Re-take the road of chopping wood as a child (3)

Think about what a useless person I was at that time. And it is because of the unforgettable memory of "exhausting one's bones and starving one's body and skin" on this road in later life that the man with strong physical and mental will came into being.

So my deep feelings about this road may be much more unusual than others. Even the loyal, the third and the abortion who are willing to accompany me on this road again, although they understand, may not be able to fully understand my attachment and lingering attachment to this road as a child different from them as a child.

When they were young, they grew up in the streets and lanes, chopping wood in the mountains and fishing in the rivers, and so on. They needed physical work very early, and they became accustomed to it.

at an early age, their footprints must be all over the mountains, ravines and deep valleys outside their homes. This kind of memory may be hard, adventurous, free and comfortable for them, unlike me, who can't carry a shoulder or a hand, and the impression of the first time I experienced this kind of hard adventure is so unforgettable.

Coincidentally, when he returned to his hometown and went to Zhong Zhong's house, he even showed me a scabbard for chopping firewood with his back as a child. He said he would use it to test others to see if they knew what it was for.

I was touched by things and thought, isn't this the scabbard I just described in my memory? Isn't it the first tool I need to use when I first go up the mountain to cut wood? Now I actually touch the real thing again. So I quickly photographed it with my mobile phone (see photo).

this object may be strange to others, but nothing is more familiar and friendly to me.

The first time I tied it around my waist, I put a heavy wood cutter in it and put it behind my ass. When I walked on the mountain road, because my waist was not strong enough, the wood cutter tied around my waist fell loose. Every step, the back of the knife slapped my ass, which hurt (fortunately, it didn't hang on my crotch! ）。 But it is impossible to slung it sideways, so the knife can easily hurt people.

people just go out, and this image is embarrassing enough.

When I cut wood for the first time, I was in a state of panic almost all the time in the mountains. The deep dense forest made me afraid, afraid of getting lost, poisonous snakes and wild animals. Anyway, I was afraid of nothing but fear.

Later, when I was in college, I read a sentence from President Roosevelt: For us, the greatest fear is fear itself. I was enlightened and suddenly realized, and I have been in awe and admiration for this president since then.

So, the so-called firewood gang that was picked up was only a few dead wood that could not be burned. After bundling, it is even more ugly, baggy and crooked, and it is simply a shame to put it together with everyone's firewood gang.

usually around 3 pm, it's getting late, and all the wood cutters have to go home. Otherwise, it will be dark before the mountain comes out!

it's hard to get to the main road when you get out of the mountain path and dense forest. The few sticks of firewood that weigh a little have made my tender shoulders red, swollen and peeling, grinning and afraid to cry. And a person always falls at the end of the line. The others soon went far away. Only Xiaoping always slows down and waits for me to catch up before we go together.

Later, Xiaoping also felt that it was a little shameful for me to go back with such "fork sticks". I saw a cut fir tree with a thick bowl near the roadside beach, which was only one meter long. So he told me to throw away the sticks I picked on my shoulders and pick up the fir tree. He cut the rough bark with a knife to make it smoother, so that the flesh on my shoulders would not be too much for me. Tell me to carry this piece of wood home as firewood.

So, I had to carry this fir tree home with courage, for fear that it would be confiscated when I left the forest farm. Once you think you are cutting down trees, not only the firewood will be confiscated, but also the knife will be confiscated.

I've never picked Chai Gang's shoulder and replaced it with a round log. Although it looks like cutting Chai Gang, it's still difficult to handle this kind of wood on my shoulder, and I won't change my shoulder. Anyway, it's a training all the way. Nothing but hardship.

climb the steep ladder, not to mention. In the small clearing under the ladder, many firewood cutters are resting. Most of them are large bundles of solid firewood gangs, usually weighing dozens of kilograms, weighing more than a hundred kilograms. Some people even pick two firewood by themselves, put down the first one, and then walk back hundreds of meters to pick the second one and take turns to pick it home.

As soon as firewood is picked up on their shoulders, their shoulders will be sunken into a deep ditch. The firewood pickers tremble, and their breathing is heavy but even. On the calf of the foot, the veins stood out like earthworms, bending around and lying under the dark bronze skin.

Look at my skin as white as paper, and then look at the firewood that I picked up and left on the side of the road. I deeply appreciate what shame is.

It's hard to get out of the mountains. What's even more disturbing is the ten minutes that you have to cross the street and cross the lane on your way home. People you don't know look at you in a strange way. You can bear it a little, but you are blushing. You don't know them anyway. The terrible thing is that during the time when I entered the front door, the neighbors next to me were all familiar people, not only looking at you with their eyes, but also teasing you with all kinds of words. Then people make fun of you.

it takes a lot of mental endurance.

when I got home, I was hungry, tired and bruised all over. Grievance and sadness, humiliation and self-esteem, sweet and sour, bitter and spicy, if the family is a little comforted, they may burst into tears.

in the next few days, my back ached and my legs ached, and I couldn't get rid of it. However, once the pain of the whole body disappears, you will suddenly find that something hard and hard has grown out of the original thin-skinned body!

Fortunately, I didn't give up. Every Sunday after that, I basically cut firewood on the mountain. Slowly found that the original soft and white body, in addition to beginning to grow strong muscles, the inner heart also began to grow something called tenacity.

And this kind of thing, with the heavier burden on its shoulders, stronger physique and more skillful craftsmanship, became more and more familiar with the forest and became more and more powerful.

A child has finally grown into a human being in the association with mountains and paths. From then on, I loved mountains, and from then on, love the water.

that time, the footsteps of cutting firewood in childhood stopped at the edge of the mountain spring in front of the ladder ridge.

Because two women in the same trade, Lao San and Xiao Yue, proposed not to go any further. Although my heart has been moving forward. But respecting women's advice, we stopped, took a short rest on the mountain road in front of the ladder, and then set foot on the return trip.

After walking out of the mountain and stepping on the asphalt road, Lao San told the real reason why she proposed not to go any further. She is afraid of snakes. The roadside is now densely covered with grass and densely covered with trees. Make her feet weak, panic in the heart, afraid to meet the most feared animal in my life.

when we learned that, we couldn't help laughing.

When I was coming out of the mountain, I received a phone call from my friend, Gui, who was far away from Guangdong, telling me that Xiangzi Mu Yi's family had arrived in Shaoguan, and everyone was about to get together and asked about my location.

I shouted excitedly: I'm walking on the road of cutting firewood in the mountains when I was a child. I'm in the mountains! It's a pity that we can't get together in Shaoguan. I will be reunited with my middle school classmates who broke up for 3 years in two days. I can't go back for a while.

then I called Mu Yi. The one who answered the phone was Jianxi. Said Mu Yi went out to take photos. They are staying at Yishan Hotel not far from my home. Hearing this, my heart warms up. I also feel sorry that I can't be two places at once.

Think about it. Gui and Mu Yi were my college classmates in the 198s, and they were also the first people I brought to visit the Phoenix in the 198s and then fell in love with it. Later, I answered their persistent call and became a colleague and good friend at Shaoguan University in Guangdong. I got a call from them when I was retracing my childhood chopping road. What a magical fate.

Later, before the Mu Yi family left, my wife just returned to Shaoguan. They had already got on the highway home, but they turned around and stayed together for another half a day. Finally, the four most familiar families were reunited.

My wife also gave a big red envelope to her adopted son who had just been admitted to a prestigious school. Everything seems to be providence, which makes up for my shortcomings.

when my wife arrived to reunite with them, it was also the time for me to reunite with my middle school classmates in Fenghuang after I had retraced my childhood firewood cutting road.

What should I say: All good encounters are reunions after a long separation.

coming out of the mountains, we walked all the way back to the city. This is also how many times I walked like this when I was a child.

the only difference I feel is that it was a long road when I was a child, but now it only takes about half an hour. I never believed it.

is the journey really shortened? Is the world really getting smaller? Or is the scope of our hearts very large?

When I was a child, the world may be very big, and the field of mind is very small.

nowadays, the world may be very small, and the realm of the heart is very big.