farm life

After nearly two hours' drive, they arrived at Huaye Town, and got on the bus to Linjia Village. Lin Jiangsui, who had a bumpy road and his face turned extremely ugly, finally arrived at the place.

After walking a section of the river embankment, walking along the path paved with cement slabs, and walking through a large area of ​​farmland, I finally saw the place in my memory.

Linjia Village is surrounded by mountains on all sides, a clear stream flows out of the village, connects to the outside, and meets the big river in the distance.

The appearance of this place has changed a lot, but it seems that it has not changed. He still remembers the small river meandering along the village, but he does not remember the yellow jue tree that crosses the small river by the river at the entrance of the village. He remembers the roads and paths of the village, but not Remember whose house this is and whose house it is.

A stranger came to the village, and the villagers all looked at him curiously, but did not say hello. Only the older generation stared at him for a long time, and then suddenly realized, and then said to the people around them: "This should be Lin The eldest grandson of the Fu family. I haven't seen him for many years, and he looks the same as his father, Lin Youwei." Lin Fu, his grandfather's name.

When he heard this, Lin Jiang would show a shy smile to the old man who was talking, because the other party mentioned his grandfather, which meant that they still remembered him.It is a very happy thing to be remembered, even if the reason for being remembered is not good.

Maybe it was his smile that made the other party have a good impression, the old man also smiled back at him, and asked in a dialect with a strong accent: "Are you the follower of Lin Fu's family?"

People here like to call children Wazi or Wa'er, and Sui Wazi can be regarded as his baby name.

Lin Jiangsui nodded, and said in dialect: "Yes, sir, are you?"

"I belong to your grandpa's third cousin's family. I can be regarded as his cousin. Everyone calls me grandpa. You can call me grandpa too. I hugged you when you were young."

"Hello, grandpa." He followed the old man's voice and called.

"Hey, you came back to burn incense for your mother-in-law, right?" "Grandma" means grandma in the local dialect.

"Well, I just received the letter, so I didn't have time to see her for the last time." Lin Jiangsui was a little sad, although not close, but not without feelings.

"Your mother-in-law is buried in the cemetery at the back of the village, next to your grandfather. You will visit them later, burn incense, and kowtow. Now go home and have a look. I haven't been back for so long. You have to look at home first." no?"

"Well, then I'll go back first, thank you, Grandpa."

"Go quickly."

The houses here are not always high-rise buildings like the people in the city. They are all one-story houses, the tallest of which does not exceed three floors. Everyone’s houses are close to each other. There is only an earthen wall between the houses. It's like being one everyone.

The Lin family's house was built in the center of the village. In front of the door was a concrete clearing where everyone usually dried food and firewood. Behind the house was an open space tied up with a fence, and behind it was a mountain wall covered with mossy vegetation.

When I arrived at the door of the house, I saw many people sitting under the eaves of their houses in the open space, with work in their hands, and chatting.Among the old wooden houses with earthen walls, a two-story house with red walls and white tiles seemed a bit out of place.

Lin Jiangsui was a little dazed. He knew from the letter that Lin Youwei spent a lot of money to renovate the house in the past two years, but he didn't expect such a big change.

The people who were chatting found him and discussed a few words with each other. The aunt in front of the house on the right of his house greeted loudly: "Are you a child?"

"Well, it's me." Lin Jiangsui looked at the person carefully, and he had some impressions. He walked over, "Are you... my cousin?" Lin Youwei is an only son and has no brothers or sisters. This cousin is Lin Jiang was with his cousin's family, but he didn't know his name.

"Hey, I'm your cousin, see? Suizi still remembers me!" The cousin proudly showed off to the people around her.

"I see, I see, why don't you get down to business quickly." Someone booed.

"Isn't that what you want to say, Suiwazi, after your mother-in-law left, I will leave the key to this house with you. Wait, I'll get it for you."

"Then thank you, cousin."

"Thank you for such a small matter. Children raised in big cities are different." My aunt said again, then turned and entered the house.

The rest of the people also gathered around and chatted with him.

"Suiwazi, do you remember me?" asked the old woman with a little white hair.

"Remember, you are Wang Niangniang (aunt), right?" Lin Jiangsui's seniority is a bit high, usually around the same age as his grandma, and he is called uncle and aunt.Some older than him still call him uncle.

"Then what about me?" A dark and strong young man a few years older than Lin Jiangsui asked.

"You are..." Lin Jiang thought for a while, but still couldn't remember, so he could only shake his head, "I don't remember."

The young man's face collapsed, causing everyone to roar with laughter. Wang Niangniang smiled and compared her height, "Haiwazi, when you left with Wazi, you were only a little old. How could he recognize you now?"

After being reminded by this, Lin Jiangsui remembered who he was, "I remember, you are Brother Haifan from Lin's second father's (second uncle's) family."

Haiwazi, the young man named Lin Haifan smiled, "It's me, Jiang Sui, how is your life in the city? I haven't seen you for so long, come back and see."

Lin Jiangsui only said that he was not allowed to come out in the school, and he was perfunctory with a few words.

At this time, my cousin came out with the key. He took the key, thanked him, chatted with everyone, and said that he would go into the house to have a look and prepare to burn incense to the elders later.After everyone heard this, they stopped pulling him to talk, and only said that it is getting dark now, so let him go early and come back early.

Open the door of the house, the house faces south, and the east and west sides are close to other people's houses, so the windows are all opened to the north. It is conceivable that the lighting effect is not very good, only a few places on the roof In certain places, sunlight falls from the reserved space, making the room less dark.

After fumbling around the wall for a while, I finally found the switch wire for the light.

Turn on the light, and the room brightened up. Lin Jiangsui lived here for seven years, even though he was still young at that time, and after another 11 years, his memory became blurred, but he still remembered the general appearance. The furniture and furnishings seem to be the same as when they were children, and they are more strange.

The original black earth floor with pits and holes was paved with cement. Because the elderly lived there, in order to prevent slipping, the concrete floor was not very smooth, but rather uneven like sandpaper.

In the not-so-big hall, there is a large stone mill and a small threshing machine. There is a door on each of the two walls connected to the left corner, and there is no door panel, just a frame. The one on the right facing the door leads to the granary and the storage room, and the one on the left is the room leading to the inside, which is the dining room.

The dining room is in the same position as the outer hall, and there is a door without a door panel. The door on the right is the bedroom on the first floor with a bathroom, and the left leads to the kitchen, which also has a back door leading to the backyard and stairs to the second floor. .

There are only two rooms on the upper floor, one on the left and one on the right. The left side is the master bedroom, and the other side is where sundries are piled up. The sundry room faces the backyard and there is a small balcony. There is no good view from the balcony. , only a few meters away is the same height of the mountain wall and the fruit forest on the mountain.

There are not many furnishings in the house, all of which are old tables, chairs and wooden cabinets. Only a newly bought 23-inch large color TV is placed in the bedroom on the first floor. When most households use black and white TVs, owning a color TV is not easy. Very grand, even if not many channels are received here.

Just by looking at the furnishings, one can tell that grandma lives in the bedroom on the first floor. On the dressing table by the window, a stack of bundled letters is placed in the most conspicuous position. On the side facing him, there is a clear Write your own name.

Go forward to pick it up, untie the rope and look at the sender on the envelope one by one, all of them are him, from the beginning when he couldn't even write and had to be written by others, to the neat and beautiful handwriting later, those more than 100 letters Letters, throughout his entire student days.

His eyes were watery, but he didn't cry. He learned not to cry a long time ago. That kind of thing is only allowed to exist when you are not alone.

Put the letter back in its original place, take a last look at this place that has lost its owner, and gently close the door...

Sometimes, people are not without feelings, but too much helplessness makes them have no choice...

Lin Jiang bought items for worship at the canteen in the village, and Lin Jiang went up the mountain alone with the items.

The hill he was going to was not the one behind his house, but a bald hill across the river at the end of the village. The land on that hill was barren and not suitable for farming. There, over time, it became a dedicated cemetery for the Lin Family Village.

When he was a child, Lin Jiang would come to burn incense with his adults during festivals. Later, when his grandfather passed away, he had more people to worship, and he came more diligently. It was just that after school, that person refused to let him come back, so he never I can come.

Along the path in my memory, I arrived at Grandpa’s grave, where there was a new, slightly smaller grave, covered with debris from firecrackers, and greens hanging from a bamboo pole.

The two graves were cleaned up very cleanly, which saved Lin Jiang from doing it himself. He lit a candle and inserted it into the open space in front of the grave, lit the incense again, held it in his hand, and first kowtowed three times to his grandfather's grave , and knocked three more on grandma's grave.

After doing this, he picked up the paper money around him, separated them one by one, lit them with a candle, watched them slowly burn out, and threw down a new one.

He didn't speak from the beginning to the end, but just burned quietly. When the last piece of paper money was burned, he lit the firecrackers he brought, and walked down the mountain amidst the thunderous sound of firecrackers.