Hello Father | Author: Li Dongmei

Jia Ling's movie "Hello, Li Huanying" has made many people cry, once again praising the greatness of maternal love. In fact, it is just movies, poetry, prose, and praise for mothers abound. Especially those who are like Lao She, Hu Shi, Xiao Fuxing, Mo Yan, Shi Tiesheng, Ji Xianlin, Zhu De, etc., they all use simple words to convey infinite respect for their mothers. It is not that there are no writers who write about fathers, and the father figure in Zhu Ziqing's "Back Shadow" has also touched generations of people. After all, there are not many classic articles that can be circulated. Although the mother is great, the father is not great.

I'd love to write about my father, even though he's an ordinary countryman, even though he really has nothing to brag about.

My father was an authentic farmer all his life, although he had two chances to change his destiny.

The first time my father was admitted to a geology school, school was not a way to leave the countryside. If there is no accident, going to school, graduating, and joining the work, it is very likely that he will become a public family, and like his great uncle, he will now retire from the geological team, and he will have a pension of thousands of yuan a month. However, fate is fate, my father did not get his wish, and finally stayed in the countryside, but later heard that the quota for school was topped.

The second time my father signed up for the army, in that era, being a soldier was not a shortcut to jumping out of the farm. If all goes well, if it is smooth sailing, becoming a soldier, promoting cadres, and changing jobs, it is very likely that he will go out of the countryside, and like the second uncle of the family, he will become a commander after joining the army, and then he will be transferred to Xinxiang, and his family will become a city person. However, fate is fate, and my father failed to achieve what he wanted, and after all, he stayed in the countryside, and this stay was a lifetime.

As the eldest son in the family, there are parents on the top, and there are several young younger siblings, in that extremely backward era, all relying on manpower to work, the livelihood of a large family must always be borne by someone, and this responsibility unfortunately falls on the father. It is said that Grandma really did not want her father to leave the house and tried to block every opportunity. He even promised that as long as he did not leave the house, even if he did nothing at home, he could even grasp the power of the family in advance. In short, the filial father, looking at the parents who worked hard, looked at the young siblings, and since then gave up all dreams of jumping out of the farm, stayed in the countryside with peace of mind, and planted the land in a down-to-earth manner as a farmer.

The poverty of the countryside, the hardships of the peasants, and the hard work of cutting food in the soil, everyone who has experienced it understands. At that time, it was still a collective production team, and the family's rations for a year relied on the work earned, the families with many laborers, the exhausted and tired people barely had enough to eat, and the families with less labor worked hard for a year, and perhaps the rations earned were not enough to eat.

No matter how poor and bitter, no matter how tired and difficult, life will always go on. So under the persecution of poverty, although my father did not have three heads and six arms, he learned eighteen martial arts and became a good style in the countryside.

My father would work on clay tiles, and when he was idle, he and his uncles and brothers of the same sect would build houses for people in three townships and five miles. And mud, stacked walls, upper beams, tile houses, the sky is unknown, the sky is dark back. Especially for three or nine days, sweating, freezing and cold, that kind of hardship is known to several people. Because of their father's good craftsmanship, they were often invited to build a house. To this day, speaking of our Li surname, in addition to the number of people who teach, there are many people who can be masons, and it is even rumored that the feng shui terrain of the ancestral old tomb is good, just like the curved ruler of a carpenter, and the carpenter will teach the bookmaker without carpenter.

Father was indeed a good carpenter, and it is true that anyone who builds a house for man does not work as a carpenter, making a few chairs, making a few cabinets, that is a piece of cake. I remember that my uncle once took back a set of furniture and wanted my father to make a set of furniture. The style of the bed is very special, a combination of rigidity. My father, who had never seen the drawings, not only understood them, but actually made them, and the style was not worse than the one sold. Later, my father rarely made any furniture, but to this day, the upstairs of the house still treasures the tools he used as a carpenter.

Father was not a professional butcher, but he could kill pigs. In those days, there were new year festivals, unlike today's special sellers of meat, who wanted to eat meat and had to kill the pigs and sheep they fed at home. Father has a little fame in the ten miles and eight townships, who need to kill pigs and slaughter sheep, most people will call their father to go, of course, those who go into the water should be thank you, I still remember the incense when nibbling on pig's trotters.

My father was not a special kind of man, but he could cook, of course, not ordinary cooking. The red and white celebrations in the countryside need a big spoon, equivalent to a chef, and the father is a good hand at the big pot. I remember that every year at the tenth meeting of the first month of the seventh lunar month, the brigade would invite people from other places to sing operas and eat and live in full control. To cook for dozens of singers, this almost fell on the father. Once there was a year when it was raining in the sky, the invited singers really couldn't go, a singing was a month, and my father also made a big pot of rice for a month. To this day, as long as the surrounding villages do white things, they still call their fathers to take charge.

My father was not a standard actor, but he could sing. At that time, there were troupes in villages and villages, and when the farmers were idle, they all got together to sing and sing operas, and they were happy. Especially in the winter, when the farmers are idle, they rush to rehearse a few plays together and perform them for the villagers, which can also be regarded as adding some happiness to the poor life. There are people in all the villages of the brigade who like to sing, and my father is one of them. The images he created such as "fierce Zhang Fei" and "mountain carving" can be described as deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, until now, when the elderly mention it, they are still praised.

In any case, his father's main business was to cultivate land from beginning to end, and in addition to dividing more than ten acres of land in the family, my father also contracted more than ten acres of land, ploughed and rake, planted hoes and harvested, and he was proficient in everything. All year round, my father was busy in the field, at that time everything was still artificial, and when he arrived at the farm, my father came out early and returned late every day, tired and tired. Perhaps it is the hard work of his youth that makes my father's face full of ravines and vicissitudes today.

It is true that the father's ability is admirable, but the most admirable thing is the father's personality.

My father was generous and never cared about people because of personal grievances. My father has been the captain of the production team for decades, and it is inevitable that some people will be dissatisfied because of public affairs, and sometimes they will deliberately provoke trouble, and even scold the back in person to make it bad. My father always adhered to the principle of being a cadre, treated everything fairly, and would not embarrass everyone. Although he is now in his seventies, many people in the village are willing to choose him as the village chief.

Although the hard-earned money in his hands is not much, as long as relatives and friends open their mouths to borrow money, they have never said no words, that is, they have tried to make up the amount of money borrowed by others. Probably for this reason, my father had a lot of friends, and a few hardcore guys, who got together from time to time to have a meal and a drink.

Father is a man of great atmosphere, and it has been said that the family is the father's kingdom, the mother's world, and the children's paradise. The father's pattern determines the direction of the family. It may be that the father has suffered enough of labor, he always does not want his children to nest in the countryside for a lifetime, for the three of us sisters, he is doing his best, even if it is to spend the money he has saved from hard work, he will let us go to school. Every time I saw his tired back, like a bow polished by the hardships of life, he shot the children into the distance with the momentum of a lifetime.

When I was young, I complained because of my father's strictness, but today, looking at my father who is slowly aging, I understand that I spent my boyhood under my father's teachings and was greatly and deeply influenced by him. Now that I have lived in this vast sea of people for more than forty years, if I have learned the slightest good temper, if I have learned a little kindness to others, if I can forgive people and be considerate of people - I have to thank my strict father.

Like Liu Hegang's "Father", every time I will hear tears and misty eyes, the simple lyrics are not a portrayal of the father: the sweetness of the world is ten, you only taste three points; the bitterness of life has three points, but you eat ten points. Unconsciously, your sideburns revealed white hair; silently, wrinkles were added to the corners of your eyes. The young man did not understand his father's suffering, and he understood that he was already middle-aged. Looking at my father, who is still working hard for his family, I want to whisper: Hello, father.

About author:Li Dongmei, a native of Jiyuan, Henan. Ji Shuiyi is a Chinese language teacher who likes to read and write.

Review: Wenzi | Editor-in-charge: Wang Fang Yuanxiu Ruogu | Editor: Chen Li | Image: Network

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