Chapter 14 Chapter 14 (Minor Repair) Geng Yunye...
Geng Yunye left the brigade and passed by the rice drying field. The brigade members were busy preparing for the harvest. The men were sharpening sickles, and the women went to the fields every day to watch over the rice, drive away sparrows, and check the soil moisture and pests.
He looked out of place riding his bicycle past.
After he was discharged from the army, he planted eggplants and potatoes on the two acres of private land he was given. Paddy fields in the brigade were very valuable, so after the rice was harvested in autumn, he had to plant rapeseed or winter wheat on his palm-sized land.
When Geng Yunye rode his 28-bar bicycle to Cheng's house, the sun had already moved to the west.
After Cheng Xin had fumigated the rabbit cage with mugwort, four rabbits were nibbling on fresh dandelions with their three-petal mouths puffed up.
"This rabbit has had a bloated belly for three days. It doesn't look like it's due to indigestion." She touched the back of the rabbit's neck through the cage. "I'm afraid it's pregnant."
There was a female rabbit in the pen with a round belly. Cheng Xin calculated the time and found that the rabbit was almost at the stage of pregnancy.
Geng Yunye squatted by the fence, cutting bamboo strips. At his feet were piled bamboo strips of uniform thickness. He pulled out a strip to measure the size: "The box should have ventilation gaps."
For safety reasons, it is necessary to use bamboo strips to weave an isolation cage for giving birth to babies to prevent the big rabbits from biting or stepping on the babies to death.
Cheng Lei came back from outside and said, "Sister, there are not many people in the fields."
Cheng Xin didn't care: "Everyone is active in making money."
Cheng Lei was indignant: "Why can't we go? Wang Jiangang ate our rabbit meat for nothing. My cousin has such a good relationship with him, but she didn't even say a word of good things to our family."
Cheng Xin paused while pulling the rabbit's fur: "Is Chen Ying close to him?"
Cheng Lei confessed truthfully: "Yes, my cousin and I go to the captain's house to watch TV every day. My cousin is familiar with many people."
He suddenly realized, "My cousin talked to Wang Jiangang yesterday, and then Wang Jiangang came to our house. Could it be that she called him here?"
Cheng Xin didn't say much when there were strangers at home. It didn't matter whether Chen Ying had called her or not. What mattered was that Chen Ying was generous to others, and she didn't want to think badly of the little girl.
Cheng Lei was sulking, feeling betrayed by his friends.
Xu Fengxia came back from the field carrying a hoe, her trouser legs dripping with muddy water. Millet needs proper water during its maturity period, and this is the last time to open the canal to release water.
"There are not many people in the fields now, so it's a good opportunity to bring water to our rice fields while there are few people and we don't have to wait in line."
Cheng Lei angrily complained to his mother: "Mom, do you think she is going too far?"
Xu Fengxia was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Yingying is only two years older than you. She has only been at our house for a few days and is not familiar with the people in the brigade. How could she understand these favors? She just happened to be entertaining guests at our house yesterday. I will have a good talk with her when she gets home. At least she should not hang out with Wang Jiangang. Look at how stingy you are. If you make friends, you will bring them to your house to play. What's the big deal?"
Xu Fengxia sympathized with her cousin's life, and loved Chen Ying as well. She did not hold a grudge against her cousin's daughter because of a meal. Besides, how could she vent her anger on a child over matters between adults?
Cheng Lei pursed his lips.
Geng Yunye skillfully wove the cages. The bamboo strips flew between his fingers. He soon made two rabbit cages and fitted the birthing boxes into the rabbit cages tightly.
Cheng Xin gave him a thumbs up and said, "With your skills, you can make bamboo baskets yourself and sell them at the market."
Geng Yunye said modestly: "My cooking skills are not as good as Uncle Cheng's."
"My dad was just doing it for fun. He would definitely be happy to hear you say that."
The Cheng family has several backpacks of different sizes, and there are fish baskets, grain sieves, winnowing baskets, and countless bamboo baskets hanging on the wall.
There is a bamboo forest on the Cheng family’s private mountain. When Cheng Cunzhi has nothing to do, he will sit on the doorstep and weave bamboo baskets. All the mats in the house are woven by him.
It’s a pity that bamboo baskets in the countryside cannot be sold at a high price, but the older generation knows how to weave them.
Geng Yunye tied the cage mouth tightly with freshly twisted straw rope: "There are similar baskets stacked up at the market stalls in town, and they cost five cents each and come with a bundle of straw rope."
Cheng Xin took down the fish basket she had made last year from the wall. "In the countryside, people usually ask acquaintances to help them make it. People only buy this kind of thing when they have too much money to spend."
Speak of Cao Cao and he will appear.
After Cheng Cunzhi finished the injection, he limped into the yard, holding onto the fence. "I'm afraid the barefoot doctor's needle was modified from a shoe-sole needle!"
He gasped in pain: "Why does penicillin hurt so much?"
"Pfft." Cheng Xin couldn't help laughing, "Dad, aren't you used to it yet?"
Cheng Lei brought a chair to his father: "Dad, please sit down."
Cheng Cunzhi held his waist and sat down. As soon as his butt touched the bench, he grinned: "On my way back just now, I heard some noise on the mountain, like firecrackers. I guess someone was poaching with a musket."
Cheng Lei instantly became interested when he heard about the fire gun, and quickly moved a small stool to sit next to his father: "Who is it, Dad, how do you know it's poaching?!"
Xu Fengxia changed out of her dirty pants from working in the fields, went into the house, changed into clean clothes, and combed her messy hair. "Xinxin, go to the fields and help me keep an eye on them. If the rice fields are full of water, plug the gap."
Cheng Xin picked up the fish basket and tapped Cheng Lei on the forehead: "Don't ask, there are plenty of loaches and snails in the rice fields and ditches. Come with me, and I'll make you spicy fried snails when I come back."
Geng Yunye took the initiative to help carry the shovel, while Cheng Lei ran away with his fish basket.
Geng Yunye rolled up his pants and stepped into the rice field, the mud reaching up to his calves. He held the shovel like a gun, and with one shovel he cut off the roots of three rice plants.
"Don't you soldiers learn how to plant rice?" Cheng Xin smiled and straightened his wrist. "You have to cut diagonally into the water, don't damage the rice stubble."
The thin calluses on Geng Yunye's palm rubbed against the back of her hand, and her skin felt like it was burned.
Cheng Xin pulled her hand back too quickly, which only made her attempt to hide something more obvious.
He coughed dryly, "The troops are teaching how to lay and clear mines."
Cheng Xin tilted her head and stared at the water line that was about to overflow the ridge of the field: "Hurry up and block it, the waterweeds are all rushing into the field."
With the second shovel, the water-blocking mud formed a crooked mound of earth, which actually blocked the gap.
"The engineering company needs to measure the inclination angle when digging trenches." Geng Yunye stepped on the cracks between the ridge and the canal to make them tighter: "New recruits who dig trenches to this extent will be kicked by the squad leader."
Geng Yunye's shirt was splattered with mud. He suddenly measured the ridge of the field with the handle of the shovel: "My old house has been uninhabited for many years. I came back to repair it once, and it seems to be about to collapse. The team asked me to choose a new location for the homestead. Which one do you think is suitable? Is it better to build a brick and tile house or a rammed earth wall?"
Cheng Xin bent down to pick up snails: "If you don't like crowds, choose a quiet place. People in the city build brick houses. If they build brick houses, won't anyone in your team gossip about them?"
"It's a good place to raise rabbits in a quiet place." The shovel suddenly stood in front of her. "I think there's a good place. There are few people, it's quiet, and there's a stream. I can grow alfalfa. Do you think it's okay?"
Cheng Xin looked up curiously, she thought Geng Yunye also wanted to raise rabbits.
Then she suddenly reacted, her face flushed with shame, she stood up, avoiding his gaze. However, her shoe was stuck in the mud and she couldn't pull it out. Her left foot slipped, bringing up the smelly mud. She was about to fall into the mud. Cheng Xin closed her eyes and imagined how embarrassed she would be.
The moment she slipped, Geng Yunye dropped the shovel and bumped her into his arms.
The fish basket overturned and the snails rolled all over the ground.
Cheng Xin pressed her palms against the warm chest. Geng Yunye's shirt was soaked with sweat, and her fingertips trembled at the heat of his chest rising and falling with his breathing.
"Did you fall?" His hand, which was helping her, stopped in mid-air, and he didn't dare to move too much for fear of making her angry.
Cheng Xin turned away, only to find that her ponytail had gotten tangled in his shirt buttons. The smell of heat mixed with soap wafted out from his collar, and her hands were shaking as she untied his hair, with bits of mud stuck between her nails falling off.
"Let me do it." Geng Yunye's Adam's apple rolled, and he ripped off the buttons neatly. His palm rubbed his earlobe, causing a burning sensation.
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