Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen

"Is the scholar here?" An old man who was blind and crooked struggled to remove the bedroll that was carried on his shoulder by a thick wooden stick, leaned against the edge of the door carelessly, and then, clamping the crutch under his arm, he walked toward the little boy as quickly as possible. Ding came.His chin was raised, and his free hand was stretched out tremblingly from afar. Xiao Ding stood up with a "huh".He has already touched Xiao Ding: "Is this you, Xiucai? Ah, it's really you!" He said repeatedly, blinking his glaucoma eyes with all his might, and moved his crutches: "Why are you silent? Don't you remember me? I've become an old ghost, yes Is it?"

He didn't expect an answer. "Hey, just say something out of date. I have something to ask you. Is there still a folk art team in the town? I'll come to the leader to see if he can implement a policy for me." Xiao Ding remembered that this was blind abduction. "Try it." Xiao Ding took Blind's hand and went to see the station master. The station master replied immediately: The cultural station will come forward to play the stage for this folk singer who demands to "implement the policy", and the income will be shared proportionally.It can start tomorrow night.This is the same as the management method of the quyi troupe in the past.

"If you don't die in a catastrophe, you will have good fortune." During dinner, Blind Guai talked about how he sneaked around to tell people's fortunes after he was exiled from here a few years ago; One month’s meal; how did you collect the tatters for a few years; later, when you couldn’t bear the burden, you started to slander; after a while, the commune closed the mountain, and there was no bamboo, so you went to mend overshoes.Once, he cut a piece of leather from the overshoes sent to mend, and patched it on the waste overshoes he specially collected for trimming the leather. After patching for a long time, he became angry and scolded: "Which poor man has the plague, Such rotten overshoes, do you still have a bird's head?and so on.Then he laughed happily.His face was blushing, and he used his palm to separate the flagon that Xiao Ding stretched over. "However, you can't drink the wine. What's wrong with your throat? Let me sleep, I'm tired." As he spoke, he stood up while supporting his crutches, climbed onto the bed, pulled the quilt away, and fell asleep motionless.

two Before the "Cultural Revolution", the Town Cultural Station had gathered some folk artists together, planning to gradually form a private organization responsible for its own profits and losses according to the income situation.This is the "quyi team" that Xiaguai never forgets. At that time, every night, the town cultural station was crowded with men, women and children in the town.Erhu, Sanxian, Changxiao Piccolo, Bamboo Connecting Board, Gavel, mixed with bababa ditties, out-of-pitch folk songs, and wild and unrestrained applause from time to time, it was deafening until midnight.

One of the quyi team is this blind guy from Li Bawan.When Xiao Ding arrived at the town cultural station, he was arranged to share a room with this singer who is said to be well-known all over the country. It was a very narrow attic. Every time after the life-threatening harassment ended, Xiao Ding had to endure the further torture of blind abduction before he could take a breath. "Du, tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck..." He climbed up the steep and narrow wooden stairs with difficulty, holding his iron-tipped cane between his hands. "Du" is the sound of the crutches being knocked out. "Crack" is the sound of footsteps.This dull and monotonous sound, with no sense of severity, seemed to hit Xiao Ding's fragile heart every time.

His abduction method is a bit special.Only the forefoot of the lonely right foot landed on the ground. Every time the left crutch moved forward to the ground, the forefoot that had previously landed on the ground would be twisted vigorously, leaving a clear comma-like mark on the ground, and then to the ground. mentioned earlier.Since the iron head of the cane leaves exactly a deep dot on the ground, his form of movement is like an infinite loop of commas and periods.After going upstairs, he was always happy, "I never dreamed that so many people would take me for nothing... Why don't you go downstairs? Sitting in the cold window every night, writing letters to my sister? Ho ho ho ..." He laughed smugly.

In the beginning, because he was also dependent on others, Xiao Ding would support him every time for the sake of politeness, but he hated him in his heart. The annoying thing is that he doesn't care whether others answer him or not.Walking and talking, he actually sang to himself: Never sing "Demolition White Song", The wind blows the stone rollers and flies across the river, The big tree carried fish beaters, Rapid water beachhead birds make their nests, The scalper has fallen to the buffalo woman, ... Putting down his crutches, he lamely took off his clothes, got into bed, and snored contentedly.

When it was almost dawn, Xiao Ding, who had been tossing and turning in bed all night, just felt a little drowsy when there was a rustling sound on the bed. "I've never sung "The Song of Dismantling the White Song"..." he hummed, put on his clothes, folded the quilt, picked up his crutches, and left Xiao Ding, who was so angry that he was almost pounding on the bed, "duh, cha, duk, cha" went upstairs.Then, on the bank of the river behind the house, he raised his voice "Ayiwuya". His hanging voice was purely learned from the actors of the theater troupe across the river, and it was completely nonsense.He thought it was the same as carrying a burden, the more he practiced, the stronger his throat and the more he could sing.

Xiaoding finally couldn't bear it anymore.One day, when Xiaguai came upstairs humming a song, Xiao Ding clasped his four fingers together and knocked hard on the table a few times: "Hey, can't you be more self-reliant!" What Xiao Ding wanted to say next was "You are just a country singer"! Xiao Ding didn't have time to say it, and he already found that it was a bit too much.Blind Guai froze in panic.Then he bowed down and tiptoed into the bed like an earthworm. From then on, Xiaguai went upstairs at night and went out in the morning as much as possible without making any noise.Like a shadow that floats noiselessly over and over.It made Xiao Ding feel a little guilty instead.

Cultural stations criticize Lin Piao and Confucius.A lot of yellowed librettos were found: "The Marriage of the Butterfly Lovers", "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl", "Eighteen Years of Wang Baochuan's Cold Kiln"... This is the lifeblood of Blind Guai.When there is nothing to do, he always holds it in his hand and rubs it, smoothing out even a tiny bit of curly horn.The result is that Blind Kwap watched people take it to the kitchen to make fire matchers. The punishment for blind abduction is to make him commit crimes and perform meritorious deeds, singing revolutionary songs.

"I don't know the new style of music." Xiaguai was very confused. "Then keep singing your old tune. But with new words." "I want it." As a result, the loud and clear revolutionary singing of Bianguai can be heard continuously every day in various parts of the town: Criticize Lin, criticize Confucius and sing triumphant songs, There are many miracles turned upside down: The clear water lights up the oil lamp, Dumplings are not ground with rice, The oil bottle dares to drag the mouse, ... Blind abduction was appreciated again. However, every time he came back, the sound of "du, cha, du, cha" was not as clear and even as before. It became procrastinated, chaotic, and always bumpy.When he returned to the room, he always leaned against the back of the door for a long time, and then came to Xiao Ding's bed with commas and periods, fumbled to help Xiao Ding sit up, and fed him the food he brought back. meals. During those days, Xiao Ding was very ill.The station master has let go of his mouth, and if he continues to be sick like this, he can only be sent back to the production team. "Don't...don't be busy...I won't get better..." Xiao Ding yelled weakly like a mosquito. "Mo, Mo, a scholar..." Blind Guai said a few words, then suddenly sneered, "Could it be that you want me to underestimate you?" He stood up, gripped his cane, and began his cycle of commas and periods between the two beds. "I was born blind. My mother and I dragged me until I was seven or eight years old. When I fell ill, my mother remarried, and my grandfather dragged me to eat all directions (begging). Grandpa is not a useless person. , fortune-telling, dancing gods, Fengshui, omnipotent. The best thing is to sing. When he sang, adults, men and women, no one is not happy. Four villages and eight villages, all said that he can sing the bird down the tree Every New Year's festival, temple fairs, weddings and weddings, people everywhere come to rob him, wishing to split him into eight pieces. But when he died, he could only leave me with a belly full of songs and a few bad albums. "I still clearly remember the night of his death. Our grandparents and grandchildren were leaning against the altar, and I fell asleep listening to him singing "Cracking the White Song" without a sound. Later, from the collapsed The snow that drifted in from the top of the temple suppressed the fire in front of us. I woke up from the cold, and when I touched him, he had already passed away. I removed the bricks on the temple wall and built a seat for him. Grave. Early the next morning, I was groping alone. On the road. I still sang everywhere. "It's not that I sold myself. I sang really well at that time. People said that I was a substitute for my grandfather. I dare not say that I can't sing like a bird. There are also seventeen or eighteen-year-old Huanghua girls who make my heart sing. .Do you believe it? How about I sing one for you?" He didn't wait for my answer, but he sang to himself: I heard bang bang bang across the mountain, Presumably, Sister Qing does the laundry. I ran across nine ridges in one go, Overwhelmed Jiupo Nine Four Nine Chonggang. It turned out to be a tree, Jingle, jingle, jingle, A sick bird.son pecked at the stump. ... In an unknown tree, a rooster crowed, calling out the first note of a new day.Then, the sun jumped up.The distant mountain ridge and the village under the hillside woke up in the fog.The well platform at the entrance of the village, the haystacks in the grain field, and the waterwheel leaning on the edge of the pond all became brighter and brighter as the fog receded.The stream on the side of the mountain brings a cool breeze, with the fragrance of grass on the field and the smell of nearby trees. Blind Guai raised his head slightly, under the dim light of the oil lamp, his glaucoma eyes shone strangely.Only this time did Xiao Ding notice that he was originally handsome.On this clear face, every outline is very distinct.Xiao Ding completely believed in the legend that he once disdained so much: a lady from a great family was fascinated and eloped with him desperately.It's a pity that it finally failed.That's when he lost a leg. The quyi troupe sang revolutionary songs, and there was no problem politically, but financially, they had no way to take care of their own profits and losses, so they had to disband.You can't stay if you are blind. three "Hey, slow down! Don't squeeze, don't squeeze, be careful, hey..." Xiao Ding was sweating profusely as he crawled through the crowd, yelling. This slat-walled house in its dying years was moaning everywhere.The hinges of the doors, which were already loose, were completely off, the gratings of the windows were snapped by the climbers, and here and there cracked the walls of the house. The room suddenly became surprisingly quiet, except for the sound of "Du, chu, du, chu" on the stairs.When Xiaguai stood under the two hundred light bulbs in the middle of the fence, even Xiao Ding was a little surprised—he became a completely different person: he was wearing a brand new blue uniform (this was last year) Relief given to nursing homes by the County Civil Affairs Bureau during the Spring Festival); the short hair that has just been cut, stands neatly; the face is clean-shaven, and those wrinkles that are as dense as cloth grains seem to have been shaved together with the messy stubble Finished.He was shining all over him. Folk songs are easy to sing but hard to speak, Yangmei delicious tree must be planted, ... Blind Guai solemnly stretched the skirt of his clothes, cleared his throat and began to sing.It looked like he was a little nervous. The first two lines were obviously not sung well, and the voice was a bit hoarse and stagnant.He stopped, turned his face to the accompanist, smiled, cleared his throat vigorously, and sang from the beginning: Folk songs are easy to sing but hard to speak, Yang Hai is delicious and the tree is hard to plant, The rice is delicious, Tian Zhunzhong, Rice cakes are delicious and must be grinded, Delicious, lazy and poor for all generations—— The long draw on the word "Dai" has not yet finally fallen, and there was a "coaxing" laughter in the venue.He sang really funny.It was like a choked rooster screaming, which made people's scalp tingle. Amidst the laughter of the crowd, Xia Guai faintly showed uneasiness.One of his hands loosened and tightened the grip of the cane, and the other hand kept rubbing the hem of his clothes. Xiao Ding gave him a cup of sugar water that had already been soaked. He took the glass, took a sip, then moved his cane abruptly, turned around, greeted the musicians, and began to sing again. The roar of laughter echoed in the room one after another. The more you sing, the more chaotic you become.He couldn't handle the high and low, strong and weak tones at all.His face turned pale and he was sweating profusely.He was constantly drinking, panting, coughing, and clearing his throat. "Let's take a break and sing again." Xiao Ding called out to him softly while he was gulping water. He didn't seem to hear.Panting, he stabbed his lower lip with his lonely front tooth: "Presto!" Presto folk songs used to be his favorite repertoire. Lang sang folk songs outside, My sister is weaving silk in the house. I, Lang Shan, sing well, sing me trembling heartbeat, trembling heartbeat, Can't sit on the board, Can't pedal, Can't push the report, Can't get past it, can't run, Delay me three feet three inches good Ling Luo. When the song was approaching the climax, his strength had long been unable to keep up.The musicians stopped the accompaniment and stared at him inexplicably. After a period of silence, a buzzing sound finally broke out in the arena: "Why bother, if you are old and can't sing, don't be ugly..." "A crime! How can you say that about someone!" "Cheat money!" "No heart!" The quarrel was drowned out by the booing of "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"Then there was the sound of the shifting of the bench and the sound of chaotic footsteps. Blind Guai stood under the two hundred light bulb in the middle of the arena.The strong light made his face pale, and it was covered with wrinkles again.Xiao Ding turned his face to the side, unable to bear to look at it. Several of his most enthusiastic old listeners came to him: "Don't worry, take your time. As long as you sing, we will come..." If these were the only people who bought the tickets, they would not be able to pay for the tea that night. Among the young people who gathered around and wanted to see some excitement, one shouted with a smile: "We heard that you are very skilled, why don't you show it?" He blinked cunningly and lowered his voice, "Sing It doesn't matter if it's good or not, just give us a few episodes of 'Eighteen Touches' every night. I guarantee you three meals a day will make you happy." Blind Crutch jumped twice, clamped his cane tightly, pushed aside the people in front of him, and went upstairs without saying a word. "He's timid..." A few younger students walked away laughing.Several old listeners rolled their eyes behind them and left.All that was left in the room were crooked benches and cigarette butts strewn all over the floor. "Let's pick it up tomorrow." The station master said sadly, and went back upstairs with Xiaoding. "I don't think you need to be sad." After going upstairs, the station master said solemnly, "There is always a way. It is not impossible to consider what those young people said just now. It is also fun now. I heard that Beijing Airport The women in the picture don’t wear pants.” Sitting on the bed, blind crutches leaning on their chin with a cane slowly raised their heads: "Thank you, station master." Throughout the night, there was no more word. Four Early the next morning, Blind Guai packed everything up.No matter what Xiaoding said, he couldn't stay. The town hasn't woken from its slumber.The street lights have been turned off at some point.Only the morning star, shining faintly at the end of the narrow and winding alley.The wind was blowing head-on with a heavy chill, and Xiao Ding hugged the blind crutch tightly in his arms. Blind Guai blinked suddenly: "Do you still remember "Demolition of White Songs"?" Never sing "Demolition White Song", The wind blows the stone rollers and flies across the river, On the top of the big tree, the fish beats the child, Rapid water beachhead birds make their nests, The scalper has fallen to the buffalo woman, ... A door was open on the side of the street.A sleepy-eyed head protruded from within, and cried: "Hey, this blind guy is still so happy!" Therefore, Blind Guai is even more proud.Sing and laugh at the same time.The wrinkles on his face instantly became extremely soft. Xiao Ding suddenly stopped, and said firmly: "You go, I won't see you off, I will see you when I have a chance in the future." Xiaguai felt a little sudden, but he still understood. "That's okay, I'll send you off on the eighteenth, where can I find it?" "Du, cha, du, cha..." The cane and one foot stepped in a heavy and distinct rhythm, marking commas and periods on the newly paved concrete floor in the empty alley.The journey of blind abducting life is this kind of alternation of commas and periods - how many times it seems to be over, but it starts again from the beginning.