In the early morning, mist rises from the fields outside the village, spreading into the village and into the farmhouse yard.

A figure twisted and came out of the west room, his vision slightly dimmed, and he didn't notice that under his feet, one stumbled and stumbled over something.

"Giggles"

The rooster in the corner was disturbed, flapped its wings and ducked, pulled up its neck and crowed.

"Your sister, scare me." Chen Ping cursed, rubbed his eyes, opened the courtyard and went out.

The fog fell on the body, it was very cool, and the autumn grass on the side of the village road was stained with dew, and it was a piece of dew lightly.

Chen Ping took in a breath of cool air, diluted his sleepiness, and trotted along the small dirt road towards the west.

It was still early before the rooster crowed, and the houses in the village had not yet risen, and everything around them was still dark.

Chen Ping trotted out of the village, and saw the old willow tree on the bank of the water in the distance, and there was a figure by the river in front of the willow tree.

The water rattled.

Chen Ping paused, his eyes narrowed, and his heart beat hard.

"Who's there?" The strange thing that happened to him shook Chen Ping's faith, and when he thought of the children of Chen Da's family, he was cold and shivering.

Bang la blah

After a few more rings, the figure at the water's edge also stopped, tallened and seemed to stand up.

"Are there really ghosts?" The figure is not tall, that is, the appearance of a seven or eight-year-old child, could it be that it is really the baby who drowned in Chen Da's family? This thought grew wildly in Chen Ping's mind.

One person and one shadow, just standing like this, confronting each other.

After a while, the figure by the water seemed to be a little impatient, and squatted down again, and the water rattled again.

Chen Ping exhaled lightly, and reason told him that this was not true, and there must be some misunderstanding. But empirically speaking, the soul has traveled through thousands of years, what else can't happen?

Turning around, taking a detour, and not even daring to walk from the river, Chen Ping forced himself to forget what had just happened by the river and continued his morning jog.

Hallucinations, everything is hallucinations.

Afterburner, afterburner.

Sunlight shines through from the east, dispelling the early morning mist. Chen Ping's clothes were also soaked, the fog was mixed with sweat, and he returned from the ** mountain in the west.

Outside the village, Chen Ping looked at the old willow trees from a distance, and some village women were washing their clothes by the river.

Feeling better, Chen Ping slowly ran back to his yard.

"Why did I go out early in the morning and get sweaty?" Liu Shi had already gotten up, boiled hot water, and brought it out, "Your grandfather still has clothes, I'll go and get them for you to change." ”

"No need mother, I'll have to go to the field later." With a small mouthful of rubble powder, Chen Ping cleaned his lower teeth with his fingers, rinsed his mouth, and washed his face, "Mother, did Grandpa go to the field?" ”

"Yes, there will be." Liu replied in the hall, "The sickle was also brought, you really don't change your clothes?" ”

"No, I'm leaving." There was still more than half a pot of hot water in the clay pot, Chen Ping went to the west room, lifted the quilt on Chen An's body, and slapped his bare buttocks, "Xiao Anzi, get up and work." ”

"It's still early, let me sleep again." The bed board squeaked, and the wooden board that was put together last night was not reliable, Chen An rolled twice, "Big brother, you go first, and my mother will bring you food." ”

This guy can be lazy.

"Remember to wash with hot water, my mother is ready." Chen Ping instructed and went out.

"It's really more verbose than my mother." Chen Ping covered his ears and complained, disturbing people's dreams.

A morning run has not changed his physique, but Chen Ping feels comfortable, and the fatigue of yesterday's work has also been swept away.

When he came to his own field in the north of the village, Chen's father raised his head and pointed to the ridge of the ground, where the sickle was resting.

After picking up the sickle, tying the trouser legs, and rolling up the cuffs, Chen Ping took off his straw shoes and went to the field.

The day's sunshine, coupled with the fact that Taguchi had already released water, did not sink his feet into the mud this time, which was much more convenient.

The two of them didn't speak, only heard the sound of clicking.

At first, Chen Ping was still following Chen's father, but after half an hour, Chen's father went ashore to the pool and took a few mouthfuls of water to quench his thirst before going down to the field, and Chen Ping immediately overtook him.

Is this still worth it? Father Chen's hand waved even faster.

By the time the Liu family delivered the meal, the half acre of land had been harvested, and the father and son had changed the land, which was also the largest of the three plots of land in the north of the village of the Chen family, with more than two acres.

"It's time to eat." After resting for a morning, Chen An was extremely excited and shouted at the field.

The father and son went ashore, Chen Ping went to wash his hands, and the family sat around the ridges, drinking porridge with soybean sauce, and one duck egg per person as usual.

"Why is it just a duck egg today?" Chen An took a wooden spoon and scooped it inside the porridge jar.

"You didn't work, you still want to eat duck eggs?" Father Chen turned his head and stood alone in his field, "Little blacksmith, haven't you eaten yet?" Come and eat together. ”

The man standing on the top of the field answered happily and ran over.

"Second uncle." The people of a village, although the blood relationship between the ancestors has faded, but it does not hinder the number of etiquette, the little blacksmith looks not very old, but his height is stronger than Chen Ping's brothers, and he is half a head taller than Chen Ping, "I'm about to go back to eat." ”

"Come on, let's eat it here. You don't know when you'll be able to eat it when you get back. Father Chen waved his hand, and Father Chen knew about the situation of the little blacksmith's house.

The little blacksmith's original name was Chen Erniu, his father Chen Hecai, his home is in the east of the village, he is a blacksmith, he usually sells some farm tools, and will also help repair damaged farm tools, and his craftsmanship is impatient.

Chen Erniu's mother fell seriously ill two years ago, and the family spent all their savings to see a doctor. And Chen Erniu, who had only been in the countryside for half a year, returned home because he couldn't afford to pay the shackles and had to take care of his seriously ill mother.

When it was really an illness that caused poverty and spent all the family's savings, Chen Erniu's mother still couldn't survive.

"Come, take it." Liu picked up a few green and yellow leaves nearby, let go of the bowl containing the soybean paste, and filled Chen Erniu with a bowl of porridge.

Chen Erniu took the bowl, didn't use chopsticks, slipped a few times, and a bowl of porridge went down.

"What a cow." Chen An muttered, watching Chen Erniu lick the rice grains in the bowl, "How long have you not eaten?" ”

"Hehe, I ate it last night." Chen Erniu touched his head embarrassedly.

"There is some rice, and there is more, and you will be full." Chen Ping handed over the duck egg that he had just bitten in his hand, "This is for you, I took a bite." ”

"It's okay." Chen Erniu seemed to be really hungry, and he was also very hungry, swallowing the duck egg in one bite, chewing it in two bites, and not forgetting to roll off the egg yolk between his teeth and savor it carefully.

"Erniu, the second aunt asked you something." Liu added a full bowl of porridge to Chen Erniu, usually when the farm tools at home were also broken, he asked Chen Hecai for help, and now Chen Erniu has lost his mother, Chen Hecai only cares about striking iron, how can he know how to take care of the child, a few bowls of porridge and rice, Liu is still willing.

"If there's anything wrong with the second aunt, you just have to ask." This time Chen Erniu didn't gobble it up again, his stomach was half full, he pinched the porridge carefully, and his eyes glanced at the bean sauce in the bamboo basket from time to time.

Chen Ping observed carefully, picked a chopstick's bean sauce and put it in Chen Erniu's bowl.

"Hey, hey." Chen Erniu laughed stupidly.

"What did you learn in the township?" I was going to go to the blacksmith in the afternoon to inquire, but now that Chen Erniu is here, it would be great, and by the way, I can also learn what the master taught in the township school.

"Heaven and earth are yellow, and the universe is desolate." Chen Erniu read out this thousand-character sentence very smoothly, which even Chen Ping was familiar with.

Liu's mother's family is a poor family, and she is a woman, who is illiterate, and she doesn't know what Chen Erniu means.

But even if he can't read, Liu feels that it is impossible to learn only so much in the township: "Gone? ”

"And." Two bowls of thick porridge and rice, an egg, Chen Erniu felt that his stomach was filled, and licked off the rice grains on his lips, "Guan Guan Ju Dove, in Hezhizhou, my fair lady, good gentleman." ”

This is a famous sentence in the Book of Poetry "Guan Ju", Chen Ping has learned it, and it is not unfamiliar.

Chen's father and Liu waited for Chen Erniu to continue, but Chen Erniu stopped again, grabbed the empty bowl, and glanced at the porridge jar with a pair of big eyes.

Although it is porridge, Liu's cooking is very thick, and the amount is also a lot, so he took Chen Erniu's bowl and added a third bowl to him.

"Hey, hey." Chen Erniu touched his head, knowing that he had eaten a lot, and he was a little embarrassed.

Chen Erniu's height is about the same as that of the average Chengding, but his belly is bigger than Chen's father, Chen's father is only one and a half bowls, and Chen Erniu is the third bowl, no wonder he will grow so tall.

"That's all you learned in your hometown?" After a while, Liu asked tentatively.

"Also, but I forgot." Chen Erniu said.

"You've learned so many words in half a year, you're really stupid." Although Chen Erniu is stout, he is not very old, two years older than Chen An, three years younger than Chen Ping, and has a generous temperament, Chen An has made fun of him a lot.

Chen Erniu was eating porridge and didn't mind: "I didn't want to go, but Grandpa dragged me." was beaten by his master in vain, and let him earn so much money. ”

"How many bundles were given?" Liu then asked.

"One stone of rice, half a piece of pork meat." The thing was taken by the blacksmith with Chen Erniu, Chen Erniu remembered very clearly, the rice didn't matter, the half of the meat Chen Erniu felt very pity.

Liu silently calculated, one stone of rice is the harvest of more than half an acre of land, half a piece of pork meat, well, it seems that duck eggs have to be added.

"Thirty duck eggs is almost." Liu Shi thought, "It's really impossible to wait for the rice, plus some to send together, I think it's enough to tie the cost." ”

With his heart in mind, Liu hurriedly packed up the dishes and chopsticks, and returned to the village with Chen Zhen in his arms. The sun is very strong, and the rice in the yard has to be turned over so that it can be threshed tomorrow, and the duck eggs in the rice jar must be picked out and collected first.

"Brother Ping, I'll help you harvest rice." Chen Erniu's family only has five acres left in the open air, and a year's income is not enough to make a living, but fortunately, Chen Erniu's father still has a good skill in striking iron, otherwise Chen Erniu's belly may not be able to keep the five acres of open field.

Although Chen Erniu eats a lot and is young, he is also a good hand at work, and his own five acres of open field have just been harvested, and the weather is still good, so he is not in a hurry to pick up the rice stalks in the field.

After a porridge meal, Chen Erniu became a volunteer of the Chen family.

The sickle was Chen Erniu's own, and after inserting it in his belt, Chen Ping looked at it, it was newer than his own, and the serrations were sharper, and there were not many places where it was curled and blunt.

The three of them, Chen's father, Chen Ping and Chen Erniu were almost in a row, and the stubble of rice stalks was spread down, and the clattering sound was continuous, and it looked like it had a unique flavor.

"Grandpa, slow down." Chen An picked up the scattered rice stalks in the back, and bundled them into a ball along the way, he couldn't help but complain at the top of his throat, "If only I knew that I would also cut rice." ”

When the sun set, Liu sent another meal, and Chen Erniu got another duck egg, ate two bowls of dry rice with radish, and went back to his field to pick rice with the blacksmith he found.

With the help of Chen Erniu, there was not much left of the two acres of land, and by dinner. After dinner, Chen's father and Chen Ping were angry, and when the sky was about to darken, the harvest was finally finished.

"Help me tie up the inverted pole, and you two will go back." Chen's father planned to pick up all the rice in the field back to the yard at night, and said to the Chen Ping brothers.