Text/An Dongyue
People say that the sunset is the end of the world, and the end of the world will not see home.
Hating bishan is blocked by each other, and bishan is still covered by twilight clouds.
——Song Dynasty Li Qian's "Nostalgia"
01.
There is a famous sentence in Su Shi's "Dingfeng Wave": "This place of peace of mind is my hometown." "Meaning: Where the heart is settled, it is my hometown."
People who are far away from home often quote this sentence. Maybe it's really calm, maybe it's to ease some homesickness.
Once, I was also wandering outside for many years, but there was only one hometown in my heart. Now that I am no longer wandering and my heart is stable, my hometown is still a place that has long disappeared and can never go back.
The hometown cannot withstand nostalgia, and when it is remembered, it will be sad and will not be able to help but cry.
When the tears blurred the vision, the memory became clearer and clearer. The landscapes, fields, courtyard walls, and old houses of the hometown are like a splashed ink painting that appears in the mind little by little.
About my hometown, the last thing I can forget is those old houses. It was a house built by my grandfather, with mud walls and black tiles, five in all, and lived for generations.
When he was twelve, his father, who had worked in other places for five years, finally returned home.
That day, I was doing my homework in the house, and I overheard my father's shouting outside the courtyard, so I threw down my pen and rushed out to greet me. That was the first time I felt that my father was not as tall and tall as before, and he had a lot more white hair on the top of his head, and he looked full of vicissitudes. Inexplicably, tears came out of his eyes.
When my father was at home, his heart was very peaceful. Even if it rains heavily in the summer, lightning and thunder, it is not as scared as before.
It's just that every time it rains, I have to worry about the old house. It is too shabby, no matter how to overhaul, or often leak rain, the home basin jars are all out of the way are not enough to connect. I often think that if only our family could build a new house.
Yes, at that time, I was very disgusted with my old house. Because, it can't do a good job of sheltering us from the wind and rain.
Later, because of one thing, I had a different view of the old house, a different feeling.
02.
It was a night of thunder and lightning, and I fell asleep next to my mother.
Suddenly, there was a heavy knock on the door outside the house, and the third uncle's shout: "Brother, hurry up, hurry, there is water in the house..."
My mother and I woke up violently and hurriedly woke up our father on the opposite bed. At this time, the water on the ground had reached the calves, the shoes could not be found, the power was cut off, and the room was dark, only a dull "bang" sound, which was the sound of father and mother walking in the water.
Outside the house, the third uncle was still shouting: "Brother, quick, get up, come out quickly, this earthen wall will collapse after a long time, you hurry!" ”
The father and mother shouted in panic, "Get up, get up, come out at once." ”
The next second, my father calmly reassured me. He said, "Don't be afraid, this house can't collapse, you don't have to panic, it's raining a lot outside, don't run out first, you and your brother stay in the house, let's go see the situation first." ”
I let out a nervous "Hmm."
My brother was only six years old at the time, and his little bed was in the other corner of the room. At this time, he woke up and asked in a trembling voice, "Sister, the house has entered the water, is the house about to collapse, what should we do now?" ”
I knew that the situation was serious, but I pretended to be calm and said, "Dad said that this house can't collapse, don't worry, I'll come to you right away." ”
I jumped out of bed, drooling with water, and walked slowly to my brother's bedside.
My brother was afraid, and I was afraid. So, I touched in the water for a while, found my brother's slippers and put them on him, and then led him out of the room slowly in the dark and came to the door of the hall.
At this time, the father and mother, and the third uncle did not know what to do. I thought that my four-year-old cousin was still in the house, so I found an umbrella and led my brother through the eaves to the third uncle's house.
It was pouring rain, a broken umbrella was of little use, and it splashed with water as soon as I stepped out. Halfway through, I saw my cousin standing under the eaves with an umbrella.
The three of us, not knowing what to do for a moment, stood under the eaves at a loss.
03.
After a while, the mother ran back from outside, and she was soaking wet.
The mother said: "The field behind the house was washed away by the rain, and the ditch next to it was not cleaned for a long time, it was all blocked, the water did not move, and it seeped into the house." Your father and uncle three are digging a ditch to divert the flood, and I'll come back and change a good hoe, and you should hurry into the house!" ”
The cousin trembled and said, "Uncle, my father said that he could not stay in the house, and the house might collapse." ”
My brother and I quickly said, "Yeah, Mom." ”
The mother thought for a moment and said, "Then you will wait here first." ”
The mother took the hoe and ran out in the rain, and after a while, the father and the third uncle returned.
The father and the third uncle worked together to move two pieces of asbestos tiles that had not been used up to cover the pigsty, put them flat on the laundry board in the courtyard, and temporarily built a "small house".
I took my brother and cousin into the "little house", and because there was water on the ground, I couldn't sit, so the three of them had to squat. The rain outside has not diminished in the slightest, and the thunder and lightning continue.
The younger brother asked, "Sister, do you think the house will collapse?" ”
I said, "Dad said it couldn't collapse, I guess it wouldn't." ”
My cousin said, "My dad said it was probably possible. ”
The younger brother asked, "Then do you want this house to collapse or not to collapse?" ”
The cousin preemptively said: "Don't collapse, where do we live?" ”
I smiled and asked, "Brother, what do you say?" ”
The younger brother said, "If the house collapses, we won't have a place to live." If the house hadn't collapsed, we would have been hiding here tonight! ”
The cousin felt that what her brother said was reasonable, and began to tangle.
I said, "If the house collapses, it has to be rebuilt, and it costs money to rebuild, and when the money is spent, there is no money to eat, no money to go to school, no money to earn money, then my parents will go out to work again." So, I think it's better not to collapse. ”
The younger brother and cousin suddenly realized and quickly prayed that the house would not collapse.
04.
That night, the house did not collapse. When it was light, the rain was getting lighter, and we got out from under the laundry board. Father, mother, and third uncle, braving the pouring rain to clean the ditch, were busy for most of the night, and finally diverted the flood water.
When it was dawn, the rain stopped completely, and looking at the old house that still stood through the wind and rain, I suddenly felt very kind.
If that night, the old house collapsed, we became the focus of the whole village, after tea and dinner, it was not a glorious thing.
Perhaps, the old house also has a backbone. So, it survived.
Or maybe the old house has feelings for us and can't bear to see us become "refugees". So, it tried its best to survive the rain.
It's just that the old house is really old, and it can't withstand any bigger wind and rain anymore.
After that rainstorm, my father made a decision to tear down the two rooms that belonged to us and expand a few small bungalows on the original foundation. When the money is not enough, he borrows, and when the house is built, he will go out to work and earn money to pay off debts.
The day before the demolition, we moved everything in the house to a temporary accommodation in the courtyard.
After the old house was emptied, it suddenly became extra spacious and bright. Like a dying old man, suddenly becoming younger.
I had never seen an old house like this before, it was strange and kind. It is as if you have traveled through time with your memories and returned to the time when it was first built.
It is said that when our old houses were first built, they were the most foreign in the village.
The years have changed, the times have changed, the old days are gone, the glory of the past can never be found again...
Years later, the hometown built a hydropower station, and everything was gone.
The most regrettable thing is that the old house that has stood up for decades has not even left a photo.
Hometown is far away, time is gone. I can only return to my hometown in my dreams and regain my warmth.
Time has taken away the past, but it cannot take away the thoughts.
The old house in my hometown will always be the most beautiful scenery in my memory.
The story in the old house will always be the deepest touch in my life!
-END-
(Image from the Internet)