Yue Haohan accompanied Deng Guoxing and Wang Yun to the door of a group of Sun Xicai's house in Longwanghe Village, and saw a large piece of mountain spades drying in the yard, and a small square table under a thick plane tree; Sun Mingguo, the village chief, was sitting in the shade under the plane tree with two other people, chatting.

Yue Haohan glanced at one of them, a man in his thirties, with white tape bandaged on his forehead; Another man in his forties was also wrapped in duct tape in his right hand. Yue Haohan said in his heart: "The one with the injury on his head must be Li Ergou, and the other one is probably Sun Xicai." ”

Seeing Deng Guoxing coming, Sun Mingguo hurriedly stood up, greeted him with a smile, and said, "Director Deng, hello!" Came over today? As he spoke, he looked at Yue Haohan, looked at it and looked at it, and then said with a smile: "This is Xiao Yue, at first glance, he is young and promising!" Secretary Zhu Jinshan and Secretary Zhu drank it yesterday, and he was still dizzy early this morning; It is interesting to say that Xiaoyue is enough. ”

When a few people arrived at the small square table, Li Ergou hurriedly stood up and helped pour the tea; Sun Xicai moved three more chairs from his home, and everyone sat around the square table again.

Deng Guoxing sat down, looked at Li Ergou, and said, "Ergouzi, what's the matter?" People like to be good to your family; You have a lot of children in your family, and you are in difficulty, and Xicai is helping you sooner or later, who in this village doesn't know? You stole to his door; Do you say you're still a human being? ”

Deng Guoxing counted Li Ergou, Li Ergou lowered his head in shame, and said in a voice that was not too loud: "Director Deng, I was wrong, I apologized to Brother Xicai in front of Director Sun just now; I am also a mistake, I heard Accountant Wang inform me that my family will pay more than 400 taxes and fees this year; I'm in a hurry, I don't want this face, I did this, Brother Xicai hit me as I should, right. ”

Seeing Sun Ergou's appearance, Deng Guoxing looked at Sun Xicai again and said, "Xicai, and you, Ergouzi has done something wrong, and you can't go up and fight; Look, you hurt your hand too, didn't you? You can go to the village, to the management area to reflect, the villagers, don't talk with your fists at every turn; This hurts people, doesn't it cost money? ”

Sun Xicai was also embarrassed to lower his head and said, "I was also angry at the time, I can think of anyone who steals my chicken; Only these two dogs, I have always been so good to him; Even the rabbit didn't eat the grass by the nest, and he said that it was good, and he stole it to my house; In addition, I was at home last night and drank a little stuffy wine, and the more I thought about it, the more I felt uncomfortable, so I beat him. Ergouzi has apologized, and I will no longer pursue this matter, he also sold the chickens, and he paid taxes on the money; My family's conditions are better than his, so I won't talk about it anymore. ”

Listening to the words of Li Ergou and Sun Xicai, Yue Haohan couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "The villagers of Longwanghe Village have simple folk customs!" That Li Ergou was not forced by the word 'poor'! ”

Sighing, Yue Haohan remembered what Guan Zhong, who assisted Duke Qi Huan to become the first overlord in the Spring and Autumn Period, said: "Cangqiao actually knows etiquette, and if he has enough food and clothing, he knows honor and disgrace." "It seems that there are many contradictions in the countryside, and the root cause of them is still the word 'poor' in them; when the peasants will be rich, it is estimated that there will be fewer such trivial contradictions.

Thinking about it, Yue Haohan looked at a large piece of mountain spades in Sun Xicai's yard, and asked Sun Xicai, "Xicai, where did you come from?" I guess it can sell for some money. ”

As soon as Yue Haohan's voice fell, Sun Xicai said a little emotionally: "This young cadre, don't mention this mountain spade, as soon as you mention it, I will be angry; I just want to get angry. ”

Looking at Sun Xicai's demeanor, Yue Haohan glanced at everyone with a questioning face and asked, "What?" Is it that it can't be sold, or is there something wrong with this mountain spade? ”

Sun Xicai said: "Seeing that your leader is young, it is estimated that he has just arrived, and he doesn't understand the situation; In our generation, the mountains are full of spades, chestnuts, and camellia fruits. This mountain is rich in resources, but looking at the money, you can't pick it up. You see that I have so many mountain spades, and I am not going to sell them, so I put them at home and eat them myself. ”

Sun Xicai said for a long time, but Yue Haohan still didn't quite understand, so he looked at Deng Guoxing with a questioning eye. Deng Guoxing took a sip of tea, put down the cup, and said: "Vast, the situation is like this, mountain spades are very easy to sell, but as far as Sun Xicai's mountain spades, if you want to sell them, first, it is inconvenient to transport them outward, and you can only use a board truck to drag them over across the Longwang River." Moreover, if he gets it out and sells it, the township finance office will immediately ask him to report the special product tax; This came and went, plus the labor cost, and if it was not good, it was pasted upside down, so it looked like the mountains were full of this thing, but no one picked it, only let him rot on the mountain. ”

After Deng Guoxing's explanation, Yue Haohan understood it thoroughly; It seems that if these villages want to get rich, the bridge is a big obstacle; Another point is that the burden of various taxes and fees is unbearable for the common people.

At noon, Sun Mingguo arranged it at the house of Wang Xueli, the old branch secretary of Longwanghe Village. Wang Xueli, the old branch secretary, is over eighty years old and an old party member before liberation; From the time of the land reform to the end of the sixties, he has always been the branch secretary of this Longwanghe Village; Wang Xueli's prestige in Longwanghe Village is particularly high.

After mediating the contradiction between Sun Xicai and Li Ergou, everyone sat in the shade under the plane tree and chatted. Yue Haohan drank tea, and inadvertently looked up at the sky, only to see that the sky, which was unusually clear in the morning, slowly began to become overcast near noon, and the sky in the northwest direction was even more cloudy; Seeing that the sky was about to change, a few people got up and walked from Sun Xicai's house to Wang Xueli's house who lived in the second group.

Wang Xueli's house is in the flat field near a hillside, with a courtyard house covered of blue bricks, four main rooms, and two wing rooms on the left and right; In the left front of the courtyard there is a fish pond about two acres in size.

The group went to the living room of Wang Xueli's main house and sat down; Wang Xueli, who is over 80 years old and still in good health, poured a cup of tea for everyone, took a dry tobacco pouch, pressed the dry tobacco and lit it, and accompanied everyone to chat in the living room; In the kitchen, Wang Xueli's youngest son and daughter-in-law were preparing lunch.

Yue Haohan drank tea in the living room, and when he saw the leaves shaking and the wind was blowing outside, he said to Deng Guoxing: "It seems to be raining, when I came here just now, I saw the dark clouds in the northwest sky, I went outside to take a look." After speaking, he got up and walked out of the living room of Wang Xueli's house, and when he arrived outside the courtyard door, the wind outside was not strong, and it was very pleasant to blow on his body.

In front of the courtyard is an orange orchard on the right, and Yue Haohan followed the path in front of the house to the edge of the orange orchard; I saw the green orange trees in the garden, full of green oranges the size of a ping-pong ball, swaying in the wind.

Yue Haohan looked at it, this orange grove was about a dozen acres; Standing by the orange orchard, I looked around, and saw that behind Wang Xueli's house, there was a chestnut forest with the thickness of a bowl; There is a tea plantation of about two acres next to the chestnut grove. Looking at this, Yue Haohan said in his heart: "This Wang Xueli family, the development of the courtyard economy is really good!" ”

When Yue Haohan was enjoying this unique pastoral scenery, in the northwest sky, a lightning bolt crossed, and then a muffled thunder sounded overhead, Yue Haohan subconsciously looked towards the northwest sky; A large dark cloud was rushing in from the northwest sky, mixed with lightning and thunder, and the wind was strong.

With another very bright lightning flashing, in an instant, the wind was fierce, dark clouds filled the sky, and then the raindrops of beans fell from the sky, Yue Haohan quickly ran from the path to Wang Xueli's house, in the living room, Deng Guoxing and a few people chatting with the sky, at this time also stood at the door of the living room, looking out; Another thunderclap, deafening; Suddenly, the raindrops were connected into a line, and with a bang, the heavy rain fell from the sky as if the sky had fallen.

After a while, half a foot of water had accumulated in the courtyard of Wang Xueli's house, and the rain was getting heavier and heavier, and there was no intention of stopping; Outside, it was like dusk, and after another lightning bolt, a bigger thunderclap seemed to explode on the roof of Wang Xueli's house; Several people hurriedly retreated into the living room.

Everyone sat down at the table in the living room from the beginning; After Wang Xueli refilled everyone's cups, he took out a pinch of dry tobacco from his dry tobacco bag, pressed it on the tobacco bag pot, lit it and took two sips, and said: "This is going to be the next while, it seems that the Longwang River is going to be flooded again, and the rice is raising flowers again, this rain is not good." ”

The rain continued to fall, and Wang Xueli's youngest son, Wang Yunshan, held an umbrella and carried a plate of food to the living room. Wang Yunshan looks like he is about forty-six or seven, and he looks like a very capable person.

Wang Yunshan put the food on the table, then found a tray and went to the kitchen again. When the dishes were almost served, I saw Zhu Jinshan walking in from outside with an umbrella; When I got to the living room, I put away my umbrella, leaned against the door, and after saying hello to everyone, I smiled at Yue Haohan and said, "Haohan, I drank too much last night, and when I crossed the Dragon King River, I almost jumped in to feed the fish; Thanks to Deng Zuming from Dengjiagou, who drank less last night and grabbed me, I didn't go into the water. ”

Yue Haohan looked at Zhu Jinshan and smiled, and said, "Secretary Zhu, I still can't figure out how I got back to the room, I drank that rice wine, and people are really prone to amnesia." ”

Zhu Jinshan laughed and said: "Look at you forgot, I still remember, it was me and Deng Zuming who sent you to the room, and then, Zhang Cai'e poured you a cup of boiling water and put it on your bedside table, put a bottle of boiling water in your room, and then closed your door, and we left; I went to the Manshui Bridge of the Dragon King River, and the wine came up. ”

As he spoke, the dishes had been served, and Wang Xueli's dining table was a square table; Everyone let Wang Xueli and Deng Guoxing sit on it, Yue Haohan sat next to Wang Xueli, Zhu Jinshan sat next to Deng Guoxing, Sun Mingguo sat under Yue Haohan, and Wang Yunlai sat at the bottom of Zhu Jinshan.

After Wang Yunshan put the dishes on the table; took out a bottle of Yangjiang Daqu from the wine cabinet at home, opened it, poured a full cup in front of everyone, and then sat down at the bottom.

After everyone drank three glasses of wine, Sun Mingguo looked at everyone and said, "It's still going down outside, we can't do anything else in the afternoon, let's drink slowly." Let's tell a joke and adjust the atmosphere. ”

Deng Guoxing smiled, caught Sun Mingguo's words, and said: "Okay, then start with Mingguo, who in the entire Wulong Township doesn't know that you Sun Mingguo joke basket; You lead the way for everyone, and if we don't laugh, we'll punish you for drinking. ”

Sun Mingguo said: "Okay, then I'll come first; This joke was told by Huang Wenfu, a teacher from the village primary school, who said that Li Ergou's second-grade iron egg taught him the word "quilt" on the first day, and the next day Mr. Huang spot-checked the iron egg, wrote the word "quilt" on the blackboard, and asked Li Tie Dan what it was; Tie Dan said, "Mattress." Teacher Huang continued to ask, "What about the top of the mattress?" Tie Dan said, "List." Huang Wenfu, I was so angry that I really wanted to hit the iron egg, think about it or continue to be inspired, so I continued to ask: "Iron egg, what's on the list?" Tie Dan said: "It's my mother on the list." Huang Wenfu thought that this should be approaching, and her mother must be covered with a quilt, so she continued to ask: "Tiedan, what is on top of your mother?" Tie Dan said: "My mother is above my father." Huang Wenfu thought to himself, his father must be on the quilt, it can't be wrong, so he asked again: "Then what is on your father?" Tie Dan said, "My dad doesn't have anything on it." Huang Wen was angry, knocked on the iron egg's brain, and asked loudly: "Then where is your quilt?" Li Tiedan replied timidly: "Mr. Huang, my quilt told my father to kick underground." ”

After Sun Mingguo finished speaking, everyone laughed, Zhu Jinshan took a bite of the dish, and after eating, asked Sun Mingguo: "Old Sun, why don't I know this joke, you made it up again." Sun Mingguo said: "Really, I don't believe you saw Huang Wenfu, you ask him." ”

After laughing, everyone ate the dishes and drank a few more glasses, so they coaxed and asked Deng Guoxing to talk about one, Deng Guoxing said: "Okay, I will tell you the truth." The neighbor of Sun Xiwang, the secretary of Heishishan Village, Wu Cuilan is a GF and has a female dog at home; Sun Xiwang's house fed a male dog. Last year, Wu Cuilan's female dog was pregnant and wandered around the village with a big belly; Sun Dacang from the group of Heishi Mountain Village saw the pregnant dog and asked, "Wu Cuilan, you don't have a man, why is your dog pregnant?" Wu Cuilan didn't react, the Sun cannon was joking and scolding her, and said angrily: "Why are you pregnant?" It's all to blame Sun Xiwang for a dog day. There was another burst of laughter.

After laughing, Sun Mingguo stood up, picked up his wine glass, and said to Yue Haohan next to him: "Xiao Yue, I toast you; Don't be surprised, in our country it's like this, when we drink, everyone gags, tell a few jokes, and say a few vulgar words, just to adjust the atmosphere; I'm afraid that you, a cultural person, are not used to it. After speaking, he touched the cup with Yue Haohan, tilted his neck, and drank all the wine.

When Yue Haohan saw Sun Mingguo standing up, he also hurriedly stood up, waiting for Sun Mingguo to finish speaking, and drank the wine, Yue Haohan said: "Director Sun, I think this atmosphere is very good; I like it, everyone is happy together; I've dried this glass of wine, and you will treat me as a person from Longwanghe Village in the future, you're welcome! After speaking, he also drank the wine in the cup in one gulp before sitting down.

After sitting down, Yue Haohan said: "I will follow the customs of the locals, and I will also tell you a joke, so that you don't treat me as an outsider." When I was in college, I was on a bus and saw a drunk man get on the bus, and he staggered over to a Navy soldier on the bus and said, 'Hey, buy a ticket.' The sailor said, 'What?' I'm not a conductor, I'm a Navy soldier. The drunken man said, 'I'm so sorry why I got on the warship, so you can let me get off the ship!' ’”

Although Yue Haohan's joke was not very funny, everyone also smiled symbolically, and then took the cup together and toasted. In everyone's minds, Yue Haohan's ability to tell jokes shows that he is out of sight with everyone and has blended together.