Chapter 7 Section 4 Meijun goes home

Since then, Meijun has been unable to see the river. When she sees the river, she will say: "How can this compare with the river in our hometown..." I have heard her say since I was a child: "The water in Xin'an River," she always babbled. Say, "It's transparent!" The first layer is fine white sand, the second layer is pebbles, and then the emerald green water.When catching fish, take off your trousers, stand in the water, tie your trousers tightly, and when you fish in the water, the trousers are full of fish... After Mei Jun finished speaking, she always looked at me, Make sure I'm still listening, and then sighed helplessly: "Oh! You play the piano, tell you, you won't believe it, you have never seen such clear water!"

Niu, she always said "you", so "milk" means "you come". She was silent for a while, and then said: "One day, one day I will take you back to have a look, and you will know." The voice was very small, as if she was talking to herself. As a daughter born in Kaohsiung, I can't even imagine the Yangtze River or the Yellow River, but I have known that there is a Xin'an River since I was a child. I have no idea where the river is. It doesn't even matter whether Zhejiang is above or below Jiangsu, left or right. Very clear - but I know that Xin'an River water is the cleanest water in the world.

After the daughter grew up, she took Meijun to see the icy lake in the Alps, the source of the Rhine, and the blue scenery of the Danube. Meijun was very satisfied and praised: "Europe is so beautiful!" However, Before taking a few steps, she was about to sigh softly.I deliberately didn't look back and waited, and sure enough, she said: "But this water is incomparable to our Xin'an River..." Meijun has lived in Taiwan for 60 years, learned the local language, and fell in love with the subtropical life. The foreign land has become her hometown.What about my hometown along the Xin'an River? A dam was built in 1959, and the entire ancient city sank to the bottom of Qiandao Lake.Only then did she believe that dynasties can rise and fall, families can rise and fall, and even cities can be wiped off the earth without leaving any traces.

In 1987, after the Taiwan government finally allowed people to visit their hometowns, the villagers returned to their hometowns together; perhaps everything was wrong, but the hometown is still the hometown, but the beautiful gentleman from Chun'an said coldly: "Go back? Go back and see what?" "I can't see the city," Meijun's daughter, I, said, "I can see people, right?" Half a century after Meijun left Chun'an, in September 1995, the 70-year-old Meijun returned to Chun'an for the first time. No, it is now called Qiandaohu Town, and it is a new town. A new town with "small trees, new walls, and old paintings" is located on a small island.

"Island? Thousand Islands?" Meijun corrected me displeased, "It used to be mountains, thousands of mountains, what Thousand Islands." Of course, the water flooded up, the old city sank to the bottom, and the top of the mountain protruded into an island. Qiandao Lake used to be a town of Qianshan. Mei Jun really did not expect that the "vicissitudes of life" in fifty years would be so concrete! "When I come back this time, I must find my father's grave," Meijun said. "The dam was built, and the grave was moved. Where did it go? For several years, I dreamed of him. He came out of the grave with his face It's green, the color of water plants, he said, daughter, I'm cold, you must find a way to move me away..."

The relatives sitting in a circle suddenly fell silent, and I looked from one face to another: this is really an extremely complicated silence; what Mei Jun said was shockingly "superstitious" to their ears, but it was not good. Hurt the feelings of the elderly. "The lake is huge, with more than a thousand islands," they said hesitantly, "We only remember a rough range, and I'm afraid it will be hard to find the grave..." "You can try it." Meijun said. A relative said, "We can offer sacrifices at a distance here, that is, in that direction. Elder sister, you can do sacrifices at a distance, too?"

I looked at Meijun, and she was also looking at me.Ah, I know this tough girl is going to have a fit. "I have sacrificed in Taiwan for fifty years." Mei Jun paused for a moment, her face was very ugly, and then said in one breath: "I have sacrificed in Taiwan for fifty years. Do you think that I have traveled thousands of miles to Chun'an today? Did you come here for a remote sacrifice?" There was another silence. "...After the incident of burning the ship," the relative looked distressed, "the chartering control is very strict..." "I'm Chun'an's daughter," Meijun said with a cold face, "it's only natural to look for my father's grave."

The next day, I finally found a motorboat and hired a boatman who is familiar with waterways. The boatman took the memory of the old city with him, as if he had a hidden navigation system in his heart, seeing through the lake and turning every island into a mountain. Recognize which mountain is in which direction on which mountain. The motorboat shuttles across the water surface of 600 square kilometers, passing one after another large and small islands, the mist is vast, Qiandao Lake looks simple and pure, primitive and natural, but our eyes see mountains are not mountains, and water is not water. The countless deserted islands standing above the water are neither islands nor deserted. They used to be mountains, where my mother climbed and had picnics when she was young.Under the water, there used to be piece after piece of orchards, the place where my mother asked adults to hold hands to collect rent.This piece of wilderness is simple, and it used to be fertile and fertile. The surface of the water looks like a prehistoric beginning, but there was a thousand-year-long cultural prosperity under the water.

We look like tourists, we are not tourists. The water splashes, and the drops feel cool on the hands.Monkey Island, there are many monkeys, do you want to go up and have a look?In no mood. Snake Island, a lot of snakes, want to see it?In no mood. We just want to see one island, look for one island, among the thousand islands. The boat slowed down, and the boatman thought it was nearby. The relatives stood at the bow of the boat in twos and threes and looked at the water. There was an inconspicuous island in front of it. Meijun's cousin frowned, hesitated for a while, and then said, "Here," she pointed to the island, "is here."

The island she was referring to was not as big as a house, overgrown with weeds, and there was a piece of bare loess near the water.We jumped onto the muddy beach.The cousin who participated in the relocation of the grave said while recalling, "At that time, my little cousin picked it up and buried it here. I thought it was moved high enough, but I didn't expect..." Unexpectedly, the water flooded to the top of the mountain, and what Mei Jun saw now was two broken bricks soaked in the water, right on the wave line where the water surface touched the loess.The wind was so strong that people couldn't keep their eyes open, and Meijun's white hair was flying in the air. I held onto Meijun tightly, my ears were filled with the whistling wind, and Meijun's blurred and broken voice, "...Dad— - I came, I knew it, you told me you were cold..."

The waves of the lake carry some aquatic plants and hit the looming bricks.The brick had been soaked for a long time, and there was green moss on the earthy red surface.A stick of incense was burned, and the blue smoke, like a weak and boneless arm praying, fell into the colorless sky and water with the wind. Leaving Chun'an, we went to Jiande via the mountain road, this is where the anti-smuggling boats inspected smuggled salt that year.The car bumped on the gravel road, climbed up a steep slope, and then circled down sharply. There was a cloud of dust behind the car, and the trees on the side of the road were covered with a layer of gray, but the water of Qiandao Lake kept shining through the shadows of the trees.Maybe I was tired, Meijun didn't talk much along the way, so I pushed her: "Hey, look, this is also Xin'an River water, how clear the water is!" She looked out the car window, leaned her head wearily against the glass, and said softly, "Really?" I put my arms around her thin shoulders.