The sun is shining.

Ye Qin wore a straw hat and held a bamboo basket in one hand, walking slowly along the knee-high river, his feet breaking the calm of the river, and the sound of hula water sounded from time to time.

Through the crystal clear water, Ye Chin's eyes kept wandering the pebbles at the bottom of the river, leaning over from time to time, his arms groping through the warm water.

Every time he leaned over, he would pick up a few snails from the pebbles and throw them into the bamboo basket he was carrying.

The snail is common in the streams and rivers of the south, and its shape resembles that of a snail, but its shell surface is not as smooth as that of a snail, and it has many rotating ribs, and most of them are smaller.

However, no matter how small the mosquito leg is, it is still meat.

Ye Qin looked at the snails in the bamboo basket, thinking that he would probably be able to fry a bowl when he went back, and swallowed his saliva gently. Grandma's cooking skills are very good, and these snails are taken back and rinsed in water for an afternoon, and they can be fried in the evening.

I drank two bowls of sweet potato porridge this morning, and I felt a little bloated at the time, so I ran out and walked around all morning, sweating a little, and when I moved, I felt that I would be a little hungry.

Grandpa often said that half the size of the child, eat the poor old man.

Ye Qin himself also felt that since he had grown his body in the past two years, the amount of food he ate was very large, and at the beginning, he ate almost the amount of food that his grandparents had together, and now, he can eat a meal for a day.

"In the afternoon, we should go to the canal to see if there are any loaches or yellow eels."

Ye Qin stood up straight, gently wiped the sweat from his face, took off the straw hat on his head, and fanned it gently, thinking that he should continue to look for something to eat.

It was dog days in July, and he was swaying by the river, which was cool, but also hot and sweaty. The sun was scorching, and the exposed tanned calves, arms, neck, and cheeks were all slightly reddened by the sun.

Ye Qin exhaled hot air, watching the sparkling river flow slowly in the sun, he has been fluttering in this small river since he was a child, and he used to read a little local chronicle, saying that this river is one of the three major sources of the Min River, from the north of Fujian to the south, winding hundreds of thousands of miles, and I don't know where it enters the sea.

"Yechin, Yechin......"

"Come up!"

Just as Ye Qin straightened up and fanned the straw hat as a fan twice, a crisp voice suddenly came from afar on the riverbank.

On the cobblestone river beach on the shore, a young girl in a pale green dress covered her forehead with one hand and waved gently at him.

"Why are you here?"

Ye Qin turned around, looked at the shore, immediately laughed, put the straw hat on his head again, and walked towards the shore with a hula step.

"The sun is so big, you're going to get a tan?"

Ye Qin lifted his feet from the river, crept two steps, hurriedly threw the slippers in the basket on the ground, and hurriedly put them on.

The sun is so strong in the summer that every pebble on the river beach is so hot that it won't take long to get ripe even if you beat an egg.

"Wow, you've picked up so many?"

Ye Qin's slippers were not put on, and a breeze blew beside her, and the girl had already run over, pulled open the bamboo basket on Ye Qin's arm, and looked at the snails inside.

The girl's voice has the emphasis of southern muttering, and the crisp voice is particularly pleasant.

"Your mom won't let you eat this."

Ye Qin put on the slippers that were a little hot, took off the straw hat on his head casually, and put it on the girl's head, "It's so hot, why aren't you at home?"

"I want to eat it too."

The girl pursed her mouth slightly, withdrew her hand holding the bamboo basket, straightened the straw hat on her head, and then laughed again, "Your admission letter has arrived." The postman sent it directly to the store, and you don't know who I was when I went to get it for you, and they all thought it was that I was admitted to high school, haha, I was only in my third year of junior high school in the second half of the year. ”

Ye Qin tilted his head and looked at the girl with empty hands, there was not a pocket or anything in the dress, his expression was suddenly a little nervous, and his voice raised slightly, "Chen Zixi, did you help me take it home?" ”

"Hmm." The girl nodded briskly, "When I got the notice, I just happened to bump into your grandfather, so I gave it to him directly, and he was very happy." ”

"Alas, I asked you to help me pay attention, and I brought it back to me directly." Ye Qin became a little irritated for a while, "Why did you give it to my grandfather!" ”

When the scores of the high school entrance examination came out some time ago, he had inquired about it. In several high schools in Xiushui County, students are admitted according to their region and grades.

Xiushui No. 1 Middle School directly admitted the top 300 students with the best grades in the county, No. 2 Middle School admitted 100 students from 300 to 400, and the rest were admitted to several township middle schools with high schools according to their grades and regions.

Ye Qin's results in the high school entrance examination were actually not ideal, he originally estimated that he should be able to enter the first middle school directly, but the result was two points away from the score line of the first middle school, so he could only choose to go to the second middle school.

And go to the second middle school...... Ye Qin had a headache when he thought of this question.

The cost of tuition is much higher than going to junior high school in the town. If he is admitted to the first middle school, he may still be able to find "that person" to ask for tuition, but if he is in the second middle school, he is really not sure.

As soon as he thought of that black face, Ye Qin would rather not read it, and go directly to other provinces with others to work next year.

"What then?" Chen Zixi pouted and looked at Ye Qin's expression, "Did I do something wrong?" ”

"Forget it." Ye Qin shook his head, he was not so ignorant, and he didn't say thank you for helping.

It's just that grandpa knew that he was admitted to the second middle school, and this matter was a little troublesome, originally he thought that he wanted to go to that person and ask if he would pay tuition, but if he didn't, he directly shirked with his grandparents and said that he was not admitted.

Hearing Ye Qin say this, the face of the girl under the straw hat showed a trace of cunning, and then she shouted softly, "Ye Qin......"

"Well, what's wrong?"

"I ...... You...... If you can, you still have to go to high school and then go to college. The girl was a little speechless and stopped, but when she finished speaking, she exhaled silently.

"What, it's so far away." Ye Qin patted the straw hat on the other party's head, "Go back, go back, otherwise you will be tanned into black charcoal like me." ”

"Oh." The girl nodded slightly.

Ye Qin carried a bamboo basket and walked in front. The cobblestone river beach is not easy to walk, it is a river beach, not a city park community with smooth and neat tree-lined paths, wearing slippers and sandals, if you don't pay attention to lifting your feet, it is easy to bump your toes. But he grew up and grew up, and if it weren't for the pebbles baking too hot, he could run barefoot.

After taking two steps, Ye Qin suddenly paused, turned his head to look at Chen Zixi, who was pacing cautiously, and instantly laughed again.

"Hand it." Ye Qin stretched out his hand towards Chen Zixi behind him.

"I can walk on my own."

"Hurry up, who knocked on his foot last time and hurt for a week."

……

After crossing the cobblestone beach and swinging along the reeds, the two soon returned to the shore on a path outside the dam.

On both sides of the path are large fields of green paddies, with occasional tassels stretching out from the middle of the green leaves, and a few golden paddies further afield.

A little further on, there are houses of varying heights, some of which have built new houses, and the white tiles are still particularly eye-catching in the high light, even if they are far away.

Others are mostly ordinary red brick houses, or tamped mud houses, many people in the village have earned some money by working outside the village over the years, and many have demolished old houses and built new ones when they become rich.

Shangyun Village is a village below Xiaoli Town, Xiushui County has lagged behind a lot in the development of several surrounding counties and cities in recent years, in the early years it was a large grain-producing county, and in the era when many people could not eat enough, it naturally attracted many people around to run to Xiushui County.

In recent years, the economy in other places has gradually risen, and the income from digging in the fields is meager, but the people of Xiushui County have begun to go south and north to go out to work and do business.

This is also the source of Ye Qin's idea of going out to work with other people, he has to continue to spend money if he wants to go to high school, it is better to come out early to reduce some of the burden.

"Ye Chin, look at that?"

The two walked on the path from the river dam to the village, Ye Qin lowered his head and thought about how to talk to his grandfather later, when suddenly his arm was gently pulled down by Chen Zixi.

"What?" Ye Qin looked in the direction of Chen Zixi's finger, not far from the path was a courtyard with a two-meter-high wall, a bayberry tree stretched out from the yard, and the plump bayberry hung among the green branches and leaves, bright red.

"You want to eat bayberry, Uncle Yan is not here."

Ye Qin tiptoed and looked into the courtyard, the iron gate outside the small courtyard was closed, and the courtyard was quiet.

"I'll go back to Chuanshan to pick it for you, the bayberry in Chuanshan is bigger and sweeter than this head. Let's go, let's go back. ”

This season is the peak season of bayberry, Ye Qin will also go to the boat mountain on the other side of the river every year to pick bayberry, and the grandmother who can't finish eating will dry it into dried bayberry, add some sugar and put it in a glass jar, enough for him to eat as a snack for several months.

After taking two steps, Ye Qin turned around and found that Chen Zixi had not moved his steps, watching him turn his head and look at him with blinking eyes.

"Okay, okay, I'm afraid of you."

Ye Qin was a little helpless, he had been like this since he was a child.

"Take it."

Walking back and handing the bamboo basket in his hand to Chen Zixi, Ye Qin turned directly outside the wall, ran in a few steps, and turned over one by one.

He has good physical fitness, and when he sneaked out of school in junior high school, he could step on a wall more than three meters high, and he could step on it with a few feet, let alone a small courtyard wall of more than two meters in a farmhouse.

climbed over the courtyard wall, stretched out his hand and carefully pulled down a branch full of bayberry, just picked one, and suddenly a dog barked in the small courtyard.

A big yellow dog crawling in the shade of a tree to enjoy the cool suddenly twitched his ears, noticed the movement, and pounced directly on the courtyard wall.

"Ouch......"

Ye Qin was startled by the big yellow dog, and jumped down from the courtyard wall with one turn. The big yellow dog in the courtyard barked wildly, got out directly from under the iron gate at the gate of the courtyard, and chased Ye Qin directly.

"Still coming?!"

Ye Qin watched the big yellow dog come out of the yard, and ran away without thinking about turning around.

Chinese pastoral dogs in the farmhouse are generally running around, if you usually run around them and don't run, you basically are fine.

But he just climbed over someone's wall, and he can't run away.

While running, he turned his head and shouted in the direction where Chen Zixi was: "I'll go back first, you will send the basket to my house later." ”

Chen Zixi, who had been standing quietly on the side of the road, suddenly burst out laughing and raised his hand gently, "Ye Qin, come on!" ”

Under the bright sunshine, the shouts of the boys, the barking of the big yellow dogs, and the laughter of the girls like silver bells were sprinkled all over the ground.