Song Sanniang's Journey to Wealth

Chapter 168: Interesting Things in the Village

Song Laoer led a few children to the village. Songjia Village was not a flat land. It was surrounded by three hills. Some houses were built on the flat land, while others were built from the flat land to the middle of the hill.

The scattered houses in the village include yellow mud houses, thatched houses, blue brick and tile houses, and white-walled and black-tiled houses like Song Laoer's, but there are not many of them.

Song Lao Er led everyone through the alleys of the village. In some houses, the branches of the fruit trees in the yards had grown over the walls, as if they were about to grow outside.

Some of the alleys and paths in the village were filled with gravel and sand brought by the villagers, while others were directly paved with blue bricks. Some tenacious grass could be seen growing out of the fields in the alleys.

Everyone followed Song Lao Er through several alleys and passed through more than a dozen houses, and came to a large blue brick and tile house built halfway up the mountain.

He did not stop at the door, but went around to the back of the house, and then walked down the path behind the house. After going down a slope, everyone's attention was instantly attracted. At the bottom of the slope was a large lotus pond.

This large lotus pond suddenly appeared there, with endless lotus leaves and lotus flowers like stars, flashing pink light, embellishing this green emerald.

The breeze blows gently, and the lotus leaves and lotus flowers sway in the wind. The overlapping ups and downs, the slightly rippling water surface, and the trees around the lotus pond make this place look like a picture scroll.

Song Lao Er and his companions were the laymen who had strayed into the painting.

At this time, the barking of dogs suddenly began, and everyone noticed that there were three thatched houses built on the left side of the loess slope.

Several dogs in front of the thatched cottage were barking wildly at the group of people who suddenly appeared. Song Sanniang was a little scared when she heard them, fearing that they would pounce on her and bite her.

"Is Lao Zhang here? I'm Song Lao Er." Song Lao Er shouted loudly.

"Hey, here they come, here they come." Lao Zhang was resting on the wooden bed in the third thatched house. When he heard the sound, he quickly got up, put on his straw sandals and walked out.

"Song Lao Er, why are you here?" Lao Zhang asked, and then he found a few children following him. He smiled and greeted them, "Come in and sit down." After that, he scolded a few dogs.

"Stop yelling and get down quickly. These are all children from the village. Don't yell next time you see them."

Hearing his scolding, the dogs wagged their tails at him and then obediently lay down in front of the first thatched hut.

Song Lao Er then asked everyone to follow him, but he walked inside, close to the dogs, and the children walked outside. Song Lao Er stood in front of the dogs and kept the children behind him.

"When the children walked to the third thatched house, Song Laoer followed them. Lao Zhang brought two stools from the house and asked them to sit. The children greeted Lao Zhang and then sat down.

"Lao Zhang, I came here today to catch a few puppies with you to take back to guard the house. Do you have any puppies here?" Song Lao Er asked directly.

"Haha, how about the one that Niu Lao San helped you catch last time? I have four more that are similar to that one, but they are a little bigger than the one he caught last time." Lao Zhang said with a smile.

Song Laoer certainly had no objection. After hearing what Song Laoer said, Lao Zhang went into the second thatched house. Soon, his big hands like a palm leaf fan came out, carrying four puppies.

These four puppies are no longer puppies, they are as big as a human calf. They did not bark when Lao Zhang took them out, but wagged their tails vigorously and stuck out their tongues, very docile.

When I saw four puppies, a big dog came over, wagging its tail and licking the puppies' fur. I could tell at a glance that it was the mother of the puppies.

There were four puppies, two were yellow, one was white, and one was black. Song Lao Er called Si Niang and the others to let them choose.

Lao Zhang put the four dogs down. The four dogs did not run away after being put on the ground, but just circled around Lao Zhang's feet.

Si Niang and Wu Niang touched them with their hands, and they were not afraid. Xiao Bai even stretched out his tongue to lick Si Niang's hand, making her giggle. She pointed at Xiao Bai and said she wanted this one.

Wu Niang was still choosing. She wanted to pick the black one, but there was a yellow one at home, and she wanted to pick a yellow one to play with the yellow one, so she was in a dilemma.

Seeing her like this, Song Laoer asked her which one she wanted. Wu Niang told her about her dilemma. Song Laoer originally thought that raising two more would be enough.

But seeing Wu Niang's struggle, he waved his hand and took all four of them, letting them keep each other company.

Wu Niang clapped her hands with joy. Only the mother dog seemed to know that her children were going to be sent away. She had tears in her eyes and licked the fur of each of them reluctantly.

Song Sanniang and Qin Yuanyuan couldn't bear to see them, so Song Sanniang said to the mother dog, "We will bring them back to see you later."

The mother dog seemed to really understand. She barked at Song Sanniang twice and wagged her tail desperately.

After buying the dog, Song Lao Er gave the money to Lao Zhang, looked at the lotus pond and asked, "Do you want to pick lotus pods and lotus flowers?"

Several people said they wanted to, so Song Lao Er told Lao Zhang that he wanted to go to the lotus pond to pick lotus pods.

Lao Zhang laughed and said, "Wait for me." Then he went into the third thatched house. After a while he came out with a straw hat in his hand. "Let's go," he shouted.

So everyone followed him to the lotus pond, where a small boat was parked. Lao Zhang rolled up his pants and went into the water. The water was not deep, just up to his waist. He held the boat to let everyone get in.

Everyone stood on the boat one by one, and Lao Zhang pushed the boat slowly in the lotus pond.

His tanned face was always covered with an honest smile. "Look around. If you see any lotus pods in the lotus pond that you like, tell me and I'll take you there to pick them."

Song Lao Er smiled and said, "Lao Zhang, thank you for your help." Lao Zhang smiled and shook his head, "What's the big deal? I go into the water every day. If anyone wants to buy lotus roots, lotus root tips and lotus pods, I will get them for them."

The four women were so excited that they wanted to jump into the lotus pond themselves. However, Qin Haoxi was much more polite than them. When he saw the lotus pods within his reach, he reached out to pick them.

Song Sanniang picked a few lotus flowers that were either in bud or half-opened. She planned to take them back and plant them.

Song Sanniang suddenly wanted to eat lotus root tips, so she told Lao Zhang about it. Without saying a word, Lao Zhang bent down and started looking for lotus root tips in the water. The boat had oars, so Song Lao Er rowed the boat around in the lotus pond.

In fact, Qin Yuanyuan also wanted to go into the water, but she gave up the idea when she remembered that she only brought a set of spare clothes. From time to time, the laughter of Si Niang and others floated in the lotus pond.

After everyone got ashore, Lao Zhang washed his hands and feet, took a bamboo basket, and put the lotus leaves, lotus flowers, lotus pods and lotus roots that everyone had picked into it.

He took out two large lotus roots, each with three sections, from the first thatched house and put them in the bamboo basket. He said with a smile, "These lotus roots and these are for you to eat."

Song Laoer had no intention of taking advantage of Lao Zhang. He forced a tael of silver into Lao Zhang's pocket. Lao Zhang had no choice but to accept it, muttering, "The children come and play often."

Several children said goodbye to him politely. Song Laoer walked in front carrying a bamboo basket. Everyone had a great time this morning. Si Niang asked curiously, "Dad, does Uncle Zhang live in a thatched hut? Where are his family members?"

Song Laoer happened to walk to the big blue brick and tile house. He pointed at the house and said, "This house belongs to Uncle Zhang. His family lives here. Sometimes he lives in the thatched house to look after the lotus pond, and sometimes he goes back home to live. When the lotus root buyers come, he sells all the lotus roots and then he can go back home to live."

Song Laoer and his friends were chatting and laughing all the way home, planning to have a lotus root feast for noon today.