(The original name of this number was "Bayiji" and "Bayiji's grassroots", due to the routine inspection of the headline platform, it was found that "Bayiji" is the name of the town where the administrative region is located, which does not meet the platform's personal nickname use specifications, and randomly changed the fashionable lotus leaf Vr, and re-named at the end of the month.) ）
I returned to my hometown last week and visited the old house three times again, but I didn't live in the old house, because the eldest sister and the second sister and their two families were in Xuzhou, and they stayed in Xuzhou for two nights.
1. The first old house
It was a family of seven or eight before the age of three or four, located in the polder river.
At the beginning, my grandfather presided over the division of the family, the family was divided into four families, the grandparents lived with the fourth uncle and four aunts, and the second and third uncles lived with us in a single household, bidding farewell to the noisy and noisy life of four generations in the same house and thirty or forty people.
My family was given some pots and pans, a few bags of grain, and two low, flat and narrow adobe houses, which added up to 20 square meters, a hall and a bedroom, the rooms were very small, and the earthen walls were thick, and it was difficult to turn around.
There are two portraits hanging in the hall, one Chairman Mao and one Chairman Hua, and I often crawl on the ground, searching for ants, cockroaches and other proteins on the ground to eat, while looking up at the kind faces of the two people, which I still remember vividly.
The adobe house was so small that the eldest sister had to live in the ancestral house with her grandmother, and the second and third sisters could only live in the earthquake-proof shed outside, which leaked rain, and they had to go back to the hall to lay on the floor when it rained in the middle of the night.
Now the two huts have been flipped, and they are used as a feed warehouse for my uncle's pigs, and next to them is a huge pigsty.
2. The second old house
The three old houses located outside the polder river were built in the early 80s by my parents on their own land outside the polder river by beating thousands of adobe pieces, also known as "half-waist poor" - below is a half-meter-high stone foundation, adobe in the middle, a few red bricks on top for decoration, the roof is covered with black tiles, and the "waist" is poor, because there is no money to buy all the bricks.
These three old houses were built first, the wood on the beams of the house was patchwork, asked relatives and neighbors to borrow, and the names of people were written on them, those crooked words were the enlightenment of my childhood lying on the bed, and the names of my uncles such as "Pei Peng, Han Wu" were written on the wood, and they were also brothers with different surnames in my father's life.
Later, the family borrowed money, and successively built pot houses, earthquake-proof sheds, pigsties, and chicken pens, and the courtyard walls were made of cotton stalks, corn stalks and other mixed mud, and finally had the appearance of home.
This small farm yard is boxy and the courtyard is not large, but the four fields are open and the scenery is fresh.
There is a grinding plate in the middle of the yard, which is used for grinding batter and pancakes, and I often stand on the grinding plate, scattering rice to feed the chickens, and watching a large group of Luhua chickens and bare-chested chickens swarming and pecking at the rice grains that are thrown around.
The second old house retains my fond memories of my childhood and youth-
The low eaves often become a paradise for us to dig out bird eggs by ladders;
The thick walls were dug out by us, and tea bowls, kerosene lamps, candles, and matches could be placed in them;
The small window is the origin of our game, gathering and setting off in front of the window;
At the foot of the wall there were crockpots of pickled vegetables and stewed salt beans, and with great effort to remove them, we could usually turn out nimble earthworms, and we caught a few to go fishing.
Our family was the first to build a house outside the polder, and at that time there were still crop fields around, and there were many small rivers, and when it rained heavily, there would be crabs and all kinds of fish uninvited, which made me wonder to this day - can fish fly?
It is such a mud house, which has given me too much warmth, our six sisters and brothers, plus our parents, and the distant aunt Cao, a large family of people live in it, although it is a little crowded, but when I am young, I don't know what poverty is, I only know how to play around every day, and I only go home when I am hungry.
At that time, when it was time for dinner in the village, the sound of parents calling their children home for dinner was usually wafting.
The destruction of the earthen house did not leave any bad impression on my mind.
On the contrary, for me, the earthen house is the call of my mother, the joy of the family, and the home of my childhood, which makes me feel grounded.
I lived in this mud house until 1994, when I left my hometown to go to school in Nanjing.
3. The third old house
This old house is not old, and it is still inhabitable.
She is located in the east yard next door to the eldest sister's house, when I went out to study, after the four sisters got married, the eldest sister moved to the front, the second earthen house suddenly deserted, because the front yard built a tall building, crowded the entrance to and out of the alley, covering the backyard sun, the building dripping every day, beating the mother's weakening nerves, the family fed a few litters of pigs, but also because of the perennial sunshine, one after another.
Since then, my mother has been ill, in a trance, drowsy during the day and high at night.
The family found some immortals who could read feng shui, and they came over a few times, and the common opinion was that the front row of buildings had shaded our yard, and the feng shui was not good, so we had to move.
It happened that the eldest sister's family in the east courtyard was going to move to the county seat, the courtyard was similar to the eldest sister's house, and the building quality was better, so we bought it for 12,000 yuan, opened up the two courtyard walls, and the parents moved over and got the care of the eldest sister nearby, and the three meals a day were regular, and the mother's body was getting better day by day.
In 2003, when I got married, I wanted to hold a ceremony in the east yard, the pigsty, toilets, and courtyard walls were not very elegant, and the family pooled money to tidy up the east yard, built a gatehouse, added a side house, changed the gate, and put the whole yard on the cement floor.
Later, when I went home, I lived in the east courtyard, and for more than ten years, my parents also spent their old age here.
After 2017, the eldest nephew Wangwang was getting married, and the eldest sister spent another 50,000 yuan to renovate the east and west yards: bulldozing the kitchen in the middle, rebuilding the gate of the west yard, adding a side house and doorway, adding a warehouse greenhouse, connecting the two alleys together to build a living room, re-cementing the yard, and using broken bricks to build a small garden, which looks quite foreign.
In the next few years, because of the epidemic, I didn't go back to my hometown much, and my eldest sister also went to Xuzhou to take the children, but unfortunately no one lived in such a neat and empty house and yard.
4. The feeling of being in an old house
This time I went back to my hometown, standing in the yard, thinking of the childhood happiness, hard years and family memories related to the old house, how could I not be emotional?
In the 70s, we were admitted to the city from the countryside, and the memories of childhood and youth of rural life lingered in our minds, and we could adapt to life in the city, but we did not recognize modern life.
I went to two old houses, immersed myself in them, smelled some mildew and familiar smells, and felt that I was still that ignorant and naughty teenager, but Hua Fa in the mirror reminded me that he was middle-aged.
Look around and see the relics of the mother, Bibles, hymn books, flashlights, sewing baskets, thimbles....... I was in a trance, remembering the memories related to my mother, and I began to be stunned, feeling that I was still in a dream, and everything was not so real.
After two days in my hometown, it's time to leave, and I have to leave after all.
When the parents are here, there is still a place to come in life, and when the parents are gone, there is only a way back in the future.
Whether life is miserable or happy, the dead are gone, but the living have to go on.
Once again, I looked at the front and back, inside and outside of the house, and went around in front of my parents' graves, went to the graves, and cultivated soil.
I didn't kowtow, because my thoughts about them are deeply rooted in my heart, their lives have been extended in me, and I will live well.
Old house, lingering thoughts, I will come back.
#我来唠家常#
