I don't have to listen to the weather forecast on the radio, and I'm already convinced that the indoor temperature is more than normal for the human body. The walls were hot, the tables and chairs were hot, the windows were open but there was no wind, and I had just soaked my head and face with freshly beaten cold water, and after a short period of comfort, the hot sweat gushed out again, and my chest was almost suffocated.
I turned off the lights, locked the door, and went to the river, where there might be a bit of a night breeze.
On the streets of the old country town, a truck occasionally passes, and the bright headlights illuminate the shirtless men and women sitting or lying on both sides of the street. At the other end of South Street, there was a chord sound. Turning the corner of the street, the voice suddenly amplified. From a distance, a large light bulb hung from a tree branch, and a group of people were crowded around under the bright light. I guess that the residents of that family had a funeral, and invited musicians to play music for the deceased. A hoarse male voice and a crisp female voice are singing in duet:
If you want to chop, you have to chop, you have to chop!
Can't be absolutely impossible!
……
When I got to the front, I had just finished singing the play, and I could see the satisfaction on the faces of the onlookers. Although the residents of the ancient town have not watched the traditional Qin repertoire in recent years, they are still willing to listen to this kind of duet without makeup and movement, mainly to taste the taste of the singer's voice. Now they exchanged their heads and talked with admiration, saying that the woman sang beautifully. Compared with a famous Dan of the Xi'an Qin Opera Troupe, its charm can be real.
I am no longer surprised that in recent years, the custom of burying the dead and inviting musicians to sing operas has emerged, but I have never seen a woman help to be a drummer. In my childhood memories, the trumpeters belonged to the category of three-class and nine-rate people, and even the very poor farmers were reluctant to send their children to earn such disgraceful money. The drummer cannot intermarry with a serious farmer while he is alive, and he is not allowed to be buried in the official grave of the clan after death. After liberation, these stereotypes have long been broken, and the drummer as a profession has not been extinguished. But women, especially young women, have not seen it with their own eyes.
Surrounded by the citizens, peasants, and filial sons dragging long cloths, there are more than a dozen musicians who are far apart in age, each holding a musical instrument in their arms, cymbals, cymbals, side drums, banhu, erhu, bangzi, etc. The musician had her back to me, with short hair, sturdy shoulders and arms, and a snow-white short-sleeved shirt. She was wiping her sweat with a towel, and her collar was soaking wet.
My heart moved slightly, and as if I had a premonition of something, I turned from the periphery of the crowd to the other side of her, and looked over the heads of men and women. She put down her towel and looked up. Not! Pearl, sure enough, it was her, my student, the pearl that was more impressive! This is something that I really didn't expect.
She sat there, calm and solemn, without shyness, to which she had probably become accustomed to it. The men who were watching from the left and right pointed and discussed, but she didn't seem to hear anything, ignored it, didn't look at anyone, and only listened to what the class master whispered to him. As soon as the bangzi "clicked", the melodious music of Banhu followed, and the next scene began again.
I immediately turned around and walked away, perhaps unwilling to listen to Pearl singing on such an occasion, perhaps for fear that Pearl would embarrass her by seeing me occasionally. But I don't know what it smells like.
The stars are brilliant, the moonlight is hazy, the willows on both sides of the river show the outline of the mountains, making a slight noise, the frogs in the rice fields are calling leisurely, the fireflies are flashing, the slight river breeze blows down from the river, the night is so quiet, the trains on the Longhai Road rumble by, and the night is even quieter. I sat under the willow tree, looked at the starry river, and lit a cigarette......
Two thick and long black braids, a chubby purple face, and two big black eyes, are two crystal gems, this is Tian Pearl. She is the class president, and she is also the captain of the school's theatrical performance team, dancing and singing, both of which are top-notch in the school. Especially the Qin dialect singing she performed, the timbre is pure, the charm is long, the farmers in the villages near the school who like the Qin dialect, who have heard her singing, are very popular, and enthusiastically discuss, saying that with such a good voice, they should go to the troupe.
I once tried it, and she said that she loved to study and didn't want to be an actress. I agree with her ambition because she is not only good at singing, but also good at school.
I remember one day after school, she walked into the teaching and research room with a stack of texts, put them on my desk, saluted, threw her schoolbag back, and walked away.
"Pearl, don't go!"
She stopped. Jewel-like black eyes stared at Teacher Li, "What's the matter?" ”
"Sing a scene!" Teacher Li said with a smile.
She smiled embarrassedly, looked back at me again, and seemed to ask, do you want to sing or not?
Mr. Li is a fan of Qin dialect, and he will pull the banhu himself, and when he speaks, he has already removed the banhu from the wall and tuned the strings.
Mr. Zheng, a young teacher who has just graduated from Normal University, also smiled and joined in the fun: "It's already off work, and it's time for entertainment." Come on! ”
I smiled and said, "Sing it." ”
Pearl put down her schoolbag, stood more comfortably in a generous manner, and asked, "What are you singing, "Mountain Flowers"?" ……”
"Sing the part of "Hidden Boat" in "Turtle Mountain"!" Teacher Li named the name of the play.
"That's an old antique, it's not allowed to sing now!" Pearl said.
"It's fine." Teacher Li insisted, "When school is over, no one can hear it, and we will be finished as soon as we hear it." After that, he had already played the banhu and started the melodious "door" music.
Pearl sings:
The ears heard a little more upstairs,
In the boat, it was difficult to break the Hu family's phoenix lotus.
……
I don't have a special hobby for Qin dialect, and I think it's quite interesting to listen to it, so it's okay not to listen to it. The charm of pearl's singing voice, I indirectly felt it from Mr. Li's fascinated demeanor. He tilted his head, closed his eyes, pulled his beard, and judging from the expression on his face, he had forgotten that he was sitting in the Chinese teaching and research room of a rural middle school, and had probably entered the riverside boat under the moonlight with the delicate psychological lyricism of the fisherman's daughter Hu Fenglian.
After the pearl finished singing, she bent down and bowed deeply, and ran away with her schoolbag on her back. When Mr. Li opened his eyes, there was only the sound of beams in the room. He obviously regretted that he was not addicted to opera, and he loosened the strings of the banhu strings, hung on the nails on the wall beside him, and sighed: "This woman, her father and mother are honest farmers, but she can sing, she is really born......"
I don't have any memory of such a thing. However, a movement that followed washed it out, and it turned out to be a regrettable event that will be remembered for a lifetime.
Sweep away all cows, ghosts, snakes, and gods. Under the iron broom, the world is chaotic. The pen is speared and the saliva is splashed. In order to survive, you have to kill. The teachers have all lost their old polite demeanor and are killing each other, trying to wash themselves and wipe all the dirt they can catch on the faces of others. Middle school students have limited theories, and it is naturally more convenient to shoot with fists than with articles. In order to avoid the student's fist hitting his head, someone gave the student direction and target to the window adjacent to him......
I was the first to push to the fighting table.
Teacher Li came forward to expose me for cultivating black seedlings, singing talented and beautiful women, and releasing poison everywhere. It may seem incomprehensible, but it is true. In an extraordinary living environment, people will suddenly show a side that you have never seen before. Xiao Zheng also came out to testify, and he formed an alliance with him. Now, Mr. Li pointed out Tian Pearl and asked her to expose it. The three-person witness turtle is a turtle.
Pearl stood in the chaotic ranks of the class, I didn't dare to look up, I couldn't see her face, I only heard Teacher Li urge a few times but Pearl didn't come up to the stage.
Some among the students shouted the slogan: Down with the royalists!
I look forward to her coming on stage. Because it doesn't matter to me anymore. Even if Pearl doesn't admit it, it doesn't exonerate me. I hope she gets out as soon as possible, she's a student.
There was a commotion in the audience, and there was a roar of boos and scolding. I quietly peeked at it, and Tian Pearl squeezed out of the nest on the playground and ran to the school gate. The slogans of "Down with the royalists" on the playground blew her away.
She probably never came to school again.
Teacher Li didn't have long to be proud, and he was defeated by other teachers and students...... Like me, he was held in student custody and forced labor in a nearby village.
After turning over the rice field for a day, I felt that the joints of my body seemed to loosen. At the farmer's house, he drank a bowl of rice grits and lay on the wheat straw in the wheat field outside the village, unable to move. Teacher Li was older than me, in worse health, lying on his back, with his mouth half open, and under the faint light (fifteen-watt light bulb), his face was like a dead man's face. He couldn't bear it even more than I did.
The loudspeaker in the village sounded, and I could tell that it was the commune's art troupe that had come to this village tonight to perform. One by one, the fashionable programs went on, and I was not interested, but I couldn't sleep. Teacher Li groaned softly, and also lay indifferently as if he were dead, listening, whether he wanted to or not.
"What the hell is Diao Deyi playing......
This is a wonderful excerpt from the "Wisdom Fight" in "Sha Jiabang". Ah Qing's sister-in-law is played by Pearl. As soon as the scene began, I heard Pearl's voice, and my heart moved, and I quietly listened to the singing sound flowing in from the small window of the warehouse-style room. Hearing Tian Zhu's voice again, my heart seemed to be a little relaxed, she could join the commune art team, and she would definitely not suffer because of the notoriety of the royalist.
I looked at Mr. Li, his half-open mouth had already been closed, and he had stopped moaning. Hearing the duet "Ghost Tricks", he suddenly jumped up from the floor and crackled twice to close the wooden fan of the only two small windows.
"It's a model show!" Teacher Guo, who was in the same shop, threatened, stood up, and opened the wooden fan of the window again, "I can't sleep anyway." ”
I seem to have suddenly realized that something pleasant was a kind of revenge mental activity. Perhaps it was Mr. Li who tabooed the name "Diao Deyi", because the students had already secretly given him this nickname, and it was widely circulated. Maybe Tian Zhu's beautiful and strong voice is now not a kind of enjoyment of art appreciation, but a mockery for Mr. Li, a fan of Qin's voice! It's really self-inflicted, who can free him at this moment?
Teacher Li and I were both classified as "internal contradictions", and when we returned to school, we sat in an office again, and Xiao Zheng was already one of the heads of the school's revolutionary committee. Me and him, going in and out of the same door all day, who never said a word to whom.
After dinner that day, Mr. Li walked into my dormitory and smiled, not embarrassed at all: "Let's talk about our hearts." "Heart-to-heart talks were originally a conscious need of comrades to exchange feelings, but at that time there was something that frightened me, but I did not dare to refuse. Regardless of whether this heart-to-heart conversation was successful or not, Mr. Li and I finally spoke. This also feels a little relieved for me, after all, I am in and out of an office.
Two days later, Mr. Li asked me to go to his house again, and I went. As soon as I entered the door, a stranger sat in the room. Teacher Li introduced: "My eldest brother. Then he told me that his eldest brother had just been transferred from the county to the commune as secretary.
His eldest brother was very polite, and had already stood up and handed me a cigarette. I was flattered. At that time, I was ashamed of myself to be treated so politely by the secretary of the commune, and I was sincerely terrified. I sat down and lit a cigarette at his lighter, but I didn't know what to say.
Secretary Li asked me about my family status, children, wife, parents, salary, and living conditions. I tried to make it as brief as possible, and I always said "I can make do", and I didn't need to bother others to help solve any difficulties.
"The commune has made a batch of mobile grain to solve the difficulty of some comrade families in the organ to eat food, and you can bring a bag to the commune at night." Secretary Li said, "I'll greet him." ”
"My family has enough food to eat." I said, "Thank you for your attention." ”
"I heard him say that your family is very nervous about food." Secretary Li pointed to his younger brother Teacher Li and said, "I heard him say that you are a good person and you have a good relationship, so ...... You're welcome. ”
I didn't dare to refuse anymore, it seemed to involve the initial bridging of the relationship and relationship that I had just achieved through a heart-to-heart conversation with Mr. Li......
"Or else!" Secretary Li stood up, "I'll get it for you, put it in my house, and take it away from me when you go home, so as not to affect the school." Then he said to the second child of the family, "You send your pockets to the commune in the evening." ”
Maybe Mr. Li really repented of the "Hidden Boat" incident to remedy his conscience? Mr. Li went to the commune to deliver his eldest brother's pockets, and I sat in the house, very quiet, guessing left and right. If it weren't for the discovery of conscience, why would they get me these grains again, and they were at the public price. The food at that time, it was tight and tight. If that's the case, I don't have to worry about it anymore and forget about it as an abnormal phenomenon in a special social environment.
"Click."
There was a knock on the door.
I opened the door, and Pearl was standing in the doorway, locking the car in the moonlight.
"I'm here to ask you to give me some ideas." As soon as Pearl sat down, she seemed to be in a hurry, and her breath was a little panting.
I poured her a glass of boiling water and placed it on the table.
She has changed, she hasn't seen her for a few years, and she has completely grown from a little girl to a handsome big girl. She seems to know that she is outstanding, so she is more restrained, much more restrained than when she sang "Tibetan Boat".
Her plump forehead fluttered with bangs, two dark eyebrows squeezed above the bridge of her nose, and a hint of scorched pink silk appeared in her eyes. What's so her?
"The commune transferred a secretary Li. Teacher, do you know him? ”
"I've met once."
She paused, raised her head, and seemed to have made up her mind:
"He asked someone to propose marriage to me......"
"With whom?" I asked.
"His son."
"Oh!" I asked, "Haven't you seen that?" ”
"See." Pearl said, "It's a cripple." ”
"Oh!" I was taken aback and asked, "What is the character?" ”
"It's twenty-eight." Pearl said, "That day, the introducer led him to my house, and before he finished three sentences, he moved his hands and feet......
My heart lost its steadiness and thumped. But what shall I say about marriage? Thinking about it, I held back my anger and said, "It's your business, it's up to you, make your own decisions." The implication is clear.
"My mind is not out of order." Pearl said, "My parents and parents are scared and want me to agree to this!" ”
"Your parents are both members of the club and work for crops, what are you afraid of?" I say.
"I heard that Secretary Li originally forced a daughter-in-law for his son, but the woman was unwilling, and her parents were unlucky.
"You want to ask for my opinion...... I said......" I said it was not smooth, and my heart was panicked, "I must have an idea." ”
Pearl nodded gratefully, burst into tears, and said, "If you are free, come to my house and enlighten my parents and mothers." ”
"Okay." I say.
The pearl is gone. I sent her to the school gate, watched her figure fade under the moon, and let out a long breath of evil.
As soon as I returned to the house, I didn't finish a cigarette when Mr. Li came in. He smiled, smiled affectionately, and lived like Diao Deyi. I know why he and his secretary gave me food, and I understand his real motives for talking to me. Sure enough, as soon as he opened his mouth, he talked about marriage:
"That woman trusts you, you are the head teacher, help our nephew. My brother and I will help you in the future......"
I really want to say: give me my pocket! Give it to me now! Can I eat wheat like that? Come to think of it, it's going to be a bad thing. Not only will I have unforeseen misfortune in the future, but it may also lead to a worse end for Pearl. I pretended to be smiling, laughed, and readily agreed: "As long as Mr. Li can afford it, what am I afraid of when I run a step?" I can't do it, I run away with all my heart! You can rest assured! ”
The next night, when I went to Tianwan Village, I severely criticized the confused and timid couple, and discussed with them some countermeasures in case of possible trouble: the two old men continued to pretend to be confused, and Pearl was in charge of everything!
"The two old men are full of joy, but the pearl is still not clear." I reported to Mr. Li the harvest of this trip, "Take your time! ”
Soon after, I was transferred to a middle school in this rural town. Although the matter of pearls is nostalgic, the result is clear for a long time.
Two years later, I met another student in Tianwan Village, talking about pearls, saying that she was married, and she married Liu Hongnian, a classmate in the original class. Liu Hongnian is a very good student in my impression, and their union should be happy, and I am relieved.
How did she get into the business of a drummer?
The night was quiet, the heat gradually subsided, and the night was cool, and as I walked through the town to go home, I heard the sound of strings and faint singing from the door. After midnight, it is customary to play music and sing in front of the coffin of the deceased until dawn.
I was sitting in my room reading a book when there was a knock on the door.
"Teacher, let me find it!" Pearl came in, "I've heard you're here, but I never get a chance to see you." When the people were buried, I was done, and I asked a few people before I asked here. ”
She was in her mid-thirties and had a strong aura. With sweat on his face and loess on his face, he didn't need me to greet him, so he took a towel from the bamboo pole and washed it in the basin.
"I'm a drummer, teacher! The student has disgraced you! After she finished washing, sat down, and explained to herself, "People want to make money." I earn money with my voice, I don't steal or rob, I don't care if it has a good reputation or not. ”
I made her a cup of tea, eager to know about her marital problems after I left, not caring if she was ashamed to be a drummer.
"Secretary Li made a wish to me and promised to solve my work problems. I didn't want such a job and turned it down. The cripple ran to my house a few more times, and as soon as I saw him coming, I slipped through the back door and did not come home for the whole day. That wasn't the way to go, and the last time the cripple came, I pushed him out of the door, threw the snacks and bottles, and threw them out into the alley! The cripple was unsteady on his feet and rolled over outside the door. He got up and screamed and cursed. I closed the door and shivered with anger in the yard. The village party in my village was angry, and the boys threw him out of the village.
"Secretary Li was annoyed and returned my party member approval form to the branch. The old branch secretary whispered to me: 'Let's talk about it later!' I know in my heart that Secretary Li is in our commune, and I can't join the party.
"The next year, a county troupe in Gansu went to Xi'an to recruit Qin actors, and I went to apply for the exam and was selected. The people from the troupe came to the commune to go through the formalities for me, and Secretary Li's eyes widened, and he waved his hand, saying that I was not good, and that was bad, and drove them away. When I was studying, I didn't want to be an actor yet, but I couldn't do it now. Even the cadres of the commune organs were angry, and when they came to my village in the countryside, they also scolded him, saying that people's pearls are not good, that is not good, why do you give your son a daughter-in-law? The fox can't eat the grapes, so he scolds them for being sour!
"I am married to Hongnian, poor is poor, and my heart is steady. Now there are two dolls. ”
She recounted, as if she was a little angry, but not very powerful, as if it had been a long time ago, and there was no need to move. I said, "It's okay, there is no big mess." I'm worried that the man will search for you and fix the whole person! ”
"I later learned that he was transferred to our commune as a secretary, that is, he forced his son to book a girl to another family, and he was transferred to our commune after the original commune made a stink, and he didn't dare to be as ......blatant as he was before in my marriage."
"Hmm." I asked, "How is life at home now?" The rural policy is looser, isn't it better? ”
"Life is much better." Pearl said, "Hongnian and I have contracted five acres of land, and this year's summer grain harvest is 3,000 catties of wheat, and we can't eat it in two years." He farms at home, keeps bees and chickens in his spare time, and earns thousands of yuan a year. I can sing with these people, and I can earn thousands of dollars a year! ”
"Can you earn that much?" I was secretly shocked.
"Yes. For a day and a night, he sang seven or eight folds for the dead and earned twenty or thirty yuan. There are at least five or six times in January, and there are more funerals in winter, often from one house to another. Pearl said, seemingly proud, "People say it's a shame to be a drummer, and I feel ashamed at first, but after a long time, I'm used to it." Teacher, look, am I ashamed to do this? ”
I couldn't answer, and I could barely cope with the smile.
"I don't care if I'm ashamed or not, anyway, I make money by singing hard." She herself replied, "I don't steal, I don't rob, I don't embezzle, I don't take bribes, I'm more glorious than those people!" Now, it's no better than when I was studying, I have to raise a doll, I have to live, and I have to earn money! ”
I don't want to comment on how glorious a drummer is more than corruption and bribery, but I deeply feel that the pearl sitting in front of me is no longer the pearl I was when I was a class teacher.