(xi)

When I was a child, the happiest thing a boy did in the mountains was to burn charcoal.

After school in the autumn and winter, when I threw my schoolbag home, a few friends took a firewood knife and a pack of foreign fire (matches) and secretly ran to the field to burn charcoal.

A kiln was dug in the soil with a wood knife. The kiln is divided into three parts: fire door, charcoal warehouse, and chimney, from bottom to top.

Chop some small branches, make neat and short charcoal wood, put it in the charcoal warehouse, and then mix it with weeds and wet mud to seal the top. When everything is ready, break some flammable dry branches, start a fire with the ears of Mandon grass, light it, and burn it through the fire gate.

The chimney was smoking, and what a pleasant thing it was! The older third brother and his elder brother ran into the grass to secretly smoke the "Cooperation" and "Lanyan" brand cigarettes stolen from their father or uncle, and I, the little one, were in charge of watching the fire.

The fire burns brightly. If you have one or two red potatoes or artichoke in your pocket, and roast them in the fire, they will be fragrant, and you will be very happy to eat.

Charcoal burning is also a technical job. At first, the fire door needs to be continuously added until the charred firewood in the kiln is dried and ignited, and then the fire door must be slowly closed to prevent the burned firewood from being blown into dust by the wind.

The whole process has to be judged according to the smoke of the chimney, and it is entirely based on experience. When the smoke from the chimney slowly turns white, the fire door and chimney must be sealed.

After a busy day, I had to go home before dark. When you are tired, you can sleep very well at night, and it will be the light of day when you sleep.

After the kiln is sealed, you have to wait a day or two before you go to get charcoal.

It usually takes several days to run a kiln of charcoal, and even if nothing else, it is just a harvest of one or two catties of charcoal, but the joy is in the whole process. Every day, our clothes and faces are blackened, and when we go home, we will inevitably be scolded by our parents, but we can always "swallow our anger", eat dinner silently, and go to bed.

In winter, the cold in the mountains is extremely heavy. Throughout the winter, the mountain people are very dependent on firewood and charcoal. Firewood is used for cooking, firewood is also used for cooking pig food, and charcoal is only willing to be burned when guests come.

On weekdays, charcoal is mainly used for children in the family to go to school.

Every morning when we go to school, we have to bring our own "firebox" or "fire bucket". Make a wooden box with a handle, put a porcelain plate in it, and fix it, it is called a "firebox". And directly drill three holes on the edge of a porcelain plate and thread it with iron wire, which is called "fire bucket". Put charcoal in the porcelain plate, add a handful of fir shavings, light it, and then keep shaking the circle, and the charcoal will burn vigorously.

When I was a child, the understanding of happiness was extremely simple. I had a handful of corn or a handful of soybeans in my pocket, and I shaved them in the ashes, and when I blew the ashes, I threw them into my mouth, and they were fragrant. If there is half of the glutinous rice cake and it is baked in the firebox until it is browned, then ten minutes between classes is the most enviable.

The heating of the home before going to bed at night is mainly "sitting on the fire bucket".

There are "fire buckets" in every house. It is said to be a "barrel", but it is actually a large wooden firebox. Divided into two layers, when the fire is baked, the two compartments are placed on the lower floor, and the family sits around the edge of the fire box, and then covers it with a blanket. The brazier is placed at the bottom layer, mostly the coals left over from cooking rice and stir-frying, and covered with a layer of ash. When the coals are almost burned out, it's time to go to bed. Normally, put the two compartments on the upper layer, and then cover the clothes that have just been washed and are still wet, relying on the residual temperature of the brazier, and it will all dry the next day.

When I sat in the "fire bucket", my mother was usually busy doing needlework, my father was reading a book such as the imperial calendar, and my siblings were playing and laughing.

Once, during a fight, my little hand accidentally reached into the brazier and was burned, and it hurt my heart for several days.