Lao Tan did not return to the apartment immediately after leaving Zhou Xiaomei's house. He had just talked about his father and mother at the dinner table, and his current thoughts were still on this, feeling a little depressed and depressed.
Speaking of his father, he didn't have a deep impression, and even his appearance was a little vague. His family was poor at that time, and he didn't even keep a photo. He only vaguely remembered that his father was tall, square-faced, and his hair was combed back, like a cadre.
On weekdays, he rarely talks and always reads. Otherwise he clutches his stomach and groans. His mother and several sisters take turns beating him on his back, night after night.
He was a little afraid of his father, so he always played outside. It wasn't until one day that his neighbor's third sister called him home that he realized that his father was leaving - because there was a carpenter making a coffin in the yard, and the unpainted coffin was very white.
scary.
The eldest sister and the second sister led him to his father with tears in their eyes. His father was lying on the kang, surrounded by the elders in the family, all with solemn faces.
The father stretched out his arms with difficulty. His head was full of gray hair and his gray eyes were dull. He looked at him with a different look than usual. After a long time, he closed his eyes again.
At that time, he didn't know what was in his father's eyes, and he was still a little scared. Looking back now, he couldn't help but burst into tears - it was his father's reluctance and attachment, concern and worry, and hope.
We can imagine that in a dilapidated yard, the villagers silently helped prepare the arrangements for a person who was about to die, and the whole family was immersed in grief and misery. A child of only seven years old looked at everything around him,
What a scene it was to look at my father who was lying on the kang and look back at the sun, to look at his five sisters who were crying, and to look at my mother who was holding back her tears.
For a poor rural family, it is like the sky has fallen.
As Lao Tan walked forward, the images of memories that flashed through his eyes blurred by tears were messy, but each image was clear.
This is the memory he least wants to recall, and his heart aches every time he thinks of it.
The memory is so deep that it suppresses many happy and carefree moments of childhood. The only scene in front of me is the scene when my father died, and I can't think of anything else.
My father did not make it through that night, and he, who had been frail and sick since he was a child, developed a high fever that night. The barefoot doctor in the camp said that it was quite serious for him, and then he shook his head and sighed.
What he could remember was that his father was lying on the door panel of the outhouse, his face covered with yellow paper. Under the guidance of Mr. Yin and Yang, he was giving directions to his father who was about to go west------
Also, the heart-rending cries of his sisters were heard when his father was being laid to rest, but at that time he had no tears in his eyes and was lying dying in his mother's arms.
The next memory is blank, and then my father's funeral after dawn.
It was raining, and the whole village, the whole yard, and the whole home were shrouded in sadness and misery. The mud in the yard and the slippery outside the yard gate made people's hearts heavy and sad, and they were extremely sad.
He knelt in front of his father's coffin in the rain. Mr. Yin Yang dropped the funeral pot from above his head, hitting the rocks on the ground accurately and shattering it into pieces.
He kowtowed and swayed all over.
That was the first time he felt cotton stuffed in his throat. It was terribly uncomfortable. Tears streamed down his face without making any sound------
The rain was falling, blurring the vision, and the world was filled with sadness.
The four-horse coffin cart would not move, no matter how the owner whipped and shouted, or how hard the horses kicked their hooves.
The father lying in the coffin has too many worries and is unwilling to leave home——
The villagers attending the funeral were shocked, and the five sisters cried together. The cry was desolate, sad, painful, heart-wrenching, and made anyone who heard it cry -----
At the age of seven, he seemed to understand a lot of things at once. He wiped away the tears on his face, walked to the carriage in the rain, knelt down on the rainy ground, and kowtowed three times to his father.
"Dad, let's go, I will take care of mom -"
"Dad, I will live a good life at home——"
"Dad, take care along the way -"
He stood up from the dirt floor, fell into a trance, and passed out.
The owner of the useless car shouted, four horses raised their hooves, and the coffin was carrying a banner, and it moved in the shrill rain------
When the tears stopped flowing in my eyes, the picture jumped.
He went to school. He carried a blue cloth schoolbag sewn by his mother, which contained newly issued textbooks. His mother could not read, but she was willing to read the pictures in the textbooks. He gave the art book to his mother, and she looked through it one by one.
It's not a happy "tsk tsk" sound.
In addition to looking at the pictures in the textbooks, my mother also likes to read the certificates posted on the wall.
In addition to New Year pictures, what was posted on the wall were his and Fifth Sister's "Three Good Students", "Excellent Students" and certificates from various competitions. If they couldn't be posted anymore, they took off the old ones and put on new ones.
Those awards are my mother’s joy and pride.
After my father left, everything in the family fell on my mother's shoulders.
My mother used her thin body to support this family. Although it was poor, it was warm, although it was embarrassment, it was warm, and although it was windy and rainy, it was sweet, happy, and prosperous.
Memories are painful, especially when you recall your childhood, there is nothing but sadness and gloom. Many people like a beautiful childhood because they have beautiful memories. If what is left is sadness and pain, they don't want to mention it.
He skipped elementary school and went directly to junior high school.
He was thirteen years old at that time, so he was a little boy. Due to long-term farm work, he had a strong body and was stronger than his peers.
At that time, there were only three people in the family: my mother, my fifth sister, and him. The four older sisters were all married.
The family is too poor to raise livestock, so my sisters come back to help with farming and harvesting.
Farming in spring and harvesting in autumn. He and his fifth sister had to take time off to go home and help with the work. They usually tended the fields after school and on Sundays. Despite his young age, he was still a farmer, and all the experienced farmers in the village were
Very impressed.
In the countryside, people and bears have a hard time living, and they are always bullied.
When he was thirteen years old, he started to appear in the village as the only male in the family and the person in charge. Of course, because his family was poor, no one looked down on him, so he was bullied and beaten frequently. To be precise, he was beaten frequently, and his nose and face were often bruised and swollen.
of.
But in his heart he refused to admit defeat, he fought even if he couldn't beat him, and he was the kind to risk his life. Gradually, no one dared to provoke him, and there were fewer bullies. His principle is not to bully others, and it is not easy for others to bully him, so it is okay.
Make trouble, don't be afraid of trouble.
Although he is young, he is reasonable and has developed a good talker since then. Most people can't talk to him. Even the police station director is unwilling to argue with him, so he can't get around him.
He is good at talking and has a good physique after working in the farm for a long time. In addition, he has developed fighting skills from being beaten to beating others. By the time he went to high school at the age of 16, he had become a figure in the village.
No one doesn't know it.
He studied for two of the three years of high school, but he had no choice. His family was poor and he couldn't afford to go to school. In addition, his fifth sister was studying in a normal school at the time, so he had no choice but to drop out of school.
To this day, he still does not regret his decision to drop out of school, although his two years of high school life were gloomy and he failed to enter the college examination room.
As the same saying goes, people will say whatever they want, and what kind of reality determines what kind of choice. There is nothing to regret or not regret. It is you who drives the carriage of life, and you decide how to take the road, no matter whether it is uphill or downhill.
, there are still ditches and bumps, just leave and it’s over.
Reality is for changing, not for complaining.
Twenty-two years have passed in a flash, and the vigorous young man at the beginning has become a middle-aged man with gray hair on his temples. This is not considered a success, but compared to most children who come from rural areas to work, it is still good.
"Okay, I'm content, I have a family, my children are sensible and good, my mother and my fifth sister will take care of me, I can enjoy my old age in peace, there is nothing to worry about. Now is the time when people are in harmony with each other and everything goes as planned. It is the time to start a career."
Lao Tan concluded for himself.
My thoughts jump out of past memories and into the reality in front of me.
He thought: He will return to the provincial capital tomorrow to make arrangements for outstanding employees to travel to the grassland this month. Then he will inspect various stores and hold a meeting. After that, he will go to Suzhou. He must focus on that and cannot relax.
There are also those who were sent to study and are coming back soon. When they come back, they will arrange internships and on-site drills. The first private restaurant cannot be completely destroyed.
The central kitchen also needs to be finalized. A location will be selected this year and built in the new year.
Thinking of these, the old restaurant owner began to feel warm all over, and he was also a little excited.