The fertile water of farming does not flow to outsiders' fields

Qiangzi shook his head: "The thin-skinned coffin the year before last has been used by grandpa, and now the poor family only has this little possessions and a house."

The aunt next to me interjected: "When a person dies on a mat, just wrap it in this straw mat..."

Xue Yinsong opened his eyes suddenly, with a frightening coldness in his eyes: "Damn! What is a straw mat? They are all things wrapped by beggars to go to mass graves. My Uncle Qiangzi has a house, land and a son. What kind of straw mat should you use! What kind of thing are you here to point fingers here, get out of here!"

The aunt shyly pushed away the crowd, Qiang Zi said in a low voice after a while: "My land is sold out, and this house is the only one left." Xue Yinsong was taken aback, buying a coffin for Lao Tzu is important, but Where will the son live after selling the house?I can't bury my son and leave my son homeless, right?

"Father, do you still have any silver in your hand?" Xue Yinsong turned his head and asked in a low voice. Father Xue replied with rare loyalty: "A thin-skinned coffin costs at least 10 taels of silver, and I still have 15 taels of silver here for a funeral." enough."

But Qiangzi became stubborn: "No, no, I sold the house to my father for burial. Yesterday I used your money for the medicine, but now I still need your money for the burial. It's too unreasonable."

Father Xue also watched Qiangzi grow up, and they had deep feelings for each other. He heard the words and scolded: "Where do you live after selling the house? Do you think the house can be sold if it is said to be sold? If you don't People buy it, are you going to let your father lie in this room for a few days? Do you think you are a hero if you show off for a while? This money is not for you, it is for your father. You think I will lend you money for your face the size of a palm Ah! After a while, the tiger will help you to arrange the coffin, and you can refresh me and take care of the rest of the matter, and it will be strange if you fail to tear your skin!"

Xue Yinsong felt that his father was truly wise and mighty, and it was rare for him to be confused in his two lifetimes. Now that his father was able to hit the key points in one sentence, it was a rare outburst of character.

Qiangzi was sobered up by the scolding, he lowered his head in silence, Xue Yinsong walked over and patted him on the shoulder, and followed his father out.Some of the people who watched the fun outside dispersed, and the rest kept silent when they came out.

Father Xue raised his hands and made a gesture of repelling: "The folks are all gone, let's go, it's lunch time, let's go eat, get up at night to set up the altar, if there is a troupe, please come and make a fuss Come on, everyone, come see us tonight."

Tianba Village has not been lively for a long time. The flood disaster and the pressure of survival for more than a year have almost tormented the nerves of the villagers. Now that someone wants to hire a troupe, a boy asked loudly: "Uncle Xue, is it true or not? Don't make us happy."

Father Xue took a closer look, but it was the boy from the Feng family. He smiled and scolded: "Then you go and invite him. First, see if the Caotaizi in the next village is there. If not, go to the county seat to invite the Qin family class."

After getting the order, the Feng family boy disappeared into the crowd as soon as he turned around. Someone told him to go back to dinner early and watch a play in the evening, and everyone dispersed in a hurry.

Xue Yinsong patted his father on the shoulder: "Father, there are indeed two brushes." But Xue's father said with a blank face: "Life is hard, and after a lifetime of hard work, you will be accompanied by a thin-skinned coffin. When the gong sounds, who else will miss the dead?" Xue Yinsong hurriedly patted his father on the shoulder and said, "Father, don't take birth, old age, sickness and death so seriously, just live every day well." Father Xue sighed He took a deep breath, muttered something in his mouth, his expression seemed to be taken away, and he was a little bit sluggish.

Xue Yinsong took his father to the house, and saw Aunt Huan looking around the door, and when he saw them, he hurriedly asked: "How is it? How is it? Didn't he really die?"

Xue Yinsong replied: "It's dead, and the funeral will be arranged at night. Aunt Huan, you can borrow a piece of plain clothes from your aunt to wear." Aunt Huan frowned slightly, and said after a while: "I don't want to go."

Xue Yinsong thought nothing of it, but his father said: "It's not easy for me, an old brother, and now I happen to meet him after passing by, everyone is going to be lively, and besides, there is a party at night, you haven't seen him yet." Let’s celebrate the weddings and weddings in our Tianba Village, or go and see them.”

Aunt Huan bit her lip, and it took her a long time to say softly, "I got a bit of a cold in the morning, and I don't feel well. I want to go to bed early at night."

Xue Yinsong hurriedly smoothed things over and said: "Father, Aunt Huan is not from Tianba Village either, so don't go if you don't go, she doesn't know anyone here, how boring it is to sit."

It made sense for Father Xue to think about it, but he was a little unhappy, so he went into the house to change his clothes without saying much.

According to the rules of Tianba Village, the dead have to ask the elders of the clan to come and see before they can cleanse and change clothes.Qiangzi's father probably also knew that his illness would not get better, so he prepared his shroud and pants two months earlier.

With the help of Father Xue, Qiangzi wiped his father's body and put on the underwear, because the body was already stiff, and the sleeves couldn't be put on anyway.

Father Xue watched from the side, clapped Qiangzi's father's hand, and said in a low voice: "Old brother, I know you are reluctant to leave, but you are reluctant to leave too, isn't it just to save your son from paying some debts?" What! Now your son is grooming you, isn't it because you are afraid that you will walk unseemly, lift your arms carefully, and let your son dress you, Qiangzi, call Dad!"

Qiangzi was taken aback for a moment, only to hear Father Xue yell, "Call me dad! Call me dad!"

Qiangzi hurriedly shouted: "Father! Daddy!" Tears flowed down his face as he shouted, but the miracle was that the arms of the already stiff corpse softened, and he slipped into it smoothly. sleeve.

Father Xue sighed, and said: "Qiangzi, your father doesn't want to part with you. I'll go out first, and you can have a good conversation with your father. This is the last time. I will never see you again after Yin and Yang are separated. What's the matter?" Tell your father what you want to say."

Old man Xue turned his back, and after a while, he let out an extremely depressive low howl, which made it hard for someone who had never shed tears in his whole life.

When he got out, Xue Yinsong was standing at the door, seeing him hurriedly replied: "Father, there happened to be another coffin in the shop, but the board is a little thinner, but the weather can't wait for the hot weather, so I decided to make it. It was supposed to stop for three days, but the elders of the clan said that the plague was rampant after the flood, so the burial will be tomorrow, and I have already told the people in the store to send it over tonight."

Father Xue sighed and said: "It should have been suspended for three days, alas, since the elders of the clan have said so, we can't change it, we can only go to the mountain tomorrow morning." After thinking about it, he ordered: "Here is the remaining silver, You keep it on your body, if you have any expenses, you can use them directly, and you are too old, so you can decide what you have, and it’s time for you to experience it.”

As he spoke, Father Xue took out a small cloth bag from his arms and handed it over. He walked home without looking back, but his steps were heavy and even a little staggering.

Xue Yinsong touched the warm cloth bag and pursed his lips. He squeezed it tightly, and after a while he put it in his arms and turned to the village to find someone to help build a morgue.

The days passed quickly and slowly, fast because Xue Yinsong managed to bury Qiangzi's father in a dignified manner, and slow because Xue Yinsong himself was also irritable, and always felt that Tianba Village had long since changed, but I miss my home in Fuchun County very much.

In the end, Qiangzi sold the house and paid back the money to his father. He packed up some clothes and prepared to enter the county as an apprentice.Of course Xue Yinsong refused, and forced him to follow him back to Fuchun County.

As soon as he entered the county seat, Qiangzi stopped working: "Tiger, I know you pity me, but I have hands and feet and I don't need you to feed me. My father used to say that I am strong, and I helped the restaurant with half a year of odd jobs. , It’s also okay to find a small job to do it.”

Xue Yinsong shook his head and said: "Why should I give you food? I asked you to come to Fuchun County for another matter. There were too many people and it was inconvenient to tell you. Now it's just us two brothers. Listen to me Tell me in detail."

Talking about how to get the Chen Mi, how to transport it from the river to Nanmeng, and how to find a way to get it into Tianba Village. After talking about it, he looked at him and said: "Originally, I was going to walk it by myself and let you He Chang followed Jiuhua and the others to participate, now that you are here, I will go with you, if it works, won’t it solve the food problem in Tianba Village?”

Qiangzi was a careless person, so he thought for a while and replied: "I've regarded you as my elder brother since I was a child, and you can do whatever you want. Since this is a good thing, I will let you arrange it. When will we leave?"

Xue Yinsong said: "I still have to think about it carefully, you and I know about this, don't tell others." Qiangzi nodded and assured: "Never say anything, don't worry. Just say what you want me to do, and I will control the boat. It’s okay, you can work harder.”

Xue Yinsong smiled and said, "I didn't ask you to come here for this purpose. What I thought was that if you want to transport a large amount of rice and grain, you must have your own people escort it, and you will have to run around at that time."

Qiangzi replied: "Okay." He yawned as he spoke, he was already tired from the journey sooner or later, Xue Yinsong hurriedly stood up to make a quilt for him, and drove Changhui and Xiaoqi to the same room to make room for him. A house for him to sleep in.

Xue Yinsong returned to the house after discussing the matter, and Xiucai had already fallen asleep. When he heard him open the door, he yawned and asked, "Bring someone back again? Our family is getting bigger and bigger."

Xue Yinsong took off his coat and went to bed, said with a smile: "He is my childhood playmate, he is very honest, this time my father is gone, so I asked him to come with me." He said with concern: "Well, it's fine if you think it's good."

Xue Yinsong put his arms around his waist, gnawed at the back of his neck and asked vaguely: "If you have any opinions, you can raise them. Our family is still democratic."

The little scholar snorted and said, "I want a room by myself."

"No."

"Look, is this democracy?"

Xue Yinsong replied brazenly: "Our family is a fake democracy and a real dictatorship. I thought you already knew." Little Xiucai was a little moved by his gnawing, and he relaxed his body to greet him but refused: "What are you doing?"

In fact, Xue Yinsong was tired and exhausted, but he felt like a cat scratching if he didn't take advantage of his hands. Although he got a hint, he couldn't do what he wanted, so he had to withdraw the five-finger army, put his clothes together and said: "Let's let you go today, tomorrow Then torture again."

The little Xiucai, who was a little interested in being touched, obviously didn't expect him to retreat so quickly. He felt as uncomfortable as being scratched by a soft chicken feather. Standing tall, but the angle was not properly grasped, he slammed into the wall with a bang: "Ouch!"

Xue Yinsong rubbed and pressed him hurriedly, and talked with him again, and the two reconciled as before and continued to sleep with their arms around each other.