Three feet, it seems to be very short, but it is very deep. And the soil soaked in the wine is more sticky, and it is more difficult to dig up, and when Xuanpo digs to three feet, she is already sweating.

I don't know if it's because the dirt itself is so sticky and wet under three feet, or because the wine has soaked here, I chose to go down with a few hoes, and the original hole in the ground was actually blocked by slimy mud. It doesn't matter if this wall is blocked, Xuan Po never dug a hole in the ground again. Perhaps it was the Po who used a hoe to tamp the sticky dirt and shrunk the hole to nothing. But the exact reason for this is uncertain.

The woman was patient, wiped her forehead with her sleeve, and waved her hoe to dig carefully. He hated to keep his eyes on the blade of the hoe and look for the vanished hole in the dirt. He expanded the scope of the excavation, and after two hours, still found nothing. He had dug out the walls of the house, but he had not found any more holes in the ground, let alone white snakes.

At this time, a large lump of wet mud sticks to the hoe, and it is very difficult to use. More than ten years ago, we liked to wear a type of shoe called "galoshe" when it was raining, and the book name was "rain boots". I've never seen shoes like this since I came to Tohoku. I don't know if it's because of the characteristics of the soil in the south, or if all the mud is like this, but I walked to school on the wet road in galoshes, and I couldn't lift my feet halfway through, because the mud on the ground stuck to the galoshes like boiled glutinous rice, and it was heavy like a lump of meat under the feet of cats and dogs.

And now there is such a large ball of wet mud stuck to the hoe of the mother. She put down her hoe, wiped her sweat, and found a wooden stick the size of her little finger to remove the wet mud that had stuck to the hoe.

In the process of removing the mud, Xuan Po saw a thick earthworm wriggling in the mud, the same color as the mud. How can earthworms survive in such deep soil? Xuan Po's head swept over this question. But he didn't think too much about it, he gently flicked the gray earthworm far away, picked up the much lighter hoe and continued to expand the scope of the excavation.

Digging until the sun set, Xuan Po still didn't find a hole in the ground. Damn, that stinky Taoist priest is deliberately playing with me! Xuan Po cursed fiercely. The hole in the ground just now is so small, it can't be a snake hole. I guess it's just an earthworm formation, didn't I dig up an earthworm just now?

Hey? Earthworm? Did the stinky Taoist priest trick me and call the earthworm a snake? Is it the earthworm that is going to be dug up? Xuan Po immediately put down the hoe, slapped her face, and regretted it.

But by this time it was already dark, and it was difficult to find an earthworm. He hurriedly went to the bedroom to get the lamp. At that time, although there was electricity in the countryside, it was stopped for a few days every three or five days, so every family had kerosene lamps prepared. She ran to the bedroom and got the lamp, and found a match, and lit the match and sent it to the wick of the lamp, but it was not lit several times.

"It's over, there's no wick left! The wick burned out a few days ago, and when there was electricity these days, I forgot to buy the wick. Xuan Po was secretly anxious, and kept cursing that she was lazy and didn't prepare the wick in advance.

Speaking of wicks, it reminds me of funny things. At that time, my mother used to ask me to go to the village shop to buy bits and pieces, such as wicks. I don't know if my head is not flexible enough or my tongue is not flexible enough, and when I say "buy something" to the aunt at the commissary, I always can't turn my tongue when I say "buy something" and "buy wick", and "buy something" and "buy wick" are often confused. I said anxiously, "Buy a wick, I want to buy a wick." The aunt at the commissary also asked me anxiously, "I know you want to buy something, but what do you want to buy?" ”

Now that I think about it, I can't help but laugh at how funny I was at the time. Although I was suffocated and my face was flushed at the time, I miss it infinitely now. A lot of things are like this, the awkward scared at the time, the terrible nervousness, and after a while it looks back on it very warmly, such as this incident and the previous "pony crossing the river" incident; At that time, I was happy, happy, sweet, and enjoyed, but after a while, I was sad to look back on, such as falling out of love.

The woman rummaged through the cabinets, hoping to find a strip of cloth that could replace the wick. Nylon can't, because it burns with thick smoke and doesn't absorb oil, so it's best to have cotton strips of cloth. When the woman was kneading the clothes with her hands, the voice of a child outside the house attracted him: "What is this?" White earthworms! ”

Xuan Po was stunned for a moment, and immediately ran out like a whirlwind.

"Where? Where are the white earthworms? The mother asked the child aloud.

The child was frightened by the loud voice of the mother-in-law, and pointed to the corner of the wall with a cower, and said, "There, isn't there there?" It's still shining. ”

Xuan Po turned around and saw a shimmering "earthworm" crawling on a bluestone in the corner of the wall. Xuan Po tiptoed over, and the child followed Xuan Po, also cautiously.

Behind the glowing "earthworm" was a string of filthy mud, apparently that had adhered to it in the first place, making Xuan Po mistake it for earthworm mud. If it is an earthworm, it appears too thick; If it is a snake, it appears too thin. However, Xuan Po could tell from the thin scales on its body that there was a snake in front of her, a white snake. It is from these scales that a faint light emanates. It's no longer than a middle finger and no wider than a chopstick. It perched quietly on the bluestone, I don't know how it climbed here, maybe the hoe just crushed it, it needs to recuperate.

"What is it?" The child was afraid that it would be alarmed, so he asked the woman gently.

Xuan's surprise was overflowing, and her hands trembled slightly and said, "It's a snake, it's a white snake!" ”

He didn't know what to use to put this tiny white snake for a while, and when he was digging, he didn't think about it, and he wanted to dig up the white snake that the Taoist priest said, but he didn't think about what to do after digging it.

He thought of clay pots for wine. He flew to the place where the hoe was, and turned back with a hoe in one hand and a wine jar in the other. At this time, he was embarrassed again, there was still half of the wine left in the wine jar, and he was reluctant to pour it out, and there was nothing to put this lost little white snake in it. He gritted his teeth, carefully hooked the glowing snake with his hoe, moved it to the mouth of the jar and shook it, and the glowing little white snake fell into the jar containing the wine.

He carried the jug into the bedroom, covered the mouth of the jar with a piece of oiled paper, and tied it with fine twine, and then he was relieved. After this tossing, he did not refill the excavated earth, but fell asleep on his side on the bed.

Outside the window, it was completely dark. There was a slight sound of water in the clay pot, boom, boom, boom......

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