life struggle

The Panling area is located on the top of the mountain, like a hill, generally relatively gentle and flat, with more land available for cultivation, and many natural villages scattered high and low. 【】Wu Xiaojun and Bai Lingyan visited several nearby natural villages according to the roster, and everything went smoothly.

After two o'clock in the afternoon, the two began to set off for their next destination, Gaozhuang.

The scorching sun in midsummer is like a fire umbrella covering the sky, the sky is dazzling, the weather is hot like a steamer, and there is no wind. Under this kind of oppression, the people in the village seem to have lost their active vitality lazily. All staying at home, drowsy, or simply asleep, no one wants to go out and suffer.Sparse and rare crops in the fields on both sides of the road, drooping their heads without any energy, orchards full of big and small apples and green and round watermelons all over the ground, and the leaves covered with dust are wilting. Roll curled up.Numerous Maemis screamed hoarsely on the trees, all of which increased people's irritability in the hot summer.

The two walked on the small road between the villages, and they didn't meet anyone along the way. They passed the forest and left the stone road on the small road. A feeling of being roasted, looking into the distance, on the silent road, it seems that transparent steam is rising.

Not long after, he was sweating profusely and his mouth was dry, so he drank some well water brought from a fellow villager's house under a poplar tree by the roadside, took a rest, and continued on the road.Bai Lingyan handed over the parasol she carried with her to Wu Xiaojun, and she wore a sun hat on her head to reduce the damage to the eyes from the strong light.The two walked side by side, Wu Xiaojun felt grateful and caressing, and tried his best to cover Bai Lingyan with the sun from the umbrella to reduce the damage of ultraviolet rays to her delicate body.

The villagers in the shed in the orchard by the roadside saw the two people who were very close and warm on the road under the scorching sun, as if seeing a strange monster, watched the two pass by intently, and then pointed, Talking and laughing, maybe it was a joke that they held umbrellas under the clear sky.

On a downhill field, there are many tractors, tricycles and rack cars parked beside it. Many men, women, old and young are sweating profusely, carrying large buckets, small buckets and pots and cans, vying for water around a water truck. .

Wu Xiaojun looked at it and asked Bai Lingyan curiously, "Why do so many of them collect water? Is it to fight drought and irrigate the land?"

"It's so easy for you to say. No one wants to eat it. Who is willing to put it in the field? It's too extravagant."

"It's normal to fight drought and irrigate the land to grow crops. No matter how dry the weather is, you won't even have no water. How can it be said to be a luxury?"

"As the saying goes, drinking water is harder than eating oil. People in the mountains are most afraid of drought. When there is a drought, drinking water is the biggest problem for humans and animals. One year, my father ran back and forth for more than ten miles to carry a load of water in Qinghe River. They didn’t dare to use basins to wash dishes, but used bowls to wash them, and the washed water was used to rinse clothes, and the whole family ate for ten days.”

"We don't have to worry about running out of water at all. Every household uses pressurized wells, and there is inexhaustible water at any time. Whenever there is a drought, every family is busy watering and fertilizing the crops. The crops have been growing well. .However, I am most afraid of floods and strong winds. A storm may destroy even the best crops in an instant, or even fail to harvest.”

"Although there is a big difference between the two places, it's not as serious as you said."

"What I said was true. For example, four years ago, when I saw that the wheat harvest was in sight, it was almost ripe. There was a violent storm for more than two hours, and all the wheat in the field was poured into the water. Strength, the amount of straw and wheat harvested is quite a lot, the weight has indeed dropped significantly, the flour is bitter and black, and it is not edible at all, and later it is all sold as wheat bran to the feed factory at a low price."

Just as I was talking, a family of three in front of me was pushing and pulling a shelf cart with a tin bucket uphill. The man was driving the handlebars, and the eleven or twelve-year-old boy was holding a hemp rope the size of a thumb on his shoulder, bowing his head and pushing forward. Stepping forward, the woman behind the car gritted her teeth and pushed forward vigorously.Because the slope is relatively steep, the three of them struggled a lot and could not move an inch. The car might retreat to the bottom of the slope at any time and fall into the ditch beside the road.

The man's face was flushed red, he was very anxious, and he kept yelling and cursing, "I'm exhausted and I can't pull it up. You two are useless trash, so I don't know how to work harder."

Pushing forward vigorously, the woman said angrily, "When I came here, I told you to bring the cattle, but you refused to let me go. It's a good thing now. If you don't go up the slope, it's useless. It's because you don't have a brain, and you scold me and my mother." Ass."

When Wu Xiaojun saw it, he quickly closed the umbrella and handed it to Bai Lingyan. He ran forward and pushed the cart forward with the woman with all his strength. Bai Lingyan also came to help.There are many people and strength, and it took about ten minutes to finally push the car up to the top of the slope.

The woman wiped the sweat off her face with a towel, and said gratefully, "Thank you brothers and sisters, the slope is a bit bigger, if it weren't for your help, I wouldn't be able to make it up, which made you suffer. It's better now, more or less Going downhill, you can reach Gaozhuang, our village ahead without much effort."

Bai Lingyan said, "Sister-in-law, you mean Gaozhuang is in front of you. What a coincidence, we are going to do something in the village, so let's go together."

The woman said, "Sister, who do you want to go to, do you think we can help?"

Wu Xiaojun said, "We mainly went to several houses to learn about the situation of the children rescued by the Hope Project. If it is convenient for you, please show us the way. I don't know if it is convenient or not."

The woman said happily, "It's convenient, it's convenient. There are more than 1000 households in the village, and I'm familiar with every one of them. I'll take you there if you want to."

Wu Xiaojun said, "That's great. Sister-in-law, are you getting water for free or do you pay for it?"

The woman said, "There is no such thing as free, you have to pay for it, and it is expensive."

Bai Lingyan asked, "How much do you need for this bucket of water?"

The woman said, "This water is sold by the catty. A catty of water costs 100 cents, and a bucket costs more than [-] yuan."

Wu Xiaojun clicked his tongue when he heard the words, and said to himself that buying a bottle of mineral water in the city is only sixty or seventy cents, which is really expensive here, and drinking water is as expensive as oil.

They chatted and laughed all the way to Gaozhuang. Under the guidance of the women, they successfully found the homes of the eight children. It was getting late, and it was already six o'clock in the evening after simply checking the situation, so they had to follow the original road to the town. return.

Although the two of them were physically and mentally exhausted, after all, they were already quite familiar with the return journey, so they didn't need to ask for help, so they naturally felt much faster.

The setting sun is slowly setting, mist and wisps of green smoke gradually rise from the mountains, accompanied by the slight breeze blowing towards the face, the hot and dry temperature is no longer so scorching, and the two of them are in a tense and depressed mood for a day Also began to stretch.

Wu Xiaojun looked at Bai Lingyan's non-stop hurried steps, and said with a smile, "Miss Bai, I have been walking non-stop for a whole day, and my pace is still very fast. It is a bit difficult for me to chase you. If you continue like this, even if it makes me tired I can't catch you up, that's fine."

Bai Lingyan pursed her lips triumphantly and said with a smile, "Don't think of girls as weak girls, they are no worse than boys in many cases, how about it, are you satisfied with my partner, I didn't hold you back, no Let me trouble you. I still have strength, if you are not convinced, we will compete to see who can walk faster."

Wu Xiaojun rolled his eyes, thought for a while, and said casually, "Okay, I don't believe it's better than you. Tell me, what do you do if you win or lose?"

Bai Lingyan said with a strange and cunning expression, "If you lose, you buy me dinner tonight and you pay, and if I lose, you pay and I treat you to dinner."

Wu Xiaojun patted Bai Lingyan on the shoulder involuntarily and said, "You're so cunning, you always want to take advantage of me, alright, no matter you win or lose, I'll treat you to dinner tonight, the competition begins."