Volume 3: Essays, Anecdotes, (9), Appreciation of American Literature
In life, no one can escape a dead word. Some people have a life of endless struggle and left a brilliant and magnificent life, while some people have done nothing all their lives and lived an ordinary life.
In a person's life, some people have left some people with good memories. Unforgettable for a long time......
A person's life, passing away like a lamp going out, this sentence makes me feel the deepest is my house mother-in-law, oh, here I have to explain first, my hometown is in the Weibei Plateau, a poor country (of course, there has been earth-shaking changes now), the children here call their grandmother mother-in-law, and their great-grandmother is called their wife. Our family used to live in the old house, sitting north and facing south is the bottom of the two sides of the old cave, the east and west sides are two rows of houses, the outside is connected to the house is the courtyard room, from the time I can remember, the wife lived in the east cave, the grandmother lived in the east house, probably in order to distinguish more clearly from the wife, our brothers and sisters and cousins called the grandmother the house.
When I was a child, I saw that her feet were different from ours, and I always couldn't figure out why this happened, and I asked her: Why? At that time, the house lady privately replied to me that it was: the little feet look ladylike and good-looking, and the old people are like this; and then the feet are small and don't run out, so most of the old women don't go out of the door, and they don't step out of the second door, and they only circle around the pot all day long. Of course, the housekeeper also told me how my parents turned her big feet into small feet, and what appeared in front of me was a pair of bloody feet with broken bones!
The house lady often wraps the bottom of the trouser leg with a black foot wrap tightly, so that the two little feet are more clearly presented in front of people's eyes, black shoes, black socks, and black pants all year round, only the upper body has a placket and the headkerchief on the head is black and white and light blue three colors to wear. But she tidied up all year round, spotless, and walked with wind on the soles of her feet! Of course, she also tidied up her place and yard every day, and the neighbors would praise her for drying cold powder on her feet!
The deepest memory is that when I was a child, in the summer, the house wife would cool a basin of mung bean water or boiled water on her desk every day, which was prepared for our five brothers and sisters, after school, the thirst was unbearable, we would follow one by one, and the fish would rush in, and hurry to the back of the kiln to drink a belly of mung bean water or cold boiled water to quench our thirst.
Because there are many children, my brother and I always take turns sleeping with the mother-in-law of the house, but because the mother-in-law is more patriarchal, I prefer my brother, and my brother has more opportunities to sleep with her, and I always look forward to sleeping with the mother-in-law of the house, because she will tell me all kinds of rumors and stories before going to bed...... But because of the age, most of them have a vague impression, but they clearly remember a passage:
A chicken high in the mountains, not to my mother to my wife.
My wife wants to eat fruits and pears, and she can't wait for her to cry openly.
I came back and bought ten catties of fruit pears, sharpened steel knives and peeled pear skins.
You eat the pulp and I eat the skin, and my mother comes back to look through the window,
Catch the child and catch the girl and let the heart light, leaving the old dog to watch the door.
During the New Year's holidays, the house lady would take us to relatives, to her mother's house, to her grandmother's house, and to her seven aunts and eight aunts. When we came back, the housekeeper kept moving a pair of little feet, but we were always playful, while she was not paying attention, either picking sour dates on the side of the road or picking trumpet-shaped, purple-colored bowl flowers, and when we didn't come, she would turn around and urge us to hurry up. Those who are familiar with the house wife know that she is a capable person.
The house wife will pinch the flower bun in the village is famous, so who relatives and friends have a Tian Ding import, red and white ceremonial event door to use the flower bun, on the special send someone to the house to invite the house wife to pinch the flower bun for them, although it is unpaid labor, but this is the happiest time for the house mother, she may feel that she is still useful to others, she will be full of promises, while putting down the work in hand, and then clean up, just through the village and alleys to help others, the so-called skills are not oppressive, often like a trick, a tiger, rabbit, Various flower buns such as coiling dragons and rats appear vividly and vividly in front of people's eyes.
Of course, there are also people who often come to the house wife to help them embroider flowers on objects, which is a very common thing.
The house wife also makes a good meal, especially the red bean porridge she boiled, so far I can't figure out why the red bean porridge boiled by her own hands is so delicious: sticky, shiny, slippery, and the thickness is just right, if you add a spoonful of sugar, then you have to say, drink it, that is called a comfortable, and then after a long time, I guessed that the house wife boiled porridge, the proportion is good, how much food, how much water, medium heat boiling, low heat slow boiling. Everything that is made by her hands is delicious!
In the mid-eighties of the last century, the national policy of reform and opening up, the village soon responded to the call, seized the opportunity, opened a small coal well around the village, and soon, the house also saw the business opportunity, (the coal well recruited a lot of workers from afar, because the road is far away, food and accommodation are on the well), she and her father discussed that they wanted to go to the bottom of the west ditch to rent a place to sell food, and the father agreed, so the mother and the father moved to the bottom of the west ditch coal well to do a business of selling rice, and heard the father say that because the food made by the mother (the father is to the mother-in-law) is delicious, so the business is very good, the mother is changing the tricks to do, the dough, cold noodles, retort cakes, noodles, steamed buns, flower rolls, porridge, side dishes, depending on what those workers want to eat, she will do what she sells. As long as there is a period of time, my mother will grind the noodles, put a bag of white noodles for my father or brother to carry to the house wife on a bicycle, and leave the black noodles for us to eat. The house wife is good for people and takes care of everything, and her relationship with the people around her will be very harmonious.
But that summer, the house mother-in-law was sick, her father took her to Xi'an to see a doctor, the result of the examination was intestinal adhesions, at that time she moved her hands, when she came back, the doctor told not to eat hard rice, but after coming back, the house mother-in-law never remembered, her father said that she did not listen, she loved to eat hard rice, the result was that her father took her to Xi'an to do the second hand, to the third time to go to the doctor said that he could not do the hand again, he could only go home to take some medicine and self-conditioning, but she still preferred to eat hard rice, no way!
As a result, it was a few years later, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, I had a good lunch with my concubine, and I didn't feel any discomfort in my body, but when it came to eating, I couldn't eat a mouthful, so as not to eat a dumpling, and finally vomited it, I didn't think much about it at the time, but as soon as I got up the next morning, my father called, saying that the mother-in-law had died, and I immediately burst into tears, choked up and couldn't speak. On the fifth day of the first lunar month, the body of the house wife took everything she had and slept in the south of the village! The death of the mother is like digging a piece of meat from our hearts.
The stars have changed, the house has been gone for many years, and the hometown has undergone earth-shaking changes with the times, our family is no exception, the living conditions are good, my brother has renovated the old house, and now I look at it, the original appearance of the old house has disappeared, not to mention the traces of the house and the grandfather, but those old photos turned out, the memories and thoughts left in the long river of life are still there!
You see, the housewife is wearing a light blue jacket, a white headband, pinned behind her ears, black shoes, black socks, black pants, and leggings, and she walks towards me with a pair of small feet...... Walked all the way into my dreams......
Jin Laosan can be regarded as a wealthy family in the village, and his wife only opened his arms once in his life and gave birth to a son, named Jin Baobao.
Jin Lao and his wife have never done business in their lives, and they have no craftsmanship, and they have been working on grapes for more than 20 years, and they have become famous grape experts in the village.
He used to be a poor person, and his life was very small, and he hurried to the bank when he had a little money in his hand, and the township party gave him the nickname "not enough".
The villagers all know that his family is in a good situation, although it is difficult to marry a daughter-in-law now, but there are many matchmakers who go to his house to propose marriage.
There are many people who propose marriage, so he will inevitably be more and more dazzled. Introduce a girl, the son looks similar, but the parents think it is too fancy, and the parents take a fancy to the girl, but the son thinks it is too cheesy. Parents and sons have different visions, sons want to be fashionable, and parents want good wives and mothers. Picking fat and thinning has delayed his son until he is twenty-eight years old.
The baby is older, and there are fewer people who propose relatives, so you can no longer pick and choose.
This time, someone introduced a girl who was white and beautiful and called like a flower. On the first day I came home, I had to go to the pot, and after dinner, I knew how to clean up the dishes and chopsticks, wash and wash them. It is often said that the first has the most profound impact. "Yes, we are engaged to this marriage. ”
After three or four months of dating, Jin Laosan proposed that the two babies get married, and the woman should be filled.
After marriage, the husband and wife are in love, the parents are overjoyed, the family is harmonious, and everyone in the village is envious!
Who knew that the good days had only been half a year, and the baby's mother had a fall, half of her body couldn't move, and trouble came.
Ruhua began to put on a face, mixing a rolling pin, and throwing a kitchen knife, she wanted to split up and didn't know what to say, deliberately made a peaceful day unpeaceful, and the good guy Jin Laosan could only sigh secretly!
After more than ten days of tossing, Jin Baobao couldn't help it, and slapped his beloved wife in a hurry.
Jin Laosan was afraid that his son would continue to beat his daughter-in-law, so he desperately hugged his son's arms and waist, so that the son could not move, and the daughter-in-law gained momentum, and slapped the baby a few times, "Can you do it, and dare to beat me? I want to divorce you! You go over with your mother." After saying that, he turned around and walked to his mother's house. People are not nosy nowadays, and the streets are unobstructed.
The helpless Jin Laosan called his son to the house, "Forget it, I see that your daughter-in-law thinks your mother is a drag and wants to split up, so let's divide it if we can't make it! ”