On the south side of Xiaoliuzhuang Village, there are three low-rise brick houses, which were built by Uncle Liu himself in 1980. Time has passed, and the brigade has marked it as a dangerous house, but his son still repairs the damage in the summer breeze. It has been 16 years since his wife passed away, and Uncle Liu and his dog Doudou depend on each other, and their children will take turns to deliver meals every week to take care of his life.
At 6 o'clock in the morning, with the squeak of the gate and the sound of Doudou's cheers, Uncle Liu knew that it was his son who came. He lay on the kang and turned over slightly, and the quilt was already a little cold. Every night he would heat the ondol, fill the thermos with a thermos, and burrow into the bed. Despite the cold nights, he never lit the stove.
Hearing the sound of his son holding firewood, he lit the pot and heard the sound of fiddling with branches. Every time my son visits, he asks softly, "Dad, are you up?" Uncle Liu always replied: "Not busy." So, the son would fill the iron pot with water, light the kang fire, put in the thick branches, and then put the breakfast on the grate, and hurried to work.
Uncle Liu got up late, and the kang was warm, and he lay in it with a lot of thoughts. A few years ago, it was forbidden to light fires and stoves due to environmental requirements. Whoever smokes from the chimney, the brigade will confiscate the stove and coal, and promote electric heating. But electricity is expensive, people are reluctant to use it, and the house is always cold. Uncle Liu insisted on burning the kang, although the brigade knew, but they also turned a blind eye.
The bed was getting hotter and hotter, and he heard the door knock in a daze, and Doudou screamed again. He knew that his grandson was coming, and it should be almost 8 o'clock. Every day his grandson comes to visit him before he goes to school, and he hears the sound of his grandson lifting the lid of the pot and the sound of adding water. He looked up and saw his grandson open the curtain and walked into the house, and asked, "Go to school?" The grandson answered and turned to leave.
At 10 o'clock, Uncle Liu got up and put on a thick cotton coat. Through the window, he saw Doudou chasing the chickens, playing and playing. He walked to the pot, the fire was extinguished, and when he lifted the lid, he saw the steaming breakfast - the baked cakes and boiled eggs that his son had brought. He made a bowl of milk powder and enjoyed the simple breakfast.
After eating breakfast, he folded the futon and put it on the kang cabinet and swept the floor in the house. Leaving leftovers for Doudou and the chickens, he paced leisurely around the yard as he watched them eat. Despite his advanced age and inconvenient legs, he rarely used crutches, for fear that the more he used them, the less ineffective he would become.
Today the weather is clear, the sky is blue and cloudless, and the sun is shining on the earth, warm and bright. He closed the door and walked slowly down the street, where he was confronted by his eldest daughter-in-law, who had come to make him a stove. He told his eldest daughter-in-law that there was no need to cook at noon, and that there were leftovers that should be cleaned and not wasted.
At the base of the south wall of the brigade, a group of old men sat on shabby sofas basking in the sun, chatting about various topics. Some talk about fires and what happened to children, while others talk about international events and family routines. Today's main topic is that people in the county are going to reduce their wages, and they will have to deduct their wages if they don't pay bonuses during the New Year. Uncle Liu rarely participated in the discussion, just quietly basking in the sun and napping. When someone teased him, he always smiled and said, "I'm old, and I'm too angry, and there's nothing to say." ”
At noon, the old men went home for dinner. Uncle Liu is not in a hurry to go home, he likes to bask in the sun for a while. He closed his eyes and looked in the direction of the sun, and the front of his eyelids was red and warm. After a while, the red color became hot, and he opened his eyes, and there was a layer of fog in front of him, but it quickly dissipated. He felt a little dizzy and knew that the sun was almost over, and it was time to go home.
He hobbled towards home, and greeted acquaintances warmly when he met them on the way: "Master Liu, you're back, where are you going to eat?" He answered them all. Walking into the yard, the puppies and chickens are not there, and they may have run out to look for food. The pot on the stove in the house was steaming hot, it was leftovers from yesterday. The room was getting warmer.
After lunch, he spread the futon on the kang and lay down to rest. The kang was a little cold, and he took the bed quilt and spread it under him. He turned on the radio, turned it up to the loudest and played the program, although he couldn't hear the specific content clearly, but it was good to have a sound to accompany him. He lay on the kang and looked out the window at the birds flying by the clouds, and the hay hanging under the eaves of the house swayed in the breeze, as if he was thinking about something, and as if he didn't think about anything, he spent his time quietly.
When he was tired of lying down, he sat up again, leaned on the kang cabinet with his back, wrapped his body in a quilt, and looked at the west wall in a daze. He remembered the days when he and his wife were alive, and after lunch, one with his back against the west wall and the other against the kang cabinet, he sat and talked with each other.
At 5:30 p.m., the grandson ran back with the news of tomorrow's winter vacation. He was holding two pills in his hand, saying that his father asked him to bring the medicine given by Dr. Lin, who cured constipation. Uncle Liu remembered that he wanted to wait until he finished eating and before going to bed to drink honey water to laxative, but now it seems that he doesn't need it, and he can take medicine directly.
After his grandson left, he laid out the futon again and prepared to rest at night. I don't feel hungry today, so I'm not going to eat dinner.