Economic Observer reporter Shi Zhenfang
On the seventh day of the first lunar month, he returned to Beijing from Shenyang. The day before leaving, my grandmother spent the morning wrapping two large bags of dumplings for me to take back to Beijing and "steam and eat them by myself when I have time".
Dumplings are always indispensable in the lives of northerners. Before going out, you have to eat dumplings; During the New Year's holidays, you have to eat dumplings; When it comes to solar terms, you have to eat dumplings.
During the Spring Festival, dumplings are even more indispensable.
Even though material conditions have become abundant, dumplings are still a satisfying food in my heart. Even the dumplings made by myself and others can't bring the taste of the dumplings made by my mother and grandmother.
So much so that during the winter solstice of the first year of college in Wuhan, after making dumplings in the cafeteria with friends from the club, I sent a WeChat message to my mother: "The dumplings you made are still delicious." ”
At that time, I was standing at the beginning of winter, and my heart was full of expectations for university and the future. And that winter became the beginning of a series of stories.
between four years
On December 31, 2019, someone in the WeChat group of the dormitory building posted a screenshot that read: Unknown pneumonia was found in Wuhan, similar to "SARS". However, it soon saw the "refutation of rumors": there is no possibility of human-to-human transmission of pneumonia. Soon after, 7 "rumor-mongers" were questioned by **.
Before the winter break began, my roommate said goodbye to me that I would be able to see cherry blossoms next spring.
I spent the Spring Festival in Shenyang that year. At the same time as arriving in Shenyang, news of the epidemic in Wuhan spread throughout the country.
On January 18, 2020, Zhong Nanshan arrived in Wuhan, and the news that "there is no possibility of human-to-human transmission" became a miscalculation, and the situation changed in an instant.
Starting at 10 o'clock on Chinese New Year's Eve (January 23, 2020), buses, subways, ferries and long-distance passenger transport in Wuhan will be suspended, and the passage from the airport and railway station to Han will be temporarily closed. **The announcement stated that citizens should not leave Wuhan unless there is a special reason, and the resumption time will be announced separately.
A friend of mine was driving from Wuhan to Yichang for the Chinese New Year, and he described it as "apocalyptic": people hiding in their homes, deserted on the once-busy Yangtze River Bridge, and cars stuck in highway entrances trying to escape the city.
Looking back, I felt the same way when I watched the familiar streets on TV during that time.
In Tencent Meeting, we finished the second semester of classes; On the school's slow live broadcast platform, we saw the cherry blossoms in Wuhan for the first time.
That spring, because of the quarantine policy, I stayed at my grandmother's house for several months, the longest I have ever been in my childhood.
It was precisely because of the epidemic that many reunion activities during the Spring Festival were canceled, and the two aunts and their families would come to grandma's house for dinner and celebrate grandma's birthday, but because the epidemic was canceled, that spring seemed long and lonely.
After that time, I didn't go back to Shenyang for four years because I was worried that I wouldn't be able to return to school normally.
Four years later
After seeing the changes in my family, I really realized that four years is a long time dimension.
Grandpa's hair became whiter, because the reaction became slower, and when playing mahjong, he needed someone to help him code and manage the cards; Grandma became less fond of going out, she originally went out to walk, insisted on walking after dinner, and spent more time lying in bed watching TV, she said "I can't walk now"; His cousin, who was about to enter junior high school, put on glasses, and for most of the holidays, he spent his winter vacation in "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" and Douyin with his grandmother's mobile phone; A cousin who opened a barbecue restaurant before the pandemic lost money for four years, and after selling his house, he still owes a large amount of money, and now he relies on food delivery to pay off his debts.
On the fourth day of the first lunar month, two aunts and a total of ten people from two families came to grandma's house and had a reunion dinner as usual.
When the seventeen people sat down around the table, I really felt the meaning of the Spring Festival. Families get together to play mahjong, poker and tell stories about the past year. Because she is far away in Shandong, her mother is naturally the person who is asked the most. After marrying in Shandong, her mother was absent from most of the family reunions, and the Spring Festival was the only festival when she had time to go home.
My relatives were also surprised that I had left college and started working, and every time they talked about it, they couldn't help but say, "Time flies so fast." At the dinner table, they recalled the events with me when I was a child, my aunt carried me to the Garden Expo Park to play, and my uncle played wrestling with me since I was a child......For a long time, as the only child in my generation, I enjoyed the attention of the whole family. Now, after reminiscing about the past, most of my family members will add "I have grown up like this" and urge my younger siblings to learn from me.
Year after year, the Spring Festival records time, carries memories, and facilitates reunions.