"Hometown Spring" is a good sentence!

Ke Ling

March in my hometown is the most beautiful passage in pastoral poetry.

The Peach Blossom Award welcomes people. At the foot of the stream, the fence falls in front of the house, and the shade is appropriate, so you can wander around and enjoy it as much as you like. You don't have to go all the way to the cigarette-wrapped Longhua Temple in Shanghai to buy it from the children who sell flowers to decorate the elegance.

The hibernating plants dream of waking up at first, sprouting, growing leaves, green and green, charming like a newly-matured girl, unlike the lush summer bun like a young woman.

Rape flowers are covered with gold, Chinese milk vetch is dyed red all over the place, the fragrance of grass and pea flowers is blowing in the soft wind, and the songs of swallows and Oriole forget their worries ...

This wonderful spring scenery has only one meaning to the owner of the earth: "A year's plan lies in spring." Spring doesn't mean poetry to the country people, but it breeds dreams and hopes.

the severe winter is over. Hunger and cold finally got through another year. Since the spring and autumn, the hard-working grain-the pearls washed out by sweat-has made the "rent-collecting old xianggong" go to the countryside in a big boat, and go away with a full load. I clenched my teeth, tightened my belt, got through the difficulty of paying rent, and settled my account and paid off my debts. Finally, spring came slowly.

thank you! Now it's rare for people to take a breath, take off their torn cotton-padded jackets and go shirtless to work in the warm sun.

hold a hoe, turn over the mud and weed, and hoe a dream, hoping for a rare good year. Although the bleak situation is almost worse than last year, warm spring always brings people a burst of joy and relaxation.

in March, life will be easier as usual. "Spring flowers" have sprung up: bamboo shoots just came on the market, peas and broad beans began to bear pods, and the rich love to taste new things; After harvesting rapeseed, wheat cutting is not far away. Spring river water heating, fresh fish and shrimp are in season, as long as you have time to fish in the water. ..... Dry pockets are more active, but after the spring, we have to prepare for the Duanyang Festival to pay off debts, to rent cattle to buy fertilizer, and to cultivate fields and grow rice under the scorching sun. Digging for meat to mend sores, we have to look at the present.

those who have children at home are sent to the slope at the head of the ridge all day, with a pair of small scissors and a small basket, sitting on the lush grass, carefully cutting shepherd's purse, Malan beans and yellow flowers from the weeds, or picking pine flowers on the mountain, singing naughty songs while working:

. I'll fix the broken back door in spring, and I'll fix two grandmothers' heads.

The girls sing that sentimental and meaningful folk song:

Rape blossoms like gold, radish blossoms like silver, grass purple blossoms like stars, sesame blossoms like nine lotus lanterns, and broad beans bloom with a little black conscience. No wonder my dad wants to stay married.

There is a folk song in my hometown: "Lantern in the first month, harrier in February, and beautiful boat in the grave in March."

February is the Li Festival for grave-sweeping. It is a great joy in spring for children picking wild vegetables to meet people from cities who come to the grave. Everyone is happy and rushing headlong into the crowd to watch the neatly dressed brothers, sisters, grandmothers and wives spread out three sacrificial offerings, light red candles in phoenix lanterns and bow down at the grave one by one. To meet the bride and groom, the first year of ancestor worship, rich families and bands play. The sacrifice is over. As usual, people who go to the grave will give those "fruits of going to the grave"-sprouted beans, sesame cakes, steamed bread, sugar cane and water chestnuts to the children who are watching, which is considered as a blessing. There are firecrackers on graves, and the heads of firecrackers falling from the sky to the ground are also picked up by children and put in baskets. Talking and laughing, go to pick wild vegetables again.

after waiting for a basket full of tribesmen, I rushed to the town to sell them fresh, and got a tinkling copper coin, which I took home and gave to my parents.

Because of the generosity of nature, life is more comfortable at this time, although things are busy and not too tight. -In our country. The farmer is more bitter than the old cow. No matter how bitter you are, as long as you have a bitter mouth, you will be satisfied. How far the life of the "rent-collecting old" is from them, they will never think of it and dare not think about it. -they decided that everything was predestined, so they had to send it and accept it, and entrusted their hopes to their ancestors and gods.

In March, there are many social dramas in the countryside to worship God.

according to the regulations of the past years, there will be enthusiastic villagers, headed by them, who will go door to door to raise money. No matter how poor farmers are, they will not be stingy with this donation.

on the day of the performance, the village was busy and in full swing. Every household buys wine, food and incense sticks, and takes advantage of it to worship their ancestors and go to the grave to make incense to the mountains. In the afternoon, when the social drama begins, the teenage girls and sisters-in-law will take advantage of this rare opportunity to put on new clothes made of red and green homespun and sit squarely in the stands made of door panels in advance to watch the play. However, few housewives can go to the theater at leisure, because they have to be careful to greet the guests.

The owner of the town may take advantage of the convenience of sweeping the grave to stop the grave boat to watch the play. At this time, he must quickly make a pot of tea and send melon seeds and peanuts, yellow fruit cakes and pine cakes made in the country. In the evening, we will spread out the wine and dishes that we invited our ancestors to entertain our guests.

As usual, the night play is much more lively than during the day. Most of the people who come to the theatre are idle people in nearby villages, and the guys in rice shops, oil candle shops and grocery stores in the town. After seeing the opening "Grab the Head" (Quanwuxing), the owners of each family went down to the stage to find some familiar shopkeepers, enthusiastically pulled them to their own homes, and set up dishes and snacks with a small table in front of the door. As soon as they sat down, the housewife sent out a big pot of "Three Years Old" and drunk the guests with the sound of gongs and drums.

They invited guests with the utmost sincerity, but the guests gave up: "Oh, old eight catties, don't pull, the vest sleeves have also been pulled off!" " When I arrived, I always smiled loudly and thanked him. This hospitality is a little useful. You can be a little flexible when collecting accounts in the countryside during the Dragon Boat Festival, or you can get a little advantage in the transaction.

in the past, there was a meeting to meet the gods besides acting.

it's certainly more lively to welcome the guests. In our hometown, Zhang Shenhui is the most famous in March. From the fifth day to the sixth day, there are two days of day meetings and night parties, acting, walking on the pontoon bridge and setting off fireworks. The carnival scene is still vague in my dreams. However, this kind of meeting was extinguished at least in 1978, and now even social dramas are heard to be performed very little. The livelihood of farmers is getting worse year by year. Although they still believe in gods and buddhas, they are unable to take care of these. -"New Life Movement" lantern festival is being held everywhere this year. At first, I thought that Zhang Shenhui in my hometown might take this opportunity to go out to meet him. But no. It's just the spring festival in the earth, and once a year, I still visit the thatched cottage affectionately.

Spring makes people dream more. Those honest farmers, struggling year after year, are weaving their poor dreams like colorful flowers everywhere.

In March, they are excited and optimistic; After March, they will have a hard struggle with life in the real disaster.

Spring of 1934

Excerpted from Ke Ling, published by Sanlian Bookstore (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. and People's Literature Publishing House in February 199.