My 1995 Small Farm

   Chapter 125 Father's Relic

  The old house, the courtyard walls are all finished. The rest is nothing more than to clean up the broken bricks and rotten tiles, and keep the good ones that can be used. The decayed beams and window lattices are used as firewood to burn. , Raising the yard, after laying the foundation, it is just right to use it to repair the dam.

   In the end, there are so many people and great strength, a large group of people are working hard, and the backyard is almost cleaned up in a short time.

   "Susu, come out quickly, I have dug up the old Chen family's heirloom, come out and see what treasures are there."

  Wang Xiuhua shouted loudly with her female squad leader's loud voice.

   attracted everyone in the front yard to rush out.

   "Heirloom? What heirloom, let me see."

   "What?"

   "Isn't this just a grain bag, or a few strings of money on the beam? I thought it was something rare."

   "It's not this, it's the jar. The jar is old and heavy, and there must be something good in it."

   Outside the courtyard, Wang Xiuhua was holding a dirty black jar, and Chen Jiang's daughter-in-law next to her was holding a faded red cloth bag.

  Red cloth bag Everyone knows that it is either a grain bag or a beam of money.

  The older generation is particular about building houses.

  The whole grains packed in grain bags can be placed on the beams to ward off evil spirits.

Or drill holes on the girders and stuff them with copper coins, silver dollars, etc. Most of the copper coins have special characters, such as "Shunzhi" and "Taiping", which are auspicious and convenient for future generations to use when they are in trouble. This is the On the beam money.

   I heard that rich people would also hide gold inside, which is called hiding gold on the beam.

   But Chen Ling's family definitely has no gold.

   He didn't believe it himself. He shook his head to everyone and said, "My family's three generations of poor peasants are not landlords, so what good things can I have?"

   "What happened to the poor peasants? The poor peasants have no treasures? That's not necessarily true."

   A woman whispered.

  Chen Ling's family is a poor peasant, yes, his educated youth is not. Who knows if there are any valuable treasures left.

   "Open it, Susu, open it and take a look."

   At this time, Wang Xiuhua had already handed the jar to Wang Susu to open it.

   The others followed suit.

  Wang Susu glanced at Chen Ling, and in the eyes of everyone, he carefully opened the jar, and when he looked inside, it was a dark iron lock, tied with a thick chain, which had already rusted.

   "What's this? Isn't it a longevity lock?"

   "It should be, there are words on it."

  Wang Susu took out the iron lock, and when people saw it, it was engraved with the eight characters of the birthday, and the three more prominent characters were the words 'Chen Juncai'.

   "I know, this is Uncle Juncai's longevity lock."

   "You should put away your wealth."

   "Either bury it again, or bring it to Uncle Juncai's grave this year."

  Chen Ling took it in his hand and looked at it. It was indeed his Lao Tzu's longevity lock, nodded, and silently put the iron lock into the jar and sealed it again.

   "Fugui, will Aunt Junying come to visit Uncle Juncai's grave this year?"

   "I don't know, I guess I can't come, the road is too far."

   "That's right, my mother also said that I dreamed of Aunt Junying in a dream a few days ago. The two of them were good friends back then. The team sent people to Jinmen Village to borrow livestock, and they both went together."

   "It's just that we are far away now, and it's not easy to see each other."

   "Who said no, it's better for a girl to marry closer, or it would be difficult to go back to her parents' house."

  When talking about Chen Ling's father Chen Juncai in the village, he will never forget to mention his aunt Chen Junying.

  No way, without Chen Junying, there would be no Chen Juncai.

At that time, because Chen Ling's grandmother couldn't support the child, she either suffered frequent miscarriages or died at the age of one or two. Later, she asked the goddess to see it and said that she had committed a fetal evil, so she had to adopt a female doll, Dusha. Fetal evil will become a fetal god, in order to give birth to healthy children.

   It was not difficult to adopt a female doll in those days.

   Furthermore, Chen Ling's grandparents had the intention of adopting a baby from someone else's family, so they didn't have much effort to carry one back from Kuliu County next door.

   But amazingly, within two years, Chen Ling's grandmother actually gave birth to a healthy boy.

  The matter was spread all over the place back then.

   has been talked about for many years, and there are still many elderly people telling stories.

   But although this thing is a bit legendary, after the two siblings got married, Chen Ling's father and his eldest sister did not have a very good relationship. Outsiders said that it was Chen Ling's mother who made trouble.

  Rural people mostly blame their sister-in-law for not being virtuous when they don’t go back to their parents’ home when they meet their daughter.

In fact, the aunt's heart is not bad, but she is honest and has no opinion. After marrying a husband who loves to take advantage of small things and has a small temperament, she listens to her husband in everything. Take some things back, Chen Ling's old lady is not a good stubble, how can she agree to it, and it will naturally be a lot of contradictions after a long time.

  There is less and less communication.

   In recent years, Chen Ling got married, and Chen Ling's father passed away twice.

   At other times, unless it is time to give up some money, it will definitely not come easily.

   As for now, his father has passed away, and this aunt's impression of Chen Ling is still the dead look of the dead before, I'm afraid she can't avoid it.

   is equivalent to a complete disconnection.

  For Chen Ling, it is the same whether there is this aunt or not, but when outsiders talk about his father, they always like to mention him.

   Especially "Jun Ying is a handsome talent, a handsome talent without Jun Ying" is a phrase that people in the village love to repeat when they talk about his father.

   He doesn't care either.

  …

   "The beams have been lifted out, so don't rush to clean up the rest, everyone, take a rest first, drink some water to cool off."

  Chen Ling put the jar into the house and greeted.

   At this time, Wang Susu had already filled several tables in the courtyard with herbal tea, and even washed the grapes and peaches in the courtyard and put them out for everyone to eat while enjoying the cold.

   "This guy, come to work in a rich family, the treatment is good."

   "That's not it, there is food and drink, and there is enough meat, how comfortable."

   "Have a good rest later, Fugui, you and I go outside the village and pick a few beams."

   "Choosing the big beams? I've already seen them in the morning. The ones outside the village are not very good. I'm going to go to the city tomorrow to pick a few. I happen to know someone."

Chen Ling shook his head. The beams and logs placed outside the village were all pulled from the lumber factory and allowed the villagers to use them freely. This led to every household wanting to choose the best ones. For half a month, you picked and I picked them. The rest are less than satisfying.

   It might be better to go to the cave to pick up some good wood. For him, it doesn't take much effort to chop down trees. After being processed by the cave, it can be used directly.

  When the wood used for beams and columns is generally air-dried or dried in the shade, it is easy to crack if exposed to the sun. It is often used for coverings such as straw mats, but it must be ventilated frequently, otherwise some wood will become moldy.

  Chen Ling has a cave in his body, so these are not problems.

   "Alright, can someone come with you tomorrow?"

   "No, I'll do it alone. I just have to get up early, so I can't make breakfast for everyone."

   "Hahaha, you are too sincere, do you really want to take care of us three meals a day? It's like eating a big pot of rice."

"What I'm talking about is that the government now provides materials for building houses, which is no worse than when the production team was still there. At that time, the team provided free homesteads and adobe farmland to those who approved the construction of houses. The pine trees used for the rafters and doors and windows were also cut down casually.”

   "The labor involved in building the house was assigned by the production team and credited with work points. At that time, the owner of the house really had to manage three meals a day."

   "But it was a tough time back then. It's not like this now. After the disaster, the materials were pulled out of the village and used as needed."

"In those days we didn't produce lime here, and the lime sold in Huangni Town was of poor quality and expensive. We had to go to the Wangbacheng kiln, which is 40 miles away, to carry it back with a burden. There are high quality and low prices, but the mountain road is difficult to walk. , there is only the sheep intestines trail, and we have to go over mountains and mountains."

"I hurried over after dinner at night, and the next morning, everyone picked up a hundred kilograms of lime, and the soles of their feet were ground with blood blisters. A family of four or five people had to run for more than half a time to build a house. Months, dozens of back and forth, can exhaust people to death."

"Don't tell me, people at that time sold their energy to build a new house. No one was afraid of encountering wolves on the mountain road at night, and they didn't climb up if there were trees next to them. poor."

   "Brother Dazhi, do you dare to fight the wolf now?"

   "I can't do it now, I've lost the courage long ago, and people are getting older, so it's good not to tremble when they see the wolf's legs."

  The crowd sat in the shade, drinking herbal tea, eating grapes, peaches, and chatting.

   When he had enough rest, he patted his buttocks and followed Chen Dazhi to the outside of the hospital after shouting.

   "It's half past four, so hurry up and finish picking the soil. Raise the yard before dark, and you can lay the foundation tomorrow."

   "Li Xian, tomorrow the rich and noble will go to the county town to pick beams and trees. We will divide it into two groups, one to lift the rammer, and the other to use the rammer, so it will work faster."

   "Well, it's fine."

   "Brother Xian, if it's all right, then I'll use a tamping machine. I haven't used a machine before, hehe."

   "Shit, I haven't used it before, why don't you let me use it."

   "Oh, if you want to use it, just use it in turns. It's not enough to press it a few more times. It's like a baby, and I'm in a hurry. I'm not afraid of working hard."

   "I don't believe it. I think you just want to be lazy. You eat too much grapes just now, and stuff them into your mouth without spitting up the skins."

   "Hey, you **** Yu Qiang, you will find fault with me, do you want to fight?"

   "Uncle Dazhi, look, Shuiwazi said that he will beat me, and he wants to bully people based on his seniority."

   "You know I'm old, why don't you give me the rammer?"

   "It's alright, let's hurry up and work. You two are not ashamed. The kids at home are watching, and you're robbing a rammer, and you're not afraid of letting the kids see jokes."

After Chen Dazhi said this, Chen Yuqiang and Chen Ze found a group of dolls holding popsicles and squatting under the tree next to them, laughing and watching. No matter what popsicles I eat, I am not afraid of stomach pain, so I turned my head and carried the burden and left.

   made everyone laugh.

   As for Chen Ling, he was left at home and started to prepare dinner.

   Pick soil, pull bricks, pad the yard, and lay the foundation.

   There is no shortage of meat for two meals a day, and everyone is willing to work hard.

  In this way, after five days of busy and bustling days, the foundation was laid, the courtyard dam was repaired, and the house was built.

   Only the beams were left, and the roof was not repaired.

  Because the third day of the eighth lunar month is not an auspicious day, it is not suitable to break ground, move in, build, and dismantle.

  On the fourth day of the eighth lunar month, the beams were repaired, scraped and cut, polished and smoothed. On the fifth day of the first lunar month, the beams were installed. On the third day of the lunar new year, Chen Ling let people rest at home.

   But no one really takes a break from work.

  Now the buds in the fields are not high enough, and the mother-in-law can take care of them at home. The men continue to help him pull some tiles or cut some reeds, all of which are used to build the roof.

   "Come on here, there's a car coming from Uncle Fugui's house and they're giving out popsicles."

   "What car, why didn't I see it?"

   "It's a brand-new car, with a body, and it looks good. I pulled a load of things, all delicious, and gave them popsicles."

   "My mother ran over to grab it long ago, and I'm going too, so I won't tell you."

   (end of this chapter)