Recall the essays by the pool full of water.

Not far from my old house, there is an academy with a circular protrusion on all sides and a depression in the middle. Now there are weeds and flies flying around. Every time I go home, I can't help feeling a lot. The times are developing and people's lives are progressing. Now people's domestic water has already replaced this sacred and backward "waterlogging pool" with tap water. Thirty years ago, this humble little place was a different scene. At that time, it was a reservoir for villagers' domestic water-people used to call it "waterlogging pool". In my childhood memory, this waterlogged pool has a lofty position in the eyes of the villagers, and its surroundings are always cleaned up. Especially on sunny days in summer, the waterlogged pool is as clear as a huge mirror, embracing the blue sky, white clouds and the sun, which makes people on the shore squint and can't tell which is the sky and which is the ground! The grass around the waterlogged pool is green, and frogs crawl in it, or close their eyes quietly, or intermittently "wow, wow, wow" to express their extremely comfortable mood at the moment. It is because of the existence of this old pool that my childhood life with my friends has become more colorful, and now I can still taste the endless taste in retrospect. ...

This place where my family has lived for generations is called "Nangouliang". This four-five-mile-long Mao Liang is actually the remnant vein of a small mountain peak at the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains, with 20 families scattered on it. According to a generation of old people, a long time ago, people used the method of collecting rain, snow and water to solve domestic water use. Later, they chose a flat place to dig a big waterlogging pool and built a passage to the water source along the direction of this mountain range. The source of the canal is called "crock ditch", and the water in the ditch flows at the foot of Taibai Mountain, the main peak of Qinling Mountains, which is cool all year round. I remember when I was in primary school, the textbook knowledge of nature said that water is the source of life. At that time, I had a very "private" question in my heart: first, people lived in this "Nangouliang" without water, and then water was attracted, or did water attract so many households first? With the rapid development of civilization and the continuous accumulation of personal experience and knowledge, the naive question of childhood has a mature answer: since ancient times, human beings have been the undisputed masters of nature, and generations of people have always changed their living conditions with diligence and great wisdom, and created their own beautiful life with perseverance!

The huge circular waterlogging pool is seven or eight meters deep, and there are steps made of flat stones on the slope wall in the east, in order to let the villagers carry water along this seemingly simple but safe passage. At that time, when the waterlogging pond dried up, the production team always arranged lean labor first, cleaned up the silt at the bottom of the waterlogging pond and slender the diversion canal, and then began to inject water into the waterlogging pond after everything was ready. In the first few days, the water was so turbid that people couldn't bear to watch it. After ten days and a half of precipitation, it is clear enough to vaguely see the stepping stone submerged in the water. In summer, the acacia trees on the ridge around the waterlogged pool are lush, always casting a large shade, and all kinds of weeds mixed in it are very lush. "Tiger" arrows fly over the water, and frogs crouching in the grass enjoy this rare comfort. If there is a slight noise, the alert frog will "plop, plop" into the water one after another, forming a beautiful posture in the air, just like a vigorous diver. I like watching frogs swim. Their hind legs come together and push back. Their forelimbs extend outward first, their graceful posture disappears in the clear and bright water in the blink of an eye, and then sinks to the bottom.

On sunny days in summer vacation, I often use a thin stick to spin around the grass near the waterlogged pool, forcing frogs to dive, secretly learning swimming skills from them, remembering their body movements and then going to Yangjiahe Reservoir for "actual combat practice". Over time, my swimming skills became higher and higher, and my friends envied me and asked me for "secrets" one after another, so I pointed to the water and said, "Frogs are masters!" They spat out their tongues as if it were a very incredible thing. There is always a wonderful relationship between species in the world. In the long process of reproduction, human beings always learn from the special functions of biology and create bionics. Radar was born of bats, and fireflies are closely related to cold light ... There are many examples. I tell you from my personal childhood experience that every species has something to learn. While pursuing a comfortable and convenient material life, we should also consider their living environment. It is really heartbreaking to see and hear in the media which species have disappeared from the earth forever because of their inadaptability to the harsh environment!

In the middle of the night, the summer heat subsided, the cool breeze blew gently, everything was silent, and the country fell asleep! At this time, it is an auspicious moment for frogs to sing collectively in the waterlogged pool, just like an uninvited chorus suddenly falling from the sky. The tones of "wow", "quack" and "uh-huh" are different, one after another, making the quiet mountain village boil instantly! Such a scene happened more than twenty years ago. Now, I haven't heard such a "serenade" for many years. Occasionally I will think of everything in the past, but my ears are still full of frogs' constant cries, and my heart is full of melancholy!

In winter, when the waterlogged pool is exhausted, the team will organize manpower to clean up the silt and weeds at the bottom, which is called "Taolaochi" by everyone. The wall of the waterlogged pool is gentle slope, which may be due to sufficient water. It has licorice roots with thick thumbs, full of water and high sweetness. While the adults were sweating and digging the soil, a group of our friends were busy digging the roots of licorice. We can't stand the temptation of licorice sweetness, but we risk being beaten and scolded. We always enjoy it and often look forward to the early arrival of the dry season!

As far as I can remember, the waterlogged pond in my hometown has been raised for generations with the collected water, and even the precipitated sludge has become nutritious, which can be used as a high-quality fertilizer for farmers. The mud in the waterlogged pond is green and sticky, and adults say it is a very high-quality fertilizer. All the crops that climb it are growing well, and there will be a bumper harvest! There is a story that is still a topic in people's leisure time: during the cooperative period, a family's private plots always fail to harvest every year, which is very helpless: why do their crops grow worse than others' for the same land and seeds? When the wheat was harvested, he was envious when he saw that his neighbor's wheat was full, hoping to change some excellent seeds! Hearing this, the neighbor smiled and said, "Our seeds are the same, but I used my spare time to transport some mud from the waterlogged pool to the ground ..."

The waterlogging pond is located in the center of Nangouliang, about five meters away from the waterlogging pond, with a poplar tree with a thick bucket. I clearly remember an iron bell hanging in the middle of a tree with branches. Whenever there is an emergency or a slow ring, it is that the production team leader has given an unquestionable order, either to call members to work or to hold a meeting.

Perhaps it is because poplars are "near water". Every year in early spring, when it is warm and cold, it always grows tender branches and leaves early. At this time, the bark and wood layer of poplar are separated. We broke the smooth branches of chopsticks from the tree, twisted them gently with our left and right hands, and carefully pulled out the hard core inside; Divide the bark of the branch into small pieces with a knife, then pinch one end of a small piece and draw the bark outward. When touching, the mouth will keep shouting "oh, oh, oh", so Mimi is a success. Don't scream, don't blow. Adults say there is a dog in the branch. Only when people learn to bark like it will they make a "Mimi" sound. I didn't believe what the adults said, and as a result, I made several in a row. Although I blushed, I never blew it. I didn't know until I grew up that the seemingly ordinary "Mimi" I played as a child actually had a very elegant and pleasant name-Liudi, which people often say. There are always many unexplained mysteries on the road of life. Never too old to learn. To this day, I still don't understand when making a willow flute: if you don't hold the bark of a branch, it really won't blow!

In summer, poplars are flourishing, just like a huge "sun umbrella", trying their best to block the burning sun and give the earth more shade for people to rest. The heat is unbearable, and the shade under the poplar is an excellent place to go, and there will always be a bunch of people gathered. After dinner, people who are having fun draw a crisscross picture on the ground with branches. One hand strokes a leaf, the other hand breaks two branches, and the game begins at one stroke-the loser. It's summer vacation at school, and children always like to join in the fun in crowded places. I remember that at that time, we watched the most and were most interested in watching adults play "Black sheep". Slowly, my friends and I also mastered the core mystery of the game, that is, whoever "circles" each other's money will win. It's been a long time. When I was working in Xi 'an a few years ago, I saw a group of people get together to play Weiqi in a family area of Xiaozhai. I also squeezed in to watch it carefully. I found that they are familiar with the way and strategy of playing chess, and they feel exactly the same as losing chess when they were young. I didn't expect to see the shadow of rural life decades ago in the bustling downtown!

This waterlogged pool once gave me infinite happiness in my childhood, but now it has been forgotten by ruthless years. I occasionally go home to see, my heart is still excited and filled with emotion: this waterlogged pool is like a great mother, who has been growing up with great love from generation to generation until the end of her life!

The development of the times is advancing by leaps and bounds. More than ten years ago, villagers replaced the canal with steel-plastic water pipes buried deep underground. Now tap water has reached every household's yard, and the water source is still a trickle from Taibai Mountain. Although the waterlogged pond has been abandoned for many years, the villagers still leave it between heaven and earth. In the past, the prosperity around it and the heartbreaking frogs on summer nights drifted away in people's unrepeatable memories, but they were always warm and unforgettable!