Father's Land Mother's River

Chapter 2 is still an introduction
In the dark, muddy and narrow alleyway, Liu Zhixin was wearing three-tight blue overalls, long-waisted rubber water boots, a white towel around his neck, and a wicker helmet with a miner's lamp on it. With her waist bowed and her head bent, she walked with difficulty carrying a load of coal weighing more than 100 kilograms.

The miners formed a single file, and he followed behind the master craftsmen, walking between the face of the mine and the mouth of the pit like ants moving.

The roadway is 1.5 meters high, but only two meters wide. For the convenience of walking, the poles are one-third shorter than normal, and the baskets are even shorter.If you can't walk with a straight waist, the burden can't be carried on your shoulders, but can only be pressed on the bent back.

Today is Liu Zhixin's first day working in the mine. The type of job is called a porter. He is responsible for transporting the coal mined from the mine face to the pit mouth, loading it into the mine car, and using the winch to lift it to the ground.

Because I don’t have experience, I don’t know what to do. After a few back and forth, my waist is sore and my back hurts. My back is probably bald, and the pain is burning. I’m panting like a bellows.

The squad leader asked him to sit in the ventilated place at the mouth of the pit to rest first, and the other master workers in the class were also willing to take care of the young workers who had just gone down the well, and they had no objections.

Standing at the mouth of the pit, straighten your waist, stretch your body, and breathe smoothly. The cool wind above the pit mouth brings fresh and dry air.

Liu Zhixin tore off the white towel around her neck and wiped the sweat off her face. The snow-white towel immediately turned black, but after a few wipes, the white towel turned into a black towel.

Looking at his fellow workers, he will also know his own image. Except for the eyeballs and teeth, there may be no white spots on the whole body.

He tied the black towel back around his neck.He recalled that during the safety training, the main function of the towels on miners’ necks was not to wipe sweat, but to cover their mouths with wet towels to escape in time in the event of a gas leak or explosion.

Liu Zhixin looked up at the mouth of the pit, there was only a palm-sized patch of sky, from which the miners descended hundreds of meters into the well.The four walls are supported by logs, and the water is constantly flowing down, and the dull splashing sound makes people panic.The bottom is spacious, and several tunnels have been excavated in different directions. The miners drilled through these holes, and the miner's lamps above their heads dangled like fireflies in the dark night.

Drilling—this is the first new term Liu Zhixin learned while working in the well.Before going down the well, the squad leader patted him on the shoulder and said: "Drilling the hole for the first time will be very uncomfortable and uncomfortable. After the first few days, you can get used to it, and the days to come will be easier."

Miners use drilling to vividly describe the work they do, which is both humorous and optimistic but also helpless and resigned to fate.No wonder Guan Deyu and Liu Yunqi ran home after working for a week, dragging him around halfway.

Fleeing from the village that night, Liu Zhixin walked all the way to the south. He didn't dare to stop when he was tired. He was afraid that if he sat down, he would fall asleep involuntarily. He would be easily frozen to death in this cold winter night.

Walking alone with heavy legs, let the howling north wind do it for me, since there is no turning back, I can only go on firmly.

When it was dawn and the sun was rising, he found a sheltered mound to sit down, and ate some frozen dry food in the snow.His body was a little warmer, and he started on the road again with his sore legs.

In the middle of the morning, Liu Zhixin asked the passers-by for directions. The road was correct, and the mine was not too far away, and he could reach it around noon.

After walking a short distance full of hope, he met Guan Deyu and Liu Yunqi who went to work in the mine one step ahead of him.The two men were carrying luggage rolls, disheveled and depressed, like deserters who had lost a battle, dragging their heads bowed and walking towards the wind towards home.

As soon as the three of them met each other, the two couldn't stop laughing.Liu Yunqi shook his snot and said, "My father won't let you go, so you ran out by yourself? A good production team made improper accounting, why did you go to suffer that crime? It sounds good, what kind of state-run workers are people? Any work? It's a bunch of rats digging holes."

Guan Deyu rubbed his frozen red cheeks and said, "We quit, and you can't do it if you go, so let's turn around and go home."

Liu Zhixin said to Liu Yunqi: "You go home and tell your dad to find another accountant."

Liu Yunqi said: "If you don't hit the south wall and don't look back, don't you believe what we said?"

Guan Deyu said: "Really, if you die, you don't know how you died."

Guan Deyu is the youngest son of Mr. Guan, and Liu Yunqi is the second son of Liu Zhifu. The three of them grew up peeing and playing with mud. Of course Liu Zhixin believed what they said, but he couldn't turn back.A huge scapegoat is waiting for him to bear, turning back is a dead end, he would rather die in the mine than do the kind of false accounts that harm others and himself.

The three of them parted ways on the side of the road, and Liu Zhixin rushed to the mine at noon. After half a month of training, he finally became a state-run miner.With a salary of more than [-] yuan a month, the benefits are also good. Not only does he eat the national food and win an iron rice bowl, but also the capital to support his mother and younger brother.

After panting for a while, Liu Zhixin picked up the burden and went back into the dark alleyway.He didn't feel how dangerous the alley was, on the contrary, the alley was much safer and calmer than the outside world.To bear the heavy pressure of the dangerous environment together, only the division of labor is different, there is no distinction between high and low, and everyone is equal before risks.

In the blink of an eye, the Spring Festival came, and the mine used large trucks to transport long-distance workers from the countryside to go home for the New Year.The truck stopped in front of the store on Liuzi Street, and Liu Zhixin got out of the truck with a large travel bag, and waved goodbye to the workers on the truck.

The front of the store was deserted, except for a few children playing, no one was seen.Liu Zhixin took a deep breath, he has been away from home for more than a month, he really hopes to meet a few more acquaintances at this time, and see how he looks like today.

Brand-new cotton hats, brand-new long-length cotton coats, brand-new overalls, brand-new cotton toe shoes, and they are picked up and delivered by car. This is the treatment of state-run workers.He escaped hastily more than a month ago, and today he will stand in front of the villagers with a brand new look, no longer the small rural accountant who was manipulated by others.

Liu Zhi walked home full of confidence and pride.A road divides a village into front and back streets. The back street is built according to the terrain and has more residents. The front street is his old house, and now there are six families living there.

Walking into the yard, he subconsciously looked up to the house. The doors and windows were closed, and no human voice could be heard. He was probably having lunch.Unconsciously, he breathed a sigh of relief, he was not sure whether he would like to meet Liu Zhifu head-on.

Pushing open the wooden door of my house, steam was rising from the lid of the pot. It seemed that my mother and younger brother hadn't had lunch yet.He called "Mom", pushed the door open and walked into the dimly lit home.

When the mother heard the door knock, she had already left the ground, she grabbed Liu Zhixin's hand, measured it up and down, and asked worriedly: "Can the work in the mine be continued?"

She had heard from Guan Deyu and Liu Yunqi that the mine was a place that swallowed human flesh, and she was always in fear, but don't push her son to a dead end.

Looking at her mother's increasingly thin and aged face, Liu Zhixin took out a neatly folded ten yuan from her personal pocket, and solemnly handed it to her mother. Fangzheng's face was unavoidably high-spirited, and his tone was firm: "If you can do it, I will Well, look at my body, it's all from the mine. Mom, don't worry, our family's life will be better in the future."

After receiving the first month's salary, a full 26 yuan, he was so happy that he didn't sleep well all night.Since my father died, the family has never had more than three yuan in cash.He left ten yuan as his living expenses for the next month, six yuan to buy new year's goods, and gave all the rest to his mother, so that her mother could feel at ease.

The mother shed bitter tears, her hands trembling while holding the ten yuan, which was the hard-earned money her son had earned.

What Liu Zhixin was most worried about was whether her mother would be made things difficult after she left.He asked: "Mom, Liu Zhifu didn't make things difficult for you, did he?"

His mother told him that she would go to see Mr. Guan early the next morning after he left.After hearing this, Mr. Guan went directly to Liu Zhifu, and told him clearly that it was his idea to make Liu Zhixin run away from home in the middle of the night, and he should be blamed.

Liu Zhifu rolled his eyes in anger, he dared not and could not control Mr. Guan, Mr. Guan had saved his life with him.

Liu Zhixin had doubts in his heart. Mr. Guan paid more attention to his mother, himself, and this family than common sense, but he couldn't ask his mother clearly.He asked his mother to put away the money, unzipped the travel bag, and took out everything inside.

The food distributed during the Spring Festival at the mine was particularly rich, including rice, fish, meat, cigarettes, and candy. He also saved fine grain food stamps and bought ten health-care steamed buns in the miners’ cafeteria.The health-care steamed buns are the benefits for miners working underground. Each bun weighs six taels, is rectangular, white and noisy, like a child's pillow.

How many years have I not seen rice, noodles, fish and candy in my family, and this year I can have a good year.He also bought a pair of cotton shoes for his mother and younger brother.

Seeing so much scarce food suddenly, my mother was so happy that she didn't know where to put her hands, and fiddled with each one to check.An overjoyed look appeared on his usually peaceful face, as if some kind of memory had been recalled, and his body trembled slightly.

Seeing her mother's gaffe, Liu Zhixin felt sour, took off her cotton coat and put it on her mother, hugged her shoulder and asked, "Mom, are you warm?"

"Warm." The mother turned her head and smiled warmly, her quiet smile was like seeing his No.1 certificate in the high school entrance examination back then.

Liu Zhixin took off her shoes and got on the kang, watching her mother sort the food with great interest.Mother picked out four octopuses, one piece of pork, two steamed buns, and a handful of candy, and weighed out four catties of rice out of ten catties, wrapped it up and put it aside, saying, "You can personally deliver it to Mr. Guan this afternoon. He hasn't seen him for many years." over these things."

One-third of it was removed at once, and Liu Zhixin looked at his mother with a bit of distress and doubt.The mother said lightly: "I know that you have thoughts about your mother in your heart, so I will tell you slowly in the future."

Liu Zhixin thought to himself, just don't embarrass me too much.

Mother wrapped two steamed buns and two packs of Daqianmen cigarettes together, discussed with him and said, "There is no smoker in our family, so I want to give it to Liu Zhifu. Anyway, he is the head of the old Liu's family. It’s not difficult for us this time, and we have to get along like neighbors in the future.”

The mother handles things with ease, and has the bearing and mind of a man.The unexpected death of his father did not notify him to go home for the funeral, allowing him to keep the most precious and beautiful memories of his life. Everyone's demeanor makes Liu Zhixin feel ashamed.

The younger brother Liu Zhitai ran home, his face flushed from the cold but his expression high.Asked where he went crazy, he said he went skating with Wuliu Erya.

Liu Zhixin took out two plates of two hundred small whips from the pocket of his cotton coat and gave them to his younger brother. Liu Zhitai took the small whips and asked his brother if he could put them away now?Liu Zhixin said of course.

Liu Zhitai took down more than a dozen small whips and ran to the yard, with a "bang" sound, he and Liu Erya's laughter was heard after a while.

In the afternoon, Liu Zhixin brought a gift to visit Mr. Guan.Mr. Guan's home is no different from that of ordinary farmers, except that there are a few more inkstones, brushes, and thread-bound books on the top of the cabinet.

Mr. Guan just woke up from his afternoon nap, his body was a little tired, but he was refreshed when he saw Liu Zhixin, and he pulled him to sit on the spring stool and talked.

Guan Deyu succeeded Liu Zhixin as the accountant of the production team. He was not at home right now, and there was a strange girl at home.Mr. Guan introduced the two parties. The girl's name was Jiang Changling, a girl from the family of Mr. Guan's second aunt's wife and sister.

Jiang Changling is plainly dressed, with two half-length braids, a long round face with single eyelids, and light freckles around the bridge of the nose, which is very popular.Standing behind Mr. Guan, she said to Liu Zhixin with some surprise: "I know you. I am two years younger than you, and I also studied in No. 1 Middle School. The teachers often mentioned you and praised you for how you got full marks in all subjects, Those who graduated from high school with No.[-] grades in the school, let us take you as an example. Although I went to high school, I am far behind you."

Liu Zhixin didn't expect that there would still be someone who remembered him after graduation, and he liked the other person's generosity, so he laughed at himself and said, "I don't need to be educated for my current job."

Mr. Guan asked Jiang Changling to pour Liu Zhixin a cup of hot water. After pouring the hot water, Jiang Changling stood behind Mr. Guan, playing with the braids on the back of his head and said, "Uncle, your braids are loose. I'll comb them out for you again." .”

Mr. Guan doesn't pay attention to Jiang Changling anymore, he still can't see through the little tricks of his niece?He asked Liu Zhixin: "I heard from Deyu that the mine is very difficult and dangerous, isn't it?"

Liu Zhixin replied: "Yes, but the heart is free. The mine leaders and workers know that I have studied in high school and worked as an accountant for the production team. They are very friendly and considerate of me. They even transfer me to the workshop at the end of the month to help with statistics and accounting. Seeing that I can do my abacus smoothly, memorize numbers accurately, and write well, the workshop leader even gave me a nickname, Liu Xiucai."

Jiang Changling secretly pursed her lips into a smile.Mr. Guan shook his head and sighed, "It's unheard of for a scholar to go down a mine."

Liu Zhixin said: "I have already survived the most difficult stage, I have adapted to work underground, and I get along very well with the workers. I have the ability to let my mother live a comfortable life."

Mr. Guan nodded and asked, "You are not young anymore, has anyone introduced you to someone?"

Liu Zhixin said: "Someone mentioned it, but once I proposed to make my home in Liuzijie Village, I quit. People don't want to separate the two places, and I can't leave my mother and brother alone. Besides, the geography near the mine The environment is not as good as Liuzi Street, where there is no land and no water, I didn’t like it.”

Mr. Guan mused: "Liuzi Street is not full of outstanding people."

Liu Zhixin looked up and saw Jiang Changling looking straight at him, and said in his heart, "I haven't given this matter much thought yet, after all, I just started working, let's talk about it later."

Mr. Guan turned to Jiang Changling and said, "Why are you so slow in braiding my hair today?"

Jiang Changling blushed and defended, "You're shaking your head so badly you can't comb."

Mr. Guan smiled silently at Liu Zhixin meaningfully.Liu Zhixin handed the gift to Mr. Guan: "My mother's kindness, please accept it."

Mr. Guan glanced at the scarce food, and warned Liu Zhixin: "These things were saved from you and your mother. I'll accept them this time. Don't give them away again. I won't accept them even if I give them away."

Liu Zhixin got up to say goodbye.Before leaving the house, Mr. Guan sent him a sentence: "Zhixin, forget the past, get rid of the burden, and start a new life."

Liu Zhixin agreed.He saw Jiang Changling behind Mr. Guan kept wrapping her fingers around the end of the braid, winding it up and releasing it, letting go and winding it up again.

(End of this chapter)