Scars of Time (18)
Text/Yao Shuiye
The battlefield spent more than half a year hiding nine points of generosity, and used one point of recklessness to achieve the goal of returning to his hometown, but this point of recklessness made Cheng Youliang's family carry too many gossips from the people of Shangpo Village, and also made this originally not rich but peaceful life become a chicken. With the help of his father-in-law, he has two grass sheds of his own, which is more like a rabbit with wings that can jump and fly, and for Cheng Youliang, the heart that seems to be ironed on the iron plate roasted by fire has been relieved.
In the early morning of June 20, 1975, the full moon, which had not yet had time to remove its makeup, was still slowly fading towards the horizon with the clouds, and the sun in the east also sprinkled rays of light, reflecting a round of red sun slowly rising. There are still a few hours away from the hot light, and the figure of the battlefield appeared on the black highway on the back of the fish, and he wanted to live a prosperous life, striding on the road to the old North Village, looking ahead, and did not want to look back at the mountains and thin fields in Shangpo Village again, and the mountain beams behind him also completely lost the freshness of the first arrival. He walked out of his tired family, out of the thin water and poor mountains that he spurned, and from today he returned to his hometown of fertile grain fields, to his parents who haunted him. The excitement prompted him to repeatedly change the things on his right shoulder to his left shoulder, maybe not a rack car, maybe not a bicycle pack, only to feel the rice noodles, pot helmets and some necessary kitchen stove utensils on the shoulders getting heavier and heavier, in the moment when he urgently needed to change his shoulders, he seemed to feel how intimate his father-in-law Cheng Youliang regarded himself as his own, and also felt a little ashamed and guilty of being unreasonable to his father-in-law Cheng Youliang again and again, and at the same time germinated the idea of repaying his kindness.
The members bent in the bud valley seedling field hoeing the bud valley twice, the bud grain seedlings higher than the shoulders covered the figure of the members, in the stuffy bud valley field, only heard the iron hoe and small stones and hard soil clods knocked out a crisp collision sound, but the bare skin and flesh were rubbed by the bud grain leaves like the pain after the sting, only they can experience, the members are racing with the solar terms, walking with the sunrise and sunset, and they also guessed that at this time Cheng Youliang's mood was at its lowest, always wanted to find a reason to comfort and comfort him, and did not know how to speak, how to share his worries with him。 When hoeing out of the field, Tian Cheng beckoned everyone to sit under the walnut tree, only to see that Cheng Youliang's age is not different, the generation is different, and the national family planning policy is regarded as nothing, put down the hoe and sit on the hoe handle and said straight to the point: "Uncle Youliang, it's good to go back to the battlefield, the soil is thick and can raise people in the mountains, and the grain grows in the soil. ”
"That is, your heart is relaxed, the battlefield is not in our house, Dafang is also going to marry out, giving birth to a daughter is a family, besides, the country has advocated family planning, one is less, two are just right, three is more, four reviews, people have already implemented it in a big place, so they put the girl in the field to fend for themselves, the battlefield is good, pick up one, and another one is a guest, and he is not at ease. ”
Zhensheng looked at the wife he got back from Gansu behind him and interjected with a smile: "I gave birth to five women, looking at the diligence when I first arrived in the battlefield, I have said that I will not give birth, who would have thought that the battlefield was only a few days after the door on the soles of the feet to slip with oil, this slip to my experience is to continue to live, do not give birth to a son, now the sixth and seventh will leave, he has his policy, I have my countermeasures." ”
The Gansu daughter-in-law smiled happily: " I was still a yellow-haired girl in 61 years, and I became a baby in 62 years, and I gave birth to a baby to inquire about confinement, I was born next to each other, and never sat on the full moon, only the eldest sat for half a month, from the second to the seventh child is to sit for a few days and have to go around the pot, and the face of the male baby is lost, and she is afraid that her father will not be able to support the baby, and she will be a sheep when she earns the work, who will go to my house to see the excitement, the window is tied to one, the stump outside the door is also tied to one, and the school has put a few, what are the women afraid of? ”
You see when Uncle Lin Fa was alive, he had to secretly pick out the bud seeds, wheat seeds, and artichoke seeds planted on the ground every year, and he had to secretly pick them out and eat them into his stomach to satisfy his hunger. The snot was shiny and shiny, and it was impossible for anyone to take those babies to his house. People want to live as they please, but how many of them do as they want in the world?"
"As long as there are seedlings, you won't worry about growing!"
"No matter how good you are, the farther and farther, you want to raise your children to continue your life, and you also have parents to raise, this is the original intention of pretending to be sick in the battlefield, no matter how capable you are, no matter how willing you are, it is also outside the belly, people often say, treat the ghost as a god, treat the son-in-law as a person, the son-in-law is different from the son, raising a child, he has no choice when he grows up, so he can keep the house by marrying a daughter-in-law, the son does not think the mother is ugly, the dog does not think the family is poor, it is the principle passed down by the ancestors. ”
Taking advantage of the break, the members of the club spoke freely in front of Cheng Youliang to start a debate, but Cheng Youliang didn't say a word. When he got home, he said to Dafang: "Pack your luggage and prepare to go back to your hometown in Beicun, everyone has water and dry land, and with the labor of the battlefield, you can't be hungry." ”
Da Fang snorted, not looking worried, but as if she had received an authoritative speech, Da Fang's mother said: "Don't worry, wash the clothes, disassemble and wash the quilt, and then sew the winter cotton clothes for your father quickly before leaving." ”
Da Fang's mother wanted to use these needlework to keep Da Fang for a day, Cheng Youliang noticed that Da Fang's expression did not have the slightest attitude of retention, and sighed and reprimanded: "Don't worry about the needlework, just disassemble and wash the quilt and take it away." ”
The news of returning from the battlefield immediately reached the ears of the eldest mother-in-law, who walked to the good house on crutches and said to Dafang: "Your father has built you three big tiled houses, but he can't keep you, and you will leave the battlefield." ”
Da Fang immediately explained: "Auntie, if you go to the battlefield, I have to leave too, otherwise who will raise the two women?" These three rooms were built by my father for Xiao Fang, not for me. ”
Da Fang's mother heard from Da Fang's words that her husband and wife followed her firm position, and how much chatter and retention were in vain, she couldn't help but think about it, Da Fang, who had been well-behaved and sensible since childhood, couldn't keep it, not to mention Xiao Fang, who was long-hearted, was even more unreliable. From June to July, when the days were long and the nights were short, Dafang's mother went from resentment to resignation.
Cheng Youliang happily separated the household registration book in the brigade gang battlefield, and renamed the tadpole a fashionable name, Huahua. The shelf car was parked on the side of the road in front of Cheng Youliang's small courtyard, the car was full of Dafang's bedding and daily needle money baskets, and a ten-centimeter-wide wooden board was placed horizontally on the wheel, and on the wooden board was placed half a bag of bud grits and more than half a bag of white noodles that Xiaofang helped her sister grind. Dafang also motioned to the battlefield to take out a cotton wool wrapping in a cotton jacket, Cheng Youliang carefully observed that the burden in the hands of the battlefield was heavy, and after a few minutes he quietly pressed the burden into the truth, only to find that the burden was wrapped in flour, and the cotton wool was just a cover-up, Cheng Youliang couldn't help but burst into tears, thinking, although the days are tight, Dafang has never worried about rice noodles, but now he quietly brought a few more catties of flour, this is knowing that he is living, or afraid that there will be no rice in the pot. Silently pressed the sewing basket on top of the burden, Cheng Youliang did all this, Dafang didn't notice it at all, just sat firmly in the frame car, holding the younger daughter who was less than a year old in one hand and the eldest daughter Huahua in the other, the shelf car traveled out of Shangpo Village from near and far, Xiaofang asked: "Dad, when will my sister come back?"
"From now on, your sister is just spilling out the water and becoming a guest, it is not certain when she will come back, she may not be able to come back for a few years, or she may not be able to come back for a lifetime. ”
Xiao Fang was a lot more naïve in an instant, quickly caught up with the shelf car, and quietly took Huahua away from Da Fang's hands, she was not reluctant to Huahua, but wanted to use Huahua to soften her brother-in-law's hard heart, so that he could send his sister back to live for a few days after a year and a half, however, the truth is not as simple as Xiao Fang thought, Cheng Youliang said to Xiao Fang with a sad face: "Huahua is only two years old, she walks unsteadily, the scald has just been covered, and the fine grain is all gone, how to raise it?"
Xiaofang's mother also said casually: "Melon girl, it is not divided into one family, it is two families when it is separated, your sister is gone, you try it at night, Huahua wants to cry at night, who can coax her?"
Huahua was put on the kang by Xiaofang, turned around and wanted to interrupt her mother's chatter by doing some housework, who knew that Huahua's ass was just next to the kang mat, and she cried with her feet and hands, Xiaofang quickly turned her head and picked up Huahua, the most difficult time was after the evening, Huahua didn't eat or drink, she cried even more, Xiaofang held Huahua on the ground and kept turning, her mother said again:" Sunset on the wall, children looking for their mother, hugging all night can not be obedient, Sensei turned, the current season is not cold, it is summer vacation, if the school starts, what to do in winter, I saw when I was a child, nieces have not grown up to come to the house to see me, you take the baby back on your own initiative, turn every day, coax, walk on the road in the future to meet, she can know you, it is also a caring person. ”
"Mom, you don't care, I don't want to be in the future, just leave the flowers in our house, and wait for my battlefield brother to send my sister back. ”
Cheng Youliang also said to Xiaofang's mother: "The rich have distant relatives in the mountains, and the poor have no one to ask in the downtown area, and when they live well in the future, Huahua will definitely be able to know Xiaofang." ”
Huahua may have understood the meaning of Xiaofang's conversation with her parents, or she may have been tired of crying and didn't really fall asleep until the second half of the night. After that, Xiaofang also understood her parents' words, and in order for Huahua to know herself in the future, she did what was in front of her seriously, and worked hard to exchange her childishness for maturity, and took care of all the housework. However, this year, Cheng Youliang was not in the same situation as before 1972, and the amount of work he earned was quite different from that of previous years, and the summer grain he received was not distributed month by month as planned, and there was not much left, and the autumn grain he received was even more stretched. Cheng Youliang, who has always been optimistic and capable, fell ill, Xiaofang invited a doctor from the medical room, and the doctor carefully checked the sleeping Cheng Youliang with a stethoscope, and after carefully checking the pulse, he asked in a low voice: "Xiaofang, do you know that your father still has money? If you have money, go to the county hospital, don't dare to slack off, if you don't have money, take some medicine in the medical room first, and I'll give him a few more muscle injections!"
Xiaofang listened to the doctor's words, took out the brown paper bag under the kang mat, there were only two yuan left in it, she took advantage of the medicine to tell the doctor: "Uncle, my dad only has two yuan left, can I go to the county hospital?"
"No, why don't you have to go to the county hospital for 20 yuan! Remember, if you give your dad medicine on time, and I will give your dad an injection on time, maybe he can get through this." ”
During the time when Cheng Youliang was asleep, the township party in Shangpo Village walked around like hiding from the plague, and few people asked, only Tian Cheng and Yongxiao asked Xiaofang: "How is your dad these days?"
"Is your dad alright?"
Xiaofang's answer was "My dad is well and can eat." ”
In addition to giving her father medicine on time, Xiaofang also pulled out a few catties of walnut-sized potatoes from the field where the production team had dug up the artichoke, and her mother used the only two bowls of flour left at the bottom of the urn to make a few meals of potato paste porridge for Cheng Youliang, which is also Cheng Youliang's favorite food. Xiaofang also used a seven- or eight-foot-long bamboo pole to clip back a few soft persimmons, quietly put them in front of Cheng Youliang, and called a few softly, but the sleepy Cheng Youliang just fell asleep again in a daze. Xiaofang saw that her father exuded inexhaustible energy on weekdays, and why didn't she even pay attention to soft persimmons these days, so she remembered that during the summer vacation that year, when eight-year-old Yamei died of her mother, it was her little friend Yue'e who was the first to tell herself: "Xiaofang, Yamei's mother is dead, let's watch Yamei." ”
The sensible Yue'e took Xiaofang's hand and wiped the tears from Yamei's face behind the firewood stack. After the winter vacation last year, Uncle Tian Zhen died, and it was Yamei who told her: "Yue'e, her father died." ”
It was Yamei who took Xiaofang's hand and helped the eleven-year-old Yue'e wipe away her tears behind the firewood stack, is it Yamei's turn to hold hands with Yue'e to help her wipe her tears? Xiaofang didn't dare to think about it anymore, and used the two cents and four cents given by her mother to buy six green apples in the nearby apple orchard, and went home and said to Cheng Youliang, who was a little sober: "Dad, the apples I bought for you, the green apples are cheap, one dime and sixty-one catties, I bought more than one catty, and you will be fine after eating your illness." ”
Cheng Youliang saw the apple in Xiaofang's hand, so he turned over and sat up, and said to Xiaofang: "Dad, what's wrong, healed!"
Looking at Cheng Youliang, who was able to sit up all of a sudden, Xiaofang stretched her eyebrows and said to her mother excitedly: "Mom, my dad is well, I don't have to worry about Yamei and Yue'e coming to help me wipe my tears." ”
Xiaofang's mother looked at her well-behaved and sensible little daughter, and her sad face showed hope for Xiaofang's lifelong dependence. Life has been balanced in the ups and downs, Cheng Youliang saw hope from Xiaofang's sensibility, and his body has also recovered his health, and at the same time, he has also removed the worries that Tian Cheng and Yongxiao added to Cheng Youliang's family. Cheng Youliang was doing farm work in the field, while helping the battlefield to raise Xiaohuahua, whenever he enjoyed Xiaohuahua's immature little face and called his master, when he remembered the kind and honest nature when he first arrived in the battlefield, Cheng Youliang looked forward to Dafang's life in the future.
Yao Shuiye (female), a native of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, graduated from Taiyi Palace Middle School in 1978, making a living from farming and breeding, and loves literature more.