Figure: Source network
When people grow up and are far away from their hometown, there will always be a nostalgia for their hometown, especially for the old house where they lived as children, which is still a kind of endless concern.
In my impression, my parents live in a very humble small tile house in the country. The light inside is dim, and all kinds of sundries are piled up in the house, which looks very messy. When no one is leaving, mice will come out of their holes and run around. When it rains, the roof often leaks. At this time, my mother put a small washbasin on the ground and let the rain drop into the washbasin. Whenever I saw this scene, I mobilized my parents to move to Dawawu to live with my brothers and sisters, but they politely refused every time. Mom and dad have always thought this way. This big tile house is built for our children, so that their children can live better. This is the wish of parents. They are willing to be wronged as long as they see that their children are doing well. In this regard, my father lived in that small tile house until his death.
In Tomb-Sweeping Day, people from other villages will sweep graves for their dead relatives on this day. However, unlike other villages, our village chooses to sweep graves from winter to Sunday. On this day every year, my mother will tell us the story of my father's marriage and career. In order to build this big tile house, before liberation, my father used a shoulder pole and a pair of shoulders instead of villagers to pick straw mats and sold them to Haikou, Fucheng, Nada and Tongshi. It's 30-40 kilometers from my hometown to Nada and Tongshi. In order to prevent the Japanese from robbing the road during the day, my father always regards the night as the day. As night fell, he set foot on the road. The next day, at dawn in the east, he had already sold straw mats in the market. In the afternoon, after selling straw mats, he hurried home. After midnight, when everyone was asleep, he quietly returned to his leaking small tile house. In the storm, in this way, he exchanged his hard work for a penny and finally built the best big tile house in the village.
During the land reform, some people in the village almost put their father on the stage of criticism on charges of exploitation. As the saying goes, a tree attracts the wind. My father was worried about being labeled as a rich farmer, so he gave his uncle a quarter of the house he built with blood and sweat. When building this house, my father often ate the last meal without the next one. In his forties, he suffered from duodenal ulcer, which tortured him for twenty years.
As the saying goes, intentional flower arrangement can't bloom, but unintentional flower arrangement is full of flowers. Mom and dad tried their best to build this house, but we just didn't live in it. After graduating from college, our brother and sister were both assigned to work in other places, and our elderly mother followed us to live in the metropolis. Since then, the big tile house that parents wholeheartedly built for our children has become an empty house. If my father learns the news in the grave, he doesn't know what to do!
Now our children and grandchildren live in high-rise buildings, which is definitely more comfortable than the big tile house in their hometown. However, as time goes by, the more comfortable I am, the more I often recall my nostalgia for my hometown's big tile house. Because, she pinned her parents' love for our children and grandchildren. Every time I see that big tile house, I feel the kindness of my parents and a heart like the sea. Their lofty image of diligence and simplicity always comes to mind.