Snow covers the fields, the main roads in the countryside. The mud that was trampled on during the noon melt froze into hard lumps at night, and the road was potholed and stumbling. The road faces south, stretching along the slopes of the field, twisting and turning in the snow like a rope thrown at random.

The three of us, Liu Jianguo, the class leader, Mr. Wang, and me, braved the cold wind of the early morning of the ninth winter in the Weihe Plain, and were walking south along this rural road, to a village called Tianjiazhai to find Tian Fang's father, Tian Maorong. We will give him 400 yuan, and he will hand it over to the parents of the party to whom Tian Fang is betrothed, repay the bride price or bride price he has accepted, and completely cut the rope that binds Tian Fang financially. What an encouraging feat!

Four hundred dollars in my school bag, hanging heavily on my shoulders, that is tantamount to hundreds of jumping hearts, how can I not feel heavy!

At the New Year's party, our opera "The White-Haired Girl" was a great success, Tian Fang's name disappeared, and those classmates who knew her or didn't know her, those teachers who taught her or didn't teach her at all, all affectionately called her the white-haired girl when they met, not to mention the classmates in our class. The white-haired girl in the play has gained the right to a new life and a happy and free love, and the white-haired girl in real life - Tian Fang, the feudal clouds shrouded in the soul have not yet dissipated.

Although there was a sensational robbery of Tian Fang in the town, her father still did not change his mind and would never allow her to break the marriage contract with Dazhang Village that had been confirmed by the three media and six certificates. It was not her father who stressed her the most, she said that she would never return home, not even the father-daughter relationship, and never return to the "black and clattering dry well". The most stressful for her was Bashi Maizi, whose father had promised her the dowry she had accepted in Dazhang Village, which had already been eaten by the whole family, turned into dung, and applied to the fields. Eight stones of wheat, one stone and ten buckets, one bucket of thirty-five city catties, a full two thousand eight hundred catties, equivalent to more than three hundred yuan!

A fundraiser has been set off at the Normal School!

I still get excited when I think about the fundraiser. At first, it was just the actions of a few students on our basketball team, but I didn't expect it to expand to the whole school. After the basketball game with the county armed forces department ended that day, on the way back to school with captain He Changhai, I was idle about the robbery of Tian Fang, which had already passed. I said, if I had three or four hundred dollars, I would be willing to take them out and pay off the debt in her heart. He Changhai said: Can our team get together enough? More than a dozen basketball team members are getting together and getting together, but a few dozen yuan is far from enough. When I returned to school, the news spread to the boys and girls in my class, and everyone donated money to me. Immediately afterwards, students from other classes also rushed to my dormitory and my classroom to donate, and even more than a dozen teachers also donated...... In just three or four days, I had more than 500 yuan in my school bag, which was more than I needed. After discussing with my homeroom teacher, Mr. Wang, I decided to return the extra 100 yuan to the teachers and students who donated the most, leaving 400 yuan to be enough.

"In order to break the feudal chains, I will donate three ......"

"We can no longer tolerate our sisters as victims of feudal marriage......s!

"For liberation, for freedom! I donate ......"

The faces of boys and girls were superimposed in front of my eyes, and the impassioned words rang in my ears, which I will never forget! Everyone is not only sympathetic to Tian Fang's suffering, but a common demand of the times. The first generation of young people in New China, who had just gained liberation and freedom, had a strong anti-feudal consciousness as a common demand. The students of these normal schools, especially the crash course students, came from the bottom of society and hated not only the landlords and capitalists, but especially the feudal marriages. Many people have had similar experiences with Tian Fang, divorce and dissolution of the marriage contract, not only will not be ridiculed in the normal school, but will be universally supported and sympathized.

"You're divorced?"

"Gone!"

"Completely dry?"

"Zero is dry. What about you?"

"I just brought it up, and I'm leaving!"

"Hurry up and leave! Go to ...... again"

It's an open conversation, not a discussion...... It is not surprising that an eye-catching white-haired girl like Tian Fang has received enthusiastic fundraising.

I pressed my school bag, 400 yuan was in the palm of my hand, my heart couldn't stop a fever, and the cold wind in the early morning on the midwinter field was not so strong.

The three of us walked into Tianjiazhai, and after several inquiries, we finally found the door of Tian Fang's house.

The two houses did not even have a wall, and at a glance it was clear that this was a very poor peasant. The three of us stood at the door of the house, and a woman came out, about in her early forties, and it could be concluded at a glance that it was Tian Fang's mother, whose face was too similar. When she saw these three strangers dressed differently from the croppers, she was stunned for a moment, and then asked in a little horror, "Who are you looking for?"

Teacher Wang explained our identity, and the panic on Tian Fang's mother's face immediately disappeared, but she was even more panicked. She let us in, but couldn't sit us down. Under a tattered quilt on the kang, four babies and women sat around, and there was no stool on the ground for people to sit on. She wiped her hands and went out the door, and when she entered again, she carried a bench, probably borrowed from a neighbor's house. Anyway, the three of us sat down next to each other on the bench.

She poured water, took cigarettes, and brought a wooden box containing the end of the cigarettes, but could not find the cigarette pouch. Mr. Wang lit his paper cigarette roll and persuaded her to make any more trouble. She sat down on a wooden pier under the stove, but she didn't know what to say. Peasant women who have never seen the world and have never dealt with public officials are often like this. Although Teacher Wang was very kind, she asked her about the situation at home, she didn't raise her head, lit a fire, and answered a short sentence, but she didn't say anything for a long time. Tian Fang's father went to collect dung, and she told us that she then instructed her son, who was sitting on the kang, to find it.

The old man returned, with a black cloth wrapped around his head, and his nose was red from the cold, and as soon as he entered the door, he cried out, "Three gentlemen are coming!

"What do you three do?" he asked, looking up.

Teacher Wang talked to him about Tian Fang's marriage and explained to him the truth of freedom of marriage in the new society. The old man lowered his head, smoked a cigarette, and made a gesture of patient listening. As soon as Mr. Wang stopped, he raised his face, made a look of deep righteousness, and said: "The new society is good, and we peasants support the Communist Party." The marriage of the children should be managed by the family, and the school should be in charge of these things?"

Teacher Wang patiently explained to him the reasons why the school should be in charge.

"I don't believe in my words, I don't know what to do. Tian Fang's father said, "You are all knowledgeable people, you know more than me, I will say the next sentence to others, three media and six certificates, the neighborhood knows, and now the water is flushed, am I still a person in Tianjiazhai?"

I was secretly surprised. This old peasant, dressed in a black home-woven coarse cotton jacket and cotton trousers, with patches stacked on top of his patches, his elbows showing black cotton wool, his face was wrinkled, and the tip of his nose hung with snot drops like Qing Lingling's water, and his fingers holding the cigarette pouch were cracked like tree bark, but a string of half-baked words came out of his mouth. I had already learned from Tian Fang that her father was a stupid farmer who couldn't read a word. A stupid farmer who can't read big words, when he talks, he has to talk about faith and righteousness, mixed with some half-understood ancient words. It would not be strange if my father spoke like this, but Tian Fang's father called me strange.

Teacher Wang simply asked about Bashi Maizi.

"There is this. Tian Fang's father agreed, "The women of the family sell for money, and the sons of the families spend money on daughters-in-law." I have eaten other people's wheat, and I have no conscience......"

Teacher Wang reasoned again, saying that it was not a matter of conscience at all. I also took out 400 yuan with one hand: "This is a little bit of the heart of our classmates and teachers, and there is only one purpose, so that Tian Fang can study with peace of mind, and then force her to get into the sedan chair......"

The old man's eyes widened, and he was stunned as he stared at the thick bundle of tickets I handed him in front of him. He clearly didn't expect this from us. After being stunned for a long time, as if he suddenly came to his senses, he suddenly stretched out his hands, pushed my hands away, and stood up: "This can't be, this can't be!"

"We are for Tian Fang's future......" I said.

"Why can't you lose your trust!" said the old man.

"If you don't accept it, we'll -" Teacher Wang couldn't convince him, so he resorted to the last trick we discussed on the way, "Give it to the township, and the township** will hand it over to the family in Dazhang Village." Of course, in this way, the matchmaker and you will inevitably not look good. You know, the last time I robbed someone, the county detained three people from Dazhang Village, and I just released ......"

"Oops!" Tian Fang's father sat on the threshold with his head in his hands and sighed.

Teacher Wang motioned for me to put the money down, and I looked at the tattered little table with my legs twisted with hemp rope, and put the money down.

"We're leaving. Teacher Wang stood up and said.

Tian Fang's father raised his head, saw the stack of money on the table, did not refuse, showed a guilty look on his face, opened his hands, and blocked the door: "You can't leave if you say anything...... Don't eat, sit and sit again......"

We sat down again.

"Alas, the three comrades......" he shook his head, with a sincere and panicked look on his face, "liberated, are all the past etiquette out of date?"

Teacher Wang smiled: "That's not what I said. You, a poor peasant, have turned over, planted your land solidly, and lived a better life, what are you doing with so much stinky etiquette?"

"It's good that it's liberated! It's really good! It's good that there are no more soldiers, no more taxes, and no more officials who deceive the people! But this new society--" Tian Fang's father now showed the innocence of an old crop, and said, "Isn't it all big or small? Is there no distinction between men and women?

Teacher Wang laughed and shook his head.

"You see—" the old man gave an example, "I have five surnames in Tianjiazhai, and the surname Tian is the master, and the rest were added later. People say, 'The crooked Hu family, the Qin family, the evil ghosts are in the Liu and Li families, and the benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, and wisdom of the Datian family.' Now, the Tian family is no longer polite! Look at those men and women, this is divorced, that one is free! It's all messed up...... Of course, we can't even control our women!"

"Why do you want to manage other people's homes?" Teacher Wang asked with a smile, "Young people, listen to what you don't listen to, you have your own ideas!

Tian Fang's father sighed: "We have never talked nonsense to others in the older generations, poor is poor, but we haven't done anything that makes people point fingers......

"You have oppressed me all my life!" said Tian Fang's mother, "and now the child can't hold it back...... That's it!"

"You-" Tian Fang's father blushed, "I don't think I can survive!"

"It's so poor that it clangs, and there are a lot of stinking etiquette!" the woman became even more courageous, "During the land reform, the working group gave us a table and two chairs, and what about him? At night, he quietly sent it back to the people, let the militia catch him, and interrogated him for half the night, saying that he had hooked up with the rich man, but he only said ...... I can't take ill-gotten gains in vain...... Listen, three of you, this is his manners!"

……

After saying goodbye to Tian Fang's parents, the three of us returned. The sun rises in the grey-blue winter sky, the chill dissipates, and the roads begin to freeze and fill the country roads with mud. The three of us reminisced about the interesting conversation with Tian Fang's father just now, talked and laughed, and walked to the top of the slope.

In front of you is the magnificent wilderness of the Weihe Plain, open and swinging, as far as the eye can see, the tombs of ancient emperors, strategists, and generals of all sizes are scattered in the fields, covered with a layer of snow. They have been sleeping in the underground palace for more than a thousand years, to say the least, but the feudal etiquette they created was discharged outside the palace walls along with the filth in their court, seeping into the fields, seeping into the blood of his subjects, and passed down from generation to generation, creating people of etiquette and righteousness like my father and Tian Fang's father?