Starting from the Dadu River and Ya'an and Garze in the north, to the Jinsha River and Yunnan in the south, the violently undulating terrain of the Hengduan Mountains, coupled with the stretches of rivers and seas, have created this ancient land.
Every place here is of exquisite feudal beauty, as beautiful as poetry and painting.
However, the people living here are the poorest in the entire Ming Dynasty.
Yangjiaba is the most typical poor mountain village here. There are thousands of households in the whole village, all living on a large mountain. The houses built on the mountain are still very primitive thatched houses, and the cattle, sheep, and pigs raised mix with people.
Together.
There are empty houses with earthen walls and thatched roofs, and pigs and sheep live in the houses!
The traffic here is extremely blocked, cliffs are everywhere, and it is almost isolated from the world.
The waves of capitalism and colonialism in the Ming Dynasty have never been able to reach here. People here still live an extremely primitive life. They burned down the mountains and forests, and directly planted rice on the burned mountains and forests, or built terraces, forming extremely spectacular terraces.
scene.
Yang Dawa woke up from the dark, dirty straw bed, pushed away the pigs that came into the room to look for food, and then looked at the brothers at home, each sleeping more deeply than the other.
It seems that only when sleeping, the whole person is not hungry, and there is everything in the dream.
Feeling silently hungry, Yang Dawa went to take a look at the rice vat at home. There was only the last bit of rice left in the house, but it would take several more months to usher in the new year's harvest of rice.
Get some rice, put it directly into the pot without washing it, then put it on the fire in the house and start cooking.
Yang Dawa felt that she had had enough of this kind of life. The eighteen-year-old Yang Dawa often thought about what kind of life the Han people lived outside the mountains.
What kind of house do they live in, what kind of food do they eat, and do they sleep in the same bed as me?
At the age of eighteen, he has never even gone out to this mountain. This is because even going to the nearest town requires a day's walk. The mountain road is rugged and extremely steep.
In addition, everyone has always been content with the status quo, and has not thought about changing anything or doing anything. They just want to live like this day by day.
Look at your home. It has only four walls. There is no furniture or belongings. The roof has been dark and shiny for a long time. There is no bed. It is just a wooden board on the ground and a bed of straw for the family to sleep.
Perhaps the only valuable thing in the house is the iron pot for cooking porridge. This was obtained in exchange for several sheep from a Han traveler, and it was passed down from ancestors and has been used for decades.
It is said that Yang Dawa's grandfather put a knife on the other party's neck, and the other party reluctantly agreed to change. The traffic here is really bad, and even if there are sheep, it is difficult to take them out.
When I came outside, I looked up at the mountains in the distance, shrouded in clouds and mist, heavy with water vapor and humidity. Nearby were the same rows of houses with thatched grass and earthen walls, as well as a large number of hungry people looking for food.
Sheep and pigs.
People who get up early are not busy doing things, but lie leisurely at the door, as if they haven't woken up yet, and all kinds of pungent smells blow over with the morning breeze.
Yang Dawa has long been accustomed to all this, and has gotten used to it. Everyone is like this, and everyone is dressed in rags and is extremely dirty.
Yang Dawa couldn't even remember the last time she took a bath. She picked up a sickle and cut off a section of her long hair. She then scratched it a few times. It was so itchy that she immediately broke out.
There were several lice, and I pinched them all to death with my nails.
When the porridge was cooked, Yang Dawa drank one bowl and didn't drink any more.
There are nine people in the family including my parents and seven brothers and sisters. Among them, the eldest sister is already married to a Han man in the small town.
The main reason why I married a Han was because the family was really in trouble at the time and the whole family was starving to death. My brother-in-law’s family couldn’t find a wife, so they had no choice but to marry a non-Han woman. They gave her a few hundred kilograms of grain.
Married away Yang Dawa's sister.
My sister is living a very good life now, and her brother-in-law is very kind to her. Although the family is not that good, it is many times better than my own home. At least the food, clothing and housing are much better.
.
"Today is the second day of the Chinese Lunar New Year. I don't know if my brother-in-law and sister will come over."
Thinking of her sister, brother-in-law, and Yang Dawa, she was filled with expectations. Every time they came over, they would bring a lot of food and bacon to the house.
And in the past few years, they have brought more and more things, and sometimes they will bring some cloth, new clothes and so on. This has also made Yang Dawa's younger brothers and sisters the envy of everyone, because only their children have new clothes.
wear.
It seems like my sister and brother-in-law are doing better and better.
In addition to having food to eat, every time my brother-in-law came here, he would also tell Yang Dawa about the outside world and the daily life of the Han people.
The houses that the Han people live in are all made of wood and tiles. The Han people use stoves to cook. They also use kuai to eat, eat on the table, etc.
Yang Dawa was full of curiosity about all this.
Moreover, these Han people are all well-dressed, and they look much fairer and cleaner. They look like they are not from the same world as the people in Yangjiaba.
"It should come this year, it will come every year."
With such expectations, Yang Dawa has been waiting quietly on the cliff at the entrance of the village. This wait lasted almost a day.
It wasn't until the sun was about to go down that two figures appeared in the field of vision, and they turned out to be his sister and brother-in-law.
"Sister~"
Seeing his sister, Yang Dawa immediately shouted excitedly, and then rushed over like flying.
My sister was wearing a floral dress and she looked very decent. She was also dressed like a Han girl. She was clean and there was no trace of dirt on her body.
There was a load on his shoulders, which contained all kinds of delicious food, as well as cloth and clothes. The tall sister-in-law behind him was carrying a heavy load. It was heavy, and it must be food.
"Big baby~"
Sister Yang Shanhua shouted happily when she saw Yang Dawa.
"Sister, I'll come, I'll choose~"
Yang Dawa took over the burden from her sister's shoulders and was extremely excited.
"Brother-in-law~"
Then he politely shouted to his brother-in-law Xiong Yazi behind him.
Originally, Yang Dawa was similar to other Yi people and didn't like Han people very much, but her brother-in-law was very kind to her and would bring her delicious food every time she came. Her sister also lived a very happy life, and gradually she felt that her brother-in-law was still very kind.
Not bad.
"Hmm~"
Xiong Yazi smiled and nodded. In fact, he was already very tired.
After carrying more than 100 kilograms of grain for a day on the mountain road, this man was exhausted. Fortunately, Xiongyazi was tall and strong, and he was about to arrive.
With the arrival of Xiong Yazi and Yang Shanhua, the originally peaceful Yangjiaba became a little lively, and many neighbors looked over with envy.
"Yang Dawa, your family is better now. You have food and clothing."
"No, it's not a bad idea to marry a Han."
"What's good about the Han people is that they have many rules and are not comfortable at all."
Neighbors were talking a lot. In Yang Dawa's house, her parents were already preparing to kill the pig. The pig was actually not that big, not even 100 kilograms.
But it's already time to kill the pigs. Basically, the pigs here can't be raised because there is no extra food to feed the pigs.
It’s good to be able to raise a few dozen pounds. Some pigs are often roasted when they are still piglets.
As for Yang Dawa's younger brothers and sisters, they were already very excited. They were pestering Yang Shanhua for candies and other snacks. Each of them held the snacks they had just brought over in their hands and ate them happily. Then they looked at Yang Shanhua and Yang Shanhua with curious eyes.
Xiong Yazi.
In the evening, the family gathered around the fire, eating pork and chatting happily.
However, my sister and brother-in-law didn't seem to have much appetite. They just ate a few bites and stopped eating. However, Yang Dawa and his family ate with gusto. It was a rare meal of meat, so naturally they had to be happy and satisfied.
.
"We will go to Chengdu to work in a few days."
"When the New Year comes at the end of the year, I will bring you some delicious food from big cities."
Xiong Yazi smiled and chatted with Yang Dawa and others about their plans for the new year.
"Are you working in Chengdu?"
"Why go to Chengdu to work properly?"
When Father Yang heard this, he also asked curiously.
"I have a relative who went to Chengdu to work on a construction site last year. He earned dozens of taels of silver in less than half a year. Not only did he build a new house at home, but he also married his wife."
"My parents felt that there was no future in staying in the mountains all the time, so they asked us young people to go out with them. When the money is earned, we can build a new house at home."
Xiong Yazi said with a smile that he went to his cousin's house before the Chinese New Year. He had not interacted with him for many years. His four cousin brothers had undergone earth-shaking changes. The new houses they built were made of reinforced concrete, and each one was dressed like a man or a dog.
That's it, it's just different from the people in the mountains.
Wei Tie also said that he bought a house in the city for 300 taels of silver.
This makes countless people envious. After the New Year, many people said they would follow the four brothers and go to Chengdu to work.
Xiong Yazi also made an agreement to take Yang Shanhua with him to Chengdu to work on the construction site after the Chinese New Year.
"Brother-in-law, sister!"
"I'm going too, and I'm going with you. How about you take me with you?"
After Yang Dawa heard this, he immediately took his brother-in-law's hand excitedly and said that he was tired of the life in the mountains and wanted to see the world outside the mountains.