by Liu Chengyin
My first love is called Cheng Lin, I was six years old, and she was sixteen that year.
Perhaps, in the eyes of people nowadays, at the age of sixteen is still a child, at the age of junior high school. In our age, he is already an adult. My seventh father gave birth to my cousin when he was sixteen, and my cousin gave birth to my cousin when he was sixteen.
In my hometown, a sixteen-year-old girl has matured, and she will become a lively girl when she goes out. It is said that children who eat mutton develop early, and this may be a factor. Cheng Lin's grandfather runs a mutton shop. In the winter morning, a bowl of mutton soup moisturizes her delicate face, her slender figure is moisturized, and her big eyes are moisturized.
Cheng Lin’s family lives on the east side of our river, separated by a wide river. There is no bridge on the river, only a wooden boat, and no male. There is a thick hemp rope across the river. The people who cross the river pull the rope and tow Take the wooden boat to the other side of the river.
My family lives in the east end of the old street, close to the river. Pig shops, businesses, restaurants, shaved shops, herbalists shops, and Oriental temples are all on this old street. There is a dirt road in front of the house. People from Hedong go to the market and go to the streets to cross the river by this boat. After getting ashore, they must pass by this dirt road. Standing in front of the door every day, I saw pedestrians piercing on the road, and the eldest girl and the little daughter-in-law took to the street dressed up beautifully. At the age of twenty-two, I am already in love with me, and I always look secretly when I see a beautiful woman.
Cheng Lin passes by the door every day. When she first saw her, she was a little surprised. There is such a beautiful girl in Hedong? From now on, I approximately grasped the time she passed in front of the door every day, leaned on the door frame early, and waited quietly for her to slowly pass by the door. The first thing I saw was her front, and after she left, I looked at her back. The fate was sultry and sentimental, and was devastated by the long spring breeze.
Later, I went to my uncle’s shop to work as a part-timer. The life of the old family is inseparable from the daily necessities made of wicker and bamboo. Wicker blue seeds, wicker baskets, cold plaques, summer mats, sieves, panlan... are all woven in the uncle's workshop. My cousin couldn't be too busy alone, so he found five or six helpers. In that era, the old street was the boss with the biggest business.As soon as I walked into my cousin's shop, I was stunned. Cheng Lin was also working as a helper in the shop. I knew her name on the first day.
Old family members have the habit of catching the fragrance period. When the fragrance period is reached, the shopkeepers in the south and the north always transport the things in the store to the fragrance period for sale, and the same is true for the cousin. There seems to be a lot of fragrance periods in my hometown. The 15th day of the first lunar month, the 28th day of the first month Yuanduo, the 8th day of February, Guxi, the 3rd day of March, the third day of March, the 8th day of March, the 28th day of March, and the 10th of September. Nine Pagodas...every day before the fragrance period, my cousin arranged for me to transport these things to the fragrance period early, and picked a beautiful woman to accompany me. Uncle Tang knew in his heart that a beautiful woman could do a lot more business just by stopping at the booth. Cheng Lin was with me every time, so I had the opportunity to come into contact with her alone.
At that time, tractors were not popularized, and the goods were transported by roller cars and pallets. The rushing period relies on grabbing a seat, and when you go late, the good ones are robbed by others, and even the bad ones are gone. I had to rush to the temple fair the day before, set up the stall overnight, and stay by the stall at night.
Every time when the incense season, the cousin prepares dry food, nothing more than peach crisps, sesame cake, oil cakes, etc., bring a thermos bottle with a stick shell, and spend a dime on the tiger stove on the street Bottle of boiling water on top. When it got dark, we spread a mat on the ground, and Cheng Lin and I lay on the mat, each with a single quilt, even if the bed was made. However, sleeping at night is not secure, and I will spend a night hazy. There was a cool breeze on the road, and a bright moon in the sky...
Later, my cousin didn't have enough goods to sell, and night work was started every night, every day until 8 or 9 o'clock. At night in the country, after eight o'clock, every family went to bed with the lights out, and the outside was quiet, and there were occasional dog barks. Cheng Lin went home with me, and after work, I went with her. To the east of the old house is a cemetery, which feels gloomy during the day, and people drown in the river every year. Women are always timid. When they pass by here, they are always in fear. I will send her home every night until I reach the door.
I loved reading in my early years, like "Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin" read by my father, which are my favorites. There is a photocopy of the " Liao Zhai ", which makes me love it, I have read it over and over again,Almost to the point where it can be recited in full. Every time I send Cheng Lin home, I always tell her stories from "Liao Zhai", she is creepy, and she clings into my arms unknowingly.
First love did not understand love. I still haven't figured it out yet. Were we in love at that time? I did not propose to marry her, nor did she say that she would marry me, just that the two of them had a very happy life together, and there was nothing to say. Later, her father made the decision and married a neighboring Zhuangzi, while I married a woman from the south of Jiehe River.
Since then, the two have separated.
The man Cheng Lin married was a boat. There are several brick kilns in my hometown that burn small bricks and tiles, but because the local soil is sandy soil, bricks and tiles cannot be made, they are all transported by ship from the south of the Yangtze River. Cheng Lin's man transports the soil to the kiln. In the third year after marriage, heavy waters and typhoons broke out in the Yangtze River, and Cheng Lin's man and boat overturned into the Yangtze River. It's a sigh that the beauty is so fateful that the 19-year-old Cheng Lin has become a young widow.
More than half a year has passed since I learned about this. In the third year after I got married, I went to Harbin in Northeast China with the construction team just established by the commune to do political work. When I went home at the end of the year, my wife told me about this, which was really unbearable. After Cheng Lin's man was killed, her father took her back to live in her natal family, perhaps to make her forget the pain of this life earlier.
That night, I decided to go with my wife to see her. The wooden boat in the river no longer exists. It was replaced by a cement bridge. The old house of Cheng Lin’s family was also demolished. Three brick houses with seven beams were built on the riverside. Standing at the door of my house, looking eastward, faintly About to see her home. When I walked to Lin's house, she hadn't talked a few words, she was already in tears, her voice was choked, and she was a lot more haggard when she was less than 20 years old. My wife left quietly and chatted with her sister-in-law, leaving this small space for me and Cheng Lin...
That night, I couldn’t find the language to comfort her, what kind of words came from me The mouth appeared so pale and weak. Cheng Lin did not have any children after marriage, and discussed with his wife, I asked my son to recognize her as a godmother...
I have a colleague in my unit,About my age, the technical leader of the engineering team, his wife died in a car accident a few years ago, I made do with Cheng Lin and he re-formed a family, although they met, they did not accept him. Later, the wife also introduced her divorced colleagues in the work unit, but she was not accepted either. That's it, we never led her to her again, maybe she could not forget one person in her heart, or she kept pretending to be another person.
Nowadays, Cheng Lin is in her early 50s, and her parents have passed away early. She lives with her brother and sister-in-law. She is not too old, her hair is gray, and her face has a lot of vicissitudes of life. People in the village say that she has never seen her smile.
When my son got married, he invited her to the wedding. The son and daughter-in-law called her "Mom" respectfully. Cheng Lin seemed to have recovered the smile she had lost for many years. She was as happy as she was when she was sixteen, and her pair was dry. My big eyes are once again watery, not inferior to the shyness of being a girl...
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