Friends of Xinglin Tower’s educated youth——Yellow
Author: Zhu Weiyi
Seeing the puppies running around their owners on the streets of Beijing, I often think of the puppy that was raised by a few of us Beijing educated youth when I jumped in line. This is a true nostalgia, a nostalgia for an old friend, because it is connected to a period of life that is most difficult for us to forget.
The dog we raised has a foreign name, called "Yellow" (Yellow). I gave this name because it has golden shiny fur. I call it "Yellow" in English. It is worthy of the name and catchy. It is the same as "Saihu", "Black Bull" and "Huako" commonly used by fellow villagers. "Compared with the name of Chaihe Dog, it has more knowledge. When Yelou first entered Xinglinta Village, the fourth lady from the village said, "I really cut it (it's so beautiful). How big is it?" I said, "It's called Yelou." As a result, Ye Lou was called "Ya-lu-er" in the mouths of the fellow villagers. As long as these three words are pronounced in a long and separated voice, the original accent of Yuci mountains will come out. .
Yelou is originally from Taiyuan, and he was "robbed" here.
At the end of 1968, Mou Xinting (the founder of Xinglin Tower Educated Youth Point), an "old junior high school student" in No. 25 Middle School in Beijing, went to Taiyuan Infectious Disease Hospital to recuperate due to hepatitis, and became friends with Xiao Gao, an unemployed young man from Taiyuan in the same ward. Xiao Gao is also a "third grader", short and stocky, with a rough face, warm and loyal to others, and a very lively person. I went to Taiyuan to play and had no place to stay, so I went to the infectious disease hospital to seek refuge with Mou Xinting. The nurse said to Xiao Mou, "Aren't you afraid of infecting others with hepatitis when you recruit people to live here?" Xiao Mou politely asked, "Is it okay to live in your home?" At this time, Xiao Gao expressed his position on the side: "That's it. Shift (Wei Yi) will sleep in Hungry's (my) bed. If Hungry is hungry, go home and sleep." Xiao Mou said cheekily: "Thank you then." In return, he turned around and introduced me: "Xiao Gao's real name is Gao Wanmin, and we all call him Testicle Min. He has two characteristics. One is that he is naked and hairless. Do you want to take a look?"
I just agreed, Xiao Gao Mou and his two fellow patients pounced forward, Xiao Gao pushed left and right to block, and finally managed to protect his crotch firmly.
After the war subsided, I asked: "What about another characteristic?"
Xiao Mou replied: "This kid has confessed himself that he takes two shares every night."
Xiao Gao protested: "What did you say? Who sued you? (I) said that you only risked it when you were sleeping and dreaming." The patient, Lao Liu, was a middle school music teacher. He just dropped his glasses under the bed when he was besieging Xiao Gao. He lay under the bed and touched his eyes while interjecting in his rich tenor voice: "Xiao Gao, why don't you ask me to interpret your dreams one morning? Why don't you recognize normal physiological phenomena?"
Let's start again After sitting down, Xiao Gao started to show me his treasures: an air gun and a crude six-stringed piano. These are two of his favorite things that he bought by saving money by skipping one meal a day for two years. While he was talking, he played a song called "Call Auntie" to show off his talent. While playing, he sang: "Call Auntie, sit down, listen to 'Hungry' and say a few intimate words. I say Auntie..."
Lao Liu explained to me on the side: "This is an old folk song from Shanxi. Folk songs are usually related to sex, and the lyrics in the next paragraph are unpalatable."
Xiao Mou's hepatitis can't be noticed for a while. , and the 30 yuan in medical expenses his father sent from the Xuanhua Artillery School was almost spent, so he decided to return to the mountains after spending the Spring Festival of 1969 in Taiyuan. We made an appointment: when I return from Beijing after the Spring Festival, we would meet in Yuci County and then return to the village together.
Before Xiao Mou returned to the village, Xiao Gao wanted to serve as a host, but because he was too poor, it was impossible to treat guests to dinner, so he carried an air gun and a hospital-issued Wotou , and took Lao Liu with him. Accompany Xiao Mou to visit Yingze Park.At that time, there were three "Yingze" stores in Taiyuan: Yingze Street , Yingze Park, and Yingze Brand Cigarettes, but they never welcomed Mao Zedong.
The three of them were planning to go around and shoot a few sparrows, but unexpectedly they made an unexpected discovery in a corner of the park.
There was a dog pen surrounded by barbed wire. The door of the pen was wide open, and there was a huge German Shepherd and three fluffy puppies basking in the sun outside the pen. These three puppies are extremely cute. Their ears are not upright like their mother's, but half-erect and half-drooped. Their golden fur is shining, but the tips of their ears and their small muzzles are black. The little things have just been able to walk, their bodies are soft, and their sounds are as small as a mouse's grunt. Xiao Gao said: "This German wolf dog must have been 'eviled' by our Shanxi yellow dog, otherwise these puppies would not grow up like this." Old Liu said: "A combination of Chinese and Western, with hybrid advantages, these puppies should be good." Xiao Mou looked at it blankly for a while, and suddenly a thief's light flashed behind his spectacles: "Brothers, help me steal one and bring it back How about going up the mountain?"
The three patients hit it off and quickly divided the labor:
Lao Liu was responsible for showing off and covering, practicing singing with his high tenor voice to cover up the noise in the dog pen, and in case the dog's owner came back, he would also smoke a toast Stop him by chatting; Xiao Gao is responsible for drawing the big wolf dog away from the puppies and controlling them; Xiao Mou is responsible for picking out the best puppy, picking it up and running away!
Looking around and seeing no one around, the three of them started to take action. Old Liu raised his voice several times from low to high, and then began to sing loudly: "Policies and strategies are the life of the party, and leading comrades at all levels must pay full attention to...". Xiao Gao took out the cold cornstarch from his arms, took a big bite himself, then divided the remaining portion into two, gave one half to Xiao Mou, broke the other half into pieces, and threw them piece by piece to the bitch. At a time when humans were still unable to fully fill their stomachs, the appeal of Wotou to dogs was undoubtedly huge. The bitch looked at the bun on the ground, at Xiao Gao, and then at her child. After hesitating for a moment, she finally got up and walked step by step toward the dog pen along the path of Xiao Gao throwing broken buns. Before entering the dog pen gate, it suddenly stopped and looked back at the children not far away, seeming a little undecided.
Xiao Gao struck while the iron was hot and threw the remaining largest piece of cornbread into the depths of the dog pen.
The female dog had a sudden thought and quickly jumped into the circle. It seemed that she wanted to get food quickly and then return to the children as soon as possible. Unfortunately, it was too late.
Soon after, Xiao Gao closed and locked the door decisively and quickly. The bitch no longer paid attention to the nest, turned around and pounced on the pen door, barking and jumping. At the same time, Lao Liu's singing became louder, echoing the barking of dogs, and the quiet park suddenly became extremely lively.
Time was running out. Xiao Mou, who was hiding behind a nearby big tree, suddenly flashed out with an agile figure. He rushed forward, grabbed a puppy by its tail and picked it up. The puppy screamed, and Xiao Mou immediately dropped it and went away again. Picking up another one, there was another scream. When he picked up the tail of the third puppy, the puppy not only stopped barking, but also turned its head and glanced at Xiao Mou in the air, as if to say hello to him.
"Good dog!" Xiao Mou cheered, put the dog in his arms, and shouted: "Comrades, retreat!"
The three of them had not run a few steps when a hoarse roar came from behind: "Qianqiu" "What's more? Stop!"
They subconsciously stopped and looked back. It turned out that an old man on duty at the park was chasing them. After the three of them exchanged glances, Xiao Mou and Lao Liu ran away again, while Xiao Gao slowly turned around, with a sinister look on his face, raised his air gun with one hand and pointed it at the old man. During the Cultural Revolution, the rebels and gangsters in Taiyuan were two armies that grew and grew at the same time. When ransacking homes and beating people had become part of daily life, hurting a person or robbing a dog was not a big deal. The truth can be said, only strength determines victory or defeat.Under the intimidation of Xiao Gao, the old man cursed and stopped chasing... In this way, Yaleo joined our going to the mountains and countryside ranks.
On the third day after snatching the dog, Xiao Mou packed up his belongings and left Taiyuan to return to Yuci County. There was no phone contact at that time. When I was visiting relatives in Beijing, I wrote to him and arranged a time to meet him at Yuci Railway Station. Because he had no money to stay in a hotel, Xiao Mou spent the night on a bench at Yuci Railway Station with Yelou in his arms.
At dawn, I took the train to Yuci. As soon as I got off the train with my friend Zhang Zhenguo from the same village, we saw Xiao Mou picking us up at the station and Yelou in his arms. Ye Lou seemed to be destined to me. He didn't say a word when he came over and just sniffed everywhere with his little black nose. Its nose hasn't grown yet, and its face is a bit flat. From time to time, it sticks out its tongue and licks the tip of its nose quickly, sending me a soft warmth from its furry little body. But as long as there is the slightest noise around, it immediately raises its little head from my arms and looks around with a pair of clear and bright big eyes, looking alert and cute.
In early 1969, the two major mass organizations in Yuci County, "Red Jinzhong" and "Yihuo", were brewing a large-scale armed struggle. Both sides regard themselves as representatives of revolution and truth, and both classify the other party into the bourgeois reactionary line camp. When their reasoning is unclear, they sharpen their swords and guns to eliminate the other party. Weapons, troops, and combat plans are all prepared, and a spark can spark a quasi-war in which blood and lives are used to defend the proletarian revolutionary line. Known as “one monkey on each road, one policeman guarding both ends”, Xiaoyuci County is full of barricades, with clear distinctions. The loudspeakers of the two factions kept issuing "ultimatums" to each other, and teams of workers armed with live ammunition shuttled back and forth on the road... Except for the trains on the Shitai Line, all public transportation to Yuci was interrupted. . We didn’t have the financial resources or the courage to stop in Yuci, so we had no choice but to hike back to the mountain with our puppy, Yale.
It takes more than 80 miles of mountain road to get to Xinglinta Village from the county seat. With our physical strength, this journey is difficult, but it can still be won by walking empty-handed for a day, but carrying luggage is another matter. Xiao Mou was carrying a complete set of belongings for hospitalization and recuperation, while Zhenguo and I were carrying heavy travel bags filled with rice, noodles, lard and some leisure books to pass the time. In this case, traveling long distances seems a bit overwhelming.
When we left Yuci County, one of the factions in the fighting set up roadblocks along the way, so we often had to take detours and walk through farmland. When we were intercepted, we had to spend a lot of time explaining our identity as Beijing's educated youth and our position of firmly supporting the opponent's revolutionary line... After walking back and forth, the sky turned dark when we reached Changning Commune, which was less than thirty miles away from the county seat. We can only stay there.
Accommodation in a big car shop is expensive, costing one yuan per person, which is undoubtedly a luxury for those of us without any income. But everyone is exhausted, and Xiao Mou is still suffering from hepatitis, so the money still needs to be spent.
Along the way during the day, Yale was stuffed into a backpack by us, with his little head exposed and looking around. We left it on the ground while we spent the night at the big car shop. In the middle of the night, we heard it squeaking. When we turned on the light, we found it standing against an empty wall with its head raised, its two front paws resting on the wall and grabbing on. Apparently it wanted to have sex with us. Kang, but looking at the wrong place. We laughed together, Zhenguo jumped off the kang, picked him up, and then got into the shiny, hard quilt with Yelou. As soon as he lay down, he suddenly shouted, then sat up and shouted: "Holy shit!" We asked him what was wrong, and he said angrily: "Oh, my dick...".
Ever since Yale left its mother, the biggest problem has been instant weaning. We couldn't find any milk substitutes for it, so we had to adopt the approach of eating what we ate.When feeding, you need to mince those river (noodles pressed out of jade rice noodles) and millet balls, then mix them with some warm water, and use a small can as its tableware. Fortunately, it has a very strong ability to adapt to the new environment. In the three days since returning to the mountain from Taiyuan, it only had diarrhea once and languished for a long time, and has been very active since then.
On the way the next day, we occasionally put Yale down on the ground so that he could learn to run with us. Yale was extremely excited and started having fun as soon as he landed. Xiao Mou said to it: "Look, the world is vast, and there is a lot to do. The air in the countryside is so good! It would be strange if you stay in Taiyuan and guard your mother, and you don't practice cultivation. If you agree, just wag your tail!" After hearing this, Ye Lou hurriedly The little tail wags tightly, indicating that he fully agrees with the great significance of jumping in line and settling down.
Before going up the mountain, Zhenguo found a red cloth belt and tied it around Yelou's neck. This small decoration made Yelou look particularly well-behaved and naughty. When we entered the village, the educated youth and fellow villagers cheered, not only because we brought non-vegetarian food, but also because of the arrival of the lovely Yale.
Not long after the educated youth spot in Xinglinta Village was established, everyone had a bad feeling: no matter which village you went to, there would always be some aggressive Shiba Dogs jumping out to block the road, creating dangers everywhere, so everyone wanted to have one that belonged to the educated youth collective. The dog is both a guard and a companion. If this were not the case, Xiao Mou would not risk being labeled a "bad element" by the Yingze Park Management Office to steal the dog.
Yelou felt a little uneasy under the crowd. He wouldn't let anyone touch him. He just screamed and hid behind Xiao Mou. Perhaps from the moment Xiao Mou picked up his tail and looked at each other in Yingze Park, he had already recognized Xiao Mou as his master.
At this point, Yale’s career of jumping in line with us began. The difference is that we all finally left Xinglin Pagoda where we had vowed to take root for a lifetime, but Yelou never returned to the city...
There is a sunny terraced hillside deep in the mountains of Qingcheng Brigade of Shigeta Commune. There are 110 acres of land, and there are several mud houses built on a flat land halfway up the mountain. This is the Xinglin Tower of the village where we jumped in line.
Xinglin Tower is a natural village, administratively affiliated with the Zhaiwa Production Team four miles away. This village was formerly called Gaojiazhuang, and in its heyday there were more than a dozen farmers with the surname Gao. Because of the remote location and lack of water, most of the residents moved away. In the end, there were only two families of five left: one family had the third uncle and three aunts with a 10-year-old grandson, and the other family had the fourth uncle and four aunts. The four elderly people are all nearly 70 years old.
Because five people could not constitute a "village", the locals changed the name of the village to "Xinglin Tower" based on the existence of apricot trees all over the mountain. This is a quite literary name, but Xinglin Pagoda has no pagoda, so why the word "ta" comes from is really confusing. After some research, I guessed that the original name of Xinglin Tower might be "Xinglin Ta". Da Zhe means continuous and continuous, and this means coming in waves. Therefore, people in the mountains call the hillside "Shandada", which is exactly in line with the characteristics of the large hillside of Xinglin Pagoda. It is unknown who changed the word "da" into the word "ta". But in any case, the change of this word changed this place name into a poetic and picturesque style, which can not be regarded as a stroke of genius. To this day, Zhenguo still uses his online name as "Xinglin Educated Youth."
Such brilliant place names are very rare in Shigeta Commune. The place names of each village are generally very unsophisticated. The most terrifying one is a village called "Wolf's Nest".There was an old junior high school student in the village who was writing a letter to her home. She accidentally wrote "sleeping on the earth kang" as "sleeping on the earth kang". After the letter was sent to her home, her mother burst into tears: Poor child, don't sleep on it. Not only did we end up in a heap of rocks, we were also sent to a wolf den and slept in a pit...
The establishment of the educated youth center has injected vitality into Xinglin Tower, a "corner forgotten by God". Our self-positioning is to "take root." "The countryside has changed." The idea of the County Resettlement Office (later changed to the Educated Youth Office) was to provide a staged way out for those of us petty bourgeois intellectuals who could not be resettled in Beijing (even though we had neither assets nor knowledge).
When Yelou went up the mountain, the Beijing educated youth collective in Xinglin Tower was at its peak. There are 10 boys and girls in total, and their family origins are divided into three categories: revolutionary cadres (but not yet liberated), revolutionary army (but belonging to the uprising), and staff (with serious historical problems); their political stances are divided into two categories: extreme left and center left, and there is no one. "Backward elements". It’s no wonder that in those days not to be radical was to give up. At that time, the novelty of joining the queue had not worn off yet. Every morning before going to work, we all had to line up to ask for instructions from Liu Chunsheng's "Chairman Mao Goes to Anyuan" oil painting printed on a metal sheet. We had to do it under a kerosene lamp at night. One hour of political study is a period of primitive labor where everyone tries their best.
A photo of Yelou and I at the end of the terraced fields
After entering the village, Yelou was particularly pampered for a period of time. He was hugged and teased. He slept in the same-sex boys’ dormitory at night, ate and enjoyed the food specially processed for him. Dog food. But as time goes by, it will inevitably start to enjoy the normal treatment of mountain dogs: sleeping outside the door, eating leftovers, and drinking pot water. However, for us, paying attention to the basic life of Yale is not optional, because everyone recognizes him as a member of the educated youth spot.
Yellow is a "community member" who does not receive work points. During the days when I jumped in the queue, there was not a day when he did not go to the ground with us.
Yelou’s main identification with this group is language. It has a strong ability to understand Beijing dialect. None of us deliberately thought about what kind of language we should use with this puppy, how we should speak to people, and how we should speak to it.
We soon discovered that it could understand almost all the instructions we gave. Perhaps because of Aiwujiwu, it is also very friendly to all the educated youths who come to visit and speak Beijing dialect. It can even perform some of the guests' commands, such as "come here", "shake hands", "get down", "roll around" and so on. instructions. But if someone comes who speaks Shanxi dialect , its attitude will be different. When I was young, I ignored them. When I grew up, I would scream when I heard someone speaking Shanxi dialect. It doesn't bite, but it just blocks the way to the village and barks fiercely. The timid villagers dare not move forward, so they have to call our names for help with a louder voice than Yale. When people in Beijing call good friends, they like to use the last two characters of their names, while people in the mountains prefer to call people by the first two characters of their names, so they often call the Shanxi name of Mou Xinting, the head of the educated youth district, " Mou Xin! Mou Xin! ..." So Ye Lou's existence served as the "communication room" of Xinglin Tower Village. Every time we hear it barking continuously, we know that someone is coming up the mountain.
Yale knows very well that its owner is not a person but a collective, and it is unconditionally loyal to this collective.
When we go out to work, it must be leading the way. If it finds that we have changed the walking route after running for a while, it will immediately turn around and return to follow the team and continue to lead on the new route. When we were working in the field, it would sometimes lie down on the ground and sleep, sometimes it would focus on digging small holes in the ground, and sometimes it would seek pleasure and run around in an invisible circle like crazy.
Educated youths like Yelou very much, especially Zhenguo. He often took Yale for a walk after dinner. Sometimes he would suddenly run wildly, luring Yale to run in front of him, and then hide in a certain place so that Yale would turn around and look for him.Our toilets are two open-air huts built with stones that are close to each other. The stones are built up to half a person's height, and boys and girls each use one. The latrine is a large tank for accumulating fertilizer, with two large stone slabs on top, leaving a slender gap in the middle. We have trained Yelou not to eat shit no matter how hungry he is, but when Zhenguo poops, he likes to ask Yelou to keep him company, and chat with him endlessly while he poops. The topic is usually inseparable from the memories of Beijing snacks. Fried cakes, fried belly , soybean juice ... and so on. He promised Yelou that if he goes to Beijing one day, he will definitely invite him to his home for a good meal. As for Yale, she always waited patiently and silently for him to finish, and then accompanied him back to the house. At first, everyone didn’t know that Zhenguo had the habit of taking the dog with him and having spiritual dinners in the latrine. The girl next door to the men’s room heard Zhenguo’s nagging when he was leaving the ceremony, and thought he was homesick and had something wrong. Knowing that he was "playing the piano to the dog".
Sometimes when Zhenguo is teasing him, Yelou will suddenly fall to the ground with his four little paws hunched. At this time, Zhenguo will understand and gently rub his little balls. At this time, Yelou looks like It was very useful and I lay motionless. If a girl catches up with her in this situation, she will say "hooligan" and run away quickly. I don’t know whether this “gangster” is referring to Yelou or Zhenguo.
However, there were times when Zhenguo was teasing Yelou, and it was common for him to pull his tail. The most extreme one was when he wanted to test how much Yelou's tongue could bear. When he teased her to stick out her big tongue, He suddenly grabbed his tongue and lifted his body up, causing Yelou to scream all his life. He broke free and ran away immediately. He avoided Zhenguo the whole day afterwards. Zhenguo called it, but it didn't move and looked at him with two big eyes, which seemed to say: "Stop it, you perverted guy..."
When we have meetings, Yelou likes to be present. Participate, lie on the ground and listen together to Xiao Mou's editorials in two newspapers and one issue and our speeches on fighting against selfishness and criticizing revisionists. When it got bored, it put its forelimbs on the ground, raised its butt, raised its head, yawned, and then walked outside alone for a while before coming back in to listen.
When we went down the mountain to the Qingcheng brigade on the side of the road to do errands, Yelou would always trot along with the brigade. When some people go down the mountain and others stay in the village, its choice of action is clear: whoever goes down the mountain will follow. In the closed Xinglin Tower, it is like a child eager to go out of the mountains to open its eyes and join in the fun.
When Yale was little, it was risky to go down the mountain with us. There are dogs everywhere in the area where we jumped in line. Dogs in rural areas often have a strong sense of xenophobia and aggression, and they are also responsible for guarding the gates of owners who have no part-time life except housework and sex. When fighting against aliens, these dogs are by no means all-inclusive, and their mouths are open. Brutal and dark. As a young child raised by "petty bourgeois intellectuals", once he entered such an environment, he was in danger. When Yale is following us around, they don't dare to attack rashly, but when we attend meetings such as work evaluation, political night classes, etc. and have to leave Yale alone outside, that is when it is most dangerous. Yaleou had no choice but to "grow through battle."
When encountering an attack, Yelou usually has to confront those huge adult Chaihe dogs for a while, wrinkling their noses and baring their teeth and letting out a low roar from their throats. After the hostile atmosphere accumulates to a certain level, the two sides become like As if they had made an appointment, they suddenly pounced on each other and bit into each other. It was difficult for Yale to gain the upper hand in a fight when he was about six months old, but his wolf-dog heritage endowed him with an innate character of being brave and good at fighting. It does not seek to knock down the opponent, but its attack is not as good as the others. It bites one spot and does not let go. Through this "two-injury combat method", it creates psychological fear in the opponent and achieves the best effect of using a small amount to fight a big one.
When we go back to the village after doing errands in other villages, as long as we call it, it will suddenly appear out of nowhere and we never need to look for it. At first, the sudden appearance of Little Yale often made people feel distressed. But as it grows up, such scenes become less and less common.The law of survival of the fittest is reflected in Yale, who gradually carves out his own world.
In the second year after he went up the mountain, Yaleo grew into a beautiful and majestic big dog, and his appetite gradually increased. Under the condition that each person only has a fixed ration, which is just enough for us to make ends meet, it is not easy to maintain "food and clothing" in Yale. In order to fill its belly, the food given by the educated youth can usually only keep it "full".
When we had dinner every day, each of us would hold a bowl of millet mixed with yam eggs and sit under the eaves of the kitchen and slurp it into our mouths. Yale was sitting in front of us, waiting to eat the potato skins. If it doesn't gain much after waiting in front of one person for a period of time, it gets up and goes to another person, lying pitifully on the ground and waiting again. After we finished our meal, the person in charge of the kitchen added a ladle of water to the rice pot with the casserole, brushed it for a while, poured the water into Yelou's food bowl, and then called out: "Yellow!" At this time, it would swoop towards the kitchen like an arrow leaving its string, drink up a basin of pot water in one go, and watch its belly gradually grow bigger. When it follows us to the ground, it will keep running to the tree to raise one leg to urinate, and its belly gradually becomes smaller.
In the picture, Yale is waiting to eat the potato peels I threw out.
While we educated youths could barely fill their stomachs, the food for "educated youth pet" Yaleo could only be water for the pot. In the years that followed, whenever I saw this photo, I felt uncomfortable.
Hungry Yelou once made a serious "mistake". Once, the Zhaiwa production team slaughtered sheep, and the whole team planned to distribute the sheep. We got five pounds of mutton. In an environment where there is only one pound of rapeseed oil a year and no meat or eggs, these five pounds of mutton bring us great joy and endless reverie about the belly feeling. During the autumn harvest in the field in the afternoon, we have been discussing how to enjoy this piece of mutton, braised in braise or stewed, whether to eat it in one meal or enjoy it twice...
When we came back from work in the evening, we were shocked to find that the mutton was missing! The kitchen door is locked, and the only way a thief can enter is through the window. The two old ladies who don't work in the fields don't have the skills to climb through the window. The only person who could commit the crime is Yale. In order to solve the case, I immediately shouted "Yellow" and shouted several times before I saw it appear.
The image of Yale at this time is quite vulgar. Its limbs were close to the ground, its head was lowered and its eyes were turned up, looking at us cautiously. With its tail still tucked, it slowly approached us step by step. Its belly was as round as if it was pregnant with puppies, and it was so fat that it was almost out of shape. Needless to say, it was the one who did it just by looking like this! In order not to wrongly accuse a good dog and never let go of a bad dog, Zhenguo leaned over and grabbed Yelou's forelimbs, smelled Yelou's mouth, and then slammed him down: "Damn it, it's full of sheep odor." ! "
Ye Lou enjoyed the whole meal to himself, and the small village of Xinglin Tower immediately exploded. In anger, I kicked Ye Lou on the butt, knocking it to the ground. It rolled twice, then wailed "My mother, my mother" and ran away. Zhenguo wanted to chase it, but unfortunately its legs couldn't catch up with its four paws. After chasing it for a while, it finally ran away.
Throughout the next day, Yale hid somewhere without daring to show his face. It was not until we were relieved that he dared to show up, and then went to drink his pot water.
More than thirty years later, when the old educated youths in Xinglin Tower gathered together, they still sighed when they talked about the mutton feast that was snatched away by Ye Lou... That was the most serious punishment we ever imposed on it. . When contemporary Chinese people begin to worry about diseases caused by overnutrition, and when pet dogs in the city eat canned food, take elevators, and wear clothes, it should be forgiven to think back that Ye Lou, who has long made a living by washing pots of water, should be forgiven for making such a mistake. , after all, it was the only time in Yale's life that he indulged in sexual intercourse.
Yale’s loyalty to us is not only reflected in his persistence, but also in his consciousness of protecting us. When we take it out for a night walk, we never worry about sneak attacks from wolves or "class enemies".If there is any disturbance on the road, Yale will immediately stop and let out a low growl in his throat as a warning. At this time, we had to shine the flashlight around, then wave the elm walking stick in our hands, and pretend to be bluffing by shouting a few common swear words commonly used in the mountains as locals. After that, we saw Yelou start running again, and we felt steady. Continue on the road. When we go to other villages to do errands, with Yelou escorting us, we no longer have to worry about vicious dogs suddenly pounce on us. In Zhenguo's words, this is called "shifting the opposition." At this time, the target of the Shiba Dogs' attack has become Yelou. As Yelou's combat effectiveness continued to improve, the Chai He Dogs could only "keep a respectful distance" to the team coming down from Xinglin Tower.
Zhao Lixue, a junior high school girl from Beijing No. 7 Middle School, who belongs to the "ultra-left" educated youth, has practiced acupuncture. For several months, she once ran to Zhaiwa a few miles away after work every day for several months. Go to the village to give an acupuncture to a lonely old lady with hemiplegia . Our off-duty time is based on sunset, so it will naturally be pitch dark before setting off after dinner. Under such circumstances, Zhao Li had to travel back and forth in the deep mountains, so 100% safety could not be guaranteed. After all, there were often wild animals in the mountains in that area. Therefore, Ye Lou became her personal bodyguard without any shirk, following Zhao Li every night until the old lady's health recovered. Later, if the fellow villagers saw Zhao Li walking alone in the mountains without Yelou by his side, they would feel awkward, as if Zhao Li's image became incomplete. At such times, they would ask Zhao Li: "How come you two (Zhao Li) don't see each other outside?"
I worked as a "Cultural Revolution Xiaoyao" for a period of time before I went to the countryside. At that time, the "Old Red Guards" in Beijing had degenerated into a group of stubborn masters who fought, stayed late, and photographed wives. I was not willing to associate with these quasi-hooligans, and the military propaganda team entered the "resumption of classes to make revolution" after middle school. They don’t teach students anything, they just study politics. When I was bored, I concentrated on wrestling for a while. The best ones are "De He Le" and "Change".
"Get He Le" means when two people are facing each other with their arms crossed, tap the other person's right foot with your left foot, and at the same time use your arms to guide the other person's upper body to the left. When the other person exerts force to the right to maintain body balance, then Suddenly, you use your right foot to catch the opponent's left foot, put more force on your arms and pull the opponent's upper body to the right, and use the principle of borrowing force to make the opponent fall to the right.
As for the "big face change", the requirements for strength and speed are higher. During the confrontation, you need to first create some illusions to divert his attention, look for opportunities to suddenly turn left, and insert your right leg into the left side of the opponent's body. Side, put your right arm around the opponent's neck, use your right hand and right leg to push to the left, and push the opponent to the ground on his back. I practiced these two hands for a full three months. I was once beaten and bruised, but in the end I learned some tricks and knocked down many practitioners from the "Xiaoyao Sect", including many veterans of the wrestling ring. Mou Xinting commented on my skills as: "I know how to wrestle with both hands."
In the village, we educated youths were willing to do the "gangster wrestling" gesture twice when we had nothing to do. Yelou understood that we were playing, and just jumped and shouted on the side, cheering for both sides like a cheerleading team. Whoever wins, he runs around wagging his tail to please and encourage him.
The farmers in the Zhaiwa team also like to wrestle. They rely on their simple strength. They pull and kick when they do it. In the end, the one with the strongest strength always wins. They called wrestling "wrestling" because they all knew that I could "wrestle" twice, so they challenged me one by one when they came to work in Xinglin Tower. Before every war, they would tell us educated youths to keep an eye on "Ya Liu'er", for fear that Ye Lou would come up to help in the battle. At this time, Zhenguo had to just grab Yelou and tell it: "Don't fucking move around. This is called and , and it's not a fight."
After I defeated many of the "falling" masters in Zhaiwa one by one (including Qiu Sheng, the production team leader who was as strong as Niu Dazi ), I finally attracted the number one warrior in Zhaiwa, "Dabao", to show up to challenge.
"Big Bao", whose surname is Yuwen, is thirty years old. He is covered in tendons and his arms are as black and thick as iron rods. Because there was a huge lipoma on the back of his neck, Zhenguo gave Dabao a four-character name based on the name of the second hero " Yu Wen Chengdu " in "The Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties". It's called "Yuwen Dabao".
Na Da Bao has not been involved in the war for a long time, because his reputation as the number one master in Zhaiwa cannot be easily damaged. It wasn't until I knocked down all the fighting talents from all echelons in Zhaiwa Village that he came to me to "fight" with great provocation. He knew very well that if he lost at this time, it would not be considered as losing his reputation, because none of the Zhaiwa warriors under him were my opponents. If he lost, it would not be counted as "Zai", but once he won, he would The king's status will undoubtedly be more stable.
My response to the big package challenge was considered. The mountain people have two major advantages. One is that they are incredibly powerful. As long as they hug you tightly, you will be dead. You will have difficulty breathing. I really don’t know how their mothers-in-law can withstand such terrible hugs at night. . Another one is those who dare to do something cruel. When they are invincible, they will attack your lower three lanes and grab your central and key departments and won't let go. The winner in a fight between them is often the one who seizes the opponent's lifeline first. When I compete with them, I have to pay special attention to guard against being hugged to death. In addition, I have to always pay attention to the important matter of "blocking the center". As long as these two points are achieved, the rest is to use my technical advantages and leverage my strength to resolve the battle as quickly as possible. Under normal circumstances, I can defeat my opponent within one minute. I am mentally prepared for the battle between
and Dabao. In terms of strength, this guy is at least twice as strong as me. If he were to attack the bottom three, the consequences would be "pretty serious."
Looking back, that battle was indeed a bit thrilling. The field where we were working was thrown into dust by the two of us. I had to be especially prepared for him to attack three roads closely and did not dare to attack rashly. After nearly 10 minutes of fierce fighting, we still couldn't tell the difference. victory or defeat. At this time, Yale suddenly couldn't sit still. Maybe it was worried that I was running out of strength. While Zhenguo was watching the game, he suddenly broke free from his shackles, jumped up, bit the trousers of the big bag with a clear-cut bite, and then tore off a piece of the big bag. Big grin. The farmers present shouted "Tooth leakage" together! "This piece of grandson"! They all thought that the big bag was bitten on the calf and neck. Dabao was attacked, and his big dog Saihu immediately stepped forward and pounced on Yelou. The two dogs immediately fought together, and it took a while for both parties to separate them. Yelou seemed to be furious and screamed at Dabao and Saihu while Zhenguo grabbed the back of the neck.
Da Bao saw that Ye Lou was just being biased and had no intention of hurting anyone, so he started fighting with me again with his two black arms. In order to prevent Ye Lou from being of help again, and since my physical strength was almost exhausted, I decided to make a quick decision. When they were twisted together again, I grabbed the big bag and only feinted for a moment, and then performed the unique skill of "big face change" Son.
Under my sudden attack, Da Bao lost his balance in an instant and was thrown heavily to the ground. When he fell to the ground, his two big black legs were hanging in the air. The tragic defeat of the first warrior in Zhaiwa was an outcome that the "majority of poor and lower-middle peasants" in Zhaiwa did not want to see. They were dumbfounded for a moment and didn't know what to say, but a group of people in Xinglin Tower suddenly burst into cheers. The grandson of the third uncle of our village, his beloved dog, was originally Dabao’s nephew, but at this time he firmly stood on the side of the educated youth of the village. He shouted at Dabao: “Sanjiujiu (third uncle), what are you doing? Just let people move (Wei Yi) and smash the land into the sky!"
As soon as the "war" ended, Yale pounced on me again. This time he no longer ignored the big bag, but jumped around me, looking happy and a bit proud. I think he might be saying: "You're so good, you can give us educated youth this opportunity without my help!"
This wrestling experience told me that if something happens to me, Yale will definitely come forward. of.
……
When the educated youth took the “knight photo”, Ye Lou took the initiative to act as a bodyguard. The slogan on the wall reflects our determination to "take a lifelong path of integrating workers and peasants." When Mou Xinteng and I painted this slogan, we left ourselves a way out, because the slogan did not exclude the possibility of returning to the city to work. .
The hard, impoverished and closed life gradually eroded the enthusiasm of Xinglinta’s educated youth to “take root in the countryside and work for a lifetime of revolution”. Beginning in 1969, Xiao Mou, the leader of the educated youth camp, was sent back to the city due to illness. The daughter of a high-ranking military official was brought back to Beijing by her parents without a trace. He hanged himself while visiting relatives, and the other two boys also went to the production team with slightly better conditions than Xinglin Tower.
Due to interest disputes and disdain for each other, the few remaining people in the village finally decided to separate their families. The group was divided into two families according to men and women.
During the days when we separated, Zhenguo and I were partners. Our common partner Yale has become the link of friendship between the two "families". He has to accompany the people of the two "families" down the mountain to make vinegar, buy salt and newspapers, and also has to run between the two "families". Run to find something to eat. The split of Educated Youth Point has brought some benefits to Yelou. At least its opportunities to eat have doubled. Just after drinking the pot water at one place, the other place is calling "Yelou" to drink again.
Before the Spring Festival of 1970, Zhenguo and I were given a whole year's worth of wheat, seven pounds per person, and were ground into more than ten pounds of white flour. The status of separate households gives us independent control over materials. With the pragmatic view of "if you have wine today, you will get drunk the next", we decided to eat white flour for two days and rely on whole grains for the rest of the year. We baked several large white-flour pancakes weighing 2 kilograms each, and each of us made one for one meal! During those two days, Yale completely lost interest in "dining" in the girls' dormitory and just hung around our boys' cooking table. It seems that dogs also like refined food.
In the years of hardship, poverty, loneliness and unclear future in Xinglinta, unity is ultimately necessary. We gradually felt that living in two families was not an option. In the summer of 1970, the two families decided to merge back together. On the day of the merger, Yale was very excited and kept walking between the boys and girls dormitories. It undoubtedly felt the realization of the "great cause of reunification" in the educated youth center, because it saw that our group were all carrying water for the same water tank and scooping rice from the same pot. On the day when the two companies merged, Yale enjoyed a long-awaited meal, and then continued to drink from it.
in the days of Xinglin Tower. It’s hard to imagine without Yale.
Every morning as soon as we open the door, we will see it lying at the door. As soon as it sees us opening the door, it always shakes its body quickly, shakes off the frost or dew on its body, and then jumps around us to say good morning.
Whenever we go out and have to leave him behind, no matter how late we return to the village, Yelou can spot us from a few miles away, and then rush down the mountain to greet us. Sometimes when girls go up the mountain at night, they will be frightened and screamed by Yelou who is jumping up and down silently under the moonlight.
Several times on the eve of the Spring Festival, the educated youth in the village would go back to Beijing to visit relatives. At this time, we could only leave Ye Lou to the care of the fourth aunt. This is usually the most miserable time for Yale, because it has never been close to the local people, so the water given to it by the fourth aunt is naturally closer to the meaning of water. Therefore, whenever Yale sees us put on bright clothes and start to pack our handbags, it will stay around with extra diligence, as if it is aware of the upcoming separation. And every time, it would follow us up the seven- or eight-mile mountain road and send us to the side of the road. After watching the shuttle bus to Yuci start, it slowly got up and returned to the village alone. At that time, the shuttle bus from Yuci into the mountain was a Jiefang brand Changpeng truck. Standing on the tall truck, I could see the golden figure of Yelou walking on the river beach in the distance. It was returning to Xinglin Tower alone. Obviously, the educated youth spot where people come and go has been recognized by it as its destination.We all think that our home is in the city, but only Yale calls Xinglin Tower his home. Thinking of this, I couldn't help but feel a little sad.
As recruitment began, the educated youths left Xinglin Tower one by one. At the end, only the girl Zhao Tian was left in the village. Since the collective household no longer existed, she was transferred to the nearby Zhaiwa production team, and Yelou followed her out of Xinglin Tower and entered a new living environment.
From following a lively group to following a master, Yelou seemed a little lost and no longer played as happily as before. However, it still only recognizes people who speak Beijing dialect, and still keeps a distance from the fellow villagers in Zhaiwa. For this reason, the fellow villagers said that it was a "Biejing (Beijing) student dog". It was arrogant and unwilling to mingle with the poor and lower-middle peasants, and they didn't like it very much.
Zhenguo and Yelou are together
Zhenguo always wears shabby clothes when he jumps in line. One year after he left the village to serve as a soldier, he returned to the village wearing a green national defense uniform. The educated youths could not recognize him from a distance. Only Yelou could recognize Zhenguo from a hundred meters away and scurried away without saying a word. When he went up to make out with him, Yelou raised his front paws in the air and stood almost upright, completely embracing Zhenguo, his long-lost master.
In 1974, Zhenguo and I, who had already joined the army, went to Zhaiwa Village to revisit our hometown. At that time, the girl Zhao Tian was still in the village. As soon as we entered the cave where Zhao Tian lived, Ye Lou ran in from outside. Its body looks stronger than before, and its golden fur is still as eye-catching. After not seeing each other for more than a year, Yale actually still recognizes us. Perhaps, it simply came to meet us because it smelled our breath.
It did not jump happily and shake hands with us with its forelimbs as it did when we returned to the mountains from Beijing. Instead, it gently waggled its tail and put its face on our legs for a long time, unwilling to leave.
I can’t imagine its psychological activities, but I can feel that it is clearly conveying an emotion. Is it sadness or something similar to human crying? I can't tell clearly. I guess it might be asking: Why did you take me up the mountain and leave me one by one?
That day, Zhenguo and I held Yelou’s head and kissed him for a long time. Zhenguo, who was serving as a soldier in Nie Village of Yuci, did not brag to Yelou anymore about inviting him to Beijing to have his belly fried. He just took out the Taigu Cake specially prepared for Yelou (a kind of non-fermented food that was very high-end in the Yuci area at that time). (stuffed. A sweet dough cake mixed with coarse and fine grains) and silently broke it for him to eat. Faced with such a silent friend, how can we explain why we must leave it?
Zhang Zhenguo, who came from Beijing No. 25 Middle School, was later assigned to sell vegetables at the Yuci County Vegetable Company and returned to the city at a low level. Before he left Xinglin Tower, we put on clothes without patches or holes and took this photo. Zhen Guo's bad habit of putting his fingers in Ye Lou's mouth is proven in this photo. Behind us is the more than 100 acres of terraced fields of Xinglin Tower.
At the end of 1974, Zhao Tian was recruited to work for the Iron and Steel Bureau, and the last educated youth from the original Xinglin Tower had to say goodbye to Yale. Zhao Tian entrusted 5-year-old Ye Lou to Yang Yunian, a girl from another local mountainous production team (Xiaoshiguai Production Team). She was the last Beijing educated youth in the entire brigade who had not returned to the city.
In the days before Zhao Tian left, Yelou didn’t eat or drink, and kept silent. Wherever she went, Yelou followed her, almost never leaving her. He had obviously felt that he was the last educated youth friend in Xinglin Tower. I have to say goodbye to it too. When Zhao Tian was about to go down the mountain and leave, Ye Lou put his face on her leg and refused to leave, letting out a series of low sounds in his throat, which made Zhao Tian's eyes red. Just like every educated youth returning to the city to find a job, Ye Lou sent Zhao Tian to the side of the road and watched her get into the car...
The next year, Yang Yunian also returned to the city. The Beijing educated youth in the Qingcheng Production Brigade announced that they were all leaving. In this case, Yale's life with the educated youth also came to an end. There is no way, no educated youth can bring a dog to a factory or school in the city to report.
Later, when I saw Yang Yunian, I immediately asked about Yaleo. Her answer left me speechless.
She said that she gave Yelou to a fellow villager. Because Yelou only recognized educated youths from Beijing, the villagers had no intention of adopting him and decided to kill him for meat. In desperation, Yang Yunian put forward a condition: "If you kill Yelou, you must not let me hear his cry."
However, during the slaughtering process of the fellow villagers, Yang Yunian still really heard the only scream from Yale. Yang Yunian was not an educated youth in Xinglin Tower, and his feelings for Yelou were incomparable to ours. Still, she said, Yale's final cry was one she would never forget.
When I heard this, I was silent, but my eyes were wet without knowing it. The end of our educated youth's life of jumping in line also became the end of Yale's life. The last education given by the poor and lower-middle peasants to our educated youth is to not waste any life of practical value, no matter how important this life is to the educated youth. There was no trace of Yelou's body, and only his fur continued to play a role. He was placed on a kang by a poor peasant family to keep warm from the cold and support their sexual intercourse. This is the ending of the life of Yelou, our common friend of the educated youth in Xinglin Tower.
more than thirty years later. Mou Xinting, Zhang Zhenguo and Zhao Tian and I drove back to Xinglin Tower from Beijing. Since we left, the four elderly people in Xinglin Tower have died one after another. The only young man in the village, Love Dog, went to Beitian Commune in the plain area because his father was released from prison and returned to Beitian.
Xinglin Tower Village was empty, and the land was converted from farmland to forest, turning it into a wild mountain. We failed to transform Xinglin Pagoda, but Xinglin Pagoda transformed us.
After the educated youth left and Yale died, Xinglin Tower was abandoned. The meaning of our existence in Xinglin Tower is actually to make some space in the city and get a bite of millet for ourselves. But at that time we firmly believed that we were raising food for the world revolution. Yale does not understand these great principles of human beings and cannot control its own destiny. Its destiny can only be closely connected with the ups and downs we experienced by jumping in line. It is also from the city to the countryside. We paid for our youth and it paid for our lives.
At that time, grass half as tall as a man grew on the threshing floor. And our educated youth dormitory was demolished into ruins. The villagers demolished all the mud houses in the village in order to get back the only wooden house among the mud houses that still had use value.
The mountain roads back then were covered by weeds, and the terraces back then were covered with wild sunflowers, among which were dotted palm-high saplings planted by forest farm workers. The spring that could only provide drinking water for more than ten people at that time has now dried up and collapsed.
The ruins of the Xinglin Pagoda educated youth kitchen in 2003
Where the earthen kang used to be in our boys' dormitory has now grown into a big tree. We talked about the days of jumping in line under the tree, and naturally we also thought of the educated youth’s “pet” Yelou, who was closely connected with these past events.
Zhao Tian, who returned from abroad, said: "When I left Yale, it looked like it was crying."
Newspaper president Mou Xinting said: "I really want to write something to Yale. I just don't know. What layout can accommodate it? "
Zhang Zhenguo, director of CITIC Company, said: "I have always wanted to find a dog that looks like Ye Lou, but it is too difficult. "
I said: "I will not raise another one. Dogs. Whenever I see those yellow-coated dogs raised by Germans, I think of Yale. To me, there is no dog that can bring me the same value as Yale." On the lonely Xinglinta barren mountain, we carefully lit a bonfire after clearing a piece of grass to comfort the two Xinglinta educated youths and four local elderly people who had passed away.
In the drifting green smoke, I seemed to see the old friend Yale, who had been with our youth and has passed away with our youth, running over alive, and it still used all four paws to attack us. Phew, those happy eyes seemed to be asking: Why did you come back? Why are you all so old?
