Chapter 620
In the afternoon, the threshing ground became lively again. This was the final, and more villagers gathered to watch.
The old banyan tree next to the threshing ground is now full of children watching the fun.
Uncle Wu asked everyone to step back so that the circle would be bigger, allowing more people in the first row to see it and leaving more space for the contestants.
The crowd laughed and moved back, their heels crushing a few missed grains of corn and startling two hens napping beside a haystack.
Su Lihong squatted down to tie her shoelaces, her two long braids hanging down, and she said to Su Dezhi:
"Brother Zhi! I will definitely give it my all, so don't show any mercy!"
Su Dezhi smiled and said to his cousin who was only a few months younger than him:
"Haha, then I'll be serious. If you lose later, don't cry like you did when you were a kid."
Seeing everyone laughing, Su Lihong blushed and said, "What are you talking about childhood? I'm already thirty!"
The aunt next to her poked Zhisao's waist and said:
"Your Dezhi is still so mean. When we were little, he once won all the fried corn in Lihong's pocket, causing her to squat against the wall and cry for the whole afternoon. But in the end, I managed to comfort her with a sweet potato."
Mrs. Zhi smiled and shook her head. Tiger Boy in her arms was stuffing a piece of fruit candy into her mouth, and the candy wrapper made a crisp sound in the wind.
At exactly three o'clock, the referee's whistle pierced the clear sky.
Su Lihong served first. The ping-pong ball was thrown high into the air, drawing a golden line in the light leaking through the gaps between the leaves of the locust tree.
Su Dezhi moved sideways to meet the attack. The crisp sound of the racket hitting the ball startled the sparrows on the telephone poles. The fluttering sounds of their wings mixed with the exclamations of the crowd, weaving a lively net above the threshing ground.
In the first game, both players were full of energy and the score was extremely close.
Su Lihong's high toss serves were successful every time, and the ping-pong ball fell like a bullet that could turn, brushing against the edge of the table.
Su Dezhi made up for the disadvantage with solid fast breaks, and every smash made the Tiger Kids raise their glow sticks and shout in unison.
When the score was tied at 18:18, Su Lihong suddenly changed her tactics, combining a chop with a quick attack to make the ping-pong ball fly past with a strange spin. Su Dezhi was unable to save the ball and could only watch it fall into bounds.
"21:19, Su Lihong wins the first game!"
Su Lihong jumped up, waving her racket, her ponytail brushed across her cheek, and the hairpin on the end of her hair flashed.
In the second game, Su Dezhi obviously intensified his offensive. His backhand quick attack was like a storm, and the height of the ping-pong ball bouncing on the table became lower and lower, forcing Su Lihong to retreat continuously.
Su Lihong gritted her teeth and launched a fierce smash, the ball brushing the side and flying out. Zhi Ge flew to save the ball, but he fell to the muddy ground in the threshing ground, and his racket slipped out of his hand.
"Brother Zhi!" Su Lihong exclaimed and walked around the table.
Zhi Ge suddenly grinned and said, "Lihong, you've been fooled. This ball is mine."
It turned out that although he had thrown the ball out just now, he had successfully saved it, but Su Lihong, who ran over to care about him, did not catch it.
Su Lihong breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that he was fine, then stamped her feet and said angrily:
"You just play dirty tricks!"
There is still some gap in physical strength and endurance between men and women. Su Lihong gradually found it difficult to fight, but she still insisted that Su Dezhi not let up. She wanted to know where the limit of her ability was.
In the end, Su Lihong lost several games in a row after winning the first game and lost the championship.
The award ceremony was held in the twilight. Uncle Wu stood on the millstone, holding a brand new banknote in his hand:
"Champion Su Dezhi, prize money 10 yuan! Runner-up Su Lihong, prize money 8 yuan..."
Su Dezhi was so excited amid the applause from the audience that his eyes suddenly lit up. He raised the money in his hand and said:
"Well, I'll use this prize money to hire a film crew. Ask them when they're free to come to our village and show 'Heroes of Table Tennis'! I'll make up for the shortfall!"
Su Lihong also smiled and slapped her eight yuan on the millstone: "Brother Zhi! Count me in too!"
"Good!" Thunderous applause broke out in the threshing ground.
The children jumped up and screamed, startling the hens next to the haystack and making them flutter around again.
When the setting sun dyed the threshing ground a warm red, the ping-pong table was moved back to the village committee yard.
Several little kids couldn't wait to follow. One girl with pigtails raised a branch like a racket and shouted in a baby voice, "I'm the world champion!"
The days of eating and playing passed quickly, and it was already the third day of junior high school. Su Miao and his father planned to return to Ning County tomorrow.
Her nephews and nieces were reluctant to part with her, so they made an appointment to go to the fields to roast chickens today.
The sunlight on the third day of junior high school was like melted honey, flowing across the flat ground of the threshing ground and weaving a golden web on the aerial roots of the old banyan tree.
Su Miao squatted beside the kitchen stove, watching Zhisao put freshly fried white rice cakes into a bamboo basket. The cakes wrapped in a blue printed cloth handkerchief were still steaming, the edges were burnt golden, and mixed with the smell of the lingering firewood in the stove.
When Xiaobao was stuffing fried peanuts into his pocket, he dropped two on the stove and they were immediately snatched away by the black cat curled up next to it.
"Aunt, Brother Hu and the others are here, let's go out."
The haystacks on the ridges of the fields still had overnight dew hanging on them, and the fields, which had been resting for a while, were now dry and suitable for growing chickens and sweet potatoes.
Brother Yu walked in front carrying a hoe, while Su Hui and Su Miao carried bamboo baskets filled with processed fat chickens and other supplies.
When they reached an open area, Brother Yu stopped and knocked the ridge with his shovel: "Here it is!"
The children in the village were all good at building earthen kilns. Su Miao couldn't help, so he just seasoned the big fat chicken on the side.
The children skillfully brought lumps of earth of different sizes, surrounded the circle drawn by Brother Yu with a shovel, and built an earthen kiln like building blocks.
Xiaohu stood on tiptoe and placed the largest piece of earth steadily on the top, shouting excitedly: "Look! My pagoda kiln!" The other children laughed and corrected the crooked pieces of earth, while stuffing dry straw and pine branches into the bottom of the kiln.
Su Miao squatted on the edge of the field, rubbed the chicken's body with his fingertips dipped in coarse salt, and stuffed chopped wild pepper, green onion and ginger into the chicken's stomach. The salty and spicy aroma wafted away.
A little girl with a big red flower on her head, wearing a tweed skirt and leather shoes, squatted beside me and asked, "Auntie, when can we eat?"
She smiled and said, "Wait until the earthen kiln is red hot, knock down the roof, bury the chicken inside, and fly a kite for a while. The smell will be so good that it will make the children in the next village cry with envy."
This little girl is the "new niece" from Ning County. Su Miao has a divorced cousin who went to the county to work. During the Chinese New Year this year, he brought back a divorced woman with a child. He said that they had obtained a marriage certificate and asked the elders in the family to choose a date for the wedding.
His parents had no idea about this matter and were so angry that they made a big fuss. The clan members went to try to reconcile and Su Miao went along to watch.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
