Rimuxiangguan——A bow to the trough gate

Bow down to the trough door

One

My mother prepared a table for a sumptuous breakfast and watched me eating and drinking so much that I finished the breakfast. Question: Is it enough? Are you full? The kindness in my eyes makes me a little willful. At this time, I am no longer a grown man in his thirties, but a swaddled baby waiting to be nursed.

Brown rice porridge with wild vegetables is what my mother will prepare for me every time I go home. At this time, the shepherd's purse is tender and crisp, which is not available in the city. I recall that when my father passed away and my brothers and sisters were still young, wild vegetables from the mountains and brown rice harvested by my mother were the staple foods for the brothers and sisters during the lean years.

While I was helping my mother clear away the dishes, firecrackers crackled outside the hospital. Several children poked their heads out of the courtyard to look around, and then quickly ran out of the courtyard. My mother looked at me with a smile and said, "Uncle Qingshan's baby wants to be married to a treasury."

"Why?" I looked at my mother in surprise.

My mother pushed my arm: "Go, go and take a look."

I unconsciously followed my mother's footsteps to the trough gate in front of the hospital.

The gate of the family compound is not as grand as the archway or archway in the north. It stands in front of the courtyard and can be seen from a distance. This is the best evidence that my grandfather was wealthy back then. The thick stone pillars on both sides are more than four meters high, and the cornices are carved with auspicious clouds and beasts. In my childhood memories, the slot door has experienced ups and downs for more than a hundred years, and has fallen into disrepair and is dilapidated. But at this time, the trough door in front of me was renovated, the cornices were painted with red paint, and the auspicious clouds and beasts were painted, which made it more vivid.

I saw Uncle Qingshan standing in front of the desk sorting the offerings on the desk. His son Songqing stood timidly in front of the desk, being looked at by the villagers like a monkey in a troupe. He was very surprised. He is eight or nine years old, tall and thin, with fair skin. Under the guidance of Uncle Qingshan, he knelt down and bowed several times to complete the process of worshiping the trough door. I think his mind must be blank at this time, and he definitely does not have the piety to kneel down and beg God.

When I came up to watch the fun, Uncle Qingshan seemed to have discovered a new master when he saw me. He hurriedly pulled me to the trough door table, knowing that I would also pay homage to the trough door. Not understanding at all what circumstances, it would be inappropriate to go against the old man's wishes, so he respectfully made three bows. Then he turned around and retreated to the crowd behind him.

Uncle Qingshan set off a large number of firecrackers again, and the matter of uncle Qingshan’s family becoming a slave was over.

When I returned to the courtyard, before my mother could sit down, I spoke: "Mom, why does Uncle Qingshan's baby have to be a slave?"

A flash of light flashed in my mother's eyes. He looked at me proudly and said, "You're not the one taking the lead."

Me, yes, it's me. Exactly 20 years ago, I bowed in front of the trough gate in front of all the neighbors in the yard, who were shocked and weeping. How could I forget this?

2

Through the spring sunshine, looking at the mountains and mountains in the distance, the mountains and rivers remain the same, it quickly brought my thoughts back to 20 years ago.

I remember that day, I was on summer vacation after the high school entrance examination. My second-year high school girl and I came home from school, and my mother was still so busy. After eating some porridge with wild vegetables and whole grains, I studied hard under the five-watt yellow light. Mother sat down across from us and said to the little sister: "Jiao baby, after finishing your studies this semester, you and your sister will go work part-time. Mom really can't afford to take care of you two at once." After that, mother's words Tears fell down.

"Mom, actually I have long wanted to work with my sister. Reading so many books is enough for a girl like me." My sister clasped the book in her hand tightly with her hands and lowered her head as she said As she spoke, her lips trembled a few times. She wanted to say something but didn't say it. Instead, tears fell from her seventeen-year-old face.

"Mom, let my sister finish high school. My sister's grades are so good. The teacher said that she can get into a good university." I looked at my mother with pleading eyes. I hope my mother won't make the decision just like this. But seeing my mother shaking her head in despair, I didn't dare to insist too much.

That night was destined to be sleepless. At the age of fourteen, I knew what helplessness and despair were. In the middle of the night, I heard my sister sobbing in bed, just like the sudden violent storm in the summer that ravaged all the crops in the fields and dashed all hopes for a good harvest.

One morning not long after, before dawn, while I was still sleeping, my mother put my sister on the car heading south. When I woke up I was told that my sister was gone.

Standing alone at the entrance of the trough and looking at the entrance of the village, I hoped that my sister would disobey her mother and return. But nothing happened except the chirping of cicadas at the entrance of the village, and tears burst into my eyes. At the same time, I also made a bold decision in my heart.

When I got home, I saw my mother busy. She tore the admission notice I received from a key high school in half in front of her, and then said categorically: "I won't go to this school." After learning, I also want to go out to work.”

My mother didn’t react to my sudden move. When he reacted, she picked up the broom and chased me. It landed on my butt with a crackling sound.

I stood there, staring at Niu's eyes, motionless, letting the broom fall on me forcefully. I feel that every time I take it, I am redeeming something for myself and my sister, like a kind of meritorious service, a kind of reward.

This crazy beating ended with the third grandfather snatching and blaming the mother: "What happened to you today? Are you crazy? I have never seen you beat a child like this."

Mother He yelled, "He's crazy, I have to beat him today!" When my mother was about to rush forward again, she was stopped by the uncles and aunts who surrounded her in the yard. I thought I had succeeded and rushed out of the yard, out of the trough gate, and out of the village in a flash. Before the people in the yard could react, I was gone.

When I left the village, I was at a loss and saw a man from a neighboring village fishing by the river. I pestered him to play on the boat and helped him organize his fishing nets and collect fish. I had a fresh fish meal with the uncle, and then left to wander around.

As the sun sets, I have already planned where I will stay tonight, on a few haystacks next to the ancestral hall at the entrance of the village. Lying there, looking at the stars, feeling the cool breeze, let the frogs and crickets sing together. When their singing fades, the owl will scream from time to time, making the whole valley miserable. I wonder what my sister is doing at this time. Is she still worried about her studies? The stars in my eyes gradually became blurry and distant in my eyes. In my sleep, I followed my sister again, crossed the slot gate, left the village entrance, and headed straight for the school...

Dad, is that you? Why are you angry? Dad, don't hit me.

I screamed and suddenly woke up! In my sleep, my father chased me with bamboo sticks and beat me...

The summer night in the mountain village was silent, with half a moon in the sky, and I was dripping with sweat. Father, where are you? Wasn't it five years ago... Suddenly, I felt so sad that I really wanted to cry, but I covered my mouth and sobbed heartily, and it hurt like my heart was torn apart. For a boy, this kind of loss means: longing, strength, helplessness, and responsibility. But no matter how hard I try, I still feel so powerless in the face of poverty and difficulties. Facing the helpless eyes of his mother, he seemed to have done nothing except adding more pain to her again and again.

After I calmed down, I jumped down from the haystack and pulled out a few stiff bamboo strips from the fence at the entrance of the village. When I came to the slot door, I knelt down with a plop. It was about two or three o'clock in the morning, and the dew in the mountains was thick. I didn't feel the dew on my eyebrows and hair, and the single clothes on my body were also wet with heavy dew.

The third grandfather was the first to notice me kneeling at the door. As soon as he saw me, he shouted: "You stubborn boy, your mother went out to look for you and didn't come back all night."

At this time, everyone in the yard was getting up, and they gathered around me, who was kneeling in front of the trough door with a few bamboo sticks in front of me, talking about how the children were suffering, how big the family was, and so on.

Three

Before the morning sun could shine in front of the trough door, someone suddenly shouted: "Come back. Come back."

I saw the mother carrying a Wearing a pair of rubber shoes and bare feet, I walked exhausted to the trough door. When I saw me kneeling in front of the trough door, I rushed towards me. My foot slipped and I fell to the ground. My mother got up quickly, knelt down and hugged me. I looked at me and cried: "You child, where have you been this night?"

"Mom, I was wrong, I'm sorry-" I buried my head in my mother's arms and whimpered. Cry loudly.

The corners of the eyes of the neighbors in the courtyard were moist, and several aunts were wiping their tears with their hands. The third grandfather said: "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay." He waved to everyone to stop watching.

"Grandpa Three." I called Grandpa Three.

Everyone focused their attention on our mother and son again.

"Third Grandpa, all uncles and aunts, I was wrong about what happened yesterday. I swore in front of the trough today that I will study hard in the future and will definitely be admitted to college to repay my mother and everyone. Kindness." After saying that, he kowtowed three times to the trough door.

Later, I heard from my mother that she went to look for me when I didn’t return soon after I ran away. She found out that I was fishing with him and had lunch with him by the river, so she went all the way along the river. Find me. But I turned back to the village ancestral hall without any information. My mother called and looked for me along the river. She fell down countless times and even lost one of her shoes. At daybreak, she wanted to come back and ask the villagers to help her look for me, but she saw me kneeling in front of the trough door. She was worried all the time. She suddenly relaxed, causing her to fall flat on her back in front of everyone in the courtyard.

Four

This is the first time I have come back in the spring since I went to college to work. In the past few years, I had planned to go back during the Qingming Festival, but my mother didn’t agree and said something about my brother. My sisters have taken care of it, so don’t come back if you are so far away from home. In fact, I know that my mother cares about money. It cost thousands to go back and forth, and my mother felt distressed. So I used this as an excuse to transfer a lot of money into my mother's account. My mother was also happy, and would be arranging to buy more paper money, nagging that I bought it to honor the old man, and to ask the old man to bless me to be safe and prosperous outside, and so on.

Spring is coming to an end in my hometown. I am also about to enter middle age. At this time, my mother’s waist has become more and more bent. What a proud and strong woman she was back then, in the face of time and adversity , seems so weak.

"Mom, I'm going to pray at Caomen tomorrow too." I suddenly said to my mother who was picking vegetables.

My mother looked at me, then at the trough door outside the courtyard: "It's time to worship." Then she started preparing incense, candles and offerings for the trough door the next day.

At this time, my mother told me that since I knelt down and bowed three times at the trough gate, my academic performance was surprisingly good and I was successfully admitted to a key university. Later, a Feng Shui master from out of town said that the yard of our hometown is at the foot of Mobi Mountain, and the trough door is like a pen holder. There will be scholars in this courtyard in the future. After I was admitted to college as a sect student, I was admitted to college every now and then, and all of them were sect students. Therefore, if any children in the yard or in the village are about to enter high school or college, they all come to pay their respects.

In fact, the reason why I am seeking employment again is not to beg for academic advancement, but to relieve the helplessness I felt 20 years ago.