Spark

At the same time as the Xinghuo team started to move the mountain project, on the other side, in a small village in the southwest mountains, a "little event" that had lasted for hundreds of years was happening as always.

Wang Qing painted his face with a layer of natural dye mixed with pot ash, geniposide, and bluegrass, and carefully outlined the shape of a Nuo face.

On the side, his little nephew Wang Shu watched his movements curiously, and asked:

"Manman, what are you doing?"

Wang Qing smiled and replied:

"Draw the Nuo face, tomorrow is the first day of October, and we are going to sacrifice to the King of Ox—I'll practice first."

"What are you doing to sacrifice the bull king?"

Wang Shu continued to ask.

His little face was full of curiosity, as if he couldn't understand at all why he, a pretty and handsome man, had to paint his face into such a horrible look.

Those strange patterns, the blood and fangs at the corners of the mouth, and the blood-red horns on the forehead seem to be terrifying demons that can only be seen on TV and in comic books.

Wang Qing turned his face away, touched Wang Shu's head with some distress, and replied:

"Sacrificing to the Bull King is to bless us with good weather in the coming year."

"Also, please keep us safe, the roads are smooth, and the fields are safe."

"is that useful?"

Wang Shu asked reluctantly.

Wang Qing was taken aback for a moment, and for a moment, he didn't know how to answer.

is that useful?

In fact, he knows better than anyone else that this kind of folklore activity is actually just a kind of inheritance of "folklore". .

Can it work?

How can it be!

If it is useful, the terraced fields in the mountains will not be destroyed by landslides and mudslides, and the roads and bridges leading to the outside world will not be blocked by floods every now and then.

But the question is, besides begging the ethereal "gods", what else can the people here do?

Wang Qing sighed.

In fact, he is not just an ordinary villager.

His real identity is the village head of this small village—he also serves as an elementary school teacher and director of the village disaster prevention office.

After graduating from university, he returned to this village called "Luojiao Village". His original intention was to rely on his own ability to contribute to the village that raised him.

At that time, he was high-spirited and thought that there was nothing in this world that he could not do. No matter how hard it was, as long as he worked hard and had the same heart, he could always achieve one or two achievements.

In the history of this country, are there not many people who took root at the grassroots level and finally led a whole village out of poverty and made great achievements?

Even if I don't have the ability and talent like them, if I focus on one thing, at least there will be some results, right?

His idea is very simple. After returning to the village, he will do two things.

The first thing is to build roads.

The second thing is to build a bridge.

The purpose of building the road is to build the village road from Luojiao Village to Shuangxi County, and to widen the bird road that originally surrounded the mountain wall and could only accommodate one person, at least wide enough to allow motorcycles to pass.

As for the bridge, a steel cable bridge is to be erected over Chengxi at the entrance of the village to replace the wooden pontoon bridge that is repaired every year and broken every year.

Neither of these two things sounds difficult.

After all, the geographical environment of Luojiao Village is much better than that of Shibanhe Village, which has been in the news. They can still carve out a road on the rock wall in two years. Could it be that Luojiao Village can't do it? ?

It's nothing more than opening a mountain.

At that time, the stone excavated for road construction can just be used for bridge construction, solving two problems at once.

The plan is beautiful, but the problem is that it's too good to be true.

It wasn't until Wang Qing came back here and started to organize the villagers to build roads that he realized how naive his thinking was.

How can it be so easy to open a mountain?

Insufficient tools, steep terrain, narrow construction area, high incidence of landslides and landslides.

After working for more than two years and concentrating the strength of the whole village, the road was only built for a short distance of 50 meters.

And, that's not even the toughest part of the road.

Everyone was a little disappointed, and even this plan was on the verge of being abandoned, but a sudden incident strengthened everyone's attitude.

Wang Shu's parents unfortunately fell off a cliff while going out, and when someone found out, both of them were dead.

This incident gave everyone in the village a blow. Everyone realized that if something happened at Wang Shu's house today, it might happen at their own house tomorrow.

As long as the road is not repaired and the bridge is not erected, the people in Luojiao Village will not be able to really leave the village.

As a result, the villagers became more active, and even the annual celebration of the Ox King Festival was simplified this year, just to save more time, and to repair that road for a while during the slack season. rice.

That would have been a good thing.

But for Wang Qing, it was even more of a heavy burden.

The more active the villagers were, the deeper the guilt in his heart.

He felt ashamed of his inability to win the support of his superiors, as well as the funds, technology and equipment.

I am also ashamed of the decision to build the road itself.

Because he knew that the reason why Wang Shu's parents went out of the village in the rain that day was to sell the few eggs and bundles of medicinal herbs that were left in the family, and wanted to exchange some food to subsidize the family.

In fact, they didn't have to be so embarrassed.

If it were not for road construction, they would have more time to run their own small home, grow more rice, and raise more chickens and ducks.

In that case, they might be able to live their entire lives in this small, isolated village without contention with the world.

It can be said that it was their own decision that led to their tragedy.

He couldn't help but think about it, was it really right for him to do so?

I told them in an arrogant manner that you should build roads, connect with the outside world, and see the bigger world.

But I never really thought about whether they need that "bigger world".

Thinking of this, Wang Qing couldn't help but sighed again.

Wang Shu on the side reached out and wiped his face, then giggled and painted the paint on his own face.

He didn't know how to paint. He just painted his own face into a cat. Wang Qing looked funny, so he dipped the paint and helped him to even out the pattern on his face.

This time, Wang Shu completely turned into a black-faced Baogong, but he still didn't realize it.

Wang Qing's mood finally improved. He smiled for a while, and called for clean water to help Wang Shu wash his face. Then, he glanced at the time and started heading towards the ancestral hall.

Today is a regular meeting of the village committee. Apart from the arrangements for the Niu King Festival the next day, there is also a plan for road construction in the near future. As the village head, it is impossible for him not to be present.

When they arrived at the ancestral hall, other main young and middle-aged people in the village had been waiting for a long time. Wang Qing smiled apologetically, told Wang Shu to wait by the side, and walked to the specially reserved main seat.

"Everyone, be quiet."

Wang Qing raised his hand, and the chaotic and noisy voices around him gradually quieted down. Everyone subconsciously looked at him, waiting for his speech.

Wang Qing coughed and said:

"We have a lot of things to do recently, and everyone is very busy, so I won't talk too much nonsense."

"Today we have two main agendas."

"One, it's about tomorrow's Bull King Festival."

"The other one is about our plan for road construction in the future."

"Let me start with the Bull King Festival."

"The elders in the village know how to arrange the specific activities, so I won't interrupt."

"However, I want to emphasize one point here, that is, our festival this year is keeping everything simple, and everyone has voted for it before. At that time, no one will be allowed to say or do weird things. Are you clear?"

"clear!"

"Don't worry Ah Qing, I've already said hello!"

Listening to the answers from the audience, Wang Qing nodded gratefully, and continued:

"Another point is to pay special attention to safety when using fire tomorrow. Now that it has entered autumn, the weather is dry and fires are easy to break out."

"The terrain here is complicated. If something happens, 119 will not be able to get through."

"If the mountain really burns, none of us can take responsibility, understand?"

"Understood! Ah Qing, we have already organized the fire brigade. Tomorrow the whole village will be patrolling. Just rest assured!"

"Okay, then I'm relieved."

Wang Qing took a deep breath, and his expression became serious.

"The next thing we're going to talk about is planning for road repairs."

"In half a month at most, all the rice in our village will be harvested, which means that we will officially enter the slack period."

"According to our road construction plan, we will take advantage of the slack time to make a rush, and try to repair the most difficult road in Wayaotou within this year."

"We haven't changed this plan."

"Now, I would like to ask everyone, is there any problem in terms of manpower and family economy?"

Hearing his words, the entire ancestral hall fell silent instantly.

In fact, everyone is well aware of the road construction plan and can basically accept it, but it is purely a joke to say that there is no difficulty at all.

For the villagers here, even in the slack season, there are countless jobs to do. Who can really guarantee that there will be no problem with manpower?

It's just that, in this kind of situation, no one wants to be the first to stand up and confess.

Seeing everyone's reactions, Wang Qing knew what they were thinking. After a moment of silence, he said:

"I don't insist on building roads."

"If everyone thinks that we really can't hold on anymore, then we won't do it."

"The time wasted and the energy wasted in the past two years, in the future, I, Wang Qing, will slowly find a way to replenish everyone."

"Ah Qing! What are you farting!"

Before Wang Qing finished speaking, an old man stood up from the crowd.

He glared at Wang Qing angrily, and continued to speak:

"Building roads is everyone's decision, not you, Wang Qing, alone."

"Right now, we are encountering difficulties, and we are short of manpower, but it is not yet the time when we have no other options."

"What do you mean by saying frustrating words here? Look down on us?"

"I'm leaving my words here today, your Simanman family can be successful!"

"As soon as the Bull King Festival is over tomorrow, we will go to Wayaotou immediately, and I will go in person!"

Hearing the old man's words, the emotions of everyone in the ancestral hall were immediately mobilized.

"That's right, if you build a road, you should build it, and if you don't have enough people, you should slow it down. In ancient times, there was a foolish old man who moved mountains, so we can't move them?"

"That's what I said. My family is in a bit of a difficult situation. The rice has not been harvested yet. I will go there when the rice is harvested. I will contribute two labors."

"I can produce two too! My mother-in-law can't go anymore, and there are still pigs to feed at home."

For a while, people continued to open their mouths to sign up, even if the family really had difficulties, it also explained the situation.

They thought of various ways, it can be said that they were racking their brains to think about how to do the "road construction", it seems that the idea of ​​"retreat" has never appeared in their minds.

Wang Qing couldn't help being a little moved.

He opened his mouth and said:

"Since everyone is so positive, let's continue with the original plan."

"The road at Wayaotou is the most dangerous and difficult part of our road. When we go up the mountain, everyone must pay attention to safety, especially the safety rope must be fastened, and don't feel troublesome!"

Everyone agreed in a mess, and Wang Qing's expression relaxed a little, but at this moment, someone asked:

"Ah Qing, last time we said to go to the county to find a way, is there any way now?"

"The road is so long, the people in our village are not enough, right?"

"Even if the county doesn't send people, it's good to send us two excavators. The work that the excavators do in one day is at least enough for us to do for several days."

Hearing this, Wang Qing sighed and said:

"I went to the county to ask, but there is no confirmation letter yet."

"However, I'm not afraid to tell everyone."

"This matter is basically hopeless."

"Money, the county can provide part of it, but people, not."

"Equipment, there is really no way."

"The mountains here are too high and the roads are too narrow. Excavators can't get up at all. If you insist on using an excavator, you can only dig up the entire mountain. The cost is too high."

"So, everyone, don't have any hope. If we really want to do it, we can only do it ourselves."

Hearing his words, there was a look of disappointment on the faces of everyone.

Someone said:

"It's better to rely on yourself than to rely on your father and mother. As I said earlier, it's useless to ask the county."

"What can they do? It's been hundreds of years, and our village is still like this. It's impossible to change it under their hands, right?"

"If you expect them to succeed, you might as well expect the Lord Niu to come down to the earth and open the mountain."

"Hahaha, that's a way. Tomorrow is the King of Ox's Day. If you burn some incense, maybe the King of Ox will appear."

Hearing what they said, Wang Qing felt a little uncomfortable.

He looked at the people walking out of the ancestral hall, and involuntarily hummed "Send Meishan Ci" to be sung at the Niu King Festival.

".Sent into the first cave of Meishan, Shiyan dripping water with nine bends."

"Sent into the second cave of Meishan, the Niubian bridge road is difficult to walk."

The water has nine bends, and the road is difficult for an ox.

In the thousand-year-old lyrics, the situation of Luojiao Village has been written vividly.

It's just that he doesn't know how long this situation will last.