Every time I think of the scene when I used to take care of my grandmother, I feel ...... nostalgia
One day, when I was just over 4 years old, as soon as I arrived at the door, my father stopped me and said to me in a very serious and stern commanding tone: "Your second sister is about to go to school, and when she goes to school, you will be a big child, and you have to take over her class to serve your grandmother!" I was stupidly stunned and hazy (what does such a young child know?). He looked at his father and nodded.
Actually, I don't remember what I thought at the time, but I will always remember the tone in which my father spoke to me and the scene when he assigned me tasks with great seriousness.
At that time, my child was 7 years old and went to school, and my second sister was 2 years and 8 months older than me. When my father assigned me the task, my second sister had not yet gone to school, and I was just over 4 years old at that time!
Although I was only over 4 years old, I didn't feel bitter when I actually started doing it, and I didn't feel tired.
All I have to do is get up early, go to chop wood for my grandmother, make a fire, serve my grandmother to wash, give her hot food, boil water, wash clothes, and clean up the house ......
In the summer, the stove in the kitchen is placed in the grandmother's house, and in the winter, the stove is placed in the house.
It's okay to say in summer, it's early in the morning. I got up in the morning and got dressed and went straight to my grandmother's house. Grandma's house and mine live relatively closely. Turn left and walk straight after leaving the house, walk about 100 meters, then turn left into a small alley, walk 70 or 80 meters and then turn right, walk 40 or 50 meters to grandma's house.
Grandma's house is on the second floor, and you have to go up a few steps to get in, and then there is a long kitchen with a long sink on the left hand side ......Next to the pool is the stove.
The first thing I do when I enter the house is to light the stove. To make a stove, you must first clean the ashes in the furnace, then find the waste paper into a ball, pick a smaller one and put it on the paper ball, and then put the slightly thicker one on top of the thin strip. At this time, you can light the paper ball, light the paper ball and fan it gently, or blow it, and the flame will be lit little by little, at this time, you must quickly close the lid, or put the kettle or pot. When the flames are hot, you should quickly add coal, and it is best to add burning, easy-to-burn coals. At that time, the coal blocks that were easy to burn, such as Yingchengzi and Shulan coal, were relatively easy to burn.
After the stove is built, I will help my grandmother to get up, bring her face water to wash, then heat breakfast, after breakfast, wipe the table, sweep the floor and clean up the house, and then wash the clothes and ......My job is done.
It's easy to say anything in summer, but it's hard in winter. It was very difficult to get out of bed in the morning, and the most painful thing was the moment when I put on the cotton pants in the morning, which were too cold. Because I had to get up early, my family didn't get up at that time, and of course there was no stove at home.
At that time, I felt colder in the winter in the Northeast than now, minus twenty or thirty degrees outside, there was no heating in the house, there was no heat, there was no heat, and there was no stove, you talk about how difficult it was to get up. At that time, it was time to wear clothes in the morning, especially cotton pants, it was really a test of will, and it would be good to wear cotton pants when I was young, **wired pants? They all wear cotton pants with empty legs, and when they get up in the morning, they wear cotton pants with bare legs, which is cold! At that time, cotton pants were straight, and the hem of cotton pants was leaky. At that time, people only had such conditions, but now I can't stand it.
Remember to make a good stove every weekend or when my mother has time, and then catch up with the good coal and good coal at home. The stove was blazing, and then Mother brought our cotton trousers one by one, and baked them hot on the stove, and we put them on again, ah, so warm! Whenever this time I feel so happy.
But when I had to get up early to serve my grandmother, I couldn't enjoy such treatment. I was almost always in the dark, gritted my teeth and kicked on my cotton pants, and walked outside alone.
The cold wind was howling outside, it was pitch black, and it was a long way before there was a dim street lamp ......Alas, what kind of feeling did a 4-year-old child feel and feel at that time? It's been too long for anyone else to know. A lot of details have been forgotten.
I only remember one time when I woke up late. I don't know if I was tired from running the first day, or if I slept late. One morning I woke up, and as soon as I saw that it was getting bright, I was so frightened that I got up, put on my clothes, and ran to my grandmother's house. When I ran to my grandmother's house, I opened the door and saw my grandmother trembling, holding a kettle in front of the stove, ready to pour water into the basin. I remember that my grandmother was small-footed, and she had a hard time walking, and she couldn't walk steadily. It turned out that my grandmother couldn't wait for me and had already lit the stove herself. I hurriedly took the kettle, helped my grandmother into the house and sat down, and hurried to get busy.
I only remember this time, I woke up late. The rest of the time, I was doing this every day, every day, getting up on time to go to my grandmother's house to serve my grandmother.
This lasted for about two years, and two years later my grandmother died. That's the end of my job as a grandmother.
I don't know what kind of mood a 4-year-old child has and what kind of wind and snow he braves? How did you walk through the dark streets day after day, rain or shine? I must be scared and timid, but I am also strong and must be brave! Because I didn't have a choice.
Maybe it's too young, right? I quickly forgot about it, and never mentioned it to anyone. And when I am older this year, I think of the past when I was a child. Classmates, family, friends don't know. Because it didn't happen to them when I was so young, my parents were gone, and I didn't mention it afterwards, so no one has any memory. It's like the wind. What really happened to me was blown away by the wind, blown away without a trace, and disappeared, almost without a trace, except for a little memory of myself.
Looking back now, how could I have had such an experience in my life? Sometimes I can't believe it. I don't know, is this an experience to be proud of, an experience worth promoting, or a sad past that is hard to look back on?
What do you say, friends?
30 August 2003.