Father's Land Mother's River

Chapter 37 Wang Aiqing's Love
After get off work, Wang Aiqing got on the commuter bus with the farthest distance, leaned against the back of the chair and closed her eyes.Anyway, it took more than an hour to get to the terminal, just to catch up on sleep.The female workers in the same car all knew about her situation, and whispered and laughed as much as possible so as not to disturb her.

The shuttle bus runs on the streets of the city, stop and go, fast and slow.Wang Aiqing was uncharacteristically sleepy, even though she kept her eyes closed, the news Zhang Shiyao brought her still made her a little excited.

The old dormitory area in Dongshan is across the road from the factory area. All red brick and tile houses are old buildings from the period before and after liberation.If you can rent a house there, you can take your son home, and the family can be reunited.

Wang Aiqing closed her eyes and thought, since returning to the city in [-], how many times have you moved?Four times, almost once a year.This time, I rented a farm house in the urban-rural fringe of Malanzi. I lived there for the longest time, nearly two years, right?
The residence is stable and the rent is cheap, but I and my husband work far away.Not to mention the fact that the ten-year-old son goes to school and has to live in his grandmother's house for a long time, enduring the long-term separation from his parents.

Sometimes, Wang Aiqing would helplessly think that the most stable home is still the one in the small valley.

In November [-], Wang Aiqing, Zhang Shiyao, and a large number of educated youths from the city responded to the call to go to the countryside and jump into a remote commune.She was in the same brigade with twenty or so educated youths including Zhang Shiyao, and the brigade sent a tractor to pick them up.

The driver of the tractor was a young man, wearing a temporary new military overcoat and a half-worn cotton military cap, tall and thin, neither smiling nor talking.

The body of the tractor was relatively high, and Wang Aiqing was short, and she was wearing a bulky military coat that didn't fit well. When getting on the truck, Zhang Shiyao held her hand in the body of the truck, but she still couldn't get on.

Seeing this, the young man driving the tractor pinched her waist from behind with both hands, and lifted her into the truck body effortlessly with his arms stretched out.

Her daughter has never been touched by a man, even Zhang Shiyao has a crush on her, even through clothes.She was about to get annoyed when the tractor driver showed her white teeth and joked: "Little brother, are you still an adult? Did you go to the countryside without reporting your age?"

Angrily, she took off her cotton military cap, revealing two black braids, and screamed, "Who is your little brother? I am nineteen."

The tractor driver smiled again: "It's a little girl, you can tell if you are an adult or not as soon as you work."

Wang Aiqing was shocked by the white and healthy teeth of the tractor driver. In her impression, the teeth of rural people who don't brush their teeth all year round should be yellow.She forgave his impolite behavior, and later she learned that the tractor driver was a newly demobilized soldier, and he had developed good living habits in the army.

The tractor was emitting black smoke and bumping on the undulating mountain road.It had just snowed, the road was slippery, and the tractor chugs and chugs as if suffering from asthma, going east and west.

Twenty or so educated youths stood in the back of the car facing the cold wind, pulling and pulling, swaying here and there, screaming and cursing from time to time.

Wang Aiqing couldn't stand steadily, and was almost knocked over by the tractor several times.Zhang Shiyao stretched his arms and grabbed the crossbeam of the truck, embracing her in his loose arms.She stood face to face with Zhang Shiyao with her back to the wind, and the hot white air exhaled from each other mixed into a mist, spreading in front of the two of them.

Through this layer of mist, she saw the warm flames burning in his deep eyes. Taking advantage of the swaying of the tractor, she gently hugged his waist.

The tractor staggered into a ravine surrounded by barren hills, with very few trees covered by snow.At the end of the ravine is a small mountain village scattered with forty or fifty families.

Since the educated youth camp has not yet been built, more than [-] educated youths can only temporarily disperse to live in peasant households with spacious houses.Wang Aiqing and five female educated youths live in the tractor driver's home.

The tractor driver’s family has five bungalows. There are five people in the family, including parents and two younger sisters. The two rooms in the Westinghouse are converted to six girls.The kang is very hot, but it doesn't feel too cold.It's just that it's inconvenient to go to the toilet. There is only one hut in the corner of the yard without a door. When you get close, you have to cough in advance to see if there is anyone inside.

The tractor came back with a load of stones, and spent a day building a toilet for girls in the other corner of the yard.Enthusiasm, carefulness, and understanding—this is the initial impression left by the tractor driver on Wang Aiqing.

Girls use a lot of water, and a large tank full of water will bottom out in one night. The tractor driver has to get up early every morning to carry water.The small mountain village lacks water, and there is only one well in the whole village, which is more than ten feet deep, and the platform of the well is covered with ice.

Wang Aiqing followed the tractor driver to learn how to dive. Standing on the slippery well platform, looking at the bottom of the well that looked like a mirror, she felt dizzy and her legs trembled.

Shaking the potter's wheel to put down the empty bucket, the well rope wrapped around the potter's wheel was loosened round and round, making it squeaky, which felt very fun.The bucket was full of water, but she couldn't shake it up, with all her strength.The handle of the pulley slipped in her hand, and the tractor had to add one hand to shake the bucket of water up.

Trying to pick up a load of water, the shoulders are pressed against the shoulders and I can't straighten up. The bucket doesn't move at all, as if a pair of invisible hands are pulling it down hard, and it just doesn't leave the ground.

Wang Aiqing had no choice but to give up his futile efforts and followed behind the driver of the tractor, watching the tall and thin man easily carrying a load of water, walking like flying, talking and laughing freely.The curved pole trembled up and down rhythmically on his shoulders, like a Yangko dance, she felt that she might really be a child who would never grow up in front of him.

The main labor in winter is to repair terraced fields.In a team of two, the man digs up the frozen soil and gravel with a pickaxe, and the woman then cleans it with a shovel. The amount of labor is ten steps a day.

The tractor driver took the initiative to form a group with Wang Aiqing, and his intention was self-evident, because he wanted to take care of her, a little girl who hadn't grown up yet.Even so, after only one day of work, her hands still had a few blisters, and her arms and shoulders were sore and sore as if they were dislocated.

After several days of heavy physical labor, the female educated youths gradually became overwhelmed.There was not much oil and water in the stomach, and the severe exhaustion of physical strength led to the fact that no matter how much I ate, I did not feel full, and I was generally weak after walking and working.

That evening, the tractor went out alone with a flashlight in his hand, and came back only after it was dark.The female educated youths asked him what he was doing and didn't say anything, they just smiled mysteriously.

The next morning, the female educated youths were pleasantly surprised to see two gray hares hanging on the jujube trees in the yard, where the tractor driver was peeling their skins.

The female educated youths chirped and asked him how he was caught.He said that he had placed more than [-] sets of traps in the back valley last night. He went to check early this morning and found two rabbits in the traps, which happened to improve food for everyone at noon.

The wild rabbit was peeled, chopped into pieces, soaked in cold water, and made a big pot of sauerkraut stewed rabbit meat at noon.When the female educated youths came back from work, they smelled the aroma of rabbit meat as soon as they entered the courtyard, and they ate everything.

There are more wolves and less meat, and the family members are not willing to eat meat, it's all in their mouths.Wang Aiqing decided to play a game with the tractor driver, so that he could be more worthy.

In the dense miscellaneous forest, Wang Aiqing followed the tractor driver, stepped on the creaking snow, bent down and looked around.She asked him what he was looking for, and the tractor driver said he was looking for Rabbit Road.

People have to walk the right path, and rabbits have to walk a safe path.Every time the rabbit walks a path, as long as there is no danger, it will return to the same path.This morning he has found some fresh rabbit trails, marked them, and once he finds the marks, he can set off the trap.

Beside a string of petal-like footprints, the tractor driver stopped and motioned Wang Aiqing to keep quiet.He handed her the flashlight, and asked her to light it, and put a cover over the string of footprints.

The so-called cover is just a thin wire ring with a loop, camouflaged with leaves and dead grass, and fixed at one end to a tree root.

Can this trap the rabbit?Hare is too silly.Wang Aiqing was deeply skeptical, but felt that he should trust everything the tractor driver did. He was so focused and confident.

After finishing the set, the two walked home along the mountain ridge.The cold wind was blowing, and the night in the mountain village was as dark as a big iron pot. The road down the mountain was slippery, and she had to hold his arm tightly.

He sang the military song softly: "Sunset and Xishan Hongxiafei, the soldiers shoot the target and return the camp, return the camp"

Wang Aiqing was infected by the passionate and passionate singing voice, let go of his voice and sang with him, the youthful and high-spirited melody reverberated on the mountain road in the night sky.

For a whole winter, Wang Aiqing has been by the side of the tractor driver, going to work together and setting up hares together. She has a solid support in life.

In the summer of the second year, the educated youth spot was built, and the educated youth had their own exclusive residence.Wang Aiqing did not move to the educated youth spot, but still lived in the tractor driver's home. After thinking and observing for one winter and one spring, she made a major life choice: marry a tractor driver and take root in the countryside.

Zhang Shiyao said to Wang Aiqing: "If you want to take root in the countryside, I can accompany you to your old age."

Wang Aiqing is firm in her choice: "Marrying you is not enough to take root in the countryside. It will change the world view and change the world. Marrying a rural talent is the real test."

Is it all about answering the call?It seems not all.He is a handsome and energetic rural boy who joined the army at the age of 17. He has a firm will and no difficulties can overwhelm him. He always faces the poor mountains and rivers with a smiling face.This injected a warm sunshine into her heart, and the boring life seemed not so difficult.

When Wang Aiqing expressed his attitude to the tractor driver, he laughed at her for not growing up, thinking about problems and doing things rashly and without consideration, and drove her back to the educated youth spot.She refused to leave his home, and it didn't matter if she didn't get married, as long as she lived with him under the same roof.

He sent her luggage back to the educated youth point, and she carried her luggage back to his home.Her persistence finally paid off, and he became her husband on the National Day of that year.

Wang Aiqing has become a typical example of taking root in the local countryside, and even rose to the point where she squatted at the bottom of a pot to burn a fire, and she had to hurry up to learn the quotations from the book.But she felt that this was not the real purpose of her marrying a young man from the countryside.

In the second year, their son was born, adding new joy and laughter to the ordinary days.If the policy hadn't changed fundamentally a few years later, she would have lived in the countryside with peace of mind.

The commuter bus stopped at the terminal, and Wang Aiqing and the last few people got off the bus.

Malanzi used to be a rural area, but the tentacles of the city extended here, and it became a mixed residential area for all kinds of people.There are not only newly built buildings, but also simple houses for migrant laborers. At the same time, some old-fashioned tile-roofed bungalows of the aborigines are still preserved. It is hard to tell whether it is a rural area or an urban area.

Wang Aiqing walked quickly along a narrow asphalt road.On one side of the road is a stinky ditch, on the other side there are various stalls selling vegetables and fruits, coal and old doors and windows, all kinds of stalls.There were also groups of outsiders standing by the roadside waiting to find work.

She always felt that their eyes were not right, and they often peeped at her from behind.Therefore, when I walk without looking sideways, I never have more than ten yuan in my pocket.

After walking for nearly half an hour, Wang Aiqing walked into a typical rural courtyard.Four old tile-roofed houses lived in an old couple. She and her husband rented one of them for ten yuan a month.

After saying hello to the landlord and the old couple, and eating the hot breakfast left by her husband in the pot, Wang Aiqing quickly lay down on the kang to sleep.In a daze, she heard someone shouting to the old couple in the yard.

The old couple walked out of the house and whispered to the visitor: "Don't yell, that girl has to sleep after the night shift. That girl is benevolent and righteous, and she hasn't left her husband in the countryside after returning to the city. It's rare! Let's talk outside."

Wang Aiqing fell asleep with a smile.

(End of this chapter)