Early on Sunday morning, the sun seemed to show his face in advance, and before the children of the week could get up, they jumped out of the horizon early.

The first thing Mu Zhen did after getting up was to run to his mother who was cooking in the kitchen, and he didn't dare or want to tell Lao Mu about going out with his classmates since he was a child, and until now he still maintains the habit of communicating with his mother about something.

"Today, my classmate invited me to his aunt's house to see the lotus flowers, do you think I should go?" Mu Zhen and his mother also sold guanzi.

Xiuhua has always loved Mu Zhen, he feels that his son has grown up and has the ability to take care of himself, so he always tries to meet his son's requirements.

"Also ask me, do you think you should go, go, and come back for dinner at noon?" Xiuhua glared at Mu Zhen who was standing in front of the pot.

"I can't say for sure, maybe I won't come back!" Mu Zhen thought, if Zhang Ran has a treat, do you still need to come back for dinner?

"Okay, be careful not to go into the water!" Xiuhua admonished.

"I promise not to go into the water!" Mu Zhen said, ran to the hall, touched a steamed bun from the steamed bun basket, and took out a purple onion from the kitchen vegetable bag, and shouted to Xiuhua: "Mother, I'm going!"

Before Xiuhua could come back to her senses, Mu Zhen had already run out of the gate quickly and rushed onto the road.

When they arrived at the entrance of Zhangji Village, the other three people were already waiting there, Zhang Ran and Liu Xuchang each rode a bicycle from home, and the four people said that they rode in the direction of the lake with a smile.

Although there are more than ten miles away from the lake, but because Mu Zhen and Hubin Township are not a township, and there are no relatives in the lake, so the opportunity to come to the lake to see the lotus has never been there.

As soon as I went up to the lake embankment, I saw a large area of reeds, like a green carpet spread in the lake, the breeze blew, and there was a "rustling" sound, and the reed leaves swaying with the wind were like blowing up green satin, ups and downs.

Occasionally, a small boat jumps out from the reed pond, like a swimming dragon playing in the water, fast and slow, left and right, fluctuating, it is really a fairy-like life.

Mu Zhen, who was looking at it intently, was suddenly pulled back by Liu Xuchang's prompt of "sit firm". Mu Zhen immediately firmly grasped the beam of the back seat of the car, only to feel that the bicycle was sliding down the river embankment at a high speed, and then heard the brake sound continued to get louder, still did not stop the speed of the slide, the car went down to the bottom of the river embankment, and it was a smooth dirt road, Mu Zhen jumped down from the car, and a small pier appeared in front of him, this pier was very simple, Mu Zhen saw it for the first time in his life, an iron pillar was erected on the side of the wharf, and a fixed pulley was installed at the top of the pillar, and a thick steel bar with water was placed on the fixed pulley, and the thick steel bar passed through the two fixed pulleys supported by the iron pillar of the ferry boat across the water, and then connected with the fixed pulley fixed on the iron pillar on the opposite bankto form a simple ferry that can be dragged back and forth.

All four men got out of the car and stood on the pier watching the people on the ferry ride with special hooks attached to the steel bars and heading in the direction they were standing. Mu Zhen is so big, it is the first time to see this kind of boat, when the boat docked, the four of them jumped on the boat, there was no one else, only the four of them went to the opposite shore, Zhang Ran inserted the bicycle into the boat, very skillfully picked up the special hook, hooked the steel bar on the boat, and slammed the force, the ferry swished, left the river bank, and sailed to the opposite side.

Mu Zhen, who was standing at the bow of the boat, suddenly thought of Li Bai's song "Gift to Wang Lun", and couldn't help but groan: "Li Bai was about to go on a boat, and suddenly heard the sound of singing on the shore. The Peach Blossom Lake is thousands of feet deep, not as deep as Wang Lun to send me love. ”

"You really have Li Bai's demeanor. Xiaojuan looked at Mu Zhen who was chanting poetry.

"Where there is, where there is, it's just touching the scene!" Mu Zhen put up a shelf and said in a crepe manner.

Liu Xuchang stepped on the bow of the boat, swayed his body from side to side, and the hull of the boat immediately swayed from side to side, Mu Zhen, who did not have any handrails, stumbled, and Xiao Juan, who was standing in the center of the boat, hurriedly stepped forward and hugged him, and immediately blushed Mu Zhen's face.

Then the four of them burst out laughing.

"Look at the sour rot you just now, it's like crossing the river and showing off your talent. Liu Xuchang said with a smile.

Mu Zhen only felt that his face was like fire, he stood firm, and no longer answered, he suddenly felt that he couldn't mess with poetry and writing, otherwise it would only become a joke.

After crossing the river, when I got to the pier, I saw a path one meter wide, and both sides of the path were full of finger-thick reeds.

Because the road is narrow, the four of them dare not ride anymore, and Zhang Ran, who is pushing the cart, reminds from time to time: "You must be careful when walking this road, if you accidentally enter the reeds next to it, it is not a joke, there are snakes in it." ”

"Don't be scary, okay?" Xiaojuan was a little surprised, "I haven't seen you yet, talking nonsense!"

Zhang Ran stopped talking, maybe it was Zhang Ran's reminder that really made the other three people afraid of this water snake in their hearts, so they didn't say anything more.

After walking about two miles, I arrived at Liulou Village, where Aunt Zhang Ran's house was located. This village is an isolated island in the lake, the only thing connected to the outside world by land is the path when it comes, the village does not look big, all the mud walls and grass houses, walk into the village, narrow alleys, see the head at a glance, there are no pedestrians quietly, occasionally meet three or two old people sitting on the wall, and do not speak, all eyes are focused on the four of them, as if seeing visitors from outside the world.

Zhang Ran led everyone through the alley and turned a corner, Zhang Ran shouted at the small courtyard: "Auntie, are you at home? I'm Zhang Ran!" No one in the courtyard answered, Zhang Ran repeated it again, only to see a hunchbacked elderly woman trembling to the door, sticking out her head to take a look.

"Grandma, where's my aunt?" Zhang Ran recognized at a glance that this was his aunt's mother-in-law, and hurriedly greeted her.

"Your aunt has gone down to the lake to collect the nets, come in and wait for her! I guess I'll be back soon!" the old woman smiled and beckoned the four children into the courtyard.

The courtyard is not large, surrounded by earthen walls, as if you have entered an earthen castle. Only the thick jujube tree in the courtyard is blooming jujube flowers, and the leaves of the whole tree are green and shiny, revealing vitality.

"Now the young and strong old people in the village have not come back from the lake, except for the children in the village who are still asleep, we are old people who can't walk, we are old, and we are useless!" The old woman chattered to the four children, more like talking to herself.

The four children didn't know what to say, standing in the courtyard and looking around, it was as fresh as arriving in a paradise.

Just when the four children were bored in the courtyard, they heard the sound of laughter coming from the alley, Zhang Ran was very sensitive to the familiar voice, and said to the other three: "My aunt is back!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a middle-aged woman standing at the gate with a straw hat on her head, a plastic cloth-like apron tied around her waist, and a small fish and shrimp in her hand.

"Aunt!" Zhang Ran said hello, and Mu Zhen and the three of them also followed Zhang Ran and called "Auntie" just to listen to the conversation between Zhang Ran and his aunt.

"When did you come?" Aunt Zhang Ran looked at the four children and said hurriedly.

"Just arrived. ”

"Have you eaten?" Aunt Zhang Ran felt that the child was still hungry so early now that she had come here.

"Eat, aunt!"

"Nonsense, this point came to me, we haven't eaten yet, what kind of meal are you eating?" Aunt Zhang Ran obviously didn't believe Zhang Ran's reply.

"Come inside and I'll cook for you. As he spoke, he untied the plastic apron and entered the low kitchen next to the hall.

Zhang Ran followed: "Auntie, we really ate!"

"Whatever you eat, even if you eat, you have to eat more! Your uncle will come back in a while, and let him take you to the lake to play!"

"Where's my cousin!" Zhang Ran's aunt and cousin Chen Yuxiang are three years older than Zhang Ran, and she is a good hand at holding boats and fishing on the lake.

"What about selling fish with your uncle in the east of the village?"

Aunt Zhang Ran did things quite neatly, and after a while, she heard the "zizi" sound of fried fish coming from the kitchen, and then the aroma of fried oil from the kitchen made the saliva secretion of the four children much stronger.

"Alas, there are so many guests at home!" Cousin Zhang Ran, who stepped through the door, greeted the four of them. "Sister, I came to you today, and after dinner, I took the boat to take us down to the lake to see the lotus. Zhang Ran saw his cousin, as if he saw a savior, greeted him, and took the fishing net in his cousin's hand. When Mu Zhen heard the words, she turned around and saw a tall man with a handsome face, wearing a red shirt and blue pants with a high trouser leg and walking into the gate.

"Look, when you come, you know that I will accompany you to the lake. As long as Zhang Ran comes, Chen Yuxiang is happy to accompany this cousin to play in the lake.

"Xiao Juan doesn't need to be introduced, what are these two called?" Chen Yuxiang was obviously very interested in the two strangers in front of her.

"These are my two classmates, his name is Mu Zhen, Mu Guiying's Mu, and Zhen's treasure. Zhang Ran pointed to Mu Zhen and introduced, and then pointed to Liu Xuchang who was standing next to Mu Zhen: "This is called Liu Xuchang, surnamed Liu, the rising sun is Xu, Chang is ......" Zhang Ran couldn't remember how to form a word for this "Chang" word for a while, and was in a hurry: "It's the eternal eternal plus day." His words drew laughter.

Chen Yuxiang graduated from junior high school and was not familiar with this word, so Zhang Ran said this, although she knew how to write it, but she still didn't understand the specific meaning, she turned her head and asked Liu Xuchang: "Do you know the meaning of this word?"

"You know, this word is very special, you see the word is eternal day, which means that the day is long. I was born on June 22, which happened to be the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, so I used this word. Liu Xuchang explained seriously.

Everyone listened to it, and it was also refreshing, if there was no explanation from Liu Xuchang, there were really few people who knew the meaning of this word.

The fisherman's meal was cooked quickly, and the smell of fish had not yet drifted away, and the aunt in the kitchen shouted to the children talking in the courtyard: "Don't talk all the time, it's time to eat!"

When Yuxiang heard her mother's shout, she immediately ran to the hall, hugged a stack of bowls, and came out with a bundle of bamboo chopsticks in her hand, put them in a basin to wash, and after cleaning, they were stacked and carried into the kitchen. The four children looked at each other, really not knowing whether to eat or not to eat this meal.

"Zhang Ran, what are you still doing in a daze, hurry up and call your classmates to the house for dinner!" Yuxiang urged Zhang Ran while holding a bowl into the hall.

Zhang Ran beckoned to everyone, and everyone followed him to the kitchen to serve the bowl of good rice.

Walking into the kitchen, the pungent aroma strongly stimulates the sense of smell of everyone who comes in, the fragrant fish soup, the fish is not big, it is wrapped in fried golden noodles, plus the slightly yellow fish soup, so that the people who look at the smell have increased their appetite by twelve points.

In the hall, everyone saw that Yuxiang's grandmother was sitting on the edge of the bed in the inner room, and the meal in front of her was already placed in front of her old man.

When Mu Zhen went out, although he ate a steamed bun, he didn't know where to digest it, and when he saw the fried fish in the bowl, his stomach began to "growl" again.

"Where's my aunt?" asked Yuxiang with a bowl.

"She went to the entrance of the village and told me to go big! Let's eat first!" she said, continuing to pull the rice into her mouth.

Aunt Zhang Ran hasn't come back yet, everyone is wiping their mouths, and they have already filled their stomachs again, Zhang Ran burped and said, "Rest for a while, we should go to the lake, right?"

"What's the hurry, it's early now, the water is still a little cold!" Yuxiang said as if she knew the urgency of her cousin in front of her.

"It's not swimming in the lake, and the cool water has nothing to do with going down to the lake to see the lotus. Zhang Ran said to Yuxiang.

The two had just exchanged a few words in the courtyard when they heard a voice outside the gate: "Today's fish price is a dime lower than yesterday's, and if this continues, no matter how many fish you catch, you won't be able to make money!"

"If you don't catch it, you won't have any money, what's an old snack?" Zhang Ran concluded that it was his aunt's voice.

"Uncle, we're all done eating!" Zhang Ran greeted his uncle first.

Zhang Ran's uncle's name is Chen Sanjun, is the village party secretary, three brothers in the family, the eldest is called the army, the second is called the second army, to him here is the third army, became the third army, as soon as he went to the township for a meeting, everyone saw him coming, they all joked with him and said "the three armies are here", he has a cheerful personality, and often responds with fists: "The three armies are here! At nearly 50 years old this year, he still looks like a young man, except for his own fishing, almost the whole person is in the village, which family in the village can't sell fish, looking for him, which family has a net cut, looking for him, and which family has a wedding or funeral, still looking for him. He became the backbone of the village and the most trustworthy person in the village. In particular, his family also produced a figure that made the whole village proud, that is, his son Chen Xiaoping, two years ago, was admitted to a university in Beijing and became the "golden phoenix" that flew out of this small village in the lake.

"Zhang Ran is here, what is this?"

"My classmates. Zhang Ran looked at his uncle's somewhat surprised eyes and hurriedly replied.

"Have you all eaten?" the three armies greeted everyone.

"Eat well, uncle!" said the children politely in unison.

"There is something else in my village at noon, so I won't accompany you to the lake to play, let Yuxiang accompany you to the lake to see the lotus!" said Sanjun and entered the house, picking up Yuxiang's rice bowl on the board.

Hearing the words of the three armies just now, Yuxiang seemed to have received a holy decree, and today she will take these classmates of her cousin to visit the lotus pond, and she has not had time to go there this year! She was ready to go a few days earlier, but she didn't have a chance, but this time her cousin came, a rare opportunity.

"Let's get ready, and we'll set off in a moment!" Yuxiang said, taking out a basket from the house, carrying it on her back, and then said to her parents who were eating in the house, "I'll take them down to the lake!"

After saying that, he shook the two horn braids on his head, and went out of the gate without looking back, and the four people followed closely behind and went out of the house happily.

When we arrived at the east entrance of the village, we saw an open field, and there were more than a dozen fishing boats docked by the river, with different shapes, pointed, flat-headed, some with shacks, some with shade sheds, and some with oars, and all boats had a penny of different thicknesses inserted in the bow.

Yuxiang came to a boat with its own oars, untied the cable tied to the penny at the bow, jumped steadily to the bow with a slight jump, then pulled up the penny, held it on the stern, and the boat stopped firmly on the shore, and beckoned the four men to get on board.

Yuxiang first left the shore with a penny, and then sat in the stern of the boat and rowed very easily with the oars, the boat entered the reeds, just like the path when it came, both sides were full of impermeable reeds, and in the middle was a waterway a few meters wide, Mu Zhen immediately felt that this was another world in the world, except for the "bang" sound of the oars slapping the water, far away from the hustle and bustle of the world, some were just quiet, and people's moods were so calm here that they could not afford the slightest waves. From time to time, unknown birdsong can be heard from the reeds, and the crisp echo is like in the ear, breaking the silence and adding a little spice to the silent lake. Looking up at the sky, I only saw that the sky was cut into a blue furrow by the dense reeds, and the sun was covered by the reeds, and I could only see the slightest light seeping out through the gaps in the sharp leaves of the reeds, and then I saw that the reed tips and leaves were constantly swaying from side to side, but the people sitting on the boat could not feel a trace of wind, nor could they hear a little wind, and the air seemed to be frozen here, without any flow. Looking down at the surface of the water, it is so clear that you can see the bottom at a glance, and occasionally fish swim around, the ancients said, "When the water is clear, there are no fish", suddenly there is no standing in the scene in front of you, maybe the owner who said this did not see the fish swimming in the clear water, or did not get on the boat! Maybe this is just an excuse that the ancients found for those who had difficulty making friends. The yellow mud under the water is very flat, as if it has been smeared, if he hadn't seen it in person, Mu Zhen really couldn't imagine that the scenery in the lake was so attractive, and he couldn't imagine the sparkling beauty of the lake anyway.

Maybe it's the scenery of the lake that everyone is intoxicated by, and no one speaks, and some just compete to look left and right.

"Look, look, it's almost time for the lotus to swing!" Zhang Ran suddenly stood in the cabin as if he had been injected with a strong injection, pointing to the front and shouting loudly.

"As far as your eyes are concerned, what you see is not the lotus swing we are going to. Yuxiang, who had been paddling, reminded.

Yuxiang paddled a few times, and the speed of the boat seemed to change from the original human jogging to sprinting forward. The water surface suddenly became open, Mu Zhen had never seen such a large water surface, forward, there was endless green in the distance, looking left and right, the wide water was spread out endlessly on both sides, and there was no end in sight, with the change of this scene, people's minds were also broadened, the sound of the motor of "Tutu Tu" was from far and near, the sound was getting louder and louder, a tugboat was coming towards them, Yuxiang hurriedly put away the oars, stood up, held the penny on the side of the boat, and rowed the boat to the ditch that had just sailed out.

The other four were a little curious.

"Why don't we grab this big water?" asked Liu Xuchang.

"That's a long dragon on the water, followed by a lot of warehouses, he will definitely set off a big wave when he comes, I am afraid that the waves will wet your clothes, let's hide first, and when it passes, it will not be too late for us to sail through here." Yuxiang explained.

Everyone nodded knowingly, did not speak, and did not leave the "long dragon" that drove over for a moment.

"This guy is a train on the water, this water dragon runs fast, and it also depends on this headband!" Mu Zhen said with a smile.

"Of course, the front is the bow of the ship, the power is all in the bow, and the back is only the cargo hold, leaving the bow of the ship, you can't run at all in the back, you are too smart!" Yuxiang was a little envious of Mu Zhen's cleverness.

After about ten minutes, the dragon approached, and everyone looked at the waves he set off, and felt that their boat was like duckweed, dangling freely on the water, showing the insignificance of the wooden boat.

For about ten minutes, everyone watched the long dragon go away, laughing at each other's domineering dragon, Yuxiang sailed out of the ditch, across the wide water surface, Yuxiang introduced to everyone while rowing: "Now we are passing through the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal through the lake channel, every day there is a fleet of transport ships passing here, the water surface of this channel is also the deepest, so every time you pass by here, you have to see if there is a big boat coming, avoid them safe!." ”

"Can I swim?" Liu Xuchang felt restless in his heart, and said a nonsensical sentence.

"The water here is deep, and there is not even a place to stop, absolutely not, unless Ruan Xiaoer is reborn!" Yuxiang said very simply.

As he was talking, the boat approached the lotus swing he had just seen, and the four people stood up at the same time, Mu Zhen noticed that this lotus flower was about an acre of land, with reeds on three sides, and the opening side faced the channel just mentioned, as if opening a lotus portal to the passing ships. The boat went around this lotus bush, turned the reeds of the lotus bush, and the refreshing fragrance of lotus flowers began to become more and more intense, so that everyone wanted to put their noses up, absorb the fragrance to their heart's content, and savor it.

"This time it's our lotus swing!" Zhang Ran guessed with some certainty.

"You still remember something!" Yuxiang smiled and looked at the lotus flower in front of her.

The four of them all stood up, competing to look, the lotus bush really did not look at the edge at a glance, the distance has bordered the sky, forming the dividing line between the blue of the sky and the green in the lake, this green is different from the green of the reed, at a glance, it is a dark green, red and bright lotus flowers are dotted among them, it is tempting, standing here, only to really appreciate the fun of "reflecting the sun lotus different red". The boat sailed into the lotus swing, immediately wrapped in this thick green, the high lotus leaf elevation blocked people's sight, only to see the thorny green petiole below, Zhang Ran gently grabbed a petiole with a big lotus leaf on it, slowly lifted it up, suddenly heard a "quack" sound, the petiole was pulled off from the middle, when the water surface was raised, it was found that the petiole was much higher than Zhang Ran, everyone couldn't help but exclaim: "So long!"

"Look at how big this lotus leaf is, how beautiful the lotus flower is, without this green pole, it can only float on the water. Xiaojuan sighed.

"Isn't it true that Newton said that he himself is only standing on the shoulders of giants?"

"It's all on display, and if you leave the roots below, you'll be shattered!" Xiao Juan said thoughtfully.

"Look, look, we're here to see the lotus, not here to sigh, what are you talking about, it's a mess!" Yuxiang reminded.

"Hey, hey, there's an edible lotus pod there!" Zhang Ran's eyes were sharp again, and not far from the bow of the boat, there was a lotus pod that looked like a small bowl, facing several of them, and the lotus pod rice was like a prominent green eye, evenly distributed on the top of the lotus pod.

Yuxiang lifted the penny to the reverse of the lotus pod and pounded it, Zhang Ran was in a hurry, took the lotus pod in his hand with one hand, folded it off, and distributed it to everyone to taste.

Everyone shuttled in the lotus swing, from time to time the edible lotus pod picked down and put it into the cabin, everyone laughed, from time to time the peeled lotus pod stuffed into the mouth, fragrant and delicious, for a while forgot that the time has quietly slipped away in this shuttle, the sun has been slanting westward, the lotus pod in the cabin has also piled up a hill, everyone is still not tired, Yuxiang knows, if you don't go back, you will be reprimanded by your mother again after going home, so you say hello, let everyone sit down, wave the penny to the return ditch.

"The sun is about to set in the west, and it is quiet on Weishan Lake, playing my beloved earthen pipa, and singing that moving ballad......" I don't know where came a man's high-pitched singing voice from the river, everyone listened to it very attentively, this song led everyone to seem to return to the battlefield of decades ago, and saw the small boats of countless guerrillas rushing out of the reeds, rushing towards the enemy, brandishing a big knife and slashing at the devils.