In order to increase readability, some of the plots in this article have been artistically processed, please pay attention to screening.
In '84, I was 12 years old, and the conditions at home were not bad, compared to my peers, because I had an older brother who was seven years older, and I didn't need to do the farm work at home.
My home is in the Xuefeng Mountains in central Hunan, and I can see the mountains when I go out. Children in the mountains like to run around the mountains since they were young, not to mention anything else, but all kinds of wild fruits in the mountains are enough for children to salivate. March brewing in spring, tea pieces, sour dates in autumn, etc., can bring us free opportunities to satisfy our cravings.
At that time, students would also have a farm vacation in a semester, which was a relatively long time without going to school except for winter and summer vacations. Of course, most of the kids have to do farm work during their farm vacations, but I don't have to, at most I just cook at home.
The 84-year farm holiday came again, and I slept lazily for the first two days, and on the third day, I began to get bored, and I went to play with my friends at night.
A few friends got together, and the most they talked about was to chop firewood, and they also went to Wujiashan, which was far away, to chop sticks and firewood.
At that time, the countryside was all burning firewood, and anyway, it was a hillside when you went out, and you could cut down firewood casually. Unfortunately, the speed at which firewood grows is far less than the speed at which it is cut down, and the hillsides around the village are bare within a few years.
But "firewood, rice, oil and salt", for rural people, firewood is the first living material. If there is no place around the village, go to the mountains farther away.
As a result, by the time my generation grew up, there was basically no firewood on the hillsides around our village, and the few slopes with firewood were also closed by the village and turned into forest farms.
If you want to chop wood, you can only get some thatch, or you have to go to a far place, and Wujiashan is the favorite spot for people in our village.
Wujiashan is about twelve or thirteen miles away from us, adults go there to chop firewood, but also have to get up early to set off, not to mention that after breakfast, you have to bring a pot of lunch, at noon in the mountains to deal with a mouthful, in order to have the strength to pick up the firewood home.
Our playmates were all twelve or thirteen years old, and although they were not very old, they were all "small farmers", and they were even more handy at going up the mountain to chop wood. Even for someone like me, who rarely works, he can do a decent job in the mountains.
The playmates are all discussing, tomorrow we will go to Wujiashan to get a load of sticks and firewood back, pick it up on the street and sell it, it will probably be sold for 5 yuan and 100 catties, and we will pick 40 or 50 catties back, and we can also have two or three yuan of pocket money.
I was thrilled to hear this, the two dollars were not the most important thing, the main thing was that the fruits of my labor could be used at my own discretion, and my parents would not control how I spent the hard-earned money I earned.
So, I also asked to join, and I also implored a "big brother" called the national army to call me tomorrow morning.
The next day, just after dawn, the national army called me at the door of my house, but I really didn't get up, so I had to get up with a grunt, wash my face, grab a ball of cold rice balls from the rice pot and stuff it in my mouth to fill my stomach and set off.
When I walked to the road, I found that there were seven or eight people in the group, and except for me, they all brought a rice bowl, and I was the only one who had nothing but a firewood knife.
I won't back down, and I said to everyone with a shy face, when the time comes, you all save a bite for me, and I won't be hungry.
Talking and smiling all the way forward, it was dawn when I came to a village called Xiaojia, everyone was a child after all, and from here it was the mountain road into the mountain, and everyone drank water in the stream and continued to move forward.
It should be around ten o'clock, we finally arrived at the boundary of Wujia Mountain, I'm really embarrassed to say, I am still here for the first time, standing on the top of the high mountain, looking at the scattered villages in the distance, there is a great pride in seeing the mountains and small ones.
Under the command of the national army, everyone left the rice bowl in a small lawn under the hillside, and there was no need to hide anything at all, and put it on a stone generously, anyway, everyone who entered the mountain did this, and there was never a record of eating other people's food.
Because it was my first time in the mountains, the eldest brother of the national army asked me to go with him, but he was scolding in his mouth:
Take your tail, wait a minute, I'll have to bundle firewood for you, and I'll have to get you a burden, I just hope that when you go back, you can pick it yourself, I only have a pair of shoulders, and I can't help you.
Naturally, I didn't dare to refute, and following him was more of a mood to see the scenery.
After entering the mountain, everyone dispersed one after another, one in the east and one in the west, and they could not see each other's figures, but they could shout loudly but immediately hear the answer.
This is the first time I have come to such a far place to chop firewood, how to chop, which firewood is better, I don't need to be taught, I specially picked those straight and dry sticks of firewood, and soon got a bundle. And he made a rattan in the bush, and tied up the pile of firewood.
This is also a necessary operation when chopping firewood from a distance, first tie up one end of firewood, and then cut according to that amount, neither insufficient nor more waste of time.
I asked the eldest brother of the national army loudly, how are you doing, I have tied up my head.
The eldest brother of the national army still replied loudly to me nearby: Don't tie it, the chopped firewood is piled together, and I will tie it up for you when the time comes, otherwise you will tie it yourself, I am very worried that it will fall apart halfway.
As soon as I heard the same reasoning, I immediately agreed to ask you to help with the next bundle, but for the "finished product" that had been bundled like a decent one, I looked at it several times and didn't feel that there was anything wrong.
Cutting firewood in a big mountain like Wujiashan doesn't really take much time to chop wood, and there are dry and hard wooden sticks almost everywhere.
Before 12 o'clock, I heard my friends shouting "I'm okay" on the hill, and there were questions and answers one after another, which was nothing more than asking others if they wanted a helper.
The eldest brother of the national army also sorted out his firewood, rolled two bundles of firewood to my side, and tied up my scattered pile of firewood.
I looked at the end I had tied up before, and wanted to untie it and start over, but I didn't seem to see anything wrong, so I asked him to roll the firewood down to the ping.
It was very smooth, and everyone successively got the firewood to the place where the rice bowl was originally placed, and cut a small tree of appropriate thickness nearby.
Everything was done, and I said to the national army with some pride: Look, the end I tied myself is fine. It's a huge pride in my heart.
Everyone's firewood was put up and could be carried down the mountain at any time, so everyone gathered together to wash their faces in the creek, and then sat down in the grass and ate. I'm really not honest, I really went to grab a few bites from everyone's bowl.
After eating and resting a little, everyone got up and carried the firewood down the mountain. Before leaving, we also discussed, some people walked fast and some people walked slowly, so I made an appointment to wait for my companion at the place where I went out of the mountain to drink water, and then we went home together.
It was only at this time that I learned that when I came to Wujiashan to chop firewood, it was only when I went home with firewood that I started.
At first, I was able to keep up with everyone, but I couldn't walk a few hills, and the winding mountain road seemed to have no end, so my speed slowed down, and finally I didn't even see the national army with me.
I'm not in such a hurry, I put down and take a breath after walking so many hundred meters with firewood, anyway, I have to stop when I start to sweat, and I can't sweat before leaving.
At first, I thought it would be easier, but I didn't expect that it would be harder to walk downhill with firewood, and a pair of knees just couldn't hold it and had to bend down.
I finally walked to a relatively narrow mountain road, the road is very narrow, there is a small stream below, and there are a few wooden houses next to the stream, which should be a family in the mountains.
I had an accident, and the firewood that I was carrying on my shoulders suddenly loosened a bundle, and the other end was like a scale, and even the people who dragged me down the mountain road.
No matter how much I stretched out my hand and scratched at the mountain wall, my whole body slid all the way down until I finally slid on the rocks of the creek before stopping.
I only felt unbearable pain all over my body, but fortunately there were no big trees on the mountain wall, almost all of them were thorn bushes, except for some skin injuries to me, and the random pulling all the way also slowed down the speed of falling.
But even so, I couldn't move one of my legs, and I guess I had a broken one.
This time it was really troublesome, I had never encountered such a big trouble, and I immediately started crying, not only because of the wound on my body, but also because I didn't know what to do.
I cried a few times, and someone came out of the boardwalk, and watched by the brook for a while, and a crisp female voice asked, "Who are you?"
As if I had met a fairy, I replied loudly that I was a woodcutter, and I had accidentally slipped off it just now, and my foot should have been broken.
When I said this, the female voice stopped talking, and soon another man came out, and the two of them brought out a ladder from the house, and set it up directly by the brook and came down to me.
Only then did I realize that it was a girl of my age, a year or two older than me. The patches and patches on the clothes on the body are only worn by such a girl in the mountains.
The girl bent down and looked at my legs, but could only get me up first. To my surprise, she was stronger than I had imagined, and she carried me on my back, and then climbed the ladder to it and put me on a chair.
I took a look at her house, very shabby furnishings, and a boy a few years younger than her, probably her younger brother.
The girl scooped a bowl of cold water and sprinkled it on my legs, and I realized that my thighs were swollen and there was a bruise-purple stasis. She looked at it a few times and told me: Your leg should not be broken, and he will find out when his father comes back to see.
Not long after, a man really came back from outside, showed me my leg very warmly, and comforted me that it was not broken, but just a sprain, and it would be fine to rest for a few days.
I just breathed a sigh of relief, and there was a burst of voices outside, it turned out that Brother Guojun had brought his two partners back, and when he saw my shabby look, he complained again. Later, the uncle asked them to go first, went back and told me not to worry about the family, and said that I would stay at his house for one night and send me back tomorrow morning.
That night, I really stayed in this house, and I learned that the uncle's name was Uncle He, and the girl who carried me up was called He Li.
After dinner in the evening, I chatted with Herlie, who was in her second year of junior high school and had good grades. But the family is too poor, and I plan not to go to school in the second half of the year.
But He Li's words revealed her yearning for the outside world, and Uncle He's wrinkled face was more sorry, saying that he was useless, and if he changed to a rich father, He Li would definitely be able to go to secondary school.
My heart moved, but I couldn't say anything. Just persuaded Heli to go back to study, just go back to the mountains, how can there be any future?
Early the next morning, Uncle He carried me home on my back, and He Li had to stay at home to take care of my younger brother. I turned around almost three steps on my back, hoping to see her a few more times, but unfortunately I never saw her.
Uncle He sent me home, naturally thanks to my parents, I don't know how many words of thanks, and took out ten yuan to Uncle He, saying that it was delaying your time for a day, and this right was used as a salary, but Uncle He also refused.
Uncle He went back empty-handed, and my parents kept saying that I had met a good person. I couldn't help but talk about Heli.
I begged my father to help Herry, saying that her grades were so good, if she could study for another year, she would definitely be able to be admitted to the secondary school.
My father didn't refuse or agree at that time, but just taught me a vicious lesson, and I will see if you will run around in the future.
I went back to school for a week, but I kept thinking about Herlie, how to help her, and I went to the classroom of the second year of junior high school to see her, and in her eyes, I saw despair and listlessness.
It can be seen that she has accepted the reality that she is about to drop out of school, and she has also lost confidence in her future.
That summer, I must go to He Li's house to thank Uncle He, and I dragged my father to go with me, under my begging, my father promised to sponsor He Li to continue to study for another year, as long as I can be admitted to the secondary school, I don't have to worry about the tuition at that time.
He Li recognized my father as a godfather, and it just so happened that my family only had two sons, and He Li's arrival somewhat made up for the regret that my parents did not have a daughter.
He Li's junior high school was even more energetic, and when she took the high school entrance examination, she was really admitted to the normal school. This is really a grass chicken turning into a phoenix, a year ago, where did she think that she could really jump out of the mountains and eat national food?
He Li went to secondary school, although the tuition fee does not need much, but the family has to give some living expenses and pocket money. My parents are also becoming more and more generous in this regard, mainly because Heli is really sensible, and she comes to my house every holiday to help my mother with housework, and she is very happy.
He Li has been telling me that in the future, you must not rely on secondary school for your grades, you must go to high school and college, so that you can have greater development.
Under her "teaching", I really chose to go to high school, and in 89, when I took the college entrance examination, I was admitted to a university in Changsha.
After graduating, she returned to our town's middle school as a teacher, and later, she married a colleague and settled her home in the town, and also took her father and younger brother out of the mountains.
Until now, Heli has been "back to her parents' house" almost every weekend, but her mother's home is mine.
After graduating from university, I went south to Guangdong, and I spent less and less time with my parents, and whenever I said this to my parents with apologies, He Li would comfort me: You can fly, my parents have me as a daughter.
The fall of chopping wood in the mountains decades ago was a blessing in disguise, and the fate of both of us was changed. The reason for this is simple, it was Herlie's instinctive act of kindness at the time.