<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > biographical novel serial "Transport to The Canopy" Chapter 3 Guest Food Poverty Author: You Yu</h1>
What does the shipping canopy want,
Did not dare to turn over has met.
Broken hats to cover the city,
Leaky boats carry wine in the middle of the stream.
--Lu Xun
On August 30, 2019, I was transferred to Pingshan Senior High School in Pingshan Town to teach. The room I was given was room 104. While cleaning my room, I found two yellowed diaries covered in dust. Out of curiosity, I dusted off the dust and opened it to see, unexpectedly, and was immediately attracted by the contents. I almost forgot to eat and sleep, and spent two days day and night perusing the two large diaries. The owner of the diary is named Wu Lin, who is the protagonist of the novel written by the author. I was both shocked by his adventure and lamented his misfortune. Determined to ignore the clumsiness of the pen, write out his experience, and be unhappy about it.
Chapter 3 is here
Wu Lin's eldest sister, named Wu Qing. It is not a sister, it is an abandoned daughter picked up by her father Wu Shitai at the Wugong Railway Station. At that time, it was a three-year difficult period, there was famine in many places, the grain was extremely expensive, and a steamed bun could be exchanged for a mother-in-law. It may be at this time that the eldest sister's parents moved out of Gansu with their families, and for the sake of livelihood, they abandoned the eldest sister in the crowded downtown area on the way, hoping that the family without children or still having surplus food could adopt her. But Wu Shitai was not in either case, and the adoption of Wu Qing at that time was entirely out of sympathy.
Wu Lin did not know how old the eldest sister was when her father adopted her eldest sister (her father never mentioned it, and Wu Lin did not ask about it), but Wu Lin guessed that she should have been at least ten years old, for two reasons: first, she herself clearly knew that her parents abandoned her, indicating that she was already in the year of knowing things; second, Wu Lin was born in 1964, when she knew that there was such a sister, she was already married, and for her situation at home, Wu Lin could not recover any fragments from her memory.
Since Wu Lin did not feel that the eldest sister had ever existed at home, of course, he did not enjoy the care and care from the elder sister. Memories of the eldest sister can only begin after she got married.
Wu Qing's in-laws' surname is Tang and she lives in Xiagou Village. Xiagou Village has a small population and only two production teams. Most families live on small open flat land or gentle slopes on both sides of the ditch, while a few live on the slopes of Sunny Hills. Xiagou Village is adjacent to Majia Village, separated only by a large mountain. The Tang family is not at the bottom of the ditch, but in the south is separated by a small mountain beam of Longquan Ridge (named after a spring water). Closer to Wu Lin's family, only separated by a beam, it belongs to a single family. Starting from Wu Lin's house, walking about five miles downhill, climbing over a mountain beam, looking north, you can see the Tang family in the mountain valley. Walk about three miles down the slope and you'll be there.
In addition to the old couple, the Tang family has sons, many laborers, and a thick family foundation. In particular, the eldest wu Qing married, named Tang Chaoshan, was a rare high school graduate in the countryside at that time, and was arranged to work as a cadre in the township government. Later, it was not because of the ability problem, or the need for work, Tang Chaoshan was sent back to the village as a branch secretary. Officially, the village lacked a young and promising branch secretary like him.
Even so, the tang family's condition still made countless people envious. Wu Qing can marry such a family, which is undoubtedly happy. After her husband returned to the village as a branch secretary, he re-selected three tile houses on the flat dam by the river in Xiagou Village. The two moved out to live another time, although they were not nominally separated from the old man. Since then, the days of Wu Qing's family can be described as sesame blossoms, which is really flavorful. To say that the fly in the ointment is that Wu Qing even gave birth to three children are thousands of gold, that is, he failed to give birth to a top doorbar.
It is said that Wu Lin has such a rich sister with a rich in-laws and a husband with a head and a face, which should be thankful, and the family should also get a lot of help. But unfortunately, Wu Lin has never been proud of this, nor has he ever had the memory of himself and his family being supported by the other party, and he has never even heard heart-warming words.
During the New Year, in order to consolidate her husband's status and prestige in the eyes of the villagers, Wu Qing would carry a basket full of gifts, follow her husband behind the mountain, and go door to door to give the villagers a New Year's greeting, but rarely went home to give her adoptive parents a New Year's greeting, which was even more rare to see. Occasionally back to the mother's house, the ass has not yet sat on the hot bench, the words have not been said two words, they are anxious to go back, as if afraid of contaminating the mother's family's poverty.
One winter, about a certain day in the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, there was heavy snowfall, and the mountains were full of white and white, and the ground was covered half a foot deep. It is really "opening the door piece to sprinkle people's faces, sending eyes to the mountains and mountains into jade muscles". Wu Lin's mother, Yan Ruizhen, had made another old mistake, coughing and panting, and had been bedridden for several days, and had no money to look. Wu Shitai sent Wu Lin to borrow some money from Wu Qing for medical treatment. At that time, Wu Qing was still living with her in-laws and mother-in-law. Wu Lin braved the wind and snow, one foot deep and one foot shallow, towards Longquan Ridge.
There are few pedestrians on mountain roads. It's easy to do when you go up the mountain, but when the road is slow, your feet are on the loose snow, and although it is difficult to walk, it is not very slippery. When you reach the steep slope near the mountain beam, you need to use both hands and feet - first use your feet to find the ground where you can stay, and then use your hands to climb the dry grass or small trees, and move up a little bit. Going down the hill is much more strenuous. You can't stand and walk generously, either by squating with a hook or by sliding vertically down the slope along the slope. I could only crouch carefully on the road, grabbing the dry grass in my hands and sliding down little by little. Less than three miles of slope downhill, a full hour of walking. When he arrived at the eldest sister's house, Wu Lin's unenserved hands were red and swollen, and he did not dare to immediately reach out to the fire to roast, and as soon as he baked, he felt pain like a heart. A pair of torn rubber shoes were also soaking wet, and the feet were numb and stiff, not like they were their own.
Brother-in-law Tang Chaoshan was not at home, Wu Qing's in-laws roasted the fire in their kang house, and Wu Qing's only son (who had not yet added a child at that time) roasted the fire in his kang house. Wu Lin explained his intentions, Wu Qing first hesitated, and then said: "Your brother-in-law's salary has not yet been paid, I have been very tight in the past two days, and I am also trying to borrow some money from whom." Wu Lin saw that her sister did not mean to lend money, so she did not want to stay longer, and said: "That line, I will go back to my father and say that I will find another way elsewhere." I won't delay much longer. ”
Wu Lin had already walked dozens of steps away, and Wu Qing shouted from behind: "When I have it, I will send it over!" ”
Later, don't say send money, even people didn't come back to see it.
From the time Wu Lin was born to junior high school, his sister and brother-in-law did not buy him anything — whether it was food or clothing, or study aids, or even the New Year's Eve did not get even a dime of money from them, which was also perverse in the local area at that time.
It has been said that people are three poor and three rich in their lives. In the year when Wu Lin was in the second year of junior high school, Wu Qing's family had a change. Tang Chaoshan did not know whether he accidentally ate the uncooked black medicine at his neighbor's house or at his own home and was poisoned. Since then, Wu Qing has begun to decline. Wu Lin did not have the slightest intention of schadenfreude, after all, Wu Qing was a sister, although she had not helped her family, Wu Lin still hoped that her life would continue to be good.
Wu Qing is in good health, doing farm work is no less than a man, and when her husband is alive, she is busy with work all day, and the family's farm work is mainly done by her.
After the widow, Wu Qing changed her normal state, the frequency of returning to her mother's home suddenly increased, she seemed to no longer be afraid of contaminating the poverty of her mother's family, and never took herself as an outsider, for the things given by her mother's family, she accepted it calmly, and when she saw what her family had but did not have at home, she unceremoniously appropriated it for herself. For example, when Wu Lin arrived in winter, his hands would habitually crack and frostbite, becoming frostbite, swelling and itching, and it would be difficult to heal for a long time. When Qianshi was in school, in order to prevent this situation, he was fierce and bought a pair of leather gloves with the 5 yuan living expenses saved in two or three months. This year's Spring Festival to take home, Wu Qing saw, loved to let go, greeted without hitting one, and took it away.
In this regard, although Wu Shitai was not accustomed to it, he did not say anything in person, but after Wu Qing left, he made a few complaints in front of Wu Lin and his wife. Wu Lin and her mother could understand Wu Qing, and felt that it was not easy for her to pull three children alone.
Wu Qing and her three girls survived four years of hardship. One day, the father-in-law led a matchmaker to propose to him, and Wu Qing refused on the grounds that he did not know the details of the other party. But from then on she never had peace. Matchmakers are never afraid to run, like to shake their lips and drum their tongues, often come to die begging, with the three inches of uncorrupted tongue brought in the mother's womb, dead and tangled. At this time, the father-in-law also joined the list of matchmakers, persuaded Wu Qing, and eventually played a catalytic role. The father-in-law repeatedly told her how good and wealthy the matchmaker had mentioned, and said softly and hardly that if this matter was not allowed, his mother and daughter would be swept out of the house. Wu Qing was uneducated since childhood, her disposition was also loyal, and she was not good at guessing the hearts of evil people with bad words, she thought that her father-in-law was so enthusiastic, it was all for the life of her mother and daughter, so she said: "Everything depends on the father-in-law!" When the father-in-law received this sentence, he was naturally full of joy and further used a trick to say: "Without further ado, the sooner the better." ”
In fact, where does she know the reason for this. In Japan, the husband built three additional tile houses. The two of them and the three young girls had long been absent from their father-in-law, but they had not been separated in name only. In addition to leaving her three young girls, she also owed more than a thousand yuan to the brigade, but also owed her husband more than two thousand yuan outside. Soon after the death of his son, the father-in-law recovered the money owed outside, but he was unwilling to pay the debts of the brigade, so he came up with a way to have the best of both worlds - to remarry his daughter-in-law, who promised the marriage, who paid the money. In this way, not only did he not have to pay back, but he could also harvest three tile houses. When he persuaded his daughter-in-law, he not only received the money, but also received many other benefits. At the same time, it was agreed with the brigade that three rooms would be used to pay off the debts owed.
By the time Wu Qing woke up and knew what kind of person her future husband was (it was an old man in his fifties who was more than ten years older than himself, fierce, miserly, and mean, he had been married twice, but somehow, the earliest divorced, and the latter one had found a short-sightedness), he had been like a puppeteer, he had been tricked into going to the commune to register for marriage, and his three young daughters were also taken hostage by the father-in-law to the future in-laws' house.
There is not much hope of recovery. However, Wu Qing did not give up her last efforts, came to the commune alone to explain her grievances, hoping that the commune would make decisions for her and revoke the original marriage registration. But they said, "This is the end of the matter, and there is nothing we can do." Although you have grievances, people have done a very clever job in legal procedures, dripping water, and everything is reasonable and legal. Do you take the marriage certificate too simple and think it's a blank piece of paper? Since the date of registration, you are the legal wife of the family. File a lawsuit now? Insufficient evidence. You say that people arrange marriages and buy and sell marriages, but if you press your fingerprints on the Declaration of Application for Registration of Marriage, it means that you have agreed to it yourself. This kind of thing must be careful in advance! ”
In this way, everyone understood that there was a hidden grievance in this matter, everyone understood that this was a pre-planned trap, everyone thought it was unfair, and they all held wu Qing's grievances, but no one could change the situation slightly.
It was regretted that the case would be won unless a senior lawyer was hired. But things are beyond the scope of the law and are moral issues. It is often the case that legality is not necessarily moral, and morality is not necessarily legitimate.
Wu Qing and her second husband made up for two years, added a boy to each other, and finally divorced. After the divorce, after being introduced, he lived with a foreigner again. Her original house was in debt, and she was cleansed from her second husband's house, with no land and no housing. I had to live with my three husbands and both of them in my mother's house.
At that time, the situation of Wu Lin's family was also not optimistic, a large family was crowded in two low and dilapidated huts, the ground room could not live, Wu Lin, brother and father had to clip the futon upstairs and sleep on the floor slab. It is not convenient to go up and down the stairs, the light upstairs is not good, the floor slabs (some places are not yet paved, there is a large gap between the floors, you need to be very careful when walking, otherwise you will fall downstairs), the four walls and the roof are the color of black rays that have been smoked by the fire. On rainy days, the room will leak rain; in winter, the smoke of the burning fire makes people's eyes tears dry.
The problem of living is easy to solve, and the key is food shortage. Wu Lin's family had not eaten enough, and now they had added two mouths with a strong appetite. Fortunately, in less than half a year, Wu Qing and her third husband settled in Shannan County on the condition that they would raise an elderly widow in the village, handle the household formalities for them, and distribute the land to them. The first husband of the three girls, they took the youngest, the other two remained in the Tang family.
Since then, they have had a good life and rarely return to their mother's house. Perhaps it was the third year of Wu Lin's entry into Zhao Jiazhuang, Wu Qing came to Wu Lin and said that he wanted to raise sheep, the capital was not enough, and he wanted to borrow something. At that time, the life of the Wu Lin family was also stretched, and there was no way to help. Before leaving, Wu Lin still carried his family behind his back and secretly gave Wu Qing a hundred yuan.
What Wu Lin could not forgive the most was that his father died, and Wu Qing did not come back. Although his father Wu Shitai was angry at Wu Qing's selfishness and self-care, after all, he had chosen her life, which was more than re-creation, which could be said to be not a parent, but better than a parent. Moreover, in her difficult times, her father helped her again and again, not caring about her selfishness and widowhood. Her father raised her without asking for anything in return, and when she died, she could not come to mourn and send a funeral, and she was not filial piety or righteousness.
Even if the father has something to do with her, the mother owes her a little debt, treats her as her own daughter, always remembers her when she has good food, and whenever the father complains about her selfishness, the mother always patiently persuades and thinks for her. But during the three years that her mother was bedridden, she only came back to see her once, and only returned at the repeated requests of her brother.
- To be continued
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Author Profile: You Yu, Shaanxi Zhou Zhiren, senior middle school Chinese teacher, from teaching for more than 30 years. Young is fond of literature, and now that he has passed the year of knowing his destiny, he is still obsessed with it. When I was happy, I also scribbled a few strokes, not shallow, and laughed. So far, he has published many papers on "Secondary School Chinese Teaching Reference", "Discussion and Practice of Chinese Education", "Teacher's Daily" and online platforms, and published more than 70 poems, essays, and small novels on online platforms.