Pink Memories (short story) 2018.7.26

We walked all the way to the intersection of Peach Blossom Village, and when we were about to break up, the young lady pointed to a slightly wider dirt road and said to me, "Follow this road for three or four miles, and it is Cui Valley." It's poor, but the scenery is pretty good. "I thanked her again and waved goodbye to her.

Under the embankment is a dirt road that can be passed by walking tractors, and on the side of the road are paddy fields. Because it is a mountainous area, there are many hills and mountains, and the fields are squeezed into the cracks between the hills and the mountains, and the land is not only pitiful, but also the soil is not fertile. Therefore, the people here are poorer and poorer. But the girls here are beautiful and hard-working. Like Aunt and Mother Xu, they all married from here in the past.

After a little further walking, we entered a canyon area. There is a flat river in the canyon, probably dozens of acres of fields and two small ponds. There are very few villages, only a dozen or so families, crammed into a flat and narrow mountain col. A small stream flows past the village. There is a small sun-drying flat next to the creek. There are some goose feathers and greens planted around the sun-dried grain flat. The same dilapidated farmhouse of the same size was located on a hillside by the hill. When I came to the village, I saw twenty or thirty people gathered in front of the house, and there were four or five dining tables in front of an adobe house.

Before I could reach the edge of the village, I saw a girl in a brand new yellow down jacket running towards me with great joy, and it was not until she ran in front of me that I recognized her, ah, it was my beloved Qing girl. It's just that she changed her clothes and coiled up her two braids, so that I didn't recognize them for a while.

"How did you find this place?" she said, looking very excited and surprised. I smiled and said, "Is this harder than solving equations?" and she looked at me with that kind and pleasant look and said, "I didn't expect you to come to me." Of course, I can't say that I want to be with you, it will make me feel embarrassed and faceless, so I said, "Liangbao went to visit my relatives at Grandma's, and I was so bored at home alone, so I had to come to you." ”

She said, "Go, I'll take you to my uncle." So, I followed the eye-eyed girl to the place where the people gathered, and everyone looked at us with strange and strange eyes, as if we were really a natural pair. The eye-eyed girl took me to the hall, where Xu's father and mother were all sitting, and they were all surprised to see me coming. The eye-eyed girl said to her parents, "Liangbao went to visit his relatives, and he had nowhere to go, so he came." However, such statements can only be used as an excuse and cannot be believed.

Sister Qing took me to her uncle again. Her uncle was in his fifties, and he looked a little dignified, like a man of high prestige in the village. When he saw that Sister Qing had brought me to him, he took me as her object, looked me carefully, and asked, "How old are you?" Her uncle nodded at her and said, "This is a good man, and he will have a great future in the future." "How can my uncle see it?" said her uncle, "and you see, this lady's eyes are so bright." She looked me in the eye and said, "Yes, my uncle can read me." "I don't really believe in looks, but my uncle said that I was promising, and I didn't deny it at all, because I also thought I would be promising.

Soon it was time to eat, and there were four tables in front of the house, one table around which the parents and VIPs of the men and women were sitting, and the other three tables could be sat casually. I'll just sit with Miss Qing. The banquet is a flowing water seat, that is, after eating one and the next. The first to serve is the braised pork ribs. However, as soon as a large plate of dishes was put on the table, everyone was like a hungry wolf who hadn't eaten for many days, and they snatched up a dish in an instant. Then just wait for the next dish. The next dish was chili chicken nuggets, and again, everyone snatched up the chicken nuggets. It made me and Sister Qing even have time to move the chopsticks. By the time it was time for the third dish, the braised eel, I thought I would have to grab a piece anyway, because I was already hungry after a long morning's journey. However, it was for everyone to grab it again. I really can't figure out how people here eat banquets with such virtue. So, I got angry, put my chopsticks on the table, and left the banquet. I'd rather go hungry than be so ugly. However, my departure did not elicit a reaction from anyone. As always, everyone is scrambling to get food.

At this time, Sister Qing came after from behind and said to me, "Don't be angry, we people in the countryside eat like this, we usually don't see meat, and when we see meat, it's like dying." With that, he dragged me into the kitchen. The kitchen was busy, but the chef knew her very well, and when he saw that she was bringing me here, he filled me and her with a big bowl of rice, and put half a spoonful of the braised pork that had just come out of the pot into our bowls, and let us hide in the kitchen to eat.

When we had finished eating, we saw that the banquet had been eaten, and all the dishes, wine, and rice on the table had been eaten. So, the man began to stand on the grass in front of the house, smoking a cigarette, burping, and staring blankly at the sun in the sky. The guests went into the house to drink tea. My sister and I don't smoke, so we asked her aunt to call her into the house for tea. The hall was full of people. While drinking tea, the guests pulled Zhang's family, Li Jiaxiao's homely routine. The content is nothing more than saying that who can earn money and live well, and who has no ability to live old and poor. It's not just whose cousin stole another man, whose man spent his money on other women. These contents are very boring, but the guests are very happy to talk about it, and they love to listen to it, but also love to comment. Although I don't like to listen to their boring homely routines, I like to drink peanut and bean tea. Peanuts and soybeans are stir-fried, mixed with ginger, sesame seeds, and tea leaves, and they are eaten while drinking, which is really fragrant. In our country, the host always has to prepare a lot of peanuts and soybeans, as long as the guests don't say they don't drink it, the host will always serve tea to the guests. So, I sat with the guests and drank tea cup after cup.

It was almost two o'clock after eating, and then drinking tea and chatting, and before I knew it, it was three o'clock, and the guests should be in a hurry to go home. At this time, a cousin in his forties wanted to go back to Xiuling, and Father Xu called me to follow her back. I immediately waved my hand and said, "I'm going back with you." Father Xu said, "We are going to perform in Pingluo Village in the evening, and we are afraid that it will be until eleven or twelve o'clock at night when we go back." Qing Meizi also said, "Aren't you going to the county seat early tomorrow morning to take the train back to Xi'an?"

Yes, if I go back to Xi'an tomorrow, I must go back to Xiuling now. However, I really don't want to go back to Xiuling, I want to be with Sister Jing, and I also want to watch Sister Qing perform a show at night. It makes me feel embarrassed. To go back or to stay? I really can't make up my mind. So, I turned my eyes to Miss Haru and said, "What do you say?" and Girl Haru, shaking her head, said, "It's your business, you have to make your own decisions." Of course, I knew that she didn't want me to leave, so I made up my mind and said, "I won't go back to Xiuling, I want to watch Miss Qing's show at night." The eye-eyed girl's face immediately showed a brisk expression. When Father Xu saw that I had made a decision, he said, "Okay, you can come with us to Pingluo later." ”