#心动的瞬间 #
Author:Qingfeng Xulai(Jiangsu Baoying:徐汝清)
I only have vague memories of my grandfather's appearance, and I only know that his name is Guo Minggao. However, his large white beard hanging from his chest left a deep impression on me. As soon as I mentioned my grandfather, the old man with white hair and a kind face appeared in front of me.
My grandfather was a burly man and a very industrious, simple, generous and optimistic man. My grandfather had many children, and my mother was the seventh oldest in the family. Four older brothers and two older sisters are in the countryside, and one younger sister is married in Shanghai. Just imagine how heavy the burden on Grandpa was in such a huge family, in that poor and backward old society! But Grandpa was a particularly industrious man, cheerful and of high quality. At that time, in addition to growing firewood and lotus root, the family also got up early and took the evening to the water every day to do some extra work. He beat the lotus leaves: dried the lotus leaves one by one, folded them up, and sent them to the Xi'an Fengzhen Sauce Garden Shop for packaging supplies. He cut the grass: he dried the wet grass and sold it to farmers in the "High Fields" (that is, the long grain fields relative to the watery areas) as cattle feed. He would also make fish and shrimp, catch crabs, and take them to the market for some household change. When I was a child, I heard my grandfather say many times: "The silver in the water is waist-deep, and it depends on whether people are willing to suffer or not!" Every day he punted the boat before dawn and went home in the dark at night. Every time he came home, he said, despite his tiredness, "It's too late when the day is over" Grandpa's name was Guo Minggao, but the villagers gave him a nickname called "Hate the Sky Short"! Although today his cousins' houses have long been turned into tall and spacious tile houses or buildings, he often hears the sighs of some elderly people: "In the past, the homestead in the water was more expensive than gold!" In the northwest corner of Qiangou Village, it turned out that it was all water that was more than a foot deep, and these pieces of house foundations were all 'hating the sky short' like old fools, holding iron spoons in both hands, and a piece of mud and a piece of mud slowly came out!"
When I was a child, every New Year's holiday, or winter and summer vacation, my grandfather would hold up a small wooden boat and take me and my mother home. After entering the village, people greeted him warmly. He then covered his long white beard and said with a smile, "I came to pick up my lady and grandson and go home." Seeing me playing with my cousins, Grandpa always smiled and was particularly fond of me. When I was ten years old, my grandfather sent me a new robe of floral cloth!
In my young mind, Grandpa was an optimistic old man, a kind elder. Like the old birthday star in the New Year painting, the Midas Buddha in the temple. It is because hard work can cultivate a healthy physique, and hard work can temper a strong will, so Grandpa has lived healthily until the age of 83 before he died.
However, my grandmother passed away earlier. Because I was very young at the time, I didn't know my grandmother's name, only that people called her "grandma of the third year of high school". That year, I was still in elementary school. During the busy vacation, he accompanied his mother to plant seedlings in Pei Tuan Village, Jiangying Town, Jianhu County. Suddenly, someone came to the rice field and wrote a letter saying that my grandmother had suddenly died of illness. My mother and I went to the qiangou village in a small wooden boat. There was a cry inside the house, and a sigh outside the house: "What a kind person grandma is in the third year of high school."
In people's stories, I knew how kind My grandmother's heart was: in the neighborhood, which quarreled fiercely and the relationship between husband and wife deteriorated, she would touch his house at night, sit in front of the bed, and persuade him to the left and the right. People who are angry are often stubborn and have an arrogant attitude. She persuaded this side to persuade that side, and kept bowing to both sides, as pious as burning incense in front of a bodhisattva, until the two sides were persuaded to reconcile! Therefore, everyone respectfully called her "kowtow incense" to the third grandmother.
Today, it's been decades since my grandparents passed away. But the reputation of "hating the sky short" and "kowtowing incense" still lingered in my hometown for a long time, just like their noble qualities.