Xiazhou?Xiayi

In my memory, the road from Ha Chau to Ha Yi seems to be very long. Grandpa walked from Xiazhou to Xiayi countless times. From Xiayi to Xiazhou, my grandma was gone forever.

Walking towards Zhongdai from Tangxi Town, after passing Yuexi Qiaotou, the first village on the right is Xiazhou. This is a small village with less than a hundred households. It is said that our ancestors migrated from Lanxi. Our great-grandfather Taigong once served as an official in Lanxi, and later moved his family here to make a living by planting mulberry and hemp. It is recorded in the family tree that the ancestors once left a family motto: the two words for inheriting the family are reading and farming, and the two words for building the family are diligence and thrift. Remind future generations not to forget reading and farming, and to be diligent and thrifty in running a household. For many years, my ancestors have been working hard on this land for generations.

My grandfather was born in the Republic of China. Because he was not willing to live his whole life with his face facing the loess and his back facing the sky, he went out to work when he was young and ran a dock in Lanxi. Later, his hand was injured by a dumb bomb, and he had to return to his hometown. In order to allow grandpa to live peacefully in his hometown, the grandfather and grandmother went around asking matchmakers to find a suitable partner. At that time, a matchmaker came to serve as a matchmaker and said that there was a woman in Xiayi who was beautiful in appearance, gentle in character, and good at housework and farming. And he is ten years younger than his grandfather. So grandpa was tempted. After the central matchmaker went to propose marriage, he would go to Xiayi to help with farm work whenever he could. He would also send delicious food to Xiayi and never forget to give gifts every season. The country road from Xiazhou to Xiayi once left countless deep and shallow footprints of my grandfather. Grandpa was honest, hard-working, and respectful to his elders. He finally won the favor of the Yi family and agreed to the marriage.

Although my grandparents’ marriage was dictated by their parents and the matchmaker, they have always treated each other with respect and treated each other as guests. Grandpa treats grandma very well and doesn't let her do heavy work in the fields. But grandma was never idle and kept the house in order. Raising chickens and ducks, growing vegetables, spinning, weaving... The homespun cloth woven by grandma is rough to the touch, but strong and durable. The large pieces were made into single beds for warmth and comfort in winter, and the remaining bits of cloth were made into soup cloths for grandpa to use. Every year after the wheat harvest in the field, she would weave the wheat straw into exquisite wheat straw fans, and she would also make some delicious snacks in different styles: bran paste, Qingming cake, pancakes, twist roast, rice dumplings, glutinous rice balls, dumplings , rice cakes... These are all skills she learned at her parents' home in Xiayi when she was a girl. In short, my grandmother, who never went to school for a day, had no education but was smart and handy.

Grandma has a deep attachment to Xiayi. That's where she grew up. She would often tell us about past events: when she was five or six years old, her maternal great-grandfather once had her feet inserted. She couldn't bear the pain, so she cried day and night, her cries miserable. My great-grandmother relented and knelt down to plead for her, and my great-grandfather ordered the long inner leg cloth to be loosened. However, some of the toes were deformed, so she had a pair of semi-liberated feet. Grandma has two older brothers, and they both love her little sister. They have a very good relationship with each other. Sometimes she would stand on the slope in front of her house and look towards Xiayi. Her grandfather would know that she missed her parents' home, so he would smile and say that when the fields were clearer, they could go to Xiayi to play.

The first time I walked to Xiayi with my grandma was on the first day of June when I was six years old, during Xiayi’s Rice Protection Festival. The custom of the Rice Protection Festival has been around for a long time. Regarding the origin of the Rice Protection Festival, teacher Yi Youxi once recorded it in detail in an article in Tangxi Fengwuzhi. According to legend, the first day of June is the birthday of the Grain God. In the past, people would hold a ceremony to worship the God of Grains on this day, praying for good weather and abundant harvests. Then every household prepares a sumptuous family banquet to entertain relatives and friends from all over. Every year on the first day of June, Xiayi Village is bustling with activity.

In June of the lunar calendar, the weather is already very hot. Early in the morning, grandma woke me up from my sleep, put me into a beautiful dress, and put a flask of herbal tea on my back. She also dressed up a little: she put on the crescent-white short-sleeved slanted sleeves that she was usually reluctant to wear, and the skirt was hand-made with chrysanthemum-shaped cloth buttons. Black satin wide-leg pants and a pair of black cloth shoes. Her long hair is tied into a bun on the back of her head, and a delicate silver lotus ornament is fixed on the bun with a silver hairpin. Then he carried a small bamboo basket in his hand, covered with a new towel, and he didn't know what was in it? I guess they are gifts for my uncles and aunts, or my cousins.

Taking advantage of the coolness of the morning, we set off on the road. Wade across the Yuexi River from the hillside at the entrance of the village, follow the winding field path through Tangtang Village, and then walk on a long machine-ploughed road to Dongzhu Village. Then keep walking along the ditch on the side of the road. The early rice in the fields is covered with golden ears. The plump rice ears have bent the rice stalks. The late rice seedlings are green and growing well. Looks like it’s another good year! As we walked along, the sun gradually rose, and the hot sunlight burned the earth. The cicadas chirping loudly on the willow branches make people feel anxious and anxious.

After passing Dongzhu Village, there is still endless fields. The path under your feet stretches infinitely ahead. It feels like a long road, as if it will never end. Sweat gradually soaked the back of my clothes, and the initial freshness wore off. I began to regret taking this journey, crying and wanting to go home. So grandma took me to find a shade place to sit down and rest, opened the deflated pot and drank a few sips of herbal tea, then took out two mint candies from the basket and handed them to me, coaxing me to continue on my way.

After walking for a long time, I saw the gray and plain old houses in Xiayi Village from a distance. Passing through the farmland of Paixitong Village, we finally arrived at Xiayi Village.

There is a small pond at the entrance of the village, and several big white geese are swimming leisurely in the water. At this time, several women greeted grandma enthusiastically. While she was chatting with them, I grabbed a handful of grass and fed the geese. Unexpectedly, those big geese were very ferocious after they came ashore. They screamed "Galong Galong" and stretched their necks to instigate me. I was so scared that I ran away quickly, but I was still instigated twice, and I cried all the way to my uncle's house. My uncle saw me, asked why, and laughed loudly and said: "The geese in Xiayi are also bullying! They bully my little guest, and I will kill it and eat its meat later." The enthusiastic and cheerful uncle came from the kitchen He brought out some delicious snacks and invited grandma and me to drink tea.

After a sumptuous lunch, the fatigue and unhappiness along the way have disappeared. At that time, except for my eldest cousin, the other three of my cousins ??were still married. The youngest aunt, Xuelian, was only six or seven years older than me. So my little aunt took me to wander around the village.

The solemn ancestral hall, antique stage, ancient houses with overhanging eaves, tall ginkgo trees, long and deep alleys, cobblestone paths, and a clear water canal twist and turn around the entire village. . It is somewhat similar to the hometown of Lu Xun in Shaoxing. The ancient Yue River flows slowly in front of the village. There are groups of fish and shrimps in the stream. There are large fertile rice fields on both sides of the river... This is the Xiayi in my memory.

Xiayi Village is a large village with several hundred households and a permanent population of more than 1,600 people, which is much larger than our Xiazhou Village. When I grew up, I realized that Xiayi Village actually has a long history and profound cultural heritage. There are many ancient buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties in the village, and there are also scholars and famous doctors. The high horse-head wall, dilapidated cornices, and mossy stone steps all leave traces of the vicissitudes of time, silently telling the history of this village.

My feelings for Xiayi are due to the fact that my relatives live here. As the saying goes, visit relatives, visit relatives. Relatives should move around frequently. The road from Xiazhou to Xiayi became the emotional link between our family and my uncle’s family. After that, every year during the first month of the year, we celebrated the New Year, guaranteed rice on the first day of June, and several cousins ??got married. I also followed my grandma on this country road many times. Every time I go there is a different feeling.

Many years later, I once again set foot on the path from Hazhou to Xiayi. However, things have long since changed. The road is still the same road, and the fields are still fragrant. My grandparents, uncles and aunts are no longer alive. Walking on this road, in addition to remembering the past, I also hope that these traditional ancient villages will not disappear in the torrent of time. And our descendants will never forget these farming cultures that have been passed down for thousands of years.