As soon as I arrived in this small town, I saw a long row of toilets at first sight.They are all faced with a wooden screen wall, which is set on a big rock, half covering the two back-to-back pits inside.There were more than a dozen small huts in succession, and there was no one in them.But sometimes a gust of wind blows over and emits a slight stench.The afternoon sun shone faintly on the pale thatch on the roof. Walking through this row of toilets is the shop.There is a row of small white shops, and a big mountain stands tall and gloomy above it, and two pale green distant mountains appear on the top of the mountain.

There is a very narrow gravel road, and a low gravel wall is blocked across the street. There is nothing outside the wall, because the outside is a dangerous slope that falls down steeply.A woman came out of a shop on this side, holding a big red oceanic washbasin, crossed the street, and poured a basin of dirty water over the low wall.For some reason, this move surprised the woman a bit, like spilling a basin of sewage out of the ends of the earth, the end of the world. In almost every shop, there is a murderous proprietress sitting in town. She is very thin, with a scorched face, and her hair hangs straight down to her shoulders; It is decorated with a big peacock blue velvet blanket—I don't know when this dress came out, but it looks a bit like the green forest robber played by a martial artist on the stage, which makes passers-by feel uneasy.

There is a restaurant that sells sesame cakes and black sesame lollipops.In addition to these two items, there were also two stacks of small white paper packets piled up on the counter, nothing of the sort could be seen.Someone came to buy a pack and opened it to eat on the spot. It turned out that there were five small sesame cakes in it.Another stack of paper bags on the counter must be black sesame lollipops. —but maybe still sesame cakes. On the counter of another store, there are piles of scraps of toilet paper piled up like a mountain, but there is a small glass cabinet nailed in the air next to the door, and toothpaste and tooth powder are displayed in it.The paper bags of tooth powder and the cardboard of hair clips are printed with multicolored photos of celebrities. Li Lihua, Zhou Manhua, and Zhou Xuan are all smiling at the empty street.I don't know why, but it adds to the sense of desolation.

A few hens were walking on the street, carefully raising one foot, stepping down carefully, stepping on the small round stones embedded in the black mud. A peddler came to the east, carrying a burden, and selling black sesame lollipops again. Whether it is in the countryside or in the city, there will always be such a incense and candle shop, which also sells lanterns. Clusters of red candles hang high on the roof beams, like long red fruits, hanging down.In a shop next door, the walls are desolate, with only a square table, and a little girl sits in front of the table, rolling "earth cigarettes" with a machine.The machine was a small green-painted tin box, probably originally a foreign oil barrel, with a handle attached to it, and it was shaken wildly.

The sun lay like a dog blocking the street.The sun is getting old here. An old woman came by on the road, stopped the peddler and asked him the price of sesame candy.She raised her face and stared at him, and suddenly called out happily: "Hey, isn't this Brother He Sheng? How are the two old people in your family? How is Mrs. He Sheng? How is your fourth aunt?" The peddler was stunned at first, but then he remembered that she was a relative of his fourth aunt's natal family, as if he had met twice.She was short, with a short face and chin, and her face was sunburned deep red, like dried potato chips, red and wrinkled, curled outward.She was wearing an old-fashioned pointed black hat and a blue cloth coat that had been mended again and again.She always closed her eyes, as if the sun was shining on her face; she always shouted loudly, as if there was a large field in between.

"You old lady, it's hard to get someone from the town?" the peddler asked her. "Well, I'm here today with my niece," cried the old woman. "My niece will get married tomorrow, and I will go to the district to register today. The child is poor. Her father and mother are gone. There is only one brother, and the sister-in-law has gone to the city to help others. The family is a cocoa. Their Zhou family has Many, they will all be here today. There are too few people on our side, so I had no choice but to follow along." She looked up at him and smiled. "Oh! What a coincidence—how did I meet you! We just arrived and were resting in the pavilion over there. I said to them, I said you sit here for a while, and I will go and see them around. Is the family here? Don't want us to arrive before them, making it look like the bride is too impatient."

"Is the groom here?" "Here we come! I saw a few people from Zhou's family sitting on the steps of the district office. I have to go and bring the bride. It's not good to keep them waiting. You don't have to stand Talking here has delayed the business. How is the business? Did you just say how much is the sugar per catty?" The peddler refused to tell her the price this time. He bent down to pick up two lollipops and stuffed them into her hands. "Auntie, you can eat this. Try it, it's not bad." She scowled and pushed his hand away. "Hey, no, no, it doesn't make sense! I haven't seen each other in these years, how can I take something from someone when I meet?"

"You take it, take it. Take it home and feed it to the children." "I want to buy some to go back to coax the children, but I can't ask you to give it away. I can't eat it myself-I'm old! I don't have a single tooth!" The two pushed back and forth for a while, and the two shiny black sticks with white spots melted and stuck to the peddler's hands.Although he was smiling, his face was flushed red, and he looked a little impatient.After exhausting her lips and tongues, the old lady finally accepted it reluctantly, said goodbye to him full of grievances, and staggered away.When she turned her back, the smile on the peddler's face suddenly shifted and appeared on the old woman's face.He walked away carrying the burden with a straight face, but she was smiling, limping her little feet, walked past the row of shops and latrines, left the town, and walked towards the whitewashed pavilion on Guantang Road. .

"Meet someone," she called from afar. "I can't think of it anymore! Didn't I have a cousin who married into Taoxi? This is the nephew of her husband's family. I look at him as if he looks familiar. I haven't seen him for many years, so I dare not say it!" Her nephew Jin Gen became a little impatient. "Have they come? People from the Zhou family. He asked. He stood waiting for her under the vaulted door of Luting. He was a tall young man with a handsome face and a skin the color of dull earth. Broad shoulders, separated by a Layers of cotton jackets can be seen. The old cotton jackets are thinner and thinner, and have faded to a very light blue after washing.

"Coming, I saw them coming. Coming." "Shall we go then?" Kim Root said, turning to his sister. His sister Jin Hua didn't seem to hear.She was sitting in the pavilion with her back to him, spitting on her hands and wiping the little girl's hands.The little girl is the daughter of Jin Gen, and they brought her here today.The child was making a fuss over there because she didn't understand why she was waiting here.She climbed up and down on the bench irritably, and reached out to touch the fan-shaped window, her hands were blackened.Soon she will be smearing all that ashes on her aunt's new clothes.The three purple cotton padded robes that Jinhua is wearing today will be tomorrow's wedding dresses.

Seeing that his sister didn't answer, Jin Gen stood there with his hips akimbo looking at her, showing a look of helplessness.The old woman walked into the pavilion panting. "Why don't you go?" she yelled. "Come on! Let's go!" King Root said to his sister, "Don't be so old-fashioned." "Who is old-fashioned?" She didn't look back. "I have to let the aunt sit down and rest for a while to catch her breath. I just walked up and down, isn't she tired?" "Let's go! Let's go!" said Mrs. Tan. "Don't be ashamed. It's a bad time to be ashamed!" "Who is ashamed?" Jin Hua stood up angrily, and led the way to the town.She was eighteen years old, but she looked younger than that.Childish and pretty face, the lips are slightly parted, because one of the front teeth is slightly chipped.Her hair is shaggy in the front, and a row of big and sparse front bangs are long on her forehead, hanging down to her eyes, which is always itchy, so she always slits her eyes, looking from the hair to the Looking outside, it seems to be a bit anxious. In this small procession, she walked in the front, and the old woman followed closely behind, as if she was afraid that she would turn around and run away at any time.Kim Root followed them with his daughter in his arms.When approaching the district office, the old woman instinctively took a step closer, held Jin Hua by the elbow, and helped her walk. "Ma'am, don't be so feudal, she will go by herself." Jin Gen said. There was a commotion among the people sitting and squatting in front of the district office. "Here they come! Here comes the bride!" murmured all the people.A few members of the Zhou family came up and greeted Jin Gen with a smile.A tall woman in her fifties, with a shrewd look, was the bridegroom's widow mother. She walked towards Mrs. Tan, grabbed her hands and said, "Ah! The road is far away, let you It's a pity to go this far!" The boy who will be the bridegroom tomorrow stands smiling at a distance.No one looked at the bride, but of course she was being watched.She also smiled slightly, and looked around aimlessly as if absent-minded. After everyone had greeted them, they went in together. First, after a low-pitched argument, a person had to be pushed out to talk to the cadres.Of course the man should come forward, and it so happened that the bridegroom's mother was the eldest in all relevant respects.But she insisted that this is not something women do, and asked Jin Gen to go.Jin Gen will definitely not.In the end, the groom's elder brother became the spokesperson.After explaining the purpose of coming to the cadre, everyone crowded in front of the table, waiting for the cadre to find out the forms to be filled out. The bride and groom were pushed to the front and stood in front of the table with their heads bowed. "What's your name?" the cadre asked the young man. "Zhou Dayou." "Where are you from?" "People from Zhoucun." "Who are you going to marry?" He grunted quickly: "Tan Jinhua." "Because she can work." Jinhua also answered the same question.Asked "Why did you marry him?" She murmured the standard answer, as someone had taught her in advance: "Because he can work." Any other answer would invite more questions, and perhaps trouble. . The bride and groom put their fingerprints on the bottom of the form.Their marriage has been legally established, but the custom is still there, and there will be more excitement tomorrow. For the time being, the bride will go back with her natal family.The Zhou family and the Tan family broke up outside the district office. "Come early tomorrow, Aunt Tan." The groom's mother repeated. "Go back and rest early today, you will be busy tomorrow." Aunt Tan said. Several members of the Tan family walked slowly in the small town, watching the excitement along the way.Jin Hua quietly, without saying a word, took the little girl by the hand.They walked past the only restaurant in the town, which was a wooden house, and the unpainted wooden boards were uneven and bright orange-yellow.The façade is very tall, the front is completely open, and it is dark and noisy inside.There are all kinds of food hanging down from the roof everywhere, such as cabbage, dusty ham, and long strips of fresh meat.The milky white crispy bean curd skin and the pale yellow translucent fish maw hang on the guests' heads.At the same time as the waiter, he also went to the stove, stir-fried vegetables at the gate, grabbed a handful of salt with exaggerated big movements, sprinkled some chopped green onions, then fished out a ball of noodle soup from another pot, and threw it into the oil pan with a slap Here, there is a tendency of flying sand and stones.Outside the door, there was a little girl squatting on the street, wearing postman's green trousers, adding firewood to the white clay stove.The hustle and bustle of the restaurant spilled over into the street. Jin Gen's youngest daughter stood at the door of the hotel, refusing to leave.Jin Hua forcefully pulled her away, she cried, struggled desperately, and lay on the ground. "Don't cry! Don't cry!" said the old woman. "Tomorrow we will have something to eat. Tomorrow your aunt gets married, and we will all have a wedding banquet. We will eat fish and meat. If you cry again, I won't take you there tomorrow!" But even that couldn't frighten her.The children made a fuss that made everyone very embarrassed. The restaurant staff stood in front of the stove and looked at them, and the girl squatting outside adding firewood also turned her head to look at them. Jin Gen bent down and picked up the child, no matter how much she struggled and kicked.He walked out of the market quickly.The child was crying and convulsing. "Don't cry!" he said softly. "Your mother is coming back. She brought you something to eat. Do you remember your mother?" The child's mother is a helper in Shanghai.She had written back a few months ago, saying that she was going to quit her job and come back to farm—the golden roots were allotted to the fields now.Since the land reform.But the family is still suffering, and it all depends on her sending money back from outside, so she has not quit her job all the time.Jin Gen said this to the child now, but in fact, he estimated in his heart that she might not be able to come back for the New Year this year. Their child is called Ah Zhao, and they just hope that she will recruit a younger brother.But her mother has not been in her hometown in recent years, so Ah Zhao has been beckoning in vain. "Don't cry, Zhao." Jin Gen murmured. "Mom is coming back soon, bring something good to eat for you." This doesn't seem to be working.But that night he heard her ask Jin Hua: Auntie, when will Mom be back?Dad said Mom was coming back. " He blushed extremely, because everyone found him missing his wife there, obviously looking forward to her coming home.It was after dinner, and he was standing at the door smoking a pipe, with his back to the room. Then he heard his sister's answer: "Well, Mom is coming back soon. You have Mom and you won't miss me." Her voice sounded smiling, but it seemed a little sad. When he went to bed, he saw that the lamp was still burning in his sister's room. "Go to bed early! Miss Jinhua." He shouted loudly. "Tomorrow you have to walk ten miles." "You haven't slept yet? You have to walk twenty miles back and forth?" The lamp was still on.He heard her walking up and down the room, wondering what she was up to.His heart was full of melancholy.