the house because they had something to do, and they would not come to his house for no reason.
"Brother, I'm sorry. I was working in the back just now. Do you have anything to do with me?" Gu Nanfeng quickly called someone. The two people obviously heard the noise. When they turned around, Gu Nanfeng I recognized the little one.
This child was the child he had seen in the field that day.
"Brother Gu, our father and son are from the village below. You gave my boss ten mushrooms earlier. I happen to have a lot of pumpkins at home. I thought I would send some to you." The man said with an honest and honest smile. Sure enough, he was carrying two old pumpkins, and the child on one side was holding a young pumpkin in his hand.
As the man spoke, he walked to the eaves and put down the pumpkin. The child beside him remained silent and followed his father silently. After he put down the pumpkin with his father, he took two steps back and hid directly behind him. Behind my father.
It is normal for children to be afraid of birth. Gu Nanfeng quickly thanked him and was hesitating whether to let people in for a drink of water. The father and son had no intention of staying any longer and left.
Gu Nanfeng was hesitant to keep the man, mainly because he was a grown man, he was the only one at home at the moment, and there were bad rumors about him in the village before, so he was afraid of being talked about indiscriminately.
Seeing that the people were gone, Gu Nanfeng took the pumpkin in the corner and went into the kitchen. He thought that he should prepare some sweets at home. Later, he asked someone to help him, or if there were children coming to the door, he would also have something to sweeten his mouth. .
Gu Nanfeng has been in Meijia Village for so long, but he has never interacted with anyone other than the Meijia family, and no one has come to show his kindness. Now that someone brought something to his door, he was very happy and hugged two bundles of white grass. I went to the bamboo forest in the backyard.
He planned to go to the bamboo forest to work with his second brother and tell others the good news.
"Hmph! That old gambler is not a good guy. You are not allowed to accept his things anymore, and you are not allowed to interact with his family, you know?"
"Old gambler?" Gu Nanfeng was originally happy, but Mei Qingshan's angry look didn't look like he was cheating at all, and the description of the man in her mouth even surprised Gu Nanfeng.
I've only heard of urban dandies entering gambling houses, but never heard of peasants in villages entering gambling houses.
That place is a place that eats people without spitting out their bones. No matter how rich you are, you can lose everything!
