The door is open all day.
Accurately speaking, from dawn, the industrious father opened the street gate (called the courtyard gate as the street gate in the countryside) to the dead of night, the father closed the door, turned off the lights and went to bed. On such a slippery day, the street gate is open, not closed or locked.
This is the street gate of my hometown in my childhood memory.
Every day at dawn, my father got up, opened the door, cleaned the yard and hutong with a bamboo broom, and set off to work in the fields. Mother gets up to do housework, or sits on a straw pile at the entrance of an alley facing the street and chats with several aunts next door. Near the meal, they went home to make a fire and cook.
For lunch and dinner, the whole family went to the hutong to eat with straw mounds. This is the case: sitting by the wall, sitting on the grass mound, holding rice in the left hand, chopsticks in the right hand, plates and bowls on the ground, eating steamed bread, copying a chopstick dish, and then snoring porridge, with relish, slurping. Neighbors are also squatting near their street doors. When they see who hasn't come out yet, they will shout "xx, come out for dinner." At home, men should say, "coming, coming." Then everyone on both sides of the alley began to eat almost at the same time.
Our hutong runs north and south, about 150 meters long and more than three meters wide, with seven families. At the same time, there are about twenty men, women and children. While eating, everyone talked about each other's food, who cooked cold beans, who fried eggplant and who mixed cucumber, eating, chatting, laughing and making noise, just like sitting at a banquet. At this time, anyone who passes by our hutong will generally be unable to walk-because there are too many people who can't say hello and can't say hello, so usually the neighbors who want to pass by our hutong will walk around at this time, and they will be afraid if they don't walk.
There is a habit of visiting in the country. There is not a man, woman and child in a village who hasn't been to anyone's house and who doesn't know anyone.
Opening the door is convenient for the neighborhood to walk around.
Opening the door is the easiest way to entertain guests.
The door will be open when someone is at home.
Not only the single family, but also the neighbors.
Neighbors never knock or knock when they borrow things. Go straight into the yard and shout, "Aunt, is there anyone in the big basin?" If no one lives, lend it to me. There are not enough buns and pots at home. "This is the elder sister across the hall.
"Third brother, do you have a big hoe in the afternoon? I'm going to hoe corn in the afternoon, so I need it. " This is the fourth uncle who borrowed the hoe.
"Jun Xiao, are you ready? We should go to school. " I finished my meal early and ran to Xiaojun's house to ask him to go to school.
In this way, it seems that the street gate does not exist, and neighbors come and go freely without barriers.
All the children in our community can run half a street to visit and play after school. When you are hungry, you can take a piece of steamed corn bread from someone else's kitchen to eat. It's natural to be close but not distant.
Since I was young, I can run around every house in most streets without feeling raw. But I really didn't run across a street. After all, I am young, and I still feel awkward when I am far away. The so-called "unfamiliar".
Children who grew up half a street together are not old. Although their generations are different in size, we collectively call them a child. In the current words, it is "small hair." Go to school together, play together, eat each other's meals together, and even sleep naked in a bed together at night. I remember when I was a child, I often wiped my mouth after dinner: "Mom, I went to Xiaojun's house to sleep tonight." Then he picked up his schoolbag and ran away, leaving only Niang's instructions behind him. Then the friends chatted in a bed until they fell asleep unconsciously. It's dawn, get dressed and get up for school together. ...
This intimate relationship from childhood to adulthood is naturally clear to each other when you grow up. You don't have to be guarded and closed when you come and go freely, and you don't have to worry about anything.
I have lived in such an environment since I was a child, and I am used to it. I'm not surprised at the open door.
It took many years to understand that my father's childhood must have been like this. That's why our father is like a family.
I think, if I have been in my hometown, my next life must be like this. Father and son come down in one continuous line. Simple homesickness, handed down from generation to generation, full of children and grandchildren. ...
I think it was simple living, a farmer, who raised the simplicity of the villagers, and the frankness of his neighbors who grew up in Pengmen's humble room. The open door welcomes the generosity and selflessness of farmers, which shows their sincerity and kindness.
"My door is always open to accommodate heaven and earth ..."
I don't know who sang this atmospheric song, but I know that an open door is the most grounded.
Unlike city people, they close the door as soon as they enter, as if they were followed by a thief. Don't close the door, stop!