Chronicles of Pengcheng

Serialized novel

Number of words: Estimated 400,000 words

Content: Based on the 30 years from 1989 to 2019 in SZ City (Pengcheng) and Chaoshan area With economic changes as the background, this story tells the story of a group of Chaoshan people going from working to starting a business in Pengcheng!

Chapter 1 1989

Section 1 Summer Harvest

Raoping County is located in the eastern coastal area of ??Guangdong Province. There have been human activities and creation since the Neolithic Age. According to the "Fubin type culture", it was a Baiyue territory during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Jieyang County during the Qin and Han Dynasties, and Haiyang County during the Jin Dynasty. The county was established in the 13th year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty (1477). Because Wang Shipeng, a bachelor of Longtuge in the Southern Song Dynasty, visited this place and saw the beautiful mountains and rivers embroidery, he wrote the inscription "There is chaos in the world, but there is no worry here; there is famine in the world, but half harvest here". Therefore, people at that time decided "Raoping" as the name of the county with the meaning of "Rao Ping will never be barren, Ping will never be chaotic".

Raoping has this saying since ancient times to describe the area here: "three mountains and six rivers divide the land." It is conceivable that although this place is peaceful and there is no fear of life, the reality of too many people and little land is doomed It is impossible to live a prosperous life in an agricultural society.

? Decades ago, if it were not for that wise old man who drew four circles within a few hundred kilometers of Raoping County with a pen, launching the unprecedented reform and opening up. Perhaps the protagonist of this book, who was born and raised here, will always have to live in peace and "peace" on this land like his countless ancestors until he grows old.

? Yes, the root of all happiness comes from "ignorance" of the outside world and this world. So the old people like to say a saying most: "Foolish people are blessed by fools". Why? Because of stupidity and ignorance, it is easy to be satisfied, and contentment produces happiness!

In the summer of 1989, at one o'clock at noon, the weather was extremely hot. A few summer cicadas flew to the neem tree standing high beside the ditch and sang loudly and tirelessly. A big buffalo, one end of the long rope is tied to the trunk of the neem tree, and the other end is passed through the buffalo's nose. The big buffalo was half lying in the ditch. The cool water flowing from the reservoir in the mountains in the distance brushed the lower body of the buffalo. A few flies flew around the upper body of the buffalo, making a buzzing sound. Occasionally, the buffalo's long tail inadvertently slaps upward, and the fly nimbly flies away to the side, as if it had been prepared. If you are watching from the side, you will feel the magic of creation. A small fly is not much worse than the martial arts master in Jin Yong's works! Listening to the wind and distinguishing colors, it moves like a rabbit and is as quiet as a virgin. In the era of 1989, Jin Yong's martial arts novels had spread throughout the mainland.

? On the field, there is a golden wave of rice, and occasionally a gust of south wind blows. If you stand in the downwind, the fragrance of the earth and the fragrance of the rice blend together and penetrate directly into your heart and lungs. And if you love life and this land, you will not be able to help but shed warm and excited tears. This is the land that we have relied on for generations, and this is the heavy food we got from half a year of hard work! Thanks to this not-so-fertile land and the almighty God, the weather has been smooth and there have been no typhoons in the past six months!

For most farmers, only half of the harvested rice must be handed over to the grain office in the town for public grain purchase (the public grain is legally handed over to the state based on the number of people, and the grain purchase is made by the grain department). (Purchase and pay at a flat price according to the amount of tasks per head), and then sell the remaining half to exchange for fertilizers, pesticides, children's school fees, and other scattered household expenses. If possible, you also need to buy a few pieces of cloth and go to the market to find them. The clothing craftsmen made some clothes for the children, and the children's clothes were mended again and again. The remaining half of the rice was enough for the family, and life was tight.

But, in that era without information, in that era when the farthest place was the county seat, as long as they were alive, the farmers had nothing to resent. Isn’t this how our ancestors have been for thousands of years?

Section 2 Poverty

? Wang Weiqiang used a sweat towel (a long towel unique to the Chaoshan area, more than 30 widths) while ladling two bowls of noodle soup made from instant noodles. Centimeter, more than one meter long, it can wipe away sweat when you sweat. It can be used as a towel when bathing in the sewer. When you are hungry or work hard, you can tie it tightly around your waist. The dantian qi will naturally come up as soon as you hold back your strength, especially when pushing. The uphill section of the wheelbarrow is even more effective. It is said that when fighting, soaking the sweat towel in the water and lifting it up can cause internal bleeding. In the old society, everyone in Chaoshan would bring one with them when they went abroad. Sweat towel. In that era, a long sweat towel was definitely a must-have item for Chaoshan men at home, at work, and when going out to do errands.) Wiping the hot sweat on his face, he savored the sweet smell of dried winter vegetables in the noodle soup.

? "It would be great if I could eat two more bowls, but unfortunately there is no more noodles in the pot," Wang Weiqiang was still thinking about the noodle soup just now.

? It is already two o'clock in the afternoon, but the sun in June of the lunar calendar is still hot and poisonous. Wang Weiqiang rides a 28-inch double-tube Wuyang bicycle, with his aging mother sitting on the back of the bicycle. My mother's real age is not that old, just over forty, but years of hard work, long-term nutritional deficiencies, or depression have caused her to age prematurely.

Wang Weiqiang suddenly thought of his mother sitting on his back, and couldn't help feeling sad. When Wang Weiqiang's younger sister Wang Weijiao was not even one year old, because her father fell in love with another woman, her strong-willed mother divorced him without hesitation and took the two siblings to live alone in a dilapidated old house. day. You can imagine how miserable the life of an orphan and a widowed mother was. During the lean days, her mother would always take some thick porridge out of the pot and serve it to him and his sister, and then drink two bowls early. I walked away with rice soup and a few pickle leaves and was busy feeding the pigs.

On the left side of the house, there is a simple pig pen separated by a few stone slabs. There are two white pigs weighing fifty or sixty pounds in it. The pig trough for feeding the pigs is made of five pine boards. of. Pigs are the family's treasure. They raise them until the end of the year and New Year's Eve, when the pork vendors in the village come to kill them and buy them. The offal (offal) after killing the pig can provide a delicious meal for a family who doesn’t know what meat is all year round. More importantly, the family’s expenses during the New Year and the fertilizers and pesticides during spring plowing after the new year all depend on this. Two pigs.

? After all, he is an eighteen-year-old young man. If it weren’t for the rough life, his mother couldn’t bear it alone. After graduating from junior high school, he didn’t dare to take the high school entrance examination and quickly came back to help him. His mother, he is now attending high school in the county like other classmates. His grades are not worse than other classmates in the class. He has been the class representative of the Chinese subject for three years in junior high school! However, in our lives, where can everything go as we wish?

Wang Weiqiang’s sorrow came and went as quickly as it came. The southeast wind blowing in his face gently swept away the haze in his heart. What's more, the reality of the situation also gives our young man no time to worry. He must consider harvesting and using the remaining three-thirds of the rice that was half completed in the morning in the afternoon, or at the latest before eight o'clock in the evening. The grains are threshed out with a manual threshing machine, then taken home on bicycles, and then transported to the grain drying field to dry in the morning.

? My sister is drying the rice harvested yesterday and this morning in the drying field and has no time to come to the field to help. The family was too poor to afford fish, meat, cigarettes and alcohol and to hire villagers to help, so mother and son could only grit their teeth and work on the farm. Fortunately, the weather has been kind. There has been no typhoon or rain recently, so the harvest of the rice in the fields will not have much impact if it is delayed for a few days.

Section 3 Neighbor Sister

? It’s around five o’clock in the afternoon, the sun is setting, in the distance, where the sky meets the distant mountains.

The setting sun slowly falls behind the mountain. This is what is written about the reflection of light before death. The setting sun is unwilling to fall quietly like this, and spurts out its last light all at once, that endless red light. Like golden lotuses, it fills half of the western sky.

? Looking back, nearby, white and gray smoke curled up from the low and uneven old houses and the old houses, and the air was filled with the aroma of burning firewood. In the streets and alleys, you can constantly hear the murky cries of old people and the crisp cries of children. They are calling the pigs, chickens and ducks to come home for dinner. Then, a burst of chickens and dogs, mixed with the laughter and curses of the children, started again.

What a peaceful and peaceful rural scene! Such scenery is left to poets and painters to sing and describe. It does not belong to our Wang Weiqiang. In the days when he was short of food and clothing, all the poems were melancholy and all the pictures were gloomy.

? At eight o'clock in the evening, Wang Weiqiang and his mother were hungry, thirsty and exhausted, carrying the harvested rice back to the village. At this time, the whole countryside was in another scene. As the sun sets, the moon climbs up, and the clear light gently accompanies the farmers returning home late. The chickens, ducks, pigs and dogs have returned to their cages, and the children are gradually falling asleep.

? In this quiet night, Wang Weiqiang ate the dinner that his sister had prepared and made a sound of satisfaction. Yes, with a pot of dry rice and the only winter melon soup on the table, it is already very happy to be completely full. My sister Wang Weijiao dried the rice harvested the day before yesterday and took it to the rice milling factory in the afternoon to grind the rice.

Children of poor people have already become parents. Wang Weiqiang feels particularly gratified when he looks at his sister who is studying on the sidelines. My sister is fifteen years old and is in the second grade of junior high school in the town-run middle school. Rural schools are like this. During the busy farming season in summer and autumn, they have eight days of "farming leave" to allow children to go home and help their parents harvest rice. Later, when I grew up and learned more, I realized that not only the children at home needed help, but the teachers in the schools also needed to go back to their own homes to help. However, the school will not let the children go home and tell their parents that the teacher is going home to harvest rice and you must suspend classes. Instead, he changed his approach and said that in order to understand the lack of labor in rural households, the school decided to have an eight-day holiday and let the students go home to help harvest rice. So, educated people are those rural people who are thoughtful, practical and honest. How do you know these things?

Sometimes poverty limits our imagination, but lack of knowledge and vision is the biggest limitation!

"Wang Weiqiang, is Wang Weiqiang here?" A familiar yet unfamiliar voice came from outside the door.

? "I am, I am here," "You are my sister." Under the yellowish light, Wang Weiqiang finally saw clearly who was walking in while asking questions.

? Wang Qingyun is Wang Weiqiang’s family member and neighbor. Wang Weiqiang is six years old and married to a neighboring county dozens of kilometers away two years ago. Since Wang Weiqiang was still young, Wang Qingyun has cared for and taken care of him like an elder sister. Whenever I fry some peanuts at home, I will steal a handful and bring them to Wang Weiqiang to eat. Sometimes I will bring a few sweet potatoes. In short, as long as Wang Qingyun has something to eat, he will share part of it with Wang Weiqiang. Wang Qingyun’s father worked as a cadre in the brigade (later changed to the village committee), and of his two brothers, one went to serve as a soldier, and I heard he was already the deputy company commander, and the other’s father bought a four-wheel truck for him to do transportation.

"Sister, when did you come back?" Wang Weiqiang looked at his beloved sister happily and asked. "You haven't been back for more than half a year, right?" He asked again.

? Looking at Wang Weiqiang's thin body and dark face, Wang Qingyun couldn't help but feel distressed. She secretly rubbed her red eyes and deliberately pretended to be happy and said: "I came back in my brother's truck this afternoon. "In addition to seeing my parents, the main reason I came back this time was to find you." "Why are you looking for me?" Wang Weiqiang couldn't think of any reason for his sister. I came back from dozens of kilometers away to find him.

"It's like this. My husband's cousin opened a machine brick factory. I asked my husband to tell his cousin to reserve a worker's quota for you. As long as there is work every day, you will have four workers. Although the work is a bit hard for five yuan of wages, it is better than living in poverty at home, right?" Wang Qingyun looked at Wang Weiqiang and said emotionally.

? "Besides, Wang Weijiao will go to high school next year. Do you want her to drop out of school and go home to do farm work like you because she has no money?" Wang Qingyun thought about it and continued to add.

? Wang Weiqiang couldn't help but feel a burst of heartache, and felt that he couldn't breathe anymore. Poor, poor, poor, it is because poverty has killed his way to continue schooling and his dreams. Could something like this happen to his sister again? Absolutely not allowed! Wang Weiqiang unconsciously clenched his fists tightly.

Oh, the almighty God of Destiny, do you feel that an eighteen-year-old young man is preparing to challenge your power? !

? "Sister, do you want us to come over to the brick factory? Fortunately, my mother and I have harvested all the rice, but there are still some finishing touches to be done in the fields. ." After Wang Weiqiang figured it out, he couldn't help but feel relaxed. The decisiveness and ability cultivated by being in charge of the family for two years were fully demonstrated at this time.

? "Time doesn't matter. After you take care of things at home these days, when my second brother has a delivery to our place, you can take his car and set off together, and you can save money." It’s travel expenses,” Wang Qingyun said.

"Okay, then it's settled. I'll discuss with my mother what should be done with things at home and in the fields." "Also, do I need to bring any luggage when I go out to work? "Wang Weiqiang asked.

"The machine brick factory provides food and accommodation. You just need to bring your own clothes, quilts and mats." Wang Qingyun stood up as he said it.

"I'm going back, I won't delay you any longer." The smart sister saw that Wang Weiqiang had just finished eating. It was already past nine o'clock in the evening, and the whole family hadn't taken a shower or washed clothes yet. It would be another day tomorrow. Get up at five o'clock. He quickly left Wang Weiqiang’s house.

Section 4 Mother and son's night conversation

? "Mom, why have you been gone for so long?" Wang Weiqiang asked. As soon as Wang Qingyun left, Wang Weiqiang's mother came back.

? "When I just pulled the cow into the cowshed, I saw that the place where the cow was lying was soaked with cow urine. I was afraid that it would be uncomfortable in the middle of the night and not sleep well, so I picked up a few loads nearby. Dry sand is put in and spread on top, so that (the cow) is comfortable and doesn’t have to worry about getting cold in the middle of the night,” the mother explained.

? The knight's sword, the soldier's gun, the driver's car, the farmer's cattle, these are not only an extension of their lives, but also the most precious wealth in their hearts!

? Many years ago, I once saw a family's cow being sick. The family took the cow all over the country to find an expert veterinarian to treat the cow. Later, I found an illiterate old man and gave him several large packages of root herbs. After he went home and cooked them, he filled a sharpened bamboo tube with the cooked herbal soup and inserted it into the cow's mouth. When I woke up the next morning, the cow was already in high spirits and had eaten and drank. The family was very happy. The hostess secretly wiped her tears while feeding the cows with sweet potato porridge.

One night a few years ago, I saw a truck parked on the roadside. There were incense candles in the front of the truck, and paper money and various fruit offerings were placed on the ground. There was a man and a woman (probably a couple) kneeling down and praying quietly.

? Kind people! Don't laugh at others for crying over an animal, and don't laugh at others for kneeling and worshiping in front of a truck in a foolish manner. When you have not experienced the hardships of life, when you are not still desperate even when you are desperate, what qualifications do you have to laugh at others? At least cows and trucks can give them hope of food and clothing.

"Sister Qingyun just came, you are not here." Wang Weiqiang said to his mother.

? "When will she come back to her parents' house? Is she coming to our house to sit down or has something else to do?" The mother was a little surprised.

"It's a good thing, it's a good thing," Wang Weiqiang quickly caught up with his mother's words, and then told his mother what Sister Qingyun just said plus his own thoughts.

"So, you have decided to go out to work?" Mother asked.

? "I want to go out. Whether it is for my own future, or for Wei Jiao's future studies and our family, I have to go out." Wang Weiqiang said firmly, but also hesitated: "I'm just afraid that if I leave, mom will be the only one working in the house. What will you do with so much work in the fields?"

"I support you going out," the mother said decisively, "Before, When you brothers and sisters were young, didn't I do the same thing inside and out by myself?" Wang Weiqiang looked at his mother's haggard and old face, and his heart was filled with panic. Yes, a woman in her twenties raised her brothers and sisters alone. How can words express the hardships and difficulties involved. Ever since they were young, their mother had never allowed them to suffer any injustice. Except for one missing man (father) and being a little poor, the rest of the family is no worse than the surrounding neighbors. However, in that era, which family was wealthy? Although sometimes I feel in my heart how happy I would be to have a father who can protect me from wind and rain and care about me, but I just think about it and never dare to express it at all. Compared with those families where parents quarrel every day and take it out on their children after the quarrel, Wang Weiqiang feels that he is extremely happy!

? "When you are alone outside, tolerate everything you can, and don't force yourself to stand out. You don't have any brothers at home. When you go out, you need to make more friends and be willing to spend money." Mother thought first The child who was about to go out felt a little reluctant and worried.

"I know, Mom, don't be too tired. I will send the money back to you every month when I make money. You will have money to hire people from the village to help during the busy farming season." Wang Weiqiang He was also worried about his mother, fearing that it would be too hard and tiring for her to work alone.

? "Tomorrow you will take one hundred kilograms of the rice that was just dried today to Uncle Aping at the head of the village to sell it. According to the current price, one hundred kilograms should cost 28 yuan, right? You can bring this money with you. It can be used on the body or for emergencies, but it is not suitable if you have no money when you are away. Anyway, if you are away from home, some food will be saved if there is one less person in the family."

"Okay, I will take the rice to sell tomorrow, but eight yuan is enough for me. Give the remaining two yuan to Wei Jiao. She is also a big girl, so she can buy some girls. Keep what the children use for themselves, and other mothers can use it. There are too many places to spend money at home!" Wang Weiqiang fully utilized the value of the one hundred kilograms of rice.

The mother looked tenderly at the child sitting across from her who had been raised since childhood, and suddenly realized that the child had grown up completely, had his own opinions, and could care and love everyone in the family. My mother felt that the grievances and hardships she had endured for more than ten years were completely worth it.

Section 5 Setting Sail

? The truck bumped hard on National Highway 324 at a speed of about 40 kilometers. After all, it was not a hard cement road. A heavy rain not long ago continued. Coupled with the crushing of various trucks, the road surface was somewhat bumpy. "It must be that the road maintenance workers also went home to harvest rice on vacation, so they didn't have time to maintain the road, right?" Wang Weiqiang thought in his mind.

"Second brother, how many hours will it take to get to Sister Qingyun's house?" Wang Weiqiang asked Wang Qingyun's second brother who was holding the steering wheel seriously. Because he is from the same family, Wang Weiqiang has been accustomed to calling "Second Brother" along with Wang Qingyun since he was a child. Wang Weiqiang must first go to his sister Qingyun's house, and then her husband will take him to the brick factory.

I heard from his sister that the machine brick factory is not far from her home, only seven or eight kilometers away.

"The road is not easy to walk. It will probably take about two hours. It won't delay lunch." The second brother said. The second brother is a bit taciturn, but he is also very good to Wang Weiqiang and his family.

After the second brother finished speaking, except for the "chugging" sound of the truck, the entire cab fell into silence again. Wang Weiqiang couldn't help but look out the window.

On both sides of the road are wide fields, and the rice has basically been harvested. Like a magician's work, the golden rice waves transformed into piles of straw overnight. Occasionally, a few unknown birds would fly down from the sky, hurriedly holding some fallen rice in their mouths on the harvested rice fields. A gust of wind blew over the straw pile, and with a few flapping sounds, all the birds flew away in fright. After a while, when they felt it was safe, the birds lurked down again and continued their harvest feast of rice.

This should be the Chaoshan Plain written in geography books. A large area of ??land is close together, and the mountains are few and not high. Unlike my hometown, which is surrounded by mountains on all sides (for a person who has never traveled far, a mountain with an altitude of several hundred meters is the mountain in his mind), and crops can only be harvested from the bottom of the mountain nest. The land was reclaimed and planted.

"Go over the bridge in front and turn around, and your sister's home will be there." Wang Weiqiang, who was thinking wildly, was suddenly startled by his second brother's voice.

? "Second brother, how many people are there in my sister's family?" Wang Weiqiang hurriedly continued what his second brother said in order to avoid being left in the cold.

? "Your sister's family has six people. Her husband and your brother-in-law work at the post and telecommunications office in the town. Your sister-in-law (husband's sister) helps with some personnel and financial matters in the brick factory. My father-in-law (Husband's father) works as an accountant in the village (village committee). Your sister and her mother-in-law are taking care of the child born last year and doing housework, while planting more than an acre of land at home, the second brother answered. The truck was parked under the big banyan tree at the entrance of the village.

? "Come down, the alley inside is too narrow and the truck can't go in." "The second brother shouted.