Everyone will have an unforgettable experience or the most memorable past, my most unforgettable life experience is the time when I went to the countryside to cut the queue, and I will never forget the time when I settled in northern Shaanxi. First, I can't forget the hardships of life there, and second, I can't forget the simple enthusiasm and kindness of the villagers there.
In late January 1969, we, the Beijing educated youths from Shijingshan District, came to Huanglong County in the Yan'an region of northern Shaanxi, and seven of my classmates and I were assigned to settle in the second team of Gaojiayuan to accept poor middle peasants.
When we came to Gaojiayuan, we learned that Gaojiayuan is the poorest place in northern Shaanxi, where the hills are continuous, the ravines are vertical and horizontal, and the barren loess is bare, and there is hardly a dead grass in sight.
Although Gao Jiayuan is poor and backward, but the villagers there are very warm, very simple and kind, the production team leader Liu Jinsuo arranged for our eight classmates to live in the two-hole earthen kiln in the team site, let his mother-in-law help us cook, and also arranged for the team's bachelor Uncle Gao to use a donkey to help us carry water.
Hearing that Captain Liu wanted Uncle Gao to help us carry water, I smiled and said to Captain Liu: "Captain, we can just go and carry water by ourselves, we don't need to arrange someone to carry water for us, we can do it." Captain Liu smiled, but didn't squeak.
Uncle Gao's name is Gao Lianshun, he was fifty-one years old at the time, and because his family was poor when he was young, he didn't marry his mother-in-law and became a bachelor. Uncle Gao worked in the livestock shed at night (night), and led the donkey to Wangjiayao to carry water and drink livestock during the day, and it was generally enough to carry water once a day. The educated youths came to cut the line, and Uncle Gao not only carried water for the livestock, but also gave us the educated youths water, and carried water at least twice a day.
In the first two days when we came to Gaojiayuan, in addition to three meals a day, we also had to wash, wash our hair, feet, and socks. Aunt Liu (Captain Liu's mother-in-law), who helped us cook, told us: "Don't you dare to do this, our draft is expensive." "Every time we see Aunt Liu bring home the swill from the pots and dishes, and even the water we have washed our faces, we really don't understand.
The first time we followed Uncle Gao to carry water, we understood why Captain Liu arranged a special person to help us educated youths carry water. I also understand why Aunt Liu brought home the swill for washing the pots and dishes.
It turned out that during the dry season every winter, there was no water in the two wells under the ditch slope of the Gaojiayuan brigade, and the villagers had to go to the Wangjiayao behind the mountain to fetch water. There are two roads to go from Gaojiayuan to Wangjiayao, one is to go over the mountain beam, walk along the ditch and cliff, so that you can walk less than one mile. The other road is a five-mile road that goes around a mountain pass, and although it is a rugged mountain road, it is not difficult to walk.
When young students go to fetch water, they generally go over the mountain beams, and it is enough to go back and forth for an hour. Older members have to walk around the mountain to carry water, and although the distance is a little farther, the road is relatively smooth. Although the distance over the mountain beam is close, the steep slope is difficult to walk, and it is still dangerous to walk on the edge of the ditch and cliff.
Wang Zixiang and I followed Uncle Gao to carry water for the first time, and when we went, we took a shortcut over the mountain beam, and when we came back, we walked around the mountain and walked on the flat road. The donkey carrying the water was very obedient, and did not need to be led, it carried the wooden bucket in front of it, and the tall uncle followed closely behind him with his arms behind his back, and the well rope that fetched water and the iron bucket were placed in the wooden bucket on the donkey's back, so that the donkey could carry it.
The uphill road over the mountain beam is not difficult to walk, but when you reach the mountain beam, you have to walk along the edge of the ditch and cliff for a while. That section of the road is quite flat, but it is a little narrow, with a ditch slope on one side and a cliff on the other, which is a little scary to look at. When the donkey in front passed the ditch cliff, he also walked close to the ditch slope, for fear of falling into the flood ditch.
When you go downhill over the mountain beam, you don't feel so easy to walk, the sheep intestine path is bumpy, and in some places the slope is large, so you should be extra careful when walking. On the way, I also met two young students who carried water, and they also climbed the mountain beams to carry the water, and they didn't seem to have much difficulty.
Half an hour, we arrived at the well at the head of Wangjiayao Village, the well is on the gentle slope of the flood ditch, the well is not too deep, Uncle Gao easily brought up four buckets of water, and poured them into two large wooden barrels on the donkey's back. Then he fetched half a bucket of water, and then poured half of it into the well, and Uncle Gao had to carry the water in the bucket (with his arm) home, and this water was Uncle Gao's daily life.
With that experience of carrying water with Uncle Gao, we educated youth have never wasted a drop of water again.
At noon one day after the Spring Festival, Uncle Gao should have come back a long time ago when he went to carry water, but he hadn't come back yet. We felt that something was wrong, so we went to Captain Liu. Captain Liu, who was having lunch, hurriedly put down his rice bowl and divided into two ways with us to find Uncle Gao.
Captain Liu and I walked over the mountain beam, and Wang Zixiang and two male intellectuals walked around the mountain on the flat road. As soon as he came to the mountain beam, Captain Liu saw the tall uncle and the donkey sitting at the bottom of the flood ditch. Captain Liu didn't care about the danger, found a slightly gentler place, and slipped down the slope of the ditch. I hesitated, and slipped down the slope to the bottom of the ditch.
Enduring the pain, I slowly came to Uncle Gao's side. Uncle Gao said that he didn't know what was going on, the donkey suddenly fell off the cliff, he was worried that the donkey had three long and two short, so he slipped down on the slightly gentle ditch slope, and as a result, he broke his foot, did not dare to stand, and could not walk. The donkey was fine, it saw Uncle Gao slip down from the slope of the ditch, so he ran to Uncle Gao's side upside down, and never moved.
Captain Liu carried Uncle Gao on his back, and I led the donkey to walk back. The donkey's right hind leg seemed to be injured, and it limped when it walked, and the barrel on the donkey's back broke one of them. Uncle Gao, who was lying on Captain Liu's back, saw that the donkey was injured, he blamed himself very much, and said very sadly: "It's all my fault, I didn't lead the donkey, so the donkey was injured, and I broke the bucket in the team." ”
Uncle Gao was injured and couldn't help us carry water, so Wang Zixiang and I took on the draft problem of our eight educated youths. Everyone knows that it is not easy to carry water, and they are very water-saving. Every day after dinner, we get together to discuss how to solve the problem of water for the villagers. We also approached Captain Liu, and Captain Liu said that the bottom of the two wells was hard rock, and it was not easy to dig deep. Before, the villagers also dug two wells in the ditch and dug the rock formations, but they could not dig out the water.
Until early summer, after a heavy rain, the water level in the two wells of our Gaojiayuan brigade rose, and the villagers did not have to go to Wangjiayao to fetch water.
One day before the autumn harvest that year, I used the donkey in the team to carry a bag of sorghum to the commune mill to grind noodles, and halfway through, the bag of sorghum on the donkey's back suddenly slipped to the ground.
After waiting for more than an hour, a passing villager helped me carry a bag of sorghum onto the donkey's back, and then I led the donkey carefully to the commune mill. It was two o'clock in the afternoon when I came back from grinding noodles that day, and I didn't even eat lunch, and several classmates said that I was lazy and hid outside. I'm really dumb and eat coptis, and I can't tell if I have suffering.
At that time, the villagers did not go to the commune mill to grind noodles, firstly, the journey of ten miles delayed time, and secondly, it cost money to grind noodles. The villagers basically have stone mills in their yards, and there are mills at the head of the village, and it takes a little effort to push and grind, but it doesn't cost money. We know that we can borrow the donkeys in the team to pull the mill, but we are not willing to pull the noodles, and we always ask the villagers to help, and we are embarrassed. If there was a fire mill in the village (a diesel engine drives a grinder), it would be so convenient for the villagers to grind noodles, and we didn't have to go to the commune mill to grind noodles.
After the autumn harvest of that year, several of our educated youths began to ponder these two things, one was the problem of the villagers' draft, and the other was the problem of the villagers' flour grinding.
In the early winter, the two wells of our Gaojiayuan brigade were so muddy that they could not be eaten, and the most important thing was that they could only fetch one or two bowls of water at a time. Helplessly, the villagers began to go to Wangjiayao to fetch water and eat again. Uncle Gao in addition to the cattle shed to carry water, sometimes also get up early in the morning to help us carry a trip to water, he said that he can catch up with us to pick up two trips of water, mainly to see that we carry water is a little difficult, Uncle Gao said that he feels sorry for our Beijing dolls.
That winter, apart from doing odd jobs, we were all focused on finding water.
At the three-way intersection a mile away from the village, there was a pear tree that grew very thick, and the branches and foliage were also very lush in summer, and we thought that the surface water there should not be too deep, so we told Captain Liu the idea of digging a well there. Captain Liu talked to Gao Liansheng, the secretary of the brigade, and Secretary Gao also supported digging a well there.
Just do it, our five male intellectuals and several descendants in the team under the leadership of Captain Liu, lasted a month, really dug out the water there, the well is not very deep, the water quality is clear and sweet, although the well is far away from the village, but the villagers have a lot of convenient draft, Secretary Gao praised our team of young people, but also praised me.
The happiest person was Uncle Gao, who said that he no longer had to climb over the mountain to carry water, and he could pick up several water miles in the morning.
Later, we also mentioned to Captain Liu and Secretary Gao about buying diesel engines and crushers, and Secretary Gao said that there was no money in the team, and the villagers could not come up with so much money, so the idea of running a mill fell through.
In the winter of 1970, the Gaojiayuan brigade got a conscription quota, and the secretary of the brigade didn't say a word, and directly asked me to participate in the conscription physical examination. I successfully passed the physical examination and political examination, and became a glorious soldier of the People's Liberation Army.
The day before I left the Gao Jiayuan brigade, Aunt Liu (Captain Liu's mother-in-law) wrapped me pure white flour mutton dumplings, and Uncle Gao also bought a bottle of soju and two catties of tofu. In the first Spring Festival we spent in Gaojiayuan, the dumplings we ate were dumplings with white flour mixed with buckwheat bread, and no one in the villagers was willing to cut the dumplings with pure white noodles to eat. In order to give me food, Captain Liu took out the white noodles that his family prepared to steam white buns for the New Year and wrapped pure white flour dumplings for me, but Aunt Liu was not willing to eat a dumpling.
It's definitely not sensational, I can't describe the poverty and backwardness of Gaojiayuan at that time, and even if I can describe it, everyone may not believe it when they hear it. When it comes to eating bran vegetables, everyone must say that it was a matter of the old society, but when we settled in northern Shaanxi, we not only saw the villagers eating vegetable dumplings and bran dumplings to satisfy their hunger, but we also ate sorghum noodles mixed with carrot tassels and sweet potato leaves (dried in autumn).
In the second year after joining the army and leaving Gaojiayuan, I sent the 35 yuan allowance I had saved to Captain Liu, hoping that he could dig a hole in the kiln. I sent a pair of liberation shoes to Uncle Gao, and I have lived in the queue in Gaojiayuan for nearly two years, and I have not seen Uncle Gao wear a pair of shoes without showing his toes.
In the early winter of 1973, Wang Zixiang wrote to me, saying that they had discussed with Secretary Gao and wanted to take advantage of the winter slack to dig the village well a little deeper. The implication was that I was asked to sponsor the money for explosives and steel drills. At that time, I had fifteen yuan in hand, so I borrowed ten yuan from my comrades-in-arms and sent twenty-five yuan to Wang Zixiang.
In the spring of the following year, Wang Zixiang wrote to me with good news, saying that the well in our rear team was dug more than one meter deep, which could satisfy the draft of the villagers of the whole brigade. The spring was so dry that the water in the well was not cut off. There is also good news, Secretary Gao has found a way to buy a diesel engine and a crusher, and the villagers don't have to grind the noodles.
After serving in the army for more than 10 years, I returned to Beijing and was placed to work in the public security system. Because of his busy work, he has not been able to go back to northern Shaanxi to visit the villagers.
In 1993, I went to Yan'an for a meeting to study, and after the study, I went to Gaojiayuan. It's a pity that Uncle Gao is no longer there, and Secretary Gao is also deaf and blind, and he doesn't recognize people. Captain Liu's health is still very good, he said that the well in the village has never been cut off, and even the well under the old pear tree is still playing a role, and the villagers plant sweet potatoes and get water from the well.
When I returned to Gaojiayuan with Wang Zixiang after I retired, the old branch secretary and Captain Liu were gone, and although the old aunt (Captain Liu's wife) was still alive, she didn't recognize me and Wang Zixiang anymore, she only remembered my name and Wang Zixiang's name, and shook her head when she saw us.
More than half a century has passed, and whenever I think of the days when I settled in northern Shaanxi, I feel very uncomfortable. Especially Uncle Gao, I always think of the scene when he helped us carry water, and when I think of him, my tears can't help but flow. There is also the old captain and the old aunt, the taste of the pure white dumplings that were served for me back then, I will never forget it for the rest of my life.
Author: Grassroots writer (written according to Mr. Chen Haijun).