The way home
□ Lu Huiqin
How many times have dreams haunted the soul, dreams of returning to the old house, the morning rooster chirping, the dog barking, the big fat pig crowding at the door of the circle humming, the big white goose flapping its wings and quacking... Like a movie, scene after scene is staged in a dream, and the long river of memories is full of memories, which is the source of childhood joy, even if you grow up and leave, you still fall in love.
The house of the old family has changed owners as early as 20 years ago, because the sister-in-law is pregnant with a nephew to protect the fetus, the mother left the farm work to take care of the city, and then the father sold the house of the old family, and the grandfather moved away from the homeland where he lived for most of his life to meet with the children and grandchildren.
Occasionally chatting in the big family group, everyone can't help but miss the past years, since their parents moved away from their hometown, they have never gone back, very much want to go back along the old road to see, retrace the road home after twenty years of separation, but do not know whether those roads are still there. Suffering from no chance, it was shelved, and a few days ago I received a call from my eldest cousin, her grandson was full moon to drink happy wine, and the banquet was placed in the countryside. I gladly agreed, just to go around my hometown and see the old scene of my childhood.
The eldest cousin's mother-in-law's family name is Zhang, is her second aunt (my mother)'s matchmaker, from Lianshuiyuan married to Huaiyin, thirty miles away, the uncle felt that the young man was good, and only with her sister's family across the Zhuangzi can have a mutual care, he agreed.
The eldest cousin has just been married for a few years, the cousin brother-in-law is doing temporary work in the city, when the farm is busy, he takes leave to go home for a few days, and the rest of the time is the eldest cousin alone, who has to serve his in-laws, take care of a pair of children, and do farm work day and night, sometimes busy and tired, he runs to her second aunt to complain, my mother is often coaxed and persuaded, and even takes time to help her. In a flash, she hugged her grandson, and the years really couldn't help but shake, and she was old in a flash.
Early in the morning, I met my sister and sister to drive along the 503 provincial highway. A neat row of small three-story buildings stands on the edge of the provincial road, and the village has long ceased to exist. Because the eldest cousin's family Zhuangzi is on the planned national highway line, everyone is not willing to move away, so they collectively move to the east for tens of meters, which is also considered to be the same place of resettlement, and each family has built a small building, it seems that everyone's life is good.
After eating, we crossed the national highway and followed the second sister to prepare to go to the former home to see. The villages, houses, fields, and roads in front of me are all strange, without a trace of the old time, the tile houses and adobe houses of that year have disappeared, and the eyes are full of strange two-story houses. If there is no explanation from the second sister, we will definitely feel that we have gone wrong, and the second sister will often send her parents back with gifts, and she is familiar with the changes here. The home that once belonged to us had long been built into a two-story building by the third uncle, only the two red brick and blue tile pot houses in the west of the courtyard were still faintly there, we stepped forward, but it was the iron general who opened the door, looked through the crack in the door, and there was such a scene in front of us: Grandpa with reading glasses sat on the horse clip fiddling with his beloved bird cage, his mother was carrying a pot of mixed chicken food into the chicken trough, the big buffalo under the date tree at the door squinted his eyes and ruminated slowly, and the kitchen chimney was slowly floating with cooking smoke...
The once muddy road behind the house has been built into a cement road, a row of pomegranate trees in the back eaves has long disappeared, the large trees that were once sheltered behind the front house have all disappeared, leaving only the bare two-story building standing alone, glowing with pale light, as if to tell the loneliness here, along the way, there is no shadow or dog barking, every household iron door is closed, and the once lively countryside is dead silent.
A large mulberry garden behind the house was originally the fastest source of income for the villagers, but now it is a desert, listen to the second sister said, earlier because of the low price of the cocoon, everyone cut the mulberry tree garden to plant some wheat, and then it was rented by outsiders to plant peach trees, and now there are few peach trees left, it seems to be abandoned. Most of the villagers went to the city to work and earn some lively money. Crop growth cycle is long, there are many pests and diseases, coupled with field fertilization and weeding management, a season down the harvest of grain, planing seeds, fertilizer, labor left, although the harvest and the past are mechanized, people are not so hard in the past, but few people are willing to farm, only some of the elderly are still sticking, young people are occasionally busy going home to build a handle.
The houses in the village are basically empty, and all the young people go out to work, save money to buy a house and stay in the city, leaving only some elderly people to stay in this empty house and guard this family business. Guard this land that has fed generations. The village can only have some popularity in the New Year, and it is lively for three days and returns to its former silence.
Our group walked along the road behind the house, strolling to the west, which is the main road of the village before and after, the farmers on the road in the past were endless, and they walked along the road unconsciously to the west river mouth, which was the swimming pool where we played in the summer of our childhood, and only remembered that everyone called it Xiaozhang River, the river is not wide, there are lush reeds on both sides, there is no bridge on the river, and the river flows from south to north. When the flood season comes, the river rises a lot, the turbid river roars to the north, and those who have fields on the other side of the river have to take a detour to take the south bridge; as soon as the flood season passes, the river falls, and they can roll up their pants and cross the river; in the harvest season, people use unicycles to carry wheat, often in order to save time, people and cars wading through the river together, and everyone who encounters them will help each other to push the handles off the car; in the spring and winter dry period, the villagers will put a weir and build a board; in the summer, the river is crystal clear, and the adults and children who work in the fields, cattle herders, pig and grass cutters, and pass , will go to the water to wash their faces, cool and cool, the big buffalo also take the opportunity to go down to the river to take a bath. Later, at some point, a cement bridge less than two meters wide was erected on the river, and everyone no longer had to wade across the river, because there was no railing, and people and animals often fell down without paying attention. Today, the bridge is still there, the river is no longer clear, the yellow-brown river is almost dry, the reeds on both sides of the river have long disappeared, the bare riverbed, the dead weeds are floating with dazzling garbage bags...
Along the Xiaozhang River all the way forward, to the bridge we often detoured when we were young, said that the big is not big, the bridge deck is about three or four meters wide, the repair should also be some years old, now there are more guardrails on both sides, and safety is guaranteed. I remember when I was a child, it was a bridge deck made of cement boards, heavy cars went more and fell into disrepair, people walked up to the bridge boards were shaking, and booming, and finally shook off two cement boards, only the side of the bridge with cement boards, people did not make mistakes, cyclists had to carry the car across the bridge, unicycles could not go, and bold children often walked back and forth to show the pendulum.
After crossing the bridge, it is the outer village. The cement road stretches westward, passing through the village, almost the door of the house is closed, and occasionally the elderly can be seen squinting their eyes and leaning on the doorpost to bask in the sun, and the quiet of the village is somewhat frightening. After passing through the village, the cement road has been moving forward, the gullies on both sides of the road that once irrigated rice fields have disappeared, and the winter wheat fields have long been replaced by rows of white plastic greenhouses, and the people are now paying money quickly and returning to their roots quickly, as if the production team does not care much about this matter.
This road is our road to Huaiyin, my way to school and my way home. At the end of the road is Huaigao Road, and on the side of the road is a street-facing supermarket with four small buildings. Earlier here are three tile houses, open a shop, the door often put a few benches, the boss is known as "little bodhisattva", do not know whether it is fat or kind,the boss lady is a chubby warm-hearted mother, people from south to north she is smiling, we often stop here when we go home to beg for saliva and drink, by the way to buy something. At this moment, it seems that I see my aunt smiling and squinting across the counter to greet us.
The traffic on the road dragged my memory back to reality. After so many years, his children and grandchildren are still running this family business with the hospitality of the old couple.
The way home, has walked countless times, when studying on the weekend home, with an empty bag, back to school pocket is pickles, flapjacks, a jar of lard, containing the mother's full of love; after work weekends occasionally with sisters to go back to the countryside, lively as yesterday, when we rode away to the mouth of the small river, looking back still see the figure of my mother looking away...
The way home can only faintly see some mottled, home has long been unable to go back, but the mark of the childhood hometown is engraved in the mind.
About the author: Lu Huiqin, a native of Huaiyin, Jiangsu Province, has worked as a kindergarten teacher for 27 years, likes to be with children, likes to read, and loves life. In his spare time, he likes to write essays and occasionally posts small articles on his public account.