My first teacher, Mr. Xu Shenxing, was over sixty years old and had already resigned. He returned to his hometown and lived in the countryside.He came to see me in the autumn of last year, and I haven't seen him for many years. I didn't expect his body to be so strong. He lives in Yangxu Village in Yuanshang, at least twenty miles away from the village on Xiaohechuan Road where I live, and neither cars nor bicycles are accessible.He walked more than 20 miles uphill and ran from a distance. My first reaction was to ask me to help him with something.He took the tea and cigarettes I handed him, and after sitting down, he first explained that he had nothing to do and was just chatting with me.He really was just making small talk.A whole afternoon passed, and when it was getting dark, he put on a thin straw hat and took his leave again.He said that he buried his wife more than three months ago, and after a hundred days, it was considered to be the end of the festival, and he felt so lonely that he suddenly thought of coming to talk to me.I took his word for it.My wife passed away, my daughter got married, and my boy took over the shift to teach physical education in the county elementary school. He was the only one left in the house. How could he not feel lonely and lonely!I also felt a pity in my heart.

In the twelfth lunar month, the first good snow since the beginning of winter covered the source slopes and rivers, relieving the winter drought. The heavy snow blocked the roads, and the small business farmers hung up the beams and slept under the quilt.At noon at the beginning of heavy snowfall, it was very cold, and Mr. Xu Shenxing walked into my yard again, which surprised me. His body and arms, knees and buttocks were covered with water marks and mud from melting snow. The shoes were filled with snow particles and slippery. You can be sure that he has fallen and turned over on the slope many times, and he is lonely and lonely again?

"I have something to discuss with you." Mr. Xu Shenxing took a sip of tea, and then spoke directly.His face was glowing red, which may be the reason for sweating due to the arduous trek, but there was a look of shyness in his eyes, which was very incompatible with the complexion of a sixty-year-old man. He finally told me that it was true. Someone introduced him to a wife in her fifties, and he had already met her once, so he thought it would be appropriate, but his two daughters and son were all against it, and he couldn't persuade them.Of course, he himself is not good at discussing with his daughter directly, so he has to ask his relatives and friends to explain to his children.His eldest daughter married to Zhou Village in Xiaohechuan Road, not far from where I live, and we know each other well, so he wanted me to do interpretation work for his eldest daughter.

I agreed without thinking. In the spring of the following year, the plants sprouted, and I haven't seen him all this time. I don't know how his marriage is progressing, but I can't stop thinking about it.His eldest daughter and son-in-law and I are all acquaintances, and we can talk freely. I talked about many benefits that should be done, such as Mr. Xu's problems of eating and dressing, taking medicine for illness, and housework. , for the children, it is a lot less burden.It also explained one of the most worrying questions of the children: Will the old man's retirement salary be used by the old woman?Finally, the couple nodded their heads, expressing that they would no longer intervene, and I was doing my best to the first teacher.Then I was worried whether his second daughter and son had a clear mind?It is said that the main resistance is the second woman, she does not show up, but connives and instigates her younger brother to make trouble...

When Mr. Xu Shenxing came, the peach blossoms on the rivers and slopes were in full bloom in March.As soon as he came, I guessed the result from the shy look in his eyes. "I want to get this done before I'm busy." He said, "At that time, you can find time to sit and sit." I gladly accepted the teacher's invitation. He sat down to drink tea, smoked, and talked about the wife's temper and background.It can be heard from his tone that he is very satisfied. Speaking of her appearance, he said that he could see that she was very handsome when she was young... I really didn't expect that when he came to my house for the fourth time after the summer harvest, he had a dejected look on his face, sighed three times, and said that the matter finally fell through!

I was surprised and asked him, what went wrong?Who got hurt again? "There's nothing wrong with anyone, and there's nothing wrong—" he said flatly, "I'm the one who quit!" "Why-what?" I couldn't figure it out. "Alas—" He shook his head, sighed, and didn't look up, "I'm in trouble, and..." Since he felt that it was difficult to speak, I stopped trying to force others, so I started chatting.He gently shook his fan, squinted his eyes, recalled the past events of his more than 30 years of teaching career, sighed and moved emotionally...

After I sent him away, I felt very uncomfortable and depressed, a kind of depression tightly sealed by iron hoops, which made people almost breathless, but he had lived under that invisible iron hoop for decades , still can't get rid of...