My hometown is in a small remote village in western Hubei Province, where there is little land and many people, and it is difficult for the villagers to support their families by farming.
Since the 90s, young people in the village have started to go out to earn a living, and now there are only about 20 elderly people left in the village.
Throughout the year, the most lively and long-awaited day for the elderly is the New Year.
In Layue, people who went out to work in factories in Shenzhen and Guangzhou returned to their hometowns one after another; Basically, those who do business closer will also rush home before the 24th of the lunar month.
Generally, doing business is auspicious, and they will leave early on the eighth day of the first month to open their doors in the city to do business. Those who go south to Shenzhen and Guangzhou to work farther away will basically leave after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and some will even leave after the first lunar month in their hometowns.
In the past, during the Chinese New Year, small villages rushed to the market, reunion year, and New Year's greetings, which could be lively for more than a month. Now that the time for the New Year's celebration is getting shorter and shorter, now everyone has a mobile phone, and many people will pay New Year's greetings to a ** or even a blessing on WeChat.
This year has just passed, and the people who have returned to their hometowns in the village have left one after another. My husband is going to work on the eighth day of junior high school, and the children are about to start school, so we also plan to leave on the sixth day of junior high school.
My mother-in-law is almost 65 years old now, and when she was young, she also worked in Shenzhen as a lathe worker in a garment factory.
Later, we got married and settled down in Shenzhen and had children, and my mother-in-law helped me take care of the children, and the children went to kindergarten last year. The mother-in-law insisted on returning to her hometown, she said that it was difficult to leave her homeland and she wanted to return to her roots.
My husband and I were going to buy some more food and drink for my mother-in-law before leaving, and I drove to the town to buy them. Along the way, I met a few groups of villagers who returned to the city.
Outside the town commissary, a few old people were basking in the sun and chatting in the village. The old people are lamenting that the taste of the New Year is getting weaker and weaker, and it is becoming more and more boring.
One of them, Uncle Wang, whom I knew, sighed and said that in the past, during the Chinese New Year, he cleaned up the house, cleaned up and prepared New Year's goods and food, and although he was tired, he was also satisfied. On the 29th of the lunar month, the children are most looking forward to making fried fish, fried lotus root, fried tofu and meatballs.
But in recent years, the children have become less and less fond of eating, and this year, the daughter-in-law directly did not let her grandchildren eat it, saying that the fried food was too much and became hot, and it was all unhealthy oil.
The second son and daughter-in-law took their two children back to their parents' house to pay New Year's greetings. The whole family pulled the suitcase, and rushed back from the mother's house for lunch at noon on the Chinese New Year's Eve, leaving early in the morning of the second day of the new year. All the dishes that he and his wife had prepared for several days were left, and they didn't know how long they would have to eat.
Uncle Li from the next village sighed yes, the temperature plummeted in the lunar month last year, and it snowed heavily in the days before the New Year, and the weather was cold, so it was really not easy to prepare these dishes. It's not for the children to feel the flavor of the New Year in their memories, they are not good at this bite, and they can't digest well when they are old, just eat some green vegetables and radishes.
The owner of the commissary sighed: his son and daughter-in-law said that the snow in their hometown was too cold, and they were afraid that their grandchildren would freeze, so they did not come back, saying that they were traveling to Thailand for the New Year. My daughter is now in her thirties and doesn't have a boyfriend, saying that she was afraid of being urged to marry by relatives and friends when she went home, so she sent us some money to buy some delicious food at home.
Hey, what's going on! It's been a boring year. The owner of the commissary sighed.
Uncle Wang said leisurely, people are boring when they are old.
Listening to the chatter of the old people, I also have mixed feelings in my heart. It is true that the taste of the New Year is getting weaker and weaker, and the beautiful memories of the New Year in childhood are difficult to see now.
I hurriedly bought some daily necessities and went home, and discussed with my husband whether to persuade my mother-in-law to go to Shenzhen with us.
But my mother-in-law didn't want to go to Shenzhen with us, she said that when people are old, they will return to their roots, or their hometown, there are too many people in Shenzhen, she is not used to it, let us not worry.
Seeing that my mother-in-law insisted, we were not easy to persuade.
After breakfast this morning, my mother-in-law told me that we should go to the back mountain to say hello to grandpa and grandma, and give an explanation, so as to bless our family with peace and security outside.
My husband and I took firecrackers and yellow paper and went to the back mountain to go to the grave of my grandfather and grandmother. Watching my mother-in-law kneeling in front of my grandparents' graves, praying for my grandparents to bless our family with peace and security, the corners of my eyes were cloudy.
My husband said that he was materially poor when he was a child, and the scenes of his grandparents giving him fried hemp leaves as snacks during the New Year came to mind. In a flash, 30 years have passed.
After my mother-in-law and we went to the grave with our grandparents, we were silent, looking back at the graves of our grandparents from time to time.
My mother-in-law was silent for a long time, and suddenly asked us if we would not come back if she was not there in the future. No one took care of my grandparents' graves.
Hearing this sentence from his mother-in-law, her husband's heart tingled, the corners of his eyes were hot, he desperately held back his tears, opened his mouth to comfort his mother-in-law, but finally did not open his mouth.
Indeed, what my mother-in-law said is the truth, if she is not there in the future, there are no other relatives in her hometown, and we should rarely go back to our hometown. When our children are born, they will not go back to the country.
Seeing that my husband and mother-in-law bowed their heads silently, I took out 10,000 red envelopes and gave them to my mother-in-law, telling her not to think about it, to take care of herself at home alone, and to eat whatever she wanted.
My mother-in-law looked at the bulging red envelope and said, "This red envelope is too big, she can't spend it alone in her hometown, so I'll keep the flowers myself!"
Seeing this, the 3-year-old daughter said: Grandma, you can take it, the money is given to her mother by her father, and the company gave her 80,000 yuan bonus to her mother during the Chinese New Year. Let her hold the flowers herself, and she also gave her grandparents a red envelope of 10,000 yuan.
Listening to what my daughter said, I smiled embarrassedly, and my mother-in-law saw my embarrassment. Touching his daughter's head and laughing, he said, look, it's exposed!
Unexpectedly, the adults in the room resumed laughter and laughter again.
Seeing that her mother-in-law smiled, her husband's face also smiled. We are also relieved to go to Shenzhen.
On the way back to the city, I watched as my mother-in-law's lonely figure was getting farther and farther away from us in the rearview mirror, and the fields on both sides of the window flew by. A feeling of familiarity and strangeness, if you can stay in your hometown and be with your loved ones, I believe that most people are not willing to leave their hometown.
This matter is difficult to complete, and I hope you will cherish every moment by your loved ones' side.
If so, are you willing to stay with your relatives in your hometown and get a meager income, or are you willing to leave your reluctance to work in another country?
Welcome to exchange and discuss!