Chapter 35 Chapter Thirteen

Although the sun has not risen yet, the sky is bright.The donkey cart crossed another small bridge made of prefabricated concrete panels, and went onto the road leading to Weijia Bridge.The sandy slope in the east is covered by the gloomy woods, and there is no brilliant sunlight yet, and above the gloomy trees is a misty, off-white mist.This east-facing avenue is next to Lingqu, parallel to the embankment.The willow trees planted on the canal are as old as the Lingqu canal. Some people say that they were planted by someone in a certain year, some say they were not. In short, they have an untraceable history with the waterwheels on the bank and the canal at their feet. .Now, they bend their waists and hunched their backs, and hang their long soft willows on the heads of passers-by, as if observing the ever-changing world with a peaceful and indifferent attitude.

There was no one on the road.The thick dust is sprinkled with the dew's moisture, only groups of early-rising magpies are jumping on it with their tails up and down, leaving their messy claw marks on the wet dust.It turned out that there were strings of animal dung strewn all over the avenue: some donkey dung, some horse dung; Very complete, covered with a layer of oil paint-like luster.Not last night, but in the early morning of this morning, a cattle dealer must have sold cattle from Hedong. On both sides of the canal and the dirt road, under the gradually brightening and rising sky, there is a green field as beautiful as a dream in the morning.Of course, he is very familiar with this area.It used to be a swamp, with cattail grass, water leeks and reeds growing in the water, and "creepers" and three-edge grass growing on the wetland.In the beginning of spring, pairs of gray-white water snipe come flying "squeaking", flipping up and down on the water.In summer, the scorching sun makes the swamp water look like snot, and there is a layer of dark green alkali moss floating everywhere.Mosquitoes, gnats and gadflies flew up from here in groups and scattered in all directions with the wind.But now, this place where no cattle herds used to come, has become rows of fields lined up toward the river.

Tian was opened during the years from the "Great Leap Forward" to "Learning from Dazhai". It answered Lao He's question "Is the collectivization we have done for more than 20 years in vain?" Yes, with the strength of the collective After all, nature has changed its face.But, a few years ago, what kind of seedlings grew in the fields!The fields are opened by the farmers, but the farmers don't love the fields they have worked so hard to open.At that time, the team here was a "three-dependence team" every year. Every day when the bell was struck, the secretaries and captains would hold a bowl of wheat and knock on doors and windows from door to door: "Who will work? Who will give food now! "Otherwise, just hold a willow stick and point at your father and mother to scold the commune members who are staying in the house.

Now, the wheat in the field is being filled with grout, and it looks darker and stronger in the half-light morning light.In previous years, on both sides of the criss-crossing and wide ridges, clumps of fat pig ear vegetables, slender gray stripes, yellow-flowered dandelions and purple-flowered Malan grass grew early at this time, mottled and colorful, more colorful than wheat seedlings in the field high.But right now, farmers are doing everything possible to expand the area of ​​their contracted fields, repairing the ridges like long and thin metal pipes, buried under the dense wheat seedlings.

He is an expert, and he has seen traces of caressed by the rough and careful hands of the farmers everywhere from the rows of the seedlings and the fields.He couldn't help feeling jealous, the Weijiaqiao brigade didn't have this kind of land. He thought of his wife again. His wife had been useless and confused all her life, but when a bird was about to die, its song was mournful, and when a person was about to die, her words were also kind. At the end of her life, she finally said something very insightful. Yes, if the farmer doesn't even have a slap in the face, how can you tell him to love the countryside?The land is nominally collective, but the householders have no right to control or use it.In this way, the farmer works like an abacus pearl, turning it around; some people don't even know how to plant the land, and the captain and the old farmer have to teach him.The farmer's lack of affection for the land often made him bitter.

His third uncle is already seventy years old, and he is usually reticent. A few days ago, he suddenly asked him: "I said, heaven is precious, tell me, in ancient times, did farmers with shovel handles work together?" "In ancient times? No." "Then why do we have to work together?" "That's...that's how society develops." He told his third uncle what he had learned in the past, "Individual labor must always become collective labor." "Hey!" His third uncle laughed at him, "That's when there were capable people in ancient times. That capable person knew what to do, so he didn't do it. He took the spade handle, the sickle handle, and the household belongings in his own hands. Together, it's like duck webs climbing a tree. You can see that the teams divided by others have doubled compared to the past. The division makes sense. I think there are also talented people in the central government now. Wu Shangrong's mechanic Why is there no one in the factory calling for division? It’s because those workers can’t do it separately, they have to be combined in one factory. I see, let us peasants work together. As you said, when we can use air to make When it came to rice, our Weijiaqiao was almost a rice factory!"

The eldest son of the "yellow-haired ghost" works as a worker in the mine, the second child drives a tractor in the brigade, and the three younger ones work as commune members in the village.That old five, the little "yellow-haired ghost" who took out his pocket in 1960 to ask for steamed buns, was neither big nor small in front of him since he was a child, and the same is true when he grows up.One day, with a sullen face, he questioned him like this: "Hey, little daddy (people here call uncle daddy), how long are you going to be in power? Other places are contracted to the household, why don't you do it?"

"I'm 'why not do it'!" He was also a little angry, "I'm afraid your baby won't even be able to earn rations! Now you get more than two yuan a working day, what do you want?" "Forget it, don't you rely on the machine repair shop for your two yuan or so? You pay it to me! I don't want the machine repair shop to subsidize money, even if I sell pants!" The little "yellow-haired ghost" is most like his father, with two elbows With a hug, his eyes widened. "I've heard enough of the captain's scolding, I should also be the master of the house!"

what!Far, far away, on the other side of the river, a crimson morning glow appeared, and the gloomy woods brightened cheerfully, as if looking forward to a long-awaited lover, with a bright blush.Numerous birds—flocks of sparrows, barn swallows, and water sandpipers, as well as flocks of rooks—were circling in surprise over the woods, dazzled by the faint rays of the sun.The sun is coming out, and today is a fine day.In front, among the gaps between willows, elms, locust trees and sand jujube trees, his Zhuangzi could already be vaguely seen. He is a very sensitive person. He has already felt that the respect of the folks in Zhuangzi is not as good as before. He feels that since the implementation of contract work outside the household, the spirit of the villagers has undergone a new change. This change is the little "Huang". "Mao Gui" shouted: "You must be the masters of the family!" They are very realistic. They do not expect legal ownership. Freely displaying their physical and mental strength that has been suppressed for many years, they can live and work on it independently.They had needed him in the past, because he was a figure from among their ordinary farmers who could adapt to that particular situation.Now, that special situation has passed, and he has become an ordinary villager again in their eyes.They themselves, like the birds in the morning glow, flap their wings that have been folded all night and soar!

So what should he do?That night, he thought about Hao San, Han Yumei, the past and present of He Lide and You Xiaozhou, and even his dead mother and younger brother; He himself—and perhaps Han Yumei—knows the secret, who is he?Is he really "half a ghost"?He felt that he didn't seek anything for himself. Farmers often said: "If the seeds are good, half of the grain; if the mother-in-law is good, half of the blessing." This is true.His mother-in-law and aunt are like that, "half of happiness" is destined to be reimbursed from the day of marriage; the other half is just a taste of life in the process of fighting for the lives of the villagers; Han Yumei started from this Point to fall in love with him.Otherwise, why should she love an old man fourteen or five years older than her?

In all fairness, although he did not take the case like You Xiaozhou did, and spoke outrightly, as a party member and a rural grassroots cadre, he did his best in that abnormal historical period.Although the past half of his life was thrilling, it was also because of this that he felt that he had not lived in vain. At this time, he remembered what You Xiaozhou told him last month when Mai Mai was dripping water. "Look at the water of the Yellow River," the two of them squatted on the embankment, and You Xiaozhou told him with a feeling, "No matter how many dirty things people throw in it along the way, such as feces, blood, dead dogs and cats, The lost fertilizer, but as long as it keeps flowing and moving, it can always be kept clean. This is called "the self-purification effect of running water" in science. The same is true for our Chinese nation. For thousands of years, people How much dirt was thrown in there! But in the end we have built a socialist country. Although our system is still very imperfect, there will inevitably be people who want to throw dirt into it, but we can 'self-purify'! All the dirty things thrown in will settle down in the non-stop movement of our nation!" You Xiaozhou saw that he didn't quite understand, and said: "For example, our party and country, since 1957 or 1958, people have thrown dirty things into it, and we ourselves have done a lot of stupid things, stupid things things, wrong things, but we still achieved great results after all. How did this happen? Frankly speaking, I always thought that the ultra-left set of things did not follow through to the end as they exaggerated; The "comprehensive class dictatorship" has not actually reached "comprehensive". If it is really smashed down, exterminated, and rooted out, I am afraid that our party and country will not last until 1976. It is precisely because of the above, there are older generations like Premier Zhou The revolutionaries in the country are consciously resisting, buffering, and reducing the harm of the extreme left as much as possible. Below, there are thousands of cadres and masses, including rural grassroots cadres like you, starting from a healthy instinct, unconsciously filtering out these dirty things. We can make progress only when we overthrow the 'Gang of Four' and win the Third Plenary Session. This is our nation's 'self-purification'. Dirty things will always be filtered out and precipitated... So, now When our county implemented the production responsibility system, I never forced orders. I believe that, except for those who jumped up during the Cultural Revolution, everyone can find out what is good and what is not good from their own experience, and filter out the bad things Drop it. Don’t you think so?…” He hadn't said anything then, and now, what had he drawn from the deep well of his own memories? Now, Hu Lide still uses him as an example of "our past method is still correct", as if the "past method" can really make the farmers rich; The shield of the household contract... "Bear!" The rebellious man spat, "Using your favorite words, I'm going to 'break' with your set!" No one is more familiar with the countryside than him, and he is more keenly aware of the spiritual changes of the farmers.The household contract not only reflects the responsibility of the householders, but more importantly, it reflects the rights of the householders.In the past, they had no rights and could only survive under his wings.He is responsible for the above, and he "filters" above, while the farmers are passive, having neither rights nor responsibilities. "The land should be contracted to individuals! Farmers have the right to have a sense of responsibility. Everyone takes responsibility and 'filters', so that our country's 'self-purification' can be faster!" He thought, "But Having said that, the collective still has the benefits of the collective. What should be paid to the individual is paid to the individual, and what should be managed by the collective must be arrested, such as Wu Shangrong's repair shop..." As the sun rose, the cattle began to roar, and somewhere came the clang of iron, solemn and sonorous.