Farmhouse Green Plum

Daya took two steps forward and caught a glimpse of her eldest cousin Song Tian from the corner of her eye. She was suddenly startled: "Have you tied up the cow?"

Her cousin has had no sense of responsibility since he was young and loves to join in the fun. From childhood to adulthood, he has caused so many troubles just for the sake of watching the fun that they cannot be counted on one’s ten fingers.

Song Tian was stunned for a moment, a flash of panic flashed across his face, "Leave me alone!"

After saying this, he ran towards Qinggang Bay across the street like the wind.

Daya suddenly became worried. Could it be that he really came to join in the fun without tying up the cow?

With worry in her heart, she went up the mountain to bundle up the pine needles, and then she and her friends carried them down the mountain and walked to the village entrance.

As soon as he saw her, Song Yuan ran towards her with his short legs, "Sister, I'm not running around."

Daya pulled her left thumb out from under the backpack on her shoulder, took his outstretched hand, looked up and thanked the village chief: "Thank you, village chief."

As she spoke, she walked over with the other girls and placed the backpack on the stone steps under the big tree.

The paulownia tree at the entrance of the village is nearly a hundred years old, and its trunk is so thick that it takes three people to hug it. I heard that it was almost blown down by a strong wind decades ago, so the villagers built a circle of stone platforms around it for protection.

Because the stone platform is of moderate height, villagers like to rest here when carrying things up and down the mountain.

The little girls were not tall enough, so they could only rest in the broken gap on the side. The taller ones stood on tiptoe to carry the backpack. Those who were not tall enough could only put it on the ground first, and then two friends would work together to lift the backpack onto the stone step, so that they could easily carry it when they walked.

Daya was relatively tall among the girls, and she could easily place the backpack on the stone step by standing on tiptoe and bending her back.

Except in winter, the village chief would sit under the paulownia tree to enjoy the coolness almost every day. At this time of the day, they would talk to the village chief and beg him to tell them some interesting things about the outside world.

It is said that the village chief traveled a lot when he was young and was the most experienced person in the village.

But today, the girls were not in the mood to listen to funny stories. Xiaohua's experience made them feel sorry for her and worried that they would have the same experience in the future.

"Hey, the girls in your village are so capable!" A strange voice sounded.

Everyone looked over and saw a peddler coming from not far away. He put down his carrying pole and was looking at them while wiping the sweat from his forehead.

The girls did not respond. If it were usual, they would have curiously looked to see what new things the peddler had on his pole. Even if they couldn't afford to buy them, they would have just looked at them.

But today, I'm really not in the mood.

The old village chief waved his palm-leaf fan and said cheerfully, "They are still young, so they don't deserve praise."

He narrowed his eyes again and looked the peddler up and down. "This young man looks unfamiliar. Where is he from?"

"I'm from Shengli Village. I used to go to Guoxiang. This is my first time coming to your Xinghua Village."

After explaining, he looked at the girls again: "Old man, you are too modest. I have been to so many villages and have seen many girls of this age. But the girls from Xinghua Village are the most capable and sensible."

As he spoke, he looked at Daya, whose backpack was filled with pine needles, and praised her, "Especially this little girl. It's rare to see someone so capable at this age!"

The old village chief sighed softly, "Children from poor families have to grow up early, and this girl has a miserable life. Her mother died of complications during childbirth, and her father died when she was four years old. Now she lives with her grandmother and her second uncle's family. Fortunately, this girl has been sensible and capable since she was young, and she has been helping with housework since she was five years old."

He raised his palm-leaf fan and pointed at Song Yuan beside Daya, "This is her little cousin. She raised him after he was weaned."