farmhouse ditty

Chapter 168 Time to Hire Some Guys
Old man Li helped to unload the wooden boards from Chu Ge's car, and carried a few wooden boards into the yard. He looked at Chu Ge and asked, "Hey, Chu Wazi, why are there so few materials today?"

Chu Ge tore a few handfuls of fodder from the corner, put it in front of the bay red horse to let it eat, and carried three longer planks in by himself, he listened to old man Li's questioning, and turned to look at the small half cart Material, just a dumb answer.

It's no wonder that old man Li wants to ask, Chu Ge went out for a run earlier, and found four or five wooden shops, any one, he would have to bring back a cart full of materials, but now I don't know why Yes, he took the carriage to the two houses, and only then did he get such a little back.

Xiu Niang came from the shop this time, seeing Chu Ge carrying a few long wooden boards, hurried up to help him, and stood up against the wall.

Old man Li looked at Xiu Niang, and asked, "Xiu girl, the business is closed?"

Xiu Niang responded with a smile, "Well, the sun is shining today, and there are very few people in our back street, and everyone closes early, uncle, let's order some noodles to eat later, and you go back to the house after eating Sit for a while, wait for it to cool down, and then get up and make boards, anyway, we don’t open the shop in the afternoon.”

Old man Li shook his head with a smile after hearing this, "Hey, the people in this town are really weird, let's just talk about our area, the shops in the whole back street are only doing business for half a day. It will be closed for a rest in the afternoon.”

Xiu Niang went to the stove to take out a basket, thinking about buying some vegetables and came back, she said, "Uncle, it's almost June now, and the sun is the most poisonous in June and July all year round. However, everyone is resting in their own yard, so no one will come out, besides, we rest in the afternoon, so we can make boards."

Chu Ge brought in the rest of the boards this time, and he yelled at Xiu Niang to step back and put the boards on the ground.

Xiu Niang stepped aside, looked at the wood in the yard, and asked, "Chu Ge, is that all there is for today?"

Chu Ge pursed his lips tightly, and nodded in distress. There is not much material left in the yard now. He went out for a run at noon, and he got back such a small amount of material. It is estimated that he will buy it in the morning. I can't get out of it.

Old man Li glanced at it, and he knew how many washboards these materials could make. He thought about it and said, "Well, otherwise, Chu Wazi, I can make a man-made board by myself in the afternoon. When you go there It’s better to get another car.”

Xiu Niang mumbled and shook her head, "Uncle Li, I think it's better to forget it, there are only five wood shops selling scraps in this back street, Chu Ge went for a round earlier and didn't receive much, and it was the same in the afternoon Yes, how much material we have today, let’s make as much as we can.”

Old man Li and Chu Ge thought about it, and what Xiu Niang said made sense, so there was nothing to chatter about. Xiu Niang looked at them and smiled, carrying a basket, talking about going out to buy some food, and then left. .

Chu Ge had been busy all morning, and he was a little thirsty. He thought about pouring some water in the main room, that is, the West Room. He walked two steps, stopped, and asked old man Li, "Uncle, do you drink water? You pour a glass."

Old man Li was holding the tobacco rod and was loading the tobacco leaves. He waved his hand to signal Chu Ge not to use it, but suddenly he thought of something else, and said to Chu Ge, "Chu Wazi, bring the water, uncle. Let me ask you."

Chu Ge responded, went to the main room and drank a glass of water, then filled it up again, walked to the shade of a tree, and asked old man Li who was sitting on the recliner, "Uncle, what's the matter?" what?"

Old man Li lit the cigarette with a cigarette holder, looked at Chu Ge when he was done, and said with a wicked smile, "Child Chu, we two are chattering."

Chu Ge looked at Old Man Li, and replied dumbly, "Oh, uncle, what do you want to chatter about?"

Old man Li exhaled a puff of smoke, laughed a few times, and asked Chu Ge to squat down and get closer to him, "Chu Wazi, how did your baby sleep that night..."

Chu Ge looked at old man Li, still a little confused, which night Uncle Li was talking about, he thought about it for a while, and said dumbly, "Uncle, I can sleep well any day."

"Okay, you kid..." Old man Li laughed, and patted Chu Ge on the shoulder, but then he felt something was wrong, Chu Ge, a dazed boy, did he know what he was talking about?

Old man Li raised his eyebrows in thought, and squinted at Chu Ge, "I said Chu Wazi, did you hear me clearly, your uncle, I said 'that night'...'That night', do you know? "

Chu Ge thought for a while, then nodded, then shook his head, "Uncle, what day are you talking about?"

Old man Li let out a "tsk", and he knew that Chu Ge was not enlightened, so he pursed his old lips and kept giving Chu Ge winks, "That's right, that night."

Chu Ge frowned. Was it that night? "Uncle, what time are you always talking about? Is it in Xiayang Village?"

Old man Li opened his mouth, he didn't know what to say, he patted his thigh with an "oops", pointed at Chu Ge and muttered, "You stupid old man, I said early A few days, two days ago, when our shop just opened, your daughter-in-law made a table of good wine and food for us and my father at night, and your son was still drunk at night!"

Hearing what old man Li said, Chu Ge remembered. He sat on the table and chair beside the recliner, "Oh, uncle, you're talking about the day we drank."

"Hey, isn't it that day..." Old man Li nodded excitedly, repeating the question just now.

Chu Ge let out an oh, and said dumbly, "It's okay, yes, it just hurts a little..."

Old man Li opened his cloudy old eyes wide, "Yes, it hurts a bit!"

Chu Ge replied dumbly again, "Well, it still hurts now."

Old man Li almost popped his eyeballs when he heard this, "It still hurts!"

Chu Ge nodded and said, "I don't know what happened that day. I fell asleep and fell off the bed, and slept on the floor all night."

As he said this, he smiled naively, "Hey, but that night, Xiu Niang still covered me with a quilt."

Old man Li was stunned for a moment, "What? Just, that's it?"

Chu Ge looked at old man Li, and responded dumbly, and suddenly thought of something, put the cup on the table, rolled up his trouser legs, pointed to his knee and said, "Uncle, that's it, I got out of bed that night I fell down and hit my knee on the bedpost, and it's still green and hurting!"

Old man Li twitched the corners of his mouth, looked at Chu Ge with some resentment, and knocked him on the knee with a cigarette stick, no wonder Xiu girl would kick him out of bed for this stupefied young man.

"Go, go, don't let the old man see this!"

Chu Ge shrank his legs in pain, and looked at old man Li with some puzzlement, this Uncle Li was angry no matter what he said.

Old man Li pursed his mouth tightly, took the last few puffs, and put away the pipe. He asked Chugo to saw the overlong wooden boards in the yard into sections, so that he could make washboards later. .

After Chu Ge and Old Man Li cleaned up the wooden boards, Xiu Niang came back with a basket of vegetables. Seeing that the two were busy, she chattered and went to the stove to cook.

About half an hour later, Xiu Niang quickly prepared a pot of noodles, and she prepared two small dishes in the hot pot, and when they were on the table, she called Chu Ge and old man Li to eat.

Chu Ge took a basin to wash his hands. After Old Man Li finished washing, he rinsed the water again, and the two of them shook their hands clean before sitting in the main room to eat.

Xiu Niang filled some extra noodle soup for everyone. It’s a hot day, so it’s always good to drink more water. She put the chopsticks in front of Chu Ge and Old Man Li, “Uncle, Chu Ge, eat quickly , the noodles will be stewed in a while."

Old man Li responded, picked up the chopsticks and stirred the noodles, picked up the bowl and took a sip of the soup, added a few chopsticks and small dishes into the bowl, then squatted at the door, and ate the noodles.

Chu Ge also wanted to squat to the door to cool off, but he thought that it was impossible for Xiu Niang to squat there to eat noodles, so he sat there obediently with her.

He just picked up the bowl, and suddenly saw the bamboo basket on the cabinet, and there seemed to be an inkstone in it, "Xiu Niang, why did you bring the inkstone on the cabinet into the room, you open it tomorrow." Doesn’t the shop still need to keep accounts?”

Xiu Niang stirred the bowl, looked up, she was hungry when she was cooking in the stove just now, she ate a mouthful of noodles before telling Chu Ge.

"The inkstone in the basket is not on our cabinet. I just bought it from outside. There are still a lot of white paper under the inkstone."

"Xiu Niang, you are buying ink and paper at the same time. What do you want to do?" Chu Ge looked back at her. There was an inkstone on the cabinet of the shop, and there was also a small book, which Xiu Niang had cut earlier. I ordered some paper by myself, and those were not used up yet, but Xiu Niang bought some back now, and he knew that Xiu Niang would not waste money for no reason, so he felt strange, and wanted to ask ask.

Xiu Niang watched Chu Ge grabbing the bowl before taking a bite, she put some vegetables into his bowl, "Chu Ge, come on, eat the noodles first, don't get really mushy in a while."

Hearing what Xiu Niang said, Chu Ge suddenly felt hungry too. He glanced at Xiu Niang, picked up the bowl and took a few mouthfuls.

Xiu Niang smiled, and called Old Man Li to sit on the table, "Uncle, come and eat too."

Old man Li felt that Xiu Niang had something to say, so he responded, then got up and came over.

Originally, Xiu Niang was thinking about going to the yard to help make the board later, but now Chu Ge asked, so she just said it.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, she said, "Uncle Li, Chu Ge, I'm thinking, we should recruit some men."

(End of this chapter)