Chapter 09: Come and Fetch Water!
After Keeper Huang walked away, Chen Fan looked at the sack of rice on the ground and thought for a moment. He turned to Jiang Lili and asked, "Do you guys eat separately, or together?"
"Huh?"
Jiang Lili was taken aback, then realized, "Oh, the educated youth dormitory only has one stove. We all cook together. We put the rice in our lunch boxes, add water, and then put them all together in the big pot to steam. Everyone's rice is separated, it's never mixed up. If we stir-fry dishes, we do it separately, each person cooks their own."
After pausing, she whispered, "But usually no one cooks stir-fried dishes. We usually eat with pickled vegetables. The pickled vegetables are also our own, and the vegetables from the garden are mainly used for making pickled vegetables and fermented vegetables."
Chen Fan's eyes widened. So, those two dishes were prepared especially for me?
He paused for two seconds, then came to his senses and said with a smile, "Oh, so you eat separately."
Jiang Lili nodded, "The rice is separate, but we take turns tending the fire, no one loses out or takes advantage."
Chen Fan smiled, "That's good."
He paused, then frowned, "But I don't have a lunch box."
Jiang Lili thought for a moment, "You can use a rice bowl. Rice bowls can also be used to steam rice."
Chen Fan gave her a thumbs up, "You're so smart!"
Jiang Lili's face flushed red. It had been a long time since she had been praised. Suddenly being complimented, she was a little uncomfortable.
Chen Fan put his hands on the shoulder pole, looking like Sun Wukong with his golden cudgel, and smiled, "Okay, I'll go fetch water. Please help me carry the rice to the house."
Jiang Lili quickly nodded, "Oh, okay."
They then walked out, one carrying the shoulder pole with buckets, the other carrying the rice into the house.
But after a few seconds, Jiang Lili heard Chen Fan calling out, "Wait."
She turned around, confused.
Chen Fan stood at the doorway, his face serious, and asked, "Where do you fetch water?"
Jiang Lili's lips moved twice, suppressing a smile. She pointed to the east, "By the river."
"Alright."
Chen Fan turned and walked away.
Jiang Lili suddenly remembered something, and quickly shouted, "Wait."
Chen Fan turned around and looked at her, "Ah?"
Jiang Lili said loudly, "When you get to the river, you can see three stone slabs. The one upstream is for fetching water, the middle one is for washing vegetables, and the furthest one is for washing clothes. Don't get them mixed up."
Chen Fan let out a dry laugh, "It's pretty particular."
Then he waved his hand, "I'm going now."
This time, he really left.
He carried the shoulder pole with two buckets, walking towards the embankment. The two buckets swung back and forth, unevenly, attracting the laughter of a few little kids from a distance.
Chen Fan didn't mind, he made a face at the little rascals, and the kids laughed even louder, running around wildly.
The educated youth dormitory was very close to the embankment. They walked less than 50 meters along a small path, and they reached the bottom of the embankment. Then they walked up the slope along a path through the dry grass, and in a short while, they were on the embankment.
Turning around, he finally saw the village.
The village was built on a narrow, long, earthen hill, not far from the embankment. The entire hill might not even have been 10 meters high. Dozens of houses were scattered along a winding path, extending from the bottom of the front slope to the bottom of the back slope, ending at the educated youth dormitory, which had the largest area.
As far as the eye could see, all the houses were made of earthen walls and thatched roofs. They had rice paddies in front and vegetable gardens in the back. Most of them didn't have courtyard walls, and even those that did were made of bamboo fences, with the inside and outside visible at a glance. The educated youth dormitory was different, they used bricks to build a wall, nearly two meters high, and even standing on top of the hill, under the cover of trees, you couldn't see what was inside the courtyard.
This made the educated youth dormitory's house stand out.
Smoke was coming from the chimneys of some houses, they must have been cooking lunch. Those without smoke coming out, were either eating or hadn't started cooking yet.
In the distance, there were irregularly shaped rice paddies, a large expanse, as far as the eye could see. However, only the burnt rice stubble remained in the rice paddies. The land was black in some spots and yellow in others, making it rather unattractive.
There were also many ponds of varying sizes around the earthen hill. The ponds only had a shallow layer of water. These must have been the fish ponds Captain Yang mentioned.
Further in the distance, you could vaguely see another small village. Chen Fan guessed that it must be another production team.
After looking for a while, Chen Fan let out a sigh and put aside his complicated thoughts. He turned and walked towards the other side of the embankment.
The side facing the water was also a long slope, covered with grass, and the grass was much taller than on the other side. However, all the grass was now withered and lying flat on the ground, even the howling north wind couldn't move them.
There were several black areas not far from the slope. It was obvious that they were burnt areas, he didn't know which kid had been playing with fire here.
Further on, there were many trees, cedar trees, poplar trees, and some unfamiliar mixed trees, extending along the embankment far away.
Turning to look at the opposite side, the river was quite wide. If you counted the width of the embankment, the distance between the embankment here and the embankment on the opposite bank was probably over 500 meters.
It was winter now, and the river only had a shallow layer of water at the bottom. The width of the surface was also about 100 meters, perhaps wider.
Chen Fan followed a path down the hill and soon saw the three stone slabs that Jiang Lili mentioned.
The so-called stone slabs were actually simple resting points built with stones by the river. Dozens of stones formed one stone slab. Each slab was about 10 meters apart, and this was where the villagers fetch water and used water in the winter.
Summer?
In summer, the water would rise and the stone slabs would be submerged, how would they go down to get water then?
Chen Fan walked to the stone slab furthest upstream. He carefully stepped on it, testing it. The stones remained motionless, and he was relieved.
There was no one by the river at this time. He looked left and right, put down the shoulder pole, picked up a bucket, took two steps down, and stepped on a stone in the water, only 10 centimeters away from the surface.
He put the bucket into the clear river water, then pulled it up with great effort. He immediately turned red, "Damn, it's really heavy!"
These water buckets were old-fashioned wooden buckets. In three or four decades, maybe they would only be used for taking medicinal baths. But now they were an essential item for every household.
A bucket was about 60 centimeters high, with a diameter of about 35 centimeters, and there were variations in size. The bucket itself was not light, it weighed more than 10 jin. Let alone when it was full of water, the weight was definitely over 70 jin. A shoulder pole carried close to 150 jin.
Chen Fan felt it with his hands and hesitated for two seconds before decisively pouring out some of the water, leaving only half.
He filled the second bucket, again only half full.
Then he picked up the shoulder pole, hooked the hooks onto the handles, bent down, held the handles, and stood up with great effort. In less than two seconds, he bent down again.
Chen Fan squatted on the ground, staring at the two buckets of water.
Damn, a strength of 5 is useless. I can't even carry half a bucket of water?
He was about to pour out some more water to see if it would be easier, when he saw figures appear on the embankment.
Chen Fan looked up and saw a group of stout women carrying buckets of water. They were walking down the hill, chatting and laughing.
One of them had sharp eyes, she saw Chen Fan, and immediately shouted, "Come and fetch water..."
Ah, ah, ah...
Chen Fan slumped his face, why is there an echo?
So many people came, how could I pour out the water?
If people see me carry less water back, will I have any face?
(End of Chapter)
«PREVIOUS»
«NEXT»
Comments
Post a Comment