Chapter 16 first quarter

The jade bracelet was left by my grandfather. Royan's memories of his grandfather or homeland begin around the beginning of winter when he was five years old.Because since then, some unexpected changes have occurred in the family one after another, which changed the fate of the whole family. In the memory of the grandfather, a woman's hand with a turquoise jade bracelet is like a close-up, facing the dawn in the courtyard of the former residence, staying in front of Luo Yang for a long time.It was the first snowfall in the small town that day, and the shallow snow reflected a cool gleam in the morning light, like a soft duster brushing the small town and the courtyard in the small town.A plump hand was set off by the brilliance of the snow, white as jade, slender and round. Although it had small wrinkles, the elegance and softness of the gestures touched Luo Yang's little heart for the first time. The softest and warmest part triggered his initial understanding and understanding of motherhood in childhood.

During the period from birth to nine years old, Luo Yang lived in Ping'an County.At that time, there were grandfather, grandmother, father and mother in the family, and the three generations lived together in the ancestral house - a courtyard called Luofu in the past, enjoying the happiness of ordinary people in the tranquility. A long time ago, Luo Mansion was well-known in Ping'an County. It was originally the residence of a county magistrate. It was once gloriously located at Shiziguan in the center of the county, next to the county government.The courtyard is deep, elm, acacia and apricot trees are luxuriant, and there are vigorous winter jasmine and thorn roses growing along the courtyard wall. Among the trees and flowers, a tall house in the shape of a flat "H" looks like a Very secluded.The majestic county yamen in the past was transformed into a county government in the early days of liberation, separated from the Luozhai courtyard by a narrow alley.The original blue-gray courtyard wall in the courtyard was demolished many years ago in line with the requirements of the times, and a fence made of elm branches was surrounded, making the courtyard unobtrusive and silent in the center of the county town.It was the owner of the house who had the insight to transform the courtyard into such an ordinary residence, and it was passed down from generation to generation in his descendants quietly.However, through the shadows of trees and flowers, the two tall and heavy dark red wooden doors and the intricate carved patterns on the rafters in the main room of the house still reveal the prosperity of the past.When standing in front of the gate and looking up, people can't help but imagine all kinds of unknown life in the courtyard several years ago, as well as the old figures who have wandered up and down in that life.

Luo Yang's memory of the courtyard starts with the autumn when he was five years old.That autumn, he began to sleep alone with his mother in separate rooms, and he regained a sense of strangeness and curiosity about the once-familiar homeland.A five-year-old child lives alone in an empty and dark house. Whenever night falls, he has difficulty falling asleep because he is afraid of the strange patterns carved on the window lattice. He really can't tell whether the patterns are flowers or animal faces.After more than ten days of such exploration, he lost interest in the gloomy window lattice carvings and shifted his attention to other places.It has entered late autumn, and the night in the courtyard is refreshing and pleasant. Luo Yang opened a pair of timid and curious eyes, and squeezed his eyes out of the gaps in the strange patterns on the window. He could see the shadowy treetops and the sparse starlight outside the window.The wind shakes the branches, and the leaves rustle, like a grandmother's faint panting or a mother's gentle steps.He held his breath, and could still hear the intermittent chants of insects lying in the weeds in the autumn night and the creaking and turning of oxcarts occasionally passing by on the street, flowing in the night sky like music, his drowsiness In this flowing music, it gradually climbed up the eyelids, passing through the night with boundless dreams, towards the mist of dawn and the twinkling morning light.

However, autumn in this small western county is short-lived.When Luo Yang just got used to lying alone at night after leaving his mother, and had a stronger desire to observe the night scene, the trees in the yard had already shaken their leaves in the cold wind.Chong'er kept silent.The starlight turned into a desolate pale.In order to keep out the wind and cold, my mother pasted the carved windows tightly with kraft paper, and hung a velvet curtain.He can only perceive everything outside with a pair of keen ears in the dark.The bullock carts on the street come and go regardless of the seasons. Sometimes they are from the surrounding countryside to deliver vegetables to the vegetable shops in the county, sometimes they deliver daily necessities from Liangzhou or Zhangye to the supply and marketing cooperatives in the county, and sometimes the villagers come to the city to pull Manure, and sometimes some strangers and their luggage are brought from other places, and they walk alone on the street heavily, and the creaking sound of the axle breaks the emptiness of the night.In the early morning, there are potatoes still smelling of mud, green leeks, pink tomatoes, bright red peppers, and old pumpkins covered with hoarfrost in the vegetable store; Oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar, clothes, hats, shoes and socks, shredded tobacco, cigarettes, highland barley wine that men cannot do without, candied dates, persimmon cakes or dark brown hard candies that children are eagerly looking forward to... In the monotonous life of a small county town, ox carts In this way, the peace and gospel of the ordinary world are conveyed.And the sound of the bullock carts, for a child sleeping in solitude, shows a bit of cordial liveliness and unknown hope.

This is a small closed city. I don't know when it was inherited, whether it is the whole county or every household in the county, people are used to enclosing it with an earthen wall or fence.The outermost circle of the county seat is called the city wall, and the small enclosures of each household in the city are called the courtyard wall.In the county seat at that time, there are still a section of earthen city wall that cannot be verified in the dynasty and four arched city gates built in the Ming Dynasty.Connecting the four city gates are two streets that run perpendicular to each other from east to west and north to south of the county.There are only these two main streets in the county, starting from the intersection where they intersect, they are called East Street, West Street, South Street and North Street respectively.Sitiao Street is the most prosperous place in the county. There are many shops along the street, such as grain store, coal store, pharmacy store, vegetable store, butcher store, restaurant store, grocery store, barber shop, etc. Most of them were privately owned at first, but later they were operated by public-private partnerships. Later, they were transformed into state-owned units.Behind those shops are hidden dwellings, one after another of earthen houses and courtyards, connected by criss-crossing narrow alleys, like a cobweb, and like an irregular chessboard.The alleys are all dirt roads, and the residents have paved a layer of cinders on the dirt roads to prevent slipping in snowy weather.In the dry northwest, when it is windy or when pedestrians pass by, there will be a burst of smoke and dust in the alley, so the sky above the small town is always gray.Among the scattered alleys and houses, there are also some small workshops, such as flour milling, noodle pressing, tofu grinding, tailoring, chimney smashing, pulp water surface selling and so on.Of these workshop owners, only the tofu grinder and the noodle seller are outsiders. They each live in a small courtyard with three or two bungalows. In addition to the simple production tools and daily necessities piled up in the house, the family also has dolls. If there are four or five adults, the courtyard will be noisy and crowded.It is not very accurate to say that the tofu grinder and the noodle seller are outsiders.Those two families used to be men from the county town who married women from other provinces. After a few years of marriage, the men died again, and the women from other provinces who dragged their babies and children set up their own houses in the county town to make a living by themselves. With a non-local accent, they do small business everywhere, and the residents regard them as outsiders.

The tofu grinder is a Henan woman, very diligent, and because she is a widow, and two men have died successively, she has to raise two children alone and take care of a blind mother-in-law. The burden of life is heavy, and the mind is also very heavy.She always keeps herself very busy, working until midnight every day: Grind the swollen beans, filter, burn the pulp, order brine, then put the ordered tofu in a gauze bag and hang it up, wait for the water to filter quickly When it is dry, it is flattened with a template, and a heavy object is pressed on it, and the tofu is ready the next morning.Sometimes (for example, during festivals) she marinated some dried tofu.Whether it is windy or rainy, or severe cold and hot summer, women in Henan go out early in the morning with their tricycles. The tofu is placed on the car and covered with a wet white cloth to keep out the dust. It is refreshing and hygienic.She pushed the cart along the streets and yelled: "Tofu! Buy tofu!" Her crunchy voice was pleasant to hear.People who want to buy tofu heard the news and went out, and if they put down a dime or two, they could buy a large piece of tofu.If she occasionally went to bed early one night, she would easily suffer from insomnia in the middle of the night, toss and turn, and then think of the miserable years when she fled from Henan to the Northwest, and the two men who died one after another, and then cried for a while, crying for her own life .She didn't know if Lord Yan would saw her in the future and let her two dead ghost men saw her into two pieces like in the legend.After thinking about it over and over again, it was dawn, so she got up and pushed the cart out, and took out the bean dregs that could have been kept for her own food, and gave each customer who bought tofu a small half bowl.Even tofu and bean dregs, and some cabbage and noodles at home, enough to make two meals.Therefore, the neighbors never discriminated against the widow, and her business was always very good.Over time, the Henan woman gradually relaxed.She thinks that if she does good deeds and is so popular, Lord Yan will always forgive her in the future and prevent her two dead ghost men from sawing her in two.

The person who sells the noodles is a woman from Tianshui. There are several large earthen vats in the yard of her house. In the vats, the leaves of Chinese cabbage are soaked in noodle soup for a long time. It diffuses out and lasts for a long time.The noodles used by women in Tianshui to make noodles are thinly sliced ​​and hand-rolled noodles, which are chewy and smooth.She also specially made pickled cucumbers and salted leek flowers as side dishes.Pickled cucumbers are made of small cucumbers that have not been awake for a long time, and are marinated with soy sauce, salt, pepper, chili, white sugar, cumin and other ingredients. Customers who eat noodles are given a small dish.Salted leek flower is a local side dish, and every household has to make some, so it is not very popular.Tianshui women don't need to go out to do business. She opened a door in the back wall of a house, and the door is facing the street. There are two small wooden tables and a few benches in the house, making it a front room.The foreign noodles became another famous snack after the beef noodles in the county at that time. It is said that the noodles made of noodle soup and cabbage are rich in vitamins. The sour taste not only promotes body fluids and quenches thirst, but also eliminates poison The effect of fire.When the weather is dry and hot in summer and autumn, the business of beef noodle restaurants on the street becomes dull, but the noodles of Tianshui women are booming.Especially those women who are pregnant, they have nothing else to satisfy their cravings, so they go to eat bowls of noodles, and then take away a bowl of noodles in a large bowl, and Tianshui women will give them a few pickled cucumbers.When they got home, they ate and drank the pickled cucumbers with the syrup. The sour taste always continued the dream of giving birth to a big fat boy.

In the county town, apart from the spacious high-rise compound like the Luo Mansion, there are also a few more grand houses, all of which are located in the downtown area and distributed along the four main streets.One is a post office, one is a credit union, one is a supply and marketing cooperative, one is a health center, there is an elementary school and a county middle school.They are all the same, with blue brick walls and gray tile roofs. The main difference is that the gate of the post office is green, the gate of the credit union is blue, the gate of the supply and marketing cooperative is vermilion, and the gate of the health center is cream yellow.The elementary school is called Xiangyang Elementary School, and it faces the county middle school across the West Street. They are all closed with iron fences and iron gates, and the gates are only opened during school hours.Through the rusty iron fence, you can see a row of classrooms and a row of school buildings on the campus, with a small playground also covered with cinders sandwiched between the two rows of buildings.

The northwest corner of the county seat behind the county middle school is a square the size of a football field.An earthen platform was built next to the city wall in the square. It used to be a stage, and later a curtain was hung on the platform to show movies, or hold conferences and give reports. As long as it is a large-scale mass event in the county, it is held here.Theatrical performances or movies on the square are generally held in summer and autumn, because winter is too cold, and spring is windy and dusty, so no one wants to go out.The dramas performed in the square are mainly Qin opera, such as "The General of the Yang Family" and "Yang Jiajiang", which are only liked by the elderly.The old lady who finished watching the play sang a few words in the tune of Qin Xianglian or Wang Baochuan, and the old man could also roar with Bao Gong or Yang Liulang.They are very familiar with the libretto in the play, but as long as there is a play in the square, they still go to see it.That's what they want.Later, movies were shown, including "Tunnel Warfare", "Landmine Warfare", and "The White-haired Girl".Showing a movie is an unprecedented event in the county, people of all ages go to see it, and every household hastily finished their dinner and moved small wooden benches to occupy their seats.Most residents in the county only eat two meals a day. Breakfast is around ten in the morning, and dinner is around four in the afternoon. Everyone came to the square early, waiting until their stomachs were growling again, and the screen hadn't been hung up yet.At this time, there are people selling jelly or stuffed skin in the square shouting loudly and lowly, so people in twos and threes gather around and spend five cents to eat jelly or stuffed skin.After a long time, the housewives who are used to budgeting feel that it is not worthwhile, and the old movies are still being played on the screen, and all the lines are tired of hearing.So the housewives don't go to wait for the movie often, only the children are endlessly excited in the square, and the dust raised by the noise can cover half of the sky in the county.A few years later, another function was added to the square, and it was the most important function. The holding of mass meetings was of course a later thing.

There is also a cultural center in the southeast corner of the county seat, which was rebuilt from a former temple.Some people say that the temple is the Empress Temple, while others say it is the Dragon King Temple.The clay Bodhisattva in the front hall has been stripped by a pair of invisible hands over a long period of time and has been completely disfigured and incomplete, making it impossible to discern the clues, but it still stands on the main hall and is regarded as a cultural relic for people to admire.Of course, it is unavoidable that some people secretly kowtow in front of the clay bodhisattva in the middle of the night and make a wish.Probably because of this reason, the clay bodhisattva was smashed by a group of radicals during the "breaking the four olds".In the back hall of the cultural museum, there are some complete ceramic vessels or incomplete ceramic fragments, as well as wooden slips, bronze chariots and jade wares, all of which are already mottled.Later, a female corpse more than 800 years ago was displayed in the cultural center. The female corpse was placed in a rectangular glass box, soaked in gray-green potion, her muscles were already twitching, her body was dark brown, her teeth were bared, and her gray hair was falling out. Floating next to the skull, the face is very hideous.Several other silk shirts and skirts unearthed together with the female body were hung on the wall near the hostess. The material of the dresses was dark and rotten, as if it would turn into powder in the wind, so they were also protected by a glass cover.In addition, the annual temple fair in the county is still held in the small street next to the cultural center, continuing to play the original function of the temple here.

There is only one building in the entire county, the Bell and Drum Tower at the crossroads in the center of the city.The Bell and Drum Tower has three floors. The bottom floor is the passage connecting the two streets. It is built like four arched city gates, but slightly smaller than the city gates.The upper two floors of carved beams and painted buildings, like a pagoda, are octagonal, and the eight large pillars are painted red, and the paint has been mottled.There used to be a large cast iron bell hanging on the top floor of the Bell and Drum Tower. It is said that a porcelain merchant donated a copper bell to replace it. Into the steel furnace.But that shiny bronze bell was stolen by a money-grubbing thief at some point, and no one has seriously tracked it down.Now only an old wooden frame remains of the Bell and Drum Tower, which serves as the symbol of the county. Standing on the Bell and Drum Tower, you can see the vehicles passing through the streets and alleys, but they are mainly ox carts, horse carts and mule carts.There are still shuttle buses, only twice a day.An old bus, making a noise louder than a bullock cart, pulled scattered passengers from Sand City, more than 40 miles away, in the morning, swayed and creaked all the way to the county seat, and stopped at the north gate of the county seat At noon, I picked up a few more passengers, and then left the county seat for Sand City; the last bus from Sand City arrived in the county seat in the evening, and did not leave the county seat to return to Sand City until the next morning.There are also long-distance buses. One departs from Dunhuang, passes through Yumen, passes through Zhangye, Shacheng passes through Pingan County, then goes to Liangzhou, and finally arrives at the provincial capital. The other departs from Minqin, passes through Shacheng, passes through Ping'an County, and then goes to Liangzhou and finally arrives in Liangzhou. provincial capital.Two coaches go back and forth every two days.If there were no passengers who got off at the county town of Ping'an, the long-distance bus would not stop when it arrived at the county town, and after half a circle around the city wall, it would leave a fork in the road with a puff of smoke and dust.If residents of the county want to travel far away, they must first take a bus or bullock cart to Shacheng before taking a long-distance bus or train.There is a railway passing by the side of Shacheng, which is a transportation hub running through the southwest and northwest, so a fourth-class small station is set up in Shacheng. This is a small, bitter city. At the end of November every year, the cold current from Siberia will rush towards Pingan County with wind and snow. Sometimes the temperature can drop by more than ten degrees overnight. People are pushed from autumn to severe winter without any preparation. Wear unlined clothing and wear heavy cotton clothing.Due to the climate and soil quality, animal husbandry is developed here, but cotton is rarely grown here.Saying that residents wear cotton clothes does not specifically refer to clothes containing cotton.Some people wear light sheepskin jackets with no sewed cloth and no cloth, which are called sheepskin tubes;Even so, in the middle of winter, they couldn't resist the cold current of Siberia. The water outside the house often turned into ice, and every household had to burn kangs or charcoal stoves to keep warm.The northwest wind howled and howled, and the whole world was covered with ice and snow. The severe cold was like a knife across the county, and people could not go out often. The county was as lonely as a wilderness.It wasn't until March of the following year that the temperature gradually warmed up and the ice and snow on the ground melted, and the county seemed to recover.Therefore, soil kangs or charcoal stoves in residents' homes are essential living facilities, and such facilities cannot be separated from the supply of coal, which is another most important living material besides food.From the end of November to March of the next year, heating is needed for almost half a year.If you want to rely on burning raw coal for heating throughout the winter, it is impossible for ordinary people to do so. Therefore, every household has stockpiled enough substitutes—coal cakes.County residents have another important daily job, which is to make briquettes in summer and autumn, use cheap coal powder mixed with clay and cow dung, mix with water, then knead into fist-sized balls, and then pat them into pieces. In cake form, it is dried in the yard and on the roof.On the street, there are half-grown children or women picking up cow dung with baskets; the kang holes or hearths at home are all buzzing with weak flames, and are wrapped in thick smoke from impenetrable briquettes; The whole county has a unique smell of briquettes mixed with cow dung. Every year starting from late autumn, the fields outside the city have withered, brown and yellow, and until the next spring, there is no trace of green.In the past six months, the vegetable shops in the county town have almost closed down. Every family cooks in pots, only cabbage and potatoes stored in late autumn, and occasionally add tofu or vermicelli.Of course, there are always whole sheep or cows hanging in the butcher shop, as well as pork, but for many years they have been rationed according to the meat tickets issued by the household registration book. During the New Year's Eve, people from the countryside go to the county town to sell chickens and eggs at very cheap prices.Residents can buy it with cash, or exchange it with old things, such as ripped felt boots and patched sheepskin jackets, which are often equivalent to two fat hens.But this kind of business was not prosperous, because at that time there was no particularly important industry in the county, and there were no large factories. The income of the residents was very limited. If the grown-ups wear it, the children will have to wear it, and if the older child wears it, there will still be children waiting to wear it. By the time they remember that they should exchange it for chickens, it is almost impossible to mend it anymore. Therefore, the winter in the county is difficult.