Druid's Country Retirement

Li Hongbing, who was lying on the recliner playing with the meerkat, suddenly remembered something and turned to look at Shan Xing who was washing clothes by the well.

"Myolie, Brother Da Lang is going back to the city tonight. Let's make a meal to see him off!"

Shan Xing smoothed the hair out of his eyes and asked doubtfully, "Why are we walking at night? The mountain road is dark, so we can't leave early tomorrow!"

"If you have a problem, don't care about him!"

Picking up his phone and checking the time, it was almost time for the tourists who had gone into the mountain to return to the village. Li Hongbing got up from the recliner.

"I'm going to take a look around the village, and I'll call Brother Dalang here by the way."

While he was talking, the meerkat group surrounding the lounge chair quickly ran to Li Hongbing's side, chirping and yelling.

Shan Xing smiled broadly and said, "They're clinging to you."

Li Hongbing smiled proudly, "It's the same as when you were a child."

spit!
Recalling the way he used to follow Brother Hongbing everywhere when he was a child, Shan Xing blushed and lowered his head to continue washing clothes.

"Let's go, little guys." Li Hongbing walked towards the courtyard gate, and the meerkat chirped as he followed his footsteps.

on the mountain road.

Li Hongbing walked leisurely with his hands behind his back.

The meerkat group left their old house and came to a strange environment. They were full of curiosity about everything. They got excited and got into the grass, and then ran into the woods.

After putting some distance away, they noticed that Li Hongbing was walking away, so he chased after him in a panic, and then started running around again.

Along the way, stop and go.

Arrive at the edge of the village.

As more and more strangers appeared, the meerkat group did not dare to run around anymore. They followed closely at Li Hongbing's feet and looked around with wide eyes.

Tourists also noticed this group of children and gathered around them, taking photos with their mobile phones and talking about them.

"Hey, this is not a meerkat. How could there be such an animal in Caogou Village?"

"So many Timons!"

"Look at how cute they are."

"Village Chief Li, are these meerkats your new pets?"

"Can I hug them?"

Li Hongbing smiled and shook his head, "Sorry, they were just delivered to the village today, so they are still a little bit naive."

The tourists looked disappointed, but they still respected Village Chief Li’s words and dispersed to continue wandering around the village.

"By the way, have the teams that went into the mountains to pick fruits come back?" Li Hongbing called to an elderly tourist.

The elderly tourist waved his hand and said with a smile, "Not yet, I just received a call and said that on the way back, I was going to the entrance of the village to see what good things they picked."

good stuff!
What good things there are are wild fruits that the pigs won't even eat.

Li Hongbing thanked him and walked along the periphery of the village towards the entrance. There were too many tourists in the village, and the appearance of the meerkat would definitely attract onlookers.

what!
An old house appeared in sight.

What attracted him was a line of red characters on the arched door of the old house, "Serve the People", with a bright five-pointed star below.

On both sides of the five-pointed star are two lines: developing the economy and ensuring supply.

That is?

Supply and Marketing Cooperative! !

When did the supply and marketing cooperative open in the village? Why didn't Jianjun mention it?

And this house seems to have been bought by Sanpao.

Li Hongbing approached with doubts. The house was indeed the courtyard of Sanpao's family, but the courtyard wall was knocked down and paved with green bricks to create a rice field. There were several old fruit trees planted on the left and a separate vegetable patch on the right.

The original four dilapidated old houses have been renovated with blue bricks, strips of stone, green tiles, wooden window lattice, columns and doors, revealing the vicissitudes of history and traces of time.

A sign with black characters on a white background hangs next to the door.

[Caogou Village Supply and Marketing Cooperative]

Sanpao didn't want to open a supermarket, why did it build a supply and marketing cooperative? It was built like the old supply and marketing cooperative in the past.

Looking at the familiar door, delisting, and style.

Li Hongbing recalled being hooked.

When I was a child, what the children in the village looked forward to was for their adults to take them to the town supply and marketing cooperative to buy things.

Because there are a dazzling array of colorful and various products in the supply and marketing cooperative.

Especially the fruit hard candies sold by supply and marketing cooperatives, which cost two yuan a penny, wrapped in colorful candy wrappers, and hard enough to bite your teeth, they are simply a childhood delicacy.

Orange candies are softer, orange-shaped, colorful, and coated with a layer of white sugar. They are soft and tough, and have a soft texture, just like today's QQ candies.

There are also various novelty toys, small leather balls the size of tennis balls, and red and green wavy stripes.

The iron jumping frog will jump forward automatically when the clockwork is wound up.

The plastic top has a green cap and a pink base. If you twist it hard with your hands, it can spin for more than a minute. When I was a child, I often competed with my friends to see whose top could spin longer.

Cigarettes are an item for adults, but cigarette boxes are a favorite of children. They accumulate all kinds of cigarette boxes, fold them into triangular paper cannons, and throw them at each other to see who is more powerful and can win the other party's paper cannon.

Also, soy sauce, vinegar, and salt were all in bulk at that time, and there were no bottles or bags of finished products now.

The salt was placed in a one-meter-square cement trough. At that time, there was no refined salt as it is now. It was all coarse salt, or large salt grains. Weighed it with a steelyard, wrapped it in wheat straw paper, and poured it into the salt shaker when we got home.

The soy sauce and vinegar are placed in a large vat with its own glass bottle. A funnel is placed at the mouth of the bottle, and it is filled with a straw. It is poured into the bottle along the funnel. One lift usually fills a one-pound glass wine bottle, and the price is also It's not expensive, you can buy a bottle of soy sauce or vinegar for just [-] cents.

I remember when I was a child, Li Hongbing went to the town to buy seasonings with the adults in the village. He got greedy on the way and secretly drank half a bottle of vinegar. His stomach burned for several days, and his farts smelled of vinegar and sourness.

Crunch! !
The glass lattice door of the supply and marketing cooperative is opened from the inside.

Sanpao walked out of the house with his head raised and a basin in hand. He looked up and saw Li Hongbing, with two rows of big white teeth showing in a grin.

"Brother, why do you come here when you have time?"

Li Hongbing's eyes widened and he said with a click of his tongue, "Sure, I'll take out all the supply and marketing cooperatives quietly. Do you want to pay management fees to the village?"

"Brother, please don't talk nonsense. This is a supply and marketing cooperative supermarket. If you don't believe me, look at it!" Sanpao pointed at the corner of the signboard. There were two words "supermarket" big as a fly. People with bad eyesight can't really see it.

What a great shot on the edge!
Li Hongbing gave a thumbs up in admiration.

"Let's go, Boss Sanpao, take me to visit your Caogou Village Supply and Marketing Cooperative and supermarket!"

"Village Chief Li, please come in quickly." Sanpao also bent down and stretched out his hand.

The two laughed and walked into the supply and marketing cooperative. The meerkats followed to the threshold and looked at Li Hongbing's back, chirping and making urgent calls.

"Hey, the rat has become a sperm. It's so fat that it dares to come to Master Pao's house to steal things in broad daylight." Sanpao heard the noise, looked back, raised his eyebrows, reached out and grabbed the shovel in the pile of farm tools, and raised his head high lift.

Seeing Sanpao's actions, the meerkats dispersed in fright, each looking for a hidden corner to hide.

"No!!" Li Hongbing quickly stopped, "This is the rescue animal that Captain Xu just sent, a meerkat."

What!
Rescue animals sent by Captain Xu!
Who is Captain Xu?

The captain of the forest security team in the forest area specializes in catching people who poach and harm wild animals. Whose family in Songbai Town will be put in a pot and have to step on the sewing machine for the rest of their lives.

Sanpao was stunned, and quickly put down his shovel and ran out of the gate to look for the meerkat, but the rice field was completely empty, which made his heart skip a beat.If one was missing, Captain Xu wouldn't arrest him!

"Brother, I really didn't mean it. I thought it was a rat. You have to help me testify to Captain Xu!"

"Look at how cowardly you are!" Li Hongbing looked at him with contempt and whistled at the door.

Before the whistle blew, a meerkat emerged from the corner of the rice field and jumped to a place not far from the gate. It propped up its body with its slender tail, looked at Sanpao and let out a warning call.

"Come in, it's okay!" Li Hongbing waved.

The meerkats climbed over the threshold with their heads peeping out, and ran to Li Hongbing's feet with careful attention.

"Hey, these mice are interesting, bro, give me one!" At first, he was disgusted, but after looking at them for a while, Sanpao found these little guys quite cute.

"Whatever, it's up to you to take it away!"

Li Hongbing agreed generously and wandered around the supply and marketing cooperative to appreciate the decoration style.

Don't say it.

Sanpao really restored the supply and marketing cooperative intact.

There is a row of high counters, with a child's head just above the countertop. The counters are made of bricks and the countertops are made of wood. Some of them are glass cabinets. You can see the products inside, which are mainly school supplies, non-staple food, tobacco and alcohol, needles, threads, brains, etc. Daily groceries such as oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, etc.

Behind the counter is a row of shelves against the wall. The shelves are also filled with products, mainly cloths of various colors. There are product posters and slogans on the shelves, and some of them are family planning posters.

Li Hongbing reached out and touched the scratches on the counter board. Although he wiped them clean, he still couldn't cover up the traces of time left on them.

"Where did you get so many old prices?"

Sanpao squatted on the ground, holding ham sausage in his hand to tease the meerkat, and looked up.

"One yuan per catty was collected from the rags, and the paintings were buckled from the wall of the town warehouse."

"Not bad, it has some flavor." Li Hongbing looked around, feeling like he was back in his childhood supply and marketing cooperative. "Who gave you the idea to turn the supermarket into a supply and marketing cooperative?"

"Wanda, he said that people in the city like old things now, and the older they get, the more they like them." Sanpao was very unhappy. No matter how much he teased her, these rats would not take the bait.

Going around, the front room is the supply and marketing cooperative, and the back room is the warehouse and living quarters.

Li Hongbing nodded with satisfaction, "Where's Chunmiao, when are you going to open?"

Giving up on the idea of ​​raising a rat, Sanpao stood up and rubbed his waist.

"I've been busy purchasing goods these days and can't take care of her, so I'll let Chu Miao go to her parents' house to raise the baby. I'll take her back after the business is completed in two days."

"Okay, remember to notify me when the business opens and I'll send you a flower basket." Li Hongbing snatched the ham sausage from Sanpao's hand, broke off a section and threw it into the air. The meerkat group swarmed up, eating the ones they had grabbed, while those who didn't grabbed them were wide-eyed. His cute eyes stared straight at the remaining ham.

"By the way, Brother Dalang is going back to the city tonight. I'll set up a table and come over for a drink."

It was a dog, but these rats still recognize their master!

Watching Li Hongbing lead the meerkat out of the gate, Sanpao suddenly remembered something and shouted loudly.

"Thank you for your patronage. A piece of ham sausage costs 3 yuan, so I'll charge it to you!"

As the cold dew ends, the leaves of the old persimmon trees at the entrance of the village gradually turn yellow and fall gently to the ground, intertwining with the fallen leaves on the ground to form a beautiful picture. The branches are covered with red persimmons.

The old people in the village sit on small horses, enjoying the sunset, chatting about the past over and over again. Whenever a new topic is found in the past, a new quarrel will start.

The older tourists also sat aside and participated in the conversation from time to time.

Li Hongbing greeted the old people with a smile, and as soon as he took the maza and sat down, a group of meerkats gathered around his feet, propped up and looked around.

The old people saw something rare and turned their attention to the meerkats who were on alert.

"Red Soldier, where did you catch so many rats? They are really big!"

"What kind of rat is this? I haven't seen it before. How much food does it need to steal?"

"I haven't seen it in the mountains, I guess it's from the old forest."

A well-informed middle-aged tourist opened his eyes wide and asked in surprise, "Village Chief Li, I haven't heard that there are meerkats in the forest area. Is this a new discovery?"

Li Hongbing took the cigarette from the old man in the village, lit it and took a puff, "How could there be meerkat in the forest area? This was confiscated by the forest workers from the illegal breeding farm."

Then he told everyone the meerkats experience in detail.

After learning that these meerkats had been forced to undergo sterilization surgeries, the elderly and tourists angrily accused those people of losing their conscience and doing anything bad to make money.

An old man took out a handful of peanuts from his pocket and scattered them on the ground.

"Eat it!"

The meerkat group turned to look at Li Hongbing, who smiled and nodded.

"It's okay, you can eat it!"

After receiving permission, the meerkat group ran forward, grabbed the peanuts scattered on the ground, and skillfully bit open the peanut shells.

Everyone is idle and bored anyway, so watching the meerkats eating peanuts is fun.

Not long after.

I don’t know who shouted and came back from the mountain.

Everyone stood up and looked outside the village entrance.

Not far away on the mountain road, Dakui led the team towards the village.

How happy I was when I left in the morning, how embarrassed I was when I came back.

Passion and excitement cannot serve as physical strength. For tourists in the city, long and rugged mountain roads, when the passion is gone, only pain and torture are left.

Everyone had their heads drooped, carrying their bags, and dragged heavy steps to the entrance of the village. They were out of breath as they walked. They felt like they would die from difficulty breathing in the next second. When they arrived at the entrance of the village, they lay down on the ground with their backs spread out. They all started complaining mode.

"Made, I'm so tired. My feet are all covered in blisters."

"You spend money to buy your suffering. If anyone mentions going into the mountains to pick fruits again, I will fall out with him."

"Look, my legs are dancing."

"Don't talk, let me sleep for a while."

Dakui and Hongqi also looked exhausted. They walked to the team and shouted feebly.

"Don't lie down on the ground. It's very cold. Get up quickly and go back to the house to sleep."

"Everyone, go back and take a bath. Don't lie on the ground."

Li Hongbing came over with a group of meerkats, glanced at the scattered tourists on the ground, and asked curiously, "The road is not easy to walk, why are all of them like this?"

Dakui sighed and shook his head.

"Don't mention it. The road is flat and they missed it. They walked all the way and shouted that they were tired. They didn't say anything until they were halfway done. They rested for a long time and then rushed back. People in this city are very naughty."

Li Hongbing had already anticipated this outcome.

Mountain climbing is different from shopping. The former is a high-intensity exercise, while the latter is leisure. When they signed up, they had been advised not to participate if they were not in good physical condition, but who could blame them if they didn't.

It's hard to persuade the damn ghost. He doesn't know how much he weighs.

Don't worry about shouting "tired" now, it's really awesome to have the energy to shout "tired" tomorrow morning.

(End of this chapter)