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墨書 Inktalez
Winter passed, and the Spring Festival was approaching quickly. I happily counted the days and completed my holiday homework early. Starting from Chinese New Year's Day, I visited my courtyard, grandmother, two aunts, and two uncles under the pretext of paying New Year’s greetings.
On New Year's Day, we rarely got up early during the holidays. As soon as the sky began to brighten, we opened the door, set off firecrackers, and started eating the first breakfast of the year. This meal was entirely prepared by my father; all the dishes had to be ready on New Year's Eve because no knives could be used on Chinese New Year's Day. Additionally, the stove had to keep the fire from New Year’s Eve, so on New Year's Day, we only needed to ignite it without using matches or lighters. Once most of the dishes were laid out on the table, my father called us three children to wake up. Still in a sleepy haze and eager to play outside in the name of New Year’s greetings, we barely touched the delicious spread of chicken, meat, fish, and other delicacies that my father had expertly cooked. After a few bites, we quickly changed our shoes—our new clothes had already been prepared by our mother at the bedside—and followed our father to the old courtyard to pay respects to our grandparents and uncles and aunts.
On the Second Day of the Lunar New Year, our parents took us three siblings to Grandma's House for New Year’s greetings. Both uncles and Grandma lived together there. My father would visit each household in the courtyard where other grandparents and uncles lived; we children didn’t have to make special visits but would shyly shout greetings if we happened to meet anyone. The great-grandmother who lived in the same house had passed away along with her husband, but there were still many cousins living there. Cousins like Xing Nan, Xingyi, and Xing Peng, who were about my age, hadn’t gone out to pay their respects yet either, so we all played together joyfully throughout the day.
On the third day of the New Year, my cousins were all out in Grandma's yard, paying New Year visits to their grandparents. We were also preparing to change venues; my mother went home to host relatives coming to pay their respects, while my father took us to Second Aunt's house, which was only two miles away from Grandma's House.
Second Aunt's house had many children: my three-year-older cousin Meiyun, my slightly older cousin Yunhuang, my younger cousin Xiaoyun who was just a few months old, as well as my younger brother Yunsheng and little cousin Xiaochun. The house was quite spacious, and when the kids gathered to play together, the day would pass by in no time.
On the fourth day of the New Year, we set off for Auntie's house. Since it was a long trek of over ten miles through the mountains, I rarely visited Auntie during the New Year. However, I was already ten years old this year, and the weather was unusually clear. It seemed that Auntie had an important celebration to prepare for, so my father insisted I go along. My younger siblings were still small, so they stayed at Second Aunt's house. To persuade me, my Uncle-in-law brought along Yunhuang, who was about my age, to keep me company.
My aunt's child is still young, and my oldest cousin, Ye Yun, is five years younger than me. I get along well with Yunhuang, but after playing together for two days since the Second Day of the Lunar New Year, I started to feel a bit tired of it. I found myself distracted, eager to eat and go home to visit Aunt for the New Year.
During dinner, my little uncle-in-law mentioned that there would be a movie in the yard that night and suggested we stay to watch it before leaving. My dad and my second uncle-in-law agreed for Yunhuang and me to stay. With the temptation of the movie, I no longer wanted to go home; instead, I looked forward to the evening, hoping it would get dark soon.
The movie was the usual story about the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, featuring scenes of volunteers and civilians carrying railway tracks on their shoulders. I had seen this many times during acrobatics performances, but this time I watched it with great interest, feeling a sense of satisfaction as I sweetly drifted off to sleep.
On the fifth day, Yunhuang and I set off home together. From Auntie's house to my home, we had to pass by Second Aunt's house and Grandma's House, a journey of about twenty miles. This route had been planned out for us by the adults long in advance. As we walked and played, we didn’t find the mountain path difficult at all.
Just about a mile away from Second Aunt's house, for some unknown reason, my cousin and I got into a bit of a quarrel. Just then, I spotted a dirt road to the left. I thought this road might lead to the Commune at Li Family Ferry Crossing; it could even pass near my school, Osmanthus Primary School. Taking this road would also get us home, albeit with a longer detour. I quickly decided not to take the old route that passed right in front of Yunhuang's house and instead chose this unfamiliar dirt road.
Yunhuang saw that I was genuinely upset and tried to appease me with many kind words, but once I made up my mind, nothing could change it. Soon enough, I was carrying a small bamboo basket filled with rice snacks, candies, and cured meat as I headed down this strange path.
With a sulk, I hurriedly moved my feet, realizing that this road seemed to wind through hills of all sizes. Occasionally, I would come across a pond or a few farmers' houses, which made me feel a bit scared and regretful. However, I couldn't bring myself to turn back and take the familiar route, so I gritted my teeth and continued forward.
It seemed that heaven noticed my hesitation. After walking for about half an hour, I came upon a familiar place. This was the necessary path from our courtyard to Garden Street. Last winter, when I sent my aunt off to get married, I had passed through here. The Osmanthus Primary School I imagined was just a few hills away.
Looking at the undulating hills that seemed endless, I recalled how I used to walk behind the adults, terrified each time we passed through. I couldn't muster the courage to take another step. Hesitantly, I thought: Forget about this mountain path; I'll stick to the road instead. I should be able to reach Li Family Ferry Crossing and Bridgehead quickly, and the way back home would be all on main roads...
Several sparsely scattered houses faintly appeared in front of me, strengthening my determination to continue along the road. Despite feeling a bit tired and hungry after walking nearly twenty miles on both main and side roads with only a little breakfast in the morning, I continued to move forward persistently and slowly.
As I passed by a house made of adobe bricks, a dog's barking stopped me in my tracks and alerted the female owner of the house. Seeing a young child walking alone on the road, she called off the restless dog and gently asked, "Where are you headed, little one?"
"Zhu Shan Bay" is a small place name, and in a moment of inspiration, I mentioned the larger place name "Jiujiantang." She immediately responded, "You can't continue straight to Jiujiantang. Instead, you need to turn right and cross over those mountains."
Seeing that I was still hesitating, she probably thought I was too afraid to walk this mountain path alone or that I was simply lost. Noticing my tired and hungry appearance, she said, "My nephew is going to Higong City this afternoon, which is on the way. You can have something to eat here first, and he can drop you off at your doorstep later."
I accepted her kind offer and followed her into the house. It was only in the middle of our conversation that I learned she also had the surname Long and was the sister of Long Shisheng, the clan elder from New House. Her sister's son had come to pay New Year’s greetings today and would be heading back to Higong City soon (a small town near our home, part of Wugang County, about six or seven miles from Zhu Shan Bay).
With a nervous heart, pretending to be more refined and friendly than I truly felt, I had lunch at my enthusiastic clan aunt's house. Soon after, I set off on the journey home with my distant cousin. He slowed his pace to wait for me as I grew a bit weary and occasionally chatted with me to ease my tension. Before long, we crossed two sizable hills and arrived at the famous pond with nine wells by Jiujiantang.
Seeing the familiar Osmanthus tree and the school building, my heart settled. I told him I could walk back on my own and continued on my way. He noticed I wasn't heading towards the Jiujiantang courtyard and quickly caught up with me, asking in detail where I lived. To him, it seemed I might really be lost, but he didn't know about Zhu Shan Bay either, so I couldn't explain it clearly. He silently followed behind me, taking on the responsibility of keeping me safe.
As we reached the stone arch bridge, we encountered a relative from the New House, a skilled mason who had worked on our family's renovations and recognized me as the mischievous child I was. It was then that my cousin finally believed my home was just on the other side of the mountain. However, he still couldn't shake his concern and insisted on taking a detour to escort me all the way to the Zhu Shan Bay Production Team's drying field. Without waiting for my parents to thank him, he hurried back home.
Watching the sun slowly approach the mountain's edge and thinking about visiting Aunt for New Year's greetings tomorrow filled me with joy. I felt that this year's New Year visits had been particularly special, leaving a lasting impression that would linger in my memory.
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