The next thing we worry about is the clothes on our bodies and the shoes on our feet. Although the clothes were wrung out, the feeling of being wet made us sneeze constantly. I know we're all going to catch a cold if it goes on like this. We've got to find a way to dry our clothes.

The sound of the flood pouring down is still in my ears, but after a long time, it is like the chirping of mosquitoes.

I wandered around, hoping to find something like a discarded lighter.

After there was no harvest in the hydropower station, I went outside. The wind was still very strong, and the clouds in the sky were still thick, but fortunately the rain had completely stopped. I rummaged through the grass at either end of the dam, and sure enough, I found a discarded lighter with only a little butane left.

"There's a way." I hurried into the hydroelectric power station.

"Have you found the source of the fire?"

"I found a discarded lighter." I raised the lighter in my hand.

"Can you make a fire?" Hao Junqi was skeptical.

I grabbed the lighter and shook it a few times, then moved the piezoelectric ceramic with my thumb, but there was no flame, and then I moved the piezoelectric ceramic again, and this time, the lighter sparked.

"Great, brother, you can start a fire." Hao Junqi smiled.

"God still favors us." I say.

"But where are you going to dry the firewood on such a rainy day?" Hao Junqi frowned again.

"You have to look everywhere."

"Let me go with you."

"You're still staying inside, it's windy outside."

"But I want to look for it with my brother."

"Then let's go."

We walked out of the hydropower station together. It's wet everywhere. Droplets of water are dripping down the leaves. As we walked through the bushes, the water drenched our clothes. The dry branches and leaves in the bushes were soaked by the rain.

Hao Junqi looked a little deflated.

"It seems that there is no hope of finding the dry branches."

"Don't be discouraged, Junqi, maybe there will be some old trees under them, as long as there is no rain in that place."

"Maybe there are places that have accumulated a lot of money." Hao Junqi has confidence again.

"yes, the rain hasn't had time to seep in."

We spun around for about twenty minutes, and finally we had some half-damp dead branches and leaves under an old tree. At the same time, we brought back a lot of damp dead branches. As long as the fire is strong, the branches like these newly wetted branches will burn as well.

Back at the hydroelectric plant, we immediately set about making a fire.

You can imagine how difficult it is for that half-damp dead leaf to make it burn, often just a little bit and then extinguish. I had to lean in on the dead leaves and blow into my mouth. The smoke from the incomplete burning of the dead leaves choked me with tears in my eyes. But the more I lost, the more courageous I became. I know I can't be discouraged.

After many attempts, the fire finally ignited. Hao Junqi was busy adding firewood.

"Brother, did your ability stem from our 'kiln burning' together?" Hao Junqi was joking with me. She remembered the scene when we were children and we "burned the kiln and closed the carbon" together.

"Yes, if we hadn't practiced our skills at that time, we would have been miserable today." I say.

"The ability is smoked."

"Hmph, are you embarrassed? Look at me, crying into tears. ”

"If you smear some black powder, you will become a black bag." Hao Junqi smiled.

"Don't be busy making fun of me, it's time to undress." I say.

"Undressing? What do you want? Hao Junqi was stunned.

"What do I want to do? Oh, hehehe, you misunderstood. It depends on what you think. I mean, take off your clothes and bake them. It's not like we're going to wear wet clothes all the time. The mind is not healthy. ”

"I hate it, brother." Hao Junqi's face flushed.

"Just kidding. Hurry up and dry your clothes. ”

"But ......" Hao Junqi looked around.

"I'll go outside and keep guard."

I walked out of the hydroelectric power station.

There was no one outside the house, so I felt that it was actually me who was really guarding it.

I tried not to think about it, but the images kept hitting my brain and turned into real pictures.

I walked back and forth on the reservoir dam. When he turned back and walked towards the hydropower station, Hao Junqi's swaying figure could be faintly seen from the windowless window. I immediately turned away from the hydroelectric plant.

Standing on the dam, the villages of Luwan, Shangsong and Yongtai hidden in a forest in the distance can be seen. Eighteen years have passed, and these villages have only eliminated the thatched houses, and further eliminated some mud houses, and the rest seem to have changed at all.

Smoke rises everywhere. Presumably, on rainy days, the peasants cook early and go to bed early.

The river in the Dongmen River is mighty, like a piece of earthy yellow cloth.

Nearby, at the bottom of the dam, near the foot of the mountain, there are several sweet potato fields. I know we're not going to have dinner.

I estimated that Hao Junqi's clothes were dried and walked back.

The wind was blowing in the face and was cold.

When I walked to the middle of the dam and wanted to turn back, I heard Hao Junqi's cry for help.

"Brother-help, hmm,—— come on, brother!"

I was startled and ran to the hydropower station as quickly as the conditions were reversed. I can't imagine what happened.

I rushed into the hydroelectric power station.

No one thought that there would be an extra 60-year-old man in the hydropower station!

The old man was entangled with Hao Junqi.

Hao Junqi shouted and scuffled with him. She wore only a pair of briefs and a strip of cloth in her hand. Her milky slacks were tossed aside.

The flames in the fire scurried upwards.

"You scream, scream. No one came to call him to death. You're right from it. The old man said in the local dialect.

My head "buzzed".

I shouted, "Dead old man, let me go!" What do you want?! ”

The old man stopped pestering. He's silly and cute.

I rushed over and pushed the old man away, then walked to Hao Junqi's side, sideways in front of Hao Junqi.

"Don't get me wrong, young man. I'm kidding. Look at my seventies and eighties. The old man scoffed.

I kicked him over, and the old man fell to the ground. "Get out, get out of here, you know? Get out! ”

"I'll get out, I'll get out." The old man climbed out of the hydropower station with a rolling belt.

Hao Junqi cried and went to pick up the pants on the ground.

"I'm sorry, Junqi, I'm sorry." I was at a loss for what to say.

Hao Junqi sobbed as she put on her pants with her back to me.

"It's all right." I held Hao Junqi in my arms.

Hao Junqi clenched her fists and hammered my chest, "Where have you been, where have you been?" Didn't I tell you to keep watch outside? Woowoo...... It scared the hell out of me. ”

"I thought there was no one in this barren mountain or wilderness. It was me who had to wait the most, so I ran to the other side of the dam. Where did this old man come from? He didn't hurt you, did he? ”

"Nope." Hao Junqi left my mind, "He sneaked in quietly from the hydropower station. ”

"Inside the hydropower station? Is there a small door in the back of the hydropower station? I asked.

"I don't know. When the old man walked in, my shirt was already dry, and I was baking my pants. He walked up to me and I became alert. I immediately stood up, and he pounced on me and tried to take off my coat. ”

"The strip of cloth you have in your hand?"

"It was torn from him." Hao Junqi hurriedly shook off the strip of cloth wrapped around her wrist.

"Scared you. I really didn't expect this to happen. ”

"Who told you to stay so far away from me? It's like I'm going to eat you. ”

"I ......"

"Don't let me, my mine, hurry up and dry your clothes."

"Have you dried it all?"

"All that's left is shoes."

"Then please go out for a while."

"You're still telling me to go out? I'm not going out. Hao Junqi shouted.

"But I'm ...... Well, anyway, when I was a kid*, I saw it all by you. ”

"It's slander. I closed my eyes. ”

"I'm sure you opened your eyes secretly."

"I don't. Won't you carry me on my back? ”

I took off my shirt and baked it while laughing with Hao Junqi. Hao Junqi added firewood to the side. Dried bamboo branches make a crackling sound as they burn.

"Brother, we're not going to spend the night here, are we?" Hao Junqi used a stick to pick up the branch pressed against the flame. The flames flew out.

"I had to spend the night here. If the flood waters don't recede, we won't be able to cross the river. I sighed.

"How did that old man get here?"

"I think he might be the caretaker of this reservoir. When the rain stopped, he came to check on the reservoir, but he didn't expect to meet you baking clothes inside, so he had a bad idea. ”

"You didn't understand what I meant. I wonder how he got here. There must be a way for him to get over. Hao Junqi said.

"Maybe he has a bamboo raft or some other means to cross the river." Only then did I understand that Hao Junqi meant coming from across the river.

"If I knew this, I would have detained that old man, and I don't know if he is from Luwan Village or Yongtai Village."

"yes, maybe we can let him cross the river."

By the time we had dried our shoes thoroughly, it was nearly dusk. We have all "wiped out" the bits and pieces left in the bag. On the way, we went to the mountains to pick up a lot of dead branches and leaves. We're going to have to keep the fire burning all night.

The hunger in our stomachs drove us to make up our minds to go to the sweet potato fields.

"We're going to be thieves again." I say.

"Isn't that your best job, brother?"

"Talking so badly? As if you weren't involved? ”

"I'm just a foil. You see, stealing bamboo cages, stealing pears, and now stealing sweet potatoes again. Hao Junqi smiled happily.

"Heroes are inevitably unscrupulous." I teased.

"Let's go, it's still the old rules, you do it, I'll watch the wind."

“Ok 。”

We went down to the bottom of the dam. The sweet potato vines in the sweet potato fields grow very luxuriantly. Sweet potatoes are grown in the countryside for the harvest, but it is important to raise pigs. The sweet potato vines are harvested back, whether they are eaten raw or cooked, and the pigs like it very much. Whereas, sweet potato vines have a very strong ability to regenerate. The stems of these sweet potatoes, which are often harvested from the vines, tend to be small in size when buried in the soil (i.e., sweet potatoes).

The sweet potato fields at the bottom of the dam are far away from the village, so the sweet potato vines have hardly been harvested, and the stems growing in the soil are naturally larger. So, I pulled up a sweet potato vine (which is a veritable uprooting), and the stem of the root was the size of a child's fist, and it was only mid-to-late June.

I pulled three trees in a row, and I harvested a total of more than a dozen sweet potatoes. One of them had six stems, but unfortunately it was not large, and the smallest one was as thick as a thumb.

"Is that enough?" I asked Hao Junqi.

"Enough. The sweet potatoes here are so good, aren't they? ”

"Then let's go back. It was getting dark. ”

"Wait, brother, do you say that if you bury these sweet potato vines in the soil again, will sweet potatoes grow again?"

"I don't know. You reminded me, though. At least if we do that, the peasants won't scold us for being 'damned.'" ”

"What a trick to draw salary."