I was cooking in the kitchen. I looked up and saw my daughter who had gone home for the New Year, lying on the sofa and scrolling through her mobile phone. Suddenly I thought of a sentence I saw on WeChat Moments a few days ago: Stay away, kids, they’ve all endured it. My parents' guest.
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The daughter smiled. Putting down the phone, the sound of running water to wash the mop sounded in the bathroom.
Yes, she went to college in Tianjin and worked in Beijing after graduation. Over the years, she seems to have really become a guest at home. Still a distinguished guest. Whether I come back for winter or summer vacation, or celebrate May Day, National Day, or Spring Festival, even if I only stay for three or two days, I can't help but go shopping in advance. Not to mention the Chinese New Year, mutton and beef from the back mountain, rural tofu, Red Sun hot pot ingredients, Yili yogurt, seasonal fruits, freshly pounded roasted wheat peel... It seems like a big eater is coming back from home who has been hungry for a long time.
The room also needs to be cleaned. Take out the quilt early to dry it, and change the sheets, pillowcases, and pillow towels. Pajama racks on racks. Slippers are left at the door. Toothbrushes, towels and mouthwash cups are all placed in the bathroom. I happily acted as a hotel waiter. Being able to manage my home into a place where my children are willing to come back for the New Year vacation gives me a sense of accomplishment and happiness.
Once the return date is decided, we start planning what to eat for the first meal after getting off the plane. Shabu-shabu mutton? Shaomai? Pie? Stuffed skin? Burrito? Braised noodles? The reality is that during the entire Spring Festival, we spend very little time at home. On New Year's Eve and the first day of the Lunar New Year, I stayed at my mother-in-law's house, on the second and third day of the Lunar New Year, I went back to my parents' house, and on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, the family of three stayed at my own home. On the fifth day of the lunar month, I went back to my mother-in-law's house to eat and drink. As the sun rises on the sixth day of the lunar month, the balance of annual leave is close to zero.
As for housework, it’s not that she doesn’t do it, and it’s not that I’m reluctant to let her do it. There’s really nothing to do. Living in a building, with electrified cooking, automated laundry, and smoke-free heating, it seems that the most important housework is to try to eliminate those delicious things one by one. There is yogurt on the balcony, remember to drink it. You eat kiwi fruit. Eat strawberries. Eat oranges. Eat figs. Eat almonds. Eat dragon fruit. Eat the pig ears cooked by grandma. Eat the Zhuo Zishan smoked chicken sent by my aunt. This is the snack I baked, it’s so delicious. Like entertaining guests, I entertained my daughter who was home for the New Year.
Children who have gone far have become guests of their parents. This guest is a distinguished guest, a guest who is always welcome.
Children who have gone far away have careers and goals in their hometown, and their hometown stores their parents’ love and warm memories that will never expire.
My little sister’s family is far away in Shenzhen. Once the news comes that she will go home for the New Year, my mother will make preparations early. First, pack up a house for them to live in, and then start arranging meals for the Spring Festival. Don’t repeat the same thing, eat everything. The south is hot, and the diet is very different from that in the north, and the ingredients are also different. Therefore, even if you follow the methods of the north, it is sometimes difficult to make authentic hometown taste in the south. For example, steamed steamed buns are something that I can’t help but smile at in Hohhot. I once tried to make a hometown stew in Shenzhen, but unfortunately I couldn’t buy fresh potato flour vermicelli or round eggplants in all the supermarkets around my sister’s house.
The taste of hometown is the taste of mother and the taste of home. Going home for the New Year means coming back to enjoy the taste of mother.
Every Spring Festival when my little sister comes back, my dad always reminds us: We haven’t given our fourth brother any noodles yet, have we? Be sure to try the roasted pork burrito. Shabu-shabu mutton requires everyone to eat it. Your mother is the best at stuffed pies...
My parents have five of us children, four around us and one from a foreign country. Once 17 people get together for the Chinese New Year, we have to take a family photo to record it. Today, with highly developed communications, even if you can't come back to celebrate the New Year, with just a tap of your finger and a mobile phone, the world can instantly become face to face. And every time I see those family photos in the album, I always think about it: a few years later, when we become old people, our only child will also take root in a foreign country. During the Spring Festival, who will be whose guest among us and our children? ?
Gao Yanping, columnist. Graduated from the literature research class of Inner Mongolia University. Member of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Writers Association. Vice Chairman of Hohhot Saihan District Writers Association. The million-word works can be found in "Chinese Poetry", "Prose Poems", "Grassland", "Selected Prose Magazines", "Western Essayists", "Chinese Literature", "People's Daily", "Ta Kung Pao", "People's Daily Overseas Edition", "Worker Daily", and "Yangcheng Evening News" ""Inner Mongolia Daily", "Northern News", "Hohhot Daily", etc.