Text: Qiao Zhengming
Taojia Mountain is a fold in the countless mountains in eastern Sichuan, and it is also a pearl scattered in the sky. She sat quietly in the mountains, beautiful and serene. To the east of her, where the sun comes out, the ancient temple stands majestically towards the sky. In the south, separated by a deep ditch, is the new house, in the west, is the mountains like the waves, and in the north is also the mountains, which is the path of the Taojiashan people to the county seat of Kaixian, called Shuanghekou. Shuanghekou is also called Xiaomeichi. Today, the three villages of Shuanghe, Chaoyang and Chaotian have been merged into Meichi Village, and Taojiashan is only one of the areas, which was originally the Chaotian Seventh Team.
Taojiashan has no Tao surname. Originally, I thought it was called Taojia Mountain, and I imagined the magnificent scene when the peach blossoms were in full bloom all over the mountain, but my grandfather corrected my reverie and said that it was called Taojia Mountain. As for the fact that this place may have been the property of the Tao family in the past, or maybe there was a group of people surnamed Tao who lived here for a few years, and then moved away one after another? Only this place name remained? This is a question that cannot be verified.
In the past, Taojia Mountain must have been blue sky and white clouds, green trees, and thick pine trees stood all over every corner? When I was a child, there were still a few big pine trees that few people could not hold solemnly, which gave me a deep shock.
The one that I remember the most is the big pine tree in Shangbang, which is not 30 or 40 meters tall and stands on the edge of the Chaotian Reservoir, facing the dam on the east side of the reservoir. The mountain back, unknown, tree-lined like a giant beast facing the east, with its eyes on the sun. Pine trees stand tall next to the house. The stem of the tree is straight, and there are branches and leaves on the top. Among the several outstretched branches and leaves, there was a bird's nest the size of a dustpan, woven from dead branches. The bird inside, people call it iron chirping, black head, black body and black tail, white belly, chirping all day long, hence the name. Some people think of it as crows, but they're not, they're just somewhat alike. This bird flies around all day long and never seems to stop. They roost in their homes at the top of trees, give birth to children, and just like humans, they fly out in search of food, which is similar to humans.
Later, I don't know which naughty ghost actually climbed the tree and destroyed the bird's nest, so for a long time, I didn't see any bird making a nest in the tree.
I was very impressed by this tree, and also because of the house next to it. There are one or twenty families living here, and most of them are surnamed Zhong. The captain's name is Zhong Shishan, and he is the captain of the production team. On the bedroom window of his house, there is a small boxy radio. The small radio is a small square wooden box with a large circle dug out of the middle, covered with gauze, and inside is a concave horn. Every day at noon, there are beautiful songs on the radio, and there are people talking. The song sung is first of all "Dongfang Hong", which is the most exciting song in that hot era, giving people a sense of striving for progress and spreading all over the mountains and rivers. After Dongfang Hong's singing, someone inside said: "Huashan People's Radio, start broadcasting now." In order to listen to Dongfanghong and listen to the people inside, we ran to listen to the songs and listen to the voices in the wooden box almost every day for a while. I also found a loudspeaker, opened it and studied how such a small wooden box could be filled with people singing and talking in it.
Huashan is the hometown of Marshal Liu Bocheng, and later changed its name to Zhaojia Town, it is said that Huashan was also renamed from the Zhao family, and it was originally called the Zhao family. I once walked more than 30 miles to Zhao's house to visit the former residence of Marshal Liu Bocheng, but the former residence of the marshal was not repaired at that time, and it was no different from an ordinary farm house in the countryside.
The big pine trees in Shangbang give me a very clear memory of my childhood.
To the west of Shangbang, also by the water, to the northwest, there is also a large pine tree. It is smaller than the big pine trees in Shangbang, and is also more than 20 meters tall. This is the one on the edge of my uncle's own land.
The impression of this pine tree is also clear. This is because when my grandmother was working in the fields, I was looking around and running around. Naturally, such a large pine tree is my focus. It's just that the pine trees are too tall to climb. Not only is the tree too tall, but the trunk is still very thick, and it is difficult to hold the tree, so it is naturally impossible to climb up with the tree. Fortunately, above the tree is a mountain beam, which is very flat. Standing on it, you can look far away, and the view is endless. It is said that this was originally the racecourse of the Yuan family, and later I don't know whether the feng shui here is good or the distance is far, the Yuan surname built the ancestral tomb on the top of the mountain. The graves were surrounded by stones in a boxy area, and they were very large. There is also a monument in the direction of the north. Standing on the stone bar, there is a sense of mystery, and of course, I am also a little scared, and I dare not dare to run around like I dare to run around in other places.
To the north of the tree, at the edge of the land, is a protruding ridge that branches off from the beam above, which goes down into the reservoir. Along the ridge are ridges of cypresses. The cypress trees are not large or dense, but here they stand out because there are no trees inside or outside the ridge, and the rest of the place farther away is mostly pine.
There is also a pine tree in Huangliyan.
Huang Liyan is the place where my grandfather must go to work every day to work in the cooperative medical room of Xinwu Village opposite, Xinwu is a place name, belongs to Chaotian No. 2 Team, and the village primary school is also located there. From my grandfather's house to the new house, you have to go down first, halfway up the mountain is Huangliyan, and the big pine tree is on the side of the road. A little further walk from the big pine tree is the bottom of the ditch. Climb up from the bottom of the ditch and follow the ridge to the new house.
The pine trees of Huangliam are also very tall and large. It should not be much different from the big pine tree in Shangbang, but because it grows on the mountainside, it is not tall. Only by standing under the pine tree can you appreciate its height and majesty. There was a pile of stones next to the pine tree, also on the side of the road where we went to school. There was a crack in the pile of rocks, and we often slipped through the crack without walking.
There is also a big pine tree in the new house, behind the village elementary school.
This big pine tree, which can be seen from the grandfather's house on Taojia Mountain, is still very tall despite a distance, and it is thirty or forty meters high. Once, when I went under a tree, I found that the roots were very wide, and the ground was the size of a dustpan. It was perched on the side of the road, and when it looked up, it felt the canopy of the trees reaching out into the air.
I studied here for two years. The village primary school was originally a large courtyard, the courtyard sat east and faced west, the four corners of the patio, and the dam was made of square bricks. The two floors on the east side were classrooms, and I read books 1, 2, and 3 on the first floor, and then seven books on the second floor.
Teacher Zhu, who teaches lower grades, lives behind the Beitou classroom on the first floor, and Teacher Huang, who teaches seven volumes, lives in Beitou on the second floor.
It was Mr. Huang's idea to read seven volumes. He said that I have a good understanding, good grades, and my grandfather can usually tutor me, plus I entered school in the spring of 72, and I will resume autumn enrollment after three volumes, and I want to re-read three volumes, and I don't want to re-read them, and my grandfather doesn't want to. Teacher Huang said that then skip the grade and read seven volumes, so I will go to the second floor to read seven volumes.
My grades in reading seven books are still good, and if it goes on like this, my future will definitely be different, but at this time, it happened that my aunt gave birth to a little cousin. Because of his good medical skills and kindness, as long as someone is sick and comes to call in the middle of the night, no matter how far or near, his grandfather will immediately rush to heal, so he is very popular. But this caused some people to be jealous, and some people in power were implicated in the matter of Chaosheng and drove his grandfather out of the brigade medical room.
My grandfather no longer went to the medical room, and I was also affected, and after reading the seven volumes, my mother transferred me to Ping'an Primary School in my hometown, and I left my grandfather's house from then on.
The brigade medical room is on the north side of the compound. The room is not big, twelve or three square meters. There is a table by the window facing the direction of the western entrance, which is where my grandfather receives patients, looks and hears, and weighs and takes medicine. On the right-hand side against the wall, there is a medicine cabinet, one by one, with all kinds of Chinese medicines. Under the medicine cabinet is a grinding trough, and I often hold the medicine cabinet and roll around on the iron wheel. There is a stove in the corner, which is where my grandfather cooks. Every day after class or school, I would play at my grandfather's place or wait for him to finish work. Sometimes, my grandfather taught me to recognize Chinese medicine and memorize prescriptions, and I used to recognize a variety of Chinese medicines, and I could also memorize some prescriptions for treating colds and flu, but unfortunately I forgot them later.
Decades have passed, and the big pine tree of the new house is gone. If it is, it will be visible on this side. The pine trees in Shangbang, the pine trees by the reservoir, and the pine trees in Huangliyan are all gone, and they have disappeared for more than 40 years.
However, in my memory, the big pine trees are still alive and well in Taojia Mountain and her surroundings.
Qiao Zhengming, a bachelor's degree in education, now lives in the new county seat of Yunyang County, Chongqing. In 1986, he began to publish novels, essays, poems, miscellaneous talks, newsletters, research reports, papers and other works in national, provincial and municipal media.
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