Author: Ying Jian.
Salt is half the face of the city.
It is no exaggeration to say that almost everyone in the city knows him. Because every time he appears, it must mean that something is going on in the city, and without exception it will cause a sensation, and salt filling is one of the eye-catching focuses.
The way that salt is famous is a little untable, and it hurts to say it. Because every time people in the city hold a funeral, when the funeral is held, the coffin is transported out of the street, and the first person in line must be him.
There was no culture and entertainment in those years, and the population of the semi-closed town was small, so it was a big noise to die. The whole city is a long street from south to north, and the funeral is only a road to the north of the city to Tangdian Mountain. Therefore, whenever the seven gongs sound from a distance, the doors of the houses on both sides of the street must be opened, and the neighbors will go out to pay their respects. According to the funeral customs of the hometown, the coffin is lined up on the street, and there must be a person in front of it holding a straw bundle with a thick bowl mouth, commonly known as "rice straw torch", burning green smoke to lead the way. In the old days, this matter was mostly arranged by beggars, and I don't know when it became a patent for salt filling.
Don't look at the humble character, but Chongyan definitely grasps the aura of this character. First of all, he is five big and three thick, with a wide face and a wide face, and at first glance he is majestic and can really suppress the scene. Secondly, at the time of the funeral, he was actually the commander-in-chief of the entire funeral process, and he had to control the overall situation at any time. During the funeral procession, sometimes there are many onlookers at the entrance of the alley, and everyone wants to listen to the sound and watch the scenery to have a lively and enjoyable time. When the salt is filled, it will stop and turn around in time, and call the team with a protruding chest and a bulging belly. The meeting that carried the coffin in the back immediately stopped, supported the coffin pole with the prepared wooden stick, stood up and took the opportunity to rest for a while. The two big gongs sounded at the right time, and the gongs were hoarse and mocking, as usual, seven times, and the rhythm was four slow and three fast. With the sound of gongs, the paper money began to show their skills, and the yellow and white paper money flew like snowflakes. "Knock knock", the second kick also began to make fun, and the cannon sounded like a bead. The relatives and friends who were sent to the funeral later were definitely well-trained choirs, and they didn't need to be beaked, and they all let out their sorrows in an instant. However, the eyes of the people watching on the roadside are bright, and they will point to the side. Look!This must be a filial daughter, almost fainting from crying;That one is probably a, and I saw that the dry howl thundered and did not rain.
I haven't married in my thirties. Although the body embryo is tall, his appearance is really shabby. It was an era of material shortage, but he was born with a fat body. The worst thing is that his legs are extremely bent into an inner figure, and his two knees almost touch each other when he walks, which makes him look a little awkward. It may be that there is a lack of women to take care of it, and it is very sloppy to be untidy all year round with salt. However, in my memory, during the New Year's holidays, Salt Filling will also find a way to clean himself up as decently as possible, showing that he is more or less a serious resident of the city. One year during the Spring Festival, Filled Salt rarely wore a half-new blue Kaji cloth tunic, and wore a pair of sneakers on his feet, and came to the street to sell in the crowd. He also had a fresh shave that day, and he looked very different from his usual life. It's just that he is really bloated, and the wind and discipline buckle of the tunic is too tight, causing the axle flesh on his neck to bulge high, like a big sarcoma. Everyone couldn't help but laugh and scold when they saw that Salt was suddenly like a dog, and Salt Filling was neither angry nor arguing, and he smiled honestly and looked very self-contained.
There happened to be a stunned boy in the pile who made a bet with someone, and a two-kick cannon was set off in his hand. Grasp the upper end of the second kick with your left hand, because the first shot of gunpowder is at the lower end. After the ignition and explosion, quickly change your right hand to hold the lower end of the gun, so that the second sound will not hurt your hand when it is at the upper end. The stunned boy really succeeded and was safe and sound, and everyone applauded. The good deeds saw that the salt was also watching the excitement, so he encouraged him to try it too. During the New Year's Festival, everyone had a few living money in their pockets, and the onlookers made up a piece of money on the spot and handed it to the Chinese people as a reward after the deed. The honest salt filling did not know the depth, and was elected by everyone to the middle of the crowd. Facing the danger with a blank expression, he pinched the upper end of the gun with his left hand, and someone immediately lit a twist for him. I saw the sparks sizzling, and I nervously covered my ears on the side to sweat for the salt. Fortunately, the first sound was unharmed. But when he changed the cannon to his right hand, he forgot in a hurry that he should grab the lower end of the cannon, and instead held it in his hand, and everyone was stunned. Fortunately, this artillery is a half-stinky one, and the second sound has not been delayed. It's just that the remnants of the sin have not disappeared, only a strange sound of "ho" was heard, and a puff of black smoke erupted from the tail of the artillery, which impartially just got into the salt-filled right cuff. Everyone stepped forward to roll up their sleeves and saw that the salt-filled flesh was still solid, and there was not much burning, but the snow-white and eye-piercing half of the shirt sleeves had been blackened. The chemical fiber couldn't help but burn, and holes burned in several places. The dollar ended up in his salt-filled pocket as a consolation bonus, but the outfit he had managed to buy for the New Year was half-destroyed by the fires of peacetime.
Time has changed, I don't know when a red-headed order, the funeral reform canceled the burial, and the streets of my hometown gradually saw no mighty funeral procession. I also went to college when I lost my job, and I can still see salt filling on the street occasionally when I went home to visit relatives in those years. He changed his career and pulled up a cart to sell coolies. Seeing him bent over, almost parallel to the ground, bending his legs and sweating hard to pull the heavy cart, there was indeed an urge to step forward and help him push it. But because he was wearing a "long shirt", he was finally ashamed to make a move. Later, I saw him learn to drive a small motorized tricycle and solicit customers in front of the bus station and square. For a while, he seemed to have infiltrated a picket, wearing armbands at the entrance of a county fair, rally or a lively cinema. Salt filling people are familiar, which has become a big advantage for him, some other people's hot jobs, he can eat a little because of his good popularity. Society is changing dramatically, and Salt is trying its best to change and adapt.
Because I don't go back to my hometown often, I haven't seen salt for many years. When I called a classmate in my hometown, I asked about the recent situation of the salt, and the classmate told me that he hadn't seen the salt for a long time, and I didn't know if he was still alive. I think that even if he is still alive, salt filling and the profession he relies on for a living have long since disappeared, and will no longer drift in the wind in the cold winter months.