Ye Xuedan ‖ Abba, as well as the old village

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Old villages, stories of distant departures

It has been more than thirty years since I left my hometown and have never returned. Returning again, things are not human.

(Infographic)

Cars sped along a two-lane asphalt road, and from this asphalt avenue, the county seat to the village was just over a ten-minute drive away. The bridge that once crossed the head section of the Daliu River has not yet been built, and it takes more than one or two hours to turn seven times from the countryside to the county seat, pass through several villages, and then pass through the Guangzhou-Shantou Highway. Nowadays, such convenient and fast transportation is worthy of praise.

Over the past thirty years, the hometown has changed a lot, once the village front path is lined with ponds on both sides, now all filled in, built a straight, smooth asphalt road, connected to Dutou (the seat of the town government). When I was a child, I felt like I had to walk a long, long path from the village to Tou. Today, the distance between the village and the town has been shortened and integrated.

A two-lane wide road was built around the village on the south side of the village, lined with two rows of green trees. In this late autumn, the leaves are still lush. A small park was built in the open space on the side, where some sports equipment was placed. The countryside has such a spacious driveway, greenery, fitness facilities, such a scene shocked me. In my mind, the township may be more prosperous than it was then.

Along this road, we came to the west side of the village, and the endless rice fields appeared in front of us without reservation, the rice fragrance was gushing, the rice ears were heavy, and in this golden autumn october, this land still gave back the harvest to the hard-working people. Seeing this scene, I remembered that my hometown of Lian'an, rich in land and materials, was known as the land of fish and rice many years ago.

Along the road stands a beautifully appointed five-storey building. I thought it was a newly opened homestay, but later I listened to the introduction of the people in the village, and it turned out that it was a villager who was doing business in Dongguan and came back to build it. The road near the crop fields and a newly built public toilet. The village's beautified appearance and orderly order made me see the gratifying changes in my hometown.

Unexpectedly, when I walked into the village, I saw a shocking scene, and where I passed, the houses were still low and dilapidated, with ten rooms and nine empty rooms. It turns out that more people have moved to Shanwei city, county town or town to live, here many houses have become empty houses, dangerous houses, some have collapsed walls, broken tiles, some only half of the wall, broken walls and tiles, weeds grow wildly, in the evening, the sun afterglow, everything here is real and vicissitudes.

Weaving through the deserted, dilapidated alleys, the mood is extremely heavy. The two or three new houses I saw were ancestral halls and the like, and as I walked, I heard the clucking of hens, echoing unusually loudly in the empty old alley. At the turn, it turned out to be a chicken family, two elderly people lived, and the young people moved to the county with their children. Further ahead, there lived an old man living alone, and further across an alley, there was also a family, still inhabited by two old people. Walking through half a village, only two or three households, four or five people live here, everything here is familiar and strange, it turns out that the hometown is no longer the hometown in memory.

When I came to my former home, I saw that it still stood in the years. There was no one around, and the alley in front of the door was already covered with grass and wild grass, and no one lived there, so no one took care of it. Although the roof wall still seems to stand upright, it has become a wilderness, a world of weeds, and perhaps this place will slowly be submerged by the years. Standing outside the window, I saw that the window had fallen, through the unconcealed window, the situation inside the house, at a glance, empty, the furniture had been emptied, and there were some debris left underground. This one-bedroom house, in those days, was our warm home. Here, there are many, many, good memories that our family has.

I remember that the small hall was a kitchen and a living room, there was a big stove, when I was a child, every time I cooked in the big stove, I always liked to add an extra handful of straw at the end, because I liked to eat that pot. When I was a child, I especially liked rainy days, because only on rainy days, Abba and Aunt did not have to go to the fields to do farm work, and only on rainy days, Abba and Aunt would make meat buns and dumplings to eat. In my memory, the meat bun on a rainy day in my childhood was the most delicious taste in the world.

I still remember that at the dinner table in that small hall, whenever My Aunt stewed pork belly, I could always eat two bowls of rice, and the pork belly was eaten until I was stopped by My Aunt and did not let me clip it, and I grabbed the gravy with a spoon to eat it.

I still remember that dinner table, that night just from the next village to watch "Painted Skin", painting skin to dig the heart of the horror picture has been in the mind, back home teeth just fell out again, by my sister and brothers gently frightened, I lay on the table and cried tragically, and finally who threw the broken teeth to the roof, and comforted me. Today I only vaguely remember some scenes.

I remember that my aunt always hid candy in the cupboard, and no matter how I hid it, I could always steal it. When I was a child, I was greedy and playful, and I easily got everyone's love. Childhood was happy and joyful, and that was given to me by Abba and Auntie. My happiness is not only childhood? It's the same today. I am grateful to be a child of Abba and Auntie in this life.

I remember that after the eldest sister got married that year, she sent a black-and-white TV set and put it in the room. Every night when I watched TV, the house was crowded with people, and most people in the village came to watch TV. Everyone gathered around to watch a common show, such a scene made time warm and beautiful, and now it can only become the light in the memory.

In those country roads, deep old alleys, whenever I was tired of walking, Abba always carried me on his back, lying on Abba's thick and warm back, and the time at that time was really warm. Now, Abba is gone. This time, I also came back to bid farewell to Abba. Today, in that empty old alley, there is no longer the sound of Abba's powerful, determined military footsteps echoing. Everything has become a passing cloud, so real that it makes people suspect that it is a dream.

Villages where fewer and fewer people live have gradually lost their vitality and vitality, like a dying old man. Here, the old villages, the stories that will eventually go away, also exist in the depths of my mind with Abba, and have become the deepest and deepest past events.

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◆ Zhongshan Daily Media Development Center

◆ Editor: Xu Xiangdong

◆ Second instance: Vedoga

◆ Third trial: Wei Lijun