The Era of Hard Work

It was quite dark, so Hu Chunlan turned on the light at the door of the house, took two tin flashlights, and handed one to Lu Dong.

Lu Dong turned it on and tried it, but the light was flickering, probably the battery is not working well.

Unscrew the back cover, pour out two dry batteries, bite them one by one, put them back again, it is much brighter.

Lu Dong filled the small plastic bucket with water and said, "Mom, I can catch it myself, you can rest."

"This is just resting. Catch the cicada monkey is nothing." Hu Chunlan turned on the flashlight, looked for it on the tree in front of the house, and reminded Lu Dong: "Catch the cicada monkey and sell it, don't tell it. Remember!"

Lu Dong said: "This thing is a pest. It sucks tree sap. We are here to eliminate pests in the orchard."

"Yes, pest control!" Hu Chunlan accepted the reason.

Holding a small plastic bucket in one hand and a flashlight in the other, Lu Dong walked into the apple grove from the westernmost side of the orchard.

They are all old Guoguang trees. The trees are relatively thick, and most of them branch from a height of more than one meter.

On the first tree, Lu Dong caught three and threw them into the bucket to soak.

This is something I knew when I was seven or eight years old. Knowing that a monkey will not die after being soaked in water for a long time, it can effectively prevent it from shedding its skin.

Hu Chunlan followed along another row of trees, and warned: "When you go to sell, put on a serious face so that no one can see you."

There are many mosquitoes in the fruit forest, buzzing continuously, and the farmers have rough skin and thick flesh, so they are not afraid of them, and occasionally bumpers will bump into them.

The bug got its name because it couldn't see anything, so it bumped around blindly, and it still hurt a little when it hit someone's head.

"There are dark lights in the woods, I can catch them myself." Lu Dong mentioned again.

Hu Chunlan wouldn't listen, and continued to search: "Two people caught more than one. Dongzi, after school, you should find a wife to make an engagement, and you have to keep money on hand."

Lu Dong's face turned dark, and he almost hit a tree: "The eldest brother and the second brother are not married yet."

Hu Chunlan raised her voice unconsciously: "Lv Xia is in the army, and the situation is special. Lu Chun's conditions, girls in the 18th and 19th years, can be selected by the nearby villages. Dongzi, if you don't go to school, you have to hurry up. Our family's conditions are average. The sooner the better."

At this moment, Lu Dong really understood why the old lady agreed to know the monkey and sell it, thinking more than him...

This is mother.

In fact, there is one thing Hu Chunlan didn't say, it's better to do something to tie Lu Dong than to go out and make trouble.

"Now it's not like in the early years. The woman's heart is big." Hu Chunlan is still saying: "Small meeting, big meeting, change of mouth, three gold, marriage, the woman can be tens of thousands more. Sensible people are okay, and the money after marriage is less than ten thousand." Give it to the newcomer. Those who are not sensible and have younger brothers at home will not be able to return."

Hu Chunlan was simple but shrewd: "Dongzi, we have to be careful. It's best to find a wife with two sisters in the family. Those with younger brothers will go to the back row. We can't afford it."

Lu Dong didn't worry about it, but being a good listener could make my mother feel better.

"Isn't it okay to be an only child?" Lu Dong asked casually.

"How many families like this are there in the countryside?" Hu Chunlan asked back.

Lu Dong thought for a while, and there were, but very few.

Here, those born around 80, the first one is a girl, followed by younger sisters or younger brothers.

Hu Chunlan added: "It's too heavy to find an only child and provide for the two families in the future."

Seeing that Lu Dong became more sensible, Hu Chunlan wished to instill all her life experience into her son, so that Lu Dong could avoid pitfalls and be less fooled in the future.

Lu Dong could understand his old lady's mood, and would strike up a conversation from time to time.

The orchard covers an area of ​​more than 20 mu. It has not been moved for many years, and it has been raining a lot this summer. There are many cicada monkeys crawling out of the ground, and many trees are harvested.

Turning a few rows of trees down, because there was water in the small plastic bucket, Lu Dong had already grabbed half of the bucket and poured it into the large cast aluminum basin, crushing it.

What Hu Chunlan carried was a thick plastic bag, and it fell down no less than Lu Dong's.

"Is there a hundred or ten?" More than Lu Dong expected.

Hu Chunlan made some estimates: "Almost. After searching this time, I will search again at eleven o'clock."

Lu Dong asked, "Is there any trick?"

Hu Chunlan is not Lu Jianren: "Who has nothing to think about this."

More than 20 acres of orchard, aside from the vegetable field and living area, there are hundreds of fruit trees. Lu Dong searched and thought about how to get more harvest.

Knowing that monkeys have strong seasonality, from my childhood memory, there will be less in August.

Since it is certain that it can be sold for money, Lu Dong certainly wants to get more.

In this way, you can also have money to do more preparations.

When he came to a fruit tree with a tall trunk, Lu Dong could not help squatting down when he shone his flashlight on it.

In the middle of the trunk, there was a layer of broken plastic sheeting wrapped around it, and four or five cicada monkeys were covered in the lower half of the trunk by the plastic sheeting.

Knowing that the monkey was struggling, it couldn't climb the layer of plastic sheeting.

Lu Dong had a vague impression, as if the forestry station had issued materials a few years ago, wrapping smooth plastic sheets on the trees to prevent moth larvae from climbing up in the ground.

Later, someone said that this would delay the growth of the tree, and my mother tore it off again.

He looked carefully for a while, and roughly understood what was going on.

The plastic sheeting is slippery, and the cicada monkey's paws can't hang on it, so it can't continue to climb up, so it can only spin around under the plastic sheeting.

Lu Dong grabbed the cicada monkeys, threw them all into the bucket, and went to check the plastic sheeting. The plastic sheeting itself was not sticky, and it was tied to the tree with a small piece of wide tape.

adhesive tape? Would wide tape work as well?

Lu Dong thought this might be a solution, so he found Hu Chunlan, took out the leftover yellow wide tape from the house, went back to the fruit forest and found a random tree, tore off the tape and tied it around the tree twice.

There wasn't much left of the tape, after tying five trees it was gone.

Lu Dong went to other places to continue looking for Zhizhihou. After searching around the orchard, he persuaded his old lady to go back to sleep. He changed his flashlight and went to the river bank.

Find straw bait, pull the construction line, and drag the soaked straw ashore.

According to the flashlight, several leeches of different sizes were tightly attached to the straw, and one of them could be as long as ten centimeters.

These little things are creamy and creamy and feel pretty good to the touch.

They bear a lot of childhood fun for teenagers on both sides of the river.

In addition to forming a ball as a bouncy ball, it can also be placed in a girl's pencil case.

Lu Dong said that this kind of thing has nothing to do with him, so he let the toad go.

Once a leech sucks on something, it won't let go. It can't be burned or fanned with the soles of shoes, and there is no alcohol and soapy water. Lu Dong had to throw a small piece of straw into the water bag.

Pull aside the straw, there are also inside, those less than five centimeters are ignored, and all the larger ones are removed.

For a bundle of blood-stained straw, Lu Dong harvested eight large leeches.

The second one is less, and there are seven.

Compared with dragging water hyacinths, it saves time and effort.

Although there was no new chicken blood, Lu Dong still threw the straw back into the water. Aunt Tie had said before that the chicken would be killed tomorrow morning.

Back in the orchard, all the leeches were put together in a broken earthen pot, there were more than 70 leeches in total.

Lu Dong drank some water, rested for a while, and went into the fruit forest again, first to look at the tree wrapped in tape.

It's done! it works!

There were cicada monkeys on all five trees, the least one and the most six, all of which were spinning around under the tape, unable to climb up at all!

This catches up, easy and freehand!

For other trees, I can only continue to use stupid methods to find them. Lu Dong decided to sell the ones he caught tomorrow and buy tape first!

Whether it will hinder the growth of fruit trees, but there is no need to worry, Hu Chunlan has long said that after this season of fruit, all Guoguang trees will be cut down, and the county will promote red Fuji next year.

His family can't contract anymore, and can't afford to wait for the red Fuji to bear fruit.

At twelve o'clock, Lu Dong couldn't stand it anymore, poured the plastic bucket into a big basin, played with a flashlight, and rode a 28-bar back to the old house to sleep.

When there is harvest, there is motivation. Before 5:30 the next day, Lu Dong went out to the orchard, had a quick breakfast, took two bundles of straw and construction lines by bike, and rushed to the chicken farm to get the chicken blood. In addition to the two straws last night, four bait nests were planted in different places.

Then, prepare to go to Quannan City.

First ride a bicycle to sell cicada monkeys, and then transfer to the bus to go to the West Market.

This way, you can save five yuan in the fare.

The old minibus wandered around to pull people from the village, and they didn't move fast.

It is much farther from the East Outer Ring Road to the West Market than from Lujia Village to the East Outer Ring Road. It takes two hours to ride a bicycle, and it is not easy to save one yuan for the round trip bus fare. If you really want to ride there, you don’t have to do anything else this day.

Knowing that the monkey is easy to say, put it in a plastic bucket and soak it, and then tie it on the car seat.

Leeches can't do that.

To go to the West Market, you have to take a bus. Take it casually. The driver may not let you get on the bus. If something happens on the way, it may become a biochemical terrorist incident.

Lu Dong brought a black artificial leather handbag, first put the leeches in a thick convenience bag, sprinkled some water on it, pricked a few air holes, and then put it in the handbag. At first glance, it looked like it was containing valuables.

Open a bag and sprinkle some water on the way, and sprinkle some water again at Shilibao, with the vitality of the leeches, stick to the small meaning of the West Market.

Finding a water cup to fill with water, Lu Dong rode his bicycle and rushed to Quannan City.

After passing the expressway bridge hole, Lu Dong went west through the University City, which was under rapid construction, and there were many cars pulling Tulasha on the road.

Compared with yesterday's coolness, today the sun is high and the weather is hot. Lu Dong stopped to drink water several times, but the sweat still couldn't stop streaming from his head, washing away the dust on his face, leaving ugly black mud marks.

Lu Dong's forearm brushed against his forehead, and his arm became black.

It was very hot, very bitter, and very tired. Lu Dong bent forward and pushed forward vigorously, but his mind was extraordinarily clear.

An ordinary person who used to rush around for mortgages and livelihoods every day,

Back in 1998, a little guy like him with no background, no funds, and no academic performance wanted to change his destiny, and sometimes he really had to fight with his life.

The people riding the Mustang 100 motorcycle roared past, and Lu Dong was a little envious. Burning oil was indeed faster than burning food.

A dirt truck drove by, not too fast, with a cyclist caught in the back of the truck.

"Brother!" The man saw that Lu Dong was covered in mud and sweat, and yelled kindly: "There is still a spot, before the driver is not paying attention, hurry up!"

Lu Dong resisted not going, and kindly reminded: "Be careful! Brake carefully!"

If the muck truck brakes in an emergency, the people behind will kiss the rear of the car.

Under the scorching sun and dust, Lu Dong drank a large glass of water before seeing the shadow of the East Outer Ring Road, but he didn't feel the slightest urge to urinate, and the water almost sweated.

A jersey has long been soaked, stained with dust, and the red is almost black.

But Lu Dong is not alone. There are many people like him along the way. Too many people ride bicycles and even travel with their feet, trying to build a sky for themselves and their families behind.

This also made Lu Dong further realize that now he is just an ordinary member of the low-level sentient beings.

The little impetuosity caused by Zhengda auction disappeared without a trace.

An hour and ten minutes later, when we arrived at Shilipu Market, Lu Dong locked his car in the bicycle area. His throat was so dry that it was smoking. He hung up his handbag and carried a bucket to find a water tap outside the gate guard, and politely told the gatekeeper about it. With a sound, I washed my face first, then opened my mouth and put it under the faucet, poured cold water for a while, and felt much more comfortable in an instant.

The sad thing is that in order to cool off the heat and refreshment for a while, he drank too much cold water. Lu Dong carried the bucket into the market, and he could feel the water in his stomach sloshing back and forth, and he even gurgled.

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