Hello 1983

  Chapter 194 Pick and choose!

   "Grandpa Wang, don't worry, the presents are all ready for you. After dinner, I'll lead you to pick them out, pick whatever you want."

  Liu Qingshan knew that Professor Wang was joking, but Grandpa Wang did his best for Jiapigou, and the villagers including him were very grateful, thanking him was a must.

  Professor Wang nodded in satisfaction: "Xiao Shanzi, you have a conscience, the gift must be better than this bracelet from your grandfather."

   Hearing Grandpa Wang say such angry words, even the fourth and fifth children winked at each other and snickered there. The old and young children have similar tempers.

  Professor Wang, of course, also saw the small movements of these two little girls, and wanted to tease them.

  His grandchildren are not around, so he took these two as his own, so he asked happily: "Caifeng, Shanxing, grandpa's birthday, have you prepared any gifts?"

Gift?

  The fourth child and the fifth child looked at each other again, their big eyes flickered a few times, as if they were unprepared.

   These two little guys are only seven years old. At their age, they really can't think of this.

   Besides, in this era, cooking a few eggs or eating a bowl of longevity noodles on your birthday is considered a high-end treatment.

  Giving gifts or something hasn’t really become popular yet.

  Elder’s birthday is like this, let alone children, two eggs will be happy.

  Even families with many children have a lot of work at home and outside the house. It is common for them to forget when they are busy.

   Seeing the two little girls dumbfounded, Professor Wang finally found a little balance:

   "Old Liu, aren't you qualified to be a grandfather? It must be patriarchal, and you don't care about the two little granddaughters. Otherwise, you can be my granddaughter."

"You!"

  Liu Shikui pointed with his fingers with a smile: "Old Wang, are you robbing me of my granddaughter? Don't even think about it. My granddaughter's gift has already been received."

  Professor Wang looked at Liu Shikui suspiciously, and recalled in his mind, from early to now, he didn’t seem to see any gifts from Lao Liu, so he hummed twice: “Just blow it.”

  Haha, Liu Shikui laughed, very happy: "After Sifeng and Wufeng got up, they wished me a happy birthday. This is their best gift!"

   After finishing speaking, he pointed to his wrinkled forehead with his fingers: "One of them still kissed here, old Wang, are you envious?"

  Professor Wang could only shake his head enviously.

  The two little girls smiled again: Grandpa likes their gifts very much!

  The family happily finished making dumplings, and first boiled the old birthday boy's small dumplings in the pot alone.

  After cooking, throw one dumpling to the sky, and throw another dumpling to the courtyard.

  The big yellow dog at home has been staring at it for a long time. Just as he was about to jump up, he was hugged by the neck by the fourth child.

   After returning to the house, Liu Shikui, who was in a good mood, ate up the remaining small dumplings in one go.

  The main reason is that the dumplings are too small, and only three or four can hold one.

  Then the remaining dumplings were cooked, and Liu Shikui patted his stomach: "It seems that I'm not full yet, how about some more?"

   "Old Liu, you are worthless."

  Professor Wang's words made everyone burst into laughter.

  Luncheon meat is paired with dumpling fillings made from tender leaves of thorn sticks.

   There are no luxurious birthday banquets in big hotels, no birthday cakes, and no such foreign things as blowing lamps and waxes.

  There is only strong family affection, and this alone is enough.

   After breakfast, the mute grandpa went up the mountain with the large group of wild vegetable harvesters. Liu Qingshan took a day off, called Zhang Shuzi, and accompanied Professor Wang and grandpa to the jeep.

   "Brother, wait for us!"

  Caifeng and Shanxing also catch up. They are on vacation today.

  The other children were carrying small baskets, and led by Yang Hongying, went to pick morels nearby. These two little girls wanted to accompany Grandpa.

   Then get in the car, anyway, the little girl is light and fluffy, just sit on the adult's lap.

  Liu Shikui and Professor Wang hugged each other and set off together.

  The jeep twisted and turned all the way, basically going up the Komatsu River. In many places, there was no path at all.

   That is, the off-road performance of the 212 is not bad, and it barely ran for more than 20 miles.

  The further upstream you go, the wider the river becomes, and the river turns in front, where it meets the real big river.

  The jeep was finally unable to move, and a group of people got out of the car and turned to walk.

  There is soft sand under the feet, and two little girls ran happily in front, leaving two rows of shallow footprints.

  Waterbirds resting on the shore were also startled by them and flew up in groups, chirping.

   There are also those who are not very afraid of people. There are a few big blue and black water birds standing calmly by the water, motionless, like a few statues.

   There is another one of them, which still uses a long leg, and poses as an independent golden rooster.

   "Haha, long neck wait!"

  Xiao Laosi yelled the names of these waterfowls, while Shan Xing blinked and asked Liu Qingshan:

   "Brother, what should be the official names of these big water birds?"

  Long-neck old and so on are of course native names. As for the scientific name, Liu Qingshan touched Shanxing's little head and said with a smile:

   "These are herons, the gray one is a heron, and the white one is an egret."

   "I know, I know, egrets fly in front of Xisai Mountain, and mandarin fish are fat in peach blossoms."

  The youngest and fourth son also recited with great emotion, the little guy is really good, he can already recite a lot of poems.

  Shan Xing is certainly not bad: "Two orioles singing green willows, and a group of egrets go up to the blue sky."

   Liu Shikui felt very relieved when he heard this, and couldn't help showing off to Professor Wang: "Old Wang, I taught these two little guys, not bad."

  What else can Professor Wang say, he is still only envious.

   Zhang Shuzi, who was traveling with him, heheed a few times, and said to Liu Qingshan: "I still think the name Long Neck Laowai is good, and it has a lot of image."

  That's true, the heron has a really long neck, standing in the water, motionless, just waiting there, as if it could wait forever.

  So, the names chosen by the common people are a bit earthy, but they must be the most vivid.

  However, the heron does not really turn into a statue. Once a small fish swims in front of it, the long mouth will stab out like lightning, grab the fish out of the water, and swallow it with its neck up.

  This is their unique predation method, which is a bit like a male fishing.

   Sometimes, waiting is also a kind of life.

   Talking and laughing, and walking on the beach for several miles, Professor Wang was a little tired: "Xiao Shanzi, where are the gifts you mentioned?"

   "Grandpa Wang, it's just ahead, we'll be there soon."

  Liu Qingshan agreed, and then came to Jiang Chazi, where the Great River branched off to form the Xiaosong River.

  The area here is more flat and open. Looking around, the water and sky are vast and extremely vast.

   It’s just this kind of place, where did you get the gift from?

   "Grandpa Wang, those are the ones, you can pick whatever you want!"

  Liu Qingshan stretched out his hand and pointed at the river bay. There were piles of dead branches washed down by the river, and there was only sand on the ground.

  Professor Wang couldn't help but smiled wryly, and still kept teasing: "Xiao Shanzi, we have come all this way here just to pick up some matches to burn. It seems that we don't have enough money for fuel, right?"

  Liu Qingshan smiled without saying a word, and strode up. The others couldn't and could only keep up.

   Gradually approached, before those branches washed down by the water, Liu Qingshan bent down and picked up a bony branch: "Grandpa Wang, you can pick any of these treasures!"

baby?

  Professor Wang knows Liu Qingshan's nature, so it is impossible to make such a joke with him. Could it be that these dead trees are really treasures?

  So he also bent down and picked up a strangely shaped wooden stick, with bumps on it, which seemed to be covered with tree burrs.

  Hands are surprisingly heavy, much heavier than wooden ones. Professor Wang can't help wondering: Isn't it wooden?

  He put it in front of his eyes and looked carefully for a while, then found a small piece, and hit it lightly, the sound was like knocking gold and jade.

  Finally, it was facing the sun again, and Professor Wang suddenly understood:

   "Xiao Shanzi, is this the same material as your grandfather's bracelet?"

  Liu Qingshan nodded with a smile: "Basically, the difference is that one is mountain material and the other is water material. This kind of material washed by water has a special name, called wave wood."

  Professor Wang suddenly realized, he roughly figured it out.

   This is after the big red pine fell down, it was wrapped in water, and after thousands of years of scouring by the river, all the rotten parts were washed away, leaving only the part where the turpentine was deposited.

   Therefore, it looks very strange in shape, which is basically the uncanny workmanship of nature, naturally carved.

  Like the one he is holding in his hand, it is more than one meter long, the color is reddish red, the surface is uneven, the thick part is like a chicken egg, and the thin part is only like a finger.

  At first glance, it is simply ugly, but upon closer inspection, it is found to be extremely ugly, but it shows a special sense of beauty.

  For a while, Professor Wang couldn't help being a little lost: This wooden stick, isn't it like a person's life, full of ups and downs, full of ups and downs.

   But no matter how difficult it is, you can’t break it, you have to persevere, and live tenaciously until the end of your life…

"OK!"

  Professor Wang's hearty laughter echoed on the river beach for a long time.

   "Xiao Shanzi, thank you for your gift, Grandpa Wang likes it very much."

  He patted Liu Qingshan's shoulder heavily, and then held the wavewood crutch tightly in his hand.

  In the future life course, he will lean on this cane and walk step by step!

  After he was about to go back, he engraved two words on the cane:

Forward!

   "Brother, we also found a baby!"

  The voice of the fourth child drifted over. She was walking towards this side with great effort, carrying a lump of wood together with Shan Xing.

  Liu Qingshan rushed up to meet him, hugged the tree root in his arms, and then the two little girls wiped the sweat from their foreheads with their small arms, smiling brightly on their small faces:

   "Brother, do you think this looks like a big deer, can you give it to grandpa as a birthday present?"

  They also know that the sika deer is a symbol of auspiciousness and longevity.

  Liu Qingshan took a closer look at the root of this Langmu tree, it was already riddled with holes by the water, but the rest of it really looked like a sika deer staring back.

  The antlers on the head are jagged, and the limbs are strong and powerful. As long as it is slightly carved, it will be a sika deer.

  The most wonderful thing is that there are two small tree roots connected one after the other. Isn't that just two little deer?

  The uncanny workmanship of nature makes people have to sigh.

  Liu Shikui looked at it for a long time, and the more he looked at it, the more he fell in love with it. He stretched out his hand and rubbed the heads of the two little guys: "Grandpa likes this gift the most. Haha, Lao Wang, what do you think?"

  Professor Wang didn't care about bickering with the old man, he admired softly: "The shape of this wave wood is really, I really don't know how to describe it?"

   Zhang Jizi, who had been acting as a spectator, was also greatly impacted. Liu Qingshan led him here, as if a brand new door had been opened for him.

  He looked at the strange waves on the beach, and muttered in his mouth: "The shape of this wave is really wavy..."

  (end of this chapter)