Rural customs prose ‖Variety of green hemp fields‖Author: Li Mintai

Green flames on the black earth

When I was a child, hemp was grown in the fields of my hometown in Chongyi every year. Ma Di in my hometown has always been the most magnificent scenery, the most lyrical poetry, and the most inspiring banner of life in my heart! Looking back on the customs of Ma Di in my hometown and the passionate stories about life and love performed in Ma Di, I am still shaken and excited. Incessantly.

In my hometown, hemp is grown in the depth of winter. The weather was already very cold at that time, and all the leaves on the edge of the ditch had fallen off, leaving only a long strip of bare branches screaming sharply in the cold wind. At this time, in the open and desolate fields, there were some "cattlemen" driving dark buffaloes to rake the ground. The ground had been plowed since autumn, undulating like a solid black wave in the field. And those "cow-maker" stood firmly on the rake with two nails like nails, let the cattle drag them, and glided leisurely on the mud waves. When they were happy, they pursed their lips and blew a loud whistle, looking very comfortable and peaceful. Lyrical.

When the ground is plowed until it is soft and fine, sowing begins. Usually, the man shovels the ditch in front, and the woman follows behind. There is a dustpan containing plant ash and white hemp seeds on the left side of the waist. She moves her right arm gracefully, grabs the seeds and scatters them into the shallow ditch. A man and a woman, one after another, flowing in the fields with each other in their arms, which is very interesting. Perhaps because people live in an easy life and are in a happy mood, there are always some wild men who want to make nasty jokes on the women they are paired with, and even reach out to touch the women's waists when they reach the end of the field. If the woman refuses to obey, she will grab the plant ash mixed with hemp seeds and stuff it into the man's collar, often making the man covered in ash or even have a big painted face. At this time, the woman's man stood aside and smiled stupidly, as if he had gained some advantage. The man's wife was laughing so hard that she covered her chest and squatted on the ground. She did not forget to encourage the shrewd woman: "Tune it, rectify it, rectify it, let's see if he is still weird in the future!" So there was no scene. In the winter fields, there was a burst of joyful and unrestrained laughter, setting off waves of life!

At that time, I was only eleven or twelve years old, and my old favorite was doing " Behind his father, who is a "cattle craftsman," he drives a buffalo and pulls a stone roller to crush the hemp field that has been plowed. When the stone roller brought up the soil, I quickly used the small hoe in my hand to shovel it. I couldn't understand most of the adults' "Meat Dragon Gate Formation", but I could understand two or three sentences. Once I understood it, I felt ashamed and quickly lowered my blushing face deeply. At this time, I was discovered by several neighbor aunts. They all pointed at me and touched my hands and laughed: "Ah, you guys understand, what a bitch, you are so awake?" Then the naughty neighbor uncles jumped on me. When I came over, I had to take off my pants to "prove my identity." I was so frightened that I had to throw away my hoe and run up the field...

The Chinese New Year was here in the blink of an eye. In the first month of the year, Ma Di becomes a happy world for rural children. Whenever relatives come to pay New Year's greetings, the children always secretly push the guests' bicycles away and push them to the hemp fields to learn how to ride them. At this time, the hemp seedlings had not yet grown, and the hemp field, which had been flattened by stone rollers, looked like an empty courtyard. The bicycle rolled down, and the two wheels were sunk an inch deep. It was very difficult to fall over, and even if it fell over, it would not be damaged and the fall would not be painful. Most rural children learned to ride bicycles in the hemp fields of the first month. But the captain wanted to scold him when he saw the messy ruts in the ground. As soon as the captain scolded the children, they pushed their bicycles and ran home. Some naughty children ran to hide in their own fence, made faces at the captain, and even swore at him. The captain got angry and drove the child to his home to argue with an adult, threatening to deduct work points! So the child was inevitably caught by his father and beaten until he cried like a pig...

Until early February When the weather gradually gets warmer, young hemp seedlings rise up from the flat ground, forming straight rows after rows, all over the field, like countless small green palms, stretching out tremblingly in the harsh spring cold. With...

The rural passion bred in hemp fields

Hemp seedlings grow very fast, especially in the bright sunshine of March and April of the lunar calendar, they are like a sea of ??green fire. Go up. Around the beginning of the fifth lunar month, the hemp seedlings will grow taller than the head of a person, and they will become a mature and rich hemp forest.

Most of the hemp fields in my hometown are more than ten acres, hundreds of acres or even hundreds of acres of land, which are vast and green, and are very spectacular. At this time, it is the windy and rainy season in the countryside.

In the wind and rain, the endless hemp forest like a green gauze tent undulated, struggled and roared like waves. The surging passion still makes my heart beat when I think of it.

There is another reason why I can’t remember my unforgettable hometown of Ma Tei, and that is that many of my childhood dreams, romance and absurdity are hidden in this green sea. At that time, when we children were cutting pigweed, we always liked to dig into the deep and dense hemp forest with our backs on our backs. It was not that there were lush pigweed inside, but it was cool inside. Once we got in, we were out of touch with our parents. Sight, do whatever you want.

The hemp forest in midsummer is indeed beautiful and attractive. The green grass and gray vegetables on the ground are tender and luxuriant. The hemp leaves and white flowers blooming on the head sway leisurely in the breeze of the field, making the waves look full of charm.

When all the boys got into the mahjong forest, we took out a dirty and broken deck of playing cards and gambled. The bets were the pigweeds in each of our backs, placed in small piles. in front of everyone. When the sun goes down, some people's baskets will be full, while others' baskets will be empty. So the people with full baskets no longer had to work hard and went home contentedly with the pigweed they had won, while the people with empty baskets were miserable and had to run out of the hemp field in a panic and go to the edge of the field or the ditch. The area was busy. Sometimes the bamboo basket is not full until dark, so I use the usual tricks, shake the hogweed as loose as possible or simply put a few small sticks in the middle, pretending that the bamboo basket is full, and go home to fool my parents. Of course, there are also parents who are as clear-minded as a mirror and lightly press their hands on the grass before stamping on it. At this time, children who cheat will inevitably be scolded, and those who are serious will be beaten, kicked out of the kitchen door, forced to stand, and not allowed to eat supper.

But most of the time, boys in their hometown go to work with girls. As soon as we got in, everyone sat together and "played house" (playing house). At this time, boys robbed and robbed beautiful girls to become their new wives. At that time, my biggest dream was to put the grass corolla I knitted on the head of a little girl named Yuling and let her be my bride.

But the beautiful Yuling doesn’t like me and never partners with me. Yuling likes a boy who is taller and older than me. She always takes the initiative to sit next to that boy and reaches out to receive his flower crown. So I became sulky. Every time I had sex, I was unhappy. I always disliked the girl I was paired with, whose clothes were dirty, her hair was messy, and her nose was always runny. During the whole playing process, I was absent-minded and could not help but peek at Yuling. As soon as I saw Yu Ling talking and laughing with the boy and saying "love" in every possible way, my nose felt sour and I couldn't help but want to cry! I thought, I must have looked very melancholy at that time, and I must have looked very lonely and sad. This is the first time in my ignorant childhood that I want to cry for a woman...

As for what adults do in the hemp forest in summer, we children don’t know very well, but we can I feel a lot of ambiguity. During those nap moments when the cicadas were chirping, I have seen many times a man with a hoe on his shoulder pretending to be working, walking into the vast and lush hemp forest from one end of the hemp field, and disappearing in an instant. About half a cigarette later, a woman carrying a pigweed bamboo basket walked into the Ma Lin from the other end of the Ma field, and disappeared in an instant. Then the mighty hemp field disappeared without a trace in the long afternoon wind, undulating and swaying as if nothing had happened... But within a few days, there were couples fighting in the village, and the fight was so unfair that they even called each other extremely unpleasant names. words. Afterwards, there would be women who were beaten with bruises and swollen faces. They would run back to their parents' homes with blue cloth bundles in their arms. They would not come back for ten and a half months, and even clamored to divorce their husbands! In this way, men would become enemies with each other, and they would always be there. There was a conflict while planting rice seedlings and harvesting grain. They were beaten to a bloody head and made the whole village laugh.

The most interesting thing is that when cutting hemp before and after the Dragon Boat Festival, you will always find some trampled open spaces deep in the hemp fields, with foreign objects such as straw paper discarded in the open spaces. The men and women cutting hemp looked at the open space and the papyrus and smiled meaningfully. Then they looked at me with inquiring eyes and made random guesses. Then there are men or women who feel guilty and avoid those hot glances.

I couldn't hold it anymore, so I pretended to be serious, opened my throat and shouted angrily: "Bastard! Where did the wild dogs come from to be crazy here? They trampled down a large piece of hemp!"

At that time, we were too young and did not understand the customs. Naturally, it was difficult for us to understand the expressions of the adults and understand the meaning of their words. We just looked at the open space and foreign objects stupidly and wondered: What are those wild dogs running around? Why are you so crazy here? Trampling down such a big area of ??hemp? The meaning is very clear: this hemp field was not trampled by children like us. We "run pots" don't have that much energy, let alone such bold passion. !

Therefore, the open space in the forest has always been like a mystery that has haunted my childhood, making my poor imagination increasingly rich and beautiful...

Summer Spectacular What is the scene of cutting hemp? There are many things to pay attention to in cutting hemp in my hometown. First of all, only men are allowed to operate, and women can only do odd jobs. If a man wants to be qualified as a "hemp cutter", he must be dexterous and skilled. When cutting hemp, the knife should be close to the ground and cannot cut sharp pile heads; when removing hemp leaves, the hand should be light and the knife should be accurate, so as not to damage the delicate hemp skin. In my hometown, only true experts can be "hemp cutters". Being able to cut hemp with a knife is an honor for a man from his hometown and a sign of his mature charm.

So during the hemp-cutting season, the men in my hometown are very cool and awesome: wearing a linen sleeve on the left arm, wielding a long-handled hemp knife like a ruler with the right hand, holding the green hemp in the crook of his arm Brush, cut, the sound is clear and crisp, then cut off the top leaves, hold the top of the hemp as if pulling the hair, then shave the leaves with the back of the knife, then turn around to hug the waist of the hemp, and fly the knife to cut the leaves. In the vast field of hemp, green hemp is seen lying down one after another, with green leaves flying all over the sky. It is really lively, interesting, spectacular and lyrical!

After the green hemp was cut down and tied into bundles by women, they were pushed on a chicken cart. Go to the hemp cellar to soak. In about ten days, the hemp will be cooked. Pick it up and dry it in the harvested wheat field next to the cellar. Under the bright sunshine in midsummer, the ripe green hemp dries out day by day, revealing an oily texture, making it soft and moist, with a light yellow fragrance and a large swath of it.

So during those days when it was raining and unable to work in the fields, men and women from their hometown gathered in the spacious storage room to peel hemp. Amidst the fragrance of hemp skin and the leisurely ease of peeling hemp, many "meat dragon gate formations" flew out of the mouths of men and women in their hometown, and many flirtatious jokes took place in the gloomy rainy day, touchingly...

In a real sense, Ma Tei in my hometown is undoubtedly a green square where men and women from my hometown can express their life and passion!

Contributing author

Li Mintai: Member of the Chinese Writers Association, member of the Novel Committee of the Sichuan Writers Association, student of the 21st Advanced Research Class of Lu Xun Institute of Literature, contracted screenwriter with Alai Studio, and executive vice chairman of the Dujiangyan Writers Association. His main works include the novels "Splendid", "Continuous Stream", "Iron-Blooded Glory", etc., and the short and medium-sized novels "Evil Green", "Nowhere to Lurk", "Dollar Arch", "Butterfly Flying", etc. He has won the 9th Sichuan Literature Award, the 6th Chengdu Golden Furong Literature Award, the 7th and 8th Chengdu “Five One Project” Awards and other awards.