Most of the people in the village were waiting for the fog to disperse, and only Liang Mancang went out of the mountain to buy before dawn.

When the villagers passed away, what they wanted most was to return to the roots of the fallen leaves and settle in the soil, Liang Mancang was not far away, and brought back the ashes of the eldest brother, just to bury him in the mountains of his hometown and sleep in the familiar sound of birdsong and wind.

He had dinner at Gu Shifu's house last night, and hurriedly went to Zheng Jialu and begged him to count the auspicious day of the zodiac for burial.

In a few days, it is Qingming, it is the day to pay tribute to the ancestors, and the funeral must be before this, Zheng Jialu checked the yellow calendar, the most suitable is tomorrow, Liang Mancang has not experienced this, and he does not understand the rules, he is afraid of doing something wrong and colliding with the dead, so he asked Zheng Jialu to help with it.

Zheng Jialu has been doing red and white ceremonies all the year round, and he agreed, and the people in the village couldn't pick tea for a while, so he invited a few safe men and women to help, and soon set up a mourning hall in his home, and the villagers who had dealings with the Liang family came to mourn, and Gu Jiaao was busy for a while.

Liang Mancang bought a whole basket of food according to what Zheng Jialu said, Gu Qingzhu, who lived next door, naturally wanted to help, washing dishes and choosing vegetables, running before and after, he was very busy, Liang Mandou's funeral finally went smoothly, Liang Mancang went to his father's grave and burned paper money, which was considered to comfort them and came back safely.

That night, Liang Mancang took off a copper coin worn with a red rope from his neck and silently pressed it under the tablet of his eldest brother.

Back then, Aunt Gu couldn't pay the silver taels converted into military service, and the Mandou brothers had to go to military service, but she always wanted to do everything she could to give her sons a little thought, so she exchanged the eggs saved at home for 20 yuan for them, but Liang Mancang and Liang Mandou brothers' shoes were worn out, and they were reluctant to spend the money when they exposed their big toes.

Later, the war on the front line was tight, and there were countless casualties every day, and many people ate together in the morning, and were cremated in the evening, and the two brothers discussed and took two copper coins, and mourned the master who forged in the military camp, and made the same mark for them, and wore them on their bodies with red ropes, in case of any future eventuality, it was also a way to identify.

Their archery skills are very good, and there is a tacit understanding between brothers, so they have escaped many disasters, but in a battle, the opponent pretended to be defeated, and the pioneer Lang led the army to pursue, but unexpectedly strayed into the trap, and that day Mancang happened to eat a bad stomach, and only Mandou was taken away by name.

When Liang Mancang got the bad news that more than 1,000 people had no survivors, he didn't believe it at all, so he immediately disguised himself to look for it, and he found the cold full pocket, but it was not the same copper coin as him, because it was gone, and even the money he had saved on weekdays, and the eighteen wen that he had been reluctant to spend could not be found.

Liang Mandou died strangely, the most serious wound on his body was the spear unique to the country of Dali through the chest, blood died, the captain in charge of the head said that Mandou was a deserter, at the critical moment of the situation, defected to the enemy country, and was later killed by the loyal soldiers, a shot!

Liang Mancang didn't believe in such a statement at all, his eldest brother was brave and resolute, he was a fierce soldier who would rather die in battle than be a prisoner, how could he do something like escaping from the battle, greedy for life and afraid of death?

He pleaded seven or eight times, but each time he was rejected, and finally angered his superiors, and beat him back to his hometown with his military exploits to the end, and in the end, he didn't even have a chance to confess.

Today, he put the only copper coin on the altar, and said his determination without words, in time, he must get a clear explanation for his eldest brother!

And on the third day, the sun finally showed its face, Gu Jiaao regardless of men, women and children, all went up the mountain to pick tea, the tip of the lotus heart bud has been missed, the flag spear grows up quickly, if it is not picked in one day, it will be a little older the next day.

I didn't pick it for two days, and the tea buds on the tea tree were densely turned, like a tender yellow bud blooming slightly, oily and shiny, and the hairs were all over the place, which made people full of joy when they looked at it.

Needless to say, Gu Qingzhu was happy, but within one day, she would pick all the buds in the garden, even if her younger siblings helped, for her, she couldn't wait to have two more hands, she was anxious, and her hands couldn't help but speed up a little.

"Qingzhu, I'll help you!" Zheng Zhaodi had a small bamboo basket tied around her waist and walked over with a smile.

The Zheng family has no mountains, forests and fields, and Zhao Di will come to help Gu Qingzhu pick tea every year, but that is when the four stubble hard pieces of tea are on the rise, like this year's spring tea has not been picked for two days, which is really rare, so Zhao Di decided to help in advance.

The arrival of Zhao Di, for Gu Qingzhu, is really timely rain, although she does not have Gu Qingzhu's stunt of picking tea with both hands, but she also picks quickly and well, the four of them are immersed in work, as soon as the bamboo basket is full, they will fall on the old straw mat in the shack, spread it out to dry, and after a while, thousands of young shoots will be piled up with a mat, the work in the tea garden is tight, there is no time to go home to cook, the four of them are thirsty to drink a cup of cold water, hungry to eat a bowl of cold porridge, or gnaw a nest head, just like this, until Shen Shi is at the moment, several people are non-stop, and all the tea buds are picked.

"Brother Qingshan can't afford to be seriously injured this year, and the eldest girl's family has less strong labor, so I'm afraid that it will be busier, I'll go and see how much I can help." Zheng Zhaodi poured a big bowl of water and wiped the corners of her mouth.

"I'm in a hurry to make tea, I can't go, if the big girl asks, you can help me say sorry." Gu Qingzhu stuffed the remaining two nest heads into Zhao Di's hands.

"I'll just go, she knows you're busy, and she won't complain about you." Zheng Zhaodi waved her hand and left in a hurry.

Gu Qingzhu sent his younger siblings home, but he didn't dare to rest, he took out the kettle and started steaming tea, there was a lot of fresh tea picked today, and at night, with the help of Qingsong, Gu Qingzhu was still busy until the second day, and he didn't close his eyes for fifteen hours, so he made all the tea cakes, just twelve sheets.

On the second day, there was less bud tea to pick, and Gu Qingzhu could handle it alone, so she asked Zheng Zhaodi to help the eldest girl directly.

The tea garden of the eldest girl's family is big, but there is little labor, Gu Shifu went out to sell tea in the middle of the night, only Sun and the eldest girl were working in the tea garden, Qingchuan was a little boy, or a playful age, and he lost patience for a while for boring tea picking, and the eating and drinking of the green mountains at home had to be taken care of by the Sun family, so Zheng Zhaodi's help was simply a charcoal in the snow for the eldest girl.

As soon as Liang Mancang came back, he caught up with Gujiaao to pick spring tea, his family was originally a hunter, and he had been fighting in the army for many years, so he didn't know anything about picking tea and making tea, so he couldn't help at all.

After five years of expedition and return from victory, Liang Mancang had some military salary savings, but the weather was sunny to prevent rain, and he couldn't sit and eat empty, besides, he was an idle person, so he simply cleaned up his house, blocked the hole that was smashed out with stones and mud, and in the afternoon, he went into the mountains to hunt.

In the spring, the deer and roe deer in the mountains are breeding offspring, according to the unwritten rules in the mountains, this season is not to fight the female beast, therefore, Liang Mancang only hunted a few pheasants and hares.

In the evening, Liang Mancang carried a fat pheasant and a hare in his left and right hands, and went to the door to thank the village chief for helping him keep the house.

Gu Shifu wanted to postpone it, but the Sun family had already taken it, and the meat in the year was all eaten, and the people next to him were all okay, but Qingshan was sick, Qingchuan was small, and this was the busy tea season, and some meat on the table was always good, and he couldn't count on wild vegetables to satisfy his stomach.

Liang Mancang had learned about Gu Qingshan yesterday, they were of the same age, they were very good when they were young, and now they haven't seen each other for five years, and they haven't seen each other, last night, Qingshan invited him to live with him, and the two fell asleep, and said a lot of things, most of which were after separation.

Seeing that Liang Mancang sent these again, Gu Qingshan was happy and sad, and hated himself for not being able to make a good profit, not only affecting his parents, but also his friends.

Zheng Zhaodi worked in the tea garden of the eldest girl's house for a day, and the eldest girl insisted on leaving her at home to eat before going back, but she was so embarrassed that she was really like a guest, waiting for dinner, Liang Mancang gave the pheasant and hare, so she and the eldest girl went to the kitchen to help.

Gu Shifu sat in the hall, lit a pot of cigarettes, and while smoking, he spoke with Liang Mancang: "Have you made up the big hole in your house?" ”

"I'll just fix it, just don't leak the wind and rain." Liang Mancang smiled.

"When your mother was here, I helped change the roof thatch twice, and the gable cracked in several places, and your mother made up for it with some mud every time, and always said that it would be repaired when you came back, so don't look outside now, I'm only worried about the heavy rain in summer and heavy snow in winter, and the old house can't resist it." Gu Shifu lowered his head and smoked, and the burnt fragrance of tobacco leaves spread.

"Wait a few days, I went into the mountains to cut wood and quarry, after the Mid-Autumn Festival, in October, please help you build the house, and then clean up, so that I can move to a new house in time for the New Year." Liang Mancang rubbed his hands.

"Well, at this time, the village is busy picking tea, not idle, out of March, call the village Changlin and a few of them, two or three days can transport the trees back, the newly cut wood is dry for half a year, in October, everyone is free, there are many people to do things, ten days can get up three decent houses." Gu Shifu said, opening his mouth and yawning loudly.

He went out to sell tea in the middle of the night, and when he came back, he was busy in the tea garden, and went to the town again in the afternoon, and then he went in and sat down.

"Uncle Fu, drink tea." Liang Mancang poured a bowl of boiled tea from the teapot and handed it to him.

As the old saying goes, there is no bench at the carpenter's house, no new clothes on the tailor, although the tea farmer guards the tea garden and tea mountain, he can only drink the worst big leaf autumn tea, not only because the autumn tea tastes bitter and heavy, can refresh the mind, but also because the price of autumn tea is the cheapest.

After the white dew, the fresh tea is only three or five pounds, and at the end of the receipt, the tea is less than the foot money, and most of the villagers will keep their own steamed green loose tea, which can be eaten for a year.

Gu Shifu took it, took a big sip, blinked his eyelids, and continued: "I met Li Zheng from Cuiping Town today, he said that several people in the town who had just returned from the battlefield had arranged for the duties of patrolling the streets. When to go? ”