孙玉民《故乡的迎春花》

The Primrose of My Hometown

Sun Yumin, Hezhe Ethnic writer. Member of the Chinese Writers Association, Heilongjiang Writers Association, Deputy Director of the Minority Literature Committee, and student of the 12th Senior Seminar for Young and Middle-aged Writers (Minority Writers Class) of Lu Xun Institute of Literature. Novels have been shortlisted for the 12th National Horse Award for Literary creation of ethnic minorities. Novels, prose, and poetry won the first, third and fourth awards for the literary creation of ethnic minorities in Heilongjiang Province, respectively. The screenplay "Hezhe Divine Dance" won the nomination award for the 27th Chinese Film Golden Rooster Hundred Flowers Award. Literary works have been published in dozens of newspapers and periodicals, such as People's Literature, Chinese Writers, People's Daily, Guangming Daily, Chinese National Daily, National Literature, Northern Literature, Xuelian and Years. The first novel published in Northern Literature, "Wusuli Boat Song", was the first novel in the history of Hezhe ethnic.

Last May, when the primrose was in full bloom, I returned to my hometown, the beautiful and prosperous Hezhe fishing village - Jiejin Kou.

In my childhood memories, the primrose in my hometown was the earliest in spring; every year, when the ice and snow melted, it bravely bloomed with the remaining cold of winter! It was all over the Jiejin Mountain in my hometown. Like burning clouds and mists, those patches and clusters reflected the Heilongjiang River flowing with ice strips at the foot of the mountain. The people in my hometown love it very much. Every year at this time, every family picks a bunch of primrose pink flower buds and puts them in a vase in the house. She was the first to bring the fragrance of the mountains and fields to people, getting the breath of spring...

Back in my hometown, my uncle's house was the first place I came to. When I entered the door, the people in the house were naturally surprised, and then I was rolled into the warm vortex. In the meantime, I looked around, and, to my surprise, no primrose was picked back.

"Why didn't you pick the primrose?!" I asked eagerly. My aunt, weaving a net on the kang, looked up at me and then turned to the two sisters standing against the wardrobe. When their eyes met, they smiled knowingly, and my uncle, who was weaving a net on the kang, said, "Ask your sister! Still laughing, you can't take your life to play jokes for high yields!"

"We just came back from fishing. We wanted to pick some primrose when we went out yesterday - but we forgot!" said Sister Xin, the slim figure. When she was a child, whenever the primrose was in full bloom, she always led several of our uncles and aunts to climb the high cliffs and pick back a big bunch of primrose.

"How could you forget? What's wrong with going fishing?" As soon as I mentioned going fishing, I was deeply attracted: " Sister Xin, Sister Hua, hurry up and tell me!" I urged. Seeing my anxious look, the two sisters laughed louder. Xin Jie stopped laughing and vividly told the story of their fishing yesterday.

Yesterday at noon, when we went to the river, the weather was good, and the ice floes on the river were sparse, slowly drifting downstream. Although it was not the time for fishing, people said there were many fish when the river opened. I and your Sister Hua planned and decided to go out to the river and try it, regardless of whether there were ice floes! So, we two went out to the river between the ice floes and opened a net. We opened two nets and drifted about twenty miles. There were many fish, all red carp. We were about to open the third net when the wind blew on the river. I thought that if we didn't hurry back now, the wind would get stronger and combined with the ice floes, we might not be able to go home. So, we quickly rowed back. When we got to 'Ershan Tou', we couldn't row anymore, you know, the water flow was swift, plus the entire cabin of fish. I was determined. Little Flower and I pulled the boat to the stone wall and climbed over! This was very dangerous: it wouldn't be fun if we didn't cooperate reasonably. I let Little Flower support me from the back, and I climbed in front, braving the wind and gritting my teeth, inch by inch, moving forward. When I got to the most critical place, I couldn't climb anymore. If I let go, I don't know how far I would rush out and hit the ice floes; the consequences would be unimaginable! Thinking of this, I gritted my teeth and had the courage, and the boat slowly passed the mountain head. At this time, the ice floes were squeezed to the shore under the big waves, and an ice floe was already very close to us. We couldn't paddle, so Hua had to take a paddle and stand at the stern of the boat. It was so dangerous! The ice floe passed by the stern of the ship, but Hua used too much force and slipped into the river!... "Ah! What happened later?" I couldn't help but ask. "After falling into the river, I didn't wait for my body to sink and fiercely paddled a few times to hold the boat. Hua Jie pulled me onto the boat. It was dangerous. It would have been over if it weren't for the impulse!"

Sister Hua rushed to say, "As soon as I got on the boat, I heard a loud noise like a raging sea. I saw a river full of ice blocks rushing down from upstream. Without a moment's hesitation, we quickly docked the boat. It had gotten dark by then, and we couldn't go home. After getting ashore, I was so cold that I was shaking all over. Sister Xin started a fire and roasted my clothes. I put on Sister Xin's coat and huddled around the fire. The fire was red at night, and I thought it could give out light and heat because it burned itself. People should also be like fire, giving out heat and light. As long as we can make more friends, what's the point of suffering?"

Sister Hua babbled as if she wasn't the one who had encountered danger on the river. "What happened next?" I asked again. "Well, I was afraid that Hua would cry, so I made her a comfortable 'nest' and let her stand guard on the boat, right?"

The two sisters laughed together.

I was intoxicated, intoxicated by the thrilling experience. Suddenly, I seemed to see the primrose on the cliff, like fire. Suddenly, I felt the same excitement as when I picked up the primrose in my childhood. Because I smelled the fragrance of the primrose with the breath of spring...