Step into the spring
Text/Zhang Zhenfeng
(Web Photo)
"Open the door and scatter the birds, the jade fall one after another", in the early morning of January 22, 2022, the moment when I got up and opened the curtains, the jade butterflies outside the window flew, and a "snow" opened the floodgates of the happiness of our little family.
Since childhood, I have known the proverb of "Ruixue Mega Year" and have always had a admiration for this auspicious thing. But there hasn't been a decent snow in the past decade or two, and some years there hasn't even been any snow at all. Therefore, there is also a lack of actual combat exercises of "poor winter winds, heavy snow several feet deep", and there is nowhere to find Su Dongpo's feeling of "life is like everywhere, it should be like Feihong stepping on slush". This morning, looking out of the window, the earth is white, and there is really a bit of a thousand miles of frozen snow. So I rejoiced, got dressed, and went out the door. Above the boundless sky and under the vast earth, a living individual may not even be a speck of dust, but no matter how small, he must go out of the door and break into the northern scenery of this snowy spring!
Stepping on the thick snow and listening to the soft sound of "Feihong stepping on the snow", the feeling of impetuosity was instantly released. Lifting up the vicissitudes of half a life's face, enjoying the soft and cold fragrant kiss of Yuren Qionghua, I melted her, and she woke me up. Isn't she the red plum in my heart that is "already a cliff full of ice, like a beautiful flower branch"! Yes, but there seems to be a little bit of enthusiasm missing. Eh, there is no need to be demanding, perhaps "similar or dissimilar" is the wonder of this beauty. There are poems as evidence: snow is like plum blossoms, plum blossoms are like snow, and it seems strange and not like it!
My legs were mechanically moving on the thick snow, but my brain was alive with the cold wind blowing. What will be the scene on the lake in the city at this time? The surface of the water is covered with thin ice, and after this heavy snow cover, the vast lake surface becomes a vast snow field, right? Where are the flocks of cute water ducks sheltering from the wind and snow at this time? The temple pavilion of the ancient city with arch cornices must have been covered with thick snow at this time, and the layers of snow that were staggered made the ancient city add a layer of mystery to the quaint elegance, right? If there really is a Celestial Heavenly Garden, will the immortals who go out for a walk get lost in this wind and snow? Maybe we're here to be his Immortal Cave Heaven, right?
At this moment, my hometown, that small village should be the most lively, the wheat fields around the village enjoy the highest treatment, "jade flowers fly in the middle of the night, green waves dance next year". On the roofs of the village, all of them display their distinctive shapes with uniform pure white snow, and wisps of green smoke rise from the chimneys, which snake into the misty and deep sky; The corn stacks tied up outside the courtyard are covered with thick white snow on the top, and the yellow corn under the top shines with golden light; Every household has a big red lantern hanging on its gate to welcome the spring; Flocks of chickens under the grass stacks, carefully planing the snow under their feet, kept pecking; The air is filled with the burning aroma of firewood and grass, and there is also a faint aroma of wine and coriander...
The calm, tranquil and peaceful atmosphere of "three huts with tight firewood doors and a pot of old wine stoves" is the most distinctive in the hometown, which cannot be enjoyed in the so-called frontier cities of civilization of all sizes. At this moment, the warmth of my unique hometown has wrapped my body and mind through thousands of times and space.
The four seasons of my childhood were much more distinct than they are now, and the summer was really hot and the winter was really cold. In winter, ice picks are hung on the eaves of the hometown for a long time. But at that time, the feet did not suffer any grievances, because there were coarse cotton shoes made by her mother with a thousand layers of soles. At the bottom of the thousand layers, the old clothes are removed, and the layers of cloth are pasted with corn paste, and our hometown is called "playing the diaphragm board". After drying, cut into the shape of a shoe sole, stack up several layers of diaphragm, and use hemp rope to pick up one needle after another. The work of "na soles" can be done at any time. The fineness of the stitches is directly related to the quality of the shoe. Every year before the beginning of winter, my mother made cotton shoes worn by the whole family. It was snowing heavily, and the playmates were running down the street to snowball and build snowmen. Put on the coarse cotton shoes made by my mother, it is not cold at all, and when I am tired of playing on the snow, I will grasp it to a clean place and stomp my feet and stomp off the snow that is stuck on my shoes. Because I know how many nights a pair of shoes requires mom to stay under a kerosene lamp. Once, the "thimble" on my mother's hand took a long time, the sole of the shoe was thick, the tip of the needle did not penetrate the sole, but the needle nose pierced the "thimble" to pierce the mother's hand, and the mother", "Ouch", woke me up, and the blood of the mother's hand was direct. My mother saw my frightened look and comforted me: it's okay, it's a good thing to have more blood, it proves that my son will hurt his mother when he grows up...
On those days when the wind and snow fluttered outside the window, my mother sat on the kang of the old house, her feet covered with a quilt, and the soles of her shoes were covered with the light of kerosene lamps and beans. Those pictures are clearly presented in my mind at this moment.
The past is hard to look back on, a storm and snow have strengthened my bones, but they have taken away my mother's youth. I don't know when, my mother's green silk has turned into a head full of frost and snow...
The snow that fell on the head and hit the face turned into a string of shining elves, floating down the cheeks and falling into the wind and snow. Oh, this warm cold snow, warm my heart, moisten my soul...
In a few days, it will be the Spring Festival, and after the Spring Festival, the fourth day of the first year will be the Spring Festival. This is a spring snow, and behind this flying snow is a mighty spring breeze. In the snow and wind, I accelerated my pace, crossed the snow and wind, and walked into the spring...
【About the author】Zhang Zhenfeng, project manager of Liaocheng Transportation And Automobile Group Hongyun Jian'an Decoration Engineering Co., Ltd., a member of the Communist Party of China, a literary enthusiast, and a member of the Shandong Provincial Prose Literature Society. Essays, novels and modern poetry are scattered in paper journals and platforms such as "Ginseng Flower", "Literary Hundred Flowers Garden", "Young Literary Scholars", "Luxi Poets", "Qilu Literature", "Mountain Pomegranate", "Yangtze River Writers", "Southwest Literature", "Light Taste Tea", "Chinese Poetry Network" and so on.