About the Author
Lu Qinhai, whose name is Yushan, was born in 1965, a native of Gaomi Chaigou, and a freelancer.
Grass picking. 
last century. In the 60s and 70s, picking grass was an after-school "homework" for many rural children, and I, as a third-generation poor peasant with "good roots", was no exception.
At that time, it was still the period of the People's Commune, and the harvest of crops needed to be "shared" by the production team, even if it was a piece of wheat straw, it could not be taken home selfishly, and everything had to be distributed according to the amount of work, or whether it was a five-guarantee household. Anyway, as long as there is a crop in the field that has not been harvested, no one can go into the field to collect grass. Picking grass is in the autumn before the start of the "work", this time has been full of slopes "golden", yellow land, yellow crops, yellow weeds, yellow leaves, as long as the production team of the autumn harvest is completed, we can go to "pick up grass", what production team left crop straw, what terraces on the hay, what woods of fallen leaves or branches, as long as you can light up and burn, all picked up in the basket. When the grass was gleaning, the children were all dressed up and even sang songs, which is very kind when I think about it. We always cut the cotton locust strips of the basket open two slightly larger openings, and then carefully put the tooth rake handle into it horizontally, so that as long as the two hands drag the rake rod, the basket is fixed on the rake rod, and some children still tie a rope on the rake rod and straddle the shoulder, and it is easier to pick up the grass. We are like this, whether we are walking in the crops after autumn or grazing the grass along the slopes of the terraces, we are always excited, and that kind of pride seems to be a triumphant return. Although, we still need to look back often to see if the grass in the rake is already "full" and whether we need to stop immediately and receive it in the basket. But that joy is hard to forget. Because, at that time, we were looking forward to growing up every day, and several older children even looked forward to marrying a daughter-in-law as soon as possible. And being able to help the family pick up grass is undoubtedly an important step in growing up. This kind of grass picking experience is what I have done with the tree people the most. At that time, he was stronger than me in body and better in learning than me, and he simply became my idol. Every day after school at noon, the two of us have an eighth production team and a ninth production team, although they are far away, but they always keep the promise and set off together. In the crop field after autumn, there are many leaves of various crops, and you can quickly pick up a basket and come back, and then hurry home, eat a few sweet potatoes, and go to school. At that time, I was still in elementary school, but *** had come back for the third time, and the education was very tight, and there were often such and such exams and inspections, and Shumin's grades were always "far ahead", so he was "appreciated" by the principal of Tuzhuang United Middle School, Mr. Shan Jigong. I still remember that after Mr. Shan arrived in our class, he always did not forget to name Shumin to come over to "do questions", and asked him to recite a few texts. Sometimes the tree people are not at the scene, and Teacher Shan asks, who else is there for the tree generation? I'm from the Qin generation, so I didn't dare to "volunteer" to do the question. Although, I will actually do ...... that questionI worked with the tree people to collect grass from elementary school to junior high school, and then when I was in high school and needed to live in school, I never did it again. For me, the most unforgettable memory of picking grass is still going to Nanhe with Xiaojian. At that time, the production team was still busy with the autumn harvest, so the two of us went to the grass by the river. At that time, the blades of grass had not yet landed, and the two of us only carried sickles and shovels. Xiao Jian is one year younger than me, he is gentle and handsome, and now that I think about it, his appearance at that time was the Pan Dongzi in "Shining Red Star". He was very capable, and we both discussed that we must pick up more and more grass. As a result, I picked up too much grass, so I stuffed it into the basket and stepped on it hard, and it was difficult to carry it. It was only about a kilometer from Nanhe to home, but the two of us walked crookedly to the end of lunch. When I got home, my mother was washing the dishes, and when she saw me soaking wet and sweating profusely, she quickly took the basket, wiped my face, and then lifted the pot, took out a sweet potato that was still warm, and handed it to me ......That day, the sweet potato tasted so good, facey, and a hint of sweetness, after gobbling it up, I raised my head, and my mother was still looking at me intently, with an indescribable pride, accompanied by shyness, as if it was just now. But my mother went to my dream ......