Chapter 2 Part 1: The Innocence of a Talented Youth

Xiao Zhimo, who has a small body, a big head on his head, and a shaky walk, is the only son of the eldest grandson of the Xu family.Although that small face is not self-explanatory, Xu Zhimo has been gifted and intelligent since he was a child, and he is loved by the whole family, especially his grandmother.His grandmother was hardworking, gentle, and shrewd.Although the grandmother is illiterate, she is good at telling stories.On cool nights in summer, Xiao Zhimo often sits around his grandmother with his cousin Shen Shuwei, who is two years older than him, and listens to her telling folk stories, such as flying bricks to build towers, and iron cows to town the sea.Xu Zhimo praised her as "a good grandmother who loves me and loves me", and said that she is her grandmother's "most beloved grandson".How many times, he got into trouble because of his mischievousness, and when faced with his father's reprimand, he hurried to grandma and hid in her arms.Getting up early in the morning, he walked to his grandmother's bed to say hello, opened the curtain and called grandma sweetly.Grandma smiled kindly, and she called back, stroking Zhimo's tender face with her big warm hands.Grandma's big bed always hides endless good things.Whenever Zhimo said hello, grandma reached out to touch the bed and brought out a candied date or three slices of Zhuangyuan cake for him.Zhimo took the delicious food, called grandma again sweetly, and went out to play.What a lovely day, what a lovely innocence.

His grandmother's doting on Xu Zhimo made him unforgettable all his life. In the autumn of 1923, his grandmother passed away. At the age of 26, Xu Zhimo wrote the long article "The Death of My Grandmother" affectionately. I am so sorry.He said: "The affection she loves and pets me cannot be described in words; her deep kindness is really all-encompassing and all-encompassing. But even if her body and mind have worked hard for a lifetime, her reward In the supreme peace of the soul; her comfort is in her children and grandchildren, as long as we can follow her example and fulfill the responsibilities appointed by God, she will smile forever in the dark."

In the future, Xu Zhimo's temperament is gentle and sincere, and he becomes "everyone's friend". This is not unrelated to the love and pampering of his grandmother and mother. Their warm and generous personality has a great influence on him. Xu Zhimo's mother, Qian Muying, is Xu Shenru's stepmother.Xu Shenru's ex-wife passed away in a hurry without leaving him a man and a woman.The Qian family is a little proficient in writing and ink, and has a peaceful disposition. He also takes good care of his son and loves him very much.Since she was a child, she nursed the child herself instead of handing him over to a nanny, which was very inconsistent with the rules of a big family.She would often open the flap of her clothes in front of people, and would draw out the milk to feed the baby, as long as her precious son cried.Every night, she was reluctant to let the nurse take the baby away, but put her arms around the baby to sleep.Until Xu Zhimo got married, he slept with his mother in the same bed.His father, Xu Shenru, also regarded Xiao Zhimo as the apple of his eye, had high hopes for him, and gave him a lot of fatherly love. This is his only root.However, as a father, he also had to be serious.Therefore, Xu Zhimo has always respected his father very much; he has always been full of affection for his virtuous and peaceful mother.

Under the protection and doting of his parents, Xu Zhimo is full of attachment to his parents and has developed the character of a naughty child.As an adult, he is more innocent because of this, but he lacks maturity. The mother seldom bathed the baby because she was afraid of catching cold, like many families in the area at that time.Especially in the cold winter, Xiao Zhimo didn't take a bath all winter.In summer, the mother found the small foot bucket, filled it with boiling water, and then carried him into it. This could not only wash away the thick dirt of the winter, but also prevent the child from catching cold.In this way, Zhimo couldn't take it anymore, the water was so hot that he screamed.As soon as he heard that he was going to take a bath, he was so scared that he ran around the yard.Therefore, Zhimo was most afraid of shaving his head and taking a bath when he was a child.The gentle mother always said the phrase "Today I have to catch him to shave his head", and watched him run away with a smile.And when it comes to taking a bath, the mother always swears: "Today I must catch him to take a bath." No matter how fast he can run, he can't run away from his mother, even though his mother has bound feet.Before running a few steps, he was caught by his mother and put in the bucket.After he struggled and failed, he began to cry and scream.

Because of this "tragic" experience, Zhimo did not dare to bathe in the river with other children.Occasionally, I went to the river to take a bath. Once my parents found out, I was immediately pulled back home and frightened.When he was young, he could only watch others play in the water on the river bank.If he didn't enter the water, he didn't learn to swim. Xu Zhimo mentioned in "Talking about Taking Care of Children" that parents don't tell him the reason why a person needs to take a bath, and they don't try to make the washing method more comfortable.The effect of this was so profound that in his old age he took a bath, if not with disgust, but with enthusiasm; it was always regarded as a necessary nuisance rather than a pleasant exercise.I didn't learn to swim either, and I guess it's because I didn't have feelings for bathing since I was a child.

Another thing that Zhimo was most afraid of when he was a child was shaving his head.His father sharpened and sharpened the old-fashioned cast iron razor, and then took it to his head and cut it with a click. The pain made him grin his teeth and scream, and he just wanted to stand up and run away with his head in his hands.On the other hand, his mother grabbed his hands fiercely and held him down hard so that he could not move.His father pressed his head firmly with his big hands so that he could not shake it, and threatened him: "If you move any more, your ears will be cut off." Xu Zhimo had an inexplicable fear in his subconscious about taking a bath and shaving his head. and nasty.

Xu Shenru likes to make friends widely and is arty.The Xu family can't do without the figures of those celebrities, and whenever this happens, Xiao Zhimo is pulled out by his father to show the rules and gentleman of the Xu family.In front of everyone, Zhimo always behaved politely and well-behaved.Xu Shenru is very proud of the obedient image he has trained. The love and pampering of relatives made Zhimo develop an easy-going and indulgent character. The virtuous and loving grandmother and mother inspired his kindness and sincerity in interpersonal communication. . In addition, Jialin, the servant of the Xu family, is also an amiable and respectable person in Xu Zhimo's heart.Zhimo once said that the interesting knowledge he heard when he was a child was taught by Jialin.He inspired Xiao Zhimo's spiritual light.

Jialin is hardworking and virtuous, and he is in charge of Xu's vegetable garden and back garden.He often took Zhimo to work in the garden.In Zhimo's eyes, he does everything well, and sometimes he imitates Jialin's hands-on work.Jialin is also an expert in growing flowers, and the back garden of Xu's family is full of colorful flowers because of him.Zhimo especially likes to play in the garden.Jialin will patiently teach him to identify the names and nature of various flowers, and tell him stories about various flowers vividly.As a result, Xiao Zhimo became a nympho. Jialin is also a good storyteller.Those folk tales are always vivid in his mouth, which makes people imagine in all kinds of ways.Zhimo especially likes to listen to him.He talked until Zhimo laughed, cried, and stomped anxiously.But he won't make Zhimo sleepy, this is where all the teachers in the school are better than him.Zhimo told the stories he had heard to the friends around him, and his spitting and embellished narration left the friends dumbfounded.And on nights when the moon is white and the wind is clear, he will deliberately tell stories about ghosts and monsters, which scares the little friends so that they dare not go home.

Another ability of Jia Lin is to sing songs of praise.Whoever makes a vow to ask the gods should ask him to praise the gods.His mellow thick voice sang a rhythmic verse.Although Xiao Zhimo couldn't hear what he sang clearly, he felt that Jialin's voice was so beautiful, like lingering lingering sounds, like drizzle on a warm day, so that he often fell asleep on his mother's body amidst his beautiful singing.When he woke up the next day, Jia Lin's round and sweet voice was still echoing in his ears.After Jialin's death, Xu Zhimo wrote a simple and touching novel "Family Virtue" based on him as a memorial.

The first time Xu Zhimo faced the issue of death was when he was under 6 years old.His grandfather's death was the great story of his first encounter with relatives.His grandfather loves him very much, but it is not as good as his grandmother's caring for him.It was the first terrible experience in his life, but when he recalled the psychology at that time in "The Death of My Grandmother", he thought that his views on death might not be better than the little girl in the English poet Wordsworth.In a little poem entitled "We Are Seven", Wordsworth described that he once met an 8-year-old girl and asked her how many brothers and sisters she had.She said there were seven of them, two in the city, two in foreign countries, a sister and a brother, lying in the church cemetery.Every night, she would take snacks to the cemetery, eat, sing, and sing to her brothers and sisters who were sleeping in the ground.The pure heart of a child can't tell the boundary between life and death.

Xu Zhimo remembered that that night, his family told his grandfather that he was seriously ill, and they would not sleep tonight, fearing that they might not see each other for the last time.But tell him and his sisters to go upstairs to sleep first, and the family will call when they want them later.They went upstairs to sleep, and the grandfather's bedroom was downstairs.Zhimo didn't quite understand it at that time, but he knew that something terrible must happen at night, like fire, robbers, and nightmares.He couldn't sleep, and in the dimness, he could only hear the sound of hurried steps downstairs, the sound of dishes, the sound of calling for servants, and faint crying.In the middle of the night, the family members came up and hugged Zhimo from his sleep. When he woke up, he could only hear the sound of crying.They had already lit the long sticks of incense, a room filled with cigarettes, and a room full of people gathered around the bed, crying and shouting.He also walked over, peeking at his grandfather in the big bed from among the crowd.Suddenly I heard that I woke up, and the crying stopped.He saw his father crawling on the bed, holding his grandfather in his arms, and his grandfather was leaning against him, with his eyes closed tightly and a piece of black medicine in his mouth.Finally, grandfather spoke, his voice was very soft.He didn't understand what his grandfather said, but he knew that after a period of fainting, he woke up again and said to his family: "You guys are so scared, this is a small death." The grandfather then said a few more words, With the lowering of the speaking voice, the exhalation is also gradually weaker, gone, and never woke up again.But Zhimo never saw the last dying, maybe he couldn't remember it, but he was already kneeling on the floor at that time, holding an incense stick in his hand, and weeping loudly with the crowd.