One
In the year when the Japanese devils surrendered, the second father found a good stone pit on the barren mountains and mountains behind Guqian Village. Dad came back from the mountain, straightened into the village, turned out a few banknotes and seven copper plates hidden in the broken pillow and handed them to Erdan: "Give me wine and buy meat!" The words and gestures made Erdan feel that Dad must have made a windfall.
The second father is a stonemason, and his family has no land, so he makes a living by playing "door pillow stones". The door sleeper stone is a square stone, half of which is built in the earthen wall next to the door, and half of which is used to pad the door panel. A pit was carved into the stone, and the door shaft was embedded in the pit. Guqian Village is a hundred miles in circumference, whether it is the main house, the side house, the door of the courtyard, all use the door sleeper stone; the difference is that the gate is high and wide, and the side house is short and narrow.
The stone blocks were bought from the mountains west of the village. Stone on the car for sale, 10 copper plates a wheelbarrow, as long as the car and people can bear it, feel free to load. The second dan father had great strength, and found a carpenter in the village to make a sturdy wheelbarrow, and loaded stones on it vigorously, and saw that the stones on the car were almost enough for two wheelbarrows, so he stopped his hand, spit on his palm with joy, rubbed his hands, took a breath of dantian qi, bent down and squatted down and grabbed the handlebar with both hands, and secretly screamed in his heart, "Get up-" The person has stood up with the car steadily. He pretended to greet the shopkeeper who sold the stones easily: "Let's go—come and sit at my house when you catch the market!"
There is a set in Guqian Village, and every five rows of stones rush. People from a radius of more than 20 miles come here to catch the market, or buy or sell things for their daily lives. The shopkeeper agreed, "Okay!" and carefully admonished each time: "Zhao stonemason, be careful on the road!"
The Stone River in front of the village originates in the mountains of the Great West and flows all the way to the east into the Mi River. Along the river beach is the thousand-year-old road. Zhao stonemason pushed more than 1,000 catties of stones and walked on the road, and the frame of the car was pressed and creaked, as if he was complaining to the second father. Fortunately, it is a downhill road, and it is an uphill road, and it is difficult for him to move an inch with his strength. When there was an unevenness on the road, the car jolted, and the whole body was shaken around, Zhao stonemason stepped with the rhythm of the body swaying, bent over, stretched out his arms, and slapped the handlebar hard to finally restore the balance of the car. He was afraid of a mistake, and the wheelbarrow would lose its balance and fall to the ground. The stone is not afraid of falling, and the huge impact of the stone will break the wooden muscles and bones of the wheelbarrow, and the out-of-control stone can accidentally hurt the legs and feet of the cart man. Zhao Stonemason is an old handlebar style and knows how to measure.
Someone would look at him pushing the cart from a distance and be struggling to jump, and they would say: "This person pushing the cart is really skilled, what kind of person is pushing the cart, like he is "pulling out bones" with the cart! When he got closer, he saw this mountain-like cart of stones, and his eyes were so shocked that he didn't dare to breathe, and he secretly said in his heart: This man's strength is really great! "Pulling bones" is a dialect in Guqian Village, which refers to wrestling. Pushing a wheelbarrow is a technical job, with great strength, and if you don't have the strength to do it, you will sway around when you push the car, and you will be ridiculed and pulled out with the car. That means dangling, maybe who's bringing someone down.
In winter, he was still a little cold in thick cotton clothes and cotton pants, but he couldn't stand the heat after pushing the stones for a short distance, and he took off his cotton jacket and only wore a coarse cloth shirt, and waited until the whole family was drenched in sweat; in summer, he only wore a pair of shorts to cover the vital points, and the passers-by who pushed the stones for a few miles were already thirsty, put the car on the side of the road, walked a few steps to the water's edge, knelt down on the river's edge, pressed his hands into the water like knocking his head, pouted his buttocks, and directly put his mouth against the water. Pushing the cart and walking again, it was like a spring on my body, and sweat flowed out.
The purchased stones were thrown in the open space in front of the gate. He looked at each stone carefully with his eyes, and knew which stone was out of what material, and then took the box of ink lines made of ox horns, and neatly laid the ink lines on each stone, and then struck the chisel with a hammer, and chiseled along the ink lines on the stones. Time passed with a clanging sound, and the part of the stone that was outside the ink line was hewn into a pile of gravel and fell to the ground, and an irregular stone was beaten into a square doorway sleeper. When he chiseled the stones, the broken stone slag flew wildly, and he was afraid that the gravel would splash in his eyes, so he squinted his eyes, like a blind fortune teller walking through the streets. Tired from the beating, he stopped to drink water, and he stood up, able to shake off a body of gravel. After moving his body for three or five minutes, he sat down and played again.
The door pillow stone is stacked at the gate of the courtyard, and the people who build houses in ten miles and eight towns will buy the door pillow stone by the way when they are in the market. Zhao stonemason's door sleeper stone is square, not bad, the door frame is pressed on the top of the week, the door panel is closed tightly, and the door is still flexible when opening and closing. He was a well-known stonemason in the neighborhood. The door sleeper stone has the door, the courtyard door, and the kitchen door; the volume of the door sleeper stone of the main house door is in the center, the courtyard door is the largest, and the partial room is the smallest, which can be distinguished at a glance. What about the price? There are three kinds of prices: large, medium, and small, and if you give too much money, you don't want to sell it! The price is unified, and the size is also unified. Some people need other sizes, to order in advance, order not much money. That's his rule.
Sometimes, he would push the door sleeper stone to the county seat to sell. Sell the door pillow stone, take the money to the grain store to buy thirty or fifty catties of corn or dried sweet potatoes, and you will have ten and a half days' rations. If he has a little more money, he will also cut a piece of pig's head meat or weigh a catty of fritters, and the family will open meat. The county seat is not far from the village, and it is a five-mile road across the stone river in front of the village. There is no bridge over the Stone River, and in summer the water is large, only those who know how to water dare to wade across the river; in other seasons, the water is small, and adults can roll up their trouser legs to cross the river. Every time, Zhao stonemason pushed the door sleeper stone to the river, first unloaded the door sleeper stone and put it on the bank, then took off his shoes, rolled up his trouser legs, carried his shoes, carried the wheelbarrow down to the river, waded through the river step by step to the opposite bank, put down the wheelbarrow and shoes, and returned to the river, carrying the door sleeper stone across the river. It takes several round trips before you can push the wheelbarrow back on the road.
It was late, and some of the door pillow stones were not sold, so someone took the opportunity to discuss with him: "Zhao stonemason, I bought the door pillow stone cheaper, don't bother pushing it back!" He said: "I won't sell one less! What are you afraid of when you push it home, and you are still worried that the stone thing will rot?" is that he waits for the rice to be put into the pot at home, and he will not sell it cheaply, so he pushes the door stone pillow home with confidence.
The wife said that he was stubborn, he stared at him like Emperor Guan, his voice was like a fierce Zhang Fei, and he roared: "Women know how to fart? You can't mess with the price in any business! This time it's cheap, and next time someone wants to be cheaper! You have to hold on to being a man, and you have to hold on to doing things, and if you can't hold on, it's over!" The people who bought the door pillow stone also slowly knew that there was no second price for the Zhao stonemason door pillow stone.
When Erdan grew up to more than ten years old, his father threw him a hammer and a chisel: "Follow me to learn to beat stones, don't eat enough, you will know how to wander around! How will you earn food in the future?" Erdan is obedient and afraid of his father, holding the chisel in his left hand and holding the hammer in his right hand, sitting in front of the stone, learning from his father to beat the stone, not lazy and slippery at all. He first helped his father to beat the coarse material, that is, to roughly remove the excess part outside the ink line on the stone, and his father saved labor when he made the finished product. Erdan grew up watching his father beat stones, and he almost didn't need to learn, he knew how to hold a hammer, how to chisel, and did a good job. His father was afraid that he would be tired, so he called him to rest after a while, but when he saw that his father did not stop the hammer in his hand, he continued to do it himself, and he did not stop until his father rested.
The two of them were like large and small versions of stonemasons, sitting there as silent as a stone, except for the sound of the hammer hitting the chisel or the chisel hitting the stone. In the same month, there were a few more pairs of door sleeper stones.
Zhao stonemason went to the county seat to sell the door pillow stone, and when he returned to the village, the car was loaded with two bags of corn. He grinned as he poured the corn into the large porcelain jar, which was less than three fingers away from leveling the rim. He stood in front of the vat and said to his wife with a little pity: "If I knew this, I should have bought half a bag of corn, you see, this vat is not completely full!"
Life at home is getting better, and my wife is pregnant again. Zhao Mason is idle, he likes to stare at his wife's belly and smile, he has always hoped that his wife will have more babies. When my wife is fine, she likes to sit under the tree outside the gate, and watch the father and son hit stones from a distance while collecting the soles of her shoes, and she thinks that this is the greatest happiness.
In the autumn when the leaves were falling, my wife went to the county town with a big belly to catch the market and prepare winter clothes for Erdan. Erdan is like a jointed crop, a year has grown a little taller, last winter wore just the right cotton pants, this year will be worn again will expose the calf, the waist of the pants has also become thinner, to pull a piece of new cloth to the trouser leg and trouser waist. Walking on the streets of the county seat, she suddenly heard hurried footsteps behind her, turned around, and saw a young man running quickly towards this side, followed by several Japanese soldiers with guns biting their butts and chasing. In the blink of an eye, the man ran to her side, probably too tired, the man slowed down a step, and the Japanese who was running in front suddenly pushed the gun in his hand forward, and the sharp spear pierced his back, the man staggered, and several Japanese soldiers who caught up behind also stabbed the gun into his body. The Japanese soldier pulled out the spear, then stabbed it again, and in the blink of an eye, the man was stabbed with more than a dozen holes in his body, and his whole body was soaked in blood and fell to the ground.
Erdanniang was frightened and witnessed the whole process motionlessly, not even noticing that blood was splashed on her. waited for the Japanese devil to leave, and the second Danniang came back to her senses. She trembled suddenly, and her heart was panicked as if the world had suddenly collapsed into the air, when she felt that someone was leading her out of the city gate, through the desolate fields, across the cold stone river, and ran into the village in one breath, and ran into her house from her husband and children as if no one was around, and fell on the bed. At this moment, the sky is spinning, accompanied by a huge pain in the stomach. It was an unbearable pain, and she gritted her teeth and cried out, "Ahhh
Sensed that something was wrong, Zhao put the chisel and hammer in his hand on the stone, and then followed the house. Seeing his wife's appearance, he hurried back to the gate. "Erdan, go and call your aunt to come to our house, your mother is going to give birth!" he shouted. Erdan ran to a yard in front of his house, and he ran back into the house and handed his wife an arm. He knew it would give her a sense of ground. When the woman from the former neighbor arrived, the child had already been born, but it was just dead!
Erdanniang lay in bed for a few days, and Zhao's family was shrouded in grief. A week later, the painful Erdanniang wanted to get up to help the family do some work, only to find that she couldn't stand up. She's paralyzed!
Zhao stonemason invited the village doctor to see his wife again and again, and also pushed his wife to the county hospital with a wheelbarrow. I took a lot of medicine, pricked a lot of needles, tried the medicines prescribed by the doctor, and tried folk home remedies, but my wife's illness did not improve at all.
This made it difficult for Zhao Stonemason's father and son, and also bitter for Zhao Stonemason's father and son. In the past, the housework of eating and dressing was all done by the second Danniang, but now they have to do it with their hands, and they have to take care of the Erdanniang lying on the bed. The porcelain jar for grain at home has begun to bottom out often!
Zhao stonemason hated the Japanese devils! Insomnia at night, he got up and took off the steel knife hanging at the head of the bed, opened the door and came to the courtyard, squatted in front of the whetstone in the corner of the courtyard and sharpened the knife vigorously, and after a while the steel knife glowed with dazzling blue light in the moonlight. As soon as Zhao stonemason moved with the knife, a ray of moonlight was cut off, as if the head of a Japanese soldier was cut off to the ground. He carried a knife back into the house, a fire burning in his chest, and wanted to sneak into the county seat at night to kill a few devils. His wife hadn't slept either, and when she saw him enter the house, she asked in the dark: "What are you sharpening your knife for?"
My wife understands his violent temper, and she also knows that he has the courage to be afraid of heaven and earth, and he really dares to go to the Japanese devil desperately. But there are more than a dozen devils in the days, and they live in a heavily guarded county town, they still have guns in their hands, and there are so many puppet soldiers and traitors around them who work for them. He cried and said, "You don't want to die, are you willing to leave me and Erdan alone?" Zhao stonemason gritted his teeth again and again and circled around the room, and finally hung the knife on the wall. He lay on the bed with his eyes open, staring blankly at the dark roof, unable to sleep for a long time.
The chicken crowed three times, and Zhao Shimason got up as usual, still getting up in the morning light to make a fire to cook, and then sat at the door with Erdan and knocked stones. He gritted his teeth vigorously, as if the stone under the chisel was a Japanese devil, and he had to chisel hard to feel comfortable!
It was dark and it was dark, and in the midst of the sorrowful sleep and the three times that the rooster crowed, which never changed, the day was bright again.
(To be continued)
About author:Chen Zhaotian, a native of Qingzhou, Shandong, currently lives in Foshan, Guangdong. He is a member of the Guangdong Writers Association and the deputy secretary-general of the Foshan Writers Association. His novels and essays have been published in literary magazines such as Tianya, Prose (Overseas Edition), Shandong Literature, Guangzhou Literature and Art, and Foshan Literature and Art.
Huainan Bagong Mountain has a rich history and humanities, and it is also the place where the book "Huainanzi" was written, and the place name brand is well-known, which has a great influence on the works of propaganda writers. "Bagongshan Literature" (yearbook) is an internal publication supervised by the Propaganda Department of the Bagongshan District Party Committee and the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, guided by the Huainan Writers Association, and sponsored by the Bagongshan Writers Association. The journal is committed to the development and prosperity of literature, and provides a platform for writers, poets and literature lovers in Bagongshan District, other counties and districts of Huainan City, as well as all over the country to exchange and display their works. As of this year, seven issues of Bagongshan Literature have been published (2016-2022 volumes). It has had a great impact on the literary world.
Today's headlines "Eight Public Angles" cooperated to select the outstanding works among them. Chen Zhaotian's novel released in this issue of "Bagongshan Angle" is selected from the 2022 volume of "Bagongshan Literature" "Langji Qingqing" novel column.
(Editorial Department of "Bagongshan Literature" of Huainan Bagongshan Writers Association)
On April 29, 2024, today's headline "Hachiko Angle" was released