Hunger for a hundred years

Chapter 59 (16)
As a reporter who lives on the same river as Wang Weizhou, it is my duty to complete this errand.

Wang Weizhou’s legendary stories, like Luo Siju’s, have long been engraved on the road of my growth. I can complete the task well without interviewing, but out of the reporter’s prudence and professional ethics, I still plan to go to Qingxi Especially Wang Weizhou's former residence, Wangjiaba.I took the train from Chengdu to Tianzhou, from Tianzhou to Yongle County by car, and then took a motorboat from Yongle County directly to Qingxichang.This is no longer the old Qingxichang, this is the new street of Qingxichang, Helong of the Datan Hydropower Station, the old street was flooded, and the Hou and Wang dams were basically also submerged. The farmers on the two dams, All moved to Xinjie and became resettled residents.When I arrived at Qingxichang, it was dusk. I put my luggage in a simple hotel, made a bowl of instant noodles and ate, and stood at the street corner to look around.There is a vast water area in front of me. The fields, schools, stone arch bridges, and the tall and low eucalyptus, paulownia, and alder trees in the past have all disappeared.Previously, the terrain here was like a carp, and Wang Weizhou's home happened to be on the head of the fish. Now, the body of the carp has got into the water, but fortunately, the head of the carp is still exposed.

It was impossible to find Wang Weizhou's former residence that night, so I wandered the streets.The house is very new and tidy. It used to be a stilted building where sailors could see a woman squatting and peeing in the misty early morning, but there is no more.The streets are not slates, but pale concrete pavements.I paid special attention to those restaurants, hoping to meet the female boss I met when I came to Qingxichang to take the high school entrance examination. Is she still leaning on the door now?Is there still nothing to laugh so that the flowers are trembling?Obviously, I didn't meet her, even if she opened a restaurant in Xinjie now, I wouldn't recognize her.She should have passed middle age long ago.There are quite a few women leaning on the door of the restaurant, but they are not eye-catching, but attracting diners. If you pass by any restaurant, they will grab you, "Sir, why don't you come in and eat?" I didn't After walking the streets, we returned to the hotel.I wanted to go and see Aunt Yao, but I don't know where she lives, and I haven't met her or her family members after walking on the street for so long.

The next day, the autumn wind was strong and the temperature dropped a lot.The water is also afraid of the cold. When the autumn wind blows, dense goose bumps appear on the river surface.I was afraid that it would be difficult to do things in the rain, so I had breakfast in the hotel and immediately went to the river to find a boat.Only a boat can take me to the former Wangjiaba.Due to the strong wind, the boats were not dispatched. There were motor boats running all over the river, but they did not take a short distance. Husband and wife are looking up at the sky anxiously with their arms around a watery fishing net.I asked them if they knew Wangjiaba?They said they knew, we were from Wangjiaba.I asked them again if they knew where Wang Weizhou's past home was?The woman said, "Hey, we are his neighbors." I was so excited and wished they would take me to see it.

"That will have to be paid," said the woman.I said of course. "Are you a public servant?" the man asked me.I say yes. "Then at least 30 yuan." I was a little surprised, and asked how far it was, and the woman said three miles. "Thirty for three miles?" "It's such a strong wind," said the man, "and it's against the wind. Pushing the boat is like moving a stone; besides, we went fishing early in the morning, and the wind blew just as soon as we lowered the nets." , if the wind stops when we send you off, our business will be missed.” I still thought it was too expensive, so I said: “I’m here to write about Wang Weizhou. When I write about Wang Weizhou, I must write about Wangjiaba and Wangjiaba. The dam is to promote you." The woman laughed, and said loudly against the wind: "We have nothing to do with writing about Wang Weizhou and Wang Jiaba? What we care about is how many fish we catch this day!" I was stunned for a moment, thinking about it. , I gave them 30 yuan.

The wind is so strong that it seems to be running on the river all autumn.It was very difficult for the boat to move forward every step. The man bowed his waist at the bow and rowed vigorously, while the woman at the stern took out a blade from under the cabin crossbar, and paddled according to the rhythm of her husband.I squatted in the shallow cabin, looked at the water, and guessed where Qingxi Old Street was, where the stone statue of He Min was, where He Da and Jianshen saw the new daughter-in-law, and where the sandbag who killed him was. What position? After speculation and speculation, I was at a loss.

Those things have all sunk to the bottom of the water, into the river of time, and future generations will never know about them again. Even if they read about them in books or hear people talk about them, they will never connect these things with their own destiny. .

After walking less than half of the distance, the wind has dropped a lot, and the river surface has become a blue curtain.

The woman stopped, wiped her sweat with her sleeves, and sat cross-legged in the cabin.I thought, since they are Wang Weizhou's neighbors, they must know more about Wang Weizhou than others, and they were about to ask her, but she asked me: "Wang Weizhou has been dead for so many years, why do you want to write about him?" After briefly explaining the whole story, I asked her if she had heard some stories about Wang Weizhou back then. The woman laughed embarrassedly, and because her front teeth were a bit sharp, she covered her mouth with her hands intentionally or unintentionally when she smiled, " I don't know that," she said, "see if he does." She pointed to her man.The man swung the oar with his back to us, without turning his head at this time, he said flatly: "My grandfather liked to talk about it before, but after his death, no one in our place talked about it." I asked him if he could still remember what his grandfather said. He said, "I can't remember, I can't remember, I was less than ten years old when my grandfather died."
There is still a glimmer of water in front of my eyes, but the young couple said that it has arrived.I just discovered that behind me, there is a small piece of land protruding from the water.This piece of land was completely surrounded by water, and there were a dozen or so houses standing on it, but there were no crops; all the land was occupied by houses and small roads that were as thin as intestines, and there was no place for crops to grow.

When I landed, the young couple moored the boat and took me straight to the west of several houses (there were five families living here), where I finally found an open space of three meters square; it is not accurate to say that it is an open space, because It is low-lying and has been half filled with water. In fact, it is a puddle. In the center of the puddle stands a stone tablet covered with moss.

The young couple said that the place where the monument was erected was Wang Weizhou's ancestral grave, and his former home was next to the ancestral grave.

I leaned my upper body to see what words were written on the stele, but I couldn't read a single word.

With the help of the couple, I found several elderly people over 60 years old living on this isolated island. I asked them to tell me about Wang Weizhou. They barely told a few stories, but I had heard those stories a long time ago. Yes, and what I have heard is more detailed and wonderful than what they tell.I think they must know a lot more, but they just don't know what to do.These families are the poorest families in Wangjiaba. Those who used to be close to them all moved to Xinjie, but they could not, because once they moved to the street, they would not be able to obtain a fishery certificate, so they could only put The stalls do business, how can they have the capital to do business?In desperation, several families crowded to this small island, just to sleep peacefully in a nest.

I spent another 30 yuan to get the young couple to push me to the street corner. After that, I hid in the hotel and wrote Wang Weizhou's legendary story on my laptop.In the process of writing, I stopped many times to think, what kind of impact will a major event in history have on a single life?What kind of changes will it bring to the fate of most people?When we look at the Song Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, and even more ancient humans today, why can we not only understand their feelings, but also understand their lives?Why do the development of science and the progress of society only allow us to see the prosperity of the economy but not the growth of the human soul?Will people in the future feel the same sigh when they look at us today?
I sent more than a dozen articles I wrote to the newspaper from the Internet. The leader of the newspaper responded on the same day and expressed his satisfaction. Therefore, he granted me a few days off and let me go home to see my old father.I went ashore from Liangqiao by motorboat, and climbed briskly for more than an hour before I saw the yellow jue tree as the gate.

That night, my father and I sat in the moon dam and chatted.We were still talking about Wang Weizhou's story, and when we were talking about enjoying ourselves, Mrs. Liang walked over with her little feet and crutches. Mrs. Liang said, "Isn't it cold?" We said it wasn't cold.Liang immediately shed tears, and the tears splashed on her face like liquid powder in the moonlight.While weeping, she wiped away the tears with a smile, and said: "It's no good to be old! You are not afraid of the cold, but I am afraid of the cold." As she spoke, she choked up: "Then He Ben came back to pick a load. The water runs fast, let alone running so fast, I can’t hold it up anymore.” After Liang wiped away tears, I said: “Grandma Liang is a hundred years old, and she still wants to compare with young people. "The father said: "She is not comparing with young people, she wants to live out the life of her son"
Having said that, my father fell silent.After a while, he said, "He Zao, I have an idea. I want to visit Lijiagou. If I don't go to Lijiagou, I won't be able to go there in my life."
I asked him why he wanted to go to Lijiagou?

Father He Da didn't answer me, just touched his lips lightly.But I have understood.After all, he lived there, not to mention his mother died there, and his brother disappeared there.I said, "Okay, let's go tomorrow. I'll go with you."
He Da doesn't know, in fact, I also wanted to go to Lijiagou for a long time
We set off early the next morning.We went down to the Qingxi River and boarded the motor boat.Qingxi River is no longer the Qingxi River it used to be. In my childhood impression, this river winds around the foot of the mountain like a streamer and flows to the sky. It cannot be said to be broad and mighty, but it is gentle and beautiful. I saw the colorful pebbles and the fish swimming in and out, and heard her sound like a ring.For my grandparents and fathers, the songs, sorrows and joys of survival were all unfolded on this peaceful river.But now, there is oil juice like dead fish eyes floating in the jasper-like river water. There are no needle-shaped fish swimming in the aquatic plants by the river, and the barmao on the river bank is gone. Instead, there are huge sand washing boats and huge sand washing community.The sand washing boat docked in the shallow water, making a monotonous and sleepy sound.Young men and women, wearing knee-deep water boots, carried the iron sieve that could be used as a mattress, shaking it non-stop, while a few standing beside them waved their shovels and poured the coarse sand into the river. Go into the sieve; there is a big truck full of stains parked on the bank, and the fine sand shaken out is poured into the big truck and transported to the construction site that is just beginning to rise above the entire river.
After two o'clock in the afternoon, we arrived at Lijiagou.

Except that the woods are more lush than Hejiapo, there is really nothing special here.The same loess supports the same people.But deep in the heart of the earth, it will always be a mystery to me.Here, a woman named Xu Lian once came here. She hoped to soften the fierce wild wind here with her beauty and kindness. She stretched out her gentle fingers, trying to grasp the basis for her own survival.However, she failed, she was knocked down fiercely, and withered under the nine springs at the age of 22.The moment her moving eyes were closed, she probably understood: In this world, there is no pity, only conquest.But she is a woman, and she knows that a woman's mission is to make the world a better place.When the world does not need beauty and tramples on beauty, she chooses death.
He Da took me and pointed out where Yogurt Mountain was, and then found the old land where Xu Lian was buried.Due to the accumulation of broken bricks and rotten tiles from an unknown family, He Da lingered for a long time before confirming that Xu Lian's grave was here.He Da knelt down and kowtowed to the pile of broken bricks and tiles.After he got up, he said to me: "Morning, kowtow to your grandma."
But I stood still.I looked at Yogurt Mountain, where a rock eagle hovered, like a drop of tear from the sky, flowing from winter to spring, from spring to summer
In this world, no one would know that she, Xu Lian, is not only my grandma, but also the lover in my heart.
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Forever, the closest and the deepest lover!
(End of this chapter)