Manor Romance

Chapter 4 Lu Ci
After Xu Ping said this, Yunli remembered that after collecting the potatoes, she hadn't been seen, and the wages hadn't been paid to her yet.Looking up, in the potato field in the distance, there is another figure bending over, as if picking up something.

Yun Li turned around and was about to ask for clarification, but Xu Ping had already got on the motorcycle, waved to him, started the car and left.

After waiting for a while, Lu Ci came back from the field. The bamboo hat he was wearing before was held in front of his body with both hands, and it was filled with potatoes of all sizes.

After taking off the hat, Yun Li saw her real appearance, a very beautiful face, wide forehead, slender willow eyebrows, black round eyes, a head of dry shoulder-length short hair, coupled with her icy temperament, it can be called heroic Full and undiminished charm.

If I want to pick out some blemishes, the skin is slightly tanned, and there are some small red spots on both sides of the face, which are faint and inconspicuous, but they are still easy to distinguish. I don't know if it is freckles or what. .However, the flaws do not conceal the advantages, the first impression Lu Ci gives people is that he is glamorous.

Neither of them had the kind of enthusiastic and cheerful personality, and they didn't know each other, so standing face to face was somewhat awkward.

"Thank you for coming to help today, this is your wages, and there are some small potatoes, please don't dislike it." In the end, it was Yun Li who spoke first, and handed over the money and the bag containing the potatoes.

Lu Ci still didn't say a word. She collected the money, then poured all the potatoes from the hat into the bag, and finally returned the bag full of potatoes to Yunli's hand.

The atmosphere fell silent again, Yun Li seemed a little at a loss as he was carrying a heavy bag of potatoes.Let's talk, I don't know what topic to talk about, if you turn around and walk away, you will appear very rude again.

He even had a strange thought, the two of them froze like this, comparing each other to see who could hold back the conversation first.

"Well, if you need to recruit people in the future, can you call me?" Just as Yun Li was thinking wildly, Lu Ci was the first to break the silence and voiced his request.

Under the influence of conditioned reflex, Yun Li almost blurted out his promise, but when he remembered Xu Ping's instructions, he swallowed the words back to his stomach, with a look of embarrassment on his face.

Seeing this, Lu Ci didn't say anything else. He shook off the sand in the bamboo hat, put it back on his head, and then went to retrieve the old bicycle left on the side of the road.

"What is your phone number?"

Lu Ci, who had just gotten on the bike, was forced to stop by these words. She pushed the bike and came to Yunli again, and said with a look of embarrassment:
"I don't have a mobile phone, and the phone line at home has been out of service for a long time."

"So how can I get in touch with you?"

Yunli's words once again stumped Lu Ci.But she quickly thought of a countermeasure, took out a long blue cloth from her sleeve, handed it to Yunli, then pointed to a protruding bamboo pole on the roof of the small building, and explained:
"If you need workers the next day, hang up this piece of blue cloth the day before. My house is at the corner of the terraced fields, so it's easy to see."

"It's a good idea, so it's settled." Yun Li held the blue cloth and nodded in agreement.

"My name is Lu Ci, and they all call you Teacher Yun, can you tell me your full name?" Lu Ci hesitated for a moment, but still asked.

"Yunli, if you leave, you don't need to call me Teacher Yun, just call me by my name, or A Li." Yunli replied with a smile.

"OK, thanks."

After a simple thank you, Lu Ci left on his bicycle.

It's hard to imagine what kind of secrets are hidden in such a good-looking girl, so that everyone keeps a respectful distance. Not only Xu Ping, but other farmers saw Lu Ci, and also deliberately kept their distance.

Yun Li didn't regret his decision, and he helped Lu Ci not because of her beauty, but because from the bottom of his heart, he didn't want to see a stubborn and unyielding heart, cooled and indifferent by the cold reality.

In Lu Ci, he saw the shadow of his past.

After working hard all morning, although Yunli didn't feel very tired, the sweat all over his body still made him very uncomfortable. After washing it carefully, he got on his bicycle and ran towards the direction of the town.

At this time, the sun has risen above the head, and there are wisps of smoke from the farmhouses along the road. Occasionally, when encountering familiar folks, they will warmly greet Yunli.

After arriving in the town, Yunli first went to the farm market, ordered a batch of potato seedlings at a store he knew well, and also ordered some seeds of various fruits and vegetables, and then bought a few boxes of cooked food, some braised meat, roast duck And so on, with a big bag full, I rushed to the direction of Luzhen Middle School with it.

The summer vacation has begun, and the school is very deserted.The whole middle school consists of four parts, the middle is the grass playground, three houses are built around the playground, two large bungalows are the classroom area, and there is a two-story small building, the ground floor is the teacher's office, and the second floor is the dormitory.

Yunli carried the cooked food bag, went straight to the second floor of the small building, and walked into a dormitory at the end of the corridor.

"Brother Chen, the debt collector is here!" Yun Li shouted at the top of his voice as soon as he entered the door, looking in a very good mood.

"Let me see what delicious food I brought. I've been so busy these days that I haven't had a decent meal." There was a sound of complaints from the balcony of the room.

After a while, a tall and thin old man walked in from the balcony with a stool, beckoned Yunli to sit down, and opened the bags that Yunli had brought on the low table one by one.

"Braised pork knuckle, the part is well selected, the heat is enough, the sauce is roasted duck, the aroma is strong enough, but the color is a little lacking, the ginger, green onion and eggplant are just soft and cooked, and this cold sliced ​​tofu skin, you have a heart. "The tall and thin old man ordered the food on the table and commented one by one.

"Hey, if you don't spend some money, how can you coax you to keep giving me your treasures." Yun Li took out the bowls and chopsticks from the bag, and handed them to the tall and thin old man first.

"Hey, brother, I was wrong too. Among the group of little guys who came this year, you seem to be the most honest, but you are actually the most shrewd and have the most tricky ideas." Old brother Chen was not polite, and took the bowl Chopsticks, the two of them ate around a table of delicious food.

This tall and thin old man is the oldest teacher in Luzhen Middle School. Everyone calls him Brother Chen. He is 63 years old and has passed the retirement age. However, since the school has not been able to find a stable new teacher to take over, He had no choice but to continue "overage service".

"Let's hear it, how much is it different from what I guessed before?" Picking up a piece of stewed pork, Brother Chen put it in his mouth with satisfaction, and asked casually.

"Before the bet, you guessed [-] catties, but the final result was."

Yun Li paused, put down his chopsticks, raised his index finger on his left hand, spread out his right palm, and shook it in front of Old Brother Chen.

"Fifteen thousand, this time I'm going to lose so much that I have nothing to say, you can do it, boy." Seeing the number drawn by Yunli, even the well-informed old brother Chen was a little surprised .

Half a year ago, when Yun Li first came to Lu Town to support teaching, he received a lot of help from Brother Chen, and the two got along very well and became close friends.

At the beginning when Yunli decided to contract Xiaolu Mountain, Old Brother Chen was very supportive. Later, the two made a bet that if the output of this batch of potatoes could exceed [-] catties, he would give away the string of purple bamboo wind chimes that Yunli had coveted for a long time. give him.

"I'm going to order the wind chime, but I won't pick it up until the bamboo building is built. By the way, have the blueprints for building the bamboo building been drawn? I plan to hire someone to cut bamboo in two days. Others The ingredients have to be bought in advance." Yun Li asked while picking up vegetables.

"It's a young man after all!" Brother Chen sighed, and took out a blueprint from the messy counter behind him and threw it to Yunli.

After receiving the blueprints, Yun Li couldn't care less about eating, so he immediately spread the blueprints in his hands and began to study them.

In the middle of the blueprint is a three-dimensional three-story bamboo building. Stairs, doors, and windows are all marked out. The exact length of each edge is marked. The quantity and requirements required for each material.

"Unexpectedly, you, an old man, are not only good at handicrafts, but also so professional in drawing architectural drawings." Yun Li praised.

"Hey, what is the origin of the bamboo rafts written here, and so many are needed?" Seeing something he didn't understand, Yun Li immediately asked questions.

"You have seen all the bamboo buildings in the village. Most of the current bamboo buildings are not for people to live in, but for storing things. This bamboo raft is used on the bamboo buildings for people to live in. It covers the outer wall to prevent rain. , moisture-proof, and dust-proof, with it, the whole bamboo building will be much more comfortable to live in." Brother Chen explained patiently.

"So that's how it is. Where are we going to get this? Is there a place in town that sells it?" Yun Li continued to ask.

"Bamboo rafts are made of bamboo husks. Women in the village know how to do them. You can make them with a little money." Brother Chen got up to make tea after eating almost, and reminded:
"If you are unsatisfied, you should bring it up for modification as soon as possible. Once the construction starts, it will not be so easy to make changes."

"That's it. I'll start preparations when I go back at noon." Yun Li was very satisfied with the design of the drawings, so he didn't hesitate to make a decision.

The food on the low table was almost eaten by the two of them, and Yunli helped to clean it up. At this time, Brother Chen also made the tea, and the two of them drank the fragrant tea and enjoyed a short rest after the meal.

"I seem to have heard from you that you lived in Shanglu Village for a while?" Yun Li chatted.

"I lived there for a while, almost ten years. Just after the operation, my niece in the village picked me up to take care of me." Brother Chen recalled, but from his tone, he didn't seem to care. I don't want to talk more about this topic.

It's no secret that Brother Chen's wife passed away due to illness in more than 20 years. He has no children under his knees and has been living alone in the school dormitory until now.

Maybe because he mentioned his sadness, Yun Li didn't continue this topic anymore, and asked instead:
"There is a man named Lu Ci in the village, do you know him?"

"A black woman? Her name seems to be Lu Ci. Not to mention the village, there are not many people in the town who don't know her." As soon as Yun Li mentioned Lu Ci's name, Brother Chen replied like a conditioned reflex.

"A black household girl? Is she a black household?" Yun Li asked.

"It's not just as simple as a black household. Their family used to be a big merchant in the town, engaged in export business. Later, they were involved in a major smuggling case. It was found out that their identities were fraudulent, and their entire account was cancelled. She Those family members had all gone abroad before the incident, and she was still in college at the time, her household registration was gone, she was dismissed by the school, sent back here, and detained for a period of time, but she didn't know anything, and was released later come out."

Brother Chen told all the facts he knew in one breath, and added in a hurry:

"It was later found out that she was just the adopted daughter of that family. They also had a nanny who was from Shanglu Village. After the black woman was released, she lived with that nanny, but God's will, she just likes to play tricks. , the nanny fell ill, spent all her savings and didn’t get cured, she went there a few months ago, and owed a lot of debts.”

After listening to Brother Chen's narration, the doubts that had plagued Yunli all morning finally had an answer.

(End of this chapter)