Unforgettable years in Qingyang City

Original title: Longshang Fireworks City

Unforgettable years in Qingyang City

Dong Zhiyuan after the snow

Qingyang Cave Dwelling

Qingyang Rainbow Bridge

Changqing Bridge

Lugang

In the past few years, I have been to all over the world, watching the great river amidst the morning bells and evening drums. Dahe, listening to the sound of nature, always makes me compare between my foreign country and my hometown. After much comparison, I finally chose Qingyang. After all, I have lived in this city for twenty-six of my forty-seven years. Unconsciously, my roots have penetrated deep into the loess of Longdong Plateau and I cannot extricate myself.

1

The first time I came to Qingyang, I was still a ten-year-old child and went to study abroad with my father. Grandpa said: "Go to Xifeng to see the world. Your dad is there. Don't you clamor to go there every day?" The Xifeng mentioned by grandpa was Qingyang, which was a small town back then.

The bus was full of people. My father held me in his arms. The conductor came over. My father kept pushing me down. The conductor’s suspicious eyes were like searching for a fugitive. My father tried his best to dodge and try to please me. , said I was less than one meter, free of charge. That situation seemed so embarrassing to me when I was a child. My father argued hard and even argued with the conductor over the supplementary ticket or half-ticket. I was so embarrassed that I slipped under the seat, closed my eyes, and wanted to cover my ears. Before arriving in Qingyang, my father became shorter.

The shuttle bus was rickety like an old oxcart. My father and I were like two comedians, carrying, dragging, carrying, and carrying large and small bags, walking tiredly on the streets, as if fleeing the famine. My father was nagging, "Be polite when you meet your eldest father and aunt. When you eat, you have to look at your eyes. Just eat one bowl, don't ask for more..." When did I turn into the alley, and when did I open the door and walk away? I was so impressed that I completely forgot when I saw the unfriendly smiling faces of my family. I only remember that after dinner, my eldest father took us to the work dormitory. We had to get up early the next day and then take a shuttle bus to our father’s work unit, the 9th Oil Production Team, several hundred miles away. I’ve never been so far away, and it’s so tiring to sit in a car for such a long time! Climbing into bed, I soon fell into a deep sleep. In this melancholy dream, all my beautiful yearning for Qingyang disappeared, and I just wanted to escape quickly.

2

In 1988, I passed the Qingyang District Finance School and had to live in this city for three years.

Most of the 45 students in our class are from rural areas. We who are less than 20 years old are at the age when we are growing up. We are thinking about eating all the time. After breakfast, we take our lunch boxes to the classroom. When the teacher interrupts the class, someone will knock on the bowl. Pang, a student in the dormitory who lives in the countryside, ate ten scones for lunch and was still unsatisfied. He also said that this was not his highest record. After the evening self-study, we turned off the lights and went to bed. Everyone was hungry again, so you pooled your money and went out to buy bread through the school gate. Although a piece of bread was only 14 cents, you only bought it occasionally. As accounting majors, we have always carefully planned the use of the living allowance of 27 yuan and 50 cents, and we must not overspend, let alone go into deficit. The school issued meat coupons, but I don’t know how to use them. Some people say that you can buy cooked meat at Dashizi. I made an appointment with others, but they all shook their heads, so I had to go alone. I took out the meat ticket and asked for money, but it wasn't much. I weighed two taels of pork head meat, cut it on the spot, and had a great meal. Later, I don’t know who invented steamed buns soaked in sheep soup. Buy two steamed buns in the school cafeteria and take three steps at a time to the back door of East Lake Park, where there are two or three mutton restaurants. A big old bowl, boiling soup is steaming, a few coriander is floating on it, the steamed buns are soaked in, and the fragrance overflows. It costs 50 cents for a bowl, and we are sweating profusely. Sometimes, after finishing the soup, the steamed buns are still at the bottom of the bowl. I have to pay more if I want, so I have no choice but to leave it alone. If you can let the chef grab a few pieces of offal, that bowl will be a delicacy on earth.

Apart from eating, it’s all about traveling on a budget. Like a group of gluttonous little beasts, we visited with our eyes the busy Dashizi, Xiaoshizi, Nanchenghao, the noisy commercial streets, the bustling Longdong shopping mall, and went to the theater to watch an unforgettable movie "The House of Love" …At that time, the park was chargeable, and those who were interested could only take photos in front of the East Lake Park. Most weekends, I would go to Forestry School, Agricultural School, and Normal School to find fellow villagers and former alumni, sit in the dormitory, and walk around the playground. , walking on the street, the day passed, and it seemed that there was nowhere to go. One day, the class organized a trip to the Bajiazui Reservoir. I went to a relative's house and borrowed a bicycle. I proudly took my classmate along with me. Unexpectedly, I ran out of gas and lost the chain on the way. I pushed it back and forth, although it affected my life. Even though I was traveling, I was still in high spirits. I stood by the water and posed for black and white photos. I sat on the dam and drank beer. Some people said it smelled like horse urine. I believed it at the time. Now that I think about it and think about it carefully, I found out what horse urine is. What it tastes like, I’m afraid no one has tasted it.

Three

During the three years I worked in the township government, there was a shortage of water, including cellar water. One time, there was food water on the stove but no dishwashing water. Entering the county town is just an "enlarged version" of the township. Every market day, there is a bustle of farmers leading donkeys and driving sheep. The winding road is the center of the county town. Donkeys are tied to telephone poles, and there are piles of donkey dung and eggs.

From the township government to the county committee reporting team, and then to the municipal TV station.

In 1997, I worked, got married, and had children in Qingyang. I went from being a passionate young man to a middle-aged uncle, from living without a fixed address and moving repeatedly to reading and writing in my own living room on the 17th floor, from eating gutter oil and spicy food in Nanya Mall. I am so hot that I can sit at the most luxurious hotel table. From having to be careful when taking the bus to being a car owner, I have unspeakable emotions when recalling every day in the past, and more importantly, the satisfaction of giving.

A few years ago, my eldest father passed away, and my 80-year-old aunt became deaf. Fortunately, she still recognized me. Every time we met, she held my hand enthusiastically and asked me why my wife didn’t come. No matter how old the child is, you can get it when you have time. As my children grow older and my parents grow older, I realize how difficult it was for my father and mother back then. Relatives come to visit every now and then, eat, stay and stay, welcome and drop off. I finally save and save two eggs to prepare for the whole family to enjoy. When the relatives come, the eldest father is forced to cook the vegetables and eat them to pieces. No residue was left, even the oil and water were wiped clean with steamed buns.

Perhaps because I was there, I didn’t feel much about the changes in this city. Just like when a child is by your side, others will exclaim "I have grown taller!" When outsiders come to Qingyang, I always recommend a visit to the Rainbow Bridge. The bridge is soaring in the sky. During the day, it is like a rainbow, with water birds dancing in the air, and at night, the rainbow bridge is like a rainbow. The rainbow is gorgeous and confusing. The urban sponge sports green space integrated with the Rainbow Bridge covers nearly 3,000 acres, with all kinds of flowers, trees and sports. The natural "green lung" and ecological "oxygen bar" attract thousands of people to flock in. It has become a new change, a new landmark and a new landscape in Xinqingyang.

In recent years, the speed of Qingyang has been running and flying. Expressways connect the north and south, and there are more and more air routes. The high-speed rail that Qingyang people are most looking forward to will be officially opened by the end of the year. For me, this high-speed train is undoubtedly a family train. After my father retired from the oil field, he lived with his mother in Majiawan, Gaoling, Shaanxi Province. It took more than three hours to drive there, and the journey was bumpy, with less gathering and more separation. In their later years, the elderly need the company of family members even more, but the journey is far away, so we can only visit home often by phone or in our hearts. The opening day of the high-speed rail is approaching day by day, and I am mentally planning the route to visit my relatives again and again. I will get on the train from Qingyang Station, take the subway directly after arriving in Xi'an, and call Didi from the Sports Park subway station. The whole journey only takes two hours. Buy A piece of fresh tofu can be delivered before the steam is gone.

Four

No matter how far I go, no matter how far I go, I always feel pious and will never forget this city - Qingyang. Every time when I come back, I drive across the Changqing Bridge and board the Dongzhiyuan, and my heart suddenly jumps with joy. Halfway through life, we gradually realize something. We have been thinking about it day and night, and have traveled thousands of miles to pursue it. It turns out that this city is the place we really want to go, and the far away place we most want to reach.

Take one person with you and choose a city to grow old in. Qingyang, a place of life and a city of fireworks, no matter what, it always gives me the feeling of home.