The flowers have faded and the green apricots have grown small; when the swallows fly, green waters surround the houses.
A long time ago, the hill where Yang Fan's village was located was not as close to nature as it is now.
At that time, almost the entire hilltop was reclaimed and used to grow crops.
Later, the state encouraged farmers to return farmland to forests. Propaganda workers went into the villages, door to door, and persuaded them earnestly: if they continued to open up wasteland in this way, soil erosion would occur, the entire mountain would collapse, causing mudslides and other geological disasters, endangering the lives and property of people living on and below the mountain.
To some extent, nature's self-repair ability is extremely strong.
So, within a few years, the bare mountains were covered with green plants, and the small trees grew into big trees, becoming stronger and thicker every year.
When Yang Fan was a child, many places in the back mountain were not as primitive as they are now.
In the corridor in the early morning, after breakfast, Yang Fan's family either sat on the stone slabs or moved a small stool to sit, chatting and talking about a good harvest in the fragrance of rice flowers.
"Mom, I don't seem to see any swallows coming back to build nests this year, and last year's swallow's nest is also empty." Yang Fan suddenly looked up and looked at the swallow's nest under the beam of the corridor.
There are five bird's nests in the entire corridor.
There are even six bird's nests under the eaves of the back house.
Yang Fan remembers that swallows used to come back to build nests every spring.
Every year, part of the bird's nest falls off due to age. Then Dad Yang completely destroys the broken nests to make room for the swallows to build nests next year.
"It's strange this year. No swallows have returned to Wang Jun's home." Mother Yang felt very sorry and puzzled: "In recent years, there have been fewer and fewer swallows. In the past, sometimes seven or eight nests would return at once, but this year there is not even a single nest."
Older people, especially those living in rural areas, are very familiar with the bird swallow, which represents a memory of childhood.
In the countryside, swallows live in almost every household.
Every spring, swallows fly back from nowhere. It seems that overnight, large groups of swallows land on the power lines like jumping notes. When they fly up, the sky is full of them, which is very lively.
When farming, they keep chirping inside and outside the house and in the fields, and then carry mud to build nests to raise their chicks.
In late autumn, these notes seemed to have suddenly disappeared overnight and flew further south.
However, they will fly back on time in March of the following year.
At that time, children often sang: On March 3rd, swallows fly all over the sky; on September 9th, swallows fly south.
There is also a swallow song in Yang Fan's world: Little swallow, wearing flowery clothes, comes here every spring. I asked the swallow why she came, and the swallow said that the spring here is the most beautiful...
The old people often say that only when a family is good will swallows build nests there.
Swallows symbolize good luck, peace, and good weather.
"You have been studying or working away from home these years, and you may not have noticed that the number of swallows is decreasing year by year. This is not a good thing." Dad Yang touched the cigarette box in his pocket, wanting to smoke, but he didn't dare to.
His wife is beside him, and he usually doesn't dare to smoke in front of her.
Now, with the little girl Guoguo around, he is even more afraid.
I don't dare to smoke, but it should be okay to touch it.
More than two months have passed since Dad Yang smoked only one box of the special-purpose cigarettes his son brought back last time. When he was about to open the second box the night before last, his two future daughters-in-law brought back another one.
Now I can’t finish smoking them until the New Year.
It’s not that Mr. Yang’s smoking addiction or habit is too bad, but he really can’t bear to smoke such expensive cigarettes.
I can't bear to smoke one cigarette a day.
"It's a reflection of the fact that humans and nature cannot coexist." Looking at the old bird's nest under the eaves, Yang Fan felt a sense of loss as if the house was deserted.
Those note-like elves just disappeared.
Even in rural areas, one can clearly feel that there are far fewer of these elves than before, which is really regrettable.
Two years ago, media in Taiyang Province reported that a "general survey of the number of hometown swallows" was conducted in a place in Taiyang Province. The results of the survey showed that the number of swallows in the area had dropped sharply to less than 10,000 for the first time.
When the survey began fifty years ago, there were more than 30,000 swallows in the area.
By this calculation, the number of swallows has decreased by about three-quarters in the past fifty years.
Swallows are no longer common now, and the decrease in their numbers is obvious to everyone. The situation in this regard is roughly the same across the country.
Why are they decreasing so quickly
Some people say that pesticides are used a lot nowadays, and swallows will be poisoned to death if they eat insects stained with pesticides.
This statement is not reliable because swallows mainly eat flying insects, which they catch and eat while flying.
Once insects are poisoned by pesticides, they will no longer fly, so the decrease in the number of swallows is little affected by this aspect.
The main reason for the decrease in the number of swallows is the change in human living conditions.
Swallows build their nests with mud, which is a unique way of nesting among all birds.
However, the characteristics of bird nests built of mud also mean that swallows' nests must be located in places that cannot withstand wind and rain. Their nests must be built in a location that has something to shelter them from wind and rain.
If it is built on trees in the wild, it will all be washed away by a rain.
Under human houses is undoubtedly the best place for swallows to build nests.
In the past, swallows basically built their nests under the eaves of human houses, on beams, purlins and rafters.
Such a place will not be exposed to rain, so the swallow's nest can exist for a long time. Such a location can also prevent cats, snakes, weasels, mice, etc. from catching swallows or eating their eggs. It is an ideal place to build a nest.
However, with the changes in people's living conditions, houses in both cities and rural areas are now tightly sealed, making it difficult for swallows to fly into the house to build nests.
In order to live with humans, swallows can only build nests in aisles and corridors outside houses. However, the walls of these places are usually slippery, and it is difficult for the mud carried by the swallows to stick to them, which greatly increases the difficulty for the swallows to build nests.
Sometimes swallows build their nests with mud on the wall. When they are almost done, half of the nest falls off with a snap. If they want to build it again, it will take a lot of time. This can easily delay the time for the swallows to raise their chicks.
People nowadays are no longer superstitious, and as a result, they are unfriendly towards swallows.
Not only do swallows create mud on houses when building nests, their feces also easily get on the ground. Many people don't like these behaviors of swallows, which pollute the living environment, so they are unwilling to let swallows live in their homes.
Therefore, when swallows build nests, some people often destroy their nests, making it difficult for swallows to live with humans as before.
If they cannot find a place to build a nest, the swallows will not be able to raise their chicks normally, and their numbers will definitely continue to decrease.
Another point is that the water pollution is quite serious nowadays. When swallows build nests, they need to carry mud on the shore. Some waters are so polluted that fish can hardly survive. Swallows are easily poisoned or sickened when carrying mud.
This situation will also lead to a decrease in the number of swallows, but compared with the problem of difficulty in building nests, the impact of this situation is smaller.
How much did the ancients like swallows
It can be seen from the poems that as early as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Feng Yanji wrote "The Longevity Girl: Spring Banquet": Spring banquet, a cup of green wine and a song. I bow and make three wishes: First, I wish my husband a thousand years, second, I wish my concubine is always healthy, and third, I wish to be like the swallows on the beam, and see each other every year.
Yan Shu of the Song Dynasty also wrote "Poetry of Breaking the Array": It is the New Year's Day when the swallows arrive, and it is Qingming Festival when the pear blossoms fall.
It can be said that the bird that has the best relationship with humans is the swallow.
Other birds were not so lucky.
Yang Fan had been a bad guy when he was a child and had robbed many bird nests in the back mountain.
He remembered that there was a kind of bird that liked to build its nest under dense branches. The raw materials were all grass, which was woven into a semi-closed nest with only a small opening on it. The nest body was tightly fixed to the branches, and no matter how strong the wind was, the bird's nest would not fall off or collapse.
Yang Fan has taken out bird eggs and bird chicks.
Regardless of whether it is eggs or chicks that are taken out, the outcome is a devastating blow to both the mother and the male bird.
When he grew up, he would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night or suddenly remember what happened at that time and feel very guilty.
He clearly remembered one time he saw two birds fly into a thick patch of foliage.
Thinking he was smart, he found a bird's nest among them.
As he approached, the female and male birds flew out in panic.
Amid the birds' wailing sounds that circled nearby, Yang Fan took away their eggs.
He left the nest.
But the birds never returned.
What an exquisite and beautiful bird's nest, what a clever bird, its call and eyes are full of spirit, and yet their lives were ruined by an ignorant human being.
After that, Yang Fan often thought of their panicked and helpless looks, and wanted to say sorry to them.
Unfortunately, they had died many years ago, and he would never have this opportunity again.
When he was a child, he also killed many frogs in the rice fields with stones.
So later in life, no matter what bad things happened to him, he took it for granted.
If he blames this and that, how can those birds whose families were destroyed by him and those frogs who were smashed to death by him rest in peace
Yang Fan, who seems to be kind now, doesn't think he has become a good person, he just wants to atone for his sins.
"Dad, do we use pesticides in our orchard?" Yang Fan suddenly asked his father while chatting.
"We used to spray pesticides, but we don't anymore." Yang's father said ashamedly, "At that time, spraying pesticides was quite worry-free. Later, we found that several birds had died in the orchard, so your mother stopped spraying pesticides and we caught the insects ourselves. Anyway, we had more time."
Yang's mother complained to Yang Fan about Yang's father: "When your father has nothing to do in the past two years, he just wants to find someone to drink and brag. It's better to let him do more work. Every time he rides his bike to the foot of the mountain to drink, he gets too drunk to ride the bike by himself. Either I go to pick him up or someone else goes to take him back. It's very tiring. One time, he felt guilty and didn't want to make anyone else suffer, so he rode back by himself. He was hospitalized and I didn't dare tell you."
Thirteenth Aunt and Liu Qianqian didn't know what to say, so Yang Fan didn't hesitate and said, "It's okay. I will make more and more money in the future. It doesn't matter if I go to the hospital a few more times. I can afford the medical expenses."
Liu Qianqian quickly grabbed Yang Fan and asked, "How could you talk to your father like that?"
Dad Yang felt a little embarrassed and said nothing.
Mother Yang also said to Father Yang: "Yes, yes, yes, Xiaofan doesn't have to save money to buy a house or get married in the future. All the money will be spent on you and me. I haven't spent enough on buying medicine and hospitalization these years. You should spend more too."
Father Yang could only say sullenly, "After that fall, I stopped drinking and riding my bike again, didn't I? You've been saying this to me for a year."
"If I don't tell anyone like you, you will continue to drink and drive the day after you are discharged from the hospital. Don't you know that?" Mother Yang was even more rude to Father Yang, as if she was the person who disliked Father Yang the most in the world.
"It's not that exaggerated." Father Yang said in a low voice: "It will take at least a few days."
Mother Yang stood up, unable to continue the conversation: "Go work in the orchard!"
Yang Fan will not return to the city until after lunch in the afternoon, so there is still a long time, as Yang's father and mother have to go to the orchard in the morning.
Aunt Thirteen and Liu Qianqian also wanted to go and take a look, but Yang Fan refused.
Going there would only hinder my parents' work as the shaded space is too small.
Only big trees attract the wind.
The smaller the shaded area, the hotter it will appear, and people who are not from a farming background are more likely to suffer from heatstroke.
Farm stays do have programs where you can pick your own fruit, but they are farm stays, not real fruit farmers’ orchards where everything is kept simple.
The orchards of ordinary fruit farmers have almost no supporting facilities and are not fun at all. If city people go there, nine out of ten will come back crying for their parents.
To be honest, Yang Fan can no longer do farm work.
So, in the morning, Yang Fan took Aunt Thirteen, Liu Qianqian and Guoguo to play by the Apeng River.
I didn’t have lunch at the foot of the mountain at noon, but ate it back up the mountain.
At this time, Yang's father and mother also came back from the orchard.
The whole family gathered around the millstone that Yang's father moved from the inner room, grinding rice.
Mother Yang promised Guoguo that she would fry steamed buns for her.
After a busy afternoon, the house felt like a holiday. The only regret was the lack of noise from the little kids.
When I was a child, during the holidays, whether it was at Yang's father's relatives' home or Yang's mother's relatives' home, there would always be several children making a lot of noise at the dinner party, making it very lively.
At this time, Yang Fan felt that his life goals were clearer.
Later, bring Liu Yueyue back as well.
For the rest of my life, I will work hard with the three of them to make our home as lively as it was when I was a child. Five or six children are not too few, and eight or nine children are not too many.
In fact, starting from Yang Fan’s generation, many people have felt lonely since childhood and have no brothers or sisters.
This kind of childhood is very bad.
Because a lively and happy childhood can serve as a healing tool no matter how bad life will be in the future.
Before seven o'clock in the evening, after dinner, Yang's father and mother loaded various special snacks and dried goods from the countryside into the trunk of the car.
"Let's hurry to the airport to catch a plane before it gets dark." Mother Yang was worried about Yang Fan driving at night, so she urged him.
As for flying at night, Yang Ma felt that it was not dangerous.
"Yeah." Yang Fan didn't refuse to leave. Anyway, he planned to come back to spend time with his parents on major holidays, if not every month.
Not long after, the car started slowly and left with Guoguo shouting "Goodbye Grandpa, Goodbye Grandma" through the car window.
When the car disappeared on the winding mountain road that could not be seen from the bottom of the mountain, Yang's mother suddenly burst into tears: "Old Yang, I feel like our son is no longer ours."