Chapter 1 Tofu Maker "Oh Oh" Before dawn, the rooster in the chicken coop was already crowing, and people were still asleep, but the stone mill in a tofu house in Liujia Village at the foot of Niutou Mountain had already turned. With the gentle rotation of the stone mill, the soybeans that have been soaked overnight are mixed with sweet mountain spring water, flowing into the wooden barrel from the bottom of the stone mill. Mountain spring water is boiling in a large iron pot with a diameter of about one zhang and two or three feet next to it. A woman of about thirty-five years old was squatting on the ground next to the iron pot, filling the stove with firewood with her left hand and pulling the bellows with her right hand. Although the morning in the village was cold, beads of sweat were already forming on the woman's nose.

This is a small tofu workshop, about a dozen zhang square area, and there is no plaque or signboard at the door, but this tofu workshop is the most famous in Liujia Village, and it is famous for its nameless spots, far beyond the blacksmith shop and carpenter shop. The reason is that the soybeans used in this tofu workshop to make tofu are full and shiny, and the water used to wash beans, soak beans, grind beans, and cook soybean milk is mountain spring water! It is the mountain spring water under the corner of Niutou Mountain, which is about 5 miles away from Liu's village. The amount of water used to make tofu at one time is about 1,500 liters! If you use a wheelbarrow to push water, you have to make 30 trips, and if you change it to a load, you need 60 loads! The time spent on fetching water every day is at least an hour and a half! The most important thing is that this tofu factory is 365 days a year, every day, no matter the wind, rain, or snow, it insists on making tofu with sweet mountain spring water every day! Therefore, the tofu made is smooth and tender and sweet, with a faint bean fragrance, even if you don't put any ingredients in the empty mouth, you can eat two large pieces, if it is accompanied by green shallots, and then some soy sauce is delicious! So that the villagers of nearby Zhaozhuang and Li Village often come to this tofu workshop to buy. Therefore, the nearby villagers affectionately call the owner "Liu Tofu Craftsman", and the real name has long been forgotten. Then Liu Tofu's wife was called "Liu's sister-in-law".

"Changzi, hurry up and get some firewood, there is not enough firewood!" Sister-in-law Liu shouted into the house. A boy of twelve or thirteen years old on the kang crawled up, "Coming, coming," shouted as he rushed to the firewood room, not like other children who did not stand still on the kang. Since he was sensible, Liu Chang often got up in the morning to help his parents do what he could. With a "bang", Liu Chang kicked open the door with a large bundle of firewood, "Mother, give you firewood!" "You kid is still stunned, does your foot hurt?" Although Sister-in-law Liu was blaming Liu Chang in her mouth, her eyes were full of pity.

Sister-in-law Liu picked up the firewood and added a few more pieces to the stove, the flames quickly jumped, and the water in the big iron pot boiled. "The water is boiling, Changzi helps your father pour the ground soy milk into the pot. "It's coming!" Liu Chang responded, ran to the wooden barrel containing the soy milk, grabbed the handle of the barrel with both hands and lifted it up, but the wooden barrel was only less than an inch above the ground.

"Put it down, you're still too young to lift it," a big hand touched Liu Chang's head, "It'll be three or five years away." As he spoke, he walked to the edge of the iron pot with a wooden bucket in one hand and poured it in. Liu Chang looked at the bulging muscles of his father's bucket arms, full of envy, and then looked at his little thin arms, when can he be like his father. Sister-in-law Liu picked up a towel and wiped the sweat beads on Liu Tofu's forehead, and said distressedly: "His father, let's take a break, I've been busy for more than two hours." "No, we have to get it done. His third aunt's family is building a house today, and we have to help, and we usually help us. After speaking, Liu Tofu quickly lifted a bucket of soy milk and poured it into the pot. After this whole pot of soybean milk is boiled, it can only be made into two plates of tofu, each plate can be cut into ninety-nine eighty-one pieces of tofu, because it is more famous, so this one hundred and sixty-two pieces of tofu basically do not need to go out to walk the streets and alleys, and they can all be sold at home.

Waiting for Liu Tofu to make tofu, the sky was already bright, Liu Tofu hurriedly finished breakfast and rushed to the third aunt's house, today the third aunt's family built a new house, Liu Tofu Maker is going to help. "Mother, I'm going to the school. Liu Chang drank all the soy milk in the bowl, grabbed the bookcase on the kang, and ran out. "Be careful, listen to Mr., come back early at noon for dinner, and don't fight with people!" Sister-in-law Liu instructed.

At this time, Liu Chang had already run away, like the wind, and like a happy bird. Although Liu Chang's family was not very wealthy, Liu Tofu Maker and Liu Sister-in-law still insisted that Liu Chang go to the school at the head of the village to learn literacy and hyphenation from Mr. Teacher. Mr. Teaching is an old scholar surnamed Guo, three years ago the village chief went out to run errands, and then rescued on the way back, saying that he was killed by a bandit, his wife and children died, and he fainted from his injuries, but he picked up a life, and stayed in Liujia Village after his injury, and he was the only person with a foreign surname, so he set up a school in the broken temple at the head of the village. Usually when teaching, he shakes his head three times and shakes his head, Liu Chang and other students call him "Mr. Dongguo" behind his back.

The school also didn't use a name, but Mr. Dongguo wrote the word "school" on the wooden board with a brush, and hung it on the crooked neck willow tree at the entrance of the temple with a sesame oil rope, and there was a piece of iron hanging next to it. There were only eight or nine children in the school, all boys, ranging from eight to fifteen. After three years of study, Liu Chang has known more than 1,000 words, among these children is the best to learn, but also the most hard-working, no matter what kind of homework Mr. left, Liu Chang can complete on time, so Liu Chang's palms have never been beaten by Mr., but it is also the most naughty one, sometimes catch a toad and put it on Mr. Dongguo's seat, and Mr. Xia jumped, but Mr. was not angry, just used the ruler to point Liu Chang, which shows Mr. Liu Chang's preference. If the other students were so presumptuous, the prototype would definitely be swollen.

"Today's talk is about 'goodness is like water, water is good for all things without fighting', this is a sentence in "Lao Tzu", one is to say that the highest level of good deeds is just like the character of water, Ze is all things without fighting for fame and fortune. Therefore, the best people should be like water. Benefiting all things, nourishing all things, but not competing with all things, is the most humble virtue, and it is the noble virtue of humility and selfless dedication. You must remember to do good deeds at all times, every day, just like the spring water of Niutou Mountain, which will never stop all year round!" Mr. Dong Guo said loudly to the sparse students below in front of the podium, and in the eyes of the students, Mr. Dong Guo's not tall figure became majestic. "Mr. Guo, what's wrong?" Liu Chang was startled, looked at the old gentleman in front of him in a daze, and thought puzzled.

"Brother Changzi, Brother Changzi, your father fell and injured himself!!" At this time, the voice of Liu Ying of the third aunt's family came from outside the school. Liu Ying is the little girl of the third aunt's family, two years younger than Liu Chang, and with the voice, a thin figure appeared at the door. "What?" Liu Chang was stunned for a moment, then jumped up and ran away, not even having time to get the books.

When Liu Chang ran home, Liu Tofu was already lying on the bed, and it turned out that he fell from the house when he was helping the third aunt build a house and injured his waist. Lang Zhong in the village has already come to see it, there is no major problem, and it will be fine after a few days of rest. Seeing that his father on the bed was useless, Liu Chang breathed a sigh of relief and relieved himself. Seeing that his mother was giving medicine to his father according to Lang Zhong's instructions, Liu Chang hurriedly went up to help. "You don't need you here, you go and look at the medicine jar, watch the fire, don't boil it dry. Sister-in-law Liu took Liu Chang away, and rubbed and rubbed her husband in distress. "It's okay, it'll be fine in a few days, don't worry!" said Tofu Liu. "Then don't make tofu tomorrow morning, let's rest for two days. "No, the beans are all soaked, wouldn't you be blind if you don't make tofu, this little injury is nothing!"

The next day, because his father had a waist injury, Liu Chang got up early and helped his father with his work. "Ahh "Dad, Dad, what's wrong with you?" Liu Chang rushed forward and dragged Liu Tofu's other arm hard, "His father, his father, don't scare me!" This is Liu's sister-in-law who also rushed up and dragged Liu Tofu Maker up with Liu Chang, at this time Liu Tofu's face was already pale and speechless. Sister-in-law Liu quickly took off Tofu Liu's shirt, and as a result, her back and one of her right arms were blanched and peeled off together!

"Huh?" Sister-in-law Liu was stunned suddenly, "What should I do?" "Mother, you look at Dad, I'll go find Lang Zhong!" Liu Chang said and quickly rushed out of the door and rushed away. When Liu Chang dragged Lang Zhong back, Liu Tofu had already woken up, and his face was still pale and bloodless. Lang Zhong quickly applied a compress to the wound to stop the bleeding, carefully inspected the place where it was burned, and slowly shook his head. "Doctor, what's wrong with the child's father?" asked Sister-in-law Liu eagerly. "This ...... Generally speaking, burns and scalds are more difficult to recover, muscle damage is more serious, and wounds are not easy to heal, so it is relatively slow to recover, hey......" Lang Zhong said slowly. "This ...... What can I do, doctor, I must save the child and his father!" Hearing what Lang Zhong said, Sister-in-law Liu's tears suddenly flowed, and she begged Lang Zhong helplessly.

"I'll try my best, I'll try my best," Lang Zhong looked at the anxious mother in front of him, and suddenly felt compassion, "Unless ......" "Unless what?" Liu Chang stepped forward and grabbed Lang Zhong's sleeve and asked. "Unless you use the subcutaneous oil of the golden-eyed clam, boil it into oil to compress the burn, this oil can not only accelerate the healing of the skin, but also relieve pain, but unfortunately I don't have it in my hand, even the village attached to it is useless, only in Qingniu County, two hundred miles away from here, the most important thing is that this oil is very expensive, one or two need a tael of gold." ”

"Huh??" Sister-in-law Liu and Liu Chang were immediately dumbfounded, a tael of gold, the family's annual income is only a little more than ten taels of silver, and it takes ten years to make up a tael of gold. "Why is it so expensive?" asked Liu Chang puzzled. Lang Zhong glanced at Liu Chang and explained: "Expensive? This is still priceless, and it is difficult to buy it with money, this is because the blue-eyed golden-eyed clam only lives on the Niutou Mountain, and only on the right peak of the bull's head, where the cliff is dangerous, ten people go up, it would be good to come back one or two, sometimes go to a dozen or so people, and one can't come back, I heard that there are demon beasts on the peak, so this blue-eyed golden-eyed clam is scarce, and the scalded oil is even rarer." Don't think about it, let's serve the tofu maker well, that's what the rich can afford. Lang Zhong turned around and put some scalding cream on Liu Tofu, put the medicine box on his back and walked away.

At this time, the sky was already bright, and the Niutou Mountain in the distance loomed, surrounded by layers of mist. "Niutoushan!Dad, you have always taken care of me and my mother, now it's my turn!" Liu Chang waved his little fist and thought secretly. "Mother, you take care of your father first, and I'll go to the school to ask for leave. "Okay, go and get back quickly. Come back and have something to eat. Sister-in-law Liu responded, but she didn't see Liu Chang run to the firewood room first to get a firewood knife before running out.