In the fifth month of the lunar calendar, the pomegranate trees in the yard are full of flowers, and the temperature is slowly rising, but the atmosphere at home seems to be more dreary than the weather. I, a student who is about to take the college entrance examination, is embarrassed to face the tension at home every day in addition to facing books.
"Wife, I've already made breakfast, hurry up and eat." Whenever Dad calls Mother so tenderly, the atmosphere in the house seems to ease for a while.
Mother Wang Li often doesn't say anything, but she enjoys her father's caution in her heart. But whenever grandma Li Xiuying snorted coldly on the side, she could immediately disperse this warmth.
"Just now, look at your look, you don't have your grandfather's energy!" Grandma has been dissatisfied with her father for a long time, and no matter how hard he tries, grandma always seems to think that he is inferior to others.
These days, grandma began to frequently mention a person, Chen Fang, she always said: "That Chen Fang, how sensible, how like some people, they know how to go around all day long." "I distinctly remember that the first time I heard the name, my mother's face changed.
The problem is that grandma mentions Chen Fang in front of her mother. Every now and then, I saw a helpless smile on the corner of my mother's mouth.
"Mother-in-law, you mentioned Chen Fang again, but my husband and I are doing well, so don't add to the blockage." Mother finally couldn't help it for a while.
"Daughter-in-law, you know something, I'm just right!" Grandma said righteous words, but she didn't know her good intentions, and she was slowly pushing away the joy of the family.
In this way, the family struggled to survive in their own hearts. My room became the only safe haven, and every now and then my dad would push the door in and talk to me about his struggles.
"Ming, you listen to grandma, don't be like your father." Dad's seemingly unintentional sigh was actually full of powerlessness.
"Dad, you and Mom will get better, you can talk to Grandma more." Although I was ignorant, I could feel my father's distress.
Time passed in the family's mutual temptation and patience. I often hid under the quilt and eavesdropped on the conversations between my parents and grandmother outside the door, and every time I listened to them, my heart became heavy.
"Look at those families outside, all of them have a ...... of virtuous wives and filial children" Grandma's voice was full of envy and expectations for other people's families.
"Mom, I see." Dad's answer was always so short.
From the words between my grandmother and my mother, I can clearly feel that although my father is the top of my grandmother's heart, in my grandmother's eyes, my mother never seems to be worthy of him. And my father's helplessness and my mother's tolerance became a pimple in my heart.
These days, my grandmother used to sit alone in the yard and watch the pomegranate blossoms, but no one knew that I saw the tear in the corner of her eye. I know that everyone in the family is actually thinking about how to make this family back together in their own way.
At the Li family's dinner table, the atmosphere fell into embarrassment again. Grandma Li Xiuying mentioned Chen Fang's matter again, and her words were full of hints and regrets. Dad Li Gang lowered his head and didn't say anything, and I could feel sweat or helplessness oozing from his palms.
"The weather is really good today, and Aunt Wang, a neighbor, said that their Xiao Li came back and said that she brought her a lot of gifts." Grandma's words seemed to be unintentional, and it seemed to be intentional for both father and mother Wang Li to hear.
"Mom, you always talk about old things, isn't our family doing well now?" Dad finally spoke, and although his tone was calm, he could not hide the bitterness in his heart.
"Hmph, how well you are doing is not looking at the faces of your family, but looking at the outside." Grandma replied unhappily, and when Mom came in with the food, she had a smile on her face, but there was a different scene in her eyes.
"Mother-in-law, I heard that Chen Fang is back, do you want her to come over for a meal?" Mom spoke suddenly, with a hint of challenge in her words.
Grandma was stunned for a moment: "I... That's your dad's business, how can I be embarrassed? But there was a smug gmug in his eyes.
"Grandma, where did the food made by my mother not taste good, I think it's good." I hastened to change the subject and try to appease this invisible war.
In the living room after dinner, there is only the loud theme song in the TV series, Dad stands on the balcony smoking, and the lonely back seems to be asking the boundless night sky, why home, is always like this.
Just this weekend, Grandma suggested going for a walk in the park. Dad didn't refuse, and Mom didn't say anything. So, on this breezy afternoon, the family stood under the plane tree in the park.
"Just now, look at you, you actually look much better than that Chen Fang." Grandma suddenly changed her tune.
Dad smiled and said nothing, and Mom watched it all quietly.
Suddenly, a breeze blew, and my grandmother looked at me, "Ming, what do you want to do when you grow up?" Don't stay at home all day reading. ”
I was silent because I knew that the family storm was far from subsided, and that it was only a temporary hiding.
My father and I had melancholy in our eyes, and my mother barely managed to squeeze out a smile. Chen Fang's sudden appearance became a continuous fuse, igniting the long-standing dissatisfaction and disappointment at home. Behind all this, I seem to be able to see my grandmother's hidden satisfaction. Dad was caught between love and affection, struggling so hard.
Chen Fang's phone call followed, and she didn't really show up, but wandered around our house like a ghost. Her phone call with her grandmother seemed to complicate matters further. I leaned on the corner of the stairs, listening to the voice on the other end of the phone, but my mind was mixed.
"Aunt Li, thank you so much, I let go of all the things of those years..."Chen Fang's voice sounded relaxed.
"Child, this is your young man's business, as long as I have just had a good time, I will be relieved." Grandma's voice didn't seem to be fully relieved.
This war without gunpowder continues in these subtle communications, and I have become a bystander in the invisible battle. I can only pray silently, hoping that the storm in my home will pass soon, so that this family can find long-term peace.
It was late at night, and his father Li Gang walked out of the house because he was escaping the growing family conflict. Under the slightly drunk street lamp, his steps looked a little trembling. The bitter winter wind swept mercilessly through the empty streets, and also blew all the pain he was full of.
And I, who had been silently watching my father's back by the window, until he disappeared into the night, and a sense of foreboding involuntarily rose in my heart.
Then, a sudden phone ringing, breaking the calm of the night, rang with a bang. It was a call from the hospital, and my father accidentally fell and injured his leg.
There was chaos at home, mother Wang Li hurriedly packed up the medicine, and grandmother Li Xiuying was stunned. I followed them closely and rushed to the hospital.
On the benches in the hospital corridor, we watched the dim lights and listened to the doctor say that Dad needed to be hospitalized for observation. The grandmother's face was pale, and she looked silently at her son's painful eyes, her eyes revealing unprecedented anxiety and self-blame.
"Mom, it's going to be okay just now." Mom held Grandma's hand, and even though her own heart was bleeding, she was still very firm.
Grandma was silent for a long time, and finally spoke: "It's all my fault, I... I've always been too eccentric. ”
Life in the hospital was not easy, and my father needed to stay in bed for a long time due to his injury. And my mother has become the mainstay of the family, taking care of my father's diet and daily life.
Whenever my mother's gentle but firm voice came from the ward: "Husband, drink slowly, it's hot." I could see that my grandmother's eyes were full of gratitude and guilt.
Chen Fang's gentle greeting calls gradually diminished, and her voice no longer echoed in this home. Grandma clearly felt the importance of her mother to the family, and she began to take the initiative to talk to her, although it still seemed a little stiff.
"Daughter-in-law, you... You've worked hard. Grandma said in the gentlest voice she could, the first time she had spoken to her mother in years.
And I, in front of the window at midnight, looked at the empty yard, under the dim light, my grandmother and mother looked at each other and smiled, and my heart was deeply moved.
The coldness and stubbornness that used to be seemed to dissolve into the night at this moment. Home, a harbor of all kinds of people and memories, finally began to ripple with reconciliation after this turmoil.
In the hospital, the trivial things of life have become simple and warm. Grandma began to learn from her mother, telling her about the ordinary and beautiful past in front of her father's bedside, while her mother listened with a smile on the sidelines.
After the turmoil, the originally separated hearts seem to have found a way to get back together. The soft moonlight, through the window, sprinkled on the father's quiet face, and every corner of the house was shrouded in a warm atmosphere.
We are all reflecting on the true meaning of family harmony is not to blame and fight, but to give each other the most sincere love and support when they need it most.
The warm sunshine sprinkled on the day when my father Li Gang recovered and was discharged from the hospital, and the old sycamore tree in the yard also pulled out its buds with the spring breeze. Everything in the home is like a new life, full of hope and vitality.
Grandma Li Xiuying often sits on a rocking chair, looking at us busy in the yard, with unprecedented tolerance and tenderness in her eyes. The grandmother who used to be stubborn and biased is no longer there, replaced by an old man who deeply understands the value of family affection.
"Daughter-in-law, today I want to eat the braised pork you made." Grandma said to her busy mother Wang Li, her tone was full of anticipation.
"Mother-in-law, don't worry, I will let you eat enough today." Mom replied with a smile, and her soft voice was full of happiness.
Dad learned a lot from this accident, and he knew that as the pillar of the family, responsibility is heavier than invisible weight. Whenever he came home, he would always hug his mother and whisper in her ear, "Thank you, wife." ”
And I, after witnessing all this, feel like I've grown a lot. I began to learn how to maintain the harmony of this home, to learn to express love in the smallest details.
After all, Chen Fang did not appear in our lives again, and her role became an episode in the family history, irrelevant and irrelevant.
The days flowed like this ordinary and real, and everyone had a new understanding and a new beginning after this turmoil. Family affection is not a call made out of empty words, but is given and borne silently in ordinary life.
There are no longer the disputes and grievances of the past in the family, but they are replaced by gentle words and laughter. Grandma and Mom communicate more and more, and sometimes share some family tips or gossip news together.
Sometimes, I sit quietly in the corner of the yard and watch my busy family members, and my heart wells up. Dad, Mom, and Grandma, they use their own ways to write the harmony and beauty of this family.
At dusk, we take a walk together as a family to enjoy the tranquility of the ordinary. And those past contradictions and misunderstandings are like shadows in the sunset, gone with the wind, never to come back.
Life has taught us a lesson: love and tolerance are the cornerstones of a family, and no matter how the outside world changes, as long as there is love, there is belonging.