Xuwen, a place worth hanging out (1)

Article | A Zuo

I have the heart of a wild child and have always liked to wander.

When I was in elementary school, I liked wandering in the fields and mountains.

When I was in junior high school, I liked wandering in the streets.

When I was in high school, I liked hanging out on the school playground.

When I was in college, I loved wandering in love in books.

After work, I like to hang out in interesting places.

Not all places are suitable for hanging out. Famous scenic spots are suitable for tourism, exquisite resorts are suitable for leisure, high-rise buildings with lights and feasting are suitable for entertainment, pavilions, pavilions, small bridges and flowing water are suitable for eye addiction.

These places are not suitable for hanging out.

A place suitable for wandering must have stories, feelings, charm, and interest, and it must allow the body and mind to be unrestrained.

Xuwen County, the southernmost tip of mainland China, is such a place worth wandering around.

Zero Introduction - A Lifetime of Fate

In the summer of 2000, a mysterious fate led me, who had just graduated from the normal school, to come to a corner of Xuwen Township to work as a people's teacher. That's four years. Then, the reality of life and the distant dream made me say goodbye to this land.

In the summer of 2014, after the huge typhoon, we took a self-driving trip to Hainan and stayed in Xuwen for one day.

The sight of chaos is still imprinted in my mind, piercing my heart, and unforgettable.

After three years, in the middle of the summer of 2017, we once again set foot on the hot red land of Xuwen.

Going south, setting foot on the red soil again

On the evening of July 20, I was already in my hometown and chatted on WeChat with my old friend Apang from Nanhua Farm in Xuwen. I said, I am going to take my family to your house tomorrow to eat and sleep there. Are you afraid?

Not only was Apang not "afraid", he was actually filled with joy. In fact, she invited us to play during the summer vacation.

My old friend happened to be convenient, so we made the trip.

On the afternoon of the 21st, the car, which had been running for more than two hours, arrived in Suixi. It turned slightly left on the highway and headed south.

The Zhanxu section of Shenhai Expressway is gentle and elegant, like a ribbon inlaid on a green carpet. Along the way, there were few cars and it was calm. The breeze blew by on the left and the sunset filled the sky on the right. Sitting in the cab, I didn't seem to step down with my right foot very much. Without paying attention, the speed on the dial slipped to 140Km. I suddenly had the artistic conception of "the spring breeze is proud of the horse's hoofs", which was very comfortable.

Along both sides of the road, patches of sugar cane and bananas passed by, and trees and neem trees moved quickly back. There were signs with familiar place names such as Chengyue, Kulu, Wushi, Longmen, and Yingli. Signs flashed past the corners of my eyes.

Green country roads are waiting for us, and hospitable old friends are waiting for us.

My heart is surging and I am moving forward with joy.

At nearly 19:00, two white words appeared on the blue sign on the right: Get off the bridge.

Excited! My wife and children in the back seat of the car were also smiling.

Turn off the highway and take a left ramp. National Highway 207 takes us through Xiaqiao Town.

Nanhua is close!

Entering Nanhua Farm from Xiaqiao Town, you take a winding county road like a sheep intestine. I drove the car, covered in the red light of the sunset, and moved forward briskly. The green sugar cane fields, emerald green rubber forests, and blue-green pineapple rows are still so eye-catching, so familiar, and so charming.

When the car arrived next to the first company, I noticed through the car window that the golden sunset and the green vegetation at the rear left merged harmoniously into one, like a huge oil painting standing in front of me. It was so magnificent that I couldn't help but admire it. I parked the car and took a few photos with my cell phone for my eyes.

When we arrived at A Pang’s house next to the field, the setting sun was still painting the western skyline with a golden light.

As soon as I got off the bus, I said apologetically, "I'm late, I'm late."

Apang smiled and said: "It's good to be here. I thought you were letting me fly (meaning "flying pigeons")."

I just put my luggage. A delicious seafood dinner is placed on the table.

We are together again!

Let’s eat, chat, and feel free, so happy!

Enanhua, a place haunted by dreams

Revisit the old place and reunite with old friends. Excited, as if the blood was filled with stimulants.

Following the pulse of our chat, my memory went back seventeen years, to the summer of 2000.

That year, we just graduated from college. For the sake of love, we decided to stay in the hot red land of Xuwen. I'm in Warriors and she's in Nanhua. A year later, she became my wife; a year later, I applied to be transferred to Nanhua, and we were finally together.

Our arrival became a surprise to the farm school. Some people admired it, while others doubted it.

Our love became the story of junior brothers and junior sisters in our alma mater. Some people were amazed by it, while others were puzzled by it.

However, no matter what the outside world is like, we have still gone through ups and downs.

The past will always be a story!

While chatting at the dinner table, I occasionally mentioned A Qiang, an old colleague from Nanhua Middle School. Apang said that he was married and had children, and had moved to a new home. He proposed to go and have a look and chat.

This is exactly what I want. We are also looking forward to it.

After dinner, we were not tired after running around for a long time. Dabao and Sister Qi were discussing drawing in the room, and Apang accompanied us for a walk. Putting on our sneakers and pushing the stroller, we walked against the evening breeze on the familiar yet unfamiliar streets, chatting as we walked in the direction of A Qiang’s house.

We are familiar with it because we have worked and lived here for four years and walked all over the streets and alleys here (actually there are not many streets or alleys, haha).

It feels strange because many changes have taken place here in the past thirteen years. The original old buildings were demolished and new houses were erected; rows of villas were built on the original sugar cane fields; the original middle school was renovated, and the original police station was returned to the local government (no longer part of the agricultural reclamation system).

Unknowingly, we arrived near the entrance of the middle school. I saw the brand-new teacher downstairs, with bright lights and soft voices. People were sitting or standing, enjoying the breeze on the summer night.

My wife was sharp-eyed and recognized Aqiang’s parents at once. They were playing poker with a group of friends. Aqiang was smiling under the small tree.

"Teacher Xian and Teacher Li are back."

Thirteen years later, they can still recognize us and are touched. Aqiang is still so elegant and thin, his father and mother are still the same, and his appearance has not changed much.

After a while, Director Qin passed by holding a basketball and was very surprised to see us.

A group of friends sat down to chat about the current situation with other colleagues and talk about the past years.

The surroundings were peaceful, and although there was no moonlight in the sky, it was still alluring.

Time flies, some things will change, and some things will never change.

Three Wind Farms - The World of Windmills in the Pastoral

After a sound sleep all night, it was already past seven o'clock the next day when I woke up.

I climbed up to the platform on the third floor and looked at the distant scenery in the morning breeze, thinking a lot.

In silence, I recalled the asphalt road between the Warriors and Nanhua.

During that stretch of road, I walked under the sun, in the wind and rain, in the morning light, and in the night.

That stretch of road witnessed my footsteps, my longing, my reluctance, and my haste.

That journey has always been imprinted on the map of my soul and can no longer be erased.

At noon on July 22, four of A Pang’s teachers’ college classmates also drove to Nanhua. At Apang's house, we had a sumptuous lunch together.

At around two o'clock in the afternoon, we will all go to see the windmill, a large power-generating windmill on the red earth.

I remember that the strong typhoon Wilson in the summer vacation of 2014 swept through Xuwen with a devastating force, blowing down many large windmills that had just been assembled. At that time, we stayed in Xuwen for one day, and Apang also took the time to take us to the Warrior Wind Farm (the first electric field to install windmills). The car drove along the curved cement road in the field. The large windmills on both sides and in the distance, Some have broken heads, some have fallen leaves, and some have twisted roots, are messy, and dilapidated. When you are among them, you feel like you have entered the Old Summer Palace, and you can't bear to look at them.

Now, the fallen windmill has stood up stubbornly, and more and more beautiful windmills have been dotted on this endless countryside.

We were a group of nine people, driving three small cars, facing the sea breeze from the south, starting from Nanhua Field, along the winding cement road, passing through Warrior Field and turning into the wind farm.

Warrior Wind Farm is the first wind farm project on a nearby farm and is built on rolling countryside.

We turned to a high-slope fork and parked next to a huge windmill. We got out of the car laughing, our eyes greedily taking in the scenery around us. From a distance, you can see the continuous pineapples and the towering windmills; from a closer look, the sweet smell of pineapples and the sound of windmills are heard.

Several of Apang’s classmates lined up in a row, and I helped take photos. Our family of four also left sweet shadows next to the pineapple field under this magnificent windmill.

People often call the Netherlands, which is located in the westerly belt, the "country of windmills". At the end of the 18th century, there were 12,000 windmills in the Netherlands, each with 6,000 horsepower. People used the kinetic energy generated by these windmills to grind grain, coarse salt, tobacco leaves, press oil, roll woolen cloth, felt, make paper, and drain stagnant water from swamps. Since the 20th century, due to the development of steam engines, internal combustion engines, and turbines, the ancient windmills that relied on wind power once became dim and almost forgotten. However, because windmills utilize natural wind power and are clean and non-polluting, they are not only still used by the Dutch people today, but have also become a new form of energy today. Today, there are approximately two thousand windmills of various types left in the Netherlands. The Dutch love their windmills very much and regard them as national symbols. They often praise windmills in folk songs and proverbs.

The large windmills on Xuwen’s red land do not convert wind energy into kinetic energy and directly use it for processing crops, as in the Netherlands. Instead, they make full use of the sea breeze blowing from the South China Sea and the Beibu Gulf to convert wind energy into energy. Convert it into electrical energy, store it and integrate it into the power grid to benefit the general public, enterprises and factories. At the same time, the vast wilderness is dotted with windmills and has now become a beautiful scenery at the southernmost tip of the motherland, attracting many tourists every year. We are one of them, haha.

After taking photos, I returned to the car and continued to move towards the next destination - the sea of ????pineapples.

To be continued

Please pay attention to the next article: (2) Sea of ??Pineapples.