"The brilliant morning glow rises in the golden capital, and the solemn music reports the dawn of the motherland. Ah capital, ah capital, the heart of the motherland, the symbol of unity, the pride of the people, and the guarantee of victory. People of all ethnic groups praise you,
You are a bright star in our hearts..."
The train is driving on the yellow land, heading towards the capital.
Even though the carriage was noisy and chaotic, and there were people everywhere. Even though the floor of the carriage was mottled and dirty, and full of the smell of soot. Even though the loudspeaker in the carriage was playing over and over again, apart from excerpts from "Red Lantern", it was this song.
"Ode to the Capital", driven by the desire to go home, Hong Yanwen, who was sitting in the carriage at this time, still felt happy and beautiful.
He was immersed in a good mood that was difficult to explain to others. His eyes were looking at the green artificial leather seats, the short yellow wood tables, the huge glass windows, and the crowded passengers standing or sitting on them, with large and small bags everywhere.
My luggage was lying on the bed, but what I was thinking about was something else. To describe this in today’s terms, that is, what I see is nothing else, what I see is my mood.
Eight years ago, when he first left the capital, he took such a train. During these eight years, he also took such a train to and from home every time he went home to visit relatives.
This time, although the essence of "taking the train" has not changed, its meaning and his mood are completely different. Because this time he returns to the capital, he does not have to leave again. This is like an undoubted
Circle, a fatalistic inevitable return.
Since he completely walked out of the house, he has truly understood what "parting" is and what "family love" is. So in the past twelve days of family leave every year, he always chose the time to return to his hometown during the Chinese New Year. Because only in this way can he be comforted.
The sadness in his heart.
Those days at home were precious because of their short duration. He knew very well that this kind of return would be followed by farewell in an instant, so he counted the New Year every day and was very careful to avoid "taboos".
Words like "go" and "train station" are used to avoid causing sadness to parents.
What makes him sad is that often at times like this, although the faces of his family members deliberately pretend to be calm, and sometimes even smile slightly, they can never hide the bitterness and worry on the inside.
There is no way, life has made all his family members learn to perform and hide. Especially during the New Year, everyone works extra hard for each other to show satisfaction and happiness, even if this happiness is fleeting.
Because of this, he didn't even dare to write letters to his family for eight years. In fact, he missed home so much that he wanted to tell his family everything about him in detail.
But since he found out that his mother had cried all night after receiving his letter, and her heart was full of sorrow and longing for him, he could no longer write. Because the longer the letter became,
The more frequent it is, the more upset it will be for the mother.
Fortunately, this situation is finally over now, and his relationship has successfully returned to the suburbs of Beijing. From now on, he will no longer have to face the heavy heart that his family deliberately suppresses before each separation, and he will never let his mother do it again.
He was worried...
Less than an hour after passing Datong, the car stopped again, a temporary stop. Along the way, there were countless small stops like this.
Hong Yanwen looked out the window. There were people everywhere on the platform. The word "Yanggao" was faintly visible on the shit-yellow wall at the exit. He still hadn't left the Yanbei area. What was probably certain was that he was getting closer and closer to home.
Close.
Opposite him was a young couple. Hearing the woman's Beijing accent, he originally thought that they were also educated youths who went to the countryside and wanted to chat. However, he did not expect that the man spoke in local dialect, while the woman's face
He turned red and immediately lowered his head.
He immediately understood something and didn't dare to ask any more questions, but he felt annoyed for no reason. Whether he hated himself for being troublesome or something else, he couldn't tell.
Situations like this are common nowadays. Even among their educated youth, there is a girl who married a local farmer. This is all because of the saying "take root for a lifetime". But who would have thought that fate would be different for their generation?
It was a big joke, now the actual situation will become like this?
The train started moving again. Hong Yanwen looked at the passing trees outside the window and couldn't help but sigh. He couldn't help but recall his past eight years.
In August 1969, he was still very young. A teenager didn't know what it was like to be sad and was full of romantic fantasies about the future.
Therefore, he took the initiative to answer the call and went to the countryside to join the queue. Not only did he cancel his household registration with his household registration book, he also changed his revolutionary name to "Hong Xiangyang". It can be said that Li Yuhe is more passionate than Li Yuhe.
At that time, his heart was full of yearning to "go to the vast world and do something big", and he couldn't rest at all. As soon as he got on the train, he started doing good things, mopping the floor over and over again, and delivering hot water to everyone.
At that moment, he did not expect, and could not have imagined, that what would begin would be the most difficult and helpless years of his life, lasting eight years!
Educated youth also have levels.
As we all know, joining the Corps requires political review and physical examination, and the quota is limited. The Corps is responsible for food, drink, clothing, pay on time, and enjoys the benefits of registered employees.
The most numerous educated youths like him who "jumped in line" received no salary, and only had one year's rations initially allocated by the state. After one year, they were like local farmers, relying only on earning work points. In essence, it was a de facto
form of unemployment.
What's more, he was assigned to the Yanbei Mountains where rabbits don't poop. In that place called "Gadaling", there is not only a lack of arable land, only millet and yam eggs are produced, but there is also a long-term water shortage.
In fact, including him, there were only six educated youths assigned to "Gedaling" at that time, three boys and three girls, each from five schools in the capital.
However, in order to refuse to accept them, He Sankui, the brigade secretary of "Gedaling", went to the county educated youth resettlement office and repeatedly begged the director for mercy, saying that "Gedaling" suffered from famine every year, and the per capita ration was only 200 kilograms of shell grains, which could hardly support the family.
Don't live with these Beijing kids.
From this we know what kind of land this is.
To be honest, when he went there, he was indeed prepared to endure hardships, but he did not expect that the reality would be too bitter, and most of them were beyond his imagination.
First, let’s talk about it.
They were accepted by the village because they agreed to hand over the allocated house building funds to the village, and the six of them were finally placed in two dilapidated cave dwellings.
The conditions there were extremely poor, there were no beds or tables, even the windows were leaky, and even mice didn't like to come. So on the first day of living there, everyone lost their "arrogance and righteousness", leaving only loss, depression and confusion.
Next, let’s talk about work.
The mountains of "GeDaling" are all worked by hand, with no livestock or machinery. They, the "children of the capital" with delicate skin and tender meat, have to work from morning until dawn.
He still remembered that when he first came here, he didn't wash his feet for almost half a month. He didn't wash his feet because he was tired. As long as he climbed on the kang, he would fall asleep in less than a minute. Moreover, his feet were numb every night.
, is also painful. Backache, back pain, and leg cramps are common conditions all year round.
What people didn't expect is that dogs are vicious.
The dogs in the countryside are powerful, with narrow waists and long mouths, and are not good at publicity. They will suddenly jump out from behind the wall and hit your calf with a mouth. People say that "a thief's bite will penetrate three parts to the bone." Let the dogs in Yanbei bite you.
It's not "three points", it's "smashed".
The dogs here don't recognize the educated youth from outside, so they all look like sworn enemies to them. Moreover, these dogs have all fought with wolves, and most of them have the heritage of Hun hunting dogs.
So on the third day after arriving here, when Liu Yangping in "Sixty-Three" was bitten and sent to the county hospital, all the educated youth would run away in panic and avoid the dogs when they saw them again.
All in all, the most distressing thing is the issue of eating and drinking.
It is very difficult to carry water in "GeDaling". You have to go to the bottom of the ditch to carry it. Carrying water uphill is a great difficulty and test. Whoever takes it's turn to carry water will stumble.
I carried two buckets of water and climbed up in a hurry. There was no place to rest on the way. The buckets were high in front and short in back, making it difficult to move. I had to move up sideways and step by step. Those who are not used to it are not
If the bucket hits your leg, it means the water has been spilled. If you accidentally knock it over completely, just sit on the slope and cry. You will cry until it gets dark and you have to go down and pick it up again.
Besides that, the water quality is not good either.
The water in the ditch is very alkaline, bitter and astringent, and has a disgusting turbid smell. If you are in poor health, you will have diarrhea after drinking it. They, the educated youth, have not been able to get used to drinking it for a long time.
Someone brought a lot of berberine, and everyone finally got through this.
Let alone eating. The biggest problem is hunger. It’s not that we don’t have enough to eat. It’s that we never have enough.
This is a mountainous area, and the crop fields are all terraced fields. There is no water source and they completely rely on the weather. The life of local farmers is very poor. They almost eat millet or potatoes all year round.
At first, they, the educated youths, had enough to eat because of the state's food rations. But from the second year on, they turned into a group of wolves with blue eyes. No matter what they saw, their first thought was always "
Can I eat it?"
In order to make their stomachs feel better, they often have to rely on "self-reliance". This usually means three ways.
The first is to visit each other during meals, go to the villagers' homes, and stay there until it's time to eat. When it's time to eat, I will be shy and won't leave. If I have a bowl for you, I will have a bowl for me. No matter how bad it is, I don't mind it. In fact,
It's just taking advantage of others, which is called "beating the autumn wind" in a more civilized way.
The second is to join a team. There are educated youth centers in nearby villages, such as Kaoshangou, Mojiahe, and Tianguyu. There are friends all over a hundred miles away. Joining a team is a common thing. We are all from the same world, so there is no need to know each other when we meet.
There is also an unwritten rule among the educated youth. No matter where you come from, as long as you are an educated youth, you will be responsible for food, food and housing. You can live for three to five days, or for ten and a half months. It is a complete communist supply system.
This kind of teaming up comes and goes. As the saying goes, "give me a peach and repay you with a plum." As long as the family has something, they will definitely give it to each other without hesitation. But if they don't have it, they can only do it.
His eyes were wide open and he was tightening his belt.
Third, it is a crooked way of "generating income". The so-called "generating income" is actually an excuse for the sake of face. To put it simply, it is "passing along", and to put it bluntly, it is "stealing".
The content is very rich. There are all kinds of sneaky things, and some of them were actions that they hated deeply in the past. But in the face of hunger, people's face and dignity have become useless things, and their moral bottom line is unknown.
It dropped again and again unconsciously.
Slowly, due to their appearance, chickens in the village continued to disappear, and hares in the fields were rarely seen. The fellow villagers all had a feeling that since the arrival of the "Beijing Babies", there was another kind of ghost in the past.
Village feel.
Helplessness, patience, and hardship have become the only choices for these educated youths.