Wang Jianguo sent Shangguan Chen all the way to the ferry port. After Shangguan Chen waved goodbye to Wang Jianguo, he jumped on the ferry. Supporting the boat is an old man in his fifties, who is also surnamed Huang and called Huang Youfu.

After Shangguan Chen got on the ferry, he found that there was a wooden basin on the bow of the boat, and there were a few dimes in the wooden basin, and there were also two pieces of change. He asked Huang Youfu: "Uncle, how much do you have to pay for a boat?"

Huang Youfu replied while holding the boat: "I don't need money from this village, if it's from other places, I can give it casually, and if I don't have change, it's okay not to give it." ”

This Huang Youfu said very indifferently, and he didn't care about money at all, which may also be a small epitome of the simple folk customs of Luotian villagers.

Shangguan Chen listened to Huang Youfu's words and thought to himself: It is not easy for this old man to support the boat, how hard it must be to come in the wind and go in the rain! Looking at the traces of time carved on his weather-beaten face, and looking at his upper body that was tanned by the sun and turned red, Shangguan Chen's heart felt sad. Silently, he took out a ten-dollar bill from his pocket and put it in a wooden basin.

The boat soon docked, Shangguan Chen jumped off the bow of the boat, waved his hand at Huang Youfu, and walked towards the front shore.

At this time, Huang Guogang was sitting on the stone on the shore, and saw Shangguan Chen jump off the boat, and found that this person was extraordinary, graceful, and well-dressed, which showed that he had an extraordinary temperament. He greeted him and said, "Friend, please stay." ”

Shangguan Chen saw that someone had stopped him, so he stopped and saw that it was a middle-aged man greeting him, "Uncle, are you calling me?"

Huang Guogang looked at Shangguan Chen and said, "Yes, may I ask this friend, I see that you are a little familiar, as if you have seen it somewhere?" I am old and my memory is not good, but I can't remember it for a while. ”

Don't look at Huang Guogang as an authentic countryman, but he still speaks at a very high level. He is not like someone else who accosted and questioned, but if he were someone else, he would definitely ask something like this: This friend, I don't think you are like a person from our village, what are you going to do in the village? If you go to visit relatives and friends, which house are you going to? If you ask such a question, it will cause unhappiness or misunderstanding among others.

Shangguan Chen looked at Huang Guogang and saw that he was not only in his fifties, how could he be old? Besides, he only came to Ningyang County yesterday, how could he have anything to do with him? The person in front of him must have something to tell him. Otherwise, I wouldn't have accosted myself like this.

"Uncle, you may be mistaken, I only came to Ningyang County from Sichuan Province yesterday, I think, we shouldn't know each other. Shangguan Chen's answer was quite polite.

Huang Guogang touched his head in embarrassment, looked at Shangguan Chen again, and said, "Hehe, look at my memory, it's getting worse and worse now." I'm sorry! You've come here so far, are you visiting relatives or friends?"

Huang Guogang paused, and then said: "My surname is Huang, my name is Huang Guogang, I am the village director and secretary of this village, I am very familiar with every house in the village, which one you want to go, I will send someone to take you there, so that you don't take many detours." ”

Shangguan Chen saw that Huang Guogang had just made so many detours and was chattering endlessly, so he said: "Uncle, my name is Shangguan Chen, and I came to your place to visit friends, is there a person named Du Haicheng in your village?" A few months ago, he went in, as a friend, I came to see his family. ”