The mountains in the afternoon are still bleak, and Zhang Xiaohua is still enthusiastic. However, the progress of reclamation in the afternoon was not as smooth as that in the morning. There are a lot of rocks on the wasteland, many of them are buried in the ground, to dig up the ground, pry up big stones, it is not an easy thing, when the sun sets, twilight comes, Zhang Xiaohua only moved a few rocks, his hand was injured first, the tiger's mouth was broken, blowing in the cold wind, feeling a burst of pain.

After all, he's still a teenager.

Looking back at the wasteland where he had been busy for a day, although he was a little reluctant, Zhang Xiaohua still carried a hoe, carried a jug, and walked back. It's getting late, and if you don't leave, your father and brother will come looking for you, and your grandmother will be worried.

The wasteland is some distance from home, and there is no need for my mother to come and deliver food at noon. Walking on the rugged mountain road home, although Zhang Xiaohua had no physical strength, her mood was wonderful, and the progress of the wasteland was not fast, and her father had already reminded her that if it could be rectified in a few days, the people in the village would have already opened up the fields on the hillside. This is just the beginning, and there will be a lot of trouble in the future, such as careful cultivation, sowing, watering, etc. Suddenly, Xiaohua thought of a little thing, watering!!Yes, the hillside is so high, so far away from the river in the village, the water should be like this, and there are no springs around......? Thinking of this, Zhang Xiaohua couldn't help but speed up her pace and ran home.

When I walked into the village, it was already dark, and there were still a lot of naughty children in the village laughing and playing, seeing Xiaohua carrying a hoe, some familiar villagers also stopped Xiaohua and asked him about the wasteland, and Xiaohua also answered one by one. It seems that the opening of wasteland on the hillside is also a matter of great concern for the villagers who do not have enough food rations. However, Xiaohua was also very absent-minded, everyone thought he was tired, so they didn't ask carefully, and Xiaohua ran to the house.

Zhang Xiaohua's home is at the south end of the village, and from the perspective of feng shui, it is the place where the wind and the water are launched. However, the area is not small, and with Zhang Cai's efforts, there is also a small courtyard. The walls of the small courtyard are not high, and they are made of yellow mud, so that you can see the inside from the outside. Through the fence door from afar, Zhang Xiaohua saw the figure of her grandmother on crutches, because she couldn't see it, her grandmother didn't go out much, and she was holding on to the fence door at this time, thinking that she was remembering her youngest grandson. Hearing the approaching footsteps, grandma's face showed a smile, "Xiaohua, you're back~, are you tired today?" Zhang Xiaohua ran a few steps, entered the door, put down the hoe and jug, held grandma's arm, and quickly replied: "Don't be tired, grandma, it's not like I haven't done farm work before." Grandma held Zhang Xiaohua's hand with relief and said, "Our Xiaohua is already an adult, grandma has forgotten!" Grandma's hand happened to touch the place where Zhang Xiaohua's tiger's mouth cracked, Zhang Xiaohua took a breath of cold air in pain, although she didn't scream, but grandma had heard it, and said loudly: "Xiaocai, hurry up and see the child." Zhang Xiaohua's father actually just came back and was cleaning in the yard, when he heard the voice of his mother-in-law, he felt it, took a closer look, and said:

"It's okay, mother, Xiaohua works too hard, her hand is cracked, and she will be haode in a few days. ”

Grandma said, "Why don't you go to Lao Chen at the head of the village to get some medicine for the child?"

While talking, Guo Sufei came out of the house with something, and casually said to Zhang Xiaohua's grandmother: "No need, mother, didn't Xiaohu use it last time, there are still some left, and when Xiaohua sleeps at night, apply a little to it, and it is estimated that it will be better tomorrow." Mother, do you feel like going back to the house, it's cold, the wind is up, I'll send you the food in a while. Xiaohua, help your grandmother back to the house. ”

Zhang Xiaohua carefully sent her grandmother back to the house, and her anxiety about watering was also put in the back of her mind.

After eating, both parents were weaving baskets under the bean-sized oil lamp, and the three Zhang Xiaohua brothers were also holding hands on the side. Zhang Cai asked Zhang Xiaohua about the situation of land reclamation. Zhang Xiaohua also came one by one, and Zhang Cai said:

"You are really slow alone, when Xiaohu helps Xiaolong to finish the land on the other side of the river, I will go over to help you. ”

Zhang Xiaolong also said: "Don't worry, Xiaohua, I'm done, my father and I will also go over to help, and it will be finished before the winter." ”

Zhang Xiaohua said: "Why am I in a hurry, didn't my father say that you should be careful in clearing the wasteland, slow down, open carefully, go back and plant crops, it will grow well." Speaking of this, he thought of watering, and hurriedly asked his father: "Dad, I remembered halfway through the road just now, the hillside is so high, and there is no spring nearby, how will the crops be watered in the future?"

Zhang Cai stopped what he was doing and said, "It's hard to think of this, what do you think you should do?"

Zhang Xiaohua looked at the two brothers with a little help, and said: "Our land is watered, the hillside is so far away, and it is high, you can't carry water, right?"

Zhang Cai smiled and said, "Xiaohua, what's behind our slope?"

Zhang Xiaohua thought for a while and said, "Isn't there a deep pit in the back?"

"Yes, there it is a small nest of three hills crammed together, where we can dig a well, and then we can go from the well to the field, and we can drink water and water the fields. Zhang Cai said confidently.

"Looks like you've had a plan for a long time. Guo Sufei smiled and praised her man.

"So, Dad, when are we going to dig a well?" Zhang Xiaohua asked impatiently.

"Wait until the ground is leveled, before winter, while the land is not frozen, we ask the people from the neighboring villages who can dig wells to help, and we will do it!" Zhang Cai finished speaking, and began the work in hand.

got a satisfactory answer, Zhang Xiaohua finally let go, and the family was busy with the work in hand. After doing it for a while, Zhang Xiaohua was obviously tired, and her eyes were foggy. Guo Sufei distressed and asked him to go to bed first, Zhang Xiaohua agreed, Mu Ran walked to the kang of the three brothers, threw himself into the shabby quilt, and fell asleep, not even knowing that his mother applied medicine to his hands at night.

A busy day passed in such a hurry.

In the following days, Zhang Xiaohua was able to endure it, but she leveled her land wholeheartedly and didn't worry about watering anymore. That night, Zhang Xiaohua cleaned up the weeds, knocked the big lumps, and was ready to call it a day, Zhang Xiaohua couldn't help it anymore on the way, and couldn't help but wonder in her heart, seeing that her own slope has become a flat farmland, and the seeds can be sown with a thin plough, and when will this well be opened.

As soon as he turned the hillside, he saw several wooden shelves rising from the deep recesses below the slope. Zhang Xiaohua ran over and looked at it, and sure enough, a circular platform was laid out at the bottom of the pit, on which were placed a circular wooden plank, and around the wooden board were six long wooden sticks, the bottom was deeply inserted into the soil, and the top was built into a tower. Zhang Xiaohua almost jumped up with joy, and rushed down the hill at a trot to the bottom of the wooden frame. There is no one at this time, it is estimated that after setting up a shelf, Zhang Xiaohua patted here and touched there, it is very strange, with these few shelves can make a deep well? When Zhang Xiaohua was strange, someone called him above:

"Xiaohua, where are you?" Listening to the voice, it was the second brother Xiaohu. Xiaohua hurriedly replied:

"I'm here, second brother, come and see, we're ready to dig a well. ”

Zhang Xiaohu also slipped down the slope, grabbed Zhang Xiaohua and said, "Okay, I know, I helped get these things with my eldest brother in the afternoon, and my eldest brother said that he would surprise you, so he didn't tell you." At this moment, Daddy and Mom are waiting for you to go back. Let's go. ”

The two brothers trotted all the way home.

A table has been set up in the cottage at home, and there are fathers and eldest brothers sitting next to the table, but there are no other people who don't know, Zhang Xiaohua can't help asking: "Dad, what about the people who dig the well?" Zhang Cai smiled and said, "They all went back, our family didn't have much money, and told them that haode just took care of lunch at noon, and didn't care about it at night, and besides, our family also had to help, so that the wages given could be less." Zhang Xiaohua answered, and went out to help her mother Zhang Luo have dinner.

After eating in the evening, Zhang Cai assigned tasks to everyone in the family, Zhang Xiaohua's three brothers, of course, helped on the spot, Xiaohua's mother was responsible for cooking and delivering food, Zhang Cai wanted to buy materials, find someone to help, and so on. In short, except for Xiaohua's grandmother, the whole family has to do it. Of course, my grandmother has to look after the house, and she is also busy feeding the chickens.

Early the next morning, Zhang Xiaohua got up early and drove her two brothers on a kang to dig a well together. Zhang Xiaohua's mother insisted that they eat something before leaving, saying that Zhang Xiaohua's father had already gone first, and besides, he told others that he had gone early, and there was no one, and the three of them would not dig a well, and it would be useless to go. Zhang Xiaohua had no choice but to accompany them to finish breakfast, and when they came out to the hillside, the sun had already risen.

Seeing that there were already a few people busy in the mountain nest, Zhang Cai hurriedly beckoned them to come over and help, and moved some of the stones and clods dug out to the side, so everyone worked in full swing.

After a few days of being busy like this, Zhang Xiaohua found that digging a well is also a very simple thing, that is, to get a place, pull a shelf and dig down, but to find a good position and ensure that the dug place does not collapse must have experience to do, for example, this wooden shelf, it is a must, otherwise people dig deeper and deeper, how can the soil be transported from the ground, and how can people come up? However, speaking of location, it is also Zhang Cai's luck, and the place where the family discusses by himself is to be close to the field, and I didn't expect to be able to get water. The master who dug the well was looking for it all over the mountains, and Zuihou was settled in this place. Say that there may be a spring below, dig and dig to try, if it is a sweet mountain spring, it is not as suitable as eating it yourself when it is used to water the ground. When Zhang Cai heard this, he thought it was the wind in his ears, so far away from home, how to carry water, is it possible to pick up a few buckets from here every day to cook at home?

The days of digging wells passed day by day, and the wells were getting deeper and deeper, but the difficulties were also increasing, and the progress slowed down significantly. Because it was dug from the low-lying places of several hillsides, from time to time a lot of stones would be dug out of it, but fortunately, they were not too big, and they did not touch the so-called large area of stones, otherwise, this well has not been excavated and would have to be abandoned.

After a few more days, perhaps Zhang Cai's luck came to an end, and he finally encountered big trouble in drilling wells.

At noon on this day, Zhang Xiaohua went down to the well to pick up the hoe and began to dig the soil, who knew that the first time, it happened to be a hard stone, and Zhang Xiaohua's hands were numb, according to the previous experience, Zhang Xiaohua chose a place far away from just now, and it was a hoe, "dang~~" sound, obviously the stone again, Zhang Xiaohua couldn't help but be a little flustered, and hoeed several times along the four sides of the well, without exception, they were all stones! Zhang Xiaohua pulled the rope tied around his waist, let people pull him up, and told his father with a calm face. Zhang Cai and the people who drilled the well also went down to watch, and they were silent after coming up. The man who drilled the well discussed with Zhang Cai, and asked the other people to rest next to it first, and then come to help after lunch, and Zuihou confirmed whether it was just a big stone or a layer of stone.

Seeing that everyone dispersed, sitting on the ground to rest, only Zhang Xiaohua looked at the well that had not been drilled, and was uneasy, really afraid that it was a layer of stones, and could not dig down anymore, and the hard work of many days was in vain, and maybe the well could not be drilled. Zhang Xiaohua asked Zhang Xiaolong to put him at the bottom of the well again, and dug up again without giving up.