Malianhe past events

At the southern end of my hometown Fengcheng, there is a clear river-Malian River, which is the largest river in Qingyang. It was called Yellow River in ancient times, Mud Water in Han Dynasty and Maling River after Northern Wei Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, because the two tributaries of Malingshui and Baimashui met in the south of Qingcheng, the river below Qingcheng was called Malian River, which flowed to Zhengping Ancient Town in Ning County and then merged with Jinghe River and Wuri Tiangou River to form the source of Weihe River. The total length is 375 kilometers.

My village is located on the east bank of the Ma Lian River.

Although I have been working away from home for many years, the grass, trees, mountains, rivers, relatives and friends in my hometown are unforgettable and often vivid in my mind.

My deepest childhood memory is the unforgettable time spent by the Ma Lian River.

I was born in the 1960s. At that time, the crystal clear Malian River in summer was a place where boys and children dug water (swam), girls washed clothes and adults and children dug talc. At that time, life was particularly poor, and almost every family took part in talc digging, that is, when students were slack or after school, they went to Ma Lian Beach to dig talc; At this time, the jingle of digging and planing resounded through the whole river bend. With this special sound and people talking and roaring, a sea of joy has formed on the beach.

"Talc" is a kind of pebbles with smooth surface, which is used to burn lime or crush it into triangle stones as building materials. We can use the excavated talc to make some pocket money to subsidize our family. As long as I can remember, every time we celebrate the "June 1st" Festival, the white shirts, blue pants and white sports shoes we want at school are all obtained from the talc we dug up in the Ma Lian river beach. I seldom ask my parents for pocket money to buy clothes or school supplies.

At that time, Malianhe gave us a lot. There is a jingle in our hometown: "There are three treasures in Qingyang city, but the stone wall can't fall down. The goose pond cave doesn't need to scoop water, and the dragon king can't burn firewood." Every flood season, heavy rain washes the dead branches on the mountain and debris such as cattle and sheep dung into the river. When the river rises, all these things float on the water and flow to my hometown, bringing good news to the villagers on both sides of the river. We locals call this "fishing for firewood in the river". At that time, we all depended on it for cooking. After the river rises several times a year, people on both sides of the strait have basically solved the problem of cooking and burning firewood all year round.

When I was a child, I never saw the river and the sea, and I was very excited every time I watched the river rise. The rising river is spectacular, the current is swift, and the waves are like hills. The roar of the waves in the narrow area of the river bend is deafening, which makes people on the shore shudder. We always watch adults firewood by the river. At that time, we were all very young, and our parents wouldn't let us get too close to the river. Firewood is a matter for adults, especially men, because it is a hard and dangerous job. In the past, people were washed away by floods while firewood was being collected. My father also saved drowning people in the river several times. So women are less involved. Out of curiosity, I once tried to fish for firewood. At that time, my father was there to give me courage. When I put the "fishing child" with firewood into the water, I only felt an overwhelming force pulling me into the river. I screamed with fear and almost threw the fishing child into the water, and people almost fell into the river. However, women and children also have things to do, that is, transport the wet firewood to a higher place on the shore, otherwise the water will continue to rise and the firewood will be washed away at once, and all previous efforts will be in vain. Therefore, most of the tasks of transporting firewood home after the river rises are completed by our brothers and sisters. My parents have to work in the production team, that is, they have to "go to work" on time every day.

The ordinary Malian River is gentle and weak, but it rises in summer, comparable to the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. The water is fierce, the waves are big, the water is fast, and the water depth is tens of meters, which is really scary. My father was very young at that time, and he was good at swimming. Every year, he and several young people in the village go to the surging river to pull firewood, that is, the big trees washed into the river by the flood. This is very good wood.

? My father was a famous carpenter when he was young, so he made a lot of furniture for us with wood from Ma Lian River. Such as desks, bookshelves, wooden boxes, benches, etc. My brother and I also helped him pull a big saw, which is to use a big saw to pull logs into boards.

? How brave they were when they remembered the thrilling scene of their father pulling wood in the flood. Every time I go into the water, my mother sweats for him! Being poor at that time, my father ventured to pull wood in the river. Because he is young and good at swimming, he is safe every time, which is also a blessing for our family.

? Sometimes, a few days before the flood season, my father and several men in the neighborhood waited for the river to rise at night in order to catch firewood or wood at the first time. Now that I think about it, what a dangerous move it was. But in those difficult times, people had to take such risks to get some firewood.

1964 In the summer, as in previous years, the Malian River flooded again, but this time the river rose greatly and the surging waves rolled down like an avalanche. The river has flooded the crops above the river bank, almost as flat as the road. The villagers watched the water outside the door, waiting for the river to recede a little, ready to go to firewood again.

Grandma also got up early this day. As usual, she got up early to take care of me who was less than one year old. Mom went to make breakfast. After breakfast, mom and dad quarreled for some reason. Then my father went to the river to see the situation, and my mother looked after it at home. Adults are busy with their own affairs. When eating, my mother put the rice on the table, but she couldn't wait for grandma to come back for dinner. Dad went to the neighbor's house and asked, but there was no sign of grandma. Father suddenly had an ominous premonition and he became nervous. ...

Grandma's life is very bumpy, and her fate is as full of hardships and tribulations as that of the country at that time. In the eighteenth year of the Republic of China, Qishan, my grandmother's hometown in Shaanxi, suffered from drought, famine everywhere and bandits were rampant. When she got married in caijiapo, a one-year-old child was starving. Because there was no food and milk, the child cried all day, and she had to go to the mountains to pick some wild vegetables every day to satisfy her hunger. As usual, I also went to the mountains to pick wild vegetables. I was found by my brother-in-law at noon and said that my relatives came to see me. He is also driving a big carriage. Grandma believed it and was connected to the carriage by her brother-in-law. Who knows that his carriage did not take her to a relative's house, but took her to a strange place. Soon, a group of men came with some young women. They were forced by men to pull up two big wagons wrapped in tarpaulins and took the women away. Cover your eyes with a black cloth. No matter how they struggled and cried along the way, the carriage was still running fast on the road. Soon I left my hometown, because most women have never been far away in their lives, and I don't know where they were taken by these traffickers. After several days and nights of running around, grandma was taken to Qingyang, Gansu, and several women who came with her were sold to local single men respectively. Another woman who came with my grandmother was also sold to my fourth grandfather.

? Grandpa is two years older than grandma. Although he was poor at that time and worked long-term for the landlord, his ideal wife was not necessarily a woman like grandma. Grandma has married to her hometown and has children of her own. When she was taken away, the children were very young and still nursing. She was forcibly taken away by traffickers without saying a word to her family. Anxious, she spends every day in Lacrimosa and misses her children and family, so she doesn't care about this man. So the relationship between them was not harmonious at first. Quarrels are common. After grandparents got married, Yi * * * gave birth to more than a dozen children, but all died because of lack of clothes, food and medicine. Only my father survived healthily. This experience left an irreparable trauma and shadow on grandma's psychology. She became depressed and her illness got worse every year. Her parents' quarrel that day made her very unhappy. When she saw her father go to the river, she thought he might kill himself. A panic swept over her, and when the river surged, she unconsciously walked to the river. Her brain is a little dizzy. Maybe she thought of her hometown at this moment. Half her life has passed. How is the child at home? Are your relatives there? Maybe you can walk back to your hometown along this river. I don't know how long she walked along the river, and finally she walked into the water. The turbulent river instantly swept her into the middle of the water and rushed downstream. It happened so fast that no one noticed. It was not until lunch in the afternoon that the family noticed that she was not at home. Father went out to inquire, and a neighbor said she had seen her by the river, but grandma didn't come home all night.

The desperate father had to look downstream along the river the next day. After several days of searching, he finally found her in Zhengping Village, Ning County. She was found by a kind local villager and buried in situ. Father was unable to pull her home at that time, so he had to thank his fellow villagers and let him take care of her more in the future, and went home dejectedly. Ma Lian Holland took away her grandmother who had suffered all her life. Maybe it sent her soul back to her hometown. ...

Decades later, my grandmother's unexpected death made my father spend the rest of his life blaming himself. Long-term depression led to his incurable disease. 1992 in the middle of winter, the weather was extremely cold that day. My father took his little brother to Zhengping, and finally brought back my grandmother's bones and buried them with my grandfather. Father finally realized his wish for many years before his death.

Remember 1999, my father fished for firewood in the river for the last time. After that fishing, he fell ill and his ribs ached. He didn't know he was seriously ill until he went to the hospital for examination. He died three months later. This is my lifelong regret and guilt!

The memory left by Malianhe is not only the small wealth brought to us by the past, but also the bitter past.

Today, the Malian River still runs day and night, and the sound of playing around it when we were young still seems to reverberate in our ears, bearing the joy and sadness of generations in our hometown. Time flies like water and the past is like smoke. It witnessed the vicissitudes of my hometown. It is a song that sings beautiful melody day and night. It is a poem that writes blessings and praises for a better life between the lines!

? I wish the Ma Lian River in my hometown will always be clear and blue, and my relatives in my hometown will always be happy and healthy!