The entrance to the village is a simple entrance gate. There are red tiles on two brick columns. Stainless steel pipes are built on red columns. In the middle is the red "Majiashe Village" with two golden dragons carved on it.
The source of Majiashe village name is unknown, which may come from Ma's surname, because many villages are named after villagers' surnames. Majiashe merged with the neighboring Xiangyang village in the wave of village merger, and now it is a natural village. There are more than 300 registered residents in the village, and now there are about 60 or 70 permanent residents.
The street in the village is a black asphalt road, and the alley is a gray cement path leading to the door of every household. In recent years, the construction of each village and household has achieved remarkable results, and farmers in remote mountain villages have really benefited. It rained just this morning, and the field was too muddy to work. The villagers came out after breakfast and stood by the roadside chatting in twos and threes.
Walking into the village along the paved asphalt road, rows of red brick houses are neatly arranged on both sides of the road, and a flat alley is formed between rows, which is clean and tidy. There are red bricks on the roadside, low green grass growing in the cracks, gray cement telephone poles erected on both sides, and a row of white solar street lamps installed on one side. The red brick wall is painted with semi-white paint, and the red slogan: "Everyone is responsible for forest protection and fire prevention" and "The key to learning and doing is to stress political discipline" ...
There is a "Futian Wuxing" tricycle parked on the road in the center of the village. A young man in his thirties is selling it. The car is full of things, all kinds of vegetables, fruits, grain, oil and non-staple food. The young man is carrying a black bag and doesn't need to honk, but he has surrounded a group of people. Most of them are elderly men and women. An 80-year-old lady bought some peaches and stood by the road cutting them with a small knife.
Following the old village head Guo Huai, we went to the only temple in the village-Guandi Temple. This cement road is relatively wide, and brown walnut branches are piled at the entrance of the villagers' courtyard. These branches were pruned from the walnut trees in the field and brought back for firewood cooking. Beans and tomatoes grow in the small vegetable garden in front of the door. Long bean vines are covered with tall shelves, strings of long beans are among the broad green leaves, and occasionally there are a few roses. On the roadside sat an old man in a white shirt, with a small radio beside him, playing a cadence and a long tune of Jin opera.
The Guandi Temple in Majiashe Village is commonly known as the Laoye Temple by villagers. According to the existing inscriptions, it was built in the fourth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1576) and rebuilt in the years of Qingganlong and Jiaqing, with a history of 445 years. The temple faces south, and the three existing holes in front are the main hall, namely Guanyin Hall, Guandi Hall and Zhenwu Hall. The original wooden front porch in front of the temple has long been damaged. On the second floor is a building with a single eaves and a hard roof, which is the Jade Emperor Pavilion. There are east and west halls on both sides of the main hall, both of which are brick caves. Tianqian village used to be a grain depot, but now it is vacant and has not been repaired for many years. It has long been overgrown with weeds and ruined.
I met an aunt in the village and told us about the village. I heard that she still keeps bees at home, so we went to have a look. My aunt's home is in the center of the village, a spacious open space, and there are several blue and yellow painting fitness equipment, which should be distributed free of charge by the municipal cultural and sports department. In recent years, the state has invested funds every year to support the construction of rural culture and sports.
The old man's yard is very big, and the newly rebuilt red door can be driven into the car. There are eight brick coupon holes with corridors in front, which were built in the mid-1980s. The old man's four children have all moved to the city, and now there are two old people living in the yard. In recent years, the eldest son and daughter-in-law also came back after the grandson got married.
The courtyard is wide, clean and orderly. There is a red brick walkway in the middle, and low flower fence walls are built on both sides to divide the yard into two halves. Vegetables are planted in the right half, peach trees and apple trees are planted in the left half. The old man quickly picked two big peaches for us from the tree. Their colors were very attractive. There is a beehive under the tree, and buzzing bees are flying around it. There is a bunch of green grapes hanging on the grape rack in front of the house, and the red dahlias below are blooming brightly.
Old people eat mountain spring water at home. There is spring water in the ditch outside the village, and a water kiln is built in the village to store it. Water is pumped to another high-rise water kiln, and then transported to all households through pipelines, which is an independent circulating mountain spring drinking water system. The old man's water pipe is installed on the front wall, and there is a water bird under it, which is convenient to reach.
I followed menstruation into the room. The room where honey is kept is considered as a storage room. There are several low white plastic buckets underground. The old man opened the lid and filled me with honey with a copper spoon. The yellow one is Sophora japonica honey, and the deep red one is jujube honey. Old people's honey is very cheap, 20 yuan a catty. Transparent honey looks real. I bought two 4 kg plastic buckets, and the old man said that 75 is enough. I gave 80 yuan change and the old man gave me some peaches. ...
The economic conditions of the elderly are relatively good in the village. There is an agricultural tricycle and a car covered with a hood under a simple colored shed near the wall. It's my wife's electric car. I bought it for 26 thousand or 7 thousand. It's very convenient to drive to the city.
The old man is 72 years old this year. The old couple are still in good health. His wife used to be an electrician in the village. Now she has 17 and 18 boxes of bees. Every year, she takes the hive out to collect honey, leaving Lishi, Xiaoyi and Fenyang behind. Wherever there are flowers, she goes home. The family planted 17 and 18 mu of land. When his wife went to the field to release bees, the old man dried corn and sorghum alone in the field. He got up at 4 a.m., walked 40 minutes to Zhongshan Road to the field, worked until around 9 a.m., 10, and then walked home. The old man said that going home is downhill and he will be back in half an hour! Just two and a half days to hoe four or five acres of land! Looking at the 70-year-old man and listening to the relaxed tone is a bit incredible!
The old man said that sowing is to hire a machine, and the salary is to plant an acre of 30 yuan and spin an acre of 50 yuan, which will be settled in autumn, but you can only harvest it yourself. Small harvesters don't come because the land is rugged, there are many slopes and the road is not easy to walk.
When we came out of the old man's house, the old man and we turned onto the village road. The tricycle that sells things is still there The old man asked us to visit a sister-in-law's house, where there are many sheep. Sister-in-law looks over 50 years old and doesn't like to talk very much. She bought some vegetables, fruits and yellow cake noodles and walked home with a white plastic bag.
Sister-in-law's house is on the edge of the village, near the ditch, and the scenery is beautiful. There is a ravine by the roadside, with a panoramic view of the smoky green hills in the distance and the green terraces nearby. There are many chopped walnut tree segments, branches and firewood piled up at the door of sister-in-law's house. They burn wood and cook for warmth all the year round. The courtyard gate is a simple two-column gate with gray cement and two iron bars painted red.
Sister-in-law looks very young In fact, she is over 60 years old. Both children live in Lijiazhuang village, which is very close to the city. The old couple lived by herding sheep and farming in the village and subsidized their son. They live in a modified two-hole earth cave, and a big room is built outside the earth cave as a living room. Iron doors and windows are installed. There are also several holes in old earth caves, which are used to make kitchens and sheepfolds. A simple color shed was set up on one side of the yard, which contained tricycles and various sundries. On the other side, there is a vegetable garden with vegetables. There are several potted flowers on the short red brick wall, and the colorful sun flowers are very charming.
Sheep are raised in the yard near the field, separated from the residential yard, covered with a row of sheepfolds, red brick columns and blue sheds. There are more than 40 sheep, including domestic sheep, sheep, small-tailed Han sheep, Hu sheep, Chacra sheep and hybrid breeds. There are green jujube leaves on the concrete floor of the empty shed and a box of small apples, which are summer food for sheep.
Uncle raises sheep and mainly sells lambs. These two years, the market is good. A little ram can sell for 800 900 yuan, and 40 big sheep can have 60 or 70 lambs in three litters for two years. But the investment is also quite large. A sheep has to invest 3 yuan a day and mow the grass and feed it 2 yuan.
Uncle dug soil from the cliff near the yard to pad the sheepfold, so that the sheepfold would be clean, otherwise it would be dirty and wet, and it would be difficult to walk. This layer is getting thicker and thicker, which will be an excellent organic fertilizer next spring.
From my uncle's house, the tricycle selling goods in the village street is still there, and there are a group of villagers around.
# Shanxi # # Lvliang #