The car runs through the mesmerizing landscape paintings.

"Isn't this the most beautiful highway in the world?"

Flying Fish turned his head sideways and asked my father, who was sitting in the passenger seat.

"It doesn't seem like this one, but this one is beautiful enough. You see, on both sides of the road are either mountains, water, or green crops. The mountains and rivers are scattered, and the scenery is suitable, which can really be described as a heavenly axe, and the painter may not be able to paint it! My father rolled down the window and greeted the fresh and pleasant evening breeze.

On the road from Chongzuo to Ningfu, the road is straight and the scenery is beautiful. As far as the eye can see, there are green mountains and green waters, and there are almost no factories in sight, and almost all the people who pass by the highway or walk on the edge of the fields are dressed in black.

"What a pristine ecology!" My father was full of emotion.

"It's the right place to fish. Usually we always go to Daqingzhen, Dongsha Islands, and South China Sea oil fields, where there are big fish fishing, which is exciting enough, but in the vast sea, it is the same everywhere, and it is impossible to distinguish between the southeast and the northwest. If you can't catch a fish, you'll be bored and drowsy. But it's different here. The whole is a landscape painting. Fishing here, catching a fish is happy, not catching a fish, but also wandering in the landscape painting, is also a kind of enjoyment. Therefore, it is said that the green water and clear mountains are the mountains of gold and silver, and it is no problem to live in this kind of place for a few more decades, no wonder there are many famous longevity villages here. "Flying Fish swept away the fatigue on the road and talked endlessly.

My father agreed, saying, "It's the first time I've been here, and I didn't expect the environment to be so well protected here." Which is like our city? The original seven or eight stone mountains in our Sampan Chau City are now not even a shadow of them. Not half of the farmland is to be seen, let alone the idyllic scenery. ”

The seven or eight towering mountains in the city of Sampan Chau were flattened by the quarry boss in the early nineties, and then dug fifty or sixty meters deep into the ground. Now it's all a mountain pond.

"Jiuyin, I'm going to find a girlfriend here. The mountains and rivers here are beautiful, people live long, and there are beauties everywhere, and there are several beautiful villages where we go. "Flying Fish is making fun of me again.

I was fascinated by the scenery outside the window, the green mountains and green waters passing through the window, and the rice fields as neat as a chess grid. In the sunset, it was so charming, and a girl in black was on the edge of the field, giggling while working. Everything made me feel like I was in a dream.

"Squeak! - "Suddenly, Flying Fish braked suddenly, and I almost crashed into the front seat while sitting in the back seat without wearing a seat belt.

It turned out that the flying fish boy was distracted by the scenery on both sides of the road, and the car actually braked suddenly in front of a border inspection station in Longzhou County.

Feiyuzi looked a little nervous, and said in a low voice: "Border inspection!" ”

The so-called border inspection does not seem to have a fixed inspection post, or the inspection post is too far from the road, and we did not see it, anyway, we only saw three PLA soldiers standing on the side of the road, all wearing camouflage uniforms, military caps, and submachine guns.

After Flying Fish quickly rolled down the window, a young soldier came over and saluted Flying Fish.

The soldier motioned for Flying Fish to roll down all the windows and check their ID cards one by one.

When I saw the license plate of the field, it was the ID card of the field. Two more fighters came and demanded to open the trunk.

At this time, Ah Hai and Wei Xiaotang, who were following closely behind, also stopped the car and waited for inspection. Feiyuzi hurriedly got out of the car, took out a pack of Chinese cigarettes, and handed the soldiers cigarettes with a smile on his face, but the soldiers didn't even look at him, and of course they wouldn't take his cigarettes.

The fighters began to interrogate us. It's nothing more than where did you come from and where did you go?

During the interrogation, as we expected before we set off, a soldier found a large bag of black things in the car refrigerator, called the flying fish pig, opened it, and asked the flying fish baby what it was.

This is already a border area, and the border checkpoints are at the forefront of the struggle against the enemy, not only to guard against the interception of all kinds of fugitives and infiltrating foreign enemies, but also to intercept all kinds of drug criminals.

The flying fish boy accompanied the smiling face again, and said: "This is for fishing, it is the bait for us to fish, fishing hemp, we must use the bait to make a nest first......"

Three tall and brave warriors, apparently from the north. They don't understand the Cantonese Mandarin of the flying fish, especially the flying fish, who says "beating the nest" as "playing the pot", and they are even more inexplicable.

The flying fish boy had to make an action while talking, saying: Fishing, is to sprinkle this thing into the water first, lure the fish over and then fish, this is "playing the pot"......

Fortunately, the soldiers saw that there was a lot of fishing gear in the trunks of the two cars. At this time, another soldier who checked Ahai's vehicle walked to our car, handed Wei Xiaotang's ID card to the soldier who checked our car, the soldier took the ID card, held it in his hand, looked at the ID card, and looked at Wei Xiaotang, obviously to verify whether the photo on the ID card matched the real person, when he saw that the nationality column said "Zhuang nationality", his face softened slightly, and asked Wei Xiaotang: "Do you know how to speak Zhuang words?" ”

Wei Xiaotang hurriedly said with a smiling face: "My ancestors have been in Clam Village in Ningzhou County for generations. However, I grew up in Guangdong, and I can't speak strong words, but my roots are here. ”

"The source of the Zuojiang River is here, and there are a lot of fish, but you are in Shatian Water Town, Pearl River Delta, Guangdong, aren't there more fish? How do you come here to fish at the expense of the near and far? The warrior who looked at the trunk of the car asked.

"We're not here to fish." After hearing this, Feiyuzi hurriedly said with a smiling face, "Fishing, it's just one of our side activities, we mainly want to come over to inspect the border trade, such as going to Pingxiang Nanshan to see, want to buy a batch of mahogany furniture, and at the same time visit relatives and friends by the way." ”

At this time, one of the fighters probably saw me wearing a school uniform, looked me up and down, and suddenly asked, "Are you also here to fish?"

Obviously, the border station also often investigates and deals with some human trafficking, fortunately I am a man, and fortunately I am walking in the direction of the border, if I am a girl, and I am going to the mainland, then I am afraid it will be difficult to pass this hurdle.

It is said that there are often some lawbreakers in the country who secretly go to Vietnam to bring Vietnamese women to the mainland. Nominally, it is to carry out transnational marriage introductions and promote friendship between the Chinese and Vietnamese peoples. But in essence, it is to do the trick of abducting Vietnamese women for the sake of petty profits.

I really don't know how to fish, and when the warrior asks me, I don't know how to answer.

At this time, my father didn't know what to do, and suddenly became wise in a hurry.

Before I could answer, he suddenly said with a solemn face, "This is my son." I haven't seen my brother-in-law for more than 30 years, and my son will be in junior high school in September this year. ”

Suddenly, I heard my father say that he had a brother-in-law here, and we couldn't help but look at each other.

"Your brother-in-law? …… Is it in Ningfu County? ”

"No," the father looked solemn, but said word by word: "He is buried in the Longzhou Martyrs Cemetery......"

As soon as the words fell, the three young warriors unanimously said, "Smack!" After standing upright, he saluted his father, and after the salute, his left hand stretched out to the left and made a gesture of release.

The car drove out for a while, and no one spoke. Flying Fish doesn't seem to have recovered from the false alarm just now.

After a mountain pass, Feiyuzi asked his father: "Director Li, I'm surprised, when did you come up with a big brother......

My father was speechless for a long time.

After a long silence, my father said silently: "I have a distant cousin-in-law in my hometown, in March 1979, he went abroad from Shuikou, Longzhou to participate in the counterattack against Vietnam, when he was a platoon commander, died in the attack on Luping, Vietnam, and was later buried in the Longzhou Martyrs Cemetery. After the troops returned home in triumph, the troops gave my cousin ten sets of military uniforms, and the local government condoled two pigs, which can be regarded as condolence. My cousin didn't have a son, so she gave the military uniform to her relatives, and I also got two military uniforms at that time. But I was in elementary school at the time...... I haven't come to see him in more than thirty years. Just now when I saw the soldiers guarding the border with loaded guns, I couldn't help but think of my cousin-in-law. I think that usually I don't come, forget it, but this time the mountains and rivers are far away, so I must take some time to go to my brother-in-law's grave to burn incense and worship. ”

"A must! It's a must! Flying Fish Boy said busily.

Due to some delays at the checkpoint. After coming out of the highway, the sun is already setting in the west, and the birds are home.

This is not far from Wei Xiaotang's hometown. Passing by two ruined barracks, the playground is overgrown with weeds, and a few single and double poles are quietly blowing in the evening breeze, as if they are silently recalling the life of the year.

Flying Fish suddenly asked, "Do you want to find a place to sing mountain songs?" "It means that you don't have to go to the bathroom.

That's what my father and I do.

We parked in an open area on the edge of the col.

The sunset, the mountain breeze, the pine waves, the frogs chirping like drums, are all beautiful pastoral scenery.

The father and the Flying Fish Boy smoked cigarettes while walking around the neighborhood at will. Suddenly, a woman's voice came from not far away: "A few petty officials, it's getting late, where are you going?" ”

The crowd was amazed. How come it is that in such a remote border col, suddenly a woman asks us where we are going in an official language? Isn't this a big talk? And also call us "petty officials"? What age is this!

Flying Fish and my father are both in their early forties, are they still "petty officials"?

Following the prestige, I saw that under the sunset, in a bright paddy field, stood an old woman dressed in black, who looked to be over 90 years old, but her voice was crisp, loud and clear.

"Let's go to the village of Clams. You're not on the wrong path, are you? Flying Fish replied loudly with a smile.

The old woman pointed ahead and said, "Go straight along this road, don't turn around, and you will be there after three villages." ”

When we were about to turn around and leave, we saw the old woman standing barefoot in the watery field that had been raked as smoothly as a mirror, singing mountain songs while bowing her head and stretching out her hands, delicately stretching out her ten fingers to fork eight handfuls of green and slender seedlings from the basket, opening the bow left and right and gently falling forward, and the green seedlings drew a beautiful green lone line in the air, and fell evenly in the paddy field.

The old woman was pounding with the seedlings, and at the same time sang the "Song of Rice Planting" by Yang Wanli of the Song Dynasty with a bright voice:

The farmer throws the seedlings and the field women pick them up, and the children pull the seedlings and the children plant them.

The hat is a scarf, and the rain is wet from the head to the blade.

Zhao Qu took a break from the meal for a while, bowed his head and bent his waist but did not answer.

The seedlings are not firmly planted, and the geese and ducklings are taken care of.

The father, who was about to turn around and leave, was surprised when he heard the voice, "Oh, in the deep mountains and old forests, hehe, it's not simple, the master is in the folk, it seems that the old woman is also a scholar." ”

Flying Fish, Ah Hai and I have never seen this method of sowing seedlings. When we saw the old woman singing on her back and throwing the seedlings into the air, and the seedlings fell into the paddy field in the air, we thought at first that she was a little nervous, and even thought that she had come here alone to be trampled on the crops.

We have lived in the downtown for a long time, and we have always seen people bowing their heads and bending over panting, sweating profusely, and their hands mechanically planting rice in the mud while retreating, but we have never seen such a light and pleasant way of throwing seedlings, although there is no hot labor scene, but there is no trace of tiredness in the loud laughter and beautiful singing.

But later, I saw the old woman singing beautifully, and her movements were solemn, like a goddess scattering flowers.

Flying Fish couldn't help but step forward and asked curiously: "Old woman, ...... are you?"

"I'm throwing seedlings, which is a popular method of sowing seedlings in our area."

By the sunset projected by the mountain pass in the distance, I saw the old woman with a jacquard towel wrapped around her head, and a navy blue short-necked right side placket with colorful lace embroidered on the neck, cuffs, and bottom of the body, and two wide fat black trousers with different color stripes at the hem of the trousers, and blue, red, and green silk and cotton weaves at the knees of the trousers. A delicate apron tied around the waist. At first glance, I knew that it was the Zhuang family, although I couldn't see her face clearly, but I vaguely felt that she was not young.

The father asked loudly, "Old woman, do you still have to work in the fields at such an old age?" ”

After hearing this, the woman gently brushed her hand and said with displeasure: "Little official, don't call me an old woman, it's very rude to call me such a woman." Do you know how old I am? I'll tell you, I'm still young, and I'm only 96 years old this year. ”

Everyone was startled when they heard this, and they were dumbfounded and said, "Old woman, why do you always call us from petty officials and petty officials?" ”

"I'm sorry, I should have called you little comrades. Alas, when I was a child, I was always an official and an official called someone from outside the mountain, and I was called the wrong one for a while. ”

Hearing her say this, everyone suddenly realized that this woman in her nineties was born in the late Qing Dynasty, and when she was a child, she called strange men "officials", which is not to blame.

Hearing that the old woman born in the late Qing Dynasty could still sing and work in the fields, the father and the flying fish boy couldn't help but be interested.

The two of them walked to the edge of the ridge and beckoned to the woman, but when they were about to ask questions, they realized that the paddy field under the woman's feet was actually divided into three parts, but the area was not large. The woman stood in the middle of the field, bending down and rhythmically throwing the seedlings to the two paddy fields next to her, and the seedlings were falling in the paddy fields.

Thinking of this, my father asked puzzledly, "You are working alone, why do you divide the paddy fields into three pieces?" ”

When the woman heard this, she smiled happily and said, "Little official, you are from the city, don't you know, we have a production responsibility system, the piece under my feet is mine, the piece in front is my mother's, and the piece behind me is my grandmother's ......."

Hearing this, a sense of foreboding suddenly flashed in Feiyuzai's heart, his lips trembled for a long time, and he pretended to smile: "That...... Why don't your mother and grandmother come......"

"The two of them went up the mountain early to sing to each other......"

At this time, the sky was dark, a gust of mountain wind blew from the valley, and two old women in black clothes walked out of the forest in front of us, laughing and groaning with their mouths split, and the woman who threw the seedlings stood up straight and said loudly to us: "Little comrade, look back, that is my mother and my grandmother ......" When we spoke, we looked up, only to see the night wind float the long shawl hair of the two women as black as ink to their faces, covering their faces, as if flying through the clouds, the whole face was covered by black hair, and the wind passed by, and the facial features on the face were invisible, I saw that the mouths of the two showed white front teeth.

Feiyuzi rubbed his eyes with his hands, and suddenly had a layer of goosebumps all over his body, and while moving his soft feet back, he asked timidly: "You guys...... Is it a human or a ghost? ”

After that, he quickly turned his legs and ran, but he couldn't take a step out of his legs, it turned out that he was standing on the ridge, and his legs were trembling like a sieve.

"Why are you so naughty and rude? ……”

At this moment, the mother and her grandmother of the rice throwing woman had come to us along the ridge, and they couldn't help but stretch out their hands and hold their father's hand tightly, perhaps because the father found that the other party's hand was warm and powerful, and the breath that came out when he spoke was also ambiguous, and he concluded that although the two women in front of him lived for hundreds of years, they were really not ghosts, but indeed old birthday stars.

You're so old, and you're still here to work? It's getting late, so call it a day and go home! The father smiled at the three old women.

"The sun is too hot during the day, and the weather is cool at this time, so we have to finish the field before we can call it a day." Seeing that we turned around and wanted to leave, the three of them said enthusiastically: "A few petty officials, it's getting late, why don't you come to my house for a light meal before leaving." ”

What a simple folk style!

As I thought so, my father and Flying Fish waved to them and thanked them in unison for their kindness.

Later, I learned that this area is not only beautiful and beautiful, but also people live a long life. In several nearby Changshou villages, it is not uncommon for centenarians to work in the fields. It is said that there is a longevity village where the oldest old man is 132 years old this year.