Author: Li Jiagui (Hefei, Anhui)
In October 1968, the gongs and drums of the farewell meeting of "Huainan City's First Batch of Intellectual Youths Refining Red Hearts" held in the playground of Huainan No. 1 Middle School seemed to be still in my ears; On the big truck to see them off, the boys and girls sat together, laughing and singing along the way, as if it was just yesterday. However, time is like lightning, and before you know it, 56 spring and autumn have passed!
Today, with the thoughts of more than half a century, I return to visit the Wang's ancestral hall, which has been deeply imprinted by the times and spent an unforgettable period of passion, honesty and romance in the countryside.
How much sweat and tears have been loaded into our five-member group of educated youth; Ignorance and innocence, the ancestral hall of the Wang family, which stands like a flock of chickens in a "dry base" earthen wall thatched roof cottage, has disappeared, and even, there is no piece of tiles left, and even the wall foundation seems to have been smoothed out by the years. When I faced the ruins of the ancestral hall of the royal family and the high loess platform, I was speechless and infinitely melancholy, and under the summer breeze that was raised by the endless rice fields and still tasted the same as back then, a series of vague and clear figures flashed in front of my eyes: the secretary of the brigade who cared for the "college students from the city" and loved him like a father; Li Jiaying, the commander of the militia battalion of the brigade of the same clan and generation as me; Sister Zhang, the women's director of the brigade who is gentle and spicy; In order to relieve our "nostalgia", he took us to walk 15 miles to Sanhe Town's restaurant and eat red clay oven charcoal hot pot. Wang Liangshe, the captain of the Jingnan production team with a strong body and a dignified attitude......
Oh, and the playmate of the neighboring team, Brother Zhang, who borrowed my cool clothes and pants to go on a blind date; Liang Xiaodi, who is smart and studious, often borrows books from me...... Where are you now?
Oh, and under the same ancestral hall under the eaves of the same ancestral hall, with the students of the duplex class of grades 1 to 3, who have been with each other for two years, where are you now? Oh, and my twenty or so "comrades-in-arms" of the Mao Zedong Thought Literary and Artistic Propaganda Team of the Commune, where are you now?
——Do you still remember the "pen stick" that wrote the good people and good deeds in the village and the society for the first time and published them in the "Wanxi Daily"? You still remember the words "Agricultural Dazhai" and "Douda" on the wall of the brigade headquarters with a bucket of red oil; Is it a "calligrapher" who wrote Chairman Mao's poem "The Red Army is Not Afraid of Expeditions" on the flour wall of the ancestral hall and wrote a wall of "Mao" poems? Do you remember the "writers" who were so proud of you, who were transferred to the commune, and who were able to eat in the canteen with the secretary of the commune? I see you here today! Where are you?
However, the "second hometown" of that year has been a sea of vicissitudes. Looking ahead, the rice fields are flat and the blue waves are like the pictures in memory. The original low-rise thatched houses have been transformed into dotted tiled houses and "small western-style buildings". The cement road leading to the village is as flat as a mirror and extends in all directions. Not far away, the industrial park of Hangbu Town and the surrounding economic development zone are lined with high-rise buildings, which can be seen as if a giant ship is sailing in the blue ocean of rice fields!
Here and now, this situation and this scene, I can't help but think of the poems of many ancients who lamented that the years are not living and the world has changed: "Nostalgic empty chanting and listening to the flute, going to the countryside to be a rotten Ke person" (Tang Liu Yuxi). "The clouds and shadows in the idle pool are long, and the stars change a few degrees of autumn" (Tang Wangbo). "Where are the moon people who come to play together? The scenery is vaguely like last year" (Tang Zhao). "On New Year's Eve this year, the moon and lights are still the same. I didn't see last year's people, and my tears wet the sleeves of my spring shirt" (Song Ouyang Xiu). "This situation can be recalled, but it was already confused at that time" (Tang Li Shangyin). ……
After chanting, for a while, the pen was driven by emotion, but it was not shallow, and the book was a slang poem, which was the second of the "return visits".
The green years follow the wind of the world, and the ancestral hall of the Wang family has dreamed.
The loess platform is still there, and the pink walls and tiles are gone!
Therefore, the old rain should not be called, and the old house is empty.
Who sends the heart whisper? The old pond of frog drums is red.
(May 12, 2024 at Hefei "Yumu Firewood House")
Li Jiagui profile: Li Jiagui, male, nicknamed "Elm", born in 1951. After graduating from the Department of Chinese at Nanjing University, he worked in a central enterprise as a management worker until his retirement. He now lives in Hefei City. There are a variety of business management books and papers published and published. In his spare time, he writes poetry, prose, literary criticism, newspapers, and anthologies.
Editor: Li Jiawen/Li Xunxiu Editorial Department of Qingyanwei Literature