I am over fifty years old and have experienced many vicissitudes of life. Many past events have gradually faded away with the passage of time, but the memories of the past as educated youth remain fresh and make people recall and reverie.
In the autumn of 1968, I left the flowery ancient city of Xi'an and came to the second team of Taoyuan, Badu Township, Long County to join the team and settle down.
Taoyuan is located in the northwest of Baoji , more than 120 miles away from the urban area. Arriving in Taoyuan was a huge disappointment. There is not a single peach tree in Taoyuan Village, which is dozens of miles around. The name Taoyuan Village is really in vain. An unnamed small river twists and turns, like a wriggling earthworm, crawling across the gravel beach and flowing from south to north. To the east of the river are undulating mountains, and to the west of the river are the abrupt Niuxin Mountains. There are several farmhouses at the foot of the mountain. They have dilapidated buildings, ragged clothes, and people's pale faces are lifeless. During the day, they carried dung on their backs on the high loess slopes, farmed in the barren mountains on both sides of the river, and cut trees on the high mountains. At night, the oil lamp is like a bean, and everything is dark. Before 9 o'clock, people and the mountains and rivers fell asleep, and the mountains and fields were deathly silent. Here, no smiling faces can be seen, no laughter can be heard. There are many people whose ancestors have been illiterate for generations and have never been to Baoji or seen a train. In autumn, there are continuous rains and flash floods. The crooked river in the past is like a wild horse running wild, splashing countless huge waves, roaring and running, as if singing a sad and angry song. Trapped in a small earthen house, my heart longing for my relatives was like a rushing river, flying into the distance.
It was dawn, "Move--" With a long shout from the captain, we educated youths and fellow villagers gathered in the storage room to ask Chairman Mao for instructions in the morning. After a day of work, at night, we reported to Chairman Mao in the evening.
I grew up in a big city. I have thin skin and tender flesh. I can’t carry it with my shoulders or lift it with my hands. I have never done farm work such as plowing, sowing, hoeing, harvesting, or logging in the mountains. Taoyuan is a mountainous area with many slopes and little flat land. Delivering manure to the fields mainly relies on people's backs. After the basket, which is about half a person's height, is filled with soil and dung, it is too heavy to carry. The farther away the ground is, the higher the slope, and the steeper the road becomes. Carrying the dung to the place becomes more difficult, and the person's legs and feet become weak from exhaustion, and he is panting. When you start carrying dung, it is common for the dung to be sprinkled on your head, neck and clothes.
Because there is more land and less manure, soil manure must be used intensively. When sowing corn, you need to hold manure. The oxen and the plow are walking in front, and the person holding the dung hangs a bucket-shaped wooden box on his chest - the dung bucket. He bends down and lies on the dung pile, fills the dung bucket with soil dung in a broken bowl, and raises his head straight. He stood up and ran towards the ox plow, spreading dung rhythmically at equal distances in the furrow. The woman behind him sown corn seeds on the dung soil. Because cows move fast, the man holding the dung has to keep pretending, running, and spreading the dung. After a day's work, one's bones feel like they are falling apart, and there are blood marks on the neck from the hemp rope on the dung bucket. The person is so tired that his back is sore his legs are aching and his neck is hard. He doesn't want to eat, and he doesn't want to say a word.
When the corn grows to the height of a person, we go into the ground to hoe the corn. The weather is hot and the cornfield is airtight, like a steamer. Sweat flowed from his head to his feet, and his clothes were soaked. The corn leaves were like knives, cutting bloody marks on the arms and legs. They were soaked in sweat and caused excruciating pain. After hoeing the corn, water could be squeezed out of our clothes. We lay on our backs on the ridge of the field, too tired to even want to get up.
When the summer harvest comes, the wheat fields are golden. We have the scorching sun above our heads and are harvesting with our sickles. It was time to start harvesting the wheat. Not only did our educated youth do it slowly, the stubble was still high. After harvesting the wheat for a day, I don't know how much sweat I shed. My clothes became wet and dry, and were covered with white clouds. The arms and legs were also pricked red by the wheat awns, and they hurt and itched. I was so tired that my back was sore, my legs were sore, my fingers were soft and hard. When transporting wheat, the wheat bundles are carried on the back with a shackle, and the wheat bundles are placed one by one on the shackles and tied tightly. The wheat bundles are carried like a hill. They go over one mountain after another, and they carry them again and again, as if they are carrying more and more. The more there are, the more I can carry them all. After the summer harvest, all the educated youths are tanned and have lost weight several times.
In winter, the north wind blows and the snow falls. The undulating mountains are covered with snow, giving it a northern scenery. We educated youth and fellow villagers went up to the mountains to cut trees. Holding a sharp ax in hand, after cutting down two or three trees, blood blisters appeared on his palms, and he suffered from heart-piercing pain.When cutting down, the small ax seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, and it was difficult to lift and chop down. It is not easy to cut down even one tree, let alone five trees. After cutting down the tree, the tree head must be cut off and the wood must be slid down the mountain. Sometimes the wood slips onto the tree stump, and it takes a lot of effort to lift the wood, and then slides down until it reaches the bottom of the mountain. When the work was done, four or five pieces of wood were tied together with thick ropes and pulled out of the ditch by virtue of the smooth snow and smooth road. When going uphill, I shortened the drawstring, lowered my head and bent over and tried my best to lift it up. Even though it was freezing and snowy, my clothes were soaked with sweat. When it was time to go downhill, I lengthened the rope and trotted all the way. The cold wind blew and my whole body was cold. When you reach the bend of the mountain road, you must be very careful. If you are not careful, you and the wood will roll down to the bottom of the ditch. Your clothes will be torn by branches and thorns, your nose will be bruised and your face will be swollen, and your legs and arms will be injured and bleeding. It was even more thrilling when we crossed the river. The temporary wooden bridge was only a little over a foot wide and was uneven. Under the bridge was frozen river water and dense rocks. It was not stable enough for people to walk on the bridge, and they felt panicked. Before crossing the river, we tied two pieces of wood into a herringbone shape and put them on our shoulders. When crossing the river, I looked down at the wooden bridge, walked slowly with my feet, and it took a long time to cross. After all the wood was transported across the river, I took a long breath and returned to the educated youth house, still in shock and with lingering fears.
Time flies, and time flies by. Two springs and autumn passed in the blink of an eye. With the care, guidance and help of the villagers, our educated youth overcame the difficulties, withstood the test, gradually adapted to life in the mountain villages, gradually mastered some agricultural production techniques, made some achievements, and established a deep relationship with the villagers. Love and praise from fellow villagers.
When we left Taoyuan, where we had been sent to the countryside for two years, all of us educated youths were filled with emotions. I will never forget the warm welcome when the villagers brought walnuts and freshly baked chestnuts; I will never forget the loving and kind scene when the villagers taught us how to cook and farm work; I will never forget the scene when the villagers sent us doctors and medicines when we were sick. The touching story of asking for warmth and greetings; the longing eyes of the villagers who pursue wealth and learn scientific, technological and cultural knowledge will be unforgettable; the affectionate farewell of the villagers when we left Taoyuan will be unforgettable. All of this is unforgettable and unforgettable for a lifetime.
Looking back on my days as an educated youth, I am grateful for my years as an educated youth. Although the years of educated youth have caused us to lose a lot, we have also gained a lot; although the years of educated youth have been bitter, we have also gained a lot of sweetness. The years of educated youth allowed us to undergo a rare exercise, from which we strengthened our bodies, sharpened our will, cultivated the spirit of hard work, and laid the foundation for us to take a good path in life; our years as educated youth enabled us to understand the countryside and get closer to farmers , I truly felt the folks’ honesty and honesty. Being simple, hard-working, thrifty and frugal, we have established deep feelings; our years as educated youth have allowed us to personally experience the hardships of labor and the hard-won food, and we have developed the ideological and moral character of cherishing food and never wasting it, so that our children can also inherit it. and carry forward the traditional virtues of hardship, simplicity, diligence and frugality.
Looking back on my days as an educated youth, I never regret.
