Golden Fishing Village

When the Coast Guard patrol boat approached the waters outside the village, the afternoon sun was shining brightly.

It's late June now, and the weather is already quite hot. The sun hangs in the sky and bakes the ground like a big furnace. Even at sea, it feels a little hot. The steaming sea water rises, making people feel sticky and uncomfortable. .

The black dragon was so dark that it started wiping sweat after being exposed to the sun for a while on the bow of the boat.

Seeing this, Ao Muyang sighed: "Oh, it's another severe drought."

The one who came to see him off was Su Jinnan's die-hard younger brother Zheng Liunian. After hearing his sigh, Zheng Liunian scratched his head and said, "It's not a bad land. It's been quite dry this year. It's going to hurt the people who farm my parents."

Just after he finished speaking, a long voice sounded from a boat on the seaside: "Hey hey yo ha, oh hey yo ha, prosperous, the people are suffering; death, the people are suffering..."

"What are you doing? Singing?" Zheng Liunian asked subconsciously.

At this time, the patrol boat was almost docked. The two boats were not far apart. Ao Muyang built a pergola with his hands and looked at the fishing boat next to him. He saw a tall and strong young man standing on the boat. The young man wore a pair of placket clothes. Wearing a black coat and long trousers, a small oblong waist drum was hung on the waist. There was also a small flat drum connected to the waist drum with a small iron chain. The young man beat the waist drum with his left hand and was carrying a small saucer-shaped gong. Singing.

There was a telescope on the ship. Zheng Liunian raised the telescope and looked at it, then smiled and said, "Director Ao, isn't this your good brother? Ao Fugui, right?"

When Ao Muyang heard the singing, he knew it was Ao Fugui singing. He said, "Yes, it's Fugui."

Ao Fugui beat the waist drum with one hand and the small gong with the other, and sang happily with his voice wide open.

Zheng Liunian listened for a while and wondered: "What is this singing? A fishing song?"

Ao Muyang smiled and said: "No, this is called singing news. Have you never heard of it?"

Zheng Liunian had a look of surprise on his face and said, "Oh, is this just singing the news? I've heard that this is a fisherman's custom in the Hongyang Peninsula, right? I've never heard of it with my own ears before."

The custom of singing news has not appeared for several years. Ao Muyang couldn't think of a specific year when he heard it. He vaguely remembered the last time he heard it, which may have been before the third grade of elementary school.

In his memory, this custom is related to the fishing season. It is also a form of folk art like drama. At first, it was performed by blind people, disabled people, beggars and other people who had no ability to make money independently. What they sang was drama, but their ability was not as good as I'm not an actor, so not many people listen to me, and no one gives me any reward.

Some performers have a bright mind. They discovered their disadvantages and then found their advantages: that is, they walked around the streets and traveled around, meeting many people, seeing many things, and understanding many things. Especially when they were traveling in a township, the Zhang family and the Li family were short, so they knew a lot of gossip.

These people began to take advantage of this. They took full advantage of people's gossip psychology and used singing to tell stories about neighbors, especially some conflicts, to attract the attention of fishermen.

In this way, after decades of development, the custom of singing news at sea emerged.

Generally speaking, it is the fishing season when the news is broadcast at sea. In the early years, there were no big boats, and fishermen used small boats to fish offshore. During the fishing season, every household sails out to sea, and it is relatively concentrated. At this time, there are beggars and disabled people sitting there. Boats shuttle among these fishing boats to sing the news.

It is very boring for fishermen to work at sea. Singing news at sea has become one of their few entertainment activities, so it was still very popular in the early years.

Moreover, people who are engaged in singing news at sea do not ask for much, and they do not ask for much money. They only ask the fishermen to reward them with a few fish to keep them full or to take them to the market and sell them for food.

Hearing Ao Fugui singing the news, Ao Muyang asked Zheng Liunian: "Are there any fish on our boat?"

Zheng Liunian thought for a while and said: "There is definitely no live fish, but maybe there are two bottles of canned fish?"

Ao Muyang shook his head and said, "That won't work. Is there anyone there?"

Zheng Liunian patted the gun on his waist and said, "Is this guy good enough?"

Ao Muyang: "Enough, but I'm talking about fishing nets."

There are many fishing boats in the sea outside the village. These small fishing boats have all been used as whale watching boats. They carry tourists to watch whales, dolphins and manatees. Some boats have fish on them, which are used to feed whales and dolphins.

Zheng Liunian directed the patrol boat to approach a fishing boat. Ao Muyang asked for a few fish from the boat. Then the patrol boat drove to the boat where Ao Fugui was, and Ao Muyang reached out and threw the fish over.

Ao Fugui is singing a stand-up. He likes these folklore things. This time, the town government has come forward to organize the revival of fishermen's traditions. Singing news at sea is one of the key projects. Ao Fugui is performing a demonstration according to the government's instructions, so he sang Extraordinarily exciting.

After a few fish were thrown into his boat with a splash, he was startled, his body trembled, his arms swung, and he almost threw away the small gong in his hand.

When he reacted, he became angry and said to Ao Muyang: "Yangzi, what are you doing? Making trouble."

Ao Muyang said innocently: "I'm cooperating with you, okay? I'm giving you a reward."

Ao Fugui shouted: "Then reward me with a big yellow croaker, I want a wild one!"

Before the croaker was fished to extinction, the large yellow croaker was a common commercial fish in the Red Ocean. Fishermen could catch large yellow croakers all year round, so every time the "News Singing" ended, fishermen from all over the country would give away a few fat large yellow croakers. Make "handmade money" for others to show your gratitude.

Ao Muyang lay on the side of the boat and said, "There is no yellow croaker, but there is a pile of yellow dung that the general has pooped. Do you want some?"

Ao Fugui waved his hand in disdain and said, "Go away and don't disturb me from singing the news."

Ao Muyang carefully looked at the tools on his body and on the boat. There were waist drums, small gongs, bamboo clappers, gong pieces, soft bamboo poles, drumsticks and copper bells. The tools were complete.

He asked, "Where did you find all these tools? Are there any in the village?"

Speaking of this, Ao Fugui showed a reserved smile on his face: "Secretary Lu mobilized the whole town to find them. He said that if we don't do this traditional fishing revival activity, we have to make a name for it, and everything has to be done seriously, so I was equipped with a full set of tools."

Ao Muyang asked, "What's the use of giving you a complete set? You only know some wild fox Zen. There are tricks to singing news on the sea, such as the beginning of the sentence, the transition between sentences, the end of the sentence, etc. You have to be able to create an atmosphere, set off emotions, and change the emotions of the singing. Anyway, it's quite complicated. Can you do it?"

Ao Fugui rolled his eyes and said, "I'm sure I can do it. Don't you see that many people are waiting for me to perform now? Go away."

Ao Muyang saw this. There were some boats drifting on the sea around, and there were indeed people listening to Ao Fugui singing the news, especially the old men and women from the surrounding villages. There were quite a few of them.