Dictation: Xiao Fang
Statement: "The content of this article comes from life, but it is higher than life, part of the plot is fictional, in order to facilitate reading, the first-person narration is adopted, aiming to spread positive energy, please read rationally"
01
My name is Wang Xiaofang, I am from the north, and my hometown is in a small county in Shanxi. His parents were pure farmers who spent their lives farming in the countryside of their hometown.
I excelled in both character and learning from a young age, and later I was admitted to a key university, and stayed in the provincial capital to work after graduation. After working for a few years and saving some money, I bought a two-bedroom apartment in the city and planned to bring my parents and old family to live with me in the city.
To be honest, I brought my parents to the city mainly to make their old age more decent. After all, the conditions in the countryside are too difficult, and now that I have the financial ability, I should honor my parents.
The father is 63 years old and the mother is 59 years old, and the two of them only have a primary school education, and they still speak with a strong rural accent. However, they are simple and kind, honest and diligent. Especially my mother, I remember when I was a child, she had to work from early in the morning until 10 o'clock at night every day to finish all the household and farm work.
After picking up my parents in town, I found that they were really honest and content. The food in the city is much fresher and better than in the countryside, and they boast that it is delicious after eating it once. They slept in the new beds I bought for them, and they always said they slept soundly. I felt guilty for all these little things, and after our children were admitted to college and went out to work, we seemed to have forgotten their hard work.
After living in the city, their greatest pleasure is to go to the vegetable market every morning to buy groceries and visit the supermarket by the way. After dinner, my father would take a walk around the neighborhood while my mother would sort out tomatoes and other vegetable pickles in the kitchen.
My friends knew that my parents had come to the city, and they all envied me for being filial to my parents. Indeed, many young people, including me, will take their parents with them after they have succeeded in their careers, so that they can be taken care of in their old age and live a good life.
02
After my parents had lived there for more than half a year, I came home one afternoon after my usual busy work. As soon as I entered the door, my father greeted me, looking a little happy and a little apprehensive, and said to me, "Xiaofang, can you help us?"
"What are you helping, Dad?" I was a little confused, and asked what kind of helper they didn't just say?
"Look, your mother and I have lived here for half a year, although you didn't say anything, but we also know that houses in the city are expensive, and it is not easy for you to rent a house if you work hard in the field alone, and it is too worrying about you to feed our two old men."
"So, I discussed it with your mother, why don't you take us back to your hometown. In my hometown, we can grow some vegetables by ourselves, at least we can support ourselves, and it won't drag you down too much. "
I listened to my father's words, and suddenly I felt an indescribable feeling in my heart.
Yes, in the past, I fought for my cause and easily left them behind, but now I think that it is my filial piety to bring them to the city. In fact, deep down in their hearts, they don't want to burden me, an only daughter, they would rather be satisfied by themselves than become a burden to their children.
At this moment, I was deeply moved by my parents' submissive and unpretentious character. I am in a city of steel and concrete, running up and down, but in pursuit of a better material life; And they just want to be able to support themselves, and the requirements of life are so simple.
Yes, it's not that I am filial to them, but that they have taught me how to be filial to my parents with an ordinary attitude towards life.
With red eyes, I held my father's hand tightly, and my throat was a little choked: "Dad, you and Mom are here as a blessing to our family, and I won't let you be reluctant to leave the city." You can live here in peace, and when you are old, I will take care of you. "
When my mother saw that we were so emotional, she also came over and took my other hand and said, "Silly child, our parents' wish is to see you start a family and start a business, so that you can support yourself in the future and not cause you trouble." Dad is telling the truth, you can send us back to our hometown obediently. "
03
It turned out that in the simple mind of my parents, it was their greatest blessing to be able to support themselves by themselves, and they did not take it for granted that I could go to school and settle down in a business.
I can't help but feel that the ideology of rural people is so simple, what they care about is not material wealth, but not to drag their children down, and to be able to barely stand on their own with their hard-working hands.
This is probably the most simple yearning for life of their generation.
So, that night, I plucked up the courage to say to my parents, "Mom and Dad, you can live in the city at ease." I will work hard and in a few years the loan will be paid off and the house will truly belong to us. "
"In the future, you don't have to go to your hometown anymore, just live here, and when you are really old, I will hire a nanny or send you to a welfare home. But when you still have the strength to work, you don't have to worry about the housework, we just hire an aunt to do it. "
Hearing my words, my mother looked at my father again, and her eyes were full of relief and pride. And I, who couldn't sleep for a long time that night, thought about it, we city people took our parents to the city as a matter of course, but ignored their simple inner expectations.
It was only at this moment that I truly understood that in order to honor our parents, we first need to understand and respect their thoughts and lifestyles. I have ignored this so easily, and I am ashamed of their pious and kind heart.
04
Since then, my parents have really settled in our family, and they have completely escaped their aging, lonely and poor life in the countryside.
They often cook me some home-cooked food with rural flavors, so that I can taste the taste of my hometown and reminisce about the rustic happiness of my childhood.
I bought my parents a fitness card for seniors at a nearby mall, and they would go there every morning to exercise for a while, and in the evening they would walk with me in front of their homes.
On weekends, my parents would be in high spirits and ready to go out with me, or we would get together to watch TV and play cards. I'm on the right track at work, no matter how hard I work, it's only for a short time, but I can get together with them every day anyway.
Gradually, they also became familiar with the city life and gradually integrated into the rhythm of the city. I have offered to hire a nanny to serve them many times, but they always humbly refuse, saying that they are too old to take care of themselves.
After about three years, I finally paid off my mortgage and the two-bedroom home was completely home for me and my parents. That night, I invited my parents to a big dinner, and they were still very simple, just smiling and saying in the dialect that Southerners often say, "Thank you!" Now that the house is our home, you can work here with peace of mind, and when you get married in the future, the house will be yours! "
Where do I care about this, and my heart is full of joy to hug them is a kiss. Isn't the unpretentious but affectionate affection the haven that my weary heart desires?
05
In this way, we loved each other and spent more than five years happily. Yes, it was in the past five years that I finally understood that family affection is a hundred times more precious than money and status. As long as there is the love of parents, you will never get lost in the extravagance and waste brought by banknotes.
Not long ago, my father was suddenly diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer. When the condition was completely diagnosed, I accepted this fact almost dumbfounded, and my heart was tormented.
In those days, I just felt that the fragility and transience of life were so stinging. But unfortunately, when I finally realized cherishing and attachment, fate so ruthlessly took away the life that was once the closest life around me.
Mother is the one who accompanies her father every day, and she also suffers from watching her husband decline little by little. But in any case, I have never seen the slightest fragility on my mother's face, and she still takes care of all my father's daily life with the diligence and tenacity that she has learned all her life.
This may be the perseverance of their generation, who live to the end of their lives without regrets.
Later, my father passed away. In the last month of my father's life, he tossed and turned, and his thirst was unbearable. One day, while I was wiping his sweat, he suddenly said to me in a hoarse voice, "I'm sorry, daughter." Your mother and I haven't been able to provide you with any good life in our lives, so I've let you work like this..."
I burst into tears, leaned over and kissed my father's bloated and haggard face, and choked up and said, "Dad, I should thank you and Mom for teaching me too many principles of life..."
Yes, until the end of his life, the father is still feeling guilty for his daughter. And I, a highly educated modern person who is mixed with steel and concrete, first realized the shortness of life and the preciousness of family affection.
06
In my father's last month, I took a long leave of absence from my employer and stayed at his bedside with my mother.
One day that month, I saw my mother slip out of the ward at dawn and walk alone in the community. By the time I caught up, she was in tears. She said, "Daughter, you are better than us illiterate people after all, and I only want you to be happy."
"For your happiness, we have been living honestly in the countryside, and it doesn't matter what others think of us. If there is any regret, it is that we cannot give you better living conditions and cannot be an example for you young people to pursue progress..."
I just hugged my mother's thin body tightly, crying silently, unable to say a word. How I wish I could have understood my parents' efforts and thoughts in the first place, instead of waiting until my father passed away to make up my mind.
My father died that month. Just one day before he died, I suddenly remembered something and said to my mother: "Mom, do you remember what you and Dad said half a year ago, I was deeply touched at that time, and I can never forget it..."
The mother seems to have been old for many years, and her expression is a little dazed. I hurriedly recounted the situation, and my mother remembered. She smiled, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her hand, and said softly: "Yes, what your father said is right, we just hope that you can not worry about us and live your own life." The greatest wish of us as parents is nothing more than that..."
Yes, the farthest is blessing, and the highest is hope. The parents' hopes have always been so ordinary and simple. Compared to them, do we, the seemingly progressive young people, have also ignored the true nature of life?
Once upon a time, the temptation of material things and excessive competition made us lose the last safe haven of family affection. When the remnant sun is infinitely better, we suddenly realize that ideals and hopes are also around us. It's that we're missing, not that it's drifting away from us.
Yes, all of a sudden, it seemed to me that after my father's death, I suddenly understood the true meaning of happiness in simplicity. And that's the last thing I've learned in this life...