"Hatch the eggs, hahaha..."

"Boom!"

"Hahaha..."The crowd that had just been quiet was chaotic again, and the stone leader slapped the box to be quiet.

Next is the hairy egg wife who was jokingly "hatching eggs", she carefully handed over an egg, the stone village chief took it, shook it in his ear, and shone it in the light of the window, before carefully putting it down against the wall.

"What do you want?"

"2 No. 1 needles, 1 thimble, and 1 handful of white thread (people call the handful of thread "foreign thread"). Alas, Gava has grown up and spends shoes. ”

"Don't call Gava, it's time to choose a name." As he spoke, the leader took out the change from his pocket that he had sold water in the morning, and picked out a one-cent note and looked for it.

"Brother Shi, one day take one for the child, me and the baby are illiterate."

"Uhh The village chief, Shi Shi, agreed.

Liu Fang prepared the goods and handed them to Maodan's wife.

"Give me that paper bag, so I can take it." Yang Liufang hurriedly took out the remaining 6 needles, put them in another needle bag that had taken out a large needle, and handed the empty needle bag to Mao Dan's wife. She left satisfied.

In this way, one after another, until the sun and shadow set to the west, everyone dispersed, and the leader calculated that a total of 24 eggs and scattered cents were collected for 2 yuan and 3 cents in cash. There are more than 70 needles, 13 thimbles, and 10 threads.

The leader calculated the money, deducted the 1 yuan he deserved, took out all the change in his pocket, and there was still a difference of 2 yuan 2, so he asked Liu Fang and himself to go home and get it.

The stone village chief handed the collected eggs to his mother-in-law, went into the room and took out the money to hand it to Liu Fang, Liu Fang was very grateful for the help of the stone village chief, so he took out a handful of white thread and gave it to the village chief's mother-in-law.

Perhaps moved by Liu Fang's sincerity, the village chief said: "Your remaining needlework, (I) will take you to the neighboring onion (village) to sell." ”

"Thank you, leader!" Liu Fang was a little excited when he heard this, so he half-bent down to shake the hand of the stone village chief to express his gratitude. The village chief waved his hand and ducked.

"Mumada (Xizhou dialect: it's okay)! You're very honest, not like those who come out to sell things. I am bigger than you, so you can call me my brother. ”

"Brother, how far is the neighboring village?"

"The demon (about) touches 15 miles"

"Oh, then, brother, I'll leave the rest here, and then go to Lanzhou to buy goods, will you take me when you come back?" That way we can all earn more. ”

"Oh, casual!"

In the evening, Yang Liufang had dinner at the village chief's house, still steaming potatoes and pickled radish strips. Liu Fang, who made money, ate very fragrantly, but when he went to bed at night, the mosquitoes buzzed and bit so much that he couldn't sleep, so when the village chief got up to feed the cattle the next day, Liu Fang quickly got up.

As soon as the sky was bright, the two of them sat on the wheels and set off on the road, and on the swaying donkey cart, Liu Fang leaned on the bucket transformed from an oil drum, but fell asleep beautifully. When he arrived at the wellhead of the well where he was fetching water, the village chief woke him up, and the sun had risen to eight or nine o'clock.

Liu Fang jumped off the donkey cart and heard the village chief Shi say: "Brother, you can't do without fertilizer (water) in the green onion (village), I won't send you anymore, you go forward (all the way) until you reach the three-way intersection, where you are waiting for the cart pulling goods to enter the city." ”

Yang Liufang thanked him, told the village chief Shi that he would come back as soon as possible, and hurriedly walked forward. Because there is nothing to tie up, it is easier to walk at first, all the way is this narrow loess road, on both sides are high and low reddish hills, there is little vegetation, the road is full of floating soil, and it is already full of dust below the willow shorts after walking a short distance. By noon, before he saw the three-way intersection, Liu Fang was already sweating profusely and his mouth was dry, and this state was getting worse and worse. Seeing that the sun in the sky was becoming more and more poisonous, Liu Fang didn't dare to stop, and could only rely on his mind to move forward step by step.

Suddenly hearing the sound of a tractor "Tutu Tu Tu ...", Liu Fang was excited, rushed forward with all his might, due to the sweating of the soles of his feet, he slipped and fell, and the forefoot came out of the slipper, cracking half of the upper on one side, and the hot loess foam on the ground was still a little hot on his feet and buttocks.

"Mother's Doom!" Liu Fang angrily scolded a native dialect, but he didn't allow him to think too much, so he curled up his legs and retracted the soles of his feet, then stood up and continued to run forward. Looking at the back of the tractor that kicked up the dust, Liu Fang shouted while running, but it was too late, so he could only helplessly watch the tractor go away a little bit, and finally the sound of "Tututu" gradually disappeared into the undulating hills with the figure of the tractor.

In the pale sunlight, Liu Fang bent over and stood at the fork in the road, his hands supporting his knees, gasping for breath, beads of sweat falling into the dust, his throat dry, and the smell of blood came out.

It took a long time to recover, Liu Fang left his hands on his knees, his head was dizzy when he stood up, and he almost fell to the ground, Liu Fang could only barely drag his legs, walked to the slightly protruding hills, didn't care about the dirty, and lay down sideways to save physical strength, his double eyelids always wanted to fight, Liu Fang could only hold on, telling himself over and over again, "I can't sleep, I can't sleep..."

The sun of the Loess Plateau scorched the earth, and Liu Fang's lips began to dry and crack, and as soon as he moistened them with his tongue, they dried up again, and slowly began to peel. The hungry and thirsty Liu Fang bit off the dead skin on his lips with his teeth, and he was reluctant to spit it out, and he didn't have the strength to spit it out, chewing in his mouth to give himself a little psychological comfort.

Liu Fang, who was half-lying down, watched the sun shift from the top of his head to his shoulders through his blurred eyes, and when he was almost about to collapse, he heard a tractor sound of "Tutu Tu Tu ...", Liu Fang pinched his thigh with his hand, making sure it was not a hallucination, and quickly turned over and wanted to get up, but he didn't have a trace of strength in his body, so he could only barely struggle, and he went down with one bone, on the loess road, while climbing, beckoning.

"Click", in the sudden sound, accompanied by the sound of the body hitting the front tow hook, the tractor stopped.

"Fat (who), beat Sani! You don't want to live anymore! A burst of rude Xizhou vernacular came, and the driver got out of the driver's seat, came to the front of the car, and bent down to look at Yang Liufang lying on the ground. Yang Liufang wanted to speak, but he only opened his mouth but couldn't make a sound, and finally said in a hoarse voice: "Master, I'm going to Yantan Station..."

The driver dragged Liu Fang's arms to pull him up, carried him to the saddle, let Liu Fang lean on the guard plate of the wheel, stretched out one hand to the edge of the driver's seat, picked up a towel and beat the floating soil on his body, while beating, he said: "Young man, if you don't meet (me), you will be killed (Xizhou dialect: death)!" ”