He entered junior high school at the age of thirteen in 1959. After studying for less than two years, I dropped out of school because of the so-called "three-year natural disaster". According to him and his grandfather, although he was hungry at school at first, he persisted; Later, grandpa brought him some dry food such as dates, as a supplement, which he couldn't bear to see in his dreams; Later, I really couldn't do it, so I had to give up school. Reading is important, but survival is more important. You can't have it both ways, so you have to go somewhere else.
When my father was ten years old, my younger brother, who was four years younger than him, died of illness. This is a big blow to my grandfather. Father became his only child. Throughout his life, he tied his father to his side, and only in this way did he feel at ease.
Within a few years after dropping out of school, my father, like many rural youths at that time, was eager to get out of the countryside. However, all my father's ideas about leaving the countryside are just ideas, and grandpa opposes them. My father is very filial, obeying Confucian filial piety, and is a famous filial son in the village. He can only listen to his grandfather.
He is very clever, well-read, and knows everything by heart. He has lived in the countryside all his life. I don't have many books, but it was a good edification for me when I was a child.
I came into contact with his books in the third grade of primary school. At that time, our family lived in a big yard in our hometown. There are five rooms in the north room, three rooms are bright and three rooms are dark. I live with my grandfather and brother, and my parents and sisters live in Westinghouse. The one at the west end of the North House is used as a storage room. The walls are covered with wooden boards and my father's books are stacked on them. At that time, the family was poor, with little furniture and no bookcases, which was also a way of storage. He didn't want to put it on the ground.
There are roughly three kinds of his books. One is politics. The works of Marx and Engels are one by one, thick and thin, horizontal and vertical, simple and complicated. There are also books and magazines on current affairs and politics in various periods and movements. At that time, I was not interested in this kind of thing and I didn't understand it. I just glanced at it. What impressed me the most was a book called Criticism of Bad Drama, which I could read, because when criticizing those traditional dramas, I always told the story-I read it as a story book. I can still clearly remember reading this book after lunch in winter. I still remember Wang Baochuan's analysis when he criticized "red mane".
The other is literature, with the largest number. Among them, foreign countries are mainly the Soviet Union, "How Steel was Tempered", "The Birth of the Storm" and so on. I didn't read all these books at that time. I have no patience at the sight of this thing. The name Vienna has been dragging on, which is very troublesome. China's representative works include Romance of the Three Kingdoms, A Dream of Red Mansions, The Journey to the West and Water Margin. There are not only Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Dream of Red Mansions, but also several versions, vertical and traditional, horizontal and simplified. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is also a lithograph in the early years of the Republic of China. Modern works are mostly mainstream works at that time, such as Flying Tigers, Cotai Strip and Sword.
When I was in primary school, I wolfed down these literary books. Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin can remember stories, characters and nicknames of each hero (which have not been forgotten so far), but they are far from being appreciated. A Dream of Red Mansions can't stand it, and I'm tired of the characters and stories, so I can't bear to watch it. Reading is a bit like falling in love. Maybe I didn't have a good impression since I was a child, so I didn't fall in love at first sight. It was not until many years later that I reread the classics and was not very "cold" about A Dream of Red Mansions.
When I was in the fourth grade, I carried the first volume of Romance of the Three Kingdoms in my schoolbag for a while and took it out in class. Once in class, the teacher criticized that your boy just read books casually ... so he shortened the romance of the Three Kingdoms. Let's study by ourselves after class. He took a look. A few days later, when I returned the book to me, the first sentence was: Is there anything left at home? ...
It was then that I first came into contact with The Analects. Peking University workers, peasants and soldiers students, completely critical. I couldn't see it then.
To say that I have the deepest memory and the most interest is "King Kong of Fire". I've seen it more than five or six times, and there are countless characters and plots in it. When I was in college, I watched a movie, and I felt so kind. I remembered an old movie in front of the screen.
A villager in Lincun, who was about twenty years old at that time, once met me by the Tu Hai River and spoke to me warmly. Later, he asked me to show him the Fire King Kong at home. I'm still wondering how he knew I had this book at home.
Then there is the technical book. About car repair, driving, diesel engine, health and epidemic prevention, planting and breeding, etc. Once I accidentally turned to a midwife, and my mood at that time could be described as shock. The pictures in that book draw a woman's body clearly. Later, my sister also saw this book. She thought it was "not suitable for children" and she was shy to avoid embarrassment. Hide. She doesn't know that I have read it. Later, when she cooked and lit the fire, she simply threw it into the kitchen fire.
There are also some "ancient books". In the late Qing Dynasty, the imperial examination was abolished and new school education was implemented. Textbooks are written by woodcut and mounting, with pictures and big characters. There is a book about the formation of rain and the natural, social and historical contents such as the Forbidden City in the capital, written in simple and concise classical Chinese. Once I brought it to school, obviously showing off. Grandpa found out and asked me if you could use this book. Do you understand? I said don't underestimate people. I'll read it to you.
At that time, I was only in the third grade, so I didn't need to be modest. I liked to blow something out.
Woodcut thread-bound books, and "converted" books. The books are full of poems written by immortals, such as Taishang Laojun, Notre Dame de Mount Li and Guandi Sheng Jun. I didn't understand it at the time, I just rummaged around. My sixth grandfather once saw me take such a copy of Convert to One Source. He wants to see it and read one book after another. There were more than a dozen books in the room when he died. His daughter-in-law, that is, my aunt, said that he loves reading these books, so let him go ... I only have a few at hand. When I was in college, I read Xu Dishan's Research on the Basis of Superstition in Summer, but I felt different when I read it.
Guiyi is a folk religion founded by plain people in the late Qing Dynasty, which has a certain influence in northwest Shandong and southeast Hebei, and was banned after liberation. According to the old man, in fact, most Taoist believers are ordinary people. This religion, like other religions, means "study hard" in the words of the elderly. The problem lies in the individual leader.
My father's favorite reading is China's classical literature. Besides Four Great Classical Novels, I've also seen Sanyan, Erpai, Sanxia Wuyi, Elvis Presley, Xiaowuyi, Liaozhai, Yuechuan and the biography of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.
The romance of the Three Kingdoms, a typical fan of the Three Kingdoms and Zhuge Liang, is the most popular. A movie "Three Kingdoms", according to my observation, I have watched it dozens of times.
Thirty years ago, we talked. He said that an old man in Lincun, in his 70s, knew him very well. He has seen the Three Kingdoms all his life, and he can recite almost all the original texts.
More than ten years ago, I chatted with Mr. Sun and talked about his late husband. He said that the old man loved watching the Three Kingdoms all his life and knew it by heart.
Twenty-two years ago in the winter, I brought home a little book, Three Points of Chen Erdong Gossip, to show it to my father, and then we were separated from each other for several nights in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The indoor fire is smoky and the outdoor snow is falling.
Today in the bookstore, this book caught my eye again, and I couldn't help but stop and read it.
The book is still that book, isn't it cute? By the 26th of this month, my father has been dead for fourteen years.
His book is still there, and like him, it has never left my heart.