My village can't be like this

Chapter 491 Challenge the River

The autumn wind swept by, and the ground in Zhang An's backyard was covered with dead leaves left over from last night.

There are no trees planted in the backyard. They are basically grape vines and gourd vines on the shelves.

"Zhang An, do you think our family can eat our own grapes next year?"

Su Ying asked while holding a big bamboo broom and sweeping the fallen leaves on the ground, looking at a few well-developed grape trees.

"That's necessary. Look at how big they are. They will definitely bear fruit next year."

Zhang An said with certainty, because now the four grape trees in the yard have covered most of the shelf.

Although the leaves on the vines are starting to dry up now, by the time next spring comes, they will definitely cover the entire shelf.

"Actually, we should have been able to eat it this year, but the weather was not kind and it was all gone."

Having said this, Zhang An was very sorry, because these grapevines had bloomed a few months ago, but not many.

But not long after the flowers faded, and small grapes like fish roe appeared, we encountered the heavy rain in July.

There were only a few small grape seeds, but they were beaten mercilessly by such a heavy rain for so many days. When the rain finally stopped, none of them survived, so now there is not a single grape in sight.

But now that a few vines have grown up, if you can't eat it this year, you will definitely be able to eat it next year. Zhang An doesn't believe that there will be such a disaster next year.

After lunch, Mrs. Li Chun'e found Zhang An.

"Xiao An, we have been here for a few days. You can send us back later."

After only staying for three or four days this time, the old lady wanted to go back.

In fact, she also wanted to stay here for a few more days, like the last time Zhang An got married, for ten days and a half.

But now not only herself, but also the old man is here, so Zhang An's family is always a little uncomfortable.

Of course she knew why, so she wanted to go back early.

"Mom, what are you doing in such a hurry to go back? There's nothing much to do in the past few days. You can stay a few more days and help us take care of little Siqi."

Zhang An's family was naturally reluctant to let the old lady go back, and all of them tried to persuade her to stay.

"How can farmers have nothing to do? There is still a lot of work waiting for people to do in the fields. This year's corn has not been dried yet. While there is still sunshine, I have to go back and dry it quickly, otherwise I will not be able to finish this. In the next year, it may be about to sprout, and the rapeseed on the ground hasn’t been sown yet.”

Although there was not much harvest this year, the old lady still missed the thousands of catties of corn at home. After all, it was all food.

There is also a need to sow this year's winter rapeseed in the field during this period. If it is too late, it may not be able to withstand this winter.

In the end, the family's persuasion was fruitless, and the old lady still insisted on leaving, so Zhang An could only agree to send them back in the afternoon.

After eating, Zhang An was going to beat rice. Because Zhang An's family had finished the rice they had beaten before, so the old lady didn't leave in a hurry and waited for Zhang An to come back.

In fact, Zhang An had already beaten a lot of rice before, which was enough for his family to eat until the Chinese New Year.

However, this time I organized a full-moon banquet for Xiao Siqi, and more people came, so the consumption of rice was a bit large, and the stock at home was depleted all at once.

This time Zhang An pulled a lot of millet to thresh rice, at least a thousand catties of millet. Instead of using a big black pack, he pulled it directly with a cart.

Because Zhang Xinmin's unit was relatively small, it took Zhang An more than half an hour to bring Mi back.

However, when moving the rice, Zhang An did not carry it all home. Instead, he left several bags in the car, estimated to weigh two to three hundred kilograms.

He planned to take this to Longtou Mountain to feed the old lady. After all, the grain harvest here in Changqing had stopped, and the misery over Longtoushan would only be worse than here.

Before leaving, Old Man Wang became a little hesitant, as if he had something to say.

Zhang An had never been kind to him, so he didn't care about him, thinking that he didn't want to go back yet.

Finally, when the old lady urged him to leave, he seemed to have made up his mind.

"Xiaofang, Xiaoan, this thing is a gift from your mother-in-law and I to Xiao Siqi."

As he spoke, he took out a small box from the inner pocket of his clothes.

Zhang An recognized it. This was what Old Man Wang had brought back home when he went to pick them up that day.

Without waiting for Zhang An's family to agree, Old Man Wang thrust the box into Zhang An's hand.

The box is very light and does not weigh much. When you open it, you will find a jade safety buckle inside.

At this time, Zhang An's family was very surprised. They didn't expect that someone like Old Man Wang would actually take something of value.

For a moment, Zhang An felt a little embarrassed. He really didn't want to accept anything from Wang Shiyan, especially this kind of thing.

Because this will bring a lot of trouble in the future, after all, he already knows the virtues of his uncles.

If they learn that Old Man Wang gave their family such a piece of jade in the future, they will probably try their best to come to ask for it, or use it as an excuse for everything. This is not impossible.

"Take it, Xiao An. I picked this up when I was fighting against landlords. I have been hiding it until now. No one else knows about it."

Of course Mrs. Li Chun'e knew what Zhang An was thinking, so she started to persuade him.

She had indeed picked up this safety buckle. At that time, after fighting the landlord in Longtoushan, she once went to the old landlord's dilapidated house to pick up broken wood and take it home to make a fire. She found it accidentally.

It was probably left out by those people when they were collecting it.

She couldn't make the decision at that time, so she told Old Man Wang about it when she got home.

But when Old Man Wang found out, he took the safety buckle away.

Over the years, she thought that with the temperament of her old man, this thing would have been sold to buy wine.

So when Wang Shiyan took it out just now, she was very surprised.

Zhang An was a little insistent at first, but after seeing the hopeful looks in his grandmother's and the old man's eyes, he finally accepted it.

This jade buckle was picked up, and I don't know its origin. If it was dug out, it would definitely not be suitable for wearing, so Zhang An just planned to put it away.

Before finally setting off, he carried a few bottles of wine from home.

It's not the blood rice wine brewed at home, but the welfare issued by the Forestry Bureau, and Mr. Wang's favorite Maotai.

After all, he was still too soft-hearted, and after all, he was touched by Old Man Wang's performance.

Because the old lady was a little carsick this time, Zhang An didn't drive very fast.

Two hours later, the two elders were sent back to Longtoushan Village.

This time Zhang An drove the car directly into the Wang family yard, instead of stopping at the grain drying field like before.

"Po, there will definitely be no harvest here this year. You can keep this rice to eat."

There are very few paddy fields in Longtoushan Village, so little that the millet planted every year is basically enough for the family's rations, and there is no surplus food to sell.

This year's harvest was so bad that Zhang An thought that the old lady's house would not have enough food to eat, so when threshing rice at noon, he beat several hundred kilograms more just to give it to the old lady.

As for the old lady's sons, Zhang An shook his head without thinking. When they usually had something to eat, they were afraid that the two elders would take a bite. Now that there is famine in the family, it is naturally even more impossible.

"Xiao An, you can take it back and eat it. We still have a lot of millet left over the years. If it's not enough, we can still eat corn rice so that we won't go hungry."

When she said this, the old lady always took Zhang An to the kitchen behind the main room to say it, because she was afraid that Zhang An's food delivery would be known by those families.

Although the old lady was very old and had little education, she still knew why Huai Bi was guilty.

"Oh, Po, it's not like you don't know how much grain I have at home. Just keep it and eat it. When it's almost gone, I'll bring it to you. But don't buy overpriced grain, and don't eat corn rice. .”

It is almost impossible to spend money to buy high-priced grains here. Zhang An is very relieved about this.

Because the old lady usually doesn’t have much income, she usually spends her money frugally, breaking a penny into two parts.

Even if Zhang An forcefully gave them living expenses from time to time, they were all saved by the old lady and rarely spent.

So I won’t even buy the ridiculously expensive grains.

They would just grind corn for cooking as they did in previous years.

Regardless of whether the old lady agreed or not, Zhang Anke just picked up the rice bag in the carriage and walked home.

Zhang An knew where the rice vat was at home and poured it directly into it.

"Okay, grandma, if you keep doing this, I won't bring little Siqi to see you during the Chinese New Year."

Looking at the old lady who still wanted to say something, Zhang An directly threatened her with Xiao Siqi, his great-grandson.

Sure enough, as soon as she heard this, the old lady stopped talking immediately.

"From now on, you eat the rice in this pocket first, and then eat the rice in the vat, so as not to spoil the rice outside due to insects."

The rice vat at the old lady's house is a large sand vat that can hold a lot of rice.

The advantage of filling rice in such a sand jar is that the rice inside can be stored for a long time and will not be infested with insects.

It's just that Zhang An brought a lot this time. After the rice vat was full, there were still forty or fifty kilograms left outside.

"Okay, okay, I understand."

When she walked out, the old lady locked the door solemnly, because she knew that there were several big rats in the house.

"This wine is for you. I haven't come here much this year, but I won't be deprived of you. But if I say more, drink less. This is not a good thing after all."

Then Zhang An looked at Wang Shiyan and handed him the bottles of wine he had brought. This was the first time Zhang An spoke to him so peacefully.

"I know, I know."

Wang Shiyan took the wine from Zhang An, not as happy as before, but said solemnly.

"Okay, I'll go back first. If anything happens, just ask my mother-in-law to call me."

Seeing that it was getting late, Zhang An was ready to go home.

"Why don't you go back tonight? Rest here for the night and go back tomorrow."

Zhang An has not stayed here since he was ten years old, so the old lady wanted to let Zhang An stay here for one night.

"That's not okay. You can't live without me at home now. You know that little grandma at home won't sleep unless she sees me at night."

Although little Siqi is not very dependent on Zhang An, he will not sleep without seeing Zhang An every night, so now every night, Su Ying asks him to take care of little Siqi.

"Okay, okay, then drive slower and be careful on the road."

As soon as Xiao Siqi was mentioned, the old lady smiled with wrinkles on her face and stopped trying to keep Zhang An.

After Zhang An left, the old lady asked Old Man Wang to find a smaller sand vat to mix the rice evenly to avoid getting damp at home.

But when I was pouring out the last bag of rice, five hundred yuan was poured out of it.

The old lady took the money and didn't speak for a long time. When Zhang An left just now, he gave her money, but this time she didn't accept it and firmly refused.

After half the payment, I put it in my pocket.

"Whether it's the rice or the money, don't go out and talk about it. This is Xiao An's filial piety to us. I don't want people to come to my ears every day and talk about it."

The old lady looked at Wang Shiyan beside her and said something to him.

Nowadays, she is no longer like she used to be. She can take charge of this family because she has the confidence given by Zhang An.

"That's for sure. I'm going crazy if I say that those shady people want to have bad intentions."

Wang Shiyan immediately promised that he was not stupid. If he told about the money, his sons and daughters-in-law would watch him all day long.

If they stayed, the savings would be enough for the two of them for a year.

Now, unlike before, he has been working in the fields and knows how hard it is to make money.

. . . .

In the blink of an eye, autumn turned to winter, and everyone finally took the replanted corn home before winter, and also planted winter rapeseed.

After finally being free, the loudspeaker in the village that had not been spoken for a long time sounded again, and Zhang Jianwen called everyone to a meeting.

Zhang Jianguo was busy taking care of his grandson, so Zhang An could only go there.

After the meeting, Zhang An realized that everyone was summoned this time for a major event in the village - digging ditches. In fact, it should be better to say digging rivers.

Because this year's floods were too strong and rapid, and the soaking time was too long, the river bank embankments that had persisted for many years have been washed away by the water.

And both sides of the river bank are full of the best farmland in the village, which is the lifeblood of everyone. The river also plays a big role in attracting tourists to the village.

Now that the river bank is broken, it has a great impact on this aspect, even affecting the lotus pond.

So Zhang Jianwen made a report and explained the extent of the damage to the river embankment to the town and county, and wanted to apply for a sum of money to build the river embankment.

After seeing the application, the county immediately sent people down to inspect it.

After this year's major floods, neither the town nor the city dared to take such things lightly.

Finally, after confirming that the situation was true, we immediately agreed and allocated a special sum of money to let the village organize its own organization to complete the repair of the river embankment as soon as possible.

So Zhang Jianwen called everyone together to repair the dams on both sides of the river.

This time, the money allocated for river repair included labor costs, but Zhang Jianwen didn't want others to make money, so he planned to organize everyone in the village to start construction during this period.

Anyway, the money does not go to outsiders, so it is better to let others earn it than to let the villagers earn it.

Moreover, everyone lives in the village, right by the river, so no one else will cut corners.

(End of this chapter)