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I was born in the late 1960s. The whole childhood was spent in the vigorous "Cultural Revolution". My home is in the countryside, and the "Cultural Revolution" didn't leave me many bloody memories. What impressed me the most was that materials were extremely scarce and life was extremely difficult.
At that time, I went to school late, and most children ran naked in the street at the age of seven or eight. By the time I was a teenager, I was in grade two or three and just learned to play. Fishing in the river is the most common thing. I often climb trees. Almost outside the village, as long as there are trees, especially places with bird nests, my footprints are indispensable.
I once climbed the poplar which is said to be the tallest in the village.
There is a forest in the west of the village, and there is a poplar tree in the forest, which is said to be one of the few big trees in the village. I was particularly impressed. The lower part of the tree can hardly be held up, and the bark is smooth and difficult to climb. Only a few people dare to climb, and the partners are proud of climbing it. There is a magpie nest on the top of the tree. I really wanted to go up and dig it out, so I got up with everyone's encouragement.
Climbing trees requires skill. When you start climbing, spit on the soles of your hands and feet, and climb hard while holding the tree. This tree is tall, only seven or eight meters high will have oblique branches. With a fork, you can pedal your feet with a fork and climb to the top of the tree easily.
At the top of the tree, you can see far through the branches and leaves, but the fog is very heavy and the wind is blowing in your ears. When I approached the Bird's Nest, I suddenly felt a sharp pain behind my ear. It turns out that there is an egg-sized hive under the bird's nest. I was stung by an ant that flew because I was disturbed, but no matter how painful it was, I dared not let go of my hand holding the branch. I endured the pain and looked into the magpie's nest. Unfortunately, there are no eggs in it. I only saw a lot of wire, cotton and soft grass in the nesting materials of magpies.
2
On weekdays, I most hope to have guests at home. When guests come, there will always be some delicious hospitality at home. Children can follow. Either take 1 dime and a pot of 20-cent wine to fight for vinegar or soy sauce, and "taste" it on the way back, often only half of it is left when you get home. If you accidentally drink too much, find a place to pour some cold water and shake it hard to make it bubble in the bottle in case your parents ask. If you can buy a few cents of meat, you will be so greedy that you can't help taking a bite on the way back.
To entertain guests is to fry a few dishes, occasionally put some meat in them and cut them into thin slices. When serving, highlight it on top, and the bottom is full of cabbage. It was popular at that time, and when relatives came back, the first question adults often asked was what dishes were today? Is it cloudy or sunny? Cloudy days mean there is no star (fishy), that is, there is no meat in the dish, and sunny days mean there is star (fishy), that is, there is meat. People often judge whether relatives are rich or not according to several dishes and whether they have meat. Therefore, at that time, when children visited their relatives, they would never forget to count the plates and their meat on the dining table. When eating, the children of the host family are not allowed to serve on the table, so they can only eat in the kitchen. The guests ate some steamed bread with white flour, or jiaozi with white flour. Children eat sweet potato noodles or jiaozi in the kitchen. They visited the door several times at a meal, hoping that the guests would finish it quickly, and then we removed the dishes and swept away the leftovers. The best hope is that there will be rare pieces of meat in the leftovers.
Generally, we don't eat meat at home, so we can't afford it. Sometimes the cattle in the production team die, and the beef will be distributed to the members. I heard that the scalper of the production team died, and the adults were very sad (the team had to plow the fields with scalpers), but we were very happy. At this time, a family can get a few catties of beef to eat, and it is also possible that several cows will die in a year or so. Either the cow accidentally swallowed wire or nails while eating grass, or the cow didn't tie it up and went to the feed shop to eat for a while, and often died. You can't eat enough beef at once. You always add salt at home and take it out when you have guests. Friends take turns stealing a piece from home, taking matches (at that time, we called matches matches matches), picking up a pile of dry wood in the wild, cooking beef in the fire and sharing it with everyone.
three
It is often said that adults are afraid of Chinese New Year and children look forward to it. There are still two months before the Chinese New Year, and the children are counting how many days before it.
The new year is coming, it is a wish to buy new clothes, but there is little hope. The most desirable thing is to buy fire whips (firecrackers) at home, which is generally 1 minute. Unable to resist the child's obsession, adults squeezed out 1 Mao from the money of the new year's goods and bought a hang, reluctant to let go. They didn't get it out of the box until the 30th of this year and put some on it. Some people can't help putting them away before the Chinese New Year. They can hear the firecrackers in the village every day. If you hear a loud firecrackers anywhere, it must be Lei Zi's voice, put by a richer family, and it will be a hat. Because our firecrackers are limited, brothers try to resist the temptation and often comfort themselves: "fools can listen to firecrackers." Very clever. Later, I learned that it was called the spirit of ah q.
Every year, the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month is the day when the team kills pigs. Either one pig or two pigs are killed, and each person can get a catty of pork for the New Year. Most children went to bed early the night before and got up early the next morning. When they heard the howling of pigs, they rushed out to watch the production team catch pigs and kill them. There are many people gathered there, both adults and children, just like a meeting. The children are very diligent, helping to collect firewood, boil water, clean the table, find sticks and take washbasins ... In order to behave well, they can get a pig's tail after they are busy, or they can get a pig's urine to blow all over the street as a ball.
If you have a close relationship with the pig slayer (if you are unlucky, you have to be the child of the pig slayer, or have a relationship with your cousin, or the captain's son), you can get a pig's trotter or a few selected pig bones, run home like a baby, put down the water pot, chew until smooth, and drink several bowls of bone soup-in fact, there are still a few oil flowers floating in the boiling water, so that you can satisfy your craving! Fortunately, I had the opportunity to receive a pot of pig blood (also called red tofu) and the whole family ate it for several days.
four
At that time, fried noodles and meatballs could only be eaten during the Chinese New Year. Every household wants fried meatballs, and fried meatballs have almost become a major event in the New Year. Better, fry some fish, soak noodles and lotus root clips. Say it's a fish, either spend 20 cents to buy a small fish the size of a half catty grasshopper, or buy a salted fish cut into filaments and wrapped in thick batter; Noodles bubble is to put an egg in the batter, stir it and fry it until it is fluffy, which is different from dead noodles. Fried fish, noodles and lotus root clips are not eaten casually. They are all good dishes for entertaining guests after the Chinese New Year. When the meatballs are fried, the neighbor will never forget that you gave him a bowl and he gave you one. For several days in a row, there was a rare fragrance in the village. We all like to run around the streets of the village in order to fully enjoy all kinds of fragrance floating from every household. Part of the fried food is eaten on New Year's Eve, the rest is put in baskets and hung high on the roof beams, ready to entertain guests, and some can be placed near the Lantern Festival from New Year's Eve. Because of the lack of food, children often steal some meatballs from their own homes and exchange them with their partners.
Once, a neighbor's brother came to me and said there was no one at home. We discussed stealing his meatballs to eat. I stood guard at the door with some friends. He and his younger brother moved to the table, piled up the stools and trembled on the ground. Just taking the basket down, suddenly, his mother pushed the door and came in. In a panic, he suddenly fell down, the meatballs spilled all over the floor, and we ran away. Later I heard that his father beat him up.
five
Chinese New Year is coming, and children especially like to visit relatives with adults. First, they want to have a good meal, and then they are eager to earn some lucky money. Generally, it is 20 points, and the better one is 50 points. Usually, few people exceed 50 cents.
Once, I earned 70 cents, a 20 cents and a 50 cents. I am very happy. I dug a hole in my cotton-padded jacket, stuffed the money in, sewed it on, and easily hid it. Sleep at night and put the cotton-padded jacket on the pillow. When I woke up, I reached out and felt if the money was still there. Finally, I couldn't help showing off in front of one of my classmates, Wang two dog, who "stared at me". Those days, he was very close to me. Although he is two years older than me, he always follows me like a bodyguard. At that time, I really felt like a rich man. In the face of his various reasons, I finally lent him the largest denomination of banknotes-fifty cents gross ticket. He vowed to pay me back in a week.
A week later, Wang was unable to repay. I especially regret lending him money. I dreamed that he paid me back, took it in his hand, and never let it go again. So I chased Wang Yi all day. He just said something nice, but he ran out of money in the next few days. He paid 2 points today and 2 points tomorrow. If he has no money, he will hide. Finally, he was six points short. He stole two boxes of matches (2 cents a box) from home, and ended up two points short. So far, he hasn't returned it. This bill has been hanging, and it is already a bad debt. ...
After 60' s childhood, although life was poor, people were simple, and they gained the world in nature, full of endless fun. After half a year, I can recall my childhood, but I can never go back. ...
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