A lover (novella) Zhang Baotong 2017.8.6

The water of the Minjiang River is very clear and peaceful, like a delicate girl flowing slowly from the side of the road next to our school. The school is separated from the river by only one wall on the Minjiang River. Slogans such as "We must liberate Taiwan" and "Down with US imperialism" were written on the walls. After school, I often went to the river alone, sat on the stone slab by the river, listened to the rumbling sound of the shelling of the Golden Gate, and thought about the hazy years that had passed.

I have a strong attachment and emotion to the river in my life, which makes me feel that there is a trickle in my heart flowing slowly, fluctuating how many years that make me feel moved and nostalgic, and breeding tenderness and nostalgia like water. It will easily remind me of my father, my sister, my childhood and the girl who rescued me from the river.

When I saw the Minjiang River, I couldn't help but think of the Luohe River. The water of the Luo River is turbid because it comes all the way from the Loess Plateau and the Loess High Slopes, and the water carries turbid sediment. In fact, whether it is the Loess Plateau or the Loess Plateau, as long as you walk under the vast sky, you can hear the northwest wind blowing from a distant place at any time, and the wind is very rapid and whirring. When you calm down, you can hear the wind as if it were telling endless desolation and mourning. Listening to the continuous sound of the wind throughout the year, people always tilt their heads, frown, and look into the distance, as if they are looking forward to the day when they can come out.

I spent my early childhood on the banks of the Luo River. Between the valleys and on the banks of the valleys, except for the workers who built the bridges, they were our family. Under the sunlight, there was an eternal golden light, which blended with the yellow earth and the riverbank, and it seemed very peaceful. This is the boundary where Pucheng and Dali intersect, because of the barrier of the Luo River, no one can walk through here all year round.

My memory came to me suddenly before my father died, so that time is very clear in my mind. At that time, it was a difficult time for the country's economy, and the materials were supplied by the invoice of the unit supply station. Since my father went to Xi'an, the railway supply station stopped supplying our family with grain, oil and goods, and our family's life soon fell into trouble. Although my father sent us money, he couldn't buy anything when he had money, especially grain and oil.

In my memory, the sky in the north is vast, the land is boundless, and there is not a single village or a single figure in sight until the horizon. During that time, my mother used to take me out to fish for sweet potatoes in the fields that the farmers had dug up. However, the sweet potatoes have been dug up by the farmers. Therefore, my mother used a shovel to turn over the farmer's land almost again, just as if she was ploughing the land for the farmer, and she only dug a few small sweet potatoes as thick as rhizomes after a tiring day. Mom used these little sweet potatoes to cook a large pot of gruel, and then put the pot of gruel into four bowls. The first bowl was served to my brother, which was the thickest and had the most contents, because he had to walk more than ten miles to school every day. The next is to me, because my mother is patriarchal and regards me as more important than my sister, and then to my sister, and finally to herself. Because there wasn't much in the pot in the first place, all that went into her bowl was thin soup.

When the wheat harvest came, my mother took me to pick the ears of wheat. Usually, I can't pick up a small basket in the wheat field for a day. One day, however, the peasants seemed to show mercy and allowed us to pick up wheat in their fields after harvesting. It's like we're picking up ears of wheat, we're snatching ears. My mother and I picked up a lot of them in a few moments. It was already evening, but my mother refused to leave, because there were still many ears of wheat in the field, and if she didn't pick them up today, she would let someone else pick them up tomorrow.

However, the peasants suddenly came running after the work, surrounded us, said that we were stealing their wheat, took us to the village, scolded us fiercely, and robbed my mother of her brand new blue scarf. It was bought by my dad for my mom before he went to Xi'an.

By the time the peasants let us go, it was already dark. While wiping her tears, my mother took my hand and walked briskly towards my home more than ten miles away. The sky is full of stars, the moon is shining, and in the endless darkness of the night, a path seems to have no end in the wilderness. The wolves howled around us, and we could even see patches of eyes glowing with blue light. I trembled with fear, held my mother's hand tightly, and walked briskly. When I got home, it was late at night, and my brother, sister, and sister were already asleep in bed. That's when my mom started cooking for us.

The most shocking and unforgettable thing for me was when my mother and I were passing by a market town and saw a peasant man chasing a girl who was only six or seven years old. The girl was dressed in a dark blue cloth dress, which only a well-off family could afford. Obviously, this girl is not a native girl in the countryside at first glance. However, she stole a radish from someone's field, but let the family find out. The man held a long wooden spoon for excrement and chased after the girl with a loud shout. The girl was clearly frightened and ran as hard as she could. However, there was a small reservoir in front of her that blocked her way, and she had no way to escape, so she jumped into the reservoir at once. By the time people got her out of the reservoir, she was dead.

This scene frightened me for a long time, and I woke up from my dreams several times. A cute little girl who lost her life for a turnip is something that I can't even think of today. After we followed our stepfather to the Pinglongmiao Railway Family Compound, I also witnessed one of my classmates stealing a farmer's watermelon, and after the farmer caught him, he stripped all his clothes, tied them to a tree, and beat them with a belt. Therefore, whenever I see the vast and empty loess slopes and the Weibei Plateau in front of my eyes, my heart naturally recalls the sad and desolate scenes. That's also the main color of my life and my mother, my brother and my sister's destiny.

In the barren and disaster-ridden loess of Shaanxi, our family has lost a lot and suffered a catastrophe. However, our family did not sink helplessly, and under the leadership of my stepfather, we gradually came out of the predicament. When we arrived in Nanping, Fujian, the world suddenly changed, under the blue sky and white clouds are green mountains and green waters, beautiful rivers and mountains. We started eating red rice and fresh vegetables at meals. I have never seen that rice in Shaanxi, and although we have seen those vegetables, we have never dared to buy them. The fragrant rice and delicious stir-fry made me feel like I was going to heaven. My mother said that we now eat better than the landlords and old money in the past. We, the Railway Engineering Agency, are wealthy units, and when their families walk down the street with baskets to buy groceries, people look at them with envy. Our family no longer has to worry about food, clothing and livelihood.