My writing is full of small characters, and no one can be recorded in history. I live among them and feel their joys, sorrows, and joys.

In 1977 AD, I was the only "official" in my life journey and became a pig farmer in Fengqi Town. The day after receiving the notice, I went to report and was assigned to sit in Xigou Village. Although the "official" was low, I cared very much. I got up at six o'clock in the morning of the first day of my term, washed my face, and ate the breakfast my wife made for me. I walked down the slope of Xigou to the bottom of the ditch, walked the ten-mile winding ditch road, and went to Sujiamao, just in time for the wheat harvest.

There are only forty or fifty families in Xigou Village, scattered in the Ten Mile Valley. Everyone comes from all over the world, and every family has a sad experience of escaping famine. The ancestors carried all their families here and opened vegetable fields at the bottom of the narrow ditch. Every morning, you can see a long list of shoulder poles swaying on the slope of Xigou, forming a unique scenery. The villagers of Xigou Village carried the vegetable supply of the people in Fengqi City on their shoulders.

All the land at the bottom of the ditch was used to grow vegetables, and Sujiamao became the only source of food for the whole village. At that time, there were only a hundred acres of land on the island. Due to the lack of fertilizer, the grain yield was very low, and the yield of a mu of wheat was only about a hundred kilograms. The first day I squatted for the wheat harvest just happened to be the wheat harvest. As soon as I arrived at the wheat field, I put my arms around and took the sickle handed to me by a child. I squatted down without raising my head. I started harvesting from the ground and looked up until the other side of the ground. The whole team members were left behind by me. I held the sickle and felt complacent, and I felt a sense of winning the first battle.

On the first day I was on the squad, my wife also made a major decision for me. She thought that I had become a "public person" now and could no longer be shabby, so she took out all the savings of the whole family and went to the department store, and carefully bought me a watch worth 30 yuan for me.

When it was dark, I returned home. My wife took out the shiny watch for me to see. The watch under the kerosene lamp was shining with a thunderous light, which touched my heart. I hugged my wife and kissed her, and was floating in the air.

The next morning I got up earlier, and to show that I was "wearing a watch", I tied my sleeves over my elbow joints.

I wore a bright watch on my wrist, and felt proud and worked very hard. The wheat field was right next to the wheat field. The members pulled the cut wheat into the wheat field with a truck. When they were crushing the field, they did not need livestock. A hand-held tractor pulled the rolls and kept spinning around. A group of children were having fun on the side of the wheat field. In the afternoon, the wheat started piled up, and the members held wooden shovels in their hands and raised the wheat that was stirring the wheat clothes into the air. When it fell, they became clean wheat grains. The wind was strong on the island, and the sunset stretched the figures. The wheat grains drew a beautiful arc in the air, forming a strange scenery.

When the sun sets, wheat rose out, two horse lanterns were lit on the mountain mound, and dozens of shadows stood under the horse lanterns. The accountant pulled the abacus beads under the faint light and kept shouting: xxx, how many dou should be divided! The wheat grains flowed into the bucket along the dustpan. The captain used a scraper to scrape the wheat in the bucket. One person opened his pocket, and the other person carried the dou and poured the wheat into the pocket. On the way down the mountain, a string of flashlights lit up. The shoulder pole kept swaying on the shoulders of the members. The sparks were lit like a winding fire dragon. I don’t know who took the lead and roared and roared. Almost everyone followed the sound of harmony. The members were celebrating the harvest in their own unique way.

Because it was too late when I finished the wheat, I lived at Uncle Lao Mi's house that night. The next day, everyone worked on the mountain mound for a day and grinded the wheat straw again, commonly known as "Tengzhi". The crushed wheat straw piles were piles like a huge mushroom. The straw piles were the food for the production team's livestock for a year. After a few days, the breeder would chop the wheat straw with a guillotine and mix with feed to feed the livestock.

When I got home at night, my wife looked at me strangely, as if I was an alien. My wife felt so angry that she said with a little teasing: What are you looking at? I just left for a day and didn’t know each other? My wife suddenly asked me: Where is your watch?

Only then did I realize that my wife lost the new watch I bought for me.

You should know what a watch meant to our family back then, that was almost all the savings of our whole family. Under the kerosene lamp, I felt guilty when I saw tears rolling on my wife's face. I comforted my wife: I will go down the ditch tomorrow and I may find it. My wife choked and said: I can't find it, and if I pick it up, I won't return it to you.

It was raining for several consecutive days, making people feel bad. As soon as the sky cleared, I couldn't wait to rush to Sujiamao, with the little hope in my lost watch.

The sky was washed with blue tiles, and the world was covered with green green. The cicadas were chirping together. The newly cut wheat fields seemed empty and lonely. An old man was bent over with white hair, bent over and arched his back, picking up wheat ears.

My heart was influenced by an emotion. I stood behind the old man and stared for a long time, unwilling to break the eternal tranquility. The wheat ears in the old man's basket had already sprouted, and I couldn't figure out how the old man would eat the sprouted wheat after picking up the sprouted wheat. The old man might be tired, so he stood up, put his hand on a pergola and looked at the sun. When he looked back, he saw me and was surprised. Before I could speak, the old man said: I know you will come, I have been waiting for you here for a few days. Then he took out a cloth bag from his underwear pocket, which bloomed layer by layer, and there was a bright watch inside!

The expression on my face must be very complicated, and I couldn't even say a word of thanks. Instead, I didn't take the lost watch immediately, I stretched out my arms to hug the old man in my arms, and called out affectionately: Grandma!

Alas—— Grandma agreed loudly, and deep love burned in the white-haired sun. At that moment, I felt like I had melted, and my whole body turned into a river...

Grandma said that she accidentally found this watch while resting under the straw stack. She thought for a long time and knew that the person who lost the watch would come to the mountain to look for it, so she waited here for a long time. Now the watch has returned to its original owner and has removed a heavy burden in her heart.

I carried a basket of wheat for my grandmother, held my arm, and walked into the hut where the two old men lived. I saw a fuse made of mugwort wormwood lit in the middle of the house. The flames were burning in the stove, and a tea tank made of iron canned bottles were mounted on the fire. Grandpa Lu Si was sitting in front of the stove to make tea. The tea water in the tea tank was boiling, and the room was filled with a bitter fragrance.

When Grandpa Lu Si moved in, he moved his body and poured me a cup of tea made by the old man, and then said: I see your attitude towards working, like a farmer. I took a sip of strong tea and said, my family's situation is the same as my grandfather. My father and uncle fled to famine and came to Fengqi, and made a living by farming all his life. Grandpa Lu Si said that he knew his uncle, and also said that his uncle was honest all his life and did not hide traitors to others. He was a good person. We were having fun while drinking tea.

The talk was very speculative. Grandma Lu Si cooked for us. The old man mashed the wheat grains soaked in rainwater with a pestle, mixed with chicod, celery, and spurs, and made a pot of wheat rice for us. The seasoning was dried spicy noodles and wild garlic. I picked up the rice bowl and ate it very delicious. I ate three big bowls in a row. After the meal, the old man went out to take me down the mountain. The old couple repeatedly reminded me not to promote the watches to outsiders. They just did something they should do and did not need gratitude or reward.

I followed the old man's instructions and did not preach to outsiders about the process of losing my watch back, but I could not help but tell my wife. My wife was moved and said that if you want to repay kindness, you must repay two kind-hearted elderly people.

On the day I received my salary for the first time, I went to the store with my wife, pulled a piece of qualifying fabric for Grandma Lu Si, and bought a bottle of old wine for Grandma Lu Si. Although it cost ten yuan, we were willing. That day, my wife and I went down the ditch with me to repay the old man, and could see that the old man was very excited about our arrival. The old man put the fabric on his body and kept gesturing. The old man bit open the lid of the wine bottle with his teeth and took a bite happily. Looking at the happy look of the two old men, we also felt comforted. The old couple specially kept us for dinner. That time we ate a cornmeal stir. After the meal, the old lady gave us a bottle of malt vinegar. The old couple kept sending us to the bottom of the slope. When we were about to go up the slope, our grandparents left reluctantly.

Soon, the production team was disbanded and the land was re-contracted to households, so I was transferred from Xigou Village. One day in 1984, Uncle Lao Mi suddenly came to my house and told me that Grandpa Lu Si had passed away one after another. Then he took out two pairs of cloth shoes and handed them to my hands. Uncle Lao Mi said that Grandpa Lu Si kept talking to me before he died, asking Uncle Lao Mi to hand over the two pairs of cloth shoes to me no matter what, saying that she had been doing those two pairs of cloth shoes for several years and had been waiting for me to go down the ditch and was about to hand them to me personally, but she never saw me again.

My heart was tightened, and it was unspeakable to be shocked. These were not two pairs of cloth shoes, but an old man’s unforgettable longing for his grandson! The two old men lived a poor life, but they followed the principles of being human beings, being upright and not greedy for small gains. They lived a fulfilling life and had a clear conscience. They were the most inconspicuous group of all living beings, but they used their thin shoulders to support our entire society. They used their own behavior to erect a monument in my chest! There are many regrets in a person’s life, and the most regretful thing is that I failed to meet the last time before the old man died, I did not ignite a stick of incense in front of the old man’s mourning hall, I failed to hold the coffin to the old man’s grave, and I did not add a piece of soil to the old man’s grave...

In the blink of an eye, I also entered the ranks of the old man. Although I was ups and downs, I had been ups and downs and downs, and had been covered in scars. I never forgot the memories left by Grandpa and Grandpa Lu Si in my mind. Everyone has their own beliefs, and every living life has its own behavioral trajectory. Some people's ideas are changing every moment, but some ideas are unchanged forever. The benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and trust summarized by our ancestors are our permanent principles of being a human being!

Although our material life is becoming increasingly rich, I always feel that the loyalty and trust between people are gradually disappearing, and everyone becomes unfathomable, and they are wrapped in themselves deeply. No one is willing to open their hearts to others. Our spiritual life is becoming increasingly empty. Everyone plots against each other for one word, that is money.
Chapter completed!