My childhood was spent in a small mountain village called Beiwa in Zhuyang Town, Lingbao City, Yuxi Province

I have not yet "known the Destiny of Heaven", can I say that I am old? I like to reminisce, in fact, childhood has always haunted my mind. Of the texts I have seen in newspapers and periodicals, more than a dozen have been related to childhood.

One

My childhood was spent in a small mountain village called Beiwa in Zhuyang Town, Lingbao City, Yuxi Province. There are less than twenty households in the village, which is indeed pitifully small compared to the hundreds of households in which I live now. In such a small village, there are still five provincial people's clans, namely: Henan, Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, and Shandong. Although the territory is under the jurisdiction of Henan Province, the real Henan people only have my left neighbor, Lu Xiuying, the "five guarantees" grandmother of the single-door family. In my memory, Grandma "Wubao" was in her nineties, and her face was wrinkled like a mountain chrysanthemum blooming behind a kiln. You can see that she is a rare doll, and when you meet her, you will call her into the kiln, either a handful of pumpkin seeds or a few sour dates, and put them in your arms. My mother would not let me eat her things, saying that the old man was pitiful, and it was not easy for orphans and widows to live a life, but when the son was fourteen or fifteen years old, he suddenly fell ill and left his mother in advance. Until the end of his life, the old man was helpless, relying on the neighbors to help and the production team to take care of. The draft is the villagers taking turns to go to the river to pick for her. Fortunately, she ate a load of water for two or three days, and it didn't bother much. Occasionally, when it was the turn of a family that forgot to carry water, it would call my father, one was a close neighbor, and the other was that my father was the accountant of the village team, and he never shirked it in public or private.

I didn't want to go to her kiln, I felt heavy. People are good at living, and they get a large coffin in the kiln, saying what is the "old book", the black polish of the paint. In particular, on the head of the coffin, a large bird (phoenix) is carved and put on oil paint, which is lifelike. With his teeth and claws, he seemed to grab a doll and throw it into the coffin. I was glad that my mother did not know this secret, otherwise when I was naughty, my mother would often say that "if I disobey you any longer, I will throw you on the girder behind the mountain temple to feed the wolves", instead of throwing you into the coffin of grandma "Wubao" to feed the ghosts. However, when my "baby commander" is not in command, he will use this sentence to intimidate the baby soldiers under his command.

The claws on the coffin were my childhood nightmare.

I remember one day, I came back from playing in the back ditch, and I saw my big red rooster in the distance, chasing the yellow flower hen of grandma Wubao's house, running all over the yard. After catching up, he grabbed the feathers behind the yellow flower hen's head with his mouth, spread his wings and jumped on his back, and his body trembled. By the time I remembered to drive away, the big red rooster had finished the battle, and with the posture of a victor, shaking its feathers, just like sorting out the crown, the dashing self-activity went, and even did not look at the yellow flower hen again, without the slightest pity for the jade, let alone apologize.

I was worried all day, the big bird on the coffin of the "Five Guarantees" grandmother's house, would not catch my big red rooster and throw it into the coffin belly, and would it bring bad luck to my family, after all, I had bullied the yellow flower hen. As it turned out, my fears were superfluous. In the end, it was the "five guarantees" grandmother who was arrested. Is it because my big red rooster has big bird-like claws? This thought has plagued me for years.

Two

Lin Zhongshu is my right neighbor, when he arrived in Beiwa, I can't remember exactly. Among the Shaanxi people, who accounted for the absolute number, he did not seem to be the earliest. The earliest should be the old captain, as well as the Yan family.

Lin Zhongshu is a breeder in the village. There are three mules in the village, which are responsible for transporting pesticides, fertilizers, and soil fertilizers to the fields, and also responsible for the return of wheat, corn, soybeans, sweet potatoes, potatoes, etc. during the harvest season. Lin Zhongshu has no wife, naturally there are no children, he feels that the closest thing is the animal that cannot speak———— mule. It was precisely the mule he thought was closest to him that made him lose an ear.

When the production team is in, it feels like one word: "busy". People are busy, so are cattle. You can't catch your breath unless it's raining heavily and you can't get into the ground. Once it rains a lot, people are annoyed, and the cattle are not safe, and the cry of "Babble" is called. As soon as the day cleared, Lin Zhongshu led the mule out of the kiln to let the wind blow, and the mud red mule seemed to break free of the reins and rushed out. Lin Zhongshu said: "Look at the riot of your dog day, think of women!" The neon mule snorted at Lin Zhongshu's "poof", and the water foam star sprayed him in the face. Lin Zhongshu wiped his face while pulling the reins tightly. The mud-red mule could not break free, so it twisted its waist like a tail, and then its hind legs took off into the air and stomped on it. Lin Zhongshu suddenly felt a flash of black shadow in front of his eyes, hurriedly turned around to dodge, or a step too late, "Oops" a scream, toe fell to the ground, half of his ears have flown out of a mile away. Suddenly, the blood stained most of his face red. Lin Zhongshu never dreamed that when he was a mule that his son had fed for many years, he would make a cruel move to himself. The mud red mule knew that the joke was big, no longer jumping, glancing at Lin Zhongshu, who was whining more than swear words, and slowly eating the dog tail grass in front of my fence yard.

Lin Zhongshu returned from the hospital with gauze wrapped around his head and half of his ears wrapped in newspaper in his pocket. Because the weather was hot at that time, the villagers did not know how to deal with it in panic, and when they arrived at the county seat, they were seriously infected and could not do docking surgery with the medical conditions at that time. The sister-in-law in the lower house saw it and joked: "You don't have a drink in the hospital, bring it back to feed the dog!" "How can the parents who receive the skin of the body throw it away?" It can be seen that Lin Zhongshu is a filial piety.

I don't know where he was going to hide the ear, but if it was discovered by my "four-eyed" dog, it would have been a good meal in that barren era.

Lin Zhongshu did not want to be a breeder anymore, and the life he picked up had to be cherished. In his spare time, he would smoke leaf cigarettes and "hu He used a copper pipe hookah, which is said to have been exchanged for half a pocket of corn, and the golden light was bright. After smoking, the pipe is pulled out, and the ass "poof" after the pipe is blown, and the ashes in the mouth of the cigarette fly out of the distance. Unlike dry cigarette bags, after smoking, the cigarette pot is placed on the sole or kang edge of the shoe on the hard bump of "梆梆". What I couldn't understand was that I could hear the sound of water, so I couldn't suck it in my mouth.

One day, Lin Zhongshu went to the street, and I sneaked into his house through the window hole, picked up the long-envied brass hookah on the kangtou, and learned to smoke like a dog. First gently sucked, no water sound, and then sucked hard, still no water sound. Out of curiosity, I turned the cigarette bag upside down to see what was going on. Unexpectedly, a stream of yellow water poured down the face and flowed into the neck, accompanied by the spicy bitter taste of tobacco leaves.

I scooped half a scoop of water in the water tank behind the door to rinse my mouth, and then found a towel to wipe my face. He stumbled upon a small wooden box on his kang platform with a lock hanging from it. The box is also covered with a layer of black paint, but it is not as bright as the black paint on the coffin of grandma "Wubao". Thinking of the coffin, a man in this dim cave got goosebumps. Will the black box contain that half of the ear? I climbed down the window with a rolling belt and limped away.

My mother poked my ear and said, "Do you dare to go through the window and go to someone's house in the future?" I said, "I will no longer go through the window to Uncle Lin's house." The mother also said, "No one can go through the window, like a thief, and if you want to go, you will go in the open." I said, "If you want to go, go in good spirits." "My childhood education has influenced me all my life. Until now, I would not rush in to anyone's house, but first knocked on the door panel a few times, and got an answer before entering.

The summer in Beiwa is not as hot as in northern Jiangsu, and it seems to have little connection with the Funiu Mountain in the east, which should be the eastern foothills of the Qinling Mountains. Xu is influenced by mountain paths, and at night there is often a gentle wind blowing, bringing a hint of coolness.

There was no television back then, not even heard of. Radios are also rare, and only happen to see them once in Zhuyang Street. So after dinner, my neighbors gathered in my yard to listen to my father talk about the news. My father was the accountant of the village team, and the "People's Daily" and "Henan Daily" ordered by the village were sent to my family. There are also very few people to read, even if there are occasional newspapers, nothing more than cutting a shoe sample for the family, wrapping a new book for the baby, or preparing to get married to decorate the new house with a wall and a paste roof.

The father said: "The X family is greedy in the summer, sleeps at night without closing the door, and is stolen by thieves a bag of sorghum." The sister-in-law of the lower court said: "Is the thief caught and sentenced?" Father said, "Judgement." Stealing something is punishable. Lin Zhongshu held a copper pipe hookah in one hand and a cigarette medium in the other, looked at me with ill will, and said: "Xiao Chao (my milk name), did you hear me?" I said with a white face, "Whoever steals your things is the thief." Lin Zhongshu smiled strangely and said, "Who moved my cigarette bag?" "Hitting people does not punch people in the face, and scolding people does not expose shortcomings." I said angrily, "Oh, who rarely has your stinky cigarette bag, the bitter and spicy smell of horse urine." The people in the courtyard "coaxed" all laughed. My sister-in-law in the lower house poked my forehead with her hand and smiled and said, "You melon doll!" "The People of Beiwa do not say that people are fools, but separate the two words, and only say the word "melon" in the back. In fact, I don't know, my mother has already apologized to Lin Zhongshu. Now it seems that I was really "melon" at that time.

Lin Zhongshu later moved out of Beiwa Village, and is said to have moved to Yangpo'an. The reasons for the move are mixed. Some said that they had stolen mule concentrate and were found, and they had no face to live in. It is also said that it is a woman who has a crush on Yangpo Brain, and the figure is convenient. None of them can be tested.

Three

I was close neighbor to the guarantee, separated by a few cave dwellings. How old is he, and how old is he? I don't remember exactly now. I like to play with dolls of the same age, except for the dolls of the same age whoops and pee mud. The house sister-in-law said I was like a guaranteed tail. Smart, slingshots are held with hard wire, and handguns with wooden handles and steel pipes are made. At that time, I admired him.

Playing "wow" is a game often played by children in Western Henan in the 1970s, and the method is very simple. Wet the soil with water (there are also urine, the so-called and urine mud), knead into an egg-sized mud ball, feel soft and hard, pinch it into a hollow middle, thick circumference into the shape of a canned bottle cap, and then spit in it, lift it up for the other party to see.

Q: "Wow wow wow wow ”

A: "Opaque. ”

Q: "Wow wow wow ”

A: "There are no seams." ”

Q: "Is it not possible to pay for the damage?" ”

A: "Indemnity." ”

The other party has just exited a "compensation" word, and the asking party has quickly and forcefully thrown the "wow" to the opposite wall, so that the wah-whining front touches the wall, so that the air flow breaks through the "wah-wah" depression, issuing a "pop" sound, and the sound shines through the bottom to win. The other side grabbed a piece of mud as compensation.

Whenever I play too much and feel that there is nothing new, I go to find a guarantee. A homemade imitation pistol is guaranteed. In case of an accident, the pistol was tied to the trunk of a reclined locust tree, and then the gunpowder medium was lit, and the onlookers quickly withdrew. A gunshot of "boo" was heard, followed by the low bushes of the cave, like a layer of gravel, and the sound of ———— the scattered sand shot by the pistol. The sparrow screamed and flew around, but did not see a feather fall.

The memory seems to have a lot to do, unlike when I wandered blindly behind the kiln in front of the village, or even in the cattle pen. Even if I was guaranteed to be at home, he wouldn't allow me to use his pistol. Seeing him slanted on his body, in today's words, I was envious and jealous. I think he is a little childish, not enough buddy meaning. But he did not dare to show it on his face, but tried his best to please him with a flattering expression, hoping that he would be happy to allow me to shoot.

The opportunity finally came, and it was the first time in my life that I had shot a gun. If there had been an accident that day, I wouldn't be sitting here typing on the keyboard and doing chronicles today.

The sun ended up on the south slope (equivalent to about twelve o'clock), and the guaranteed father came back from the field and cooked under the stove outside the kiln door, and I said hello to him and entered the kiln. The guarantee father said: "Guarantee not yet back, you have to read the little baby book (comic strip) you take it yourself, in the drawer." ”

The villagers of Beiwa are simple and friendly, and no matter who comes with their children, they all regard themselves as their own. In my short article "Hometown People", I listed many of their good qualities and published them in China Social Daily.

Since he was a child, he has played in his home, and the environment is not unfamiliar. Pulling open the drawer, surprised me holding my breath. Pistols, pistols with wooden steel tubes, are placed in drawers. I looked closely and suddenly found the gunpowder medium pressed under the trigger. Without thinking, I opened the nose, held the gun in my left hand, leaned toward the ground, and pulled the trigger. With a "bang", the steel balls of the frame axle shot out of the gun chamber bounced from the hard ground to the sycamore plate box on the north wall. Assured's father ran into the kiln in a panic, put his arms around me, stunned me, and asked in a loud voice, "Is the injured one?" Didn't the injured person? After calming down, I said, "When I saw the gunpowder medium, I didn't expect that the gun was also filled with medicine!" I guaranteed that my father was very frightened than me, his face was pale, and he kept saying, "Look at me turning around and picking him up!" Watch me turn around and pick him up!"

Only then did he understand, as to why he wouldn't let me move his gun casually.

Later, I went to the guarantee house and never saw a pistol again. Later, I heard that the gun was guaranteed to be dismantled into parts.

Four

I like to go to the guarantee house, not only for the sake of playing with guns, but also for another reason, but also for an important reason———— to read books. As I said earlier, Beiwa Village is not big, there are only a dozen households. The highest level of education has also attended junior high school, and has not yet finished. Natural bibliophiles are extremely rare. Even if anyone has a book and a half, most of them have become cigarette paper for pastime in the monotonous and boring sun and moon. What's more, tear it down and rub your ass. In people's eyes, books can neither be eaten, drunk, nor can they be divided. Guaranteed but exceptional, in that era of working hard a day to earn two divisions of labor, he was able to hide "Liu Hulan", "Dong Cunrui", "Huang Jiguang", "Ouyang Hai", "Golden Light Avenue", "Sunny Days", and my favorite "Wise Tiger Mountain" and other villain books.

When "Wise Tiger Mountain" was hotly discussed in the village, I was already in elementary school, although the text could not be fully understood, but compared with the vivid picture book, I could understand a little. Therefore, I often go to the house to make sure that I read books. I haven't finished reading a copy of "Wise Tiger Mountain" for many days. Later, when he was happy, he allowed me to take it home to read. After school, I watched it many times in a row with a kerosene lamp made of ink bottles. At that time, I did not dare to take it to the school, one was afraid that the college students would snatch the baby, and the other was afraid that the teacher would confiscate it. In retrospect, this was probably the earliest piece of literature I was exposed to.

As I grew older, I gradually became less satisfied with the reading of comic strips. I longed to have a book of my own.

Shan Liwa has school, it is already a fortunate thing, then there is money to buy you idle books, it is simply nonsense. Fortunately, there are herbs on the hillside behind the kiln in front of the door, skullcap, chai hu, sand ginseng, blood ginseng, Cangshu, diding, banxia... wait. Dig these back, dry them clean, and carry them to the Zhuyang Street acquisition station, you can exchange money. This is also a way for villagers to earn work in addition to earning work points.

Students older than me would carry baskets woven with purple locust strips every Sunday, carry the heads of the hammers, go up the mountain to collect medicine, and exchange them for pencils, books, erasers and so on. In order to have a book of my own, I joined the team of digging for Chinese herbal medicine.

There are many skullcap and chai hu on the south slope in front of the door, and occasionally you can see blood ginseng. One day, the Yu brothers of the Jiaqing family asked a few of our classmates to take medicine together. Halfway through the mountain, Jiaqing said, "Look how big this skullcap is!" JiaYu said, "Avoid." Then he picked up the pickaxe and dug it down. Seeing that the digging was not complete, Jiaqing leaned down to pull it by hand, and did not expect that the second head of Jiayu would come down closely. It was too late to find out, tight and slow, or it fell on Jiaqing's head. "Mahhhhhhhhhhhhhh We went up and found that the hat on Jiaqing's head had a hole in it, and blood was gushing out. "Brother! Breakfast ——— whining——— bite you more than half a cake——— whining, you wrote down the ——— whining——— this time digging me to death!" "In the seventies, in that barren little mountain village, half a loaf of bread was enough to make people grumble. At this time, The family yu stood there stupidly, helpless. An older classmate grabbed a handful of sand and pressed it on Jiaqing's head, covered it with a torn hat, and hurriedly sent Jiaqing to the brigade health center. Thinking about it, it is really scary. Fortunately, the family's remaining strength is small, and it has eased up a little, otherwise Jiaqing's brain melon will open the scoop.

My father gave me 5 cents and wouldn't let me go to collect medicine. At that time, 5 cents could buy two or three comic strips. I walked back and forth many times at the zhuyang street supply and marketing counter, wondering whether to buy two comic strips or a novel. In the end, I borrowed 7 points from my classmates at the risk of being scolded, and spent 5 cents and 7 points to win back a children's novel "Zhu Xiaoxing's Childhood".

I finally had a book of my own. Since then, I have become more and more fond of reading, and gradually I have developed a habit that has remained so far. Every time you go to a place, the first thing to look for is not a large supermarket or shopping mall, but a bookstore.

Today, when I sit in front of the computer and type on the keyboard, pinning my nostalgia for my childhood, I think that under the correct leadership of the party and with the rapid development of social economy, the babies in Beiwa Village no longer need to rely on digging herbs to buy pencils and books. After all, all I've documented is the North Depression of the 1970s.