There are a lot of people rushing to the market today, many of them are from the villages in the Qingshui River, so the boat is full of people, there is no place in the cabin, Li Yu doesn't want to squeeze, so he and a group of young men stand at the bow of the boat, the boat is a middle-aged man, as long as he doesn't go to the side of the boat, he won't care, because there are many people, the boat draft is very deep, and it drives very slowly, if it weren't for the slow retreat of the canyons on both sides, Li Yu almost thought that the boat didn't move.

This is not bad, I have not seen such a beautiful landscape for a long time, the river water is clear and transparent, from time to time there are fish jumping out of the water, the green mountains and steep cliffs on both sides of the river, lush, and the flying waterfall hanging on the cliff.

"Li Yu?"

Li Yu was looking at it in a daze, and suddenly heard someone shouting his name, and when he turned around, he saw a young man in his early twenties, dark and thin, at least half a head shorter than Li Yu, wearing a black sweatshirt, looking a little familiar.

The man looked at Li Yu and looked uncertain, but now he knew that he didn't recognize the wrong person, so he happily walked over and hammered him, "Boss, I didn't expect it to be you, I couldn't believe it just now." ”

"Monkeys?" Li Yu finally searched out the information of the person in front of him from his mind, the young man in front of him was called Li Jun, he was Li Yu's playmate when he was a child, because he was thin, so he was called a monkey, he often followed behind Li Yu, like a little heel, and then he left Xiaohe Village, and he never saw him again, I heard that he went out to work before graduating from junior high school, but I didn't expect to meet here.

"Boss, I'm afraid you won't recognize me," Li Jun hammered him again.

"Why, I've always thought about you, and the last thing I can forget is you." Li Yu pretended to be affectionate and said.

Li Jun was cold and vomited, "I surrendered, the boss did it on purpose, right?" I'm disgusting! ”

Haha, Li Yu smiled proudly, let you beat me, my brother is killed by bones, so thin and strong.

Both of them are very happy, Li Jun is now running a car in a coastal transportation company, earning barely enough to eat and wear himself in a month, this time he came back to visit relatives in his hometown, when he was three years old, his father died of illness, her mother took her sister to remarry, he was raised by his grandparents, a few years ago his grandparents died one after another, and he was the only one left in the family, when Li Jun learned that Li Yu was ready to return to his hometown to develop, he was stunned at first, and then said happily, "Boss, I support you, you have a smart brain, and you will definitely be able to do a career." , the little brother will be mixed with you in the future, and our brothers will join forces to fight a piece of the sky. ”

Li Yu was speechless, looking at the excited monkey dancing with his hands, and couldn't bear to dampen his enthusiasm.

"I haven't been back for a few years, and the environment has changed a lot!" Looking at the dense green bamboo trees on both sides of the strait, Li Yu was full of emotion.

A few years ago, these peaks only grew some low bushes, looking bare, at that time the villagers lived in poor conditions, there was no money to buy coal, every family burned firewood, the adult trees on the mountain were cut down, even some thorn ferns were cut and burned fertilizer, some mountain people have more fields and less fields, so they set fire to the mountains and open up wasteland for farming.

Later, the government advocated returning farmland to forests and grasslands, closing mountains for afforestation, vigorously planting trees, and not allowing reclamation on the mountains.

"Yes! To tell the truth, if our Qingshui River is not too remote, the traffic is poor, the development of a tourist attraction is not a problem, now the so-called tourist attractions outside, the propaganda is green mountains and green water, the fairyland of the world, go to see that the mountain is barren, the water is dirty, I don't know what those people want to do, get together to go. ”

The monkey's words made Li Yu's heart move, but he didn't make a sound, it was too early to say anything.

Bypassing a few river bays, there are few people on the boat, passing through a long canyon corridor, a large tidal plain suddenly appears on the right bank of the river, sandwiched between several verdant peaks, and you can see sparse houses, this is Xiaohe Village.

The Qingshui River goes around the village, but the boat arrives here, and there is no village in it.

Li Yu and Li Jun paid the fare to get off the boat, the fare is very cheap, two yuan per person, the person who drives the boat is a fisherman in the village, there is a government subsidy every year, there is no need to worry about the oil money.

This tidal plain is planted with a lot of watermelons, and now it is the season when the watermelons are ripe, and the big round watermelons are lying in the ground, dense and very attractive.

Li Yu drooled when he looked at it, this kind of watermelon with flower skin in his hometown is round, the meat is thick, heavy, and it tastes sweet and delicious, in this kind of half-sand and half-soil tidal plain is simply the natural growth environment of watermelon, and the watermelons that grow out are sold in several surrounding cities, and they are often in short supply.

The monkey looked at the melon field and couldn't help swallowing his saliva, "Boss, why don't we pick one and taste it, I haven't eaten this watermelon for a long time, and I think about it in my dreams." ”

Li Yu's grandfather's house has no land in this area, because the watermelons here are delicious, every year grandpa will buy a cart of watermelons here and put them at home, so that Li Yu and his sisters can eat enough, sometimes Li Yu and a few bear children will secretly run to steal watermelons in the middle of the night, and several times they were caught by the melon guards, and they did not beat them, but picked a few watermelons for them to eat.

Li Yu suddenly saw a melon shed in the watermelon field, pointed to the melon shed and said to the monkey, "Isn't there a person guarding the melon, let's go and talk to someone, and it's shameless to be caught picking like this." ”

Now I am not a child, and I can't be so unscrupulous.

The two cautiously walked from the watermelon field to the melon shed, now when the sun is hot, the melon shed is built with wood, covered with thatch, the melon keepers sleep here at night, generally afraid of the gourd and the like, these things are gnawed everywhere, can be spoiled a lot in one night, when the watermelon is ripe, people have to watch it day and night, so Li Yu estimates that there should be people in the melon shed now.

When they got closer, the people inside might have heard movement outside, and an old man in his fifties or sixties walked out, squinting at Li Yu and the two, and asked with a full face, "What are you doing?" ”

Li Yu smiled politely at the old man and said, "Old man, we are from Hou Village, we just came back from the town, we are thirsty, and we want to buy two watermelons from you to eat." ”

The old man listened, and waved his hand magnificently, "It's all from a village, what do you say to buy, you can pick whichever one you like, I have a watermelon knife here, bring it to you and cut it." ”

The monkey was overjoyed when he heard it, he couldn't wait for a long time, walked to a big watermelon that he had long fancied, picked it, and the monkey hugged it to see, this watermelon is really big, and he was afraid that he couldn't help twenty or thirty pounds.

"The young man is very picky! This year, the watermelon is watery, fragrant and sweet, go to the house to eat, and it is hot outside. The old man smiled and took Li Yu and the two into the melon shed.

There was a cool bed, a table and a few chairs in the melon shed, and a tea jar was placed on the table, the old man scooped two cups of tea for them, took out a watermelon knife and handed it to the monkey, then sat down and stared at Li Yu and said, "The young man looks a little familiar, where are you in the back village?" ”

Although the sun was scorching outside, it was not hot at all inside the melon shed, and I drank a sip of herbal tea, which was sweet, and when I heard the old man's question, I hurriedly put down the teacup and replied, "Li Dingkun's family in the back village, Li Dingkun is my grandfather." ”

"It turned out to be a baby from Dr. Li's family, you look like you were a child in the navy, I said it looks a little familiar." The old man suddenly realized. "Aren't you out in college? This time you're coming back from vacation to see your grandfather? ”

Xiaohe Village is divided into the front village and the back village, although they all belong to Xiaohe Village, but there are several miles between the front and back villages, Li Yu's grandfather's family lives in the back village, and Li Yu also knows some people in the front village, and his uncle's family lives in the front village, but he has not come back for a few years, and he has no impression of many people.

Li Yu was not surprised at all that the old man knew that he was studying in college, back then, Li Yu's three sisters were admitted to university and caused a lot of sensation in the village, this is the first time that college students appeared in Xiaohe Village, or a family of three, in the village most of them went out to work to earn money when they read junior high school, Li Yu's three sisters were treated no less than the ancient three jinshi, many people in the village were envious and tried their best to send their children to school in the county, although there were several college students in recent years, However, there is a difference of 108,000 miles from the fame of the first generation of Li Yu's three sisters.

Li Yu really didn't expect the old man to have such a good memory, and he didn't know how to answer for a while, but fortunately, the monkey resolved Li Yu's dilemma in time, "Old man, this watermelon you planted is really good!" ”

"Of course! Let's raise melons naturally with good soil and good water! When you eat it, you will know that our melon not only sells well, but also tastes great! The old man was successfully diverted by the monkey, and when he heard the monkey praise the melon, he seemed to have found a soulmate, and he suddenly came to his senses.

The old man was right, this watermelon is really good, as soon as the monkey knife was inserted, the watermelon cracked, flowing red juice, and the sweetness of the watermelon came to the nose, which immediately aroused the roundworms in Li Yu's stomach, opened it to see the bright red flesh soil, inlaid with a few black watermelon seeds, looking at it was eye-catching, the monkey couldn't help but sigh, "It's still a good melon at home!" ”

The monkey skillfully cut the melon, handed the old man the largest piece, and then gave Li Yu a piece, and then took it himself and gnawed it quickly, his mouth was full, and he said vaguely, "If it is chilled in the refrigerator for a few hours, it will really be perfect." ”

The watermelon is indeed sweet and delicious, soft in the mouth, chewing the flesh of the melon, the watermelon juice is like sweet honey in the mouth, sweet on the tip of the tongue, and it will not disperse for a long time.

Li Yu and the monkey gobbled up, twenty or thirty catties of watermelon, except for the one eaten by the old man, were filled into their stomachs, the two touched their round belly, and said vigorously that with such a delicious watermelon, they would eat watermelon every day in the future, and they didn't need to eat.

The old man wiped the juice on his hands and said proudly, "The watermelons in our Xiaohe Village are delicious, I don't know, no one knows, only our watermelons in the surrounding seven or eight villages have been contracted by the city, don't worry about not being able to sell them, we can earn thousands of yuan by relying on this season of watermelons." ”

After eating the melon, Li Yu couldn't wait to say goodbye to the old man, thanked the old man for his earnest retention, and pulled the monkey who said that he hadn't eaten enough and would continue to eat watermelon.

There is a valley stream connected from the front village to the back village, the stream water is clear, it does not dry up in all seasons, the right bank of the stream is a three-meter-wide road paved with bluestone, this bluestone road has been passing through the staggered gorge to the back village.

On the right side of the road, there are rows of tall and stout neem trees, the largest of these trees are hugged by several people, the oldest has a history of hundreds of years, it is a batch of old antique trees, the branches are knotted, covering the top of the road, and in summer, the lush branches and leaves of the neem tree can give shade to pedestrians to avoid the heat.

Li Yu and the monkey walked slowly on the bluestone road, listening to the crisp sound of the stream hitting the stubborn rocks, and blowing the cool breeze sent by the staggered canyon, Li Yu smelled the feeling that he had not seen for a long time, and there was no glitz and bustle of the bustling city, which was the real breath from nature.

"Boss, you don't have three hundred taels of silver here." There were a lot of thornberries growing on the side of the road near the stream, and the monkey picked a large handful, throwing them into his mouth as he walked, and at the same time did not forget to expose Li Yu Li Yu's old bottom.

Thornberry is commonly known as prickly bubble in the countryside, the scientific name is Thornberry rose, belonging to the Rosaceae family, deciduous shrubs, the fruit is red and bright, like a red pearl piled up, it tastes sweet and sour, children like to eat the most, and the root of the thornberry can also be used in medicine to treat wind and cold cough.

Li Yu didn't bother to pay attention to him, he looked at the neem trees by himself, these trees are as old as this bluestone road, he can't verify how many years these trees have grown, only know that these trees were already so big when they were young, they often dig bird's nests and build sheds on these trees, this is their childhood paradise.

But there is a neem tree that they dare not climb, and even if they pass by with awe, it is an old tree that is hugged by two or three people, and the trunk of the tree near the root has been struck by lightning, and a hollow tree hole has appeared, the size of which can be placed on a table.

According to the old man in the village, a hundred years ago, this neem tree was entrenched in a green snake to cultivate, and when it was about to turn into a dragon, it attracted thunder, chopped the green snake to death, leaving this tree hole, and the old man in the village also swore that he had seen the green snake, and there were horns on his head, and Li Yu had never seen the horned snake, but the traces of burning left in the tree hole proved that the tree had been struck by lightning.

Later, there was a Taoist master in the village, (a general term for people who specialize in fortune telling, watching the day, looking at feng shui, and opening a dojo for the dead. This person's surname is Li Ziqiang, is an ancestor of Li Yu's family genealogy, there is a whim to watch the sky at night, see a first-class star rising from the ground, that night dreamed of a self-proclaimed Huang Neem immortal fairy said to him, he was originally bewitched by the demon snake, was stolen for thousands of years of practice, fortunately God has the virtue of a good life, chopped to kill the demon snake, he can get the Tao to ascend, he is in Xiaohe Village successfully practiced, will be blessed in the future Xiaohe Village wind and rain.

Li Ziqiang woke up and thought, isn't this the neem tree that was struck by lightning! So he immediately wrote a sign of Neem Daxian and hung it on the tree, set up an incense burner, hung a red cloth, and lived by the tree for three years, saying that he was serving Neem Daxian.

Li Ziqiang usually has the title of living half-immortal in the village, it is said that when he was young, he cultivated the aisle in Qingyun Mountain, and what he said was naturally believed by someone, so his believers tried to worship the neem immortal, and the cure of wealth was effective, and Xiaohe Village had a good harvest for several years, and the five grains were harvested, and the people in the village were convinced of the neem immortal, and even the people of several nearby villages came to worship the neem immortal, so the incense under the neem tree was flourishing all day long, the red cloth fluttered on the tree, and everyone who came to worship the immortal would tie a piece of red cloth on it.

In recent years, there are fewer people who worship immortals, after all, this is a superstitious idea now, but people believe in that era, even in the era of steel smelting, the mountains cut down trees, no one touched these neem trees, so now so many ancient neem trees can be preserved, but I heard that some people are now paying a high price to buy these trees, and the people in the village did not agree.