It was already past noon, and the sun was high in the sky. But because the well had been dug deep, it was not possible to see anything at the bottom of the well, and it was illuminated by an oil lamp brought down the well. Zhang Xiaohua's face didn't see any decision in the flickering light, he thought for a moment, he raised his hoe and dug in one direction, "dang, dang......" The sound continued, and he changed several directions, and the same was true, this, how is it good. It seems that the mountains and rivers are really exhausted.

Zhang Xiaohua wanted to give up a little, so let's go up first, and then take a look after the wellhead is expanded. But my mother hasn't sent the food yet, why don't I dig it from below first? Thinking about it, Zhang Xiaohua didn't stop, and then found a direction from the waist-deep place in front of her and dug it over. While digging, she suddenly heard a "clang" sound, and Xiaohua couldn't help but be shocked. Zhang Xiaohua was surprised, but she didn't think much about it, maybe it was a small stone, as long as it wasn't a big stone. After digging forward about a step away, Zhang Xiaohua tried to dig down again, expecting not to hear the nasty sound, but he didn't feel much comfort, and the stone was also under the step in this direction.

Just as Zhang Xiaohua was about to take a break and change directions, Zhang Xiaolong's voice came from above, "Xiaohua, come up and eat, my mother has sent me a meal." Zhang Xiaohua was pulled up from the well by the eldest brother, looking at Zhang Xiaohua's face, Zhang Xiaolong didn't ask any more, just brought him food and watched him gobble it up. Then he comforted and said: "It's okay, Xiaohua, this place can't work, can we change somewhere else, the hillside is so big, there must be a place to dig a well." ”

After eating, Zhang Xiaohua's face was obviously much better, and she no longer seemed to be gloomy, and when she saw the person digging the well going down the well, she said to Zhang Xiaolong with a smile: "I know, big brother, I'll go up to the field and take a look, and I'll come back later." Zhang Xiaolong patted Zhang Xiaohua on the shoulder, didn't say anything, and walked away with the empty bamboo basket.

Zhang Xiaohua carried her hoe up the hill, came to her own decent field, put the hoe aside, sat on the ground, and looked helplessly at the land that could not be watered, thinking about whether she would have to carry water from the river in the future. When his eyes fell on the hoe, he found that the hoe had a piece of mud on it, presumably brought up when he was digging in the well. Zhang Xiaohua rubbed her foot on the hoe, but it didn't fall off. He took the hoe over, cleaned the mud with his hands, and found that the hoe was actually covered with this round thing, and it was still very tight, Zhang Xiaohua tilted his head and thought about it, it is estimated that when he was digging in the well just now, the sound of "bang" was the movement of the hoe digging this ring. No wonder there was no sound, it turned out to be put on a hoe. Zhang Xiaohua wanted to get this ring off the hoe, but she found a branch to pry and a stone to knock lightly, but it didn't work. If you knock the rock, you might be able to get it down, but you can't be sure that it won't break. You can't take this thing down the well to dig the soil, Zhang Xiaohua is a little helpless again. zuihou, Zhang Xiaohua was ruthless, and with half of her strength, she lifted the hoe and knocked it on the stone, and she heard the sound of "bang", the ring was not broken, and she did not get down from the hoe. It was also Zhang Xiaohua who used all her strength, knocked several times, and finally got it down, and the inexplicable ring was not broken, it seemed to be very strong.

Zhang Xiaohua picked up the ring and wiped the dirt on it with her clothes, only then did she see clearly that it should be a bracelet, two fingers wide, jet black, no patterns, flattened, I don't know what material it is made of. Zhang Xiaohua was about to take a closer look, when she heard Zhang Xiaolong's joyful voice coming from the slope, "Xiaohua, come quickly, there is hope." Zhang Xiaohua heard this, jumped up happily, didn't care about looking at the bracelet she picked up, put it in her arms, picked up the hoe and slipped down the hill, and didn't notice the feeling of fluttering when she held the bracelet just now.

When Zhang Xiaohua ran to the bottom of the slope, what she saw was the smiles on the faces of Zhang Xiaolong and Zhang Xiaohu, as well as Zhang Cai's slightly bitter face. Listening to Zhang Xiaolong, I realized that the bottom of the well is not a layer of stones, and the stones are not too big, as long as the wellhead is expanded, the stones can be made, but the length of this expansion is at least three steps. When the wellhead is bigger, the amount of soil to be excavated will be larger, and of course the time will be longer, and the money will be more for others. However, fortunately, there is no need to re-select the place, re-open the well, and do not need to carry water to water the ground, which can be regarded as a haode result. Seeing the happy appearance of the three children, only Zhang Cai was secretly worried in his heart, hoping that there would be no more such stones in the future, and if there were so many more times, this well would probably not need to be dug again.

In the afternoon, the work was simple, and the people who dug the well re-measured the wellhead according to the size of the stones, and planned how to expand and dig the soil again. After such a small wave, everyone worked in an orderly manner.

When she returned home at night, after eating, and before going to bed on the kang, Zhang Xiaohua didn't think of the bracelet in her arms. It was only when he was undressing that he fell out, and then he remembered, but after a tired day, he was too sleepy, and he didn't think much about it, so he casually stuffed it under the pillow and fell asleep.

This night, everything in the Zhang family was still the same as before, the oil lamp was extinguished early, and the wind shook the fence gate. The dead grass on the yellow mud wall was also blown up, and it waved weakly. Only under the moonlight in the sky, through the window sprinkled on the shabby table, on the bedding, everyone fell asleep, and in the quiet night, there was only the sound of snoring one after another.

The only difference is Zhang Xiaohua, no, it should be Zhang Xiaohua's dream! His dream is no longer the pork belly before, but full of flashes! It is like a kind of breathing, a relaxed light, flashing and moving.

In the early morning of the next day, when the first rays of the rising sun shone on Zhang Xiaohua's face, Zhang Xiaohua opened her eyes. Looking around in confusion, I didn't find anything flickering, and then I realized that all flickering was a dream. He shook his head self-deprecatingly, ready to go back to sleep. However, at this time, he realized that listening to the snoring of his two brothers, he seemed to be unable to sleep, and he was a hundred times more energetic, so he had to get up and dress.

When Zhang Xiaohua walked to the yard, she saw her mother cooking on the stove in the courtyard, so she went to the well in the corner to fetch water and prepare to wash her face. Guo Sufei was very strange when she saw Zhang Xiaohua come out, and said: "Xiaohua, why do you get up so early? I was tired yesterday, let's sleep a little more today, I have to work for a while." ”

Zhang Xiaohua said while fetching water: "Don't sleep, mother, I'm not sleepy, and, you see, I've rested, and now I'm full of liliang, and I can smash that stone with a hoe." As he spoke, he put the basin down and made a hoeing motion.

Guo Sufei smiled and said: "Okay, Xiaohua, when you grow up, you are the pillar of the family like your father." ”

Zhang Xiaohua blushed and said, "Mother, I'm so old, don't call me well-behaved, how ugly it is." ”

As he spoke, Zhang Cai came back from outside, holding a handful of vegetables in his hand, and asked, "Who has grown up? Why did Xiaohua get up so early? Then he handed the green vegetables in his hand to Zhang Xiaohua's mother, and said: "Some of the grass in the vegetable garden has grown, and I have time to pull it out. ”

Guo Sufei took the vegetables and said, "Isn't this your son, he got up so early for the first time today, and he will be a good hand at work in the future." ”

Guo Sufei then cooked the family's meal, and Zhang Cai also entered the house. Zhang Xiaohua washed her face and had nothing to do, so she walked out of the yard.

Although it was still early and winter was approaching, the farmers could not be idle, and many people were already moving around the village. Some drove ducks and geese to the river, some fetched grass from the river to feed the chickens and pigs, and some had already carried hoes and were ready to go to the field. Zhang Xiaohua walked on the path of the village, feeling that today is different from the past, and there is no difference, that is, she feels that she is full of energy, and there is a feeling that her strength is inexhaustible, or that every part of her body contains liliang. But he didn't think much of it, he just thought he had a good night's sleep yesterday. When Zhang Xiaohua walked back home, everyone had already started to eat. He also finished eating in a hurry, and went to dig the well with his father and brother.

In the days that followed, it was stable, and the surface of the well widened, and the stones were dug up from the bottom of the well, and the well became deeper and deeper. When the piece was dug up, it looked quite smooth and cold to the touch, and Zhang Xiaohua called the two brothers to get it under the tree in the field, preparing for the summer, as a bed for rest between work. And that bracelet was still in the back of Zhang Xiaohua's head, placed under the cover of the pillow, and he forgot it completely, but his dream had already been flickered instead of pork belly, but he didn't realize it.

For a few more days, there was still no water coming out of the well, and Zhang Cai was a little worried at this time. Seeing that winter is coming, the soil layer is about to freeze, although the bottom of the well will not freeze, but the work is no longer so smooth. That night, after the family finished eating, they had already gathered together to do farm work, Zhang Cai frowned and discussed with Guo Sufei that if there would be no water at the bottom of the well in a few days, it was estimated that it would stop, and wait for the beginning of spring. At this time, Guo Sufei said:

"Kid, father, do you know that Mr. Wu's family in the neighboring village has also made a piece of land on the southern hillside, right?"

Zhang Cai said: "I don't know, but I heard that Nanpo is also digging wells. ”

Guo Sufei said: "It is the well, which was dug by Mr. Wu's family, and like us, it is also used to water the fields. Today I went to the river to pull weeds and feed the chickens, and I met Guo Quan's family at the entrance of the village, isn't her sister-in-law married to Mr. Wu's brother, guess what she told me?"

"What do you say? Could it be that the well has already come out of the water?" Zhang Cai asked in surprise. "Didn't they start later than we did, and they came out of the water so quickly?"

"You just want to get out of the water quickly, something more evil than getting out of the water!" Guo Sufei said angrily.

"Hey, what's that?" Not only was Zhang Cai attracted, but the curiosity of the three brothers of the Zhang family was also aroused.

"They dug up a well and dug up a small broken box!" Guo Sufei continued, "When the box was dug out of the well, it was broken by a hoe, revealing the contents of the box, although it was covered with earth, but you could also see the pearl agate inside! ”

Just when the family was sighing for the fortune of Mr. Wu's family, Zhang Xiaohua remembered what she had also dug out of the well. He said excitedly, "Dad, mother, I also dug up the treasure from the well." At the urging and eager gaze of his family, he took out the forgotten bracelet from under the futon.

Zhang Cai took it, took it to the oil lamp and looked at it carefully, and saw that this was a black, flattened, unknown material, not called a bracelet, it was better to call it an iron ring. He couldn't see why so he handed it to Guo Sufei, Guo Sufei took it, weighed it first, rubbed it with his fingers for a while, and said: "It's so light, it's not like it's made of jade, and there is no pattern, so it's probably not jewelry." It's like a child's thing, Xiaohua, you can play with it. Zhang Xiaohua was in no mood to take it and handed it to the two brothers, as if it was his fault that he didn't dig up the pearl agate.

The bracelet turned around in the hands of the two elder brothers, and then handed it to Zhang Xiaohua, it seemed that everyone was not very interested in this ugly thing, so Xiaohua had to carry it in his arms again.

Guo Sufei continued: "Alas, if it is really a haode jewelry, you can consider keeping it for you, and when you give your eldest brother a matchmaker in the spring, it will be used as a dowry." ”

At this moment, it ignited the emotions of the family again. After the beginning of spring, Zhang Xiaolong will be twenty years old, and it is time to find a girl to settle down. According to their own impressions, the family broke with Zhang Xiaolong girl by girl. When the oil lamp went out, the family was still unsatisfied, but in order to dig wells and farm work tomorrow, they had to go to sleep on the kang.

Before going to bed, Zhang Xiaohua took out the bracelet in her arms and was about to put it under the futon again, but then she thought that Mr. Wu dug out the ground is a baby, and I am also a baby, so I have to haode to keep it. But where to put it? He thought about it and put the bracelet on his wrist, and it was a coincidence that it was right to stick to his wrist, and with a wave of his arm, the bracelet would not slide up and down. Zhang Xiaohua was happy in her heart, this was simply tailor-made for him.

Until he fell asleep, he didn't think about how he would get through his hand if it fit so well with his wrist and there were no gaps. Not to mention that the pork belly in his dreams every night is long gone, only infinite flickering in his mind.