Pink Memories (short story) 2018.7.26

Pingluo Village is located in a hill next to the Blue Lake, and there are more than a dozen families, all of which are low, dilapidated adobe houses. There are hardly any young people in the village, only old people and children. Men's waists are a little bent, and years of hard work have bent their waists early. The women wore coarse cloth clothes with patches, and their faces were vicissitudes and bitterness, just like the indigenous African women we see on TV.

But the singing family is a rich man in the village, everyone calls him Boss Xu, in his forties, and he looks shrewd and strong. I heard that he is the contractor of the construction team, and he has been contracting projects in Guangzhou. His house is a brick-to-top new house, and a layer of pure white magnetic sheets is pasted on the outside, which is very eye-catching and enviable. Just after the New Year, my father passed away, so I wanted to make the scene bigger, firstly, to repay the old man's nurturing kindness, and secondly, to show off my glory and wealth.

Two large tents were erected in front of his house, and wreaths and baskets were placed around them. A huge arch was erected on the front of the tent, and some couplets and condolences were attached and hung. Outside the tent there were two large stoves, and some people were cooking around the stoves. There are more than a dozen mahjong machines in the tent, some guests are busy playing mahjong, and others are sitting at the mahjong machine table eating peanuts and melon seeds and drinking tea. Because it was very cold in the mountains, there were piles of fires in the tent, which made people feel very warm.

When I came to the village with Sister Qing's family, it was already five o'clock. It will be dark. Boss Xu arranged us at a table at the innermost part of the tent. Let people pour tea and cigarettes for us, and bring peanuts and melon seeds. We sat at the table eating melon seeds and peanuts. Because the eye sister and her mother were going to perform, they didn't dare to eat peanuts and melon seeds casually, so they could only drink some tea. After a while, a middle-aged man and a young woman came, both hired by the village troupe of Miss Qing's family. Father Xu took out a photocopied notebook and discussed with everyone which programs should be staged in the evening.

When it was time to eat, someone put the big round table on the mahjong machine and began to serve the food. There were many people eating, seventy or eighty, and the two great tents were filled. The dishes are naturally not as good as at noon at Uncle Qingmei's house, but the portions are very large, all of them are served on large plates or even in small pots, there are fried pork slices with bamboo shoots, fried green peppers with pork intestines, fried fungus with eggs, roasted minced pork with vermicelli, and rice is packed in a large basin. So, everyone doesn't have to fight to eat.

After eating, the troupe members began to prepare. The sound equipment and performance props were brought by them when they came from home in the morning, and they were placed in the corner of the mourning hall. So, everyone started to put on makeup and set up equipment on the edge of the mourning hall. I had nothing to do, so I sat next to Miss Qing, watched her put on makeup, and helped her hold her clothes when she was changing. Although this matter is small, it makes the eye-eyed girl happy. If a girl can ask you to help her with her clothes, it means that she has you in mind. Xu's father was adjusting the huqin, and Xu's mother and the middle-aged man hung the miniature megaphone on their bodies and tried to sound it.

When everything is ready, the show begins. The first show was sung by the Eye Girl. She took off her down jacket and asked me to hold it for her, wearing a thin long skirt. The stage is a platform of only more than ten square meters. She walked over to the microphone and began to introduce the village troupe. Her introduction was like a speech, speaking in local Mandarin, in a cordial tone and in a soft voice. Then, she began to sing "Fly Pigeon" solo. It was a song that was all the rage at the time. When she sang, "O dove, soaring in the blue sky, bring with me my ardent hope." My heart will always be with you, bravely fly far away", I saw her eyes looking at me all the time, and my face immediately felt a little feverish, and I felt that the two of us were already truly in love with each other. She sang so beautifully that she was like a nightingale, and made my heart fly like a dove.

Because of this thought, I didn't even remember which song she sang next. When she walked off the stage, I hurriedly ran over and put a down jacket on her, and said to her with a red face, "You sing really well, better than Zheng Xulan." She smiled and said, "How is that possible? If I sang better than her, I wouldn't be singing here." I said, "But in my heart, you just sing better than her." ”

There are only a few people in the village troupe, but there are still a lot of programs, including the ancient opera "Xue Pinggui and Wang Baochuan" performed by Xu's mother and the middle-aged man, and the ancient opera "Eighteen Phases" performed by the young woman and the middle-aged man. However, I still like to watch Haru's performance, she is almost the main star and protagonist of tonight, not only singing folk songs and pop songs, but also playing a solo on the electronic keyboard, and dancing the dance "Red Coral" while singing. Her dancing posture is simply beautiful, beautiful and beautiful.

The show is over. I took the down jacket and asked Sister Qing to change her clothes quickly, and then brought a basin of warm water for her to wash her face and hands. She was very grateful for my good care, and looked at me with a charming smile from time to time, which made me feel very sweet and comfortable.

When everything was cleaned up, the middle-aged man loaded the audio equipment on the motorcycle and left with the young woman. I carried a big bag of costumes and walked back with Miss Haru and her parents. It was almost eleven o'clock at night, the sky was full of stars, the moon was shining, and we walked briskly back along the path by the Blue Lagoon. Xu's father walked in the front with a box and a microphone in his hand, and Xu's mother walked in the middle with a bag. Sister Qing and I walked at the end. As I walked, I hummed the song "Fly Pigeon" that Miss Qing had sang, and although I couldn't sing well, I could sing that passion. Sister Qing echoed me in an encouraging way. It's peaceful, but it makes me feel good.

Walking to the edge of the Blue Lagoon, we walked and enjoyed the lake and the scenery around the lake. I have seen the Blue Lagoon many times in the past, but I have only seen it during the day, and I have never seen the Blue Lagoon at night. We stopped, talked, laughed, and laughed. Mother Xu said to us, "Don't be grinding, I'm afraid that you won't be able to get home until dawn." Father Xu was open-minded and said to Mother Xu, "Don't care about them, they are all about to become adults." ”

Listening to Xu's words, we were even more bold and casual, sometimes simply stopping by the lake, looking at the dream-like lake in the night, and listening to the birds singing lonely in the middle of the night. We even sat together on the high slopes of the lake for a while.

Suddenly, the eye-eyed girl said with some sadness, "You will go back to Xi'an tomorrow, and I don't know when I will see you again." I said, "I'll come back in the summer." She shook her head and said, "You will be in your third year of high school during the summer vacation, and your third year of high school is the sprint stage of the college entrance examination, so I'm afraid you won't have time." I said, "I'll still find a way to come back." If you can't come back, I'll call you. "Because I miss her very much, too. She nodded.

We sat on the high slope for about ten minutes, and when the girl looked at her watch, it was almost twelve o'clock, and she said to me, "Let's go back, you have to catch the car tomorrow morning." So, we walked back together. At this time, Xu's father and mother may have already arrived home. We didn't say a word along the way, and walked quickly along the moonlit mountain path.

Back in Zhushan Chong, the moon has already reached the edge of the sky, and it is dark all around, only the lights are still on in the house of Sister Qing's house. Walking to the path at the edge of the pond, I want to go back to Xiuling, because I am afraid that Liangbao will always be waiting for me. However, Sister Qing did not agree to let me walk alone at night, so she took me home. At this time, Xu's mother had not yet slept, and she took me to a room prepared for guests, and the bed was already covered with sheets and bedding. Sister Qing brought me a basin of hot water and asked me to wash my face and feet. Then, I fell asleep in bed. There is only one door between this room and Sister Qing's room, and the door is ajar, and you can hear the sound of Sister Qing washing her face and feet. This made me feel a desire to be close to my sister and sleep with her. However, I also knew that this was something I should never do because we were all young and students.