Daming Town Haiwang

Shangping Village, Feng County, deep in the Qinling Mountains of the native Ming Dynasty.

"woo woo woo woo!"

In the early morning, accompanied by the crowing of the rooster, Carpenter Li opened the door of his room. The mountains outside were shrouded in clouds and mist, damp and cold, and various birds chirped one after another. Roar.

Looking at the Shangping Village where I live, it is very quiet. It has long since lost the hustle and bustle of the past. This morning, only a few elderly people can be seen walking in the village. The house has long been empty.

"Alas, a house that no one lives in will fall down fast!"

"Old Chen's family has only been away for less than a year. It's a pity that such a good house has been dumped like this. If it was in the past, such a house could be married to a wife."

Carpenter Li looked at the old Chen's house next door and shook his head in admiration.

Almost all the young and middle-aged people in the village immigrated out, most of them went to Heitu Province, and many old people also went with them.

As soon as the man left, the house was empty and collapsed in a blink of an eye.

There is a saying in the mountain that a house needs people to live in it. Only people who are popular can hold it up. If it is an unpopular house, it will fall down soon.

In fact, this is true. Shangping Village was originally a relatively lively village with dozens of households, but now, most of the houses have collapsed.

These houses are uninhabited and unmaintained, and it didn't take long for the adobe brick houses to fall down due to the rain from the mountains.

"If it falls, it will fall. Anyway, no one will live in it in the future."

Carpenter Li's mother-in-law said indifferently.

Now everyone's life is really much better, and the sons of the old couple have all immigrated to Heitu Province. The once lively home is now only the old couple left here alone.

Carpenter Li's son wrote a letter asking the couple to immigrate to Heitu Province together. After all, they are always worried about keeping the old couple at home.

However, the old couple were reluctant to part with the fields, vegetable fields, and houses in the mountain, saying that they were passed down from generation to generation and could not be just lost, so they still insisted on living here.

"Look at our village. Nine out of ten people have left, and you are the only one who insists on staying here. Otherwise, we would all be living in Heitu Province with our grandchildren now."

My wife was very unhappy. She actually wanted to go to Heitu Province, because her sons were all there, and her precious grandson and granddaughter were also there. They hadn't seen their grandson or granddaughter yet.

When the eldest brother Li Da went, his grandson hadn't even been born yet.

"Ah~"

Carpenter Li sighed, and was not busy doing anything. He also went shopping in the village to see some elderly uncles.

Although Carpenter Li said he was a grandfather, he was actually only in his 40s, which would be the prime of life for future generations.

But in this mountain, people age quickly. Although Carpenter Li is in his 40s, he looks like he is in his [-]s. He has worked a lot since he was a child, and his nutrition cannot keep up. He is very old. quick.

However, there are still a few elderly people in their sixties and seventies in the village. Everyone has to go to see them every day.

Walking in the village, Carpenter Li also looked around.

"What a house!"

"In order to build this house, Mr. Chen fought bloody battles with the old Wang's next door. That's why he got this land to build the house."

"Now it's down too, alas!"

Seeing a collapsed house, Carpenter Li sighed and shook his head.

"The vegetable field is also in a panic. There is no one to plant it. At the beginning, the three brothers of the Wang family fought so hard for this vegetable field. In the end, no one wanted it."

Passing by a vegetable field, looking at the ridges of the vegetable field, it is full of weeds, and no one has taken care of it.

In Li Carpenter's mind, he recalled the past, when the three brothers of the Wang family were beaten to death for this vegetable field.

This incident is so vivid, as if it happened yesterday.

But when I looked at the houses of the three brothers of the Wang family, they were all dilapidated and empty.

"No one wants Tian anymore, everyone is panicking."

"Back then, everyone had a lot of quarrels with each other over this field, and fights over a little irrigation water were commonplace."

"At the end of the day, people fought over and over again, and when they said they would let it go, they let it go, and no one even asked for it."

Looking at the terraced fields in the mountains, a large number of terraced fields have been abandoned and turned into wild grasslands. There was no place for cattle to graze before, but now they are everywhere.

In the eyes of Carpenter Li, everyone was very busy in the terraced fields in the past. There were too many quarrels and fights for ordering fields and water.

But now, there are no people in this mountain.

The sun rises slowly, and the sunlight dispels the dense fog in the mountains. Looking at it from a distance, it is rare to see the cooking smoke, only occasionally a little bit of cooking smoke rises, lonely, and the strong wind blows it away again. But it popped up again soon.

It's like a lonely candle in the cold wind, which may be blown away at any time, and then it will never light up again.

"It was still lively in the past. In the morning, there was smoke everywhere, and the crowing of cocks and the barking of dogs resounded through the mountains and forests."

Carpenter Li sighed again.

The times are changing so fast. It’s only been a few years. People in the mountains have almost left, especially the young people. Almost all of them have gone out. Few young people will stay in the mountains. .

The outside world is more exciting, more comfortable and richer.

"Carpenter Li~"

Walking, walking, I came to the entrance of the village. Seven or eight old men came to the entrance of the village to report early, just like a party every day.

Sitting on the stone at the entrance of the village, chatting leisurely, not in a hurry to do anything.

In the past, I was busy from morning to night, and I rarely had time to rest.

Now everyone is not too busy, just plant some rice for their own food in the fields, and then grow some vegetables, and there is no need to be busy to cultivate fields, build houses and so on.

Because everyone knows that when people like me leave, this mountain will be completely quiet, and no one will come to live here again.

"Uncle Chen~"

"Old Tao~"

"Old Wang~"

Carpenter Li also greeted everyone with a smile, sat down on a rock, looked at the mountains, and looked at his own village.

"Did your son write you a letter?"

"I don't know, I didn't go to town."

"If anyone is going to town, please help and ask. Counting the time, it's almost time for a letter."

"Carpenter Li, I heard that your son's farm in Heitu Province is already very large. My son mentioned this when he wrote a letter last time, saying that he specially visited your boss's place. It is said that there are hundreds of cows, hundreds of sheep, and dozens of cows."

"It's okay, I sent some beef jerky back last time, and I'll bring it back for everyone to try."

"Forget it, the beef jerky is so hard that you can't bite your teeth."

"Old Chen, your children are also very promising. I heard that they have already taken concubines."

"They are all slaves bought with money. They say they are white slaves from Europe, that is, they are bought home to help with work."

Everyone chatted, and the things they talked about were all about their children in Heitu Province.

Almost all the young people in the village immigrated to Heitu Province. In Heitu Province, they would occasionally walk and walk with each other, and would write letters to tell everyone about this matter.

This has become the content and topic that people often talk about when they chat.

Apart from this, there is nothing else to talk about.

"What a wonderful field, no one is planting it now."

"Isn't it? Everyone was fighting and grabbing before, but now no one wants it."

"No one is planting this field, and there are even more wild rabbits."

"It's not just hares, there are tigers too. If you're okay, don't go to Niutouling. Last time someone said where they saw tigers."

"real or fake?"

"It's true. I've also heard tigers calling. The sound is terrifying. I didn't expect tigers to appear in our mountain."

"There are no one, and there are more birds and beasts, which is normal."

"I was thinking about whether I should go to Heitu Province as well. The children have all gone, and staying in this village is really lonely, and there is no smell at all."

"If you want to go, go. I can't walk anymore. I heard that it is far away to go to Heitu Province. I am afraid that I will die on the way. I will grow old in this mountain. My ancestors have lived here for generations. How can I leave? open ah."

"Yeah, I'm also reluctant. My son has been writing to tell me to go to Heitu Province, saying that he is worried about me being alone in this mountain."

"My son also wrote to ask me to go to Heitu Province. He said he wanted me to help return his grandson and granddaughter. He said that the children are very naughty. When the husband and wife are busy, they are really left alone."

"If everyone leaves, there will really be no one in this mountain, and it will become a place for birds and beasts."

"Isn't it a matter of time?"

"Look now, how many houses are rotten, how many fields are deserted, even the roads between our mountain villages are covered with moss and weeds, and there are fewer and fewer people."

"That's right, the last time I took my mother-in-law to her natal house, there was almost no road. The grass on both sides covered the road."

"If you panic, panic, anyway, the children are doing well now that they are outside."

Everyone looked at the village, looked at the mountains and chatted, recalled the hustle and bustle of the past, and lamented the desolation and desolation of the present.