Author: Guo Shuangquan
Our army commanders, as long as they leave the house, wear military hats, wear green military uniforms, which are both older military uniforms and washed cleanly, the neckline is tightly sealed, never open their chests and arms, usually wear cloth shoes or rubber shoes issued by the army, medium height, slightly supported by the back, ordinary complexion, solemn and solemn, never like to look at color.
One day in the autumn of 1981, when the whole army's camping training was about to end, at noon that day, Commander Pang said to me with a smile: "My report on asking the military region for leave to visit my home has been approved, and now I have passed it on through the secret, and I can go back to my hometown this afternoon, my hometown is the watermill bay in Yuxian County, Shanxi, which is not far from here. ”
After lunch, Commander Pang said: "Niangziguan is a dangerous terrain, for the Sanjin gateway and traffic throat, it is a battleground for soldiers in all dynasties, go home and pass there to have a look, let's go now."
Arrived at the highest place of Niangzi Pass, it is said that it is on the platform, he looks on the left, looks at the right, like reviewing the soldiers, and like looking at the enemy's situation, this place is very spectacular, there is indeed a husband when the pass, the trend of ten thousand people is not open, it is very dangerous. After a pause, he said let's go. When I got to the bottom of the mountain, I suddenly felt that the weather was hot, there were a lot of people and cars, and the road was blocked. A driver on the side of the road said, just now there was a heavy rainstorm here, the road is full of water, can't go, now just don't go, at most stop for half an hour to go, I said the road is full of water, half an hour can go? He said that here the river is the road, the road is the river, and when the rain stops, the water flows away, and there is no water, and the road is open. Ah, I told the chief of the situation, and it was true: when we were on the mountain just now, the climate was cool, the wind was beautiful, and not a drop of rain fell, but we did not know that there was a storm under the mountain, and the river flowed.
After about half an hour, the number of people and cars gradually decreased, so we drove away from Niangziguan, and at about four o'clock in the afternoon, we arrived at a small ravine near Yuxian Waterwheel Bay, with mountains on both sides, and it was a rugged and narrow dirt and stone road; He said, "You park here and wait, about a mile ahead, is my house, I will walk home, and someone will call you before you go;" I didn't know what I meant, so I got out of the car and looked at the chief, who was moving away. I suspect that the military commander's return to the village may have meant that "civil officials get off the bridge, and military attaches get off their horses", which means to show respect for their fathers and fellow villagers.
After stopping for about 20 minutes, a young man in his twenties, who was about the same age as me, came and said, "You are from Tianjin, my name is Pang Ruichuan, also known as Pang Shoucheng, he is my uncle, let's go home." He led me and told me to park my car in a more secluded corner. I looked at this parking place, the car in and out of the independent courtyard is convenient, and it is not easy to find that it is safer to close the door, so we took the luggage and walked to the old residence of the military commander.
The old residence of the military commander, surrounded by mountains on three sides, faces south in the north, in front of the street gate is a small east-west road with a width of 12 or 3 meters, there is a moat wall more than one meter high on the south side of the highway, the river is 70 or 80 meters wide, the sound of rushing water is vaguely heard, the whole courtyard is wide in front of the courtyard and narrow in the back, there are three main houses in the north, the street gate and a slightly larger dining room and living room in the south, the west end is the open-air toilet, and some shovels, hoes, iron crawlers and other farm tools are stored in front of the door on the southwest side of the yard.
After I entered the hospital, the military commander let me into the dining (living) hall of the South House, and the military commander pointed to the older, white-haired old lady and said, "This is my mother." Then he pointed to another woman with silver hair on her head, her back was slightly rickety, her hands were shriveled, and her green tendons were bulging, and she said, "This is my sister-in-law." And introduced that this is the nephew Shoucheng, and this is the niece. There are only a few people in my hometown, usually my sister-in-law and nephew, and my niece takes care of my mother.
After the introduction, the military commander pointed out to me and said: This is the driver Xiao Guo, and his hometown is Handan. And looked at his sister-in-law and said, "He drove all the way and didn't rest at noon, you cook him some food first." My sister-in-law said, "Knife noodles are our special rice here, delicious and fast." The commander said: "Okay, he can't usually eat our special rice, so let's sell noodles."
At this time, my niece added water from the water tank to the pot, lit a firewood and pulled the bellows to boil the water, and my sister-in-law quickly made a bowl of knife noodles, and when I was about to finish this bowl, my sister-in-law asked me, "Is one bowl enough?" The commander said, "Don't ask him that, make another bowl, he is a young man, and he can't eat enough in one bowl." "So I ate two bowls of knife-cut noodles.
After dinner, Shoucheng led me to the north room where he lived, which was the easternmost room, with a bed, two porcelain jars for grain, and a few horizontal planks, on which were placed spinning wheels and other miscellaneous items. Then he led me to the middle house, which was the Shikang where Shoucheng's mother lived, and in the middle was an earthen stove and a small jar of water, and on the kang there was a table with neat bedding, clothes and images wrapped in cotton bales, a hoop chair, a three-fold table, and a loom.
I heard that the military commander was in the westernmost mother's room, and I went over, only to see that there was a long table more than three meters long, about one foot wide and two ends in the north of the room (some are called tribute tables, some are called chairs), and the west side of the room is a half-cut earthen kang, an earthen fire platform, and a small jar of water on the fire platform, which may be used to warm water to wash hands in winter, there is a black earth-black cabinet on the earthen kang, a Luoquan chair on the south side of the kang, a two-drawer table, and a wooden bed niece is here to accompany her; All kinds of furniture are clean and bright, and it is hard to imagine that there are such clean and tidy farmhouses in a small mountain village.
Seeing these situations, I thought to myself, how can four people from three generations of grandparents, plus me and the six people of the chief, live? So I said to the commander, "I'll find a hotel to stay in." The commander said: "I can't live outside, let people laugh at me, I can't live with a driver, let my niece live with her mother, I live in the same room with my mother, I asked Shoucheng to find a plank, put the plank in Shoucheng's bed and put it together, and you two live together." In this way, Shoucheng and I went back to the house to set up a bed.
Afterwards, I walked around the street gate with Shoucheng, and stood on the moat and looked south, the river flowed from west to east, the river water was crystal clear, about a foot deep, and further on there was a small forest that was not too large, to a lush thicket, and the hills in the distance were slightly green, but they were bare. Looking to the southeast, there was a mountain that had been partially split, and Shoucheng said to me: Some experts say that there is coal there, but where the coal mine has been opened twice, no coal has been dug up.
In the early 80s, although the whole country implemented the contract responsibility system of joint production and divided the fields into households, this relatively closed and backward small mountain village was still like that, and every household grew its own food and drink, raised it and processed it by itself. The little money from selling some grain and other crops, except for the necessary necessities such as oil and salt, there was not much left, the conditions were very difficult at that time, and the common people rarely ate white noodles under normal circumstances, but the chief and his sister-in-law did let me eat the noodles first, and the (white noodles) I ate with them, and did not eat with them, I don't know what their family ate at night?
When I got up early the next day, Shoucheng called me to eat, and I saw the steamed cornmeal wotou in the pot, the millet soup left in the bowl on the dining table, the roasted cakes wrapped in paper (probably just bought) on the dining table, and the fried sauerkraut made with white radishes.
When it was almost noon, one of the chief's relatives came and said that the county party committee and government leaders had heard that you had gone home and wanted to come to see you, and when would you let the family come, the army commander said, "I will go home and see them first, and I can't let them come to our house to see me first...... As soon as I saw that it was my relatives talking, I went out and left.
I stayed at home with the chief for six days, and I ate food cooked by his sister-in-law and niece; Sometimes I eat "cat ears", sometimes I eat "dumplings", sometimes "knife shaved noodles", sometimes there are other foods made with soba noodles, and other farm snacks, which I have never seen, heard of, or eaten in my hometown.
When the military commander first arrived home to meet his mother, I was not present, I don't know how to move the scene, and my mother parted, I watched the military commander enter three rooms respectively, and then looked around his own courtyard, walking slowly in the yard, really reluctant look, I clearly remember that he and his mother and sister-in-law, chatting in the restaurant, He took out the money from his pocket and said, "I'm not from Tianjin this time, I'm from Shijiazhuang, I don't usually send you much money, and I don't know if it's enough for food and pocket money, so that's all I have, less than 200 yuan, leave it for you and my sister-in-law to spend." "
The sister-in-law hurriedly said, "Don't do so much, don't do so much, just put a part of it, ten yuan will take a long time!" The commander said, "Spend slowly, spend slowly, I'll send you some later, and I'll give it back when I'm done!" The sister-in-law kept chanting: "Don't do so much, don't want so much!" "It's not easy for you, both a father and a mother have to take care of the food and clothing of the two children," the army commander said: "The two children have been soldiers, and I don't have to take care of food and clothing, but I haven't been at home for a long time, my mother has been taken care of by you for a long time, I have not done my filial piety, so many years, you have taken care of our mother for me, but also to raise two children, only rely on farming income to eat, there is no income at home, and I have pocket money, I am much better than you." Neither the mother nor the sister-in-law took the money, and the mother did not speak, but just stared at her son, and the chief put the money on the table, paused for a while, and the mother said, "Can't you stay for a few more days?" The commander looked at the white-haired mother and said, "No matter how far the child is from home, he always thinks about you, and only when he has a mother can he have a home, but the superior leader gave me a seven-day vacation." ”
Of course, the mother did not know that her son, as a military commander, needed the approval of his superiors when he left the garrison, not to mention that he would need the approval of his superiors even more if he did not participate in work after leaving the garrison for a few days.
My sister-in-law looked at my mother, and then at my chief, and quickly played a round and looked at my mother and said, "Let him come back in a few days,"
It's really difficult to see each other, it's hard to don't be, it's hard to keep love, it's hard to keep money, I think the chief's mother, it's definitely hard to leave, it's hard to open her mouth when she is full of words, the eldest son died early, the eldest daughter-in-law is widowed, take care of herself and two children, the only son (my army commander) daughter-in-law died, she didn't remarry, she has to take care of two children, and she has to stay away from herself and her hometown, she is in her eighties, and she is also a white-haired single, who do you count on? How uncomfortable must I be?
Seeing this, who was there was also speechless, when suddenly a few neighbors came, and I thought that we were going to leave immediately, so that they could stay a little longer and talk more to the villagers, I said, "I'm going to start the car."
I drove the car to the door and loaded my and the chief's things and luggage. When I got into the car, my sister-in-law, my nephew, my niece and a few neighbors saw me off, and one of the neighbors whispered to my niece, "I don't look like your uncle is an official, and he has a car, he must be a big official," and the niece said: "My uncle is camping in a military car, and now he is passing by us to see my grandmother, my uncle has not been home for several years" The neighbor said: "Ah, if your uncle is a big official, you will not suffer like our family, farm the same land, and live in the same house." At this time, the chief, who was talking in the house, heard the sound of the car, and came out of the house with everyone, and the villagers said, "Come back when you have time." Only his mother stood in the door of the street, and did not go out of the street, and did not speak.
When I started the car and left the house, I saw through the mirror that his mother was standing outside the door, watching us leave, and the commander was looking through the back window to see his mother and other villagers seeing him off. Parting is a soft sigh of the years, leaving only those figures who are gradually drifting away, gradually blurring in the passing years. I drove slowly and left the commander's hometown, Yuxian Watermill Bay.
Our army commander is an ordinary soldier, an official is not like an official, an official is not an official, food, clothing, housing and transportation, work style, no aspect is like an official, his hometown transportation is inconvenient, he does not dislike poverty and backwardness, his family life is difficult, he helps self-reliance, he loves his hometown, misses his mother and relatives, neither shows off himself, nor shows off his ancestors, the old house is also an ordinary peasant family.
Guo Shuangquan, a native of Jize County, Handan City, Hebei Province, -- born in July 957, --enlisted in the army in December 974, former soldier of the reconnaissance squad of the third battalion headquarters of the 66 th Army Artillery Regiment, driver platoon driver of the Army Transfer Management Office in June 1976, -transferred from the army to work in the Jize County Public Security Bureau in 984, --studied at the Hebei Provincial People's Police College in 985, -graduated in 987, graduated from the Department of Public Security Management of the Chinese People's Public Security University, and later served as the chief of the internal security section of the county public security bureau, the instructor of the police station, and the chief of the legal department. He retired in July 2017.