Globe Trekker

Chapter 40 The Unexpected Knot

Right now is really not a good season for building a house. Since the beginning of summer, there have been showers almost every other day, making the progress of the whole construction very slow, but the work of clearing land, weeding, burning ashes and setting fires continues every day.

It is gratifying that more than [-] young and strong people from the four She villages living in Qipan Mountain in the north and Fenghuang Mountain in the northeast came to help under the leadership of the headman, and not only brought hundreds of good pillars and beams wood, and the craftsmen of the two villages participated in the construction, and the relationship between them is very good.

Now the cottages are discussing with each other how to entrust the newly settled Han Chinese caravans to transport the rice grains, furs, medicinal materials, tea oil and other local specialties in the mountains to Quzhou or Changshan for a good price.

Lei Qi, who first came into contact with Wu Ming, also brought four blacksmiths, a complete set of blacksmiths, iron materials, and more than 500 catties of nails. Surprised.

Looking at the nine big yellow cattle working hard in the field, and the four little calves running around beside the big cattle, everyone, old and young, felt at ease. After several hundred acres of fields were plowed, weeds were removed and water soaked. After soaking, we can still catch up with the planting of late rice, so that there will be a harvest in autumn, and everyone will feel at ease as long as there is food.

The only thing that confuses everyone is that Wu Ming gave up the suggestion of rebuilding the village on the original site, and very stubbornly demanded that all the houses be built under the hill called Longtoubei [-] meters to the west. It is required to keep all the camphor trees, large and small, and to cut down all other trees taller and larger than the camphor tree. All the trees and thorns on the mountain are also required to be eradicated. Time to do it.

Fortunately, after what happened on the first day, no one dared to question Wu Ming's decision. Although the workload of laying the foundation and building a house on the high ground was more than doubled, everyone obeyed.

What surprised everyone was that the design drawings drawn by Wu Ming with simple tools were so concise and beautiful, and the drawings were densely marked with accurate dimensions, and detailed construction requirements were written for each key part of the construction.

Under Wu Ming's tireless command, the craftsmen of the She nationality quickly got over the discomfort of the first few days. Since then, the speed of building houses has become faster and more proficient day by day, with ingenious design and simple and practical planning and layout. It not only stunned the well-informed old man and Mr. Lu, but also attracted the old patriarchs of the She nationality and the heads of various villages to observe, resulting in hundreds of villagers of the She nationality coming to watch the fun every day.

In the blink of an eye, more than 20 days later, the two elderly people, the master Lu Zhengxian and other three families took the lead to live in the spacious and sturdy two-story wooden building. There are fragrant camphor trees facing south, back and north. After some publicity by the old man, everyone knows that it is because of the camphor trees that there are few mosquitoes in this sunny highland, so we can do our best Avoid mosquito bites that spread diseases.

There is also a refreshing new thing. The toilets are built with stone slabs at the side and rear of the adjacent two wooden buildings. It is very convenient and tidy. You only need to wait for all the houses to be built, and the sweet spring will be drawn from the back of the mountain. Water, every household no longer has to carry water every day.

The old and the young were very grateful to Wu Ming, who was knowledgeable, sincere and open-minded. The cured meat sent by the folks of the She ethnic group and the fresh fish that the brothers took time to go to the river net were ready, and the first one was delivered to Wu Ming. The girl didn't know if she liked Wu Ming or if her family was causing trouble. She heard that Wu Ming liked to eat roasted yams, so she dug them up from the mountain every day and baked them deliciously. Wu Ming's mouth was often dark, and he kept farting.

Everyone is very happy, there are new harvests and new hopes every day, but Mr. Lan Yingliang, the old patriarch of the She nationality, and a few heads who hunt and dig medicinal herbs all the year round are not happy. Waiting, waiting patiently until all the seedlings were planted in the [-] mu of paddy fields, and the last wooden building in the new village was successfully capped, and immediately impatiently invited Wu Ming and the three heads of the family to Dazhai as guests.

Only then did Wu Ming suddenly realize that after more than two months, the new calendar is already the end of July.

The old patriarch's main hall laughed loudly, and everyone drank the fine wine brewed by Mrs. Lu Zhengde, all of them blushed and smiled.

Lei Qi, a 38-year-old native of Fenghuang Mountain, was even more presumptuous. He lifted a huge wine bowl from Wu Ming's shoulder and asked them to drink together. People thundered, and even the old patriarch's wrinkled face showed a look of consternation.

Wu Ming didn't understand what was going on, he thought to himself, since you want to drink like this, you can drink it like this, anyway, the two mouths are stuck to the edge of the bowl and they won't touch each other, a bowl of wine is only eight taels at most, and it's okay to drink it all. It's okay, so I finished drinking head to head, cheek to cheek with Lei Qi.

Before Wu Ming could breathe a sigh of relief, there was a sudden roar from the audience, so shocking that Wu Ming almost couldn't spit out. When he looked up, all the leaders present stood up, holding wine bowls, and came to him in unison Congratulations with a smile.

Wu Ming immediately reacted, turned to Lei Qi who was laughing heartily, bent down to pick up half of his bowl of wine, took a step back, bent down slowly, and raised the bowl of wine amidst the laughter of Master Lu and others and all the She people. He held it high above his head, and shouted out respectfully: "Brother, please! It's my luck to get to know you, and to be valued by him!"

Lei Qi was very happy, took the wine bowl with both hands, drank it boldly, put down the bowl and grabbed Wu Ming, and together they came to the smiling patriarch and knelt down on one leg. Kneel down on one leg next to Lei Qi.

The old patriarch was so happy that he stood up from ear to ear, straightened his clothes, stretched out his hands and looked forward, and babbled for more than a minute. The three leaders brought three big bowls of wine and stood aside. Serve the wine immediately.

The old patriarch took the bowl, respected heaven and earth again, took a sip, and handed the bowl to Lei Qi and Wu Ming with kindness on his face:
"From my great-grandfather's generation to my father's three generations of patriarchs, they were not blessed to see the brotherhood between our She people and Han brothers. I am very happy today! Young man, you are a kind and hardworking person, and you are a full-fledged person." An educated person, the hero of our clan, Lei Qi, the best hunter within a hundred miles, has good eyesight and is very smart. Everyone knows that he has been with you like a brother for the past few months, so , I am very happy for your sworn brotherhood, from today onwards, you are from the She ethnic group! If you want, you can find a young woman to be your wife in my village with the four surnames of the She ethnic group."

Everyone cheered, and when Wu Ming followed Lei Qi and bowed to the old patriarch to thank him, the leaders who had been waiting for a long time rushed up, picked up the wine bowls and poured them into the mouths of Lei Qi and Wu Ming. It fell crookedly.

Just as Wu Ming was about to help Lei Qi up, he was held tightly by several heads, so he continued to imitate Lei Qi just now, opened his mouth and drank to death. After drinking the sixth bowl, Wu Ming finally collapsed, so drunk People are unconscious, like mud.

At about five o'clock in the morning of the next day, Wu Ming, who was carried back by four big men, finally woke up. He found a few shadows dangling in front of his eyes in a trance, and he stumbled out of the wooden building without thinking about anything. , The sound was as terrifying as a wounded wolf, which frightened the whole village.

It wasn't until noon that Wu Ming, who had been downed with two bowls of hangover tea, was completely awake. When he stood up, he saw a 17-year-old strong She boy hiding behind Master Lu. He rubbed his eyes and asked with a smile, "Lei Peng, Where's your dad?"

"My dad woke up in the morning and couldn't get out of bed, so he asked me to bring two packs of hangover medicine."

The young man in the sleeveless cloth jacket with embroidered plackets twisted his hands together, very restrained and shy, the protruding muscles on his arms looked very strong, and there was a two-foot-long wooden sheathed straight knife hanging from his waist.

Empress Lu was terrified: "The few of us guarded you all night, always worrying that you will lose your temper, it's scary! You can't drink like this in the future, I will count roughly, and pour ten bowls of wine into your stomach. At least five or six catties, this is all strong shochu, tsk tsk!"

Wu Ming shook his aching head and motioned for Lei Peng to come over: "Did your father ask you to bring a message?"

Lei Peng nodded honestly: "My dad said, let me learn how to be a man and learn skills from Uncle Ming from today on."

Wu Ming suddenly felt dizzy, he let out a long sigh and got off the bed, then turned to Lei Peng: "Then what do you mean?"

Lei Peng lowered his head, wrung his hands together again, hesitated for a moment and replied in a low voice: "I begged my father to agree. I think Uncle Ming is very capable and can do everything. No one of us She people can compare to it. My mother also said , Uncle Ming is a man of great ability, and he will have a bright future following Uncle Ming."

Wu Ming looked helplessly at Master Lu, who nodded slightly while pinching his goatee. Wu Ming immediately knew what was going on in the old fox's stomach, so he turned to Lei Peng and asked, "How do you shoot?"

Lei Peng froze for a moment: "It's not as good as my dad."

Wu Ming was speechless, thinking of the two intact fox furs that Lei Qi had given away some time ago, he raised his legs and walked to the gun cabinet by the wall, took out a polished [-] rifle, pulled the bolt, took a look, and picked up a bullet Put it in, close the bolt and return to Lei Peng: "Show me a shot, if you shoot me well, I will give you this shot."

After Lei Peng's brief astonishment, his eyes were full of joy, he turned around and walked out of the gate with his gun in hand, looked around and asked, "Uncle Ming, where are you going?"

Wu Ming looked up and pointed to the top of the slope more than [-] meters ahead: "See if there is a branch sticking out of the cliff, just hit the branch."

Lei Peng immediately raised his gun, turned slightly sideways and started aiming with a non-standard standing shooting posture. After a few breaths, the gunshot rang out, and a puff of green smoke rose from the middle of the arm-thick tree branch on the cliff, and the lush tail shook violently a few times. Finally, unable to bear the weight of the dense branches and leaves, they cracked slowly, and finally broke completely with a "pop".

Everyone around heard the gunshot and looked over. Master Lu was already stunned, and it took a long time before he turned to Wu Ming, who was equally astonished: "You are a talent!"

Wu Ming grinned and patted Lei Peng on the shoulder happily: "It seems that you are very familiar with this kind of rifle. You must have played with your dad's new gun a lot, right?"

Lei Peng nodded embarrassingly, and his voice was so low that only Wu Ming could hear: "Last month, on the night when the moon was at its fullest, my dad came home with a new gun given by Uncle Ming. He cleaned it every day and taught me how to load it and how to open it. The gun, I just don’t want to give it a try. I really like it. Before dawn, I quietly took the gun and walked up the mountain for a long time. After firing ten bullets, I knew how to use it. When I came back, I fought against yellow sheep and five golden pheasants. And got beaten."

Wu Ming laughed loudly, and almost got angry at the end of the laugh: "I only gave your dad a hundred bullets, and you spent most of them in half a day. No wonder he hit you, he felt so bad, haha! Hahaha..."

(End of this chapter)