The village chief's house is also a blue brick house with a simple population. In a courtyard, there are three rooms in the middle and two rooms on the left and right. It is easy to count.
Mr. Tang only has one son, the village chief, and a daughter who married into another village.
The village chief also has only one son and one daughter.
The village chief's son Tang Mingde also has only one son and one daughter. It's really been simple for generations.
Mr. Tang lives in a room on the right side of the upper room, and in the middle is the main room, where the family eats and receives guests.
At this moment, the meal is ready, and the village chief's daughter-in-law, Meng, and her daughter Tang Hui are busy carrying the meal into the main room.
There are three women in the family. In addition to cooking, they usually do embroidery work. The embroidery skills passed down by the village chief's grandmother can be sold very well, so there are no pigs or chickens in the family to delay the women.
their time.
It's quite clean and quiet.
There are seven people in the family, so there is no need to divide the table, they can all sit down at one table.
Mr. Tang had bad teeth, so Meng would make some soft dishes for every meal, even porridge, which would be cooked until soft.
He doesn't have a big appetite, just one bowl is enough, and he's not greedy for more.
Putting down the bowl and chopsticks and seeing his son still sipping a glass of wine, he said: "It's just two sips, I have to divide it into five sips. Drink it quickly. Help me back to the house. I have something to say to you."
This was a rare moment. When the village chief heard this, he didn't dare to delay. He quickly raised his head and drank the remaining wine in one gulp. Then he stripped off the porridge in the bowl, wiped his mouth, stood up and helped Mr. Tang, all at once.
, which is just ten breaths of effort.
The village chief and his wife were afraid that he would choke, but the father-in-law didn't care about anything, so if he suddenly had something to say to his son, it must be a big deal.
Seeing the father and son entering through the ear door, the village chief's wife also quickly asked the juniors to eat and go back to the house without making any noise.
The house on the right has good lighting and is bright.
Mr. Tang sat down on the edge of the bed and asked the village chief to sit on the chair opposite.
"Dad, what do you want to say to your son?" The village chief sat upright with a serious look on his face.
Mr. Tang was silent for a long time. He could no longer hear the movement outside, and then he slowly spoke, "Today, a strange old man came to the village. He talked a lot with me under the old banyan tree.
They are asking about people and things in our Songshan Village, both inside and outside the words."
When the village chief heard this, his expression became more serious, "Xu is an old man from the surrounding villages, who comes here to walk around when he has nothing to do?"
"You say he's an old man, but he's much neater than me." Mr. Tang chuckled.
"The key point is that he said he was from Shitou Village across the street, so I asked him about the welfare system in Shitou Village, but he actually went along with what I said."
When the village chief heard this, he also became suspicious, "This Xu Housheng is from Dazao Village, where is he from Stone Village? Dad thinks there is something wrong with this old man?"
"What if not?" Mr. Tang asked.
The village chief was silent. He had a lot of thoughts in his mind, but he had to keep calm. He was the village chief and couldn't panic.
Seeing his son's stable appearance, Mr. Tang felt a lot of comfort in his heart. After a moment, he concluded: "No matter why he came, we don't need to panic. What happened back then, now only the one who knows all the inside story is left."
Old lady Mo and I, even you, I won’t tell you the rest until I die. As long as we two immortals don’t speak, no one will know anything?”
"Don't panic, let's just pretend we don't know he's making inquiries with bad intentions. Don't get into trouble and wait and see if he comes again."
"It's better that dad makes the decision. My son will listen to you!" the village chief responded quickly.
After beating to stabilize his son, Mr. Tang took a nap, got up and drank a bowl of sweet eggs brought by his grandson's wife, then went out for a walk on crutches.
There are a total of twenty-four households in the village, and two households are at the foot of the mountain. The twenty-two households next to each other are not far apart from each other.
Old Mrs. Mo is also seventy-three this year, three years older than Mr. Tang. She is not as healthy as Mr. Tang, so she doesn't always go out for walks like Mr. Tang.
Their family lived at the end of the village, across the street from Mei Fu's family. The family had a simple population. Apart from old lady Mo, they only had her son and daughter-in-law.
My son and daughter-in-law are getting older. They gave birth to several children when they were young, but they couldn't survive. Now they make a living by catering for others, and the three of them can live a comfortable life.
After all, if you host a banquet for someone, you get money, and you can also get some meat and vegetables to take home.
Perhaps because he is getting older, his craft cannot be accepted by others, so Huang Dashao accepted an apprentice last year, so that his wealth will not go to outsiders, and this apprentice will be the baby of the village.
He took it with him as soon as the banquet was held. This child was also filial. In the future, he would have someone to take care of his sick bed, so that he would not die alone.
Today, Huang Dashao and his wife happened to go out to host a banquet for others. The family was far away and no one had returned home at this time.
Mr. Tang passed by and took a look at the courtyard. He did not call the door to enter. Instead, he talked to Mei Fu who was watching the chickens in the courtyard for a long time.
Having said enough, Mr. Tang continued his walk to Nanniwan and watched a dozen ducks raised by Liu Laomeng's family rolling around in the wet mud, playing like mud ducks.
"Their duck is doing really well this year."
There was a voice behind him. Mr. Tang looked back and said with a smile: "Yes, this duck looks good. When the Chinese New Year comes, I will go to his house to buy one and kill it for New Year's Eve dinner. It will be fat. My sister-in-law is here.
Pigweed?”
"Yes."
The gray-haired old lady Mo had a basket slung in her arm and a sickle in her hand. She was obviously out to cut some grass to feed the pigs.
Their family also raises a pig.
Mr. Tang was leaning on a cane, seven or eight steps away from Old Mrs. Mo. He glanced at Old Mrs. Mo from time to time, fearing that she would cut her hand or faint because she didn't stand up.
The breeze blowing in the middle of the afternoon made Nanniwan feel quite cool.
"Some strangers are coming to the village today, so be careful."
"I don't go out often, so who can come to my house? ... But you, Brother Dayou, walk around every day, so you can take care of yourself."
"But I understand. Sister-in-law, don't worry."
The breeze dispersed the sound, but the quacking noise of a dozen ducks could not be dispersed.
At this time, the road in the village was very lively, and many little girls came here carrying baskets on their backs, talking and laughing.
When you see someone, call them obediently, "Hello, Grandpa Tang! Hello, Grandma Mo!"
Mr. Tang nodded, smiled at these little girls, and returned to the village on crutches.
Seeing the trembling old lady Mo, the little girls helped her one by one, and soon filled the old lady Mo's basket.
Old lady Mo smiled and slowly walked home with the basket in hand.
Watching Mrs. Mo walk away, Zhang Lihua whispered to Song Qiu in a low voice, "Mrs. Mo is already in her seventies, right? She looks very tough! She and Mr. Tang are the only two longevity stars in our village!"
"
"I heard from my grandma that when our ancestors fled and settled here, Grandpa Tang and Grandma Mo were not much older than our children at that time," Song Qiu said.
Zhang Lihua nodded, "Yes, I heard that many people died in the flood. We are here now because our ancestors have gone through so many hardships."
Human lives in disasters are not valuable, but it is true.
Song Qiu sighed softly, looked at the sinking sun in the west, and quickly grabbed an earthworm that had dug into the mud.