碎金集 2021 Fortuitous Gold Nuggets 2021 第 08 篇 Section 08
七-八月 返乡小记 July–August: Notes on Returning to My Ancestral Village
返回 碎金集 2021 Back to Fortuitous Gold Nuggets 2021“真的猛士，敢于直面惨淡的人生，敢于正视淋漓的鲜血。”鲁迅如是说。中国农村，正是这般人生的真实写照，这般鲜血的淋漓滚烫。
“True warriors dare to face a dismal life, dare to look upon dripping blood,” as Lu Xun wrote. The Chinese countryside is the living portrait of such an existence, the scalding reality of such dripping blood.
这次回到故乡，我见到了那位年逾古稀、身高不足1.4米的邻居老奶奶，孤独地栖身于破旧的老宅中；见到了父亲的高中同学，在乡下辛苦经营着一家简陋的小店，默默承受着生活的重压；见到了与狗同食于露天、稚嫩却早已熟悉艰辛的留守儿童和老人。他们的生活如同被遗忘在时间的角落。还有那些无孔不入的毒蚊子，更是将生活的艰难叮咬得更加真实可感。
Returning to my ancestral hometown this time, I saw that neighboring grandmother over seventy years of age and under 1.4 meters tall, sheltering solitarily inside a decrepit old house; I saw my father’s high school classmate, laboring to run a crude little shop in the countryside, quietly bearing the crushing weight of existence; I saw left-behind children and elderly folk sharing meals with dogs in the open air, tender yet already accustomed to hardship. Their lives seemed like forgotten corners in time. And those ever-present vicious mosquitoes bit home the travails of life into something even more viscerally tangible.
暑假前十天在家里怨天尤人，直到来到乡下，我才意识到自己拥有的一切是何其珍贵：一对博学多才的父母，身处全国区县前二十，求学于全国前百的中学。这些，是全国95%的同龄人所不具备的。似乎长时间浸泡在内卷的环境中，我早已忘记了自己所拥有的丰盈。
For the first ten days of summer vacation I sat at home complaining against heaven and reproaching humanity, until I arrived in the countryside—only then did I realize how precious everything I possessed truly was: a pair of erudite and versatile parents, residing in a county ranked within the nation’s top twenty, studying at a secondary school among the country’s top hundred. These are privileges that ninety-five percent of my peers nationwide do not enjoy. Steeped for so long in an environment of fierce academic competition, I had long forgotten the abundance I already held.
接着去市区拜访姑姑。长辈们谈论的焦点自然少不了我和我的同龄人的前途。高考步步逼近，种种不安在长辈们的叮咛催促中愈加具体、沉重。
Next I went to the urban district to visit my aunt. The focal point of the elders’ conversation naturally gravitated toward the future of myself and my peers. With the Gaokao drawing steadily closer, various anxieties grew ever more concrete and burdensome amidst the elders’ earnest exhortations.
爷爷奶奶家对门邻居的孙子——年少时每年寒暑假的玩伴老三，今年高考仅得426分，落榜后不见踪影。打听才知，他已去上海务工。而姐姐，作为一名普通的法考生，也即将面对考研的压力，未来最大的可能性是成为一名法律公务员。
The grandson of the neighbor opposite my grandparents’ home—Lao San, my childhood playmate during winter and summer holidays—scored only 426 points on the Gaokao this year and vanished without a trace after failing admission. Inquiring further, I learned he had already departed for Shanghai as a migrant worker. Meanwhile, my elder sister, as an ordinary judicial examination candidate, is also about to face the pressure of postgraduate entrance exams, with her most likely future being a legal civil servant.
至于我呢？所谓高三的心态，我至今尚未具备。上学期不尽人意的成绩已深深提醒我：高三，一刻也不能松懈。
And as for me? The so-called Grade 12 mindset is something I still have not attained. The lackluster grades of last semester have sharply reminded me: in senior year, one cannot slacken for a single instant.
返程的路上，我忽然明白：这就是农村用它残损的躯体给我的最深刻的启示。那些在城市中似乎遥不可及的困境与挑战，在乡下显得格外真实而触目惊心，促使我重新审视自己的生活与目标。
On the return journey, I suddenly understood: this is the profoundest revelation the countryside offers me through its battered, broken body. Those predicaments and challenges that seem remote and abstract in the city appear exceptionally stark and shocking in the village, compelling me to re-examine my own life and ambitions.
在故乡的土地上，生活的艰辛与淳朴无时无刻不在震撼着我的心灵。它们教会了我感恩与坚韧，使我在追寻梦想的路上更加无畏和执着。每一滴汗水，每一声叹息，都成了我前行的动力。正如鲁迅所言，真正的猛士，敢于直面惨淡的人生，敢于正视淋漓的鲜血。而我，亦将在这条路上，成为自己的猛士。
Upon the soil of my ancestral home, the hardship and rustic simplicity of life never ceased jolting my spirit. They taught me gratitude and resilience, rendering me more fearless and resolute on the path of chasing my dreams. Every drop of sweat, every sigh, has transformed into the fuel for my forward march. Just as Lu Xun said, true warriors dare to face a dismal life, dare to look upon dripping blood. And I, too, shall become my own warrior upon this road.