Chapter 2 On the bullock cart

On the bullock cart The cauliflower blooms all over the stream in late March.Our car rolled the red and green grass at the foot of the mountain in the morning sun, and walked out of the tip of my grandfather's village. The coachman was the uncle of the Yuan family. He whipped the whip, but it didn't hit the cow's back, but the whip was circling around in the air. "Do you want to sleep? The car just came out of the village! Drink some plum soup! Go to sleep after passing the stream in front." The maid of the grandfather's house went to the city to see her son. "What stream, didn't you pass it just now?" The yellow cat brought back from my grandfather's house seemed to be sleeping on my lap.

"Houtangxi," she said. "What Houtangxi?" I didn't pay attention to her.Because my grandfather's house stayed behind us, we couldn't see anything, only the red flag pole in front of the temple on the top of the village still had two golden domes exposed. "Drink a bowl of plum soup to refresh your spirits." She was already holding a cup of dark yellow plum soup in her hand, and she went to cover the bottle again. "I won't mention it, what's the spirit of mentioning it, you can mention it yourself!" They all laughed, and at once the coachman cracked his whip.

"You girl... naughty, clever tongue... I... I..." He turned around from the shaft and reached out to grab my hair. I shrugged and ran to the rear of the car.All the children in the village were not afraid of him. They said that he had been a soldier and that it hurt when he pinched people's ears. Mrs. Wuyun got out of the car to pick this kind of flowers for me, and then that kind of flowers. The wind in the wilderness was stronger, so her scarf seemed to be fluttering.Because the countryside has left me with memories that I have not yet forgotten, I always think of her turban as a crow or a magpie.She is almost jumping, almost like a child.Back in the car, she sang the names of various flowers. I have never seen her so presumptuously happy.

The coachman was also humming in a low voice in front, but it was unclear what words it was.The short pipe blows smoke along the wind. Our journey has just begun, and our hopes and expectations are still far away. I finally fell asleep. I don’t know where it was after passing the Houtang River. I woke up once, and it seemed that the child in charge of the duck was still greeting me vaguely, and I also saw the little boy sitting on the back of the cow. The scene of farewell to Gen and me... It seems that my grandfather took my hand and said: "Go home and tell your grandpa, let him come to the country for a walk when autumn is cool... You just say that your master's pickled quail and quail are the best. I'm waiting for him to come and drink the sorghum wine... You just say I can't move, if not, I will always go in the past two years..."

It wasn't anyone who woke me up, but the empty wheel.When I woke up, the first thing I saw was the scalper walking on the road by itself, and the driver was not sitting on the shaft.When I was looking for him, I found him on the rear of the car, the whip in his hand was replaced by his tobacco pipe, his left hand was constantly wiping his chin, his eyes were looking at the vast distance along the horizon. I looked for the yellow cat, and the yellow cat sat on Mrs. Wuyun's lap, and she even stroked the cat's tail.I saw that her blue cloth kerchief had covered her brows, and the obvious wrinkles on her nose became more obvious because of the dust hanging on her.

They didn't notice my waking up. "In the third year he won't write! You soldiers..." I asked her, "Is your husband also a soldier?" The uncle driving the car grabbed my braided hair and pulled me back. "Then...there will be no letters from now on?" He asked him. "Listen to me! August has just passed... I can't remember which year it was. After breakfast, I was feeding the pigs in front of the door, knocking on the trough and screaming. Pig... how can you hear it? The second girl of the Wang family in Nancun shouted: "Sister Wuyun, sister-in-law Wuyun..." While running, she shouted: "My mother said, maybe Brother Wuyun sent you a letter! 'Really, what is in front of me is really a letter, wait for me to get the letter! Look at it...I don't know why I can't stop feeling sad...Is he still alive! He...tears fell on the red sign I wiped the strips with my hands, and once I wiped the red circles, it was printed on the white ones. I threw the pig food in the center of the courtyard... I went into the house and changed into clean clothes. I ran quickly to the Nancun Xuefang met the gentleman from Xuefang, and I smiled while shedding tears... I said: "It's a letter from someone outside, please read it sir... I haven't sent a single word in a year. 'Mr. Xuefang took a look in his hand and said it wasn't mine.I left the letter in the school room and ran back... The pigs were not fed, and the chickens were not put on the shelf, so I just lay on the kang... For several days, I seemed to have lost my soul. "

"No letter since?" "No." She opened the bottle of plum soup, drank one bowl, and then another. "You soldiers, you only talk about three years and two years...but come back...what are you doing back here! Let me show you a soul..." "What?" said the coachman, "wasn't he killed in action..." "Yes, forget it! There has been no news for more than a year." "Did you die in battle?" The coachman jumped out of the car, took the whip, and whipped it twice in the air, which seemed to be some kind of cracking sound. "Why do you ask... This soldier is really in danger." Her wrinkled lips were like torn silk, which was obviously frivolous and thin.

As soon as the car passed Huangcun, the sun began to slant, and magpies flew over the green wheat fields. "Did you cry when Brother Wuyun was killed?" I played with the yellow cat's tail while looking at her.But she ignored me and adjusted her scarf by herself. When the coachman hopped up to the rear of the car and held on to the railing, he jumped and sat on the shaft. Before he smoked, his thick lips were as tight as the mouth of a closed bottle. Mrs. Wuyun's words seemed to be raining lightly, and I fell asleep along the railing again. When I woke up again, the car was parked by the mouth of a well in a small village, the cow was drinking water, Mrs. Wuyun might have cried, her sunken eyes were raised, and the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes also opened.The coachman took a bucket of water from the well and carried it to the side of the car: "Don't you want to drink? It's cool and refreshing..."

"No drink," she said. "Drink something. If you don't drink, you can wash your face with cold water." He took the towel from his belt and soaked it in water. "Wipe it! Dust blinds your eyes..." How can soldiers hold handkerchiefs for others?I was amazed.The soldiers I know know how to fight, hit women, and pinch children's ears. "That winter, I went to the annual market... I went to the city to sell bristles, and I shouted at the annual market: "So hard bristles come... so long bristles...' In the next year, I will be happy. It's like forgetting his father... I don't worry about it... Think about it, it's not good, people will still be alive after all these years!In autumn, I also went to the fields to cut sorghum. Look at my hands, I have also suffered... In spring, I took my children to do long-term labor, and demolished the house in two or three months.Bring the house together again in winter.What cow hair... pig hair... and some picked up bird hair.I tidy up at home in winter, tidy it up... I choose a warm weather to go to the city to sell.If there is a car that goes into the city by the way, I will take the bald man with me... I didn't take the bald man that time.However, the weather was bad, with clear snow every day, and the annual market was not very lively; even if there were not a few bundles of bristles, they would never be sold out.I squatted in the city early in the morning until the sun was westward.At the intersection, a large piece of paper was pasted on the wall of a big business, and people were looking at it, as if the piece of paper had been posted since the early morning!Maybe it was posted at noon... some read a few words while reading it.I don't understand that... People say 'notice, notice', but what is the notice, I don't understand that either...

The 'Notice' is a matter of the government, and it has nothing to do with us as ordinary people!But I don’t know why so many people read it... Have you heard that it’s a 'notice' to catch deserters... Have you heard... Have you heard again... They will be sent to the county to be shot in a few days..." "What year? In the tenth year of the Republic of China, more than 20 deserters were shot and killed?" The coachman subconsciously put down his rolled-up sleeves, and then swept his chin with his hands. "I don't know what kind of year it is...Anyway, it doesn't matter if I shoot or not, anyway, I'm not lucky if I can't sell out all the bristles..." She rubbed her palms together for a while, suddenly, as if she was swatting a mosquito. Yes, I hit it out of thin air: "Someone read the deserter's name... I looked at the man in the black mandarin jacket... and I said:" You read it again! 'At first the pig hair was still in my hand...I heard Jiang Wuyun Jiang Wuyun's name, it seemed that the name rang several times...It took me a while before I wanted to vomit...There seemed to be something fishy in my throat The thing sprayed up, and I wanted to swallow it...but I couldn't swallow it...my eyes were on fire...those who read the 'notice' squeezed up, and I stepped back, and I went forward to have a look, my legs Don't make the decision!The more people read the 'Notice', the more I quit!It's getting farther and farther away..."

Sweat was streaming down her forehead and nose. "I followed the car and returned to the village. It was almost midnight. When I got out of the car, I remembered Zhu Mao... Where do I remember the pig hair... the ears are like two pieces of wood... the turban may have been dropped on the road, or it may have been dropped in the city..." She had lifted her hood, and the bottom tips of her ears were completely missing. "Look, this is the soldier's wife..." This time she tied the scarf tighter, so the corners of the scarf danced a little as she spoke. "Wu Yun is still alive, I just want to see him, it's also a couple once... "... In February, I carried a bald man on my back. I went to the city today, and I went to the city tomorrow... I heard that the 'notice' was posted several times. I don't want to see that thing. I went to the yamen to ask, and they said : "It doesn't matter here. 'Let me go to the barracks... I have been afraid of seeing officials since I was a child...I have never seen an officer from the country.Those with knives and guns, I tremble when I see it... Go!Anyway, they didn't kill anyone they saw... Later, they often asked about it, so they didn't have to be afraid.Anyway, a family of three already has one in their hands... They told me that the deserters hadn't been sent yet.When did I say it was delivered?They said: "Let's wait another month!"... As soon as I returned to the countryside, I heard that the deserters had come from which county, and what county was it? Just come here... Everyone said that if you don't go and see quickly, there will be no people. I will carry the bald man on my back, and then go to the city... to ask, the people in the barracks said: "I'm so impatient, you still have to ask a hundred Eighty times. I don’t know, maybe I didn’t send it over.’… One day, I watched a senior official come out of the barracks in a carriage, ringing the bell all the time... I put the bald man on the ground, and I ran over, just as the carriage was coming this way, I knelt down, not afraid of the horse's hoof stepping on my head. "'My lord, my husband...Jiang Wu...' Before I could say it, I felt a heavy weight on my shoulders...the driver of the carriage pushed me backwards, and I crawled on the ground as if I had fallen. to the side of the road. I only saw that the driver of the carriage was also wearing a soldier's hat. "I stood up and put the bald man on my back... In front of the barracks, there was a river. I spent half a day by the river watching the water. Some were fishing, and some were washing clothes. A little further away, in the river On the bay, the water is deep. I watched the waves pass by in front of me. I don’t know how many hundreds of waves have been sitting and watching. I want to put the bald man on the riverside, and I will jump down. Save his life, and someone will take him away as soon as he cries. "I patted that little chest, and I seemed to say: "Baldy, go to sleep." 'I also touched the round ears. The child's ears are really plump, exactly the same as his father's. When I saw the child's ears, I saw his father. " She smiled at the compliment. "I patted that little chest again, and I said again:" Go to sleep!bald. 'I remembered, I still have a few pennies, put them on the child's chest too!Stretching, stretching out my hand to let it go...the time to let it go...the child opened his eyes...and a sailboat came around the bend of the river. As soon as I heard the sound of the child calling mother on the boat, I jumped from the beach ...Hold the bald man...in the arms of..." She seemed to press her throat with a turban, and tears flowed down her hands. "It's better... let's go home with him on your back! Even if you beg for food, you still have a mother... a mother is good..." The corners of the blue turban also trembled along with her chin. There was a flock of sheep passing in front of our car, and the children herding the sheep were yelling with wicker. In the field, in the slanting sun, it was hard to tell what was flowers and what was grass!It's just a piece of yellowish yellow. The coachman walked beside the cart, whipping the whip to the ground in streaks of smoke. "...it wasn't until May that the people in the barracks said: "It's coming, it's coming." '"... At the end of May, a big steamer stopped on the riverside in front of the barracks. I don't know why there are so many people! There are more people than people looking at the river lanterns on July 15th..." Her two sleeves are swaggering. "Families of the deserters, stand on the right side... I also stood over, and walked past a man wearing a soldier's hat, and each of them hung a sign... Who knows, I don't know that word..." "When it was time to set up the gangplank, a group of soldiers came, and those of us with signs... circled up...'Stay away from the river, stay away...' They drove us away from the ship with guns It was three or four zhang away... Standing next to me was an old man with a white beard, he was holding a package in one hand, I asked him: "Old man, why did you bring this thing? '……'Humph!No!I have a son and a nephew...one bag per person...going back to the underworld, if you don't wear clean clothes, you won't be able to go to the high school. ...'"The gangplank was erected...I cried when I saw the gangplank erected...I didn't cry, I stood my heels firmly, and looked at the boat...but I couldn't see it... After a while, a soldier, with a foreign knife in his hand, said with his hand on the railing: "Let the family members retreat further... we will disembark..." We drove backwards until we reached the bean field beside the road. We were standing on the bean seedlings, and the gangway was rumbling again... We came down, and an officer took the lead... The shackles, rattling Wow... I still remember that the first one was a short one... five or six people walked down... none of them had broad shoulders like the bald man's father, it's true, it's ugly... two arms straight out Yes... It took me a long time to see that they were all handcuffed. The more people around me cried, the quieter I became.I just kept my eyes on the springboard... I want to ask his father 'why it's not good to be a soldier, but a deserter...Look, your son, are you sorry? '"Twenty or so, I don't know which one is his father, they all look like that from a distance. A young daughter-in-law... and wearing a green dress, as if going crazy, slipped through the army and snatched it ...the soldiers would not call her over...they caught her back, and she rolled on the ground, shouting: "I have been a soldier for less than three months...not yet..." The two soldiers The person who brought her back, her hair was loose. It took another bag of cigarettes before we brought those who put up the signs there... The closer we got, the closer we got, the harder it was to see which one was the bald man's father... My eyes turned white... and again In addition, everyone else was wailing, crying so much that I felt a little flustered... "Some are smoking cigarettes, some are cursing... even laughing. People like soldiers... It's no wonder that soldiers don't hesitate to die... "Let's see, there is really no bald man's father, hum! This is a strange thing... I grabbed a soldier's belt as soon as I turned around: "Where is Jiang Wuyun? ''Who is he to you? ''is my husband. 'I put the bald man on the ground...the unbeautiful one on the ground cried, I slapped the bald man, and gave the bald man a mouth... Then I beat the officer: "How far have you eliminated people? Is the place gone?'" "Okay... good guy... enough friends..." the deserters shouted, stamping their feet. The military officer saw the situation and quickly asked the soldiers to drag me away... They said: "Not only Jiang Wuyun, but two others have not been sent here. The next ship will send them tomorrow and the day after tomorrow... Among the deserters, they The three are the leaders.'" I left the riverside with the child on my back, and I hung up the sign and walked down, my legs trembling all the way.The streets were full of people rushing to watch the excitement... I walked past the barracks, and there was an old man sitting under the wall of the barracks with two parcels, and only one of his parcels was left.I said, "Old man, isn't your son here?" As soon as I asked him, he arched his back, put his beard on his lips with his hand, bit his beard and cried! "He also said: "Because he is the leader, he will be punished locally!" 'At that time I didn't know what this 'rectification' was..." She went on to say that it was completely disconnected. "Three years later, when the bald man was eight years old, he was sent to a tofu house... that's how it was: I visited him twice a year, and went home once every two years... It took ten and a half months to come back... ..." The coachman left the car and walked on the small road with his hands behind his back. The sun dragged him into a long shadow from the side. Every time he took a step, the shadow divided into a fork. "I also have a family..." His words flowed from his lips, as if he was speaking to the wilderness. "Yo!" Mrs. Wuyun loosened her scarf a little. "What!" The folds on her nose twitched for a while, "But it's true...you won't go home if you don't serve as a soldier..." "Hmph! Go home! Just go home with two legs behind your back?" The coachman smiled while wiping his fat hands and twisting his nose. "How much have you earned in the past few years?" "I just want to make some money! I just went as a deserter!" He tightened his belt even more. I added a cotton coat, and Mrs. Wuyun put on a blanket. "Well! There are still three miles to go... If this is a harnessed horse... Well! It will be there in one jolt! Cows are not good, this animal is not slow, and it is not good for a battle. Cows are not good..." The driver took out the straw bag The cotton-padded jacket came, and the cotton-padded jacket was blown by the wind with grass dust, so he put it on. The wind at dusk is the same as in February.On the back of the car, the coachman opened the wine jar that my grandfather had brought to my grandfather. "Drink! Open the wine jar on the way, poor people like to gamble... Have a drink or two..." After drinking a few glasses, he completely exposed his chest.While chewing on the jerky, his mouth was foaming.When the wind passed by his mouth, the foam on his lips became bigger. The city we are about to run to, in a gray atmosphere, can only tell that it is not a wilderness, nor a hill, nor a seaside, nor a forest,... As the car moved forward, the city seat seemed to be receding further and further away.There is a sticky feeling on the face and hands... Looking forward, there is no end to the road... The coachman cleaned up the wine jar and picked up the whip... At this time, the horns of the bull were also blurred. "You haven't been home since you came out? No letter from home?" The coachman must not have heard Mrs. Wuyun's question. He whistled and greeted the cow.Then he jumped out of the cart and followed the cow ahead. On the opposite side passed an empty car with a red lantern hanging from the shaft. "Fog!" "What a fog!" the coachmen greeted each other. "The fog in March...is either a war disaster or a famine year..." Two cars passed by again. 1936 (Originally published in Volume 1, Issue 5 of "Wen Ji" on October 1, 1936)