Childhood, summer vacation, and laughter

Growing up, summer vacation and winter vacation are the best times in student life. Among them, summer vacation is much more comfortable than winter vacation. Not only does it have more delicious food, but there are also many things to play. Therefore, my vacation memories are all about the beautiful memories of summer vacation, but the winter vacation has all disappeared inexplicably.

When I was in the third or fourth grade of elementary school, I was still going to school in the countryside. The summer vacation time of elementary and middle schools in rural areas is closely related to the wheat harvest time. During half of the summer vacation, children have to help the adults with farm work. They cannot cut wheat, but they are naturally required to deliver meals and tea to the adults working on the field ridges every day.

I was sweating profusely when I carried my lunch box and teapot to the shade of the field with my grandma under the scorching sun. The adults who had worked hard for several hours sat around, picked up the steamed buns in the rice basket, and ate them with a few fried side dishes. Every time I think they taste delicious, but when I take a bite, I can't taste their delicious taste. After eating the steamed buns, the adults drank a few bowls of tea from the teapot, rested for a while, and then went to work in the fields. At this time, I would catch a few grasshoppers or crickets in the wheat field, put them into a small cage made of wheat straw by my grandma, and play with them.

At dusk, I slept in the shade of a tree listening to the cries of crickets. When I woke up, the golden sunlight and the waves of wheat dyed the earth the same color. It was no longer as hot as it was at noon, and there was even a breeze blowing through it. I went to the harvested fields to pick up the ears of wheat left in the ground. An inch of wheat stubble is stepped on underfoot, making a very comfortable swishing sound, and the foot feels very good. Following the wheat stubble left by the adults after cutting, you can pick up more than a dozen ears of wheat in a while. Don't waste it. You tie them up with wheat straws and pull them together to the threshing floor for stacking.

The wheat harvest season is very difficult. The adults have to harvest the wheat and pile it on the threshing floor within a few days. We also need to thresh and shell the wheat as soon as possible when the weather is fine to ensure that the grains are returned to the warehouse. If you are lazy, a heavy rain may wipe out a year's harvest.

During the first half of the summer vacation when I was in my second or third year, I quietly spent the time delivering food and water to the adults in the fields and threshing floors. Feel the temperature of the hot sunshine in the wheat fields, taste the sweetness of tea and watermelon under the shade of the trees beside the fields, listen to the crickets in the wheat cages and the chirping of cicadas on summer nights, admire the threshing floor like an oil painting at dusk, and smell the beauty of grandma’s vegetable garden Aroma of ripe fruits. . . . . .

After the summer harvest is over, it is our children’s time to ourselves. At that time, there were very few summer homework assignments in rural areas, and there were no countless holiday training classes now. If we finished our homework early, the rest of the time would be all our own.

There is a canal in front of grandma's door, and a sluice not far upstream. There is always water flowing in the canals in summer, and the adults told us not to swim in the canals. But the temptation of water is too great. When the sluice starts to fill up, the older boys will strip naked in the grove and jump from the sluice into the water one by one to play. Of course, there are dangers sometimes. Once, my friend and I were washed away by the water from the canal to the gate of the next village, and had to walk naked back to the grove where we put our clothes.

After all, the water channel is still too fast and dangerous, and it is not very clear. There is a soothing stream in front of my grandma's door. The water is shallow, slow and clear, and the bottom of the stream is full of soft sand. It is very comfortable to step on. When I was a child, I often played here. When floating under the wooden bridge in front of the door, you can see mushrooms growing under the wooden bridge and small silver fish in the water.

The adults made a swing out of the long branches of the big elm tree in front of the door. A few children were swinging under the broad canopy, but they didn’t feel it at all. hot. There is a simple cabin made of cardboard and wooden boards on the elm tree, which is our secret base.

Outside the village, there is an ancient earthen city, which is also where we often go to explore during summer vacations. The origin of the ancient city cannot be studied now. The old man said that it has been there as long as he can remember. When there is banditry, people from several nearby villages will hide in it.

Summer vacation is definitely not just about delicious food, play is the most eternal theme of summer vacation. Uncle Xiao's summer vacation will be remembered forever precisely because of the fun he had.

Uncle Xiao and Auntie Xiao are both hard-working people, otherwise they would not have become the first million-dollar household in the township. The most unforgettable part of the summer vacation spent in his old house was the grape trellis I wrote about earlier. Playing, telling jokes, and playing games under the grape trellis in the summer were naturally cool and comfortable. In addition, there is a large sand dune behind Uncle Xiao's house. Unlike other villages where the sand dunes are three or four miles outside the village, Uncle Xiao's third brigade is right next to the sand dunes. From the path next to the house to the vegetable field behind the house, a canal next to the vegetable field separates the dunes from the village. The canal is covered with tall and thick poplar trees. It is these poplar trees that prevent the wind and sand from eroding the village.

The sand in the dunes is soft, and the top of each dune is covered with dense tamarisk trees. It is it that joins hands with the tall poplar trees beside the water channel to firmly lock the dunes and prevent them from flowing. The sand is blown away by the wind. This sand dune was our adventure spot during the summer vacation. We will climb to the top of each tall sand dune and claim it as our own castle, play hide and seek in the tamarisk bushes, run and slide down from the top of the sand dunes, and pick the sweet Elaeagnus jujube in the Elaeagnus grove.

This sand dune is actually very large, surrounded by countless green fields. When we get tired of playing, we will go to the cornfield next to us and break some sweet corn, and pull off a few strings of soybeans on the edge of the field. My brother and I dug a small hole in the sand, and our two sisters went to the nearby woods to pick up some branches and roast them over the fire. Although the corn was burnt in some places due to uneven roasting every time, everyone still rushed to eat it because the sweet corn tasted really good. After we come back from the crazy fun, the cool and sweet grapes, cold watermelons and juicy early crisp pears soaked in the cool underground well water will be wiped out by our wind and clouds. It couldn't be more comfortable and comfortable.

Of course water is indispensable in summer. During the hot summer every year, the reservoir near the village is naturally the go-to place for many children who know how to drink water. Unlike the gentle southern water towns that are dotted with rivers, the northwest is arid and rainless. Residents use hand-pressed water dispensers to bring up groundwater, and agricultural water comes from water stored in several villages' independent water storages.

Naturally, our few children who don’t know how to swim in the reservoir dare not go in to swim, and we only dare to play on the beach on the shore. Uncle Xiao just happened to contract this reservoir to raise freshwater fish. He also had a shotgun. I was lucky enough to follow him and my father to hunt wild ducks in the reeds beside the reservoir. A gunshot sounded and we all came to burn wild ducks in the evening. eat.

Speaking of wild ducks and reed marshes, this is also where several villages harvest reeds and store green fodder every summer vacation. Outside the cofferdam of the reservoir dam, due to the difference in water level, many pools seep out. Here, they are covered with tall reeds, forming one reed marsh after another. The water in these reeds is not deep, and it is also a place where many wild ducks build nests and lay eggs. Every year when the reeds are harvested, my brother, my brother, and my two sisters will join in the fun and watch. As the reeds as tall as a person were cut away, only foot-high reed root stubble and exposed wild duck nests were left in the reed field. By the time we got home, everyone was holding a mallard egg that was much larger than an egg and leading a little duck. The duckling’s parents naturally became our dinner food. Generally, little wild ducks cannot be kept alive, and they will die one after another within a few days, making our young hearts full of guilt.

The nights in rural areas are always darker than those in cities, but they are brighter when there is moon. On a moonless night, the stars are extraordinarily bright. You will see the stars really twinkling in the sky, and with the naked eye you can see the Milky Way's light strips spreading across the night sky. This kind of starry sky is my favorite. My sisters and I are back to back, looking up at the Milky Way. The evening breeze blows from the front of the house, which is warm. There is also the sweet smell of summer in the air. Many years later, it still remains in my mind. There are images of us looking up at the stars.

This kind of summer vacation finally couldn't last forever. As we moved further away, we rarely went to Uncle Xiao's house to spend summer vacation together.

However, this beautiful memory of childhood, summer vacation and laughter will always remain in the hearts of my sister and me. When our lives are not so good as adults, it is the best healing medicine for my sister and me.