i was my mistake

In so many years of operation, there are actually not many foreigners who experience farmhouse fun and stay overnight in the past, and most of them rely on the breeding industry to make money.

——It’s an exaggeration to say it’s “industry”. To be precise, it’s almost the same as raising chickens, ducks and geese in a farm.

That is to say, do everything by yourself, and earn some saved labor costs.

"Can you make money by opening a place to stay there?"

"It doesn't matter if you make money or not." My father took out a pack of red Lion cigarettes from his jacket pocket with one hand, held one in his mouth, put one in his mouth, put the cigarette back, and then He took out the lighter in his hand and lit it - he obviously had the other hand in his pocket, but he just didn't want to use it.

"Huh?" Ye Chen turned to look at his father who took a deep breath of cigarette.

The smog around his body seems to be able to dispel the little moisture remaining in the mountain.

"When I'm older, maybe I just want to do something and can't be idle."

This can explain why the ranch was closed again later. After all, it has been more than ten years, and it was really old at that time, and it was really busy.

Once a person gets old, he gets old very quickly.

Maybe last year I was able to carry water and firewood, and walk up and down the mountain like flying. After one winter, I have to walk with crutches.

After walking through a section of road overgrown with weeds, the front section became bare again, probably because people often walked, so there were no weeds growing on it.

There are also many farmlands on the mountain. Of course, there are still many fruit trees, the most common being orange trees.

Oranges are heavy fruits, but the orange tree looks much thinner, with thin branches and branches, which makes one wonder how the oranges hang on it without breaking the branches.

It's a pity that oranges don't grow this season, otherwise we can really see what the branches full of oranges look like.

"There are people farming on such a steep slope?"

"When the fields are not enough, we have to reclaim everywhere." My father said with nostalgia, "It was a good time when you were born. At that time, we not only had to open up wasteland, but also dig mines. Arrange people to go there, young and strong guys go to mine, some of them got lung disease later..."

"In the past, everyone was equal, right?" Ye Chen suddenly asked, "There is no such thing as a boss or a boss, everyone is the same?"

"Equality? Equality? Equality? Maybe." My father chuckled and patted the cigarette ash on his collar. , That was also what happened when I was a child, and after that, it just got better and better, getting better every day."

"What about after being laid off?"

"It's still getting better." Father took a deep breath. "For our land, sacrifices must be made, so why can't it be us? Workers... at least enjoy life."

"Is that so..." Ye Chen suddenly felt that her ideological realm was not as high as her father's, and she felt a little ashamed.

But Wan Qing sneered from the sidelines, her eyes almost rolled to the sky.

Walking on the mountain road is always not fast, but it is much more convenient than walking to the foot of Jumu Mountain and then going up.

——At least you don't have to climb so many steep slopes.

From a distance, I finally saw the pasture near the top of the mountain.

Some farmland has been reclaimed around the pasture, and some vegetables have been planted scatteredly. Seven or eight cows and more than 20 sheep are grazing leisurely on the hillside, and there are a few roosters who are particularly proud and swaggering around.

Those big shacks should look like sheep pens and cattle pens, and the surrounding houses are also made of wood, with only two floors at the highest level, which makes people wonder if they just cut down the trees on the mountain and used local materials...

Don't look at the harmonious life of a large group of animals here is very beautiful, but when you get closer and smell it, the smell of livestock immediately surges up.

Looking carefully, the hillside is also full of cow dung and sheep dung. An old man with hair like weeds is lowering his head and using clips to collect the animal dung into a plastic bucket in his hand, which seems to be used as fertilizer for farming.

I don't know if my father knew him, but anyway, he went up and greeted him in dialect very familiarly, which sounded like he was introducing himself.

The two smiled and said a few more words before the father turned around and called Ye Chen and Wan Qing: "Come on, you have to call Uncle Grandpa...or Uncle Grandpa, it's too troublesome, forget it, just call Grandpa anyway." gone."

"Ha ha! Ga Jun Qiao Ga Nan (such a beautiful daughter), oh yo."

"Hello, Grandpa." Ye Chen called obediently.

"Well, Grandpa." Wan Qing shouted more casually.

Although the two could understand the dialect of their grandmother's family, they couldn't speak it.

And the older people can't understand Mandarin very well, so my father became the one in charge of translation.

The ones who live on the top of the mountain are the uncle and grandmother, and they usually take care of the whole farm.

Considering that there are so many animals to take care of, but there are only two people in total, it makes people feel admirable.

You must know that in addition to this, they have to clean the room of the hotel, in case someone comes, they can check in directly.

The two old people were very enthusiastic. Even though they were busy with so many things, they still brought them into the living room, helped them boil tea and pour water, and even took out dried fruit snacks for the two girls to eat.

"Your uncle and grandma specifically said to give the two girls some delicious sweets." Father helped translate.

"Thank you grandma!"

"Thank you."

The table is actually a very simple country snack, and because it has been placed for a long time, it looks a little damp, it is really not something that makes people feel very appetizing.

Father chatted with them for a while, seeing that the sky was getting dark and the setting sun was about to end, and the released animals had to go back to the sheds, so he got up to help with the work.

Few people come to the ranch on the top of the mountain on weekdays. The main reason is that there are not many people here, and it all depends on mutual recommendation from relatives and friends.

About three or four real foreigners come to stay a month to experience the rural life here.

Although the two of them are quite old, their hands and feet are very nimble. They quickly prepared everyone's dinner and cleaned up the place where they were going to sleep.

Dinner was an ordinary peasant dish, one of the three vegetarian dishes was pickled vegetables, and the only meat dish was fried chicken nuggets—the chicken was freshly killed in the evening.

These simple meals made the two old people a little embarrassed, but their father praised them again and again, saying that they were delicious.

"Ask you, are you used to eating?" The father who was chatting with them suddenly looked at Ye Chen and Wan Qing.

"Huh? I'm used to it."

"Good."

Hearing what the two said, the two old people suddenly smiled, and it seemed that even the wrinkles on their faces had decreased a lot.

The last sliver of sunset has completely sunk, and the mountaintop far away from the city has fallen into the night, but it is not completely dark, because the starry sky above is very bright, even at night, it can illuminate the outline of the mountainside.

It's a pity that today is not the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar. What hangs in the sky is not a full moon, but a half-less moon.

It neither has a hook-like arc like a crescent moon, nor is it full like a half moon.

Although it is only half of it, the clear moonlight shining on the earth can still dispel a lot of darkness.

The place for washing and sleeping is not in the same place. The two old people strongly recommended the three of them to take a bath in the bathhouse. They thought it was some kind of strange thing like hot springs, but they didn’t expect that there was a very advanced solar energy installed there. water heater.

Today's sun is very good, and the water is very hot.

——Although it is a bath, it is really rare to have such a comfortable and convenient bathroom to take a bath in the countryside of this era.

You must know that in today's cities, water heaters have not yet entered thousands of households, so that many people have to go to public bathrooms to take a bath in winter.

You know, this is the south.

It is said to be a bathhouse, but it is actually a small bathroom, which does not distinguish between men and women, and the main reason is that it is not necessary.

"Should I wash first or you first?"

"Father, let's wash first, you wash quickly, we still have to wash our hair." Wan Qing stood at the door of the bathroom and said with slightly sideways eyes.

"Well, Dad, let's wash it first..." Ye Chen looked up at the night sky with so many stars, as if he was already intoxicated in it.

"Okay, then I'll wash it first." The father's voice gradually faded away, and the entire pasture on the top of the mountain seemed to become silent all of a sudden.

……

45. Log cabin

Just at the edge of the pasture, on a slightly higher hillside, there is a two-storey cabin that looks like it was built entirely of logs. There are a few vigorous cedar trees behind it. I don’t know where the owls are coming. cry.

The log cabin is cylindrical, and when viewed in the dark, it gives people the illusion that a big tree was hollowed out and a log cabin was built.

After pulling open the wooden door that also had a slight curvature, my father groped around the dark wall for a long time, and finally found the simple switch.

To be precise, it was a drawstring.

Even in the city, such a switch can be seen everywhere, let alone in the country - it is far from being eliminated.

Easy to install, simple to repair and most importantly, very low cost.

There is only one incandescent lamp with orange light hanging in the whole room. It is directly suspended by a wire and shakes slightly in the wind, so that the light in the room also changes from day to day.

In addition, there are no other electrical appliances in the room, not even a switch socket.

If someone needs to charge their phone, there is nowhere to find it.

When Wan Qing thought about it, she suddenly froze for a moment.

——Perhaps, few people have mobile phones in this era. Even if it is a much cheaper pager, the penetration rate is actually not very high.

For most ordinary people, it seems that there is really an electric light.

On the right side of the door is a circle of stairs that stick to the wall and turn up with an arc.

The furniture throughout the house is made of wood, including of course the stairs.

There is a small bed against the wall, which is just right for an adult man, but it might be a bit crowded for two.

In addition, there is a small wardrobe and a wooden table that looks very thick.

As I was watching, there was a sound of 'rustling' footsteps behind me. Looking back, it was the uncle standing at the door holding two green thermos bottles.

"Come on, pinch Xuya (hot water)."

The father, who was throwing his backpack on the table, turned around and walked to the door, chatting with grandpa again.

It's nothing more than asking if it's suitable, if you feel uncomfortable to live in, and so on.

Wan Qing didn't bother to participate in this kind of small talk, so she went upstairs on her own.

The layout of the upstairs and downstairs is the same, but because there are no stairs blocking it, it looks more open.

"Why don't you turn on the light." Ye Chen, who followed upstairs, tugged on the pull rope and turned on the incandescent lamp upstairs.

"You just drive it." Wan Qing lazily replied, threw her schoolbag on the bed, and walked to the wooden table on her own.

The wooden table is also placed against the wall, and there is a double-glazed window at the upper position, but it is night at this time, and there is nothing outside at all from the inside - all that comes into view is a piece of wood that looks like The darkness that sucks the soul away.

"Yo, there's a kerosene lamp here." Suddenly, Wan Qing's eyes lit up, and she lowered her head to pick up the copper-colored kerosene lamp. However, the body of the lamp seemed to be made of aluminum instead of copper. Take a closer look, the paint on it is brand new, this thing may have just come off the factory assembly line a few months ago...

In 97, such things as kerosene lamps were actually rare in the south.

Especially in this kind of rural area that is not particularly poor.

Every household uses electric lights, which have been eliminated for many years.

Even if there is an occasional emergency, there are usually candles instead of oil lamps.

However, such a quaint kerosene lamp is placed here, which really adds a special sense of age to this simple log cabin.

There was a box of matches and a bottle of lamp oil next to the lamp, but it seemed that I didn't need to add it myself, because there was still half a bottle of oil in the lamp.

"I remember when I was five or six years old, I used this thing at home? I just don't seem to be as strong as this one." Ye Chen came over curiously. Like Wan Qing, she had a kind of nostalgia for these old things. Emotions.

It's just that the "old things" that she usually sees are all daily necessities for her ordinary life, so she doesn't feel much.

The kerosene lamp is different, even for her, it is an old object that was only used a few times when she was a child.

"It should be unscrewed here." Wan Qing carefully looked around twice and judged, "Then light the wick."

"Don't break it." Ye Chen was a little nervous.

"Tsk, how could I break such a simple object?" Wan Qing squinted at her, slowly removed the cover, struck a match with a 'swish', and quickly lit the white wick.

Then put the lid back on, and watched the faint light of the fire flickering gently in the oil lamp.

Even a not-so-advanced incandescent lamp is much, much brighter than it.

But in the era when electric circuits did not even enter thousands of households, such a small kerosene lamp was still a reassuring warmth in the dark night of the country—even if it only illuminated a small circle next to the table , even if it cannot dispel more darkness.

"Is this kerosene lamp placed as a decoration? I can't tell that grandpa is quite romantic."

"Idiot, it's probably for emergency use." Wan Qing rolled her eyes, "Although there are wires coming from the mountain, but in any disaster weather, the power may be cut off all of a sudden, and the flashlight may run out of power. But for kerosene lamps, as long as there is kerosene and matches, the lamp can be lit, so it won’t be completely dark at least.”

"Hey, is that so?"

"It must be so. The old man's household items are all for practical considerations. The reason why he doesn't use candles is probably because he thinks this thing looks more advanced-to him."

In fact, during the period of the Republic of China, electric lights had already begun to enter thousands of households.

But this land is so vast that these more advanced portable kerosene lamps were not used in many places until the 60s and [-]s.