Chapter 6 six

six Ask a cowherd for news He said he heard she went to pick up cow dung There was a sound of horseshoes outside the door, accompanied by a rough shout.The female teacher smiled and said, "Look, Dawacang is back. Hey—" she called out the door, "Boss Che! There are guests! Somiya's brother is here!" The rough voice outside the door exclaimed loudly: "Ha, what a majestic big black horse!" Immediately, a burly man in his forties opened the door and stepped in. The female teacher gave us an introduction, and then got up to leave. "I'm going home, Comrade Baiyinbaolige. Your sister won't be back until tomorrow—she's transporting coal for the school. If you have nothing to do, come to the school tomorrow to play. I haven't heard you talk about the things in the city yet. .” After that, she left.

The big man patted me on the shoulder: "Sit, sit. Get on the kang. Hey—" He yelled at the little guys on the kang, "Get off! Let Naheqi sit on the kang! It's a kennel!" While roaring, he pulled the two children who had climbed to the edge of the kang, and the two children fell to the ground.I hurriedly reached out to help, but those two little clever ghosts were so used to it, they rolled up and got up, "Drive the horse! Drive the horse!" yelling, smashed open the door and ran outside.The youngest one was crying on the kang, rolling and crawling to follow his brothers.The big man grabbed his crotch pants, lifted the child up, and hugged him in his arms.

"Baby—don't run, don't run around with them, be a baby to Dad—tsk!" He rudely kissed the child's ass with his big mouth, and wiped off the two spots on the child's face with a slap. The yellow snot was wiped on the Kang mattress. "Sit on the kang, Brother Baiyinbaolige... Hey! Qiqige, why are you standing there in a daze? Hurry up and cook! Hmph!" I accosted and said, "Are there four children in total?" "That's all four. Didn't you hear that the commune health center is arresting women everywhere, cutting and eunuching. Huh, damn it! Somia—your sister, I gave them last year—eh, the rest Ge! See if I don't slap your face! Why are you still standing there? Waiting to die?" He suddenly became furious and yelled at the little girl viciously.

"The noodles are ready." The girl whispered.Sitting against the edge of the Kang, she looked so small. "Then go and drink the horses for Naheqi! Go to the back of the house and find a rope, and connect Naheqi's black horse and my yellow horse to graze! What, are you going to let the horse starve to death?" He asked. With my chest up, saliva splashed on the little boy in my arms and me.I quickly jumped off the kang and said, "I'd better drink the horse myself, this horse is not very honest." "Then go and lead the way for Naheqi! Take my canvas bucket, and if the black horse doesn't drink the lake water, it will go to the well platform!" He continued to yell with his legs crossed, full of air. "Hey, Brother Baiyin Baolige, go and come back quickly! I'll wait for you, let's drink a bottle of it today!"

It was not yet dark.Qiqige and I walked silently on the road leading to the lake.The girl walked lightly and said nothing.However, every time I turned to look at her, she quickly met my eyes and glanced at Ganga Hara, whom I was leading. "Qiqige, has your mother told you about this horse?" I asked cautiously. "Well. I told you." She replied simply. Walked quietly for a while.This time she took the initiative to speak: "Bappa—is this horse really called Ganga? Hara?" "certainly." She turned and called softly to the black horse, "Ganga? Hala! Ganga? Hala!".

The black horse raised its head violently and snorted loudly.The little girl smiled happily. "How nice!" she said. I squatted down moved and gently hugged her. She was very light, like a feather.I lifted her up and put her on the back of the black horse.That way she's almost as tall as me.I held her little shoulders and looked at her carefully. I found no trace of the girl I remembered in her face.She is not like her mother.Somia was not so thin, nor did she have such melancholy eyes.And she didn't have Suomi Ya's flushed cheeks and gentle expression.But I still have to admit, this little girl was born pretty.In the dark, she straddled the horse silently, stroking the long mane on the black horse's shoulders with both hands, her small torso looked so thin and weak.I wanted to move my eyes to her hair, suddenly feeling shameful about it.So, I picked up the canvas bucket, led the horse, and continued to walk towards the lake.

Ganga? Hara put his head down and took a long drink.From where it buried the lips, the lake water rippled in circles of expanding ripples, drawing shining arcs on the dark surface of the lake, all the way to the steep cliffs with vague outlines on the opposite bank. Qi Qige rubbed against the black horse, washing off the hard dirt on his hands. "I'm only nine years old, and I'm already cooking for the family." I thought, looking at her.After the black horse had drunk enough, he turned his head sideways and looked at the girl curiously. Qiqige happily stretched out his little hand and touched the horse's furry lips.

I leaned over and asked, "Are you happy at school? Are you doing well in your studies? Are you qualified?" "I failed the arithmetic test yesterday. Teacher Lin gave me two points." "Is the question difficult?" "No," she looked up at me, "because my mother went to Haila Jinshan early yesterday morning to transport coal. Last year she went during the summer vacation. So I went too. The place is far away, I know. " "You shouldn't think about your mother, you should be thinking about it. You should only think about how to get the questions right." I enlightened.

"Well, yes," the girl said, "on the way back last year, the wheels of a ox cart came loose. Mom hugged me. I sat in the dark all night... Will the ox cart come back again this year?" Where is it broken? I thought, and I miscalculated. This year she drove four ox carts." The little girl was silent again, and I couldn't say anything more.We took our horses and headed home.After walking for a while, I couldn't help asking the child again: "Qiqige, father to your mother—I mean, why didn't your father transport coal? It's so far away." "No, that's my mother's business. She's working for the school. Not only transporting media, but also milking and pulling water. The school gives us money every month."

It was completely dark.Qiqige handed me the bridle and ran into the darkness by himself.for a while. "Hi! Hi!" came her shout.A tall horse of unrecognizable color was driven by her. She tied a rope around the horse's legs and handed me the other end of the rope. "Hey, let Ganga? Hara graze grass. It's time for me to make noodle tea," she said. I took the rope and touched her cold little hand. The child silently let me hold her hand.After a while, she said: "Bapa, do you want me to take you to see mother's cows tomorrow? It's so beautiful." Then.She squeezed the back of my hand carefully.

Dawacang had already taken off his shirt, exposing his muscular, black-haired chest.The little son was fussing in his arms, biting the hard nipple on his chest, while the other two writhed beside him, grabbing something. "Brother Baiyin Baolige!" He greeted me beamingly, "Get on the kang quickly! Drink a bowl before eating! Qiqige, next noodles!" We drink to each other.Seeing the adults drinking and drinking, the two little devils got even more excited.They fought desperately for the bottle and the glasses in our hands.Shouting and screaming as we were being refilled, the little mud hut that had seemed so deserted to me in the afternoon boiled up.There was the steam of noodle soup, the smell of wine and the shouts of children. I am reminded of a little poem I read sometime back.The poem is evocative of a warm family dinner filled with orange flames.Drinking strong wine with this hulking driver, I seem to feel the artistic conception of that little poem again.Dawacang drank happily and talked.From time to time, he yelled at the three children who were making trouble on the kang like puppies with rough and ugly curse words.The dry mud and grass walls absorbed the heat of the raging fire, and dissipated the heat to the life in the crooked hut.The children's yelling shook my eardrums, and I was a little drunk.The owner of the car was lying on his back comfortably, discussing with me the advantages and disadvantages of the weather, customs and pastures. I found that although this burly man was rough.But it is also bold and powerful.He is undoubtedly the strong pillar and the master of the family.Oh, as one might imagine, Somia's days in this hut, hard as they might have been, were by no means intolerable and miserable.If she is also in this hut at this moment, whether she is squatting by the fire, sitting on the edge of the kang, or lying on the quilt, it will only add more warmth and kindness to the warmed up little mud hut.It seems that human heat can ignite life in any cold corner of the world.Those who are really abandoned by life are people like me who can't go with the flow.Maybe, this is my tragedy... However, its style is not in harmony with this hot family happiness.All evening she had been sitting on a pile of saddlery in the corner of the room, crumpling a crumpled school-book.As long as I glanced at her, I always met her eyes that were hurriedly moved away as if I was evading. Throughout the night, even though I was chatting with Dawacang, I always felt that the little girl was staring at me with burning eyes. His eyes seemed to penetrate my clothes and skin.It made my heart ache. Late at night.Through the glass embedded in the window frame, I saw the dark blue night sky and the gray-white lake waves.Before he knew it, the three mischievous ghosts had already fallen asleep, one pillowed on the other, Dawacang hiccupped, and began to grab the children's legs and arms, pulling them into a row.In the end, he threw a big leather quilt on Xiao Qiqige's body forcefully, and let out a low curse: "Huh! This ghost wife doesn't know where she died today! Uh, there is no one who lays the kang... ..." He gritted his teeth fiercely, glanced out of the corner of his eye, and our eyes met.He immediately shut up.But I felt something at that moment. The awkward silence lasted only a few seconds.Perhaps with the help of alcohol, I grabbed his thick shoulders: "Maybe you hate me?" I asked. The driver panted heavily, thought for a while, and poured another half bowl of wine.He pondered for a moment, then spoke in a low voice: "Brother, my words may not sound good-to be honest, we have forgotten you a long time ago. I never thought that you would come to see me. I thought that people in the city are so heartless, and my mother and father are dead. Pay attention to..." I lowered my head in embarrassment. Dawacang handed over the wine bowl in a conciliatory manner, and said forgivingly, "Oh, I just found out today that I was wrong. Look, didn't you ride a horse, climb mountains and cross rivers to find us Baiyinwula? Come, drink, drink." I looked at the bowl of bitter wine, and then gulped it down.What can I say? We lay side by side on a stack of quilts, sipping wine in silence.The cart owner said to himself: "Oh, brother! Seriously, you shouldn't have been away at that time... Those things really can't be left to a woman! Oh, it's almost ten years..." I sat up and poured him the wine slowly. "That night, I drove an empty car in the moon field. Hey, I was too sleepy and fell asleep. Later, I woke up somehow. I seemed to hear a woman crying. To be honest, I was scared all over Fighting. But, it must have been prompted by a ghost—I yelled at the horse and looked for the crying sound. I took a closer look, ha! It was a woman guarding a bullock cart with broken wooden wheels, crying loudly. I got off her in the workshop. Hey——she was attending her grandma’s funeral! In the dark night, the road was bad, the car broke down, and she was sad, so she started crying. Well, she was still holding the child—the child looked like a stripped A skinny cat, so small that it is scary. Seeing her cry, my heart softened. I said, girl, don’t cry! Even if your Eji has a son like me! He just came to give the old man a funeral... just In this way, I carried the old woman's blanket into the cart, and then disassembled her unlucky broken cart, loaded it into the cart, and transported the old man to the ravine... After I sent their mother and child back to the yurt, I asked her, how are you going to live in the future? She said, I don’t know. Later, I got in the car and left. After returning, I always think of her. The more I think about her, the more pitiful she is. car, got a marriage license, and went to Borregon Bend for the second time..." He picked up the wine and took a sip.The lower kang covered Qiqige who was sleeping soundly curled up by the stove with a quilt, and lay down beside me again. "Later, I asked your sister. I asked her, Somiya, is there no man in your family? Funeral - you have to be a girl to do that kind of thing? She said, there is an older brother who went to college. Brother, I just found out that there is you. I asked her again, so I must take a kitten to see the old man by myself? There are so many families on the grassland! She said, I don’t want to beg others, I should I'll go. Oh—what a fool!" The next day, the weather was fine.Dawacang got up early and harnessed the four horses to the cart.He rummaged around the house for a while, probably not finding any decent dry food. Finally, he cursedly put a jug of wine into his pocket and walked out the door. He pulled out the big whip, and then patted me on the shoulder: "Brother, it's not bad, I'm going out to deliver the goods. If you're hungry, ask that kitty Qiqige to make tea. I can help you on the way." When I run into your sister, she won't be back before dark. I'll urge her to beat up those lazy old cows in the school and run away. Huh, look at her temporary worker... Hey," he thought again Wake up, "You can stay for a few more days. When I come back in three or five days, let's drink two more bottles together. You can't drink too much." He yelled the car and left, along a driveway that climbed straight up to the high mountain ridge by the lake. He drove the car fiercely, the whip cracked sharply, and the wheels raised yellow dust.He sat on the bar with his chest up, yelling and cursing in a rough voice, full of air. "A good fellow," I thought to myself.A burst of melancholy came to my heart again. During the school break, Qiqige led me to see the school's cows.It turned out to be an improved Dutch breed of cattle I had studied in college.The cows, with their big patches of black and white fur, paced gracefully, basking in the sun in a small yard.I walked into the yard like a thin mud pond, and the mud was gurgling under my feet.I stood in that mud for a long time.Yes, Somia squatted in this muddy field every day to milk her cows... Qiqige led me to the backyard of the school kitchen, where there was a hill of winter fuel: yellow-brown cow dung, black Bright matchmaker, when the girl led me closer to the lake, the class bell rang, and Qi Qige pointed me to a bluestone slab by the lake from a distance, and hurried to class. I walked to the lake and sat down slowly on the bluestone slab.In the frozen winter, Somiya squatted on this rock, chipped away at the solid ice of Nuogainur, pumped buckets of water into the water tank, and transported it to the school. I found the footsteps she left on this land.I saw her life and labor.A day and a night of hearing and seeing filled my field of vision with a chaotic and dizzying array of impressions that I could barely keep up with.But I still can't believe and accept them, even though they are so real, I still only see her image: that is a beautiful girl facing the morning glow, with golden red longing in her eyes.I lay down in the grass on the bank, closed my eyes sadly, and tried my best not to think about all the past.Later, I fell asleep. long time.I looked up, the sun was already westward.I saw Ganga Hara standing in the lake beside me, his fur was as black as pure charcoal after being washed in the lake water, and the sun-facing side shone with a beautiful varnish. It stood upright in the shoals of the clear and swaying lake, motionless.It held its head high, and its arrow-like ears stood out—it was watching something attentively. I hurriedly got up and looked over there—on the blue-gray high mountain ridge that seemed to be floating on the steaming smoke of the lake, on the green mountain ridge that looked like a soaring smoke-like driveway, there was A series of four small black dots are four bullock carts connected end to end, winding down here.