The ancient life of a master craftsman

Yunli broke away from her low self-esteem, remembered what she said before, plunged into Li Enbai's arms and buried her face, not wanting to speak anymore.

Li Enbai was hit on the head by him, and looking at his appearance of not wanting to speak, he knew that he had thought clearly, so he felt shy.

Holding him in his arms, stroking his neck and back, he laughed softly, "Little fool, have you figured it out?"

Yunli didn't answer either, but the temperature on her face was getting hotter and hotter, she was ashamed.

Li Enbai leaned close to his ear and said something softly, Yunli immediately raised her head and covered his mouth.

The whole person was red like a ripe tomato. His eyes wandered, not daring to meet Li Enbai's gaze, but he sneaked a peek cautiously. Seeing Li Enbai's smiling eyes, he slowly softened again, and his hands moved. Sliding down, the whole person nestled obediently into his arms.

Hold his hand and press a kiss on his palm, "I won't let you go if you think about it in the future, remember?" When he said this, Li Enbai's hand lightly touched Yunli's buttocks. Pat patted.

Yunli was really going to steam with embarrassment now, but he also knew that brother En was really a little angry just now, so he could only stick to his neck and whispered, "Yeah."

Li Enbai picked him up, "Okay, it's time to be listed tomorrow, we still have half a day today, let's go out for a walk?"

Yunli was sitting astride his lap, and he stood up holding him directly, like holding a baby, but Yunli didn't panic at all, she used to stretch her legs and put them on his waist, Lighten his burden, "Brother En, do you want to rest?"

He was a little worried that Li Enbai hadn't had a good rest. After all, when he came out of the examination room yesterday, his complexion was really bad, and he was quite haggard.It must be because I haven't eaten or drank for five days, and I haven't had a good rest, and I have to use my brain all the time, so my energy has been consumed.

Yunli thought to herself, how about stewing an old hen in the evening to give Brother En a good nourishment.

Li Enbai recalled what happened a few days ago, and seemed to be able to smell the stench again, so he immediately lifted Yunli and took a deep breath from his neck until the faint pear blossom fragrance filled his entire nasal cavity, before pressing it down. Let go of that unpleasant memory.

"No need, let's go around and see if there is anything we want to buy." It was the first time for Li Enbai and Yunli to come to the county seat, so they naturally wanted to go out and take some special products home when they had time.

The place they are in is the county seat of Xinglong Town, Zunhua County.Although it is a county, the scale is already very large, and the streets are very lively with people coming and going, but it seems that it is only a little bigger and more crowded than Xinglong Town, and there seems to be no difference in other things.

Li Enbai and Yunli were walking down the street holding hands. After looking around, there was really nothing special. They seemed to be found in Xinglong Town, but the appearance was indeed better than that in Xinglong Town, and the price was also more expensive.

The two of them looked at each other, and both saw the disappointment in each other's eyes. Li Enbai thought that such a big county couldn't be the same as Xinglong County, there must be something different, but they haven't found out yet.

So the two of them walked further, slowly walking from the southeast area where they lived to Lixi Street. When they arrived here, there were more shops for shopping.

As soon as he entered West Street, Li Enbai saw a long queue at the door of a food shop, and the shop assistants were still yelling, "Sweet and fragrant chestnuts, fried chestnuts with sugar, hot chestnuts just out of the pan! "

Yunli's eyes lit up when she heard this, and she dragged Li Enbai to line up. Yunli only ate it once, and it was brought to brother Zhu by Hu Zhicheng. I remember the sweet and glutinous taste of chestnuts, I didn't expect this to happen!

After listening to Yunli's explanation, Li Enbai knew that this chestnut was delicious, and he couldn't help but look forward to it. He had never seen food from these parent stars in the Milky Way.

Both the husband and wife are handsome, and they are talking and laughing standing in the line. Anyone passing by can tell that this is a loving couple.

The sugar-fried chestnuts were cooked soon, and the guy who was selling them just now quickly filled the chestnuts for the guests, and soon arrived at Li Enbai and the others.

Smelling the sweet smell wafting from the pot with dark and shiny stones in front of him, Li Enbai's expectations for chestnuts became higher, "How much are these chestnuts?"

The man looked up and saw that it was the young couple, so he smiled and said, "Our chestnuts are all authentic Qianxi chestnuts, and they are also fried with high-quality sugar. It costs ten cents and half a catty. You two can go first." Try it."

As he spoke, he picked up a hot chestnut and crossed the slits on the chestnut with his fingers, and he peeled out a plump, light brown chestnut kernel.The guy split a chestnut kernel into two and handed it to Li Enbai, "Try it, it's absolutely delicious."

Li Enbai and Yunli ate this chestnut kernel separately, and the sweet and glutinous taste immediately fascinated the two of them, and the more they chewed, the more the unique sweetness of chestnuts, rather than the greasy sweetness of white sugar.

"I want two catties, divided into four parts." Li Enbai immediately took out the copper coins.

"Okay, wait a moment." The guy used a bamboo-like thing to draw the copper plate into the money box, and then quickly wrapped the chestnuts in oiled paper.

"If you can't finish eating, put it in a dry place. It's okay to leave it for a few days in the current weather, but you have to steam it in a wok when you eat it again." The waiter packed it and handed it to Li Enbai.

Li Enbai thanked him, took Yunli by the hand and left, there were still people waiting in line behind them for this sweet and soft chestnut.

Yunli took one of the packs and opened it, grabbed a few and peeled off the shells, and shared with Li Enbai "one for you and one for me". The hot chestnuts made Yunli forget the cold weather, and the smile on her face Extraordinarily brilliant.

Speaking of specialties, Zunhua County really has a lot of them, but Li Enbai and the others didn’t find them before. After walking around the West Street, they can find many things that Xinglong Town doesn’t have, such as chestnuts, such as baskets of chestnuts. Sour pears for sale.

Sour pear is a kind of pear unique to Zunhua. It is about the size of the fist of a five-year-old child. It has a long shelf life and will not go bad every few days like Sydney and Yali. And when it is ripe in winter, the ripe sour pear is also very sour.

It is an indispensable fruit for local people in Zunhua County every winter. The way to eat sour pear is also very special. It can be eaten directly, but most people think it is too sour. They will throw the sour pear into the pot, boil a pot of water, etc. When the water is boiled and the pears are cooked through, they can be scooped up and eaten.

Not only is it not too sour, but the flesh is also soft. Eating a warm pear will warm you up.There is also water for boiling pears, because it has the taste of sour pears, adding a little sugar is the best sugar water.And it is a big pot once it is boiled, which is very popular with children.

The preservation method of sour pear is also very simple, just throw it into the snow in the yard.

Li Enbai is somewhat interested in this sour pear, he is interested in all pears now, and this sour pear is very cute, small and round, with a bright yellow skin, it looks plump and juicy.

But because it is the end of winter now, these sour pears have been stored for a whole winter and are not fresh. If you want to eat them directly, the taste is already very bad.Some sour pears have dark spots on the skin of fruits that have been stored for a long time.

But there are still many people who buy it, because it is cheap, and a basket of sour pears costs only [-] yuan, and they can be eaten until mid-March.Li Enbai was also a little moved, he liked to try everything he had never eaten before.But this sour pear is only sold in a whole basket, and it is not convenient for him and Yunli to get it now...

In the end, Yunli saw that he really wanted it, so she took ten renminbi and went to a small stall not far away to buy him a big backpack.The sour pears were emptied into the panniers, which were only about half full, and there was room for them to put other things.

The hot fried chestnuts in sugar were also transferred to the basket. The two of them held hands and continued to stroll. Occasionally, we could see haggard students walking in twos and threes while discussing the content of yesterday's exam.

The peddlers around will also smile at these students, and the candidates are more and more proud of their status as scholars. Confident people, when talking with their peers, express their confidence that they can definitely be admitted to Tongsheng.

Li Enbai and Yunli walked past them holding hands. The two of them held food in their hands that were not together, and ate while walking. It was completely different from those candidates. No one thought that Li Enbai was also one of the candidates this time. one.

It wasn't until the second day when the rankings were released that Li Enbai's name in Huaimu Village, Xinglong Town was listed as No.1, that the examinee discovered that this handsome man was the one who was walking and eating on the street with his husband.

But what does it matter?

When Li Enbai saw his name in black and red on the top of the list, he acted indifferently. He went to the government to get the childbirth certificate, confirmed the time and place of this year's government examination, and then quietly returned to Huaimu Village with his husband.

They came and went in a hurry this time, plus the two days spent on the road, it took a total of ten days. When they got home, Liu Mingxi was taking a walk in the yard, which was requested by the doctor.

When he saw Li Enbai and Yunli, Liu Mingxi cupped his hands towards Li Enbai, "Congratulations, Brother Linfeng."

Li Enbai raised his eyebrows, he didn't expect Liu Mingxi's news to come so soon, but he was not surprised for a long time, and he didn't pretend to be modest in front of Liu Mingxi, "Congratulations."

Yunli worked in the carriage for a day, and felt that she was falling apart. She couldn't get up the energy to prepare dinner. Seeing that Li Enbai and Liu Mingxi were going to chat, she didn't care about the things on the carriage, and planned to rest for a while.

Liu Mingxi invited Li Enbai to drink tea together. Li Enbai just wanted to take a break, so he went to Westinghouse with Liu Mingxi.

The brazier in the west room has been replaced by a stove, which has been burning continuously all day long. The kettle is placed next to the stove, and it will boil in a short time after putting it on the fire.

While waiting for the water to boil, Liu Mingxi asked him, "When is this year's government examination?"

"On April [-]th, take the test in Shicheng." Li Enbai poured hot water into the teapot and shook it gently.

"Are you sure? The county test won No.1. The news is estimated to spread in Xinglong Town and its surrounding areas soon. If the government test falls behind by ten or less, it may..."

"Top ten?" Li Enbai held the teacup, and the corners of his lips curled up, "If I am not even ten in the government examination, how can I be worthy of Mr. Liu's careful teaching?"

Liu Mingxi looked at him, and found that his expression was determined, and the sharpness in his eyes was undisguised, so he also smiled, "Then I wish Linfeng will win the case first?"

Li Enbai hooked the corners of his lips, and replied very calmly, "I would like to borrow your good words."

The two exchanged a knowing look.

The news did spread quickly. At the beginning, everyone just knew that Li Enbai had passed the county test and could continue to take the government test. If he passed the government test, he would be a child student. Unexpectedly, someone from the town soon brought the news that Li Enbai was no in the county test. .1 too!

Even the county magistrate wants to get to know him. Doesn't this mean that he will definitely be admitted to Tongsheng?

All of a sudden, the whole Huaimu Village boiled like boiling water, especially the old man Yun, whose serious face was now smiling from time to time, and all the wrinkles on his face were laughed out.

The villagers came to Li's house one after another. On the one hand, they thought that Li Enbai was good at studying, and they were a little curious about how he got No. 1 in the exam. On the other hand, they wanted to get close to Li's family.

Wherever Yunli goes recently, he is the focus of the crowd. Some people envy him. When they see him, they say that he is married to a good husband and has good vision. When they don't see him, they say that he is just fate. Okay, but he has shallow pregnancy moles, so it's useless if he can't give birth to a child.

Yun Li, who was annoyed by everyone's enthusiasm, hid at home every day and did not dare to go out. Seeing this, Li Enbai took people to live in the other courtyard of Liu's Plum Garden for a few days, and waited for the excitement to pass.

The villagers usually have a lot of things to do, and they really don't have much time to keep an eye on the affairs of the Li family. They can't find anyone, and they let go of their energy within a few days. In addition, spring planting is about to start, and every household is busy. , even less concerned about the Li family.

Li Enbai bought two acres of land when he got married, but he didn't take care of it for a day, and left it to old man Yun to take care of it. Now that he has said that he has to concentrate on preparing for the exam, old man Yun spontaneously takes care of the two acres of land However, there are only two laborers in his family, and the family has six acres of land, which is really too busy.

Fortunately, Li Enbai remembered later, and directly hired two people from the village to help, so that old man Yun and Yunhe would not be exhausted.

Spring planting is a major event, which concerns the livelihood of the whole village. Liu Mingxi's pencil production had to be temporarily suspended for a period of time, and the workers went home to help.

And just like this, the workers have been living at home for a long time, but they are eager to return to live in the factory. They are all different from before.

Mu Huasheng followed his father to the field with a hoe on his shoulders. His family had little land, and the labor force in the family was also small. Only his father and he could go to the field, and the younger siblings were too young.

Peanut's father was usually a taciturn person, but he tried his best to do all the heavy work by himself. His eldest son was already very tired after going to work.

Peanut didn't think so, he just wanted to finish the work quickly, so he discussed with his father to divide the area, picked up the hoe and started digging.

The next piece of land belonged to another family. That family lived not next to Peanut’s house. They hadn’t seen Peanut after Chinese New Year. Now when they saw it, they were surprised and said, “Father Peanut, this is your Peanut? It’s so tall. All, it looks strong."

Father Peanut took a look at the eldest son who had grown taller and stronger, and he felt proud, and replied loudly, "Yes, it's because Boss Liu has a good heart. He takes care of three meals a day, and we can only eat peanuts." So strong!"

Mu Huasheng's face flushed, and he always felt that what his father was talking about was not a human being, but a pig, and their boss was the one who raised pigs.But the villagers are proud of their strong children, because such children must have eaten well and never been hungry.Peanut couldn't stop him from talking, so he could only work hard.

Sweating all over and returning home, he wanted to boil some water for a rinse, but was scolded by his mother, because it was a waste of firewood to take a bath, so the peanuts had to boil a small pot of hot water to wash it, and went back to the house to wipe.

He doesn't have his own separate bed, but lives with two young brothers. It's cold, and the brothers are a little bit runny. He couldn't help but wipe it clean when he saw it. His mother saw it and it was another meal. He scolded, "Why are you wiping their faces, these two brats, after wiping them clean for a while, they get dirty again, why don't you wipe them, it's a waste of hot water!"

Peanut was not very happy, but he didn't contradict his mother. He just closed the door and wiped the brothers clean. He even wiped his body, because he saw mud marks on his brother's neck.

He doesn't want to sleep with his brother until he wipes it clean.The younger brothers especially liked my elder brother, he didn’t make trouble, and was wiped clean obediently. He fell asleep after lying on the bed for a while, but Peanut couldn’t fall asleep. The quilt smelled oily and faint.

He stared at the dark beams, and began to miss the clean and warm single bed in the factory, the steaming bathhouse, and the delicious food in the cafeteria.

After that, he continued to help his father plow and plant the land with dark circles under his eyes. Like him, there was Liu Erniu. Liu Erniu originally thought that the life of his sister was the life he yearned for, and he could work less and eat more at home. , don’t worry about starving.

But this time when he returned home, he felt that his sister's life was not good at all. The clothes had to be worn for half a month to be washed once, and she hadn't had a bath all winter. Seeing that the family had improved a lot, Liu Erniu I ate without taste, thinking about when I could go back to the factory.

So Huaimu Village has such a strange landscape. The workers of the Liu family returned home and worked hard. They were almost the first batch of spring planting in the village, and they would not spend much time at home. Waited and ran back to the factory.

At the beginning, everyone praised that the Liu family really knows how to teach people. Look, each one of them works so well.After a long time, the words that those workers occasionally muttered at home were spread.

"I heard that Er Niu and the others are so tall, and they all rely on working for Boss Liu to take care of their meals. They eat three meals a day, and every meal is full of meat!"

"And they still have a bed for each person, they don't live in Datong bunk!" This is a person who has too many brothers in his family and still doesn't have his own house, and he is so envious that he can't wait to replace him.

"I also heard that they have to take a bath every seven days, it's very clean!" As he said, he scratched himself. If you don't take a bath for too long, you will smell bad.

In the past, no one was different from them, and everything seemed normal, but now there are people who eat well, live well, and are cleaner than them. I can’t help being envious. The key is that they might have lived like this before. If selected by Boss Liu.

So the envy in their hearts quickly turned into jealousy and unwillingness, but there was so much work at home, in order to be able to eat, they had to work hard in the fields, and they couldn't make any big waves for the time being, only occasionally when they saw Yunhe , will show a look of pity on him.

This Yunhe is really miserable, obviously his brother-in-law and Boss Liu can be a worker just by mentioning it, but he was brushed off in a daze, and now he is not like them, going around the land every day, and the uncontrollable jealousy disappeared Go down some.

Yunhe didn't know what they were thinking, if he knew, he would probably just laugh at their pink eyes.

In a blink of an eye, the willow trees by the river are all green, and the trees all over the mountain are showing their tender green leaves, as if the spring returns to the earth overnight, and the wild flowers on the roadside are also budding.

Yunli put away the thickest cotton-padded jacket and only wore the jacket, so she didn't feel cold anymore.Taking advantage of the good weather, he planned to clean up the house and bring all the things that should be exposed to the sun to the yard to bask in the sun.

He was busy, and seeing Liu Chong busy in and out of cleaning up, he was a little curious, so he stepped forward and asked, "Brother Liu Chong, what are you doing?"

Liu Chong was loading things into the carriage, and replied after listening to his words, "Brother Li, the second master wants the young master to return home, I will clean up first."

Yunli opened her eyes wide in surprise, "I'm leaving now? Why so suddenly?"

Liu Chong laughed, "It's not sudden, the young master's injuries are almost healed, if we don't go back, the Liu family will forget the young master."

There seemed to be some deep meaning in these words, but Yunli didn't think about it. He quickly got into the kitchen, took out many small jars and carried them out, "Brother Liu Chong, when are you going back? I'll prepare something for you to take back. The altar is Chang Le's favorite pickle, you take it first."

As soon as he stuffed it into Liu Chong's hand, he was about to go to the kitchen to get other things. Liu Chong hurriedly called him, "Brother Li, don't worry, we don't leave until tomorrow, and now we just collect the things first."

When Yunli heard this, she would leave tomorrow, "There is still some time, Brother Liu Chong, do you need me to help you tidy up?"

Liu Chong shook his head, "No need, Brother Li, I am familiar with the young master's things, so I can take my time and clean them up."

"Alright then." Yunli thought for a while, then slapped her hands, "I'll go to the butcher's house to buy two pieces of meat, and I'll have something good for lunch!"

Without waiting for Liu Chong to speak, he ran back to the house, took the copper plate and the basket and ran away.

On the other side, Liu Mingxi was also talking about this to Li Enbai, "My uncle sent me a letter asking me to go back home tomorrow. This is a letter for you."

Li Enbai visited Liu's residence a few days ago, and at that time Liu Chuncheng had the idea of ​​letting Liu Mingxi return to his residence, so he was not surprised, put the letter away, and patted Liu Mingxi on the shoulder, "Be careful when you go back this time." .”

There was a cold light in Liu Mingxi's eyes, but there was a gentle smile on his face. If Yunli was there, he would be able to tell that Liu Mingxi's current appearance was [-] to [-] percent similar to Li Enbai's fierce appearance before, "Don't worry Linfeng, I won't be reckless again. gone."

Li Enbai took a palm-sized booklet and handed it to him, "I don't know if you have this thing at home. You haven't been able to stop taking your medicine recently. Take it and have a look. Be careful."

Liu Mingxi looked through it, and thanked Li Enbai solemnly. Li Enbai waved his hand, indicating that he is not welcome, and then asked, "What are you going to do with the pencil factory?"