This article is more than 3,600 words, which really describes the growth path of rural youth in the 90s, and the consumption between family affection and money is heartbreaking. In order to increase readability, some plots have been artistically processed, please pay attention to screening.
'88 was the most embarrassing year of my father's life. In that year, our family had three consecutive happy events, and the family that was once good in the village was almost exhausted.
I have five brothers and sisters, and the eldest sister is the oldest, who got married and started a family a few years ago. In 88, the 23-year-old eldest brother and the 21-year-old second sister were in free love and had a partner ready to get married.
As a parent, your child is about to start a family, where is the reason to push?
Besides, my father has to be strong all his life, and he has a bit of a face in the village, not to mention, and the family conditions are really good. Since the children are getting married, they are naturally happy to help them plan for the wedding.
When the eldest sister got married a few years ago, my father didn't ask for a penny as a bride price, but also pasted five or six sets of furniture, not to mention the bedding and covering, and bought a scarce 14-inch black-and-white TV as a dowry.
Those dowries are not inconspicuous at all now, but they still caused a big sensation in the place at that time, and it was Mr. Fan who was able to marry a daughter in such a beautiful way.
Now that the second sister wants to get married, she naturally has to follow the rules of the eldest sister, in the words of her father, it is the palm of her hand and the back of her hand are all meat, and the three daughters can't treat any of them favorably.
The eldest brother's marriage is "marrying in", and the sister-in-law is a girl from the village, but she doesn't ask for much dowry, but the strong father still thinks that his daughter has to marry when she marries, so how can she let people talk about her daughter-in-law if she marries her daughter-in-law?
So, at the beginning of the year, he started to build three red brick and concrete houses, which can be regarded as new houses arranged for the eldest brother and sister-in-law.
In 88 years, when the price of building materials was high, I remember that the 1,000 catties of steel bars I bought back cost more than 1,500 yuan, except for the red bricks that the big brother burned out by himself and did not spend money, the cement had to be bought with money, and the wages of the craftsmen were also a lot.
The sister-in-law passed the door around the Dragon Boat Festival, and together with the construction of a house and marriage, the two happy events were done, and the father spent all the seven or eight thousand savings.
A "10,000 yuan" family has become a "loser" in half a year, and his father, who was once full of confidence, suddenly has a lot of wrinkles on his face.
The second sister is also in free love, the two are classmates in junior high school, the object is from the village on the other side of the river, and after coming out of school, he learned carpentering, and he also does some business when he has nothing to do.
Because the old houses in our place are mainly wooden houses, and those years happened to be the peak period for renovating new houses, the future second brother-in-law learned carpentry and was good at timber, so he started to buy and sell timber from old houses.
The father is quite satisfied with the future second son-in-law, but he is also stubborn in his heart.
When the eldest brother built a new house, the carpenter was the future second brother-in-law, but he was not engaged at that time, but the second brother-in-law had already officially visited the house with wine, which was considered to be an acknowledgment of their relationship.
The future second brother-in-law did carpentry work for our family, perhaps also to please the future father-in-law, and promised not to charge a penny of wages.
But my father just refused to take advantage of this, and said that these eight characters had just been written, and I, as an elder, took advantage of you so much, and I was not allowed to let the villagers poke the backbone?
The second brother-in-law's salary was paid in full, and his father's own savings were exhausted, not to mention that he finally went to the credit union to borrow a little.
The sister-in-law passed the door, everything was settled, and it was the second sister's turn to get married, and finally agreed to do a happy event on the day before the Mid-Autumn Festival in August.
As a result, his father had to buy the second sister's dowry in full swing.
I was 17 years old that year, and I was in my third year of high school at the county's No. 1 middle school, which was graduating in '88.
Although I had to take the college entrance examination, my father seemed to have completely forgotten about it.
It's not that he ignores my existence, because since I was a child, I was very good at "fighting" for him.
Since he started school, although he has often caused trouble for him by being naughty, he has never had to worry about his academic performance. Big and small exams, you can get prizes every time. The whole wall of my bedroom is plastered with my awards.
Therefore, in my father's mind, I was admitted to college as a snail with three fingers - nine out of ten. And there is not much tuition required to get admitted to university.
So, since my eldest brother built the house, the only time I could see my father smiling relaxed was when I came home and talked about my achievements.
I myself am full of confidence, and other students are anxious about the college entrance examination, and even several students can't sleep at night. It's just that I don't have any pressure at all, I should play and sleep.
Just kidding, do you still need to worry about not being able to get into college with the first grade score? It's nothing more than a matter of high or low grades and good or bad school.
But the arrogant army will be defeated! In that year's college entrance examination, I became the biggest unpopular in our school, only scored 498 points, and I didn't even pass the junior college line, and I was barely able to go to a secondary school.
What to say about secondary school! If I want to go to secondary school, do I need to spend these three more years in high school? When I graduated from junior high school, I voluntarily gave up the pre-selection exam. After studying for three years and then asking me to go to secondary school, how can you make me embarrassed?
On the day the results came out, I was like a stunned chicken, and I had no energy at all, and I sat by the river stupidly for an afternoon, until it was dark, and I was "persuaded" by my father to go back.
Even though it was dark and I could not see the expression on my father's face, I could guess with my toes that he must have been more emaciated, but he said to me in the tone I was most familiar with:
Boss, you have to learn to accept reality and admit failure, what if you fall off the list? Let's just review for a year and take the exam again every year. In my opinion, according to your temperament, it is a good thing for you to fail in the college entrance examination this time, so that you can also know how high the sky is and how thick it is, since ancient times, how many smart people have failed because they are above the top?
I followed my father home, and in that afternoon, I seemed to have grown up a lot and understood more in my heart.
Before that, I was literally empty-eyed, and I was the biggest in the world. This time, there is a feeling of being a new person.
But no matter how hard I want to work hard, I have to face a reality: my father really has no money, and he doesn't even have the money to buy a dowry for his second sister, and my mother sighs every day.
Mother said that since marrying into your family, I have never had such an embarrassing life, I used to borrow things to others, but now I actually borrowed oil, salt and rice, and even lost half of my shadow when I went out.
When my father persuaded me to come back, he said very lightly, isn't it just a year of studying? But it's really back, and the expenses of repeating a year have to be faced, with a tuition fee of 850 yuan, as well as daily food expenses and material expenses, which is worthy of marrying relatives.
Of course, my father will not tell me that it is difficult, and he has talked about face for half his life, where will he say things in front of his son that delay your study?
They don't say it, it doesn't mean that I don't know, 18-year-old me, I also boast of reading poetry and books, and of course I also know a lot of filial piety to my parents.
Watching my parents discuss where to borrow money every day, a thought suddenly popped into my mind, why do I have to repeat it? I go to work for a year to earn some money, and I can usually review without losing my homework, and then come back next year to repeat it?
I thought about it for a whole day, and finally formed a conclusion in my own heart: this is a good idea, the children of the poor are in charge of the family early, and I am already a man at the age of seventeen or eighteen, and I should also worry about my parents.
At dinner, I made my intentions as calm as possible.
After my parents heard what I said, they just looked at me intently, and the second and third sisters put down the bowls, and everyone's eyes looked at me, which made my self-confidence a little less.
Without self-confidence in my heart, the tone of my speech is even weaker. Unexpectedly, the first to speak was the second sister: brother,
Do you really think so? It's not for nothing that there are examples of work-study, but do you think it's right for you? Your playfulness is so heavy, you have a part-time job, do you remember to review and not lose your homework?
I answered the second sister's question without hesitation, but even I felt that the answer was unreliable - I can really have such strong self-control, why did the first college entrance examination break out so big and unpopular?
The parents didn't say anything, neither agreed nor objected, but just said don't worry, let's think about it.
When I came back to my senses, the second sister didn't know where she had gone, but there was still an unfinished half bowl of rice on the table in front of her place.
I was a little puzzled, because my parents had been strict with food since I was a child, and it was absolutely not allowed to be wasted, and I had almost never seen a situation like the second sister with half a bowl of rice left.
But even so, after all, he was full of worries, so he didn't care too much about why the second sister didn't finish eating.
After eating, the four members of the family were surprisingly quiet, no one spoke, the father sat on the chair by the window and smoked, the mother fed the pigs in the miscellaneous house, and the third sister went to the kitchen to wash the dishes.
It was only me who looked at my father with a lot of heart, and the smoke in front of him was so thick that I even had the illusion that I couldn't even see the expression on his face.
Suddenly, a flashlight came on the road outside, and it should have come to my house to see the direction. Because although we are a big bay house here, my house is a separate road towards the door.
Someone came directly into my house towards the door, and I saw clearly that there were two people, a figure was very familiar, it was the second sister who had just "disappeared", and the tall figure next to her was next to her, because it should be the second brother-in-law who was not married - if it was someone else, the second sister was a big girl, and she would definitely not be so close to others.
Sure enough, the two of them went directly into our house, the second brother-in-law greeted my father very politely, and when the third sister came from the kitchen to make a bowl of tea, my mother also heard the news and came back.
The family sat together, although the second sister had not yet passed the door, but the second brother-in-law had been working as a carpenter in my house for two months, and he did not seem very reserved, and when my father asked him why he was doing so late, he replied directly:
Listening to Ah Fen, the younger brother is going to work and not repeating his studies? I thought it was a shame to hear it. I also know that my family spent a lot of money on three happy events this year, so let's discuss it.
Father smiled reluctantly and said, "That's what he just said, we haven't decided yet." Don't worry, there must be a road before the car reaches the mountain, I have to think about it.
The second brother-in-law said very directly: Since Ah Fen and I are about to get married, it is a family, and the family does not speak two words, I think the old man should go directly to the school to repeat, don't go out to work, it will be easy to scatter his heart.
The second brother-in-law turned his face to me and said: Isn't it just about the tuition fee, I will leave the words here, and I will pay your tuition fee in the future, so as not to increase the pressure on my father.
After speaking, the second brother-in-law also knew that his father was strong, so he turned to him and said: The dowry you prepared for Ah Fen is still up to you, you can do as much scenery as you want, and don't worry about the old man's affairs.
This should be regarded as a comprehensive review, which not only protects his father's face, but also gives him steps, and his father does not deny his proposal.
So, on August 31, I successfully returned to school to repeat my studies, and all the expenses that year were really out of the pocket of my second brother-in-law. Even later, on the day of the second sister's marriage, the second brother-in-law also gave 2,000 yuan of "divorce money", and all the face was earned for the mother's family.
And I finally lived up to expectations, in the college entrance examination in 89, with a total score of 560 points, I was admitted to a key university, and I finally raised my eyebrows.
After graduating from university, I stayed in the provincial capital to work, and after a few years, my second sister's children grew up one after another. Whether it is out of gratitude or instinctive family affection, the relationship between me and my two nephews is also the closest.
Under my "nurturing", my two nephews were admitted to universities in the provincial capital, and with my help, they successfully stayed in the provincial capital and settled down.
Decades have passed, and now the second sister and second brother-in-law are both in the provincial capital, helping their two sons take care of their grandchildren, and they often come to my house to walk around.
Although so much time has passed, the friendship between me and my second brother-in-law has never changed. Although he kept telling me later that we are brothers and we don't need you to repay the favor, I always felt that I was closer to him......