Homeland
The car was full, my husband was the co-pilot, the brother-in-law was the driver, and I, my mother-in-law and my mother-in-law's third sister sat in the back seat and drove back to my mother-in-law's house in Xinhe. My mother's house is more than 100 kilometers away from my mother-in-law's house, and the transportation is convenient, and it takes less than two hours to walk on the highway. My mother's home is far away, and my mother-in-law can't go back a few times a year. They have eight brothers and sisters, five sisters, three brothers, and the old man is no longer alive. The village where my mother-in-law lives is called Li Village, Xinhe County, which belongs to the urban area of Xingtai. The village is located at the junction of Xinhe, Julu and Nangong counties. The land there is barren, sandy, poor. Probably because of the good conditions here, my mother-in-law married here, otherwise who would be willing to leave her homeland and marry away from home. At that time, my mother-in-law would not have imagined that today's living conditions would be so convenient and comfortable, and my hometown would no longer be poor.
The brothers and sisters' home is not too close or far, scattered in the county town and village near their hometown, the mother-in-law is the second, and the third sister is married the farthest, more than 100 kilometers away, but it is also separated into two cities. The eldest brother and the second brother have been living in their hometown, and the third brother was doing business in other cities when he was young, and when he was older, he also returned home, contracted some land, and planted crops. There is a lot of land there, and it could not be watered before, and it was not completed, but now after the conditions are available, a few wells have been drilled, and there is water to irrigate the land, and there is also a harvest, and there is an income. It is not easy for brothers and sisters to get together, and there is always a vacancy every time.
There are many brothers and sisters, and there are many things, and I often listen to my mother-in-law talking about trivial matters between their brothers and sisters. The mystery of the parties, to me, those trivial calculations are more like children's laughter. In the first month of the year I got married, I went there with my mother-in-law's family to pay New Year's greetings. When I came there, I felt like I was back in my childhood, everything was familiar, in the courtyard, in the house. The atmosphere of the New Year is strong, there are firecrackers in the street from time to time, a strip of colorful paper-cut hanging sticks dangling in the air, couplets, lanterns, window flowers make the home red, the yard is clean, the yard is dirt, shining by the sun, and the relatives in the house are also natural and real.
My son is a little older, just went to kindergarten, the first time I went back to my parents' house with my grandmother, I lived for a while, I don't worry, I hit ** every day. When the son came home, he was so happy that he said that it was fun over there, and he saw donkeys, cows, sheep, and large fields of crops, and followed his grandmother to pick watermelons in the field to eat. My son likes to go live with his grandmother for a while during the summer vacation every year. The homeland is difficult to leave, the nostalgia lingers, and the love silk penetrates into the body when he is a child and accompanies him for life. The charm of the land is something that people can't refuse, even if it's her mother-in-law's hometown, the land and love silk are also deeply attracted to her children and grandchildren.
Why do I often have tears in my eyes, because I love this land deeply...Today, when I think of Ai Qing's poem "I Love This Land", I remember the last two sentences more, and what I think of the most is the love for the land, which is more likely to be misunderstood into a strong nostalgia. The author's love for the land is a higher and broader love for the motherland. The land feeds the crops and feeds us. The homeland is difficult to leave, and there is too much nostalgia in the hometown that cannot be abandoned. Nostalgia also makes our hearts softer, calmer, and more peaceful.
This year, my mother-in-law asked her two sons to go back to their parents' house with her, and I went with her.
The countryside grows up, grows, is an authentic farmer, more and more modern planting and harvesting, so that the modern farmer has been farther and farther away from the hardships of the primitive peasants, and the land is also like an obligation, and it will not take too much thought. Finding a living outside the land is more than finding a living income in the land, and the land seems to be less valued. But on the bank of the ditch, in front of the house and behind the house, in the small fields that have been reclaimed, the vegetables are fat and tender, and the melons and fruits are climbing wantonly until they are lush and green, and the melons and fruits are full of vines. The land, the farmer is always loved, close.
I don't know the meaning of the song when I first hear it, and then I listen to the person in the song, just like the song, I didn't know what nostalgia was before, and I don't know when it started, the heart will become so soft, easy to move, even the inexplicable familiar smell of the air by chance, let the memory return to the past scene, ethereal trance, nostalgia has also taken root in my heart.
It's late autumn, and the trees on both sides of the highway are losing their leaves, and the sky is blue and clear. The sisters also have to look through the large bags in the trunk from time to time, for fear of missing items, and when they go back to their parents' house for a long time, there will always be too many things to accomplish, although it is only an inconsequential triviality for others. I didn't want to disturb their enthusiasm and simply enjoyed the scenery outside the car window. The car is driving fast on the highway, a rare mood, a rare trip.
The landscape changes with different styles passing in front of you, sometimes a pond, sometimes a large field, sometimes just rows of buildings, all the same. "All things work together, I look at the reincarnation", from Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching", that is a very high realm, that is to say that all things are born from the ever-changing Tao, to see the law of his changes, to study him, the reincarnation of all things in the world, I am looking at it repeatedly.
The car has been driving on the main street of Xinhe County, the shops and buildings on the side of the street are a combination of ancient and modern, this form of combination gives me an entry point to cross, the quaint is familiar to me when I was a child, like the scene of my hometown when I was a child, old wooden counters, and some uncommon farm tools and daily necessities; And more modern elements are the normal life of our time. There are also mules on the street pulling large carts, "da, da." The sound of mule hooves sounded on the asphalt road, and the big cart was working as a coachman, and it was hard to see it now. I really walked in my hometown like this, and the experience was amazing, the sisters got out of the car and walked around the street, buying some food and other items, and I followed each other, feeling the illusion of crossing and capturing the familiar imprint that drifted in my heart.
When my relatives met, I had a happy smile on my face, and as an "outsider", I realized the importance of being a family together, and happiness also infected me.
The car has been walking on the way home, I am still immersed in the soft, quiet warmth, the bottom of my heart rises is peaceful, down-to-earth feeling.