In the afternoon of late summer and early autumn, willows fluttered with the wind-falling from the sky, sliding over the cheeks and arms of people enjoying the cool, tickling you like naughty children, which is very comfortable. At this time, the cuckoo sang "cuckoo, cuckoo" very beautifully. Quietly, corn grew up quietly listening to the cuckoo's song. This reminds people of the collective period, when there were no birds singing happily in the forest, no frogs and fish swimming happily in the puddle, no green grass on the lawn, no wild vegetables in the field ... it seemed to be dead. Of course, these are all from my grandmother who is nearly ninety years old.
There is a short story that happened in the 1960s and 1970s. My grandmother can't remember the exact time.
My grandmother lived with my grandfather when she was thirteen or fourteen. I heard that my grandfather is nine years older than her. I don't know why they came together, but they have a good relationship. They basically don't quarrel or fight with each other.
In the collective commune, grandma was already working for a laborer when she was a minor. At that time, in order to feed people and protect the healthy growth of food, some birds would secretly eat the food in the field, and some reptiles would steal the food in the field, so the big guys decided to kill birds, snakes and other animals. In the first year, food really increased, and people danced and made fires at night after the autumn harvest. However, the good times did not last long. In the coming year, there will be no other animals in the field and no birds in the sky. The leaves of the planted grain will turn yellow, and the harvest will gradually decrease. People can only dig wild vegetables in the field to fill their stomachs and make preserved fruits. What's more, because many children at home can only eat sweet soil. Because of the bumper harvest, news of people starving to death occurred in every village, and this situation still appeared six or seven years after production quotas decided.
It was not until the household production quota was fixed and the rural people accepted advanced knowledge that they realized that the reduction in grain production was due to the destruction of biodiversity, so that plants were destroyed by pests. At this point, people basically don't kill birds and reptiles. After seven or eight years, there are finally a few sparse birds singing under the blue sky, which can't form a beautiful song at all. Later, insects such as ladybugs also returned to this lifeless land, and the crops on the land also came back to life. In the absence of natural and man-made disasters, as long as hardworking families are basically able to eat enough.
With the passage of time, nearly 20 years ago, young people in the village began to go out to work and go home with wages to build their hometown. Soon after, the first civilian bungalow appeared in the village ... people's living standards are getting better and better.
But just as all this was about to resume, a young man surnamed Zhang in the village did something that made the gods cry-killing three cuckoos.
It's a sunny summer. People go out to work like bees, but their movements are a little louder than the bees' voices. Especially the people weeding in the fields were basically forty years old at that time. During the break, some of them talk about social relations, some talk about where their children are developing, and some talk about where they are going to propose marriage ... in short, they have a good time.
In fact, twenty years ago, families with large populations still had some difficulties in getting enough food. Therefore, in order to eat enough, some families will jump ship (not so much to jump ship, but to eat enough) to fully mobilize the means of production to produce food. At that time, there was often a saying-"Food is life"-as if everyone said so-especially those families who starved to death. In order to scare the next generation to cherish food, they passed on a story full of sacredness and sadness:
A long time ago, a family, a man, was arrested by the government as a laborer, leaving only an elderly old mother and two young sons with a woman. It was a sunny autumn. In order to make a living, women with two young children dug potatoes on the slope. They cooked potatoes because they were hungry. With the charming sunshine of the scorching sun, potatoes quickly heated up and lost water, and floated up with a thick delicious taste. A good mother (dialect, meaning mother and son) peels her skin like a wild animal and wolfs it down. However, because the skin was too thick, Lei Gong couldn't stand the fact that they wasted food like this, so in a rage, he rang his electric hammer and struck five thunderbolts in a row, killing the good mother.
Parents tell too many stories similar to the above, which are nothing more than telling us that this generation should cherish food, care for the environment or cherish the present, honor their parents and the elderly, or keep a low profile ... but the truth of their stories cannot be explored.
Having said that, let's enter the story of Zhang Ge killing the cuckoo! On a cloudless day in Wan Li, the crow's cry, which had not been heard for many years, sounded from the lady's mouth. People were superstitious at that time. They believe that when crows crow, people will be very gloomy-but when crows crow, if people put their heads deep into the jar and hear people's names, they will die soon, because crows take away their souls-that is, the duty of crows to drive away in black and white. So Zhang Ge and his brothers discussed the countermeasures to kill crows. After planting a bird net in the Woods, they sat on the ground and drank the wine happily-the wine was sweet and in a good mood.
After finishing a series of things, they went home contentedly. Their voices are the loudest in the forest, as if telling the universe that they are the most active creatures in the forest. Brother Zhang is the oldest and drinking is very embarrassing. His red color seems to tell others what he has done. But passers-by were not surprised to see his face. It is common for passers-by to blush-only people in this world will blush-because everyone has secular desires.
Tick-tock ... With the noise of people eating dinner, the country became quiet. The sound of the breeze blowing outside touching the leaves can also be clearly recognized, and the rustling is the best companion of this quiet night sky.
In the middle of the night, the sleepy old people showed their horror-even the footsteps of outsiders could be counted that night. Ordinary frogs have no sound today, and ordinary toads have no sound today ... These shady old people thought they were robbers from the village head's house, and they were breathless with fear. This night really scared them. It turned out that all this noise was not caused by Zhang Ge and his party's activities at night, singing and dancing in the dark forest, eating meat and drinking, in order to celebrate that their organs had caught a crow.
Brother Zhang said, "Guys, we have achieved very little in just one day. This blackbird is our achievement. I hope that I will gain more in the future, and everyone has drunk this cup. "
This is a little brother of some cultures who recited a poem by Cao Cao to express his ambition: "An old man is squatting on a horse, aiming at a thousand miles." Everyone is applauding it.
There are also very few people who say that those people or things in the past have long been out of date, so we should look forward. So everyone began to write poems, and the scene was peaceful. Until the end of the party, I don't know if the wine is drunk or the taste is gone. They laughed at each other's poems. If you hear what they say at this time, you will definitely laugh.
The next morning, the flowers danced lazily, as if to tell people and the world that they had grown up-they were fully mature. The naughty child carried the wood that looked like a machete and cut it hard. The flowers cried and fell to the ground one by one. The bright red petals fell on the ground, and they really missed the red soil, which aroused many people's love. At this time, a ragged and somewhat cute old man shouted in his hoarse and indistinguishable voice, "You bastards are destroying nature again." Hearing the sound, the naughty child was so scared that he disappeared into people's sight like falling into the water. The old man went to the flowers and picked them up. His eyes are as red as flowers.
Suddenly, the sky darkened and dark clouds gathered. Something seems to be going to happen, but nothing seems to have happened. These are all platitudes, and the old saying "well-informed" may be regarded as this meaning here. After a while, lightning in the roaring sky seems to light up the "dark" sky, which is objective but scary: if you are timid, you will be threatened by lightning and dark clouds that look like dragons; If you are a brave person, the lightning flashing in the dark clouds that look like dragons makes the dark clouds looming, as if you are in a paradise and express yourself without competition. Unfortunately, this scene didn't last long and disappeared. In the blink of an eye, I saw a fist-sized hail in the downpour. It rained for a long time-maybe half a day, maybe all day.
After the heavy hail, everything was quiet, even the most active species in the biosphere, human beings, was horribly quiet. They opened their bloodshot and tearful eyes and quietly looked at the houses smashed by the hail, the broken beams and the crops washed away by the flood. An unknown old Chinese doctor in a small village vaguely heard people crying. It turns out that this is a person who was injured by hail and is being treated.
On the third day, after the sky cleared up, the warm sunshine was sprinkled on the land-this land. Some families with a little food reserves have begun to talk and laugh. It seems that they have forgotten the pain caused by the heavy hail two days ago, and only those who managed to save the fruit burst into tears. Yes, people are sentimental creatures. When their survival is guaranteed, they will pursue a higher material world and spiritual world. But when their living security is not satisfied, they will only worry about one purpose, that is, how to survive.
Soon after, it was reported that until the relief food arrived, everyone was talking about how good the country was-it seems that everyone forgot the pain caused by the hail, and everything went back to before the hail-this is probably human forgetfulness-"the pain after forgetting the scar" means this.
The following spring, a couple went to the temple to burn incense. It is said that they worshipped the Buddha because of the favorable weather this year. As a result, everyone said that others went to the temple to beg their children for money. This is the first time I heard that they want good weather. It seems an interesting thing that people always smile when they talk about it. Of course, God sometimes plays jokes on people and sometimes praises people-just like after three years of famine, he cares for hardworking people and makes people eat delicious rice again. How exciting this is.
In the spring of this year, Zhang Ge was as diligent as ever. He didn't devote his labor to the city like other young people, but plowed fields and picked dung at home (a step of planting), and even the sweat on his head couldn't stop his work. One day, his father asked him why he didn't go to work in the city to make money. He said indignantly, "I don't do cheap labor." Yes, many times people always want others to treat them fairly, but a man must understand that fairness is different-there is no absolute fairness in the means of production in this world, but there is ideological fairness.
When we encounter unfairness, some people will accept this unchangeable unfairness, while others will challenge and change it. When one thing cannot be changed, we boldly face the life we are about to lose-change ourselves to adapt to the environment. Yes, Zhang Ge is such a person. Although his pale face looks stiff in that shabby Chinese tunic suit, the red hearts on his chest are full of blood.
Brother Zhang works as usual. Some people praise him, others despise him, but he doesn't seem to care what outsiders think. One morning, Brother Zhang put a back cushion and a basket on his back, which contained hoes that were neither too long nor too short. Before going out, he hardly understood his joy. There was a sweet folk song on the hillside, and brother Zhang echoed. Folk songs brought them face to face, and they talked about everything.
Brother Zhang said, "Good brother, why do we have a bad harvest now?"
Li Ge said: "According to parents, it is strange to have insects or birds."
Zhang Ge looked at the smooth cheek of Li Ge, who was several years older than himself, and said, "It was well informed. We can't change this pest, but we can still solve the damage of birds. "
Li Ge asked doubtfully, "What can I do? Do you want to kill birds? "
Brother Zhang said, "Exactly, but I have to have a plan first, otherwise the chance of killing the bird will be very small. We must be fast and accurate. "
At night, brother Zhang was covered in mud. Fortunately, his basket was full of grass left by him when he weeded pigs (we collectively refer to it as pig grass here). Of course, no matter how hard and tired it is, it is worth it. After all, it is also a way of life. As Zhang Ge often said, "When you go to a restaurant, if you wear spotless clothes, others are afraid that you can't afford it, so waiters always smile at those who wear dirty clothes, especially those who look like dry construction sites, just because they can afford it more easily than those who wear spotless clothes. Therefore, in any case, you must leave a few cents in your pocket (dialect, meaning coins, and more often it means money in your pocket). Even if you don't want to go to a restaurant, you should keep life-saving money or buy a big board (dialect, meaning coffin). "
The next day, Zhang Ge and Li Ge arrived in the forest as scheduled, and their faces were flushed and moving by the early morning sunshine. This dress matches the face shape and makes them laugh. A few people will whisper, "These two little guys should have taken nothing wrong, and they look like flower cats (dialect, describing children playing and making their faces grotesque)."
In the next few hours, Zhang Ge and Li Ge had a clear division of labor, and soon fixed the bird net in the place where birds often gathered. After everything is over, both of them are drinking under the elaborate trap. You talk about me and I talk about you. Improvise when you are drunk-not everyone here loves folk songs so much, but after three rounds of drinking, almost everyone will hum a sentence or two. Li Ge took the lead in attacking, humming the voice that "the world has its own true relatives, and white hair is only for beauty". Li Ge also told him that this boy, like me, had never learned or sung any folk songs, so I couldn't lose to him, so he also hummed his own improvised song "The world is hard to get old, only peacocks fly". Passers-by were amused by their songs. Almost fifty people watched their "war" in an instant, but no one went up to join in the fun, because it was their struggle-let alone a person who knew some folk songs, it was absolutely impossible to make up so many words in an instant. Many people think that folk songs are a sacred substance, which entrusts the creator with too many emotions and experiences. Therefore, if you want to create a folk song, you must combine your personal experience or talk about something educational. (It's a pity that this concept has gone away from us now. Many old people are still there, but there are very few old people. Coupled with the influence of foreign folk songs, if you meet someone who is fooling, most of them will improvise and satirize the opera. After watching it for a long time, passers-by quickly (angrily) walked out of their sight, while Zhang Ge and Li stayed up until evening.
At ten o'clock in the evening, there are only sunset clouds and spring water from rainbows. Those birds seem to feel something, but they don't seem to feel anything. After singing the song, Zhang Ge and Li Ge felt that their voices could not stand it, and they wanted to cut it off. Like hungry people, they cut corners and ran home-jumping where they should jump and climbing where they should climb.
This night is not particularly quiet, but it is not "noisy". The road can only hear the footsteps of passers-by, and there seems to be no other sound. I don't know when it started, maybe midnight or early morning. Thunder broke out in the sky, and lightning followed-until dawn, and the heavy rain washed the tile house and the earth wall house as clean as the frivolous turtle shell in the sea. Earthworms and other animals crawled on the dirt road with high terrain, and some timid girls were scared to cry when they passed by. Old people say that this weather is not suitable for traveling, but there are always some naughty children who can't resist the temptation of clear water and blue sky outside, playing with yellow mud, and when they get home, they are beaten up by their mothers, and the village suddenly becomes active-children, young people and old people are restless.
Zhang Ge and Li Ge, who were overworked yesterday, slept until noon, rubbing their eyes in frustration and struggling to get out of the warm bed with their sleepy heads. Fortunately, they weren't hungry, because it was just the time for dinner at home. Both of them had a hurried meal at home before throwing a bird net into the mountains, and they had no spirit at all. When they saw the bird net, they were dumbfounded in an instant-holes were left under the bird net, but no bird was caught, but many birds were caught on the bird net-and they were furious and roared: "These people don't know the bird net, don't touch it. Even if they want to eat bird meat, can't they wait until we come back and give them some? "
In order to catch birds better, they put away the bird nets, removed all the birds they caught and mended the bird meat. After the repair, the patch of the bird net is as conspicuous as the pudding on the clothes. So, they decided to arrest the saboteur tonight and demand an explanation. They don't mind beating him up if he can't give an explanation. It's a pity that there were no footsteps that night, only birds that accidentally fell into the net-all kinds of birds were mixed together, which made people upset, and even wolves and jackals who "hid" in the depths of the forest all the year round gave a painful howl. The voices of wolves and jackals scared the daylights out of Zhang Ge and Li Ge, so that they trembled on the way home and fell to the ground-such a simple wrestling, which led to a serious fracture of Zhang Ge's ankle and Li Ge's arm bone piercing the skin. Even in such pain, they dare not breathe heavily (in fact, their bodies are numb at this time, and people can't feel pain in this state) because they are afraid of being discovered by wolves or jackals. Fortunately, they were discovered by Rogge, a famous "hunter" in the village, and Rogge helped them go home.
The next day, strangely, there were few birds singing in the small village, and even the cuckoo who was "looking" at the green corn couldn't help crying "cuckoo, cuckoo …" and disappeared. What is even more surprising is that this year's grain harvest is almost half of the original. There is a gossip that there is no cuckoo cry because the birds sown by Zhang Ge and Li Ge killed three cuckoos. Other cuckoos and birds that were fatally hit in this land fled this land in fear, and only those birds who are keen on fighting dare to denounce it with hoarse voices.