Chapter 23 Section 23

There are also people who don't knock on pots and pots; maybe they don't believe in gods so much, maybe they are used to the unexpected plunder of life.They probably believe that as long as they work hard, they can get God's help at any time.The strongest men in the village stood on the bank of the river, holding forks, rakes, and long sickles, shouting and shouting to catch river firewood. Shuan'er was forty years old, not tall, but very strong, with broad hips and a round waist, and the muscles on his calves bulged like a lantern.You can't help but think, how can he extract such a muscle from the food mixed with bran?Just think about a cow, how much strength a cow can extract from hay like firewood.Shuan'er stood on the river bank with a long scythe in his hand, staring at the crest of the waves upstream.He was counting on getting a log.He can't look down on that velvet firewood, what more firewood is there for heading the ball?A log can be exchanged for several buckets of wheat!Two logs had already drifted away from the opposite bank, and several strong men stared at them, cursing their father and mother, like a group of unlucky robbers.Standing beside Shuan'er were two other men, each carrying a long sickle, and the three agreed that they would get the log and share it equally among the three families.Shuan'er was really reluctant to partner with others.But if you want to get a big log, at least three people are needed. The log is like a wild beast jumping up from the upstream, and the three sickles have to chop up one end, one waist, and one tail at the same time.If you can't do it alone, the log will drag you into the torrent.It is said that Shuan'er was dragged past once, and that time he stopped a big log with a scythe that cut it deeply. Running forward, everyone told him to let go and embrace a thick piece of duli wood!He couldn't bear it, and he couldn't just lose a sickle like this.The log dragged him into the middle of the river, he let go of the sickle, clung to the log, and just let the waves wrap and beat him, drifting for dozens of miles, did not die, and did not let go of the log, Qingping River made a sharp turn He threw the man and the wood ashore, but his whole body was drenched in blood by the gravel and branches in the water.You can only do that once.I was young at that time, and I didn't have any mothers-in-law or aunts to worry about.

Shuan'er's strength is the best in the village.Shuan'er has the second largest appetite in Sichuan.It is said that there is a person in Jiajiaping in Shangchuan who is even more delicious. He has eaten more than 20 white buns and a dustpan oil dumpling in one meal.One year on August 15th, the man cut eight catties of meat and cooked it in a pot. The mother-in-law fished out a piece and cut it into pieces, and the man ate a piece. Girls, save some." When the mother-in-law went to fish again, she left a pot of soup behind.When suffering in the mountains, fellow villagers always love to tell this story, and they tell it in a precise manner, with appropriate tone and expression.The amount of meat alone is often controversial. "It's more than eight catties, it's more than eight catties, and I keep eating!" "I'm afraid it's ten catties!" "Hey——, twelve catties is enough! Don't believe me?!"

People who say twelve catties have red faces, thick necks, and swollen veins, as if they have been wronged for many years.In fact, no one is suppressing him, and everyone is willing to trust him, just like they are willing to trust that God has eyes.Said Twelve Pounds slowly calmed down, and lit a cigarette in meditation.Everyone also reminisces or imagines quietly, and the atmosphere becomes unusually harmonious.I have heard this story told no less than ten times, and the amount of meat was as high as sixteen catties. Only the plot of "put it in the pot and cook it, the mother-in-law fished it out and cut it up, and the man ate a piece" remained the same, and the story told Sometimes the tone is as gentle as tender willows.I gradually realized that it was a beautiful legend, if it was hungry for a long time, it would be passed on for a long time, and eventually, like the Stove Lord, Cheng Long Lord, and Marshal Zhao Gong, another fairy was born, in charge of the affairs of eating meat in the world, and protecting all living beings from eating meat. meat rights.

Shuan'er was the first sufferer in the village.Others carry two loads of dung, but he only needs one, and he carries the two loads of dung up the mountain, and the rest of the time can be used to reorganize his own land and tinker with his small blacksmith stove.He has a blacksmith's furniture and a blacksmith's craft, which can beat all farm implements except tractors.He is not a bad carpenter, and his skills are certainly not as good as that of Baosheng, who is a professional carpenter.But if it’s broken wood and columns to support beams, people would rather hire Shuan’er.Baosheng specializes in joinery and is old.But at that time, it was socialism only to go to the mountains to suffer, and it was better to go directly to the county jail than to be a blacksmith to pick up jobs.There are blacksmith shops in the county and the commune, but there is no wood processing factory, so Baosheng is allowed to go out to earn a living, but all the daily income must be handed over to the team, and the team will give Baosheng ten minutes of work.Even so, Shuan'er was still envious of Baosheng, who ate three meals a day on his employer's head, saving his own food.In Shuan'er's eyes, there is no happier person in the world than Baosheng.There are also those craftsmen who have come down from Yulin and Suide, and they can see money for their hard work, and the money cannot be washed away without dying.Probably Yulin and Suide have other policies, and our place is not poor enough.One winter, Shuan'er got up in the middle of the night, braved the heavy snow, and secretly left Qingping Bay with a blacksmith.The mother-in-law only told people that he was visiting relatives.There was a drought that year, and every family hoarded their goods to the bottom, and seeing that all of Shuan'er's blacksmith furniture disappeared, who couldn't figure out what he was doing?Shuan'er went out for a whole winter, and when he came back, a thick rope was waiting for him, and he was invited to the county prison.In those years, people gradually did not regard sitting in prison as a terrible thing.Prisoners can also be described as "public sons", and they have food to eat regardless of disaster, but people outside the prison will inevitably eat chaff and starve.The country people don't care what files are not, and they can't think of any good things that will be affected by files in the future.Shuan'er was kept in prison for a few months, and when he was released fat and fat, everyone in the village said, "Hey, it's done!"

Translated into Beijing dialect, it means "earning" or "not losing".It's just a loss to the people in the kiln.Aunt Shuan'er was hoeing peas in the field with a big belly. When she heard that the man had come back, she hurried back and saw Shuan'er sitting down in front of the kiln with tears in her eyes.That night she gave birth to a fourth son for Shuan'er. Shuan'er didn't contribute much after suffering in the team.It was only when fishing for firewood, for example, that he tensed all his muscles again.