When the vegetable farmer uncle left with the little boy, Yang Liufang put the rice bag on the mazha bed where he slept (a rope bed similar to a large mazha very common in the northwest, also known as the "Hu bed"), went out, and washed by the dim kerosene light by the sink for watering vegetables, and then went in to eat again. Before the meal was finished, the vegetable farmer uncle returned, brought back a pair of shorts made of shabby pants, and a little soap that was only used like a thin piece of bamboo, handed it to Yang Liufang, and left again.

Although there is only a thick half-pot helmet in the rice bag, and a large portion of vegetables are mixed together with a few vegetables to stir-fry the vegetarian dishes, the willow side is particularly fragrant. After gobbling up, Yang Liufang burped, walked to the pool with a bowl to wash it, scooped a bowl of water into the pressurized water well by the pool (a device that can pump groundwater in the northwest), lifted the handle up and down, and the water came out in a few clicks. Yang Liufang took advantage of the situation to take a bowl and drank it happily. He began to carry water until the pool was full and returned the bowl to the shack, and Liu Fang took out the worn-out shorts and a thin slice of soap, and regardless of whether the vegetable keeper in the neighboring vegetable field could see it or not, he stripped himself naked, jumped into the pool and washed his body with soap.

After coming up, he wiped the water droplets on his body with his stinky vest and shorts, put on the worn-out shorts sent by his uncle, tried it, the waistband of the pants was a little fat, and Liu Fang picked a few leaves of weeds on the ground by the pool and tied them, and the pants did not fall down. He washed his stinky clothes with the remaining soap and hung them on thin bamboo poles used by the vines such as beans at the edge of the shack. He went back to the shack, closed the curtain of the gauze, extinguished the kerosene lamp, and lay down happily on the bed of Maza. After washing away the fatigue of the past few days, he had a full meal, and soon fell asleep deeply.

Yang Liufang was woken up by the roar of cars and the noisy sound of collecting vegetables, opened his sleepy eyes, the room was dark, and looked outside the sand net curtain, it was not yet dawn. But at this moment, vegetable farmers have begun to be busy so that people in the city can eat fresh vegetables early in the morning.

"Tomatoes, 23 kg!"

"I know!" With the sound of "bang". Again:

"Cucumber 35 kg!"

"Oh, Mu Ma Da (Xizhou dialect: no problem)!" Then there was another "bang".

Liu Fang opened the gauze curtain and walked out in the dark, the vegetable farmer uncle just struggled to walk to the door of the shack with a basket of vegetables, Yang Liu Fang hurriedly lifted the curtain and walked out, helping to drag the bottom of the basket, the uncle got help and breathed a heavy sigh. In this way, the uncle was behind, and Liu Fang was in front, bending down and walking backwards towards the ground. When they arrived at the main road in the vegetable field, it instantly brightened, and the two of them could walk sideways towards the truck. Liu Fang looked sideways and saw that the light was the light of the starting truck, and in front of the light was a scale, and there were many people. The sound of weighing all kinds of vegetables came out one after another in the "booming" truck sound, rough and sophisticated.

When he arrived at the scale, Liu Fang let go of his hand and straightened his waist, he was already sweating profusely, and the uncle put the frame on the platform of the scale, and there was a "bang". Liu Fang only realized at this moment that the sound of the impact came from here.

"Cucumber 43 kg!" The person who receives the food reports the number.

The vegetable farmer stepped forward and squinted at the scale on the scale. After confirming that everything is correct, he said to the receiver:

"Mumada (Xizhou dialect: no problem)!"

Liu Fang then helped the uncle move the vegetable basket off the scale, handed it to the carriage, and the person who stacked the goods took it. The vegetable farmer turned around and walked to the vegetable collector, took a slip, folded it and put it in his pocket, and then turned around and walked towards his vegetable patch. Yang Liufang hurriedly followed, and the vegetable farmers behind continued to weigh their own vegetables.

Liu Fang followed the uncle all the way to the melon area, where a basket full of melons was already there. The uncle held his breath and hugged him, Liu Fang bent down again and dragged the bottom of the basket hard, feeling that this basket was obviously heavier than the previous basket. The two of them stepped on the path in the vegetable field and slowly moved towards the ground.

Before he reached the ground, Liu Fang was already sweating profusely, and he could clearly hear the heavy wheezing sound of the uncle in his ears. After loading the truck and getting the receipt, the vegetable farmer uncle was relieved and breathed a long sigh of relief.

The two went to the pool to wash, returned to the shack, the uncle lit a kerosene lamp, took out a plastic sheet from a corner, spread it on the ground, lay down by himself, and said to Liu Fang: "Fei (sleep)!" ”

Liu Fang wanted the vegetable farmer uncle to sleep on the Mazha bed, and when he looked over and wanted to call him, he saw that he was already lying down and closed his eyes. I had to lie back on my own in the Maza bed. After a while, I heard the uncle's heavy snoring.

When Yang Liufang woke up, it was already dawn, and he turned his head to look at the vegetable farmer uncle on the ground, who had already left, and it was estimated that he had gone to the vegetable field to work again. This is the epitome of the urban suburban farmers in western China in the 80s, who, like most farmers, faced the loess with their backs to the sky, but could not live the traditional rural life of working at sunrise and resting at sunset. They grow and sell vegetables day and night, running for their lives to make the family comfortable.

Yang Liufang turned over and got off the Mazha bed, changed into his clothes, lifted the gauze curtain, and walked out of the shack. Seeing that the vegetable patch seemed to have just been watered, and some parts of the ridge were soaked with water, I accidentally slipped out of the slippers with open uppers in front of me, and stepped on the soil, which was cool. I couldn't squat down and put on my shoes, so I could only walk to the edge of the pool, and when I saw that it was already full of new water, Liu Fang washed it indiscriminately, retracted his feet again, said hello to the uncle and turned to leave. After carefully walking out of the vegetable patch, we walked towards the bus stop on the main road.

Soon, the familiar red, blue and white bus swayed over with the morning sun, after the passengers got down, the driver went to the front to turn around, because this bus is the last stop of the city from the bus station, and it is also the first stop in the suburbs to the city, so there are few people. After Yang Liufang bought the ticket, he found a window seat and sat down, and when he crossed Erlang's legs, he saw his open sandals, and he thought of Li Tongfu again. I wonder if this strange brother has arrived in Xizhou with the goods? Have you already started selling shoes in the railway station square? Yang Liufang's thoughts drifted.

At this moment, Li Tongfu was not having a good time, and used a pair of shoes to give the next passenger a discount of one yuan, and asked the passenger to help him carry a travel bag full of shoes out of the train station, and when he came to the railway station square, he was frightened by the black crowd. At that time, although Zhengzhou Station was already a special station in the country and a transportation hub in the country, there were very few waiting halls, but people from all over the world were transferred here, and the population of Henan itself was large, so most people could only wait in the open-air waiting area, and the square in front of the station was densely packed with people.