Chapter 1 My Birth

? On June 20, 1960, with the cry of "Wow", I was born in the courtyard of a rural courtyard in Jining City, Shandong Province. I was born in the southwest of Shandong in the 1960s. rural area.

It was summer in my village in the 1960s. Seen from a distance, hundreds of bleak farmhouses line a village. In the fields, there are green gauze tents and sweet potato vines spread on the ground like a green carpet. The reeds by the river are undulating like blue waves, and water birds are chirping one after another to call their friends. The stream to the east of the village is gurgling, crystal clear, and fish are jumping in the waves, creating ripples. The lotus flowers are high in the water, some are blooming shyly, and some are blooming gracefully, like graceful girls, dotted among the layers of lotus leaves, like stars in the blue sky, like waves in the green waves. Wherever the wind passed by, it brought wisps of lotus fragrance, and the tea leaves formed blue waves. Sometimes a dragonfly falls on the lotus, and it is really graceful. Sometimes carp jump on the waves, creating ripples. There is an old man fishing beside the stream, and the sound of playing lotus picking girls can be heard in the lotus layer, driving a boat and spreading the lotus wall. There were several children fishing in the stream. They were tanned and had reeds in their mouths. Fish and shrimps were strung on the reeds and they were still jumping. The little baby didn't dare to go into the water and played on the slide on the shore. Slide down the edge of the ditch into the water. There are also some children lying on the hot stones with their buttocks sticking out to dry the water droplets on their bodies in case they get scolded when they go home. The long bridge lying on the river is a double-arch stone arch bridge. There are two stone walls on the bridge, which are polished smooth. The bricks on the bridge are smooth and delicate. There are thick moss on the bridge piers, and water plants sway in the water flow. .

Our family is a big family. Our courtyard is a typical courtyard house. The main room is a four-room mud hut, and the west wing is the kitchen. I was born and lived in the east wing. There are two black wooden doors, three meters wide, facing the door, there are two A large wooden cabinet, carved with antique peonies, was a dowry from my mother. On top of the wooden cabinet were two quilts, and then there was a large black bed in the back. Then there is nothing left to grow. Further south, there is a small bridge, where my grandmother lives. There is a large jujube tree in our yard. Every autumn, red lanterns hang from the green jujube leaves. To the east of us is a bamboo fence gate. A switch creaked. ?

The scenery outside our village was picturesque at that time. The outside of the village is like a solid painting. The mountain is still the same mountain, the fields are still the same fields, and the river is always slowly reflecting the clouds in the sky, holding blue fish on the unchanging and fixed river channel. The glistening ground flows, beside the river, it is still the same reed field that has become green and dry, and the birds come and go again. It is still the low thatched hut, and it is still the sparse grass wall. In the garden, it is still the same. The old cow slowly chewing cud, in front of the old cow is still the dilapidated cart, the Lulu is always a human being, slowly grinding the rice to crush the salt-alkali flowers, the woman is always wearing the gray Coarse cloth double-breasted clothes, children are always dragging their noses that seem to flow forever, laughing and playing in rags with cotton exposed, and old people are always holding the dung box close to their bodies, biting the dry pipe, piercing the The cotton-padded jacket with the bare breasts tied up by the thick cloth rope, the pierced feet, the old thousand-layer bottom that will always kick the cow to death, and the fields will always be like the sparse hair on the bald head. Crop seedlings. At night, the stars are always the same, the moon seems to be always so dim, only the dim diesel lamp swaying in the wind, the night always seems as cold as water, so quiet. Hundreds of farmhouses lie bleakly far and near. I was born in such a village. The village is sparse and desolate with hundreds of farmhouses, with wooden walls and low thatched huts. There are mostly jujube trees in front of the houses, with green lanterns hung to flaunt them, and elm money and willow silk emitting fragrance. Beside the wall, there were several old men with gray beards, their waists held up by straw ropes, holding pipes of dry tobacco in their mouths, leaning against the wall, with a dung frame beside them. Next to the river pond there is a tinker, the fire reflects the red face of the blacksmith, the bellows blows, the fire sparkles, the blacksmith wears an apron, the master uses iron clamps to pick out the red iron from the fire, Use a small hammer to hit the area that needs to be beaten, and then the little apprentice will pick up a sledgehammer and beat it. The iron particles will splash everywhere, and then it will be quenched in the water with a "squeak" sound. Several children nearby looked at it with snot in their noses.

? Of course, my memory of my birth is completely blank. I only learned some fragments from family members’ stories later. I tried to recall the fragments of memories that were told to me when I was born, letting these memories chatter in my mind, fresh and jumping, full of energy. I no longer need to measure my distance in miles. I use memories. One road after another. I saw my mother growing green beans in her garden, wearing her old shirt, her hair tied back, facing the wind, her face covered in dust. I saw a broken bird egg and thought that I must have been so fragile when I was born, and my heart was filled with tenderness. Hearing the hollow cry of a crow in the silence, he suddenly seemed to be back in the bed of his youth, listening to the same cry and being swallowed by loneliness. "Where are you going?" he asked his mother. She lifted the hoe and wrapped the long red scarf around her neck, hanging down her back like long hair. "I'm not going anywhere. I still have to work in the production team. You are fine at home." She said this, touching my head gently, and then stretched out her hand to push open the front door.

"

The first time I learned about the circumstances of my birth was from my father's drunken mouth. One summer evening when I was six years old, my father nonchalantly told me about the original situation. When he came out, he pointed to a hen walking not far away and said: "I think when I was born, I was furious in the wheat field because of unbearable hunger. My father had long forgotten the unbearable hunger, but he still vaguely remembered the angry scene. Your mother laid you like an egg. When the "Sweet Potato Kids" were born, your mother and I went to the commune to register, and we could receive one foot six feet five inches of cloth stamps and two kilograms of soybean oil. Those who give birth to twins will receive double the reward. The parents looked at the golden soybean oil and twisted the cloth tickets that exuded the aroma of ink. Their eyes were wet and they were grateful. It’s better to have a new society! After giving birth to a child, my mother said: The country is short of people, the country is waiting for people, and the country treasures people. I only know that my mother often said later: "When you were born, I felt very nervous and very happy." "My mother's words must be true, because she remembers all the big and small things very clearly during the 19 months I was treated for polio when I was a newborn, and she often told me the most precious things: "After you learned to walk, you liked to go to the yard the most. I go out to chase butterflies in the flowers, and I am very courageous. I am not afraid of animals such as chickens and dogs at all, and I often hug them with my plump little hands. At that time, your eyes were better than anyone else, and you could quickly find needles and buttons that were difficult for ordinary people to see. Later, I found that you were limping when you walked, and that your right leg was longer and your left leg was shorter. See a doctor. He said it was polio, so he went around looking for acupuncture treatments. After a year of treatment, he finally got a cure. Later, my grandma told me that she was born in the old courtyard of my home. Grandma told me more than once the scene when I was born. Every time I think of grandma’s description, I want to laugh. Grandma always talks about me. Birth scene.

? Grandma said that the red lantern-like sun slowly rose that morning, and suddenly there was a strong wind in our small courtyard. I was miserable. My father named me again, and my mother said it was Zhang Xue. My father glared at my mother and said: Can literacy be used as food? In this world, if you have a full stomach, it is better to call me Zhang Xue, Ruixue. A good year. "I was born on the morning of June 20, 1960. On that day, the mother of the former head of Shouzhang County had just passed away, and I was born. At that time, a large group of us were having breakfast in the southeast wing. We were sitting, squatting, or eating outside in the courtyard. My grandma was sitting at the head of the kang. She was kind-hearted and had been lying on the bed for a long time as long as I can remember. My grandma only cooked a white steamed bun for her, but she pursed her lips and divided the big handful of steamed buns into half. With my fourth sister-in-law. Grandpa was sipping sweet potato porridge, his goatee trembling up and down. He is the head of the family, the production captain of the sixth team, and a party member. 1.80 meters tall, tall and straight, smart and capable: grandma is a charitable person. Everyone said she was a good person. With trembling little feet and always smiling gently, he was busy preparing meals for his large family. My grandparents *** gave birth to four girls and four boys, and my father was the second child. My uncle and uncle are like my family, both have two boys and one girl. They have already separated and lived separately. Your father said that day was very good and surprising. Your father heard my cry and looked outside at that time when the sun climbed from the sleeping sea to the top of the mountain. Its invisible body was huge and boundless, rolling and singing gracefully on the countless yellow eucalyptus trees. The rustle of leaves is its lips, kissing the clear and transparent silence. Your father was happy and said: "It's great, the weather is here." Looking at my chubby son, with a smile on his face, he said loudly: "It's great, he is a big fat boy." Then he happily said Walking in and out, I kept saying: "It's so good.

I was born in such a family and began my journey in this world.