My memory probably started at the age of five!
That year, my younger brother was born, and my father was a branch secretary in the village, and he was often too busy to go home; My mother had to work hard, do housework and take care of the children, so just after the full moon, my grandmother picked up my sister who was only two years older than me. My sister left, and I had no playmates at home before I was six years old; Because of my younger brother, I stopped trying to be a child under my mother's knee, so under the pear tree at the fork of the room, it became a paradise for me alone. All my toys are made from local materials: three small bricks are used to build a stove, tiles are used as pots, bowls are used as bowls, two short sorghum stalks or corn stalks are used as chopsticks, and a few dried straw stalks are used for firewood. As for the ingredients, it is even richer. Soil, stones, leaves, wild flowers, etc. Together with the water dripping from the eaves into the bucket when it rains, it can be made into "delicious" of the same nature. Then, I will play the role of three myself. When I am tired of playing house, I sit under a tree, fold butterflies with various leaves, talk to myself, sing to myself and enjoy myself and Tao Tao alone. My mother said that I was a good child and never bothered her. She can do housework and see her brother with peace of mind. My mother also said that when I was a child, I was very smart, and I was deeply inspired by listening to the radio speakers installed under the eaves, compiling books, making plays and composing my own songs. Once at grandma's house, I rolled my eyes, sang and danced, and threw Zhang Zi off the kang with laughter. I even said: I just want to sing you to death. ...
Sometimes, my father will have a little rare leisure. He took a small bench and sat under the grape trellis, and I squatted between his legs. My father hummed "My daughter has flowers to wear, but she can't buy them with less money …" and tied me up with a red rope. This is the warmest and happiest moment in my childhood memory. This shot is engraved in my bone marrow like an axe and will never be forgotten. Father's young, resolute and loving face is as clear as ever. Although my father died young, nearly 30 years have passed between us, but the time is old and the great pain is still deep and sincere. Every time I think about it, I can't help crying.
My sister was eight years old, and when she was old enough to go to school, her parents took her back from her grandmother's house. When I was six years old, I clamored to go to school with my sister. My father begged the principal, so I was put into the class and became a first-grade pupil with my sister.
At that time, our primary school curriculum was very simple. From grade one to grade three, there are only arithmetic and Chinese in the textbook, and politics and nature are added in grade four and five. No one asked the teacher to make up lessons and there was no homework after class. My sister and I can easily get the first and second place in every exam. At that time, I don't know why, my family was always busy, and my mother was too busy, so my sister and I were asked to take our ignorant brother to school and look after the children while going to school. In class, my brother sometimes sleeps under the table and sometimes cries loudly. At this time, the teacher asked us to go out to play, so my sister and I took my brother to the school threshing floor to see sparrows, or went to the playground to pick flowers for fun. Most people born in the 1960s had the same experience. Adults are busy, but many sisters. It is not unusual for brothers and sisters to take care of their younger brothers and sisters while going to school. Although the school does not advocate it, it does not object. Teachers also take special care of them. It is really a person.
In a blink of an eye, I will be promoted to the second day of junior high school, and my father pleaded with the principal again. This time, he wanted me to repeat the grade, saying that I was too young and promoted too early. I was in a hurry and went to the headmaster with tears: I am the second place, so I won't let the second place rise. Aren't all the students behind me promoted? "Quite reasonable!" The headmaster was amused and said with a smile, "Well, little guy, you can get a promotion, as long as you can keep up!" " "In this way, I became the youngest student in the second grade, and my sister was still in the same class.
In the winter of the third grade, the weather was particularly cold, and the hands and feet were severely frostbitten and black and blue. At night, my heel itches so much that I can't sleep. It is no use for my mother to boil water for me every night. Later, my right little finger cracked a big crack, and I often bled, so I couldn't bend my back in pain. Lian Bi couldn't help it, so she had to take a long vacation. I missed a whole winter semester and had to repeat the grade, and my relationship with my sister and classmates ended.
My sister wants to make progress, but she is afraid of falling behind. Driven and urged by my sister, I dare not be lazy, so my sister and I won't be able to do anything from grade one to grade three. I can't do it once I am separated from my sister, and the eccentricity is becoming more and more obvious. No one can compete for the first place in endorsement. My excellent composition is often used as a model essay, so I am not interested in arithmetic. The lower courses of primary school are simple, and I don't find it difficult to be forced to do the problems by my sister. In the fourth and fifth grades, when there are application problems, my simple skull is covered with a layer of fog, and I am more and more confused, whether it is the school mid-term exam or the township organization.
Speaking of fun, there's another thing I remember vividly. In the fifth grade that year, it began to rain at noon one day, and several of our classmates who had finished reciting books early jumped squares and kicked buckets on the steps under the eaves of the Great Temple. I was accidentally pushed down the steps by a classmate, laughing and laughing, and my mouth and face touched a big stone. I am swollen like a pig, and I graduated from the primary school next door. As a result, I didn't pass the exam, and I stayed for another grade, just like running a race with a tortoise and a rabbit. I ran too early.
There is another thing we are ashamed to say, which is also our passion. Haha, that's catching lice. Today's children don't know what lice are and what they look like, but at that time, lice may be our most loyal and caring partners. They follow us all the year round and can't get rid of it. Especially in winter, if you wear thick clothes and have no conditions to take a bath, it is easy to breed lice. You see, after class is over, the girls are in groups of three and five, tied in piles under the window sill of the classroom. Whoever has more lice on his head is the most popular. Everyone is scrambling to lean on her like heroes, and some people will be anxious if they can't squeeze in. One head, five or six hands are numb. Sometimes it's like a monkey exploring the moon, strung together in a line. You help me catch it, I'll help you catch it. If you catch it, it will be fatter than the big and small competitions. It's really lively. Boys, sitting on the ground, can easily and quickly pick out a few fat people from the folds of clothes and trousers, then draw a circle on the ground, trap them in it and command them to fight. Hehe, in an innocent and carefree era, you don't even know how to fight with heaven and earth, let alone people, but fighting lice is also fun!
Carefree school life can't fill the poverty and hunger of family life after all. There was basically nothing to eat at that time. The staple food is mostly potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, miscellaneous beans, pumpkins and other miscellaneous grains, and the number of times you can eat a white rice in a year is very small. So at that time, what we were most looking forward to was the Chinese New Year holiday, because only during the Chinese New Year can we eat a little meat and taste a little meat, and people with good families can put on a new set of clothes. There are also snacks, such as Sophora japonica, elm, red dates, mulberries, reed roots, willow leaves and so on. Brush it off the tree or pull it out of the ground, you can eat it easily, and even make it a delicious food on the family table with a little processing. Blow off the floating soil with a frozen red mouth and wipe off the mud on the surface with dirty hands, so you can eat and chew with confidence and taste the mellow taste of pure natural food without worrying about being murdered by profiteers. Compared with now, although the material is extremely scarce, the safety factor is much higher.
The family, old and young, have worked hard for a year, but they still lack clothes and food during the Chinese New Year. There are many brothers and sisters. The boss wears the second, and the second wears the third. They can't wear new clothes in the smallest few years. Every family is "three years old, three years old, three years old". Besides, clothes, socks, shoes and hats are all sewn by hand. Therefore, housewives at that time worked harder. In addition to working with men, they have to use their leisure time and evening time to operate. In my childhood memory, my mother didn't seem to sleep. When she wakes up in the middle of the night, she always leans against the windowsill, holds the soles of her shoes, knits sweaters and sews clothes by dim oil lamps, and dresses and cooks at dawn. As for food, the rations distributed by the small population team are barely enough to eat, and they have to eat melons and vegetables for half a year. In less than half a year, the team with a large population will eat a liter of rice and a bowl of noodles. Moreover, due to the extreme lack of oil and water in our diet, we are always hungry. We often eat the last meal and look forward to the next one. There are no snacks. In the morning, the rest of the wowotou is not allowed to fill the hunger for half a morning and half an afternoon, and at night, the labor at home has to be given as dry food. So we look forward to the most mature season. At that time, whether it is planted in trees or grown in the ground, it will become the object of our "search" and the food in our stomachs if it can't wait to be cooked. "It's worse than a mouse!" Adults often scold us with hatred and pity.
Like all children, my sister and I learned to cook very early. My sister is my direct leader when my father is away and my mother is on the ground. She assigned me the task of holding firewood and burning fire, and she contracted many links such as washing vegetables, cutting vegetables, mixing and plastering. Even so, when my sister got everything ready to wipe, I didn't boil water for others. There are probably two reasons. One is that I am too stupid to light a box of matches. The second reason is that I am so addicted to reading that I forget to do anything as long as I have a book in my hand. I often make my sister angry for this. When I'm angry, I braid my hair and kick my calf, which always makes my scalp get goose bumps and my legs are always black and blue. Later, my grandmother found out and severely criticized my sister, which was a relief for me.
In addition to cooking, digging wild vegetables in spring, picking wheat in summer, picking grain in autumn, picking cinders in winter, picking apricots, planing medicinal materials, picking sheep manure, etc., we have our work all year round. Speaking of playing apricot, I once had a thrilling experience. It was a summer, my sister and I followed my grandfather to play apricots in the mountains more than 30 miles away from home. When I went there, it was sunny and sunny. When I was playing apricots on the mountain, the weather in May changed, and soon it was cloudy, with lightning and thunder. Grandpa saw that the situation was wrong, so he quickly came down from the tree to pack his things and called us to hurry down the mountain. Unexpectedly, walking fast and walking slowly, the downpour suddenly fell from the sky. Before we had walked a few steps, we heard a loud thunder overhead, scaring my sister and me into grandpa's arms and afraid to look up. Grandpa held us still for a long time. We came to our senses and turned to look, ah! It's so scary! I saw that the apricot tree that Grandpa had just climbed was cut off by the middle, leaving only half of the stump bare! Three people stood in the dense rain curtain, although they couldn't see each other's faces clearly, they seemed to hear each other's drumming heartbeat, and it took a while to return to absolute being. Grandpa is carrying two halves of the frame, and my sister and I are carrying half a small bag. Apricots were beaten to mud by the rain, and we were drenched. On the rugged and muddy mountain road, three people, grandparents and grandchildren, nest by nest, step by step, step by step, until they reach the foot of the mountain, and have already rolled into clay figurines. Coarse clothes and cloth shoes are particularly easy to absorb water and make them muddy. Walking is like dragging something weighing hundreds of kilograms. You can't move your feet and legs. Take a few steps and stop to pick up the mud on your shoes and wring the water off your clothes. I walked for nearly five hours in this way for more than 30 miles and didn't get home until dark. At this time, your house is in a mess. Grandma and mom went to the village entrance dozens of times. Goodbye. My sister and I both caught a cold for several days. From then on, grandpa never took us to play with apricots.
In winter, my sister and I go to the garbage dumps of various government agencies to collect cinders. Dad gave us a hook of barbed wire, which can dig deeper without hurting our hands, and then take a dustpan or a small basket. Throw away your schoolbag when you come home from school. You don't have to be told by adults or urged by others. I'll take my tools and set off separately. In order to gain more and be more efficient, my sister and I usually split up according to the agreed route, and then we will compete to see who picks more and comes back early. One winter, my sister and I picked up enough cinders to pile up at home at night. Sometimes, when we pick up cinders, we will dig out a penny-a-penny wool ticket or a plastic thread or a wool rope. At this time, we will be excited to show off each other, and then carefully keep it in our own small box and open it from time to time. This simple happiness will last for a long time.
At that time, the school engaged in work-study programs and planted a lot of land. Sometimes after school, when the farm is busy, I simply stop working. Picking water to water the land, lifting manure and fertilizing, I remember that the school also grows rice, and it is rare for children to rub rice ears directly and eat large grains of rice. Corn is planted every year, and picking corn kernels with a broken stick is a work to be done every year. In the summer and autumn harvest season, the teacher will lead us to help the production team pick the ears of wheat, harvest crops and collect food. Throughout the year, no matter at home or at school, there is often work and leisure. Every child is an adult and must bear part of the responsibility of creating and building a life.
Of course, children are children after all, and an ignorant and naive age will be forced by life to be clever and cunning. That summer, the school assigned us a task to cut 20 kilograms of Xanthium sibiricum seedlings every day. Xanthium sibiricum seedlings have thorns, which prick the hands and are difficult to cut. Besides, the whole school is out, and there are more wolves than meat. What shall we do? Several of our good friends get together to give ideas. It is suggested that the xanthium seedlings should be stuffed with bricks when they are tied. Some people say that Xanthium sibiricum seedlings are watered with river water and weighed. Everyone used this method, and I don't know if the teacher really didn't realize or sympathized with our difficulties. Anyway, they escaped, but only once or twice. When picking wheat for the production team, we sometimes hide in the uncut wheat fields and pick them one by one, which is much easier than summarizing them in the harvested fields. When the school collects dung, we steal it from the barn of the production team during the lunch break. One or two people watch the wind, one or two people shovel it out quickly, and one or two people put it in the box. The cooperation is perfect. We really practice the slogan on the school wall with our own actions-"unity and tension, seriousness and liveliness". At the same time, we are uneasy, mixed with a little success and satisfaction. Now I feel that all the hardships have disappeared like smoke.
A few days ago, I went to the countryside to help the poor. I see every farmer has a roll of toilet paper in the toilet, or put a delicate box on the ground or nail a small platform on the wall. Most of the toilets have been built into houses, and squatting toilets have been changed into toilets, which are clean and safe. This little detail also reminds me of all kinds of toilets when I was a child. It's sad and ridiculous to think of it. Where can I go to the toilet with toilet paper? If there are children who go to school at home, you can also tear up the books used by children as waste paper to solve the children's problems. If there are no children studying at home, there will be no paper at home. When they go to the toilet, they will wipe their bottoms with stones, tiles, mud, various leaves or corn stalks, and some even scrape the edges of the toilet walls. "There is shit on every wall. Don't envy others." It sounds like a joke now, but this phenomenon was in the countryside. Moreover, the toilets are all dug underground, and the pit is made of three long stones. This hole is long and wide. From time to time, children fell into the pit and were smoked to death, which brought tragedy to many families and buried hidden dangers. Small toilets have solved people's Lazar problem, reflected the poverty and backwardness of the times, and brought us bitter memories.
Indeed, being busy, poor, hungry and lacking can be said to be the deepest impression of our generation's childhood life, but being relaxed, full of energy and happy at school is also the best, cleanest and most interesting memory left by that era for our generation. More importantly, we have come from that era, facing the difficulties and setbacks in life, we will not panic, let alone collapse, and the wind and rain we have walked all the way have long passed.
My past, my ignorance and my youth have stored the most precious spiritual wealth in my life. She is happy and interesting, and she is true and naive. This is the most unforgettable and beautiful stage in my life. I wish I could stay drunk here and never grow up!
(Note: All the impressions are in my mind, and all the memories are in the words. There is no TV, radio or mobile phone, so I can only borrow some pictures from the Internet to prove it. )