After a long winter and a short spring, the desolate Loess Plateau has gradually entered its most beautiful season of the year.
In early May, around the beginning of summer, most of the grass and trees in the mountains have sprouted leaves, and the continuous mountains are dyed with patches of bright green. The sun began to gain heat, shining warmly on the vast land. The river water is clear and clear, reflecting the blue sky in early summer and the long white clouds in the blue sky.
In 1982, the entire Loess Plateau implemented the production responsibility system. This ancient land that has experienced vicissitudes of life has entered a new historical period. Various political institutions have also evolved from the unified revolutionary committee over the years to a situation where the party and government are separated. The National People's Congress was reestablished at the county level and above, and together with the Party committee and the government, it was commonly known as the "three sets of teams." The world-famous people's communes were successively replaced by township governments. Many legacies left by the "revolution" are gradually disappearing from life.
Shuangshui Village does not see much change in appearance. The mountains are still the same mountains, the people are still the same people, and the Dongla River still sings its tireless songs flowing through this ordinary village.
However, Shuangshui Village is indeed no longer the original Shuangshui Village. Some of its changes can be felt, and some cannot. One of the most significant changes is that most people no longer struggle to eat. This alone makes people shout with mixed feelings: Oh my God...
Nowadays, for most people, cornmeal buns have become a common meal. For some people, not only white flour, but also rice is no longer a rare thing. According to estimates by some observers in the village, the grain reserves of individual farmers far exceed that of Jin Guangliang's father, an old landowner in the old society. Jin Junwu, the former second captain of Jinjiawan, is one of them.
What I need to remind you is that all these changes have occurred in just one or two years; you must know that we have been thundering and drumming for agriculture for decades, but we have not been able to solve the problem of farmers' food. ...However, some disturbing situations also occurred. The most prominent problem is that most people are short of money.
To be honest, people still have doubts about whether the new policy will last. So, while you are freeing up your hands and feet now, hurry up and harvest food for a few years! In order to obtain more grain, most farmers practiced predatory farming on the land. No one is applying organic fertilizer to the land anymore. In the past, farmers from all over the country often fought over the possession of excrement from toilets in commune offices and county towns. Nowadays, no one cares about the feces in toilets in the city, and the government has to pay people to clean it up. If you want to have high grain yields, of course chemical fertilizers are the best solution!
It costs money to buy chemical fertilizers - how much fertilizer does it cost to grow crops twice a year? Of course, besides buying fertilizer, there are many other uses for money. Families farm one by one, and they have to replace their own farm tools if they break down. If the livestock doesn't work hard enough, it needs to be replaced with a better one, which costs two to three hundred yuan. In addition, as soon as the market is opened, all kinds of things will flood like a flood. Apart from other things, there are rows of colorful and fashionable clothes on the Shige Festival Street. The children, daughters and wives going to the fair will want to buy them all. Can you not give me the money? Money! It has become a word that farmers often talk about. In order to buy fertilizers, livestock and farm tools, one or two new clothes for their children, and a gadget of the new era like their neighbors, the farmers had to carry the grain they had accumulated in their hoards to the stone. Go to the free market of Gejie to sell... As the saying goes, you can see the height of the mountain from this mountain. Indeed, in rural areas, people feel a little dissatisfied after just having a full meal. People are thinking about how to live a more prosperous life. This mentality is extremely normal - it is human nature to pursue a better life.
For most farmers, as long as the land is cultivated by themselves, harvesting more food is not a problem; this is an ancestral profession and skill, and they are full of confidence. But it is not easy to have other ideas besides land.
But no matter what, if you just rely on selling a little grain, potatoes, dry tobacco leaves at the Shige Festival, or selling a fat pig fed by your wife every year, just to live a good life, that is really Delusion! With this little income, you usually can’t even buy fertilizer!
Sesame salt, black bean paste, Zhang San and Li Si are different.
There is also a guy in the countryside who is kicking his feet, and he no longer relies on the land for a living. They were doing business, doing business, doing side jobs, the RMB was clattering in their hands, and everyone’s eyes were red with love!
The first capable person to appear in Shuangshui Village is Sun Shaoan. He had already set up a brick kiln with machines and was the first to build a new place in the village. Immediately afterwards, Secretary Tian Futang was unwilling to be left behind and ran to the original Xicheng City to work as a contractor - only because his children's impatience aggravated his emphysema, and he had to come back recently with coughing and asthma. Deputy Secretary Jin Junshan - who is also the village chief now - bought a dozen good goats and raised them in partnership with his son Jin Cheng, who is a teacher. Last autumn, he went to the Shige Festival to sell goat milk, and it was said that the income was considerable. Alas, after all, a capable person will always be capable!
Look, now another capable person in Shuangshui Village wants to dig ponds and raise fish! This person is Tian Haimin, the brigade branch committee member.
Thirty-five-year-old Tian Haimin is a mediocre person in the farming industry. For many years, he has been an accountant in the brigade and rarely works outside the mountains. He relies on pulling abacus beads and is fully employed every month. In addition, his father-in-law sells goods at the public-private joint venture store in Mijia Town. In the support area, the daughter-in-law Yinhua comes from a family of managers and is very calculating, so the young couple has always been at the top of the village.
After the land was separated, although the Hai people were unable to grow crops, their family fortunes did not decline. But there is little development.
Others were jealous when Sun Shaoan and others saw their success, and Haimin and his wife were no exception. The shrewd couple thought day and night to see if they could find another way out of the land. They have more than 1,000 yuan in savings - an amazing number in rural areas! This money is not enough for big business, but it is still enough for small business.
When the seafarers got back a brochure on fish farming from somewhere, the couple read it head to head under the lamp all night. They immediately and excitedly decided: Well, just dig a pond and raise fish!
Farmers in Ge Lao, a mountainous area on the Loess Plateau, have never had the habit of eating fish—let alone eating it, many of them have never even seen it. People in Shuangshui Village were shocked when they heard that the Haimin couple wanted to raise fish.
Haha, this guy is so anxious when he sees others getting rich! fish? Who eats that!
In fact, the couple who graduated from junior high school are far-sighted. Precisely because people here don’t like to eat fish, few people keep fish locally. But it’s not like there are no fish eaters. During the holidays, Haimin had witnessed how the cadres and citizens of the former Xicheng lined up in long lines to buy the little bits of frozen fish brought back from other places at the non-staple food stores. Yes, they will not expect to sell their products in the countryside, but will be selling to people in the city. In today's society, doors are wide open in all directions. People from all over the former Xicheng come here, and there are many people who eat fish! The seaman has already inquired about the city, and several restaurants have suggested that as long as he has fish, he can take as much as he wants from there!
Since Haimin is a committee member of the village, he successfully obtained the consent of Tian Futang and Jin Junshan, and at a negligible price of thirty-six yuan a year, he started a project on the bank of the Dongla River in the north end of the village. When we arrived at three and a half acres of grassland, we were ready to dig a fish pond here.
That afternoon, the bulldozer from the Shigejie Agricultural Machinery Station, rented for 12 yuan per hour, roared onto this piece of grassland and began eye-catching excavation work. The huge roar of bulldozers once again shook this ancient village.
Many farmers who had finished their work and children after school rushed to this place to watch the excitement.
By the way, this is the place where Shuangshui Village stole water and blocked the dam that year. I believe you still remember the tragedy and comedy six years ago. Alas, time flies by so quickly. The grave of Jin Junbin, who died here, had long been covered with green grass, but life in the world was still going on vigorously here... Shuangshui Village was immediately stirred into chaos. Now, at the south end of the village, Sun Shaoan's brick-making machine was rumbling, and black smoke was rising above the brick kiln; at the north end of the village, the bulldozer rented by Tianhai people was roaring again, stirring up yellow dust all over the sky... ...Shuangshui Village, you are a world that never wants to be quiet.
In the past, it was people like Tian Futang and Sun Yuting who made the difference here, but now it is people like Sun Shaoan and Tian Haimin who are showing their talents!
The cash-strapped farmers in Shuangshui Village stood around the bulldozer with emotion, watching how the steel animal dug a big hole in the wasteland. They envy and envy those who have the ability to make troubles - I heard some well-informed people talking about it, what will be fished out of this pit will be handfuls of RMB! They themselves are only jealous. They can't afford it. Firstly, I have no capital on hand, and secondly, I don’t have the courage to go to the public for a loan.
Besides, if you are rich and courageous, but can’t read a word, how can you get the skills? If you don't do it right, you'll have to pay for it. It seems that they can only poke cows in the land! However, they were so poor that they were panicking... Among the crowd watching Tian Haimin's extraordinary feat were his father Tian Wanyou and his fourth father Tian Wanjiang.
Tian Si, Tian and Wu old brothers squatted together, smoking dry cigarettes in the crowd and saying nothing. If this were another family, Tian Wu, the chief artist in the village, would immediately make up a funny "chain mouth" for everyone. Now, he was squatting here with a very thoughtful look on his face.
Tian Wu has his own worries. He will be sixty next year and has two young daughters aged fourteen or fifteen at home. At this age, he is struggling to survive alone in the mountains, barely able to feed his four mouths, and his money is so tight that he cannot even buy fertilizer. The two female dolls are too old to wear decent clothes, so they often wear rags and one-piece clothes. Even though he seems to be a lively person in front of others, in fact, after singing a piece of "Xintianyou" alone in the mountains, he can't help but cry. The sea people don't care about him. It's not that the son doesn't want to take care of it, it's that the daughter-in-law doesn't let her son take care of it.
His brother Tian Wanjiang, who was squatting next to him, lived a more miserable life than him. Tian Si's three sons have all gone through different lives. Each of them is an honest man, and they all have a family of children. It is impossible to take care of them.
The old couple were so poor that they couldn't even afford a pot, so they always used a leaky pot to cook.
When the two old brothers heard that Hai Min was going to dig a pond to raise fish, they got together and talked to see if they could buy a "share" in Hai Min. They have neither capital nor technology, but they can do all the rough work. They figured that although their daughter-in-law Yinhua could not see their life and death, they did heavy work and had a small head, and maybe she could agree.
Now, they have not mentioned this matter to the sea people. However, they are squatting here enthusiastically at this moment, and they feel in their hearts that this matter is also their own business; listening to the roar of the bulldozers, they feel very excited!
Two days later, the fish pond has been dug. The couple of Haimin were nervously doing the work before releasing the water. According to the brochure, the fish pond must be disinfected with white ash before releasing fish fry. Put 600 kilograms of quicklime per acre, pour a layer of manure, and plow it again - this can both disinfect and breed microorganisms.
That morning, Tian Wutian and Si Cheng Yinhua were not at the construction site, so the two brothers came to Hai Min together and put forward their "suggestions" to him.
Haimin did not refuse at that time. He just embarrassedly told the two elders that he needed the consent of his wife. Haimin's family affairs are in charge of Yinhua, and he can only express this to the two old people face to face without being ashamed. The two old men also knew this was true, so they had no choice but to wait for Hai Min to ask his wife for instructions.
That night, Haimin came to his father's house. He told his father and fourth dad who were waiting for news: Yinhua did not agree with them coming to work!
Tian Sitai stared at Wu Yi for a moment, not knowing what to say.
Tian Wu was stunned for a long time, and then he sighed and said: "Your fourth father and I are going to get jobs for you, but you don't want them. You are more cruel than the landlords in the old society! Your mother and I swallowed You have grown up, and now that we are no longer alive, you can’t even see our life and death! Are you still a human being?"
When Tian Wu scolded his son, Tian Si kept looking down. With a blue head - Haimin is his younger brother's son, he has no right to criticize others. The former team of keepers could only admit at the moment that reality had hit them as a natural thing.
Tian Haimin silently accepted his father's scolding, and then silently exited the broken cave dwelling where he was raised.
Tears filled his eyes as he walked home on the dark village road.
Alas, Hai Min is not unaware of the sufferings of the two elderly people. But he couldn't convince his woman. There is no way! He wants to live with this woman and live a good life together; if he falls out with Yinhua, he will not be able to solve the problems of the elderly, but his own situation will also be ruined! He could not justify his difficulty in front of the old man. He figured that after he made some money, he could secretly help them a little behind Yinhua's back, but otherwise he was helpless. For a man to live to this point, the pain is beyond the comprehension of outsiders.
The next day, Tian Wu, who was hit hard by both life and emotions, still played his usual optimistic role in public. At the Shenxian Mountain, he still sang his Xintianyou happily like a god. As for whether we cried after singing, we don't know...
Not long after, another unexpected incident occurred. Liu Yusheng, Haimin's next-door neighbor, suddenly heard a terrible prophecy. This prophetic man spread alarmist rumors that a "fish spirit" would be born in Tian Haimin's fish pond. Said that this fish spirit will definitely cause harm to people and animals in Shuangshui Village, and will also cause trouble in other places in the future! Some superstitious villagers immediately began to curse Haiming and Yinhua, and some even threatened to poison the fish pond!
The Haimin couple, who were originally in high spirits, were so angry at this rumor that they could not even eat. They couldn't afford to offend this man who claimed to control the life and death of the whole village. But they will never give up raising fish - they have already spent 700 yuan!
At the same time, because Tian Wu was angry with his son, he even used absurd techniques to make up a "chain mouth" to turn Liu Yusheng's rumors into a joke. The art spread in the village——
There are capable people in Shuangshui Village, but they are no better than Yinhua and Haimin.
Dig a pit by the Dongla River and raise fish essence in it.
The fish spirit, the turtle spirit, and the toad spirit eat the animals first and then the humans.
After eating here and there, we ate all the way to the original Xicheng.
The camp was in chaos in the original Xicheng City, with men, women, old and young fighting for their lives.
The anxious county magistrate Zhou Wenlong asked Huangyuan to send troops quickly!
Tian Fujun, secretary of the prefectural committee, picked up the phone and issued an order.
The Chinese People's Liberation Army marched into the former West City overnight.
After entering the city, he was wide-eyed and reported to his superiors that he was invincible - it turned out that the fish spirit did not eat people, but was eaten by people later.
After eating the fish heads and tails, only a pile of white kudzu needles were left... When "Lian Zi Mou" spread in the village, Tian Wu regretted it extremely.
Alas, how could he make up jokes for his own son? He's gone too far! My son is in a bad situation, what good does it do to him? Besides, can this solve his own difficulties? No one in "Lianzizui" pays royalties!
On this day, Tian Si found Tian Wu again with a sad look on his face and said to his younger brother: "Let's go find Shaoan again and see if we can work part-time in his brickyard? How about planting in the autumn?" I don’t even have money to buy fertilizer for wheat..."
Tian Wuyi thought that he could try his luck. Although the Shaoan people are young, they are very generous in their conduct and may be sympathetic to their situation. In this way, the two impoverished brothers were ready to pester their "old captain".