It is rainy in the south of the Yangtze River.

The sky was bright, the morning mist was falling, and it was raining, as if the whole village was wearing a gauze.

Curtains of water dripped from the eaves of every house. Walking through the village was like watching a low-pitched percussion music rehearsal, with a hint of coolness amidst the hustle and bustle.

In the small town of Miaogang in the 1980s, a narrow old street was the center of the entire town, and a row of dilapidated shops provided all commercial transactions.

Monotonous, simple, quiet.

I held an umbrella and walked on the bumpy road to school.

When we crossed the street, the cobbler Ada's grocery store was taking off the door panels and getting ready for business.

Every time he sees me passing by, he always says hello: Kid, I went to study early!

Not far away, if there was someone who looked like a student walking in front, I would speed up my pace, fearing that my classmates would steal my first place in school.

Whenever I arrive at school on a rainy day, the classroom is dark and smells of a musty smell unique to rainy days.

If you are the first to arrive, you can write your name on the side of the blackboard, and you will also get the first sentence of praise from the class teacher every morning.

So I often get up very early and enjoy it.

There is a large flower bed not far from the school gate, with a coniferous pine planted in it. The coniferous branches slanting out from the side often pricked our faces and heads, causing slight stings and screams.

From time to time, there would be a few brave birds stationed on the coniferous pine branches, constantly turning their flexible bodies, chirping, and watching us curiously and alertly as we jumped under the trees.

In the two-story teaching building, there is an old bell on the roof of the first floor. The hammer of the bell hangs in the middle. One end of a long rope is tied to the hammer, and the other end is wrapped around the iron hook on the wall. The dull and heavy sound of the bells is edited.

Follow the daily rhythm of school.

The rhythm of ringing the bell changes. At least when we are playing crazy, we can still tell whether class is in class or after class from the urgency of the sound.

One day, the teacher announced in class that the school would mobilize all teachers and students to donate a new bell.

The original cast-iron clock was incomplete and its sound became increasingly dull. Many times, it was completely drowned out by the roars of students on our two floors during recess. So many times, while we were still having fun, the teacher had already walked in.

classroom.

We rushed back to our seats quickly, and several times because of fear and nervousness, we sat in the wrong seats in a panic and were caught by the angry teacher.

This time when we heard that the clock was to be changed, we all thought that this was the most realistic good thing and we had to support it with all our efforts.

The school had previously mobilized donations to save giant pandas in Sichuan, but we always felt that pandas were too far away from us.

However, even if I really smash the pot at home, I still can’t donate it.

This time it’s a donation of copper. The school wants to build a bronze bell.

Watching some classmates bring copper coins, copper pots, and copper wires from home one after another, I searched every corner of the house but couldn't find any discarded copper utensils.

Only the copper spoon fastened to the side of the water tank can do the job, but it is the only water spoon in the house.

Early the next morning, after a fierce ideological struggle in the middle of the night, I still put the copper spoon into my schoolbag, but my mother noticed it before I left the house and got a scolding.

So, I ran to school without taking care of breakfast. If I didn't run, I would be beaten by my father.

The bronze bell was quickly replaced.

Many students felt very proud, as if every sound of ringing the bell was made from their scrap copper.

In fifth grade, the school selected a football team to participate in county competitions.

I was lucky enough to be selected as I had never traveled far, so I stayed in school to train after school every day.

Unfortunately, the family's request for a pair of sports shoes has not been met, so I can only play in cloth shoes. The shoes often fly with the football, and the physical education teacher on the side looks at it and shakes his head.

In the end, for some unknown reason, I was unable to attend the county-wide primary school football match held in Pingwang.

The football team came back defeated, but there was no trace of the loneliness of failure on the faces of the players.

Back at school, my classmate Xihua kept talking to me about the "worldly things" he had seen in Pingwang: the first time he took a bath in a large public bathhouse, the first time he slept on a wire bed... that kind of proud emotion

, that topic of "at that time in Pingwang" actually continued for a whole semester with their constant adding of fuel and jealousy, so that a huge sense of regret and loss lingered in me for a long time and lingered.

In school, except for the serious teachers and unanswerable questions, everything else seems wonderful.

Even when working as a student on duty after school, a wonderful martial arts movie will be performed between the broom and the dustpan.

When we go home from school, we never take the main road.

Running through a long alley, passing through a vegetable field and mulberry forest, and walking on a narrow dirt road, you will see small fish bubbling on the surface of the pond, and field frogs inadvertently jumping over the feet.

This kind of frog is small in size, earth-colored all over, and has frog-like jumping ability. It is called "mud lump" in the dialect.

So, a classmate in the class who was dusty all day got the same nickname.

The one closest to the school is Jianping's house.

Several of our close classmates often gathered around his house to do their homework on the open-air laundry slate, with their schoolbags stacked in the middle and writing right next to each other.

They compete with each other to see who can do their homework faster so that they can squeeze in time to play in the warehouse by the river.

The firewood pile under the eaves of the warehouse is the perfect place to brag. We talk about the snacks we want to eat and the TV we want to watch... The soft firewood pile is mixed with the earthy smell, and the smell can make people feel refreshed.

Sometimes, there is a heavy Long March bicycle parked outside Jianping's house, which is what we consider a "luxury car."

The owner of the car was having a lively chat with Jianping's father in the back room, so we secretly pushed the car onto the road and quickly showed off our ability to ride.