My sister and I were still in primary school at that time. Maybe I was in the third grade and my sister was in the first grade.
When I was a child, my family was always busy. Adults have endless farm work. Almost every day after school at noon, we have to cook by ourselves and go back to school after dinner.
This day is no exception. At noon 12, the village broadcast rang. I go home from school and boil water to cook after I get home. After the broadcast stopped, the meal was almost ready. We usually eat porridge with pickles, and cooking takes time and we can't catch up with class.
We put a small table in the kitchen and usually eat in the kitchen when there are few people. There is a big table in the main room, which is usually used when treating guests. Most families in our countryside are like this.
On this day, my sister and I were having dinner when we suddenly heard a small crackle, like the sound of burning firewood. Then I stopped eating and listened carefully. My sister sensed my strangeness and she stopped. Seeing my sister looking at me blankly, I asked, did you hear the sound of catching firewood? Sister listened carefully: I heard it.
I got up and looked into the kitchen. It's so clean that only sparks remain after the firewood burns out. I looked at the stove again. There was no burning wood. But this voice has been there, and it is getting louder and louder.
Finally, following the sound, I looked up and saw the beam on the top of the chimney burning.
We borrowed this house from someone else's house and the whole family moved to the county seat. We stayed here to help them look after the house, and it was several years before our parents bought it.
The walls of the house are made of mud, and the beams of the kitchen are made of bamboo. The house is old and the bamboo is rotten. Bamboo is very dry in hot weather, plus we just cooked it and the chimney is hot. All kinds of reasons add up to bamboo spontaneous combustion.
When I saw the fire, my first thought was to find an adult. I rushed outside, clamoring for my mother to go home quickly. My mother does farm work in the mountains and fields. The mountain is covered with trees. I can't see my mother, and I don't know which mountain my mother is on. I can only shout at the top of my voice.
At that time, there were few telephones, and only two or three families in a village had the money to install a landline. If there is no landline, you can only pick it up at someone else's house.
Every time my father calls us, he calls us at least twice. The first time he called the host of the landline and told us to answer the phone, then the host of the landline asked someone to tell us that there was a call for us. Then we hurried out and walked a long way waiting for the phone call. My father estimates that it will take us an hour or two to call back when we arrive. Pay 50 cents or 1 yuan each time you answer the phone, depending on the time.
Before the telephone appeared, the contact between the outside world and the village depended on an envelope and a stamp. When I was very young, I helped my mother get the letter. At that time, the postman was very uneasy and repeatedly told me to give the letter to my mother. This is another story.
After shouting a few times, my mother responded to me: What's the matter? What are you doing here? I am embarrassed to say that there is a fire at home, but I have been telling my mother to go home quickly.
At that time, the countryside was very closed and the thought was very backward. This kind of thing is not easy for outsiders to know, they will joke behind their backs. Our nearest neighbor is a very good uncle, but it's a pity that he was not at home at that time.
After calling my mother, I called my sister and ran to the eaves of my neighbor's house to lift the wooden ladder. The ladder was made of solid wood, which was very long and thick for us at that time. We hobbled along the ladder. Actually, I didn't run It is good to walk faster, but I am eager to run faster. We were all too young, thin and short at that time.
I lifted the ladder and leaned against the eaves of the kitchen. I climbed the ladder with water in my hand, and all the water spilled out before I climbed into the room. I had to stand halfway up the ladder and let my sister fetch water. With water in my hand, I climbed up again, climbed along the beam to the burning place and poured it. Every time you fill a ladle of water, there is not much left after you climb to the place. Repeatedly, the fire visible to the naked eye went out.
When we lifted the ladder, the aunt opposite was sitting on it.
Eating under the eaves, she asked me if I needed her to come and help. At that time, I didn't have a good relationship with menstruation's family, and I didn't walk around much. I also felt that I couldn't ask her for help, so I saidno. I didn't think what would happen if we couldn't put out the fire, and she didn't come.
The fire went out, and my sister and I sat quietly eating again. We are not full, and we are afraid of being late for class.
Before the meal was finished, my mother came back with a basket of pig grass. I didn't feel wronged until I saw her I grumpily asked her why she came back now and why she came back now. My mother was angry when she saw me and asked anxiously what was wrong. I just told my mother that the kitchen was on fire.
Mother looked up at the burnt place, which was the black ash left by bamboo burning. Mother scooped up a ladle of water and spat it out hard. The water touched the bamboo tile and fell down.
Make sure nothing happens before mom asks us what happened and tells her from beginning to end. Mother praised us and urged us to eat quickly. Before going to school, I was worried that I had borrowed a ladder from my neighbor's house and had not returned it.
There was a couple working in the field behind our house. They have a good relationship with the family we live in, and my mother was once worried that they would tell the host about it.
That winter, my father went to the county seat after coming home from work. When he came back, he replaced the cypress with a bamboo beam.