Dong Qiangqiang's Story of Leaving Germany

Chapter 827 827. Labor Day
There is fire and firewood, and it is not difficult for Dong Qiangqiang to make a fire.He still remembers that in the winter when he was a child, a few friends would go to the construction site in the courtyard to play with sand when they had nothing to do, and when they were tired from playing, they would bake potatoes and sweet potatoes together.Unexpectedly, more than ten years later, this skill can still come in handy in a foreign land.

He pricked all the potatoes with a fork a few times, making several holes.The holes help create an even baking environment and help the potatoes release internal steam as they bake.When he was young, he experienced the horror scene of potatoes exploding in the fire, and he still has lingering fears.After finishing these, I spread a thin layer of butter on the potato skins, and then built a cone-shaped fire with more than a dozen branches of different thicknesses. On the support, so that after the branches burn, the potatoes will naturally fall into the coals below.

Then he found a lighter and a few stacks of crumpled newspapers, twigs, dry leaves and hay as firelighters, spread the firelighters other than newspapers evenly on the bottom of the fire, lit the newspapers, and then put all the firelighters They ignited one after another.When the fire of the kindling was burning vigorously, he quickly covered the place where the flame burned most vigorously with medium-thick branches mixed with hay, and at the same time gently blew at the bottom of the flame to ensure a continuous supply of oxygen.After tinkering with it repeatedly for about 10 minutes, the flame gradually stabilized.At this time, he was not in a hurry to throw all the chestnuts into the fire, but spread more dry leaves and branches around the existing fire to ensure that the flame would continue to expand. After a while, put the chestnuts into the fire.

Although there was "chopping firewood" on the task list, the old lady didn't ask Dong Qiangqiang to go to the woods to pick up wood and split it. Instead, she just split the ready-made cylindrical wood block bought from the supermarket under the mountain into two halves.

Dong Qiangqiang was puzzled when he saw the cylindrical wooden block: why didn't the Germans just cut the wooden block in half?Need to chop manually.Isn't it superfluous to take off your pants and fart?

But if you don't understand it, you don't understand it, and the work has to continue.

Unexpectedly, this looks simple, but it is not easy to do what seems to be easily done with hard work.Sometimes he clearly aimed well, but when the ax fell, the wooden block flew directly, and even missed him a few times when it bounced off.Sometimes although it can be split, it is not exactly split in two, but a corner of the block is cut off, and it has to be straightened again, and it has to be done again.He didn't realize that his hands were burning until all the wooden blocks turned into well-proportioned wooden strips. He took off his gloves and saw that his hands were covered with blisters.

Dong Qiangqiang appeared in the courtyard longer and longer, and "Radar" showed less and less hostility.It followed Dong Qiangqiang back and forth with great interest, watching him tidy up the fence, clean the drain and clean the pond. On the way, it chased the big geese for a while, and went to play and roll on the lawn for a while.When Dong Qiangqiang started chopping firewood, it came over with a smile on its face.Dong Qiangqiang understood, picked up a short branch from the ground and threw it over the fence vigorously, it rushed out like an arrow, brought the branch back to his feet, and then shook its head and tail to signal him to throw it again.With the company of dogs, Dong Qiangqiang doesn't feel that labor is very boring.

The old lady asked him to put all the split wooden sticks into a wooden house, so that the wooden sticks could evaporate most of the moisture contained in them, so that they could burn more fully in the future.

Looking at the wooden slats that almost filled the room, Dong Qiangqiang realized why the Germans didn't directly process the wood into the final firewood, just like cracking melon seeds.

Although it was hard work that took up a considerable amount of his time, he found that spending the day outdoors in order to complete the task also brought him a lot of simple pleasure and satisfaction.This satisfaction seems to go back to the most primitive human instinct to do the work of gathering and storing resources when the weather is warm and pleasant, so that when the winter chill sets in, everything will be ready.In fact, he has begun to unconsciously look forward to the cold winter nights as soon as possible, so that he can sit by the fire and enjoy the warmth of the fire while enjoying a meal, and a real fire must make him feel more relaxed and satisfied .

From time to time, as he chops wood, he can hear the crackling of burning branches and see sparks bursting into the air like fireworks.There was also a mixture of toast and espresso in the air.

After chopping firewood, he checked his barbecue works immediately, and all the potatoes fell into the fire as he expected.He turned the potatoes one by one with iron tongs to ensure that they were roasted as evenly and thoroughly as possible, added new firewood, and then cracked the shells of the chestnuts that had been waiting for a long time and threw them into the fire one by one.

There is also a large vegetable field near the eaves, but just like the pond, the old lady did not entrust Dong Qiangqiang with the task of cleaning the vegetable field.

Tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, scallions, beans, and beet-like tuber crops with more than half of their bodies exposed on the ground are all in one place. The red and green colors are pleasing to the eye. Although he does not need to pick them, it also brings him a heavy joy of harvest.

I don't know if the old lady did it on purpose, the thorns spread out beside the vegetable field, dangling disturbingly.When he passed by, he would get caught on his clothes if he didn't pay attention.But they also create a barrier to keep unproportioned chickens and ducks out of the vegetable patch, preventing them from destroying the fruit.

Just as Dong Qiangqiang was sweating profusely, the sun climbed over his head little by little.He finally ushered in the last task on the task list: cleaning the lawn.

Parked in the tool room was a quaint walk-behind lawn mower. After Dong Qiangqiang started playing with it, he realized that it was a moody "classic car".

I say moody because the mower often wobbles from side to side during mowing, looks shaky, as if it might fall apart at any moment, or strikes from an overheated engine and refuses to restart when it doesn't get enough rest, much like an elderly man with a haircut. temper.

Because it burns diesel oil, the motor feels a strong vibration when it is running. Even Dong Qiangqiang, who is tall and burly, has to move forward slowly with the help of the lawn mower. Even so, his arm is still sore and numb from the vibration of the machine.

Sweat seeped into his skin, his back creaked, and the lawn mower shook wildly.

The capacity of the grass collection bag at the rear of the mower is not large, and the accumulated waste grass will fall from the half-open bag after walking for 5 minutes.Usually at this time, his arm would tremble like a Parkinson's patient. He could only stop, wait for his arm to recover, and pour the grass in the grass bag into the cart, and then stack the grass in the cart according to the old lady's request. Fertilize under the apple trees and under the trees in the grove beyond the fence.

Although the lawn mower is much more convenient than pulling it by hand, there will still be places in the yard that the lawn mower cannot cut (such as raised tree roots), and then people need to use it.

However, his hands had already blistered when he was chopping firewood just now, so he must put on his gloves again, bent down, and cleaned up the weeds in the yard like an old scalper.

When the weeds were finally cleared up, all the items on the old lady's task list were completed.

Looking at the courtyard that has become more dynamic through his own efforts, he suddenly realized that it is not only the result of labor that provides fun, sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, but also the process that must be experienced in order to achieve the result.

The palm of his hand was more burning than when he was chopping wood. He carefully took off the gloves, only to find that the red and white blisters had burst like deflated leather balls, and the white skin soaked in pus was dry and weakly attached to the palm, as if Laughing at his thin skin and tender flesh and poor workmanship.

Labor kisses me painfully, and I should repay it with a song.

He wanted to sing loudly, drink a big bowl of wine, and call everyone he knew.

The mixed aroma of roasted potatoes and chestnuts filled the courtyard. In order to ensure that the potatoes and chestnuts were roasted even more rottenly, he decided to let them simmer in the charcoal fire for a while longer.Taking advantage of this time, he threw himself into the embrace of the apple tree, crossed his arms behind his head, stared at the sky in a daze, and let his thoughts spread freely.

The sun was just right at noon, and the temperature was neither cold nor hot. The fluffy clouds moved quickly, and they floated from above the woods to above the apple trees in the blink of an eye. His face suddenly felt cool.

Before the labor, he thought that it would take less than three hours to finish everything. No one expected that it would be almost noon. After coming to Germany... Oh, no, it should be said that he has never done such intensive labor in a short period of time in his life. , completely different from the one who caught wild boars before.

He knew in his heart that even if the old lady allowed him to cook, he would not have the strength to cook after such a workload.He felt a little fortunate that he had cleared the barbecue area early in the morning. Fortunately, the old lady still had potatoes, and he also picked up chestnuts. He reminded himself to prepare the sausages and steaks next time, and then he would be like that on the roof. The former banker thanked his fellow inmates for a cold beer.

He reminded himself that the existing lawn mower is not very powerful, and he should find a time next week to throw the lawn mower into the pickup truck, take it directly to the garage to ask if it can be repaired, and then go to the supermarket to get the same capacity of the card slot Larger grass bag, so as not to affect his working efficiency in the future.

But having said that, although the lawn mower is not working well, the yard is not overgrown with weeds and messy. You can imagine how much hard work and effort the old lady put in to manage the lawn (he didn't expect that the old lady might outsource the lawn mowing up).

Another point is also very important. Although this job earns money, there is less time to study on weekends. His experience is that reading still requires a whole block of time. Maybe he should try to communicate with the old lady: If every time you clean up the contents of the yard No change, can it be changed to do part of it every day?In this way, he can effectively use his time every day without taking up weekends (I am afraid that there will be other things such as exams and group leadership in the future), and he can also avoid being too tired once, but I don’t know if the old lady agrees.

Just as he was thinking wildly, the clouds above his head that blocked the sun were blown away by the wind, and his face was once again bathed in sunlight.He felt warm on his face and lazy all over. In less than ten seconds, he fell asleep.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw "Radar" licking his hand with his head down. When he woke up, he threw a short branch to his hand, stared at his face expectantly, and looked up again. distance.

Dong Qiangqiang stood up holding the trunk, raised his hand, and the branch was thrown out with the sound of the wind. "Radar" barked and jumped out of the fence.

The hunger from the heart to the back urged him to come to the barbecue grill in three steps and two steps, and pulled out the roasted potatoes and chestnuts from the charcoal fire that were still warm, and they should be cooked after roasting for so long .

He fetched a tray, knife and fork and various seasonings from the kitchen, put all the potatoes and chestnuts on the plate, leaned happily against the apple tree, carefully operated the knife and fork to peel off the charred black skin of the largest potato, and The golden potatoes are divided into several pieces, sprinkled with a little salt, black pepper and green onions, and topped with tomato sauce and salad dressing. The aroma is stronger than before, and the mouth is soft, just like the classic advertisement said: It just melts in the mouth.

When he was about to finish eating the second potato, a flash of inspiration suddenly appeared in his mind: If he can barbecue outdoors, can he cook vegetables in the yard?In this way, there is no smell of oily smoke in the kitchen, corridors and bedrooms. It is good to go back to the house to wash the dishes and chopsticks after eating outside. If the old lady agrees with him to do this, at least spring, summer, autumn and winter will be no problem. It is colder in winter, but he There is no need to light a fire to cook. There are induction cookers sold in the electric appliance supermarket, and you can cook with electricity by pulling a wiring board.And also consider transitioning from the grill to your own balcony.

The more he thought about it, the happier he was, wishing he could become an incarnation outside his body, he patted himself on the shoulder and said: "Old Dong, this reminds you, it's really you!"
Potatoes are very satisfying, so he decided to save the leftovers for dinner and try a few chestnuts first.

The golden chestnut meat was exposed from the open chestnut shell, and Dong Qiangqiang quickly peeled out a plate.After casually tossing a chestnut to "Radar" who ran to him again, he couldn't wait to pick the biggest chestnut and stuff it into his mouth and chew it. Before he finished chewing, he couldn't wait to swallow the last bite of potato together. go down.

He was a little too anxious.

He thought "Radar" would swallow the chestnut without hesitation, but it just lowered its head and smelled it for a second before kicking it aside, showing disdain.

Just as Dong Qiangqiang was feeling strange, he suddenly felt a burst of bitterness in his mouth.He spat out twice, picked up another chestnut suspiciously and looked at it carefully, wondering for a while: the chestnut just now seemed to be bitter?Is it bad?

The flesh of the chestnuts, russet in the sun, looked plump and healthy, with no sign of rotting or mold.

He put the chestnuts in his mouth, and this time he did not rush to chew, but carefully touched them with his tongue. There was no bitter taste, and he took another bite, and immediately spat it out in less than a second: "I'm going! It's so bitter?!"

Puzzled, he picked a few more chestnuts of excellent quality and chewed them in his mouth, but he spit them out again.

Why is it all bitter?Before he could figure out what was going on, he felt that the sunlight instantly became dazzling, the canopy above his head began to spin flickeringly, the surrounding environment was distorted like an image in a distorting mirror, and the wind in his ears sounded like someone's heavy sigh .His breathing became short, and he lost consciousness in his mouth. The moment he fell down, he saw "Radar" tilting his head and calling at himself.

WTF!These were the last words that came to his mind.

　I stumbled upon an unexpected benefit of stopping updates: many pirate sites stopped grabbing my novels.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)