? He Guangfu
Xiaoxin’s home, a courtyard in my hometown, was my enlightenment bookstore when I was a child
Xiaoxin is one year younger than me, the only son of the second uncle of the same clan. , my hair is small. His home is located in the west of the village, 200 meters away from the Xihe River.
? The Xihe River is downstream of the Shangguan Reservoir. The section of the Xihe River that flows through our village has a very fast flow. The west bank of the river is Nanjiyu Village, and the east bank is our village. The village on the east bank is more than 20 meters above the river bed. When a flash flood breaks out, the water surface is only ten meters away from the village ground. Watching the rumbling rocks and rolling flood water is very disturbing. Horror.
? When flash floods occur, they often carry broken wood, cattle, sheep, and crops. After the flash flood, a kind of luminous wooden stick called Akiko can be picked up on the river beach. It emits sparkling fluorescent light at night, making naughty children happy. They like to chase and play with this firefly stick at night. The village built a two-kilometer-long cement and stone wall dam along the river to resist flooding? In my memory, the flood did not overflow the dam. Over the years, the groundwater level has dropped, and we no longer see the ferocious floods we experienced when we were young.
My home is in the center of the village. Walking west along the alley in front of the door, there is a T-junction. On the south side of the intersection is a milling road (used for grinding grain) in the village. Go north on the milling road and turn west, and you are there. Xiaoxin's home. The south gate of his house is a two-meter-high iron gate. The courtyard door of his house is closed all year round. After knocking on the door, you will hear a big black dog barking, and then someone will open the door.
Xiaoxin’s home is located in the north and south courtyards, and there are three large elm trees in the south courtyard. In those days, anyone who fed pigs with distiller's grains as feed must be from a wealthy family. Xiaoxin's family could not use up the distiller's grains all year round, so the yard smelled of liquor all year round. Xiaoxin was rarely like me, so he always had to give The family collects wild vegetables to make pig feed. Once, I teased him jokingly: Is your nose smelling of lees? He made a face and hit me.
When I was a child, Xiaoxin’s family attracted me like a magnet. This magnet was his little book (comic book). At that time, the economic conditions of every family were not good. They relied on land income to support their families and had no spare money to buy books. When I was a child, I had several books at home, two of which were thread-bound ancient books passed down from previous generations. Each book has more than 20 to 30 pages. The pages are yellowed and badly damaged. There are still traditional Chinese characters inside and there are paintings. The content should be short stories from ancient times. I can't understand these ancient books, and I have no interest in reading them.
There is also a copy of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" at home that my father loves to read. It is also written in classical Chinese and my eldest brother likes to read it very much. The rest are "Sunny Day" and "Golden Avenue" that the second sister borrowed from the village reading room. At that time, the reading room in the village was reserved for militia members. The second sister was a militia member and could borrow books.
Xiaoxin is the only child in the family. He has two older sisters and one younger sister. His mother is engaged in housework and his father works in the county.
At that time, Xiaoxin’s family had good financial conditions, so Xiaoxin’s father bought him a lot of toys and books.
When I am not having fun, I am reading at Xiaoxin’s house. When I read the book, I felt like I had entered another wonderful world. There were fights, gods and ghosts in the book, and there were many stories I had never heard before. The novels I read in those years include: "Water Margin", "Martial Arts Team Behind Enemy Lines", "The Biography of the Heroes of Luliang", "Wild Fire and Spring Wind Fighting in the Ancient City", "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio", "Journey to the West", and "The Heroes of the New Sons and Daughters" , "Red Flag Pu", "The Story of the Broad Sword", "The Romance of the Gods", etc. These books opened up a new external world for me, letting me know that the world is very big, and the dream of a country boy floats from this small courtyard to the outside world!
Some of the novels and comic books I read at Xiaoxin’s house, and more were lent to me to read at home. In order to read these books, I was often scolded by my mother. My hard-working mother wanted me to help the family with farm work, or go to the mountains to collect firewood, or pick wild vegetables. She seemed to think that I was lazy when I lay on the kang and read. However, once I got attached to the book, I felt like I was possessed. I forgot to eat, drink, and everything else. Sometimes, in order to read a book, I would hide under the quilt with a flashlight and read secretly at night.
My mother thought that I was obsessed with reading, and there was nothing she could do about it. In my impression, my father encouraged me to read.
Once, I was reading a book at Xiaoxin’s house. We were lying on the earth kang, cracking melon seeds and reading at the same time. Suddenly, I found Xiaoxin staring at me blankly and giggling. It turned out that I was too obsessed with reading. While reading, I picked up the peels of melon seeds that he spat out and ate them.
Xiaoxin is also a naughty child. Once, we were playing and fighting, which made him cry. That time it was in the village's educated youth courtyard. That dormitory was opposite my house. It was once a row of houses used by the production team as a clinic, oil pressing room, and nursery. That time, we really went crazy and hit each other with wet mud balls on the ground.
At the beginning, I kept letting him go, not daring to fight. However, there were a few male educated youths nearby who teased us, saying that whoever won would be given candy. In order to show off my ability, I really forgot to let him go and threw him hard. As a result, a ball of sticky and hard black mud stuck to his right ear. At that time, the pain made him cry loudly. He was really hurt by being hit.
Seeing Xiaoxin being beaten like this, the educated youths also panicked, and after a lot of effort they helped him dig the mud out of his ears. He went home crying. Xiaoxin had a fever and was sick for several days because of this incident.
I also deeply blame myself for my reckless behavior, and I haven’t dared to go to Xiaoxin’s house for a long time. After a long time, we reconciled again.
Xiaoxinjia was the first person in our village to buy a TV. It was a 12-inch black and white TV. Initially, the TV was placed in the house. Later, too many people came to watch the TV in the village, so it was placed on a table in the backyard. The scariest TV show I watched at Xiaoxin's house was probably "The Revenge of the Prince". This is a foreign movie with many fantasy horror scenes and the actors are made up to look like little ghosts. This drama gave me a lot of nightmares, and I often woke up in my sleep. Later, I didn’t dare to go out alone at night, probably because of watching this drama.
During the Spring Festival, Xiaoxin’s family is the youngest one. The smell is not because his house has a lot of food, tobacco and alcohol, but because there are endless fireworks and firecrackers. ?
? At that time, rural families were frugal on food and clothing, and buying firecrackers at the end of the year was just a symbolic purchase. Adults were reluctant to let them go, and children could only steal a few from home and set off one firecracker after another.
Xiaoxin’s home is different. Every New Year, his family would set off endless fireworks and firecrackers, and would ask people to help set off the firecrackers. Xiaojun’s father would also give many firecrackers to relatives and friends in the village. When other people set off firecrackers, one firecracker is set off before the second firecracker is set off. Xiaoxin's family hangs dozens of firecrackers on the clothesline in the yard and sets them off together. The sound can be heard by the whole village. The most beautiful fireworks in the village must belong to Xiaoxin’s family, and the firecrackers that burn off the longest in the village are also his family
? In the first month of the year, Xiaoxin and I went to the river to set off firecrackers, and he gave away the remaining firecrackers. Me, I used this firecracker to take out the gunpowder and use it as ammunition for my homemade gunpowder gun. I also used the gunpowder gun to kill many bugs.
It has been many years since I left my hometown, but the smell of fireworks in my hometown has always haunted me.
In my dreams, I often travel around the mountains and rivers of my hometown and walk through the small courtyard of Xiaoxin’s house...
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