attack stream of life

In a few days' time it will be the twelfth lunar month, and the village will be a little more relaxed, so it's good for Zhaoming to take this leave.

He carried a large bamboo basket weighing more than [-] kilograms on his back and went to the more remote farm with a letter of introduction from the village in his pocket.This farm is in the col, and it takes a long way to get down by car, and there is only one narrow path.I really don't know how the things from this farm have to be shipped.

Zhaoming walked and rested for a while, and arrived at the place at noon. He asked a ragged villager where the farm was, and took a letter to report.The conditions of the villagers around here are generally worse than the village he stayed in. In the village he stayed, the villagers had three or five patches on their clothes, while the villagers here basically folded their clothes with patches. To a slightly larger piece of cloth, each one is unkempt, like a tramp who hasn't washed his face for several years.

The old man who guards the gate of the farm is not much better, he is skinny and does not understand Mandarin. Fortunately, Zhaoming can speak the local dialect, so it is not impossible for him to communicate.So it was very smooth to understand Zhaoming's reason for coming, and led him to find someone.

This old man may not communicate with the outside world very much, and he may not be very tactful, or Zhao Ming's appearance and attitude make people feel relieved. In short, this old man heard that he came to visit a distant relative, and this distant relative was a devolved person, so he didn't show it. Somewhat unhappy or vigilant, chatted a few words, and even praised the devolved person.

It is said that there is a man among them who can cure cattle and has the ability.Their farm is collectively raising cattle and livestock, and having such a person here has reduced a lot of losses for the collective.

Later, he may realize that there is something wrong with his attitude, and the old man hastily added a few more words, "They reformed very well. Hey, really, reflect on yourself every day."

The two walked for a while, and came to a cemetery. They walked around the cemetery and saw a few thatched huts, which were made of bamboo. The outside was covered with a thick layer of mud, and there were several layers of straw on top, which could also protect them from the wind. rain.There are two vegetable fields outside the house, and there are some unharvested mustard greens and cabbage on the ground.When Zhaoming saw the accommodation conditions, he was half relieved.

"Let's have lunch now, they are all inside." The old man was about to leave after finishing speaking.

Zhao Ming hurriedly grabbed him and stuffed two eggs and a handful of candied peanuts into his dry old bark-like hands.Candied peanuts are not peanuts, but a kind of deep-fried pasta coated with a layer of sugar. It tastes crispy. It is a snack that children like very much. Zhao Ming also bought some yesterday.

"This, this can't be done, can't be done."

"Please take care of me. I'm settled in Shangwan Village next door. If you need anything, you can find me."

The two refused for a while, but the old man couldn't resist him, so he took the things and stuffed them into the inner pocket of the thin padded jacket with great care.

Zhaoming didn't go in right away, perhaps because he was timid because of his closeness to his hometown, and he hadn't seen them for seven or eight years, so I don't know how they are doing now.

"you are?"

While he was wandering, an old man with a goatee came out from the middle room, looked at him for a while, and laughed, "Young man is so good-looking." Many people praised Zhaoming for his good looks, but this old man It is very meaningful to say it out, not such a superficial compliment to color.

Hearing the noise from outside, several people came out from inside, men and women, old and young, all dressed very thinly, and their ankles were exposed in such a cold day.Two of them were still holding the eating bowls, which were very old wooden bowls with gaps, and there was no fine food in them, but muddy vegetable soup.

"Mother..." Zhaoming saw the middle-aged woman in the ill-fitting gray and black single dress, his eyelids trembled, and suddenly tears fell, scattered like unstrung beads.

A kind of unexplainable sourness suddenly appeared in my heart, and the memory flashed like a picture. There was a vague image of a woman, like the one in front of me, but also like someone else, her chest was so soft and trembling with pain .

"Amin!" Zhaoming's mother was stunned for a moment, she couldn't help wiping her eyes, and strode forward, "Amin, why are you here?" A woman who used to be as beautiful as a big star is now He was devastated by life, and his face was full of wind and frost.

"Isn't this going to the countryside? It's nearby." Zhaoming wiped his eyes, but smiled, "Mother, where are grandma and grandpa?" For a while he hid all his emotions, not wanting to embarrass others by showing them.

"Here, grandma is here." Although he has been here for many years, he still speaks in a strange tone.In fact, when grandpa was sent down, grandma had the opportunity to leave here and go back to her mother country, but she refused to go, saying that her child and her husband were here, which was her home, and she insisted on sending her down with grandpa.

Then Zhaoming's mother was not at ease with the old couple, and insisted on getting a divorce and going along together.Sometimes the world will give such a cruel choice, you can only choose one of the two.It's not that Zhaoming's mother doesn't love him, but as a daughter, she can't give up her affection for her parents.Regardless of the choice, the saddest person is the one who made the choice.

Zhaoming's grandmother walked over quickly, pulled Zhaoming to look carefully, and then hugged him fiercely, "Look at my little baby, oh, he has grown into a young man. Ayu, what are you doing backing away?"

Grandpa came out from behind the crowd, his eyes were red, but he could still hold back his tears, "Son, don't come...we will hurt you, let's go, let's go."

Grandma was very happy at first, but now she realized something, and gently let go of her hand, "Son, your grandpa is right, you can't come here. It's not good to rely on us."

"Don't worry, I've brought a letter of introduction. The head of the village where I settled is a good person. He sympathized with me and wrote me a letter. I came here in an open and honest manner. Who can say anything?" Zhaoming stretched out his hand to hold his grandmother. "Let's go to the house to chat. I've been walking all morning and I'm still hungry. Do you have the heart to drive me away?"

He spoke pitifully, his grandma wiped away her tears, "You child..."

"Sister-in-law Tian, ​​the children are here. You haven't seen each other for so many years. Let's talk for a while."

"That's right, brother Tian, ​​you're too cautious. It's nothing serious if we just meet each other."

The people next to them advised them.

Grandma gritted her teeth, nodded heavily, and dragged him to the shed where she lived, "Son, grandma still has a sweet potato here, take it."

Grandma, grandfather, and Zhaoming's mother squeezed into a small room less than ten square meters. The room had no windows, only a wooden door, and no bed inside. Even the bed.There are no serious cabinets or tables, but a few broken earthen jars, in which their rations are placed.There is also a bench with some bowls and chopsticks on it, and clothes are hung on the wall to prevent insects from biting the ground.

Grandma pulled him to sit on a wooden stake. Seeing him looking at the house, she rubbed her hands in embarrassment, "Don't look at the small place here, and there is no air leakage in winter. These haystacks are warmer than the wooden beds at home."

Grandpa and Zhaoming's mother also came in. Zhaoming's mother wiped her eyes with her sleeve and stuffed a piece of roasted sweet potato into Zhaoming's hand, which was still warm.

Zhaoming didn't say anything, he held what his grandma gave him in his left hand and what his mother gave him in his right hand, knowing that it was the ration his grandma and mother had saved through the gap between their teeth.The small sweet potato is about half the size of a fist, shuttle-shaped, roasted black and dry on the outside, but when the black skin is peeled off, there is golden flesh inside.

Zhaoming took a bite. It was sweet, fragrant, soft and slippery, without many roots. It was a natural first-class snack, and the fillings carefully made by humans could not compare.It tastes delicious and burns all the way from the mouth to the heart.

"It's delicious." Zhaoming said while eating.

Seeing that he finished eating in a few mouthfuls, Zhao Ming ate so fast that he almost choked, his grandma hurriedly brought a bowl of water from outside, "Drink some water." The hot sweet potato was stuffed to Zhaoming.

"Eat." He refused to say more.

Zhao Ming paused, almost devouring all the sweet potatoes.He eats sweet potatoes a lot. He used to eat them in Beijing and also in the village. If he ate too much of them, he would feel sour when he saw them. But this time it was very different. It was so sweet that it turned sour and sweet.The hot feeling was like a fine needle pricking the body, densely aching.

In the past, there were thousands of mountains and rivers, just delivering packages, so the feeling was not so deep.When we really met, I realized that I had been thinking about them all the time.It's just that it's been too long, and after a few years, he's a little scared, and he doesn't dare to really see her.

Now that they met, Zhaoming suddenly regretted that he had sent too few things and cared too little for his elders, and he also regretted that it took more than half a year to come here.

How old are grandma and grandpa, and how much time do they have?The hair of the two old people is already half white, and the faces are full of grooves and ravines, which are full of years and sufferings.

And his mother, who is obviously only in her forties, but already looks like a 50-year-old woman.Poor physical condition is second to none. Zhaoming sees no hope in his mother's eyes, and is depressed, like a living puppet.

It seems that there is some meaning that the heart is ashamed.

After Zhaoming finished eating, he took out the things in the bamboo basket one by one, "It used to be half of China, and it was inconvenient to send things, but now, it's just two villages away, which saves a lot of postage. .”

On the top are the cotton-padded jackets and sweaters bought now, as well as hats and rubber shoes. The local styles are very bulky, and the advantage is to keep warm. After a while, I’ll see if I can buy some cotton back. The winter in the south is cold and damp, and it’s bitter, so it’s not good to wear thin clothes.”

After that, there are medicines and some daily necessities. The medicines are packed in a tin biscuit box, and the daily necessities are tied with ropes and compacted.

I eat the most, and I have some snacks, which are all kinds of preserved and dried fruits bought in the county, candied peanuts and rice candy, and fresh fruits.There are also milk powder, donkey skin glue, and half a catty of brown sugar, which can be regarded as luxury goods.

At the bottom is the grain to eat. There are more than 50 catties of coarse grains and fine grains. They are bought from the hypermarket and exchanged for his work points. They can eat for a month without eating.

Zhaoming's mother was very surprised. Many of these things were hard to find. She didn't know how long it took her son to save them. She pressed Zhaoming's hand and said, "Amin, I can't take it." The child was outside alone. It's not easy, how could they keep dragging him down.

His grandma didn't let him take things outside, "Son, boy, it must be difficult for you to get these things. Grandma doesn't ask, but grandma can't take them. You are still young, growing up, and you are about to nourish yourself. You are a good boy. Baby, seeing you is our best gift." She turned her back and wiped her eyes, then hugged him again.

"How can it be? This is the money I earned from writing manuscripts and working as a temporary worker. After a few years, it will be a lot. After coming here, everyone will take care of me and let me give lectures to literacy classes at night. One work point, earning more than other strong laborers in a day, and there is also a lot of food for the New Year."

Zhaoming is small but strong enough, so he took out the things that had been put back into the basket, "I have food and shelter. The educated youths raise seven or eight chickens, and I can eat eggs every day. There is a chicken behind me." In the garden, the vegetables grown can’t be eaten up, and they have to be exchanged for money. The milk powder is exchanged with extra eggs in the market, as is the brown sugar and donkey skin glue. As for these plasters, they are slowly saved. There is also a portion. This thing is not like food, just have a portion ready.”

"You spent all the money, what will you do in the future?" Zhao Ming's mother said with tears in her eyes.

"Who said it was all spent? I can make money now, look." Zhaoming took out a wad of thirty or forty money from his inner pocket. enough."

Zhaoming's mother wanted to say more, and Zhaoming's tears fell, "Mother, just think about me, you treat me as an outsider, and I'm just you relatives, if something happens to you and grandpa , then I’m an orphan.”

His father didn't treat him that badly, but at this time he still threw a pot on his forehead very neatly.Anyway, he did not do a good job, so it is not wronged him.

After Zhaoming finished speaking, his grandma also cried, avoiding people to shed tears silently.

His grandfather sighed after a long time, "Take it, the child has a heart."

The whole family hugged and cried. Zhaoming's mother and grandma packed up their things. Food was put into clay pots, nutrition and snacks were stored separately, and daily necessities and medicine were hidden in haystacks.

Grandpa and Zhaoming talked for a while about what had happened in these years. They didn’t suffer much in this farm. The leaders here are pragmatic. They just ignore them on weekdays, and occasionally the superiors come down. They have to go on stage and be criticized once. It's not bad.

It’s the poverty here, the food that is handed out is barely enough to eat, but don’t think about other things, a group of people are now pulling willow branches to brush their teeth, and using haystacks as beds. .

Although there is a doctor among the devolved people, he is a western doctor with a scalpel, no medicine in his hand, and most of his skills cannot be used.

They are all miserable people, and even one family has no relatives. Although the others still have relatives, they are not much better, and they have severed the relationship long ago.His grandfather was very emotional, saying that he never thought that their grandparents and grandchildren would have the opportunity to meet again, and asked Zhaoming to be careful outside, let alone come to see them, which would be bad for him.

His grandfather took some grain out of the jar and said to Zhaoming, "Your grandma and I are not in good health, and we have relied on them for help for so many years. Don't be surprised when grandpa takes your things as favors. There is not much grain distributed this year. Everyone has nothing left."

"How can it be, it should be." Zhao Ming said hastily.

He took Zhaoming to another room, introduced the child, introduced other people to Zhaoming, and distributed things to everyone.

But no one wants to accept these foods. They all say that they have plenty of food, and the children will save money and bring it to you, so don’t hurt the children’s hearts.

Zhaoming quickly said that he had a lot of food, and he was able to buy it, and he would come again in a few days. Everyone has worked so hard to help grandma and grandpa these years, so that everyone can accept it with confidence, etc.

Except for Zhaoming's grandfather's family, the rest are men. The one with a goatee is an old Taoist priest, and the one in the Mediterranean is a capitalist who used to run a tavern at home. There is also a father and son. The father is a Western medicine doctor, and there is a young son. , this father and son are of mixed race, and the son has a more obvious western style than the father.

This is different from Zhaoming, whose face does not show many traces of Westerners.

They are all sent down, although their status and education are different, but they seem to get along well, and they are called brothers and sisters, and they are very affectionate to Zhaoming.

Zhaoming thought of his mother and grandma and grandpa, the old and the weak, who wanted to have a good relationship with these people, so the respectful grandpa and uncle called all the way over.

He also said that he settled down in a nearby village, if there is any need, you can call him.Whether it is buying or selling things or sending and receiving letters, as long as there is no taboo, you can ask him to take a trip. It is more convenient for him to go outside than them.

"In a few days, the village organizes to go to the county town to buy new year's goods. When the time comes, I will take a bullock cart. If you have anything to bring, I will go there." Zhaoming laughed as he said, "To tell you the truth, I'm speaking locally now. It’s smoother than a native, even I have gone to the local morning market twice. Bringing things is just a matter of reaching out, so don’t be polite to me.”

Others still hesitated, the old Taoist priest with a goatee smiled and said, "It just so happens that the old Taoist has some money in his hand, and there is no place to spend it all these years, and it will rot if left unattended. If it is convenient, you can exchange some money." Fine grains, come back." As he spoke, he directly stuffed Zhaoming with a roll of paper tickets, with a look of trust.

Such a roll of money, I don’t know how long it has been saved. It is not easy for them to save something, but now it is so easily stuffed into Zhaoming’s hands. If there is something taboo, I will immediately pat my chest and guarantee it.

"It's convenient. People in the village are reluctant to eat fine grains, so they have to exchange them in the city for money. It's easy to buy at this time. Nowadays, there is no shortage of grains, and they can usually be found."

The old Taoist started, and the others waited and waited for a while, maybe they really needed something, and they took money out, and if they didn't have any money, they would use other things to pay for it.The father and son took a watch and asked Zhaoming to change some rice noodles and daily necessities. It would be even better if there were daily medicines.

Zhaoming responded with one gulp.

The remaining old shopkeeper groped for a long time and found a black wooden box as big as a glasses case, "I didn't bring anything with me when I came here, this is it." He opened the box, and it was empty inside. I don't know which side was pried, and a sandwich came out, and a seal of bloodstone was turned out.

"This is the seal of my family's winery. Anyway, the winery is gone, so this thing is still there. I don't know how much this thing can be exchanged for. You can exchange it for something to eat."

The old shopkeeper gave Zhaoming the box and even the seal, and Zhaoming put everything into a bamboo basket, covered it with broken vegetable leaves, and put a pile of withered grass on top.

Zhaoming didn't stay for long, because they all had to go to work, it didn't seem like Zhaoming was "sneaking away with a certificate".Fortunately, the situation of his mother, grandparents and grandparents is much better than the worst situation expected before, so Zhaoming is not too worried.

The family has only met this side in a hurry for several years. It took less than an hour before and after, but both parties were satisfied.Zhaoming carried the empty bamboo basket on his back, shook his hand vigorously, and left from the row of bamboo huts.

This neighborhood may be the most remote place on the farm, and you have to go around a cemetery to get to the breeding area, but it is a very friendly environment for sent down people like them.

No matter what, it's better than carrying a wooden sign every now and then in the city and making people beat and spit.

Zhaoming remembers that his grandfather and the others were taken away because they hid some books at home, including Western books and ancient out-of-print books, which were said to be "remnants of feudal capitalism".It was my grandfather's favorite thing, and part of it was my grandmother's dowry.

Grandma was still a noble daughter with them, but the most dowry was various books.In the end, these things were gathered together, torn to pieces, and burned.

The hearts of his grandparents must be ashes like those books.

I really hope that these days will pass sooner.