Author: Zhang Shunqing
Now that it’s summer, I’m embarrassed to say it’s hot, let alone complain. Because compared with the countryside when I was a child, today is really a day in paradise.
When I was a child in the countryside, it was the 1950s and 1960s. In summer, rural people are accustomed to calling it hot day. The word "hot" vividly reflects the characteristics of this season. People didn't know how hot it was in the hot weather at that time. Rural people are generally illiterate and do not know that heat is measured in degrees.
only knows that the sun is poisonous during the day and can kill people. The roads and alleys were scalding hot, and so were the ponds and paddy fields. No matter where you touch it, it will be hot. The air was still warm at night, and it was hot at one o'clock. Rural houses are not only low, but also have small and few windows. The ventilation in the house is severely poor, and the house is just a big steamer. People will sweat profusely if they sit still. If you lie down, the wet sweat marks on the bed will be as long as the person is.
Due to the large population and poor families, in many families four or five adults and children sleep in one bed. It's possible to squeeze in during the winter, but in hot weather it's impossible to squeeze into the same bed. So when night comes, every household puts bamboo beds, bamboo mats, and wooden benches at the door of their homes, or moves them to a more ventilated place. Some even make makeshift beds every night, and the whole family sleeps outdoors. Better families can even put up a broken mosquito net.
The outdoor environment is also very harsh, mainly due to too many mosquitoes. In the dark night, when you are walking, you feel mosquitoes bumping into you densely, and they swarm into your eyes and mouth. If you sit down, waves of flying mosquitoes will take turns attacking you with a buzzing sound. You can only use the fan in your hand to drive away. The main function of the fan is to fan the wind and cool down. Faced with the harassment of the mosquito army, you have only one thing to use.
Fans are a necessity on hot days and everyone needs them. At that time, ordinary people could not afford to have a fan. The family only had three or four fans, and they were all in bad shape. Whether it is a larger banana fan or a smaller cattail fan, there are holes or edges, or the handle is broken. If there are holes, use old cloth to patch them up, and if the edges are loose, use strips of cloth to tie them together. If there is no handle, just grab the fan directly. Although every fan is scarred, it is still a treasure on hot days. In rural areas, it is rare to see people like the scholar on the stage holding a paper fan.
There are few fans and not enough. But apart from fans, there are really no substitutes available in rural areas. Although books can be used to fan people and swat mosquitoes to a limited extent, it is more difficult for many people to find a book than a fan. As a result, except for the main members of the family who have fans, everyone else, especially the children, can only "look at the fans and sigh"! It was so hot that I could only subconsciously fan myself with my palms. Facing the mosquito attack, the only option is to fight with bare hands.
Adults and children, after being tired during the day, often fall asleep at night. I was tired from endless battles with mosquitoes and slowly fell asleep. Just let the mosquitoes bite you everywhere. Even if it is covered with a mosquito net, mosquitoes can still sneak in. When I looked in the morning, there were many mosquitoes lying on top and around the mosquito net. One of them had a big belly and a round waist, and a pool of blood would appear when you slap it with your hand.
In the dew-filled morning, my skin felt burning under the stimulation of the sun. At the same time, the red envelopes bitten by mosquitoes, including every prickly heat on my body, shone brightly and itched extremely. If you scratch it randomly and don't pay attention to hygiene, it will cause pus and bleeding and cause disease. At that time, after a hot day, a layer of black skin on the body peeled off, and it was still covered with bruises. People would lose weight. So at that time, people called hot weather, also called "bitter summer" and "thin summer".
I remember that at that time, there was also a method of fumigating mosquitoes. Use the scraps from sawing wood and mix it with 666 powder. Then put it in a paper bag, like a piece of pig intestine. Hanging next to the crowd at night, burning slowly. If the person is downwind, it may have some effect. It’s just that as time goes by, the mosquitoes are still as ferocious as ever. At that time, the mosquito coils sold in stores were still luxury goods and many people could not afford them.
On hot nights in rural areas, there is often no wind at all.It's so hot that the trees don't shake even if the wind doesn't blow. It's so hot that there's no place to run, and it makes people feel very irritable. Adults teach children to shout, and sometimes they themselves shout: "The wind is coming, the rain is coming, the monk mother is coming with the big drum on her back. Ah Xi——"!
So the children stretched their necks and shouted "Ah, ah, ah," over and over again. Although this is a joke of joy in suffering, who can deny that there is no pious expectation? Just like kneeling down in a temple to pray for rain during a severe drought, what you are seeking is a kind of psychological prayer and self-comfort. Faced with a nearly primitive production and living environment, what can people do besides fighting for their health and life?
