The 1970s were a time of hunger, and in search of food, my father went to Qinling to work as a lumberjack when he was only sixteen years old. From where he lived to the lumberyard in Qinling, after walking for at least three days, he was only on the road, without any luggage or dry food.
On the first day, he drove for dozens of miles, and came to a mountain village at dusk. Tired and hungry, he wanted to stay in the village, but he did not dare to come forward and inquire. An old woman sitting at the door saw it and asked him where he was going, and he said he was going to cut the wood. The old woman who lived alone took him in, and before going to bed, he ate a full meal: three pancakes and two bowls of rice porridge.
The next morning, when he woke up, the old woman had already made breakfast. After eating, his father was leaving, and the old woman handed him a cloth pocket containing two pot helmets and told him to eat on the road. Pure walnut noodles burnt pot helmet, how many walnuts do you have to do, how much time do you have to burn well.
Years later, my father still talked about it, and he couldn't forget the sound of the porcelain bowl scraping the bottom of the urn when the old woman scooped the flour, and said that he had never eaten such a delicious pot helmet again.
Miner Chen Nianxi writes in the poem: "Who has read my poems / Who has heard my hunger / The world is a snowy land / We are the finches of it / Its white makes us black / Its vastness makes us lonely." ”
I heard your hunger, I recognized the snow, I recognized the vastness and loneliness of the world.
Written by | Three books
01
Wusong Mountain under the Xun Mi family
《Shukugoyama Shimonoke》
(Tang) Li Bai
I stayed under the five pines, and there was nothing to enjoy.
The Tian family is bitter in autumn, and the neighbor's daughter is cold at night.
Kneel into the carved rice, moon light vegetarian plate.
Shame on the mother, three thanks can not eat.
Around 761 AD, Li Bai traveled back and forth between Xuancheng and Liyang, and one day it was late, so he stayed at the house of a prostitute under the Wusong Mountain. Wusong Mountain is in the south of present-day Tongling County, Anhui Province, and there are large pines on the mountain, a book of five branches, scaly old dry, green color, so named "Wusong Mountain".
It was autumn, the mountain village was late at night, and Li Baikui sat indoors, meaning quite lonely, and the night was long and joyful. The village was quietly meditating, and we could imagine that the sound of the Tian family's labor was even more desolate in the dark silence. And the sound of the neighbor's rice scooping further deepened the chill of the autumn night. "Scooping" is the pouring of grain into utensils and the smashing of the broken shell with a pestle. The sound of rice and pounding clothes, the rhythm is monotonous, in the cool autumn night, there is a sense of seasonal urgency. "The Tian family is bitter in autumn, and the neighbor's daughter is cold at night", these are what Taibai saw and heard in the mountain village farmhouse that night.
In the past, most of the peasants were very simple, polite and hospitable, even if the family was poor, they were also dedicated to hospitality. This Xun Mi under the Wusong Mountain "knelt into the carved rice", which showed her enthusiasm and respect for Li Bai. When the ancients ate, they sat on the heels of the table, and "kneeling in" was to straighten up and present. Carved hu is an alias of "菰", commonly known as russet white, autumn fruit with small cylindrical fruits, the seeds are called "koji rice", the rice is sweet, at that time it was a good meal.
Is it because Li Bai is famous, so he will have such treatment? Li Bai was famous in the world in his early years, from the emperor down to the farmer, and almost everyone knew that he was a great poet. Xun Mi may have heard of Li Bai and may still be able to recite his "Bright Moonlight before the Bed", but this sincere intention may not be completely out of admiration. Just like the old woman my father met, and the drifting mother that Han Xin met when he was a teenager, their hospitality and help were only out of kindness.
It is recorded in the "Chronicle of the Marquis of Huaiyin" that Han Xin was poor when he was young, and one day, he was fishing under Huaiyin City, and his face was hungry. One of the eldest ladies (i.e., drifting mothers) who were rinsing silk at the water's edge saw Han Xin's pity and gave him food to eat, for dozens of days in a row, every day. Han Xin was deeply touched and said to the eldest lady that she would be thanked again in the future, and the eldest lady said angrily: "The eldest husband cannot eat himself, I am the mourning king Sun Cai to give you charity, do you want your retribution?!" ”
The moonlight shone on Bai Jing's plate, and at this moment, Li Bai was touched and ashamed in his heart, and he remembered Han Xin. "Shame on the drifting mother, three thanks can not eat", he compared Xun Mi to a drifting mother, lamenting how he can, and has passed the age of sixty, and will not be able to repay. After several pushes, it is still difficult, and I am ashamed to be so generous.
Very ordinary life experience, very unusual human warmth.
Southern Song Dynasty Anon.
02
The poor woman who picked up the lost ears
"Watching the Wheat"
(Tang) Bai Juyi
The Tian family is less idle, and in May, people are busy.
At night, the south wind rises, and the wheat is covered with yellow.
The woman eats lotus, and the child carries the pot pulp,
He went with Yu Tian, and Ding Zhuang was in Nangang.
Foot steaming summer earthy, back burning hot skylight,
I don't know the heat, but the summer is long.
There is a poor woman, and a son by her side,
The right hand is left with a spike, and the left arm is hanging from the basket.
Listen to what they say, and the hearers are saddened.
The family field has lost all taxes, and it is full of hunger.
Now I have no merit, and I have not done anything to Nongsang.
There are three hundred stones in the official, and there is surplus grain in the old Yan.
I am ashamed of myself and cannot forget it for the rest of my life.
Bai Juyi wrote a note on the title of the poem: "At that time, he was a lieutenant of Xuan county". In the west of Chang'an County, south of Zhongnan Mountain, north of the Wei River, "mountain song Yue, water curve Yue", hence the name. Because of the word "盩厔", it is now called Zhouzhi County. The busy summer scenes written in the poems are still common at the beginning of this century.
As Lotte said, "The field family is less idle in the month, and the people in May are busier", the former farmers, all year round, no holidays, no weekends, in short, no idle time. In the fifth month of the lunar calendar, the wheat yellow season is even busier, two or three days, the south wind blows, the sun is sunny, and the wheat is yellow. Midsummer has many thunderstorms, and the weather changes when it changes, so summer busy is very nervous, and people call the harvest "war". This is the rhythm at the beginning of the poem.
The following "women and aunts eat lotus, children carry pot pulp, go with the field, Ding Zhuang in Nangang", presumably many readers who grew up in the countryside have similar memories. The men of the family, Lao Dingzhuang, who cut wheat in the field, and the women and children brought them water and food, now seem to be a genre painting: on the vast golden wheat field, some prime-aged men bend down to cut wheat, and the women and children are crowded with women and children, carrying kettles and rice baskets, and some men are standing on the ground wiping sweat or sitting under trees to eat.
When I was a child, Xia Busy was responsible for delivering food and water, and my father and mother cut wheat. One year, when the weather forecast was about to rain, my father invited four McKe from the county railway station square, which was the distribution center of The Mai Ke in other provinces. The wheat merchants had to cut two large areas of wheat in our house in one day, and on a hot day, my mother and I carried boiling water in buckets and sent it to the field one by one.
"Foot steaming summer rustic, back burning skylight, strength do not know the heat, but regret the summer is long", these sentences are the summer busy cutting wheat farmers, but also the realism of the wheat customers, they are naked back, sweating like rain, rarely stop to rest. At that time, the wheat guests migrated like birds, cutting all the way from the southeast of China to the northwest every year. Nowadays, cutting wheat, wheat customers, wheat yards, and playing wheat are all disappearing memories.
In the next four sentences, Lotte's eyes are focused on a poor woman, holding the child, carrying a broken basket in her hand, and picking up the lost tassel. "There is a poor woman with a child next to her, her right hand with a relic, and her left arm hanging from the basket", this close-up shot strikes people's hearts. Picking up the ear is very common during the busy summer, under the scorching sun, the ripe wheat ear is broken as soon as it is touched, so there will be a missing ear in the cut field, and the old woman and child will carry the basket to pick it up. The woman in the poem, who seems to be a widow, has no one to rely on, may not have any land, and relies on collecting leftovers to make a living.
"Listen to what they say, and the hearers are saddened." The family field has lost all taxes, and it is full of hunger", the questioner may be Lotte himself, it may not be. When I asked, I learned that the family had land, but the tax was too heavy, and the land was taxed, so I had to pick up some relics and talk about it to fill my hunger.
Lotte listened and couldn't help but feel sad: "Now I have no merit, I didn't do anything about Nongsang." There are three hundred stones in the official, and there is surplus grain in the old Yan. I am ashamed of myself and cannot forget it for the rest of my life. "Although there is a shame in vegetarian food, the recipient can reflect on it without losing mercy.
Tang Dynasty poets Bai Juyi, Yuan Shu, Zhang Zhi, Li Shen, etc. advocated the Xinlefu movement, advocating that poetry originated from events, playing the role of supplementing current politics and venting people's feelings, especially writing current affairs with self-created Xinlefu inscriptions. "Guan Jiao Mai" and "Charcoal Seller", "Shangyang White Haired Man", etc., are all famous works of acupuncture and malpractice.
Reading "Guan Ji Mai", I personally did not feel that it was poetry, and read it as an ancient note essay. Moreover, as to whether poetry should assume that kind of social function, our answer today is, if not negative, at least not necessary. However, these Xinlefu poems are still very valuable, because they vividly present the living conditions of ordinary peasants in the Tang Dynasty for posterity, and in the traditional historical narrative, the personal experience of ordinary people is often marginalized and blurred.
Ming Zhang Chong 'Tian Jia Chun Dou Scroll' partial
03
The hardships of harvesting are unknown to those who have not experienced it
"The Second Song of Mercy"
(Tang) Li Shen
One
Plant one millet in the spring and harvest ten thousand seeds in the autumn.
There are no idle fields in the four seas, and the farmers are starving to death.
Second
At noon on the day of hoeing, sweat drops fall into the soil.
Who knows the plate of Chinese food, the grains are hard.
"The Second Song of Mercy", we read from kindergarten to college, and even read to old age. Those poems that can be read by people of different ages, poems that can be read to varying degrees, poems that can withstand repeated reading, I think are classics, such poems contain truths that the world cannot deny.
Children who grow up in the city may find it difficult to really perceive the growth of all things, rice flour is bought from the supermarket, fruits and vegetables are placed there, it seems that everything can be bought, it seems that it is made rather than grown on the ground. We can tell the child, or read it to the child from the book, but the paper is shallow, the child lacks personal experience, and can only "know". Nowadays, the standard of living has improved, and the children are few and expensive, and even those who grow up in the countryside may not have any experience.
Li Shentong was one of the advocates of the Xinlefu movement, and had close contacts with Bai Juyi, Yuan Shu and others, and he had created twenty poems long before Bai and Yuan advocated the Xinlefu, which has now been lost. Li Shen was a benevolent man with a heart of grace who had been imprisoned for angering the powerful. These two poems, Mercy for the Peasants, are full of his sympathy for the peasants and his condemnation of the absurd rulers.
Let's first talk about the "hoe day when noon" that will be carried from kindergarten. The words of the poem could not be simpler, but its taste is unknown to those who have experienced it. We eat every day, how many people really feel that every grain of rice, every bite of vegetables, is the condensation of other people's efforts, after many days and nights of growth, through the test of various weather, and experienced a lot of people's processing and transportation, finally came to our mouth? Not to mention the gifts of sunshine, land and water. It is often seen that the splurge in the restaurant is wasted, and the full-time people complain that nothing is good.
I remember how wheat and corn grew, from seedlings, hoeing, fertilizing, irrigating, to spitting, ripening, harvesting, every step touched our hearts. Sometimes the wheat looks yellow, and when it encounters strong winds, it immediately falls down, reducing production by more than half. After living in the city, the skin memory of agriculture faded, and the encirclement of commodities gave me the illusion that I was no longer dependent on the sky to eat. One year, when I went back to my hometown before Xia Busy, my father and cousin went to the airport to pick me up, and when we went to the parking lot, I asked my father how the wheat in the field was growing, and he looked up at the sky without worry, saying, "Just look at the good weather that God gives." My cousin is a modern farmer, resigned from the civil service, went home to plant cherries, thousands of acres of orchards, hired many people to work hard for a year, may cherry ripening period, afraid of rain, a hugo will rot. Listening to them talk about the weather in the car and watching the vast meadows out the window, I realized that the city had made me ignorant.
If it is said that "when the day of hoeing is noon, the sweat drops fall on the soil" is the destiny of the peasants, then "there is no idle land in the four seas, and the farmers are starving to death" is a man-made disaster. Mr. Liu Yongji commented in "The Essence of Tang Dynasty Absolute Sentences": "These two poems talk about the suffering of the peasants being exploited, and the exploiting class does not know the difficult things of harvesting. "If you know the hardships of the harvest, such as Bai Juyi, Li Shen and other poets, you will not bear to waste grain, and you will not waste the people's fat and anointing with absurdity."
Daily diet, the quality of the people. No matter what stage of social development, as long as people still have to eat, they cannot but take agriculture as the foundation and cannot but fear heaven and earth. If we fear heaven and earth, we cannot hesitate to be blessed, and we will not use "eating color and sex" as an excuse, so as to change into a trick and destroy the heavenly things.
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