The Chinese people have a special affection for cattle and are impressed by the character of the cattle Lu Xun's: "Horizontal eyebrows are cold to a thousand fingers, bowing down to the cows," "I seem to be a cow, eating grass, milk and blood." The cow ranks second in the zodiac, which shows people's emotional attachment to the cow.
"Nine-nine plus one-nine, ploughing cattle everywhere." This proverb pulls me back to the spring plowing scene 30 years ago, and naturally reminds me of the scalper who was at the end of my life in my house. At that time, cattle cultivation was an indispensable labor force for rural work, and the lack of cattle in the family was extremely inconvenient, and only when ploughing was completed by others, they could only borrow cattle to cultivate for a day.
One day in the summer, the simple and self-reliant father signed back a small scalper from the market with confidence for two hundred yuan. The short, thick rope tied one end with a piece of bamboo through his nostrils and the other tied to an old bamboo in front of the yard. He flashed his long eyelashes, and his pink tongue curled around the green grass, complementing each other perfectly. I looked at the cute little scalper and suddenly felt a sense of intimacy.
At dusk, the anxious father, under the orange tree, teaches the calves to plough the land. I stood by and watched the adult calves under the sunset with concern. From time to time, the rough wheezing of cattle and the angry scolding of fathers floated in the mountains. Over and over again, in the small clearing, the little scalper went from dazed to comprehensible, from advancing to turning. The plowed earth churns freely like clouds in the sky. The little scalper finally learned, and we took brisk steps back home. Time is like an arrow, and the sun and moon are like shuttles. The cubs have doubled in physique. Spring ploughing season is coming, and the little butter's immature ploughing skills are barely and difficult under the shouts of the father. Impetuous little scalpers, pulling the ploughshares and speeding through the paddy fields, the ploughs fluttering lightly, paddling through the mud, and the father ran breathlessly behind him, and could only raise his whip to intimidate. The little butter mooed a few times, and the speed obediently slowed down, only to hear the thin mud driven by the water and the plough, making a sound like a wave. The gluttonous little scalper who was approaching the field ridge was desperate to go forward at all costs, just to take a bite of grass in a hurry when he turned around. At this time, there will be a few scolding voices from the father. In a paddy field of two points, because the effect of the first cultivation of the small butter was not good, the small butter dragged the plough over and over again. Father and the cow, from noon to dusk, I stood in the courtyard dam and looked at the paddy field in front of me, becoming a spring ploughing ink painting of its own.
Back at home, the cow was led into the pen and began to rest. The attentive mother is distressed by the efforts of the scalper and carries enough grass to replenish the energy of the calf. I was also pleased that the little scalpers had finally learned to plough the fields and brought a basin of salt water to treat.
As a child, my task after school was to herd cattle. Extremely thirsty, it led me and ran in the sun to the small river to drink water. Attentive, I took it by the hand, looking for fresh weeds in the dusk after the rain. He and I ran all over the village front and back of the village, and everywhere we printed its deep footprints. When the rain comes, a pool of clear water exists in the footprints, and I often imagine that this is a miniature pond with a small fish swimming in it. Because my little scalper can do miracles.
O little scalper in your heart! I grew up with him, my father worked side by side with him, my mother was like a mother and daughter to him, and my brother laughed and played with him. Now things are long gone, and the little scalper is long gone. But I will always remember that there was a little scalper who appeared in my life and will live forever in my heart.