In 1985, my father was a barefoot doctor in the village. At that time, when people in the countryside usually had a headache and brain fever, they would first ask their father to get some medicine and injections, and most of them could be cured in time. My father usually goes to the mountains to pick some herbs to dry, and some people have a slight cold, so they may have to drink two bowls of decoction.
Although the cost of medicine at that time was very cheap, most of them were a few cents a piece, but everyone had no living money in their hands, and many times they could only owe it first, and they could only settle the arrears at the end of the year.
In this way, although my father was only a barefoot doctor, he also had a thick account book, on which were the running accounts of the villagers.
A person who is a doctor, in the eyes of the villagers, is very status, and when you really want to save others from danger, people will call you a living bodhisattva.
My father is also a person who wants to save face, and he always thinks that going to other people's houses to ask for accounts is equivalent to "rent urging" in ancient times, and he has to drag it out until the end of the 30th year every year before he reluctantly goes around, and he just stands at the door of others, embarrassed to speak.
Of course, most people are sensible.
As soon as the father arrived, those who had money would take the initiative to settle their accounts, and those who didn't have money would say good things and ask for "money for a long time" to delay for a while. Rural people also have a "year" called Hanako, although they can't come up with money, they will ask their father to drink a few cups of sweet potato wine at home.
My father had no hobbies in his life, he just liked the contents of the cup, but he never got drunk. In today's words, it is "drinking and enjoying it", but in his mind, who has not read any books, there should be no such concept, it is nothing more than "wine must be drunk well, not drunk".
In the past, we were young, and it didn't hurt whether we had to get it for the New Year, it was just that we had fewer new clothes or snacks to eat.
But this year, our three siblings have all grown up. The 21-year-old eldest sister has a partner and is ready to get married on the eighteenth day of the first month, although she has already given her a few pieces of furniture, but the bedding has to be bought with money, so she waits for her father to receive the arrears and rushes to buy it back as a dowry in the first episode of the first month.
In the blink of an eye, it was Chinese New Year's Eve, and it was snowing heavily, and if it was usual, the originally reluctant father would definitely use this as an excuse not to go out.
But the eldest sister's marriage is imminent, and he is marrying a daughter for the first time, if there are not a few sets of bedding to put on the furniture, and only a few sets of slippery furniture to carry out the door, the father will definitely feel indebted to the child.
So, after the family had lunch, my father went out with the account book to collect the accounts.
I was the second eldest in the family, two years younger than my eldest sister, and I was also a junior high school student, and I was half a scholar in the countryside at that time.
It's just that I'm more restless than my eldest sister, and even though I'm a girl, I also think that farming and housework are useless. So I learned tailoring, and my father bought me a sewing machine, and after leaving school, I made clothes at home, and I was a person who was more recognized by everyone.
Actually, I went to junior high school, and I looked beautiful, and someone had already told me half-truths. It's just that I still have an eldest sister, and as soon as others open their mouths, I am gagged, and all the pressure is transferred to my sister.
Now that my eldest sister is getting married, I am actually quite scared in my heart. I actually imagined my husband in my heart, but whether it was when I was a tailor in the town, or now I am making clothes at home, none of the boys I have seen have ever moved me.
I'm really worried, will my marriage be like my sister, after being introduced by others, and then just make do with my life?
Our local Chinese New Year's Eve dinner is special, and the three meals on the 30th day of the Chinese New Year's Eve can be a reunion dinner. My father also arranged for the reunion at noon, and he had half a day to go to house in the afternoon, and it was okay to go home late in the evening. Our three siblings will always sit by the fire and wait for him to come back, still waiting for our father to send him New Year's money.
If it was in previous years, my father would usually rush home before dark, and my mother would mumble a few words, but he always explained with a smile: Chinese New Year's Eve, go to someone else's house and go to let others remember that they still owe me money.
But this year, I didn't see my father come home until it was dark. At first, a few of us didn't pay much attention. After my mother boiled the lard of the slaughtered pig, she fried the sweet potato chips and Qiaoguo in hot oil, and our three sisters and brothers sat happily by the fire pit and chatted with her.
It had been snowing all day, and although it had stopped after dark, the snow on the ground was knee-thick, and there was hardly anyone walking outside.
Suddenly, I heard a sound of footsteps approaching outside, mainly because the snow was too deep and there was a noticeable creaking sound when stepping on it.
Because the windows of our house are covered with a layer of plastic film, although it can let in the light, it is completely impossible to see the outside scene. Now that we heard someone walking, we all agreed that it was my father who had collected the debt.
The younger brother immediately jumped up, still shouting how much money his father would give this year.
The footsteps came to the base of my house, someone stomped at the door, and then an unfamiliar voice asked: Is it Dr. Huang's house?
Hearing such an abrupt question, the three of us quickly got up and went to open the door.
You know, if an acquaintance comes to my house, why don't you ask "Dr. Huang", since he asks such a question, he must be a stranger. This Chinese New Year's Eve night stranger came to my house, did something happen?
As soon as the door opened, the snow and wind outside poured in at once, and before I had time to shiver, I was dumbfounded by the scene in front of me: a particularly tall stranger stood at the door, and when I saw it clearly, I realized that it was a person carrying a person on his back.
In the snow, I could see that the man on his back was wearing his father's clothes. I wondered, could it be that something had happened to my father?
Quickly let the other party into the house, and put my father off his shoulder, just on the bamboo bed next to the fire pit. My father was limp all over, and he was still muttering something in his mouth.
The work in the mother's hands was also done, and she hurriedly made a bowl of sweet wine for the visitor, although she didn't know what happened, but she also knew that her father should be drunk, and then he was sent back by the other party.
The other party took off the winter melon hat on his head, and I saw clearly that it was a young man in his early twenties, with clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, although it was cold and freezing and walking with a person on his back, but a pair of eyes seemed very clear, and his head was still steaming.
With a few kind words, we quickly figured out what was going on.
The young man called himself Hanlin, a native of Lijiawan, who had just returned from the town, and when he passed by the small ditch at the head of our village, he found his father lying in the snow, and knew that he was drunk. When I knocked on the nearest house, I found out that this drunk man was Dr. Huang, so I carried him back on his back.
After figuring out the reason, our family is even more grateful to Hanlin, if it weren't for the new society, it would be possible to kneel down and kowtow to others.
While the mother cleaned up and washed his father, she chatted with Hanlin, and learned that he was also in high school, and now he was building a house for others at home, working as both a plasterer and a carpenter, and his mother was complimented on him a lot.
Han Lin drank a bowl of sweet wine, and seemed embarrassed by our family's thanks, and even had a hint of shyness on his face. He said that he just happened to meet him on the way, so where could he see death and not save him? If you sleep in the snow for one night on such a cold day, it will really not be good.
After drinking the sweet wine and drinking another bowl of boiling water, Hanlin got up to say goodbye, and looked at the time at more than nine o'clock, mainly on the special day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, we are not good to stay.
But there was such a thick snow on the ground, so my mother found some dry bamboo and tied a torch, lit it and let Hanlin take it home, and said before leaving, thank you for this kind descendant, and I must go to your house in a few days to thank you.
My father slept until three o'clock the next day, and then got up, touched his head, and said embarrassedly:
Uncle Secretary of State owes more than ten yuan for the time being, but he must take his father to drink a few drinks, and said that if you don't drink today, you will go to borrow a loan overnight, and go to your house to pay off the debt tomorrow.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, asking people to repay their debts is a great "evil deed" in rural areas. The father couldn't help it, so he had to sit down and drink a few glasses, because he was worried that he would not have money to buy a dowry for the eldest sister, so those who were in a bad mood drank a few more glasses.
Uncle Guoqing sent him out of the door and watched before walking dozens of meters home, but his father slipped and fell on the side of the road not far away, thinking that he would fall asleep when he got home, if Hanlin didn't happen to pass by, I really don't know what would happen if he froze in the snow overnight.
After resting for a few days, my mother kept urging my father to go to Lijiawan and ask him to thank others for saving his life. But my father couldn't pull off the old face, and in the end there was no way, so this task fell to me.
I don't know what's going on, I wasn't interested in these things before, but this time I accepted the arrangement very happily.
Besides, it is true that there is no push, the eldest sister is a bride-to-be, and it is obviously not suitable to go to a strange man's house to move around, and the mother has to receive the villagers who come to "help marry" every day, and the younger brother is too young, and they are obviously not suitable.
On the tenth day of the first lunar month, Lijiawan sang a human opera, and I took this opportunity to go to Lijiawan. My father prepared a piece of pork belly, three catties of sugar, and a big red envelope of five yuan. At that time, such an arrangement was indeed a great gift, and it could barely be regarded as being able to enter the door of the life-saving benefactor.
I rode my bicycle to Lijiawan, and after a casual inquiry, I found Hanlin's home, and saw three old wooden houses from afar, and I was still muttering in my heart:
Didn't you say that you can be a carpenter and a plasterer when you build a house for someone else, why haven't you repaired your own home?
The door of their house was open, and I whispered at the door, "Is anyone there?" but no one answered at first, until I asked three times, and then a female voice answered in the back room, saying that my son was not at home, and that the guests who had come should come in.
I parked my bicycle in the ping, took the gift into the house, put it on the kitchen table, and greeted the people in the house, wondering why the host didn't come out when I knew that the guests had entered the house.
I only heard the sound of groping in the back room, and after a long time, the door creaked open, and a middle-aged woman in a wheelchair came out - the so-called wheelchair was all made of wood, and the rural people of that era obviously would not think of and could not afford a real wheelchair.
The old man was not very difficult to push the wheelchair to the kitchen, looked at the stranger me, an unknown girl standing at home, with a bunch of gifts on the table, and asked me very curiously:
Girl, where are you from? Why did you bring so many things to my house, did you find the wrong person?
I hurriedly helped push the old man to the fire pit, although it was not snowing, the weather was still very cold, and I made a fire in the fire pit for her to roast, while telling her that I had come to thank Hanlin today and thank him for saving his father.
After going back and forth, I was familiar with the old man, and then I knew that she was Hanlin's mother. Said to be an old man, in fact, the age is not very old, and my mother is on par, but in the early years of an accident, a pair of feet are immobile, before I could only be bedridden, and then my son made a wheelchair for himself, which can move around the house.
Knowing her age, it was obviously rude to say that she was an "old man" at this time, so I changed my name to Auntie.
My aunt told me that although today is still the tenth day of the new year, Hanlin went to Huaqiao Village to "stake" people, and he may not come back until lunch.
The so-called "stakeout", which is what we say about building a house in our local area, on the first day, we invite a master craftsman and neighbors to pull a line and sprinkle lime in the flat house yard to draw the outline of a house by one, and basically do not need to work formally.
Auntie also said very apologetically: I am a crippled person, dragging my son's hind legs, before going out today, my son was worried that he had no food, and then I urged him to go, saying that it was a sample, it should be over in more than half a day, and it would not be a problem for me to eat later.
I heard that my aunt hadn't eaten yet, so I volunteered to help her cook. Under her guidance, I found the rice pot and rice pot, took some vegetables in the cupboard, reluctantly made one dish and one soup, put it on the wooden board on the aunt's wheelchair, and patiently took care of her after eating.
In this way, I was greeted with a series of thanks from my aunt, as if I had not come to thank his son for saving my father, but I had saved her, which made me embarrassed.
My aunt even asked me, "Do you have a good husband for such a kind girl?"
It made me blush, but I couldn't get angry, so I had to say that I hadn't been compared yet, but it caused my aunt to sigh: It's a pity that my old woman dragged down my son, otherwise my son would be a good young man.
Fortunately, around two o'clock, Hanlin finally returned, and he didn't recognize me at first, and thanked me for cooking for his mother. Under my explanation, when I found out that I was the daughter of "Dr. Huang", Han Lin also touched his head and said to me embarrassedly:
You give me so many gifts, so I can't take more tomorrow to thank you for taking care of my mother? You can get a gift, my family is poor, and I really can't get a gift.
Even though I knew that Han Lin's words were all ridicule, mainly to liven up the embarrassing atmosphere, I glared at him a few times in disgust and said:
Okay, let's go one yard to one yard, I thank you for saving my father, you thank me for taking care of your mother, saving lives and taking care are not the same feelings, I took a small gift, you just need to come to the door to thank you.
Young man, you come and go with me a few words, and you will soon get acquainted.
At about three o'clock, the theater started to open, and my aunt urged Hanlin to take me to the play. I left my bicycle in their house, watched a human drama with him for a while, and said goodbye and went home before dark.
When I got home, I told my parents everything I saw at Hanlin's house, and my parents were embarrassed when they heard it, saying that although people are poor, they have a good heart and can take the initiative to help the needy.
Originally, I thought that the story between us would be broken like this. But a few days later, Hanlin actually came to my house, and when he saw me, he said to me: I came to thank you as promised, but I was really empty-handed. It made me feel nervous again.
Hanlin's parents seemed very happy when he arrived, especially his father, who had to take him for a drink or two.
Han Lin refused the suggestion to drink, saying that he was working in a neighboring village, and when he passed by us when he came home from work, he came in to "fulfill the contract".
Of course, his parents were confused, but I could only stare dryly, although I was a little annoyed, but I was really not angry.
When I saw him off, Hanlin took out a gadget from his pocket and gave it to me, saying that he had made a puppet himself, so he would take it as a gift.
Later, for a period of time, Hanlin really became a "frequent visitor" of our family, and when he was working in a nearby village, he would come to my house to sit down.
Sometimes, I would help my parents with some heavy lifting. After coming and going, our family also knew that his drunkard did not mean to drink.
My parents finally saw the doorway between us and said to me very formally:
You have also seen the situation of his family, and he is indeed very poor, but when a girl marries, which is the most important, the family or the person, you must know for yourself. We think this young man is really good, and he is a person to be trusted.
After my parents opened the window paper, Hanlin and I quickly established a relationship. Every once in a while, I would go to his house to help clean up and wash his mother. In the eyes of others, I am even his daughter-in-law who has never passed through the door.
In 87, I married Hanlin, and I didn't ask him for a penny of dowry, and my father also prepared the same dowry for me as my eldest sister.
A year after the marriage, our son was born, and the time came to 88 years, and Hanlin's mother still couldn't get through it.
As soon as the old man left, Hanlin said to me: In the past, because I had to take care of my mother, I couldn't leave, and the house was surrounded by walls, but fortunately you didn't dislike it. Now that there are no obstacles, let's go to the south.
At first, we left our children at our parents' house, and the husband and wife came to Guangdong together, and the husband started the construction with his excellent craftsmanship.
Slowly found the way, pulled a team of contractors, and then had a certain relationship, and finally formed his own construction company.
Decades have passed, my husband and wife have been living in Guangdong, and our life is very nourishing, and my husband is also obedient to me.
As a junior high school student, I am very grateful to my parents and even more grateful to that era. Of course, I have to talk about it seriously, and I have to thank my father for that drunken snowy night......#精品长文创作季#