harleyscars Chapter 33 Hot Spring
Chapter 33 Hot Spring
dong dong dong...
Zheng Yu knelt down before Yang Ming, kowtowed three times, and said with tears in his eyes, "Brother, you are my second parents..." Without waiting for Yang Ming to help him up, he got up and ran out.
"What happened? Why did you run away?" Wei Qingqing walked in carrying a plate of fresh fruit, looking at Zheng Yu's back with surprise.
"I gave him a bad idea..." Yang Ming regretted it a little.
"Huh?" Wei Qingqing asked, puzzled.
So Yang Ming recounted his conversation with Zheng Yu word for word, looking distressed, and said, "...Tell me, isn't this a bit underhanded? If he has a child, the child's mother will hate me even more..."
"That's a really underhanded trick of yours. Have you thought about how the mother feels?" Wei Qingqing was speechless. It was the first time she had ever realized that her husband was also full of bad ideas.
"Do you think that once he gets married, he'll tell his wife it was my idea, and then his wife will come to our house and cause a scene, and then she'll scratch my face..."
"Very likely. Aren't you practically Zheng Yu's second parents? Maybe you'll even have a place at his wedding ceremony." Wei Qingqing took a big peach and gently nibbled on it.
"I'm so worried! I've offended someone..." Yang Ming said with a distressed expression. He reached for a peach from the fruit plate, but Wei Qingqing immediately took the plate away, glared at him, and said, "You still have the nerve to eat? You're not allowed to eat today... for giving people bad advice all the time."
"My idea was a bit underhanded, but if done right, it might actually resolve the conflict between Zheng Yu and Grandpa Zheng's family..." Yang Ming rolled his eyes. "...If you don't give me some, I'll eat you..."
"You dare..."
"You'll see if I dare..." Yang Ming pounced on him like a vicious wolf.
"Oh, here, here..." Wei Qingqing quickly handed over the large peach. "Let's get down to business. After what happened today, I feel a bit unsafe at home. You offended that guy surnamed Wang, what if they retaliate against us..."
"Zheng Yu is a bit neurotic. People like him see everyone as a bad guy. Even if we don't get along, we're all from the same village. At most, he might cause you some trouble, but he wouldn't actually kill you at your doorstep. Look at Liu Sao and her daughter, a widow and her child, living in a remote area, but they haven't been bullied by anyone over the years," Yang Ming said.
"I'm relieved to hear that."
"But we can't let our guard down. I'll buy you another phone tomorrow. With two phones, at least one of them needs to be readily available. If anything happens while I'm not home, just call the police... Once our dogs have all grown up and there are several big dogs in the yard, you won't have to be afraid."
"Um!"
Over the next three days, Zheng Yuzhen asked matchmakers everywhere to arrange blind dates. Zheng Yu's actions delighted his parents. The two elders, who had been frowning, finally smiled. As long as he wanted to get married, even though they were almost forty, it wouldn't stop them from having a grandson.
During these three days, Yang Ming and his wife were not idle. They roughly toured Caomao Mountain and Huagu Mountain. Caomao Mountain is a rocky mountain with a very unique shape, like a bunch of big straw hats placed on the ground. The mountain valley is relatively wide, and some of the depressions even have a lot of water. However, these depressions will dry up if there is no rain for ten days or half a month. Only in the middle of Caomao Mountain is there a fairly large pond. This pond is about four acres in size and only knee-deep. There are more than a dozen springs at the bottom, bubbling up water. However, there is not much water in the pond. The excess water flows down a mountain valley and into the stream at the edge of Yang Ming's land.
The water in the pond was very clear, with a thin layer of silt at the bottom. Many reeds grew in the silt, and fish swam around among them from time to time. However, at the base of the reeds, there were many leeches wriggling. These things are also called leeches, which specialize in sucking blood and burrowing into people's skin. Once they burrow in, you can't pull them out, lest you break them off and leave half of them inside the flesh. You can only slap the outside of the skin until they come out. If one of these things burrows into your skin, you're bound to get a good beating.
Although there is a lot of grass on the straw hat mountain, it is by no means lush. The mountainside and foothills are covered with small, crooked trees of all shapes and sizes. If an artist saw this, they would surely marvel at the wonders of nature. However, Yang Ming does not have such artistic talent and only thinks that these small trees are too awkward to grow.
Huagushan Mountain gets its name from its shape resembling a flower drum. It is quite steep with narrow valleys. Many trees grow horizontally from the mountainside and stretch upwards, as if they are bending over, making it look like they are struggling.
Yang Ming plans to build a greenhouse on his two acres of mountain land. He has already bought all the materials. After it is built, he will plant some space crops inside. That way, eating off-season vegetables in winter will not be conspicuous in this mountain village. In fact, some villagers who are well-off often go to the township or county to buy off-season vegetables in winter.
Yang Ming burned the knee-high weeds in the field, leaving the whole field black. The couple were busy building a greenhouse in the field, but neither of them were very capable. After two days, they still hadn't gotten it to a decent shape, and instead, they ended up looking like big, dirty cats every day.
"Today is Friday, August 14th, and tomorrow is Saturday. Fangfang called, and her family of three is coming to our house tomorrow." The midday sun was quite hot, and Wei Qingqing wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, her little face was covered in sweat again.
"Let them come, it's even better if they come, they can help us out." Yang Ming was a little discouraged because the greenhouse was difficult to set up.
"Forget it, those two are useless..." Wei Qingqing rolled her eyes. "If you ask me, we should find someone knowledgeable, otherwise, I reckon we won't be able to get it right by next spring." With that, she found a rock to sit down and catch her breath.
"Hehe, where are we going to find someone knowledgeable? There isn't a single household in Zhengjia Village that grows crops in greenhouses." Yang Ming was also sweating profusely from exhaustion, so he sat down next to Wei Qingqing to catch his breath.
"I never imagined building a greenhouse would be so troublesome," Wei Qingqing pouted. "Are those methods you found online reliable?"
"It should be reliable..." Yang Ming was also a little undecided. He took out two large peaches from the farm space and handed one to Wei Qingqing.
After eating the peaches and resting for a while, the two continued working.
Dig holes, bury pillars, erect scaffolding...
Working until their eyes were dark, the two finally put the scaffold up. Although the scaffold looked crooked and ugly, it was indeed the result of their three days of hard work.
"Hehe, it's finally up and running. Tomorrow we'll try putting up the plastic sheeting..." Yang Ming chuckled, wiping away his sweat.
"Pfft! Look how dirty you are..." Wei Qingqing couldn't help but chuckle when she saw that Yang Ming's face was covered in smears, making him look like a big mess. She took out a fragrant white handkerchief from her pocket and wiped his cheeks.
"You brought a handkerchief?" Yang Ming asked, somewhat surprised.
"Yes! I brought it with me, I just remembered..." Wei Qingqing's face turned slightly red.
This isn't something I just remembered; it was clearly prepared for me... Speaking of which, my wife has quite the romantic flair... Yang Ming thought to himself with amusement.
"Let's go home..." Yang Ming said, taking Wei Qingqing's hand and walking home together.
The two strolled through the valley, listening to the chirping of insects on both sides of the road. Occasionally, they would wave their arms to shoo away swarms of mosquitoes, kick up a couple of stones, and listen to the sound of them hitting the rocks...
When the two returned home, it was completely dark. The chicks, ducklings, goslings, and pigeons had already gone to their nests, while the puppies were jumping and hopping around to greet their owners. Even the big black cat, Miaomiao, trotted around and showed itself to its owners before going into the east room and lying down on the kang (a heated brick bed) to sleep. Speaking of which, this big black cat was really quite something. It wasn't interested in the chicks, ducklings, goslings, or pigeons in the yard at all, but it had a special fondness for the budgie with its leg tied up. Seeing this, Yang Ming finally understood what the saying "Old Li's cat only eats caged birds" meant. This guy was really too despicable.
Yang Ming used a well pulley to draw two buckets of water, then boiled them in a large pot, added cold water to bathe, and after working in the fields all day, their bodies were sticky with sweat, and their clothes were covered with a layer of white salt frost.
The outer door was tightly closed, and a large basin was placed in the center of the room, half-filled with cold water.
"If I had known, I would have bought a water heater. I have to boil water every time I want to take a shower." Yang Ming carried a bucket of boiling water, poured it into a large basin, tested the water temperature, and then added some cold water to it.
"Honey, yesterday when I was chatting with Aunt Liu, she said that the pond in the Grass Hat Mountain, although the water temperature is not high, does not freeze in winter. Do you think there is a hot spring underneath?" Wei Qingqing took off her clothes and stood naked in the large basin, gently washing her body.
"That's unlikely, isn't it? The water temperature isn't high." Yang Ming continued boiling the water.
"What's impossible? There are several springs, one hot spring and several cold springs. Once they're neutralized, the water temperature will be normal." Wei Qingqing wrung out her towel, and a series of splashing sounds rang out.
"They neutralize each other, but that won't affect the water's surface, will it? In winter, it will still freeze." Yang Ming pulled the bellows, making a 'whoosh whoosh' sound.
"That's hard to say. Maybe the hot spring and the cold spring are far apart, and the hot spring water has to roll to the surface to neutralize the cold spring water..." The large bath tub was big enough, so Wei Qingqing simply sat in it, and the water overflowed.
"What you said makes sense. How about we buy a water pump tomorrow and try to pump the water out completely..." Yang Ming said.
"Why would you buy a water pump? Didn't you say that the 'sales system' sells farm tools? Do you sell irrigation tools?" Wei Qingqing raised her arm and rubbed her armpit. This area needs to be cleaned frequently, otherwise she would easily get body odor.
"Wow? I didn't expect my wife to be so smart, even smarter than me!" Yang Ming raised an eyebrow and gave Wei Qingqing a thumbs up.
"You just realized that?" Wei Qingqing rolled her eyes at Yang Ming triumphantly.
Yang Ming directly assigned Ya Ya the task of purchasing water pumps, and within just two breaths, Ya Ya provided a list.
"Sir, the sales system offers 346 types of irrigation tools, including 56 types of water pumps. Which model of water pump do you require?"
"What models are available?" Yang Ming asked.
"Water pumps are priced according to the tons of water they can pump per minute. There are 1-ton, 5-ton, 10-ton, 50-ton, 100-ton, 500-ton, and 1000-ton pumps," Ya Ya said.
"Then let's buy a 1000-ton class one, the cheapest brand available," Yang Ming said.
"I have purchased the 'Clean Clean 1000-ton water pump' for a total cost of 15 gold coins."
Yang Ming had seen the actual product and knew that the water pump wasn't very big, so he took it out. It was a metal contraption about the size of a football, with a silver body and two thin water pipes about the thickness of a finger. These two thin water pipes were coiled up, and if they were unfolded, they would probably be over a thousand meters long. They were covered with densely packed small holes. When you squeezed the water pipes, you could feel that they were thinner than a hair, which clearly meant that there was something special inside.
"What are you holding?" Wei Qingqing was taking a bath when she suddenly noticed that Yang Ming had a strange-looking object in his hand, and she couldn't help but ask curiously.
"This... is a thousand-ton water pump... pumping a thousand tons of water per minute..." Although the water pipe was strangely made, Yang Ming still found it hard to believe that this little gadget was actually a thousand-ton water pump.
"A thousand...ton...water pump...?" Wei Qingqing's eyes widened in disbelief.
"It's okay, we'll try it tomorrow and see. If that guy selling the water pump dares to cheat me, I'll definitely give him a negative review..." In the 'Sales System', there is a customer satisfaction survey for the products.
"That's right, facts speak louder than words! Let the facts do the talking," Wei Qingqing said.
"Are you done washing? I'm all sticky."
"Wait a minute, I haven't put on any shower gel yet..."
"I can't wait any longer, let's shower together..."
After taking a shower and changing into clean clothes, they threw their dirty clothes into the washing machine and then went to cook together. Yang Ming started the fire, and Wei Qingqing cooked.
Before long, a sumptuous dinner was prepared and placed on the kang table, where the couple began to eat.
It is said that dinner in the countryside is the most sumptuous of the three meals. There is no way around it. During the day, people are busy working and only at night do they have time to prepare food. After Yang Ming and his wife moved to Zhengjia Village, they also adapted to this habit.
"Honey, I've been exhausted these past few days, but I feel so fulfilled..." Wei Qingqing said, sitting cross-legged on the kang (a heated brick bed) with a piece of yellow egg between her fingers.
Yang Ming picked up a piece of stir-fried shredded potatoes with vinegar, grabbed a can of beer, and took a swig. "Life is about getting better and better. There are things to worry about, like firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea. If you have things to do and your time is full, then you feel fulfilled, right? You just shouldn't be lazy. If you are, you'll find life meaningless."
"What you said makes a lot of sense. This is the first time I've realized my husband has the potential to be a philosopher." Wei Qingqing picked up a steamed bun and took a bite. Normally, she doesn't drink alcohol, mainly because she's afraid of getting acne again. She's been terrified of that stuff her whole life.
"Hmph, you're only just realizing that?" Yang Ming said smugly, taking another swig of beer.
"You just found out? You just found out?" The budgie hanging on the clothesline inside the house chirped and mimicked the parrot.
"Did you hear that? Tiger Skin is one of my staunch supporters." Yang Ming was even more smug.
"Meow..."
With a meow, the budgie immediately stopped talking, which amused Wei Qingqing, who giggled, "Look at you, you're so boastful that even Meow Meow can't stand it... Come on, Meow Meow, for your fearlessness of power, here's a reward for you..." As she spoke, she picked up a piece of shredded meat and threw it on the ground, and immediately a dark shadow pounced down.
"This dead cat..." Yang Ming glared at the big black cat, but it ignored him.
"Meow Meow is a good cat. In a few days, I'll find it a companion..." Wei Qingqing thought of the cat in her kitchen. Meow Meow is a male cat, so they could be a perfect match.
After the two finished eating, Yang Ming took the leftovers out to feed the dogs. These nine puppies were from a farm with optimized space, so they had huge appetites. One puppy could eat as much as an ordinary large dog. They consumed a lot of food every day, but they also grew quite fast. In just three or four days, they had grown a lot bigger.
After feeding the dog, he closed the front and back gates and went back inside to sleep. He had been busy in the fields all day and was exhausted, his whole body aching, and all he wanted to do was sleep. Wei Qingqing, on the other hand, was full of energy and stayed up late watching TV.
The next day was Saturday, and it was another sunny day.
As soon as it was light, Yang Ming got up. Wei Qingqing had gone to bed late the night before, so she was still in bed. Yang Ming didn't disturb Wei Qingqing. He simply picked up the water pump, opened the back door, and went to the pond on the straw hat mountain.
Standing on the bank, I dropped one end of the water pipe into the puddle, and then extended the outlet pipe along the valley into the stream at the edge of the field.
Yang Ming pressed the switch, and with a "buzz," the water level in the bubble dropped rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye. In one minute and thirty-five seconds, the entire bubble turned into a large pit, leaving only the pitted and uneven areas with shallow puddles at the bottom.
Yang Ming witnessed the whole process and was so shocked that he couldn't close his mouth. This... is truly amazing!
The water in the pond was drained, and countless fish of all sizes were suddenly taken out of the water. They could only jump and struggle helplessly, and in no time their bodies were covered with a layer of mud.
"So many fish?" Yang Ming was envious and jumped in. He collected all the fish, big and small, into the farm space and raised them in the fish farm.
Believe it or not, the biggest of these fish weighed ten pounds. It was a large carp, about two feet long from head to tail. Although this big guy was out of the water, it was still quite strong. As soon as Yang Ming got close to it, it slapped its tail and splashed up a bunch of mud, covering Yang Ming's head and face.
After the ponds were drained, the springs were revealed, consisting of small puddles. Among these springs, three were steaming hot springs. Yang Ming tested the water temperature; the water was at least 80 degrees Celsius. If the hot springs were relocated and a hot spring pool were built right here in the mountains, it would be incredibly refreshing to soak in them whenever one had free time.
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