"It's itchy on my back, scratch it for me. Xuemei in her arms hummed unbearably.

Gently scratching her smooth back through her underwear, Xuemei buried her face in her chest comfortably, and whispered: "If I don't take a bath, I feel like my body is about to stink." ”

Smelling the body fragrance of the Xuemei girl, Qin Fan chuckled and said, "No matter how stinky it is, I like it." ”

"I can't stand it. Saying that, the puppy seemed to sniff around Qin Fan's body, wrinkling his small nose: "You have to wash it too, you really stink." ”

-

There are very few households in the village, each family is separated by about one or two hundred, separated by the peach forest or bamboo forest planted by each family, the whole village forms a semicircle, the circular point is the old house of Grandma Qin Fan, around the surrounding hillside, each family is three white walls and black tile tile houses, most of them are the front yard and the back forest, between the forest and the forest there are low earth walls separated, and some are staggered by a stream less than two meters wide.

The only place in the village where you can bathe in winter is at the junction of the peach grove of the old house and the bamboo grove of the neighboring house, which is a low, ordinary tiled house, hidden in the forest, with a mound road in front of the door connecting to the main road of the village, and next to the house is a stream that flows down the hillside.

Qin Fan couldn't remember if he could take a bath during the New Year, so he asked his cousin, and his cousin Lanzi blinked and said, "My father said that he could wash it." After speaking, he saw Qin Fan's strange expression and explained, "The cauldron for bathing is for my father." ”

At this time, Xuemei crossed her arms and twisted her waist, shouting and walked in from the lobby: "Itchy, itchy, scratch my back." Qin Fan didn't care that his seventeen-year-old cousin Lanzi was still in front of him, so he naturally reached under Xuemei's clothes and scratched Xuemei, Xuemei hummed comfortably, Lanzi was stunned, pulled out his feet and walked out of the door, and said as he walked: "Stinky and shameless!"

When I got out of the room, I couldn't help but feel that my back was also itchy, and I also raised my arms and twisted my waist towards the door.

In the hall, the black-faced second uncle was smoking a dry cigarette, and when he saw the strange posture of his little daughter, he asked, "Why are you going, the girl's house is not good at walking, what does it look like?" ”

Lan Zitou said crisply without looking back: "Brother Fanzi's daughter-in-law wants to take a bath, I'll go back to the pot." The second uncle opened his mouth but didn't say anything, just knocked the dry smoking gun in his hand on the foot board, turned his head and sneered at Dad Qin on the other side of the table: "Just as hypocritical as your daughter-in-law." Dad Qin just laughed awkwardly.

Qin Fan didn't know the rule that at this time in the village, he was still not allowed to take a bath after the fifteenth year.

The afternoon sun was very strong, and the sun was warm, Xuemei packed her clothes and walked to the bathing hut, but she was dumbfounded.

The hut is divided into two rooms by an earthen wall, and the half of the door is an old-style stove in the countryside, and there is a pile of firewood in the corner, and Lanzi's cousin is adding fire in front of the stove, and when she saw the two of them coming, she said, "Sister-in-law Xuemei, the water will be fine in a while." ”

Lifted the door curtain into the room, on the stove is a huge iron pot, this pot does not know where to get it, some years, the pot is Lanzi from the hillside stream to get the water, is gurgling boiling blisters, the iron pot is placed in a round bamboo stool, to prevent the bathing people from burning. There is also an earthen kang next to it for people to put their clothes.

Xuemei retreated behind Qin Fan with some fear, and Lanzi pouted: "It's okay, if you feel that the water is hot, you can shout, and I will anneal outside." He turned his head to Qin Fan and said, "Women take a bath, and men go out." ”

Xuemei was still a little scared and tugged at Qin Fan's clothes, Qin Fan smiled and comforted: "It's okay, Sister Lanzi will give you the water temperature, it won't burn you." ”

Lanzi taunted beside him: "You don't let my brother show you outside, and when you can wash it, you will be seen by those bad boys." ”

Qin Fan turned to the only window, lit a cigarette, and after a while, he saw a faint figure in the forest, and knew that they were all half-grown children in the village; every time a woman took a bath in the village, something would happen that someone peeked at, such as after the woman in the house found out, he would just go to the house of these children and jump and scold.

After a while, Qin Fan heard Xuemei's voice in the house: "Sister Lanzi, the water is a little cold." Or, "Sister Lanzi, the water is too hot." ”

From time to time, I heard Lanzi's scolding again: "Woman bathing, what are you doing here, get out." Qin Fan knew that someone wanted to enter from the door to see a novelty.

Lanzi regretted a little, she should have called her aunt over, these stinky men are really shameless, and they don't ask who is taking a bath, if something bad happens, then they won't be able to live this year, and they will end up in a thankless situation.

When Xuemei shouted hot again, Lanzi lifted the door curtain and went to add some cold water to Xuemei in the pot, but after pouring a scoop of cold water, she was a little stunned when she saw Xuemei's sister-in-law's creamy skin.

Then I saw the heart of spades between Xuemei's sister-in-law's legs, I only felt extremely surprised, and I was stunned for a while, Xuemei noticed Lanzi's strange appearance, and saw her looking straight at the spades between her legs, and she was shy and hurriedly covered it with her hands.

Lanzi added cold water without saying a word, lifted the curtain and sat in front of the stove, wondering why Xuemei's place was different from the girl in the countryside.

Xuemei finally washed it clean, Lanzi stuffed two pieces of firewood into the stove hole, went into the room and washed it hastily, and then pushed Qin Fan in.

In front of the stove, when Xuemei asked why she didn't change the water, Lanzi explained to Xuemei the custom of bathing in the village, generally speaking, the girls wash first, which is called "head soup", then the women, called the second soup, then the boys' "chaos soup", and finally the stinky men, who are laughed at by themselves as "health soup".

When he got carried away, he didn't know how much firewood was stuffed in the stove hole, and Qin Fan inside opened the door curtain, revealing a red face, and shouted: "You want to cook me!"

Xuemei and Qin Fan, who were light-hearted, walked out of the path in front of the hut, and Xuemei saw Lanzi calling her brother and brother in a hurry, and asked in a low voice, "This water is not changed, how dirty it is." ”

Qin Fan smiled and replied: "Customs, no way. ”

When the two turned the road, they saw the skinny grandmother holding a thin bamboo pole, blocking the villagers, Xuemei and Qinfan knew that the grandmother was afraid that the bad boy would peek at her granddaughter-in-law taking a bath.

"Grandma!" Xuemei ran forward and hugged her grandmother, and her heart was moved.

Grandma put up the bamboo pole, let the embarrassed-looking villager go over first, turned around and patted Xuemei, and asked with a smile, "Ya'er, it's a good wash." ”

Qin Fan looked at the grandmother who was moving forward, and had been very vague about her life experience, but she heard her father say something, saying that her grandmother was originally a big family somewhere in Suzhou and Hangzhou, and then fled with her grandfather to this place.

And since the death of the grandfather, a person with six children to live a difficult life, the uncle was a teenager by the national army who fled here to capture the strong man, and then heard the people in the neighboring village say that when he saw the uncle in Jinling, the grandmother led the five or six Qin fathers, moved his little feet all the way to beg, and in the huge, dense military construction site, let the grandmother find the uncle.

According to my father's recollection, when I saw my uncle at that time, he was wearing an ill-fitting military uniform, and he did not suffer much of a crime, but because he knew how to read, he was left by the so-called commander to be a soldier by his side, unlike the young man who was arrested and repaired fortifications all day long.

The war was imminent, and the grandmother listened to the uncle's persuasion, led the young father Qin back to his hometown, and worried about the uncle with tears all day long, but he didn't expect that the uncle took off his military uniform and fled home overnight the day before the People's Liberation Army crossed the river, and several young people who were arrested died and fled, and no one came back.

In the next three years, the second uncle volunteered to join the army, and then entered the Korean battlefield, and at the same time joined the army and entered the DPRK, there were more than 20 young men in the township, but only the second uncle came back two years later.

The villagers in all the towns and villages are spreading the word that grandma's good deeds have blessed the two brothers, but the two brothers have privately summed up, but they are grateful to their grandfather for forcing them to recognize the words that saved them. The second uncle was assigned to the regiment as an operator because of his literacy, and he was less dangerous than the combat company.

Until the younger brother shouted that he wanted to study, the eldest uncle and the second uncle gritted their teeth and sent Qin's father to school.

In just a few dozen meters of road, Qin Fan recalled many old things, and when he saw Xuemei in front of him talking and laughing with his grandmother, he couldn't help but sigh that his mentality was still old.

"Big sister, I'm back. In front of the old house, the uncle's daughter-in-law asked with a smile while holding her six- or seven-month-old child. As a woman, the uncle and daughter-in-law felt a little bit of food in their hearts, and the women in the city could make an exception to take a bath, while they could only wipe their bodies at home.

Xuemei and grandma responded, but Qin Fan behind them stared at the child in her arms.

The child in his arms felt the unkindness of Qin Fan's eyes, twisted his little body in fear, and buried his little face in his mother's arms, the little uncle and daughter-in-law felt strange, raised their heads and shouted: "Fanzi, you are scared of the child." ”

Qin Fan looked away, he knew that his grandmother's death was directly related to the child who was still in his mother's arms.