The autumn tiger finally slowly lost its power, got up early in the morning, the sky was covered with thick clouds, a little gloomy, this season, there was no sun, the temperature immediately dropped, this is a good time to work.

In fact, there is no work to do in the countryside now, the autumn harvest is basically over, only the red lotus leaves all over the mountains, in Yujiang Village, the planting area of the red lotus is very large, basically all the land is planted with the red vetch, one is the staple food of feeding pigs in winter, and then the red vetch can be processed into flour, which is the main source of income for the local villagers.

The process of processing the flour is like this, after digging the red lotus back from the ground, choose the big one to wash, why is it a big one, because the small one is in addition to the skin, the meat inside is basically not left, and the powder made is less, and the color is not good, which affects the appearance, so the small red lotus is basically used to feed the pigs.

Since there is no running water, when washing the red lotus, you often have to go to the ditch to pick up water and come back to wash, and you can wash it without picking up the water, so you can pick the red lotus into the ditch and wash it and then pick it back.

After the red lotus is washed, it is crushed into pulp with the machine, of course, the machine is not available in every family, one or two production teams have one to buy a large diesel powder machine, everyone picks the red lotus to his house to make powder, when it is busy, the machine is ten days and a half months without extinguishing the fire.

This process is very tiring, especially for people who are far away, it is rare to complete a handful of red lotus in a day, because you can't process it for you right away, and there are people lining up.

Later, someone saw the business opportunity, bought a small motor, can be carried by a person, who needs, to carry to whom, in this way, for the farmers to reduce a lot of burden, finally do not use to pick back and forth to pick the red lotus, as long as the appointment in advance, wash the red lotus at home and wait, but this also has drawbacks, that is, the machine is small, the speed is slow, the main thing is that the village has not been transformed by the rural power grid, the power is so weak that it is not good, a family has turned on the machine, other people's homes do not say that they also turn on the machine, even the lights can not be lit, In order not to affect other people's household electricity, but also to improve the speed, so everyone chooses to start work in the middle of the night after everyone sleeps, and it is inevitable to delay sleep.

After being beaten into a pulp, filtered and precipitated, the finished product is made into a boiling pot in a drying pot, cut into strips and dried, and then it can be picked up and sold in the market for money.

That night, Zhang Mingjie helped his parents carry the red lotus to the ditch to wash the red lotus back and forth a few times, and began to pulp again after midnight, although his parents did not let him stay up too long, but the roaring machine was too loud, and he didn't sleep at all one night.

When the day was about to dawn, the sound of the machine finally stopped, Zhang Mingjie fell asleep, and suddenly a rapid phone rang, he picked up the phone impatiently, and said: "Hey, who, this early in the morning, disturbing people's dreams is a crime, do you know?" ”

Li Dahan's voice came from the phone: "Brother Mingjie, you are still sleeping, what time is it, you get up quickly, something is wrong." ”

Zhang Mingjie turned it up and asked anxiously: "Da Han, what's wrong, is there another cow in the orchard?" ”

Li Dahan said: "It's not about the cow, it's about the water pipe." ”

When Zhang Mingjie heard that it was not the cow that entered the orchard, he breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "What's wrong with the water pipe, is it blocked?" It's okay, now the problem of lack of water for fruit seedlings has been solved, and it is not a big problem to block it for a while, just dredge it for a while. ”

Li Dahan said: "Brother Mingjie, it's not a matter of blockage. ”

Zhang Mingjie said impatiently: "Don't say half of what you say, I didn't sleep all night last night, if there is nothing to do, let me sleep for a while." ”

Li Dahan was anxious and said, "You better come and take a look, the water pipe has been stolen." ”

"Huh?" Zhang Mingjie turned over and asked loudly, "What?" It was stolen, who stole it, how much was stolen, why didn't you sue me earlier? ”

Li Dahan said: "How do I know who stole it, come on, it seems that a lot has been stolen." ”

Zhang Mingjie jumped out of bed and ran into the orchard, there was no sleepiness at all, and when he came to the orchard, his heart was half cold, at least a third of the water pipe was stolen, and the clear stream at the break was bubbling, and he had no heart at all.

Zhang Mingjie kicked the ground hard and scolded: "Bastard, who did it, let me find out, I didn't pick his skin." ”

Li Dahan patted Zhang Mingjie on the shoulder and said, "Brother Mingjie, you should mourn." ”

Zhang Mingjie was amused by Li Dahan's words and laughed, and said: "What kind of sorrow am I festing, bastard, who is it, stealing the water pipe?" It's good that it's going to rain now, otherwise it would have been troublesome. ”

Li Dahan said: "Brother, why don't you call the police." ”

Zhang Mingjie thought for a while and said: "Don't call the police first, my water pipe has just been installed for a day, and others don't know it at all, it must have been done by someone nearby, uh, I know, it's Li Changpan again." ”

Li Dahan nodded and said: "That's right, it must be him, he is from ten miles and eight villages, and he has a criminal record, he stole a lot of this pipe, and he must not have time to sell the stolen goods, let's go to his house to search, if it is really that kid who did it, I will definitely break his hand." ”

Zhang Mingjie said: "It's not appropriate for the two of us to go to his house to search, so let's let the village cadres go." ”

Zhang Mingjie said that he made a phone call to the village head Yu Hongyun, the village party secretary Li Hanwen, and the production team leader Wu Hongjun, and left the rest of the matter to them.

At this time, Luo Erwa, who was dressed like an old man, came over with a mule and asked, "Mingjie, didn't you say that you were carrying cement today?" When will the goods arrive? ”

Zhang Mingjie said angrily: "What kind of pack, don't you see, the water pipes have been stolen, the cement is slow in advance, and we will talk about it when the water pipe is solved." ”

Luo Erwa asked, "Do you know who stole it?" ”

Li Dahan said: "It's good to know who stole it, just go to him directly, we suspect that Li Changpan did it, and the village cadres have been notified." ”

Luo Erwa said: "Li Changpan? Oh, I see, no wonder I saw him wandering around the ravine below yesterday afternoon, and I wondered at the time, but now that I think about it, he must have been looking for a place to hide the pipe. ”

Zhang Mingjie hurriedly asked, "What place?" Take me to see it. ”

Luo Erwa pointed to the bottom of the mountain and said, "It's under this ravine, go, I'll take you there." ”

Luo Erwa tied the mule to the tree, and took Zhang Mingjie and Li Dahan to the ravine, and the three of them really found footprints in the woods, Luo Erwa pointed down and said: "That's it, I saw him drilling in and out of the big rock when it was almost dark yesterday." ”

Li Dahan looked around and said: "This kid will find a place, this is close to the place where the water pipe is buried, it is easy to carry, and it is not easy to be found, who would have thought that he would hide the water pipe here." ”

Zhang Mingjie said: "Don't make a conclusion first, go down and look for it." ”