These stories take place in a very humble mountain village in northern China in the late 90s of the last century, and I hope these stories can bring some people some memories and some realization.

The reason why this village is extremely inconspicuous is because it is really small compared with the surrounding villages, with a population of only more than 100 households, and the combined number of women, children, old and young is less than 500 people, and there are more than 200 strong men who are really engaged in production activities. Another village, less than two miles away, has a surprisingly large population of more than 1,000 households, and its economy is far greater than that of Yanxiang Village.

What's even more bizarre is that from top to bottom in this village, except for a family of immigrants surnamed Guo, all the surnames are Yan, and the surname Yan is originally a common surname in the south, but it is rare in the north, especially in such a closed mountain village.

When I was a child, I heard from the adults in the village that about the seventeenth generation (according to the genealogy of the Yan family), this village moved to a family surnamed Yan and had five sons.

Let's start with the story of this man.

In the scorching summer, it is always the most difficult time, the city is okay, the reform and opening up for nearly 20 years has also made some people rich first, and the slightly better conditions of the family have installed air conditioning, even if it is an ordinary family, there is a decent electric fan. But in the village, not only have to be devastated by the scorching sun when entering and leaving, but what is even more incomprehensible is that the adults have to rush to hoe the ground in such a "good weather". I don't know the heat, but I regret the long summer.

But in the evening, it was a different scene, the people in the village had to call it a day as soon as it was dark, the men were idle and crowded together to smoke the old man's cigarette rolled with newspaper, and the women hurried to the kitchen to cook, and a little later, the miscellaneous people were crowded in a small courtyard, each holding a pair of chopsticks in their hands, silently staring at a black and white TV set in front of them, watching intently such costume dramas as "Journey to the East" or "Condor Heroes".

Yan Yuxiang is such a family, he is hospitable, every night is always the first to move his black and white TV set to the yard, turn on the power, and then move a few benches, waiting for the neighbors to come to the door. It is said that it is such a small TV set, which was also brought back on credit by Yan Yuxiang's supply and marketing cooperatives in the village, and he has no extra money to buy such luxury goods. At this time, even if the family meal is made a little early, but let it sit in the pot for a while, it doesn't matter if the noodles are lumped, you must wait until the neighbors arrive, everyone seems to hold a solemn ceremony, move the chopsticks together, and the meal can be regarded as a happy meal. The neighbors' time card was very accurate, and at half past eight o'clock, the courtyard was quiet, and only Zhang Guolao and Lu Dongbin could be heard on TV acting and eating noodles. In their eyes, it was truly a treat.

Yan Yuxiang's courtyard only has two caves, not because their ancestors are poor, but because their grandfather gave birth to five sons, and these five sons gave birth to twelve boys and twelve girls. Yan Yuxiang ranked sixth, which is not too late, but such a huge family still has to live together after the children become adults, so when Yan Yuxiang gets married, he can only inherit the two caves from his father. Her wife, who was five years younger than him, met Yan Yuxiang when he was twenty-five years old, and at that time her wife was still a girl like a jade in a neighboring village, and in order to break through the layers of obstacles, the two eloped to the capital on the bicycle that was standard for everyone at that time. Coincidentally, his wife is also surnamed Yan and is called Yan Xiuping. At that time, in order to get married, Yan Xiuping did not hesitate to change the age of her ID card to only one year old with Yan Yuxiang, and barely obtained legal recognition.

There is always a time to get through the day, this is a sentence that Yan Xiuping often hangs on her lips, and now she is the mother of three girls and one boy and four children, the eldest girl is called Yan Huachun, the second girl is called Yan Huaxia, the third girl is called Yan Huaqiu, and the youngest boy is called Yan Huadong. The four children are all two years apart. Now the youngest boy is old enough to start elementary school. Yan Xiuping is an optimistic and very independent woman, which also makes her stand on the opposite side of her parents-in-law in everything, because she is not recognized by her parents, the two have a difficult time at the beginning of their family, and even the elders or peers in the family are still stumbling behind their backs. But fortunately, Yan Yuxiang loves his wife deeply, and in his opinion, no matter what his family looks like, this home is at least full of warmth. That's enough. As the head of the family, he not only thought so, but also acted like this throughout his short life.

Speaking of which, at the solemn and interesting "neighborhood meeting", the whole yard was staring intently at the small fourteen-inch black-and-white TV with some patterns playing. At this moment of silence, there was a sudden "crackling" sound from the kitchen. Everyone was suddenly alarmed, and when they turned their heads, they saw that the only small piece of glass on the kitchen door had been shattered. Accompanied by the sound of two people scuffling together, Yan Yuxiang got up first and pulled out the two children from behind the door, none other than their own second and fourth children. The father separated them by force, and was about to interrogate what the situation was, when they saw their mother Yan Xiuping get up from the bench with a thud, and slammed each of them without saying a word. At this time, Yan Huadong was only in his early sevens, and Yan Huaxia had just reached the age of eleven, how could he withstand such a strong force, and both of them cried out.

Seeing that the irascible mother was about to make a move, everyone hurriedly stood up, some of them retreated involuntarily, holding their hands on their chests, as if this play was better than the TV I don't know how many times; some hurriedly said: "Hey, Ping'er, it's just a child, ask about the situation first!" But none of them wanted to "rescue" the two children with action. Yan Xiuping's feet still kicked Xia and Dong's buttocks.

Yan Yuxiang looked at his jumping wife, didn't know what to do, and subconsciously pulled the child behind him, and Yan Xiuping stopped. The eldest and third had long been hiding in their own huts and did not dare to make a sound, they knew their mother's temper, and they were afraid that the fire at the city gate would affect the pond fish.

A group of people seemed to see that the climax of the play had passed, and they said goodbye one after another, as if carved out of a mold, and said in unison: "Hey, it's just a child, no matter what, don't beat a child!" This is what a seven-year-old child, Yan Huadong, sees in his eyes.

Seeing that all these scenes were unhappy, the family was no longer in the mood to watch any TV series, Yan Xiuping packed up the dishes and chopsticks, jumped to the kitchen, and cleaned up. The reason why he jumped to the kitchen was because there was still a piece of broken glass at the door! Yan Yuxiang could only move the TV back to the house, stack the tables, chairs and benches in the courtyard together, and go to wash. After all, Yan Huaxia is eleven years old, and at such an age in the countryside, he can take care of many things alone. I saw that she didn't care about her younger brother who was still sobbing in the same place, but took a dustpan and a broom by herself, and silently swept away all the broken glass shards. Everyone in this family can see it clearly.

After cleaning up, the family washed up separately, Yan Yuxiang and Yan Xiuping lived in one cave, and the remaining four children lived in the other. At this time, Yan Yuxiang and his wife muttered in the room and didn't know what they were talking about, and discussed for about five minutes, only to hear Yan Xiuping shouting through the door: "Dong'er, Xia'er, come here." The two originally thought that this matter had passed, and their buttocks no longer hurt, but when they heard their mother's shouting, they were nervous, and they looked at each other and seemed to be saying: Could it be that my mother has seen through it?

The two of you pushed me to the kiln of my parents, standing at the door but unwilling to go in, although Yan Huadong is young, but after all, he is a boy, just like his mother often said: "Little (the meaning of the son) does not eat idle meals for ten years", suddenly gave birth to a manly man's courage, pushed the door and went first. But as soon as he saw his father's face, he was extremely scared. In my own impression, the father has never beaten and scolded the child, and it is also the case, such a loving father has never beaten or scolded the child in his life, but even so, in the hearts of these four children, I don't know how to fear his father is a little more than her mother.

"Tell me, what's going on today?" Yan Xiuping asked with a glance pointing at Dong'er. Yan Huadong raised his head and looked at his mother, he couldn't tell whether it was a serious or a cunning look, he only heard him answer without thinking: "I had a fight with my second sister and broke the glass in the kitchen, we have already discussed, the two of us will make up the money to pay you a piece." The mother looked at Yan Huaxia's face, and saw that she was also nodding vigorously, as if the two had really discussed.

"Okay, then let's not talk about the glass, let's talk about why the two of you are fighting?" The mother suddenly became very serious again, staring at Yan Huadong, making the seven-year-old child uncomfortable, this question was to the point, I saw Yan Huadong's eyes rolling in his eyes, but he didn't answer.

"Okay, I don't want to get used to the stinky problem of your story, I'll just tell you about it. Their mother said, "You don't want so many people to come to our house every day, do you?" So you deliberately broke the glass in the kitchen to drive the people in the yard away, right? ”

"No, we didn't think about breaking the glass, we just had to pretend to fight, who knew if we accidentally broke the glass!" Yan Huadong shouted, as if his mother had misunderstood him and made him very dissatisfied. Yan Huaxia, who was on the side, saw that he couldn't hide it, so he muttered: "Who is stupid! You can't lose money if you break glass!"

At this time, I saw Yan Xiuping proudly said to her husband: "Look, I didn't wronged them, you still don't believe it, you want to hide it from me just this little trick!" Yan Huadong looked up at his father, only to see a look of disbelief. At first, when his wife beat and scolded the children, he felt that it was a bit too much in front of so many neighbors, but now it seems that he still doesn't know enough about these little rabbits, but a loving father is a loving father, and even so, his eyes are always full of love.

"Tell me, then, why don't you like people to come to our yard to watch TV?" asked my father, who had always been kind. This question stumped the two children, and they themselves didn't know why they didn't like it. My sister also said that in the past, she was instigated by her younger brother, but Yan Huadong asked herself, why don't you like it? Even when he looks back on it after he became an adult, he doesn't know what the name of this matter is. The two looked at each other, but were speechless.

At this time, Yan Xiuping also made a difficulty, and she didn't know why the two children hated this group of people so much. The husband, who was still sitting next to him, relieved the siege: "Okay, go back to sleep! Oh, by the way, remember to go to the supply and marketing cooperatives tomorrow to cut a piece of glass and come back and install it." When the two children heard their father's words, as if they had received amnesty, they turned their heads to look at their mother, only to see her nod slightly, and then fled in a hurry.

Yan Huadong didn't fall asleep that night, and he kept wondering: Why did he hate those people so much? Why did this happen? It wasn't until dawn that he felt sleepy when he heard his parents get up and go down to work in the fields. In my sleep, I seemed to hear my father explain that when I was leaving, I told my eldest sister to wake up early and go to the field to help, and told the second sister to take care of Qiu'er and herself, cook early at noon, and send the third sister to the field as soon as possible.

This time period is the happiest, going to school is in September, he can not get up early every day, it coincides with the summer vacation, there are many playmates can jump rubber bands together, hide and seek. He slept until ten o'clock in the morning, although he was still sleepy, but he still got up helplessly under the urging of the second sister. The three of them first went to the supply and marketing cooperatives in the village and spent two yuan to cut a piece of glass of the right size to go home, and then Huaxia hurriedly started cooking, this time she made stewed noodles, and the naughty younger brother was tinkering with how to put the glass just right.