According to the customs of the port city, it is necessary to go to the graves of the elderly who have passed away in the family a few years ago. When the children didn't leave home, Qiao Jianjun took them back every year, and in the blink of an eye, only Qiao Lin could go.

Jolene is happy to go back to her hometown because she can see her grandmother and uncle. But I had to get up early in the morning to catch the car, and I had to help my father bring two large boxes of things - one for my grandmother and one for my uncle, all of which were some saury, shrimp, scallops and other seafood. Although Qiao's family is not rich, they prepare a little New Year's goods for their hometown every year.

Jolene looked at the big stuff and worried-this trip, she could catch up with her brother to run cross-country in full gear!

At half past six in the morning, Qiao's father and daughter came to the port city bus station. There were a lot of drivers soliciting customers outside the bus station, and Qiao Lin always felt that they were irregular and didn't want to take their cars, but Qiao Jianjun was very skilled in talking to them about business.

"Boss, will you go to Laixian?" asked a driver wearing a large gold chain.

"If you don't go to Lai County, you will go to Da Li's house, how much does it cost?"

Da Lijia Village is the only way to go from Gangcheng to Lai County, it costs 20 yuan to go to Lai County, and only 18 yuan is enough to go to Da Lijia Village. But Qiao Jianjun was not very satisfied, and asked with a shy smile: "I still have a child here, is the child 15 okay?"

Qiao Lin touched her father dissatisfied, disgusted by his bargaining behavior, how embarrassing it was! Sure enough, the driver said unhappily: "This child is so tall, they are all adults, where can I still have the same price as a child?"

Qiao Jianjun still wanted to bargain, but Qiao Lin's face burned badly, and he walked forward with his head buried. Seeing this, Qiao Jianjun couldn't grind hard with the driver anymore, put the things in the suitcase, and got into the car.

"Linlin, let's not go to Laixian, let's go to Da Lijia Village, we have to get off in advance later, let's sit at the door!"

"Oh. ”

Jolene didn't like to sit in the front, but her father asked her to sit and she couldn't help it.

Within a few minutes, the bus was full of people, but there was still a steady stream of customers coming up. The proprietress who sold the tickets quickly took out the small maza and handed it out to the people who got on the bus later, and they sat in the middle of the aisle. The aisle was so crowded that she wouldn't be able to get out later, and Jolene admired her father's foresight.

But she was still very dissatisfied, and said worriedly: "Dad, it's overloaded like this!"

"It's a private car, no way!"

"Then why don't we come in and take the bus, isn't that safer?"

Qiao Jianjun said: "If you enter the station and take the car, you will have to pay twenty-five yuan for one person, and if you two take this car, you can save fourteen yuan at once." That's fourteen dollars, enough for you to buy a study material!"

Jolene plugged in her inferior headphones and stopped listening to her father's calculations. Although she can understand her father, she has a strong desire - one day in the future, she can no longer grind with the driver for a mere dozen yuan, and can take the station car generously, instead of this kind of "black car".

The car was bumpy along the way, a car of people was making loud noises, and some people were playing popular songs of the time on loudspeaker tape recorders. The male singer was singing heartbreakingly, "I'm sure I'm the wolf in sheep's clothing, and you're my prey, it's the lamb in my mouth," and many people sang along. The chorus eventually overshadowed Jolene's headphones, and she could no longer make out what was on her tape recorder.

She irritated herself and took off her headphones and muttered, "Why is such a song popular?"

Qiao Jianjun said solemnly: "You have songs you like, others also have their favorite songs, if you don't like them, you are not allowed to be popular?"

Qiao Lin blinked her eyes and said, "But I think it's very dirty, and my classmates think so too." ”

"Soil has its own charm, or where would so many people like it?"

Listening to her father's words, Jolene looked out the window silently. The music in the car plays from "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" to "Two Butterflies", and as soon as the two butterflies fly over, another rice-loving mouse comes. I don't know when these songs became popular, and they were so popular that they were played on the streets and alleys.

These songs have a common name, called "Internet Songs". The public's reaction to their appearance can be described as "extreme" - those who like them are so popular that they even change ringtones to such songs, and those who don't like them scoff at this, thinking that Internet songs are tied to "vulgar" and never listen to them.

Jolene didn't care too much, her mind was full of Kaka. Pop songs, just listen to them with Zhao Linlin.

In fact, she likes the soundtrack in "World Football" very much, but most of those songs are European and American, and they are not sold at all in street video stores. She thought, it would be nice if there was an MP3, and she could download any song she wanted to listen to in MP3, so convenient!

It's just that at that time, the MP3 of 128M was in the hundreds, and her parents were definitely reluctant to pay for her to buy it. Most of the class had it, but she didn't. Mom's statement is that she is afraid that MP3 will delay her study, but Jolene knows the real reason - this is hundreds of dollars, which can pay off a debt!

Jolene knew that life at home was not easy, so she didn't complain, but just muttered in a low voice: "If my brother comes back, let him buy it for me." ”

"What to buy?" Qiao Jianjun asked.

"MP3!" Jolene puffed out her cheeks and blew away the bangs that hung down her forehead.

Qiao Jianjun didn't understand what it was, but as long as it wasn't a necessity, he had no interest in continuing to understand. Jolene also knew that she couldn't explain it to her father, and looked out the window with her eyes wide open, and the music in the carriage had been replaced by "The Myth of Beauty". Jolene listened to the poignant music and gradually fell asleep.

It was only an hour and a half to Da Lijia Village, and the father and daughter of the Qiao family first delivered the things to their grandmother's house, and then went to the grave. Jolene always wanted to come back after the grave, but her father wouldn't allow it, saying that it was unlucky. Anyway, they have to come back again on the third day of junior high school, and they have to hurry back to Hong Kong City after going to the grave to prepare for the New Year's Eve in the evening.

Jolene can only sneer - what a rule!

Mom's hometown is Da Lijia Village, and Dad's hometown is Qiaojiatun, and the two villages are separated by a mountain. However, Da Lijia Village is known for its proximity to roads and water sources, while Qiaojiatun is closed to traffic and the soil is not fertile, which is in stark contrast to its neighboring villages.

Qiao Lin followed her father and uncle to go to the grave of her grandfather first, and after the grave, her uncle went home, and she and her father climbed from the mountain to Qiaojiatun, and the father and daughter had to go to the village to paste the Spring Festival couplets on the Qiao family's old house, and then go to the grave of their grandparents.

In the thirtieth year of the Chinese New Year's Eve, most families had already finished going to the grave, and from a distance, on the barren ridge, there were only the lonely figures of the Qiao family's father and daughter.

This way down, it takes five or six miles of mountain roads, and the hardship of Qiao Nan's march is about the same. Especially when it was cold, Jolene felt her snot floating in the wind, and her cheeks were cold.

Before her brother went to college, she could go back to her hometown together, and she and her brother fought and fought, and the road was not so hard. Moreover, Qiao Nan went home to do coolies, and she didn't need to touch her sister at all for heavy work. But now that she was the only one left, Jolene felt very difficult and lonely.

"Anyway, no one lives in this old house, why do you still have to post Spring Festival couplets?" Qiao Lin sucked her frozen hands and sucked back the snot by the way.

"As long as there are still people in our old Qiao family, it will have to be a bit of a New Year's holiday. Qiao Jianjun brushed up another Spring Festival couplet and ordered: "Go outside and paste it!"

Dad always had some incomprehensible thoughts in his head, Jolene couldn't refute it, retracted her hand into the sleeve of her down jacket, and only used a few fingers to hold the Spring Festival couplets, lamenting that her life was miserable. Qiao Jianjun also knew that the child was sinned, but even if the child complained, he had to follow him back to his hometown to worship his ancestors. This is the root of the Qiao family and the Li family, and the children must remember it firmly, no matter where they go.

In Qiaojiatun, Qiao Jianjun met a lot of villagers, and almost everyone had to inquire about it, why didn't the other two children come together? Qiao Jianjun took the trouble to explain that his daughter was in the United States and his son was in the army. At the end, I didn't forget to add that my daughter was born to a father-in-law, and my son won the first place in the competition.

The old people may not be able to understand, but they all show a look of "wow, that's amazing". Qiao Jianjun was faintly proud, but warned his daughter: "Just show off today, don't talk about it when you meet people in the future!"

"I'm not saying anything!" said Jolene, unconvinced.

"I'm just happy, hehe!" Qiao Jianjun finished posting the last banner, locked the door, and said, "Let's go, go see your grandparents." ”

When she sent Jolene to the countryside, her grandmother and grandmother wanted to keep her by her side. Li Lanzhi was very worried about Qiaojiatun's hardware facilities, so she sent Qiao Lin to her grandmother's house and asked her to go to her grandmother's house. But when Jolene was very young, her grandmother died, and her impression of her grandmother was already very vague.

The graves of my grandfather and grandmother were renovated by my brother when he was admitted to university the year before last, and they look very magnificent in a field of tombs. Qiao Jianjun paid tribute very respectfully, and Qiao Lin obediently plucked the weeds from the grave. I don't remember who told her, but in the language of a neighboring country, "sweeping the grave" means the Chinese character for "cutting grass". Jolene thought it was very vivid, because every time she came to the grave with her father, her task was to remove the weeds from the grave.

Qiao Jianjun put on a bowl of dumplings, a plate of pastries, fruits, and two glasses of wine, and then said while burning paper: "Dad, mother, the second child sees that you are here." Jianyuan (aunt) The girl called me yesterday and said that I dreamed of you and asked me to burn a piece of paper for her. She is still writing books in Germany, and she will definitely come back to see you next year. Don't be angry with her, although she is outside, she always remembers you. ”

"Lulu is very promising, she was admitted to the national public scholarship and studied in the United States. I never had to worry about that child, but I was always worried that she would be too tired from studying, so don't be tired of her body. If you miss her, drag a dream to me, or give it to her. ”

"Two days ago, my mother gave me a dream, saying that she wanted to see Nan Nan. I was going to bring him with me, but ah, your eldest grandson is now a soldier and has to defend his family and country. A few days ago, in the competition of the military academy, Nan Nan won the first place. Think about it, those who can go to military schools are elites, Nan Nan can take the first place among them, how powerful it should be! He has been skinny since he was a child, but he is never ambiguous when he should work hard, I am always worried that something will happen to him, you can bless him more......

After the stack of papers was burned, Qiao Jianjun stopped and touched his cheek with his sleeve.

"Dad, are you crying?" Qiao Lin originally stood aside and listened to her father report to her grandparents, but as soon as her father cried, she was a little panicked.

"No, the mountain wind is too strong. Qiao Jianjun's eyes were red, he pulled Qiao Lin over, and said towards the tombstone: "Dad, mother, this time only Linlin came alone." When I was born, I was like a kitten, and many people said that we couldn't raise it, so we threw it away early. But you were reluctant, so my mother rescued her with a mouthful of rice soup. You see, how handsome he looks now! He is very talented in dancing, and he has kept up with his studies, and he will also enter a key class in the next year. How happy you would be if you lived......"

"Dad......" Dad choked up, and Jolene wanted to cry too.

"Our old Qiao family has had a smooth life this year, it must be you two elders who bless us in heaven, right? You can rest assured, I will take good care of these three children, and I will definitely support the old Qiao family." In the future, take care of our family more! The second child will kowtow to you!"

Qiao Jianjun knelt in front of the grave and knocked down with a "plop". Jolene panicked and fell to her knees. Qiao Jianjun quickly finished kowtowing, looking at his daughter crying and laughing: "Girls don't have to kowtow." ”

"I know, but I also want to kowtow to my grandparents. ”

After going to the grave, the father and daughter packed their things and prepared to go down the mountain and take a ride back to Hong Kong City. It was just after 11 o'clock in the morning, and the sun rose overhead, shining warmly.

"Does Linlin remember grandma?"

"Hmm. Jolene put her hand in her pocket, glanced back at her grandparents' graves, and said, "I had trouble at my grandmother's house when I was a child. The eldest grandmother made a door plaque at home and put it in the yard to dry, and I pounced on it at once. As a result, all the clothes were destroyed, and the grandmother's door plaque was also damaged. Grandma apologized to her grandmother, and my brother dragged me back to my grandmother's house. ”

"When you were a child, you didn't cause any less trouble than your brother, and many times your brother helped you carry it. ”

"Well, that time my brother also told the eldest grandmother that it was him, he didn't teach me well, if you blame him, blame him. I don't remember what I said, I just cried. Thinking back to her childhood, Jolene stuck out her tongue in embarrassment.

Qiao Jianjun was silent, looking a little sad. Seeing this, Jolene affectionately took his arm and said coquettishly: "I still remember that there was a basket hanging on the door beam of my grandmother, which contained sugar and snacks. Every time I went to my grandmother's house, she climbed onto the kang, hooked the basket down, and brought me something delicious. I ate so happily that my grandmother sat next to me and laughed. She always said that she had bad teeth and couldn't eat sweets, so I ate them. ”

Qiao Jianjun listened quietly, he couldn't be more familiar with the grandmother described by his youngest daughter. Whether it is for children or grandchildren, the practice of the elderly is the same.

The cold north wind blew across the vast fields, and the frozen river reflected a dazzling light. Qiao Jianjun stood on the top of the mountain, looking at his hometown at his feet, and was in a trance for a while, and his thoughts flew wildly-

Yesterday I was still a child, why did I blink an eye, and I was half a person in the ground? Yesterday I was still laughing beside my parents, why did I go to the grave today with my waist half-hunched?

Every time I return to my hometown, I remind myself that I am a little older!