Chen Chao's house is next door to Chen Xu's grandmother's house, the two are the same age, they often played together when they were children, and the relationship was not bad, when they were in high school, they were in the next class.

"When did you get a girlfriend?" Chen Chao asked with a wink.

Chen Xu glanced at Yang Jinxia in his arms, and seeing that she didn't mean to let go of her hand, he smiled and said, "Just now." ”

"Okay."

Chen Chao thought his girlfriend was shy, gave him a thumbs up, and said, "Okay, then I won't bother you." I'll look for you later. ”

"Okay, I'll see you later." Chen Xu waved his hand.

After the car left, Yang Jinxia asked lazily, "Your friend?" ”

"Hmm." Chen Xu heard the sound of another car behind him and said, "Another car is coming." ”

"I don't care." She didn't open her eyes and said, "I want you to hold me like this all the time." ”

Chen Xu continued to hold her, but adjusted his position slightly so that he could see the situation on the road.

When the car passed by them, it slowed down, and the window was lowered, it was Chen Chao's brother, "Chen Xu?" ”

"Hey." Chen Xu had an embarrassed but polite smile on his face.

"You're busy." Chen Chao and his brother waved his hand, closed the car window, and quickly left.

A few minutes later, another car came over, this time, it was Chen Chao and his cousin, who also stopped to say hello to him.

Fortunately, no acquaintances passed by after that. The two hugged like this for more than half an hour.

Chen Xu said, "Let's go back." ”

"Hmm." Yang Jinxia finally let go of his hand, grabbed his arm, and walked in the direction he was coming.

"Those guys just now, they're all your friends?" After walking for a while, she asked.

"They are cousins, and their home is next to their grandmother, and they used to play together when they were young. The first one I met just now, named Chen Chao, was in the same school as me in high school, in the next class. After I went to college, I was far away and didn't usually have much contact. It is to gather once a year during the Chinese New Year. ”

The two said and returned to their grandmother's house, in front of the house next door, there were three cars parked just now, the door was open, and the people inside were cleaning.

Chen Chao's grandfather's generation is gone, and his parents are all taken outside to live, the house is usually empty, and every time he comes back, he has to do a big cleaning.

Chen Xu asked Yang Jinxia to go back to the house to take a nap, he took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, and went over to help.

Grandma has a very good relationship with Chen Chao and their family, when Chen Xu was in elementary school, his grandmother's family still planted rice, and every time he sowed and harvested, he relied on Chen Chao's family to help.

Chen Chao's three brothers, all dragged the family, plus Chen Xu, four men, it took more than two hours to clean the house. As for the three women, they were looking at the children while packing their bags.

"Let's go, go to the kiln."

After finishing the work, Chen Chao greeted Chen Xu, lifted a box, and walked out.

Chen Xu is not surprised at all, this is a must-have program for them to return to their hometown every year, and another is fishing.

Chen Chao's two brothers also carried a box each. They went next door first, and the women had already packed their luggage and took the children to Chen Xu's grandmother for tea.

As soon as Chen Xu entered the door, he saw Yang Jinxia sitting next to his grandmother, talking and laughing with them.

She changed her clothes again, a lilac coat, the style is not ostentatious, but it makes people feel bright.

"Is this your girlfriend?" After Chen Chao entered the door, he was shocked when he saw Yang Jinxia. Just now, she had been lying in Chen Xu's arms, and he didn't see her appearance.

"Hello." Yang Jinxia walked over and naturally took Chen Xu's hand.

Chen Chao looked at Chen Xu's eyes differently, and said, "Okay, it's really deep enough." Two months ago, Aunt Li called me to ask if there was a suitable girl and wanted to introduce you to a girlfriend. I didn't expect you to move so fast. ”

The Aunt Li in his mouth is Chen Xu's mother.

Chen Xu explained, "My mother didn't know it before. ”

Chen Chao's wife urged, "Okay, if you want to go, hurry up, it's going to be dark in a while." ”

At this time, my grandmother said, "You can come to my place for dinner in the evening, it just so happens that Xiao Xu brought a goose today, and we can't finish it." ”

Chen Chao didn't excuse them, and responded, "I'm going to trouble my uncle again." ”

…………

Chen Xu and his entourage found a turned field, which was the field that had just been planted with sweet potatoes this year, and when they dug it out, they brought out a lot of mud, which was the most suitable place for the kiln.

The four men each found a place and piled it up.

Chen Xu went to find a suitable size of mud first, and Yang Jinxia also came over to help. When the number was about the same, he dug a pit nearly ten centimeters deep and made a door for burning a fire out of three large blocks of mud.

Then, with a smaller mud block, form a circle along the soil pit, and then go up layer by layer, and continue to narrow up, about ten layers, it will be capped, forming a cone-shaped earth kiln.

When Chen Xu finished, the others were halfway through. His hands are not only flexible now, but his control ability is even more different, and it is only a trivial matter to build a kiln.

"Alright, let's go pick up some hay and dead leaves." Chen Xu patted his hands covered with dirt and took Yang Jinxia to collect firewood.

"The more fire in the kiln, the better."

As Chen Xu walked, he told her, "The branches should not be too big, they should burn too slowly, you have to find the thin ones." This kind of leaf is not good, there is still water in it. The best thing to burn is the sun-dried fern, which is particularly hot. Well, sun-dried straw is not bad either. ”

"But when I was a kid, people couldn't afford to use gas. Both of these are used by adults to cook vegetables, and if they dare to use them to burn the kiln, they will be killed. ”

While talking, the two walked to a bamboo forest.

Chen Xu said, "We generally use dried bamboo leaves and bamboo branches, the thinner the better. There are also this kind of bamboo shells, which are very easy to burn. Don't move, I'll take it, don't get your clothes dirty. ”

"Then I'll take less." Yang Jinxia was not too dirty, and picked up a few pieces of dead bamboo from the ground.

The two ran back and forth a few times, and Chen Xu felt that it was almost over, and began to light a fire.

At this time, Chen Chao and his brothers had just finished the kiln and went to pick up the things that burned the fire.

From time to time, Chen Xu stuffed some dead bamboo and dead leaves into the kiln, held a branch in his hand, and plucked it a few times to make the fire burn more vigorously.

The mud in the kiln body first turned black, and then became more and more red as it burned.

"It should be almost." Chen Chao also lit a fire over there, walked over to take a few looks, and said.

Chen Xu also felt that it was almost over, stuffed the last handful of leaves into it, and asked, "What about the food?" ”

"Here we are." Chen Chao's wife came over with a box, and after opening it, she took out a chicken wrapped in tin foil from it and said, "This is pickled from last night until now, it must be enough to taste." ”

Chen Xu remembered that last year, he only started to prepare after returning to his hometown, it was too hasty, the pickling time was not enough, and it was not very flavorful. In the end, everyone didn't eat much.

It seems that this year has learned its lessons.

At this time, the fire in the kiln weakened. He used a twig to remove all the ashes left behind from the burning inside, and then took a large piece of mud to block the door.

Then, after poking the mud from the roof of the kiln to reveal a hole large enough, he put the chicken wrapped in tin foil and threw a few sweet potatoes on either side. Then he picked up the big stone and smashed the mud kiln, and all the mud blocks were turned into soil.

After the flattening. He dug up some soil from the side and covered it.

Next, it's just a matter of waiting.

Chen Xu and the others went to the field to rest first, and several women were not idle, they moved a table and a few low stools to sit and rest.

After a while, Chen Chao and the others also got it one after another, came over and sat down, and everyone chatted together.

After sitting for a long time, the four women went back together, saying that they were going to the bathroom.

"How did you catch up on such a beautiful one?" As soon as the others left, Chen Chao couldn't help but be curious and asked.

You may not believe it when you say it, but she chased me.

Chen Xu thought in his heart, however, saying this kind of thing is to pull hatred. It's better to keep a low profile, saying, "I just tried to chase it, but I didn't expect her to really agree." ”

Try to chase it, and that's it?

Chen Chao felt that he was really underwhelmed.