In early autumn, the morning light diluted a little hot air, and we went out early. My cousin took all the dowry, and I followed, as happy as he was.
In two days, my neighbor Raj will be his bride.
It's dozens of miles from my hometown Xilaihe, along the Da Nei River embankment, to my aunt Zhu Zikai's home. I was about five or six years old at that time. As a country child who has never been far away, it is natural for me to hold a wedding reception at the bustling pier for a few days. At first, I was jumping around and relaxed, but I haven't arrived at Beijing Port yet, and my legs and feet are sore and I don't walk a step. My cousin had no choice but to stop on the road and let me soak my feet in the river. My cousin told me that the water here comes from the Yangtze River, and the water from the Yangtze River comes from the sky and flows to Dongting Lake. It's amazing that a refreshing breath suddenly spread all over the body and went straight into the heart, as if a clean stream had been injected into the heart. We walked and soaked our feet for a while, but we arrived at menstruation's house before dusk.
Over the years, this river has often appeared in front of me, clear and pleasant, flowing forever, and I don't know when it has become the "activated water" in my life.
This ancient water town in the hinterland of Dongting Lake is called Huarong. The beauty of water, like the sparkling metaphor of Dongting Lake, comes from the grandeur of the Yangtze River and the ancient misty rain. In "Nine Sighs", Qu Yuan released his horse to Dongting Beach, climbed the Moshan Mountain, looked at the shadow of Ling Hua, covered with lotus leaves and lush reeds, and lamented that Yunshan was green and watery. The image of Chu Ci left by Liu Xiang more than two thousand years ago is still consistent with the scene of Huarong and Dongting Lake today. Huarong has not only endless rivers and lakes, but also beautiful scenery dotted with lakes and ports, with a variety of customs. Its combination of rigidity and softness is like a pair of twin brothers and sisters, or it makes moving ripples in the blue waves, or it gains endless vitality in the surging waves.
If you are close to these waters, you will know Huarong.
Growing up in a water town, playing with water is a compulsory course. In hot summer, sometimes I take a walk. When I see the water near my eyes, I plop into the water. That kind of cool is really indescribable. Most people in my hometown are good at water. As soon as children learn to walk, they like to soak in small harbors and ponds. Swimming does not pay attention to posture, it is faster than anyone who swims and treads on water for a long time, and it is higher than the height of the body above the water. When the water is flowing, invite three or five companions to swim in the rivers and lakes. At the water's edge, pat the water first, then the neck, and finally the chest to get into the water calmly. This kind of "three beats" is similar to some kind of ceremony, which can not only make swimmers adapt to the water temperature, but also remind them to be in awe of Shui Xin. Adults always do this, and children follow suit, which is also a special way for us to talk with Jianghu.
Huarong people talk like a trickle of clear water, with the rhyme of flowing water. At dusk, if Niang steamed hot dumplings and stood in the sunset and shouted, "Aunt, come back for seven bites (rice)", no matter how stubborn the childlike innocence is, it will melt in the warm twilight of the lotus pond. Huarong dialect belongs to the northern language family, and some pronunciations have strong Jingchu characteristics. Huarong Dialect, with its sound in Xiangying and its sound in Chudi, retains the characteristics of short and light entering tone in ancient Chinese, and its pronunciation is rich and soft. The migration and integration of the language in the lake area makes Huarong dialect have the charm of "soft language of Wu Nong", and there seems to be running water between paragraphs, which is pleasant to listen to.
Xiushui always moistens a woman's spirit. The "Gu Er" written by Huarong has many gentle and beautiful qualities unique to Jiangnan women. Hubei boys separated by a water will be praised and envied by the villagers if they can marry Huarong girl.
I often think of menstruation. She likes to sing drums all her life. Menstruation is the goddess in my heart. Although she left smallpox scars, she has a simple and elegant singing voice and a heart as soft as an aquatic plant. When I was a child, menstruation liked to take me to take a bath in Qingshui River behind my house. I remember that there were clusters of green wild celery and Artemisia selengensis by the water, which gave off a faint fragrance. Fish in twos and threes seem to be not afraid of people, swimming around leisurely, and people can't help but reach out and catch them. The river is clear and bright, so it's a little sweet to take a few sips with your hands. While gently scrubbing my menstruation, she told me the story of stone's huansha, and sang with an old accent: "The water of surging waves is crystal clear, and I can stand on my tassel;" The water in the rough waves is turbid, so you can lick my feet. " I was immersed in her gentle "water melody", and vaguely felt that I was the charming teenager wearing a gorgeous hat and tassels on the top of the mountain in Chu, standing in the rice field with several girls as beautiful as rice seedlings. At that moment, I seemed to smell the fragrance of rice and peas floating in the water town of Chu. ...
In Zeguo, a water town with a lake on the river, Chu culture permeates everyone's heart like smart water of life. Children are hydrophilic and adults know water. Huarong people in love the water listen to the secret language of water, follow the footsteps of Chu people and find their true selves in the world of water. The texture and temperament of water permeate every cell.
Huarong people who choose water to live take water as their teacher, take "maximum tolerance" and "taking water as good" as their philosophy of life, and take "harmony without difference, being kind to others" as their philosophy of life, which is generous and inclusive without exclusion. Where there are rivers and lakes, people flow and gather. Whether it was the great famine in the 1960s, the war-torn years, or even more distant times, many foreigners migrated and wandered to Huarong, found a lake continent, and built a hut to firmly take root. "Strangers" soon became "hometown people". They planted willows in Huarong, with lush foliage. "A wisp of smoke from the kitchen is a ray of lakeside households, and a thousand water boats are shaded by willows." My grandfather told me that this is a couplet written by my ancestors after they moved to Huarong from Jiangxi. They crossed Hengshan Mountain, drifted the Xiangjiang River, crossed Dongting, fought in the south and fought in the north, and finally reached the long-awaited land of plenty in the south of the Yangtze River. With a small couplet, I saw the poetic life of Huxiang, and felt gratified and moved by this "foreigner" who moved to Huarong and was warmly accepted.
Huarong Taoist, who is as hard and soft as water, has gained a reputation as a Jew in Dongting Lake area, while self-confident Huarong Taoist likes to call himself Laozi. "Laozi just refuses to accept Zhou" is the mantra of Huarong Taoist. "Laozi" originated from the reverence for Taoism, and "disobedience to Zhou" originated from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties and the Warring States Period. Zhou Guo and Chu have been feuding for hundreds of years. Chu refused to obey Zhou Guo and eventually became a superpower of that era. Since ancient times, Huarong has been flooded continuously, and its home has been destroyed by floods again and again. Huarong Taoist inherited the legacy of Chu, refused to accept Zhou, refused to admit defeat, rebuilt dams and homes again and again, and rekindled the hope of life. The integrated embankment is an island floating on the Yangtze River for thousands of years. Once I went to collect wind, and as soon as the boat docked, I saw an old man who was over 70 years old, sitting alone by the river in the sun. More than 20 years ago, the great flood washed away the levee, the integrated levee was relocated, and the township system was revoked. Overnight, the island became prosperous and barren. The old man told us that his son worked and settled in other places, so he lived alone in the old house. No matter how big the flood is, he can't leave integration. He was buried in his ancestral grave by the river after his death. He kept looking at the flood in the distance, and his tone was gentle, as if he were talking about other people's affairs. In the comprehensive embankment facing the current, Huarong people fought with the Yangtze River for land and the flood for thousands of years. In the turbulent flood of their homes, it is a pain that Huarong people have to bear in the "dissatisfied week" to insist on or take the initiative to evacuate.
I think that the love and hate, noise and loneliness, joy and pain of Huarong Taoist people's life from generation to generation are all born of water and intertwined with water.
Huarong, far away from the rivers and lakes, has its own optimism and value orientation. In Yang Yao's hometown, which is also the Hanshou in Dongting Lake area, Yang Yao is regarded as the leader of the peasant uprising army, and his heroic story is widely circulated among the people. Raise Yue and lower Yue. Yue Fei, who is loyal to the liver and courageous, has a good reputation in Huarong Road, or is sacrificed to a statue in a temple or square. According to local historical records, Yue Fei, who was not good at water warfare, was invincible for a long time. Finally, with the help of Huarong Taoist who is good at water, he defeated Yang Yao in one fell swoop. Huarong's profound "Yue Fei Complex" is also reflected in flag planting, military exercises, Yuecheng Temple, Mucheng Temple, Matizhou and many other place names. My hometown is separated from Cao Jun Town by a dike, and the ancient Cao Junchang where Yue Fei trained the water army is next to the Da Nei River embankment. The embankment slope is gentle and extends to the flat dam in the embankment, forming a unique small grassland. When I was a child, I often went to the parade ground to watch the excitement. On the one hand, it is a swift river, on the other hand, it is a parade ground full of red flags and crowds. The ten thousand people's congress or the oath of flood control, or the mobilization of water conservancy in winter, or the trial of criminals, are all huge and passionate. What I saw in the military field at that time provided me with the most direct picture feeling and the richest association for reading Yue Fei's "Man Jiang Hong" in the future.
Huarong once owned the largest wetland in the south of the Yangtze River, with lakes in summer and autumn, retreating in winter and spring, and endless beaches covered with green grass. It is a paradise for waiting birds and a pure land on earth given by God. In the late 1950s, some policy makers proposed to strip this wild wetland from Huarong and turn it into Qianlianghu Farm. Under one order, Huarong obeyed unconditionally, and hundreds of thousands of young and strong laborers brought their own baskets and shovels to attend the meeting around the lake in the face of the wind and snow. The organizational system of Liangqian Lake has been adjusted several times, and now it has become a town under the jurisdiction of Junshan District. Reclaiming land around the lake caused the lake to shrink sharply, and every flood season, the flood became difficult to control. I often feel deeply moved when I see the flood rescue teams coming in and out of Liang Qian Lake.
Running water will never come back in a thousand years. In the torrent of history, everyone is trapped by a specific era, clinging to the Huarong Taoist in the rivers and lakes, or enjoying their joys and sorrows, or unconsciously unaware of it. Whether Yue Fei fought in Yang Kiln, whether he leveled the embankment to flood, whether he reclaimed land around the lake, whether it was true or false, it is difficult to say. In my opinion, the history created by human beings originated from the gestation of great rivers and lakes, and after a long and profound accumulation, it has moved from a natural state to humanistic aesthetics.
The vast Yangtze River and Dongting Lake, which contain and nourish everything, have written magical civilization codes on this land, giving birth to unique human nature, spiritual temperament and beliefs. Due to repeated looting by floods, there are not many well-preserved cultural relics in Huarong, but it has opened a ray of civilization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and preserved a shining human imprint. When I was young, I used to live at the foot of the Yellow Lake, adjacent to Zhanghuatai, known as the "first platform of Chu". I left the palace in high spirits, leaving only two terraces and lush grass, which were reflected in the crystal clear Yellow Lake in Shui Ying, just like my leisure. At Qixingdun, the site of the Neolithic city, I went boating on Dajing Lake, traveled through time and space, and gazed at Huarong ancestors with deep affection. In autumn, I followed Dayu's footsteps to climb Yushan, and the scene of flooding in Dongting disappeared. "Yu Temple is wrapped in an empty mountain, and the autumn wind is slanting." Du Fu has been sighing for thousands of years. I heard the pounding of hooves on Huarong Road. In the burning sunset, Guan Yu's red rabbit came from the wind at the head of Chibi pond and left. Fan Li, a celebrity, lives in seclusion by Tianjia Lake. Now I am very happy to see him become a white marble statue, living quietly in the streets of zhanghua in another way, witnessing the changes and modern prosperity of Chu.
Huarong's history is written in water, flowing leisurely between ships and capsized ships in rivers and lakes. Bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank bank. In the dialogue with water, Huarong people and water confirm and interpret each other, and jointly interpret the music of life. Water is as inseparable to Huarong as spiritual blood.
After leaving Huarong for many years, I was still the child wading in my hometown. In the warm womb of my hometown, the amniotic fluid of those lives has been talking to me, nourishing me, dyeing me, making me breathe happily and freely like a fish, and bringing my hometown made of water into my heart. How many times in my dreams, the sound of oars is still clear, the blue of Dongting Lake has been deeply imprinted in my heart, and the vibrant blood of the Yangtze River flows confidently in my body.
Rivers and lakes are bright, and Tsinghua is everywhere.
To see the big from the small