On the way back to Mashan, sitting on the noisy bus, Zhou Siguo still had the scene of his hometown in front of him from time to time.

One afternoon, in the early spring, Zhou Siguo, who was still in elementary school, came home from school, a little thirsty, and saw that the water tank had bottomed out, so he carried the bucket to the village well to draw water.

At that time, the bucket was already a very valuable item in the family, and more importantly, the family draught all relied on carrying water, and without the bucket, it became difficult for the family to drink water. Zhou Siguo knew very well in his heart: it was inevitable to incur his father's scolding, and even a meal of flesh and skin. Zhou Siguo thought about how to redeem it.

When Zhou Siguo, who was sweating profusely, had just returned home with a bucket, his father happened to come back from work in the field. As soon as he saw the scene in front of him, especially from Zhou Siguo's lowered head, Zhou Siguo's father immediately understood what was going on, and he didn't blame him, but silently walked into the house, found an iron hook, tied it to a bamboo pole, and borrowed a long ladder from a neighbor's house and went to the well. Zhou Siguo didn't know what his father was doing, and he was extremely uneasy because of his own mistakes, so he quietly followed behind his mother and went with his mother and his father.

When he came to the well, Zhou Siguo's father put a long ladder into the well, and then followed the ladder down the well. Zhou Siguo's father said indifferently: "After a while, there are more people carrying water, and the bucket will be difficult to fish." Take good care of the country, don't let the child look at the edge of the well, and be careful of falling into the well. Zhou Siguo was even more worried about his father's accident, but he knew what to do, followed behind his mother, and looked at the well from time to time with timid eyes.

After a long time, my father, who was soaked and soaked, trembled all over, and climbed out of the well with difficulty with a bucket of water in his hand.

Although his father never blamed Zhou Siguo, Zhou Siguo's heart has always been uneasy.

In Zhou Siguo's hometown, the Chinese New Year is a very grand event and is highly valued by the villagers. Zhou Siguo was promoted to the secretary of the municipal party committee and became a "big official" recognized by his old family. However, for Zhou Siguo, going back to his hometown for the New Year every year is like passing the test. When you return to your hometown, you must first invite the brothers in the courtyard to sit, and in the early morning of the first day of the new year, you will go to the courtyard to pay New Year's greetings; The second day of the new year is the day of going to the new grave. Since the third day of junior high school, Zhou Siguo has to go to a relative's house to pay New Year's greetings. Originally, New Year's greetings were a kind of etiquette to express one's heart, and Zhou Siguo had two younger brothers, and anyone could express their hearts instead of Zhou Siguo. But it seems that no one can complete this intention on behalf of Zhou Siguo. Every year when he returns to his hometown for the New Year, Zhou Siguo seems to have become the focus. The slightest inconsiderate will attract the criticism of relatives. After Zhou Siguo left his hometown, relatives or people close to him in the hospital would find Zhou Siguo's mother to ask for an explanation.

In fact, New Year's greetings are also very simple, not to bow down to the ground, but to say hello and say hello. Family and relatives pay attention to etiquette. The reason is very simple, Zhou Siguo became a "big official". On weekdays, I am busy with work, and I can't help myself, so I don't want to go back to my hometown for the New Year, but since I have returned to my hometown for the New Year, I have to pay New Year's greetings to the hospital, especially the family, as well as the parents of relatives who are relatively close. In this way, if Zhou Siguo is a little inconsiderate, it means that Zhou Siguo looks down on them, and he is afraid that he will find him to do things in the future, and Zhou Siguo is deliberately alienating them.

The closer the person, the more careful. In the same way, as long as Zhou Siguo returns to his hometown during the Spring Festival every year, there are many people who go to Zhou Siguo to pay New Year's greetings, and they go very early, which can be described as scrambling. The dumplings that often celebrate the New Year have not yet been eaten, and some people have come to pay New Year's greetings to Zhou Siguo's parents.

One year Spring Festival back to his hometown for the New Year, a long time did not return to his hometown, the development of the countryside is changing very fast, each house has been rebuilt, the original location can no longer be found, early in the morning of the new year to go out to pay New Year's greetings, the sky is still dark, Zhou Siguo can not recognize the door of the family elders at all, so he went out to pay New Year's greetings with his parents and his peers. Because he doesn't know much about the situation in his hometown, Zhou Siguo is always at the end of every family. Zhou Siguo is more prosperous, but it is just a small generation, and the queue for New Year's greetings is longer, and some people in the courtyard are not very clear about whether Zhou Siguo is going to pay New Year's greetings.

If he doesn't go home for the New Year, his elderly mother misses it, and the old mother's body is not as good as a year after year, Zhou Siguo wants to spend more time with his mother happily in her old age. In addition, the people in the village will also be quite criticized, and sometimes even in front of the old mother, the old mother feels embarrassed, saying that Zhou Siguo is a big official, and the shelf is also big, and he forgot that Zhuang Township can, how can he forget the old mother? When he returned to his hometown, the calculations of his relatives in his hometown would also give Zhou Siguo a headache. Folk customs, that indescribable etiquette, made Zhou Siguo feel that it was more difficult to deal with than work, and it became Zhou Siguo's heart disease.

It's the Spring Festival of another year, and when he returned to his hometown, Zhou Siguo's mother specially told Zhou Siguo not to forget to go to an aunt's house in the courtyard to pay New Year's greetings. Zhou Siguo was puzzled, and thought: Every year during the Spring Festival, as long as I go back to my hometown, I have to go to pay New Year's greetings to that aunt, why did my mother tell me this year? The mother told Zhou Siguo that after leaving his hometown during the Spring Festival last year, Zhou Siguo walked on the front foot, and the aunt in the courtyard found Zhou Siguo's mother on the back foot, and asked when she came up, where did you offend the old sister-in-law? Zhou Siguo's mother was puzzled, so she said to the aunt: Our old lady has been together for so many years, not to mention offended, her face has never been red, what do you mean by this? After Zhou Siguo's mother inquired, he learned that Zhou Siguo forgot to go to pay New Year's greetings to his aunt. Although Zhou Siguo's mother did not blame Zhou Siguo, Zhou Siguo was very uneasy. I told my mother about going to pay New Year's greetings to the aunt, maybe there were too many people, and the aunt didn't pay special attention to Zhou Siguo, so there was a misunderstanding. Zhou Siguo's mother specially instructed Zhou Siguo: When you go to the courtyard to pay New Year's greetings, especially when you go to the elders' houses that are close to you, you must walk in front, you don't have time to talk more, you can say hello, and you must let the other party remember that you are going to pay New Year's greetings. In this way, every year when he goes home to pay New Year's greetings, Zhou Siguo is very busy, and every family has to change from the end of the line on the road to the head of the door, and every time he goes to a family, it seems that Zhou Siguo is the only one who pays New Year's greetings to the elders, and the elders always hold Zhou Siguo's hand and pull on the family routine for a long time, and each time the words seem to be the same repeat: What came back? Are the daughter-in-law and children back? Wait a minute. Zhou Siguo often came out of this house and had to run to the next one.

The most important etiquette should be the mother's mother's family, go to the uncle's house first, the two aunts have opinions, saying that the aunts are not the same, even if they go to the aunt's house first, there is still a question of who is first and who is last. Sometimes in order to be in a hurry, Zhou Siguo has to go to the two aunts' houses to visit the New Year one day, because the aunts are in other villages, so there is a problem of whose house to eat at and whose house not to eat. Whoever eats at someone's house, it seems that whoever has a lot of face, and his heart is naturally happy, while the relatives who can't eat are naturally unhappy. Zhou Siguo can't eat two meals at the same time. Later, Zhou Siguo's mother simply said to Zhou Siguo, if the time is too late, all the uncles' houses will not go, and they will accompany their mothers at home. Anyway, they are all relatives on the grandmother's door, and afterwards, it will be explained by the mother. The mother also said to Zhou Siguo, Guo'er finally went home to accompany his mother for the New Year, and took time to give them New Year's greetings. Although the mother said so, but on the second day of the Lunar New Year, on the day of going to a relative's house to pay New Year's greetings, she finished the grave early in the morning and sent her grandfather Niangniang away, Zhou Siguo's mother began to mumble again: Catch Ming'er, which aunt's house will Guo'er go to to pay New Year's greetings first. After the New Year, Zhou Siguo wanted to go back to the city, and his mother was sent outside the village, always repeating in his mouth: Guo'er Guang was busy giving them New Year's greetings, and he hadn't talked to his mother yet.

The same content, the same mood, the difference is just the past years, the mother is getting older and older, the older she is.

As soon as the mother's figure receded, the smiling old teacher Wang appeared in front of Zhou Siguo's eyes again.

At first, that is, when he first entered high school, Mr. Wang did not leave a good impression on Zhou Siguo. A rural student from a poor family, Zhou Siguo is very conspicuous because of his tattered clothes. Perhaps the elder Wang is a university teacher at a famous school, not only looks dignified, but also pays attention to dress, especially appearance, even in summer, he never wears undershirts, wears suspenders all day long, and ties a short-sleeved shirt with a waist. This is in stark contrast to those rural teachers who wear old shirts or even undershirts to teach students in the summer.

Zhou Siguo's middle school is a rural school, and most of the teachers at the school come from high school graduates who have stayed in school. Zhou Siguo clearly remembers that when he was in the second year of high school, the textbook reform and a lot of content that the teacher had never been exposed to, so he had to study by himself at night and teach students during the day. But in Zhou Siguo's eyes, the simple rural teacher is different from the old teacher Wang, who is quite particular about his appearance, although the rural teacher teaches averagely, but it makes Zhou Siguo feel particularly kind. Zhou Siguo's prejudice against Mr. Wang does not entirely come from the inferiority complex of poor students in rural areas, and there is an inexplicable gap between him and Mr. Wang. In order to improve the students' level of Chinese writing and appreciation, every day before the formal class, each student is required to memorize a new Tang poem and Song lyrics, and the homework assigned the day before is spot-checked. Teacher Wang seems to be deliberately against Zhou Siguo, every time Zhou Siguo is the object of key inspections, and sometimes, Zhou Siguo does not memorize it all, and is often embarrassed in front of the whole class. Also, in Zhou Siguo's eyes, Mr. Wang is an opinion basket, and he is not used to the school, and it is not pleasing to the eye, especially in class, he often puts forward opinions on the school in front of students, which makes people feel particularly negative psychology. Of course, Zhou Siguo also has a positive feeling about Mr. Wang, who is worthy of being a college student who graduated from a prestigious school, is knowledgeable and decent, especially has a strong sense of responsibility in teaching.

What completely changed Zhou Siguo's negative impression of Teacher Wang was that Zhou Siguo still feels ashamed and even disgraceful to change his fate.