Chapter 48 Friends, come and see the snow (Part 2)

Later I learned from my neighbors that Huda lived alone and rarely went to his son's house except for New Year's Eve.If guests come to Wuhui Town, as long as they come in winter, they will usually be picked up by the old man Huda.Taking a shortcut in the mountains with a snow sled will save a lot of time.No matter who came, what Huda was most interested in was looking at the things brought by others, probably because he was a craftsman.I also learned that he studied opera when he was a teenager, and worked with an opera troupe.His mother was a red horn, and once she was singing in a small water town in the south, she was spotted by the local yamen and snatched to the house alive.The man forcibly took a concubine on one side, and on the other side sent someone to secretly put Huda's father in a sack and throw him alive into the river to drown.Since then, Huda lost his parents. He wandered around, pulled a rickshaw, repaired people's feet, and worked as a cook.In the end, he ran from the south to the north, wherever there were few people, and finally settled down in Wuhui Town.What Huda can't hear the most is singing, so he is even sensitive to all sounds.

The dawn in Wuhui Town was very late.At eight or nine o'clock, the sun rose pale.There is snow everywhere, and the mountains near and far are all white.Sometimes I stand in front of the window and look at the smoke from other people's houses, but I can't see it clearly anyway, because the smoke has merged with the sky.The chilblains on my hands have healed after washing with wintergreen water.It's just that because of the lack of vegetables and fruits, my mouth ulcers, the pain is unbearable when I eat irritating food.People in the town are very friendly to me. When the Layue family slaughters pigs, people always invite me to be a guest.I used to hate eating pig offal, but when I got here, I thought it was so delicious. Drinking soju and eating stinky pig intestines is really wonderful.Once I was drunk on someone’s kang, and I pointed to the shoes on the floor and called them “boats”, while holding chopsticks and called them “paddles”, which became a laughing stock.As for the paints I brought, I really can't tell. I painted them all on the kangqin of people in Wuhui Town.They asked me to draw lotus, so I painted lotus, and if they wanted more fans, I gave them more fans. During the Chinese New Year, I also painted door gods and gods of wealth for them, so the three colors of yellow, green and red have been exhausted.If the leader knew that I was just painting these things when I came down to experience life, he would be furious.But people here like my paintings of lotus flowers, birds, pine trees and cranes. On New Year's Eve, almost every house has a picture of the beaming God of Wealth painted by me.When they asked me to draw something, they always prepared a meal and brought me something to eat when they came back.I thought it would be good to be a painter, from one small town to another, only painting kangqin and door gods.Am I fallen?

The string of straw braided copper coins left by the fish pattern was hung on the wall as a decoration.You ask what other vague objects are, they are birch bark dustpan (used for washing rice), fire hooks, bird cages and dried beans.My insomnia was cured here, and I slept soundly and soundly every day, and got up early every day like the locals.Sometimes I went to the river to watch them fishing, and more often I went to visit them and listen to their old-fashioned stories.The starlight here is always unusually good.Sometimes I ran outside the house at night and looked up, the stars in the sky were really brilliant.There is also the sunset glow, the sunset glow here is always as bright red as chicken blood, forming a strong contrast with the snow scene.

Let me tell you how the people here celebrate the New Year.As soon as they entered the twelfth lunar month, they began to be busy in the New Year, slaughtering poultry, making new clothes, steaming dry food, and removing dust, and they were busy until the morning of New Year's Eve.All men, women and children, old and young, put on new clothes inside and out.Old people hang lanterns, housewives are busy worshiping ancestors, and children run around with their pockets full of melon seeds and candies.The boys set off firecrackers, and the noises flashed one after another.The little girl went door to door looking at the paper-cuts on other people's windows to see which pattern was more enchanting.I spent New Year's Eve at my neighbor's sister-in-law's house. After eating a plate full of dumplings, I just got home when the door was knocked open.In a blast of incandescent cold air, a villain fell down and kowtowed to me. The kowtow was really loud. Yuwen came to beg for the new year's money.I gave him fifty yuan, and Yu Wen took the money in his hand, saying that he wanted to buy a few small fireworks and put them in his grandfather's yard on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.I asked him which son's house his grandfather spent the New Year in.Yu Wen poked his neck and said with a smile: "Isn't it the same as in previous years? Grandpa dipped his butt on the edge of the Kang in every son's house, and then went back to his own house with his hands behind his back."

Yuwen said that the old man Huda smoked a cigarette at the elder son's house, and told the elder son to find a wife and go home earlier, so as not to keep the dinner table greasy; He kowtows.Every year Yuwen kowtows and gets gifts. In the past few years, it was a grasshopper cage, mouse traps, rabbit leather gloves, a small house made of pine cones, etc. This year, it was a leather collar for hanging dogs.He tasted a dumpling at Yuwen's, and thought the filling wasn't salty enough.He went to the third son's house to eat a piece of candy, and blamed his house for not pasting the lanterns properly, and got the sticks on the bright surface, and the white spots looked like ringworm; He ate a peanut and said with a tight nose that his sauerkraut jar was not served well and had a bad smell, then he frowned and slapped his butt and left.

"Does your grandpa celebrate the New Year like this every year?" I asked. "It's like this every year." Yu Wen said, "He just likes me, and every year on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, I go to put flowers for him." On the morning of the 15th day of the first lunar month, I was still lying on the kang and taking advantage of the residual heat of the fire to sleep, when the neighbor’s wife suddenly came in in a panic and told me that old man Huda was gone.I didn't know that "disappeared" was a taboo term for "death" by the locals, thinking that the old man Huda was missing.The neighbor's sister-in-law said that Yuwen got up early in the morning and was playing with fireworks when she suddenly fell to the ground from the edge of the kang.His head was bumped, and at this moment he suddenly said that he saw his grandpa was dying, and grandpa was calling him, so he ran to his grandpa.As expected, old man Hu Da was lying on the kang, gasping for breath with long and short sounds.Seeing Yuwen approaching, tears welled up in his eyes, and he died after saying the word "play".

"Play?" I asked. "Play." The neighbor's sister-in-law said. I saw fish pattern in old man Huda's house.He is dressed in filial piety, and his eyes are brighter perhaps because of the infiltration of tears.When he saw me, he showed a desolate expression that only adults have.On the night of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, many people kept watch for Huda, and the ever-burning lanterns shivered in the cold wind.The fish patterns ignited the clusters of fireworks.He speaks every time he puts one: "Grandpa, look quickly, this flower looks like a chrysanthemum!"

"Grandpa, this flower is as white as Bingling flower!" "Grandpa, this flower looks like it's splashing water!" As if Old Man Huda had really seen with other eyes.I asked Yuwen, did old man Huda really say the word "play" when he died?Yuwen nodded.I think if it's not "play", it's the word "hee".For the end of life, what is the difference between "play" and "hee"? The death of old man Huda caused Wuhui Town to lose a glorious figure.I wear the roe deer leather boots he gave me almost every day, and miss him with a warm heart.His workmanship is really good, all the stitches are pressed into the upper, and the boot is rolled with a circle of meticulous lace.After the funeral, the snow became heavier every time, and people hardly stayed at home to "cat winter", only Yuwen often came to my place.He usually comes in the morning after Xue lives, and he brings a yellow dog. The collar around the dog's neck is the last handicraft of old man Huda.Yu Wen followed me to learn how to draw the God of Wealth and the Door God, and he brought a blank piece of paper every time.After I taught him for a week, he was able to draw an outline.But he always likes to draw the beard of the God of Wealth to be long and floating, just like clouds.Sometimes he also helped me boil water and make tea, and wiped the ashes off the kang for me. He was very diligent.I often think how wonderful it would be if I could have a child like Yuwen.But I know it is impossible to conceive such a child in the city.And I unknowingly lost a chance to give birth to a spiritual child in Wuhui Town.

This has to start with the photo you received.You are so careful to find that its postmark is not from Wuhui Town, but from the post office in the same city as yours.This is indeed the case. I asked a friend to send you this one-shot photo when he was passing through our city.I don't even know his name (what does it matter). It was the first Sunday after Old Man Huda's funeral.It was windy and extremely cold that day, and people in the town said that some filmmakers had come.I walked out of the house and found a group of swimming figures on the high hills facing the river.They were photographing crooked fences and wooden huts and snow sledges and dogs.I folded my sleeves and leaned over to watch the fun.There are six of them in total, and they are filmed by an overseas distribution and production company.One of them, a man in a black leather jacket, caught my interest.A short man with a resemblance to my late father (red face, large eyes, bushy eyebrows), he talks fast and jokes with his collaborators between jobs.He obviously noticed me too, and asked, "Are you an outsider?" I nodded. "Writer?" He asked me with a little disdain, probably thinking that I was a writer or a reporter. "Painting." I said. "Oh, almost all of them are the same, you have to use a pen." He said teasingly, "I'm tired of staying in the city, and the oil for the poor and lower-middle peasants in the countryside?"

His unscrupulous appearance seemed to have known me for a long time.In the evening, the wind stopped, but gray clouds filled the sky, and the air pressure was very low.I was washing rice in the kitchen, recalling some fragments of my father's life before his death, when he suddenly opened the door and came in with a smile like an old friend. "Is there any food for me?" he asked. I stood still. "Anyway, you have to eat, just make an extra bite." He put down his rucksack, "And I can also cook." I unceremoniously threw the apron to him.We boiled potatoes with beef, fried sauerkraut with vermicelli, he sang while cooking (this is also the same as my father), and then we ate together.He looks greedy when eating, he doesn't even miss the soup at the bottom of the dish, he squeakily tilts the plate to suck it up.After dinner we sat by the fire talking (forgotten what was said), and we remember only his boyish face, his quick voice, and the way he drank his tea loudly.I later suggested that he take a photo of me (because I noticed he had a photo camera in his backpack and I was dying to see me that night).He joked: "Eat your meal, there is always a price to pay." So I put on felt boots, chewing resin in my mouth, and sat leisurely in a corner of the house.When the photo fell, I found the color and background to be surprisingly good and wanted to send it to you guys.In order for you to meet me in Wuhui Town earlier, I asked him to take the letter and photos with him, because he was leaving Wuhui Town early the next morning, and he passed through our city when he was in transit.

Let's talk about what happened that night.I remember that it was snowing, and I felt it from the subtle crackling of the window panes. We drank down the strong tea, and when all the words had been reduced to ashes in the furnace, he suddenly said softly, "Let me stay tonight, okay?" I shook my head and said, "I don't know your name yet." He stood up and put on his coat, smiled and said, "Cultural woman." Then he stroked my hair with his hand. I looked at him, a little reluctantly, but still watched him walking towards the door.I suddenly said, "You really look like my father." "He must be dead," he said. I nod. He added: "Don't worry, when I pass by your city, I will not forget to send this letter." "Thank you." These two words completely drove him out of the door. I was constantly woken up by nightmares that night.When I woke up in the morning, looking at the heavy snow flying outside the window, I felt like a world away, and I couldn't help crying sadly.I just let a good evening go to waste so easily.I know they have left Wuhui, and that night will never come again.Thinking of him standing in the kitchen cooking and singing at the same time, my tears flowed endlessly.Later, Yuwen came to see me with two toffees. He said that he heard my cry when he was at home, and he said that after eating candies, people no longer cry.I held Yuwen in my arms and kissed his magic lamp eyes. You are sure to laugh at my sentimentality.Anyway, I still miss you all.I really hope that you can come to Wuhui Town to have a look. Although you can’t see the old man Huda, his grave is still there. Maybe Yuwen will draw the door god and the god of wealth for you to see.Of course, if these characters are accidentally missed, Xue will definitely not reject you.Because the long winter is not over yet, snow comes every three days, come and see the snow.It's just that if you are also surrounded by snow accidents in Tacheng, old man Huda can no longer drive the snow sledge to pick you up. Let me stop my reply to you here.It's dawn and I need something to eat.Today's breakfast is baked potatoes. I buried the potatoes in the ashes of the fire last night. Now they are already cooked, still warm and delicious. It is a kind of "snack" that people in Wuhui Town like to eat .After eating potatoes, I have to go to the supply and marketing agency to buy candles, because the few packs I bought when I came here have been used up.Also, because of writing to you, one night ended with "sleepless", and I had to catch up with a long sleep after returning from the supply and marketing cooperative.After waking up, I went to a man named Zheng Shuncai. His daughter got married recently, and he was displeased with the sewing machine used as a dowry, so he asked me to draw a pair of mandarin ducks.