In the early 1980s, the new policy of "contracting production to the household" ushered in a thriving development in rural China. As long as the hard-working peasants managed their own fields of responsibility, they could have enough to eat, and the excess produce could be exchanged for pocket money, so every peasant's heart was filled with the hope and joy of labor, and the young people had not yet gone out to work. The whole village is bustling with activity, and everyone is living on the fields of hope.
My hometown is no exception. It is a small town called Libao on the Longdong Plateau, 200 kilometers from Xi'an. When the wheat blossomed, the town would hold a "material exchange meeting", and the main way to create momentum for the "exchange meeting" was to sing a big opera, and whether or not the "exchange meeting" was grand depended on whether or not it could invite a famous Qin opera singer from Xi'an. The grandness of the "exchange party" depended on whether or not we could invite famous Qin opera singers from Xi'an. It was at that time that I heard from my grandfather that the Xi'an "Eccentric Society" sang Qinqiang opera well, and I also saw the Qinqiang "Zhou Ren Hui Fu" starring Li Aiqin of the "Eccentric Society", and developed some interest in Qinqiang.
The city of Xi'an, in my mind as a child, became a city second only to the capital, Beijing, a place to which adults aspire.
My first close encounter with the city of Xi'an was in June 1993, on the eve of my graduation from university, when the school organized a study tour to Shaanxi Normal University. Most of my classmates, like me, were coming to Xi'an for the first time, and we were full of anticipation and excitement along the way. Many years have passed, that one-week study content forgotten, and students wandering around the city of Xi'an joy, but it is vivid in my mind.
We stayed in the guest house of a technical school next to Xingqing Park. Although a number of students, but have their own small circle, dispersed to the city of Xi'an also disappeared. I only remember and Xia, show, Ping four people, those days inseparable.
We went to Xingqing Park to play, sitting on a boat, looking around, the two sides of the willow, silhouettes, remembering that the "Let's Swing Oars" of the children's song, "the boat pushes away from the waves / the sea reflected / the beautiful white tower / surrounded by / green trees and red walls / ...... "The scene in the song turned out to be like this, but for no reason at all, there is more joy and happiness. Eileen Chang said, "It's better to be famous before it's too late", and now people are saying, "Let the children grow up with more knowledge"; in fact, I think that the experience of life on the happy does not lie in the sooner or later, and do not have to be in the ignorance of the time to perceive some of the feelings of life as early as possible, and perhaps the happiness and joy of the later. The more worthy of cherishing, the kind of delayed enjoyment that has been long awaited, in order to make people savor the experience.
Under the leadership of the teacher, we are in groups on the liberation of the road to stroll the night market; a dollar a bowl of knife-shaved noodles, eat with gusto; through the rehabilitation of the wholesale market in the road, with not much pocket money to the home of friends and relatives to buy back a bunch of cheap small items; on the way back to school to the tomb of the Princess Yongtai. We didn't go to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, the Bell Tower, the Hui Min Street, or the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang ......, the symbols of Xi'an, because we were saving money. Not going is what made the city of Xi'an leave us with more suspense and anticipation. Thank you for the good intentions of the alma mater, with limited time and funds to our last student days left a wonderful memory.
When I first got a house in Xi'an, I invited Xia and Xiu to revisit Xi'an, which was our first reunion after many years. We brought our children, lived in an empty house without furniture, sighed at the changes of the years, chatted about the different situations of our classmates, and talked about the hardships and difficulties of life; rode our bicycles on the ancient Xi'an city walls, continued to Rehabilitation Road for shopping, went to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, to the Bell Tower, and to the Huimin A street ...... we met briefly, and then went their own way, I went to Henan, they went back to their homes in Gansu, respectively, each other say goodbye, often look back, reluctant to part.
At that time, I settled in Henan.
At that time, I settled down in Henan Province.
The late 1990s, Xi'an North Second Ring Weiyang Interchange Bridge began construction, my husband is a participant, I live in Xi'an more opportunities, the summer vacation in Xi'an city spent in those years.
In the summer of 1999, I went to Huining to see my sister, and took the train back to Xi'an from Dingxi, leaving my husband's pager with the train arrival time in advance so that he could pick me up. But the train was late for several hours, a train station in Xi'an, has been more than 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, the square sparsely a few people, there is no one to pick me up, I hold my son, do not distinguish between things, parked next to the cab, I looked for a female driver, I think relatively safe, but the female driver heard me go to Xiaojia village entrance, and instantly rejected, said she only go to the airport, introduced me to a male driver, in the apprehension of the I backpack, holding the child on the car, who knew that the car a Longshou village, in front of the dark, the road potholes, bumpy, the driver said there is no road, let me get off.
The Weiyang Interchange Bridge is still under construction, and I'm going to the place where there is no road. Although I was very afraid, very desperate, but the son in the arms of a timid "mom", so that I can only be tough, paid the fare out of the car. I fixed my mind and saw that the surrounding area was empty and the cab had already turned around and left. I can only rely on a little memory, according to the general direction to go forward, walk a few steps to see a bright light in the distance, that should be the site of the project department, I hold the child deep foot to walk in the dust did not exceed the feet of the construction site, and straight toward the light of the place forward.
I tightly hold less than three-year-old son, give him to talk, give me courage, my son tightly embraced my neck, but also did not forget to comfort me: "Mom, don't be afraid, in a moment you will be able to see Dad to come to pick us up."
I don't know how long I walked, I finally walked to the lighted place, in the doorway, to see the person who is going to pick us up, at this time, even if I have a great fire, I have no strength to attack. Regardless of the husband has a hundred reasons to explain, that incident still let me haunt for years.
"Remembering is not forgotten, there will be an echo", in 2010, I set up home in Xi'an, is that night I walked along the direction of the light of the place, the company's project department to build a family building, which has become a family home.
Living in Xi'an city, but has rarely heard the Qinqiang roar, the streets and alleys is the world of square dancing; grandfather once said Xi'an Yiqunsha, I found, at the end of the board street, as if a long time not open the door to sing; occasional performances, the theater tickets are also very expensive, the ordinary people certainly can not afford not to go to see.
Xingqing Park, Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Bell Tower, Hui Min Street ...... I rarely go to stroll, most of them are busy in the livelihood; Datang Night City has become a net red card place, attracting tourists from the south and north of the world, all year round, I haven't been a few times. I live in a corner of the northern suburbs, just around the radius of my home.
For young people in the countryside nowadays, Xi'an city is not so far away, and you can settle down here after a few years of hard work. Xi'an city is getting more and more prosperous, more and more crowded; those distant small villages in the field, but it seems a little cold and lonely, young people fled the place, is the lack of vitality.
Although I still miss the town called Lippo, but can not go back. The place that I desperately tried to escape from back then has become a thought in my mind.
"Keeping a man's head, choosing a city to grow old in", Xi'an city, my home, is the place where I will grow old.
The city of Xi'an, my home, is the place where I want to live.