The next year, Ama Sijiong’s mushrooms sold for more than 200 yuan at that bus station. Ama Sijiong said that when she saves enough 1,000 yuan, she will give him the money for his wedding.

9

The next year, Ama Sijiong’s mushrooms were sold at that bus station for more than 200 yuan. Amasijiong comes into the city. At night, Ama Sijiong slept on her son's bed. Danba sleeps on a wire bed. Ama Sijiong said that when she saves enough 1,000 yuan, she will give him the money for his wedding. Danba calculated in his mind and said with a smile, then I have to wait three or four years!

Grandma Sijiong also smiled and said, I don’t think you are in a hurry yourself.

Danba did not tell Ama Sijiong that during this period, he was worried about whether he could become the director of commerce. He said, I'm not in a hurry, I'll wait until my grandma saves enough 1,000 yuan. He also told Mama Sijiong that the next time he sends mushrooms, they must be in three wicker baskets.

Grandma Sijiong is heartbroken. Then I will have to save dozens of dollars less a year.

Ama Sijiong relayed these words to the old monk Fahai. The old monk Fahai advised his sister, "My nephew is a person who does big things. Why are you so sad for a few baskets of mushrooms?" ! Because Dan Ba ​​helped the temple to approve several kilograms of gold powder to gild the brass roof of the temple hall, and got more than ten kilograms of silver to build the stupa, Fahai's status in the temple was greatly improved. In his early years, he was a tea-making monk. He is almost the unofficial kitchen manager, and he looks a bit fat.

Ama Sijiong sent several baskets of mushrooms over the past two years, and Danba became the director of commerce.

Without any warning, the era has come when mushrooms are worth a lot of money and people are crazy about mushrooms.

Not all mushrooms are valuable, but the kind of mushrooms that grow in Amasi Jiong’s mushroom circle. They have a new name, matsutake mushrooms. When other worthless mushrooms were still generally called mushrooms, the mushroom called matsutake suddenly became worth a lot of money. Last year, Amasijiong sold it for only 50 cents a pound at a bus station six kilometers away from the village. This year, the price of a kilogram of matsutake mushrooms suddenly rose to thirty or forty yuan.

Ama Sijiong said, Buddha is here, how many fifty cents is that!

Danba said, it’s sixty to eighty fifty cents!

Ama Sijiong calmed down, not so much. It’s thirty to forty fifty cents! Kilograms, kilograms, do you know? A kilogram is two to a pound.

Yes, the new unit of measurement kilogram comes along with the new name of the mushroom Matsutake. The season for matsutake mushrooms in the mountains around Jicun depends on the altitude. In some places it is at the end of summer and in other places it is the beginning of autumn. What is strange is that the businessmen who buy mushrooms have never seen matsutake mushrooms growing in the mountains, but they always appear on time in every place where the first matsutake mushrooms have just grown. They drove a pickup truck to a village, opened the back door, rolled out a scale, and the business started. That scale is not a steel scale where you slide the weight in your hand and count the stars on the pole, but a platform scale. A scale is like a real instrument. The outline of the machine, the texture of the steel, the shiny surface, and the weight of the things weighed are all measured in kilograms. Amasijiong discovered that these businessmen did not use abacus to calculate accounts, they used electronic calculators. As long as you press the small buttons marked with numbers and symbols, some numbers will dance on the light gray screen like ghosts.

Everything is really unprecedented!

Thirty-two mushrooms were sold for more than 400 yuan!

Grandma Sijiong is really smiling. That day, she sat under the shade of the walnut tree at the head of the village, guarding the merchant's stall, and watched the mountain people rushing to the mountains and forests in search of the mushroom that had a new name: matsutake. Amasi Jiong went up the mountain early in the morning, and now the sun was rising, slowly drying the hem of her robe that was wet with morning dew. The boots that were taken off on the side were also dried in the sun. At this time, people came down from the mountain one after another. Some people have one or twenty flowers, and most have three or five flowers.

The matsutake merchant asked Ama Sijiong why her mushrooms were so abundant and good.

Before Grandma Sijiong Sijiong could open his mouth, people from the village were rushing to answer. The working team had already taught him about these mushrooms!

Someone immediately came out to argue, no, it was Shopkeeper Wu who jumped into the river!

Someone else shouted that his son is the commerce director.

Grandma Sijiong laughed. She could hear that there was some jealousy in these words. All kinds of stories about her and mushrooms surged in Ah Ma Sijiong's heart, and she felt mixed emotions for a while, but she still liked it and liked to receive public attention in this way.

At this time, a dark cloud instantly filled the sky. Although summer had come to an end, it would still bring thunderstorms. She stood up, patted the grass clippings on her robe and prepared to go home, but as soon as she took a few steps, With the rumble of thunder, huge raindrops fell. Amasi Jiong ran back to the walnut tree. The whole world is filled with the sound of rain and the smell of rain and dust. The smell was a bit off-putting at first, but soon the smell of dust disappeared, and what was mixed in the rain was the fresh and rich smell inspired by the entire land, all stones, and all vegetation.

Grandma Sijiong’s eyes shone with excitement, because among the people who gathered under the tree to take shelter from the rain, she was the only one who knew that in the mountains, in the oak forest and on the edge of the oak tree forest, those fertile trees that had absorbed the rainwater Under the black soil of the forest, the mushrooms began to grow happily in the mushroom circle . This is not an imagination. Amasijiong once witnessed mushrooms bursting out of the ground in her mushroom circle in the forest in the rain. In summer, thunderstorms come and go quickly. The rain has not stopped yet, and the mushrooms have begun to sprout out of the ground. One here, one there, really competing for the first place!

The rain slowly stopped, the sun broke through the sky again, and a bright rainbow appeared over the village. People started to scatter.

The mushroom merchant came to Ama Sijiong and asked her, Auntie, are what they said true?

Ama Sijiong said, no one calls me Auntie, they all call me Ama Sijiong.

So, Ama Sijiong, is what they said true?

Grandma smiled brightly. What did you ask them about?

They said your son is the Commerce Secretary.

Ama Sijiong said that there were a lot of mushrooms growing on the mountain at this time!

No way, people No. 100 just swept through the forest.

Ama Sijiong said, then you wait here for me.

After saying that, Ama Sijiong really went up the mountain again.

The businessman smoked a cigarette, walked around the small village, came back, sat in the car and took a nap, smoked another cigarette, and walked around the village again. When I came back, I saw Ama Sijiong, whose clothes and boots were soaked by dew again, standing in front of the pickup truck.

This time, Ama Sijiong brought back fifty-three mushrooms. Forty-eight of them were picked from the earliest mushroom circle and the three mushroom circles that were discovered one after another. The remaining few were encountered by chance. When she met the scattered flowers, Ama Sijiong was still muttering, "Why do you look like children without a home? How pitiful you are!"

Looking at those lovely new mushrooms with tight caps and slender stalks, the businessman remembered an idiom, bamboo shoots spring up after the rain, and he said, oh, matsutake after the rain!

Of course Ama Sijiong didn’t know this idiom. She only said that now, a big group of people are growing on the mountain.

It was already sunset over the mountains, and the brightly colored forest tones began to become darker after the rain. The matsutake merchant said that it was a pity that he could not wait any longer. Now, he has to drive 500 kilometers overnight to the provincial capital. Tomorrow morning, these matsutake mushrooms will take the earliest flight to Beijing, and then transfer to Japan. By this time tomorrow, these mushrooms will appear on the dining table in Tokyo. .

The businessman said that at the elegant dinner table there, each person only had two pieces of matsutake, one eaten raw and one floating in the soup.The businessman said that if the Japanese didn't eat it, how could it be worth such a price?

The people in the machine village who were watching all said Japan Japan. Some people also complained, why didn’t these Japanese eat this earlier? The businessman

made a lot of sense. He talked about reform and opening up, information exchange, and transportation construction. He said that if there were no good roads, no planes, and the ability to deliver matsutake to foreign tables within 24 hours, the Japanese would not have such a good taste no matter how much money they had. If it lasts longer than twenty-four hours, the delicate matsutake mushrooms will lose their crispy texture. Any longer and they will rot on the road.

That year, Jicun and the surrounding villages went crazy because of matsutake.

In the morning, dawn has just broken, the morning star has just risen in the eastern sky, and the first waking birds have just begun to crow in their nests. People have already gotten up and gone to the forest to look for matsutake mushrooms. In less than a month, there were many trails in the forest. Ama Sijiong won't join in the fun, and she doesn't have to go up the mountain every day. She only got up and went up the mountain after everyone had gone down the mountain. She felt a little sad when she saw people stepping on paths in the forest, because mushrooms would never grow in those hardened places. Mushrooms are not plants and do not bloom or produce seeds. But in her imagination, mushrooms also have some kind of invisible seeds, floating around in a way invisible to the human eye. The soft black soil of the forest under the dead branches and leaves is where these seeds fall to the ground and take root.

Ama Sijiong continued to deliver mushrooms to the city. The wicker basket was still covered with soft moss that smelled almost the same as the mushrooms. Matsutake mushrooms with slender stems are arranged neatly. Amasijiong asked Danba a question, what do the seeds of matsutake look like?

I have no way of answering this question.

Danba said that he would go to the library to search for information and would definitely get the answer from the book.

Next week, Ama Sijiong will go to the county to deliver mushrooms. Danba tells her that mushrooms have seeds, but the seeds of mushrooms are not called seeds, but spores.

What the hell is a spore?

Danba opened the meeting minutes book that he always carried with him. There was a definition of spores that he copied from the library. Spores are reproductive cells that can develop into new individuals directly or indirectly after being separated from their parents.

Ama Sijiong sighed, "Courageous, what you are saying now are all words I don't understand."

Danba closed the book. To be honest, I don’t understand much about these sciences.

Ama Sijiong concluded it herself. Anyway, mushrooms have seeds. Otherwise, how could they grow out of the ground one after another? While

was talking, Danba divided the mushrooms in the basket into four parts. Packed in four plastic foam boxes, he will distribute the mushrooms to four families. Director Liu, county party secretary, county magistrate, and organization director who is about to retire. Mama Sijiong is a little unhappy. I don’t care who you want to give it to, but don’t you want to taste some of the mushrooms that Mama Sijiong picked personally?

Danba said, I don’t have to worry about not having fresh mushrooms to eat. Does Ama Sijiong have a new name now?

Oh, that old woman has a new name?

She has a new name that more and more people know. This name is Aunt Mushroom Circle. They said that what other people found were lost children, but what Auntie Mushroom Circle found was the mushroom for the meeting.

Grandma Sijiong clapped her legs and smiled, a mushroom in a meeting! Well said! Nowadays, unlike in those days, when the village chief called for a meeting, he could no longer gather so many people.

At night, Ama Sijiong was sleeping on her son's big bed. The street light fell on her pillow through the gap in the curtains. She was still thinking about the mushrooms in the meeting.

Danba came back after sending those mushrooms. He opened the steel wire bed next to Grandma's bed and fell asleep. Grandma Sijiong couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Danba asked her why she hadn't fallen asleep yet.

Ama Sijiong simply burst out laughing, like a mushroom in a meeting!

The next morning, Danba took his mother Sijiong to the bus station and met his uncle, monk Fahai. Uncle Fahai is old, hunched over and staggering, but his face lights up when he sees his sister and nephew.

Dan Ba ​​quickly invited his uncle and the temple steward who followed him to a street shop for breakfast. Breakfast is standard in this county, a beef offal soup and a tray of steamed buns stuffed with beef and celery. Every time, my uncle showed up with the temple steward, just to make requests and ask him to help with things. He said, if something happens, I will have a meeting. The housekeeper was not in a hurry and took out a towel to wipe the sweat from the monk's head. The lamas in the temple often pray for you, this great benefactor.

Danba said, what kind of benefactor am I? I haven’t paid a cent for incense.

The housekeeper counted all the things he had done over the years. He was a benefactor with great merit!

Danba said, if you find me, you can’t help me!

The steward signaled to Monk Fahai to speak.

Uncle Fahai's eyes shone, "My nephew has the ability, my face is shining, there is light!" As he spoke, his face also lit up.

Danba said, "Just tell me what happened this time."

The steward said that this time it is something encouraged by the government, and we must protect the mountains and forests around the temple. Dan Ba ​​knew that in recent years, the mainland has opened up the timber market, and traveling merchants who purchase timber have wandered into the mountains. Villagers have gone up to the mountains with axes to clean up the useful timber that had been harvested on a large scale by the Forestry Industry Bureau in the past. The situation of illegal logging One year is more important than the other. The housekeeper said that the temple was willing to organize monks to protect the mountains and forests around the temple, and he wanted to seek support from the government.

Danba smiled and said, this is really a good thing, so he took two old men in cassocks to see the forestry director.

After hearing the housekeeper's idea, the director immediately expressed his support. He immediately called the office director and a section chief and ordered them to draft a document immediately. The back mountain and front mountain of Baosheng Temple were designated as mountain closure and forest conservation reserves. The monks of Baosheng Temple The mountain patrol team formed has the power to turn over those who illegally cut down trees and send them to the public security organs.

The forestry director said that monks and lamas are willing to protect the natural ecology. This is a new thing and I support this new thing. The two monks got the documents and left happily.

The forestry director then told Dan Ba ​​that once the sign of closing the mountains for forestation was put in, all the matsutake mushrooms on those two mountains would belong to the temples, and the common people would not dare to get involved.

Danba said, why didn’t I think of this place!

The forestry director said, I am over 50 years old. When I look at people and things, I see a lot of things that are not bright. You are young and have a bright future. Sometimes, it is good to keep things simple.

Some days later, my uncle Fahai fell ill, so I went to the temple to visit him.

Danba’s real idea is to see how the temple closes the mountain. The temple is really closed during this peak season for matsutake mushrooms. Not only did they put up a sign issued by the Forestry Bureau to close the mountain for afforestation, they also formed a mountain patrol team of young and strong monks, each with a long stick, to guard every path up the mountain. Except for the villagers near the temple, no one else is allowed to go up the mountain. Moreover, the matsutake mushrooms collected by these villagers are all sold to temples, and then the temples resell them to matsutake merchants. The temple's price was reduced by 20% from the villagers, and the price was increased by 10% when it was sold. The sealing order obtained with his help provided another way to make money.

Therefore, the temple specially sent a careful young lama to serve Monk Fahai, a low-status tea-making monk.

After these years of dating, Danba has become very casual in talking to the living Buddhas in the temple. On this day, when I met the Living Buddha, he said, Living Buddha, you can be the chairman.

The Living Buddha does not feel dissatisfied. There are hundreds of people. It cannot be done without management, nor can it be managed well. It cannot be done without the means to make money, and it cannot be done without the few ways to make money.

I have to admit that this is actually true.

The living Buddha suppressed the smile on his face, I have another honest word to say, your uncle may not be able to survive this winter.

was silent, unable to think of what to say.

The living Buddha said, I will send an additional monk to serve him.

Danba said, I’d better take him to the hospital.

In the Living Buddha Way, your destiny has been decided, so why bother going to the hospital to delay it.

When he got home, Danba relayed the Living Buddha's words to Amasi Jiong. Amasijiong sighed deeply, in those years, I expected him to be the man to support the family, but he asked me to take care of it instead. Lodro. Amasi Jiong said, Luo Zhuo, your uncle is my Luo Zhuo. The word Luo Zhuo, translated into Chinese, means karmic debt. This is from a Buddhist point of view. From a Buddhist point of view, the relationship between sister Amasijiong and brother Fahai is because of the debt she owed to Fahai in her previous life. This debt may be financial, more likely moral or emotional.

Ama Sijiong put a lamp in front of the Buddha, wetted her eyes, and then calmed down.

She pressed her forehead against Danba’s forehead, Danba, I don’t have Luo Zhuo with you, otherwise I wouldn’t be so worried. But you still owe me.

Courage pressed against Ama Sijiong’s forehead, I can’t bear you living alone in the country, please move into the city to be with your son.

I can't let go of those mushroom rings, they are so valuable now! Amasi smiled brightly. Besides, your house is so small. If a girl likes you comes, can I still sleep in your bed?

When it snowed for the third time this year, Fahai, the tea-making monk who had been a shepherd in Ji Village for many years, completed the reincarnation of his life.

Danba only learned the news after the fact. It was when he returned home during the Spring Festival that Ama Sijiong told him that his uncle had left. He left peacefully and cleanly.

Peaceful refers to Fahai’s death without any pain. Clean means that during the sky burial, his body was cleaned by the eagle and the final offering was made.

That night, Danba also lit a lamp for his uncle in front of the Buddha.

Ama Sijiong suddenly said, "Is it interesting for your uncle to live like that all his life?"

Danba was surprised that Ama Sijiong would ask such a question. He said it would be interesting for people who believe in reincarnation.

Ama Sijiong’s next words frightened herself. What if there was no such thing as reincarnation? She quickly said sin, sin, the devil must have controlled my tongue.

Danba laughed and poured a bowl of highland barley wine with oil and sugar for Grandma Sijiong., Come on, Grandma.

Grandma Sijiong took a sip of wine and suddenly smiled brightly and said, yes, this is the taste of life in this life.

At that time, it started to snow outside the house. The dry winter air is instantly filled with the fragrance of moist, clean water. The snow also silences the trees, grass, and dust that make sounds in the wind.

This is a stable and satisfying New Year. Amasijiong said that this is the New Year that people should have, but she actually lived to old age to get such a New Year. She wishes that everyone in the world would always have such a New Year.

However, on the second New Year, the whole village fell into a sad atmosphere. Because two young people illegally felled a truck of forest trees, one young man was caught by the police, and the other young man escaped in a truck, and eventually crashed into a cliff and lost his life.

10

On the New Year of the third year, a young man who was hiding from debt came to their family.

This young man was not willing to just sell the collected matsutake to those businessmen who purchased matsutake. He purchased the matsutake himself. As a result, he collected a truckload of matsutake worth tens of thousands of yuan in the village but encountered a mudslide on the road. As a result, these matsutake were not transported. The plane arrived in Japan, but it rotted in the car, turning into a pile of smelly mud crawling with maggots.He got all the matsutake mushrooms on credit from the village. That night, the villagers came to his house to collect debts. When Courage saw this, they took him back to their home.

In the fourth year, Danba became the deputy county magistrate and had a girlfriend. However, when he returned home, he sighed because the business system he was in charge of was unsustainable under the new situation. Logically speaking, when the market is open and invigorated, people who have been working in the commerce bureau should be better at doing business. However, these people just don't know how to do it. In almost all aspects, they are defeated in the competition with those individual merchants. Finally, the department stores under the Commerce Bureau were divided into counters and sub-leased to ambitious self-employed individuals.

On the fifth New Year, Ama Sijiong was unhappy because she lost a mushroom circle. During matsutake season, she was followed by two fellow villagers. Each time, they rushed ahead of her to pick the new matsutake mushrooms. Later, like other people in the village, they couldn't wait for the matsutake mushrooms to grow naturally as soon as the matsutake merchants appeared. They took her mushrooms, which made her feel distressed. What made her feel even more distressed was that when they couldn't wait for the mushrooms to grow naturally, they, like other people in the village, went up the mountain with a rake with six iron teeth to peel off the soft The humus soil revealed the mushrooms that had not yet fully grown. When Amasijiong caught up with them, they had already gone down the mountain with dozens of small mushrooms. On New Year's Eve, Ama Sijiong said to Danba sadly, what has become of the human heart, what has become of the human heart! Those little mushrooms look like a fetus that has not grown into a head or limbs! They don't even separate the stipe and toads , they are just a chaotic little lump! Amasi Jiong cried, she said, remember? You said the book said mushroom seeds are called spores, and I saw those spores!

Amasi Jiong did see the scene of atrocities after mushroom circles were excavated by six-tooth rake in the oak tree. Many white mycelium-aggregates of spores that can grow into mushrooms were excavated from under the wet soil. The surface of the earth quickly withers or rots, which is death, but in different ways. The withered ones turn black and are blown away by the wind; the rotten ones turn into a few drops of turbid water and seep into the soil. Those are chilling and frightening visual images of people's hearts turning bad.

That year, Danba came up with an idea to set up a matsutake cooperative in the village. Firstly, collective bargaining can prevent tourist merchants from lowering the level and lowering prices; secondly, they can establish township rules and regulations to protect resources and abide by them together.

The county magistrate and secretary supported his idea.

The county magistrate said that your hometown, Ji Village, is rich in matsutake mushrooms and is also a place where resources have been seriously damaged, so we should set up a pilot project there.

That year, Danba got married on May Day.

is not the girl introduced by Director Liu back then. Danba himself met this girl at a dance in the Palace of Culture. The girl's father is the deputy magistrate of the county. At that dance, the girl said, I know you are going to become my father’s colleague. Once, he went to the county to complete a coordination meeting convened by the deputy county magistrate. When the meeting ended, he had already walked to the door. The deputy county magistrate spoke, asking Director Danba to stay for a moment.

The deputy county magistrate looked at him for a long time and said, I want to ask you something that you shouldn't ask.

was speechless and waited for him to speak.

The deputy county magistrate said, I heard that you are an illegitimate child?

Danba was very calm and said, "Ama Sijiong never told me who my father was."

The deputy county magistrate tapped his finger on the table and said, there is a fly in the ointment. Okay, let me tell you, my girl is attracted to you.

Danba then thought of the bright-eyed girl at the dance.

The deputy county magistrate said again, okay, you can socialize, but you have to remember that we are a family with rules!

He started dating the daughter of the deputy county magistrate named Ema. Oma is a general cadre of the Organization Department. On the third meeting, she told Danba frankly that her father said that she could either work hard to improve herself or find a husband who would make rapid progress. She said with tenderness, I am a woman and I am willing to choose the latter.

Danba was very surprised.I was surprised that this girl could so wonderfully combine utilitarian frankness and tenderness. As the relationship lasted for a long time, kissing, lingering, and exploring each other's bodies, Oma whispered into his ear, do you think I can get rid of other women in your mind.

Danba said, you are the only one left.

Ema blew her breath like a orchid and said, "So, where is Danya from your uncle Liu's family?"

Danba was very surprised, how did you know that I thought about her.

Oma said that for a woman like her, all men without women would miss her.

Danba continued to attack Oma's body. At the most critical moment, Oma got up from the bed and put her clothes in order. Sir, this step must wait until I am sure that you are my husband.

Danba is a little embarrassed and a little angry. You are so protective of yourself, but you understand men so well.

Oma replied, do you think you have to sleep with a man to understand him?

Before the matsutake season, Danba got married.

Director Liu, who has retired from the county CPPCC, came to attend the simple wedding. Dan Ya also came. Director Liu was holding a wine glass, but what he came up to say was not congratulations. He said, I am retired and can’t stay idle. I also want to get into the matsutake business. I am an old machine village, so I will set up a purchasing point in the machine village.

Danba knew that it was not him who wanted to start a matsutake business, but Danya who wanted to do this business who was instigating him behind the scenes. Dan Ba ​​had no choice but to tell him that the county was about to set up a matsutake cooperative in Ji Village, which would help protect resources and prevent vicious competition.

Of course Director Liu was not happy and said, "You don't have to answer me like this at this time."

Of course Danba felt very sorry. Next, the pilot matsutake cooperative he personally caught in Jicun failed.

The old man in the village said to him, "Cooperative, we have all been members of the cooperative. Boy, do you still want us to be hungry again?" Go home and ask your mother, Sijiong, how she became the aunt of the mushroom circle.

Danba still insisted on convening a meeting with all the villagers to explain that this cooperative was not that cooperative. Someone pretended to understand and said, OK, the matsutake mushrooms in Ama Sijiong’s mushroom circle belong to all of us. The whole village shares the matsutake money equally.

Ama Sijiong, you’re welcome. Then the money you steal from cutting down trees and the big money you make from doing business will be shared equally by everyone.

Danba stayed in the village for three days, persuading each household, but to no avail. This matter of

is also a shame. The secretary and the county magistrate are both veteran cadres, so we are not surprised to see this situation. There are many things that we cannot think of, but that we really cannot do! Danba's words probably also excused many of their half-measures.

Danba put aside the cooperative matters in his heart and returned home with his new wife Oma. Ama Sijiong gave her daughter-in-law a set of jewelry that cost nearly 100,000 yuan. Amasi Jiong said, you should watch out for Dan Ba, he is a fool, but a kind fool. Yes, yes, I'm a fool too, but I'm not stupid enough to give away my money to everyone.

Oma changed out of her shorts, put on Tibetan clothes, and put on the red coral and yellow beeswax that Ama Sijiong bought with matsutake money. The joy on her face matched the jewelry.

Ama Sijiong wiped her tears and said, "This house has never been so bright!"

She warmed the highland barley wine with butter and whispered to Oma, "In this house, just tonight, you can conceive a grandson for me."

That night, before going to bed, Ama Sijiong made beds for her son and daughter-in-law with her own hands, but she did not sleep. She sat in the yard with a pot of wine beside her, swaying and singing under the big moon. I woke up in the middle of the night and heard Ama Sijiong singing in the courtyard. I was about to get out of bed, but I was entangled by Oma. Ama had given me a big task.

Dan Bafu fell on the bed again, and the old woman muttered something to you.

The old lady wants you and me to give her a grandson tonight.

Danba laughed, wasn’t it always created?

Then create it again.

That night, they created a grandson for Mama Sijiong with great fanfare.

The morning star had just risen in the sky. Amasi Jiong quietly went upstairs, turned on the fire, simmered a piece of good Tibetan pork in a clay pot, and then went up the mountain. There was mist in the forest. Ama Sijiong stopped for the third time, listening for the sound of footsteps behind her. When she was sure there was nothing behind her, she got into the forest. At this time, the mist dispersed a lot, and she saw a mushroom circle. A dozen new mushrooms have been unearthed in the garden, but she is in no rush to pick them.

Ama Sijiong brushed away some damp oak tree leaves, and a stone appeared under her hand. She sat down on this stone, with a look of happiness on her face, and said in a sweet voice, I'm not in a hurry. She sat down quietly. The color of her robe was close to the color of the trunks of oak trees and the color of the understory ground. Only one face glowed with special brilliance. The brilliance made the forest with light mist and dim light become brighter.

She sat down and heard the dewdrops condensed by the mist gathering and dripping on the leaves. She heard the soil cracking quietly somewhere around her. It was the mushrooms growing underground, pushing upwards with their delicate bodies, pushing away from the surface. It was a magical moment.

Several stacked dead leaves gradually separated, and in the middle of the leaf gap, the brown tip of a matsutake mushroom with white cracks was exposed. The tip gradually rose, as if there was an ambush below, wearing a helmet and heading outside. Put your head in your face. Just as one bird stopped chirping and another began chirping, the matsutake rose to the ground. If we still compare it to a person, the matsutake's cap is like a helmet that completely covers the face below, and the slightly curved stem is like a neck that supports the head looking around.

Just like this, one matsutake after another rose to the ground around Ama Sijiong.

She saw the birth and growth of new life.

She picked only the most beautiful flowers and got up and went down the mountain.

When she melted the ghee in a pan and fried fresh mushroom slices over low heat, she heard her son and daughter-in-law get up. When she heard her daughter-in-law's charming words, Grandma Sijiong really smiled. When they finished the tedious washing in the city people's way, the mushrooms were fried. While she was changing into her dew-soaked clothes in the bedroom, Dan Ba ​​and his new wife were happily eating. She saw her daughter-in-law putting pieces of matsutake mushrooms into her son's mouth. Mother Sijiong was so happy that she had a sad expression on her face. They still exude the smell of love between a man and a woman.

Danba said to his wife, look, Ama Sijiong has dressed you up like a festival!

The daughter-in-law helped Sijiong sit down at the small kang table, filled the soup from the clay pot, and served it with both hands.

Ama Sijiong cried, but she made no sound with her grinning mouth, and hot tears flowed down her face. The daughter-in-law also said with red circles, "I have told you that my grandma has suffered so much and she has been so wronged."

Grandma Sijiong smiled again, I am not sad, I am happy. The day I left the cadre school, I never expected to live a good life like today.

Danba told me that in the year when Baosheng Temple was restored, Uncle Fahai took Danba to the temple to become a young monk. It was you who walked dozens of miles overnight to snatch him back.

Oh, that ghost from the past!

The daughter-in-law carefully picked the words, you, you, bad, unsatisfactory fate are all...

Oh, no, the cowardly Uncle Fahai, he himself is not a true monk. What kind of real monk is a tea-making monk? What kind of real monk is a monk who has had a woman? My son could be a true monk, but I can't let him go. Not to mention people who have passed away. I like you the way you are. Last night, you two slept together in this old house. I loved it so much that I sat in the yard and stayed up all night. I hope you have planted a new life with good luck.

Grandma Sijiong also pointed to the green hills above the window and said, "The money I earned from the mushroom circles will be put to use when I have grandchildren."

On the way back to the city, the newlyweds recalled Ama Sijiong's words. Ama leaned on Danba's shoulder and cried again. She said, how lucky am I to have such a kind mother.

Before the mushroom season came the next year, Ama Sijiong got a granddaughter.

My granddaughter looks like a coward. Big eyes, high nose, compact body.

Grandma Sijiong asked Danba to take her to the bank to open a special passbook. I wrote my granddaughter’s name on it, and after one mushroom season, she actually saved 20,000 yuan in it.

As the years passed, the price of matsutake mushrooms rose and fell, but by the time my granddaughter was in elementary school, she already had 100,000 yuan in her bankbook.

At that time, Liu Yuanxuan, the former working group leader, had retired for many years. Danya has also been married twice. When she got divorced for the last time, she simply went through the formalities of leaving her job without pay, and started her own business as a mushroom merchant using the money she received from her husband, who was a lumber merchant.

The mushroom business is not as simple as collecting money and selling goods in the early years. At this time, the mushroom business had become corporatized. A small amount of cooperation between companies that are competitors can destroy a traveling businessman's dream of getting rich.

Danya also suffered the same fate. The money from the divorce disappeared together with the matsutake that had been collected but could not be sold. It is said that at the entrance of a trading company, watching the rotten matsutake turn into smelly black mucus seeping out from the cracks of the carriage, Danya vomited all the food and stomach acid in her stomach, and also There were tears, and all kinds of regret for past mistakes.

From then on, she became a different person. Even when she finally achieved business success, she still didn't change back to the same Danya she used to be.

It is said that she lay in bed at her parents' house for several days. On the fifth day, Danya got up and announced that I would start from scratch.

Liu Yuanxuan, who had no job or power after retirement, asked her, starting from scratch, where is your zero?

Danya admitted that she didn’t know where the zero was. But she said, the brave man you have promoted has become the deputy county magistrate, and you have to ask him to help me.

Liu Yuanxuan said, I have no control over who you ask for help, except him!

Dan Ya sneered, you were so brave when you chased me, and you said the same thing! Otherwise, I would be the wife of the deputy county magistrate now!

It was a clear morning. The sun shone slantly in from the east window and fell on the floor in front of the sofa. Liu Yuanxuan was stimulated, her face turned red, she stood up from the sofa, and then staggered down. He fell into the sunshine, and the light in his wide eyes gradually faded. He heard Danya calling for an ambulance. He kept saying, no need, no need. But Danya didn't hear his words, she only saw some meaningless foam overflowing from the corners of his mouth. It wasn't until she heard the sound of the ambulance that Danya leaned down and heard the faint sound coming out of the increasing amounts of light foam. Danya heard her father's last words, Danba is your brother, your biological brother.

The doctor from the emergency center rushed into the room, touched the neck of former working team leader Liu Yuanxuan, listened to his heart, and then used a small flashlight to shine on his pupils. Then, the time of his death was noted. Danya fell down on the sofa, wanting to cry but without tears. Watching the morning sunlight leave the ground and shine on the low cabinet next to the wall. I saw my father's lifeless body lying on a stretcher, covered with a white cloth, left the unit where I had lived for more than ten years, got into the ambulance, and went to the morgue of the hospital.

At the farewell ceremony at the funeral home, all the county leaders came. Danba is also among them. At this time, he was already the executive deputy county magistrate. He walked up to Danya and wanted to shake her hand like other leaders, but Danya immediately leaned on his shoulder and started crying. At this time, there were still mean words whispering that if she had married Danba back then, she would not be so sad today.

At this situation, Danba was a little embarrassed and said, Uncle Liu is gone, and I am also very sad.

Danya said to him that his father left a final message, he didn’t let you chase me back then because he was also your father.

At night, Danba's eyes flashed before his eyes, that gray-white face wearing a suit and lipstick lying in the coffin, and he felt an empty sadness in his heart.That is the sadness caused by a rather abstract and empty concept of father. Oma said, okay, I know Uncle Liu treats you well, but people have to leave.

Danba hesitated for a long time, but still told Oma what Danya said.

Oma said, this can't be true!

Oma added that this may be true.

How could I possibly know that what she said was true.

Go back and ask Grandma Sijiong.

How can I ask such a thing!

Then you have to ask clearly.

I don’t know why I came here after so many years.

Oma said very wisely, it is not the problem of the dead, but the problem of the living.

Questions about living people? !

Yes, it is the Danya you have been pursuing. If Amasijiong says no, then you should stay away from her and don’t bother with her anymore. If so, that's another matter. No matter how unsatisfactory she is, she's still your sister!

Mushroom season has arrived, and Ama Sijiong sent a letter asking the couple to take their granddaughter to see her. Nowadays, Ama Sijiong, who is getting older day by day, is reluctant to go out. So, the couple took their daughter to visit their grandma in the country on a Sunday.

On the way, Oma said to Danba, let’s take the child’s grandmother into the city and live there.

Danba’s mind is not on this, just tell her yourself.

Jicun Village is not far or close to the county seat, more than fifty kilometers. In the past, if the roads were not good, it would seem far away from the county seat. Now, the beautiful asphalt road has an elegant yellow line in the middle to separate the lanes. A metal guardrail has been built on the side of the river bank. The illegal logging that has been crazy for more than ten years seems to have been really curbed. The water in the canyon is green and the mountains are green. The courageous couple did not have to save money to prepare for their daughter's tuition because of their mother. They took the lead in buying a Fukang car worth more than 100,000 yuan. They did not use the bus when doing personal things. This made the deputy county magistrate popular among the masses. Lots of extra points. Other people's country mothers are a burden, but their country mothers save tens of thousands of dollars for them every year.

Oma would often praise her, "Courage, how come you have such a good mother."

Sigh, my miserable mother.

11

Sometimes, Oma would shake Ama Sijiong’s shoulders, Ama Sijiong, what kind of fate is there to have such a good mother like you.

Ama Sijiong sighed, but also smiled happily. Maybe I owed him Luo Zhuo in my previous life, and I will pay it back in this life.

Danba said, before Ama Sijiong, you only said that you owed Luo Zhuo to your deceased uncle!

The granddaughter asked, what is Luo Zhuo?

Ama Sijiong said that Luo Zhuo was an unpaid debt from his previous life. I owe your damn uncle a bad Luo Zhuo, and I owe your father a good Luo Zhuo.

Danba said, if this is really the case, I will owe Amasi Jiong's Luo Zhuo again in this life!

Then you should still be my son in your next life.

Danba's words came to his mouth, but he suddenly realized something was wrong and swallowed them back. No, Ama Sijiong said this, "I have to give you a father in the next life."

Danba then said, Liu Yuanxuan is dead.

who?

Team leader Liu at that time.

Ama Sijiong straightened her back again, was silent for a while, and said, "Courageous, this man is your father."

Danba said that before he died, he himself told Danya.

Danba thought that Ama Sijiong would talk about Luo Zhuo again and attribute all this to fate and debt. But Amasijiong didn't say that. What she was saying was, now I don't have to feel uncomfortable because of another person in the world.

As soon as these words came out, Oma's eyes became wet.

Danba dared not look directly into Ama Sijiong’s eyes. What he saw was a house that was neater than other houses in the village. The polished copper kettle beside the fire pit and the porcelains arranged neatly on the closet. The TV screen was also wiped clean. As he watched, Danba's eyes became wet. For the first time, he thought about this woman from a man's perspective. How did she inexplicably lose her status as a cadre? How she met a brother who was supposed to protect her but needed her to protect him. How could she raise a son to adulthood on her own?How did she know that her son's father was by her side but kept silent. Now that this person is dead, she only said, now I no longer have to feel uncomfortable because of the existence of another person in the world.

Ema rested her head on Amasijiong’s shoulder, Amasijiong, please go to the city and be with us.

Grandma Sijiong’s straightened back relaxed, and she said, maybe, maybe, but how can I leave this house and the mushroom circle on the mountain. This sentence is an introduction, to lead to a large paragraph to be said later. She said that for many people in this world, life begins from the day they are born. But my life started from the day I returned to the machine village. She said that it was a nice day when I came back, and the wind was blowing the green wheat seedlings that had just been unearthed. The villagers were still members of the cooperative at that time, and they were weeding in the fields. They all straightened up to watch Si Jiong, who was wearing cadre clothes, walking through the wheat fields blown by the wind and walking through the village. She said, under their gaze, the only thing I could do was not to cry or fall. You know, in the work team and in the cadre school, I learned so many truths that are bigger than the sky! However, none of those principles can help me. Those principles can't tell me why Monk Fahai hears me calling him in the mountains every day, but he just can't bear to come out. That's where I first recalled the word, Luo Zhuo - karmic debt. I got home, fell on the bed, and fell asleep. It was Guba who made me wake up. He moved the little guy in my belly. That was the first time Guba moved. Having said this, Ama Sijiong stretched out her hand to her son, who was already in his forties, and said, come here, son, come here. Danba moved to Amasi Jiong's side. Amasijiong put her arms around his head and held him in her arms. At that time, I knew that even if I found Monk Fahai down the mountain and brought him back to the village, I would not be able to return to the cadre school. I knew that if I didn't tell who the child's father was, I wouldn't be able to continue wearing a nice cadre uniform. Oh, I also have a brand new cadre uniform in my suitcase at the cadre school that I have never worn.

The courageous man, who is already in his forties and has a sore nose, said in the arms of his mother Sijiong what he should have said during the difficult moments of his childhood. I love you, mother. Do you think I do too? A Luo Zhuo, a debtor?

No, no, Ama Sijiong shook her head violently. I had not seen you when you were in my belly. At that time, I could only think that this was another old debt of mine. Really, that's all I can think. The man who made me pregnant with you, and the cadre school, all talk about great principles, but when I know that there is a person in my belly, I only know that I am walking on the path of my mother again. Into this world two children without a father. I can only think that this is my old debt. My old debt caused me to make these mistakes that I shouldn't have made. I shouldn't let a man with a wife sow seeds in me, I shouldn't go to the mountains looking for a monk who should be looked for by the police.

For the first time in his life, Danba leaned in his mother's arms and shed tears.

Good boy, you cry. From the day I knew I had you, I told myself to be strong, and I also keep telling you, who grows up day by day, to be strong. Now, you cry.

Ema also moved over, leaned into Amasi Jiong's arms, and started crying.

Grandma Sijiong kissed her daughter-in-law's face and tasted the tears that were flowing down her face. She said, you know, the night I got bold, his Uncle Fahai was frightened and ran to the sheepfold to stay with his sheep. I gave birth to Danba, put him on the bed, ate by myself, and slept with him. I saw him open his eyes and glance at his mother. At that time, I knew that my life had begun and I could not make another mistake. Regardless of whether I owe someone a debt or not, I will never make that mistake again. I did not say those words to gods, Buddhas, or Bodhisattvas, I said them to myself. Now I know that what I said was right. My son has grown up and brought me such a wonderful wife and such a beautiful granddaughter.

Ama Sijiong suddenly changed her subject. After I die, no one will live in this house. Will it collapse day by day?

Danba said, when I retire, I will come back and live here.

Grandma Sijiong became happy, she smiled, I want to give you the mushroom circle, I want my mushroom circle to know my biological son.

At dinner that night, Ama Sijiong drank wine. The wine made her happier. She suddenly laughed to herself and said to her daughter-in-law, do you know? That year Danba brought Liu Yuanxuan's daughter to this house. I thought, Lei is going to chop down the tree, and the older brother wants to marry his younger sister. I said to myself, does God really want to turn me into an old woman who is resigned to her fate and cannot be willing to die even?

Danba said, Oh, Ama Sijiong, I just pitied her at that time. So many people hate her, and I just want to pity her. He did not say that his youthful body also had a passionate desire for the legendary debauchery.

Ama Sijiong waved her hand to stop the daredevil from talking any more. She said, can I safely hand over the mushroom circle to you?

Danba said, I will not use a rake to rake out all the mushrooms that have not grown yet, thereby destroying the mycelium bed.

Yeah, those greedy people destroyed one of my mushroom circles with a rake.

I will not go up the mountain to cut down trees, so that the mushroom circle loses its shade and the rain washes away the fertile black soil where the mushrooms grow.

Yes, those illegal fellers destroyed my second mushroom circle. That's not what I'm worried about, I'm worried about your co-op. Amasijiong said to Oma, did you know that he wanted to set up a mushroom cooperative?

I know, I just met him at that time.

You can't let him start this mushroom cooperative.

Danba wanted to say something, but Amasijiong stopped him. I want you to listen to me, I don't want you to talk now. I know your co-op is not the previous co-op. But, do you think that if you offer my mushroom circle, people will be moved and stop people’s greed? No more. Even if someone died in front of everyone today, they would not be moved. Or, they may be touched a little, but when they wake up tomorrow morning, they will have forgotten all about it again! People's hearts have changed for the better, at least I can't see it in this life. Maybe that day will come, but certainly not now. I just want to keep my mushroom circle and leave a seed. In the future, their sons and grandsons can fill the mountains and plains again.

Danba told Amasijiong that now, the government has new methods to protect the environment and promote urbanization. This is also true. One of the tasks that Deputy County Magistrate Danba is taking charge of is to gather people from remote and ecologically severely degraded villages into newly built towns. Give back trees where trees have been cut down. Give the mushrooms back the places they would be harvested to grow.

Ama Sijiong said, I am old and I don’t want to know these things you are talking about. I have never understood many things in this world in my life. I just want you to take care of my last mushroom circle.

Two more years have passed. Danba got promoted and went to a neighboring county to become the county magistrate. He is far away from home, 500 kilometers away, and there is still a county between the county where he works and his hometown county. Every once in a while, he would take his mother to live with him for a while. Every time, Ama Sijiong didn’t stay long. In winter, she said, Oh my god, if I don’t go back, the heavy snow will crush the fence in my yard. In the spring, she said, if I don't go back, the nettles will grow all over the yard and seal the door of my house. Not to mention fall with matsutake season coming up, man, I miss them. The granddaughter asked, who are grandma’s? Amasijiong said that grandma’s mushrooms grew happily, but they didn’t want to rot in the mud and turn themselves into mud.

County Magistrate Danba had no choice but to send a car to take her back.

In 2013, Danba was promoted again, this time to the deputy governor of another autonomous prefecture. This time, there were five counties and more than a thousand kilometers apart. Ama Sijiong said, God, do you have to be farther and farther away from me? Danba said, it's not that I'm getting further and further away from you, it's that the world has become smaller.Amasijiong said, Oh, isn’t it getting more and more crowded? Mama Sijiong asked her granddaughter, is it because of this that you are clamoring to go to the United States to study? Oh, go ahead, how can an old woman stop this shrinking world? My granddaughter said, I just want to see how big the world is!

Ama Sijiong said, Oh, that’s not what your father said. He said that the world has become smaller.

The granddaughter said, Dad lied to you, the world is very big.

Oh, he always talks nonsense about how the world has become smaller. Oh, he didn't lie to me this time. I know that people are getting bigger. It's just that people who get bigger don't know how to place their hands and feet, and how to deal with their appetite for getting bigger. But, I can’t keep up, I still have to live in my own world. After saying these words, Ama Sijiong got up and went home.

Yes, this is 2013. The mighty summer is about to pass, and the wind has begun to become cooler. This means that early autumn, that is, the annual lively matsutake season is coming again.

Far away from the entrance of the village, Ama Sijiong got out of the car and walked towards the village carrying her wicker basket. She didn't want the villagers to see her coming back in an official car. She crossed the bridge and touched the warm sunshine while holding on to the railings on the bridge. She walked through the wheat fields in the village. The wheat now is not the wheat then. These wheat varieties are newly popularized varieties with low plants and plump and heavy ears. There is no wind. The loose robe on her body and the basket in her hand rustled against the plump ears of wheat that drooped deeply.

She sat for a while under the walnut tree at the entrance of the village. She raised her face to the deep blue sky and said, God, I love this village.

Before she even reached the door of her house, she smelled the strong smell of green grass.

She is familiar with this smell. That was a long, long time ago, before there were roads, and she was a little girl. There was also a post road passing through the village, and there was a small street and a few shops at the east end of the village. She worked as a maid at Shopkeeper Wu's house, preparing fodder for the caravans coming and going. This is the smell of the grass under the sickle. There is also the smell of people harvesting wheat straw without ears during the famine years in Ji Village. Now, the smell filling her nostrils made her stop and lean against the courtyard wall. Amasijiong asked herself, am I going to die?

She heard a voice say, it's not yet time.

She said, then why do I smell the smell from before?

Ama Sijiong pushed open the courtyard door and saw two wild boys from the village. Now they were bent over in her yard, waving sickles to cut away the weeds that had grown in the yard during her absence for more than a month. Cow ear, rhubarb, nettle and wormwood. It's the cut grass that emits a strong smell in the sun.

These two wild boys followed her several times, trying to find her mushroom circle. Now, they straightened up and giggled at her.

Ama Sijiong said, Bad boy, even if you build a house for me, I won’t take you where you want to go.

At this time, someone upstairs in her home called her, Ama Sijiong! It's me, I'm here to see you!

It was like the situation when the work team was there. From the window upstairs, a white face appeared. When going upstairs, Ama Sijiong muttered, how could anyone who came to visit enter the house first? As soon as her head reached the top of the stairs, she stopped with her hand on the railing to see who had taken it upon herself to do so. The man had already lit a fire in the house and was standing at the window with his back to the light, making it difficult for Amasi Jiong to see his face. Amasi Jiong said that if the owner is not here, it must be our ghost to enter and leave the house at will.

The man came up to us and said, "Ama Sijiong, we are just a family."

This time, Ama Sijiong saw clearly that she was a woman. With a loose body and a tight, bright face, who are you?

You don’t remember me. Brother Danba and I came to your house. I am Danya!

Ama Sijiong didn't know why her temper was so bad. She heard herself say angrily, "Oh, you didn't regard him as your brother at that time."

Danya laughed, yes, my dad was scared at that time.

Grandma Sijiong sat down, her tone still strong, this time, you are here for my mushroom circle.

Danya shook her hand, are there many people looking for you for mushroom circles?

There are not many people, but those who come to me are all wanting to create a mushroom circle!

Danya said, I want to tell you about myself. I am not the woman that men hated during the day and couldn't think of at night. I am now the chairman and general manager of my own company.

Ama Sijiong said, Oh, I probably know what the general manager does, but what is the chairman of the board?

The chairman is responsible for the general manager.

Ama Sijiong smiled, girl, do you care about yourself? Okay, okay, women have to take care of themselves, right?

Come on, Ama Sijiong, can’t you be nice to me? I am your son's biological sister! Maybe you hate our dad, but he's dead.

Ama Sijiong was silent, and then sighed, poor people, we will all die.

You are going to die, what to do with the mushroom circle? I know what you will say, leave it to the courageous person to take care of you. If he can't take care of your mushroom circle, his officialdom will get bigger and bigger, and he will forget about your mushroom circle.

Ama Sijiong felt like someone had hit her vitals, and she was speechless for a moment.

Danya said, Ama Sijiong, do you know what excites men the most? Oh, you are a good person. Good people never understand men. They love women when they are young, and they will love to be officials in the future. The same goes for your son, my courageous brother.

Ama Sijiong is angry, so let them be on the mountain. In the past, when we didn’t know them and didn’t know how to exchange them for money, didn’t they just stay in the mountains and forests by themselves?

My company is doing something. From now on, they will not only fend for themselves in the mountains and forests, but I will plant them in the ground like crops.

Danya took Ama Sijiong by car for dozens of kilometers to visit her edible fungus breeding base. The plastic shed is filled with wooden shelves. Neatly arranged plastic bags on wooden shelves are filled with soil and various fertilizers. Workers used wooden skewers to poke holes in those plastic bags, and used new wooden skewers to pierce the bacteria, which is the gray mycelium in the wide-mouth glass bottles, into the bags.

Ama Sijiong said, Danya, the color of your spores is so ugly!

spores? What are spores?

With a slightly disgusted expression, Ama Sijiong pointed at her strain bottle, which was this thing.

This is the strain! My brother’s mother!

Spores, General Manager Girl, their names are spores. The spores in my mushroom circle are as white as snow, how clean they are.

Okay, just say it looks clean.

Clean is not clean, clean is cleaner than clean.

You are such a self-righteous old lady.

I’m going to die, why can’t I be self-righteous?

Danya said, Ama Sijiong, I like you.

Oh, but you haven't made me like you yet.

In another plastic greenhouse, Amasijiong saw the mushrooms on the wooden shelves. Those are clusters of enoki mushrooms. It looks like the white is slightly yellow, which is really beautiful.

But Ama Sijiong didn’t buy it. She said, why did the mushroom grow like this? When it is not open, it looks like a little boy wearing a hat. When it is opened, it looks like a little girl holding an umbrella. That is what a mushroom looks like.

Danya took Ama Sijiong to another shelf full of mushrooms. They looked like mushrooms.

Oh, a young man with such short legs will not be attracted by girls.

It was hot and stuffy in the closed greenhouse. Ama Sijiong said, how could good mushrooms grow in such a horrible place? I can't breathe.

Danya helped Ama Sijiong to the outside of the greenhouse. Outside the shed, a stream sang and flowed among the willows. Amasijiong washed her face by the stream. Get on the bus and go back to Jicun. That night, Danya stayed at Ama Sijiong's house. In the evening, Danya asked her mother if Sijiong hated her father.Amasi Jiong shook his head, hating a dead person was a sin.

I mean when he was alive.

Ama Sijiong hesitated for a while and said, if I hate him, I won’t be able to survive.

Have you ever loved him?

Ama Sijiong didn’t hesitate at all, no.

That night, neither of the two women under the same roof slept well. In the morning, when Danya got up, the tea in the pot by the fire pit was boiling, but there was no one there. While she was washing herself and putting on makeup, and looking at herself in a small mirror, Ama Sijiong came upstairs. She said, last night I dreamed that fresh mushrooms were growing. Go up the mountain and they really grow. Ama Sijiong opened a green leaf of donkey's hoofgrass, revealing the first two matsutake mushrooms unearthed this year. The slender handle looks like a helmet that has not yet been opened. There were a few strands of moss on the top and a little dirt on the feet.

Look how beautiful they are! When Ama Sijiong opened these leaves and revealed her treasure, she looked solemn and her posture was a bit exaggerated.

Dan Ya said, you know, Ama Sijiong, you look a bit like the old foreign woman in the movie.

Ama Sijiong could hear the sarcasm in her words. She said, I have watched movies and seen old foreign women who were a bit pretentious. Girl, that is a person's decency.

How can a few mushrooms make a person decent?

Girl, don’t laugh at people. A person can be weak, misjudge people, and do wrong things, and that’s okay. Gods and Buddhas will forgive him, because the person who made the mistake has swallowed the bitter fruit. But if a person is a joker or a slut, that is a real sin. The old ladies in the country are not all the crying, miserable ones you see on TV!

Danya was shocked by these words. With an embarrassing smile on her face, she said, it really looked like people talking in the movie, those old foreign women.

Can’t the old Chinese woman speak human language? Oh, girl, you really look like that damn work team leader, so self-righteous and arrogant. I see that damn man passing all this bad stuff onto you.

Danya was shocked by these words. She had nothing to say, so she opened the makeup box and applied powder on her face. She couldn't stop her hands, so much so that it could no longer be applied to her face, and it all fell on the front of her clothes and her exposed breasts.

Ama Sijiong started to make breakfast. She mixed the batter, cut the fresh mushrooms into slices, mixed them in, and then spread them out in a pan with fresh ghee. She said that this is a recipe that her granddaughter and she worked out together. Yes, she is still your niece. Your niece said this is called Machine Village Pizza.

My niece, Machine Village Pizza?

Stop putting that stuff on your face. What can dust cover? When the wind blows or the rain comes, everything is exposed. Sit down and eat.

Danya sat down and chewed her food as slowly as Ama Sijiong. Then she let out a heartfelt admiration.

This time, Danya stayed at Amasijiong's house for three days. She didn't talk about business matters, she just ate various kinds of matsutake and all kinds of less valuable mushrooms.

12

In 2014, when the new mushroom season arrived, the roads in the village were widened and newly paved with hardened cement pavement. This allowed Danya to drive the car all the way to the gate of Amasijiong’s yard. This time, Danya also brought Danba's successor, the new county magistrate.

The new county magistrate said, I finally met the famous Mushroom Circle Aunt.

Dan Ya said, Ama Sijiong, I told the county magistrate how delicious your Jicun pizza is.

The county magistrate said, I don’t know if I have such a good taste.

Grandma Sijiong didn’t know why she felt unhappy. She said it wouldn’t work this time. There was less rain this year and the fresh mushrooms would be late.

Danya said that we have seen that the village is already purchasing matsutake mushrooms.

Ama Sijiong said that it belonged to others, and anxious people would dig out the ungrown matsutake mushrooms from the soil. Anyway, my matsutake mushrooms were late this year.

Danya told the county magistrate that the county government should issue a document ordering Mushroom not to be late.

The county magistrate stood up. Since he is here, he will look around and see what should be written in the county government documents?

Danya and the new county magistrate went downstairs. Amasijiong stood at the window and saw that many people had gathered in the yard. These people were cadres from the township government and the village. A group of people followed the county magistrate and Danya out of the yard, through the village, and up the mountain. These people have been wandering around halfway up the mountain and haven't come down yet at noon. Only Danya and the village cadres came down the mountain. The village cadre made lunch and sent it up the mountain. Danya rested at Ama Sijiong's house. She wore stiff leather shoes and her feet were worn out from walking in the mountains.

Ama Sijiong asked Danya why she brought such a group of people to the mountain.

Dan Ya said, they come for your mushroom circle.

Ama Sijiong was not sure whether she was serious or just a joke. But she thought to herself, no one can find my mushrooms. She said, I know, you just refuse to give up and still want to build that damn cooperative.

Danya smiled, how dare I think about something that even your own son can't do? I don’t run any cooperatives, I don’t run any companies and farmers, these are all small businesses. What I want to do is big business and big things.

You really are not here to get my mushroom ideas.

Ama Sijiong, tell me, how much money can you make from those mushrooms in a year? How much does

cost? How much is more than 20,000 yuan?

Ama Sijiong, what I want to earn now is one hundred and twenty thousand, what I want to earn is one thousand and twenty thousand.

How can we have as much money as you want in our mountains?

Danya is very proud, real big money is not earned by buying the same things. You will earn it, but you won’t earn that kind of hard-earned money. Those who make a fortune today are not those who earn their hard-earned money. Amasi Jiong, times have changed!

Ama Sijiong said, Times have changed, times have changed. Counting from the time when your damn father led the working group, there is no new person who does not say this. But I don't think there is any difference.

Danya listed all kinds of new things, from roads to telephones, to televisions, to cars, to matsutake mushrooms and morels that can be sold for a hundred times the price before. She said, have you really not seen these changes?

I just want to ask you, with so many new things conjuring up like magic, who can change people for the better? Amasijiong said, Whoever can change people for the better is the one who has really changed the times.

Danya said that such an era is really coming. Computers, you know, computers.

Grandma Sijiong said, my granddaughter, such a beautiful girl, first stole vegetables from other people’s gardens, and then even killed people in it!

Let me tell you this, in the future, a shrunken computer will be installed in a person's brain, and he will do whatever he is told to do, and he will think whatever he is told to think!

Ama Sijiong smiled, your words are a bit like those lamas who boast of boundless power!

So, let’s talk about your mushroom circle.

By the way, this is you. After all, you are still planning on my mushroom circle.

I don’t want your mushroom circle. For what I want to do, sometimes I need to borrow your mushroom circle. Ama Sijiong, let me finish. I just want to borrow your mushroom ring, I don’t want a mushroom from you.

borrowed? How can I borrow a mushroom circle that cannot be moved?

I can't tell you yet. I won't be able to use it this year. Maybe I'll need it next year. Maybe, by the time you die, I won't be able to use it. This is just an idea of ​​mine.

Grandma Sijiong breathed a sigh of relief, then let’s wait until my old woman dies.

Danya said, if you really want to die, we must sign an agreement before you die. After you die, I will have the right to use the mushroom circle.

Ama Sijiong said, you are not even willing to let go of the dead!

Danya said, I heard from Danba that you saved a sum of money for your granddaughter. Can you tell me how much it is?

I won’t tell you, but it’s enough for her to go to college anyway.

Let me guess, you said it yourself, your mushroom circle can earn more than 20,000 yuan a year, and now you have 200,000 yuan? Three hundred thousand? Your granddaughter is also my niece, my biological niece. What she wants is to go to university in foreign countries. The United States, Britain, and France are all the most advanced countries. Ama Sijiong, the little money you have, if you were in a foreign country, you would spend all your tuition for one year! Do you know how many years it takes to study in a foreign university? !

Ama Sijiong said, I don’t know.

If you get a PhD, it will take ten years!

Then when she was young, she did nothing but study?

At this time, the county magistrate and his party came down from the mountain. Danya no longer wanted to talk to Ama Sijiong and was going to meet the county magistrate. Before leaving, Danya also said to Amasi Jiong, think about what I said.

Grandma Sijiong is angry, I don’t allow you to try on my mushroom circle.

Danya also looked down, "Your mushroom circle?" Amasi Jiong, is the mountain yours? That's national. If the country really wants it, can you stop it?

These words made Ama Sijiong very worried.

Throughout the mushroom season, Danya did not appear again, and the state did not announce the ownership of this mountain. But there are already rumors in the village that the oak forest rich in matsutake mushrooms on Jicun Mountain will be enclosed. Circle it for what? People in Jicun certainly remember that many years ago, Baosheng Temple, with the help of Danba, enclosed the mountain behind the temple and closed the mountain to cultivate forests. Through this, the temple monopolized the matsutake resources on the mountain. In fact, Danya's company is going to do a project that neither Jicun people nor others understand. This project is called the Wild Matsutake Resource Protection and Artificial Cultivation Complex. These words were clearly written on the planning document Danya Company sent to the county government. But people couldn't understand this complicated new phrase, so naturally they couldn't discuss it. It's like if a person is not present and people can't figure out her name, then how can people get together to talk about a person?

Furthermore, this matter was not taken into action in 2014. Because this complex is just a planning project created by Danya Company. This plan needs to be approved by the government. After approval, it is necessary to apply for national agricultural support funds and bank loans. The implementation of this complex project, even if everything goes well, will have to wait until 2015 or 2016. Or, it will never come to fruition. Artificial cultivation of matsutake mushrooms has not yet been achieved worldwide. In Danya's design, she wanted to encircle this Ama Sijiong mushroom in her complex body. In 2015 or 2016, she will take government and bank officials to visit the mushroom circle where wild matsutake mushrooms are growing. At that time, she wanted to announce on the spot that Danya Company had successfully cultivated matsutake mushrooms artificially under wild conditions. Once the technology was mature and stable, it would start mass production for the market.

At that time, Danya Company would not worry about raising a large amount of funds. When these funds are obtained, she can monopolize the regional matsutake market. Not only that, she can also invest her endless money in more profitable businesses. On business.

Grandma was so smart that no one in Ji Village could understand such a complicated business. Therefore, when the mushroom season came, they still rushed up the mountain to pick matsutake mushrooms in the usual way. At the same time, they saw government cadres and Danya Company’s People surveyed the mountains, used instruments to measure, marked lines and drove piles.

If these wooden piles marked with numbers are connected with wires, almost all the places where matsutake can grow in the machine village are included.

People in Jicun joked, "Ama Sijiong, this mushroom circle is bigger than yours!"

Ama Sijiong said, I am getting older. If the mountains were really covered with matsutake mushrooms, I would not have to go up the mountains.

Will you tell us your mushroom circles when you go up Mount Fumovable?

Ama Sijiong shook her head firmly, no, after you have destroyed all the mushrooms, my mushroom circle will be the seeds left for this mountain.

The villagers are inconvenient to refute, because they know that if this continues, in a few years, there may be only matsutake growing in Ama Sijiong’s mushroom circle on the mountain.

They themselves laughed and said, if we don’t worry about it, maybe when there are no matsutake mushrooms, what other things on this mountain will be valuable?

Ama Sijiong waved her hands, then pray to God not to let me live until that day.

When the mushroom season was coming to an end, Ama Sijiong picked up her cell phone. She wanted to make a call to Danba.

She wanted to tell her son that her legs were broken and she would no longer be able to go up the mountain to her mushroom circle next year.

She found that this time was very different from the desperate situation she had been in when she was young. I feel a little sad, but not entirely sad. There is some emptiness in my heart, but it is not entirely empty.

Two hours ago, when she came down from the mountain, she fell several times. It wasn't because she accidentally slipped on the muddy sloping mountain path after the rain, or because she tripped over the tangled grass on the grassy slope. It was because her old legs couldn't support her body that she fell. After falling, she didn't have the strength to stand up immediately or protect the matsutake in the wicker basket. She watched helplessly as the matsutake mushrooms in the overturned basket rolled out of the basket one by one and rolled down the hillside. When she struggled to stand up and collect the scattered matsutake mushrooms, she felt her knees became sore and weak again and again, and finally collapsed on the ground again. Amasi fell down on the grass. After she propped herself up, the sun came out after the rain, shining on the nearby oak trees, fir trees and willow trees, as well as on the trees connected together on the distant mountains, making her eyes full of green. And above this misty green, there is also a gorgeous rainbow. She heard herself say, Si Jiong, this day has come.

Ama Sijiong rested on the hillside for a long time, and then finally picked up the lost matsutake mushrooms back into the basket and returned home. It took her a long time to get herself clean. Only then did he pick up the phone.

This mobile phone was bought by Dan Ba ​​just for her.

When her son, daughter-in-law, or granddaughter called, she would always pick up the phone and talk to them amid the tinkling of loud music. In other words, Ama Sijiong didn't know how to use her mobile phone to make calls. As the sun set, she went out with her mobile phone. When she met a person on the village road, she took out her mobile phone and asked for help to call Danba. I want to talk to him.

People say, Ama Sijiong, we don’t have Danba’s phone number.

It wasn’t until I met the village chief at the village committee that I asked someone to help me get through the phone call.

She said, how dare you, it seems that I want to leave the mushroom circle on the mountain forever.

Danba is very anxious. Is grandma sick?

Ama Sijiong felt her eyes were a little moist, but she did not cry. She said, I am not sick, I am fine, my legs are not working anymore, and next year, I will not be able to see my mushroom circles.

Ama Sijiong, don’t be sad.

Son, I am not sad. I was sitting on the hillside, helpless, and saw a rainbow.

Grandma Sijiong cried when she heard Danba speak. He said, Grandma Sijiong, my work tasks are very heavy. I can't leave my post and can't come to see you right away! Come to my son!

Grandma Sijiong was very proud of this. She turned off the phone and said, I have a filial son. As soon as I told him that my leg was not working, he cried. She came out of the village committee and walked slowly back home. Along the way, she said to the five people she met, "I told Danba that my legs were not working. Danba was a filial son, and he started to cry." .

Danya came to the door the next day.

Danya brought a lot of delicious food, Ama Sijiong, I came to visit you on behalf of Brother Danba. Brother Danba asked me to send you to him.

Ama Sijiong said, I’m not going anywhere, I just can’t find my mushroom circle anymore.

Dan Ya said, then let me take care of those mushrooms for you.

Ama Sijiong said, how do you know how to take care of those mushrooms? You won't!

Danya said, I can! Wouldn't it be better to sit next to them and watch them emerge from the ground, or to patiently watch them slowly emerge?

Ama Sijiong said, oh, you don’t know, how could you know!

Danya said, I know, isn’t it just when you look at them being unearthed, you keep mumbling to yourself?

Ama Sijiong said, my God, how could you know!

Danya said, do you understand technology? Science and technology allow us to know everything we want to know.

Ama Sijiong said, you can’t know.

Danya asked her, do you want to know what you look like in the mushroom circle?

Grandma Sijiong has no words.

Danya took out a small video camera from her bag and placed it in front of Ama Sijiong. As soon as the switch was pressed, the monitor screen showed a faint blue. Then, Amasi Jiong’s mushroom circle appeared on the screen. First some blurry images. Trees, sun spots swaying between the trees, and then, the moist ground under the trees clearly appears, withered leaves, sparse grass, moss, and twisted and exposed tree roots. Amasi recognized it, it was indeed her mushroom circle. The moss on the rock that was close to the trunk of the largest oak tree was a little yellow because she often sat on it. Now, that stone is empty. A bird stopped on a mushroom, took a few bites, then raised its head and looked around alertly, and quickly took a few more bites. This happened several times, and the bird flapped its wings and flew away. A small part of the cap of the mushroom was pecked off.

Dan Ya said, Ama Sijiong, you have bad eyesight, you haven’t picked such big mushrooms. She pointed at the picture, here, here, so many mushrooms were not seen, leaving them to the wild birds.

Grandma’s bright smile is what I left for them. People want to eat the things on the mountains, and birds also want to eat them.

In the next video, Ama Sijiong appears. It was after the rain, and the leaves were wet. The wind blew, and water droplets fell from the leaves. Ama Sijiong sat on the stone with a loving expression on her face. All around her were matsutake mushrooms that had just been unearthed after the rain. In the camera, Amasi moves her mouth silently, which is when she is talking to these mushrooms. She talked for a long time, and there were more and bigger mushrooms around her. She began to pick, with a cherished expression, she started carefully, and put the picked mushrooms into the basket gently. Before leaving, I used leaves and moss to cover up the little mushrooms that had just emerged.

Looking at these pictures, Ama Sijiong spoke up. She said, cute, cute, pitiful, pitiful, these little things, these elves. She said, you poor cute little things, Ama Sijiong can no longer go up the mountain to see you.

Danya said, Danba is busy with work, maintaining stability, and settling herdsmen. He answered your call and asked me to come see you immediately.

Grandma Sijiong came back to her senses and asked, Hey! Why did you see my mushroom circle?

Dan Ya did not answer. She would not tell Ama Sijiong how the company installed GPS on Ama Sijiong's belongings and located her secret. She would not tell Amasijiong that after positioning, the company installed a camera in the nature reserve to shoot wild animals in the mushroom circle. As long as a living animal appears within the lens range, the camera will automatically start working.

Ama Sijiong understands, you have found my mushroom circle, you have found my mushroom circle!

There is nothing that cannot be found in this world today, Ama Sijiong, we have found it.

Amasi Jiong’s heart was filled with sparks of anger, but those sparks extinguished as soon as they shone a little brightly. The emotion that followed wasn’t sadness either. It's the empty confusion of facing a completely unfamiliar world. She didn't speak and couldn't say anything.

Only Danya is talking to her.

Danya said, my company will not touch your mushrooms, and the money obtained from those mushrooms is of little use to our company.

Danya said, my company is just borrowing these images from your mushroom circle to let people see our success in cultivating matsutake mushrooms in the wild and let them see how the matsutake mushrooms grown by our company grow in the wild.

Ama Sijiong raised her head, her eyes lost their former brightness, she asked, why is this?

Dan Ya said, Amasi Jiong, for money, when those people see the mushrooms growing like this, they will give us a lot of money.

Ama Sijiong still stubbornly asked, why?

Danya realized that Ama Sijiong was asking her why she had to create her mushroom circle.

Danya's answer is still the same, Ama Sijiong, money, for money, for a lot of money.

Ama Sijiong handed the phone to Danya, I want to call Danba.

Danya got through Danba’s phone number, and Ama Sijiong immediately said, “My mushroom circle is gone.” My mushroom circles are gone.

The brave man on the phone said, I will take leave to pick you up in a few days.

After a few days, Danba did not come to pick him up.

Danba did not return to Jicun Village to pick her up until winter, when the earliest snow fell. As we left the village, the car started moving slowly, the wheels making the snow on the road clatter. Amasijiong suddenly spoke, and my mushroom circle was gone.

Danba hugged his mother's shoulders, "Ama Sijiong, don't be sad."

Grandma Sijiong said, Son, I’m not sad when I get old, it’s just that my mushroom circles are gone.

(Full text completed)

Award Speech: Alai's "Mushroom Circle" lovingly describes the divinity of nature and man, with profound meaning. In the vicissitudes of history, Ama Sijiong treasured and protected her mushroom circle. Compassion without resentment, affection without greed, all these constitute a profound call for people to have mutual respect for the world.

About the author

Alai, male, a famous contemporary writer, Tibetan, was born in 1959 in Malkang County, Aba Tibetan area in northwest Sichuan, commonly known as "Four Lands".

graduated from Malkang Normal College. He once served as a cadre of the Cultural Bureau of Aba Prefecture, deputy editor-in-chief of "Grassland" magazine, and chief editor of

"Science Fiction World" magazine. He began writing poetry in 1982 and turned to novel writing in the mid-to-late 1980s.

His main works include the poetry collection "Lengmo River", the novel collection "Bloodstains of the Old Year" and "Silversmith in the Moonlight", the novel "The Dust Has Settled" and "The Empty Mountain",

the long geography prose "Ladder to the Earth", the collection of essays " In this way, it becomes increasingly abundant.”

The 1989 novel collection "Bloodstains of the Old Year" won the 4th Minority Literature Award of the Chinese Writers Association.

The 1998 novel "The Dust Has Settled" won the fifth Mao Dun Literature Award.

In 2001, People's Literature Publishing House published four volumes of "Collected Works of Alai".

Member of the Chinese Writers Association and member of the National Committee.

Acceptance Speech

Before this, I had not written a novel for almost ten years.

When I visited Japan ten years ago, I soaked in the hot springs there. I suddenly remembered the hot springs on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and wrote an article "Distant Hot Springs". I never wrote again.

In 2014, I suddenly came up with the idea to write a few novels based on products produced on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau that are strongly demanded by today's consumer society. The intention is to write about humanistic things and naturally bring out the concern for natural ecology.

The first article, "Three Cordyceps".

The second article, "Mushroom Circle".

The third article, "Shadows on the River".

Today, the Chinese people’s attitude towards border areas and heterogeneous cultural areas has changed a lot from the past. In the past, Chinese people longed for the frontiers to make contributions. "If you want to ride a bicycle, you can go to the border, and if you belong to the country, you can travel far and wide." But in today's era of prevalent consumerism, if such a place does not have tourism value, it has basically been forgotten by most people. In addition, if these areas are still remembered, there must be some special products. Such as cordyceps, matsutake, and cedar. Therefore, I decided to use such special products as an entrance to observe the impact of these needs on local society and local people—the impact on the relationship between people and the impact on the natural ecology.

When writing, I need to be careful not to write strange local chronicles, and not to write with relish what is on the tip of the tongue just because the things involved are precious ingredients, thus turning myself into a person with a well-developed sense of taste and the ability to find something. A unique set of words to describe these tasteful foodies. I believe that the more important point of literature lies in the flavor of life, in the darkness or brightness of human nature, in the strong sense of destiny that the ever-changing world brings to us, in the tenacity of life and the depth of emotions.

I am willing to write about the hardships, sins, and sorrows I have experienced in life, but I am more willing to write about the warmth of human nature after experiencing all this. Even though it seems that the world is still sliding towards greed and sin, I still want to maintain a warm yearning for humanity. Just like the ever-growing mushroom circle that my protagonist protects.

With the intention of kindness and the form of beauty, we pursue the truth of human nature under the glitz and glamor of the world.