Jean Love

The ground is uneven, with wide and uniform stones, uplifted and hard mounds, and small pits, surrounding the stone dining table. When placing a stool, you must drag the handle of the stool. Let the four corners of the stool grind on the ground a few times to find a comparison Sit in a stable position, shake it back and forth a few times to see if it is stable, the whole floor gives people a cold and damp feeling all year round, but it will not seep out.

Fortunately, there are some bright tiles on the roof of the tall building, one, two, three..., a total of nine yuan, exposed to the sun and rain, years of wind and frost, and traces of spiders, each piece is like a chemical washed by tears. The face of a girl with heavy make-up can still give enough light to the living room of more than ten square meters.

The stairs leading to the second floor were trembling and dusty.The yellow beam board looks loose and collapsed, and a piece of colored striped cloth placed on it at an unknown time seems to have been salvaged from a dirty mud pond a long time ago. It was simply washed and placed on top of it indiscriminately. A layer of fine soil has long been air-dried. .It's an abandoned staircase, an abandoned attic.Occupying a small part on the left side of the entire living room, it is not directly facing the dining table.

There is an old-fashioned large-frame mirror hanging on the high wall facing the entrance in the living room. The frame around the mirror is painted red. The lower left corner of the mirror is written with the words congratulations of so-and-so in red paint, and a picture of a lotus flower in the lower right corner.There are two majestic and tall wooden pillars on both sides of the wall, with a diameter of at least 30 centimeters. I don’t know if they are pine, fir, or other wood. Golden dragons and carps are carved on them, which are full of spirits and lifelike.Based on these two pillars alone, it is known that this is the building of the ancestors, and it may be the property of the grandfather's grandfather.The bricks it uses are not clay bricks, they are similar to the current red bricks, but different from the current red bricks, they are called bluestone bricks.

Dustpans are piled up on the left wall of the living room, empty plastic barrels for motor oil, sandals, rubber shoes... and there is a row of altars and jars on the right wall. An octagonal wooden cabinet, a hexagonal wooden cabinet is just stuck in the [-]-degree corner where the two walls meet, and the dishes are placed, and the small doors and windows are equipped with thin wire screens.

The few of us sat around a slate table with a diameter of about [-] centimeters. It was molded with cement, with white gravel appliqués on the surface. After polishing, it feels smooth and rich in texture.This is what the big brother made by himself.Good-looking and generous, economical and practical, and most importantly, durable.

At first glance, the entire living room looks like an abandoned temple in a movie, or an unfinished building that has been suspended for some reason in real life. When you look closely, the space and everything in general give people a feeling of being mixed together.

"My mother, please tidy up the New Year's spoon. It's so messy." Although the niece called her mother, she often spoke to her elder sister in the tone of two sisters.

"I'm just messing around. The frame of this kind of rotten house is the same when you pick it up and down. You are full when you see it, and you are full after picking it up. Anyway, there are no strange relatives coming over." When the three brothers separated, the sister and the others were separated. I have lived in this old house for so many years. The other two cousins ​​brought their family members to work outside all the year round. Later, they even built a house in the town. There is a better earthen house under their name, which was originally called for my sister and the others to move there. I live here, but my elder sister is ambitious and didn’t move, so she stays here, gets up early every day, works hard, and raises two children. Now my nephew is out of the society, and my niece will soon be able to assign work.She said: "When I first moved in, I was so uncomfortable that I got over it, and now it doesn't matter anymore. People with hands and feet don't live here forever."

"After the new year, work harder these few years and build a new house for you to live in." The eldest brother was about to deliver a piece of sausage to his mouth. "I'll ask Mao Ya to borrow some money then." He looked at me.

"The money I can lend you is only enough to buy two loads of bricks."

"I heard that you did a good job in Dongguan. You took Chen Wu and Zhao Xin with you."

"It's just heard."

"How do you sell gasoline now?" Big brother asked me.

"We have never sold gasoline, only diesel and lubricants."

"Oh, then... how do you sell diesel?" He asked again.

"2.45 yuan per liter."

"It's similar to the ones here. I was wondering if you could get some back. It can be used in many places at home, hehe."

"In such a far place, get some diesel oil and come back. Don't say that you can't bring it in the car. Even if you can, you don't bother to bring it. What's the point in getting less, and it won't be enough for travel expenses if you get too much. I don't know what the brains are. I can figure out all the problems." The elder sister glanced at the elder brother, then picked up the wine bowl and told me to drink, and introduced me to the delicious food on the table.He put down his chopsticks and asked me, "When do you go to work? When do you leave?"

"I go to work on the sixth day, and I will go down on the fifth day."

"Are Chen Wu and Zhao Xin still with you?" My sister asked again.

"Chen Wu is still with me, but Zhao Xin is gone. I heard that he is going to the town to learn tram and tailoring." I replied.

"Oh, that's good, learn some techniques."

"So it's here, so I can find it everywhere." It was grandma, who stepped into the living room from the kitchen with her hands behind her back.

"Happy New Year, grandma, sit down and come drink." The nephew immediately got up, brought a set of clean bowls and chopsticks, put them on the table, moved a stool over, bowed his head twice, and patted it twice.Make a sit-down gesture.

The elder sister helped to pour the wine, and the elder brother held up the chopsticks and introduced the various face bowls on the table, one by one, as if introducing handicrafts one by one, all of which were his masterpieces, especially the bullwhip face bowl, which was even more groundbreaking.Grandma said cheerfully: "Oh, hey, I'm pretty good at it. My big head is smart, and I can do everything. New Year's Day, good luck to you."

"Small milk, this year's Chinese New Year is good, four or five people are working outside, and the 100 yuan each is worth hundreds of yuan." The eldest brother is sometimes so tacky that he smells like money.

"Where is it? My old sister only gave 20 yuan, and my hairy girl gave me more..." She glanced at me. In fact, I was the same as Chen Wu. I discussed it in advance. If you have to learn technology in the next year, it will be less.

"Where is Chen Xiong? Chen Xiong also gave a lot, right?"

"He also gave it, oops, it's good to have it, not much, it's good to have it, he has a family now, and the burden is heavy." "His wife didn't give it, she helped her with the child, and helped the child wash clothes every day , Not at all, after the Chinese New Year, I will clap my arms too, huh!" Grandma has always loved Chen Xiong very much, loved the house as much as Wu, and she has been taking good care of her sister-in-law after she came in.It's just that she would say this, which made me feel a little puzzled.

Seeing her niece grinning secretly, she glared at her.I was eating melon seeds, knowing that what grandma said about looking for me everywhere was actually nothing to do, I was just looking for a smooth transition for her to come here.I raised my bowl and toasted everyone: "Brother, sister, everyone go to my house for a drink." I got up and left.

I went to Brother Chen Hui’s house on the third day of junior high school, my eldest sister’s house who married far away on the fourth day of junior high school, and Chen Wu went to my cousin’s house in the town. Just like that, the Spring Festival of that year was warm and harmonious, the old and the young were harmonious, warm and flat, and there was less Arguing, in my impression, this is the feeling of home, a very real feeling of home, a feeling I yearn for but dare not be demanding.

At 12:[-] noon on the fifth day of the fifth day, they all came out of the village to see them off. My grandma still wanted to admire me as always. My father approached my ear and asked me to help pay attention to see if I could find a job for him.The little niece was struggling in her mother's arms, crying and crying, saying not very clearly that she would not let her brother go, but to stay and take her with her, looking pitiful.

In the distance, a familiar shabby cotton cap, a familiar serious face, a gray Chinese tunic suit, a pair of black long water shoes, and a long-handled iron shovel on our shoulders, watched us step onto the big road. My brother's motorcycle turned around slowly and left.That was grandpa, a serious and kind grandpa, like a warm glow, a silhouette worthy of being framed and cherished forever, but unfortunately I didn't have a camera at that time.

Sister-in-law and Zhao Xin didn’t come out, and they washed clothes at home. After the Lantern Festival, sister-in-law went to Guangzhou, and Zhao Xin studied trams in the town. After finishing her studies, she went to Zhuhai. Later, she transferred to Zhongshan and worked in a garment factory all the time. , because I was recommended and accompanied by a close family member, so later, I ignored her attention.

It was getting dark, and the street lights illuminated the proprietress's black car as it slowly drove over.

"Happy New Year, Wen and Wu, get in the car and go to my house for dinner first." The proprietress opened the car door and got out, holding a small and delicate bag in her left hand.The right hand greeted, laughing.

After saying hello, I took the key she handed over, opened the door of the gas station, put the simple luggage into the office, and took out a bag from the bag to the proprietress. It was a preserved duck from Nanxiong: "There is nothing at home. Good thing, I brought a cured duck for you to taste, according to the way you eat it here, you just need to chop it into pieces and steam it in the rice."

The proprietress was polite, evaded, and then said thank you, and thanked my parents.He took it, shrugged his shoulders, his high heels slapped the ground, trotted, ran to the side of the car, opened the door, put it in the car, then turned around, went back to the office, patted the bucket of distilled water, smiled and greeted Let's go eat.

A circle of firecrackers, a table of tea, wine and food for worship, and a plate of candy and apples are regarded as the groundbreaking ceremony.Going to work, the days are back to monotonous and busy.It’s just that with my younger brother by my side, I’m generally much more relaxed. I don’t need to stay by myself at night, and I can take turns going out occasionally.