Druid's Country Retirement

"Master Su, what kind of sweet potato is this? It's so delicious!"

"It's delicious. Brother, give me another bowl. Thank you."

The eyes of the tourists who had tasted the sweet potatoes lit up. They ate the sweet potatoes in their hands in two or two mouthfuls and asked the cooking helper one after another.

"You guys are asking me, what's so delicious about sweet potatoes?" Tourists who don't like sweet potatoes are mainly middle-aged and elderly people.

During those famine years, sweet potatoes were the main food. We ate sweet potatoes for three meals a day. They were either steamed sweet potatoes, baked, or dry food made from dry sweet potato noodles. They were very fresh at first, but then we got tired of them and didn’t want to eat them anymore. But there was nothing else. food.

Later, there was a bumper harvest and food and clothing was achieved, and sweet potatoes were removed from the dining table, but they left an indelible painful memory in the stomachs of two generations.

To!
Yes, we are here to support you. As long as you don’t eat, you can say whatever you want.

The young tourists admitted one after another that when they took the rice porridge and roasted sweet potatoes filled with sweet potatoes, they kept using their chopsticks and heard rapid snoring sounds in the cafeteria. They thought they had entered a pig pen.

No matter how dull their brains are, tourists who don't eat sweet potatoes will notice something is wrong. It's strange that they all eat so happily.

"Brother, let's have a roasted sweet potato. I want to see what kind of sweet potato is so delicious."

"Yes, a bowl of sweet potato porridge, I'll try it too."

When the sweet potato enters the mouth, these non-eaters are instantly conquered. It is delicate, gluten-free, extremely soft and waxy, with an excellent taste and a rich honey sweetness.

This.
In those days, if you could eat such sweet potatoes, you would be starving.

"Brother, bring me another roasted sweet potato."

"A bowl of sweet potato porridge."

"Give me a bowl of sweet potato balls."

For a moment, the cafeteria counter was surrounded by tourists, and the chefs were so frightened that they backed away. Master Su, who was cooking in the kitchen, was frightened and quickly raised his hands to comfort the excited tourists.

"Everyone, everyone, don't crowd. We are still cooking. One sweet potato is enough for today."

The tourists above calmed down temporarily, and someone asked.

"Master Su, where did these sweet potatoes come from? They are so delicious. I want to buy some for my family to try."

"Yeah, I'll buy some too."

Master Su showed a wry smile and raised his hands again, "This is what Village Chief Li grew in his own vegetable field. We just harvested it today and sent some to the canteen for everyone to have a taste."

Village Chief Li’s vegetable patch.

That's not an oak vegetable worth dozens or hundreds of dollars per pound.

No wonder it's so delicious.

Tourists suddenly realized that the purpose of traveling all the way to Caogou Village was not only to feel the farm atmosphere of green mountains and green waters, but also to taste the delicious oak vegetables.

Once you leave the Northern Province, it’s hard to take a bite of oak vegetables.

Pity.

Why can't oak vegetables be sent outside the province? Now express delivery also supports fresh food transportation.

At this time, Master Su thought of something and said again.

"By the way, Village Chief Li thanks everyone for visiting Caogou Village. Before leaving, you can go to the Caogou Village Supply and Marketing Cooperative Supermarket and buy an oak sweet potato with a license plate."

The cafeteria suddenly became lively.

The tourists beamed with joy. They had long heard that Village Chief Li was the richest man in the forest area. He was approachable and approachable when they met occasionally in the village, and he did not have the tacky feeling of nouveau riche.

Half of a cart of sweet potatoes was made into dried sweet potatoes, and the remaining half was not equipped with a dustpan, so it could only be temporarily piled under the eaves, waiting for the corn from the fields to be recovered in a few days to make shochu.

Li Hongbing and Shan Xing are cleaning up the garbage on the rice field.

At this time.

Sister-in-law Wang Qian pulled Ouyang Hua out of the courtyard, while Li Hongbing snorted and swept himself up.

"You!" Shan Xing rolled his eyes at his petty man and stepped forward to greet him.

"Brother, sister-in-law, have you eaten yet? There are sweet potatoes steaming in the pot. Take a bite."

"After eating, I'll pick up my daughter." Wang Qian replied with a smile, secretly teased Ouyang Hua, and walked aside to chat with Shan Xing.

Aside from treating his daughter, the rumors in the village started because of him. If he hadn't confessed the matter to Shan Xing, why would Shan Xing have cried, and there wouldn't have been so many random rumors later.

"Brother, let me help you!" Ouyang Hua greeted Li Hongbing and reached out to take the broom.

Li Hongbing dodged and said angrily.

"I don't dare. If word gets out, they will say that I, Li Hongbing, bullied my uncle, and that I, Li Hongbing, are petty."

If you are not careful, who will be?

There is no one in the entire Caogou Village who is more narrow-minded than you.

The whole village can attest to this.

Although there were a lot of complaints in his heart, Ouyang Hua knew that he was in the wrong and showed a flattering smile on his face, "Who said that? The Red Army has always been generous and has a good mind. Don't listen to those people's nonsense."

"What do you want from me?" Li Hongbing raised his eyebrows and looked sideways at the bag in Ouyang Hua's hand.

"Wang Qian, that unfortunate daughter-in-law, brought the wrong thing. I didn't bring it to you specially." Ouyang Hua said as he took out a pair of dry animal claws from the bag. The claws were intact, including the leg bones and claw bones.

This is! !
Tiger claw?

"Where are you from?" Li Hongbing's eyes were stunned, and he raised his head to ask without caring about pretentiousness.

Ouyang Hua smiled, put the tiger paw back into the bag, and handed it forward.

"My father bought this from the supply and marketing cooperative 40 years ago. At that time, he went to the countryside and got rheumatism, so he asked someone to buy a pair of claws. Don't worry, this has been reported."

"I don't know how to use it. There's not enough meat in the stew. You are a doctor, so it must be of great use. No, I brought it here specially for you."

Li Hongbing took the bag and sneered twice, "I'll keep this thing. If you dare to give me the bank card room book, I promise not to beat you to death."

Seeing Li Hongbing accept the gift, Ouyang Hua's heart finally dropped.

Just because he gave the wrong thing and said the wrong thing in the morning, he was scolded by his wife for a whole day. Worried that Li Hongbing would not treat his daughter in anger, he called the old man for help. He was scolded so hard that he almost spat out his words from the phone.

Noisy, noisy, scolded, my granddaughter's condition is serious.

Moreover, Li Hongbing's identity is only his son-in-law, and there are several layers of relationships between him. If he is really annoyed, he will not treat his granddaughter's illness.
Finish talking about the stakes.

So, the old man took Ouyang Hua out again and scolded him again. After the scolding, he sent someone to send his treasured tiger bones to the village, and asked Ouyang Hua to come and apologize.

Li Hongbing accepted the tiger claw and walked down the steps. It was not a big deal anyway.

"These sweet potatoes are so fragrant!" Wang Qian, who had been peeking nearby, saw the two reconciled, walked over with a smile, and deliberately looked at the dustpan rack and asked.

"Smells well, oak sweet potatoes, a new variety that just came out today, there are freshly steamed ones in the pot. Xing'er, pack some sweet potatoes for my uncle and sister-in-law to take back." Li Hongbing asked Shan Xing to pack the sweet potatoes.

Ouyang Hua and his wife spent the whole day busy trying to quell Li Hongbing's anger. It couldn't be said that they didn't have enough food, just like they had trouble sleeping and eating.

Just smelling sweet potato and honey makes my stomach growl.

Without being polite, he walked into the kitchen while swallowing his saliva.

The next day.

The family had breakfast.

Today I am going to Qinglong Mountain. Road construction has already started for half a month. As the initiator, Li Hongbing, it is not appropriate for him to remain silent.

It happened that the sweet potatoes were also starting to grow, so I sent them to my second father to try them out, and by the way, I took the children from Qinglong Village back to the village to go to school.

Driving was boring, and the wind made it a bit cold while riding.

I remembered that I asked Shui Sheng to help me drive a carriage a few days ago and left it in the utility shed to collect ashes.

Ah!
Driving a carriage is more interesting.Thinking of this, Li Hongbing came to the utility shed. The new two-wheeled carriage was placed in the corner, covered with a layer of dust.

Rural horse carriages are generally divided into two-wheeled wheel carriages and four-wheeled heavy-duty flatbed carriages.

Two-wheeled carriages still exist in small numbers in rural areas, while four-wheeled heavy-sided carriages are rarely seen. This kind of carriage can still be seen in movies and TV series.

The two-wheeled carriage that Shuisheng made was made from wild old jujube trees in the mountains. The trees were cut down and kept in the dark at home for several years, and they were reluctant to use them.

It was only after Li Hongbing opened his mouth that Shuisheng was willing to take it out.

The overall length of the carriage is about 1.2 meters and the width is about [-] meters.

It consists of two shafts, a carriage plate, a carriage, an axle, and two flower tires. Flower tires are also called spoke tires, but the spokes are all welded with steel bars. It is not a problem to easily pull a thousand kilograms.

Anna saw Li Hongbing tying a carriage to Heifeng and asked eagerly, "Dad, where are you going?"

"Mother Xing and I went to Qinglong Village to see your second grandfather." Li Hongbing replied casually.

"Are you going with Mom Xing?" Anna's big eyes flickered, "Why don't you take me with you."

Li Hongbing put down what he was doing, turned around and knelt down, looked at Anna and said in a fatherly tone.

"Child, when you were watching cartoons, did you ask me to watch it with Mama Xing? When you went out to play, did you ask me to play with Mama Xing?"

Anna was lost in thought and seemed to have nothing to say.

Li Hongbing stood up with a smile and continued to harness Heifeng's carriage.

When Anna came back to her senses, her eyes were red and tears were rolling in her eyes, as if they would fall at any time.

He cried loudly, turned around and ran back to the rice field.

next moment.

Shan Xing angrily dragged Anna, who was crying, to the utility shed.

"Brother, why are you quarreling with the child so early in the morning? Look at how Anna is crying."

Li Hongbing turned his head and glanced at Anna who was hiding behind Shan Xing, then raked him down.

"She goes to school today and wants to skip class and go to Qinglong Village with us."

What!
Skipping class!

Although Shan Xing dotes on Anna the most at home and responds to her requests, perhaps to make up for her regret of dropping out of school early when she was a child, she is very strict about Anna's schooling.

Anna is not allowed to ask for leave at all without any special reason. She even keeps an eye on her while doing homework. She often goes to school to ask Sister Cui about Anna's study status.

Knowing the reason for Anna's crying, Shan Xing immediately changed his stance.

"You can't go there, you can only go to school."

The only supporter in the family rebelled, and Anna completely gave up. She walked back to the tree house dejectedly to get her schoolbag.

The carriage is hitched.

Li Hongbing rewarded Hei Feng with a bowl of sweet potato chips, and Hei Feng's nose was filled with delicious food.

Seeing that he was about to go out, the meerkat group hurriedly ran out of the heated dog kennel, chirped, pulled the carriage and jumped up.

"You also have to go to work today. Uncle Confused wants you to find sweet potatoes." Li Hongbing also rejected the meerkat group.

Yesterday, I dug up a big sweet potato. Xiao Chen sent the news back to the company. The company was almost shocked when they saw the photo. A sweet potato weighing more than 200 kilograms cannot be said to be the heaviest in the country, but two 200 kilogram sweet potatoes were dug out in succession. There may even be more giant sweet potatoes in the ground.

Now the Oak Tree Company couldn't sit still and demanded that all the sweet potatoes be dug out within three days, sent back to the packaging factory, cleaned and then auctioned online.

In three days, 40 acres of land were dug, and the soil layer was 1 meter deep. Farm tools were not allowed to be used to prevent damage to the sweet potatoes.

Upon hearing the request, Uncle Muzhu shook his head repeatedly and said he couldn't do it.

Time aside, we were not allowed to use farm tools. The soil was one meter deep. Just digging with your hands could kill someone.

unless
Let the big rat from the Red Army family help.

Because Uncle Muzhu discovered that these big rats have unusually powerful noses. They discovered the two big sweet potatoes. With their help, he could finish the work in two days, not to mention three days.

Xiao Chen found Mr. Li pitifully.

As the big boss of the company, Li Hongbing would naturally not make things difficult for him, but he could not let the meerkats work in vain. They had to work hard and get paid.

After the Oak Company negotiated, they hired a group of meerkats as temporary workers to dig sweet potatoes, and the salary was three boxes of meerkat cans.

jiji!

The meerkats looked very sad and squatted beside the carriage in aggrieved manner.

The sweet potatoes were loaded onto the cart, and some bear honey, vegetables, and grain were taken. The family of three sat on the cart, and Li Hongbing shook the reins.

"drive!"

Black Wind pulled the carriage slowly out of the old house.

Walking slowly along the mountain road, when passing by the vegetable field, he put the meerkats down and said, "You go find Uncle Muzhu, and go home after your work. If anyone bullies you, go find Dahua. Do you hear me?"

jiji!

The meerkats used their tails to prop themselves up, nodded quickly with their little heads, turned around and ran towards the vegetable patch.

The carriage continued to move forward and arrived at the entrance of the village.

Anna pouted, tears rolling in her eyes, she jumped out of the carriage with her schoolbag on her back, turned back three times, and reluctantly walked into the village.

That pitiful look made Shan Xing's heart soften, and he almost called Anna back, but luckily reason prevailed over doting.

Riding a carriage is indeed more suitable for traveling longer distances than riding a horse.

Li Hongbing and Shan Xing nestled in the carriage, leisurely enjoying the beautiful autumn scenery along the way.

After arriving at Shilipu, the carriage went directly to Uncle Mazi's house.

what!
There were many strange villagers on the path leading to Uncle Mazi's house, which made Li Hongbing very curious.

A familiar face passed by the carriage with his head lowered.

"Luo Long, come here!"

The man stopped and turned his head with a sad face. When he saw that the person calling him was Li Hongbing, his face turned from worry to joy, and he ran to the carriage in a few steps.

"Village Chief Li, why are you here?"

"What's going on with so many people? Something happened to Uncle Mazi?" Li Hongbing asked softly.

Luo Long shook his head first, then nodded, with a sad tone.

"Village Chief Li, I'm afraid my uncle won't see snow this year."

What!
Li Hongbing's expression suddenly changed and he jumped out of the carriage, "What's going on? Tell me clearly. Are you sick? Why didn't you call me?"

"Uncle refused, saying you had too many things to do." Luo Long's eyes were red with a sad expression, "Since you came back after your wedding, my uncle's appetite suddenly deteriorated. He usually can only eat two bites of meat and a sip of wine for three meals a day. Now he eats He can't move or drink, and he often talks nonsense, saying that old brothers are coming to see him and want to take him with them."

"Let the head of the Luo family come to the house this morning to make arrangements for the funeral."

Loss of appetite, talking nonsense, seeing deceased relatives.

Li Hongbing looked gloomy. These were signs that there was not much time left.

Counting the years, Uncle Mazi is 84 this year.

As the old saying goes in rural areas, the two years of old age are the nine darkest points, 73 and 84, and the King of Hell will not ask you to go there.

Ugh!
Life in this world is naturally inseparable from birth, aging, sickness and death.

(End of this chapter)