The summer I spent in Changsha
Fang Tianrui
If it rains in Changsha in the summer, it will make people unhappy. It rained in the summer in Changsha, and there were no small pools of water on the ground. Raindrops as big as mung beans had just landed on the concrete floor that had been exposed to the sun for a while. Before they could accumulate together, they began to evaporate. After the rain, there is still no coolness in the air, only the dampness that makes the skin sticky, and the whole body loses strength. If you leave the air-conditioned room for just a few seconds, small beads of sweat will seep out from your pores. At this time, people are just hot and dry, and their patience in doing things is gradually lost.
As people grow up, they become more impatient and impatient, and the more developed their senses are, the more unbearable the heat of summer becomes.
? I have many illnesses since I was young. Before summer, I started to itch and move. My skin was itchy and small rashes appeared, and I was coughing and out of breath. My parents had just taken root in the city and had no spare time to take care of me. They probably thought that the air in the city was not good for my cough, so they sent me to their hometown in the countryside. The old house in the countryside still had trees at that time, one was an orange tree and the other was a grapefruit tree. Grandpa was sitting on the bench under the tree, and I sat on his lap to enjoy the coolness under the tree. Like this, you can sit there every day until the sky turns yellow. He just wanted to get up and go to the back room to light a fire and cook.
? "When can the grapefruits and oranges be picked off the tree? Are the grapefruits and oranges sweet?"
? "The grapefruits and oranges are not ready yet, not yet ready, and they cannot be harvested properly." . ”
? I couldn’t help but be curious. Later, I asked an uncle to borrow a wooden ladder to bring down a grapefruit that had grown to the roof for me to eat. Both fruits were sour and astringent. I almost burst into tears after tasting a few mouthfuls. It is completely inedible.
? We eat very early in the countryside, and in summer, it gets dark very late. After dinner, it is often not completely dark yet. Grandpa would use the little light left to put a large basin in the yard, connect it with water through a pipe, cook the moxa leaves and dandelions collected from the field, and add enough cold water to I take a shower. When I was little, I thought his hands were too rough, so he would give me a towel and let me wipe it myself. Taking a bath with dandelion mugwort leaves can remove moisture and reduce inflammation, which is very good for my skin. Taking a bath this way means you don’t need to take medicine or get rashes all summer long, and your body smells like mugwort leaves all summer long. There is a pond next to the old house, and it is very cool at night. But I didn’t live in the country for very long. When I reached the age where I was going to school, my parents would take me back to the city to study.
? My memories of the old house in the country are now fragmented and cannot be remembered.
? Later, when the old house was renovated and I went back, the pond, orange trees, and grapefruit trees were all gone. The bathing basin was later brought to my home in the city, and my father took over my grandfather's job. Continue to wash me. In the summer, moxa leaves and dandelions prepared by Sui Sui are always sent from the countryside. Later, when I feel better, the basin disappears. My hometown in the countryside is just an ordinary town with no good mountains and rivers, so I can't say how good the summer is in the countryside. I still don't envy the life in the fields in the countryside. I only remember the good things my grandfather gave me. The smell of mugwort leaves on my hands and myself.
? My father did not have the patience and time like my grandfather. He washed it as usual for a year and never washed it again. The mugwort leaves sent by my grandfather in the country were just hung outside the door during the holidays. Within a few days, they were washed. It will become withered and yellow, and all the dandelions will be lost.
? I can no longer smell the fragrance of mugwort leaves on my body.
? The itch was still there in the summer, so my mother sent me to my grandpa. At that time, my grandpa was already living alone and had a lot of free time. He also knew that I was afraid of the heat in summer, so he specially installed an air conditioner for me. At that time, the air conditioner was still a big box next to the window, and it was very noisy. It made a "click-click-click" sound next to the bed all night, and we were all If it was so noisy that I couldn't sleep, I wouldn't turn it on at all, and my grandpa would fan me with a cattail leaf fan.
? "Grandpa is tired and wants to take a nap. Fan yourself."
? He is always afraid that if he stops, I will not sleep well. Grandpa sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night. Wake up and keep fanning me. I woke up once and saw him lying there on his side, like an Arhat in the temple, with one hand supporting him and the other hand holding a cattail leaf fan to fan me. He could no longer open his eyes and his head was so dizzy that he was no longer affected. I controlled it, started to knock down, braced myself, and lifted it up again. At this time, I still couldn't open my eyes, so I just kept them closed and continued to fan me. This happened over and over again, back and forth a dozen times, before I fell down and fell asleep.
In fact, every time I just fell asleep, I didn’t remember to tell him to stop, I just went to enjoy the wind.
? Later, I got chickenpox and there were dense red rashes all over my body. My grandpa was very anxious and asked others for home remedies. Finally, he took garlic water and smeared it all over my body. He stayed up for several nights and sat on the edge of the bed to fan me with a fan, so that I could fall asleep. My mother arrived later, thanked my grandfather with tears in her eyes, and took me away. My mother wanted to cry but didn't cry at that time, but the look on her face now means infinite depth.
? My grandparents started from scratch, each raised four or five children, and they had no partners in old age. I have never asked whether my parents spent their childhood summers under the wind of cattail fans. If we want to say that human beings have real feelings, I will not easily believe in brotherhood and the love between men and women. The only thing I firmly believe in is the love of blood and flesh.
? When Xia was a child, I had no patience and didn’t know how to restrain myself. When it got hot, I would ask an adult to fan me. If it was itchy, I would scratch it with my hands. When it was severe, my body would be covered with broken skin and red spots. , it won’t go away in one summer, and it’s ugly when you see people. My father is not as flexible as my grandparents, but he always likes to scare me
? "Keep picking! The snake lady is coming and flying on you."
? When I was a kid, I didn’t know what a “Snake Woman” was. I just felt awe-inspiring. I thought the “Snake Woman” came from the sky, a monster with human hands and a snake body. It probably had a few pairs of wings and would fly to eat. My meat is specially used to punish disobedient children. Every time my skin felt itchy, I would think of my father's words. After scratching for a while, I wouldn't dare to scratch again, for fear that the "snake lady" would come to me. Later, I gradually learned how to calm myself down and stop scratching the red spots. When I grew up, I learned that "snake woman" is a flea in Changsha dialect. I laughed at my ignorance and regarded fleas as a creature to punish children. I still admire my father for using fleas to scare me. Now that my skin is itchy, I still think of "snake woman" and no longer scratch the skin, but I am no longer in awe.
? My childhood summers in Changsha were spent in the big bathing basin, mugwort leaves, cattail fans, and the fear of "snake women".
? Lying flat on the bed, listening to the whine of the air conditioner that makes your lips dry, and the buzz of mosquitoes that love blood, it is difficult to fall asleep.
? But think about it, you should have a good dream on Midsummer Night to welcome the end of summer well. Because summer is not only the end of spring flowers and plants struggling to break through the ground, but also the beginning of autumn crops becoming fuller and maturing.