The river in memory is very small, so small that it is only a few tens of centimeters wide under normal circumstances. Even in the dry season, we can't see it. Although the river is small, the riverbed is very wide, which is estimated to be one or twenty meters wide. I think that's why we call it a river park! The wide riverbed and small flowing water naturally became a good place for villagers to enjoy the cool in summer nights and a paradise for children in that era of underdeveloped materials. We call it paradise because there are inexhaustible things to play with, because we didn't have toys at that time, and all the things we play need to be made from local materials. I think this is probably the original prototype of the word "fun".
The river flows by the village wall, but we never explore where it comes from and where it is going. All we know is that it passed by our house, and we just want to go down and play. Because in the memory of childhood, it has been flowing silently. Because the section of the river that flows through our house is too small, there are no fish, but there will be shrimp, sticky loach and small crucian carp in the watery places five or six miles downstream (we call it crucian carp slices, maybe because it is too small). Although there are no fish and shrimp in our period, there are many things to play with. I like digging springs best. Usually, because the river is too small, it is impossible for villagers to wash clothes. When washing, it is easy to wrap the sediment in the river, and the water is easy to be turbid, so it is impossible to wash clothes. So we found a clean place near the water, dug up the beach where sand and tiles (fragments of cages used to hold porcelain when burning porcelain in the kiln) were mixed, and dug up a small pool. Of course, this small pool has no entrance, but it has an exit. The pool dug is a bit like. Although there is no entrance, there is water to come in. This water source is what we call a fountain. Because it is a riverbed with shawa mixed matrix, dig a pit near the water flow. As long as the pit is below the river surface, water will naturally seep through the sandy river bed. When I first started digging, because the muddy water was muddy, the newly gushed water turned up and down like a small circle, which was very beautiful. This is what we call the fountain. After the pool is dug, all the mixed mud will flow into the river along the tadpole-tail-shaped waterway and be discharged. Like the existing tiles, the bottom of the pool will be covered with clean tiles everywhere, so that a clean and beautiful laundry pool composed of artificially dug pits and natural running water can be put into use. We call it a spring pit. It has become a good place for people to wash clothes in the four seasons. But usually such a spring pit needs to be dug frequently. First, when the water level drops during drought, there is no water to be abandoned naturally, and second, when there is too much rain, the river flood washes away the pit. Therefore, every day after the flood is a good time for us to dig a spring pit.
Because it is an ancient town famous for its porcelain, there are naturally some gadgets washed out by the river, such as the ancient porcelain-making mold (Mu), small nose money (an ancient coin with a round square hole) and copper coins (a kind of copper coin in the Republic of China), all of which are called Chuier (toys in the shape of small animals made of porcelain used by children, such as fish and chickens). Of course, this river also has its grand occasion, that is, in the rainy season in summer, when it rains heavily, the flood rolling down from the western hills will change the face of the river, and the flood with a width of 20 to 30 meters will carry stones down the river with great momentum and turbid waves. Adults will pick up things such as wood washed down by the flood, and sometimes they will pick up watermelons washed down when they are lucky. A group of people are naturally happy. As soon as the flood momentum passes, people can't wait to go down to the river to pick up the big stones that have washed down (for building houses and walls); When the flood has completely subsided, groups of men and women will go down to the riverbed to look for silver, copper, small nose money, scrap metal and so on. There will always be three or four such activities a year, and some silver coins will be found. Those who find them will one day melt and forge in the hands of silversmiths, turning them into daughter-in-law's rings or silver locks hanging around children's necks, so people will look forward to the next flood and find them together.
In the dry season, children will also have their own fun. They will look for stones of various colors that can be ground into colors on the riverbed, and then look for bowls of stubble (the only' bottom' left after the old porcelain bowls rot) in the river. Because of its round shape, surrounded by fences and rough bottom, it becomes a natural grinding bowl. We will drop some water into it and then pick it up.
On summer nights, the river bank is still a place for us to enjoy the cool. At that time, there were very few TVs, only one or two in a team, and power was often cut off. Few people in the family can afford electric fans and the like. So people go to the riverside park to enjoy the cool after dinner. Adults bring their families and put a mat under their armpits. The whole family sat on a summer mat to enjoy the cool. Adults talk about what they hear or trivial things in a day. Children usually tell stories to their grandparents, and most of them have heard stories like "Eight Hundred Tigers in Tokyo" and "Leaking" many times, but at that time we never got tired of hearing them. Of course, the most interesting thing is that sometimes you can hear about books. One of the villagers who read a lot will set up a small table, shake a cattail leaf fan, drink a pot of tea, tell a story and sell a song "If you want to know what will happen next time! After the prison break, everyone dispersed to their seats. When it was a little cold near midnight, women went home to sleep, and adults took their children to sleep on the table. The night sky at that time was quiet and clear. Many times, on such a sultry night, we listened to the sound of running water, counted the stars in the night sky and then fell asleep slowly, sleeping in the arms of the night sky and rivers. ...
We don't know where the river flows, and no one deliberately explores it. Only when I was a child, I would go down the river with older children to see what kind of places I could go. The place where the river is going out of the city is called Xiahe, which is farther away. I can't remember the name. Follow them down and stop on a high railway viaduct, just like the terminal. In fact, the water there is bigger and wider than the river in the town, and there are fish and shrimp, but I dare not go too far, for fear that I can't go back. So consciousness regards it as the end of the river. Because it was on foot, it was already afternoon when we walked to the railway viaduct. I didn't bring food or snacks at that time, and no one would think about it. Just when I'm hungry, I'll find a way to get food myself. So the fish in the river became our food. We younger children help older children catch fish together, and then we pick up firewood and barbecue after catching fish. Just because there is no seasoning, the taste is not delicious and even difficult to swallow, but I can only eat two bites to fill my stomach when I see the older children eating happily. Of course, sometimes I will steal some sweet potatoes or corn from the fields by the river. Although elegance is difficult, I have to do it. Now that I think about it, I still remember a group of people with dark mouths.
In fact, when I remember these things, they will remain in people's memory forever. This river, which brings us countless happy childhood memories, dried up almost twenty years ago because of the large amount of coal mining and groundwater utilization in the town. Without water, the river is no longer sand and tiles, but all kinds of stinking garbage dumped by people. People no longer go to the river to play, and they won't play. So this river has gone out of our memory forever, and then faded out of people's sight, and is no longer a paradise for children. Those past events can only be remembered through these dozens of lines I wrote down.
Last year, I heard from my mother on the phone that the place where the South-to-North Water Diversion Project passed was not far from my hometown, and the city planning planned to lead water into the river to reproduce the vitality of the town and promote the development of tourism. Moreover, it rebuilt the largest ancient stone arch bridge in the town that was washed away by the flood that year, and repaired the bridge deck connecting the two big houses. The bridge was repaired, but I never went back to my hometown, so I couldn't see its face. But what I can't forget in my memory is the broken bridge foundation, where stands a huge arc-shaped stone foundation, as if telling that the unprecedented flood in 1960 washed away hundreds of people. Although there was no bridge at that time, and I have never seen its real appearance, there was water under the bridge foundation, so people still called it a bridge. Now that the bridge has been repaired, there is no water. Can it still be regarded as a bridge on the river in people's memory?
Up to now, the water has not been attracted, and this river is also a place for villagers to put garbage. It is said that the town government spent a lot of money to clear the river many times, but because there was no current to wash it, the river was still a place that no one wanted to go, and it was still occupied by garbage thrown by people.
Small towns and rivers have entered the historical memory with the history of ancient towns and the development of human beings. The river that carries countless happy childhood memories has lost its youthful grace like me and is getting older in the years!