Liu Fang jumped off the donkey cart, and the leader put one side of the cart on a stone stone, unloaded the donkey, and tied it to the poplar tree to rest. Then he took out a gourd boiling water scoop from a fertilizer bag tied under the car, then stood on the stone, opened the opening on the oil drum, and shouted: "The old rule, 1 money and 1 scoop, no credit." The villagers just felt that they were ready for money, and he began to collect money to fetch water for the villagers. For each scoop, a penny was charged, and the earthy yellow one-cent note and the green two-cent note were collected in this way.

Liu Fang jumped off the donkey cart, and the leader put one side of the cart on a stone stone, unloaded the donkey, and tied it to the poplar tree to rest. The leader took out a gourd-boiled water scoop from a fertilizer bag tied under the car, then stood on the rock, opened the opening on the oil drum, and began to fetch water for the villagers. For every scoop and penny, the villagers seem to be accustomed to it. After fetching the water, they were carefully held so as not to scatter it, and soon disappeared behind the planks scattered in all directions or the rows made of crop stalks.

The villagers seem to be accustomed to it, and they are careful to hold the water after fetching, lest it spill it. In a few moments, they disappeared behind the templates scattered in all directions or the signs made of crop stalks. After all the villagers finished fetching water, the village chief collected the things, tied the lid of the oil drum, put on the donkey cart, and said to Liu Fang: "You, go with your forehead." ”

Yang Liufang obediently followed the leader. Bypassing the field dam, it is still a loess road, about half a mile, a courtyard surrounded by a low wall made of loess mixed with millet straw comes into view, in the middle of the yard there is a doorway about 1m wide, the door is blocked by a simple door tied with wooden sticks, facing the door is a row of caves, a hole in the middle of the cave opens the door, and on both sides are two bedrooms with arched windows. The owner seemed to be industrious, and he planted simple greens in a corner of the yard, and the leaves were also covered with yellow dust.

Perhaps hearing the clatter of wheels and donkeys' hooves on the road, a hostess in a green turban and a child with thin pigtails came to open the door. The leader drove the donkey cart into the barn on the south side of the courtyard wall and surrounded the city with straw, while the woman closed the door, put down the child, and followed her to the shed next to the barn to fetch water. There is a pot stove made of loess in the shed, which should be a kitchen. Liu Fang followed and stood in the middle of the courtyard, and the child ran over and looked at Liu Fang curiously, and Liu Fang smiled kindly in return.

Wait for the man to tie up the livestock and come back before he introduces: "This is Aunt E's mother and baby." Dogs, come and call uncle (sou). ”

The boy named Dogan timidly shouted at Liu Fang, "Uncle! The voice was very crisp, and then he quickly ran over and hugged his mother's leg, peeking over. Liu Fang agreed, instinctively wanting to get a small gift as a return, only to remember that the tomatoes and melons were long gone. But the boy's pride made him turn around, take out the only dime left from the pocket of his shorts, walk up to the child, hand it to the child, and say with a smile: "Come, dog, keep it for candy." ”

"Uncle, I can't do it, I can't help it." The child's mother turned sideways and pulled the child to the side to hide, after all, Liu Fang's hand was quick and placed in the child's arms holding his mother.

"Take it, uncle." The leader is not polite. While washing his face, he said.

The team headquarters was behind the poplar tree in the courtyard where the villagers bought water, and Yang Liufang followed the leader here with a handbag loaded with goods. Said to be the team headquarters, in fact, there are only three caves like the leader's house, untie the key from the belt to open the door, the two walked in, Yang Liufang saw that the one that entered the door did not even have a simple table and stool, but a huge portrait of the leader hanging on the wall.

Under the windowsill of the cave on the left-hand side, there is a large box that has turned black one meter square, and there is a lock on the box, and the leader opens the lock and takes out a megaphone, which is connected to a microphone wrapped in red cloth. Liu Fang hurriedly went over and hugged it, and the leader took out four more dry batteries before covering the box. took the equipment from Yang Liufang's hand, opened the back cover and put the dry batteries into it one by one, and then turned on the recorder.

The leader motioned for Yang Liufang to go out, and when Liu Fang walked under the poplar tree in the courtyard, he heard the leader's voice coming from the loudspeaker: "Rabbit Meng (comrades), send a notice (below), the fat (who) family lacks needlework and thread to come to the team to buy, 1 money needle, 2 money thimble, 5 money black and white thread." ”

Immediately added: "If you don't have money, you can also exchange eggs for 1 cent, and you can refund more and make up less." Ha (below) side, on the radio..."

As soon as the leader's voice fell, he heard a snap, and the horn was silent, sounding like the power was cut off. Before the leader came out, a tattered woman wearing a green turban came over. There was a loud voice shouting at the window that pulled out the wire: "Brother Shi, where to buy it?" Only then did Yang Liufang know that the leader's name was: Stone.

"Xiao Yang, come, come." The village chief did not answer, but called Liu Fang in.

Yang Liufang walked in with the bag, saw that the village chief was holding the equipment, and quickly dropped the bag to take it, and the village chief opened the box again, took the megaphone and microphone, put it in the box, and covered it again. Shouting out the window, "Come here and buy it!" ”

The village chief took out a red-skinned notebook with the portrait of a national leader and an old fountain pen, and before he could open the notebook, more than a dozen women had already poured in, one of whom was actively playing with everyone in the crowd, and said to a woman wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt:

"Ahh

"Fart, I can't eat enough, I can't hatch, hahaha..."

"Your kiln is not soundproof, and some people heard you say that the kang is all engaged in sun stepping (Northwest dialect: bad, broken)..."Another man in a green flower shirt also interjected and joked.

"Hahaha... quack quack...."

The meat joke made everyone laugh.

"The matter of incubating eggs, the Buddha (said) in the nest on the kang head, and the fat (who) came first?"

"I, I want 2 needles, one for each size." A woman in a blue short-sleeved shirt with a red headscarf stepped forward and said.

"How big, is it the size of Shishui?" A woman who didn't do anything backward also rushed in to make a joke. The crowd, which had just been quiet, burst into laughter and chaos.

"Hey, hey, don't ask for a Buddha, change the flowers, pay the money!" The leader spoke, and everyone fell silent again. Yang Liufang knew that this woman's name was Gaihua.

Gaihua handed over a 2-cent banknote, Liu Fang took out a pack of needles and opened it, took out a minimum and a medium needle from it, handed it to Gaihua, and Gaihua lifted the corner of the shirt and pinned it to it, and walked out of the crowd.