Chapter 30: "Wangfukong"

(30)

A distant cousin who hasn't read much, but she can sing a lot of songs by memory.

One of the mountain songs sings about sending her husband down the Hongjiang River to the dock a long time ago. Before leaving, his wife secretly repeatedly told her husband not to be blinded by Hongjiang's "flower world".

"Clear water laundry white water slurry, dress up the boy to go down the Hongjiang River.

If there are more people, don't mess with the boat, and the ancient trees at the head of the bridge don't rest cool.

Don't eat Yanliang water with a dry mouth, and you will catch a cold.

The shop is a big store, and there are girls in the big red shop.

The girl scoops water and does not wash her face, and the daughter-in-law scoops water and does not relieve the cold (bath).

Don't go to the girl's room when you sleep, I'm afraid you will use a knife and gun for a while.

Your grandmother is far away, and there is no one to save her life."

Every time my cousin sings this song, I always have an inseparable farewell scene in front of my eyes.

In Wendou Village, almost every household has a hole the size of a human face left on the wooden building. The people on the village call it "Wangfu Kong".

The couple lingered for half the night and whispered in the middle of the night. The next day, as soon as it was light, my husband set off with his bags on his back.

In the old days, when a husband went far away, his wife was not allowed to go out of the house, let alone say goodbye, because women's tears were shallow, and they couldn't help but flow out for a while. The husband is walking on a dangerous waterway, a waterway with an unpredictable future, and it is unlucky for someone to shed tears before going out.

All that is to be said will be said in the first night.

Only after the husband goes out, the wife can watch the back of her husband drifting away through the "Wangfu Kong" and cry silently.

The husband also knew that there was a pair of eyes behind him watching him silently and affectionately, and he would turn back three times and say goodbye.

Maybe this time, there will be no return. Perhaps, after becoming the boss this time, he will come back in style.

A "Wangfu Kong", how many joys and sorrows, how many other feelings are difficult to tell!

Historically, after completing the transaction and paying taxes in the "three rivers" inside and outside the Qingshui River, a hanging "small row" was reorganized into a "middle row", and only then did it go down the river mightily. The further down the river channel becomes, the more surplish the water flow becomes, and after it gathers in Hongjiang and other places, it has to be adapted into a "big row" again, and then it can enter Dongting Lake, break into the Yangtze River, and move towards a broader market.

This way sit on a wooden raft down the Hongjiang River, and there are often women who wash clothes and vegetables by the river to joke about the rows that come after the waves. The song says:

"Persuade Lang to be obedient, persuade Lang Mo to put the wooden chops.

How long can the row be released, and where is it buried if it dies in the waves? ”

Or sing:

"You pai lang, every day pai pai down the Hongjiang River.

Stepping on the head of the row, I am boiling in the waves every day.

A day of rain will drench your skull with stinky urine! ”

In order to live, away from relatives, for days, months, wind and rain, sun and rain. Some even scattered people and drowned, drank a lot of cold water and died, and the bones could not return to their hometowns. The platoon seems to have seen through life and death for a long time, and sang back optimistically:

"I pai lang, every day pai pai down the Hongjiang River.

Stepping on the head of the row, I am boiling in the waves every day.

I won't use the money I find, and I'll go home and ask you to be my mother-in-law."

The woman on the shore was teased and stamped her feet in anger. After Pai Ling smiled, the wooden platoon had already gone down the river.

From the mouth of the elder Huang Tou, I know a lot of interesting mountain songs, and I know that these mountain songs are about this water and soil, and everything before this river. Strange and familiar, as if it happened yesterday. I wanted to reach out and touch it, but I found it far away, far away.

Qingshui River is a waterway that carries hope, and it is also a waterway with all kinds of styles!