I loved the Dragon Boat Festival when I was a child. On this day, I can eat the japonica rice cake made of soft millet unique to northern Shaanxi. My mother habitually left me some red dates. I am the youngest child in my family, which is my natural special discount. After the japonica cake was out of the pot, my father gave me a bowl and said, "Enjoy it! Delicious! " Mother gave her father a hard look and scolded him: "old coward, the doll is just like you." Can your stomach stand it? " Then he took half a bowl from my bowl and gently coaxed me: "Put it down and eat it in the dark. I'll carry it for you!" " ! (Dialect: Hiding) "When I was young, my father told me to eat, and my mother told me not to eat. I feel nothing. Now I understand, but that scene will never be repeated. Father always thinks: "you are a fool, you can only do it if you can eat!" " "My mother thinks that my father developed the habit of' eating and hating' when he was a child and has been sneering. Her concern for me is relatively more subtle.
The Dragon Boat Festival in rural areas is very ceremonial, especially for children. In the 1970s and 1980s, the life of rural people in northern Shaanxi was still very difficult, but no matter how difficult it was, adults would try their best to make all kinds of wallets for their children to hang on their chests. The first night of the Dragon Boat Festival is the busiest. Adults take out the reluctant colored lines they usually accumulate and rub the "flower rope" with their children. Laughter came from time to time on the kang. So is our family. Usually unsmiling mother and sister sat on the kang, shook off the colored thread box, rolled up a trouser leg, and carefully rubbed the "rope" on their calves. Color lines should be evenly distributed, neither thick nor thin, neither thick nor thin. This is both technical and striking. Every time I rub it for a long time, my mother will pull up my arm with a smile on her eyes, gesticulate on my wrist, and then tell my sister if it's okay ... I'm sleepy, and my mother and sister are still busy. When I woke up the next day, my wrists and ankles were tied with flower ropes, and the roots of each finger were also tied. A wallet fell from the front of the clothes. Wallets are made of colored cloth ends and tied with colored long lines. In the eyes of children, it is really a treasure. I touched my hand for a long time and ran out to show off to others ... My father didn't say much, but smiled at me and said, "This doll!" " "
At that time, people in rural areas could not eat watermelon. Father used saccharin and boiled water, dried it and put it on the cabinet cover. Tired of playing, I ran into the house sweating on my forehead and picked up the water tank to drink. "Is it delicious?" Father asked in a clear voice. "delicious!" I simply answered. After drinking the water, dad made another pot. Because the water cooled too slowly, he blew it on his lips and didn't listen. ......
During the Dragon Boat Festival, the weather is already very hot, and children like to play by the river below the village. My mother always reminds me again and again: "Don't get your shoes wet!" " Father only said, "Don't stop the dam and play with water until the dog days are over." As usual, I turned my shoes into mud cakes, secretly blocked the dam, took off my clothes and had a good time. When I got home, my mother scolded the cloth shoes and put them in the sun. While drying, she tapped them with a thin stick. The mud fell off, but the upper was hard. My mother rubbed her hands back and forth, afraid of shoveling my ankle. Father is not angry either, just smoking a cigarette and asking, "Is it water ice?" For me, my parents are always extremely indulgent. No matter what I do, as long as I don't make a big disaster, it's nothing in their hearts.
My son and I got up early this morning to study in the mountains. On the way back, my son suddenly asked me, "Dad, what did you eat during the Dragon Boat Festival in May when you were a child?" I said, "eat japonica cakes." He asked again, "Did you eat zongzi at that time?" I said, "No!" "Then do you buy snacks?" My silly son, I can't afford to treat or drink! I answered him, "At that time, people didn't have money now, so they couldn't eat snacks." The son said thoughtfully, "Oh, that means our situation is getting better and better now. Do we have zongzi and snacks to eat?" I said, "Yeah. When the country is rich and strong, our life will be better. When you grow up, you must build a good country! " My son stopped talking, as if thinking about something.
I felt a little sorry for my parents at that time. They must be very upset and can't come up with anything better to improve their children's lives. My father has always been hardworking and my mother has always been frugal. This should be because they have always had a simple wish in their hearts! -Have fun!
Zhang Jing, a native of Wuqi County, Yan 'an City, Shaanxi Province, is a member of Shaanxi Writers Association and China Online Poetry Society. Some of his poems and essays have been published in magazines and newspapers inside and outside the province, such as Xi Evening News, Huashang Daily, Guizhou Poetry Magazine, China Grassroots and Yan 'an Daily, and some of his poems have been included in Selected Contemporary Poems and Songs. He has published a collection of poems "Smudge the Mind" and a collection of essays "Who Let Peach Blossoms Stir the Snow".