Wei Dong's eldest brother, who aspired to be an announcer, was eventually forced to sell rat poison. Listening to him sell rat poison in standard Mandarin, in a rounded manner, made me have mixed feelings.
If the whole village voted to elect the poorest family, Wang Laoyan next door would definitely be elected by all votes.
How poor is Wang Laoyan's family? You can't even imagine it! His family had really eaten the last meal, not the next meal. Sweet potatoes planted in the spring, after the dragon boat festival, the seedlings are exhausted, thrown on the ground, and the pigs do not eat. The old man's little foot wife used her fingernails to pinch off the bad parts a little bit, pinched to the size of the fingernails and kept them, and went home to put grates on the braids and ate them. When the sweet potatoes were shaved in the autumn, the sweet potato stalks were too old to bite, and the little-footed wife pinched the tender head off, went home and used a kitchen knife to cut it into minced pieces, dried it, and in the next year, it was soaked in boiling water, mixed with some sweet potato noodles, and eaten with paste vegetable cakes. At the New Year, you can finally eat a meal of white noodle dumplings, and the two mouths of the old man have to eat a bowl of cooked dried sweet potatoes to support the stomach, so that the dumplings can eat less.
When the time came to stop the green and yellow, the family ran out of grain, and the old man's wife went to ask for food. Strangely, she didn't go far, just among the neighbors. With the old three and four two unkempt, yellow-skinned children, when they entered the door, they cried loudly, and the cries were miserable, which made people listen to the heartache. The mother was soft-hearted, and could not see that others were suffering, so when grandma did not come out, she secretly dug out a large scoop of dried sweet potatoes from the sack and poured it into the pocket of the old man's wife. After Grandma heard the news, she grabbed a large handful of dried sweet potatoes in front of Grandma and gave them to lao Yan's wife.
The old woman lowered her cry and said, "Big sister-in-law, I always come to trouble you, I feel bad in my heart!" ”
The mother smiled and said, "Whose family doesn't have a difficult hurdle yet, when the child is older and can help, it will be good." ”
The old man's family was poor because his family did not have any work to earn.
The old man had tuberculosis, coughed often, and sometimes coughed up blood, and the villagers privately called him "tuberculosis ghost". He was physically weak and could not work in the fields, and the family was supported by his wife alone. Women can only earn up to 8 divisions of labor, the wife of the old man is a small foot, not even 8 divisions of labor, and the family's perennially sick husband and four children have to be supported by her. This thin woman did everything in her power, like an old hen guarding her cubs, pecking her claws, collecting every grain of grain and feeding it into the small mouth that was waiting to be fed. Try not to starve a child to death.
She is the daughter of the landlord, and the family composition is not good, so she knows that lao Yan is in poor health, or marries him. Her husband was in poor health, and she confessed; the family was too poor to open the pot, and she recognized; no matter how bitter and tired, she gritted her teeth and endured.
She is a person who loves cleanliness. Although the clothes are worn and faded, the pulp is washed clean. His face was washed white and his hair was neatly combed. I've been to her home and there's nothing of value in the house, but it's neat and tidy and organized. In the middle of the room, a partition was made of peeled green corn stalks, and a small room was separated, which was amazing.
The old wife had a total of four children, and the old third Wei Dong was the most prominent. He is more than one meter and eight meters tall, tall and tall, handsome and handsome, quite like the Japanese movie star Ken Takakura, but better looking than Ken Takakura. His dream was to go to college as a radio announcer and practice Mandarin in front of the mirror at home every day. His Mandarin was very standard, no different from the voice on the radio. We all thought it was strange, and often ganged up to see the hilarity, imitating his strange pronunciation. Elder Brother Wei Dong was not angry either, and also taught me the knowledge of the mother rhyme. After listening to his explanation, I finally figured out the pronunciation of various vowels.
Perhaps grateful for my mother's help, Big Brother Wei Dong was very kind to our brothers and sisters. At that time, children went to the commune cinema to watch movies, 5 cents a movie ticket, children can be brought in by adults. After dinner, Elder Brother Wei Dong often came to my house and asked, "Who of you wants to watch a movie?" I carry it. "I'm going!" I'll go! "The third brother, my sister and I threw down our rice bowls, rushed out with him, and he led them into the movie theater. It wasn't until later, when I was stupid, that an adult could only take one child into the cinema, but in fact, every time, It was Big Brother Wei Dong who bought us half a ticket and brought us in. Movies such as "Sunny Days", "Red Lantern", "White Haired Girl", and "Southern Expedition and Northern War" were all watched at that time.
Unfortunately, at that time, the university no longer passed the college entrance examination, but needed "recommendation and selection". Wei Dong's grandfather is a landlord, the family composition is not good, no one will recommend him, want to go to college, there is no door!
When Wei Dong's eldest brother got out of school, he no longer practiced Mandarin in front of the mirror, nor did he go to the production team to earn work, but ran to the south alone for more than a year. After he came back this time, he changed a lot, it was a big change, subverting his image in my mind: combing his big back, wearing a snow-white suit on the upper body, a pair of white skinny flared pants on the lower body, carrying a silver-white machine, and playing music "boom," "boom, boom, click, click, click, The children in our neighborhood all ran to his house to see the strange, listening to the deafening music, touching the silver-white buttons on the machine, and feeling curious.
"This thing is called a tape recorder, it can record, it can play sound. If you don't believe you sing a song, I'll record it and listen to it. ”
He changed a cassette tape, recorded a song for us, put it out and listened to it, and sure enough, it was the sound of us singing. This stuff is amazing!
My father scoffed at this: "Go out for a trip, what is it like to come back?" This dress is like wearing filial piety!" Especially after knowing that Big Brother Wei Dong was selling rat poison in the market, he was even more distressed: "Don't do the right thing!" The old Wang family is no longer out! ”
That day at the big gathering, I saw Big Brother Wei Dong in the distance. A red cloth was spread on the ground, on which were placed several old mouse books, the largest one as big as a cat. In the iron cage next to it, there were several live mice, running around inside, and the tape recorder on the table was playing with banging music. Dressed in a strange costume that was incompatible with the rural personality, a white suit, white flared pants, a small top hat, and a small horn in his hand, he was enthusiastically promoting rat poison:
"From the south, from the north, from Harbin, from Hong Kong,
When the rats in the family open a factory, they look for the old king in front of the mountain!
From Nanjing to Beijing, I have never seen such a mouse spirit!
I didn't come to these two episodes, and the rats were used to the pot table.
Get on your kang, climb your bed, bite your goodness
Feeding a pig, feeding a sheep, is better than feeding a mouse.
Lao Wang's medicine is not worth much, and a bag costs only a dime.
A dime is not much, a bag of medicine kills a big nest!
……”
His Mandarin is still so standard, warm, thick, with a kind of adult man's magnetism.
Probably spotting my gaze, he lowered his head in embarrassment, a hint of shame and helplessness in his eyes.
I watched quietly, only to feel that the big brother Wei Dong in front of me was a little strange and a little ridiculous, and my heart was flooded with inexplicable bitterness. This is not the Big Brother Wei Dong I know! This is not the handsome Ken Takakura! This is not the announcer I imagined! Life is such a trick on people!
I know, it's not the career he wants, and it's not the life he wants!
Because of the family's thin foundation and poor family situation, Wei Dong's eldest brother did not get married until he was in his thirties. The bride was something he had met when he was setting up a stall at the market and was very beautiful. Later, he sold clothes, sold fruit, processed stones, sold building materials, earned hard money, and lived a decent life. He was not able to go to college and did not realize his ideal of being an announcer, but his two sons were very competitive, both admitted to graduate school, and stayed in Beijing after graduation.
Occasionally, when I met Big Brother Wei Dong on the street, he smiled gently, and his voice was still so warm and thick, with magnetism; Mandarin was still so straight and round, like an announcer on TV.