Wang Lu: Winter at The Qilin Bridge

(Image from the Internet)

I rarely write reminiscent words, and I'm not that age yet, except for Kirin Bridge, where my childhood was. All kinds of topics that cannot be avoided in her childhood are hidden in every corner of her, the change of seasons and the intimate hometown sound.

It's winter again.

Every winter, as soon as the cold wind blows, it will remind you of your childhood, think of the Qilin Bridge, it may be too unforgettable, that cold.

This winter is not cold, although the country cooled down on the day of winter, and there was snow in many places, everyone was talking about what kind of a cold winter it would be. But to this day, we have not even had a frost, Jiangnan, is still flowing water, green and oily. In the neighborhood, children are running happily and playing. When we were young, why was it so cold in winter?

Qilin Bridge is a village five miles east of Nanling City, the provincial road from Nanling to Jing County passes through it, and there is a stone bridge called Qilin Bridge on the east side of the village, hence the name of the village. On the right side of the bridge, there is a bathhouse, which is very lively in winter. Although the sparrow is small and complete, there are pedicures and back rubs in the bathhouse, and you can also buy snacks such as peanuts and rice and stinky dried seeds.

The winter of The Kirin Bridge is not a world of ice and snow, but a frozen world, because whether there is rain or snow, it is full of ice. In the middle of the village, in the river pond on both sides of the asphalt road, children wander leisurely on the thick ice, and women chisel an ice hole around the bluestone slabs by the water's edge, carefully digging for rice and raccoon clothes. Forty years ago in the countryside, tile houses are very rare, after the rain and snow on the grass roof, the ice formed into a shiny smooth cone, hanging upside down under the eaves, sometimes, melting and dripping on the ground, and forming a new ice and the eaves under the distant echo, row after row, very beautiful and spectacular.

When I went to school in the morning, the Qilin Bridge was often frozen, and even if there was no rain or snow the night before, it was a little bit of water. If it is snowy or snowy, the wind is even more bitterly cold, like a knife scraping on the face, and walking on the bridge is more difficult. The small hands of the classmates basically had frostbite, red and swollen, festering, and the small faces were also wrinkled, one by one, we laughed at ourselves and said that they were "turnip shreds on the face".

It's hard to look forward to the winter vacation, you can hide at home, sit in the fire bucket and write your homework. Usually at school, I can only bring my own fire can to keep warm. In the stoneware fire pot, charcoal buried in the ashes of grass and wood is burned, and the upper handle is covered with a cotton cloth to keep warm, and the hand or foot is placed on the edge of the fire pot, and then put on the top with cotton cloth. The fire bucket is made of planks, and the single person is generally round, and the person sits on it. My house is rectangular, and my brother and I sit on the side, and at our feet is a clay brazier, burning a charcoal fire covered with wood ash, and there is an iron bar on the top of the brazier, and the feet are on the iron bar. After the person sits down, he also uses a cotton cloth to put on his leg to keep warm.

Nowadays, people no longer use charcoal for heating, and they all use electricity. A few days ago, when I went to the department store to buy casseroles, the clerk said to me quite poetically that it was best to use this stew on the red clay stove and simmer it slowly. I laughed and said, then it has to be burned with charcoal, where is the charcoal? The clerk is speechless. But in that year, charcoal heating was very popular, and charcoal baskets made of bamboo baskets were bought one by one. When adults praise children, they will say: "Put a charcoal basket for you", which means "put a top hat on you".

Speaking of which, the way my father bought charcoal was also very characteristic of the times: it was carried by a mail truck master who escorted the mail. Remember, at that time, the mail truck passing through Nanling was driven from Wuhu to The direction of Shitai, and there were no courier companies decades ago, and the Post and Telecommunications Bureau was exclusively engaged in mail transportation, including letters, parcels, newspapers and periodicals, etc. were escorted by mail trucks. Carrying tea leaves in the spring and charcoal in the winter, the escort master often gives some welfare to colleagues in various bureaus along the way. Of course, this is not in line with the relevant regulations, first, the folk customs were simple at that time, and the price was fair, so everyone was accustomed to it and did not feel that there was anything wrong. A basket of charcoal for more than ten or twenty dollars is enough for a winter!

It was winter, but it was so cold! Every year, my mother had to knit several sweaters and pants for my brother and me, who were growing up, and when it was coldest, I wore two sweaters and two pairs of thread pants, which I couldn't stand, and I had to add cotton jackets and cotton pants. When the gloves go out, they wear cotton gloves that are not divided into fingers and palms, and they must wear at least half-cut woolen gloves that expose their fingers when writing homework. My brother and I were dressed in a round, round, like two small cotton balls. It wasn't until the Qingming Season that I was relieved: I could wear a thick sweater!

When I grew up, I learned that before dawn is the darkest time of the day, and before the spring blossoms, it is always cold to the bone!

But when winter comes, will spring be far away?

About author:Wang Lu, a native of Nanling, Anhui, is a member of the China Financial Writers Association, mainly composing essays and poems, and his works can be found in the magazine "Financial Literature Circle", "Financial Writers Association", "Shandong Financial Literature" public number and "Qilu Evening News One Point Number".

Yanagiizumi Financial Literature