Chapter 5 Favor

Favor The residential structure in the south that is closely related to nature and groups makes life very convenient and keeps people interested in seasons and details.At that time, they were happy in everything they did, even if they drank a bowl of mung bean soup, they would be full of praise from the bottom of their hearts.He has a particularly delicate and passionate heart for food.Mother buys seasonal food, including fresh crabs, shrimps, and shells. She is particular about when to eat bamboo shoots, when to eat shad, when to drink tea, and when to eat rice.Neighbors and relatives walk around with the freshest food.A bag of potatoes just dug out, a basket of local fruits just picked, bayberry from Cixi, peaches or oranges from Fenghua, a few fresh chickens and ducks.

All the food appears to be beaming and full of affection. When I was a child, I felt that the life around me was not very rich, but it felt more abundant than now.People's income is not high, and their supplies are limited, but the relationship between people and the outside world is in perfect harmony. Later, everyone became richer than before, the urban pattern developed, and the way of life changed accordingly.Neighbors in the apartment rarely spoke to each other.In the air-conditioned office building with the windows closed, I worked in front of the computer for more than ten hours, and then I closed the door and watched TV at home until I fell asleep on the sofa.The commercial center of the city is densely covered with buildings, plants are scarce, and insects and birds cannot be seen.Decreased perception and sensitivity to seasons and nature.Once a person is isolated from the group and the natural environment, he will feel very restless and poor.Individual isolation and loneliness have become the essence of industrialized cities.

When I was in Beijing, my mother brought gifts, but it was always just food.A bamboo basket of juicy peaches, a bag of lamb's tail bamboo shoots, a large bag of sea prawns and white crabs, and big blue crabs tied with thick straw ropes, all boiled in salt water.Another package was sent, which contained seaweed, shrimp skins, sea anchovies, and dried bamboo shoots. Each package was attached with a piece of paper with specific eating and preservation methods written on it.This is the old-fashioned way of treating others.Nowadays, it is rare to see people visiting each other and giving food to each other. Everyone has lively gatherings in public places, and they break up after a while.Affectionate gifts are also disdainful.

At that time, I saw that the neighbors in the courtyard were closely related, and almost everyone knew each other.Auntie of the Tong family is a gentle and generous old lady.Aunt Lu's family gave birth to five sons, all married in this yard, and the children they gave birth to moved out one after another; Aunt Ni's three daughters were all beautiful and married well, and one of them even married to Hong Kong. , that was a remarkable thing before.There are also weird ones, such as a woman who lives next door to my house. She is divorced, lives alone, never talks to the people around her, and closes the door as soon as she comes home from get off work, and there is often music in the door.Later, when she moved out, she cleared out piles of books and turntables from the room.In my impression, she doesn't smile when she sees anyone, and she doesn't speak when she sees anyone.Thinking about it now, her lifestyle is obviously more than 20 years ahead of schedule, very avant-garde.

My mother is not an avant-garde person, but she is full of affection. When she was in her fifties, she occasionally mentioned neighbors from 20 or 30 years ago and tried to get in touch with them.But even if she loses touch with all this, she will not lose the way of dealing with people and things that she formed in that era, and the joy and satisfaction that this way brought her.This is the foundation of that era, their source.