What are the homesick stories?

Ling Ke

I grew up in a small town.

Like most villages in Vietnam, some mountains and rivers are dotted with the scenery of the plains, just like the wild flowers next to the temple of the village girl. The streets are as calm as ever, and the fields are strewn at random. In the sun, in the snow, in the gray hut, some people who have created history with labor, but have never appeared at the bottom of historians' works, are as tenacious and happy as buffaloes. They lived an ordinary life and died in an ordinary old age; Dead, buried in the mound, alive, nobody cares. Even a wanderer who takes root here and then lives in a different place can easily blur these friendly faces.

Those who live in the hearts of vagrants forever are rivers that flow forever.

This small town has the beauty of a water town: the river lingers around and whispers endlessly, like a poet's monologue. The water is very clear, and delicate duckweeds float on the water in spring; In winter, the river is full of green leaves. The sound of oars lasted all night.

Thanks to this river, there has never been a flood or drought in our hometown. Summer is bitter and hot, and it doesn't rain for dozens of days, so the land dries up and becomes a desert. The sound of the street river is dull and lonely, and the taupe riverbed sees the blue sky, leaving only an ugly ditch in the middle, motionless. Who took some watermelon seeds from the river bed? Instead, let them sprout in the mud, produce small yellow flowers and compete with the stars in the sky at night. -Is the slim and graceful appearance of this river worrying enough? Yes, but this is only part of the street river. You try to run to the transit pavilion in Okawabe outside the city. Isn't that river singing softly as usual? Although the sound is a little moist.

For example, in the sunny season, the spring crystal rises; Or in September when the weather is biting and the rain is biting, these rivers will become full in a few days. The inverted voice is higher and the flowing melody is lively. I secretly kissed the stone magnet in the breeze, and sometimes I quickly climbed up the river bank on a moonlit night. So the shadows of some young people often appear on the street, standing leisurely and putting the fishing line into the water. You said that patting the water won't bring them disaster? Don't worry! After a while, when the gate is opened, this clean stream will bid farewell to the land in the town.

Oh, great! I only care about the scenery of small rivers, but I forgot to tell you the old and fresh stories about these rivers. -If you don't mind staying out of it and have a chance to stay in town on a single-paddle Wu Peng boat, I will definitely take you to the end of the street to see an old gate first.

Not far, right in the center of town. There are two famous mountains called Jinji and Yuchan, facing each other across the water, with a gate facing each other across the river in the middle. The river is wide, the gate is covered with solemn temples, and incense keeps burning all year round. Old people will tell you: Zhang Laoxianggong is the god of water town here, with outstanding prestige. I can't remember the story of this god. In short, he was just an ordinary man. He probably did something good for everyone, but drowned himself in the water. His sincere sacrifice made him a god. When the teenagers in the town leave their hometown and live in a different place, their parents always take them to worship in front of Zhangmiao and make a wish of "bon voyage". There is a stone stage in front of the temple, floating on the water like a mirage. This is the first-class gorgeous building in his town, beautifully carved and tastefully painted. There are two tall stone bridges stretching around the temple like arms. The river under the bridge is deep in You Lan. When it is calm, the shadow of the bridge stands tall. Even the four vigorous Chinese characters of "Ancient Gate Head" carved on the bridge floated calmly with the microwave, watching the vicissitudes coldly.

When the water level rises, the gate opens. The calm water roared like an ancient pond. Pedestrians run to the old gate and only hear loud noises, like spring thunder-no, it's a bit like listening to pines all over the mountain in a high-rise building at night. Looking down from the railing, the world under your feet suddenly changed: don't underestimate this quiet river. If it is provoked, it will be better than a tsunami. It will turn over and fly, with thousands of silver flowers, rush out and run to the town. Occasionally, ships pass by. As usual, all the boatmen were sent out trembling. One is steering at the stern, and the rest are standing at the bow and midship with poles, like a general with a spear. Because if you are not careful, the hull will be smashed to pieces. If you are sailing against the current, you have to use seven or eight strong men to hold the thick brown rope tied under the sluice and drag it through the stormy waves.

In the face of this magnificent scene, I may win your silent appreciation and lament the magic of the universe?

Yes, the magic of the universe: but we know that most of a history is a record of the struggle between human beings and nature, and this door, this river, is not lacking in hard origins.

Yuezhou has been Zeguo since ancient times, and the water control project in Yu Xia has finally learned rice, so it will not continue. In the distant past, our hometown was only Wang Yang. However, the desire to survive gave human courage, and the experience of struggle inspired their intelligence. Guide the river and open the lake, so that the rivers in Qian Shan have a home; Dams and dikes are built to control the water conservancy of oceans and rivers. In the meantime, no one can tell how many degrees of spring and autumn, how many nameless lives and sweat have been paid. This era has been too far away from us. The water towns in Wang Yang have disappeared with time. People who conquered nature have long been corrupted into light smoke, but they have left happiness forever. Therefore, we only think that the countryside in our hometown is so rich since birth and the rivers have been so lovely since ancient times!

Only this ancient sluice can remind us of the distant years. But this ancient gate is actually a waste. If we follow the trail of this torrent, we can still see a door where everyone can tell the origin.

Su Yingmen is commonly known as Xingmen-but it may also be a "new gate", which is the antonym of "old gate" in our town. It is quietly blocked opposite Haikou outside Sanjiang City, like a continuous long dike. Standing at the gate and looking out, you can see a wave of smoke on the sea and several sails in the sky. The wild sea breeze is salty, and the hunting ground blows people's hearts far away, making us feel that before there is a gate, it should be a vast aquarium paradise. As long as we stand at the old gate of our town, we can see the vast sea and sky in front of us.

There are 28 holes in the gate, which are juxtaposed like harmonicas. As soon as the sluice is opened, the water exceeding the standard in the county will come from all the lakes and rivers and gather in our small town. After passing through the sluice, all the rivers will return to the sea, and all the rivers will rush out from the sluice Malik. It is still closed after the level, defending against tides from the sea.

It is the key to the flow of Vietnamese people and the iron army that dominates the border of water countries! With it, we lived a quiet life and enjoyed those beautiful and lively rivers.

Every August 18, Su Yingmen holds a carnival. Tourists from far and near urban and rural areas poured in like flowing water, and the gate was crowded with people. There are countless ships moored in the city gate, and laughter is like the waves flying by the sea. This is a seasonal tide-watching festival. In the past, the tide of sea otters never swept our ancestors, but now it is the turn of residents to enjoy the wonders of the sea!

On this day, as usual, there are cigarettes, red candles and social dramas at the Tang Palace Temple and Longmu Temple Fair near the gate. Tourists in bright autumn sunshine come in and out of the Tang Palace and Longmu Temple like a shuttle. People are familiar with the legend that in ancient times, it was just a water country. It wasn't until the Ming Dynasty Tang Taishou built a sluice in Sanjiang to prevent flood and drought that our life was blessed. The project of building sluice is very arduous. I don't know how many times the foundation laid has been washed away by the tide. Tang Taishou spent several years in poverty and tried his best to do nothing. Finally, a young stonemason named Long Mu welded the cornerstone with his own blood. ……

I often dream of homesickness, and the dream soul is like duckweed, rippling on the river in that small town. But I'm a little depressed.

The land of clouds and water, where the dry streams are beautiful and the mountains and rivers are winding, today's ancient tourists are obsessed with them and admire the ingenuity of nature; Wanderers far away from home are homesick. But who would have thought that it was once desolate. Those villagers who work in the sun, in the snow and in small gray houses are burdened with the troubles of "troubled times" and live a heavy and numb life. They grew up in a fertile land, but forgot the history of their ancestors' struggle and that human hands can change their lives.

The carnival day by the door, I guess, may be to commemorate the victory of our ancestors, but now it has become a pure amusement and a simple ceremony to reward the gods.

1936

Rootless orchid

the Chen Dynasty

Mr. Gu's family invited me to a university in the suburbs of Philadelphia to see flowers. The car walked for an hour and arrived at the campus; The campus laughs like a poem. The mountains are undulating, the old trees are shaded, the green vines build small buildings, and the green grass is full of slopes; There was no sound except the singing of birds. Like a dream, a quiet dream.

There are two flower beds. The flowers and seeds are from China. One is Bai Mudan, and the other is Snow Ball; Like in the seaweed, lilacs shine like stars. These flowers are from China! Because of these flowers, I naturally think of the flowers in Beiping Park, which are no different from these; However, I can't recall my childhood feelings anymore. I don't know why, but I always feel that these flowers shouldn't be here. Their background should be today's Yuxuan, a humorous garden, the stone steps of the Forbidden City or the walls of pavilions. Because the background has changed, the color of flowers has faded, people's mood has also weakened, and tears have flowed down for some reason.

When I was a teenager, tears never flowed so unconsciously. I saw something completely different from my childhood in a foreign land, and I saw exactly the same flowers and plants; Whether it's the same or different, I've never thought about home because of things abroad. I have never seen this kind of water before when I arrived at Wei Shui 'an. I just feel novel and not strange. When I arrived at Xianyang City, which I had never seen before, I just felt that it was old and not sad. I have picked red maple leaves on Xiangshan Mountain in Qinling Mountains, and I have seen red ones in Shu Temple, so I am not homesick. I once proudly said, "I can settle down anywhere."

However, since I arrived in the United States, my feelings have suddenly changed; When dreaming at night, it is often that the cabin at home collapses in the wind and rain, or the mother's hair turns white one by one; In my daytime life, I often don't like to see things different from my hometown, but I dare not see the same things as my hometown. At this moment, I suddenly realized that because the silkworm did not leave the mulberry leaf, it could be home anywhere; When you go abroad, you can't have homes everywhere.

We don't like China moving to America. People who immigrate to the United States are equally uneasy; At this time, I remembered the fragrance of my hometown land and the gorgeous flowers and plants in my hometown. I once remembered that when I was 8 years old, I followed my uncle with a sickle on my shoulder to cut golden ears of wheat. Now this childhood color printing has become an immortal painting in my life.

The ancients said: "Life is like a ping"-drifting on the water; That's because the ancients did not go abroad and did not feel the pain of going abroad. Ping still has water to borrow. In my opinion: life is like a flock, wandering in this colorful spring.

At the end of the Song Dynasty, the painter Zheng Sixiao painted orchids with roots and leaves floating in the air. People asked him why, and he said, "Where did the land fall?" The country is the root, and people without the country are grass without roots, which will wither without being tortured by wind and rain.

When I was a teenager, I was homeless and didn't feel pain. More than ten years have passed, and the motherland has been ruined, but I feel a taste. Didn't someone say that "the head can be broken, the blood can flow, and the body can't be humiliated"? In my opinion, it should be "the body can be humiliated, the home can be broken, and the country can't be forgotten."

Date core

Qian Xiao

Before going to America, an old classmate wrote an airmail letter and repeatedly entrusted me to bring him some raw jujube stones, which were not heavy but had strange uses.

We spoke on the phone before we left Philadelphia. When he got off the bus, he was already waiting at the station. It's been almost half a century since we broke up, and now it's dying.

After the hug, she asked me eagerly, "Did you bring it?" I quickly took out those jujube stones from my handbag. She is held in the palm of her hand and is worth more than pearl agate.

Her naughty spirit has obviously not changed. When I asked about the use of jujube stones, she put them in her pocket and said mysteriously, "You will understand later."

This is really a beautiful mountain city. The car left, and all the way up and down the slope was purples. If you are in China, it will be called the Maple Leaf City. After several ravines, she pointed to a three-story building among maple trees and said, "Here we are." The car turned into the lawn, three or four meters away from the garage, and the garage door opened automatically like knowing the owner.

My friend was a little embarrassed to explain that when I bought this big house, my children were still at school and now they are married. My wife is studying biochemistry and doing nutrition experiments in a research institute.

She settled me in a room near the lake on the second floor and showed me around her back garden. The place is not big, but the layout is exquisite and symmetrical. We sat down on the white bench near the wall. She asked me, "Do you think this garden has a little taste of hometown?" After her guidance, I noticed that there were two weeping willows planted by her on both sides of the steps, and there was a sleeping lotus pond in the middle of the lawn. She said to me with deep feelings: "When I planted weeping willows, my boy was only 5 years old. Now he is the chief mechanic of a nuclear submarine. This girl teaches at Harvard. Family business is the best, and all kinds of new equipment are available. But I always have questions. Maybe it's worthless, but the older you get, the more homesick you get. I can fully understand the feelings of travelers now. I miss Changdian and Longfu Temple. As soon as Christmas is celebrated here, I miss the old calendar year. I've been trying to spread the jujube trees in the courtyard of Hutong recently. So I asked you to bring some seeds to try. "

Then, she pointed to a rockery piled up in the corner of the garden and said, "Do you believe it? I drove dozens of miles, picked pieces by hand, bought them by kilogram, and then pulled them back by car. That is our family's' North Sea'. "

Speaking of this, we both stood up in unison, walked along the cobblestone path, crossed the lawn and walked to the "North Sea". What a careful man! She also embedded a small pavilion made of mud, with a red temple and a white tower on top. My friend explained that they were all bought from Chinatown in San Francisco.

She told me that she often sat side by side with her wife on this bench on a moonlit night, recalling the days when she rowed in Beihai. The fragrance of water lilies floated in the wind, and it seemed as if a beautiful lotus pond color flashed in front of my eyes.

Changing nationality does not mean changing national feelings; No country is so attached to its home as we are.

Banyan tree in hometown

Huang Helang

On the slope near the residence, there are two old and lush banyan trees, which cover the sky and shade the sun. Between the lead-gray cement buildings, there is a pleasing green swaying; On a hot summer day, take a look at a pool of tempting coolness. I don't know when, a small piece of flat land was dug under the banyan tree, a slide and a pavilion for children to play with were built, and many flowers were planted around it, which actually became a small children's world. Maybe I have a kind feeling about banyan trees. I often take my youngest son for a walk here in the early morning or at dusk, or sit on a green bench and watch the children play, which has a leisurely taste.

I was very happy that day and was moved by a childlike innocence. I picked a green leaf from a banyan branch, rolled it into a small whistle, put it in my mouth and blew a monotonous and simple whistle. The youngest son jumped up happily, grabbed it and blew hard, which led a little black dog to run over, wagging his furry tail and looking up at him with black eyes. He stopped whistling, and the puppy ran away disappointed; He blew again, and the puppy came running again ... making the youngest son giggle, with a faint blush on his pink cheek.

But my heart is like a bird, spreading its wings from the whistle, flying over misty water and endless mountains and stopping under the familiar big banyan tree in my hometown. I seem to see Lv Yun's tall and burly trunk, curly and fluttering beard and thick clouds; See the new leaves in spring, facing the golden sunshine, as transparent as pieces of jasper, shaking in the wind like earrings, shaking off a string of crystal dew.

I miss the clear stream flowing from the back of my hometown, the colorful pebbles in the stream, the girls washing clothes and pumping water by the stream, and the ducks chasing and laughing on the water. Miss the white stone bridge under the banyan tree, miss the carved stone tablet standing at the bridge head, and miss the little stone lion stroking and smoothing on the bridge railing. The gurgling stream swept away my childhood years, and the ancient stone bridge engraved my deep memory. There are as many stories in my memory as the leaves of banyan trees. ...

Two old banyan trees standing by the bridge, one tall and lush; Another tree has grown into a strange S-shape, and its scaly trunk leans against the stream. We all call it hunchback. What's more, its bent tree core was burned out, forming a horizontal groove, but it still lived tenaciously, crossing the stream, holding its head high and stretching its dense branches and leaves into the blue sky. When we were young, we had a special affection for this hunchback, and regarded its hollow groove as a "boat". Several partners climbed up, knocked on gongs and drums, and paddled with bamboo poles, knowing that this "boat" would not take a step forward, but paddled seriously and vigorously. In my childhood dream, it will take us along the stream, to the fields where autumn seedlings are green, to bypass the hillside burning with red azaleas, to cross the orange forest with fragrant small white flowers, to the rivers and seas, and to distant and beautiful places. ...

Sometimes we ask: Why did this hunchbacked old banyan tree burn like this? Listen to the old man, a long time ago, there was a big snake hidden in this tree hole, which became refined for a long time and wanted to ascend to heaven; However, by hurting people and animals, he broke the dogma and angered the Jade Emperor. So one night, dark clouds pressed on the treetops, the wind shook the branches, a strong lightning split the trunk like a sword, and earth-shattering thunder sounded overhead! The banyan tree caught fire, burned a section of the trunk and killed the snake essence. Then, a downpour put out the fire ... This story was told by the oldest person in the village, who had a long beard like a banyan tree. We believe that he is as old as the banyan tree, so we also believe what he said.

I don't know which day, we also saw some women go to this banyan tree to burn a pile of paper money and light a few incense. What kind of wishes do they have to pray for this banyan god? I only remember that some children have tinea on their faces, and my mother will bring it over, cut a few knives on the trunk of the banyan tree and apply the oozing juice to the affected area. In a few days, it seems that tinea will get better gradually. My most unforgettable thing is that whenever the Chinese New Year is over, my grandmother will let me climb the tree along the "hunchback" and break some evergreen banyan branches and insert them around the cooked rice in the rice cooker to sacrifice to the ancestors' gods. At that time, the loving grandmother would climb to the stone bridge with a small "three-inch golden lotus" and watch me climb the tree while nagging me to be careful. Although I was a little nervous, I always pretended not to care and proudly waved the broken branches at her.

What makes people nostalgic is the long slate strips laid around the banyan tree head. In summer, it is the "throne" and "cool bed" for farmers. At noon, the strong subtropical sunshine made the house burn and the land smoked. Only these two tall banyan trees spread their giant umbrellas to resist the oppressive heat and sprinkle the shade on the ground, so that the tanned farmers can catch their breath on this hot stone road. In the evening, after a hard day's work, people lie on the slate washed by the stream, enjoying the breezy evening breeze, talking aimlessly about The Three Kingdoms and The Water Margin, and talking about the growth and harvest of crops from anecdotes near and far ... When they are happy, some people play the Hu Qin and sing a few short songs full of Yuan Ye flavor with their rough throats, looking for some short-term comfort and satisfaction in the bitter days.

Banyan tree, what kind of magic is used to summon the whole village to kneel? It's not beautiful words, it's not an attractive smile, it's just quietly spreading gentle wings to shelter them from the wind and rain, give them shade in the heat, and protect hardworking and simple people with infinite love.

I deeply miss that pleasant summer night under the banyan tree. Someone rolled up the sheets and slept on the smooth slate; Someone moved a few bed boards, one was a bench, the other was a bridge railing, and laid a straw mat to lie down. I like to sleep there with adults, look up at the shadow of the black banyan tree on my head, and communicate with the smiling stars in the sky with my heart in a mysterious and quiet atmosphere. If there is a moonlit night with moonlight like water, Shan Ye will be covered with a transparent veil, which will make everything unreal, like a dream, like a fairyland. In sleepiness, Chang 'e flew quietly with a piece of white clouds, and the fragrance of osmanthus was gently sprinkled from the branches of banyan trees. The running water under the bridge quietly sings a sweet lullaby, which makes people fall asleep slowly in the warm touch of the night wind ... Sometimes when they wake up in the morning, the dew moistens their hair and feels chilly, only to find that the pillow is gone. When the probe looked under the bridge, it actually fell into the stream, filled with water, swelled up and ran aground on the rocky beach. ...

Those days are gone forever. I seem to have just woken up from a dream, and I still have the coolness of banyan leaves; But I do know that I have slept for thirty years, and people are far away from home, Wan Li and Wan Li! How much wind and frost has the old banyan tree in Qiaotou, my hometown experienced? I heard that the "hunchback" tree struggled to fall in the fierce typhoon attack, fell in the mountain torrents and mudslides, and landed on the dear land in my hometown, completing the course of my life. Fortunately, another tree is safe and sound, and still protects the villagers with its dense green leaves. All the friends who rowed the humpback trunk as a boat have grown up. Some people, like me, row the boat of life to a distant foreign land, but still miss the banyan tree in their hometown? Some are still sitting on the slate at the head of the tree, telling stories that have not been told for generations. But the old storyteller with a beard as long as a banyan tree has passed away; My grandmother, who often called me to climb banyan branches and leaves during the Chinese New Year, has also passed away for a long time. Only the little stone lion on the railing of the bridge is still listening to the stream flowing under the bridge, right?

"Dad, dad, make me some more whistles." I don't know when my younger son picked a handful of banyan leaves and handed them to me, so I rolled them up and blew them for him. Whistle high and low, far and near, filled with deep homesickness, lingering around me. Dear banyan tree in my hometown, I grew up in the embrace of your shade. If you are conscious, will you know that I miss you in a distant foreign land? If you have thoughts, will you miss me as a wandering wanderer as a loving mother?

The banyan tree in my hometown ...

-1May, 979, Hong Kong