My name is Li Dongping, and I was born in a remote mountain village.
My father was born in the 50s and he was the eldest in the family.
Although the family was poor and hungry at that time, my father was the first child in that big family, and his birth still made my grandmother and my grandmother happy for a long time.
My grandmother, who is my father's grandmother, cherishes this eldest grandson very much.
When my father was about to be born, my grandmother wrapped the corners of the table and the foot of the bed in the room with cotton to prevent my father from knocking into it.
At that time, my grandmother didn't have enough milk, and my father couldn't eat enough. The grandmother fed her father with rice porridge. Often, the grandmother would chew the rice grains and feed them to his father's mouth little by little for him to eat.
At that time, it was common for every family to have more children, and my grandmother gave birth to a total of 6 children, and in addition to my father, I also had 2 uncles and 3 aunts.
But at that time, there were a lot of people in our family who ate, and many of them were too young to earn work, so my grandmother's family often didn't have enough food to eat at that time.
But luckily we have a good relative, and my aunt's family often helps us and sends us food and food stamps.
My aunt and grandmother were my grandfather's younger sister, and she got married and went out of town, and she was doing well.
My grandfather and grandmother had many children, but because my grandfather died early due to illness, many of my grandfather's brothers and sisters did not survive, and in the end, only my grandfather and my aunt survived. At the beginning, they had a deep brotherhood, and even later it was thanks to the support of my aunt and grandmother.
Shortly after my youngest aunt was born, my grandfather died after lying in bed for a few days without knowing why he had a high fever and no money to go to a big hospital.
Since then, my grandmother and grandmother have been responsible for raising six children.
Of course, the days were hard, but my grandmother did not cry, but comforted my grandmother when she cried. Fortunately, although my grandfather passed away, my aunt and grandmother have been helping us.
Under the frugality of my aunt and grandmother, we have a family of 8 people, and we have survived.
My aunt and grandmother missed her mother very early and hoped to take her to her side to fulfill her filial piety for a few years. But the grandmother has always been reluctant to her hometown, and she is reluctant to give up her grandchildren.
But my aunt and grandmother are also old, and they get motion sickness when they take the car, and they can only come once in several years.
Later, when the children in the family grew up, my father and second uncle could also go to the team to earn work, so that my grandmother could follow my aunt and grandmother to other places with confidence.
The grandmother and the grandmother-in-law have lived together for decades, never talked about separation, let alone quarreled, and supported each other through the most difficult years.
On the day the grandmother left, the grandmother deliberately got up in the dark and made a meal of dumplings that can only be eaten during the Chinese New Year. The grandmother wiped her tears with her hands as she boiled the pot, and at the same time, the grandmother looked at a room full of sleeping grandchildren and shed tears.
The old grandmother ate only a few and then didn't eat it, and she left the rest of the dumplings for her grandmother and grandchildren. She never returned, and five years later she was buried in foreign soil.
After a few more years, my grandmother pulled several children to grow up by herself, and gradually my father and two uncles formed their own new families, and my grandmother saw the rush.
After my father got married, he didn't immediately think about separating the family.
But my grandfather's living conditions are not bad, in addition to planting his own land, he often goes to sell some coolies and do some small business, and his life is okay.
Grandpa's family helped our family a lot, and also made his daughter more comfortable. Every time he came to his grandmother's house, he would put some food in the basket, and sometimes there would be white-flour steamed buns.
With the help of my grandfather, we don't have to worry about our family's food.
But since the birth of all three of my brothers and sisters, the population of my grandmother's family has increased, and there is no place to eat often, so I can only eat in the yard.
It was only at this time that Dad finally separated from Grandma.
When they parted, my mother didn't ask for anything very valuable, so she picked up a small crockpot that she liked very much.
Grandma said let her mother pick some more, but her mother said no, leave it to her younger brothers and sisters, grandma was very moved after hearing it, took her mother's hand and said: "Daughter-in-law, since you got married, I have treated you as my own daughter, not only have you not quarreled with me for so many years, but your family has also helped our family a lot." Before dividing the family, if you take such a point, I don't want to go. ”
My mother shook my grandmother's hand and said, "Mother, where are you talking about, the family should help each other." ”
Although the family was separated, my parents were also involved in such major events as the building of a house by my two uncles.
Then my two aunts went to other places to join my aunt and grandmother, and they got married there.
Grandma has been busy for most of her life, and when all her children finally settled down and can finally enjoy Qingfu, she seems to have suddenly collapsed, and her body has become heavier and heavier.
Grandma was often dizzy, and her legs and feet were not good, and she couldn't walk well, so she had to stay in the house every day.
My uncle and aunt discussed taking turns to support my grandmother, but my grandmother refused.
The father said directly: "Mother, I have thought about it, you will live in our house, and you don't have to go to anyone's house." ”
Grandma didn't want to go, saying that she couldn't put the burden on her father alone.
But my father said that my grandmother had put all her heart and soul into raising these 6 children when she was young. When you are old, you can no longer run around because of the pension problem, and you should bear these responsibilities because you are a chapter in the first place.
So my father took my grandmother to our house, and my grandmother lived in our house with peace of mind.
My father worked neatly and had a flexible mind. I used my savings to buy a tractor, and after I was busy with farm work, I drove the tractor to transport things to others to earn freight.
We are rich in fruit here, but because there are no roads in the mountains, the roads are not easy to walk, so my father saw a business opportunity in it. Buy the fruits of the peasants and pull them down to the county to sell.
This channel is really a good opportunity, my father earns a lot more every day than before, and our family's living conditions have also greatly improved.
Every afternoon when the sun was about to set, my father would drive his tractor back from the city.
As soon as my grandmother heard the sound of the tractor, she knew that my father was coming back, and every time she came to the yard on crutches to guard it.
As soon as my father saw my grandmother, he shouted from afar, "Mother, I'll bring you something delicious." ”
In order to keep my grandmother from panicking, my father bought a radio for my grandmother, and my grandmother held her radio all day long, relieving boredom at the same time, but also keeping up with the times, and sometimes chatting with us about the new things that are happening now.
Grandma especially likes to listen to the news about national events, she always teaches us to thank the country and the government, and now we eat better than before.
My grandmother often felt very satisfied, and she often said to her father: "Son, although I had a hard time in the first half of my life, but fortunately, God was kind to me, and in my later years he gave me a son who was so good to me." ”
My father would always smile and say that this is nothing, and in the future, when the living conditions get better, there will be better things waiting for grandma.
Our village was the first village in the neighborhood to have electricity, so my father used his savings to buy a black-and-white TV. It may look old-fashioned now, but at the time it seemed a rarity.
After the TV was bought, every afternoon after dinner, the house would always be full, and we would often watch TV while eating.
People love to watch the excitement when they are old, although the TV set in that era often has snowflakes, but just listening to the lively atmosphere also makes my grandmother happy.
There are three brothers and sisters in our family, I am the eldest in the family, I was admitted to the technical secondary school, went to the normal college, and the next two younger brothers also found jobs after finishing school, and were assigned to work in fertilizer factories and agricultural machinery stations.
After we all worked and earned money, we became more filial to my grandmother, and my grandmother smiled more every day.
Several uncles and aunts also used to visit our house and chat with my grandmother.
I remember that summer night, after my grandmother ate the pork and cabbage stuffed dumplings wrapped by her mother, she sat in a rocking chair alone to enjoy the cool.
But I didn't expect that grandma was so breathless and left quietly.
Grandma left in a hurry, and we all had a hard time accepting it.
The family has become accustomed to the presence of grandma, and suddenly there is no grandma, and everyone feels empty.
Especially my father, in those years, he couldn't mention his grandmother at all, and he shed tears when he mentioned it.
Later, the birth of my son brought a lot of joy to the family, and the family was revitalized.
But once we had dumplings stuffed with cabbage and pork at home, and my father didn't say anything, but my father, who had always eaten a lot, couldn't eat it after two bites, and walked to the yard to sit, and I knew that he missed his grandmother.
A few years later, my father, who had always been in good health, was diagnosed with cancer, which was already at an advanced stage when it was discovered, and he died less than three months after choosing conservative treatment.
The death of my father was a huge blow to me.
In those late nights alone, I often think of my father. The lamp by my bedside kept on and I didn't close my eyes for three days and three nights.
I finally understood my father's pain after my grandmother's death, but at such a terrible cost. Filial piety comes first, and filial piety is the most worthy wealth of our family.