After dinner, it was still dark.

Adults and children walked slowly along the dirt road, the cool breeze in the evening bringing with them the fragrance of flowers.

In the ditches in the fields, frogs croaked, and when people approached, they immediately stopped and became silent.

When people go a little further away, they start chattering wildly again.

The cicada on the tree also refused to admit defeat, "Cicada... cicada..." kept chirping.

If you listen carefully, or look up, you will see that the bats hidden in the darkness have also become active, chirping, circling around the village and outside, leaving traces.

"Brother-in-law, we have to go find Xizi and the others first. They don't know yet that we are going out to play at night."

Wang Zhenzhen led a group of little devils to run up and down the dirt road. In the middle of the fun, he suddenly remembered something and ran back and shouted.

"Okay, let's go to the village first."

Chen Ling nodded, Xizi, Xiaomori's children are young, and their parents are not willing to let them go out to play at night, but with him and Wang Susu following them today, there will naturally be no problem.

Walking forward, Wang Susu held her son in her arms and looked up at the night sky and sighed: "It's the end of the month, and the moon is not bright anymore. It would be more interesting to go out and catch fish at night if there is a moon."

"Yes, let's wait until next month. Next month we will choose a moonlit night to go out and play."

Chen Ling smiled, turned around and whistled, calling Hei Wa and the little yellow dog over.

As for Xiaojin, he is much more attentive than Heiwa. It is better to stay at the farm to look after the house at night. He will respond promptly to any movement.

When I walked to the entrance of the village, I saw villagers in groups of three and five, squatting together, eating and chatting from a distance.

Some of them had just finished eating, so they set up the table to play cards and chess.

There were also some outsiders staying in the village who were wandering around with flashlights, talking and laughing, and it was quite lively.

When they saw Mr. and Mrs. Chen Ling holding their son and leading a group of children over, all their acquaintances greeted them one after another, making some jokes and talking to them about common things.

After Wang Susu gave birth to her baby, the family rarely went out together.

The last time I came out, I just went to the reservoir to see the old turtles and briefly walked around the village.

I basically stay at home on weekdays.

Moreover, the farm is at the foot of the mountain and in the orchard. Except for the villagers who have fields there, few people go there. It is not as convenient as in the village, and there are fewer people who specially visit his house.

But, since I haven't seen some acquaintances for a while, they seem to be more intimate.

Especially the ladies, who all gathered around Wang Susu to express some concern and tease the little one in her arms, who looked closer than a relative.

After a long time, the kids were tired of waiting, so they finished chatting.

"Hey, Uncle Fugui, are you guys out too?"

"Brother Chen..."

Not far away, we met another group of people, Wang Xuecheng from Wang Jukun's family, leading several reporters, both men and women, wandering around the village with flashlights.

"Yeah, come out and walk around."

Chen Ling smiled and looked at the people, "So the reporters are staying at your house."

"Well, yes, there have been a lot of outsiders coming to the village recently. There is not much room elsewhere, so Uncle Wu brought our family here." Wang Xuecheng's face was red and he looked very happy.

This man is of the same age as Chen Ling, a sturdy young man who likes to laugh, but he is one generation shorter than Chen Ling.

His father, Wang Jukun, was the cook for weddings and weddings in the village. When Chen Ling's family served full-moon wine, he asked him to come over and help. He and Wang Jusheng were cousins.

His family is also relatively large, with many brothers and several yards.

It is not a problem for reporters to stay overnight.

And with the old chef Wang Jukun here, even if there are many people, eating will not be a problem.

Wang Laishun brought it to his family's house on purpose.

After all, journalists will be given some money for food and accommodation.

"We are going to catch scorpions, aren't you also out to look for scorpions?" Wang Xuecheng looked at the things in the hands of the little kids and asked.

"Brother Chen, sister-in-law, if you want to catch scorpions, let's do it together. It will be so fun."

A female reporter suggested.

They asked Wang Xuecheng to come out to catch scorpions. In the afternoon at Chen Ling's farm, they saw two or three little kids catching scorpions, and they kept thinking about it. After dinner, it was still early and there was nothing to do, so they just

Let Wang Xuecheng lead them out.

Of course, there are some who like to go out to play, and some who don’t like to go out at night, so it’s just these six or seven people.

"We don't catch scorpions, we just come out to catch fish for fun. What they brought are tongs for catching fish and a small fork for spearing fish." Wang Susu was very happy when the girl called her "sister-in-law" and she replied.

"Ah? Catching fish?"

When these people heard this, you looked at me, I looked at you, and then they said to Wang Xuecheng: "Why don't we follow suit and catch fish? Anyway, we can't catch scorpions, so we might as well try something else."

"Okay, then let's follow Uncle Fugui and the others to catch fish." Wang Xuecheng nodded happily and replied. He didn't care about anything. Anyway, these people paid for living in his house and just took them everywhere for fun.

It's a trivial matter.

"Brother Chen, can we follow you to catch fish?"

"Okay, but don't scream when you see the fish later, and help us use the flashlight to look at these little dolls."

"Okay, we will definitely do it. Brother Chen, don't worry."

Now that the temperature has dropped at night, scorpions are less active and harder to find than before. It is normal for them not to catch scorpions in the village.

However, the fish became easier to catch at this time.

So these people just followed, just like they brought a few more little kids with them.

The night was getting dark, and there was little light in the village.

There were only the croaking of frogs, the chirping of insects, and the fragrance of flowers and plants blowing in the cool night breeze.

They put on flashlights one by one and shined the light. From time to time, moths, crickets and other insects would fly towards people, causing the reporters to jump around and dodge while shouting, and then it was a silly fun.

In terms of quality of life, the countryside is definitely not as good as the city, but the countryside has a tranquility and tranquility that is difficult to find in the city. Compared with life in the city, there is fun everywhere and fun things everywhere.

Being among them, laughing and having fun, they felt that their whole being became more relaxed.

It was as if a burden was suddenly lifted.

The girls were no longer jealous of Chen Ling. Instead, they surrounded Wang Susu and called her sister-in-law. At the same time, they also teased the little guy in Wang Susu's arms like the women in the village.

But when they tease me, they exaggerate. You sing a few lines of a song and I make a funny face, just like a big child.

On the contrary, Ruirui was so amused that she couldn't close her grinning mouth, and screamed in Wang Susu's arms, dripping with joy.

Walk all the way to Chen Sangui's house.

Under a big tree outside the door, there sat an old man with gray hair, wearing a long coat, lighting a cigarette pot, and telling stories to a few little children.

These little kids usually compete with each other, but at this time they sat in a polite manner and listened very seriously.

"This cricket is amazing."

"You have all played with this thing before, and you all know that there is a hard thorn on the neck of the cricket, right?"

"Does anyone know where this hard thorn came from? Haha, I don't know about that."

"Then let me tell you the story of this cricket."

"It is said that there used to be an emperor named Liu Xiu. Before he became the emperor, he was chased by a man named Wang Mang and chased him everywhere. Wang Mang, you must know, the bastard city was not called Wang Mang city before."

"It is said that Liu Xiu was driven away by Wang Mang for several days and nights. The horse was exhausted and he himself was very sleepy. He couldn't bear it anymore so he hid in the grass on the roadside and slept. He didn't sleep for several days. This time he fell asleep.

, sleeping so hard is like dying."

"But after he slept for a long time, he suddenly felt something crawling on his face. He grabbed it with his hand and found it was a cricket. Liu Xiu was so angry that he said Wang Mang wanted to kill me, so forget it, you are such a bug.

He came to disturb me and wouldn't let me sleep, so he pinched the cricket into two pieces."

"After squeezing the cricket, he closed his eyes and went to sleep again. But before he fell asleep, he heard the clatter of horse's hooves. He immediately opened his eyes and knew that Wang Mang was chasing him, so he hurriedly hid it and waited for Wang Mang.

After leaving, he came out."

"Thinking about it afterwards, if the cricket hadn't woken him up by crawling on his face, he would have been killed by Wang Mang. When he saw the cricket broken into two pieces on the ground, he felt regretful and pitiful in his heart, so he walked out of the roadside

A hard thorn was left on the jujube tree, connecting the cricket's head and body."

"Liu Xiu is not an ordinary person. He is a god in the sky who became a human being. He is destined to be an emperor after he is born."

"He wanted to revive the cricket. As soon as he connected its head and body, the cricket came to life again. After that, all the crickets had a stick pinned to their necks.

Thorn. If you don’t believe me, tear open the head of a cricket and have a look.”

After the old man finished speaking, not only the little children held their chins and listened in fascination, but even the reporters who followed Chen Ling also listened with interest and were dazzled. They had the guts to catch a cricket on the spot and experiment with it.

Look for the urge to look for thorns on your neck.

This cricket is actually a mole cricket. It is also called a cricket in the local dialect. It is similar to a cricket and can chirp "goo, coo". It is also a relatively common pest in summer and autumn.

The old man telling the story is naturally Chen Sangui.

The story told is "Wang Mang chased Liu Xiu away" which is widely circulated in various places.
To be continued...