Father's Land Mother's River

Chapter 155
Entering the Dragon King Pond in May, it is full of greenery and vitality.The mountains on both sides are lush and lush, overlooking the bay surrounded by feet; the clear water in the reservoir is rippling, the green lotus leaves are floating on the water, or swaying in the wind, and the graceful lotus is in bud; the narrow and long bay ebbs and flows , Seagulls fly with the tide to feed.

The earthy hill is full of greenery, and nearly a thousand large cherry saplings planted in March have survived, and the leaves with clear texture are sparsely dotted with layers of terraced fields.Potatoes, cucumbers, kidney beans, tomatoes, eggplants and other vegetables are planted in a few scattered gardens at the foot of the mountain.A dozen surviving peach and apricot trees are blooming with pink and white flowers in sequence.

Two deepened and reinforced ponds are surrounded by a foot-high plastic sheet to prevent river crabs from escaping.Green water plants and reeds grew in the pond. Under the water plants and on the edge of the pond, countless river crab seedlings crawled happily.

The tide is ebbing in the bay.First, the mud flats are exposed, and then the sandy beaches gradually show their true colors in the clear tide.The tidal flat is flat, with tiny aquatic plants growing, and white seagulls fly up and down, busy looking for food on the beach.

Liu Xiaonan, Meng Xiangxiang, and her two children were walking barefoot on the beach with their trousers on their legs.

Today is May [-] Labor Day, and the family came to Longwangtang to celebrate the festival, also wanting their children to get in touch with nature more closely.

A pair of sons and daughters separated from their parents. The son was running on the beach, shouting loudly and chasing the seagulls;

Holding a shovel in hand, Liu Xiaonan dug a dozen or so steps to check the recovery of the shellfish.

This section is a beach with mixed sand and sand, mainly growing clams.After one winter and one spring of recuperation, the population of flower clams has become quite considerable, and with one shovel, five or six, seven or eight can be turned up, most of which are the size of a fingernail.

He said to Meng Xiangxiang with satisfaction: "After another year of growth, these clams will be ready for the market."

Meng Xiangxiang, like her two sons and daughters, was also the first time to get close to the sea and go to the beach, and was interested in everything.For the flower clams that Liu Xiaonan dug out, she picked the big ones and put them in a plastic bucket, and buried the small ones in the sand.

Liu Xiaonan smiled and said, "You don't need to do it, the clams will get into the sand by themselves."

Meng wanted to observe carefully.Sure enough, those little flower clams stretched out their white and tender tongue feet, and burrowed into the sand to hide.

She lifted her waist and said with a smile: "The creatures in the sea are so interesting, I don't know much about them yet."

"When it's summer vacation, how about I teach you how to swim? Learn to swim and you can get a more fit body."

"Well, I've always wanted to learn to swim. Now, you have to teach me how to swim. Your novel "The Fog" left a deep impression on me. I've always wanted to know what swimming is."

Liu Xiaonan said, "I will definitely not let you down."

Going forward for a while, there is a pure sandy beach. The sea water has just reached the ankle, and many beach creatures have popped their heads to look for food.

Liu Xiaonan pointed to a bulging sandbag and said, "Look what's under here?"

Meng Xiangxiang stretched out his hand to touch it, and it turned out to be a conch in the shape of a white navel. The white tongue and feet spread out like a bowl, tightly wrapping a clam.After the conch left the sea and was frightened, the tongue and feet slowly retracted into the shell and let go of the clam.

So funny!She found several such conchs around, and each conch wrapped a clam without exception.

Liu Xiaonan said: "These navel conch are the natural enemies of meretrix meretrix, fortunately there are not many of them."

Meng Xiangxiang said childishly: "Today I only pick this kind of navel conch to eliminate the natural enemies of these clams."

Liu Xiaonan said: "The existence of every creature has its rationale. The appearance of this kind of navel conch on the beach shows that the number of meretrix meretrix is ​​increasing. This is a good phenomenon."

Liu Xiaonan dug a few shovels on the beach and found several clams of different sizes.He is in a very happy and relaxed mood. This time next year, this beach alone will create a lot of economic benefits for him.

It can be seen that Brother Sha Wanli's judgment is accurate.As long as we get through this year, next year's life will be much better.

In the early spring, Meng Xiangxiang had put all his savings into buying big cherry saplings, river crab seedlings and bait, leaving only the 5 yuan given by his father and uncle.

If it weren't for the experts, after the river crab seedlings have adapted to the new growth environment, they can be fed with natural bait.For example, he catches small fish and shrimps from the sea and chops them up to replace bait. He has already begun to consider whether to sell a retail store or get a loan from the bank.

Meng Xiangxiang picked up a clam the size of a palm and stroked the smooth, patterned shell lovingly. She said: "I remember when I was a child, there was a kind of hand oil called clam oil sold in the store. clam shells. At that time, I could only look around the counter and really couldn’t afford it.”

Liu Xiaonan said: "We'll dig some more clams in a while, and we'll eat the meat at noon and take the shells home. You pour out your skin care products and put them in the clams' shells to make up for what you lacked when you were young."

Meng Xiangxiang glanced at the two children and saw that they were having fun not far away. He turned his eyes and stared at Liu Xiaonan and said, "What kind of deficiency is that? My biggest deficiency is that the two children are already so old. Never heard a single word 'love'."

By the time I spoke, the tide had receded under my feet.Liu Xiaonan avoided this topic, he said: "To express my apology, I will do a magic trick for you. You jump around me and a miracle will happen immediately."

Meng Xiangxiang knew that it was an extravagant request for Liu Xiaonan to say "I love you!"But she had to express her emotional longing, otherwise, he would really think he didn't need much.

Since there is an apology, it means that he still remembers it in his heart, but he just doesn't say it, and she doesn't force it.She wanted to see a miracle, and without thinking too much, she jumped and danced around Liu Xiaonan until Liu Xiaonan yelled that it was all right, then she stopped.

Liu Xiaonan said to Meng Xiangxiang mysteriously, "You take care."

After finishing speaking, he inserted the shovel into the beach seemingly casually, turned it up with force, and a short, thick yellow razor clam suddenly appeared in the turned up sand.

Meng Xiangxiang bent down to pick it up, and asked happily, "How did you dig it? Quickly teach me."

Liu Xiaonan handed the shovel to Meng Xiangxiang, pointed to a small sunken sand pit and said, "You dig down here, and you have to move fast and don't stop. Otherwise, the razor clams will quickly retract to the bottom of the hole."

Meng Xiangxiang tried his best to dig, and sure enough, he dug out a big razor clam, jumping up and down like a happy child.

Liu Xiaonan told her that the mouth of the razor's hole was covered by a layer of floating sand. When she ran, the razor shrunk back into the hole in shock, and a small sand pit would be sunken on the beach.She ran around a lot just now, and only two razor clams appeared, indicating that there were not many razor clams.

Liu Xiaonan also stamped her feet and ran around for a long time, stopped to check, and found that the number of razor clams was still limited.But it doesn't matter, as long as there is one, it will multiply in a few years.

At this moment, the daughter not far away screamed in surprise: "Mom and Dad, come and see, monster!"

Liu Xiaonan didn't believe there were any monsters, but her daughter saw some weird creatures.

Meng Xiangxiang ran over quickly, but saw a small odd-shaped crab in a small puddle in front of her daughter, using two crab claws that looked like dry branches, to lift a small piece of wood on its back, floating on the water surface superior.

Meng Xiangxiang explained to her daughter: "This is how clever the little crab is disguising himself."

She stretched out her hand to grab the small crab. The carapace of the small crab was uneven, just like the facial makeup of Peking Opera.It was also the first time she saw this kind of crab, and after playing with it a few times, it didn't hurt anyone, so she handed this kind of grimacing crab into her daughter's hands.

At noon, everyone gathered in the restaurant on the first floor for dinner.Liu Xiaonan bought beer and meat, as well as other vegetables and seafood, which were all produced by herself.One table for women and children, one table for men, it's the holidays, let's improve the food.

Drinking beer, Sha Wanli suggested: "If possible, repair the few houses I used to live in and connect them to electricity. I usually put a tool or something, which is convenient to use, and it is also useful for guarding the pond after autumn. "

Liu Xiaonan said, "I'll do it right away."

Sha Wanli added: "The space between the big cherry saplings has to be used, it's a pity to waste it. I'm thinking about planting sweet potatoes, so as not to delay the growth of big cherries, and we will have something to eat in winter."

Liu Xiaonan said: "Big brother can make up his own mind about things on the mountain, and I will definitely follow through."

Sha Wanli said with a smile: "Look at what my brother said, it seems that I am the boss."

The uncle suggested: "If you are short of money, you can catch some sea urchins and sell them as an emergency. You can't take care of everything, and the sea should still be dominated by sea cucumbers. The farm where I worked was also doing the same thing. Successful experience."

Liu Xiaonan adopted this suggestion.The second uncle said: "I found that some sea cucumbers came up to lay eggs on the reefs around the island. My elder brother and I did nothing else these days. We fished the sea cucumbers there and put them in our breeding area. The weather in a few days When it’s hot, the sea cucumbers will hide in the crevices of the reef, and they can’t be caught even if they want to.”

Picking up her glass, Liu Xiaonan stood up and said, "All of you here, including brother Sha and sister-in-law Sha, are my relatives. However, I still want to say thank you."

When the summer vacation came, Meng Xiangxiang didn't go back to her mother's house or her husband's house. Instead, she packed up a larger room on the second floor of the farm and lived in it with her children.

July and August are the rainy season, no matter whether the weather is good or bad, Liu Xiaonan has to go home on time every night to give her and her child peace.Not to mention the tiredness of running back and forth, she was really worried about his safety on the road.

The river crabs in the pond have grown to one and a half to two and a half, and they will be ready for the market in more than a month. They are in a critical period of growth management. Meng Xiangxiang can clearly feel the pressure on Liu Xiaonan.

Although in front of her and the children, he still laughed loudly and played with the children, but when he was sleeping, he tossed and turned and had heavy breathing.If it rained suddenly at night, he would wake up immediately and stand in front of the window for a long time, worrying whether the water level in the pond would rise.

Meng Xiangxiang took the child to live in the farm, Liu Xiaonan didn't have to travel around, and she could share the risk with him and comfort him.

Meng Xiangxiang handed over the two children to Liu Xiaonan to take care of them, and she followed her brothers and sisters-in-law to weed the cherry orchards, catch small fish and shrimps in tidal creeks, chop them up and feed them to river crabs.

At this time, she was no longer the head teacher of a key middle school and the mother of two children, but the little girl in the mountain village who was running alone on the mountain road, reading a book while lighting a fire.

In the evening, it is the happiest time for the family.The family went up the bay. Meng Xiangxiang and his two children, with lotus leaves on their heads, followed Liu Xiaonan to the end of the reservoir.

A mountain stream injects clear water into the reservoir, and groups of small fish swim upstream. Two children play and play in the stream, catching small fish; Swimming, wrapping her arms around her stomach to keep her afloat, teaching her how to paddle with her hands and feet.

Meng Xiangxiang asked Liu Xiaonan why he didn't take her to learn swimming in the sea.Liu Xiaonan replied, first learn in the reservoir, and then swim in the sea after learning, this is called following the trend.

When Meng Xiangxiang learned how to dog plan, Liu Xiaonan let her flop around by the reservoir alone, and he followed the two children to a place to play.

When the weather is calm and the tide is stable, he will also take the three of them to the beach, and take turns letting the children hug his neck and lie on his back, and he will swim into the sea with the children on his back.

He told her that he almost drowned when he was a child and became a drowned ghost in the river, and he wanted to teach children how to swim from an early age.

After dark, Meng Xiangxiang and his two sister-in-laws went to the mountain forest with a flashlight to catch the cicada pupae that had just emerged from the soil.Catch them in small buckets, wash them, or pickle them or fry them.

Shawanli didn't eat salix, and Liu Xiaonan didn't eat it either, but the two children, like their mother and uncle, enjoyed eating it with relish. It looked so delicious.

Meng Xiangxiang told Liu Xiaonan that cicada chrysalis is a high-protein food, and in her hometown, every season, people would come to buy them in large quantities.

Liu Xiaonan still refused to eat.She laughed at him kindly. She had the courage to contract such a large beach area, but she didn't have the courage to taste a small cicada chrysalis.

　Thanks to the book friends for accompanying me all the way, adding another chapter.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)