Chapter 2 white books

His father, Minetaro, died at the age of eighty-nine, and his mother, Gu, died at the age of seventy-six.I was born into the world as an only child, and I have been bound by my parents for most of my life. If I had brothers and sisters, maybe I would be freer, or if my family is not so poor, maybe I can walk the path I want to go.Then, something like "autobiography" will definitely be more interesting.However, he lived in the doting of his parents when he was a teenager. From the age of 16, he began to work part-time to supplement the family income. From the age of 30, he was involuntary for the sake of the family and taking care of his parents. ——I didn't have a wonderful youth, but a muddy and dim half of my life.

The parents quarreled continuously, and they continued to do so until they died.They can't divorce and live together until the end.They held a grudge against each other until their mother died first.When my mother died, even though my father was in this cunning family, he refused to even come near her.My mother said that union with my father was a sin, and I thought so too.There is no more unfortunate couple than them. The father scolded the mother for being an ignorant woman.exactly.Mother is illiterate.Compared with her, her father often reads newspapers and knows general social knowledge.

My father was very interested in current affairs and politics.Maybe it's the influence of having a little knowledge of the law when he was the apprentice of the Hiroshima Police Minister.Of course, he is not generally concerned about politics, he yearns to observe the movements of politicians.And, surprisingly, he's got a good handle on history.Although this is the knowledge gained from the book, even if it sounds now, it is by no means ridiculous. On winter nights, I put my feet into the stove, pillowed on my father's arm, and listened to Taigeji, which was really interesting.Now, I still remember a part of it.

"When there was a dispute over burning incense at Daitokuji Temple, Hideyoshi quietly appeared with the three masters in his arms. This person is Nobunaga's grandson, the so-called real heir. He looked down on Shibata Katsuya and voluntarily came to the Buddhist altar. The family was very angry and wanted to catch him. The temple fan was opened at once. Singer saw that the mountains and plains around the temple were full of Hideyoshi's army. The battle flag waved and the conch blew. Singer saw this scene, I was so frightened that I collapsed to the ground..." When I was a child, when I heard this, the mountains around Daitokuji Temple seemed to appear in front of my eyes, just like the mountains of fire I saw every day, where a piece of armor shone brightly in the sun.

"... Sakuma Xuanbo, after breaking through the two blockhouses of Nakagawa Kiyobei ​​and Takayama Ukon in Kidake, flaunted his military power and was full of ambition. He set up camp there and did not listen to the advice of his subordinates that Shibata Katsuya would return soon. He probably thought that Hideyoshi, who was attacking Gifu, would take two or three days before he came back, and Hideyoshi's side lured Shibata to Chiyake. , On the road from Gifu to Ogaki and near Mt. Kidake, every household was ordered to prepare hay and water for horses, make rice balls, and light a bonfire. Hideyoshi rode at the forefront. At night, because of the bonfire, the road was bright; hungry , you can eat rice balls; you can also feed the horses with water and grass, and Hideyoshi’s team is not tired. They rushed to the foot of Mount Jianyue that night... Sakuma Xuanbo didn’t believe it was really Hideyoshi at first when he saw the fire After a short while, Hideyoshi's soldiers and horses came overwhelmingly, and the torch flame was winding down the mountain like a snake."

In my eyes, I seemed to really see the bonfires lit up on the pitch-black mountain with the whistling wind. My only impression of seeing the fire on the mountain from a distance came from this story. My father's accent is a mixture of Hoki and Hiroshima dialect.He pronounced "家" ("ie" in Japanese pronunciation) as "e" and "火" (Ke) as "Kwa", which is said to be close to the ancient pronunciation. If not for his quarrel with his mother, these would have been pleasant memories indeed.In the third grade of elementary school, I could almost understand half of these stories.At that time, my family had already moved from the street from Xiaguan to Changfu.

At that time, my father started to gain weight.One day, a homeless man came, ate the cakes in the store and ran away without paying.I saw my father chase him up and beat him up.I thought my father was awesome, and I sympathized with the young man.Perhaps because it was almost dusk, it made me feel more.When I was twenty-two or three years old, I walked on the street on an empty stomach and penniless, and I often think of the scene at that time. At that time, Jiutanpu, where my family lived, had a total of six or seven shops. Except for a noodle shop and a rickshaw dealer, the rest were engaged in shipbuilding, carpentry, or fishing.It is about six kilometers from there to Changfu. Speaking of the nearby sacrificial activities, there are sacrifices of Akama Fu and Nogi Shrine in Changfu.

I don't have much impression of the Xiandi Festival.I just vaguely remember the geisha walking, but the sacrifice at Nogi Shrine left a deep impression on me.When I was a child, the military uniform with the Nogi Admiral's medal was really novel in my mind! Once, my father asked me to go to Nogi Shrine with him in a neighbor's rickshaw.He bought me pretzels and something to eat, which was a huge luxury for me as a kid. Speaking of cakes, at that time, I am afraid that grandma had already taught parents how to make cakes.As far as I can remember, there are cakes made of ordinary glutinous rice and black cakes made of sweet potato flour, which are very unpalatable.

"Although some people say it's not delicious, everyone has their own preferences!" I remember my grandmother sitting in front of the shop and saying this to customers. Looking out from the dark place in the room, due to the light, the customers sitting down are all black shadows.Most of the customers in the past were people who walked from Changfu to Xiaguan to do business, and this place happened to be a resting place.Behind the house is the building (meaning a platform protruding to the sea).On a blustery night, a boat hit the pillars and wrecked the tower.Because it was almost all the kitchen above, there was a loud noise, and the odds and ends fell into the sea.

"Oh!" "Oh!" My mother's cry was mixed in the wind and passed into my ears.Due to the rough tide, fishing boats often die here. Sometimes I was also taken to Xiaguan to watch cheap performances. Once I arrived at Jiutanpu, the area about one kilometer was empty.There is a white lighthouse at the end, much like the end of a road. One winter night, I was falling asleep when I was suddenly woken up by my mother.There was chaos at home.With my mother on her back, she ran from the second floor to the eaves on the sea side, and escaped along the eaves of the neighbors.It turned out that there was a landslide on the Huozhishan, which was close in front of us, and the rubble rolled all the way to my door.However, it was silent at the time.That's when I realized for the first time that there is no sound when a landslide occurs.

My family moved elsewhere at one point, but I can't remember what kind of home it was.Now even if we go to the vicinity of Tanpo, of course the house and neighbors that my family lived in have all disappeared, and there is no trace of memory.Where we had just moved, there was a young woman in the neighborhood who used to sing the song "Katyusha".I looked up, and the girl's singing throat was snow-white. I still remember such a thing, when the landslide did not happen, my father told me that a great army general would pass by here the next day, let's go to meet him.Early the next morning, I was called up and went to the edge of the cliff by the sea, 500 meters away from my home. I saw people waiting there holding up flags. These people seemed to be soldiers from Xiaguan. Because he was a general of the army, I thought he must be someone wearing a medal like General Nogi. However, what appeared from the direction of the Changfu was just an old man on a horse with a dozen or so entourages.The general walked in front of us, stopped his horse in front of the lined up town soldiers, and said something in a low voice.As soon as I was about to speak, my father immediately warned me, "Be quiet, don't make any noise!" He told me to "be quiet", which made me feel like an adult.I think the old soldier's instruction was very long, and after he finished speaking, the group of people walked slowly towards Xiaguan again.He is Admiral Fukushima Yasho.Later, when I read Lieutenant Fukushima’s solo trip in Siberia, I would always think of this old man who spoke in a low voice and his father’s “quiet” voice. These memories are still part of happiness. Father and mother quarreled incessantly.At that time, my father's life improved slightly. Because he knew a little bit of legal knowledge, he often went to and from the courts, probably working as a mediator.In short, after getting up early in the morning, he helped his mother pound cakes, put on gorgeous silk and satin clothes, put on straight wood clogs, and went to the court.At that time, he also started the endless company business. Although his father had a large physique, he hated manual labor.He just does the comfort stuff.At that time, there was still a grain exchange, and he also engaged in short buying and short selling of rice.Perhaps for this reason, he is very good at watching the weather.In the evening, standing outside his house, he looked at the color of the clouds, indicating whether it was raining or sunny, and he guessed it right.The speculative market for rice is largely driven by the weather. At that time, I suffered from an eye disease and was almost blind.At that time, my mother became ruthless, instead of calling for a doctor, she concentrated on seeking Master Hongfa.I still remember her taking me up the ramp and into the hall above the high stone steps.The smell of the incense sticks and the light of the candles are still fresh in my memory.It's also possible that my eyes don't actually come to see.The monk shook the classics like a fan, and I heard the sound of the wind. It was at that time that my father had an affair and lived with her all the time.She seems to be a prostitute in a brothel. My mother carried me to find a brothel.There was a glass factory in the middle of the street, and the workers were blowing red glass balls like physalis on the tips of long iron rods, and the sight was unforgettable.The factory was right in the middle of the road from my house to the brothel, where my mother used to take the heavy weight off my back and catch my breath.I heard that my mother carried me behind my back and went to the brothel one by one to look for them at night. When my father was angry with my mother, he threw all the cakes made that morning into the garbage dump. Grandma helped mother make cakes, and she often said: "Hey, Gu, today is the vernal equinox, don't fight!" "It's not a good thing to be at odds at home, you won't be rich if you keep fighting!" She was a rustic old woman with a broad forehead. Due to his father's debauchery, the family began to struggle.Grandma went out to help other people's homes, and she was about sixty years old at that time.I used to play at the house where my grandmother worked as a helper.It was a quiet and spacious house.There is a beautiful woman in the family.Maybe it's a concubine's house. After his father's speculative business failed, he began to borrow money from his grandmother. "Is your father home?" Grandma asked me, it was around my second grade in elementary school. Father didn't even return home for a long time.I felt like my father was always there for that woman. One day, just after I left school, I saw my father standing blankly in the shadow of the telephone pole, his body was dirty, and he asked me to play. I was somewhat embarrassed by my father, whom I hadn’t seen for a long time, and followed him.It was a small inn.

---

Notes: