Siheyuan: He Yuzhu’s Sunshine Farm

Chapter 37 A courtyard of bad guys
When there was no running water in the courtyard, the water depended on a well outside the courtyard. You must know that the courtyard houses in Sijiu City did not have toilets in the 50s, but there were wells. Residents mainly relied on the public toilets in the alleys. There were at least two in an alley. of public toilets.

Every morning, adults from the yard come to the well to fetch water. There is a large bucket and a small bucket. The small bucket is tied with a long rope. The small bucket is slowly put into the well. When it is half a foot away from the water, the rope is shaken and the small bucket swings left and right. , shake your hands again, and exert force, the small bucket will do a somersault under the force transmitted by the rope, and fall into the water. Then lift the rope to straighten the small bucket, lift it and sink it, and then lift it up when the bucket is submerged in the water. The water is full.

The strong man alternated his left and right hands and directly lifted up the full bucket of water. The weak woman got half the bucket of water and hurriedly hoisted it up. To lift, press the rope on the edge of the well, and use the edge of the well as a pulley or fulcrum. The water is hoisted up with sections of rope.The grooves along the edge of the well were worn out by ropes over many years.

After He Daqing left, He Yuzhu also started to fetch water by himself. The bucket was shaking on the water, but he couldn't somersault or fall down. After a lot of effort and a few random knocks, there was some water in the bucket. Hoisted up.

In this way, a load of water was hoisted up and down more than ten times before it was half full.

A few days later, a bucket finally fell down. I pulled the rope and found half a bucket of water. I was so happy that I hurriedly lifted it up.

After the first time, there was a second time, and for the third time, He Yuzhu finally mastered the key to lifting water, but after all, he did not dare to fill it with water and could not lift it.

A few years have passed, and He Yuzhu's strength has increased. Not only can he lift a full bucket of water effortlessly, but he can also lift two large buckets of water on a pole with both hands, across the corridor, across the house, and directly to the water tank at home. forward.

After two trips back and forth, the water tank was filled.

One summer, I suddenly heard someone shouting in the yard: No, no, no, Xu Damao fell into the well.He Yuzhu hurriedly ran over to take a look and saw many people gathered around the well.

Several adults were trying to save him by the well. After hearing Xu Damao's cries in the well, they knew that he was not in danger. Fortunately, it was summer and it hadn't rained for many days. The water in the well was only more than three feet deep. Xu Damao The 1.3-meter-tall body was not seriously injured when he fell. He stood up and grabbed the pebbles on the well wall. The water just reached his shoulders.

The adult put the bucket down and shouted to Xu Damao, asking him to step on the bucket and hold the rope with both hands.Xu Damao understood and did as he was told. After a while, Damao was hoisted up and rescued.

The adults asked Xu Damao if he was injured. Xu Damao cried and said that he was not injured, but he was scared to pee.

When we heard that we had peeed, everyone said, how can we drink this water? Do we need to eat the urine of children? No, we have to dig out the well.

Now that the water is polluted, it would cost more than ten yuan to dig out wells. Although each household can't pay even a dime, some people are still unwilling to pay.

What to do? The well must be dug out. After much deliberation, Yi Zhonghai actually suggested that it would be better to let He Yuzhu and He Yuyu try it. Everyone only needs to pool five yuan to pay the tuition for the two of them.

At this time, everyone laughed and said that this method was good. Xu Damao's father stood up and took out a dollar himself. After getting the five dollars, Yi Zhonghai came to He Yuzhu's home. I told He Yuzhu about digging out the well. According to Yi Zhonghai, digging out the well is very simple. As long as He Yuzhu and He Yuyu clean up the bottom of the well, they can easily earn five yuan. This is what Yi Zhonghai gave them. No matter how many children wanted to take the good job that he had snatched away, he would not let him do it.

He Yuzhu and He Yuyu were so grateful. In the end, Yi Zhonghai even took out one yuan from the five yuan and said it was kept for the two brothers and sisters, because the tuition fee for the two brothers and sisters was only four yuan.But is it really that simple to dig a well?
Of course not. In rural areas, digging for wells is a big deal. As the saying goes, "If you dig a well three times, you will get sweet water."Cleaning the well can not only remove impurities in the well and make the well water clearer and purer, but can also strengthen the well body and extend the service life of the well.

Cleaning a well is a grand event for every household, and it is also a dangerous and strenuous work.

The season for digging wells should be summer.Because the temperature at the bottom of the well is low and cold, people who dig wells in summer can tolerate it.Those who go down into the well must choose short and thin young men. Those who are too tall will have trouble getting out of the narrow well, just like "an old buffalo fell into the well--it is too weak to help it."

Most of the wells at that time were very simple, with the walls of the wells retaining the original appearance of the soil outside. Only those with better families were willing to spend money to buy some bricks and decorate the walls and bottom of the wells internally. This was commonly known as "circle wells", which were made of bricks. Bricks were used to build up the walls of the well from bottom to top.

When circling a well, craftsmen would leave symmetrical grooves on both sides of the well every half a meter or so, so that workers could step on them and go up and down the well like stairs when digging out the well.

Before the workers go down the well, they have hemp ropes tied around their waists and short shovels and other tools inserted into them. One end of the rope is held tightly by the partner who remains on the ground.After he carefully stepped on the slippery foot sockets on the well body, supported the well wall with both hands, and slowly descended to the bottom of the well, the people on the ground tied a wooden bucket with a hemp rope and lowered it to the bottom of the well.

The people working underground used shovels to clean the silt and garbage into the bucket. After shouting, the people above pulled the wooden bucket out of the well mouth and dumped it. In this way, they cleaned and desilted bucket by bucket.

Those four dollars almost made He Yueyue die of exhaustion in the well. Because the bottom of the well was small, the temperature was very high, and he had to exert all his strength. He wanted to get out early, so He Yueyue used too much strength and almost died in the well. It was He Yuzhu Seeing something wrong with He Yuyu, he asked He Yuyu to rest first.

If He Yuyu keeps digging like this, He Yuyu will not be able to withstand it.

For the four yuan tuition fee, He Yuzhu and He Yuyu dug underground for more than two hours. The water gradually became clear, and only streams of spring water emerged from the edge of the bluestone slab. The water in the well gradually increased. At this time, , He Yuzhu and He Yuyu went to the wellhead.

How bad these bastards in the courtyard are, and the worst among them is Yi Zhonghai, but Silly Zhu always thought that Yi Zhonghai was a good person, and gave him the opportunity to dig a well, so that he could earn four yuan, and he regarded Yi Zhonghai as a He respects him as much as his own father.

After He Yuzhu told the story about himself and Yu Yujing, everyone couldn't say anything because everyone felt guilty about this matter. Then the deaf old lady walked out of the courtyard with her aunt on crutches.

He Yuzhu also took the opportunity to go home with the rain. He Yuzhu will not let go of this matter. This old guy Yi Zhonghai must pay a price, but whether this price can be paid by Yi Zhonghai is still unknown. According to the current situation, Yi Zhonghai has been stealing for 15 years and the amount is huge. There is no problem in being sentenced to ten years. However, now he is worried about whether the deaf old lady has any special means.

If anything, this would not be so optimistic.

(End of this chapter)