Wang Lixin
My hometown is in the Ji'nan Plain, and the traditional Chinese studies master Ji Xianlin's hometown of Shandong Linqing across the river, originally my hometown also belonged to Linqing, only later with the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal as the boundary to Hebei Province, since school until work away from home for more than thirty years, but the old well in my hometown will always remain in the depths of my memory.
The old well has a long history, listening to the old man say that his grandfather's grandfather had this well at that time, as for when it was there, no one can say for sure, at least it must have a history of hundreds of years, there is no written record in history, leaving posterity only some scattered memories of word of mouth.
The water in the old well is clear and sweet, I remember when I was a child, the hot summer, the heat is unbearable, the mouth is dry, a bucket of water is hit with the well rope, and the heart is cool at once, such as Ganlin refreshing, like fine wine straight to the chest, how a "cool" word! Looking down through the wellhead, the water surface is about ten meters above the ground, because the water depth can only see a circular sky the size of the upper wellhead, as if a mirror is placed on the water surface under the well, and my head can still be reflected on the water surface, shouting at the well, and the sound is roaring. The body of the well is thin and thick, and it is said that "doi" is such a feature. The walls of the well are made of green bricks from which the Great Wall is built in strips, and they are covered with green moss. There is a large bluestone about one meter square on the well platform, the middle of the above is slightly concave, smooth and delicate, at first glance there is also an age, but unfortunately I did not seriously check it when I was a child, is there a written record on the back, recently went home a trip specifically to see this well, but unfortunately the big bluestone was missing.
The author and Li Changzhen's nephew Li Jinming are at the old well
The old well has a splendid history, listen to the old people, the Republic of China thirty-two years of the world drought, only this well has water, one side of the water and soil to feed one side of the people, the old well nourished thousands of people in the village, some people say that the old well and the East Sea Dragon Palace connected, late at night, if you listen from the side of the old well, you can also hear the sound of gushing springs and gushing water. The old well may be the reason for a long time, sometimes the nursing woman carries the child from the old well, the child will be frightened, convulsive, crying, the elderly experienced old man will often take a few pieces of straw paper to the old well platform to burn it, the frightened child immediately good, it sounds quite evil, I personally experienced it when I was a child. I remember when I was in elementary school, once I came home from school in the morning, I passed by the old well (I should not have taken this road when I went home, once in a while), after returning home, my stomach hurt so much that my stomach hurt and rolled down from my cheeks, taking medicine, injections, massages were ineffective, I had to go to one of my "blind uncles" on the south street of the village to ask about it, and the blind uncle asked my mother to take three pieces of straw paper from our house to the south, and how many steps to the east, just next to the old well. Burned the three pieces of straw paper on the spot, my mother has not yet returned home, the stomach does not hurt, of course, these are all I learned later, now I think about it feels very funny, taking medicine and injections for a while, should work for the sake of it.
Laojing not only provides a steady stream of water to nourish life for the fathers and villagers of the whole village, but also contains a rich and colorful culture in between.
Old Well also has a history of hate. After the July 7 Incident in 1937, the iron hooves of the Japanese Kou broke through the North China Plain to invade my hometown, a small group of Japanese devils entered the village to sweep, searched for the eighth road door to door, threw Li Changzhen and Ma Yurui from our village as the eighth way into this well, drove a three-wheeled motorcycle towards the neighboring village in our southeast corner, the villagers rushed to save people, did not think that the devils saw that the wellhead was full of people, drove back, and when they saw that the people inside the well did not drown because they would drown in the water, the devils lit peppers and burned firewood into the well. This well also bears witness to the evils of the Japanese invaders.
Yesterday I returned to my hometown after a long absence, and I went to the old well to see it, and the old well still exists, and she nourishes life; she, who has witnessed history; she, has recorded hatred!
Written on May 20, 2020