Text | Fei Guoping
About author:Fei Guoping, teaching at Qiushi Experimental Middle School in Tongxiang City, senior teacher, member of Tongxiang Writers Association. After work, he loves to read and write, loves the grass and trees of his hometown, or nostalgia, or sighing, or spring flowers and autumn moons, or sentimentality...
Remembering the folk tale of "Li Jiushan Stomping on the Tofu Bridge" in Gaojiawan, today standing on the Qianlin Bridge (that is, the former tofu bridge location) looking at the river east of Qianlin Henggang, the trivial memories of childhood are gradually spliced together.
Walk down the Qianlin Bridge and walk along the River Health Greenway at the head of the river located on the south bank facing north, with long steps up step by step, a total of 12 steps. Yes, I count the data in my memory. It was the first time I came with my father to sell cabbage, boring points while watching the boat.
Qianlin Bridge (known locally as Tofu Bridge) is the center of Qianlin Market Town, the upper is the land traffic communication between the north and the south, the lower is the water traffic communication between the east and the west, the farmers in the four miles and eight townships will sell agricultural products to the supply and marketing cooperatives every harvest season.
It was a Sunday in the middle of the winter, and my father was going to sell the family's cabbage to the supply and marketing agency. He alone had to carry a ship of cabbage from the ship to the shore, and he had to pick it up into the open warehouse of the supply and marketing cooperative. Afraid that there were many boats at the head of the river, I accidentally squeezed the boat away, so I was asked to go to see the boat, so I got the qianlin market town famously.
It took my mother a long time to sort out the cabbage in the field, and the house filled a whole room, let alone a few thousand pounds. I helped my father fill the cabbage with a four-corner basket, and the "quack" flat shoulder was suddenly oppressed and made a sound. The father picked up the burden without a word, and staggered to the cement boat at the head of his own cave, when the father was really strong, and he could pick up three hundred pounds in one load.
It was about 9 a.m. when the boats were full, and we opened the cement boats, left the small port, turned into Qianlin Harbor, and headed south. The father shook the stern evenly from left to right, pushing the boat forward. I stood in the cabin enjoying the cold breeze on the water. In winter, the scenery of the river port is gray, and only the wild bamboo piers by the river make a loud noise. Occasionally, I would encounter the boats returning from the village, talking in a high-profile about the purchase of cabbage by the Gaojiawan Supply and Marketing Cooperatives today, but the wind was too strong, and the news of the future ship had long been blown in the air, and there was no trace of the flight.
In about an hour, the boat turned from north-south to east-west. The waterway, which had been relatively silent just now, suddenly became noisy. Father also obviously slowed down the speed of the ship, flexibly avoiding the passing ships, occasionally bumping, and everyone smiled and passed.
When approaching the Qianlin Bridge, the scene made me involuntarily adapt Ye Shengtao's words: the boat port of the Qianlin Bridge was moored horizontally and vertically with open boats coming out of the countryside. The boat was loaded with cabbage, which pressed the hull very low. The vegetable leaves and garbage on the side of the ship were surrounded by white foam, and one by one, they filled the gap between this ship and that boat.
At this moment, my father accelerated forward again, trying to drill a gap to dock the boat closer to the head of the river. Father took the boat, and an arrow jumped from the stern to the bow of the boat, and the rope was tightened, and the ship was forced into the fleet. After Tying the rope of the boat and telling me to look after the boat, I picked up a load of cabbage, stepped on the steps and advanced diagonally, squeezed into the gate of the supply and marketing cooperative, and disappeared into the sea of people.
The wait was anxious, and I don't know how long it took for my father to come out of the sea of people, load a load into the boat and go up the steps, pass through the gate and disappear again, and so on. And I was counting the number of times my father came in and out and the few steps my father had to take. Walking on this step today, I looked at the river and was stunned. It was as if I saw the back of my father and me counting in the cabin.
"Wang, Wang, Wang..." A puppy's cry pulled me back from memory. Walk up the steps, along the greenway, and step forward on the fallen leaves. The originally barren waterfront in memory has now been transformed into a neat fitness track.
On the south side of the runway is the station of Chengxi Village, which was transformed from the qianlin township government station (qianlin township was merged into Wutong Street in 1999). The cultural auditorium of the center also retains the architectural style of the 1970s and 1980s. The towering door and the bright five-pointed star are a carrier that provides a deep sense of the times for those of us who are post-70s.
To the south of the Cultural Auditorium is the newly renovated Gaojiawan Free Market, which also has a wide range of goods. To the east of the cultural auditorium is the Chengxi Village Committee and the Gaojiawan Vegetable Market, which is small but neat and clean. To the west of the Cultural Auditorium is the Cultural Corridor, which depicts the historical development of Gaojiawan on the display panels.
The most eye-catching is the Sunburn Smoke Exhibition Hall on the north side of the auditorium (Sunburn smoke is a famous specialty of Tongxiang and one of the traditional export commodities of the local area. It has the characteristics of bright red color, fine tissue, flexible texture and strong fragrance. In addition to being used as a raw material for cigar cigar skins, cigar core leaves and earth tobacco, this tobacco is also used as a mixture of cigarette ingredients).
Chengxi Village is a typical agricultural village, and red smoke and white chrysanthemum are the main industries of the village. The exhibition hall here clearly introduces the whole process of planting, managing, drying and making red tobacco, and it feels very kind to watch the introduction here.
Our hometown also grows red smoke, and we have to help our parents dry tobacco tablets throughout the summer vacation. After the yellow plum day, the parents collected green tobacco flakes from the ground, put them on the bamboo curtain, and fixed them with long bamboo sticks. Every day, the bamboo curtain is arranged in a figure-of-eight shape, standing on the dojo to dry, until the tobacco is from heavy to light, from cyan to dark red.
Despite the hot weather, a group of friends drilled under the bamboo curtain of smoke pieces to hide and seek, and we did not know how many tobacco pieces of bamboo curtains of neighbors had been arched. When the weather is cool, Grandpa will take advantage of the rainy day to come to my house, sort out the tobacco tablets that have been dried, and make a good appearance.
The sun-red smoke in Gaojiawan has a long history and a legendary story. It is said that the local landlord Li Jiushan originally operated red smoke, because he did not know people's heads and missed opportunities. The opportunity to make a fortune was given to Zhang Achang in Tongxiang City in vain, so there was "Li Jiushan Gaojiawan stomping (dialect, pronunciation sha) broken tofu bridge." "The legend has survived to this day.
My hometown was in the south of the Canal Tangdan Bridge, which belonged to the junction of Chengnan Township, Qianlin Township and Furnace Town at that time. It is deep in the countryside, and it is a luxury to go out shopping. The only hope is that once or twice a year, I will follow my parents out of the cabin to Qianlin to sell cabbage, return grain, and other opportunities to see the prosperous scene of Qianlin Market Town.
As a child, the town of Qianlin was already very large, and the narrow streets were full of people. The roadside stalls have fried fritters and small ravioli, as well as a few little people's books and a few colorful leather balls in the supply and marketing agency shops. But it's all just a feast for the eyes, because my pants pocket is cleaner than my face.
Every time I came to Gaojiawan, I didn't go to the end of the street, and my parents had to rush home to do farm work. Riding on a cement boat with a five-ton berth rocked by his father, he sped from south to north in The Port of Qianlin. The scenery on the shore was also chaotic, only the whistle left by the wind blowing in my ears was like my mood at the moment.
Turning back to the old street of Gaojiawan, from the southern end to the northern end, today I finally walked this street and fulfilled my childhood dream. The houses at cocoon stations, agricultural tool stations, veterinary stations, cinemas, and agricultural supply shops are still in business, but they are no longer open, leaving only empty houses and leaking windows. Curiously approaching the doors and windows of the familiar shops, I looked inward, and there was no longer the noise of the past in the dark room.
Step on the Qianlin Bridge again and look out over Henggang in an east-west direction. In front of you is the clear flow of the river to the east, there are guardrails on both sides of the river, there are green trees on the side of the railings, and green roads under the green trees. Both sides of the river port are full of flowers and red flowers in all seasons, and even the middle of the river is decorated with aquatic plants, adding a festive atmosphere to the silent water. Away from the hustle and bustle of the city, you can listen to the birds quietly and live in this small town.
[From Nanhu Literature, General Literary Consultant: Wu Shunrong]
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