The sound of turtledoves in the bamboo forest was immersed in my confused consciousness.Everything seems very strange and extremely absurd.This is a snowy morning on the second day of my first arrival at "Gaojian". I lay on a large bed of carved nanmu wood, wrapped in new quilts that smelled of hay and dried fruit.The fine white linen tent is like a square city with a roof. In this square city, I have slept soundly for ten hours.I have recovered from the exhaustion of walking forty or fifty miles on the mountain road yesterday in the two-foot-deep snow.The brazier brazier in the middle of the room, the charcoal fire that was covered with hot ashes last night, was pushed aside at some point, and some new chestnut charcoal was added. From the happy explosion of small sparks in the charcoal basin, I gradually passed from ignorance to completeness. wide awake.I understood that I was beginning to live a kind of modern legend again.

Before coming here yesterday, a few people and a few dogs were chasing the fox in the snow-covered stream, and they rushed together to kick up a cloud of snow powder. Xueqing's calmness matched the scenery, and when that moving scene reappeared in my memory, it was like a bizarre nightmare.In addition, when I entered the village at the beginning, I walked through the snowmelt and mud path, bypassed the mill, the oil press, and the small stream with the snowmelt cold and the half stream running like rushing, and turned into this place with festive events. Zhuangzhai.In the brightly lit and drum competition, I sat at the same table with a few squires to drink, and participated in the excitement of the host's wedding banquet. I got a bunch of other impressions, which added to my confusion about the real situation.Impressions therefore inevitably overlap.Although the impressions are overlapping, they are not confused. Just like a piece of music being played, it is both delicate and magnificent. Every sound from each instrument is extremely clear even if it is low, and if it has its own position, it exists independently. A piece of sweet rice wine that can hold freshly fermented grains, according to the rules, it was carried to the guest table in consecutive cylinders, and the cover was uncovered in public. There was a soft sizzling sound of bubbles bubbling upwards for a while, but it was never stopped by the sharp whimpering suona sound in the courtyard. submerged.The owner of the house is an old lady, and the big red camellia on the silver-white hair is still very vivid in the reflection of the bride's twelve big red crepe skirts.There are also those mature female guests who are soaked in youthful enthusiasm, dark and bright eyes, and each has a different weight on my memory.In my eyes, reflected by the snow outside the house, it forms a purple and velvet golden sunflower, which is always changing in the turbulent environment, and I can't grasp it if I want to grasp it.Because of this, the impressions of the past are turbulent, vivid, gorgeous, flickering and wobbly.

The sunflowers in my eyes have turned from purple and golden to a golden and green illusion, and they are still spinning endlessly. ...everyone who could drink at the banquet was drunk.The residence is still far away from walking, so I lighted the fire and went home singing and laughing.Play music to help, go down to the kitchen, swollen necks with shochu and big meatballs, fat bacon, to compensate for fatigue, each convenient, or hold a large bundle of straw, go to sleep in the empty barn, or shake the torch, go to the oil workshop to play Tianjiu The card has gone overnight, so I naturally have to have a place to stay.The old lady who was the head of the family stood in front of the hall, and after sorting out many things thoughtfully, she held up a torch made of sesame stalks with trembling hands, ready to guide me to a place specially arranged for me.The torch in front of me shines on me, so I don’t have to worry about slipping and rolling into the snow. The big red camellia on the old lady’s white hair is just like another torch, which reminds me of my grandmother’s generation of the old school, the virtuous and diligent head of the family thirty years ago. all kinds.But what I care most about is following behind me, hugging two newly stapled quilts. A young country girl is also like a torch.I don't know who she is yet.She was talking to a countryman who was packing musical instruments in a place out of the light in front of the hall. The old lady asked in the hall, "Qiaoxiu, Qiaoxiu, but you?"

"It's me!" "It's you, please help me and send the bedding to the back room." So the three of them turned from the main hall, where the lights were brightly lit and the drums were playing, to the most secluded part of the mansion. side yard.The contrast of the two circumstances, and the strangeness of the ranks, had increased my bewilderment of the situation.After arriving in the living room, the four walls of white wood boards gather the light of a Mobil lamp with a lampshade that has been polished clean, so that I can clearly see the face of the person who is holding the quilt for me under the light.At the age of seventeen, a pair of clear eyes, a small mouth with two corners slightly upturned, a breast that is swollen and high during development, and a big braid like a black snake.When he speaks, he smiles shyly as soon as he speaks, but he can't hold back the secret joyful smile of youthful life.But, in fact, she didn't make a sound or smile at this time, she just stood quietly beside the big nanmu flower-board bed, helping the old lady arrange the quilt for me.I stood by the brazier in the middle of the room, drying my hands, and looking around, admiring the movement in the room: the big red camellia on the white hair bun that seemed to be moving, the eyebrows and eyes of the seventeen-year-old girl who seemed to be moving Limbs and limbs... What did those clear and innocent eyes see in this small village surrounded by thousands of mountains and less than 250 households?That delicate and pretty mouth, when you want to sing, what song should you sing?And that heart, which is usually trained steadily and firmly for the long howl of the mountain jackal behind the house, and the resting breath of the big yellow-throated snake coiled around the bowl of the water tank, will it still jump violently for new things?Am I still unwilling to give up my wild dream of being a painter?When it comes to painting, should the first stroke capture the youthful brilliance of the eyes, or keep the warm smile at the corner of the mouth?I still find it a bit puzzling, why not send an ordinary long-term worker to help make the bed, wouldn't it save everyone trouble?If you want to come, why not be alone, and the old lady must come with you?

I will go later, do I have to go with the old lady?If not, what should I do?All this is really a bizarre education for me.I couldn't help laughing.In these headless daydreams, I can be said to be a "countryman" who has come to the countryside. I said, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, my guest is such a troublesome old lady!Trouble this big lady!The old lady is really tired, she should go to bed early. " From the slightly upturned corners of the mouth that suppressed a smile, which represented the age of seventeen, I could see an answer with a clear meaning. "How can I be sorry? You people in the city will be polite."

It is true that people in the city are polite and courteous, but they are not always honest and decent.As if this criticism really came from the other side, I had no words to reply and fell silent. By the time the two made the bed for me.The old lady patted the old-fashioned hard pillow embroidered with "Longevity and Wealth" with a buttoned pillow handkerchief, and said softly in a tone almost like a wish: "Sleep well, sleep until it is bright and then wake up, if you don't call you Don't wake up! "And put a small red paper bag hidden in the sleeve, and quietly stuffed it under the pillow. Although I saw it, I just pretended not to see it. So, the two smiled at each other, with a knowing smile, as if After finishing a major event, shake the lamp holder, there is still a lot of oil, turn the lamp head to see whether the mechanism is flexible. Then check the teapot, it is very stable when stewed next to the charcoal basin. A kind of maternal thoughtfulness, put everything you want Pay attention to everyone, then said a few irrelevant gossips, and left together. I fell into a kind of complete loneliness because of this. I heard the sound of two people stepping on the snow and laughing at the corner of the courtyard. What does this mean? Out of curiosity, I reached out to touch under the pillow, and I caught something, a sealed mystery. I opened it carefully, and it turned out to be a bag of gold candy. I knew that the old lady followed an old village ritual. It is customary in the countryside that newlyweds do not stay overnight with unmarried strangers. If a special guest stays at home, they must wish him a good night's sleep. I am afraid that guests will wake up in the middle of the night and have something to know, so they don't know what to do early in the morning. , Talking nonsense, I sweetened my mouth with a bag of sugar in advance, and sealed my mouth.

Everything is inseparable from the symbol.Only its symbol, the simple ceremony is full of pastoral lyricism. Because I remember a common saying, "When you enter the country, ask the vulgar", it has been mentioned before, but I never thought that I would participate in this corner.What will I say tomorrow morning?Is it true that all the things that come to mind at this time are close to a kind of taboo?Fifty miles of trekking in the snow has made me very tired physically. At the wedding banquet with bright lights and drum competitions, the air made of sweet wine and laughter, the infusion of country-style joy, plus The fantasies or associations that that seventeen-year-old country girl can arouse in me seem to wear out my soul quite a bit.Therefore, lying in the warm, soft quilt with the scent of hay and dried fruits, it didn't take long for me to be completely cleaned up by sleep.

Now I breathe this modern legend again.The sparks in the charcoal basin are still exploding slightly.If I wake up five minutes earlier, will I find a pair of eyes and a mouth when the door is gently pushed open by a hand?Could it be that after holding back a smile and tiptoeing into the room, while tidying up the brazier, he looked quietly at the window, a mixture of simplicity and cunning, and he just said, "Your city people will be polite." Under such circumstances, should I suddenly jump up and startle her a little bit unceremoniously, or should I keep my sugar in my mouth and keep silent?I can't just lie down like this.The oil-purple turtledove with a brocade ribbon is already cooing in the snow to gather friends.I have to look at Xueqing's mansion in the morning, the mansion after the wedding, how messy and quiet it is.The streams, cold forests and distant mountains outside the house are so harmonious and beautiful because of the snow covering the early sun, and the footprints of the foxes, rabbits and crows on the edge of the middle road in the snowfield, symbolizing the multifaceted patterns of life.But it may be something else that particularly interests me.The bride has to cook according to the rules. After a series of happy jokes arranged by relatives and friends in advance, isn't it a bit embarrassing?What was the scene like when I went to the well to fetch water with my husband early in the morning?Did that pair of eyebrows really change in one night, and can be distinguished at a glance?After the change, compared with the other seventeen-year-old mature girl, what is the difference? ... After washing, go out to the front yard and talk nonsense as little as possible.And I wanted to find a person who would take me to the back mountain to have a look and confirm all the things I had imagined, "it's too early to travel, and there are people who travel early." Unexpectedly, from under the big walnut tree in the front yard, I saw the friend who was the groom. I was squatting next to a large ball of fur on the snow, inspecting it.Only then did I know that the groom still followed the usual routine, and he got up at dawn, took a shotgun and two long-term workers, went around the back mountain, looked at the suits one by one, and packed up what he got.From this small accumulation, I found two hemp rabbits, a long-tailed lynx, a gray badger, and two weasels.The ground where the trap is installed, within half a mile of the mountain behind the manor house, there are so many creatures that touch the net in one night.And from the different shapes, different fur colors, think about how every different life, under different circumstances, is pressed down by a big rock at the waist, with its head and tail stretched out, unable to move; Struggling in mid-air to exhaustion, bowing his head to death; or being stabbed in a certain part of the limb by a mechanism, wooden beams and bamboo sticks, in pain and fear, how hard to struggle first, with a low hiss of despair, struggling helplessly, exhausted After exhaustion, Fang was full of tragic passion, fell silent, and waited for the dawn. In the end, he could not help but belong to the pile of fluffy wild animals, which were displayed on the snow, like a moving picture.But any kind of picture can't fully express the complexity and multifacetedness of this almost incredible life.

The cries of turtledoves in the bamboo forest in the back garden.caught the attention of friends.So we ran to the back garden together.The friend sprinkled a handful of mung beans on the snow, poured another handful of mung beans into the old-fashioned shotgun, hid behind a pile of straw, and waited.After a while, at the sound of the gunshot, the pair of turtledoves flying down the snow to peck at the mung beans were hit by the mung beans ejected from the gun barrel and lay down in the snow.When eating breakfast, among the dishes the bride cooks for the first time, there is a plate of stir-fried turtledove with spicy peppers.

While eating, I listened to the groom telling the story of hunting tigers in Dawei, which made me seem to join in the intense and intense battle and game process between man and another creature in the magnificent natural background.The bride's eyebrows are still arched, which made me want to ask a question all the time, as if because of the bag of candy that the old lady stuffed under the pillow last night, she really sealed her mouth and couldn't speak.But a long-term worker who came from outside replaced me, broke the silence at the table, and hurriedly stated to the host in front of the table: "Old lady, captain, your Qiaoxiu, someone saw it with his own eyes on the au. Yesterday, playing the suona That Zhongzhai man abducted your eldest daughter, Qiaoxiu. She must be running towards Yalaying, and she must be able to catch up with her. Qiaoxiu is smiling while carrying a small burden on her back!"

"Hey, hey!" The people at the table were all stunned by the news. This moment of concentration made me realize that eyebrow comparison was hopeless. I sat alone by the brazier in this small room again, listening to the white water boiling in the copper pot on the brazier, as if I lost something, and was inadvertently packed by that person in that small package and brought to an unbearable place. I went to a small place I know. But in fact, it should be said that I "got" something.Just what exactly do you get?I ask you.Calculating the time, it is only the second day that I have come to this country. Excluding sleep, my ears, eyes, senses and senses have been in contact with everything here for less than seven hours. The fullness and overflow of life have completely confused my emotions or reason. The sun was shining on the window lattices, and snowmelt was dripping from the eaves outside.I just turned eighteen. Rewritten October 12, 1946