a piece of barren meadow often haunts my dreams.
I am a kite floating in the sky. For decades, no matter where I work and where my family lives, the kite string has been firmly tied to the old elm tree beside the drifting river in my hometown. Floating in the river, or a child who will never grow up in his heart, always tugs at the kite-flying line naughtily, which makes me ache like a liver crack and a lung nerve.
Piaohe, a hometown full of dreams, is full of children's interest in the water and stories in the grass trees.
the drifting river in my hometown is not long, and the river basin is dozens of kilometers. It's not wide either. It's more than 2 meters in the high water period, and it's two hoes wide in the low water period. The great guy jumped over as soon as he jumped high. No one can tell the origin of its name. I have stayed by the river for a long time, and I often stand on Gaogang to look at this river. The more I ponder, the more interesting it is, and the more I look at it, the more I feel like walking into a mythical situation. This river is like a cloud floating down from the sky. Although it is uneven in shade, casual and irregular, it has a beautiful scenery like "Lingshan, empty water * * *". I think, drifting in the river, should it be this "drifting"? Perhaps, the older generation here like the water in the river too much and replaced it with the word "drift".
I was born in the east of Piaohe River and grew up in the west of Piaohe River. The water in Piaohe River recorded my growth like a video tape. Like a child who loves his old mother, I have been around her all year round from childhood to youth, and I have never been weaned.
In spring, the "flowing water" has just wetted the soil by the river, and the call of the girl's love in spring wakes up from her sweet sleep. Insects are chirping, grass is green, flowers are fragrant, and birds are coming. Talking fish swim around in the clear and bright water. It doesn't take much effort. Just bend a wire into a hook, hang an earthworm and throw it into the water. In the blink of an eye, you can catch several heavy crucian carp seeds. "Old fish", "loach fish" and "Gayazi" fish are all scrambling to join in the fun. Sometimes, there are many hooks tied, and many fish can be caught together. Now, "Laotou fish", loach fish and "Gayazi" fish are the treasures on the table in the city. At that time, we didn't want to eat them, so we fed them to chickens and ducks when we got them back. There are many fish and clams in the river, and there are so many rivers that people fall on clams when they get into the water. There are many wild vegetables such as soil fertilizer, lobular celery, willow buds and wife-in-law, etc. on the meadow on the shore. After the spring, the girl daughter-in-law in the village came to dig. On the big meadow, the girl daughter-in-law with colorful flowers was comparable to wild flowers in the grass, laughing here, sheep running there, cows standing on top, geese and ducks clattering ... A reflection of rural landscape painting in the north.
There is a fire in July, and it's cool in summer when drifting on the river. Every noon, people in the surrounding villages come to the river to take a bath and take a shower. Although they are all "dog planing", drifting in the river protects their safety, and no one drowns. Shovel 2 is the hottest day everywhere, and the person in charge of water delivery in the production team goes to dig a big ice cube for the workers to relieve the heat under the cherry blossom at the tower head of the drifting river. The big ice cube is exquisite, without any sundries and pollution, and it is cool to chew, which is more enjoyable than eating Harbin Madiel's ice cream. In the dog days, the Piaohe River is rich in fish. If there is a rainstorm the first day, we will catch fish in the grass by the Piaohe River after the rain recedes the next day. We can step on several crucian carp with one foot, string them up with wicker sticks and carry them. Some of them take off their pants, tie their trouser legs with fish, and fry them at home, which is very fragrant. If you don't like catching fish, go to the grass tree to pick up wild duck eggs. Wild duck eggs are all laid on a large piece of cherry blossoms at the tower head. You walk in a wetland full of cherry blossoms at the tower head. If you scare the wild ducks, just look around carefully and you will definitely find a nest of wild duck eggs. When you get home, you will drown them with salt, and the taste is particularly fragrant. The young man is in good health. After shoveling the ground in the morning, he will go home at noon and chew a few big cakes of corn flour. Three or two people will take the company, carry buckets and carry nets for fishing fish and shrimp. While taking a shower to cool down, they will catch fish and shrimp. In two hours' time, they will be able to fill a pole with loads. Back home, sprinkle some salt, stir-fry in the pot, mix millet dry rice with yellow shrimp, and get a full belly, so that you can work in full spirits in the afternoon. One side of the soil and water support one side of the people, and those who grew up floating by the river have natural supplements to eat and are in excellent health, and they do not report to the "depression" for anything.
In autumn, the grass leaves are yellow, and drifting on the river is another scene. In the early autumn, people nearby used their noon break or evening time to walk among the Sakura trees in Tatou, and began to cut "Ura grass", some with their backs and some with their shoulders, with scenery and grass fragrance all the way. In late autumn, the grass is ripe, and each production team begins to cut the grass according to the divided areas. Men, women and children go into battle together, and after cutting, they are taken back to the village to be used for the house next spring. The grass is of good quality and can be sold for personal use. After the grass was harvested, firewood was started. The meadow on the Piaohe River is gentle, and there are few places where the bags are loomed. Everyone uses big "fan knives" to mow the grass. This big "fan knife" handle is more than three meters long, and the knife is more than three times that of an ordinary sickle. Cutting grass with a "fan knife" is a strong man, and swinging around the big "fan knife" is a small car for firewood, and the harvest is great. This sense of accomplishment is particularly proud. While harvesting the fruit of meadow, we also don't forget to go to the river to "drip Liangzi" and "hang the son", catch the fish that has grown fat, sow fishing gear at night, get up the next morning and pick the fish back with buckets, and the smell of fish in autumn makes us drunk for half a trip to the street.
It's snowing, freezing, and people who love cats miss drifting in the river. Everyone is carrying a "glacier" and carrying a special net for fishing in winter to dig holes in the ice. After the ice hole was dug, the big fish and small fish rushed out and rolled around on the ice. There are fishermen, rabbits, pheasants, people visiting relatives from south to north, horse-drawn sledgehammers to pick up girls and send their daughters-in-law, and laughter drives away roe deer, badgers and foxes hidden in grass nests. Every winter, pictures of ice and snow burn on the river.
my father told me that our family fled from Guanli and settled down by the Piaohe River. We lived for several generations, lived comfortably and lived freely, and wherever we went, Piaohe was hooking their souls. From the day I can remember, I heard my father tell the story of drifting river, and saw him working by the drifting river, knowing that he loved wild vegetables and fish and shrimp by the drifting river. Father's temper is the same as drifting in the river, sometimes violent, sometimes gentle, more often selfless love, unknown dedication. I have lived by the Piao River for nearly twenty years, catching slugs in grass trees, catching frogs in ponds, catching fish, fishing for shrimps and cutting grass, and I have never left the Piao River all year round.
In the winter of the climax of agricultural science, I graduated and went back to my village to participate in agricultural production. The whole town is building farmland around the floating river. The so-called farmland around the river is to build dams on the floating river and turn the big meadow into land to grow crops. On the construction site, I also piled frozen soil blocks on the dam, let go of the soil cannon that blasted the frozen land, and had a sweet first love here ... How many years later, I realized that in that passionate years, every time I paid for my labor, I was destroying my beloved drifting river. Every time I fell, the pickaxe and drifting river endured a severe physical pain. I shed sweat and shed tears. Contrary to the laws of nature, the reclamation around the river failed, the drifting river was seriously damaged, the river was diverted, the big meadow disappeared, and the drifting river in my heart became an ugly and shriveled old woman.
When my father led me to float pigs in the river, he always lay on a high hill by the river, gesturing left and right, never knowing what he was doing. Later, my father pointed to the quick place and told me that after he died, he would let me bury him there. My brother and I understand my father's wish, and his old man's feelings for this river are beyond our comprehension. Two years ago, after my brother was seriously ill, his children wanted to buy a cemetery in the suburbs of the city. My brother didn't agree and had to go back to Piaohe. I understand my brother's last wish. He is a teacher, and peaches and plums are everywhere around Piaohe. He will also go back to his hometown and feel comfortable watching Piaohe. Man, the true love is manifested in the last moment of life.
Hometown is a concern in everyone's heart and a place where everyone dreams. My hometown has childhood dreams, sincere feelings of youth, and unforgettable villagers and many unforgettable feelings. After forty-five years old, I began to feel nostalgic. My dreams were full of people and things drifting along the river when I was a child. I often couldn't help telling the children the story of drifting along the river. Sometimes, they didn't sound very concerned, but I kept talking. I also believe that I will love drifting along the river as much as I do in the future, because the roots are there.
Now, I have to go to the river twice a year. Spring is Tomb-Sweeping Day, and autumn is July 15th of the lunar calendar. The villagers joked that "ghost days" could see me. When I went back to my hometown to visit my father and brother, I also visited Piaohe. In the past, when my father and brother were around, I was happy every time I saw Piaohe. Now I come here to see Piaohe, just like visiting my father and brother's grave, with a heart-wrenching pain: the water surface has disappeared, the meadow has lost grass, and birds can't be heard ...
Recently, I watched the news of my hometown on TV and saw a news that Piaohe is engaged in tourism development projects, returning farmland to grassland, and. Piaohe can be "rejuvenated" again soon, and I am much younger. People ask me what my dream of China is, and my answer is very simple: I wish the drifting river in my hometown would be the same as before.