Go back to the valley to farm

Chapter 4 Lijiagou

When the boat docked at the pier, Shi Baoquan wrapped the rope around the wooden stake next to the stone steps, and went to the township government to find someone.

Li Junge also got off the boat, strolled onto the pier, and habitually came to the left side of the small square.

There is an old well here, with a round opening in the middle of the bluestone slab, and it looks cold and cold. There is a long-handled wooden spoon and a large porcelain bowl beside the well, which are placed here by the villagers for the convenience of passers-by. , which also shows how simple the folk customs here are.

There is also a pair of italic couplets engraved on both sides of the well mouth, "The article is drunk for three days, and the heart is as clear as an ancient well." I don't know which village sage left it in the old days, and some of the handwriting has been obliterated.

Li Junge scooped up half a bowl of water with a long wooden spoon, and took a sip happily. "Hmm! It's still so sweet!"

Holding the rough porcelain bowl, I began to look around. The buildings around the small square are all old houses with blue bricks and black tiles. The door frames are painted with red lacquer, which looks stable and elegant.

There are carved windows on half of the wall, highlighting the glory of the previous owner.

Opposite the pier is a bluestone path, with some wooden tile houses on both sides. There is no market today, and there are not many pedestrians on both sides of the road.

At the end of the bluestone road at the wharf is a concrete road, and the buildings on both sides are beginning to become modern, most of which are two-story red brick buildings.

"Hello! Erpi!" A crisp voice came, and Li Junge turned his head, only to see a beautiful big girl standing in front of him, wearing a light-colored shirt on the upper body, a pair of denim cropped pants on the lower body, and Wearing a pair of white sneakers.

The girl combed a ponytail, her bangs hopped, her eyelashes were long, her eyes were big, her nose was upturned, and her face was relatively round. She looked at Li Junge and smiled.

"Hahaha, crazy girl!" Li Junge was also happy, and opened his arms, "Come here, long time no see, brother give me a hug!"

"Not serious!" The big girl gave Li Junge two beautiful white eyes, "Why did you suddenly remember coming back?"

"Knowing that you are here, I came back in a hurry." Li Junge was used to playing with the big girl, and he couldn't stop it habitually. He suddenly thought that he was now the deputy head of the township, and there were a group of old men and women squinting around him. Ears pricked up.

He quickly adjusted his tone and reported his experience to the girl again.Then he asked: "You are not staying in the big provincial capital, why do you remember to exercise here?"

"I'm lucky!" The girl smiled triumphantly as if she had picked up a treasure, "There are several places in the quota for our bureau, and no one is willing to come. I saw that there is Pan'ao Township. This is my place." My old nest, I quickly grabbed it. Hahaha, such a good place, what if I don’t come here.”

"That's that." Li Junge echoed, "The scenery is beautiful, the climate is pleasant, the things that grow in the mountains, grow in the water, everything you need, except that the roads are difficult to walk and the people are poor, there is nothing wrong with it."

"Don't look down on your hometown!" The big girl criticized, "The situation is difficult now, we are trying to find a way, I believe it will get better!"

"Must! If someone is poor and difficult to walk, we can only say it to our family members. Doesn't it make us look modest. Who dares to say that outside, let me beat him to death!" Li Junge also echoed with a smile.

The two chatted about some interesting things from their childhood, and they were both very happy. Li Junge said to the big girl, "Are you free this weekend? Come to my house to play, and two friends are coming too. One you know, Wang Congjun, There is another one named Zhu Chaoan, who is also my classmate."

"Hmph, I know both of them, pig bug, the three of us have eaten grilled fish a few times." The big girl seemed a little proud of her ability to quickly open up contacts, patted Li Junge on the shoulder and said: "Okay, weekend I'm going to visit my uncle and aunt, you are responsible for preparing the food, I want to eat well." After speaking, he sucked his lips, "Oh, I think of your delicious food, I'm so hungry."

Li Junge pursed his lips, "You city people have eaten any delicious food, and a roasted sweet potato is enough to pass."

The girl's almond eyes widened, "No, there must be meat! All kinds of meat! Otherwise, I will complain to the aunt!"

"Okay, all kinds of meat!" Li Junge responded casually, put the big bowl in the girl's hand, took two steps back, looked up and down, and said with a smirk: "I'm afraid you will cry after eating Shouting to lose weight." After saying that, he laughed and jumped on the boat.

After the boat sailed for a while, Li Junge turned around and saw the girl shaking her fists with him on the shore.

After driving upstream along the Wuxi River for another half an hour, a small wharf appeared on the left hand side ahead, which was also a big banyan tree with blue stone steps, but there was no small square, and the stone steps directly paved the hillside.

The banyan tree was even bigger, with a thick trunk directly covering a third of the sky above the small river.

This tree trunk is obviously smoother than the other trunks. It is a natural springboard for children to play with water in summer. It has been climbed up and down a lot, and one side becomes very smooth.

There is also a steel cable on the pier. The steel cable volleys across the Wuxi River and draws a soft arc. The midpoint is only half a meter above the water surface, and the two ends are fixed on the big rocks on both sides of the river.

There is also a wooden boat docked on the pier, and the Upon and the sides of the hull are covered with moss.A two-finger-thick hemp rope is tied to each end of the boat, and there is also a thick wooden stick on the boat with a wooden groove on it.

Use the hemp rope to pull the boat from the opposite bank, pick up the stick after getting on the boat, put the steel cable into the wooden groove and pull it back, then release it, and the boat will go to the opposite bank.

This is not only a tool for the villagers to cross the Wuxi River, but also the favorite toy of the village children in summer.

In summer, the wooden boats are basically occupied by children, and a boat of bare-bottomed children are often seen playing in the middle of the river.

Waiting anxiously for the uncle who was crossing the river to yell loudly, then a boat full of children plopped into the water like dumplings, and then the boat was emptied.

The tin boat turned off the engine, and began to slide towards the small pier with inertia, then gently leaned against the small pier by the banyan tree, and stopped beside the wooden boat.

Li Junge jumped off the boat and skillfully fixed the boat on the wooden stakes beside the pier.

Shi Baoquan threw his luggage and backpack to him, dragged out a big bamboo basket from the stern, packed the things that the villagers entrusted him to buy, called Li Ermao, who owns a small supermarket in the village, and asked him to do it himself Call someone to move other things.

Then the two stepped on the bluestone ladder and walked to the village.

Walking up for a short distance, after passing the highest water level in summer, every few steps on the stone road is a flat road, and the two sides of the flat road are rice fields.

The rice in the paddy field was green, and when the two of them passed by, the frogs in the grass on the edge of the field jumped into the field with a plop.

There is a small ditch on both sides of the Qingshi Road. The water from the mountain flows down from the small ditch, providing sufficient water for the terraced fields.

After walking for seven or eight minutes, three people came towards me, two men and a woman. The man was carrying a shoulder pole with a hemp rope hanging from the end of the pole, and the woman was carrying a large basket.

It was Li Ermao, his father Li Sixin, and Li Ermao's daughter-in-law Zhang Guangping.

Several people greeted each other in a hurry, and Li Ermao said: "Oh, Erpi is back! Why didn't you hear my aunt? Come back and play for a few more days this time! Come to my house for a drink at night!"

Li Junge and Li Ermao are about the same age, and they also played together since they were young. Ermao couldn't read well, and didn't continue after finishing junior high school.

But this kid has a flexible mind and opened a small supermarket in the village, mainly selling small things like cigarettes, water bottles, washing powder, and the like.

Then I propped up a pergola in my courtyard dam and set up a few tables, which is regarded as a small teahouse, where the villagers have a place to meet and chat, and their lives are passable.

Li Junge quickly started to give up the cigarettes, took out a few Tashan sticks, first offered one to Shi Baoquan, then another to Li Sixin, called Uncle Li, and threw one to Li Ermao by the way.

The people in Lijiagou are basically of the same clan, and they have been descended from the same ancestor for dozens of generations—Jinshi Shen Qinggong during the Chunyou period.Therefore, they are generally called according to the seniority in the genealogy.

In order to distinguish closeness, the elders in one's own family do not carry their surnames, while those of other families carry their surnames, which is also one of the customary folk customs.

Li Sixin is a well-known good old man in the village. I don't know if it is due to a genetic mutation that gave birth to Li Ermao.

I saw him shifting the shoulder pole from his right shoulder to his left shoulder, freeing his right hand to take the Tashan handed over by Li Junge, while scolding Li Ermao: "Your child knows how to play all day long, so if you come back the first day, you won't fall into the house." Reason! Junge is a person who knows the book, and he has to visit his elders in the first few days. You are not allowed to go to him these few days."

Li Ermao still didn't dare to argue with his old man, so he could only mutter resentfully: "It's a new era now, who cares about those things!"

Li Junge smiled quickly and said: "Uncle Li is right, there are still some rules that need to be paid attention to."

Then he also greeted Zhang Guangping, who was carrying a basket on his back, and said, "Hurry up and pick up the goods, don't waste your time. I have been back for a long time this time, and I will come to your shop for tea another day."

After saying goodbye to the three of them, the two continued to walk towards the village. After walking for more than ten minutes, the terrain changed again and they entered a small plain at the bottom of the mountain. The terraced fields disappeared until the mountains around the plain began to appear again. .

Corn fields, sweet potato fields, and some vegetable fields were replaced on both sides of the road. The stone road gradually widened, and some people began to appear on the side of the road. After three to five hundred steps forward, a huge stone archway suddenly stood in front of the road.

The archway is one of the architectural cultures with Chinese characteristics. It first evolved from Hengmen, that is, a building with two pillars and a beam, which is generally used to mark the entrance of various residential areas.

Later, the archway slowly evolved into a monument-like building, with names such as Gonggongfang, Kedifang, Zhongxiaojieyifang, etc. It has the function of promoting etiquette and marking the great achievements of family ancestors, and it also serves as a place name. And the function of worshiping ancestors.

The archway in Lijiagou Village is such a building. The archway is exquisitely carved with dragons and phoenixes. It is also decorated with patterns such as auspicious grasses and auspicious clouds. Family status. The poets are in the Tang Dynasty, the famous ministers are in the Song Dynasty, and the morality has been passed on for a hundred generations."

The upper couplet clarified the local geographical environment and location, and the second couplet suggested the surnames of the local clans, and used Li Bai, Li Gang, and Laozi from three different periods to elevate themselves.

The locals call this place Shenqing Fang, but there is no way to verify whether it is the work of Shen Qinggong, the ancestor of the Li family.

(End of this chapter)