This article is nearly 5,000 words, which truly describes the emotional stories of the countryside in the seventies and eighties of the last century, and takes you back to the innocence of that era. Some of the plots have been artistically processed, please pay attention to screening.
My hometown is in the countryside of Yiyang, Hunan, and although it is a remote mountainous area, I have never suffered much since I was a child.
When I was a little sensible, it was already the 70s, and in those years people in the countryside were relatively poor, but my parents still took good care of me.
I remember when I was cooking at home, half rice and half grains, and the grains were basically the sweet potato shreds I hated the most. So, when my mother was washing rice, she would deliberately put aside the shredded sweet potatoes and let me serve the rice first, so that I could eat clean rice.
This is also the reason why my family's conditions are relatively good, my ancestors have been doctors for three generations, and my father was a barefoot doctor in the brigade at that time. Although he does not have an official position, he is also respected by the villagers, and those who have a profession can earn some money to support their families.
So, for as long as I can remember, I remember that my father had been nagging at home, hoping that our brothers would have someone to inherit our father's business.
I have five brothers and sisters, I am the youngest, the eldest brother was more rebellious in his early years, not only did he not study medicine with his father, but he signed up for the army at the age of 17 and went to other places, when I was only four or five years old.
The three sisters in the middle are all daughters, and the father is the kind of person who is very traditional, thinking that his profession is "family learning", and passing on his daughter-in-law but not his daughter. So, all his enthusiasm was pinned on me.
Since I was five years old, I have been coaxed by my father to read all kinds of medical books, what medical three-character classics, what medicinal properties give soup songs, etc., although I may not be able to read them all, let alone understand them, but they can be regarded as reading.
Whenever I read through it, my father would touch my head comfortingly. At that moment, the satisfaction and happiness in my heart will quietly emerge.
Yes, as the eldest, although I am most loved by my parents, I still don't have many pampered problems, and I seem to understand the heart of my parents better. This is also what my father is most pleased with.
But to be honest, I don't want to say if I understand what it means to study medicine, but in my heart, I'm not really interested. If I had followed my own wishes, I would rather read the comic strips and the few vertical novels.
Of course, in those days, comic books were a luxury, and it was very good that I could read a little "book". This also made me hear and see it to a certain extent, and subconsciously thought that being a doctor was not annoying.
When I was in the fourth grade, my eldest brother was discharged from the army and returned to his hometown, and what he usually talked to everyone the most was that he had encountered a good opportunity in the army, but he missed it because his education level was too low and he had no skills.
So, since my eldest brother came home, the people who usually supervise me to study hard have added another eldest brother in addition to my parents.
Of course, I am also fortunate to have an older brother and sister with a disparity in age, which made my childhood a lot less physically burdensome. Playmates of the same age still have to do some housework when they come home from school, and some have to go to the mountains to chop wood.
I'm the only exception, I don't need to do anything, the only task is to study, and if I get good grades, the whole family will praise me.
And I have lived up to my mission, and my grades have always been at the forefront since I went to school. At that time, the most praised praise of rural children with good grades was "This child will definitely be admitted to the secondary school in the future", which almost made my ears sound cocooned.
I was the palm of my parents' older siblings, but there was one obvious flaw, and that was that I was thin and small. I remember when I was in the first year of junior high school, my height was less than 1.4 meters, although I was young, but people who were the same age as me were indeed a head taller than me.
In addition, I usually lack exercise, and my body's resistance is not good, and I will feel sick after a long time, although it is a small problem, but it also drags down my development even more.
So, in the mouths of my playmates and classmates, I added a nickname that I hated a lot: Huang Jigong Mouse (a homonym for the local dialect, meaning a small and ugly mouse, but the movements are more flexible and difficult to catch).
When I was in junior high school, my parents started to worry about my height development. In that year or so, I also ate a lot of "delicious", local traditional small one-sided, what kind of rooster just crowed, what pigeon meat and so on. The addiction was satisfying, but my development seemed to have been forgotten by my body, and I was still so short.
But my grades are even better, I remember that when the junior high school homeroom teacher criticized a few students with bad grades, he gave me an example: Compared with Huang Xiaoguan, your height is not proportional to your grades at all, don't you know what to do?
It was the 80s, especially after the delivery of the package to the household, people's thinking was also developing rapidly.
At that time, there were many junior high school students, many older and taller people, and their perception of feelings was earlier. As a result, we can also meet some young people in love in our school.
But I don't have this possibility at all, although I have good grades, and many female classmates have eyes shining when they look at me, but it has absolutely nothing to do with love. After all, no matter how good your grades are, your image is really not flattering, who will want to approach you?
In those years, I felt a little bit of "unbearable cold" in my heart, and only by comforting myself with my own achievements in my heart could I get a little peace.
When the time came to 83, I ushered in the high school entrance examination, successfully passed the preliminary examination and obtained the qualification for the secondary school examination, and then was admitted to the regional health school with the first score in the school.
As for why I filled in the health school, it was not actually my own idea. In my heart, I actually prefer to go to the kind of technical secondary school that can enter the factory.
However, those schools are basically provincial secondary schools, all of which are in other places, and some are even in other provinces. Coupled with my father's strong approval, I had no choice but to fill in the guard school.
I received the admission letter without accident, and I was the first child in our village to jump out of the farm gate by my own efforts, and the whole village was boiling.
Under the leadership of the branch secretary, the gong and drum team of the village beat the gongs and drums like welcoming relatives and came to my house to congratulate them. Uncle Da Qing, the branch secretary, personally sent two red envelopes and told me clearly:
One is given by Murakami, and I hope that everyone can take you as an example in the future, and our village will have more talents. The other one turned out to be given by him personally.
Uncle Da Qingbo touched my head and said: I watched you be born back then, but I didn't expect that I would be admitted to the secondary school now, and I will soon be a doctor with an iron job, I have to have a good relationship with you in advance, and I will go to you to see a doctor when I am old in the future, you have to be serious.
Uncle Da Qing's words made my face flush.
I have to say that in our local area, Da Qingbo is a well-known figure, although he is only the party secretary of the village, but the whole township knows his name.
Our village is the residence of the township government, and every time we have a meeting, we have to come to our village, and Da Qingbo is naturally concerned as a "land snake".
What's more, his two sons have jobs, the eldest son joined the army and came back to the grain station, and the second son doesn't know how to work in the supply and marketing cooperative. Even the youngest daughter, Hongying, is now working as a technician in the township's green tea factory.
Now that Uncle Da Qingbo said this, our family naturally knows that he is "surrendering his identity", and there is more sincerity and fear in his heart.
The people who came were all guests, and the mother slaughtered a chicken, plus other local vegetables, and finally set a table. The wine is also a sweet potato wine made by themselves, and the villagers drank it very lively, and it did not disperse until dark.
Only Uncle Da Qingbo didn't leave, and kept pulling my father to drink. The two also grew up together, but their father has always been a doctor, but Da Qingbo has been a branch secretary for decades, although there are not many intersections, but they can be regarded as people with a little face in the place.
Today is also the happiest day for my father, and before I knew it, I had a few more drinks with Daqing Bo. Both of them were a little drunk, so I kept taking care of him, bringing him a cup of hot tea, or a hot dish or something.
I don't know how many cups of tea I was serving, Da Qingbo suddenly took my hand and said to my father: Lao Huang, don't look down on Xiaoguan, this child, I think your worries are really superfluous. When you open your eyes, how can such a child be single?
I couldn't help but blush, and I immediately understood in my heart that my father was just talking to Uncle Da Qing, and he was talking about my future. It should be that my father is worried that I will not be able to find a wife in the future on the grounds that I am not good-looking, and Uncle Da Qingbo does not agree with his statement.
Uncle Da Qingbo must have drunk too much, and the more he spoke, the more excited he became, and finally patted me on the shoulder and said to my father:
Lao Huang, otherwise, since you are worried that Xiaoguan will be single, I will give you a reassuring pill, how about marrying my Hongying to him? Both of them were born in a year, but Xiaoguan is now admitted to the technical secondary school, and although Hongying works in the tea factory, she still eats agricultural grain, so she is afraid that she is a little unworthy of Guan Yanzi.
Father hurriedly stopped Uncle Da Qing's words, you know, Hongying is a famous beauty in our place, now she works as a technician in a tea factory, and often goes to the county to study, her temperament is not like a countryman at all, and she is the dream lover of many young men. If she weren't only eighteen years old, I'm afraid that the threshold of her family would be trampled by the matchmaker.
The father said to Uncle Da Qing very excitedly: Brother Zhishu, what you said is too heavy, Hongying's appearance is really not worthy of our family's son, if you can call the shots, we will marry today, and tomorrow I will take him to call him "Zhangnian Lao (father-in-law's common name)".
Both of them drank too much, and only me, a sober person, was embarrassed by myself.
Yes, Hongying is indeed a big beauty, even though I know what I look like, but she does appear in my dreams many times. But now that I have been admitted to the technical secondary school, I think that my identity is superior, and I am faintly unhappy.
But Uncle Da Qingbo seemed very excited, and when he saw his father say this, he didn't even drink the wine, so he immediately stood up and said to my father: Okay, let's make up our minds, I'll go home now and go to my girl to talk about this, as long as I don't come to your house in the morning to return the letter, you will bring Guan Yanzi over tomorrow morning.
Uncle Da Qingbo was embarrassed to say to our father and son: Now is a new society, and the children's marriage mainly depends on their own decisions, and I have to go back to discuss with the girl, as long as she does not object, this matter will be decided.
If she doesn't agree, I'll come over early in the morning to return the letter, of course, I won't let Guan Yanzi lose face, I say here, seal a red envelope of 100 yuan to give you a long face.
Daqing Bole went home in a hurry, but my father and I looked at each other, and I wanted to say something, but my father stopped me.
My father sighed and said to me: You think you have been wronged? Do you think I just thought Hongying was beautiful and asked you to marry?
Child, you have to go to society after graduation, and many things are not what you think. The only thing Hongying is inferior to yours is eating agricultural grain, but I look at that girl, she is definitely not a person who has touched the hook of the shuttle bell all her life. What you don't understand now, you will definitely know in the future.
All night, I had been expecting Uncle Daqing to come to my house early the next morning.
It's not that I'm looking forward to the hundred red envelopes, and it's not that I look down on Hongying, but the last stubbornness in my heart as a man: even if I want to marry Hongying, it should be pursued by myself and the two are happy, not forced to me by her father.
But my hope was disappointed, around ten o'clock, my father did not make a big fanfare, secretly took all the family's money with him, and did not take any other gifts, and took my mother and me to Uncle Daqing's house.
Sure enough, Da Qingbo's house was also quietly lively, and his two sons also came back, and Hongying stood behind Da Qingbo with her head bowed in shame. Looking at that posture, it should have acquiesced to her father's arrangement.
At this point, the opinions of Hongying and I are no longer important, what matters is the attitude of the two elders.
During the banquet, Hongying and I were arranged to sit together, and secretly glanced at Hongying next to me a few times out of the corner of my eye, and even I myself was shocked by the temperament exuded by her.
Fortunately, Uncle Da Qingbo and my father were comforting me and Hongying respectively: Although it is just a joke, today you don't have to think that you are really married, just as our parents personally pull a line for you. In the future, we will not talk about how far you can develop in your own interactions.
Then the parents of both sides stuffed red envelopes into the two "newcomers", Hongying looked down-to-earth and generous, only I seemed a little mechanical.
I should go to school, the day before, Hongying actually came to my house while it was dark, sent me a new set of sportswear, and said that you go to school in the city, the family doesn't need to worry about anything, just remember to write more letters home if there is anything.
In the first few months, I only wrote a letter home when I wanted living expenses, but after a month or two, I always felt that it didn't seem fair to Hongying, so I began to try to write a few words to her, except for a simple hello, there was really no love or love.
At the end of the three-year period, I graduated and returned to the county in 85, and was unsurprisingly arranged in my own township health center.
The depression in my heart, I didn't expect to finally jump out of the farm gate, go around in a circle, and still return to this mountain.
Hongying and I are both 20 years old, and in the past three years, our relationship has improved a little, except for the official walk around during the Chinese New Year.
At home during the summer vacation, we would occasionally meet to watch a movie, but I didn't even dare to pull Hongying's hand, I was really ashamed in front of her.
But Hongying doesn't seem to see my "ugliness" at all, every time I go to ask her out, she will readily agree and will go to the appointment on time.
Not long after I worked in the health center, I suddenly suffered a disease, which was not a serious illness, but I felt extremely sore all over my body, but no matter whether I took injections or medicine, it had no effect at all.
Later, I reluctantly went to the city, found a former teacher at school, and stayed in the school hospital for half a month before I stopped the pain. But after returning home, although I went to work every day, my body suddenly changed visibly, and in less than half a year, I grew about 20 cm taller, and a layer of skin was also shed on my body, but the flesh that grew out was much whiter.
At the same time, I suddenly had a great appetite, I had to eat almost three bowls of rice at every meal, and I always felt hungry, and my whole body had endless energy.
By the time the Chinese New Year was approaching, the little man who was once around 1.5 meters had turned into a tall and white handsome guy.
Hongying has been by my side since I got sick, and even during the half month I went to the school hospital, she took half a month off to accompany me.
I don't know how to introduce her to the teacher, or if she introduces herself generously: Xiaoguan's fiancée.
I was reborn once, and my inferiority complex in front of Hongying completely disappeared, and I went to her house more often, and I no longer dodged, but walked in openly.
Hongying and I got married in 85, and everyone said that we were a talented and beautiful couple.
There are also acquaintances who know our past who say that Hongying is really blessed by God, that kid has been ugly for more than ten years, but he can suddenly be "reborn", if he doesn't suffer from that illness, it is really a story of flowers and cow dung.
In the second year after marriage, Hongying gave birth to a big fat boy for me, and also quit her job in the tea factory to take care of the children at home.
But I began to suffer again, and she would "force" me to continue studying every day, saying that I must go to further study.
Under the "coercion and temptation" of my wife, through several years of on-the-job study, in 88, I was admitted to medical school, and after graduation, I was assigned to the county hospital, and finally had a "place to use".
After I went to work in the county, Hongying also took her children to live in the county seat. With the deepening of reform and opening up, she used the tea knowledge she learned in her early years to open a tea shop by herself. Later, the tea in our county shined, and Hongying unknowingly made a fortune.
Decades have passed, and I am approaching retirement age, and my story with Hongying is far from over. Many times, we would sit together and reminisce about the past, recalling the awkward "engagement" of the year. There is helplessness, but more sweetness......