Chapter 2 childhood things

My hometown, Qingping County, Shandong (now owned by Linqing City) is a well-known poverty-stricken area in Shandong.Our family is a dilapidated farmer.Grandparents died early and I never met them.I have never tasted the love of a grandfather.They left three sons, my father was the eldest (seventh in the grand line).The two uncles, the youngest one has no father and no mother, was given away and changed his surname to Diao.The remaining two, who have no parents, are lonely and dependent on others, their difficult situation is unspeakable.I'm afraid I haven't had enough to eat any day.When they were so hungry that they couldn't help it, the two brothers went to the jujube grove in the south of the village to pick up the rotten dates that fell on the ground and chatted to eat.I don't know much about this period of history, because neither of the brothers has ever told me about it.Probably because it was too terrible and tragic, they didn't want to expose the scars of the past, and they didn't want to let the next generation leave shocking memories.

However, in any case, it is impossible to stay in the countryside, and it will only become starvation.For some unknown reason, the two brothers agreed to go outside to the big city to find a way to survive.The nearest big city is Jinan, the capital of Shandong.The two brothers arrived there, two hairy young men, two country bumpkins, in a densely populated big city, unaccompanied.How many difficulties and twists and turns they encountered.I don't know much about this period of history, probably for the same reason, none of them told me about it. Later, when my uncle established his foothold in Jinan, he could only be like a grass in the crevices of the rocks, struggling with difficulty.So the two brothers discussed that the younger brother would stay in Jinan to earn money, while the older brother would return home to work in agriculture, hoping that one day he would make a name for himself.

However, farming requires land, which is the simplest common sense.But what our family lacks is the field.Probably my grandfather left a few acres of land, and my father lived off of that.As for how he tended this little land and how he built a family, this period of history is another mystery to me. I came to the world at this time. There is always a way out.At this time or a little earlier, my uncle lost his job in Jinan and lived in Kanto.I bought the Hubei flood lottery ticket with the only one yuan I had on my body, and won the first prize. It is said that I got several thousand taels of silver.Our family became an upstart overnight.My father bought 60 acres of land with a well.For the sake of showing off our might, we need to build a big house.When there were no bricks for a while, he announced to the whole village: Whoever is willing to demolish his house and sell him the bricks, he will pay dozens of times the price.As the saying goes: "With great rewards, there must be a brave man." Others' houses are demolished, and our houses are built.There are five rooms in the east, west and north rooms.The gate faces south and is very grand.The two brothers finally won this breath.

But the good times didn't last long. My father was a first-class figure in the Zhu family and Guo Xie in the village.Sometimes when he went to the market in other villages, on a whim, he invited all the people who were drinking and eating in the shed.It is said that not long after, the 60 mu of fine farmland was sold, and the east and north houses were demolished for the newly built house, and the bricks and tiles were sold.These bricks and tiles are bought like gold and sold like dung. A spring dream finally came to nothing.Our family has become a dilapidated household again. For as long as I can remember, our family has been impoverished to a considerable degree.They can only eat "white" (referring to white flour) once or twice a year, and the most eaten are red sorghum pancakes, and stick noodle pancakes have also become treasures.In spring and summer, I cut grass or chopped sorghum leaves, and carried them to the second uncle's house to feed his old cattle.Lai stayed there, waiting for a meal of stick noodle pancakes and a dozen tooth offerings.In summer and autumn, Aunt Ning and Aunt Ning from the opposite door always took me to the fields in the outer villages to pick up wheat and beans, and handed over the pitiful handfuls of wheat or beans I picked up to my mother.I don't know how many times I have saved up, I can barely break out some wheat grains, grind them into flour, and have a meal of "white".Of course I feel like eating dragon liver and phoenix marrow.However, I never remember my mother taking a bite.She just sat there, watching me eat, her eyes seemed a little moist.How could I understand my mother's feelings at that time! However, I also vaguely made a determination: one day, when I grow up, I will let my mother eat some "white food".However, "the tree wants to be quiet but the wind doesn't stop, the child wants to support but the relatives don't wait."Before I was able to let my mother eat "white food", my mother left me and left me with a spiritual scar that will never be healed, and I will hold grudges all day long!

In our family, my father's generation, the eldest brother is eleven.Six of them went to Kanto because of poverty.Since then, there has been no news.Only five remained, and one was given away, as I have said above.Among these five people, only the eldest son had a son who unfortunately died early. I have never seen him.After I was born, I became the only boy.In feudal society, everyone can naturally understand what this means.My uncle in Jinan has only one daughter.So the two brothers discussed to send me to Jinan.I was too young to understand what my mother was feeling at that time.Many years later, I heard someone tell me that my mother once said: "If you know that you will never look back, I will try my best not to let the child go!" This sentence was not what I heard with my own ears. echoed in my ears. "Who said that the heart of an inch of grass can be rewarded with three springs?"