After about five or six miles, the vast plateau becomes a different scene, full of sand pits, and occasionally a walk-behind tractor with a tow "click" roars and emits black smoke from the bottom of the pit, and the further you go, the more such tractors there are.

"Dig in the sand!" Wang Shan said.

"Oh, third brother, is this very profitable?"

"Crooked day, these cowards are crazy by digging sand."

"Then why don't you dig in your village?"

"Emeng (we) also think, from the time of E(my) master, I thought, one wood (no) way out, two wood (no) market."

"Oh, how do they get out?"

They walked along the river beach road in Zhaomagou. All the way to the Yellow River in Xizhou, there are people who collect sand. ”

"There's a river here?"

"Well, yes, Zhao Magou and the Yellow River are connected for miles, and you can see it in a while." The carriage traveled another two or three miles, and the number of walk-behind tractors gradually increased. He could also clearly see a row of black trees stretching, and the closer he got, the clearer it became, and Liu Fang found that these trees were the same as those of Wang Shan's house, all of which were willow-like trees that had been sawn off the treetops.

"Third brother, what kind of tree is this? I saw it in your village as well. ”

"Oh, chop off the willow."

"Poof, it's so cruel, my name is Liu Fang, taboo. Hahaha......" Liu Fang said jokingly. "Sure enough, it's a willow tree, why do you want to cut off your head?" Liu Fang continued to ask.

"Emeng (we) have a lot of wind and sand here, and if you don't cut it off and grow taller, it will be broken."

When the two of them were about to reach the river by horse-drawn carriage, they saw a bridge over the river and several tractors queuing up to pass.

"Whoa, we've got to go down the river."

"Ah, third brother, what are you doing in the river?"

"The bridge is not strong! One tractor pulling sand is allowed to pass at a time. Don't be alarmed by my horse, you have never tasted a woman, and you will die. Hahaha....." Wang Shan joked as he pulled the reins of the horse on one side and let the horse-drawn cart walk towards the riverbank farther away from the bridge.

When you get to the shore, you find a rutted opening and stop the carriage. Wang Shan took out a piece of rope from under the carriage, tied it to the back of the carriage, let Liu Fang pull it behind, and told him to pull it with all his might, while he himself pulled the reins of the horse with both hands in front of him, and let the horse go to the river. The slope of the river washed out by the river is very large, not very deep, perhaps in the dry season, the river water is also pitiful, and the clear turquoise river water in the south of the Yangtze River is different, the river water covering the bottom of the river is yellow. Liu Fang thought, maybe this is the Yellow River water that "a bowl of water and half a bowl of sand" was mentioned in the book when he was in school.

The two of them worked together to drive the carriage to the water's edge, Wang Shan and Liu Fang loosened the reins and tow rope, rolled up the trouser tube, Wang Shan skillfully drove the carriage to the river, Liu Fang followed Wang Shan to wade across the river, the river water in late autumn was cool, the depth was just below the calf, and the bottom of the river was a thick layer of flat sand, and the foot board was soft and soft to step on it, which was very comfortable. Liu Fang, who was born in the south of the Yangtze River, came out for the first time in so long and saw the river for the first time, and he was very happy. Occasionally, the wind blows, and the branches of the chopped willows on the river make a "whining" sound, which is as low and beautiful as the sound of a flute.

Soon wading across the river, Wang Shan drove the carriage along the rut to the embankment on the opposite bank, not far from the shore was a slightly wider gravel road, and the uneven sand and gravel were exposed on the road that had been run over by tractors all the year round. Chen Shan drove the carriage to the gravel road, and Liu Fang sat on it and walked along the gravel road for a long distance, during which there were tractors passing from time to time, and every time the tractor full of sand roared through, Wang Shan would hold on to the reins so as not to startle the horses. After walking about four or five miles, he turned onto a slightly narrow fork in the road, which was run over by a tractor and cut deep ruts, and the wheels of the carriage driven by Wang Shan fell into one side of the rut from time to time because the wheelbase was not wide enough. The two had to stop and prop up a stick to get the carriage back on track.

After some delay, before noon, I arrived at a village called Zhao Machuan. It is the same village, and it is much better than Shiyi Village and Wang Shanjia's village. Although they also live in caves, they are relatively regular, and every house has a yard, and there is a half-human-high courtyard wall, and the courtyard gate is still relatively rough, but because of the vegetables planted in the yard, it looks like a piece of life. People are busy in the yard and feel much more peaceful, plus there are many stones at the entrance of the yard, giving people a very solid feeling.

Wang Shan's daughter-in-law's family lives in the center of the village, because he is the village chief, the family is more solid than other houses, not only the courtyard wall is higher than other houses, but also there is a small gatehouse made of blue bricks. Walking to the door, Wang Shan stopped the carriage, picked up the iron piece on the door and knocked on the door: "Bell, bell, bell." ”

"Fat (who)." A female voice like a silver bell rang out.

"Yinhua, it's (me)! Wang Shan. Wang Shan instantly showed a sweet smile on his face,

"Why are you here?" The door opened, and Zhao Yinhua, who was wearing double braids, a handsome face and a tall and plump figure, walked out, her face was also full of sweet smiles, but when she saw someone next to her, she instantly blushed. Bow your head and gently knead the ends of the braids with both hands.

"Eh(I) let E(I) bring the invited carpenter to you, and ask you to order a ha(xia) furniture. You also have to ask Suo (uncle) if you still need cooling oil and antipyretic medicine (yuo) in the village. Oh, this is Xiao Yang, who made furniture for us. ”

"What can I decide!"

"Look, you're in charge of our family!" Liu Fang thought to himself, no wonder Chen Shan from a poor village could "trick" the girl of the village chief in such a beautiful and wealthy village, her mouth was too sweet. In a word, the silver flower is full of joy.

"Really?"

"Of course! Listen to you! ”

"Then come in! Big, big, Wang Shan is coming. While letting Wang Shan and Yang Liufang enter the courtyard, he shouted at the cave in the courtyard.

"Shout Sani (Xizhou dialect: shout what)! It's like a soul! ”

"Great! It's (me), (I) let me bring a carpenter to find you to order furniture, and after the autumn harvest, I can cut down (the tree) miles. I also asked if there was a shortage of antipyretic medicine (yuo) in the village. Hearing Chen Shan say this, Zhao Yinhua quickly glanced at Chen Shan, saw them come in, turned around and closed the courtyard door.

"Well, come in. You're big, your mom is okay. ”

"Good Ni, good Ni. Big, this is Xiao Yang, the southern carpenter invited by the second brother-in-law of the Ejia family, originally he was doing business in Xizhou, but after he repaired the tables and chairs for the second brother-in-law's house, the second brother-in-law felt that he was good at craftsmanship, and the Buddha (said) everything asked him to make southern furniture for Ehe Yinhua. Liu Fang found that Wang Shan's mouth was really neat, and some of them didn't have a call, which not only raised Liu Fang's value, but also showed that the whole family and even relatives paid enough attention to this family business.

"Oh, do you drink fat (water)?" Village Chief Zhao asked Liu Fang.

"Oh, I'm not thirsty. Thank you. ”

"Sit down!" Liu Fang saw a square table in the cave of the village chief's house, and there were two stools on the left and right of the square table, so he followed Wang Shan to sit on one side of the stool.