Zhao Hongyu Beijing
If time and space could be traveled, I would prefer to go back to the years with my grandmother......My grandmother's name is Sun Meiyu, and she was born in 1913 in a water town called Dajun in Jiangxian County, Shanxi. The small spring is flowing water, chanting and singing, Zhong Lingyu is beautiful, and the people are abundant. Grandma married at the age of 19 to Huaiquan Village. According to legend, there is a clear spring in the village, and the ancient acacia next to the spring is luxuriant, so it gets its name. There is the shape of nine phoenixes in the east of the village, there are ten dragons lying in the west, there is the Jin family marquis mansion at the end of the Yuan Dynasty in the south, and there is the private residence of the king in the early Qing Dynasty in the north, which is an ancient village with a long history.
Huaiquan Jin family stele tower.
In my memory, my grandfather and grandmother lived in the courtyard in the south of the village, with three rooms in the north and south, with wide and deep rooms, four beams and eight pillars, blue bricks and adobe filling, the roof ridge and the sacred beast, the wooden lattice window on the front face, the bluestone steps at the door, and the square bricks of the inner courtyard. The whole courtyard is spacious and bright. Grandma is three years older than grandpa, and from the day she entered Zhao's house, she became grandpa's helper in farming and studying, and later had a father, aunt, second uncle and third uncle. Later, the fathers got married one after another, and there were sisters, younger brothers, cousins and cousins, a total of 13 people, and grandma was the head of this big family. Grandpa has entered the school, knows books and etiquette, fishes and hunts history, open-minded, funny, contented, good at writing calligraphy, strong and powerful, just like his character, upright, bright and fair. Grandma is not very literate, reasonable, gentle and virtuous, kind, kind and hardworking. Good at raising the moon flowers, the four seasons are always blooming, just like her charm, the fragrance of the flowers is rich, and the courtyard is fragrant.
In my memory, my grandmother was thin, with gray hair, an old-fashioned pimple beard, wearing black wide-waisted pants and a bias blouse all year round, with trouser legs wrapped around her legs, small feet wrapped, and walking slowly. In addition to being responsible for cooking for the whole family, he also has to feed pigs and chickens, spin and weave cloth, and sew clothes and shoes. During the famine years, for the sake of her grandfather and children, she cut down on food and clothing, endured hunger, and cultivated the character of hard work and hardship.
Grandparents.
I am the eldest grandson of the family, and when I was half a year old, I was seriously ill, unable to get water and milk, and my whole body was paralyzed, and I almost lost my vital signs. The village doctor asked my family to wrap me up and throw me away at night. Grandma was reluctant, carried me to the north room, burned incense and prayed all night ......Coincidentally, the next morning, my aunt and my father came together, and my aunt said, "When I came, I saw the doctor in the village at the east end of the village, and he went north with the medicine box on his back. After hearing this, my father chased after him, and after a while, the doctor came, and it was diagnosed as pneumonia, and there was ...... penicillin in the medicine boxAfter this catastrophe, my grandmother decided to take me with her in order to ease my mother's burden. Since then, I have been inseparable from my grandmother. During the day, my grandmother carried, held, led, and fed me, a familiar atmosphere. At night, my grandmother cuddled, patted, shaken, and sucked me, the breath of habit. I was weaned in my grandmother's bed, learned to speak, and grew up ......Before I knew it, my grandmother had already walked into my heart. In my memory, on the east side of the old north house, there are three ear rooms for dining and cooking. When grandma rolls noodles and chops vegetables, I also learn to pull into the stove. Grandma said, "Wheat straw is not as resistant to burning as artemisia." "I made a note that when I was older, I would go outside the village to cut some hardcore artemisia, and when I was older, I would pick up some small bushes to burn, as long as I could save my grandmother from the smoking, and I would be happy to be tired. One day at dinner, I was a little stumbling, I ate a few bites, and then went to sleep in the north room alone, and there was no light in the dark, and I was a little scared, so I shouted: "Grandma, come quickly!" Grandma said, "I'll go after eating." "Won't you let my grandfather eat it for you?" "Haha" laughter came from the kitchen......At that time, I was like a shadow of my grandmother, and I couldn't be separated for a moment. Grandma is highly respected, and her neighbors respect her. If I have been wronged outside, my grandmother will take me to find my self-confidence, and when I see the child who is bullying me, my grandmother puts her left hand on the child's head, and then hits her left hand with her right hand: "Look, I hit him." "It's strange to say, after my grandmother's divine operation, I actually took it seriously. Sometimes, when I saw a candy man on the street, I was hungry for food, and when the family had no money, my grandmother would save up the hair that had fallen out of the comb and change it. In those days, there was a lack of food and clothing, but there was no lack of love!
In those years of natural disasters, the family often did not have enough to eat, let alone meat. In the south of the village, there is a chicken hatching workshop run by outsiders, and my grandmother helps people sew and mend clothes in exchange for hairy eggs to supplement my nutrition. The door of the workshop was hung with a curtain, and the eggs were covered with a thick quilt ......I stared at the boiled eggs in the pot, my mouth watered, I opened one, took a bite, it was tender and fragrant, it was the most unforgettable delicacy I had ever eaten in my childhood!
A few years ago, when passing by the South Square of Beijing West Railway Station, I accidentally saw Mao Dan, and I couldn't help but slow down, and my wife asked, "Do you want to eat?" I just said, "I miss grandma." "The lenses are blurred ......When I think of it, my heart is sad! In the last century, when "food was insufficient, melons and vegetables were replaced", sweet potatoes became life-saving food. In order to keep the sweet potatoes longer, my grandmother decided to dig a sweet potato cellar in the backyard. Dig a round cellar first, then dig vertically, my grandmother dug in the cellar tube, and I used a basket tied to hemp rope to lift the soil to the ground. When I dug to a depth of about 4 meters, I dug the side kiln, and gradually I couldn't see my grandmother's figure, so I was anxious, so I pedaled hard to go down the alcove. The side kiln is dim and narrow, the smell of oil lamps is very strong, and I saw the towel wrapped in the milk **, half-kneeling on the ground, waving the short pickaxe and constantly digging the soil, with the sweat of the soil flowing down from the face, I said distressedly: "Grandma, let me come!" "I grabbed the pickaxe, tried to dig the soil myself, and then climbed up to carry it. Grandma watched me work up and down the ground, with a smile on her face, so happy!
When I was a kid, I loved to roll hoops. In the summer, my grandmother took me to the blacksmith shop to buy it, and saw that the blacksmith uncle was beating on the anvil "clanging", and it was hammered in a short time, and then put it in the sink next to it to cool and quench. "I was curious about the various iron tools hanging on the wall, but I forgot to put my feet under my feet, and when I accidentally stepped on my left foot, the iron ring turned over, and it happened to burn my calf, and I instantly smelled the smell of burnt meat. At that time, the medical conditions were poor, and the wound quickly became inflamed, and my grandmother carefully cleaned the wound for me every day. At night, the wound hurt so much that I couldn't sleep, so my grandmother hugged it all night and kept fanning the wound. Grandma used her selfless love to accompany me through those torturous days and nights. Now, whenever I see this scar, I feel nostalgic!
I remember when I was a child, a lamp on the table on a winter night was like a bean, and the walls were clear. Grandma used yellow mud with wheat grass to pinch out a basin-shaped brazier and put it on the kang, and then put some coals from the stove into it. Older sisters, younger brothers, and younger sisters warmed themselves around the brazier while pestering their grandmother to tell stories. Most of the content is the fight of the gods or the wits and courage of the ancients, teaching people to do good deeds and inspirational progress. Usually, after the grandmother speaks, the grandfather corrects the deviation. Sometimes, mothers, second aunts and third uncles also come to join in the fun, and the small brazier has become the center of family gathering, which carries the warmth, peace, affection and happiness of home.
More than 50 years have passed, and in my heart, my grandmother is like a charcoal fire in that mud pot, never extinguished, giving me warmth and energy! Grandma doesn't say much on weekdays, but she doesn't say anything. One year before the Spring Festival, the second uncle came home from the provincial capital and discussed with his father that he wanted to sell the old south house to alleviate the family's poverty. Then I went to the old house to negotiate, but my grandfather didn't say anything. After the grandmother finished smoking, she knocked the cigarette pouch pot on the sole of her shoe and said, "As long as I live, I don't want to sell my ancestral home!" The father and the second uncle could only go away ......Two days later, the Cold War continued. At the age of 11, I was so soft-spoken that I could only communicate with my grandfather and grandmother, and I lit a cigarette for my grandmother and said, "....If I don't sell my house, I won't have money to study, and my home will have no future, so when I grow up and learn my skills, I'll build another 10 rooms! Grandpa closed his eyes and said, "The boy has a point." Grandma looked at me silently and said with relief, "I believe in you, sell it!" "The strong grandmother, who has the courage to change the vulgar and easy to teach, finally chose the latter in the face of feudal principles and the future of the child. Grandma's forbearance, generosity, and wisdom were God's existence in my childhood consciousness! Grandma is kind and thoughtful, and she knows the truth that knowledge can change fate. In 1977, when the college entrance examination was resumed, I was working in the Liciyu Reservoir, and my mother asked someone to bring a message: "Grandma said, let you go home and review the examination." As soon as I got home, my grandmother said, "Let's go back and review with peace of mind." Then he said firmly: "As long as you are willing to work hard, you will definitely be able to be admitted to university!" "The next day, I bought cigarettes and took me to visit the teacher. It was my grandmother's "turnout" that changed the trajectory of my life ......
Old North Room (Backyard).
For more than 40 years, there is a picture that has been etched in my memory. When I returned to school from my grandmother's house on the weekend, as long as I looked back, I could see my grandmother leaning on the door. When I walked down the street, passing by the backyard, my grandmother had already moved to the backyard to gaze, and any silver hair was messy in the wind, wisps of it fluttering, and that scene still lingers ...... this dayIn the early morning of the third day of the first lunar month in 1979, there were snowflakes in the sky. Grandma sat on the kang in the old north room, with her back to the windowsill, her head drooping and her breath was very weak. I stayed by her side, not leaving ......In the evening, the moment I watched my grandmother go, my mind went blank ......Losing my grandmother is like losing all of my childhood, losing that family affection, dependence, trust and tacit understanding. Late at night, I stood by my grandmother's spirit, my head against the coffin, standing alone, hanging from each other. The night is too long, the dream is too heavy, the snow is too urgent......Grandma burned incense all her life to ask the gods and ask the immortals, which means one heart. She insisted on living a transparent and spiritual life, leaving behind a comprehensible philosophy and unknown mysteries. Grandma is kind and generous, kind to her neighbors, and grateful for her kindness. Influenced by my grandmother's ears and eyes, the whole family is always compassionate and loving! After my grandmother left, I found a few sticky fruit candies in her jacket pocket, and a hair band with a few gray hairs sticking to it, and said to my mother, "I want to keep the hair bag." The second aunt hurriedly said, "What do you want it for?" "Grandma used it and wanted to keep it. "I put it in a small cloth bag, and when I think about my grandmother, I take it out and look at ......One weekend three months later, when I came home from school, I inadvertently walked into the old north room and shouted at the door, "Grandma, I'm back!" No one answered, walked to the east house, and saw that grandma's kang was empty, and then it suddenly dawned on me that grandma had been gone for nearly 100 days! Suddenly, he cried ......My grandmother is gone forever, and my soul seems to have been lost. Grandma seems to have a magical power that protects me from the dark. Half a year later, as soon as I got the university admission letter, I went to the old house where my grandmother once lived: "Grandma, I've been admitted to college, do you hear?" Your long-cherished wish has come true ......"The evening before I went to Beijing to study, I went to my grandmother's cemetery, lit another cigarette for her, and talked about my heart. Recalling the time with my grandmother, my eyes were full of tears and thoughts. Thinking that my grandmother would be lonely and lonely when I left, she left the hair bag with body temperature to accompany ......The cigarette burned quietly, and the wisps of smoke swirled and swirled ......in front of the tomb
The north room of the old courtyard (the neighbor house is used for the grass storage room).
Don't dream vaguely, the old house is unforgettable. Whenever I return from wandering and step into the old yard, my originally calm heart will throb suddenly, and my breathing will become short, how I hope that the house, the person, the thing, and the flower will be the same as at the beginning. However, the old house is low and wooden, the brick walls are broken, and the window lattices of the east house have also fallen, like the eye sockets that have lost their eyeballs, blind, and still looking ......Old house, are you looking at me? Do you remember my name?!Time does not live, time flows. Now, no matter where I am, I am accompanied by my grandmother's **, staring for a long time, hallucinating, as if I have returned to a long time ago, grandma cooked, I pulled the bellows, and saw the smoke ......Tonight, I was in a foreign land, looking at the deep sky, and I was in tears. Grandma, you are in the spirit of heaven, can you sense my thoughts about you?! Grandma, if there is reincarnation, don't forget to go home; If there is an afterlife, remember to take me home. Just like at the beginning, knowing me, loving me, protecting me, and embracing me into ...... dreamStatement in Hainan in January 2024: Part of the article**, taken from the Internet, the copyright belongs to the original photographer.
About the AuthorZhao Hongyu, born in May 1959, is a native of Huaiquan Village, Jiangxian County, Shanxi Province. In 1979, he went to Beijing to study, and then stayed in Beijing to work. Likes walking, swimming. **: Three Eyes Media
Editor: Lu Kaiji