At the end of the evening, the sky was drizzling with a light rain.

By the time Wang Manyin rushed home, the rain had already become completely heavy.

Spring rain is as expensive as oil!

Although the rain was a bit late, for the farmers of the Loess Plateau, it was a sign of hope that at least some relief could be provided to the drought-stricken crops on the plateau.

"Manyin, you're back," Seeing the man enter the cave, Orchid immediately put down the needle and thread in his hand.

"Didn't you tell me that if the light is bad, don't do needlework?" Seeing the shoe samples placed on the kang table, Wang Manyin spoke helplessly.

Orchid was busy all day before getting married, and she didn't want to be an idler after getting married. During the day, the mother-in-law and aunts in the village came to chat, but she couldn't study, so she followed her to do needlework.

From the beginning of spring to the present, Wang Manyin has made four pairs of mille-feuille cloth shoes.

This kind of handmade traditional mille-feuille sole cloth shoes has rarely been seen in later generations, and the practice is very cumbersome, first boil some thin batter or corn paste as viscose, paste the rotten cloth layer by layer on the board to dry, and then cut and sew it in the shape of the sole and waist.

Especially making soles, it is even more troublesome. You need to keep piercing small eyes with an awl, threading the needle back and forth, and if you are not careful, you will get your hand.

"It's okay, there are only two stitches left, what are we going to eat at night?" Orchid Lisuo cleaned up the kang table, got up and asked.

"Steam some rice, we haven't eaten in a while. Grab a few more eggs and eat them with soft scrambled eggs." Wang Manyin thought for a while and answered.

It's raining outside, and no one will come at night, so we can finally eat generously.

It is said that every time he cooks at home, he feels like a thief.

Instead, Orchid opened the jar of rice and looked at it, and said with some hesitation, "Steamed rice? I don't have much rice at home."

"It's okay, I'll go to the market again in two days and see if I can buy some more." Wang Manyin replied disappretently.

Some time ago, there was a bumper harvest of rice, and now there are still more than 100 catties, enough for them to eat for a few months.

Listening to the man's words, Orchid's face was immediately full of worry: "Man Yin, you still don't go to the market again. Even if our family eats bran vegetables, I'm willing."

She had never been to the black market of the Shibi Festival, but she kept listening to the mother-in-law and aunts in the village talk about it.

Especially when the commune held a meeting some time ago, all the members of the village needed to participate, and Orchid saw those people who were doing business on the black market standing on the stage......

So she would rather eat poorly than have anything happen to her man. What's more, compared to other families in the village, the life of the two is good enough, at least they can eat enough.

Orchid persuaded many times in private, but unfortunately the man didn't listen at all.

"Don't worry, I have it in my heart. Didn't I tell you last time, those people actually have a special attitude in private, mainly focusing on the faces of selling things, and generally not catching people who buy things...... Many of the commune workers also go shopping regularly." Wang Manyin could only be so comforted.

What he said is not entirely false, the reason why the black market can exist on a large scale and has never disappeared is naturally a unique set of operating rules.

However, Wang Manyin is indeed very depressed now, there is space, and he can obviously guarantee that he can eat rice and white noodles at his own time, but he can only pick and choose, and let the black market take the blame every time. ….

But happiness is all about contrasts...... Orchid is right, compared to other families in the village, his family's quality of life is already very high.

Even compared to the city people of the same era, it is not much worse.

At least you can eat eggs every day, and you can have a meal of meat every three or five days.

The rice produced in the space chews firmly, with a unique fragrance, and is served with scrambled egg lichen...... Wang Manyin ate two large bowls.

After eating, the two of them sat on the clay kang as usual, guarding the kerosene lamp and reading, without interfering with each other.

At first, Wang Manyin was purely reading to kill time, but after a period of precipitation, he has completely calmed down.

After satisfying the needs of material life, people always have some spiritual pursuits. After all, there are nearly ten years to go, and it is impossible for me to only eat and wear.

Wasted time.

His words to persuade Liu Xiangyang are equally appropriate to use on himself. Enriching yourself with more knowledge is always good for the future.

Wang Manyin has a clear understanding and has experienced the information explosion of later generations, and his vision and insight far exceed most of his peers in this era.

Therefore, speaking one by one, it sounds very reasonable, which attracts the convincing people around him.

But Wang Manyin knew in his heart that his cognition of many things was only floating on the surface, and the depth of precipitation was not enough.

For several books of Mr. Lu Xun, Wang Manyin has completed three brushes. The "Selected Historical Records" he is reading now is from Shang Zhimin, an educated youth.

He heard Liu Xiangyang mention it not long ago, and only then did he know that Shang Zhimin brought a lot of books with him when he cut the queue, and many of them were rare old ancient books.

It obviously took a lot of thought for the other party to be able to save it.

Of course, for fear of causing unnecessary trouble, Wang Manyin didn't dare to borrow more, and only took one copy at a time.

After reading "The Biography of the Marquis of Huaiyin", he suddenly felt a little sad in his heart. Han Xin definitely belongs to a legendary figure, when he is at a low point, he begs for his mother and is humiliated in his crotch.

Once the storm rises, it will shine brightly. Even Gaozu Liu Bang said: "Even a million troops, the battle will be won, and the attack will be won, I am not as good as Han Xin." It's just that Han Xin later ended up with a "cunning rabbit died, and the lackey cooked; The high bird is exhausted, and the good bow is hidden; The enemy country is broken, and the ministers are destroyed."

***

It rained all night, and in the morning, Wang Manyin pushed open the door of the kiln, and suddenly felt a damp smell of earth coming to his face.

Nearby, the leaves of trees and weeds are becoming more and more verdant, and in the distance, between the plateaus and mountains, the faint rain and mist are like wisps, which rarely makes the rough loess plateau become delicate.

In this kind of weather, the construction site will definitely not be able to do work, so it is just a good day to take a rest.

After breakfast, Wang Manyin saw that the rain was getting lighter and lighter, so he used the excuse of going to the Dongla River to catch fish, and planned to go to the space to catch a few small fish for a tooth sacrifice later.

As soon as he came up with the idea, Orchid immediately said that he would go with him to the river.

So, the two put on raincoats, went barefoot, and walked towards the outside of the village with rhubarb.

The so-called raincoat is made of the orchid with the layer of plastic sheeting in the snakeskin bag containing salt, which happens to wrap all the clothes inside.

When passing through the cliff ditch along the way, you can also see a series of muddy streams flowing into the Dongla River. ….

When Wang Manyin rushed to the river, he found that there were already many people in the village guarding there. Obviously, they also wanted to take advantage of the rain to catch a few fish for tooth sacrifices.

Wang Manyin looked at a few fish baskets and found that they had some gains. Most of them are loaches and trash fish, with only a few crucian carp scattered here.

I even saw a lot of three or four centimeter-long loach seedlings...... This result made him feel indescribably happy.

My previous judgment was correct, the vitality of fish is far stronger than I imagined. As long as there is water, they can survive and thrive.

If the Dongla River can continue to flow, there will definitely be more and more fish in the water.

Unfortunately, this wish is difficult to realize, and the Loess Plateau has been dry for nine times in ten years. In Wang Manyin's memory, almost every summer and autumn, the Dongla River will fall into a semi-broken state, as thin as hemp rope.

Therefore, only digging ponds and raising fish is king.

According to Xie Gong's design, as long as the Dongla River is not completely cut off, the pumping machine can ensure the water supply of more than 10 acres of rice fields.

Seeing that there were too many people in the shallow water nearby, Wang Manyin just wanted to take the orchid upstream to catch fish, when he heard the cry of a broken baby not far away.

Then, someone shouted: "Oh no, come on, Qiusheng's hairy egg was bitten by a strange thing!!"

"Let's go over and see what's going on?" Wang Manyin shouted at the orchid and hurriedly walked downstream.

When the two arrived, the scene had already surrounded the villagers, and they were all exclaimed.

"What is this, I haven't seen it before, why does it have four legs and a tail?"

"It looks fierce, and it won't bite off the hairy fingers......

"Stay out of the water, don't get bitten again,"

Wang Manyin couldn't help but widen his eyes when he saw what bit Mao Dan's finger.

There are old turtles in the Dongla River!

It was definitely a big surprise.

It is now the fourth and a half months of the lunar calendar, and the fifth month of the solar calendar, according to the seasonal calculation, the old turtle should have just finished hibernation.

"I saw a head in the water, I thought it was a loach, and I wanted to pull it out......" Mao Dan cried, intermittently. He pulled his hand hard, trying to shake off the strange thing.

It's a pity that once the old turtle bites its prey, it never lets go. Mao Dan continued to struggle, and it was estimated that he would have to pull off a piece of meat.

Wang Manyin hurriedly said loudly: "Mao Dan, this is an old turtle, it is very valuable. Don't drag it, I'll get it for you."

Under the gaze of the others, Wang Manyin put the palm of Mao Dan into the river together with the fish basket.

Then, he dragged a stalk of grass on the shore and pierced it into the old turtle's nostrils.

This thing immediately released its mouth when it was painful.

Mao Dan took the opportunity to withdraw his fingers and continued to stream painful tears.

Seeing that there was no danger, Wang Mancang curiously leaned in front of the fish basket and looked at it: "Manyin, this thing is called an old turtle?" Turtle spirit, turtle spirit is what it said?"

"That's right, Wang Ba is also it," Wang Manyin nodded in response.

This old turtle with a big bowl mouth has completely become a rarity, and a group of people gather around to see the strangeness.

Soon, several educated youths also rushed to hear the news. Shang Zhimin asked for three yuan to buy this old turtle on the spot.

Wang Qiusheng hesitated and nodded excitedly in agreement. No matter how good the old turtle is, it is only a few mouthfuls of meat, but with three yuan, his family can eat salt for half a year.

At this moment, the people fishing by the river were completely boiling. One by one, they searched by the water's edge with wide eyes, hoping to catch a second old turtle and sell it for money.

Even the orchid was no exception, and he took Wang Manyin to the upstream to look for it.

Soon, she began to shout excitedly, "Wow, full silver, look...... I caught a big crucian carp."

Seeing his mother-in-law showing an innocent smile, Wang Manyin was a little stupid.

Come to think of it, the orchid is just nineteen this year, and in the next generation, she hasn't even graduated from college.

The women of the Loess Plateau, as long as they get married, will quickly become old. The mother-in-law and aunt in their twenties are even much older than the forty-year-old women in later generations.

Wang Manyin sincerely hopes that his orchid will always be happy.......

Mountain farmer