"Dad, did you hear what the people behind you said?"

"I hear you, ignore them." Dad said lightly.

"Dad, I don't understand why you bought this lame cow?" I asked curiously.

"This cow grows well." Dad replied succinctly.

"But it's a lame cow after all, how can a lame cow be suitable for ploughing? Isn't this asking for trouble? "I think Dad is a bit presumptuous.

"Didn't the cattle seller say? It's good ploughing! ”

"Merchants will say anything in order to sell things."

"I don't think he's that kind of person." Dad said, "If he is really that kind of person, he shouldn't say much when someone else wants to buy this cow for six or seven thousand yuan." ”

"He must also know that the fact of the lame cow can't be covered up, he is thankful that this cow can be sold, you still pay two thousand Wen, isn't this a dumb loss?"

"What do you know?" Dad said, "After saving one or two thousand dollars by buying cattle, let's go buy some cloth, rice, and other daily necessities." ”

When I went out in the morning and returned home after shopping, it was already noon, and the sun hung high in the sky, exuding endless heat, which warmed up this cold world a lot, and the pedestrians on the street took off their thick coats.

The temperature did warm up a lot, and I didn't wear that thick sweater when I woke up this morning, two thin clothes and a jacket were enough, and I didn't feel cold at all. After all the tossing and turning in the morning, I was ready to take off my coat.

"Don't take off your coat, it's easy to catch a cold, if it's hot, don't you just leave your coat open or draped?" Dad told me.

Dad led the cow in front of me, and I followed behind with large and small things. Two people and a cow walked slowly under the light of the sun, and the picture was somewhat peaceful......

When he got home, his father led the cow to the cowshed he had built earlier, "Xiao Sheng, go cut some grass and come back." ”

The grass hasn't fully grown this season, so you can't find it if you don't look carefully. It took me a long time to cut a small half basket of grass by the river, and I guess it wasn't enough for a cow to stuff his teeth. There was no way around it, so I took this little half basket of grass home.

"Daddy." When I was still outside the door, I cried out, "I didn't find much grass, so I cut this little half basket, which is not enough for the cows." ”

Dad took the basket and put the pitiful grass in it into the cowshed, "Let's do it first, come back and clean up for lunch, and after eating I will take you to the Grand Canal to cut the grass, where the grass has risen early, and it should be almost growing now, and it is fresh." ”

"Old man, this cow can be bought, it looks really good, and it cost a lot of money, right?" Mother asked.

"Two thousand texts." Dad replied lightly.

"Two thousand wen? Has the price of cattle dropped so much now? Such a good cow, didn't it cost four or five thousand yuan in the past? "My mother is puzzled.

"It's a lame cow." Dad was eating, always burying his head.

"Lame cow? What do you buy lame cattle for? Offering it like an ancestor? It's not that you haven't bought cows, there are so many cows in the market, why did you choose a lame cow alone? Is it okay for a lame ox to plow the land? If you have to waste this money, it's not like we don't have the money to buy a cow, you ......"

Dad interrupted his mother's series of accusations and said slowly: "I think this cow is related to me." ”

"You bought it if you had a chance? Why buy it back? Delicious food and drink? ”

"The cattle seller said that this ox cultivated no less land than other normal cattle."

"Do you believe what they say? I think you're a fool. ”

"Okay, don't say it, buy it all, even if I suffer a loss, I will admit it." Dad finished the last bite of food, "Xiao Sheng, have you finished eating?" "Dad asked me.

I hurriedly finished eating, "I'm done." I said.

"After eating, come with me to mow the grass." Daddy took two baskets and two sickles.

Dad took me to the side of the Grand Canal, where there were clumps of grass, and my father and I quickly cut them.

"Dad, I forgot to ask, where is the cow you bought before?"

"When you're not at home, I must do the farm work, I bought a cow, and it looks inferior to today's one, but the farmland is not bad, and then I don't know how to get sick and died."

The grass here is so fresh, and when I cut it, I soaked my hand in the sap. My dad and I cut two baskets of grass in a matter of moments. "Xiao Sheng, you bring these two baskets of grass home, I'll go to the market to buy some more feed, don't rush to feed the cattle first, and wait until I come back after buying feed and mix with the grass before feeding." Can you carry it? "Dad handed me a basket of grass in his hand to my left hand, and put the sickle in the basket.

"If you can carry it, then I'll go back first." At first, there was no pressure, but after walking for a distance, I realized that it was a bit unbearable. Fortunately, it was not too far from home, so I gritted my teeth, slowed down a little, and finally got home, and I put two baskets of grass on the ground.

I saw the big black eyes of the lame cow looking straight at me, I walked to the side of the cowshed, reached out and touched it, it looked very happy, blinked a few times, and whispered "moo".

Are cows hungry? Feeding a handful of grass should be fine, right? I thought to myself. Grabbed a small handful of grass from the basket and fed it directly to the cow's mouth, it gently bit the grass, put it in its mouth and chewed it slowly, chewed, chewed for a while before swallowing slowly, the whole action was extremely gentle. I touched its head again, "I'll feed you later, you can pad it first." I whispered, though I knew it didn't understand at all.

"Where's your father?" Mother asked.

"I'm going to buy fodder." I replied.

"Why didn't you stop your father when he bought the lame cow?" The mother is still angry that her father bought the lame cow.

"Mother, what you said, my father wants to buy it, how can I stop it?"

Xin'er also came over and persuaded her: "Mother, don't be angry, the lame cow is also a cow, but the speed of ploughing may be slower, isn't there Xiao Sheng at home this year?" In the past, it was my father alone, didn't he delay sowing and harvesting? Don't be discouraged. ”

The cow eats a lot, and cuts two baskets full of grass just enough for it to eat for a day.

Maybe I was a little tired from working during the day, but I soon fell asleep, I dreamed of the fierce scene of the battle, but fortunately I didn't dream of black and white impermanence anymore, I slept much more peacefully, and when I opened my eyes again, it was another sunny day.

Since then, I have never dreamed of black and white impermanence again, and occasionally I dream of some very normal things - drinking with people, buying cows at the market with my father, and playing with Xin'er...... However, I have dreamed of fighting on the battlefield several times, maybe I was afraid of fighting before, and I have a shadow in my heart.

After buying the cow, I went to the Grand Canal with my father to cut the grass after breakfast every day, cut two baskets of grass and then came back to feed the cows.

It's the vernal equinox, and I have to sow the seeds with my father.

Dad took out a tool, which I had never seen before, and Dad told me that it was called a "cocoon". The cocoon car has a cocoon handle, cocoon legs, the lower seed tube, cocoon plough, cocoon yuan, large and small seed buckets, etc., according to what the father said, the cocoon is connected to the rope, the rope is connected to the neck, the flail is set on the neck of the cow, the seeds are placed in the large and small seed hoppers, the cocoon is inserted into the field when ploughing the land, the cocoon is pulled by the cow, the cow walks in the process, the seeds are automatically sprinkled into the reclaimed field through the leaky seed eye, so that it can be easily sown.

Cattle play a big role in the whole process, no wonder everyone wants to buy a strong cow, a strong cow is easier to plow the land, and naturally much more efficient. I don't know if the lame cow that my father bought is really as the merchant said, and the ploughing is fast and good.

Dad led the oxen to the field, and I followed closely with the cart.

Dad put the cocoon on the cow's neck, put the seeds that he had bought early into the large and small seed hoppers according to different types and sizes, and then inserted the cocoon into the soil of the field, "Xiao Sheng, I'll show you first, you look at it." Daddy held down the cart steadily.

The lame ox walked slowly forward as if it were familiar with the road, and strangely enough, the lame ox walked very flat in the field, and could not see the defects of its lameness.

"I'll just say that this cow was not wrong!" Dad said excitedly, "You see how fast and good it plows, no less than a good and strong cow!" ”

After a while, I walked up to my father's side and took the cart, "Dad, I'll come, you can go and rest." ”

After a morning's hard work, the field seems to have been renovated, and all the weeds that have quietly grown have been removed by ploughing, and replaced by seeds, and it is believed that it will not be long before the crops will grow.

The efficiency of the lame ox ploughing the land was really beyond our expectations, and Dad kept praising it, stroking its head incessantly, and the lame ox meekly lowered its head and "mooed" happily.

At noon, Xin'er came to the field to bring lunch to my father and me, the sun was so strong at noon, the sweat on my father and I soaked the whole clothes, and the trouser legs were soaked with sweat. After a busy morning, I was really hungry and thirsty, and after drinking a large glass of water, I took the lunch handed by Xin'er and devoured it.

The hunger was no less severe than when I was in the army and starved for several days in a row.

After eating and drinking, my father and I took a short rest and then began to work again, my father is old, and his body is a little unbearable after working for a while, so most of the time I pull the lame ox in the plough, and my father picks up weeds behind him or gently tramples on the land that has been planted.

Sunrise and sunset.

My father and I led the cow and walked home in the remnants of the sunset.

"I really didn't buy this lame cow wrong!" Dad raised his head and said excitedly, I can feel that he deliberately said it to his mother.

"Just buy it right." Mother said.

"I was optimistic about it from the beginning, this lame cow is related to me, and your old woman almost didn't lift the table with me at the beginning."

"How did I know that lame cattle are also very good at plowing the land, besides, who buys cattle will pick lame cows to buy?"

"I'll pick a lame cow and buy it." Dad said proudly, "Do you think I bought the wrong one?" ”

"Alright, alright, eat your meal." The mother glared at her father and said, and couldn't help laughing after speaking.