Guizhou has many mountains and rivers, and there are still many hydroelectric power stations. However, the location of Gaotu Village is too far away and it is too backward in all respects. There is no electricity here.

Ye Chen has encountered many mountain villages without electricity, but like the one in Gaotu Village, Ye Chen still feels that he has encountered it for the first time.

It was around 6 o'clock in the evening. At first, there was still a bit of light. However, when it came to 7 o'clock in the evening, Ye Chen felt that Gaotu Village was dark and could not be seen.

The villagers here can only light kerosene lamps, and they also use battery-powered torches to illuminate the lights.

Now at Tao Caiwen's house, supper hasn't been prepared yet, and it's dark inside and out, so I can only light the kerosene lamp. Now Ye Chen also understands a bit, why after Tao Caiwen went out to work in Shanghai, he didn't like the environment like his hometown?

When Ye Chen was sitting outside, he felt that the best thing here is that the temperature here is more pleasant. In summer, when the temperature in Shanghai is more than 30 degrees Celsius, the average temperature here is only about 20 degrees Celsius. No matter it is day or night, it doesn’t feel hot at all. On the contrary, at night, when it is lower than 20 degrees Celsius, you may have to cover it.

It is such a suitable temperature that in summer, the villagers here can sleep well even without air conditioning or electric fans.

Ye Chen was thinking that after dinner, he was going to find Tao Chengcai's classmate in the same village, because he didn't know where the other party lived, so he could only let Tao Caiwen take him there.

At around eight o'clock in the evening, the dinner was finally prepared by burning wood.

The best dishes here are two local chickens, half a catty of bacon, half a catty of dried fish, and some local weeds, all picked by Tao Caiwen on the nearby mountains, and they still look very tender.

"Doctor Ye, the food is ready, that's all." Tao Caiwen said to Ye Chen.

"You still call me Ye Chen." Ye Chen said.

Ye Chen sat down and felt that the family dishes here were okay, especially the local chicken that grew up on rice, which should taste delicious.

"There are more vegetables in Dashi Town, but it's very troublesome to go there," Tao Caiwen said.

In this regard, Ye Chen knew very well that it would take an extra hour to get back to Gaotu Village by motorcycle from Dashi Town. It may take longer if you are walking and crossing the mountains.

Ye Chen greeted Tao Caiwen's parents, her uncle, and the young man riding a motorcycle to sit down and eat together.

Ye Chen ate three bowls of rice, two bowls of chicken soup, and a little bit of vegetables. He was already full. As for Tao Caiwen's uncles while they were eating slowly, Ye Chen asked them to eat slowly.

After everyone had eaten dinner, Tao Caiwen's uncles returned to their homes because they had already separated. Although everyone was in Gaotu Village, they didn't live in one place, they were all in other places in the village.

Now after Tao Caiwen's uncles left, they were much quieter. When Tao Caiwen's parents returned to the room to rest, Tao Caiwen was there to clean up the dishes.

She thought that Ye Chen would take a bath and rest soon, so she said, "Ye Chen, I will use firewood for you to take a bath with hot water."

"Don't be so troublesome, I just take a bath with mountain spring water." Ye Chen said.

"But those mountain springs are very cold, I'm afraid you are not used to it," Tao Caiwen said.

Ye Chen smiled and asked her to wash the dishes and chopsticks before going to Tao Xiaoqiang, Tao Chengcai's classmate in the same village.

When Tao Caiwen cleaned up all the dishes and chopsticks and came out of the kitchen, Ye Chen said: "Do you know where Tao Xiaoqiang lives? Now you take me to find him."

"Tao Xiaoqiang?" Tao Caiwen recalled, only to remember that there was such a young man in the village who had read with her brother before.

Since Ye Chen is going to find Tao Xiaoqiang now, Tao Caiwen must take Ye Chen there.

She took out the flashlight when she entered the room, and then went to Tao Xiaoqiang's house with Ye Chen.

"There are a lot of venomous snakes here at night, especially in summer. Those venomous snakes come out of the mountains or weeds," Tao Caiwen said.

Ye Chen had known for a long time that the environment here still hadn't been damaged, and there were a lot of snakes and insects. Especially in poor mountain villages dominated by such mountains.

Along the way, Tao Caiwen walked in front with a flashlight, and Ye Chen followed behind.

Although in the daytime, Ye Chen had probably seen this gourd-shaped Gaotu village, but he did not expect that this mountain village was much larger than he thought, and the houses of the villagers were scattered a lot.

Go down from Tao Caiwen’s house and walk along the village road. Except for some stones paving the road on the ground, there is nothing extra. There is no sand or bricks, let alone cement.

Now in addition to following the dirt road on the ground to prevent venomous snakes from stepping on, but also to prevent the cow dung and **** from stepping on the foot.

"Are there so many people in the village raising cattle?" Ye Chen asked.

"There may be many more, but I am not very clear. There should be two in my family." Tao Caiwen said.

Tao Caiwen doesn't know if other families still raise cattle, because she hasn't returned for a long time, but there are still two old cattle in her family. Otherwise, the ten acres of mountain fields in the family will not be able to dig for a long time by relying on hoes alone.

However, Ye Chen can infer from the tufts of cow dung on the ground that many people in this village raise cows.

After following Tao Caiwen for about fifteen minutes, Tao Caiwen pointed to the mud-brick house on the first floor with a cowshed next to it and said, "Tao Xiaoqiang lives here."

Ye Chen and Tao Caiwenjia stepped up to Tao Xiaoqiang's house, which was also on the mountainside. They passed the smelly cowshed and then came outside the mud brick house.

At first, Ye Chen thought there was no one living inside. When he saw the light from a kerosene lamp, he knew that there were people living here and hadn't rested yet.

However, when Ye Chen knocked on the door and was about to go in with Tao Caiwen, the door inside suddenly opened, and then a black and thin dog suddenly rushed out, shocking Tao Caiwen.

"Xiao Hei, don't bite." An old man in his sixties shouted.

The dog stopped immediately, wagging his tail and sticking out his tongue, still looking at the two strangers in front of him with those eyes.

"Who are you looking for?" the old man asked.

"Liu Gong, I am Tao Caiwen, did you recognize me?" Tao Caiwen said.

According to the seniority of the old people in the village, this old man was ranked sixth, so all the young people called Liu Gong when they saw it.

Tao Liugong really almost couldn't recognize Tao Caiwen. I felt that the current Tao Caiwen was really different from the thin, yellow-faced Tao Caiwen in the village.

He had heard that Tao Caiwen had an accident at home, that Tao Chengcai had become a murderer and a rapist, and that Tao Caiwen's parents had fallen ill because of this incident.

I also heard that Tao Caiwen had returned from Shanghai and brought back a rich young man, but he had only heard of it and had not seen it in person.

Unexpectedly, now that these two people have come over.

Ye Chen took out a box of Chinese cigarettes and handed it to Tao Liugong. Tao Liugong did not refuse. He took it and looked at Tao Caiwen in that dialect and asked, "This is the rich young man you brought back from Shanghai?"