Chapter 126 small town

The jeep was running on the Xianelm Highway.The vast winter sky, the dark yellow mountains, and the milky white ice hanging from the cliff... Jun leaned forward slightly, scanning the vast fields of the Loess Plateau through the car glass, his eyes sparkling.For various reasons, he did not return to his hometown when he was twenty.He was a soldier when he left, and now he is the political commissar of a modernized artillery division.For many years, he has been living in the green and lush southwestern border of his motherland, but his dreams are often filled with yellow... Now he finally saw this beloved land again.Yellow is always a warm tone.His heart is warm at the moment.

Hello hometown, I'm back.I am the dog who had a snotty nose when I was a child - the fifth boy of the boss of Woniugou, Damahechuan... "It's another eighty miles to get home..." He said to the driver of the car sent by the military division to see him off, his eyes still greedily scanning everything and everything outside the window... Everything seems so familiar, yet so strange... A small town appeared ahead.In fact, it is similar to a big village, except that there is a short and humble street. He was taken aback. Why am I startled?he seemed to be asking himself. What must you remember?

oh yes. He asked the driver to park the Jeep on the side of the road across from town.He said he was going into town and told the lad to wait. He got out of the car, walked across the small, old arched stone bridge, and came to the town. He first stood quietly at the street corner, looking at this place, as if silently paying tribute to it.Small town, this is me.After more than twenty years, you will definitely not recognize who I am. But I haven't forgotten you, it's just that everything belongs to the past. He wrapped his military overcoat tightly, walked across the street with short soldierly steps, and walked towards the place he recognized at a glance.

This is a small school. He stood quietly at the school gate, glanced timidly inside, and immediately showed a look of awe involuntarily on his face, just like when he stood here for the first time back then. Yes, twenty or so years ago, when you came here, you were still a child, wearing tattered clothes and carrying a bedroll with patched scars, walking from the remote and closed mountains to the road line, dodging the cars Like dodging monsters.When you stand at the gate of this school, you are like a pious Muslim from a primitive tribe who has crossed the Sahara Desert, standing in front of the opposite temple to Jerusalem... Alas, how simple the school was at that time !How can the gate be so ostentatious?It's just a Tuhuozi.The walls, too, were made of earth, and riddled with potholes left by restless hands and feet.What now?Look, the gate and the wall are all made of blue bricks of the same color, how magnificent!

You remember two full years of school here—fifth grade, sixth grade.At that time, your parents were sick, and there were eight children in the family including you.You barely managed to come here.Clothes are so ragged that they can't hide their shame and ugliness; they can only drink a bowl of thin sorghum soup for a meal; they often don't even have a penny on them... There was an electric bell. electric bell?Isn't it the bell? He smiled and looked around the campus.The dilapidated cave dwellings of the past are gone, and there are rows of large classrooms built with bricks and tiles in front of us.The old locust tree is still there, but it is even older.The big iron bell hanging from it was gone.But he still vaguely heard the voice of "Dang! Dang!", like an old man greeting him kindly from the distant past with a hoarse voice.

Student dolls swarmed out from every classroom and gathered on the big playground.The playground immediately became a joyous and noisy sea. He grinned, stared blankly at these beautifully dressed children for a while, then wiped the corners of his eyes with his fingers, and left the school gate. He then started walking around the school wall again.While walking, he looked carefully under the wall, as if he was looking for something.His heart was pounding. still there?That sinkhole I crawled through like a puppy! To be honest, no matter before or after he was a soldier, he has crawled or drilled through all kinds of holes—earth holes, bridge holes, culverts, stone holes...but none of them can remain in memory— —Why is it necessary to remember these?But he couldn't forget the water hole here.

As he walked, he searched for the ruins that belonged to distant memories like a scout.When he was startled in the car just now, he just remembered this hole. He parked his car and came here now, probably to take a look at this place.From an outsider's point of view, this may seem ridiculous.But some personal inner secrets do not need outsiders to understand. As he walked, he froze for a moment. That's right, that's the manhole, that filthy sinkhole that drains the water from the school grounds over its walls on rainy days.Twenty years have passed, although the low earthen walls were replaced by high brick walls.But the hole is preserved almost exactly as it was, seemingly waiting for him to revisit today.

In an instant, the lively sound of gongs and drums, the sound of silk strings, and Qin opera... suddenly sounded in your ears again.Probably in autumn, probably in August, ten years ago, operas were being sung on the big playground on campus.This is the biggest festival of the year in the town.The students were all on vacation, and they were not allowed to be on campus when they were singing, so that it could be turned into a theater, because there was no flat place like this in town anymore.Of course you can go in, but you have to buy a ticket. The tuhuozi at the school gate became the entrance to the "theater", guarded by some burly men from the town hired by the troupe.There are also the same big men patrolling inside the earthen wall to prevent bad guys from crossing the wall.

The classmates have all gone to the theater, and you are wandering around the streets alone.You don't have that thirty cents to buy a ticket.He only has a dime on him, which is still a food ticket.The din of gongs, drums and silk strings, the uproarious voices of laughter, and the impassioned and impassioned dramas all touch your heart.You can't see it all.If you were an adult at the time, I might be able to live with it.But you are only eleven or twelve years old, and like all the children of your age, you are fascinated by that lively place. ... Suddenly, you suddenly remembered the sinkhole.Get in quietly from that hole, won't you be on the playground?

Oh, what a fear I was in then.I crawled in from the hole in front of me!The cave was dark and dirty, and it looked like dog shit was on my hands.It stinks. But no matter what, it is impossible for me to go back anyway. Disaster struck me as soon as I poked my head out of the hole.A big palm-like hand clasped my head all of a sudden.There was a "boom" in my head, and I felt that the whole world was plunged into darkness.When I struggled to slip away like a loach, the other big hand had already grabbed one of my ears. In this way, I was pulled out of the cave by the ruthless hand and pulled on the playground with a sea of ​​people.I immediately recognized that the person who pulled out the ear was Jiao Er from the butcher shop in the town, with a round waist and broad shoulders, and a hard beard like kudzu needles planted all over his face.It is said that he can eat three catties of freshly opened pork suet raw.

"You bastard..." Jiao Er yelled excitedly while pulling me away by my ear, as if a warrior eager for merit had finally captured a prisoner alive. My ears hurt like they were about to fall off, but I didn't dare to make a sound, let alone cry.I just begged in a low voice, don't let him hand me over to school.But Jiao Er shouted loudly that he must hand me over to the principal himself! It's all over!I will become a notorious person among my classmates, and maybe I will be expelled from the school.God, how can I have the face to go back to my village?How can he face the whole family and the whole village? I was tugged at my ears by this ruthless hand, and walked past a long line of food stalls full of shouts. "Jiao Er, what the hell did you make! You almost tore off the baby's ears!" A woman's voice said. "This kid didn't buy a ticket, he got in through the water hole. Hmph, let me get caught!" "Let go!" "What?" Jiao Er called out, and immediately let go of his hand. ——Because it was stuffed into a hot steamed bun. Jiao Er laughed, not caring about anything else, he moved the bun back and forth with his hands so hot that he blew with his mouth "fluttering", and even spit on the bun. He started to smack his lips and eat the buns, as if he forgot about me all of a sudden. A warm hand stroked my head. "Why don't you buy a ticket to drill into the water hole?" The voice of the sister-in-law who sells vegetables and steamed buns is full of infinite pity. In the hazy steam, I saw a kind face. "I... don't have a needle". "Whose doll in this town are you?" "I'm not from the town. I'm from the country." "Which village is it from?" "The one from Lying Niugou." "A school doll?" "Well. I'm from this school." "Oh, what a shame! The pants are showing flesh..." A steaming bun was handed to me.I didn't answer but was forced into my hands.Then, it was that warm, motherly hand that lightly stroked my head again.Tears suddenly blurred my eyes like thick fog... He gazed at the place where he suffered disaster more than 20 years ago with blurred eyes, and the voices of Jiao Er and Mrs. Baozi, who sold vegetables and buns, still rang in his ears—"Don't pay the school, you let the baby go!" "Hey, the theater troupe paid me to hire Jiao Er, how could I not do my best for them!" "Fart! Stop yelling! Raw lard has made your heart into a pig's heart! Here! I don't believe this hot bun can't fill your pig's mouth!" "Hahaha, a pig's mouth meets a dog's fangs, Jiao Er meets a hag..." Jiao Er ate the steamed stuffed bun, turned around and said, "What are you doing standing still, kid? Go ahead..." Shame, remorse, gratitude, sweetness... all these emotions flow into the human chest and into your throat.Holding that steaming vegetable bun in your hand, you turned around and ran away. Why do you have the heart to go to the theater?You ran out of that dirt hole and lingered on the street again.You don't know where to go.You feel that you have something to tell the world, but you don't know what you want to say.Anyway, you really want to kiss everything in this shabby street... The political commissar unbuttoned his military coat, raised his head, looked at the boundless yellow mountains, and let out a long sigh.Oh, my hometown, my small town, my sinkhole, my Uncle Jiao Er, my sister-in-law who buys vegetables and steamed buns, my passing Shannian... how deeply I am nostalgic for all of you and love! Even Uncle Jiao Er's hand that grabbed my ear is as warm to me now as the hand of the sister-in-law who sells vegetables and buns.Sister-in-law, you can touch my head again with that warm hand.Jiao Er took a big step, at this moment, I really want you to use your hands to grab my ears again, so that I can feel the hot punishment of my hometown again... Subconsciously, he touched his ear with his hand, then cast a last glance at the sinkhole, and turned to the street. "Vegetable buns—" There was a long girl's shout in front of her. Suddenly, a kind woman's face flashed before his eyes. He walked forward quickly and came to a stall selling snacks.It was very lively here, and there were shouts everywhere.Some sell jelly, some sell oil cakes, some sell rice dumplings, and some sell flat food...Nenny who sells steamed buns? He finally found her.This is a girl with a face as beautiful as a Shandandan flower.He asked, "How many?" The girl immediately greeted warmly: "Seven cents a piece, don't waste tickets, incense! How much do you want?" "What does your mother do?" He actually asked her like this. The girl was taken aback.She said: "My mother is a cadre of the post and telecommunications bureau, and I am an unemployed youth...do you know my mother?" "Oh...don't know. I'll buy four." He shook his head embarrassingly because of his abruptness. He took four steaming vegetable buns, crossed the old bow-shaped small stone bridge again, and returned to the road. The driver leaned over the steering wheel and fell asleep. He quickly got into the car, nudged the young man lightly with his elbow, stuffed two steamed buns into his hands, and said, "It's delicious. You can eat it. Let's go after eating..." The driver said he was not hungry, stuffed the steamed stuffed bun into his satchel, and immediately stepped on the clutch. The jeep was running again on the Salty Elm Highway.The vast winter sky, the dark yellow mountains, and the milky white icicles hanging on the cliffs still flashed outside the car window—this frozen passion!