Chapter 36 Chapter 78

It was a day at the beginning of 1971. Lu Xiaolong pushed his bicycle against the biting cold wind and spent a day and a night on the 30-mile uphill road to the Hanshanzhuang Brigade in the deep mountain valley.In the early morning, the sky above his head was a piece of iron blue, and the mountains on both sides were still dark. After a wide dirt road sent him here, he continued to climb forward like a gray dragon.In the distance, two mountains are sandwiched between each other, making the gray dragon invisible, and the headquarters of the Hanshanzhuang brigade is right in front of you. This is a small courtyard surrounded by houses with white and gray walls. It lies at the foot of the mountain shivering in the cold wind. The mountains on both sides are very high, and the courtyard is small and pitifully deserted.A gust of wind rushed over from the valley like a howling flood, and the flying sand and stones rushed to the tiles on the houses.A tree branch like antlers fell from the air on the roof, rolled and jumped over the tiles, making a series of crisp sounds, like a goat running across the roof.Lu Xiaolong pushed the cart to the gate of the courtyard, the gate rattled in the wind, and the green paint on the gate had been mottled and peeled off.The door was hung with an iron chain, but it was not locked, and the iron chain rattled as it was pulled by the door.

A wooden sign was hung on the green brick doorpost, with the words "Hanshanzhuang Brigade" written in scarlet letters on it. The wooden sign was not nailed firmly, and it was flapping against the doorpost in the wind.Lu Xiaolong hesitated for a moment, stretched out his hand to untie the iron chain on the door, swung the door open with a whistling sound, and slammed it heavily against the wall of the room inside.Lu Xiaolong pushed his dilapidated bicycle into the yard. There were three rooms facing him, one on the left and right sides, and another on both sides of the courtyard door. The walls of the seven small rooms were all painted with white ash, forming a lonely and deserted space. Small courtyard.

He put down the car, looked around in the yard, and found that only a house next to the yard door had a lock on it. Looking in through the glass window, there were several tables, a few benches, and a handy telephone on the table. , the rest of the rooms were unlocked, some of them had no doors at all, and there was nothing inside.He turned to the gate again. On the outer walls of the two houses with the gate on the left and right, there was a small square window on one side and a cement blackboard on the other. There were some chalk words written on the blackboard. The notice of the production team counting the newborn population was blurred in chalk, and it was signed two months ago.Standing in the courtyard, you can see the mountains on all sides. A gust of wind whizzed by, and another dead branch the size of a walking stick fell from mid-air onto the roof tiles. The stone whizzes across the roof, making people think that the tiles will be polished over time.He stretched out his hand from the cotton glove, wiped the sand on his face, put the bicycle against the wall, hugged his arms tightly, and walked around the yard shrunken. He couldn't stand the cold and ran to an empty room. Bumping feet back and forth in the room, listening to the howling wind outside.

One night a few months ago, he secretly gathered 30 educated youths who were forced to disperse to five villages—except Lu Jimin and Jia Ruoxi who were not notified in the commune health center—in a mountain valley and opened up a secret meeting.He told everyone that he was going to leave Liubao to wander outside, and he wanted to do an extensive social survey of rural China.He looked at the more than 20 faces sitting together and said: "At the beginning, I brought everyone here from Beijing. It is reasonable to say that I shouldn't leave everyone alone, but now I will only hurt everyone by staying here. Now that I'm gone, Liu Renxin's thorn in his side is gone, and everyone can relax a bit, and I hope everyone will contact and help each other more after I leave." He pointed to Tang Beisheng and the big man and said, "If you have anything to do, you should ask Tang Beisheng more. Discuss with the big man. If you have a chance in the future, you can also go to the Educated Youth Office of the County Revolutionary Committee and ask to come back to Liubao again." After a pause, Lu Xiaolong continued: "However, that may become a thorn in Liu Renxin's side again. , I don’t have any good ideas anymore, let’s figure it out.” The moon walked through the clouds above, showing its thin and crooked face from time to time, and more than 20 people sat in the dirt puddles in silence.Someone asked: "Then what do you do alone?" Lu Xiaolong smiled and said: "I have learned about farm work in the past two years, so why don't I make a living in the countryside? I can make tofu and acupuncture I can do field work and field work, so I will look for food and conduct social surveys." Tang Beisheng and the big man had already known Lu Xiaolong's plan, and said to everyone at this time: "Lu Xiaolong is determined to do his job. You don’t need to worry too much. If Liu Renxin sends someone to inquire about Lu Xiaolong’s whereabouts, everyone just say they don’t know.”

Thinking of breaking up with this group, Lu Xiaolong was somewhat sad, but he still left resolutely.At three or four o'clock in the morning, he rode the broken car he had prepared and left.In order not to alarm anyone, only Tang Beisheng sent him out of the village in the darkness.Before breaking up, Lu Xiaolong entrusted Tang Beisheng with the matter of Lu Minmin again, and rode away on his bicycle along the downhill road.He decided to spend one to two years investigating 300 production brigades in the countryside. The starting point of the investigation was the theory of Meng Keping, a young intellectual who jumped into the queue in Shaanxi, which he heard in Beijing a year ago: the fundamental problem of backward agricultural production is the problem of the people's commune system.

The day was getting brighter, and the wind that had been blowing all night seemed to have eased a bit. Lu Xiaolong walked into the yard, and the mountains near and far could be seen more clearly than before, but still no one came.He has long heard that there are 20 production teams under the Hanshanzhuang brigade, and thirty or forty natural villages. The smallest natural village has only one or two households. When I went to a village, I really didn't know how to lead the brigade.He walked out of the courtyard gate and saw that the mountain road he came at night was going down all the way, like a tail drawn from the buttocks of a mountain, and quickly disappeared between the two mountains.It was only when I turned around that I could clearly see the big characters "Learn from Dazhai in Agriculture" written on the white walls on both sides of the gate. The big red characters were already dim and wilted due to the wind and rain.Next to the word "Zhai" in "Learning from Dazhai in Agriculture", there is a green post office box. When I walked over to see it, there were two lines of small characters written on the mailbox with white paint. The opening time: every Friday and every tenth.Thinking of the postman coming here once every five days, he couldn't help but feel fresh, as if he had found human habitation on a deserted island isolated from the world.

The mountains on both sides are very quiet, there are rocks and soil on the mountains, and some small trees grow sparsely, shivering in a mess in the cold wind.He went back to the yard and stomped around. This production brigade with a scattered population was a case that must be included in his social investigation. He could also go directly to the village. Sitting on the kang and chatting with the peasants, he just wanted to learn about the overall situation here from the brigade cadres: population, labor force, distribution of production teams, land area, grain output, farmers' income, and income from several years or even ten years. development changes.Moreover, this is an era of class struggle, if you don't greet the brigade cadres and go directly to the village, it will attract suspicion and increase trouble.Thinking of this, he stopped, and suddenly saw a piece of steel rail hanging from a small tree in the yard, and a short and thick steel rod was stuck on the branch. He had an idea, looked at the high mountains near and far, I thought of the beacon tower in ancient times, and also thought of the story of Chicken Feather Letter.When the Japanese devils came, the sheep-herding boys put down the "message tree". The tree on this hill was brought down, and the people on the other hill saw it, and they also brought down the "message tree", and passed it on from tree to tree. In the past, the news that the Japanese devils entered the mountain spread throughout the villages.After thinking for a while, he picked up the steel chisel. Even though he was wearing cotton gloves, he still felt the coldness of the steel chisel. He picked up the steel chisel and knocked on the hanging steel rail. The crisp sound was transmitted far in the silent mountain.He paused for a while, listening to the echoes near and far, and picked up the steel chisel more vigorously, beating again and again.

The steel rail was like a big alarm bell, transmitting the sound to all directions. Tired of knocking, he stopped, and then, he seemed to hear a similar sound coming from the facing mountain.After listening to it for a while, I realized that it was not the echo I knocked out. I squinted my eyes and looked in the direction of the sound. On the top of the mountain over there, against the background of the lotus root white light that the sun had not yet risen, there was a little ant-like figure standing Look over there.He raised the steel chisel and knocked three times, and when the sound of his own knocking disappeared, the sound from the other side came again, also three times.So he laughed, put the steel rod back on the branch, and started running in the yard, he didn't know what result he would get.After running for a while, he took out a piece of cold steamed bread that was frozen as hard as a rock from the canvas satchel on the handlebar of the bicycle, put it in his mouth, and carefully bit it off.With two missing front teeth, it is really difficult to deal with such a hard cornbread. If you are not careful, your wet lips will stick to the frozen cornbread, as if the skin will be glued off.He picked up the steel chisel, put the cornbread on the bricks on the window sill, knocked off small pieces, and then put the hard cornbau in his mouth to slowly melt and chew.This is a bit like eating ice cubes. When the ice melts, it has the soft fragrance of cornmeal.He melted, chewed, and ate small pieces, and the cold feeling carried the aroma of cornmeal buns through his throat to his stomach, arousing a stronger sense of hunger, and his stomach ached convulsively, which was needed A steady stream of warm food was enough to satisfy him, however, he could only patiently melt each piece, chewing and swallowing.

After a cornbread finished eating like this, he swept the cornbread scum on the window sill into his palm, and poured it into his mouth with his head raised. This time, while chewing, he felt his teeth were gritty, and the sand on the window sill followed. After eating, I feel colder from the inside out. He stamped his feet and ran around the yard a few times, and saw a person coming down from the mountain over there, and in the distance, he could only see a person in black clothes and a black hat.After a while, people were blocked by the roof, he came to the gate, stamped his feet and waited.For the convenience of meeting and talking, he unbuttoned the ear buttons of the cotton cap, and the cold air rushed over his cheeks and ears, and he shivered again.

Hearing the sound of stones on the road, people coming down from the mountain appeared. At first glance, they were the cadres of the brigade, wearing a black padded jacket and black cotton trousers, a black tunic suit over the padded jacket, and a black cotton hat , tall and thin, with a dark and thin face, a long chin, and a pair of bright eyes.He looked at Lu Xiaolong suspiciously. Lu Xiaolong walked up and explained with a smile that he was an educated youth in Beijing. Because he wanted to write a script for the provincial theater troupe, he ran around the countryside to collect materials.The other party's doubts were immediately eliminated by more than half, showing a somewhat reserved smile.He walked into the courtyard with Lu Xiaolong with his hands in his sleeves, took out the key from his pocket, opened the only locked door next to the entrance of the courtyard, and invited Lu Xiaolong to enter.

The room was dark and cold, the tables, chairs and benches were covered with dust, there was an iron stove in the middle, the chimney went straight up, and then bent horizontally out of the window at a right angle.The owner explained his identity: the deputy secretary of the brigade and the company commander of the militia, his surname was Ma, and his name was Ma Qingbao. He said enthusiastically, "I'll light the fire first." I lit an old newspaper with a match, picked up a dustpan and dumped the firewood piled in the corner of the wall, the fire rose with smoke, I closed the stove lid, and heard the fire being pulled out by the chimney.When the firewood was burning, he opened the furnace lid, and the flame shot out to a height of two feet. Ma Qingbao picked up a dustpan and dumped coal lumps piled in the corner of the wall, and a puff of thick smoke came out. He picked up the fire chopsticks and poked it. Some coals fell down, and the covered firewood came up again, so he poured in some more coals, and the fire and thick smoke shot up at the same time.He closed the stove cover, looked at the billowing smoke from the chimney outside the window and clapped his hands, Lu Xiaolong knew that the fire had been kindled.The two of them pulled a bench and sat around the stove, and Lu Xiaolong chatted with him.After all, I have worked in the countryside for two years, and I am already very familiar with the situation in the countryside, and I have a better understanding of the psychology of the rural cadres. After asking, the remaining doubts of the other party have been eliminated, and it is obvious that they are interested in the conversation. Whenever the other party spoke something interesting, Lu Xiaolong would seize the opportunity to express his amazement and praise: "Commander Ma really understands the situation in the village; Commander Ma speaks very clearly." Lu Xiaolong took out a pen and notebook from his satchel, While chatting and recording, the recording at this time not only does not increase suspicion, but increases trust.As we talked, we could see from the crack in the furnace cover that the coal fire was already burning, the smoke was gone, the red fire was rumbling out through the flue, and the hot air was coming out of the iron stove.Company Commander Ma stood up again, picked up half a dustpan of coal, opened the furnace cover and covered it in a circle, pressed the coal fire evenly, closed the furnace cover, picked up the iron pot and weighed it, there was still water in it, and opened the furnace cover again sat on the stove.In this way, the conversation between the two became even more silent. Talking about noon, there was a timid knock on the door. Company Commander Ma looked through the door glass and said to Lu Xiaolong: "This is a target for cleaning up the class ranks. He used to be a squad leader in the Kuomintang. You Watching from the sidelines, this is also the situation in the countryside, maybe it can be compiled into your playbook." He said, "Come in!" The door opened, and a short old man came in with an old felt He was dressed in a worn black padded jacket, and he stepped timidly over the threshold and walked in.Company Commander Ma pulled the chair back to make room, and raised his voice, "Did you understand what I said at the meeting of all members of your village yesterday?" With a bad garlic nose, he nodded repeatedly: "Understood." Company Commander Ma picked up the kettle, and while tidying up the coal fire with a fire hook, he asked, "Understood, what did you do?" The old man muttered "I told you everything last night." Company Commander Ma pressed the iron pot on the stove again, put down the iron hook, clapped his hands and said, "What did you tell me?" The old man said, "I was a deputy squad leader in the Kuomintang. Company Commander Ma stopped, looked down at the short old man and said, "Do you know the party's policy of 'leniency for confession and strictness for resistance'?" The old man nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes." Company Commander Ma glared at him again , asked: "Do you know why you haven't confessed before? Yesterday I called your name and told the story to the house, did you confess?" The old man lowered his head and said, "I'm confused." "Confused? Huh!" Ma Qingbao was in the room Walked back and forth, and glanced at Lu Xiaolong.Lu Xiaolong watched the scene from a distance in the corner of the room, and found that Company Commander Ma didn't have any hatred from the heart towards the target of the investigation, but was just pretending to lose his temper, and that temper might be partly sent to him for collecting materials. The guests watched. Company Commander Ma gave a training session, and the old man left.As soon as the door was closed, without saying a word, there was a more timid knock on the door. This time, Lu Xiaolong also saw through the glass of the door, it was a pretty rural girl.Company Commander Ma glanced at it, then raised his voice and said, "Come in." The rural girl obviously didn't dare to push the door open a little, but it couldn't be pushed again, and she pushed the door carefully with some more force.She was carrying a basket, and the basket was covered with a piece of cloth, with some wheat straw exposed, and Lu Xiaolong could see eggs exposed under the wheat straw around the cloth at a glance.The girl was only sixteen or seventeen years old, and her skin was fair, which surprised Lu Xiaolong. There was such a beautiful girl in such a poor mountain village, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, standing handsomely by the door. The basket was placed behind the door, and he went to Company Commander Ma to say something.Company Commander Ma put his hands behind his back and said sternly: "Your father is confused. He didn't believe in the party's policies in the past, but now he knows that he will be lenient when he confesses. I just finished implementing the policies for him." The girl lowered her eyes and clasped her hands in front of her, lightly Gently pinch.Company Commander Ma walked around the room and noticed that Lu Xiaolong beside him seemed somewhat unnatural.Lu Xiaolong stood up and said: "Commander Ma, talk to her first, I'll go outside." He opened the door and walked out.After walking a few steps in the yard, and out of the gate, the red-nosed old man was squatting under the green mailbox against the wall with his hands in his sleeves.The old man raised a pair of dim eyes and looked straight at Lu Xiaolong, took out the dry pipe, and dug the shredded tobacco in the shredded tobacco purse. Lu Xiaolong ran up the road in a few steps, the sun had already emerged from the mountains, and the surrounding mountains could be clearly seen from one near to the other.He walked a few steps, stopped in front of the old man with his hands behind his back, and asked, "What are you doing in the village?" The old man wanted to stand up, but Lu Xiaolong quickly stretched out his hand to stop him and said, "You can just squat down and talk." The old man said, "herding sheep." " Lu Xiaolong nodded, and asked again: "Was that your daughter just now?" The old man understood Lu Xiaolong's intention of asking, nodded again, and said: "Yes." Lu Xiaolong asked: "How many daughters do you have?" The old man said: "One." "Do you have a son?" Lu Xiaolong asked.The old man said: "No." Lu Xiaolong didn't say anything, just walked back and forth on the road outside the yard.The wind had stopped, the sun shone weakly, and the air was dry and cold. With the little warmth from the stove just now, he walked slowly, but he could hold on.The old man smoked a few bags of cigarettes, and the girl who went in just now came out of the yard empty-handed, her hair and clothes a little messy, her white face flushed.She glanced at Lu Xiaolong, then lowered her eyes timidly, as if she had done something shameful.She walked slowly to the old man and said, "Father, let's go back." The old man asked, "Are you okay?" The girl nodded with her eyes straight, stretched out her hand and pulled the old man to stand up, and the two walked along the road Go, walk out and turn to the mountain. At noon, Lu Xiaolong finished talking with Company Commander Ma, and he proposed to live in the village below the Hanshanzhuang brigade for a few days to learn about the situation of several production teams.Company Commander Ma said very affectionately: "Okay, I'll make arrangements for you." The two walked out of the house, and Company Commander Ma looked at the bicycle leaning outside the door, and said, "Is this your car?" Lu Xiaolong nodded .Company Commander Ma said: "Just push the car into my office. You can't push it up the mountain. When you go down the mountain, come and pick it up." Lu Xiaolong pushed the car into the office where the fire was burning, and when he came out , Company Commander Ma was looking around on the main road, and he said, "I'll find a guide for you." After a while, an eleven or twelve-year-old girl carrying a schoolbag jumped down the hillside path over there. The round face was blown red by the wind.Company Commander Ma called her: "Erni, come here." The girl named Erni ran over, and Company Commander Ma patted Lu Xiaolong on the shoulder, and said to the girl, "Take him to your Guojialing, and follow your father." Say, I asked you to take it." The little girl waved her hand happily and said, "Uncle Qing Bao, then I'll go." Company Commander Ma stood by the roadside and waved to Lu Xiaolong.What Lu Xiaolong found interesting was that because he saw the scene of the old shepherd's daughter in the morning, Company Commander Ma became very affectionate to him afterwards, answering every question and responding to every request. Lu Xiaolong followed Erni up the mountain.Although he worked in the mountains in Liubao for two years, he was still not as fast as the little girl on the mountain road. After walking for a while, the little girl stopped to wait for him, and even stretched out her small hand to pull him when she encountered a steep slope.He simply held the little girl's hand, talking while walking.Erni told him that she went to school in Qiaojialing Village opposite in the morning.Lu Xiaolong asked: "How big is Qiaojialing School?" Erni said: "A cave dwelling." Lu Xiaolong asked again: "What grade is that?" Erni replied: "First grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade There are all grades. One teacher teaches." Lu Xiaolong asked: "What grade are you in?" Erni said: "Fourth grade." Lu Xiaolong asked again: "You are the only child in Guojialing?" Erni said: " Yes." Lu Xiaolong asked again: "How many households are there in Guojialing?" Erni thought for a while, then stretched out four fingers.Lu Xiaolong said, "Four households?" Ernie nodded. Lu Xiaolong was exhausted after a while of climbing. Looking down the mountain from a distance, the road in the valley was already like a thin belt, and the brigade headquarters by the roadside looked like a few matchboxes.Standing taller and seeing farther away, more mountains are exposed behind the nearby mountains.I couldn't see a village at the foot of the mountain just now, but now I can see a faint village on the opposite mountain. Erni pointed to the sunlit hilltop on the opposite side and said, "That's Qiaojialing, where our school is." Lu Xiaolong looked from a distance, and could only see a faint shadow of a house. Turning his head to look up, this The mountain on the side is still far from the top.Lu Xiaolong asked: "How far is it from here to your village?" Erni looked down the mountain and said, "There is still more than half." Lu Xiaolong suddenly felt his legs go limp. After climbing a steep slope that requires both hands and feet, a gentle slope appeared. Ten or twenty sheep dragged their dirty fur and gnawed on the bark of small trees and grass roots in the frozen soil.Lu Xiaolong was surprised that the sheep could not see anyone, when he suddenly saw a man in a gray and white sheepskin jacket kneeling on his knees, holding a sheep between his legs, grabbing the sheep by the shoulders with both hands, as if he was going to grab the sheep from behind. Throw the sheep down.Lu Xiaolong turned his head and asked Erni: "What's that for?" Erni blushed and pulled him forward quickly.Hearing the sound of footsteps, the man hurriedly let go of the sheep and stood up, pulling up his black cotton trousers. Only then did Lu Xiaolong see that his cotton trousers had fallen below his knees, and his naked thighs were exposed from under the sheepskin jacket.When the sheep fled to the flock to gnaw grass, and the shepherd hurriedly tied up his panties and picked up the whip, Lu Xiaolong understood what he was doing and felt extremely disgusted in his heart.The shepherd has a silly long round face, looking at Lu Xiaolong, with a sheep whip under his arm, singing a little song and walking towards the flock of sheep. The little girl was probably also shy about the scene just now. While climbing the mountain, she bent down from time to time to pick up small stones on both sides of the road to play.After walking like this for a while, she looked around and said, "Wait for me for a while." Then she ran down a terraced field beside the road.Lu Xiaolong looked at her back and saw her get off a field ridge and squat down, and then there was the sound of a little girl peeing. Lu Xiaolong smiled slightly, turned around immediately, and found that he also had the urge to urinate.After Erni ran back, Lu Xiaolong followed her up a long slope and asked, "Erni, is it still far?" Erni looked up and said, "There is still half of it." Lu Xiaolong knew that he couldn't make it to the village, so he looked at Erni with a smile and said, "Will you wait for me for a while?" Erni glanced at him and said nothing.Lu Xiaolong ran down a small terraced field on the side of the road, turned a corner, and the dirt slope covered him, so he unbuttoned his pants and began to urinate vigorously.Looking at the mountains near and far and the shadowy road below, the pee is so powerful that it rushes out a hole in the permafrost in front of him. Thinking that next spring there will be a most beautiful wild flower blooming here, he will do it for him. I feel so proud of myself.When he was back on the road, Er Nipu blinked and said, "There is no easy road, and the road ahead is not easy." Lu Xiaolong scratched his head when he heard this, and said, "Guojialing is so high, you walk every day." Uphill and downhill to go to school?" Erni leaned forward and kicked up, and said, "Yes." This section of the sheep intestine path is very steep, and it is often necessary to use both hands and feet.When Erni stretched out her small hand to pull him, he no longer refused.Erni's little hands are warm and flexible.After a hard climb, the two finally reached the top of the mountain, which is relatively flat with several terraced fields.Standing on the top of the mountain, Lu Xiaolong wiped the sweat from his brow, took off his cotton cap and looked around. His vision was very wide. The mountains near and far were about the same height as here, and the tops and ridges of the mountains looked like white scaled fish under the sunlight. glowing.Looking beyond these peaks of similar heights, there are even higher mountains in the clouds.Erni pointed forward and said, "That's Guojialing." Lu Xiaolong looked from a distance, passed the top of the mountain, and then went down a gentle slope, a narrow path stretched windingly to a gentle slope slightly lower than here. On the top, leaning against the earth cliff, there seem to be faint cave doors and windows.The surrounding mountains are one after another, so big that they divide the world from the sky. Thinking that there are only four families living in such an open place, I feel really small. In Guojialing Village, a section of earth cliff facing south was cut out in a low depression on the top of the mountain, and a dozen cave dwellings were dug on the earth cliff. Kong Cave Dwelling feeds the team's two cows.When Lu Xiaolong came to Shilai Kongtu Cave Dwelling, he felt that it was a warm nest that could gather sunlight and shelter from wind. The sun shone down from the top of his head, and the loess around him seemed not so cold.Standing in a small village consisting of four households and two cows, I more or less forgot the mountains around me, the brigade headquarters at the foot of the mountain, and even Beijing far away in the sky.There is only the loess cliff in front of me, the cave dwelling, two cattle brought out to bask in the sun, and a well.It's hard to imagine that there is a well on such a high mountain. When I asked again, the well was forty feet deep, and Lu Xiaolong was surprised.The well in Liubao Village is more than ten feet deep, and it takes more than forty feet to twist a bucket of water for a cigarette. How long does it take?After conversion, it is more than 100 meters deep.Looking at the lulu rope on the well again, I knew that was the case. The lulu shaft was very long, the rope was almost as thick as an arm, and the handle was also very large.Two people usually shake the water together. Farming depends on the sky for food, and the water that is twisted is just for people to drink and cattle to drink. People here do not have the habit of washing in the morning and evening. Erni's father is Guo Daoyou. He is not very old, but his hair is gray and thin. He has a long black and red face with a very honest expression. He speaks slowly, and often it takes a long time to make gestures before the words come out. .Hearing that Company Commander Ma asked his daughter to bring Lu Xiaolong here, he immediately regarded him as a cadre from above to investigate the situation.At noon, the rice was well managed, the cornmeal was battered, and white flour cakes were baked.Lu Xiaolong noticed that only a piece of white flour cake was placed in front of him, Erni's parents and Erni only drank corn flour paste.Lu Xiaolong resolutely divided the dough into four portions, and when they put them in front of them, they all said that they were not used to white flour.Erni glanced at the white noodle cake, and ran out the door with the bowl in hand.Lu Xiaolong picked up a pancake and walked out of the cave, and stuffed it into Erni's hand.Erni looked at Lu Xiaolong, then at her father, turned around and went into the cave again, put the pancakes on the kang table, and then went out with her rice bowl. After lunch, Lu Xiaolong worked with them.Four households, that is, four or five laborers, dug up the dung and soil in the cattle pen, put them into baskets, carried them to the flat ground in front of the cave, and piled them up. Trampling and retting into fertilizer.The manure piled on the flat ground is covered tightly with soil to prevent it from being blown away by the winter wind, and it is carried to the field in spring.This work was not enough for one afternoon, so the captain Guo Daoyou led four or five laborers and Lu Xiaolong to build weirs in the terraced fields in front of the village.Standing on a high place and looking down the mountain, the terraced fields fall down layer by layer like the stands of a stadium, until they reach the deep valley, and on the opposite hillside, another row of terraced fields rises up layer by layer like the stands of a stadium, high and far away. To the top of the opposite mountain. Lu Xiaolong asked: "Why don't you live at the bottom of the ditch?" Guo Daoyou said: "I can't live." Lu Xiaolong asked again: "How to plant the terraced fields on the opposite slope?" Guo Daoyou replied: "Go down, and then go up to plant." Xiaolong opened his eyes and found that the terraced fields occupy a very limited area on the mountain. Most of the hillsides near and far are bare, some are very steep, and it is not a place for planting.When five or six of them were working hard and slowly with hoes and shovels, the sun had already slipped below the top of the mountain in the west, and the mountain was darkened a lot.Looking around, this is a world of hills and hills. Looking at the few cave dwellings in Guojialing from a distance, it is very remote and desolate.After working for a while, it was half dark, and Daoyou Guo said: "Let's evaluate the work points." Five or six people sat down in the terraced fields where the cold wind was blowing, and each took out a small book the size of a palm, and handed it to Daoyou Guo In the hands, one by one to score.The first one to be judged was a long-faced farmer called Laifa. Everyone told him about his work from morning to afternoon, and someone said: "Ninety-five points." Guo Daoyou asked if you had any comments, and someone said: "Nine points and six." People discussed, and Guo Daoyou said: "Nine points and six." The book is still in the hands of Laifa.Rate the second person again.One by one, most of them are nine out of five or nine out of six. In the end, Guo Daoyou said: "It's time to judge me." Some people said ninety-eight points, some said ninety-nine points, and some said ten points.Guo Daoyou said: "Today, I can only give a score of nine and seven." He wrote nine and seven in his work score book.Lu Xiaolong is very familiar with this set, a tenth is a full working day, and it is also the highest score for a member's working day. At the end of the year, these work points are used to distribute food and dividends. After scoring, Daoyou Guo asked Lu Xiaolong again: "Can you tell us something?" Lu Xiaolong smiled and waved his hands, and said, "Come on." A group of people picked up baskets, picked up hoes and shovels and walked back.It was completely dark, and the mountains near and far were ash floating in the darkness. After walking up and down the slope for a few bends, all the cave dwellings with dozens of holes appeared in front of us with black faces.Reluctant to light the oil lamps, all households ate in the dark, and the firewood in the stove was not extinguished, and there was still a little fire to light it up.After a while, men from every household squatted outside the cave with big bowls to drink cornmeal porridge. Lu Xiaolong insisted on eating, living and working together, and drank it at the entrance of the cave with big bowls.He was thinking: If he continues to investigate one brigade after another, what results can he finally find out? As soon as he finished drinking a bowl, Erni ran over to take his empty bowl and filled it for him.He said: "Half a bowl is enough." Erni brought him a full bowl, and he gave half a bowl to Guo Daoyou who was squatting aside.Guo Daoyou glanced at him and said, "Don't be full." Lu Xiaolong took the big bowl and walked to the entrances of several nearby cave dwellings to squat and chat, and found that the cornmeal paste in every bowl was watery and watery. .Lu Xiaolong looked at the thick rice in his bowl, and immediately understood that it was the thick rice specially made by Guo Daoyou.He used chopsticks to pull the thin soup in the rice bowls of several people, and asked: "Is it okay to eat this after a day's work?" The people smiled honestly in the moonlight with the sea bowls in their hands, and said: "Soup is full, soup is full, and it is good to eat dry." How much?" Lu Xiaolong turned around, went back to Guo Daoyou's house and squatted down, and said, "Tell me, why do we farmers always fail to feed our stomachs?" Daoyou Guo replied slowly while drinking: "God doesn't take care of it." "Have you never been full?" Lu Xiaolong asked.Guo Daoyou said: "When the land reform was completed, I was full." Lu Xiaolong asked: "God will take care of it at that time?" Guo Daoyou replied numbly: "Maybe." Lu Xiaolong asked: "We have starved to death here. Is it?" Guo Daoyou's face was a little sad, and he replied after a while: "I starved to death, a few years ago." After the meal was over, the fires in the stoves of the houses were all extinguished, and the kangs for cooking and heating were waiting for the farmers to lie down.Lu Xiaolong wanted to chat with everyone, so Daoyou Guo lit an oil lamp on the top of his kang, and a few men who worked during the day came over and lit the cigarette pot with the oil lamp.Some of them sat cross-legged on the kang, and some sat on a small bench in the ground. Lu Xiaolong sat on the kang and asked some questions. Everyone talked to each other, and Lu Xiaolong lay down on the kang table and simply recorded .The kerosene lamp illuminated the aging faces around. Guo Daoyou sat at the kang table and smoked a pipe without saying a word. Erni lay behind Lu Xiaolong and Guo Daoyou, watching a group of people talking, and even crawled a little closer. , sticking behind Lu Xiaolong enviously watching him write quickly in the notebook.Lu Xiaolong turned his head and looked at her, and she also looked at Lu Xiaolong, Lu Xiaolong smiled at her amusedly, and she also smiled happily, still staring at Lu Xiaolong's record.After chatting about ten bags of cigarettes like this, the chat was over. Everyone knocked on the dry pipes, coughed and yawned. Lu Xiaolong thanked the people for sending them out of the cave. Guo Daoyou looked at him honestly, moved his thick lips and said, "You go to bed too, I'll arrange a place for you." Lu Xiaolong had already made a bed with the family However, Daoyou Guo put on his shoes, held an oil lamp, and led Lu Xiaolong to a cave dwelling next door.Pushing open the door, some vats, plows, hoes, shovels, and rakes were piled up on the ground, and there was also a small square table with short legs on the kang.Guo Daoyou put the oil lamp on the kang table, touched the top of the kang, and said, "I have heated the kang for you. You can choose to sleep. If it is hot, sleep on the top of the kang, and if it is cold, sleep inside." He pointed to the top of the kang again. Lu Xiaolong knew that there were no mattresses on the kangs of peasants in poor areas, and a quilt was all there. He said repeatedly: "Okay, okay, you go to sleep, here I am. do it yourself." Guo Daoyou closed the door and left, Lu Xiaolong sat cross-legged on the kang.The oil lamp was quite bright, and the glass lampshade was wiped clean. The flame of the oil lamp was burning steadily in the lampshade. The glass lampshade was like a small transparent chimney, spraying hot air from above.他从帆布包里拿出三四个硬皮笔记本，一个一个翻看着自己几个月来的调查所得。他又从挎包里拿出一摞信纸，开始给沈丽写信。他写信的方式和写日记差不多，每天写一段，也可能是见闻，也可能是感想，也可能是思索，也可能是对沈丽的倾诉，也可能是对沈丽的思念，写上一些天，有了厚厚一摞，碰到有邮箱的地方就把它寄出去。他不需要沈丽回信，沈丽也无法回信，他只是不断地写着，这多少成了他流浪生活的内容之一。他把今天一天的见闻简单写完了，就把信纸又收回挎包，再拿出一摞稿纸，上面有他正在逐步形成的提纲，题目是：《对人民公社体制的调查与思考》。他翻看了一下自己陆续写就的提纲，已经写了几十页，看了一会儿，又放到桌上，陷入遐想。他看了看油灯照亮的窑洞，想到自己在这里思考有关中国命运的问题，真有些不可思议。跑了几个月，这么高这么小的山村，也还是第一次遇到。想到这里，他又觉得很有意思，便拧暗了油灯，穿上鞋走出窑洞。 月亮不知什么时候已经被山遮住，满天繁星。一排窑洞都黑沉沉地静默着，在平平的地上来回走了走，只听见最边上当牛圈的窑洞里偶尔有一声牛打响鼻的声音。他静静地看着大山和天上的繁星，止不住想起很多事情。忽然，看见那边山顶上有手电光晃动，正是自己上山时来的方向。郭家岭的人早已入睡，也都没有手电，是什么人来？为什么来？卢小龙突然有了危险的预感，远远看见手电光时亮时灭地往这边走，他想了想，立刻回到窑洞里，拿起挎包走了出来。他四处看了看，又抬头看了看窑洞上的土崖，好在自己白天多少熟悉了这里的地形，便绕着从后面陡峭的小路跑到了土崖上。手电光晃来晃去地越走越近，到了郭道友的窑洞前。卢小龙垂直望下去，在手电光的晃动中看出，一共来了五个人，一个就是穿着黑色中山装罩衣的马连长，一个像公社干部，马连长正对着他请示地指了指郭道友家的窑洞，在他们后面，站着三个背着步枪的民兵。那个公社干部模样的人点了点头，马连长便走上来叩响了郭道友家的门环。听见里边瓮声翁气地问了一句：“谁呀？”马连长回答：“是我，清宝。” 过了好一会儿，听见有人趿拉着鞋走到门口，接着是拔门栓的声音，门开了，郭道友走了出来。马连长问：“今天让二妮领来的那个人呢？”郭道友疑惑地看了看他们，指了指旁边的窑洞。卢小龙一动不动地垂直俯瞰着，看见马清宝上去推开了门，门本来就虚掩着，一伙人亮着手电拥了进去。又很快拥了出来，听见马连长问：“你们睡多长时间了？”郭道友揉了揉迷糊的眼睛，说道：“早就睡了。”马连长对公社干部模样的人说道：“看来早就跑了，做贼心虚，确实是反革命。”公社干部模样的人指了指十来孔窑洞，问道：“不会到别人家去吧？”郭道友摇了摇头，说：“不会。”公社干部模样的人背着手说：“一定要提高阶级警惕。”他手中拿起一摞稿纸，马连长立刻将手电照上去，公社干部模样的人翻看了一下，说道：“这就是一个反革命的纲领，攻击人民公社的。”卢小龙这才想到，慌忙中自己把提纲落在了炕桌上。公社干部模样的人问道：“他可能往哪儿跑了？”马连长说道：“这儿下山就两条路，一条是咱们刚才来的路，直接到大队部的，他肯定没走这条路，还有一条路，就是从黄沟村过去。”马连长说着朝那边指了指。公社干部模样的人想了一下，说道：“那我们就追过去吧。”马连长扭头对郭道友说：“我们先追过去，如果还有什么情况，你及时报告。”一伙人晃着手电匆匆走了，手电光在山路上跳跃闪动着时灭时亮，直到过了山顶最高处才消失。 二妮一边穿衣裳一边走出窑洞，问：“爹，这是咋回事？”郭道友看着手电光消失的方向没有说话。卢小龙在夜风中打着寒噤，脑子里掠过了各种方案，然而，都不是万全之策，他想了想，从土崖顶上绕着下来。郭道友和二妮正从卢小龙刚才待的窑洞里退出来，看到卢小龙，两个人都吃了一惊。卢小龙说：“郭大叔，我刚才躲在上面了。”他指了指土崖，郭道友向上看了看。卢小龙又说：“我本来打算跑了，可想了想，还是跟您说实话，求您帮助。我是北京知识青年，得罪了村里的大队支书，他整我，我就跑出来了。”卢小龙极力把自己的情况说得简单实在，以能让这个老实的农民理解。他又说：“您要把我交给他们，现在就可以把我捆起来。”二妮紧紧抓住了父亲的胳膊，仰头看着父亲，郭道友慢慢摇了摇头。卢小龙说：“那我就求您给我拿个主意。”郭道友在黑暗中看了看卢小龙，卢小龙指着那边说：“他们现在走那条黄沟村的路去追我了，我想我就走这条下寒山庄大队部的路跑，行不行？”二妮轻轻摇撼着父亲的胳膊，似乎在催他回答。郭道友想了一下，说道：“不行。他们从黄沟村那条路下到山脚，没追上你，可能又会到大队部这条路口来堵你。你没他们下山快，你还没到，他们就堵上你了。”卢小龙说：“那您说，我该怎么办？” 郭道友看着周围的几孔窑洞，说：“把你藏在村里也藏不住。”卢小龙说：“那我就跑到山里去吧。”郭道友说：“那你会冻死、饿死。”卢小龙不说话了。郭道友想了想，抬手一指那群人走的方向，说：“你就跟着他们从黄沟村这条路下去。”卢小龙心中豁然一亮，郭道友接着说：“你下到大路上，不要往大队部方向走，往相反的方向走，走上七八里，就走出了我们公社的地面了。”卢小龙说：“好，谢谢大叔指点。”说着就要走。郭道友说：“等一下。”他进到屋里，拿起中午卢小龙撕成四半分给一家三口人的三小块白面饼，塞到卢小龙的挎包里，又拍了拍二妮的脊背说道：“送你大哥到那个路口。”二妮立刻说：“行。”卢小龙说：“不行，她这么小，一个人回来太危险。”郭道友说：“我眼睛夜里不好使，让她送你一段就回来，她跑得比兔子还快呢，你甭怕，这块儿山上没狼。” 二妮拉上卢小龙的手，两人沿着刚才那伙人的路线加快步子跑起来。山顶上的这段路都是比较平缓的起伏，没多会儿就到了刚才手电光沉落下去的最高处，往下一条路清清楚楚，远远朝山下望去，可以看见一点光亮在半山腰影影绰绰地跳跃着。二妮一指那点光亮说：“那不是他们？”卢小龙说：“二妮，我走了，谢谢你。”二妮有点恋恋不舍地冲他摆摆手，卢小龙略蹲下身，看着二妮说道：“二妮，你叫什么名字？”二妮回答：“我叫郭二妮。” “大名呢？”卢小龙问。二妮说：“这就是我的大名。”卢小龙问：“那你为什么不叫大妮，叫二妮？你上边还有哥哥姐姐吗？”二妮摇了摇头，说：“我过去有过一个哥哥一个姐姐，我小时候，他们饿死了。”卢小龙面对面很近地看着二妮，沉默了一会儿，用手轻轻拍了拍二妮的脸颊，说道：“以后如果有机会，我一定回来看你。”二妮使劲点了点头。卢小龙凑过去，在她脸颊上轻轻亲吻了一下。二妮用手摸了一下亲吻的地方，有些泪汪汪地凝视着卢小龙。卢小龙说：“快回吧，我这就下山。”二妮说：“你先走，我看你下去，我跑得快。” 卢小龙背好挎包，沿着下山的路快速下着。路很陡，脚底下不时踏滚着石子，他不顾一切地向下跑着。跑了好长一段路，回头一看，山顶上还有二妮的小小身影，他冲她招了招手，那个小小的身影也举起手挥动着。卢小龙又向她挥了几下，意思是让她回去，那个身影就是不动。卢小龙知道，只有跑出她的视野，她才会回去，便头也不回地继续跑着。 又跑了很长一段路，他回过身，已经看不见山顶了。他用力咽了一口唾沫，看着那个跳动的亮点正在向山脚下移动，便加快步子追随下去。