Chapter 27 Chapter 69

In the evening, Daliu Village in Jiexiu, Henan Province was bustling with activity.Today is May 7, 1969, the third anniversary of the publication of Chairman Mao's "May 7th Instructions". The May 7th Cadre School of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Animal Husbandry of China, located in Daliu Village, will hold a celebration party in the evening, and live in the cadre school outside the village. The students are busy preparing.Lu Xiaohui speaks Mandarin well, and was elected to be the announcer for tonight's celebration party. At this moment, she is running around the village with the program list, implementing the programs one by one, and at the same time experiencing the uniqueness of being a smart girl. hapiness.

There are many willow trees in Daliu Village. A dirt road stretches half straight and half curved beside a river beach. There are large and small willow trees on both sides. Some old trees have black and cracked trunks, squatting there like an old man with sparse The willow branches are draped down, but they are also soft and fluttering.There are villages on both sides of the road, and the untidy courtyards spread across a large area.On the river beach, large and small cobblestones and gravel are paved into a curved riverbed. The riverbed is quite wide, and some stone weirs are piled up unevenly, and there are also patches of land. Water, drought, and the water flow is sluggish, which makes people think of the words "reluctantly".Looking downstream along the river, you worry that it will not flow far ahead, like a brush that is not full of ink and "strictly saving" gently draws the strokes on the paper, try to draw as long as possible, do not interruption.

The cadre school was hurriedly built half a year ago.To cultivate land, through various political procedures, a piece of arable land in the brigade of Daliu Village is set aside, and then a piece of saline-alkali land that has not been cultivated for many years, even if there is a place for work.Without a house to live in, they slowly planned to build with wood, bricks and tiles, and gradually built. Now, half of the people temporarily live in farmers' homes in Daliu Village, and half of them have built simple houses by the river beach at the entrance of the village.In the past six months, amidst the ups and downs, the May 7th Cadre School was still in disarray, like a school fleeing refugees.This kind of chaotic life is like a busy beehive, everyone is buzzing and flying, but it also shows a kind of fulfillment.

Lu Xiaohui was walking hurriedly on the dirt road between willows and willows, the sun was shrinking at the end of the road, the willow trees squinted ignorantly by the roadside, and the old men and women in the village were splashing water at the door, waiting to sit down after dinner. Cool off on the side of the road.She and the acquaintances she met face to face greeted each other, looked at the programs and performers on the program list, asked about their respective residences, and checked their preparations one by one.After turning a corner, she entered a small courtyard, with a narrow gate, facing three main houses, and several small earthen houses on both sides next to the earth wall.There is a living room in the middle of the three main rooms, and there are two rooms on the left and right. The original landlord, an old man and an old lady, live in the west room, and Lu Xiaohui and her parents live in the east room.The small courtyard was lively, and a group of people were rehearsing the model play "The Story of the Red Lantern".The father was sitting on the stool with his legs crossed, and was playing the little banhu accompaniment. The mother and several men and women stood aside and sang softly. Singing, my mother was practicing a section of "Grandma", and a chubby middle-aged cadre with a red, thick square face was practicing singing "Li Yuhe".

Seeing Lu Xiaohui coming in, Fan Lizhen slapped his hands on his hips and said, "Put our show back a row, we haven't practiced well yet." Lu Xiaohui said: "Then hurry up, the party starts, will you practice well or not?" Well, we have to go to the scene, how can we still practice in hiding here?" Fan Lizhen said: "Then I won't eat, and practice a few more times as soon as possible." The father bumped his feet, held the bow with his right hand, and pulled out the banhu for a while. The string sounded, and said: "Singing with a full blown and hungry, and singing with an hungry stomach, it may be better." Everyone in the courtyard laughed.

Father was wearing a half-worn white shirt, his face was tanned even more, hanging there long, like a statue in a temple.The female director who played "Tiemei" had a fat face with bulging cheeks, and now she said with a narrow smile, "Okay, let's sing 'full and hungry', and let them play the trumpets to eat, and we Go hungry and sing at a high level." The old landlady squatted outside the door with a bald head, black and thin, and while digging shredded tobacco in the cigarette pack with a dry pipe, he looked cheerfully at the people in the yard.The old lady of the landlady was carrying a small bamboo basket, going in and out of the small earthen houses on both sides of the yard, turning her head from time to time, and staring at the people who were playing and singing in the yard with her eyes.

"Li Tiemei" cleared his throat, and said, "I'll do it again." Father creaked the banhu in his hand twice, and he was ready. "Li Tiemei" said in one sentence: "Grandma, listen to me." Then she sang with a very high-pitched voice, raised her chest, raised her head, shook her hair, and gestured like a righteous "Li Tiemei".While playing the huqin, my father looked up from time to time to see this plump, white and fat "Li Tiemei".Mother stood nervously preparing. Lu Xiaohui noticed her father's gaze on "Li Tiemei", and also her mother's indifference.After listening to this passage with a smile, she clapped her hands and said: "The singing is pretty good." Fan Lizhen said: "She's pretty good, I'm not so good."

Lu Xiaohui said: "Mom and Dad, you should practice first, I still have to implement the program." Lu Xiaohui shook the program list and left the small courtyard, walking quickly in the village, she felt that her short hair was loosely wrapped around her head, and she also felt that her round face was breaking through the waves in the warm air. I feel that my eyes and ears are clear.In the evening, there is a warm atmosphere in the village scene. Every household is smoking. The aroma of steamed buns and the smoke of firewood are floating in the village. The afterglow of the sun softens in this floating, and the light becomes curved and soft , Wrapped around the treetops like cotton thread.In the wheat fields beside the village, the wheat that has begun to turn yellow exudes a half-green and half-ripe aroma, wafting over, flicking the wicker teasingly, stirring the atmosphere of the countryside very densely.Sniffing your nose, you will feel that the strongest smell here is the earth heated by the sun. Walking in the rural fields, you will feel that human beings are just a group of small animals that plan and eat on the land.

Creaking and pushing open the door of a small courtyard with an earthen wall, a group of people were also clamoring for a program in the square courtyard.His father's former secretary, Su Xiaozhong, was one of the leaders of the rebel faction in the ministry, and he was also sent to the cadre school by the military propaganda team. He was leading the rehearsal of a small chorus. Four young female officers of about the same height stood side by side and sang " Qijue: Inscribing a Photo for the Female Militia", this is Chairman Mao's poem: "The heroic five-foot gun, the first light of dawn shines on the military field, the Chinese sons and daughters are full of ambitions, they don't like red makeup, they love armed forces."

Su Xiaozhong stood there lean and thin like a monkey grandson, holding a harmonica in his mouth wide open, playing the accompaniment.Lian waved his hand and stopped for a while, and gave some guidance to the four female directors: there was a problem with the coordination of the duet, the problem of articulation was clear and unclear, and the problem was that the voice was full and not full; it started again from the beginning.He first played a prelude on the harmonica, and at the end, he increased the volume rhythmically to signal preparation, and at the same time raised one hand to beat the time, and the four people sang loudly under his command.

Behind Su Xiaozhong, stood a woman who was half a head taller than Su Xiaozhong, with a chubby long round face turning around, watching the rehearsal scene somewhat honestly and somewhat ferociously.Lu Xiaohui knew that this was Su Xiaozhong's wife. She used to be a worker in a factory. Later, Su Xiaozhong was transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Animal Husbandry to look after the tea stove. His eyes swept back and forth between Su Xiaozhong and the four young female officers, those big and dull eyes showed obvious impatience.After a while, she folded her hands in front of her body in a very virtuous manner, and said, "Let's eat first, they have all eaten, and you haven't eaten yet." The four handsome female officers stopped singing and said to Su Xiaozhong "Eat first, too." Su Xiaozhong stretched out his hand into the air in a serious manner, and said, "It doesn't matter if you eat or not. You can eat after the party is over." With divine eyes, she looked at Lu Xiaohui who was standing aside, and asked, "Where is our program ranked?" Lu Xiaohui looked at the program list, and said, "The fifth." Su Xiaozhong said, "No problem, the number one We dare to go up." The four female directors all thought Su Xiaozhong was very interesting. Seeing him chuckle, he blinked his eyes even more interestingly and said: "The show doesn't matter how big or small the people are, the main thing is to be full of energy. If you want to get on stage, you should get out of your spirits." He is thin and small Standing there on the ground, while talking, he made a demonstration of stepping on the stage, chest up and head up. The exaggeration of the action made the four women bend down with laughter, and patted each other's shoulders happily.Su Xiaozhong pretended to be serious and blinked his eyes and asked: "What are you laughing at? What's so funny?" The four female officers laughed even more happily, and Su Xiaozhong's wife stood behind, showing a displeased face.Lu Xiaohui rushed to the landlord who was standing aside watching the bustle, a middle-aged farmer with a narrow head and narrow face nodded his head and walked out of the yard.There is a big difference between people in this world, the smart Su Xiaozhong is unaware of his wife behind him, he only cares about laughing and laughing, and is not afraid of being beaten at night.It is really inappropriate for his wife to put on such a face in public.Thinking of this, she felt smart again. She hurried to the river beach outside the village again. There are temporary houses built with iron frames riveted with foreign iron sheets. The iron sheets have not fallen to the bottom, and pairs of bare feet in slippers can be seen standing or moving in the houses. .The tin houses are densely packed row by row, like the big pigpens seen in national pig farms. Some men are standing at the door and wiping their bare backs with towels, while others are not. She had the nerve to take off her coat, lifted it up with one hand, and wiped the inside of the clothes with a towel with the other.While Lu Xiaohui was walking, a rear window suddenly opened, an arm and a washbasin flashed in front of her eyes, a basin of dirty water splashed down, she dodged hastily.Walking through the densely populated rows of one-story houses, the sounds of putting washbasins on the ground, rubbing towels in the washbasins, the sound of a couple talking, and the noise of people in the house filled her ears. The iron wires were pulled by wooden stakes one by one, and all kinds of clothes were hung on them to dry, some of which were still dripping water, and the front and back of the house were splashed with watery muddy soup. Passing through the temporary dormitory of the May 7th Cadre School, we arrived at the river beach, where another five or six groups of people were rehearsing the program.A group of people are making a group pose of charging into the battle to win the victory of the revolution. A red flag is pierced high into the sky. Dynamic.A group of people were practicing and singing the model play "Taking the Tiger Mountain by Outsmart". Yang Zirong was played by a tall, thin middle-aged cadre with a thin face.There are a bunch of people next to them, talking and singing allegro.Lu Xiaohui stepped on the uneven dirt road and cobblestones by the river beach, looking at groups of people. Hearing that the duet couple had gone to the edge of the wheat field to practice singing, she hurried to the wheat field again.There is a piece of wheat growing honestly here. The wheat has already shown its ears, and the green is yellowish. When the wind blows, it shakes like countless thin old men.Seeing no one singing duet, she walked across the wheat field on stalks to the village.Suddenly I heard human voices, and after walking a few steps, I saw a man and a woman sitting in the hollow next to the pump room, hugging and kissing.Lu Xiaohui stopped her pace immediately, presumably this was a man and a woman performing a duet, they should not get dizzy and forget about tonight's program, but it is not convenient to alarm them for a while. While hesitating, I saw two people hugging each other and rolling into the wheat field next to the water pump house. The undulating wheat waves quickly submerged them, and the wheat field could be vaguely seen wriggling vigorously.She thought about it, then turned around and left.After walking for a long way, I stopped again, thought for a while, turned back and took a few steps, picked up a clod of soil from the ground, and threw it towards the iron pipe protruding from the pump room, causing a little noise.Still no human head emerged from the wheat field.She smiled slightly, turned around and walked forward. After walking a long distance, she covered the trumpet with her hands and shouted loudly towards the water pump room: "Duet, male and female duet, is your program implemented yet?" Then he hid behind a big willow tree.A man's head appeared in the far wheat field, as if he was looking around, and after a while, a woman's head was also struggling to be exposed crookedly. Lu Xiaohui smiled quietly, turned her head and left under the cover of a row of willow trees. Finally, all the programs were implemented, and she came to the office of Political Commissar Qiu of the Military Propaganda Team of the Cadre School. This was originally the brigade headquarters of Daliu Village. "Lu Xiaohui is very capable." Lu Xiaohui saw a trace of unnaturalness from his long black face.Sitting in the office is Luo Junlan, a coquettish female technician from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Animal Husbandry. She has a white oval face, a slightly narrow forehead, long eyes that almost reach her temples, and a slightly long chin, but she is plump and straight. Looks good, she seems to be talking to political commissar Qiu.Political Commissar Qiu angrily said to Luo Junlan in front of Lu Xiaohui: "You need to correct your attitude further, eh?" He smiled with the innocent expression of a middle school student, turned around and left.In fact, she could read something special from Political Commissar Qiu's smiling eyes every time, but she was smarter than anyone else, so she handled it properly. The sky had already darkened, and the western sky was only left with very dim green patches and white patches. There were loudspeakers in the village calling for all the members of the May 7th Cadre School to gather at the venue, and people came out in twos and threes from the courtyards everywhere. , Lu Xiaohui hurried back to her residence.The people rehearsing the show had probably left long ago, and it was quiet inside. When I opened the courtyard door, I found a young man with pigtails standing at the door of the living room with a huqin in his hand. It was the female director who played Li Tiemei. There was an affectionate smile on his face, and then he saw his father coming out of the house, putting on a blue cloth coat. He took the huqin from "Li Tiemei", looked at Lu Xiaohui and said, "Xiaohui, Why did you come back? Everyone has already left." Lu Xiaohui said, "I'll take something." Her father and "Li Tiemei" left. Lu Xiaohui looked at the closed courtyard door behind them, and knew that her hasty attitude just now that she had no time to take care of others was very natural and very smart.She entered the living room and turned right into the room where her parents and herself lived.The room is not big, and there are beddings for three people on the kang. The father is near the door, and the mother sleeps in the middle, and she is close to the east wall. The pillows and quilts of the three people are placed against the north wall.She climbed onto the kang without taking off her shoes, knelt down to the place where she put the quilt, found the menstrual belt from under the quilt, and then knelt down to the kang and closed the door.Looking through the window, there was no one in the yard, so she immediately unbuttoned her belt and did some manipulations. The faint feeling in her lower body told her that the once-a-month woman thing was coming again. When she hurried to the venue, it was already a bustling scene.On the wheat threshing field the size of several blue courts, a large stage has already been set up at one end, and a few large light bulbs have been turned on. The flat ground in front of the stage is already full of men and women from the May 7th Cadre School. , behind and on both sides of them, men, women and children of the village were standing or squatting, and a large banner was drawn on the stage: "Celebrating the third anniversary of the May 7th instructions of the great leader Chairman Mao", more men, women and children gathered from all directions come over.It was completely dark, and the lights on the stage were shining brightly. Looking at it from a distance, it was really steaming.Lu Xiaohui suddenly thought of Lu Xun's "Social Opera", setting up a brightly lit stage in the dark night surrounded by wheat fields, it is indeed a bit like a distant fairyland.She walked hurriedly through the dense crowd towards the stage.The only thought lingering in her mind at the moment is that she must announce the curtain; however, the faint menstrual cramps in the lower part of her body made her have another question: Will she really stay here forever?