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Qingwei | country geeks

Text/Ying Chen

Qingwei | country geeks

If a person's knowledge is boundless and his thinking is innovative; if a person's behavior is extremely personal, does not follow the trend, and does not conform to the "right way"; if a person has a talent that is unexpected by the public, or has a unique skill that is difficult for ordinary people to reach, then this person will be called "eccentric" by everyone. My old neighbor Meng Charter is a rare "eccentric" among the Zhuang households.

In the hometown of Dagushan Village, the Meng family is only 100 meters away from my home. Speaking of the generations of neighbors, I have to call Meng Charter a master. Thirty or forty years ago or even earlier, Meng Charter wanted to be a local celebrity, and he was quite prestigious in the four miles and eight townships. Old Meng is famous, and there are many coincidences: one is magnificent and atmospheric, and the charter is often changed in tone and called "county magistrate"; the second is intelligent, versatile, and often has amazing deeds; three are obedient in temperament and behave differently. In "Dream of the Red Chamber", there is a joint pair: "Everything is insightful and learned, and the cultivation of human feelings is an article." Old Meng Ke did not have the effort to study such "learning" and "articles", he liked to be unrestrained and free to do whatever he wanted, and he was an otherworldly immortal in the world.

In addition to working in the field for a few years when he was young, this "county magistrate" uncle spent most of his life in Dagushan Village, and his joys and sorrows were inseparable from this acre and three points of land. During the period of the People's Commune, the members generally obeyed the labor law of "each doing his best and distributing according to his work". Although Meng Charter works at sunrise and breathes every day like everyone else, the kung fu on the hoe and sickle rake rake is sparse, "can" is not big, "labor" is not much, really not a good member. He is not good at harvesting, but he likes to study the left side of the door, and is a "talk box", once he pulls up a topic of interest, it is difficult to brake the car. If you can't use it together, your labor efficiency is naturally lower than that of other members. If you work in groups, few people are willing to partner with old Meng who "can't work out of work".

Qingwei | country geeks

The wheel of history turned to the 1980s, and the rural areas implemented the responsibility system of co-production contracting, and the "members" became "villagers" and the "production team" became "villager groups". Even if you work hard for your own family, Meng Charter is not a good handle. One autumn afternoon, I was riding past a field of farmland that was ready to be cultivated, and there was an old man in the field who was looking east and west to spread manure. He held a round-headed shovel in both hands, surrounded by a hill of dung, left and right, and slowly and methodically waved around. That gesture is not like a farmer doing farm work, but like a big guy playing golf on TV. I couldn't help but be curious, fixed my eyes on it, the old man who sprinkled dung dared to be Uncle Charter! In order to deal with the "autumn tiger", he wore a torn straw hat with scattered edges, a mosquito net cloth soaked in cool water on his bare back, and a pair of large earth-gray pants underneath. Even more astonishing is the support of a rare rural "electric donkey" on the ground. This is a black moped, and the common people used to call it "Black Old Eagle". At that time, the "black old bird" was a large piece that most mountain people did not even dare to think of, which was much more expensive than today's BMW Mercedes-Benz.

Uncle Charter looked up at me, quickly stopped his hand, greeted me warmly, and said that he was willing to talk to cultured people. I just became a teacher, and naturally I am a cultural person. I propped up my bike, squatted with him in the shade of the field, and began to pull the gourd and the scoop. After chatting for an hour, it was almost dark, and I pushed the car to say goodbye. Uncle Charter also finished grinding the foreign workers, packed up the iron lift, and rode the "black old bird" back home suddenly.

Mention the "Black Old Eagle", you have to talk about the resume of Meng Charter. Although he is not the "county magistrate" as everyone jokingly calls him, he is definitely not an ordinary member. He was once a bank clerk in Qihe County, and at the age of 26, he stood out with three scientific and technological inventions and became the vice president of the county bank. As the old saying goes, people with big tempers have a way to live, and people with big skills have personalities. There is also a saying that if a teenager succeeds, there will be a remnant. The young and vigorous Vice President Meng was arrogant and unruly, and often quarreled with his superiors. The final result was that the arm could not be twisted over the thigh, and in a fit of anger, a thought was bad, saying that he was sick and leaving his job, and gambling back to his hometown.

The farmer's life is stretched, he lacks food and clothing, and the family knows that chai rice is expensive. The young peasant Meng Charter is poor and thinks about change, the strange talents are prominent, and the talents in many aspects are gradually revealed. Calligraphy can write the leader's quotes on the white wall, painting can depict the golden chicken peony on the glass, martial arts can play with swords, guns, swords, wooden clubs to play tables, chairs, doors and windows, in addition to locks, haircuts, nailed shoe palms, sharpening scissors and kitchen knives, etc. Eighteen skills will be understood at a glance, and they will get started. Half a century ago, the county implemented funeral reform, and the first urns of the funeral home were credited to the amateur carpenter Meng Charter. In 1979, when his eldest daughter got married, he personally beat a hardwood wardrobe as a dowry, and more than forty years later, the tenons and tenons are still tightly sewn and opened and closed freely.

Qingwei | country geeks

After the agricultural production was dried, the pockets of the villagers gradually bulged, and the love of beauty also swelled. Meng Charter keenly seized this opportunity, and the first family photo studio in the town was opened. Farmer photographer Lao Meng began to record historical changes with his lens, using light and shadow to retain beautiful moments, and his family's economic conditions have also changed dramatically. Old Meng quickly rode on the heart-warming "black old bird", suddenly walking through the streets in the morning and suddenly going uphill and downhill in the afternoon.

It was also time for Meng Charter to be lucky, one day he went out to catch a market, and happened to meet a junior high school classmate. The classmate was in a prominent position, and was then the vice president of the provincial bank of a state-owned bank. After some greetings and reminiscences, Meng Charter, who was more than half a hundred years old, actually came to run from time to time, and was quickly implemented the policy, and went directly to the bank to go through the retirement procedures. Not only did it reissue the huge salary that stunned Old Meng, but also the retirement benefits were surprisingly good, and the happy life of the eccentric Old Meng in his old age suddenly came!

The poor are rich and have their chests folded. Old Meng is a retired worker with a high salary, of course, he does not have to work in the field. When the money in his hand could not be spent, he bought the old house in the village, eight hundred pieces to buy a broken stone courtyard under the mountain root, and five hundred pieces to buy an adobe house stubble facing the street. These dilapidated houses and old courtyards later fell into the hands of their two sons as inheritances, and they all became valuable feng shui treasures. Now who wants to buy a rural homestead, it is difficult, the national policy does not allow it! In terms of purchasing family property, Old Meng seems to have no intention of planting willows, and he also seems to have foresight.

Old Meng does not pay attention to eating and wearing, a lifetime of coarse tea and light rice, short clothes and shoes, but sometimes it is extravagant, the family's cats and dogs, are buying pig head meat to feed. Once, he met him at a market meat stall

The only grandson Kunpeng. The stall owner said, "Kunpeng, you see how much Grandpa hurts you, he wants to buy you meat to eat!" Old Meng looked at Kunpeng, turned to the stall owner and said, "I bought it to feed the dogs." The stall owner grinned, "Understand, nephew dog, nephew dog!" "Whoever thought, Old Meng paid the money, lifted up the cooked meat and really went home to feed the dog." The nephew dog "only smelled a nose of seductive aroma, and was so aggrieved that he wanted to cry."

Just a few days ago, Kunpeng, who had passed the age of confusion, pulled up this section, and there was still some resentment in his arms. However, Kunpeng is also reflecting on himself: "It should be said that My grandfather had expectations for my grandson. When I was six or seven years old, I bought a pen, ink, paper and stone for me to practice writing; when I was a teenager, I bought a qi eyebrow stick and let me learn martial arts. I couldn't stick to it because of my naughty and playful, and feeding the pig's head meat to the dog was probably a deliberate punishment for me. This kind of style can only be done by the strange grandfather. ”

(Image from the Internet)

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