The workers are eating under the warm winter sun, enjoying themselves.
Workers cook a Guizhou specialty, spicy chicken, with a dipping sauce full of chili peppers at lunchtime.
Cutting cane for many years, the workers have different degrees of cocoons on their hands.
Workers are dressed in Miao casual clothes, and their style is simple and convenient for labor.
The sugarcane fields are a busy scene, with workers stacking sugar cane on top of each other to form a cane pile.
Cut down the cane, peel off the branches, cut off the leaves, tie them together ......At six o'clock in the morning, Wu Rufu has already started to work. Beside him, his wife was drinking water and resting on the haystack, and after a while, she put her clothes on the shelves next to her and joined the work.
They are "migratory birds" from Guizhou that cut cane and begin to "migrate south" in winter.
When the sugarcane is harvested, there is a shortage of cane cutters on our side, and migrant workers help us harvest the sugarcane so that we can transport the sugarcane to the processing plant and logistics center in time. Liu Dongqing, secretary of the party branch of Hengshan Village, Lingbei Town, is very grateful for the arrival of "migratory birds". At present, every natural village under the jurisdiction of the Hengshan Village Committee has a group of foreign cane cutters.
The warm winter breeze blows through the lush cane forests, bringing with them the "migratory birds" that fly south. They are in the vast fields, welcoming spring with their hands.
Revenues are "rising".
From being idle to earning more than 20,000 yuan.
Wu Rufu and his wife are from Leishan County, southwest of Guizhou Province, and are Miao people, who have been "migratory birds" for 10 years.
In winter, the weather in Leishan County is cold, most of the land is frozen, and crops are almost impossible to grow. Farming activities have been put on hold, and farmers have been waiting for spring to arrive. Ten years ago, Wu Rufu was also one of the idle farmers in winter. The long winter has left him idle. "It's not customary to stop in winter. He always wanted to do something to increase his income and ease the financial burden on his family. At this time, someone in the village introduced a job to Zhanjiang, the southernmost prefecture-level city on the mainland, to cut cane, and he took his wife and set off in a hurry.
In the past ten years, due to the difference in climate between the two places, there have been seasonal changes in labor demand, and the "migration" of migrant workers like Wu Rufu to the south in winter has become a landscape in Suixi.
At the end of November every year, Suixi sugarcane blows the horn of harvest, and the air is filled with a sweet smell. The "migratory birds" took a ten-hour bus from Guizhou to Suixi, got off at the square in front of Lingbei Town, and waited for the boss to drive them to a certain village to settle down.
Idle is also idle, it is better to come here to make money. "At the beginning, Wu Rufu was not skilled in chopping cane, so he cut a few and rested for a while, but now, he can cut cane while talking, and his speed of swinging the knife has not decreased at all. He discovered a secret to becoming faster, in addition to fast hands and good physical strength, he was also quite particular about tools. When he returns to his accommodation in the evening, he spends about half an hour sharpening his knife. A sharpened knife can cut dozens of pounds of sugarcane the next day.
At Wu Rufu's speed, "I can probably cut more than a ton of sugarcane in a day." For one ton, the boss will give 135 yuan in wages. "It's hard to say exactly when it will be cut, sometimes until the end of February, sometimes until March, depending on the harvest. "Generally, it is cut until the end of the harvest season, and the income is more than 20,000 yuan. ”
This stack of sugarcane, heavy, also carries Wu Rufu's hope, "This money can send the child to a better school, although his grades are not good." ”
Compared with the "high" income, the work of cane cutters is gradually becoming easier.
At nine o'clock in the morning, the cane truck and the grab machine drove into the cane forest. By this time, the workers had cut down a lot of sugar cane and stacked it one by one to form a sugar cane pile. The grabber grabbed a stack and drove to the cane truck, and as soon as the claws were loosened, the sugarcane fell into the car, raising a cloud of dust. In one morning, you can fill a large cart.
For cane cutters, grabbing the machine is a good helper. "In the past, we had to not only cut the bundles, but also carry them to the truck. Carrying is a more tiring job than chopping, and sometimes you are so tired that you can't straighten your waist. Wu Hai, who has been engaged in cane cutting work for six years, said, "After having a cane grabber, there is no need to carry it." ”
The cane cutters are in full swing, the machines are shuttling back and forth, and the cane trucks are running non-stop ......The continuous sea of cane began to "recede".
Life is "sweet".
Turn the field into a warm home.
When the cane is cut, the sun often rises in the sky, and the workers usually wear straw hats to work. Sometimes it was too hot, and the male worker would take off his coat and leave a sleeveless vest with dark arms contrasting with his fairer face. Female workers pay more attention to sun protection, and they will work with long sleeves on hot days.
In the distance, Guizhou is snowing heavily, white and expansive, and the cold wind is so biting that it can blow out a few openings. "We still like the winter in Suixi, like spring. Wu Rufu said, "Come here to work and make money, just enough to spend the winter." ”
This year, he was joined by nine people from the same village. "We are all in a big family, and we all meet to come to Suixi to cut cane, and we have company!Li Jianying, who is over 50 years old, said that there are husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, relatives and so on in the same batch.
Li Jianying and Li Zhengwu are very good, and the two often get together to chat about family life in the village, and now they are chatting while cutting cane in the sugarcane field. The cane forest is often filled with their voices and laughter, and the rumbling of the cane carriers, like a moving sonata.
Accompanied by family and friends, on the warm spring-like fields, unconsciously the other country has become a hometown.
Li Jianying and Li Zhengwu were dressed in costumes with Miao characteristics. "Our ** is divided into casual and dressed. I now wear casual clothes, which are simple and easy to work in. "Under the sun, the embroidery of Miao characteristics on the clothing shines.
At noon, the first person to finish the work cooks on the fire. Wu Rufu finished the cane cutting work in the morning early, went to the car and took out a large pot of cauldrons, and placed it in the open space in front of the cane forest. He picked up a pile of branches, broke them into small sections, put them in a dirt bag, lighted them with a little lighter, and the "wild kitchen" was opened.
One person, one pot, smoke rising from the field, so quiet and peaceful that you could hear the wheezing of the sky.
The smell of food urges the people who work to speed up. Soon, everyone came from all directions and gathered in front of the earthen stove. When you open the lid, the aroma of spicy chicken wafts in, and a plate full of chili dipping sauce is placed next to it. "This is our Guizhou specialty, but we don't think it's spicy enough. ”
They carried two steel basins, one for rice and the other with a transparent liquid, which at first glance thought was boiled water, but was actually wine. Take a bite and get dripping.
Drink some wine and get to work!"Is it the liquor of Guizhou?""No, it's the liquor from Guangdong. "The two places of life come together in a wonderful way at this moment.
Text: Yao Yao. Photo: Wu Dongjun.