My hometown fried rice house is a secluded mountain village, surrounded by rolling mountains in a crescent-shaped ravine. I was born and raised in Sri Lanka. I ate bran and swallowed vegetables, and went to primary school and junior high school. Although I have been away from my hometown for more than 40 years, the loess flavor, grass flavor and human touch there are still fresh in my memory.
"King of Henan"
There are three Wang Xing families in our village, two of whom are from Shandong and Shaanxi, but the number is small, so it is a small portal. And our Wang family is a big family, from grandpa's generation, there are forty or fifty men, women and children. Because our ancestral home is Wangjiazhuang, Wu 'an County, Henan Province, the villagers call us "King of Henan".
I haven't met my grandfather Wang Fengyi. I heard that he is a teacher in a private school. His brushwork is delicate and elegant, natural and unrestrained. In the preserved yellowed old archives, the development history of our family is clearly recorded. According to records, Wu 'an 1738 in Henan was flooded, and houses and land were flooded. Wang Yu, the grandfather of the Fifth Wang Family, and Chen Wang, the grandmother of the Fifth Wang Family, took their sons and nephews and a pair of bamboo baskets and fled to Nanyang County, Henan Province.
Nanyang, known as Wan in ancient times, is located at the southern foot of Funiu Mountain and the northern foot of Hanshui River. There are many hills, beautiful peaks and abundant aquatic plants, and it has the reputation of "green hills in the north and white water in the east". A year later, life was just about to settle down, and as a result, the whole county was plagued by locusts. So many locusts could almost cover the sun and the crops were eaten without leaves. In order to survive, grandparents came to Jinan, Shandong Province with beggars. Unfortunately, in a farmer's market in Jinan, my grandparents were separated for begging. My grandparents led two children to wait at the market gate for two days and two nights, and I didn't see my grandparents either. No way, Grandma Zu led the children with bamboo baskets with tears and returned to the foot of Qilin Mountain where we now live to settle down.
There are no friends at the foot of Qilin Mountain. Mother and son look at the land at the foot of the mountain and have to live in an old plot used by others. The mattress is a handful of firewood and the quilt is a broken straw curtain. Every midnight, Grandma Zu picked up two bony children with tears, looked at the starry sky in Nanshan and hummed, "My family lives in Nanshan. Men are filial, women are virtuous, and brothers and sisters are our family traditions handed down from Wangjiazhuang, Wu 'an County, Henan Province! "
"Mom, what is family style?" Wang Tinggui, a four-year-old son, asked puzzled.
"Family style is the family style of our Wang family."
"How about Wangjiazhuang in the south of Nanshan?"
"Wang Guzhuang, Wuan county, persimmon walnut slate house. Pomegranate trees and peppers are fragrant, and there is a big group at home! "
Grandmother Zu cried and asked her son Wang Tinggui to recite the words over and over again. When Wang Tinggui grew up, he passed the words to his son Wang Yuanchen again and again, and then Wang Yuanchen passed the words to his son Wang Dengjia again and again. ...
My grandfather is a big man with a Chinese face. He has been wearing a plain gray robe for a long time, with a beautiful braid on his head, which is shining black. Grandpa always smiles and nods before bowing when talking to everyone.
Grandpa has six brothers. He is a bachelor, and everyone calls him Mr. Wang Wu. The second king of the children Fengming is my second grandfather. He is practical, frugal and has good social skills, so he is the head of the family. At that time, the ceremony of becoming the head of the family was very grand. When my grandfather was old, he called his six sons and daughters-in-law together to discuss making the second son the patriarch. Everyone has their own opinions. If there is no opinion, the six sons and daughters-in-law kowtow to the old man and swear to wholeheartedly support the work of the new clan.
Our family pays attention to tradition and etiquette. Every year during the Spring Festival, a clan meeting is held. The clan association is a meeting presided over by the patriarch. It's very important and serious, and the whole family, men, women and children, should attend. Grandpa's main room is in the main room. There is a big kang in the main room, which can seat many people. Usually the whole family eats in this room, so meetings are usually held here. At the beginning of the meeting, Grandpa Two asked his father, Mr. and Mrs. Wang Yunlai, to take a seat in the main hall. The children kowtowed and bowed to the two old people in turn according to their seniority, and skillfully recited the family precepts before sitting down for the meeting. The content of the meeting is basically a matter of family life. Who plays with money, who takes drugs, who steals things, which woman treats her in-laws, disrespects her sister-in-law, gossips, whose children fight and swear, and so on. , all informed criticism at the meeting. Of course, we should also praise the good ones, such as respecting the old and loving the young, being harmonious and friendly, and being brave and caring for others.
The new patriarch, Sir Zhong, is eloquent and tall. He wears a brown felt hat and has a long braid on his head. He likes to hold a rosewood copper pot pipe in his hand, but he smokes very little every day. If he sits there smoking with his head down, there must be something wrong. At that time, our family had a large population and life was very difficult. It is common to eat the last meal without the next. Grandpa two often goes out with his bag on his back and borrows money from people for food. At noon on the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, there was not even a grain of rice in the grain depot. Someone saw Second Grandpa crouching at the gate early in the morning, smoking with his head down. Others saw Mr. Zhong walk from the west courtyard to the east courtyard with his head down and his hands behind his back, and from the east courtyard to the west courtyard, beating the felt hat with the pipe in his hand. Finally, he borrowed two bowls of sorghum rice from others. Forty-eight people in the whole family killed a chicken and cooked a pot of sorghum rice porridge for the New Year.
Grandpa two and his great-grandfather family live in three main rooms in our west courtyard. There is a grain depot and a stable in the yard, which is regarded as the general logistics department. The other five grandfathers and their families live in the East Siheyuan. Throughout the year, two people in the yard are eating a pot of rice and guarding the same home. As long as Sir Zhong gives the order, everyone will be happy and will fight for it.
I have an eight-year-old mother who lives in the main room of our quadrangle. In her forties, she went blind because she had no money to treat her eye diseases. She is white and tender, tall and thin, and she is a very clean and talkative person. After breakfast every day, she began to visit door to door with crutches. As long as I hear that there is a woman who is busy with her work and has no one to look after her children, or she usually has a lot of needlework, I offer her some, especially the work of rubbing hemp ropes and collecting soles. Ba Niang did it neatly and meticulously. She often said that it is a blessing to help others, and it is a feeling to repay you. Everyone was very moved to say that although she was blind, there was a very bright light in her heart.
Sister-in-law always makes clothes for children and is always willing to find her. Ba Niang cheerfully asked the child to stand in front of her, and then stretched out two fingers to measure horizontally and vertically, and the size was there. You can do it with confidence. When you put it on, you can be sure that it fits your size, whether fat or thin. After a long time, the children all like to run to her side and hold her hand to touch. So no matter how tall the child is, what the baby's name is, and how long and wide the clothes are, Ba Niang will come with her mouth open.
There is a big elm tree in front of my house, which is very thick and tall. It has a history of at least several decades. Although the tree was not planted by our Wangs, its thick roots firmly penetrated into our two yards. Grandpa two often tells everyone not to hurt them. Water is active and trees have roots. Our "King of Henan" should be as closely United as roots and have no regrets.
At that time, more than forty people in our family were United and harmonious, eating a pot of rice and drinking a jar of water. Every day before dawn, men and women start to get up, women wash pots and dishes, make a fire to cook, men feed grass in the stable, cut wood and mow grass, and help take care of the garden. When a man or a woman doesn't get up, the second grandfather who is patrolling coughs a few times, and footsteps in the yard ring in a hurry.
In 1930s, the Japanese began to invade China. 1938 In the spring, several Japanese soldiers came to our village wearing yellow clothes and ribbons on their heads. At that time, it was the season when apricot blossoms were in full bloom all over the mountain. In order to enjoy the apricot blossom happily on the hillside, Japanese soldiers caught more than a dozen children on motorcycles, saying that they were holding a flower viewing competition, so that the children took off their shoes and ran from the top of the mountain to the bottom. Whoever runs fast will get two pieces of Japanese rice cake candy and a bunch of apricot flowers. As a result, several children accidentally fell from the hillside and were black and blue.
My third grandfather, Wang Fengzhu, was employed by a rich farmer in this camp. The Japanese saw that he was in good health and strong, so they took him to feed them horses and carry water, and only gave them two biscuits a day. On the mountain that day, Third Master saw Japanese soldiers making fun of children's lives on purpose, so he bit his lips, and blood vessels like earthworms suddenly burst out on his red neck. When he came back, he took advantage of the dead of night to find some big nails to puncture the tires of Japanese soldiers' motorcycles and cut off a horse's leg with a machete for cutting grass. The Japanese desperately hung the third master naked on the post of the stable, and his body was beaten several times. The second grandpa was very anxious, so he called his brothers to give advice and try to save the third grandpa. Finally, Grandpa Two came up with an idea. He heard that there is a Japanese official document named Ichiro Yamada in Chifeng headquarters, and he loves to write and draw. So Grandpa Two asked Grandpa to write a calligraphy for Ichiro Yamada and asked him to help save people. Ichiro Yamada is a thin man with a pair of glasses. He can't speak a few words of Chinese. He was very happy to see grandpa's calligraphy, so he let grandpa out with a phone call.
My father and my second uncle are grandpa's students. Because my uncle was young and sick since childhood, my grandmother gave him the task of taking care of him. My second uncle is a few years younger than my father, and he is usually very playful. Grandpa assigned him a task, besides taking good care of his uncle, he also had to put the desks in grandpa's school in order and clean the ground every morning. Father's task is to prepare the paper and ink taught by grandpa in advance, soak the writing brush, and then play the abacus ten times. Nine times out of ten, the disobedient second uncle led his third uncle away and disappeared, so the task of cleaning naturally fell on his father.
On one occasion, the housewife of Wang Xing's family in Shandong was furious and found her grandparents, saying that the second uncle and the old uncle had eaten all the dried bean curd that his family had put in the cave, and even the cloth bag had been stolen, asking grandpa to pay a silver dollar. How can the children of "Henan King" steal from others? Grandpa's hand was shaking, and he knelt in front of the Wangs to apologize. Uncle said they didn't steal food at all. There were other children playing in the cave. Uncle was afraid that the dried tofu would be stolen by others, so he quietly hid it in a porcelain basin.
The next day, the Wangs' woman came to the door again and said that the dried tofu had been found. She had misjudged the two children. Enthusiastically put big red dates in my uncle's and dad's pockets and bowed again and again to apologize to my grandparents.
After my father married my uncle, my grandparents passed away. The second uncle and the old uncle told their father that there was a father following his father and no father following his brother. From now on, everyone will listen to his brother. At that time, because of the large population, our uncle and I had already separated. Although every family leads their own lives, my uncle and I live in the three west wings of the yard. The three brothers care about each other and help each other. A kind mother and a virtuous second aunt are United as sisters. You respect me and let me. For more than 20 years, the two families have been using a water tank and a bowl rack. Especially when cooking with a rice mill, there are usually three bowls of rice in your house and two bowls of beans in my house. Come back to your house to cook, and my house will steam dry food. I've never been red-faced because of you.
For decades, the honest and frank "King of Henan" has become a "noble family" business card in Shili Baxiang. Some people say that there is something important in the village. As long as the honest and resolute "King of Henan" man goes to that station, good things promise to help him with all their strength. Bad things roll with the punches. The girl has been betrothed to the Wangs. Just rest assured, learn manners, study more and live a good life.
Time flies, time flies. Nowadays, the times have progressed and the new society is changing with each passing day. The population of the Wangs is increasing, and life is getting better and better. However, the family style of "filial piety for men and virtuous women, brothers and sisters" and the family motto of "kindness is the foundation, filial piety is the first, morality is the highest, harmony is the most precious, and honesty is unyielding" have not changed. Adults and children say that wisdom and well-being will change when they are poor. If the traditions of filial piety, family and everything change, then the life of "King of Henan" will be tasteless.
Ming Kai Yehe
I haven't returned to my hometown for several years. I really want to meet her when I go back this time. I wonder if she is still alive.
Her name is Ming Kai Yehe, and some people call her Acacia. In fact, I don't know her exact age, only that she was born next to the "two-person well" in front of my house.
She is five or six meters tall and has a waist of more than two feet. The umbrella-shaped head is very beautiful, the S-shaped light taupe trunk and the longitudinally cracked skin are like wearing an elegant plaid dress. Under the canopy, a bucket-thick fork diverged from the trunk, much like a woman bending down to explore a well. Happily, as soon as Grain Rain passed, the knife-shaped leaves all over the tree grew up day by day and clustered into a ball. Under the care of leaves, oval flowers are expanding, shining and pink every day. In the blink of an eye, a small mouth spits out colorful flowers. These flowers are beautiful and fragrant. Dou Shu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, praised him and said, "Flowers bloom late, the court is full of fragrance, and the light rain wakes me up at night. The distant book cherishes He Zengda, and the old things are bleak. "
Why can "Ming Kai Yehe" bloom brilliantly in the daytime and shut his mouth sadly like a drunk at night? In order to solve this mystery, I was young and naive. Every time I go to bloom, I will hide under a tree and watch quietly, looking for answers. At that time, our teenage friends usually divided into two groups of hide-and-seek cats at night. I often lead a group of people as the Eighth Route Army, and another group as Kuomintang agents. One of our hiding places is the shed, and the other is the "burning the midnight oil" next to the "two-person well" Because there is a lot of dust and dirty clothes in the mill shed, the place that opens at night has become our best hiding place.
Once, two "spies" were caught by us. I was very angry when I saw them tie their heads and bodies to the tree with broken branches. "The tree belongs to our royal family, and it is not allowed to break branches again." I lovingly picked up the branches with broken flowers and put them in several glass bottles to wait for bloom. In a short time, the depressed branches stood upright and the listless flowers bloomed happily. Suddenly, the fragrance inside and outside the hospital was fragrant and refreshing. I didn't expect my mother to teach me a lesson with her fist after seeing it. She said this tree belongs to Wang Cao's family, so we should take good care of it. Children are blind when they break branches.
I didn't even eat at night, lying in bed with wronged tears. I cried and said that the branch was broken by the "spy" Erpang and Farlin. I shouldn't be blind ... After my mother knew the truth, she took me to bed in distress and said, "It's hard enough to die at night. How can you still kill her?"
"Why?" I asked in confusion.
"It is said that there was a flood in Henan in 1938, and the Wang family and Cao family fled their hometown together. In order to make a living, the two dug a well at the head of the village in one day. It's a pity that two people who were exhausted from hunger vomited blood, and later people called this well' two-person well'. I heard that there was a fairy named Acacia in the sky who knew about it, so she quietly descended to the world during the day, pulled out a silver hairpin from her head and inserted it at the well to mark it, and then quietly returned to the Heavenly Palace at night. Later, the "Ming Kai Yehe" tree grew by the well.
Mom seems to remember a lot of past events. "One year, your third grandpa left because of malaria, leaving a dumb third grandma and a little girl over two years old. The house at home is dilapidated and the food has been eaten for the last meal. Later, the Cao family's' second bachelor' often went to your third grandmother's house to help carry water, cut wood and push the roller. When your third grandmother's old woman saw it, she felt that she had lost to the' King of Henan', scolded the' Second Bachelor' and threw your third grandmother's luggage out of the yard. "
"From then on, the two families in Wang Cao have deep grievances, and the' two-person well' has also been affected. Whoever goes to play with water will take the well rope away. But someone saw the light turned off for a while, and the' two bachelors' secretly carried water for your third grandmother's house and helped your third grandmother push the rice. "
"Erpang's surname is Cao and Fallin's surname is Cao, but why do they still welcome me?"
"It's much better in recent years. I remember the summer when you were 8 years old, when you were playing under the' Ming Kai Yehe' tree, you scratched a newly made New Pants, and a lot of blood flowed from the inside of your thigh. Did Fallin's mother take you to their house for dinner, sew your pants and send you back? "
"Remember. What I ate at their house that day was yellow rice cake, which was sweet and fragrant. "
After listening to my mother's words, I like "opening in the morning and closing at night" as much as I like the mirror at home. Every summer night, I quietly walked under the tree and watched her keep her mouth shut through the moonlight. Are you still releasing fragrance after closing your mouth? Mom said that the mouth that "opens at night and closes at night" will not be completely closed. The reason why the fragrance is stronger at night is to tell people that she is full of treasures. The fruit with big soybean grains is a traditional Chinese medicine, which can not only dispel wind and remove dampness, promote blood circulation and stop bleeding, but also treat depression and insomnia. Drinking her mosaic water and bitter tree juice can cure anxiety and bruises.
In order to make "Ming Kai Yehe" beautiful forever, in spring, I pry up the ice next to the "Errenzhuan" and put it at the root of the tree to let it melt day by day; In summer, I was afraid that children would break branches and pick flowers and leaves on the tree, so I dug a shovel and surrounded a round pool around the roots to keep the pool moist for a long time. In autumn, I brought beautiful leaves and flowers to school and gave them to my classmates as bookmarks. The smell is so good that it dyes the whole classroom. In winter, fill the pool with water and tell people that "opening at night" means sleeping. Please don't disturb it.
Coincidentally, I revisited my hometown for 50 years this year, and I took my children to find "Tomorrow Night". I wandered around and didn't find it, but I saw a neat new house erected where she grew up. Someone told me that the old "burning the midnight oil" was gone, but the small "burning the midnight oil" was found in several yards. Two male college graduates from the Wangs in Cao Jiahe saw me coming back and asked me to give them guidance. They are busy writing the history of our village.
"This is a good thing. Writing the history of the village is inseparable from' Errenjing' and' Ming Kai Yehe', which is a symbol of national unity in our village and a witness to the friendly development history of Cao and Wang! " I shook their hands and said thank you.
"What,' two wells' and' open at night'?" They were a little surprised. You look at me, I look at you. After a while, the two of them looked at me and smiled sweetly, laughing so happily and tastefully.
Published in GrasslandNo. 12 in 2020.
About the author:
Wang Huijun, born in 1953, is from Harqin Banner, Chifeng City. Member of Inner Mongolia Writers Association. His works are scattered in People's Daily, Guangming Daily, Tianjin Literature, Sichuan Literature, Hundreds of Prose and so on. Published a collection of essays, Love, Beyond Dreams, Warm Sunshine in Those Years, etc. Won the 7th Bingxin Prose Award.