I moved a small bench to the eaves, and I couldn't sit down with a round belly. Overhead, the house swallows chirped back to the nest, and the fiery red sunset on the horizon gradually disappeared. I turned on the electric light under the beam, and all kinds of unknown insects flew towards the bulb, and after touching it, they fell to the ground one after another, and in a short time many insect corpses fell to the ground. A frog by the fish pond croaked twice, and then there was a frog sound.

My dad and I slept in the same room that he used to live in. The room is small in size, about 10 square meters, the walls are pasted with old newspapers, and a layer of transparent plastic sheeting is nailed to the dilapidated ceiling with thumbtacks. The furnishings of the room are simple, with two pine-shelf beds against the wall on the left and right, and a red-painted desk by the window in the middle. The house is next to Grandpa's vegetable garden, if you look out the window during the day, it must be full of green, but unfortunately it is night, and all you can see is a black shadow swaying slightly in the night wind.

I slept in my father's original bed, and my father slept in Liubo's. After the lights went out, many light blue spots suddenly appeared on the roof, flickering and flickering, like the stars in the sky winking at me. In the pitch black environment, I felt as if I was lying in the vast galaxy, dreamy and ethereal. I was amazed and asked, "Dad, why do you see stars in the house?" ”

Dad replied, "Silly son, that's not a star." It's glowing bugs crawling on the plastic sheeting. ”

I asked, "Is it a firefly?" ”

Dad explained, "It's a caterpillar that emits light. ”

I didn't believe that caterpillars could emit light, so I picked up a flashlight from my pillow and shot it at the roof. I saw a few wriggling caterpillars on the transparent plastic sheeting, and they looked disgusting. I quickly turned off the flashlight, and the fluorescence on the roof reappeared, even brighter than before. But at this time, the previous beautiful scene has long been swept away from my heart. I was afraid that the caterpillar on top of my head would fall and sting me, so I didn't dare to close my eyes. After a long time, I finally couldn't resist turning on the flashlight again, jumped out of bed and went straight to my dad. My father, who was already snoring slightly, was woken up by me and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

I didn't want my dad to think I was scared of bugs, so I said, "It's been a long time since I've slept with my dad." ”

Dad pulled open the corner of the quilt and let me get in. It was only when I got into the bed that I realized that even if I hid from my father's side, I could still be stung by a caterpillar that fell from above. But he didn't want to say it explicitly, but he didn't talk to his father with a match.

I said, "Dad, take me home tomorrow!" I promise to be obedient. ”

Dad said: "Miao Miao, grandpa has worked hard all his life to raise seven children, and now we all have our own families, and there is very little time to come back to accompany grandpa all year round." You are the most sensible, your father gave you a task, can you accompany your grandfather more for your father? ”

I imagined my grandfather being alone, and I suddenly felt sad, so I replied, "Hmm! I must spend more time with my grandfather. Then he asked, "Why didn't Grandpa move to the city to live with us?" ”

After a while, my father said, "It's not that grandpa doesn't want to live with us. Alas! Raising children to prevent old age, but they don't know that children will leave the nest when they grow up. But the hearts of parents all over the world! No one wants to drag down their children. You're still young, and you'll understand some things slowly. Besides, Grandpa is used to the dirt roads in the countryside, and the cement floor in the city can't step on the footprints, and Grandpa is not comfortable there. ”

Dad has probably been in the municipal office for a long time, and he always likes to speak in a set way, so that people can't hear it. For me, what I don't understand is not equal to nonsense. But it doesn't matter, as long as you keep it in mind, I think, one day you will understand.

I stopped thinking about the caterpillar hanging over my head, and soon I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

In the middle of the night, my father woke me up and asked, "Miao Miao, are you farting in the bed?" As he spoke, he kept shaking the quilt to expel the air inside.

I giggled, acquiescing.

Dad reached out and touched my little belly and said, "My belly is swollen like this, did you eat too much chicken in the afternoon?" ”

Being gently pressed by my dad, I couldn't help but let out another stinky fart.

Dad turned on the light, got up and got dressed, and went to the hall to find medicine. Dad rummaged through all the drawers, and there were only some health pills brought back by his aunts and uncles, and most of them were expired. So he threw away the expired medicines, and although the movement was not loud, it still woke up Grandpa. Grandpa asked, and Dad told me about my bloating.

Although there were still a few days before the beginning of autumn at this time, and the weather in the south had not turned cold, people were always afraid of the cold, so Grandpa still went back to the house and put on a military coat before leaving the house. Grandpa took two grass fruits from the wooden box on the kitchen cupboard, put them on the cutting board and smashed them with a kitchen knife, controlled the grass fruits inside, and then poured a cup of boiling water from the thermos, and walked into the room where I was with my father.

Looking at the black grains in my grandfather's hands, I shook my head and refused to eat them.

My father comforted me and said, "The grass fruit is spleen and appetizing, just like the Ji Gong Stomach Pill, it is not unpalatable." Come, open your mouth, ah......"

I opened my mouth to open the letter, and my father stuffed all the grass and fruits into my mouth, and it tasted very bad. I wanted to throw it up, but my dad covered my mouth. At this time, Grandpa patted his father's arm and scolded: "Let go, beware of choking." ”

I drank some water and swallowed the grass fruit, and my grandfather told me to lie down again, and he rubbed my warm palms and rubbed my stomach. Whenever I had a bloated stomach, my mother would rub my stomach, and my grandfather was softer and more professional than my mother. I didn't expect my grandfather to really have a lot of skills and not to press down, and he would massage him. I think if my grandfather went to the city and opened a massage parlor, all those who set themselves as masseurs would have to lose their jobs. After those masseurs pressed it, their whole bodies were sore and painful, and they were also cruel to children. If it weren't for my parents' love of massages, I wouldn't have spent that money to buy sin. Feeling the temperature from my grandfather's palm, and looking at his still serious and unsmiling face, I began to like my grandfather.

The next day was Sunday, and on Monday my dad had to go to work and had to catch the last train back to the city in the afternoon. Grandpa went to the vegetable garden to pick a lot of vegetables he planted, went to the fish pond to catch two big fish, and bought a big goose for Li Laohan, who raised geese in the village. When my dad left, he mentioned more than when he came, and when I went back, I guess I could set up a few tables with my godfather and godmother.

When I sent my father out of the village, I came up with a sentence out of nowhere: "Dad, drink less and eat more vegetables." ”

My dad carried a big goose on his back, a fish in his left hand and a vegetable in his right hand, and smirked at me and said, "I know, you can help grandpa do more things, don't buy it." ”

My grandfather asked me if I wanted to learn how to cook, and I casually agreed, never thinking that my grandfather really planned to pass on my cooking skills.

First of all, my grandfather taught me to know the ingredients, which is different from reading pictures on the card, and my grandfather personally took me to the fields where the ingredients are grown to experience it up close.

Rice in the south can be harvested in August. The rice fields are golden, the breeze is blowing, the fragrance of rice is blowing in the face, and the ears of rice rustle. The color, the smell, the sound, seem to soften time.

My grandfather took me to a rice field that was being harvested, and this rice field was half harvested, and several large haystacks were standing in the field. The grandfather shouted to the farmer who was hunched over to cut the rice: "Ma Er, I will bring my grandson to your field to experience harvesting crops." Okay? ”

The uncle, Ma Er, who was in his thirties, straightened up and looked at us when he heard someone call him. Probably the sunlight was dazzling and couldn't see clearly, but after looking at it for a long time to confirm the visitor, he replied: "Of course!" Mr. Zhou can come, my family's field is really vibrant. It is estimated that it is the first time he has used the idiom of Penglong Shenghui, and he doesn't know what it means. Thinking that he was afraid that he had used the wrong word, he took off his straw hat and fanned the wind vigorously to prevent us from seeing his embarrassed appearance.

Grandpa asked for a crescent-shaped sickle from Ma Er, bent down and taught me how to cut rice. In fact, wherever I was cutting rice, my grandfather cut it down and handed it over to me. When I carried a small bundle of rice in my arms, my grandfather pointed to a threshing machine not far away and asked me to send the rice there.

The aunt who stepped on the threshing machine has thick arms and big hands, small eyes, and almost squinted into a slit in the sun, looking a little like Aunt Liu. My aunt stepped on the pedal with one foot and took the rice I sent with both hands, only to see her put the end of the ear of rice into the threshing machine, and then crackle for a while, and then pull out the rice, and there was not a grain of rice on the ear.

My aunt asked me, "Do you want to try it twice?" ”

I nodded.

My aunt stepped down from the threshing machine, grabbed me under the armpits with both hands, picked me up and put me on the pedal. Due to the inertia of the threshing machine's drum, the pedals were still up and down, and I stood on both feet, and my whole body was up and down. It feels like playing a seesaw in the park, and it's fun.

At noon, the sun is scorching, and you have to rest for a while while doing farm work. Sitting on the ridge, Ma Er took out an aluminum teapot from a haystack, poured two bowls of water from an earthen bowl and handed it to my grandfather and me. In the earthen bowl is coarse tea brewed with brown sugar, which is cool and penetrating under the hot sun, and the taste is sweet and astringent, which is very thirst-quenching. Ma Er stood opposite his grandfather, wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead and said, "Mr. Zhou, I'm afraid that my old man won't last long, and I have to trouble you to come when the time comes." ”

Grandpa nodded and handed the empty bowl back to Ma Er. I also handed the empty bowl back and said, "Thank you, uncle." Another bowl. ”

In the afternoon, Ma Er pushed a cart full of rice and was about to go home, and he invited us to his house for dinner, but my grandfather politely declined.

After Ma Er left, my grandfather picked up a bunch of fallen rice ears from the ground, peeled off the husks, put the rice grains in my palm, and said, "Miao, that's how the rice in the pot came from." Taste what you taste and tell us what you think. ”

I put the rice grains in my mouth and chewed them vigorously, which had a faint fragrance. As for what kind of feelings I should have, I don't know, anyway, it's not who knows how to eat Chinese food, and every grain is so hard. Those of us who were born in man-made cities rarely had the opportunity to get close to real nature. I suddenly remembered what my father said, the concrete floor in the city can't be stepped on. Probably because our roots are rooted in the soil, even if the city is as good, it is not as thick as the soil in the countryside. Of course, I only had these feelings many years later. At this point, it's just fun.

Although I wore a straw hat, my face was still burned by the scorching sun, and I didn't feel pain when I was in the field. Grandpa poured some grease into me from a small jar, I sniffed it, a foul smell, and hurriedly asked Grandpa what it was. Grandpa only replied with two words, snake oil.

I held my breath and smeared snake oil on my face, and a fly sniffed and slammed into my face. At this time, I really miss my mother's alabaster.

After dinner, my grandfather taught me how to recognize spices, he first showed me what they looked like, then put them under my nose for me to smell, and finally used a stone mortar to make a powder for me to dip my fingers in. I frowned and said, "Grandpa, why do these things smell weird?" It's not tasty. ”

Grandpa lowered his head and pounded the mortar, and said slowly: "Feng Shui talks about yin and yang, and it extends to cooking and being a person. Cooking is like being a person, being a person is like cooking, character is a dish, and a dish is a character. The ingredients are the foundation, the seasoning is the soul, the soul is for the walking corpse, and the soul is for the wild ghost. Yin and yang are harmonized, and the dishes are excellent. In fact, life is like a feast, good or bad, all about cultivation. ”

I'm afraid that grandpa's words are clearly made out and don't let me understand, but now I finally know why my dad always speaks in one set, and my daring is inherited from my grandfather. Although I didn't understand, I nodded seriously, because I was afraid that my grandfather would also pass on the feng shui theory to me.

Within a few days, my grandfather asked me to cook by myself. I'm only half a head above the stove, and I can't see what's going on in the pot, let alone stir-fry with a spatula. My grandfather found a wooden plank and built a platform for me in front of the stove, and I stood on it as tall as my grandfather. Grandpa stood aside and directed, handed over the cooking utensils, took the condiments, and I was only responsible for the operation.

Grandpa helped me cook one meal, which took longer than it took him to cook two meals himself. Seeing the food I cooked on the table, I still felt a sense of accomplishment. As soon as I moved my chopsticks, my little sense of accomplishment vanished in an instant. The rice is sandwiched raw, and you eat it in your mouth and run around with your mouth. There was too much salt in the green vegetable soup, and it was as salty as if it had just been fished out of the pickle jar. The shredded potatoes were originally cut into different sizes, thick and undercooked, and thin sticky to the pan. It's normal to have only one plate of fried meat with green onion and ginger, but it was fried by my grandfather in the morning, and I was only responsible for heating it.

Even though it was my own food, I couldn't even eat a bite. Grandpa sighed helplessly, and went out to Granny Song's house nearby to ask for a bowl of rice for me. Grandpa ate what I had made as if nothing had happened, and said, "If it happens like this again tomorrow, you can beg for food yourself." ”

After I finished eating the food brought from Granny Song's house, my grandfather stopped eating the chopsticks and stopped eating, he asked me to bring the leftover food to the big yellow dog, and go to return the bowl of Granny Song's house by myself. I poured the food into the dog bowl and stirred it with a wooden spatula, as my grandfather usually did. The big yellow dog took a bite and lay on the spot and looked at me pitifully. I pushed the dog basin to the big yellow dog's nose and asked, "Isn't it delicious?" ”

Naturally, the big yellow dog would not answer, so I said, "Big yellow, give me a face, I promise to make a good meal for you tomorrow." ”

The big yellow dog turned his face to the side, and I pushed the dog basin to its nose again. It continued several times, and the big yellow dog couldn't bear it anymore, so he stood up and barely ate a few bites. It seems that the food I cook is disgusted even by the dogs.

The next afternoon, I still messed up. Grandpa went to Granny Song's house again to ask me for a bowl of rice, it is estimated that this time Granny Song felt strange, how could Grandpa, a chef, still come to his house to ask for food. Grandpa continued to eat the stuff I made, and changed his line and said, "If you make it like this again, you will starve to death of rhubarb." ”

I picked up the rice, turned my head to look at the big yellow dog, and said silently in my heart: "Rhubarb, I have wronged you, tomorrow, I will definitely make a good meal for you tomorrow." ”

Fortunately, I was so talented and clever that I basically mastered the tricks of cooking in a week, so that I would not starve the poor big yellow dog to death.

When it comes to cooking, I don't really like it. Unfortunately, there was no child as old as me in the village, and I didn't seem to have any other choice but to learn how to cook with my grandfather. The young people in the village ran to the city one by one, leaving only one village of old people, and there were no new people in the village, and it would probably not be many years before this place would become a deserted village.