There is a saying among the people in the mountains, called "seeing the ridge running and breaking the leg", from one mountain village to another, often have to go up a few slopes and turn over a few ridges, the empty mountains, there are often tired mountain villagers, shouting at the throat, the valley reverberates, endures.

My father was born in the plains, but my mother grew up in the mountains, and my two uncles got married, and my two aunts got married, and they still live in the mountains. According to my mother, in the early days, the mountain people would sing songs to each other, but I never heard them.

My grandparents' family lived in the Huibu Zuoshan Brigade, a place called "Shanmeiling". The aunt married into the Dongling Brigade under the bath, and she was in Dongling, where the brigade was located. The aunt married to Shangwangping of the Guanxia Wangping Brigade.

The three places are all in the depths of Yuewang Mountain, my grandfather's house is in the south of the mountain, Dajie's house is in the east of the mountain, and my aunt's house is in the north of the mountain, the position is the highest, almost to the top of the mountain. Relatively speaking, only my house is the lowest, located at the foot of the mountain, backed by the big mountain, full of impenetrable mountains.

When I was a child, I was most excited to hear about my relatives, and now I can't tell why I was so excited. It may be that you can occasionally get snacks from your elders to relieve your cravings, or you may be able to play carefree without being called by your parents to do this and that.

Excitement is accompanied by exertion, the mountain road is too long and too long, and it is often half a day, sometimes a whole day. I remember that from the age of four or five, I had to walk independently, even if I was accompanied by my parents, and I had two younger sisters to carry on my back, and my sister and I no longer enjoyed this kind of treatment.

The mountain road is not only the road of visiting relatives and friends, but also the road of production and labor of mountain people, and in the process of visiting relatives, I have seen the diligence and wisdom of many mountain people.

There are a lot of boulders in the mountain, and they are also very large, the surface is pitch black, and after being chiseled, there are hemp spots inside, so the people in the mountain call it "granite". Granite can be found everywhere and is very versatile, and there are specialized craftsmen called stonemasons.

People in the mountains generally use granite as the foundation of the wall, which can prevent rain erosion. Generally, granite is made of granite to make a high threshold, which can prevent insects and snakes from crawling in. The pens for cattle and pigs are generally made of granite.

People with a solid family background are more particular, and there are generally two lions carved of granite squatting in front of the door, or other Rui beasts, which are used to town houses. Others will make some stone tables and stone benches to place in the courtyard or pavilion.

Granite is produced in the deep mountains, and the plains are also used a lot, in addition to the courtyard of the house, the alley and lane of the market town, the path in front of the door in the village, and the patio ditch for drainage, you can see the figure of granite.

No matter where the deep water well, the wellhead is hewn with granite, a section above the ground, most of them are round, a small part of the outside of the octagonal inside is round, some are octagonal or even quadrangular. The wells are generally surrounded by granite paving, high inside and low outside, and the outermost side is built into a ditch to facilitate drainage.

Granite is also used to build the archway, the main intersection of the place where the family lives, there will generally be a such archway, across the road, only to see the door post, or three or five into one or three doors, highlight the surname, record the merits, spread the great achievements.

There is a unique square archway in Huibu Xizhuang, there are only two in the country in such a shape, it describes the emperor's grace of Zumeng, the name is Jimei archway, it is built by the river, it is said that there used to be a busy wharf, and now the memorial arch is still there, it is preserved as a place of interest, but the wharf has disappeared, and it is full of rice fields all around.

The pagoda that means to eliminate disasters and go to disasters to suppress the flood beasts is generally made of granite, towering on the river bank, it is not so difficult to suppress the flood, and now the "river chief system" project is implemented, the dam is high and the embankment is solid, and the flood is difficult to wreak havoc into harm, and the pagoda is only preserved as a relic.

Walking in the mountains, there will be a pavilion on the side of the road from time to time, four pillars with a spire, the pillars are sometimes granite and sometimes wood, and the beams on it become the spire, build a few horizontal logs, or put a few large stones, for sitting down and resting.

The granite is hewn into stone slabs, and the steps are paved one by one, which are common stone slabs in the mountains, winding up, and some have no end, and I don't know how many generations and how many people's efforts have been spent.

The stone road connects the mountains and the mountains, connects the various mountain villages, and is shaded by green trees, accompanied by plants and trees, paved with shallow water, and built into stone bridges from deep streams. Meanders upward, sometimes steep and sometimes gentle, sometimes wide and sometimes narrow.

The general stone road generally only allows one person and one sedan car to pass, as the stone road of the traffic artery, the paved stone strips are wider and thicker, and the mountain road is wider, smoother and more solid, similar to the ancient tea horse road in the southwest border.

With the opening of the highway in the villages, many stone roads have no people to walk on, lack of maintenance, and have been impassable for a long time.

A very small number of them have been excavated and developed as scenic spots together with the beautiful scenery, and have been explored by modern people as relics and as historical nostalgia. More have since fallen silent, drowning in overgrown weeds.

Walking through the mountain road, there are common streams, and every village inhabited by mountain people, in the place where the water is turbulent, you can always see water mills, water scoops, and water presses. The water flow is used to impact the waterwheel, which drives the bearing to rotate and complete the work of grinding, scooping and pressing.

You can also hear a regular sound of "bangbang", the valley reverberates, never stopping, this is a simple device for mountain people to drive away birds and beasts, in the vicinity of farmland and orchards, can often be seen.

Cut out a section of bamboo tube, horizontal in the stream, after filling with water, it will sink, and the water will automatically overflow, and then naturally stilt up, knock on another section of bamboo tube, make a sound to drive away, the mountains and fields are quiet, the sound is light and crisp and long.

The water mill is generally made of granite into wheels and grooves, the grooves are connected into a large circle, and the stone wheels roll in the stone grooves, and the things that need to be milled are put into it, and they can be ground into powder. The water is made of a whole stone to make a mortar, and then the stone is made into a pestle, and there are also wood, which are used to remove the chaff from the rice.

Water press is more complicated, the main body includes two parts, water mill and oil press, water mill is used to grind the crops to be pressed into powder, oil press is made of particularly large and strong miscellaneous wood, made of special containers, in addition to many wooden wedges of different sizes.

After the crops are ground into powder, they are put into the oil press, from small to large, constantly driven into the wooden wedges, the powder is squeezed, and the oil overflows little by little, along the gap in the stone trough, flowing into a line, filling wooden oil drums.

There are not many crops used to extract oil, rapeseed and tea seed are common in mountainous areas, and peanut seeds are also in the plains, and the oil squeezed out is called rapeseed oil, tea oil, and peanut oil respectively.

Both rape and peanuts are cultivated artificially, and rapeseed is planted in paddy fields in autumn and winter using rice to change seasons, and is common in plains and mountains. Peanuts are cultivated in dry land, and it is rare in mountainous dry land, and more in plain dry land.

Tea seeds are only found in mountainous areas, and they are divided into two types on wild tea trees. One fruit is large, about the same size and size as a peach, and the tree grows tall. One fruit is small, about the same size and size as a plum, and the tree grows relatively short.

The tea seeds produced by these two tea trees can be used to extract oil, but the tall tea tree is the most popular among mountain people because it produces large fruits, large seeds, and high oil content. Perhaps because of this, the tall tea tree is called "Camellia oleifera" by the mountain people.

In addition to these two, there is a shorter tea tree, which is as dense as a shrub, and the new leaves are tender and fat, which are picked by the mountain people to make tea, which is the real tea tree in the mountain population, and belongs to the black tea series.

Every time I go to the mountain people's house, I will always enthusiastically bring out such a bowl of hot tea, which is thick and twisted, a little lighter into a dark reddish-brown, a little thicker almost black, sweet and slightly bitter, infiltrating the heart and spleen, the effect is powerful, it can go to greasy, it can relieve fatigue, and it can also sober up.

"Camellia oleifera" is particularly unique, other tea trees are low and small, and the bark color is the same as that of ordinary trees, which is turquoise. "Camellia oleifera" is tall and stout, with golden bark and a layer of fine fluff.

The new leaves can not be made into tea, but they often mutate, grow fat and thick, some keep the original leaf shape, some will curl, and even grow into a hollow round, like a peach, the mountain people call it "tea bud", the taste is delicious, similar to fruit.

In early spring, the trees spit green, and the tea leaves are the easiest to grow "tea buds". Climbing the top of the tree to pick the "tea bud" is a very happy thing, both the fun of climbing the tree, and the beauty of the stomach, if you can pick the "tea bud" like a peach, the excitement can last for a long time.

The wood of "Camellia oleifera" is quite hard, grows slowly, and rarely grows into a towering tree, and the largest one seen is only an adult's thin arm. Although it is hard, it grows irregularly and crookedly, and it is difficult to see any section that is particularly straight.

No matter what kind of tea tree, it is a treasure in the eyes of mountain people, it is not easy to be wild, and no one has ever deliberately cut it down. Deep in the mountains, sporadic growth is common, and under the deliberate protection and transplantation of mountain people, some places will grow into patches.

When I was about four or five years old, my grandmother's family moved down from the "Shanmeiling" in the mountains, and a new house was rammed with loess on the incense burner mountain at the foot of the mountain, and it was built with two floors, which was very spacious and occupied my childhood memories ever since.

The origin of the name of the incense burner mountain has not been verified, and on a mountain in front of it, there is a tall camellia tree, which grows into a forest. On the small hill behind, clusters of low tea trees grow among the shrubs.

There are many good memories here, and I followed my cousin through it, jumping in the woods, climbing in the trees, and until the sound of my grandfather calling for dinner sounded, I would return with my cousin with reluctance.

Every late autumn, the tea seed ripening season, the mountain people often dry a piece of tea seed in front of the door, after drying, the outer husk bursts, and the inner seed is exposed, generally four, the size of a thumb.

Then peel it out by hand, pick it up in a basket and take it to the oil press, squeeze it into tea oil, and use it to stir-fry vegetables with a special fragrance, which is still very popular.