Hong Ke "Desert People"

The old man took his grandson on the road early in the morning. The old man carried a shovel, and the grandson carried a bottle of "fresh orange". The bottle was huge, almost as long as a child's arm, and it was almost touching the ground, like a sheep or a dog.

Two years ago, the child's father brought back a real bottle of "fresh orange juice" from the town more than 100 miles away, the bottle mouth was tied with nylon rope, grandpa didn't even need scissors, grandpa's hand was like a bear claw, and the nylon rope was torn off, and grandpa replaced it with cowhide rope. The cows and dogs in the family are tied to a leather rope, and the livestock and animals like these leather ropes. With the leather ropes, they belong to the village, and they will return to the village on their own without being watched. The grandfather knew the child's thoughts, so the grandfather tied the leather rope to the bottle. Since then, the water from the well has been poured out of the bottle into the child's mouth, and even the drinking water has to be poured out of the bottle. The adult will fulfill the child's wish and let him toss. The animals also drank the water from the bottles, and the children poured water into the wooden trough in front of them, and the bottles cooed and jumped in the children's arms, and the animals were so happy that their eyes were as bright as jewels.

The bottle full of water was heavy, the child changed hands several times, and the hand that carried the bottle was elongated, and the grandfather told the child: "When your arms grow, you will grow up, so use your strength well!"

Children do things with no effort. Mom muttered to Dad, "It's time for him to go to school, it's time for him to use his brain." "Dad told Grandpa about this plan. Grandpa is happy, going to school is a good thing, grandpa laughed, his beard trembled, his wrinkled face was full of smiles, his eyes were gone, the house was laughing, the windows were buzzing, like birds fluttering their wings, and the poplar trees in the yard were clapping loudly in the high sky. Mom got infected and came from the house in front of her. The child lives in the back with his grandfather, and his parents live in the front, and the yard is very large.

The desert houses are high and wide, and every house has a large yard, and the adobe or fence is the yard. A few years ago, Mom and Dad rarely came home when they were doing a small business in the town more than a hundred miles away, and the courtyard in front of them was quiet. Dad comes back occasionally, and Mom rarely comes back. The town is lively and busy, Dad told Grandpa like this, and of course Grandpa believed it. The town must be busier than the village, and it's better to be busy, which means that you are living well! That's what Grandpa said to Dad. "Don't keep your daughter-in-law busy." Grandpa glanced at Dad, meaning that you, a big man, should be busier. This is a truth that children have only understood after many years. Dad definitely didn't understand it at the time, Dad just knew uh-huh nodded, understood or didn't understand just knew uh-huh, nodding randomly, no wonder Mom said that his brain was a little insufficient. In the village, my father can cope with it easily, but when I go to the town, I am not as lively as my mother.

Mom heard Grandpa's hearty laughter, and Mom came over. The mother strikes while the iron is hot, and she will take the child away tomorrow. "Aren't you going to school next year?" Grandpa's voice suddenly became cold. Mom was stunned, the old man became so fast, Mom was caught off guard, Mom has been in the business for several years, and she didn't guard against this wilting old man. Mom has seen the world in the end, and Mom was stunned for a moment.

"I will go to elementary school next year, and I will go to preschool this year, and I will be six years old, and the children in the city will be engaged in preschool education at the age of two or three. ”

"My grandson, I also want to do preschool education. ”

Mom didn't say a word, she didn't get angry, and she had a weird smile on her face. Dad spoke. In the child's memory, the father can only say things that are not level, and the mother always cleverly leaves this opportunity to the father. This kind of unlevel words are called a cool cavity in the local area. Let's see Dad lose his cool tone. Dad suddenly became energetic, tilted his head and asked Grandpa: "Why do you do preschool education? Preschool education should be carried out in regular schools." Grandpa looked at his stupid son, grandpa's hands were not idle, a cannon-like Mohe smoke rolled up in the blink of an eye, and it hit his mouth, and the smoke balls rose. Grandpa coughed a few times. As long as Dad didn't say anything, this embarrassing scene was over.

Dad came to the ground and emphasized this regular school again, and Grandpa had to have a showdown, which was exactly what Mom needed. Many years later, the child recalled the scene and realized how tense the atmosphere was. At that time, he didn't know anything about, he only knew how to play with the yellow dog. It is the little age at which dogs are annoying, and the dog suffers with him, as long as he is by his grandfather's side, the yellow dog hides far away, and when he plays with his partners, the yellow dog is energetic, and he pesters his grandfather, seizes this good time, and enjoys being close to the old master. The dog squeaks and whins under the child's buttocks, like a child farting, and the child is full of evil smiles, not at all aware of the adults' games.

Under the father's questioning, the grandfather had to say sullenly: "The potatoes are not confiscated yet, my good dog baby is his father's good helper." Grandpa knew what Dad was going to say, and after Grandpa finished speaking, he touched his grandson's head attentively. Grandpa's eyes were closed, and he ignored his parents at all, just like a mountain god, his face was expressionless, and he couldn't hear what his father said. Dad's brain has set Mom in motion, and Dad is definitely going to say it. "What can I do with a big doll with a broom, I will leave a day late, and I will collect the potatoes in one afternoon. Grandpa didn't say anything, but grandpa's hand stopped on the top of the child's head, which happened to be the heavenly spirit cover, and the child's brain melon seeds suddenly warmed up in grandpa's hand, and the child spoke: "I planted potatoes with grandpa, you come to collect them?" Grandpa's eyes opened, and Grandpa smiled and held the child in his arms, even the yellow dog. Grandpa is really an uncle, the biggest master in heaven and earth, and he glanced at the two of them very majestically.

"If you're busy, don't worry about it. ”

Early the next morning, the grandfather walked out of the village with his grandson. The yellow dog followed for a while and then went back, and he still had to watch the house.

The fields were empty, the corn had been harvested, the cotton had been harvested, the sunflowers had been harvested, the ground had been turned over, and there were still a handful of corn stalks and sunflower stalks standing alone. The stalks of the plucked fruits are yellow, black, tattered, and lonely, but in fact they are also large and large. The land is emaciated. Sand dunes appear in front of the land. The sun slowly rose, and there was no light, as if it had not woken up. Grandpa told the child last year that the sun was too far away. The child did not feel that the sun was far away at all, and the child was always skeptical of his grandfather's words. The child muttered several times, "It's obviously a window." "The sun on the dunes was like a window that had just been opened, as if it had been opened by two men who had left the village and ran through the fields to the dunes. Their family's wheat, corn, and sunflower fields are all around the village, and only the potatoes are far away from the fields. The village and the land were still asleep, and Grandpa woke him up. The dog was staring in a daze, and he poured a few drops of hot water from the bottle into the dog's ear, and the dog whined a few times in his dream, and then hung his head, as if he had been shot and could not wake up again.

The child followed his grandfather out of the village in a daze, and as if he had sleepwalking, the grandfather plucked his ears for fear that he would fall. The child woke up completely when he was almost in the sandy area through the field, and the cool autumn air completely woke him up. The sun is right on the dunes. One old and one young run to the sun. The sun is infinitely open, again and again. The child asked his grandfather, if he was still sleeping in the house, it would not be dawn. Grandpa said he was sensible. The children are all five years old, and the children hate themselves for being too late to understand. Grandpa said that five or six years old is a good time to be sensible. The child was still unwilling, thinking that his grandfather called him too late, "You should have called me last year." Grandpa laughed.

"That's the sun licking your dog. ”

"Why doesn't the sun lick your dog? ”

"Grandpa, this old dog doesn't have a scab, and the sun doesn't want to lick it. ”

"I don't have a scab on my dog. ”

"You're a balang, full of dog scabs, and the scabs are as thick as pot helmets. ”

"I don't have a scab!"

When the child was two or three years old, his mother taught him to wipe his buttocks with paper, and the children in the village used clods of soil, stones, and leaves to deal with it, and before going to bed at night, his mother asked him to wash his buttocks, and only after washing did he let him go to his grandfather's side, and his mother also told him not to bark at dogs, which was called buttocks, not dogs, and it was unpleasant to die. Mom learned a lot about running a small business in town. But the child stays with his grandfather and is still a dog. The child got angry, so he took off his pants and pouted his butt for grandpa to see. "Is there any? Is there any?" Grandpa smiled and patted his little ass. "I can't wipe off the scab or wash it off, so I got up early with my grandfather, walked on the ground, and if I walked more, it would fall off. The child was still angry, and the grandfather enlightened him, "It's good that there are more scabs, it's close to the sun." The child muttered, "I don't want anyone to squeeze around behind my dog." "Then run after the sun dogs." ”

Early in the morning, the child was woken up by his grandfather. The child saw the sun without a dog, and the child was very excited. Many years later, the child can still remember the scene of an old man and a young man running to the sun under the dawn sky, that is, that morning, a pair of magical eyes jumped from the depths of the child's heart to the top of the sky, looking down on the old man and the child hurrying on the earth, the child screamed in surprise, his own eyes were looking at himself, this discovery was fatal, day after day, it became a habit, many years later, the child knew what a good habit it was. Only when looking down from above the sky, the sun on the dunes becomes an open window.

Grandpa said, "The sun is still far away." ”

When it was daybreak, they came to the ground. Grandpa dug a pit in the ground, lit a fire, and two or three dry shuttles sprayed flames to drive away the cold. The shuttle is smokeless, pure flames, like a stream of magma rushing out of the ground. When children go to school, when they see pictures of volcanic eruptions, they think of the campfire that their grandfather lit. The child guards the fire. Grandpa started digging potatoes. With a light planing, firm and round potatoes roll out from under the sand. The child remembers the cool, earthy, wet aroma of the first potatoes when they are revealed, and even thinks of the milk heads.

Grandpa is a good hand and will not hurt the potatoes, but the child still strongly feels the full juice of the potatoes. The child's hot hand caught a potato that was rolling, and a big potato that could only be grasped with two hands, just dug out of the soil and still carrying the wildness of the earth, it was tense, and it would run away if it let go of its hand. The child tried his best to feed, but the potato still ran away and broke free. The child grabbed three in a row, and all three ran away. The hateful thing is that they also take away the strength of the child's hands, and the child has no strength at all. The child stood next to his grandfather, his eyes wide open, watching Grandpa pull these arrogant potatoes out of the depths of the earth one by one, pile after pile, the kind of cold, wet and earthy aroma rose to the sky, straight up to the sky.

The child sneezed several times in a row. Grandpa told him to go to the fire. He crouched by the fire. It is said that animals are afraid of fire, including wolves, insects, tigers and leopards, and potatoes are no exception. Strangely, the smell of potatoes was no longer smelled near the fire. The child also tried to leave a little bit, and the smell of the turbulent waves of potatoes was the same, and the child had to guard the fire and watch his grandfather show his skills with great admiration. On the side of the grandfather, the sun lit up little by little, it was an arrow shot from afar, all of a sudden pierced on the grandfather's back, and soon pierced the grandfather's chest and back, grandpa is like a legendary hero, ten thousand arrows piercing the body is still waving his arms, bowing his waist, without giving in, the sun's golden arrows are getting denser and denser, and they can't get in. Grandpa didn't stop yet, the potatoes rolled out one by one, and the earth was hollowed out.

When the last potato was pulled out, the earth deflated with a long sigh and was completely relaxed. Grandpa's hand was also loosened, the shovel was stuck in the ground, the earth had just been hollowed out, and it was somewhat comforting to leave the farm tools in the field. The shuttle was also burned out, there was no flame, and the red ashes shattered all at once, and became soft ashes. Grandpa buried the potatoes in the ashes, and buried five of them in all. The potatoes started squeaking, and the potatoes were making it hard. The potatoes are very strong. The ashes began to darken. Another aroma is awakened. The child screamed and ran towards the dunes. The aroma of baked potatoes is far greater than when they were dug up. The child stopped running and ran, and no matter how much he ran, he couldn't run out of his eyes. In the distance, where heaven and earth meet, the aroma of potatoes flies and whistles like a tidal flock of birds. Grandpa told the child that everyone on the earth would smell the fragrance.

"Will they come?"

"They are the most distinguished guests and of course will come. ”

Grandpa sat cross-legged, like a Buddha, praying sincerely. Grandpa believed that the greatest act of kindness was when someone came here for a meal. The potatoes that were stuffy in the ashes of the fire also seemed to enter a state of prayer, no longer squeaking, and waited quietly, exuding the aroma with all their hearts. The aroma is getting stronger and stronger, and it is necessary to attract guests from afar. When the sun reached the zenith, the sun stopped. The grandfather picked up the ashes and took out a potato, so that the child could eat it first. Children often eat baked potatoes at home. The child skillfully peeled off the potatoes and began to swallow the delicacy. Potatoes and kids are tempting.

It really lured strangers over. In Grandpa's words, the one who smells the fragrance is the most honored guest. This distinguished guest was like a big rock, with an indifferent expression, dull eyes, stiff hands and feet, and the only flexible thing was the nose. The aroma of the potatoes melts the nostrils. Grandpa didn't say a word, and handed water to the stranger, which was the "fresh orange" bottle brought by the child. The stranger rinsed his mouth and washed his hands, took a small sip, and swallowed it slowly with great difficulty, as if he were drinking, stopped for a long time, and then took a second sip, and drank it five times.

Grandpa pulled out two burnt potatoes from the ashes, grandpa showed the stranger, grandpa knew which one the stranger would like, grandpa left the potato in his hand, peeled off the skin, just like a soldier in the movie pulled out a grenade, grandpa smoked in his hand, it was a strong aroma, grandpa handed the fragrant hot potatoes, and the stranger began to eat. The potatoes were so hot that the stranger crouched on the ground, whimpering as if he were fighting a beast, his shoulders and head trembling slightly, as was the case with the evenly matched wrestlers of the steppe. At that time, the whole Naadam assembly was silent, and the silent contest was a spectacle in itself, sometimes stalemate for an entire hour, and the earth was shaking.

Grandpa handed over the second potato just in time. The child discovers that the potato is not peeled, and the stranger obviously wants to share the joy of peeling. When the stranger received the third potato, he lifted it up, looked at the sun for a moment, and skilfully stripped it naked, and it was all powdery flesh, a tender piece of flesh that had just been dug out of the depths of the earth. The stranger held and ate, the sun hung above his head, like a lamp, the stranger ate boldly and solemnly, it was really a feast between heaven and earth. After eating, he wiped his mouth gently, he obviously entered a state of selflessness, he didn't even say hello, he didn't even look at his grandfather, and walked into the distance with his head held high.

"He didn't even say thank you, grandpa. ”

"He's thanked God and God. ”

The last potato in the ashes belonged to Grandpa. Grandpa peeled off the brown potato skin, and didn't rush to eat the pink tender meat first, so that the aroma was enough. Heaven and earth are filled with fragrance. Grandpa took a bite. "When Grandpa was young, he ate eight in one go. Grandpa chattered and started singing, and grandpa sang not potatoes but mutton.

Brother's meat,

You didn't have it when Brother came,

Fat lamb in your hand!

Grandpa sang his fat lamb over and over again. When the child grows up and has a girlfriend, he knows that his grandfather is singing about his fascinating love when he was young. When the grandfather sang to the point of forgetfulness, he regarded his grandson as a close friend, and suddenly took out the words in his heart: "Meat is good, and people who eat meat are better." "Grandpa really treats his grandson as a buddy.

"Thank you to the people who eat meat. ”

When they left, they lit another fire and buried five potatoes in the ashes. And they went back.

As the children walked, they looked back, and the aroma of potatoes wafted in all directions before them. The sun is setting. In Grandpa's words: "The sun kowtows to potatoes." "The child has already read the little picture book, and the mother bought the little picture book from the town and told the child stories in front of the pictures, and in those stories: everything grows on the sun. The child already understands this. The child said this. Grandpa's teachings all grew from the earth, and Grandpa was very stubborn in thinking that the sun was kowtowing to potatoes.

"Look, what are you doing with your own eyes looking at the sun?"

The aroma of the potatoes rising from the ashes of the fire covered the sun like a whirlwind in the desert, and the sun trembled. Grandpa and grandson, stretched their necks to watch the glorious desert sunset, and the sun suddenly knelt on the sand dunes just as grandpa predicted. Grandpa has something to say.

"Corn, wheat, sunflowers, cotton, they give life to the sun, and potatoes are even greater, and potatoes let the sun go underground. ”

The child immediately thought of root plants such as beets and turnips. Grandpa touches the child's brain melon with satisfaction. Of course, there are peanuts, which do not grow in the hinterland of Central Asia, but everyone knows that peanuts grow underground like potatoes, turnips, and beets. The child's brain melon is getting brighter and brighter under the touch of grandpa. The hard, thin, calloused and cracked hands transmitted a magical power to the child's brain.

The child's brain flashed like a shuttle on the dunes. The dry shuttle is too much like grandpa's hands. The child saw with his own eyes how the dry shuttle burned, there was not a trace of smoke, it was all pure flames, spraying with a bang, like the machine gun in the movie spraying tongues of fire, like the volcano spewing magma in the small picture book, the fire ignited by the shuttle, melted the earth, and it was such a pair of hands that stroked the child's head. At that moment, the eagle is also caressing the last of the autumn firmament, which is said to be the season when the sky is the most vast and far-reaching, and it is also the season when the eagle flies the best. The child had already thought of the birds and beasts on the earth, and when the child remembered his beating heart, the child suddenly calmed down. The large hand that was spinning around his head also stopped. The eagle also stopped in the air. People in the desert know that the best flight is the eagle. What a good time the eagle chose.

The sun was kneeling on the sand dunes kowtowing to the potatoes and the last crops of the earth. The eagle should also be the object of the sun's gratitude, and the eagle should also be a fruit that grows in the sky. The eagle clearly smelled the aroma of potatoes rising like a whirlwind, and the eagle was clearly enlightened...... Grandpa's hand had been quietly withdrawn, and the child still connected the eagle to Grandpa's hand. You can see that the child's face is as red as a flame, and you can even see the child's huge imagination, in the child's imagination of himself, he buried the potatoes with his own hands, and there is no need to describe the aroma that has begun to ripen.

Three days later, Grandpa drove the cart back with the potatoes. The child and the yellow dog went. The yellow dog loves to jump and bark in the village, and when it comes to the long sky and the wild world, the dog barks a few times as if it didn't bark, as if it didn't cry. When the dog cries, the voice is choked in the throat and whimpering. The desert was empty, and the dog suddenly became modest, burying its mouth in the soil, as if learning to look like a potato. The dogs were never heard again.

The child silently helped his grandfather with his work. The child also checked the fire, and the roasted potatoes had been taken away, in other words, they had been eaten, in other words, they had gone far away. The child really wishes that the farthest people on earth would come here. This bold idea made it difficult for the child to hold himself on, and the child threw a potato into the distance like a rocket, and after throwing it, he kept the throwing motion stupidly, as if he were a powerful launcher, sending the most amazing flying machine from the depths of the Junggar Basin to the universe and into space. The child cried out in his heart.

"I'm going to thank you, I'm going to thank you. ”

Shouting and shouting the child to understand, the best call is no sound, there is no sound in the heart, the child knelt down, even the child himself does not understand that this is already gratitude is gratitude, it is a pure and pure action that cannot be said and thought, and there is no language to rely on. The child would never have thought that the sun would kneel down like this. The child's actions are connected. The child dug a pit by himself, and the child collected firewood and lit a fire. It's not the dry shuttle used by grandpa, it's dried cow dung.

Everyone knows that cow dung is the best firewood in the desert, and most of the fuel for the winter depends on dry cow dung. In autumn, women and children collect cow dung and pile it up in the yard as yellow as gold, even in the cold winter. The child is used to picking up cow dung, and the child lights a pile of cow dung. Cow dung is smoky. The smoke of cow dung is not so straight, such as wolf smoke, wolf smoke is like a spear to the heavens, while the smoke of cow dung is scattered, and it is impregnated with the sky, like a river flowing into the sea, and disappears when it reaches the sea, that is to say, it melts in. The child buried the potatoes in the ashes of cow dung, and the child knew that this was a launch that was farther away than a rocket, and the child did it as calmly as an adult. When you're done, clap your hands.

Grandpa watched the whole process, grandpa will cough when he is satisfied, grandpa lit a Mohe cigarette to melt the excitement, grandpa squatted in the back of the car to smoke, the car covered grandpa.

There seems to be only one child on the earth, and the child has been intoxicated for a long time in the realm of selflessness, and this boundless silence is so wonderful. Many years later, the child is no longer a child, and this boundless silence is still maintained, and this vast space and moment will always remain in the child's heart.

The grandfather didn't speak, the dog didn't talk, the cow didn't talk, the squeaky car didn't speak, and the potatoes were transported back.

There are two theories about grandfathers growing potatoes. For one, the potatoes grown in the sandy soil are of good quality, but they are too far away from the village for everyone to grow crops around the village. Second, it is a cemetery that my grandfather fancied, surrounded by sand dunes, all of which are typical Junggar sand dunes, with red willows and shuttles, far away from the hustle and bustle, and it is the place where the old man sleeps. But grandpa's vitality far exceeded his own expectations, and he was still alive and well when he expected to die. The coffin was ready, and his wife, who passed away more than ten years ago, buried his wife in the place where the oasis and the desert intersected, that is, where potatoes were planted.

It is said that my grandmother was sick and took as much medicine as food. Grandma was tossed and suffered, and grandpa must bury her in a quiet place. "You don't want to accompany me, you have to find a good cemetery, I have disturbed you all my life, I am embarrassed. "What are you thinking about the dead old woman? "Grandpa doesn't pay attention to grandma's set at all, what should he do. When the old man walked around the cemetery, his hands were not idle, and he carried a shovel to clean up the weeds on his wife's grave, and he was not tired after cleaning up, and the shovel in his hand was deeply rooted in the earth. The sandy soil with shallow grass grows, and the earth has only a hard crust, so you can turn the ground with strength. The old man turned over a large area in one breath, and all morning, when the sun rose to the zenith, it was already quite a magnificent piece of good land.

It was spring, the grass and trees had sprouted, everything had revived, and the grave of my wife had been separated by the newly opened land, and it was no longer desolate. There are sand dates and red willows on the grave, but they still look sad. The earth is different when it opens, the breath of the earth exudes from the heart, and the breath of the earth sprays on the face with an indescribable cordiality and a sense of skin. My wife is not dead, but the grave is alive. The old man was excited. The old man planted potatoes. The potatoes that grow in the sand are good, pink and tender, and big. In the old man's own words, he brought the sun to the cemetery, and the potato was the son of the sun. The old man understood this when he was young.

The following autumn, at the end of August, the child left his grandfather to go to school in the town, and the yellow dog was overjoyed. The yellow dog has been honest for more than half a year, and the dog is like an adult, wagging its tail and licking the child's hand very calmly, anyone can feel the great joy in the heart of the yellow dog, and it wants to enjoy the benefits of grandpa alone.

Grandpa –

When the village disappeared, the child cried, and after all, it was a child, and he couldn't hold it back.

At school, the child, like a real man, is not despised by anyone, even the teacher. Moreover, he is not an ordinary teacher, he is a college student from Beijing, and it is correct to say that he volunteered to come to the western region to support the cause of education. The lectures are well taught, and the TV is played during extracurricular activities, which is a CD brought by college students. Children in the depths of the desert saw the Forbidden City, the Old Summer Palace and the Great Wall. These are questions to be asked in class. It's also a kind of fate, the child was the first to be called, and in hindsight, this child was the first student in the whole school to answer the questions of the teacher in Beijing. The child's voice is not loud, but it is clear.

"Beijing is too good, it's just too remote. ”

The teacher couldn't believe it, and asked again, and the students' eyes widened, thinking that they had answered incorrectly, but the child told everyone clearly.

"Beijing is good, but it's too remote. ”

The classroom was silent for a long time. This female teacher was too young, in her early twenties, she wore a pair of glasses, she took off her glasses and wiped them and put them back on, she walked up to the child, asked the child's name, and touched the child's head.

"I have a brother as big as you. ”

The female teacher returned to the podium and talked about her hometown, probably a poor mountainous area in the mainland, and worked hard to study and get admitted to a university in Beijing.

"I didn't understand what this classmate said until my sophomore year of college. He spoke so well.