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Those old days

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By moladdaPublished 2 years ago 12 min read
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In the morning, lazily want to sleep more, but a ray of sunshine woke up, languishing in the nest thinking about last night's dream, not yet finished, a friend Aqiang's phone call came in: "a moment to go fishing"! Fishing is a man's business, just want to say no, he said: "Do not say no ah, your teacher also come over". The teacher he referred to is my class teacher when I was in trade school, the old man has been retired for many years, living in the city 70 or 80 miles away from us, I have no reason not to accompany.

I put on my sun protection clothes and sun hat and went to the roadside in a field trip outfit.

The sun was mild and flattering on a northern summer morning.

Ah Qiang and another friend were already there, they each carried more than a meter long fishing gear box, waiting for the teacher's kung fu two people compared with each other fishing gear. More than 5,000 yuan a rod, more than 6,000 yuan a rod to see whose rod length and hardness is strong enough to see whose pulley is good, according to the words of Ah Qiang, these fishing rods are big brand. I am a little confused, is not fishing? Such a simple thing, why do you want to make so extravagant? So complicated?

Faced with the woman raised this question, they laughed and did not say.

The car went on, into July, the leaves and grass are growing like crazy, full of fragrance.

The fishing ground of the North Lake is located in the northernmost part of the small town of Fularki, its boundary is between Fularki and the Merri district, a natural lake contracted by an individual. The contractor has built a farmhouse, a chess room and a number of pavilions around the lake, with concrete tables and stone benches for visitors to play poker and chess, and colorful walkways and steps around the lake.

We arrived at that time, it was more than ten in the morning, the roadside parked full of dense private cars, the lake sat in a circle of many people fishing, dozens of sun umbrellas inserted in the cracks of the rocks will be blocked in mid-air.

After arriving there, my friend gave me a fishing rod, said fishing for a while to interest, the three of them each found a good position for themselves. The three of them each found the right spot for themselves. I saw Ah Qiang take out the fish food he had just bought, and while hooking the food to the fish hook, he said, "I brought this fish hook back from Dailian, there is nothing here". There was a bit of pride in his posture when he threw the line.

Eventually I chose a place to follow their example of chopstick-like small drift thrown into the water, see it in the water half exposed half hidden up and down trembling look, some curiosity, with what kind of eyesight can see the fish are biting the hook? The lake is calm, can not see the direction of the current, not even ten minutes of work I can not sit down, pull up the line, change the place and cast down. There were four or five people around me, putting a small table at the lake, drinking beer while fishing, the sound of cell phones, yelling three or six, very noisy, I changed two places again.

The three of them were particularly focused, and Ah Qiang was already putting his second fish into the bamboo basket. The teacher suddenly got up and tugged the rod along the edge of the lake, only to see his four-meter-long rod bent into an arc, a large fish was dragged in the water by him diagonally, the teacher cranked the pulley, while tugging it a little closer to the shore, this must be how big the fish ah, even stirred up a wave. Ah Qiang quickly ran to the other side of the shore with the master to large net fishing. The fish and people stand each other for more than ten minutes, the cunning teacher not only preserved the fishing rod was not broken, but also finally captured this foot more than ten pounds of large grass roots. Ah Qiang and that friend together to the fish piper, but no matter how can not fill, they excitedly shouted: "Come on, borrow a big fish piper"!

A free living creature, whose life will thus come to an end. I remembered what an editor once asked me: What do you think would happen to the world if there were no human beings? I said: "The flowers would open naturally, and the creatures would grow naturally according to the laws of survival, just like the antler, which people have to cut every two years to facilitate its growth, but without humans, it would fall off naturally at a certain point. At this point I think if there are no humans, this fish can at least continue to swim freely in the water.

The grass around the lake was like a soft little green blanket, and small wildflowers dotted the green blanket with stars. I had no intention of fishing, so I simply threw the rod aside and went to the shade to find a piece of lawn to lie down, guarding the lake, and saw the time pass in the sound of running water ......

Childhood and father fishing scenes in the water diffuse ......

The light was just right, the sun made me lazy, I don't know if I was half asleep, or in a dream.

At that time, the Red Bank Park did not have these artificially built rockery, artificial lake, a hundred-meter promenade, nor a large playground, all the trees and flowers, earth slopes or depressions as far as the eye can see. The most seen are the lilac and apricot trees, and in May, the lavender petals open romantically against the green leaves. Other than that, almost everything you see in the park is purely natural. There is no guardrail on the river bank, only a granite paved slope. Flowers and plants grow on the slope, and they are especially bright when the rocky slope is wet after the rain.

My father usually fished after dinner, and the things he brought with him when he fished were simple: the yellow army coat and military kettle he brought back when he changed jobs, a canvas pocket with fishing gear, and three long, long fishing rods. The rods were made of bamboo, thick at the bottom and thin at the top, with a brass yellow bell at the top of each rod, holding it along the way, the crisp bell would ring a child, and only when the fish were fishing, the sound from the bell was a faint tinkling sound. My father's fishing line was wrapped around a palm-sized wooden board with an opening, and my father's fish food was even simpler, just steamed rice dough given by my grandmother or small green worms found in the elm trees, which he used to catch many aohua, catfish and carp.

Even at the height of summer, my father never left his coat and water bottle behind. The military coat was usually laid on the rocks and used to let me sit or lie down.

When I was a child, the water of the Nengjiang River was blue and clear, and there were many varieties of fish inside the river. There were always a lot of fishermen there on the shore, day or night, and even on rainy days you would see people in raincoats fishing on the shore. At night, the river would become dark and spooky. At that time, there were no night lights in the park, and at night, it was pitch black. The difference between the granite slope and the river where we were sitting was more than two meters high, but at night they all looked completely formed as one, and it was impossible to see the height, as if they were on a level surface, and the light that could be seen was the moonlight spilling over the distant water refracting the shimmering water waves.

In the black hue of the shore to see that a few anglers, a will gather, a little scattered, a moment with a flashlight to shine the lake's fishing rod, a moment smoking a cigarette and chatting. I lie there, especially like to see the anglers paddle fire to light the smoke of the moment, the red-yellow fire, the anglers' faces illuminated from time to time, in the black night scene, the star smoke and fire make the river bank everything seems particularly mysterious. More often than not, lying there, I would look for those clusters of stars in the dark night sky, and enjoy the quiet time of fishing with my father.

When I was young, my family lived in a bungalow compound, some of those bungalows had three or four families living in one door, and there were no secrets in each family. In the courtyard of twenty or thirty families, whoever had something to do, the work of a match was spread around. Because my father was famous for fishing in that area, he caught a lot of fish, often large, so the neighbors paid extra attention.

One night, my father caught a five-pound Aohua, and a two-foot-long catfish, two fish hanging alive on the door handle. Early in the morning, the old Li family caught the news of the fish, early in the courtyard spread, the neighbors of the aunt put down their chores, tied aprons and ran to see the fun, grandmother busy greeting everyone.

My father's fishing addiction was not small, and he fished every night until nine or ten o'clock. Every time my father packed up his fishing gear and returned home, I jumped up and down to help him. I was so happy to think of my grandmother, my mother, my brother and our family gathered around the fresh and lively fish under the light, and we were all so happy that we could not stop talking.

At that time, in the small town of Fularki, the streets were not lit, and only at the crossroads in the center of the street there was a short sprawling electric pole with a dim light bulb, but the light did not shine in the alleys. My father and I walked in the dark, the cool night breeze on our faces, listening to my father whistling and ruffling the treetops with the fishing pole, all the way to the sweetness of our feet.

The fish that my father caught, each time my grandmother would take a few to distribute to the neighbors, so that everyone could taste the fresh ...... decades later, until today, I can hardly forget the taste of the wild fish from nature, fresh and tender ...... Of course, unforgettable is also the time of persimmons, cucumbers, and small hairy onions. I remember my mother let me go to the market to buy green onions, back on the road tucked under the small hairy onions, walking all the way to eat all the way, now think about it, as a child love to eat a lot of things, now can not find the taste of the year ......

But at this moment, I have always thought that the end of the world can not be found grandmother, father, mother and brother, our family again sitting around the lamp, the warm light, shining their loving smile, the fish in the basin jumping, father in the side to pack his fishing gear ......

Suddenly, a pair of large hands waved around in front of my eyes, followed by Qiang's open mouth full of surprise.

I woke up as if from a dream, only to see that the lake was still flowing unhurriedly around me, the sun was past noon, and the teacher had started to pack up his fishing gear. I pretended to look at the beautiful fishing tackle boxes as if nothing had happened. This small box is really small and exquisite design, each space inside is designed to put the supplies in the right category. I think, if my father is here, I will not also buy a copy to him? I think about this, my heart is a little hidden pain.

After Qiang and the others put away the fishing gear, we went to weigh the fish together, wow, the price of fish is much more expensive than the market, ah.

"Are we here to buy fish?" I asked with some surprise.

"About the same as buying, huh, find a restaurant, so you can try the taste of the big grass root bought here." The friend responded. But after that, the car was late, I watched Ah Qiang and that friend in because of which restaurant or club to go there to wrangle, yelling half a day, arguing. Then in the end listened to Ah Qiang, pulling fresh trophies towards the direction of a neighboring county.

It's really interesting to think about our lives. We actually need very little in our lives each day, but we ask for a lot. We hope that everything we experience and encounter will be beautiful, but we often make our initial intentions extremely complicated for the sake of this beauty. Life has too many choices because it has too much, so much so that our lives will often be physically and mentally exhausted standing at the crossroads. This is like our old days, home with a pot of flowers can make a family full of life, our hearts can also follow the flowers as bright, because we do not have more flowers to extravagant, and now the house full of scenery, and who quietly to appreciate?

The moment the car pulled out, I looked back at the calm lake and asked myself: If my father had not stayed in the past years, if he was still alive, would he have come here to fish? What kind of leisure would he have chosen to make his life happier and more abundant?

...... In fact, after the death of my father, the family moved several times, I have kept the fishing rod for many years to the elementary school I had attended, the school activities used to insert the red flag ...... father is a soldier, he may be very happy with the final destination of his beloved fishing rod.

Classical
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moladda

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