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墨書 Inktalez
In the autumn of 1981, I entered Stove Middle School, beginning my eight-year journey through junior high school. Stove Middle School was a pocket school, originally established during the Cultural Revolution as a "May Seventh Junior High School" by the Xizhong Village Committee. It initially consisted of a single horizontal row of two rows of bungalows, all made of brick and wood. Notably, the logistics and maintenance rooms in that single row were constructed by the teachers and students of the "May Seventh Junior High School" using self-made adobe bricks.
When I was in elementary school, I once sneaked away to play in Gaosha and briefly visited this school. At that time, there were three grades with one class each, and Liu Changshun, who led us to Gaosha, was one of the students there.
By the time we enrolled, the school had undergone some changes. Behind that row of bungalows, a new two-story building had been constructed, finally giving it the appearance of a proper junior high school. The number of classes had also expanded; it was said that each grade would have two classes. Since we were the first cohort after the expansion, there were actually only four classes in total at that time.
Although the Cultural Revolution had ended a long time ago, the school still adhered to the tradition of "self-reliance among students." On our first day of registration, the teacher organized students from each class to "level the floor" in their newly assigned classrooms.
Faced with a classroom floor made of dirt mixed with a small amount of lime and sand, we took various leveling tools distributed by the teacher. Some used hoes to roughly flatten the ground, while others pounded and pressed the surface with wooden mallets. The only advanced tool in the entire building, a lever, was operated by several tall classmates under the direction of our homeroom teacher, Liu Xingshui. Following Teacher Liu's commands, they would raise the lever to a height of one or two feet and then let it drop, allowing it to strike firmly against the ground, leaving deep imprints and solidifying the muddy earth.
Including Stove Middle School, there were two junior high schools in Xizhong Village at that time. The other school, located in the Commune, was Xizhong Middle School. I had visited it during a competition in elementary school. Although it mostly consisted of single-story buildings like Stove Middle School, it had many more facilities. The floors were made of compacted earth, smooth and sturdy, making conditions far better than those at Stove Middle School.
This time, Stove Middle School has expanded, and the Commune leadership has implemented a "balancing" policy, reallocating students from nearby Weisheng, Luzi, Mujing, and Dazhou from four or five platoons. As a result, my elementary school classmates who were able to advance, such as my cousin Supporting the Military, De Feng, Liu Dazhai from the neighboring Shibaochong, Fu Zhaoyun, and Liu Changhe from Changtangchong, all entered Stove Middle School to continue as classmates. Meanwhile, the students originally from Osmanthus Platoon were all assigned to Xizhong Middle School, and from then on, we were almost "worlds apart," rarely seeing them or hearing news about them.
Although Stove Middle School is small, it has fewer classes than our original Osmanthus Primary School; however, the space is quite ample. It is situated in a slightly flattened valley surrounded by mountains and forests that may not bear the school's name but can be freely used by teachers and students for rest and play or quiet reading.
What is most De Li ful is that the school has not built a wall. Behind the two rows of classrooms lies an orchard originally used by the "Five-Seven Junior High School" to integrate with society and rural areas. The orchard is filled with various plants such as pears, citrus fruits, and tea leaves. Occasionally, when we feel tempted, a few classmates can sneak out to pick some fruit while keeping an eye out for the teacher and then hide away to enjoy a feast.
It was precisely because of the proximity that Stove Middle School was only about two miles from my home, even closer than the former Osmanthus Primary School. As I grew older, I was no longer that child who feared walking on slippery paths. My strides had lengthened, making the journey to school much easier.
Of course, "all roads lead to Rome," and "there were originally no roads in the world; when many people walk a path, it becomes a road." The route to our junior high school had naturally formed two paths through everyone's footsteps.
The first path was straightforward: I would leave my house and walk straight ahead. When I neared the old courtyard by Zhu Shan Bay, I would turn right toward Changtangchong. I would cross the entire Chang Tang Chong Courtyard, pass by the best "Honey Well" in our platoon, cross the ridge, and go through Yuanxi Kou Courtyard. Following a small canal, I would reach the low-grade road in front of the school, which only saw a bus once a day. There, I could see the naturally growing lawn that served as our playground before entering my classroom.
This road mostly runs between the ridges, where the road is the paddy field, and the paddy field is the road. In the eyes of rural children, the paddy field is easy to walk on, with green grass and green or yellow crops on the side of the road, and solid black soil in the middle. Although the road is narrow, rarely exceeding three feet, those not from a rural background may feel like they are "tightrope walking" on this kind of road.
This road is also often chosen by adults when they leave the yard. There are many people walking along the way. The only inconvenience is when there is prolonged rainy weather, some of the paddy fields with more pedestrians will become muddy, making it difficult to find a place to step even when wearing high rain boots. In the summer, we, who are used to walking barefoot, can take off our simple shoes and walk directly. In the winter, we can only keep our distance.
The second route is to turn right out of the house, cross the small hill behind the house, then cross a smaller hill on the edge of Huangchong, pass through a paddy field on the edge of Chestnut Valley Pond, and then climb a slightly larger hill. Once up and down this hill, you will reach the road in front of the school.
Unlike the previous one, this road is almost entirely a mountain road. Although we are in a hilly area, the mountains are not very tall and deep, and the trees are not particularly dense and towering. However, there are no ready-made roads in the mountains, and there are not many people walking, so it is difficult to encounter companions on the way.
On rainy days, although the mountain road is not muddy, it is always extremely slippery, and there is a possibility of falling if one is not careful. What's more troublesome is that when passing by Chestnut Valley Pond, several households along the road keep very fierce local dogs. When they hear someone passing by, they will bark incessantly and sometimes even chase out to bite our trouser legs.
Therefore, unless there are special circumstances, I don't choose to take this road very often.
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