Chapter 120 Looking for the man who dug the well

Gao Mingcheng’s wedding party was the last carnival for the villagers before the spring ploughing.

The next day, the prelude to spring ploughing began.

Selecting seeds, drying seeds, raising seedlings, plowing fields, turning the soil, and selling potato seeds.

Gao Mingcheng had just separated from his family and was short of everything, so he had to buy a lot of things. However, before he went to buy them, his grandmother had already made plans for him.

Grandma Xi said to Gao Mingcheng, "You only have one mu of land, so you don't need to grow seedlings yourself. I'll grow more seedlings and share some with you later. You don't need to buy potato seeds either. You can just pick some vines and use them for cuttings. How many sweet potatoes do you plan to plant this year?"

Gao Mingcheng said, "Let's plant two or three acres of land."

Sweet potatoes are not sold at a high price, but the yield is quite high, and the sweet potato vines can be fed to pigs, so people in the village plant a lot of them. Even my grandmother's family plants two acres of sweet potatoes.

When she heard that Gao Mingcheng only planned to plant two or three acres of land, Grandma Xi disagreed and said, "Sweet potatoes are good things. Plant more. If you don't have enough rice, you can still eat sweet potatoes."

My grandmother had experienced famine, so she cherished food very much.

She may not grow sugarcane to sell, but she will definitely grow sweet potatoes.

Gao Mingcheng was a man who listened to advice, and he didn't want his grandmother to worry about him, so he said, "Then I'll plant more."

Well, let’s plant half an acre of land!

But his grandmother thought that he should at least cultivate one acre of land, so she looked at him with a teachable look.

Then she talked about seeds of cucumbers, beans, loofahs, peppers, etc., which the grandmother had at home, and she specially gave some to Gao Mingcheng.

With the seeds sent by Grandma Xi, the villagers no longer have to worry about the vegetables they eat.

In addition to the seeds sent by Grandma Xi, many other women also prepared some seeds in advance.

Although she is a woman, she is no worse than men when it comes to working in the fields. Except for plowing the soil, she is very skillful in digging holes, sowing seeds, covering the soil, applying fertilizers, thinning out seedlings, etc.

During the spring ploughing season, Xuanmei specially made three rules with Gao Mingcheng: they could only do it once every three days, and each time should not exceed two hours!

Gao Mingcheng touched his nose and wanted to pretend he didn't hear it.

He had been holding it in for too long. It was fine before he started eating meat, but now that he had started eating meat, he became addicted to it and couldn't help himself!

But the heavy farm work can always quench endless desires, and the anticipation for the autumn harvest is enough to eliminate the fatigue of spring plowing.

People living in the small mountain village are not disturbed by external factors and make various arrangements according to the festival season. They give, they harvest, they store and they enjoy!

Life goes on like this, day after day, year after year.

It rained in spring on this day.

Although the spring rain prevents people from going out to work, the arrival of the spring rain is enough to make people happy.

The ancients said: Spring rain is as precious as oil.

For places like theirs where water resources are scarce, the crops they grow are very dependent on good weather. Once the weather is dry, the yield can be greatly reduced.

Gao Mingcheng stood under the eaves, looking at the drizzling spring rain, recalling some of the weather in his previous life, and then his face gradually became gloomy.

In his previous life, he was out doing business all year round and had not farmed for a long time. He only vaguely knew that there would be a drought this summer, and the specific time should be shortly after the late rice was planted.

At that time, it hadn't rained for a long time and the water in the fields had dried up. If no water was added, the seedlings would wither and die.

Although most of the people in Gaojia Village have the same surname and the same ancestor, if a man does not work for himself, he will be punished by heaven and earth. They often quarrel and fight for water and firewood.

Gao Mingcheng stared at the empty yard and came up with an idea. He went into the house, took an umbrella, and said to Xuanyuemei, "I'm going out for a while."

Xuan Duomei was reading a book with her head down. When she looked up, Gao Mingcheng had already left. She could only see his back.

Gao Mingcheng didn't go there on foot, but on a bicycle.

He held the handlebars of the bicycle with one hand and held an umbrella with the other, and still rode steadily.

He was going to the village on the other side of Dalong Mountain because there were craftsmen there who specialized in digging wells with excellent skills. The several wells in their village were all dug by people from Dalong Mountain and the water was clear.

Gao Mingcheng had planned to dig a well in the yard before, but later he became busy and forgot to look for a craftsman.

Now thinking of the drought this summer, he couldn't sit still anymore. He had to dig a well quickly so that it would not affect the daily water supply.

He rode his bicycle all the way towards Dalong Mountain.

There are few pedestrians on the road, but occasionally you can see some people working in the fields. These people have few people in their families but a lot of land, so they still go to the fields to work even when it rains.

When passing by Junling, Gao Mingcheng saw Huang Dazhi also working in the fields, but they were far apart and did not greet each other.

It took about forty to fifty minutes of riding to reach Dalong Mountain.

The village at the foot of Dalong Mountain is called Dalong Village. It is said that the villagers are good at feng shui. A long time ago, they used feng shui to choose cemeteries for rich people.

This also led to the people of Dalong Village being more closed and not liking to interact with people from other villages. As soon as Gao Mingcheng entered Dalong Village, he noticed something strange. The atmosphere in this village was rather depressing, and everyone he saw was silent and taciturn.

"Uncle, where does the well digger Lao Zhang live?" Gao Mingcheng supported one foot on the ground and turned his head to look at someone.

The man was sitting under the eaves smoking. After hearing the sound, he looked up at Gao Mingcheng.

He was about forty years old, with a dark complexion and several obvious wrinkles on his forehead, as if he frowned frequently.

"You want to dig a well?" the man asked in a low and hoarse voice.

"Well, I'm from Gaojia Village, and I want to dig a well. Are you Lao Zhang?" Gao Mingcheng asked. In his previous life, his family also dug a well after building a house, and it was said that it was people called from Dalong Village who came to dig the well.

But he was not at home at the time and did not see the man digging the well.

"Well, when do you plan to dig a well?" The man was indeed Lao Zhang.

"The sooner the better!" said Gao Mingcheng.

At this time, Lao Zhang stood up and said, "Then let's do it tomorrow."

Gao Mingcheng was stunned. He was anxious, but he also knew that it was spring plowing time and people might have to slow down a bit. But he never expected that Old Zhang would be so straightforward!

"Aren't you... busy with spring plowing?" Gao Mingcheng asked subconsciously.

Old Zhang made a strange sound that was half-smile and half-laugh, and said, "It's just a small piece of land. There's no need to rush."

Gao Mingcheng looked around and realized that Dalong Village was the real mountain village!

Although their Gaojia Village is surrounded by mountains on three sides, it also has seven or eight hundred acres of fertile land connected together, and the rice planted there is enough to feed the villagers. However, the entire Dalong Village is located at the foot of the mountain, forming a long and narrow line, and the paddy fields that can be used to grow rice are also a long and narrow line, probably no more than one hundred acres at most.

Looking at the houses in the village, they are built according to the mountain terrain and most of them have no walls. Outside the rooms is the mountain road. Therefore, when Gao Mingcheng passed by, he could directly see Lao Zhang smoking under the eaves.

There are few paddy fields in Dalong Village, so the population is naturally small. The people are scattered and not densely populated.

Since Lao Zhang was straightforward, Gao Mingcheng was also straightforward. He told Lao Zhang his detailed address and then asked about the cost of digging the well.

The fee was not bad, but Lao Zhang proposed to stay and eat at Gao Mingcheng's house for a few days until well water was pumped out, and then he would leave with the money.

This is because of the inconvenience of transportation. If you go back and forth every day, you will have to spend a lot of time on the road. Therefore, the well digger will temporarily live in the owner's house. After the well is dug and the owner is satisfied, he will take the wages and leave.

(End of this chapter)