Pastoral Valley Fragrance

Chapter 77 The Tree Thief

When everyone returned home, they were all a little tired. Li Dequan drank some wine and talked a little too much. Jing Zhe and An Jinxuan helped him home, and Mrs. Wang didn't nag, just because he was afraid that Xia Zhi would be smoked, so he hugged him Go to Xiaomanguyu's room.

In the early morning of the second day, Xia Zhi started to cry. Xiaoman and Gu Yu thought that Xu Qinshi changed his pants and didn't care about it. Such things happened in the past, but Xia Zhi cried for a while and didn't hear Xu Qinshi. Qin's voice made her get up quickly, seeing Xia Zhi staring at her feet and pouting, crying aggrievedly, with teardrops hanging on her pink face, Xiao Man hurriedly hugged Xia Zhi and coaxed her, but she didn't notice Xu Qin Where is Shi, but there was a noise outside.

They carried Xia Zhi out of the room, just as Li Dequan and Wang Shi were also coming out, Wang took Xia Zhi, and Jingzhe An Jinxuan also appeared at the door in unison.So, who is noisy in the yard?

When they got out of the door, they saw Xu Qinshi pointing at a teenage boy and scolding him. The boy lowered his head shyly, kept waving his hands, and kept moving back. There was a tree standing under his feet. , looked like it was about to dry.

Xu Qinshi has already decided that this person is a thief who steals trees, and he looks like he hates iron but not steel, "Look at your talent, what kind of trees are you stealing at a young age, don't you know how to go to the back mountain forest to chop these things? ? How did you develop such a habit of eating and being lazy!"

The child just kept hiding, looking like he was about to cry, but Xu Qinshi was a few meters away from him, didn't catch him, and he didn't run away, just kept nodding, waving his hands and bending over. The body looks very pitiful.

Gu Yu was also a little strange, and said to Xiao Man: "Sister, why do you think he stole the tree? Are you going back to make firewood? There are dead branches everywhere in the village."

Unexpectedly, Xiaoman was a little stunned, and after hearing Gu Yu's question, he was a little dazed, "He is so pitiful."

After Xu Qinshi saw Li Dequan and the others coming out, she was still a little angry, "I thought you were tired last night, so I got up early to cook something before calling you, who knew I hadn't woken up yet, and I heard rustling The rustling sound, at first I thought it was someone walking on the road outside, but I didn't know that the sound was getting louder, and there was still a while, I couldn't help coming together, but I didn't know that he was dragging the tree in the yard, asking He is also hemming and hawing, I don't even know how much he stole!"

When the man saw Li Dequan approaching, he knelt on the ground with a slap, which startled everyone.

Not only knelt down, but also kowtowed, and then burst into tears, "Uncle Li, I...I..."

Li Dequan sighed, and looked at the child wearing a coarse cloth gown, all of which had turned white, and a few pieces of his arms were worn out. He looked about fourteen or fifteen years old, with bare feet, showing a few Bloody mouth, looking rough hands and feet, but now his face is a little panicked, his lips are slightly thicker, his nose bridge is straight, and his eyes are full of regret.

For such a person, Li Dequan didn't believe that he would steal anything, but there was a tree at his feet, and the facts were in front of him, so he could only ask, "You are?"

The boy replied respectfully, "Uncle Li, my name is Du Dalin."

Xu Qinshi was also a little strange at this time, "Look at you, what are you called Dalin, and you have the nerve to steal other people's trees! Don't you know how much effort it takes to cut down trees? You go into the mountains early in the morning, and maybe you will meet them again. What kind of beasts, you can only pull them back after drying, you still have a long time ahead, don't go astray."

Du Dalin was very ashamed, "It's all my fault that I was absent-minded at the time, and I really had to. Later, I found out that it was a tree that Uncle Li cut down while doing carpentry work. I had no other choice, so I thought about pulling Li Master's Six Trees and then I..."

Xu Qinshi's eyes widened, a little puzzled, "Your hands and feet are so fast, could it be that you came here to steal in the middle of the night, Liukeshu?"

Du Dalin shook his head and waved his hands, a little anxious.

Gu Yu was clever, "Father, why don't you just go and see how many trees are missing in your backyard? Anyway, we need to figure it out."

Li Dequan really went, and was a little surprised when he came back.

Gu Yu was a little puzzled, "Father, could it be that more than six trees have been lost?"

Li Dequan shook his head, and in the eyes of everyone, smiled wryly, "It's quite a lot, four more."

Everyone was shocked now.

Xu Qinshi had been teaching Du Dalin there before, and was a little annoyed. Now that they heard that there were a few more trees, they pulled Du Dalin back and went to the backyard to find out. Jing Zhe and An Jinxuan Wang were also together. In the past, they seldom went to the backyard, but seeing those trees next to each other, they didn't know if there were too many.

An Jinxuan looked at it and said, "I didn't have these trees before, but why did he say he stole six trees?"

Everyone turned their attention to Du Dalin. He was even more uncomfortable. He was at a loss and kept waving his hands to admit his mistakes. He moved back a little, holding onto his lapel with his hands and twisting it non-stop.

At this time, Li Dequan was not as serious as before, and Xu Qinshi's complexion also eased, "Oh, you have something to say, we are all reasonable people, but you are so sneaky just now. You are a thief, why did you say you stole six trees?"

Seeing Xu Qinshi smiling slightly, Du Dalin was no longer panicked, and said in a murmur, "I... my family moved to Zhuangzi, then, the house, the house is too dilapidated, so I went to the mountains to drag trees to support it. The time was too urgent, and the new trees couldn’t be dragged, so I dragged them back to use after seeing that they had been dried on the ground. My mother taught me, and I went to the mountains to cut some trees. Last time, Uncle Li went to the back mountain Sometimes I followed, but I didn’t know that Uncle Li didn’t use my trees, so I dragged them to my house.”

After Du Dalin stammered and finished speaking, everyone was sobbing. First, Xu Qinshi's eye sockets were a little wet, "Why don't you make it clear, baby, and I thought you were a thief."

Du Dalin muttered again: "I, I just stole the six trees that Master Li cut down last time."

Li Dequan had no choice but to speak, "This is not considered a thief. Didn't you ask me why I pulled a small tree last time? At that time, I thought that the tree that I cut down was gone, but when I went in next time I found a few more trees, so I didn't pull them back. I didn't know that the child was honest, and he pulled them back by himself. It took a lot of effort to pull the six trees back from the back mountain. Besides, you are an urgent need It’s enough for the family to tell you, look at how you went into the mountain barefoot, and you made so many cuts.”

Gu Yu was also a little surprised, this Du Dalin was really honest, he took the trees that his father cut down in the back mountain, and then went to cut some to pay back, but he didn't know that his father didn't bring them back, but he helped them back. , there are four more trees in the back, plus the one lying in the yard, there are already five trees. Pulling back five trees from the back mountain is a lot of work.Seeing that he was dressed in rags, which was considered clean anyway, I didn't feel so repulsive in my heart, and I felt that his expression was very flustered and I felt sorry for him.

Mrs. Wang also spoke this time, "Da Lin, don't be too polite about this one. Look at the things you brought here. It took a lot of trouble. Besides, the child's father has a lot of strength. You can come to the house and say it. Just now you said to move back to Zhuangzi. What's going on here?"

Du Dalin didn't say anything more, just kept admitting his death, "No, no, my mother said that I want to return six trees, and there is only one tree left. I have already dragged them to my yard, and now I will go back and retrieve them. "

After he finished speaking, he left, Xu Qinshi kept yelling from behind, and chased all the way into the alley. Seeing this, Wang had no choice but to ask Li Dequan to persuade him, since he was from the village, he didn't need to be so polite.Jing Zhe, An Jinxuan and Gu Yu also followed behind to see what happened.

In fact, Du Dalin's yard is not far from the place where Gu Yu and the others live. After leaving the yard, they walked around two alleys and saw Du Dalin walking onto a slightly higher slope.

When everyone went up to the yard, they were a little stunned, Xu Qinshi was the first to arrive, and had already turned his back and wiped his tears there.

Gu Yu was also heartbroken. How could this be a place where people lived? The yard seemed to be a place where no one lived, and it was covered with weeds. It looked like it had been cleaned up, and there were only some stubble and withered grass left. Grass, look at a thatched hut in the yard, in fact it is not a hut at all, I thought there was no wall at all, surrounded by some dilapidated withered grass, fortunately there were a few trees supporting it, it looked a bit like someone else put it on the ground The melon shed.A few smaller wood chips stood around the house, and some new grass fringed the dead grass but still didn't quite cover it.

There is a pot in the yard, and some wild vegetables are placed in a broken bamboo basket next to it, and the pot is steaming at this time.

A woman heard the voice outside, leaned out from the shed, and came out to greet her in a graceful manner, without the embarrassment of being beaten up after living a hard life. She seemed to know Li Dequan when she saw Li Dequan, "Brother Quan, you But it’s getting better and better.”

Li Dequan was taken aback, and suddenly recalled that this woman still had a trace of her original appearance on her face. She was a few years older than him at the time, and she knew her before. She was the daughter of the Wen family. I thought we would meet again at such a time.Seeing her like this, Li Dequan squeezed out an inappropriate sentence: "Well, why did you come back to this place?"

Du Dalin's mother smiled and said, "It's nothing. After Dalin's father had an accident, his uncle happened to come back... We have no other place to go. I thought we'd better go back to Zhuangzi, so we can support ourselves by planting some land." .”

When Du Dalin's mother said these words, An Jinxuan was startled, looked at Du Dalin, and bit his lip.

Xu Qinshi was originally a hearty person, so he came over to grab the woman at this time, "Big sister, it's difficult at home. Seeing that this child is sensible, he will come out after two years. At first, I regarded this child as a child." As for the thief, he doesn't justify it, how can there be such an honest child."

Just as he was talking, he saw an extra girl in the yard, holding a wooden tub with washed clothes in both hands, she looked about the same size as Gu Yu, with big eyes flashing, "Mom, are there any guests at home?"

(End of this chapter)