Gezhentan is a small mountain village in Yichuan County, northern Shaanxi, not far from the famous Hukou Waterfall. Although the mountain village is small, it is clearly marked in the 1966 edition of the China Atlas.

Gezhentan

It was the National Day in 1977. At that time, I had been working in the army in northern Shaanxi for three years and worked as a worker in Yan'an factory for six years. I was going to be transferred to Hebei at the end of the year. Before going to work, I used my holiday to go to Yichuan County in northern Shaanxi to see the famous Hukou Waterfall.

My friend Lihua and I took a bus and got off in Yichuan County. The car stopped moving because of something wrong, so we had to walk. The scenery along the way is endless. On the mountains and slopes, in the ditches and rivers, the colors of the various crops, yellow and green, are really beautiful. A big persimmon tree on the roadside is full of big yellow persimmons. No one is seen along the way. It seems that Arrived in paradise.

We passed by a road maintenance section and asked for water. We met a Beijing male educated youth in the courtyard. Although they did not speak, they nodded tacitly to each other. In a cave dwelling with glass windows, a A local young woman holding a little baby poured us water. We asked her if she was a family member of the road maintenance section. She smiled and said, the man you met when you came in just now was my man.

We walked a long way after leaving the road maintenance section. It was already past noon, and we were tired and hungry. After asking a fellow villager, we found that the waterfall was still dozens of miles away, and it was currently within the territory of Qiulin Commune. . Lihua originally joined the queue in Yichuan County and said that this commune happened to have a good friend named Huang Mao who was a middle school teacher in a certain brigade. Let's go to her place first to solve the stomach problem.

It was already past 4 pm when we met Huang Mao. The two friends were very happy to meet each other. After reminiscing about old friendships, Huang Mao said what a coincidence, today is my birthday and I had just made dumplings. , if it weren’t for waiting for the sediment in the tank to settle, I would have finished eating it, you are really in luck! Lihua asked, are you lunch or dinner? Huang Mao said that since I became a teacher, I basically eat two meals a day. Lihua and I were almost too hungry and were about to help Huang Mao cook dumplings. Suddenly we heard the sound of a car engine on the top of the kiln. We didn't even bother to eat and rushed to the top of the kiln.

I saw a large truck unloading in front of a cave not far from the school. I found out that after unloading the truck, it had to go to the Yellow River to pull sand. This is a great opportunity, don’t miss it! It's still dozens of miles away from the waterfall. If you can catch this car, you can get there before dark. We didn't dare to leave the car for fear that the driver would sneak away.

We both stood in the truck, hungry but very happy. The empty car was driving very fast, with hair flying back in the wind and the wind whistling in my ears. In less than an hour, the car stopped. The driver stuck his head out and said, "This village is called Gezhentan. You can get off the car here while I go to pull the sand. There is no one else in front of me."

At this time, the sun was almost setting. We saw a small mountain village below the highway, with at most a dozen households. We walked into a courtyard closest to the highway. There were 4 cave dwellings in the courtyard facing north and south. They are all made of rotten stones. There are three dolls in the yard. The oldest is a girl over 10 years old, the second is also a girl, 7 or 8 years old, and the third is a boy, 3 or 4 years old. We are Tell the older one, we are here to play at the Yellow River Falls and we need to take a rest at your house.

The two of us entered the cave dwelling and saw a 1-foot-long frame hanging in a conspicuous place on the wall, with a few scattered photos inside. One of them shows a young man in military uniform with an air of dignity on his face. After the two of us got on the kang, we lay half-ly on the quilt. The two younger ones also followed the kiln and stood in front of the earthen kang, watching the two of us helplessly and refusing to answer any questions they asked.

After a while, I heard a banging sound coming from the yard. I went out and saw the big girl squatting in a one-meter-square cement pool in the yard, using a short stubby The wooden sticks were smashing wild jujubes. There were about two baskets of wild jujubes, which had been smashed into a pulp. We asked what the purpose of smashing them was. Answer: The core of jujube is a medicinal material. It can be sold for money after being washed and dried. I asked how much it could be sold for? The girl said that if she pulled a piece of flower cloth to make clothes for herself, it would still be enough to pay for her tuition.

At this time, the two little ones had followed us out of the kiln. The boy said, "Sister, I'm hungry." We immediately took out the biscuits we brought and gave them to him. When his sister saw this, she waved her hands and refused to let him ask for it. The boy didn't dare to ask for anything. His sister jumped out of the pool, went into the nearby kiln, and brought out a bowl of cornmeal gnocchi soup. The boy took it and ate it hungrily. Those little hands held the big bowl tightly. There was not even a pickle in the bowl, but the baby ate it so deliciously. I asked the older girl, how far do you have to go to buy a needle and thread? 15 miles. What about buying something bigger? 90 miles.

The sun has set, and there is a ray of sunset floating on the horizon. The voices of people finishing their work and the sounds of livestock circling could be heard outside. At this time, a man and a woman each walked into the yard carrying a bundle of firewood. The woman was about 40 years old, and the man was about 20 years old. They belonged to this family. Owner. We explained the purpose of our visit: we wanted to have dinner here and give money and food stamps. I also need to stay in this village for one night. The woman said that you should go to the captain first and see how the captain sends you two for a meal. We asked where the captain lived and took a few detours to get there.

The captain also just arrived home. After hearing our purpose, he immediately led us out and shouted loudly in front of a house: Ming Wazi! There will be a dinner at your house tonight. We quickly said, send both of us to this house. The captain said that the village was poor and there was not enough food for each family, so each family could only send one person. Lihua stayed at that house, and I followed the captain again. What a coincidence, he sent me to the house where we first arrived. The family was eating on the stone table in the yard. When the woman saw that I was back, she immediately took out another pair of bowls and chopsticks from the cave. I saw that they were still eating cornmeal soup, and there were only things as small as teapot lids on the table. A plate of chopped green chili peppers. I have no appetite at all, not that I want to eat anything good, because I am thirstier than hungry, and I really want to drink a bowl of thin noodle soup, although I know that it is a fantasy.

I asked the woman, is there anything else to eat at your house? The woman led me into the cave dwelling and took out two pieces of cornmeal cake. She said that in this village, everyone had a tight supply of food and drank water in the morning and evening. They only ate dry food at noon. I would like to heat it up for you. I said I don’t want to eat this either. Is there any cornmeal without lumps? The woman said we have been eating that for the past few days and have just changed it these days. Why don’t I fry the lumps we are eating now in mutton fat for you? Once fried, it’s a little oily and watery, so you city dwellers love to eat it. I knew that mutton fat was very valuable here, but I couldn't bear the smell of mutton, so I kept saying no, and asked, could I make a bowl of cornmeal paste? I can make a firewood pot myself. When the woman saw that I insisted on cooking it myself, she poured another ladle of water into the pot and kept muttering: The baby has been gone for a day, how can he do it by just drinking water?

It was already dark at this time, and their family had already finished their meal. After a while, I also cooked it and ate it. I sat on the edge of the Kang, and the woman sat next to me and watched me drink. She had already brought out the small plate of green chili peppers, and her whole family had just eaten half of the plate. The woman said that the village was so poor that it didn’t even have enough food to eat. How could there be land to grow vegetables? This little bit of spicy food was given to me by my relatives. I tried a little bit, but it was too spicy to eat. I glanced at the young man and asked who she was. It's my eldest son. My second son has joined the army. What about your men? Alas, she sighed. When the mountains and rivers came down that year, she fried fish by the Yellow River and blew herself up. After a pause, she added, "I have been dead for 2 years."

I asked if the situation has always been difficult like this? No, the people in our village have been making a living by ferrying people since our ancestors. No, the government just built a bridge not far from the village, and we have no food to eat. We have to farm instead. We don’t know how to farm in the first place. The land is still rotten and dirty. I understood that when she said the land was rotten and dirty, she meant that the land was barren. She added, "What a good family you have. You earn wages every month. My second son is very lucky. The letter said that not only can he have enough to eat, but he can also have meat for every meal." Where did he join the army? Shanxi. Why doesn't the eldest son join the army? Alas, I have a disability in my leg, so I have to suffer. (People in northern Shaanxi call working in the mountains "suffering") I took out all the food stamps and money I had and gave them to the woman. She resisted and said, "One official meal can't use so much, and this is not in line with the policy." How to give according to the policy? Food stamps cost 2 cents for half a catty.

Crocheted curtain and tablecloths were very popular at that time, and I think the owner crocheted them himself. At this time, a fellow villager who was working passed by. After asking, he found out that the female educated youth had gone into the city with her baby. Her man is a local worker who works in the county town, and he went to the reunion because of the National Day holiday.

We left the educated youth’s home with regrets and walked on the same highway. Yesterday evening, I was too tired to pay much attention to the scenery. Only then did I realize that densely packed wild jujube trees were growing everywhere, whether on the roadside or on the edge of the cliff. Most of the fruits had been picked, leaving some small green jujube trees hanging on the trees. The branches sway in the autumn wind. I couldn't help but think of the song I sang when I was a child: jujube thorns, sharp and sharp, the enemy comes to the Yellow River... It seems that the lyricist of this song was also there at that time. Looking back, I saw that below the mountain village was the Yellow River, with turbid water flowing gurglingly. The entire mountain village is built on the top of the river beach. I remembered again the scene of the big girl smashing the jujube core, and suddenly realized why this small mountain village was called Gezhentan (in northern Shaanxi, the jujube tree is called Zaogezhen).

The two of us walked on the road we came from. The fleas from last night made us stop from time to time and scratch ourselves up and down. Some places were scratched. After walking not far, we saw a newly built and magnificent bridge spanning the Yellow River and two provinces. This bridge is Yichuan County, Shaanxi Province, and the other side of the bridge is Ji County, Shanxi Province. I remembered what the woman in the village said. It seemed that this bridge had changed the lives of the Gezhentan ferry people.

Since it was a holiday, I didn’t see any cars passing by, so my hope of getting a ride was dashed. After walking for a while, I still didn't see the shadow of the waterfall. I met some fellow villagers and asked, and they were told that they would just follow the sound. sound? If you listen carefully, it really does exist! There was a rumble in the distance, like thunder coming from the far horizon. We both quickened our pace. The rumbling thunder became earth-shattering from far to near, and we finally saw the majestic and shocking natural landscape, and the Hukou Waterfall, which has been described by countless poets throughout the ages. With awe in mind, my friend and I ran toward the waterfall in the rising sun.