The kiln courtyard of Sir Zhong's family is quite special in the village. His Zhuangzi faces south, with a dirt cliff in the east, not far from the dirt cliff in the west, a deep ditch in the south and a hill called "Chengtaitai" on the opposite side. Everyone says this is a treasure trove of feng shui. Under the high loess cliff, there is a cave with three holes, one big and two small, where Mr. and Mrs. Two live. In the small kiln in the corner, there lived a clerk named Yang in the village. There is an open high kiln above the small cave, which is Sir Zhong's warehouse. In the cave with a height of more than one person next to the big kiln, there is a nest of soil bees all the year round. Experienced old people say that where there are beehives, most of them are leeward and sunny, with better feng shui and closer honey sources.
Just let it be, the kiln of Sir Zhong's house has become the warmest, most lively and most lively place in the village.
From about the first month of the lunar calendar, some older children have been running around the village all day, singing the popular Jiujiu song at the top of their voices, and the last sentence is "998 1, my wife and the old man are standing against the wall." At that time, it was freezing, and it was warm and cold. There is still thick snow in the ravine in front of the door, and the biting cold wind beats against the doors and windows. When the sun came out, it cleared up, and people came out of their homes one after another, still wearing old cotton-padded jackets, hunched over and shivering in cages hand in hand. As soon as they met, they greeted each other and chatted. "Go, turn." "Let's get some sunshine." The door of Mr. Zhong's house seems to have been open all the time, and the kiln yard is sunny and there is no wind. Soon, many people gathered in twos and threes. Everyone sat on the kang, stood on the ground, or squatted down against the earth wall dog at the door. Don't worry, just chat, gossip, tell jokes, one build what did not build, talk about those years when Chen Jiazi's rotten millet couldn't be strung together for eight generations, tear up trivial housework of oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea, and spread false lace news in Fiona Fang. Often at this time, someone simply takes out a cigarette case and puts it on the ground, and everyone will gather together. You spit a pot and I spit a pot, or you roll a stick and I roll a stick and smoke it with relish.
Sir Zhong is the oldest old man in the village, tall and thin, with small garlic, a full face of ravines and no beard. According to grandpa, Sir Zhong is from bad karma. He suffered a lot when he was young. A family of 90 people all died of famine, plague, bandits and war. Later, the uncle who fled to the door was accepted as an adopted son, which continued the incense of that door. According to my uncle, he is a young doll who rolled from the seaside to a depression. The second woman is short and has poor legs and feet. She is a typical woman with small feet. She walked on crutches, shaking all over. Mr. Zhong and his second wife both smoke. Mr. Zhong uses a hookah with a short pole, which is about five inches long. The tobacco rod used by Erpo is very long, about two feet. 365 days a year, there is a washbasin-sized smoke basket on their heatable adobe sleeping platform every day. People like to sit at Mr. Zhong's house to drink water, smoke a pot of cigarettes or roll a stick before going to the fields or when passing by his house after work. Sir Zhong is a man of few words and no temper. He couldn't say a word for a long time and hardly saw him smile. Even when everyone is smoking, he is silent and rarely takes the initiative to speak. I saw him sitting in the crowd, silently and vaguely, smoking one pot after another, in a daze, as if he were sleeping, not surprised or pleased, with a blank expression, and occasionally answering "hmm" and "oh". Sir Zhong likes children. As soon as Brother Qiuwa brought us into the house, he broke pots and pans and looked for delicious food everywhere. Or hide behind the old urn, hide under the chopping board, jump into the grain depot and seize the mystery fearlessly. In short, no matter how we make trouble or find God, he always looks at us with a smile and says nothing. On the other hand, Erbao is a chatterbox. She is eloquent and talkative. When she couldn't stand it, she shouted, "I will crush you bandits!" " Picked up a broom and threw it in the past, forcing us to jump over the wall and scattered birds and animals.
Life is so boring, and I move on in a daze.
The kiln brains and ditches in front of Mr. Er's house are covered with jujube trees. It seems that no one noticed that with the unexpected arrival of summer, these jujube trees bloomed unconsciously, bringing infinite vitality to the yard intentionally or unintentionally. The weather is crisp and sunny. Among the pale yellow and green leaves, strings of golden jujube flowers are swaying quietly, and rice grains are falling like rustling. In the kiln yard, there is a faint sweet aroma everywhere. At that time, Mr. Zhong's beehive was more active than before, making noise and flying around all day, and he was very busy. When I came to the yard, my ears buzzed, as if I had walked into a huge beehive. A little friend once danced with the bees in front because he was too scared, but he didn't expect to be besieged by a large group of bees. His face was swollen with fear and he became Maitreya.
In this quiet rain of dates and flowers, at dawn every day, people come to the kiln of Sir Zhong's house with farm tools such as Mu Cha, Mu Cha and sharp fork, while tidying up farm tools and muttering about the harvest of that year. The early morning sunshine dyed the window lattice red and the birds became noisy. We gathered in the courtyard of the kiln in the midst of calling friends, playing carefree and crazy, and often forgetting to eat. Sometimes, I scramble to climb trees and catch cicadas, tying them into a string with thin wire, making them squeak and listening to the noise with a smile; Sometimes, cats will play a game of catching bees at their waist. Once he saw the bees get into the tung flower on the ground, so he quickly held the tung flower head and listened to the bees purring inside. Sometimes, sweep out a piece of land, draw an "M"-shaped box, hold one leg with both hands, and play kicking games with great interest with the independence of a golden rooster; Sometimes, the partners take turns playing the top until the yard is foggy ... At night, the recorder Lao Yang stood in the middle of the kiln and shouted: "Remember your work!" "Remember to work!" Hearing the shouts, people who had worked all day gathered around lazily. When people left, it was completely dark, so we shouted to go home.
Sir Zhong has worked hard all his life, and he is also strong when he is old. He has been living apart from his children and grandchildren. Autumn came, and he finished harvesting the millet and corn he planted and piled up half a yard at once. Mr. Zhong's grandson, Qiu Wa's brother, is as strong as an ox, as waist as a unicycle, honest and filial, and works hard. He climbed up the ladder nimbly, helped Mr. Zhong carry the millet and millet bag after bag onto the high kiln, swung his arm and threw the corn cob out one by one like a dart. We are very happy to see Mr. Zhong's jujube slowly turn from green to yellow and white, from yellow to red, and finally mature. On the date, Erpo happily asked the children for help. Brother Qiu Wa climbed up the jujube tree on the cliff like a monkey, shaking and jumping violently. A shower of jujube seeds suddenly swished and slammed on our bodies, heads and arms. Jujube is alive and kicking on the ground. We ran, chased and picked up happily, eating one after another, and our hearts were sweet, just like drinking honey juice.
Yes, we did eat refreshing honey. Every year around October of the lunar calendar, Erpo will excitedly walk with little feet and crutches, and the owner will go out and go in the west to send a cup of jujube honey to every household in the village. The color is black, red, black and red, sticky, and the taste is very sweet and sweet, sweet to people's hearts.