In the middle of Dacheng Township, there is an old market. The history naturally goes back hundreds of years. It is the economic center of Dacheng. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was even more pure and concentrated. So much so that its status and role in Dacheng surpasses today's Wangfujing in Beijing, Nanjing Road in Shanghai, Beijing Road in Guangzhou, and even Wall Street in the United States, the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, and Downing Street in the United Kingdom. Because in general, although famous streets and places are famous, they are not irreplaceable. As for Dacheng Old Market, in my opinion as a child, without it, the sky in Dacheng would be dark, and the fun of childhood would be half lost.
1
Along the natural village where I lived as a child, I walked windingly through high and low eaves and lanes, and after passing the Zhongjia Temple, I suddenly became enlightened. The breath is different.
In front of the old street market is a strange man's house. There lived an old man in the house, with a fair face, slim figure, hale and hearty, with a half-length goatee, and an air of immortality. This old man is no different from other people at ordinary times, but he looks a little different when people come to beg him.
When someone in Dacheng Township is bitten by a dog, he or she will rush to his home. Without asking much, he took a silver earring and a bowl of well water, and solemnly scraped and rinsed the wound with water. After he finished, he took another bowl of water, held it in his mouth, and sprayed it on the wound. . When they are done, the adults will go to the back room. The person who begged him would usually give him a red envelope to thank him. He always said no, no, and then the person begging him would say: "Both families want a good jackpot." It means that both families want a good omen, and the old man will ask for a good omen. He pushed it lightly and accepted it.
When I was a child, I actually saw a person with rabies. That was Pingyi's grandmother from the same village. One evening, I heard from my friends that Pingyi’s grandma was dying. She said she was bitten by a dog and had not been treated, and now she was suffering from rabid dog disease. So my companions and I approached the old houses two rows behind the creek step by step. There were already some people gathered there, and they didn't dare to say anything. Some people said that there would be one or two dogs barking from the back room from time to time, but I listened for a long time and didn't hear it. I only saw that the door of the room was closed. Some people said that Pingyi's grandmother was inside, and the family was afraid that she would come out and catch someone, who might also get rabies. After hearing this, I felt that it was really miserable for people to die like this, so I left. I never believed that the old man on the street was really effective in curing dog bites, but I wasn't disgusted either. But at this time, my respect for him deepened in my heart.
But another thing people asked him for might actually work.
Because it is near the sea, children will inevitably get fish bones when eating fish. When this happens, adults will bring their children to beg the old man. Once I was watching quietly and accidentally walked into the back room. The old man probably thought that I was the child of the adult who came to beg him, and the adult who came to beg for him probably thought that I was the child of this old man, so I was able to witness this process in a panoramic view.
It was still a bowl of water, but the old man went upstairs and came down after a while. He used his slender and white fingers that were different from those of a farmer to make a twist, put it into the water, and then pushed it out. After flicking it, let the child drink it. He seemed to be mumbling something, his eyes were slightly closed, and after a while he opened them and said, "Okay!" Then the adults asked the child: "Are you okay?" Children often don't know the mystery and importance of this process. They just think it's fun. When adults ask if they're okay, they just say yes. After leaving the door, the adult asked the child in a low voice: "Is it really good?" and asked the child to cough, if it was really good. Because fish bone bites happen almost every day, and it is less serious than being bitten by a dog. We are all from the countryside. I have a vague memory of whether the person who came to beg him thanked the old man, but I said it warmly and politely. : "You're welcome." It means that you are too enthusiastic to help others. But it is always indispensable.
Normally, it seems that the old man doesn’t care. Some adults would casually take out a dime or two, or give some home-grown melons, beans, fish and shrimps. Under the hasty refusal of the old man, they would put them on the wooden table in the back room and walk away quickly.
He was so sweet that he walked a long way and said that uncle A was really nice. After looking around and seeing no one around, he returned to his natural appearance and went home happily with his children.
2
Opposite Old Man Qiqiao is my cousin’s house who is not from the same clan as Wufu. It is a bungalow like a locomotive, with a large window in the front to sell groceries, and the larger one in the back to live in.
He is said to be a cousin, but he is actually a few years older than my grandparents. However, he often respectfully calls my grandparents uncle and aunt because of the seniority relationship, while I only need to call him uncle, and call his eldest son, who is several years older than my father, "brother." Naturally, when it comes to his grandson A-chan, who was born in the same year as me, we all call him by his first name. Because everyone is like this, otherwise it would be uncomfortable for people of the same age to play together and talk to each other. It's just that Acan's mother always calls me "uncle" because if she doesn't, his mother will be considered impolite by the villagers, which affects the villagers' evaluation of his mother. This is something that everyone values.
When I was a child, I liked to go into this cousin’s house to chat after going to the market to buy food. I often talk about the physical objects in the house. If you see newly harvested rice, sweet potatoes, peanuts, and mung beans piled up in the house, talk about the harvest in the fields. Seeing incense and paper money used to worship gods and Buddhas will lead to the big drama in the village this year. A child no older than ten speaks like an adult. My cousin, on the other hand, enthusiastically asked about our brothers’ studies, growth and daily life. Sometimes I talk about some of the things my great-grandfather and grandfather did that impressed and moved them. People in our family never boast about others, but because of his introduction, I learned about some things and inheritances from my ancestors, which also allowed me as a young man to understand a little bit about the human heart.
He has a nice voice, rich and transparent, not tepid. The way I feel today is that the pronunciation position is relatively far back, like a professionally trained baritone. He is neither tall nor short, neither fat nor thin, everything is just right. My cousin is almost the same model. This pair of old people, who were not yet old at the time, were more open-minded, fair, loyal and gentle than ordinary country people. They occasionally stuttered a little when they were anxious, which made me feel more reliable and amiable.
I have lived in the countryside for more than ten years, and I have never seen them getting into trouble with others, getting angry with others, or saying bad things. But they are not weak, unprincipled people. No matter what happens to the villagers, they dare to comment on right and wrong, and they are often fair and impartial, which is acceptable and convincing.
They are very eloquent. As the saying goes, a good word can warm the winter, and our family has real experience of it. My mother married into our family at a very young age and gave birth to several of our brothers within six years. Like other women in the countryside, in addition to working in the fields, she also had to take care of the meals, firewood, harvesting, and farming for the whole family. It's really not easy to wash, sacrifice, and take care of all the things for children. Besides working, you have to be able to do crochet, needlework, and interact with people as well as others. In addition, my father works outside the home, so it is even more difficult for us brothers to catch a cold or have a fever. One day, my cousin saw my young mother taking care of herself inside and outside, so she went out and told people that this person didn't make much noise, but he took care of everything so well. If nothing else, she just said this. It is not easy to burn a house of firewood and nine people including parents-in-law, uncles and children. My mother is very moved when she mentions it today, nearly forty years later. This feeling is not comparable to eating something delicious or getting something hard to get.
We read books in Buddhist temples that talk about not being greedy, angry or foolish. I think the two old men in my cousin’s family did a very good job. I am particularly impressed when I think about it today. Because in worldly affairs, words and deeds are completely different. Sages such as Confucius said that a gentleman should "not be stunned when he is ignorant", but he never fails to sigh to himself in times of hardships and hardships, "as panicked as a dog that has lost its home"; among celebrities and great men, there are those who can manage big things but not the whole family. Bibi; at all times and in all over the world, In more than half of the love stories, the protagonists do things that are contrary to ethics and common sense.
Buddhist books also talk about karma and retribution and the six paths of reincarnation. But I am already middle-aged, and I think it is mainly about the rewards of this world. If you believe it, you will be really unhappy.
My cousin’s family has a loyal family tradition, which is proof of this.
His sons are all named after the character benevolence. Living in the countryside and seeking benevolence is not like most people who seek fortune and wealth. The second generation of his family had officers, teachers, and businessmen. The third generation will produce judges and doctors.
In the third generation, when the eldest grandson went to college, the old man was already old and realized that it was not long ago. The grandson and grandson hugged each other and cried, saying that they were happy that they were college students, but they didn’t know what the next time would be. If not, I won’t be able to see you. It made everyone in the room shed tears. I was studying outside and heard people say it, and I was very sad, but I felt that knowing life and death through cultivation in one lifetime would also lead to a good death, which is the highest of the five blessings.
When I reached my grandson, after several struggles, I was admitted to the doctoral program. When the young doctor met my father, he modestly said that all his undergraduate classmates had bought houses and had children, but he was still a poor student and would at best be a university teacher in the future. My father happily praised him because he was probably the first doctoral student in Dacheng.
As an uncle, I naturally want to like it, but I hope he can be prouder in his heart. Because he has the blessings of his ancestors, not just him!
Three
People are divided into three, six and nine, and the rural corners of the 1970s are no exception.
The first-class people in Dacheng City are public servants and workers. They are people with non-agricultural household registration, do not have to work in the fields, and eat commercial grain. These people are different from farmers and seafarers who have just dug sweet potatoes from the fields or caught fish and shrimps from the sea, and then hurriedly put them on the spot and shouted to sell them. They obviously want to be decent, calm, and even noble. They always make the villagers think that they hold their heads up when walking, because they don't have to look down at the road like other villagers who have to carry a heavy burden.
At first, they could buy 4 taels of oil and 30 kilograms of rice and noodles from the government grain store every month. Later, the oil became more expensive, but the rice became more expensive. But no matter how expensive it is, the public price is less than a quarter of the market price, and that's not the key.
In Dacheng at that time, if a person had a household registration, everyone would envy him. The pride and happiness of this kind of people and the recognition of them by the villagers are probably equivalent to living in a villa on Ersha Island in Guangzhou today and having another one vacant, or having an annual salary of over one million and working. Relaxed and respectful. As for winning millions in jackpots overnight, it cannot be compared. Because this kind of happiness is neither predictable nor lasting, nor does it have a sense of glory. Unlike the workers who were eating public food at that time, people would feel happy and satisfied when they opened their eyes and closed their eyes, and the future was promising.
Girls and boys with such status don’t even have to worry about marriage. Even the average-looking ones don’t have to worry. I have seen a very rich and fair working sister marry a handsome boy, and I have also seen a rough-looking man marry a tall and well-proportioned handsome girl. But the villagers still stubbornly believed that the handsome young man and handsome girl "had a good life."
That’s how people are. Just when it stood up in 1949, the household registration system brought it down again. Who makes worldly affairs and work so light?
Many of the large and small shops in the market, facing east, west, north and south, are public-owned. The one to the east, near my cousin's house, is slightly smaller. The room is not high and the counter is very low, which is perfect for us kids to come here to make soy sauce and buy fermented bean curd. A row of windows was opened in the front of the store as the facade. A pillar in the middle of the facade naturally separates the east end where you can buy matches and toilet paper, and the west end where you can buy soy sauce and fermented bean curd. On the facade, pieces of erected wooden boards are used to push and pull back and forth and snap into the upper and lower ground troughs and ceiling beams. Early on, the people who opened the shop removed pieces of aged and old wooden boards and opened the shop.
There are two people in this shop, one old and one young, one male and one female. They are not very tall. Walking behind the counter matches everything in the room.
The man is an old man, Pingyi’s grandfather. Pingyi's family lives in front of a stream on both sides of a public hall filled with ancestor tablets. His grandfather looked very peaceful and honest. He was not as rough as a farmer or as smart as a businessman. His skin was a bit white and he looked like an accountant. Although Pingyi's grandfather is a worker, Pingyi's grandmother, mother, father and three brothers do not have resident registration. His mother is educated, tall and moves like a man.
His father was a married woman, so it was like a waxing and waning, which almost left no impression on me.
According to the rules at the time, his grandfather's position could be filled. But his mother went out early and came back late during the day, either going to the fields or going up the mountains. She didn't seem to think so, and his father generally didn't think about it. Pingyi's parents are like the British Crown Prince, they seem to be waiting but not waiting, and they are passing the age and time of inheritance.
When I was young, I seemed to have heard that his grandfather’s position would be given to one of the three Pingyi brothers. It's just that the three Pingyi brothers usually look like three good men in the village. I have never heard of doing bad things, but I have no impression of them studying. It is unknown whether the three brothers all want to have their grandfather's position as theirs. Fortunately, they are very strong in doing field work.
The world is like chess. When the Pingyi family really decided to let his eldest brother take over the job, the reform and opening up began, and the policies changed overnight. This made Pingyi's family very helpless for a while.
The female clerk in the small shop is nineteen or twenty years old, with fair skin, a round face, and a little fat. In Dacheng Township at that time, women who were not rude, fair and a little fleshy almost dominated the fashion among women of the same age. But this clerk is not arrogant. He always smiles and has a good attitude. He calls out to uncles and aunties when he sees older people. When she makes soy sauce or wine, she uses a measuring tool made of bamboo and pours it down the funnel into bottles of different sizes and shapes, just like the oil seller mentioned in ancient texts. Sometimes, I use chopsticks to carefully pick out pieces of red bean curd like small bricks from a short urn, or put them on the dishes brought by others, or wrap them in a piece of paper and hand them to others. Li ordered people to help him well. When meeting a familiar or favorite child, he would secretly divide a bucket of soy sauce into two large half buckets and give them to others, or when selling fermented bean curd by the piece, he would give the two half pieces that were accidentally separated as one piece. Occasionally, an old bachelor in trouble would come to buy a drink half-drunk, and he would always say it was too little after measuring it out. The girl would say "Let's do it all over again" and then do it all over again. Every time I scooped out a full bucket, I asked the person who came to collect the wine. Uncle A and So-and-so would smile if he had had enough. After several back and forths, he didn't get angry. It was hard for him to be single anymore, so he left in frustration.
When no one was around, she would sit in front of the counter in the east end, stacking one- and two-cent coins high and rolling them into strips with white paper. While rolling, she would talk to the folks and acquaintances walking in front of the store. Say hello, or get up and sell something. Under the setting sun, compared with the hurried and chaotic pedestrians outside, she looked extremely elegant.
However, such a good life soon left her.
Even the large food store at her south end and the large daily necessities store at her west end that spanned almost half of the market were notified by the above that they needed to be reformed.
So, people with connections and abilities took on the responsibility themselves. Others say they are still members of the public, but in fact they are looking for their own way.
Some people who are looking for their own way out pick up a dung bucket, roll up their trouser legs, and go to work in the fields the next day. From the perspective of the villagers and themselves, they originally came from the land, and now that they have returned to the land, there is nothing to be sad about.
Some people packed up and left the next day, saying they were going to Guangzhou or Shenzhen and would not come back unless they showed some respect.
The tough-talking person also said, isn’t it better than a few decades ago, when Uncle Ah so-and-so sailed across the ocean in the midst of war and chaos?
Four
If we want to talk about Dacheng on the tip of our tongue, let’s first talk about this big shop at the south end of the old market.
This restaurant takes the lead in Feng Shui alone. It is located to the south of the square pavilion in the center of the old market. It almost spans the entire market in terms of momentum. It has a wide opening and a closing pattern. The spacious floor inside the shop can accommodate twenty or thirty tables. On the south side, lined up along the back, are large open cupboards with steaming pots and stoves. The tall countertops are filled with authentic Dacheng meatballs and meat. Rolls, salty noodles, and all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables. In that era when ordinary people could not eat meat every day, the aroma it gave off was full of temptation to every villager who went to the market. It made people feel that life was difficult in every possible way, but just the word "eat" would make people happy. It gives you many beautiful thoughts.
There is another row of long window sills on the south side of the restaurant.
Every morning, in front of students rushing to study early and other villagers coming and going, four or five large chopping boards are lined up. Four or five strong men each hold two large iron bars and cut the pork meat on the chopping board. It is tempered and hummed, making people think of the hero Qin Qiong who wields a pair of iron whips on the door god.
After the minced meat is tossed around for a while, it will be put into a large iron basin, and the master in the shop will knead it for a while, and then no one will take care of it. The principle is probably equivalent to the noodles in the north. After a while, the master came out, looked at it grandly, and patted it. The whole meatball seemed to grow back together. He stretched out his hand to grab it, and a round meatball appeared from his tiger's mouth like a magic trick. When the ball came out, everyone gathered around to see it, but he let go and let the newly formed meatball return to the basin, and then said, "It's done." So the few heroes who had just held the baton began to work more urgently, grabbing and shaping the pills with one hand, holding a porcelain spoon vertically in the other hand, scooping the pills down one by one, and throwing them in arcs into four or five mouthfuls of hot air. In the big iron pot, it was as fast as raindrops. The strange thing is that all the old and thick men can do this work more easily and faster than the girl's crochet.
When the sank pork meatballs floated up again, they became fatter and whiter, and they were densely packed into the entire pot surface. At this time, someone will use a large bamboo fence to pick it up and put it in each bamboo plaque, and bring it to the front desk of the store in time. I saw that these meatballs were all round and somersaulting, and they were trembling in front of people. If they didn't smell so fragrant, they would make people reluctant to eat them.
That’s what I thought as a teenager.
The children of the seventies were real children. Most of our previous generation have experienced wars, and the generation before that has experienced the vicissitudes of life, so our generation has shouldered the childishness of three generations, but after all we dare not have the arrogance of today's children. Early in the morning, I would help the adults clean up the breakfast dishes, tables and stools, sweep the floor, and pretend to take care of my two younger brothers. At this time, my grandfather would say, children, if I give you a few cents, you must not buy random things to eat. We are naturally overjoyed because this is the beginning of a new day.
Now that I have money, I have other plans that are different from other children. I will collect the pocket money of my two younger brothers, and the three of us will go to this shop in the market together and buy a large bowl of noodles for ten cents. Then, the three brothers, you and I will eat the meatballs in the bowl one bite at a time. , meat rolls, noodles, and for some reason the delicious noodle soup that I can’t eat today. If you had asked me twenty years ago, I could really tell you the delicious taste of every little meatball and every sip of soup!
But I dare not forget the taste of the special soup that my grandfather made just for me.
My grandfather is tall and thin, and he is very strict with us three brothers, especially me. I accidentally sit on a chair with a backrest, or imitate adults to cross their legs, or hold chopsticks and a spoon at the same time, or cross hands with adults to pick up food, or chew something while talking. Got criticism from grandpa. But when I was reading and writing, my grandfather always quietly wiped the glass cover of the kerosene lamp for me again and again, and asked me again and again if my eyes were tired. Moreover, if I had a toothache, he would not only take me to the health center to get a medicine called Bingbosan, but he would also firmly judge that I must have a toothache, and would personally buy me a pig's trotter and use it with mung beans. Cook it and add some brown sugar for me to eat.
My grandfather passed away when I was in second grade, and I never had a chance to honor him.
When I was in junior high school, every day on my way back and forth between my home and the town’s middle school, I would silently pray towards my grandfather’s resting place. When I went to study in Guangzhou, I would go to my grandfather’s place alone during the Chinese New Year, kneel down quietly, put down a pair of oranges, without sadness or special prayer, just look around and come back.
Because, I think, I can never ask for anything from my kind grandfather.
In addition to the deep love he never expresses, what else does he have?
Five
The old street is a short alley connecting the villages in the southeast, giving me a mixed feeling about the countryside. I was confused when I was young, but today I want to stop talking.
Ordinarily, this alley, which is less than ten meters long, is nothing special. What is special is that it is the main traffic thoroughfare in the central market of Dacheng. It is what people often say is the throat that matters to fate. Moreover, on the east wall of the large shop, there are often announcements, street signs and the like.
I have never been to a kindergarten seriously, only a preschool class. In addition, my grandfather and father taught me some words, which made me know things with words earlier than other friends before going to school. Pay attention to some.
One day, after eating noodles with my two younger brothers, I was explaining to them why they should eat noodles instead of sugar. When I looked up, I saw a notice posted on the east wall of the noodle shop. In addition to a large seal with the national emblem, this announcement also has "√" in some places. Later I asked my father and found out the meaning of this terrible hook.
This reminds me of the black-faced Bao Gong in Teochew opera. He turned around, stroked his beard, stamped his feet, and served with a tiger-head guillotine, and his head fell to the ground in an instant. The difference is, it's true!
But even though I was afraid, I was still curious. Once, I saw a movie poster. It was a movie written by a local farmer writer in Chaoshan. Moreover, the film was also shot in dialect. I think a rural person can do such a great job after working hard, and I admire him very much.
More and more things were posted on this wall. Rural life seems to be getting richer.
The most eye-catching thing is the new outdoor movie theater that has been built in the east end of the village between the houses and fields.
The first poster posted was for the Teochew drama "Daji" adapted from the story of the characters in "Feng Shen Bang". Shantou People's Broadcasting Station also seemed to cooperate and broadcast for several days. In this way, within a few days, almost everyone in the village, young and old, knew about Daji. This kind of big play that usually can only be performed in front of the gods during New Year's Eve can actually be performed and watched at any time. Moreover, the protagonist and the drummer are a father and daughter from their hometown. The superposition of various factors made the villagers excited to a certain extent.
The protagonist was washing clothes by the stream gate the next day. The old woman returning home from the fields saw her acting more awkwardly than other village women and pointed at her and scolded her: "Fairy x". Although the voice was small, short, concise, and to the point, and the person scolding didn't really scold him, and he couldn't figure out why the scolding didn't have any confidence, the listener was very sensitive. Although he is from the countryside, he is already the protagonist of the county Chaozhou opera troupe. He is half city dweller and has seen the world. When he hears this, he doesn’t know whether he should get angry and refute or pretend not to hear. His face turns red to the neck. , his eyes were also red. But I was a little happy and nervous in my heart, and I was also afraid that I would wrongly accuse my older aunt and be sued by her father. I was in a dilemma, so I simply put away the half-washed clothes early and left.
Just as he was about to leave, he was met by a strong young man carrying five or six sized stones in a wheelbarrow. The young man had just descended the mountain road, crossed the small Banqiao in front, and was trotting downhill along the creek. The weight of the big stone on his car was almost equivalent to the load of half a tractor. At this time, he was screaming with excitement, and the pedestrians on the left and right quickly avoided it.
As soon as the man saw the protagonist, he ran and shouted: "Ah Qiao, you just gave birth to a baby, how can you wash your clothes?" This question brought the heroine, who was called Ah Qiao, to tears. Really shouted. The pear blossoms were wet with rain, and she clenched her lips with her teeth, and simply threw her clothes and basin into the stream.
I felt anxious and angry: This person must have seen himself practicing Qigong in an undershirt early in the morning without washing up. Moreover, how could such a rough man call her Aqiao in public. You must know that her old father, who is also her teacher and father, only calls her by her full name. Everyone knows that in the countryside, couples don’t call each other by their first names, and the girl’s family only calls each other by their first names, so they call each other so affectionately!
Fortunately, the young man disappeared immediately. It would be better to die! Aqiao cursed softly in his heart, but immediately regretted it, and lowered his head to wash the clothes again. His movements were almost as neat and crisp as a peasant woman's, without any pretense at all.
On the east wall of the noodle shop, these interesting stories are not unique.
Once, I saw something written on several pieces of white paper. The person who wrote it seemed very angry and anxious. The writing was full. Although there was no check mark, I could understand it as I was already in school. , this one is as scary as Gou!
What is written on the wall is the big and small things done by a village cadre. Although it was already the early 1980s, I had not seen the grand view on the wall of that unprecedented era, and I did not understand it. But I still feel uneasy!
Later, I saw a lot of people having a meeting in Zhoucuo Ancestral Hall. The host probably said what to choose, and said that those who support A so-and-so should stand here, and those who support A so-and-so should stand over there. People stood on both sides bustlingly.
This ancestral hall is the residence of Zhou Yong, a local virtuous man who served as a minister of Zhejiang in the Ming Dynasty. The two sides of the gatehouse of the mansion are covered with fishing nets. The people attending the meeting gathered in the open patio between the nave hall and the gate tower. There is a high gate with a stone drum in front of it. A diagram of the Twenty-Four Filial Piety is painted on the front wall. The couplet on the door reads "Confucianism is famous far and wide, and loyalty is long-lasting."
I really don’t know, Duke Zhou has a spirit, what should he think that day?