As the saying goes, "people go to high places, and water flows to low places", but in reality, many people have moved away from the mountains and lived in low towns. Due to the inconvenience of transportation and the lack of economic resources in the deep mountainous areas of western Henan, since the implementation of poverty alleviation and relocation by the state, most people have left the high mountains and deep ditches through poverty alleviation relocation or their own efforts.
In Luanchuan County, Henan Province, there is a village that can be called the smallest, this village has only one courtyard, 9 rooms in size, and currently only one person lives. Although the village committee is no longer on the mountain, Uncle Cao Jinyou, who lives here, is indeed a villager of the administrative village.
When he saw Uncle Cao, he was called back from the ground by his guide, followed by three large dogs. "It's hot here, go home and sit down!" Uncle said.
Uncle Cao is 68 years old this year, not only the last family in this natural village, but also the last person left in the mountain by this administrative village, uncle said that he planted some land in the mountain, there are few people, it is very beautiful, and he does not want to go down the mountain.
As soon as we got back to the yard, the three dogs raised by the uncle swooped over with their tails wagging, and the last dog in the standing position barked and sniffed our shoes.
"Oh, Hua Hua, Ansheng!" Uncle Cao scolded, and the flower dog named "Hua Hua" immediately squatted down and looked at our group with a strange face.
Uncle Cao told the author: These three dogs are stray dogs that no one wants, he picked them up on the side of the road when he went down the mountain, and the "black girl" next to him, who is more than 2 years old, very smart, will take the dogs and brothers and sisters to the cornfield to pick up wild boars, and last year also bit a badger that stole corn and brought it back.
Ask the uncle whether these dogs have bitten the wild boar, the uncle said no, on the one hand, because the wild boar in the mountains is relatively large, a small group is 7 or 8, these three dogs can not do it, on the other hand, hunting needs to train dogs, they will not. Recently, in fact, it is with three dogs to pick up the wild boar, and the wild boar hears the barking of the dog and does not go to the cornfield. Badgers and rabbits have come back.
The author has not seen the real badger, may be a wild animal with a head like a bobcat, also known as a badger pig in the mountain village of Yuxi, and is a wild animal with serious corn waste. Badgers would climb up corn stalks, peel corn bales, pick full-grained earlets of corn, and monkeys would eat peaches and bite half of them to leave half of them. Another habit of badgers is to make holes in the ground, bite down the ripe ears of corn, and drag them into the holes, but then they will forget the place, and the next year a large tuft of corn seedlings will grow in the field.
It is said that Mr. Lu Xun's childhood friend Yan Tu was a master of badger hunting. Uncle Cao's "black chick" also brought back a fat badger for him last year. Uncle Cao introduced that badger oil is a good medicine for treating burns, so he put badger oil into the urn of the waste kettle and hung it under the eaves for later use.
Uncle Cao originally had 3 brothers, the younger brothers have moved to the town under the mountain, because the mountain village is not accessible to the road, come back to climb the mountain for more than an hour, simply do not even plant the cultivated land, do not want to go down the mountain Uncle Cao planted a few acres of corn, and a few acres of medicinal materials. A person's mountain village, although lonely, accompanied by three dogs, every day non-stop to find work for themselves, the days will pass quietly like water.
In the corner of the courtyard, there is the firewood that Uncle Cao has just chopped, and it is stacked neatly. Uncle Cao said that he had planted all his life, when he was young, he did not go out to work, nor did he learn any crafts, he would only farm, and now he was popular to work, his age was also older, he had found a job, the main family heard that he was more than 60 years old, no one adopted, had to farm at home, collect medicine and live.
Uncle Cao said: "Now the society is more peaceful, as long as the hands are not lazy, casually uphill to fork a few times, you can support yourself." ”
In the open space next to the yard, there is a corn rack built by Uncle Cao with a wooden pole, and after the corn is recovered, it is suspended on the steel wire bound on the wooden pole through this single wooden ladder. The corn in the mountains ripened late, this year's has not yet broken, last year, Uncle Cao sold more than 3,000 catties of corn.
The uncle said, "I'm all ant moving houses, carrying out a bag at a time." Let's go here to the place where the grain is one or twenty miles, and I can carry it twice a day in a hurry, and the old man can't move his back, that is, 7 or 80 pounds, how many times to run..."
Look at it is almost noon, Uncle Cao is ready to cook for us, open the lid of the pot, but inside is half a pot of corn rice.
The uncle said: "I don't know if you are coming, usually I always cook a pot of rice in the morning, and drink it again when it is hot in the afternoon." Alone, also do not want to cook back and forth. ”
Uncle Cao did not have the habit of eating steamed buns, usually corn rice or noodles.
"Look at the dogs, the black chick eats more than I do, and when this is done, I drink two bowls, and the rest of them drink." Otherwise you have to cook for them, trouble. ”
When the fire was made, the uncle took out a simple gasoline lighter and slowly lit the bamboo pieces. Because of the continuous rain in Henan since September, the wood in the uncle's yard has been wet. When he went to the ground in the morning, he specially kang a few pieces of wood in the stove, and after the bamboo pieces were lit, he quickly ignited the dry wood inside the stove.
"It's not beautiful to go down, you have to spend money to buy everything, and you don't have the freedom in the mountains." I am still this person, we are impatient to owe people affection, that is, whoever comes to say give me something to skim, I don't want it. What do we want people to do with that thing? I have hands and feet, but I don't have anything to eat, we don't want other people's things..."
For us not to eat at Uncle Cao's house, Uncle Cao was a little entangled: "Oh [you] don't look at the dirty clothes I wear, [before] there are still people living in the ditch, who does what, I am still in charge." If you don't want to drink grits rice, we have eggs, so I'll give you some egg tea to drink..."
The guide told the uncle that we would go somewhere else next, and the uncle would give up.
When leaving, tell the uncle to take a picture of him, and then go to the guide's house to get it, Uncle Cao instantly got up, stood up straight, two hands outstretched and pinched, he said: In addition to receiving pensions, ID cards need to take pictures, he basically does not take pictures.
"Look at this, the old is not beautiful, you have come from afar, you have not taken a sip of water, you have not eaten a bite of food, and you will leave after you finish speaking." This year the walnuts are called [gray rats] are finished, and I don't have anything for you, oh, this old sorry person..."
The guide said to the uncle, "When your persimmon is ripe, pick some and ask me to taste it." ”
"That's a hit, nothing else, it's too easy to do..."
The local village cadre told the author that all the villagers have moved to the immigrant community in the town, only Uncle Cao is unwilling to come out, and the village has no choice but to wait until he is physically inconvenient in the future, and then do work to see if he goes to his brothers' home or sends him to the nursing home.
Perhaps Uncle Cao is 10 years younger, he can also go out to find a job, work for a few years, and slowly accept urban life, and now, for him who has not left the mountains in his life, he seems not to know how to support himself when he arrives in the town.
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