The custom in the northern countryside is like this, when there is no New Year's holiday, people who have gone out generally do not visit from door to door when they come back. Of course, there are exceptions, such as the fat man who has not returned for many years, and it is not abrupt to visit from door to door. Such visits are not very formal, that is, neighbors walking around each other. It's just that the fat man and I are considered to be the younger generations, and the neighbors we want to visit are all elders, so we need to bring some gifts, not how expensive they are, for a respect.

Everywhere I went, I could feel the loneliness in the depths of my heart for these old people who stayed in the mountain villages. From the conversation, I learned that although the living conditions are better now, the children who are far away from the world will often call to greet them and report their safety. However, from the concerned eyes they looked at me and the fat man, I could still read that it was concern for the outside world and full of helpless bitterness.

The fat man obviously didn't have the sentimentality of mine, and everywhere he went, he always remembered the interesting stories of his childhood, and described them vividly, causing everyone to laugh. The fat man obviously never forgot the purpose of his trip, and everywhere he passed, he always told me again and again that I must remember his great events. I was so annoyed by him that I almost turned around and left.

I didn't have much hope for going back to my hometown to pick up the leaks, but because of the fat man's affection, I still looked around in the corners of the desks of each family, intentionally or unintentionally. In fact, as I expected, we went to more than a dozen in a row, and we didn't get anything. The fat man was somewhat unwilling, complaining that I didn't work well, and the valuable baby must have been missed by me so-so.

If you want to say that it is worth collecting, it is not that you have not encountered it. At Zhang Erye's house in the west of the village, the celadon jar used to insert chopsticks is a real thing. I carefully identified, if I didn't look away, it was a celadon from Yaozhou kiln, although it is a private kiln, but the workmanship is fine, it is worth collecting. It's just that the celadon jar of Zhang Erye's house has been used for about a long time, and the quality is a little different, and the market price will not be high. I have seen a few other collectible ones, and the situation is similar, mainly because the market value is not large, and of course it is far from what the fat man expected, so I didn't tell him.

We didn't stay in any of the houses for too long, and stopped and visited most of the homes in the village throughout the afternoon. The fat man was tired and sweating, the main reason was that he couldn't bring many gifts at a time, and he had to go back to get a trip after the gifts were sent out after a few houses. Finally, the fat man, apparently a little frustrated, said to me weakly: "Waste, can you give me some strength, the whole village has been walked, and there is not even a decent thing?" ”

"No is no, do you want me to make one up for you?" I said a little angrily: "Besides, there is little hope for such a thing as picking up leaks, how can it be so easy to encounter." ”

When the fat man heard me say this, he was a little unconvinced, raised his hand to wipe the sweat on his forehead, and said: "I don't know you yet, you won't say it even if you see it, forget it, who made the fat man I don't understand antiques." ”

I could see that he was very unwilling, but there was no way to do it, so I didn't say anything more.

The fat man saw that I was silent, thinking that he had spoken too seriously, and he didn't know what to say, so he stood there and blushed.

I saw that his face was flushed, and he stood still with his legs crossed, and I knew that he had misunderstood, so I deliberately asked him, "Yo! Looking at the fat boss, it shouldn't be in the crotch of his pants, right? ”

"Get out!" The fat man reacted that he had misunderstood and chased after me to hit me.

I hurriedly stopped him and said, "Slow down, slow down, I surrender, be careful with the wine in your hand." ”

The fat man stopped, glanced at the wine bottle in his hand, and after confirming that the wine bottle was fine, he seemed to suddenly remember something, and said to me: "Waste, this is not right, why are there two more bottles of wine?" Is it any less delivery? ”

The fact that the fat man can ask this question shows that he knows me very well. I'm a person, and I usually make careful arrangements for what I want to do in advance. For example, when I buy gifts, I will buy the required quantity in a planned way to ensure that it is enough and never wasted. The fat man knew my style of doing things, so he was surprised that he still had two bottles of wine in his hand.

I knew what he was trying to say, so I smiled at him and said, "Do you think it's because I bought too much wine, and I miscalculated this time, right?" ”

"Isn't it?" The fat man asked me rhetorically.

I glanced at him and said, "Think about it, is there anyone else who hasn't been there?" ”

The fat man scratched his head, and asked with some confidence: "Do you miss anything that goes next to each other?" ”

"Huh!" I smiled faintly, didn't want to pay attention to him, and was about to turn away.

The fat man grabbed me and insisted that I make my words clear before leaving. I was a little annoyed and said to him, "Comrade Chubby, you ate the most rabbit meat when you were a child, right?" ”

When the fat man heard me say this, he pulled my hand back, stared at me with wide eyes, and asked me in disbelief, "Six...... Sixth Master? ”

"yes."

"Didn't the sixth master go to the nursing home?"

"I didn't stay long before I came back, and I'm still herding sheep in the mountains."

The sixth master in the fat man's mouth, I only know that the old people in the village call him Wang Liu, he is the only foreigner in our village, and he is a single person all his life, and he lives in a small broken temple a little north of the village. Because he had no land, he could only graze sheep on the mountain, relying on a flock of sheep and the help of the villagers, although the life was hard, but it was still alive. The sixth master is very diligent, when he herds sheep, he also carries a set to catch rabbits or pheasants, whenever there is a harvest, he always does not forget to give some to the people who have received favors.

When I was a child, the fat man and I often went to play in the Xiaopo Temple after school, not because of how fun it was in the Xiaopo Temple, but because the children were hungry for meat, looking forward to eating some meat when the sixth master cooked meat. The sixth master has never let us down, even if he hasn't hunted anything for several days, he doesn't forget to leave some for us.

The fat man asked, "Waste, how often do you go to see the sixth master?" ”

I nodded and said, "I'll check it out every time I come back." ”

The fat man lowered his head and followed me without saying a word. I saw that he was depressed, so I said, "You and your family have moved away, and you can't compare with me." ”

The fat man heard what I meant and said, "I should come back too." ”

"Aren't you coming back?" I smiled at him, reached out and patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Let's go, it's getting dark, and the sixth master should come back." ”

"Hmm." The fat man answered, and his pace was noticeably quickened.

……

The place where the sixth master lives is about a mile away from the village, and it is said that it is a small broken temple, but the place is actually not small. The mountain gate is long gone, the main hall has collapsed, and the mud tires offered inside have long been gone, so I can't tell what kind of temple it is. Although there is no main hall, but the matching rooms on both sides are still there, there are two rooms in the east and west, the sixth master lives in the two rooms of the east wing, and the sheep of the sixth master are locked in the west wing after returning at night, which is considered a sheep house.

"Look at the lights over there, when will the sixth master's house use electricity?" The fat man on the side saw the light and turned to me to ask.

The sky was dark, and in the distance, I also saw the lights on in the broken temple, which was indeed the sixth master's sheep house. I said to the fat man: "A few years ago, the wires that the village helped pull were also loaded with running water. ”

"Oh?" The fat man glanced back at the village, and then said, "It's not close to this side from the water tower." ”

"Well, that's a big project......

“……”

The fat man and I chatted, and soon arrived at the door of the small broken temple. The gate of the small ruined temple is a fence door nailed with wooden sticks, and the walls on both sides are also rough fence walls. The fat man stood in the doorway, looking into the courtyard. I stood next to him and shouted inside, "Sixth Master...... Sixth Master ......"

"Well, who?" The voice of the sixth old man came, and then I saw him come out of the sheep house.

"Sixth master, it's me, Fenfen."

"It's Xiao Fen." The sixth master probably saw that there was someone next to me, and then asked, "Who is that next to me?" ”

"Sixth Master, it's me." The fat man replied.

The sixth master put the bucket he was carrying next to the door of the sheep house, and then straightened his back and walked towards us. He trembled and opened the fence door, let me and the fat man into the yard, and then carefully took advantage of the light boy to carefully count the fat man for a long time, and then said with some uncertainty: "This is the little fat, right?" ”

The fat man stepped forward and grabbed the sixth master's hand and said, "Well, the sixth master is me." ”

"Grow taller ......"

As the sixth master spoke, he let me and the fat man into the back room. The lights were on in the back room, the furnishings were simple but not messy, and after the three of them sat down, the sixth master asked about the fat man. The fat man gave a general account of what happened after he left, and finally he said very calmly that he was now working in the Cultural Relics Bureau. After hearing this, the sixth master praised again and again, praising the fat man. I shook my head again and again, I really admired this fat thing, the errand I just came to in the morning, and in the afternoon I can say that the Cultural Relics Bureau is like his own home.

The three of them were chatting, and the sixth master suddenly stood up, as if remembering something, and said to me and the fat man, "You two wait." ”

After finishing speaking, the sixth master bent his body and left the house. The fat man and I didn't know why, so we said yes and sat still. It didn't take long for the sixth master to return to the house, holding a thing in his arms, and he said as he walked, "Come, you two take a look at this thing." ”

The sixth master gently put the thing in his arms in front of us, and then sat aside and motioned for us to look at it ourselves. It is a red clay pot with some black patterns on it. The fat man reached out to get the clay pot, but I hurriedly stopped him from moving first, because I felt that these patterns were so familiar, and when I recognized them carefully, I suddenly remembered the photo that Uncle Zhou brought.

The fat man was a little puzzled and asked me, "Waste, isn't this just a clay pot?" ”

"Yes." I answered, without raising my head, and said, "I think these patterns on the clay pot are familiar, similar to the patterns on the photos brought by Uncle Zhou." ”

"Oh!" When the fat man heard me say this, he immediately came to his senses, approached the clay pot and looked at it carefully, and said as he looked at it: "Waste, according to what you say, this is a treasure?" ”

I nodded and said, "Maybe it's the same as the pottery that was handed over to the Cultural Relics Bureau, but the pattern on this one looks much clearer than in the photo." ”

The fat man muttered for a while, and finally leaned down and whispered in my ear, "How much is this thing worth?" ”