"Yan'er, Yan'er, bends and bends to the other side of the river. There are a pair of geese on the other side of the river. My mother-in-law laughs to death. My mother-in-law picks up an egg, hits the end of the bowl, pulls the thread, and hits the end of the pot. Round and round...
A little girl with long braids sat innocently on a small bench at the door, shaking her head while reciting children's songs, one after another, tirelessly, and her childish voice told the story of time. , from dawn to dusk...
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This is who I was when I was a child. In addition to entering kindergarten, one of the main contents of early childhood education was the countless nursery rhymes taught to me by my grandmother. I retell the stories every day, imagine the characters and stories in the nursery rhymes, and ask questions from time to time. My childhood memories are endless, and I can even recall some fragments from when I was about 2 years old. I always see my grandmother in every memory. I always feel her warm embrace with her kind smile. I was raised by my grandmother.
I don’t know what my grandmother looked like when she was young, because since I saw her, she has become a child. She is an old woman, a kind and gentle old lady with small feet and hair in a bun. According to her grandmother, she was born in the year of Renzi (1912, the first year of the Republic of China). Her maiden name was Deng, and she took her husband's surname from then on. Mrs. Xu and Deng. Every time I lie in my grandmother’s arms, I always ask her about her own story, and she is happy to tell it to me. I often fall asleep while listening and thinking about those distant worlds, so I listen to it again and again. When it is ripe, it is like a seed taking root in memory, then sprouting, and it is still growing vigorously.
? Grandma was born in a small town in Bazi, western Sichuan. Grandma’s mother was a young and capable widow. He runs the famous Deng's Shao Fang (the old name of the winery), which is famous all over the country. He hires many long-term and short-term workers to work in the Shao Fang, which is always bustling with people. It is even more lively and prosperous. The business is booming in the hands of this widow ancestor. He buys land and property, and the four brothers and sisters of the grandmother's family are heading towards their peak day by day. There are three girls and one boy, the eldest brother, the eldest sister, the grandmother, and the third sister, so my old acquaintances call my grandma the second sister Deng. The family hired a private school teacher to teach her four siblings in the backyard. Grandma said she was the stupidest and the most afraid. The teacher would memorize the books. At the end of the year, the teacher would put all the books he had learned on the table and memorize them one by one, which was called a "package book." If he couldn't memorize the books, he would be beaten with a ruler. So grandma often had the idea : She would rather work than study. Although she was also tired of studying, she was still forced to learn "The Book of Daughters", "Hundred Family Surnames", the Four Books, Lao, Zhuang, etc. When I was a child, I admired my grandmother. , because grandma went to "university"! Later I realized that this "university" was not the other "university".
The most painful thing about grandma's childhood was the binding of her feet, which was so painful at first. She couldn't eat. Except for her thumb and little finger, the other fingers were either broken or deformed on the sole of her foot. You can imagine the pain at that time. Later, I often helped my grandmother get pedicures, and I was always very glad that I was not born in her era.
? Grandma’s marriage was a major turning point in her life. In my grandmother’s words: Marriage is always good. The matchmaker first introduced the matchmaker to Mr. Xu in the county. Because she felt that the grandma of the Xu family was too powerful and was afraid that her grandmother would suffer if she got married, Deng refused. Later, other matchmakers came to talk to matchmakers and introduced Mr. Xu, and they said that the powerful grandma was He has passed away, and he will not be angry after getting married, so the marriage is completed. Who knows that getting married is the beginning of hardships.
? My grandfather also had a bad fate. He was adopted as a grandson by his family's widow, Xu Jiang, from an early age, and lived with Xu Jiang's grandma. Life is very prosperous because Xu Jiang's family has a lot of wealth. After the death of Xu Jiang's husband, she was left with a pair of children. In order to gain access to her family property, some ill-intentioned clan members poisoned the children, leaving Widow Jiang alone. They wanted to force her to remarry in order to embezzle her family property, but Widow Jiang was determined. Staying behind, I endured the pain of losing my husband and my children. I couldn't bear to accept it, and I adopted my grandpa as my grandson. At the early stage of the adoption, someone warned that the adoption document should be written as soon as possible to avoid disapproval by the family members later. However, Xu Jiang has a resolute personality. Because of his children, he originally held a grudge against his clan members, so he did not consider whether they agreed or not and believed in himself. Make your own decisions. In this way, the grandfather and grandson depended on each other. Grandpa grew up day by day, and Xu Jiang grew old. Finally, one day he fell ill. At this time, a clan member repeatedly reminded him that he needed to write an adoption document to legalize it, so he asked a lawyer to write it. The adoption documents were required to be signed by the tribe, but when the document was signed halfway, she took a crane to the west. The tribesmen took advantage of the situation to regret and deny it, and the famous Xu family property case began. The Xu family from far and near participated in it. The entire West Street of the county town became a dojo. All silk and satin shops, bright fire shops (now daily grocery stores), and all restaurants were closed. Anyone who claimed to come here Thinking about it, they all made mourning cloths, distributed commemorative supplies, and provided food for everyone. The flowing banquet was held for more than a month. The property was sold and the valuable furniture in the house was looted. When I was in my twenties, my grandfather suffered from a heart attack and fell ill with vomiting blood. . Afterwards, the tribe was kind and left dozens of acres of land to my grandfather. However, the rent for the next three years was collected in advance, and my grandfather became impoverished and lived a precarious life.
? Grandma’s family agreed to the matchmaker. After learning about the outcome of the family property case, although they regretted it, they did not regret the marriage despite their promise. They just secretly supplied grandpa with even the bridal clothes for the wedding. In the middle of the night, someone was sent to Xu's house, and then back to Deng's house to cover up. When grandma got married, the Deng family's career was at its peak, so grandma's entire dowry was complete, the house was full of furniture, and even the clothes for her future children were prepared until they were 7 or 8 years old. My mother said that she was still wearing grandma's dowry even when she went to school. Taste. Grandma's brother was the helmsman of Fangpao Brother at that time. He had countless brothers under him, all of whom were armed with live ammunition. On the day of my grandmother's wedding, she sat in an eight-carriage sedan chair. In addition to the procession to welcome and see off the bride, my great-uncle also arranged for his brothers to escort her with guns and live ammunition to the Xu family in the county town more than 20 miles away.
After a beautiful wedding, my grandparents often received alms from their parents’ family to survive. It was not until three years later that they had land rent to collect, and they finally recovered. They have a very harmonious relationship as husband and wife, and they respect each other as guests. My grandfather is physically injured, so he cannot do business in person. He may lack business acumen. He is constantly being tricked by partners or associates, and often ends up losing money, so his life is normal, but he But he was often depressed and unhappy, which made his illness worse. Grandpa was an extremely kind man. Whenever someone asked for help, he would come to his door and say: Mr. Xu, our family can’t open the pot. Can we have some rice on credit? Grandpa would always give money on credit and only asked the other party to leave their name, not even knowing where they lived. Later, I dug out the old account books kept at my mother's house and found several large credit bills.
? Grandma’s brother, who is also my great-uncle, is extremely smart, a good hand in business, good at talking and calculating, and is famous from all over the country as a capable person who can calculate and calculate accounts with both hands. Whenever the rent is paid, When the emperor's grain came out, he was asked from all directions to help settle accounts. My great-uncle was also very respectable. He once owned the first foreign carriage (bicycle) in the county. He rode it all over the world and was known as Deng Meili. Moreover, he also values ??righteousness and joined the "Pao Ge" organization, a civil society in Bazi, western Sichuan, and became the leader of the party. The Deng family was well off and envied others, so the villain took it upon himself to lure his uncle and grandpa into an opium den when he was a teenager and contracted the bad habit of smoking. When the family was wealthy, it was not a big deal. Later, as the business declined, my great-uncle embarked on the road of prostitution.
? Grandpa was frail and sick, and suffered repeated failures in business. He passed away at the age of 40, leaving his grandmother in her 30s to raise four children, the eldest was 12 years old and the youngest was just over 2 years old. Grandma was in a panic at that time, and her eyesight dropped sharply. At the worst time, she couldn't see the road clearly. As a family member of the family, my great-uncle came forward to help manage the fields to support my grandmother's orphaned and widowed mother's life. In the first two years, life was relatively smooth, and my uncle and mother went to school normally. Two years later, my great-uncle lost not only the huge Deng family property due to smoking, but also his grandmother’s dozens of properties. Lost together. Every time I hear this, I always ask my grandma, why don’t I ask my uncle and grandpa to pay for it? Grandma touched my head kindly and told me: "I owe it to Yan Hui. When I got married, life was difficult and I relied on my mother's family for financial support, so I treated it as a return to him. I never resented him." From my grandmother's mouth, I have always heard her call my uncle and uncle "Yan Hui". She told me that after liberation, "Yan Hui" was arrested, but because there was no murder case involved, he only accompanied the killing scene and was imprisoned. In prison, his death was unknown. After hearing about my great-uncle, I didn’t know what to say, so every time I talked about it, I always brought the topic to my great-uncle’s foreign carriage and asked a lot of things I wanted to ask.
Beginning in 1946, my grandmother’s family of four began to enter difficult times. The old lady with small feet and poor eyesight could not go out to make a living, so the uncle began to do some odd jobs with his uncle. My mother learned to make straw sandals from her aunt. At that time, my mother was only 10 years old and her hands were weak. Even if her hands were blistered, the straw sandals she made could only be sold for half the price of others. Kind-hearted neighbors help them live from time to time. My grandmother spoke very calmly during those difficult years, but I often burst into tears listening to her words. It was not until 1949 that my uncle and mother found work, and the family's hunger and fullness situation was alleviated.
? Despite this, during the Cultural Revolution, my grandmother still did not escape the treatment of a "landlord". She stood on a high bench, fed mosquitoes, and was criticized for wearing a pointed hat. Grandma told these things as if she were telling other people's stories without any complaints. She also had no regrets when she told how everything in the house was moved away in the name of destroying the four olds. However, I often felt filled with indignation and made rude remarks, and Grandma always He would caress my head and say to me: "Three poor and three rich will never grow old."
? Grandma often praises me for my good memory and my ability to memorize everything I have been taught. But I marvel at my grandma’s ability. Although she said that she was not as good at reading as her other three siblings, I found that she had too much in her head. There are so many mysterious things, and she has an extraordinary memory. She is our family’s old almanac and computer storage. If you can’t remember anything, you can ask her. Neighbor children sometimes ask me in surprise: "Your mother-in-law can actually speak idioms"? I always say proudly: "My mother-in-law went to a private school."
? Grandma has always lived with us. Since weaning, I have slept with my grandma. Before going to bed every night, I like to enjoy With her care, she would always read words that I didn't understand and pat my back to coax me to sleep.
I often half-closed my eyes to eavesdrop on what my grandma was saying, but I could only hear and remember one sentence: Taishang Laojun, rush like a stream (homophone). I once asked her, what is "rushing into the flow"? She smiled and didn't answer, so the matter was fruitless. When I grew up, I found that the only one I could match was the Taoist slogan used to exorcise ghosts and ward off evil spirits: "Tai Shang Laojun, be as urgent as the law". It seems that grandma is calming me down and keeping me safe in my dreams. Because I was too young and her voice was too soft, I vaguely heard it as "rapidly entering the flow". I was still wondering at that time, why do I have to call Taishang Laojun every time I go to sleep? Now that I think about it, I regret that I forgot to ask my grandma the root cause of this matter when I grew up.
No matter whether life is difficult or not, grandma’s style has never changed, and the family’s etiquette has never been abandoned. She always prepares a set of clothes for herself and her children to wear for important occasions. She never treats guests with courtesy, and our speech and behavior are all completed within certain disciplines. She was good at managing her skin, using cream and honey. Even in the most difficult times, she would wipe her face with "熆醶 float" (water floating on the glutinous rice grains). In our memory, we often see grandma's face covered with "qiegan" ( Grapefruit) flesh, pieced here and there, making us laugh.
? On New Year’s Eve, grandma would always light an oil lamp in a clean pot; early in the morning on the first day of the first lunar month, she would cook glutinous rice balls to worship ancestors and gods, and then eat vegetarian food for one day on the first day of the first lunar month; He would show us the lanterns; wear wormwood during the Dragon Boat Festival and teach me to be a big red monkey and carry a pumpkin on my back; worship our ancestors on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month; worship the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival; make porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month; worship the Kitchen God on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month... She came here all year round until she left.
? Grandma also has a bit of dry humor, which makes people happy. One time my grandma was asking me to do something, and I replied impatiently: "I know." Grandma did not blame me for being rude, but said to me: "You know not as well as I know, you know not as well as I understand, and you understand not as well as me." When I heard this, I burst out laughing, so I quickly apologized like a baby.
? Starting from junior high school, I went out to school and lived in school. The joy of leaving home always replaced the sadness of homesickness. Only when I went home every weekend, I saw my grandma’s waiting figure at the door from a distance. , aroused a feeling of emotion, so I ran back in three steps and held her tightly. I didn't let go until she said that I was almost hurting her. Every week when I go home, she will bring out the good things she left for me, either food or clothing.
? When I was a child, every winter, my feet were covered with chilblains. When I slept warm at night, it was extremely itchy. My grandma would always be on the other side of the bed, pinching my chilblains with her hands, and I would use my mouth to direct them. Now it's the thumb, now the heel, now the little finger. Grandma can accurately position it, and the weight must be appropriate, otherwise I will cry and howl every night, and I don't know how long it will take before I can fall asleep. The next day, I stayed in bed, and my grandma asked me to get up. Every time, I would ask her to count 123 and pull me up before I got up. This habit continued until my grandma couldn't pull me anymore.
My childhood was a happy child because of the care of my grandmother. Grandma is a woman who pays attention to sophistication, and she is very particular about my dressing up. She always asks my mother to buy me all kinds of beautiful "Zhajuaner" (long ribbon-shaped gauze scarves) to tie my hair and buy headbands. Buy a velvet snow hat to dress me up. I remember that when I graduated from high school, my grandma asked my mother to buy me a set of gold jewelry and also wear earrings, saying, "There are so many ways to dress up, but I don't look good without earrings." I was an angry young man at that time. How could these feudal and tacky thoughts come to my attention? But now I still have the habit of wearing earrings all the time. If I don't wear them, I feel like I'm missing something. Grandma wouldn't let me wash my face with cold water, saying it would turn it yellow and black, and wouldn't let me do housework. She said it would only look good if my fingers were as sharp as bamboo shoots.
? Grandma’s teachings: You must shine your shoes before going out, because "without shoes under your feet, you will be poor"; you must be reasonable in doing things, "you can travel all over the world with reason, but you can’t walk without reason"; you must have character and never be greedy for cheap things. , "Be hungry to be fresh, and be poor to be ambitious"; be kind to others, "receive a favor from others, and you will repay it with a spring of water"; be willing to do good, "don't forget to repay kindness"; be low-key in doing things, not "Why wear flower shoes and raise your feet high"; you must be filial, otherwise "every drop of water on the eaves will be in the old nest"...
Grandma, a gentle and kind old lady with small feet, in When I grew up and understood what "temperament" was, I gave her an old lady with a good temperament.
? My grandma has been a widow all her life. Apart from impaired vision, she has no major illnesses. When she was in her 80s, many young people asked my family for my grandma’s skin care secrets, because almost all baby skin can be used. When asked to describe my grandma’s face, our family would always answer with a smile: honey, glutinous rice flour, and eggplant and orange pulp. In fact, the secret of grandma should be the nursery rhyme of grandma’s inner immortality, strong backbone, and peaceful mentality, which is a realm that I can only hope to achieve.
? In my memory, I have never heard my grandma complain. Regarding her marriage, her children, the world, and society, she was kind to others throughout her life, had a calm personality, and faced ups and downs with a calm heart. , until his final death.
It snowed heavily in Chengdu today, and it was fluttering. I felt a little happy. Looking at the sky in the distance, it was so gray. My memory once again pulled me back to my childhood. Snowy day. The houses were covered with thick snow. I was wearing a cotton coat, a snow cap, and gloves. I stood on a high bench and stood in front of a low eaves, using a large spatula to shovel the snow on the roof. Snow, and then put it into a basin. The person holding the basin was my grandma. Grandma said to shovel the snow home and soak the salted eggs. Next year, there will be delicious salted duck eggs to eat during the Dragon Boat Festival. I looked forward to it while working hard... …
Now that I am in my late teens, my grandmother’s nursery rhymes are still engraved in my mind. They are so long and lasting, and the memories last a lifetime. If I have a grandson, I will still recite this sentence before he falls asleep: Taishang Laojun, are you in a hurry to enter the stream? Thinking of this, I couldn't help but smile.
If I can't spin, I pick up the pole and pick up the high material..."
? "I passed by my mother-in-law's door. My mother-in-law invited me to sit in the room. My mother-in-law invited me to sit on the bedside. My father-in-law invited me to sit on the bed. Sitting on the bench, my uncle asked me to sit in front of the stove, and my aunt asked me to sit on the threshold."......
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