Gui: The city belongs to others, but the land where you grow is your own.
Article | Jin Houzi
A few days ago, Lao Niu kept calling and inviting me to visit the forest he contracted.
On a warm autumn day, four of our classmates set foot on the road to Nanshan.
Lao Niu is one year older than me. When I was young, my classmates called him Lao Niu. They almost forgot his real name after calling him back and forth.
In the autumn of 40 years ago, when we children who grew up in the countryside walked out of our homes and looked blankly at the bustling city, we were faced with curiosity and resistance.
Lao Niu had a very hard life.
Having lost his father when he was young, he had no choice but to help his mother raise his younger brothers and sisters.
Perhaps his experience in the countryside was too profound, or perhaps his dedication to his family made him more attached to his hometown than others.
So in middle age, he still believes that the city belongs to others, but the land where I was born and raised belongs to him.
The city’s congestion, air pollution, and noise made him increasingly intolerable.
Over the years, Lao Niu, who had made some money through hard work, came up with the idea of returning to his hometown to contract the barren hills. He contracted it in partnership with his younger brother for a period of 50 years.
The fields in late autumn are empty and quiet, and white clouds swim freely in the clear blue sky.
The car bumped up and down for more than an hour. When there was no way to go, Lao Niu's mountain forest arrived.
He had been waiting at the intersection for a long time, holding a mobile phone wrapped in plastic sheeting.
The brothers jumped out of the car eagerly, took a deep breath of fresh air, and then sat at the small table to drink the tea prepared by Lao Niu.
To be honest, the tea is just average, but it becomes refreshing and moist due to the sweet groundwater.
While drinking tea, I listened to Lao Niu telling stories about Baoshan’s entrepreneurship.
How electricity was solved, how the board houses were built, how the roads were opened, the most exciting part was the part where he dug out well water.
If you have water, you can survive. If you have water and mountains, you can live. With water, the seeds of civilization can take root and sprout in the mountains.
Following the direction he pointed, looking along a winding plastic pipe, we did find the well hidden in the house.
The water pump kept turning, and streams of clear water happily came out of the ground.
According to Lao Niu, all indicators of the groundwater here are very good.
He laughed, showing his dark front teeth, and his two round bull eyes showed determination.
After drinking a pot of tea, we started to follow Lao Niu to climb along the mountain road.
As soon as he raised his feet, grasshoppers flew up from his feet one after another, drew an arc, and landed in the distance.
This is a friend we often came into contact with when we were children. Burning horse horns, knocking over mountains, flying on grass... I can’t remember their names completely, but when I see them, I still feel good from the bottom of my heart. Indescribable excitement.
My classmate Lao Gao couldn't help but lean forward and pounce on the grasshoppers. Before his white hands touched the ground, the grasshoppers were already flying up to Lao Gao, which made everyone laugh.
Time has made our limbs less dexterous and weakened our ability to cooperate with our hands and brain, but our childhood mood will not be easily lost.
Old Niu is the fastest when climbing mountains. This is the result of his long-term companionship with mountains.
He also said that since Baoshan started working, he has lost 20 pounds, and various indicators such as blood lipids, blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol have basically returned to normal.
As we continued walking along the mountain road, suddenly a huge animal flew up from the grass, making a popping sound, and its wings flapped, creating a strong airflow.
"What is this?"
"It's a pheasant. There are a lot of pheasants here. One time when I just walked here, I was startled by dozens of them. A group of chickens. Dance and cover the sky, how spectacular it is!" Lao Niu replied.
Just after taking a few steps, something jumped out from under my feet with a "swish". We saw clearly that it was a little squirrel with patterns on its body.
When it saw us, it was not frightened at all. It only washed its face with its two front paws, then jumped up to the tree with a "swish", and then disappeared without a trace.
Old Newton paused and continued, "After guns were put away a few years ago, there are more rabbits and turtle doves now. When you live in the mountains, you will find that they are everywhere."
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As he was talking, a hare jumped and ran down the mountain ridge, showing off its power, as if they were the masters of the mountain, treating our group of people like nothing.
Talking and laughing, we reached the highest point of the mountain unknowingly.
This is a hilltop with water visible on three sides. The Nanshan Reservoir, which has experienced more than half a century of vicissitudes, surrounds this hill. At a glance, it is sparkling, like a green jade belt tied around it. On the mountainside.
The mountains are alive because of the water, and the water is clear because of the mountains. This is a geomantic treasure.
On the south side are green hills covered with pines, cypresses, poplars, willows, vine branches and various shrubs, like a huge landscape painting hanging down from the sky, full of life.
To the north is the Tongtian Temple, which is red all over the mountains. The vast and boundless cotinus waving the aura of heaven and earth, gathering the essence of spring and autumn, showing its own grace, rendering the undulating mountains into a colorful oil painting, and The freehand brushwork on the south side reflects each other, and the east and west combine to complement each other.
We looked at each other and couldn't bear to leave for a long time.
"Ah, life and death, I would like to form an eternal secret with the mountains!" It was Lao Niu's voice. The poem was definitely not written by him, but his reciting voice and seriousness shocked us. He stopped, and the applause, accompanied by the echo of the mountains, enveloped the old cow. He was as thick as a mountain rock.
"Brother, it's time to eat!" Lao Niu's younger brother shouted from a distance.
The rice is simple, including one plate of stewed chicken, one plate of stewed mutton, one plate of scrambled eggs with leeks, one plate of boiled tofu, one plate of fried grasshoppers, two plates of chestnuts, boiled sweet potatoes, etc. These ordinary foods are the fruits of their own hands, filled with the aroma of earth.
The scrambled eggs are waxy yellow, and the chicken and mutton are very chewy, which you can’t find in the city.
While eating, with a glass of white wine, Lao Niu talked about his plans for the next year, five years or even further.
He wanted to plant trees on the top of the mountain, raise cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks, dogs and rabbits on the mountain, build a house on a flat area, and dig two cellars that would be warm in winter and cool in summer. Invite all your relatives and friends as guests, hold class reunions here, etc.
When he said these words, he was always smiling, and his smile was like the bright sunshine bouncing around him.
After laughing, Lao Niu insisted on leaving us to watch the moon at night, letting us look at the mountains under the moonlight and experience the feeling of the moon covering thousands of rivers.
We had to politely refuse because we were not familiar with the road.
When we were leaving, Lao Niu asked me to write a word for him. I thought about it for a long time and said, just write "Go"!
Lao Niu was stunned for a moment, and immediately clapped his hands happily and said: "Okay! Okay! Okay! This word is good. Return, return, return. When the time comes, I will carve the words on the rocks and create a place. 'Return' culture ”