The sour jujube herd cattle are back.

At this time, green smoke is rising from the chimneys of every household, and it is the time for families to make dinner.

Standing on the hill and looking down, in the uneven mountain col, there are farmhouse courtyards scattered on the ground. The high base is guarded halfway up the mountain, overlooking the green village at the foot, showing off its impressive terrain to others. The people in the lower places, like a delicate baby, slumped down and hid in the arms of the mountains, peeking out through the gaps in the dense forest.

The houses in the courtyard are not very tall, they are all built with mountain stones, and then the red grass that grows crazy on the hillside is cut and dried, and the roof is covered. Such a house is comfortable and dry to live in, the sun is not transparent on hot days, and the cold wind cannot invade it, which is a typical good place to live in warm winter and cool in summer.

The walls of the courtyard are also made of all mountain stones. If there is a taller and more neat one, it must be a family with a solid family and a diligent master. Some of them are low, or even have no courtyard walls, and they must be a family with a lazy owner who lives a loose life. Of course, judging people by their appearance in this way will inevitably leave a lot of drawbacks, and wronged some families who are diligent and prudent in keeping their wealth hidden. Like Zhenfu and the like, it is the standard master who is shabby on the outside and oily on the inside. But no matter how you judge it, compared to the vast majority of people, such a measure is still more realistic.

The dense forest on the mountain is connected with the woods in the village, and it is impossible to distinguish which is the boundary of the village and which is the territory of the mountain farm. A stream bursts out of the north mountain behind the village and rushes down the towering mountain with joy. When they reached the head of the village, they turned westward, bypassed the village, and poured into the pond dam in front of the village. After a short rest, he gently crossed the stone dam and rushed down the mountain. It wasn't until it merged into a reservoir in the southwest corner of the town a dozen miles away that it really settled down.

This stream does not dry all year round, and hangs like a silver chain in the deep cols of the mountains, shining with a shiny luster. Even in the cold winter months, when a layer of silvery ice is formed on the stream, the stream water will bubble under the ice.

At this time, it is the time when the twilight is getting thicker.

The sunset has just been sucked into the belly of the West Mountain, and there is still a rich glow on the top of the mountain. Warm light and shadow cover the mountains, and then cast into the small farmhouse courtyards in the col with smoke curling and rising. Wisps of blue-white smoke floated between the trees on the rooftop, flowing slowly, changing the magical scene.

In the village, there is the sound of dogs barking, the sound of the owner calling for a chicken or a duck or a child calling for a girl, and the sound of a hook hitting a bucket. From time to time, a few mooing sounds of ploughing cattle were mixed in, which aroused people's strong appetite and the urge to go home.

It was at this time that the sour jujube drove a group of ploughing cattle into the village.

At this time, his feelings were deeper than anyone in the village. However, he never wanted to tell outsiders, and he never showed it on his face. Sometimes, he forced himself not to think about anything that had nothing to do with him. I know that if I think about it, it's in vain, so don't toss myself in vain. In the eyes of outsiders, he is taciturn and not good at answering and making friends with people, but he is a happy old bachelor who has nothing to worry about. Guarding the collective herd all day long, leisurely wandering around the ravines and valleys. When he was happy, he opened his throat and shouted a few times to show the show. When he was in trouble, he squatted on the rocks and smoked a few bags of cigarettes. When I was hungry, I nibbled on a few bites of corn tortillas with the stream water, moistening and feeling happy like a fairy. However, who can know the unbearable loneliness and loneliness in his heart.

Before the family returned, he was afraid that the night would come too early, and he always complained that the sun was going too quickly. Before I could feel it, it was evening again, and it was night again.

The time of the night is even more long and difficult. Maybe it's because he's older, he doesn't get much sleep. It's easy to fall asleep, and I often wake up in the middle of the night and can't sleep again. Sometimes, he couldn't sleep all night, and he didn't feel sleepy at all, so he could only stare at the big slippery eyes like brass bells, and listen carefully to the movements outside the house. Outside, except for the sound of the wind and the wind, there was not a trace of noise from anyone. So he listened to the sounds of the house.

On winter nights, in addition to the sound of ploughing cattle ruminating, there is the sound of rats squirming around. He could clearly tell which rumination sound was made by the "old fellow". It was also clear that there were twenty-two mice in the whole house, nine of them were baby mice, and two female mice were about to give birth. Mao Lin gave him rat poison many times, saying that the second uncle, you should take the rat poison in the house, don't let yourself get sick or something. He took it with a smile. When Maolin walked on his front foot, he threw the medicine into the ditch outside the courtyard wall. These rats are companions of the night, and if they are destroyed, who will accompany them?

Since the return of Maosheng's family, his life has gradually become a little more vibrant. At the very least, it is the popularity and the sound of life.

Although the whole courtyard is divided into two courtyards, the low wall is constantly separated from the crisp collision of pots and pans in the east courtyard, and the sound of adults talking and children crying. To him, these sounds are long-lost but durable opera rhymes. Even the sound of the hostess beating and scolding the child is so pleasant to the ear, and the aftertaste is endless. Especially Jing'er, as soon as he heard the sound of him driving the cattle back to the courtyard, he hurriedly jumped out of the east courtyard. Running into the west courtyard, he plunged into the cow heap. Either the ox pulls the reins, or rides on the back of the ox and writhes happily. In the west courtyard, which had been silent all day, bursts of immature screams erupted from time to time. At this time, he felt that he was back in the past, back to his youth, back to the long ago hot days. He also laughed, a smile that he hadn't seen for a long time, a happy laugh, and a laugh from the bottom of his heart.

In the evening, he no longer complained that it was too early to get dark, but that the days were so long and that the time to return home was so slow. It has been more than ten years since he beat his daughter-in-law's death, and he has a sense of home again and the desire to live.