The Era of Hard Work

The sky was bright, and most of the people went home to rest temporarily, leaving only a few on duty. Lu Dong did not go to the orchard, and entered Lujia Village along the road by the river.

He wanted to visit the old house first.

The village is a typical cement road. It rained a while ago, and some places were stepped on, and the mud covered the ankles.

Taidong Province is a province with a large population, and its economic aggregate ranks among the top in the country year after year. Quannan is the provincial capital and was promoted to a sub-provincial city last year. It is next to Qingzhao County on the east side of Quannan City. In the first place, in many lists of the top 100 counties in the country, it can also be around 80.

Even the university town built by Taidong Province and Quannan City is within the territory of Qingzhao County.

According to normal development, in a few years, Qingzhao County will be changed to Qingzhao District.

But the age and the social environment are here. Even with the economy of Qingzhao County, the hardened roads can only reach the entrances of the villages. Those in the villages are in better condition, and they can subsidize part of it by themselves and build the main road in the village.

Lujia Village has hardened the main road and market street, from the south entrance of the village to the gate of Qingzhaohe New Bridge in the north, and after crossing the bridge is Majia Village.

This is also the official road of Qingzhao County in ancient times.

Lujia Village has a long history, and the family tree of the Lu family can be traced back to the early Ming Dynasty, when it was moved from Hongdong Dahuaishu.

With the development of the times, this official road has long been turned into a rural road, and the once prosperous Lu Family Daji was also submerged in the changing times.

The Lu surname lives in the west of the village. Most of the generation who supported the village like his uncle approved new foundations and went to the south of the village to build new houses. Lujia Street is basically old houses.

Lu Dong walked on the muddy road with one deep foot and one shallow foot, looking at the blue brick houses on the old street. If the embankment burst in the early morning, all these would be turned into ruins in the turbid waves of the ocean.

Coming to the south of the old street, Lu Dong easily found his old house.

Similar to most of the houses in the old street, the old houses are based on strips of stone, the walls are built with green bricks, and the roofs are covered with green tiles.

There are weeds growing on the roof and it falls with the wind.

The paint on the gate was peeling off, the moths were obvious, and there was a clean wooden signboard with red background and yellow letters hanging on the beam of the door - glorious family!

After watching silently for a while, Lu Dong's eyes fell on the big lock that locked the nose of the door, and after a little memory, he picked out a small piece of broken brick on the left wall, took out the key, and opened the door.

Many people in rural areas do this, mainly because the poor have nothing to steal.

Entering the door, the old screen wall with cracks was tied up in several places by thick wires and pulled to the thick Chinese toon tree behind.

Between the branches of the toon tree and the screen wall, wooden sticks as thick as a forearm are tied, and homemade sandbags made of flour bags are hung, with faint patting marks on them.

Lu Dong went over and punched him hard, causing the sandbag to shake.

When the lobby brother Lu Chun retired from the army and transferred to the police station, he taught military boxing a few times. Influenced by movies and TV, the sophomore boy practiced blindly with sandbags.

There has been a lot of trouble these years.

Looking back on the stupid things I did, I panicked with shame.

The old lady went back to the orchard, but was not in the old house. Lu Dong closed the door, went to the water press, poured water into it, and pressed the water hard.

The village has tap water early on, but only in the morning and evening.

Sometimes the power is cut off, and the water will not be released in the evening.

The water level soared, and without much effort, the tin bucket was full.

Lu Dong took off his dirty clothes, threw them into the large cast aluminum basin, picked up the ladle, scooped water to rinse his body.

Streams of yellow muddy water flowed along the green bricks paving the floor.

The injury on the hand has long since stopped hurting, and it is not a big deal for the children raised by the farm.

After cleaning and putting on a pair of slippers, Lu Dong first went to the east room where he lived to get dressed, still wearing a midsummer school uniform and coarse underpants.

The layout inside the house is simple, with two benches and a single bed propped up by three wooden planks, a table and stools painted brown, and a large cabinet bought by my parents when they got married.

It was a large cabinet with double doors, and there was a half-length mirror in the middle. Lu Dong looked at it after he got dressed: the young man is tall and strong, and he looks good, but the middle part is rusty and stupid, like Liu Kuisheng.

It seems that there is also a nickname of Kui Sheng in school.

Turning around to leave, he noticed the young and Dangerous posters on the wall, and Lu Dong tore them all off without hesitation, but he couldn't get rid of the two animation posters.

It was a red robot full of righteousness and a white robot full of evil.

Lu Dong withdrew his hand and turned the poster of Young and Dangerous Boy into waste paper, leaving behind Zhuzi and Brother Tian.

After leaving the east room, Lu Dong threw the waste paper into the trash can made of old paint buckets, and also threw away the ignorance. Then he went into the main room, reached out and grabbed the pull cord, and turned on the electric light.

Yellowish lights filled the whole room, and the layout of the main room was equally simple. There was a black Eight Immortals table between two big chairs, a round table for eating was stuffed under the table, and old horses were piled up against the wall.

On the walls on the east and west sides, there are several calligraphy and paintings hanging, celadon round pots and white porcelain teacups are placed on the high and low cabinets, behind the glass sliding door, there are also a stack of celadon dishes, with a touch of antique flavor.

This is not an old object. The calligraphy and painting were written and painted by Lu Dong's deceased grandfather in the late 1980s. He was a middle school teacher in his early years.

The calligraphy and painting have been hung on the wall for a long time, and the drawing paper and mounting are obviously yellowed.

Porcelain Lu Dong also had an impression. When he was about ten years old, Cheng Lifeng's cousin brought foreign trade ceramics, which were cheap, exquisite and strong. Many people in the nearby village bought them, but they were quickly labeled as speculators. That person later went to the south and was never seen again. seen.

There are no real old objects in this house, maybe there used to be, but all the old things were smashed and burned.

The wall directly above the Eight Immortals table is different from ordinary houses. Instead of hanging in the middle hall, there is a black and white photo frame.

The person in the photo is wearing a large-brimmed hat and staring into the distance with resolute eyes.

Lu Dong knelt down and kowtowed, his eyes gradually became resolute, just like the man in the photo frame.

"I will support this family!" Lu Dong's heart was firmer than ever.

The main room fell into silence, and the simple furniture set off the promise of a man.

Lu Dong turned on the lamp and left the main room, returned to the east room and fell asleep. The exhaustion caused by a night of heavy physical labor made him fall asleep quickly.

He was concerned about the condition of the water, and he didn't sleep for a long time. After Lu Dong got up, the sun was still hanging in the east.

After a brief wash, Lu Dong locked the door, left the village to the north, and went to the river bank.

Going to the orchard along the river bank, the Qingzhao River is still strong. It was dark last night and it was hard to see clearly. Looking around now, the yellow torrent that continuously sends a large piece of water hyacinth downstream is only one meter away from the top of the embankment. rushing underfoot.

On the other side of the river, Majia Village is also guarded, and the pressure there is also not small.

When he came to the place where he fought last night, Li Wenyue sat on the sandbag, staring at the embankment of the river.

"You didn't sleep?" Lu Dong stopped and asked.

Li Wenyue's hair was drooping, and he shook his head habitually. He said helplessly, "I can't carry it with my hands or shoulders. I didn't do anything last night except beat the gong to call people. In this situation in the village, I have to do my part."

The two played together bare-bottomed until they grew up. They were all classmates from the Yuhong class to the third year of high school. When he had something to say, he said, "You've changed your gender."

Lu Dong rolled his eyes: "I have a reliable time, okay!" He quickly changed the subject: "Is there any good news?"

"Grandpa San came here just now, and he said that the higher-ups called and the reservoir will not raise the gate again." Li Wenyue spoke in a low voice: "Maintain the current flow for the time being."

He suddenly smiled: "One more thing. The mayor of Ningxiu Town came from the county seat early in the morning. The car was lying in the water in the bridge hole of the expressway, and all the cars behind were blocked. Uncle Jianshe took people there."

Lu Dong shook his head. The rain and water accumulation in the highway and bridge holes have long been a major problem for normal travel in the rural areas of Qingzhao County.

"I went to the orchard for breakfast, have you eaten?"

Li Wenyue waved his hand: "I've eaten."

Lu Dong went down the river bank and walked towards the orchard. From a long distance, he saw the familiar blue brick and blue tile buildings in the orchard. The houses were not only tall, but there were unknown mythical beasts sitting on the roof.

The beast stared at the ground coldly, inexplicably gloomy.

This is the columbarium of Lujia Village, and the much lower house next to it is the residence of the orchard.

Because of his father, Lu Jianjun, the village took great care of his family, and it was also used as a columbarium. The village did not pay money, but only a small contract fee was charged for the 20-acre orchard.

However, the social and economic environment is here, and more depends on ourselves.

The orchard is planted with Guoguang. In recent years, red Fuji has become very popular, and Guoguang cannot sell it at a high price.

These days, farmers don’t earn much money from farming. Like an orchard, the village contracts it to you at a low price, and it is impossible to pay the public grain on behalf of you.

More than 20 acres of orchards, the public grain alone is a huge cost.

There are many people who grow fruit until they can't pay the public grain.

Lu Dong followed the outer wall made of jujube branches to the gate of the orchard, and saw his old lady Hu Chunlan after entering.

A man in his forties, because of years of hard work, his skin is rough, red and black, and there are some silver strands in his hair.

"Dongzi, come and eat!" Hu Chunlan saw her son.

Lu Dong had thousands of words, but finally they all came together into one word: "Mom..."

Hu Chunlan asked, "What's the matter?"

"Last night, the water was heavy, and I was worried that the embankment would collapse..."

Before Lu Dong finished speaking, Hu Chunlan interrupted: "Say something unlucky." She pointed to the small table in the shade: "Go, I'll serve you food."

Lu Dong didn't go there, and accompanied Hu Chunlan out with dishes and rice bowls.

There are three dishes, scrambled eggs with tomatoes and cucumbers, pig ears mixed with cucumbers, and deep-fried golden cicadas, far exceeding the standard of normal meals at home.

"Mom, you can eat too." Lu Dong greeted his old lady: "In the morning, just cook whatever you want."

Hu Chunlan picked up the chopsticks: "Last night, you worked hard to eat more. Hey, this is good. The village has always been very kind to us, and you have to go up if you have something to do."

She urged Lu Dong: "Try it quickly, I bought the pig's ear from Cheng Lifeng's butcher's shop, and it was newly marinated last night. His family's pork ears are always good."

Lu Dong ate a piece of pig's ear, and the brittle bone gnawed loudly: "I think, your boiled pig's offal is the best."

Speaking of this, Hu Chunlan did her part: "There are a lot of people in Lujia Village who are good at this craft, and our family can count on it. But if it's not a new year or a festival, you can't buy brine."

She pushed the plate of golden cicadas towards Lv Dong: "Try it, you like it, I caught it in the orchard in the past two days. It was hot and rainy, and the cicada monkeys crawled around. It was cool at the door last night. , and another climbed on my shoe."

Lu Dong could see that there were many holes as thick as index fingers on the surrounding ground, most of which were left by cicada monkeys crawling out.

Due to the existence of the columbarium, very few people come here to catch it. The orchard has been around for more than ten years, and there are so many trees. It is not an exaggeration to describe this thing as flooding.

For orchards, cicadas are pests, and they were once on the list of pesticide control.

Hu Chunlan said again: "I saw your uncle, let's go over to have dinner the night after tomorrow, and your brother will come back. Lu Chun has just been transferred to the University City Police Station, and it is rare for him to be off duty...

"Guoguang can't sell at a high price, and the contract expires in winter. The town held a meeting to let the collective orchards of the villages change to red Fuji. Don’t do the contracting, and find another job.”

Listening to his old lady's nagging and eating the food at home, Lu Dong's heart was full of happiness.

When he realized that this was also a kind of happiness, he never heard it again.

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