Yang Liufang lifted the plastic sheet, and it was indeed a straw mat inside, which was spread out in the dark. Sitting on it, he took out two tomatoes, wiped them with his vest and ate them, and then wiped his hands on the corner of the straw mat. I lay down on the plastic sheet, walked for a while, very tired, the straw mat was a little tied back, but it was very warm, and I quickly fell asleep when I lay on it.

The next day, Yang Liufang woke up listening to the sound of the stone village chief beating water, and when he opened his eyes and saw that the stone village chief was struggling to fetch water, Liu Fang got up and couldn't care about cleaning up, so he hurried over to help.

"Chief Shimura, I'll help you."

"Tsk, see you again, call me (my) brother!"

"Okay, brother, I'll help you, you come and fetch water, then hand it to me, and I'll pour it in."

"Casa!" The stone village chief looked very happy.

The two of them passed the water and soon filled the bucket on the donkey cart, and Yanagi washed the two tomatoes with the remaining water in the bucket and shared them with the stone village chief. The village chief asked Liu Fang to wash with the remaining water in the bucket, and when Liu Fang finished washing, he himself washed his face. In the end, I was reluctant to pour out the water and hung the bucket on the wheel.

After the sound of the whip, the donkey kicked the ground on all fours, pulled the cart full of oil and water, and squeaked along the loess road. Originally, the head of the stone village wanted Yang Liufang to sit directly on the wheel, but Liu Fang was afraid that he would be tired of the donkey, so he just put the goods and bags containing tomatoes and melons on the car, and he still had to insist on walking for a while. The village chief couldn't help it, so he had to agree.

"Brother, why don't you dig a well in the village when you travel so far every day to fetch water to eat?"

"Oh, Eye and Eda have brought people to fight, and a lot of land in the village that is a little damp has been tried, and people are tired of stepping on (broken), and it is not good at all. It was only later that the location of the current well was discovered. ”

"Oh, I see. Eldest brother. How many people are there in our village? ”

"In addition to doing business outside, there are more than 200 households."

......

Yang Liufang and the stone village chief chatted while walking, until they couldn't walk anymore, and then they started to ride the donkey cart. It was only around noon that he returned to the village and distributed water to the waiting villagers, and the village chief took Liu Fang home.

The village chief's mother-in-law and son were already waiting at the gate of the courtyard, and when they saw Yang Liufang, Gawa struggled to get out of her mother's arms to find Liu Fang, and Liu Fang took out the toffee from the market owner and gave him two. Peel off the rest of the one, and after tearing the blue and white cellophane, the white toffee like shrimp crackers was revealed, and Xiao Gava was already drooling.

"I can't help it, uncle, I'll let you break the bank again." The village chief's mother-in-law dissuaded her while washing her face.

"Sister-in-law, it's okay, just like the child."

Gava couldn't wait to put it in her mouth. At this time, the industrious village chief's mother-in-law and aunt had already called for washing water, and Liu Fang and the village chief had washed them one after another, and when they entered the hall to prepare for dinner, Liu Fang remembered something.

"Big brother, borrow the kitchen. I'll mix some tomatoes for us to eat. ”

"You're a guest, let your sister-in-law come. Ga Wa Ma, Ga Wa Ma? ”

"What's the matter?"

"Mix some tomatoes."

Yang Liufang gave the remaining tomatoes in the plastic bag and the melon to the village chief's mother-in-law, and she took them and walked to the kitchen to mix the tomatoes.

"Let's leave with the goods after dinner, and I have already greeted the head of the onion (village) in the neighboring onion (village)."

"Thank you, big brother. You're bothered. ”

After a while, a bowl of cold tomatoes was brought in, and Yang Liufang and Shi Village Chief ate it with steamed potatoes.

After eating, the village chief of Shishi took out the leftover goods from the last time, and asked Yang Liufang to count the side before stopping, the hard-working and simple farmers in the northwest may have never walked out of the Loess Plateau in their lives, but the simple and honest character is as respectful as this thick plateau.

Yang Liufang packed all the goods together, walked to the courtyard with the village chief Shishi, helped him remove the water tank converted from the donkey cart, put the donkey on it, and the two set off. All the way to the west, the same ravines and ravines, the donkey cart bumps along the path, except for the rhythmic "click" of the donkey's hooves and the random "squeak" of the donkey cart, the hot road is a little dull.

Seeing Yang Liufang's boredom, the village chief of Shi "snapped" and threw a whip in the air, and sang a song of Xintianyou with his throat:

Sheep belly (child) hand towel (towel) yo

Doug Blue

It's easy for us to meet each other

Oops, it's hard to talk

One is on that mountain

One in that ditch

We can't talk about that

Oops a trick of the hand

Beckon

Oooo

The stone village chief closed his eyes, tilted his head, and every time he sang, his shoulders sank, and his singing voice was loud, and the simple lyrics passed through the undulating loess plateau, through the mottled sand artemisia, and reverberated continuously, making people linger for a long time.

When the sun is slanting to the west, the green of the crops is faintly visible in the foreground, and the village perched on the earthen cliff is faintly visible. Walking into the village, Liu Fang found that this place is similar to Shiyi Village, the villagers live in scattered caves, Yang Liufang, who has studied carpentry for two years, is extremely sensitive to wood products, and he found that there are few wooden doors in the caves here, and some windows are still made of branches crossed into the shape of "Tian".

The stone village chief drove the donkey cart until it stopped in the courtyard of the village headquarters, where four poplar trees towered in front of the cave door of the team headquarters, and an old man wearing a shirt and a white vest with "advanced individual" printed on his chest sat on the grinding plate under the shade of the tree and smoked dry tobacco. ”

The old man nodded, took a deep puff of cigarette, spit out a thick white smoke, and then knocked the head of the long copper pot on the grinding plate, and shouted into the cave, "Wang Shan, your brother-in-law is here, come out and give him a drink of livestock." Only then did Liu Fang understand that this village was the maiden home of the stone village chief's mother-in-law, and it seemed that the village chief's father-in-law should be the leader of the village.

After a while, a young man came out of the cave and shouted at the stone, "Brother-in-law, come on." ”

"Ugh." The village chief of the stone village agreed, got out of the donkey cart, and Yang Liufang also jumped down.

The young man named Wang San drove the cart to the barn, tied the donkey, and unloaded the cart. From the pocket made of the fertilizer bag under the car, the village chief took out the tomatoes and melons that had been given to them by Yang Liufang at some point. handed it to Wang San, "Here, at this time, Xiao Yang (people) brought it back from Xizhou, you can keep it and eat it." ”

turned around and greeted Liu Fang, "Come on, Xiao Yang, this is a big forehead, call Uncle (Suo)." ”

"Uncle (Suo), I'm Xiao Yang, I'm sorry for you."

"Mu Ma Da (no problem), listen to (I) stone set (say) you can hit furniture?"

"Yes, Uncle (叟)"

"Yo, the third son of the Ejia family is going to get married, can you work hard for a few times, make a few tables, chairs, chairs and chairs?"

"I..." Liu Fang hesitated a little, first, he hadn't done it, and second, he didn't have any tools here.

"What, don't give the old man face."

"No, no, uncle, I, I don't have tools."

"Oh, this looks, the tools, the forehead and the stone help you sell the goods, slowly buy the nun (what), the third son is married in the twenty-eighth year of the New Year, and there are still more than four months, it's too late."

"That's, that's good. I promise you, uncle. ”