Look at the monkeys in the "skin ditch"
Author: Yiyi
Zhiqing Love 2016-08-09 07:09
From May 1971 to July 1974, I lived in a place called "Jiapigou" 20 kilometers from the Lapang Highway in Mengla County, a southwestern border city, where the propaganda team of the Second Water Conservancy Regiment was stationed.
The reason why it is called "Jiapigou" is because this place is surrounded by green mountains in the north, looking at the cliff in the south, a mountain stream flowing under the cliff, and thatched houses sandwiched between green mountains and green streams, and everyone can't help but associate it with a place name in the revolutionary model play "Outsmart the Tiger Mountain" that was popular all over the country at that time, jokingly called "Clipi Gou". Therefore, an open-air flat land in front of the hut that was personally leveled by the team members for rehearsals and exercises was named "Weihu Hall", and if the cliff on the side of the mountain stream could be climbed, perhaps the mountain would be named "Weihu Mountain" by the team members who were very willing to be bandits. Unfortunately, the cliff that is dozens of feet high stands upright, except for birds that can fly, apes can climb, and people with two legs can only enjoy the beautiful scenery overlooking the mountain, and cannot climb.
The life of the propaganda team for more than three years is still so flavorful in retrospect. When there is no performance task, I must obey the arrangements of the logistics group of the regiment organ and participate in labor production or construction site battles. At that time, no matter what kind of labor he participated in, sweat on a sunny day and mud on a rainy day were a must. I remember every time I walked into the boys' dormitory to inject or pierce silver needles for the sick number, my sensitive nose often smelled a strong odor, which was sour and smelly from the sweaty and even white salt spots in the corner overalls. Due to the extreme fatigue caused by excessive physical work, boys' work clothes are usually changed after finishing work and showering, and then changed before leaving work the next morning, and are not washed in the stream until the weekend. Girls who love to clean than boys, not everyone can change work clothes every day, especially in the rainy season, the washed clothes are not easy to dry, so the girls' dormitory will also have a faint odor.
Before each festival, the propaganda team has to compile and arrange its own program, and the tasks during the festival, in addition to reporting performances to the lower company, often go to the local border troops, troops going abroad and military hospitals to perform condolences.
The uniforms worn by the propaganda team members during the performance seem to have been obtained by the regiment commander from the border regiment, and there are no female soldiers in the border regiment, so after getting eight sets of female military uniforms for the eight girls in the dance class through connections, the four girls in the musical instrument class had to wear a men's military uniform with four pockets. The national costumes that need to be worn for national dances are designed and imitated by the team members after observing the performances of professional groups such as the Simao District Cultural Troupe and the Xishuangbanna Cultural Troupe, which is far less dazzling, gorgeous and finely crafted than the professional literary troupe, but only slightly with a bit of national charm.
The musical instruments of the propaganda team include yangqin, flute, huqin (erhu, jinghu, banhu, etc.), accordion, trung ruan, yueqin, etc. Since most of them are mid-high range string pulling and plucked national instruments, the performance effect is thin and the volume is very small. Later, in order to fill the gap in the low range, a mustache was made, and the band was finally able to produce a relatively deep simple harmony.
The simple props of the propaganda team were designed and made by the dexterous hands of a few male team members who could do carpentry. What left the deepest impression was the wooden barge gun that could be fake and painted with a layer of oil and black paint carried by Guo Jianguang, an instructor of a certain unit of the New Fourth Army, in the revolutionary model play "Shajiabang", and several long guns of unknown "models" carried by the soldiers of the New Fourth Army.
The folk story of "monkeys stealing corn" is a metaphor for lack of greed. More than 40 years ago, whenever the corn was about to ripen, our regiment sent people to guard the cornfield, because there were really monkeys stealing corn. The pesky monkey team, led by the head monkey, hunched over one after another, jumped forward and backward on the hillside, frequently replaced the forelimbs and hindlimbs, jumped forward, and the hard-planted corn may not yield any harvest if it encounters this gang of robbers. As depicted in folktales, monkeys are greedy and stupid and specialize in picking large buds of corn. The monkey breaks a corn with its "left hand", clamps it under the "right arm socket", and then breaks a corn with its "right hand", clamps it under the "left arm socket", when it stretches out its "right hand", the right corn falls, it stretches out its "left hand" at the same time, the left corn falls again, so no matter how much corn it breaks, it can only take away one in the end, and the cornfield with good ends, after the "sweep" of the monkeys, is ruined.
The "Jiapigou" has a beautiful scenery, and the monkeys who come to pick wild fruits in season on the cliffs across the stream.
At the top of the cliff is a subtropical primeval forest covered with green and year-round trees, and a few tall wild fruit trees fall impartially into our limited field of view. Practicing and rehearsing in the "Weihu Hall" of "Jiapigou", someone accidentally found a group of monkeys active on the opposite cliff, so curious young people stopped their work and gathered in the "Weihu Hall" to observe the dynamics of the monkey group curiously and freshly.
Through some "analysis and research", everyone finally reached a consensus: this group of monkeys came to pick seasonal wild fruits to eat, and the fruits of the fruit grove were eaten by them, and the monkey group would move.
After another "discussion", the naughty young guy who could not bear the loneliness and "imprisoned" deep in the mountains all year round went to bring out a replica spear and aimed at the monkey group "bang bang", the fake gun did not have a chamber, and the "bang" sound came from the young man's mouth.
The first battle was fought beautifully, and the monkeys were like frightened birds in the "bang" sound, and they disappeared. Heaven-shaking cheers erupted on the "Weihu Hall": Hehe, hahaha! Guys are happy! I was stunned to see it, and while I was overjoyed, I admired the exquisite craftsmanship of the skilled carpenter in my heart.
The next day, I saw the monkeys appear on the opposite fruit tree again, and the monkeys jumped up and down on the fruit trees in groups of three or five, and a strong monkey responsible for releasing the wind sat firmly on the high branches, vigilantly monitoring the movements in the direction of the "Weihu Hall". This time, several young men rushed into the storage room, took out the long gun and barge gun, aimed at the monkey group as usual yesterday, and continued to "bang". The wind monkey gave a danger signal, and the head monkey gave an order, the monkeys scattered, and after a short time, turned around and returned to their original place. As a result, the old trick of "bang bang" was repeated twice, and the monkeys developed "immunity" and no longer fled. Smart monkeys, they can tell if the gun is fake or not!
The work of "analysis and research" was restarted, and the result of the new "discussion" was to move out a set of gongs and drums, and the loud and rhythmic drums shone cymbals into battle, and the rapid and rhythmic drumbeat shook the valley like thunder: "Bang bang! Knock knock! Knock knock! "Ha, the strength of the percussion is harder than the performance! The monkeys fled again in a hurry, and the second battle was won! The cheers of the team members reverberated in the valley for a long time.
After a few rounds, the clever monkeys once again adapted to the deafening sound of gongs and drums, some frolicked and played in the fruit trees, some picked fruits and enjoyed the delicacy, calmly facing the sound of human hard work in the "Mighty Tiger Hall".
The "Weihu Hall" failed, the donkey skills were poor, and he packed up his ineffective belongings, helplessly accepted the reality that he was far away from the monkeys, and each went to work.
For the next few days, the monkeys on the opposite side were active, this side was noisy, and the pre-festival rehearsals were busy, and the topic of discussing how to "expell" the monkeys was not brought up.
Early one morning, the team members gathered at the Weihu Hall to practice as usual. "One word open", compression of ligaments, heel turning, and "hey, yayy" voice practice, and so on. The boy in the dance class, Wu Lixin, who is loyal and down-to-earth, pressed his legs for a while, and on a whim, straightened his voice and "ahhhhh In an instant, a miracle appeared, and the monkeys on the trees "hula la" disappeared from everyone's field of vision, and the team members who saw it couldn't react for a while, all of them were stunned and stunned in place; I didn't see it, but after listening to the colorful description of the witness, I will be suspicious - the fruit is not finished, the monkey will return, there is a chance to verify!
The results of the verification made everyone excited: the monkeys were afraid to listen to Wu Lixin's voice, and the deterrent effect of a certain frequency and dose of sound waves on the monkeys was undoubted! After that, as long as they saw the monkeys appear, all the team members shouted in unison: "Wu Lixin, come quickly!" Lixin comrades lived up to expectations, whether before eating or after the toilet, and regardless of whether they were hungry and thirsty in their abdomen, they immediately rushed to the front line, fighting hard "aaaa
In the winter of the previous year, the old place was revisited, and the charm of the dam canal poured by the blood and sweat of 2,500 young people and even their lives remained, but the "Jiapigou" where they lived back then was unrecognizable and difficult to find. The cliffs are gone, the fruit trees are gone, the primeval forests of the mountains disappear, a single rubber tree can be seen everywhere, the once gurgling, crystal clear water floats with dead branches and leaves, thatched huts no longer exist, and the "Weihu Hall" is transformed into a tidy vegetable field.
There seemed to be an invisible radar in my body, guiding me straight to that unforgettable position, standing in a corner, sweet and bitter, all tastes; Joy and sorrow, mixed feelings!