More than 20 years ago, a township broadcaster sent me a video, opened it, and photographed the terraces in his hometown. Although the film and television equipment was not yet digitized, using an analog camera with a video tape, the picture quality was not good, and the picture was still a little shaky, but the visual impact brought by the video still shocked me. Since then, I have formed an indissoluble relationship with that terraced field.
After a few more years, choosing a day of spring blossoms, I took a shuttle bus from the county seat for nearly two hours to Niumuping Township, walked for another half an hour, and finally reached the place where the video was filmed.
The canola flowers in the field are blooming, walking on the ridge, although very careful, but still can not hide from the bent bunches of flowers to touch the petals on the body. As far as the eye can see, the golden yellow, the color is bright and some eyes are bright; the spring sun is not dry, lazily basking in the field, baking the flower fragrance more intensely, feeling that the air breathed is somewhat viscous; the bees are flying between the flowers, and the "buzzing" fan wings continue to vibrate the eardrums.
Chun and Jingming, although pleasing to the eye, could not feel the shock brought to me by that video. An old farmer who was leading the cattle pointed his hand to the opposite side and said, "Seeing that the Qianqiu Field is going to the opposite gate slope, then it looks good!" Through talking with the old farmer, I learned that this terraced field is called "Qianqiu Field".
According to the guidance of the old farmer, turn a deep bend, slope up a thatched road, and come to the top of the hill opposite the terraces. Ascending to the far horizon, the vision is suddenly open, and a wide gentle slope appears in front of you. This slope is about 300 acres, and the terraces are like gold belts wrapped around the waist, extending upwards from the bottom of the slope to form a magnificent "golden valley" surrounded by green mountains. What is amazing is that in the middle of the "Golden Valley" rises a sleeping green mountain, like a green dragon playing in the water, stirring up layers of golden flowers. The spring wind pushes the waves, a "wave" is higher than a "wave", rushing to Dongzhai, and finally breathing "wave" in the green mountains behind the village. The mountains are undulating and peak-to-peak, stretching all the way to the highest peak of the Zhijiang River, Xihuang Mountain.
From the opposite slope down, I returned to the terraces to conduct a field survey, and I was surprised to find that the Qianqiu Field was actually a "stone field" "chiseled" from the rock mountain. In that era of slash-and-burn farming, the tenacity and perseverance of the Ancestors of the Dong people were really admirable.
When was Sengaoka Field reclaimed? How many years ago? There is no way to verify it, but the old farmer told me about the origin of the "Thousand Hills Field".
Legend has it that a long time ago, a young man in Dongzhai got along with the landlord's lady. The landlord felt that his family was poor and did not want to marry his daughter to him. But the young lady is deeply in love with the afterlife, and he does not marry. In order to break up the lovers, the landlord gave birth to a seemingly impossible problem: if he could open a thousand hills on the stone mountain within three years, he would marry his daughter to him, otherwise, the marriage would be free of talk. Love gives the miraculous power of the future life, he gets up early in the dark, braves the wind and rain to painstakingly cultivate a hill "stone field" on the stone mountain. In the spring and autumn of the Three Yis, Housheng used his industrious hands to "cut" out a thousand hill terraces from the cracks in the stone. The landlord went to check according to the agreement, and the number was only nine hundred and ninety-nine hills. Sad and disappointed, the descendant helplessly picked up the coat of Tian Bajiao, and when he was ready to leave, a miracle occurred, and under the coat was covered with a very small field, so that a thousand hills of land were gathered. Seeing this scene, the landlord also changed his mind, feeling that such a diligent man was worthy of the daughter's lifelong trust, and the couple lived happily ever after, and the place was also named "Qianqiu Tian" because of this beautiful legend.
The more arduous the cultivation, the more sweet the fruit can be produced. Due to the excellent varieties, good environment, spring water irrigation, and long production cycle, since ancient times, the Qianqiu field under the Xihuang Mountain has produced the best rice in Zhijiang. The Dong people here have been working at sunrise and sunset for generations, and farming is only enough for food, so good rice is always "raised in the deep boudoir people do not know."
A hundred years ago, a stilt house north of Zhijiang City was inhabited by three mothers and children. One day, my mother bought back a new kind of rice - "jade waist rice" under the Xihuang Mountain, after the pot was cooked, just opened the lid of the pot, a fragrance came to the nose, and then looked at the rice, crystal like jade, god like a beautiful waist. The son couldn't wait to put it in the bowl and taste it, soft and delicious, full of fragrance, and couldn't help but praise: good rice! The person who praises Zhijiang's "jade waist rice" is Shen Congwen, the father of local literature.
A bowl of Zhijiang rice made Shen Congwen feel so evocative that many years later he wrote in the essay "Several Counties upstream of the Yuanshui River": "(Zhijiang) produces good rice again, and there is a special kind of jade waist rice under the mountain in the west (Huang) Mountain, and the cooking time is five minutes." "Zhijiang traditional good rice "jade waist rice", since then there is a clear written record.
A hundred years later, I read this passage of Shen Congwen from the old paper pile, and the refreshing rice fragrance came out through the paper, which made people intoxicated. So, I began to search for "jade waist rice". But after walking all over the villages under the Xihuang Mountain, and did not hear half a bit of news about "Jade Waist Rice", could it be that the bowl of fragrant "Zhijiang Rice" that Shen Congwen tasted had been lost?
When I lost faith in the search, a Dongxiang girl who grew up under the Xihuang Mountain sent a message of "Jade Waist Rice".
This Dongxiang sister runs a rice company, and when she heard me talk about "jade waist rice", she asked, "Is it that kind of slender and long rice?" When I was a child, I heard my grandfather talk about cooking rice and incense. “
I replied in surprise, "Yeah, it should be." ”
From the conversation, I learned that Dong Xiangmei wanted to create a brand of high-quality rice in Zhijiang and asked me to recommend a place to be a planting base.
I couldn't help but blurt out: "Then you go to the Qianqiu Field under the Xihuang Mountain, and the brand will call 'Dongxiang Sister Yuwaist Rice', the father of local literature Shen Congwen's Zhijiang rice." ”
......
In the autumn of last year, the high-quality rice planted by Dongxiang sisters in Qianqiu Field was harvested, and I was invited to Qianqiu Field again.
The wind blows rice waves and golden spikes flutter fragrantly, and under the blue sky, the thousand hills and fields have become "golden valleys". Dong Xiangmei handed me a heavy bouquet of rice and said, "You see, this is not Shen Congwen's 'jade waist rice'." ”
I held the ear of rice in the palm of my hand and looked closely, only to see that the grain was particularly thin and long, about a centimeter or so. The rice husks are opened by hand, revealing a grain of rice that is as white as white jade, fine and smooth, and resembles a "beautiful waist". Put it to the nose and smell it, and the fragrance will penetrate the heart. I replied in a loud voice: "Yes, yes, this is Shen Congwen's 'jade waist rice'." ”
Dong Xiangmei introduced: Shen Congwen's Zhijiang "jade waist rice" has actually been lost, in order to find rice with similar appearance and taste, after many selection and comparison, it was finally determined that this excellent variety was planted in Qianqiu Field, through the local natural environment and the influence of rice farming culture, so that Shen Congwen's Zhijiang "Jade Waist Rice" reappeared under the Xihuang Mountain after a hundred years. At the same time, she also founded the "Dongxiang Sister Yuwaist Rice" brand, bringing out a "bowl of rice" containing Zhijiang rice farming culture to help the revitalization of Zhijiang Countryside.
On the day of the harvest of the "Jade Waist Rice" base, the Qianqiu Field was full of people and lively, and guests from all over the world gathered in the "Golden Valley" to experience the traditional rice farming culture and taste Shen Congwen's Zhijiang "Jade Waist Rice".
That night, I reminisced about the afterscent of "jade waist rice" and dreamed of the conversation between Kaitian Housheng and Shen Congwen.
Kaida Housheng: Is the rice in Chigaoka field delicious?
Shen Congwen: It's really good rice, it all drunk me!
Kaida Housheng: Are there still people planting now?
Shen Congwen: I heard that the more Dongxiang sisters plant, the better, and the "jade waist rice" is fragrant all over the country.
When it is another year of spring ploughing, we silently look forward to it in the warm spring breeze and sun: dreams come true...
(Correspondent Tian Hua)