Come back to your hometown with your father essay

I have been planning a trip to my hometown with my father before Qingming Festival. Go to the grave, look at the landscape of my hometown, and see the only relative left in the village - my father's nephew and my second brother. It would be best for my father to meet his peers who are still alive in the village and reminisce about old times. As people get older, they miss everything in their childhood. I understand that.

It is not easy for my father to go out. He is still in good health and traveling by car is not a problem. The key is that his disabled mother cannot live without him. It was okay during the day, but at night my mother asked my father to help her get up, get dressed and undress, and no one else could take her place. Therefore, the father can only follow the "two rules" when he goes out: complete the prescribed tasks within the prescribed time.

Time is tight and the task is heavy, so I have made full preparations for this. I bought gifts for visiting relatives, medicine to prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases for my second brother, white paper, firecrackers, ghost coins for visiting the grave, and drinks for the road. I didn’t forget to pack a few boxes of good cigarettes and a lighter in my pocket, so I could meet the old people in the village to smoke. All these things, I want to be perfect.

At first, the second aunt said that she also wanted to go back, and her brother also said to go, as well as her sister. At the end of the day, they didn't come due to various reasons, and I secretly rejoiced. He said to his father: "Dad, it's just the two of us today, it couldn't be better. We can stop and go, take it easy, leave when we want, stop when we want, visit ancient times and find poems. Each of them is impurity. , it will ruin the fun." My father smiled and said: "That's right, that's right."

The first day of the third lunar month. According to the custom in my hometown, it is best to visit the grave five days before the Qingming Festival, and the first, third, fifth, seventh, and ninth odd days are the best. It is said that only "bastard advocates" visit graves on or after Tomb Sweeping Day. "Tang Ba Gu Chui" is a musician who plays suona and other musical instruments. In the old society, opera singers and music players were inferior to others. After death, they could not enter their old graves. When descendants visited their graves, they had to wait after others had done so. This was an obvious form of discrimination.

The morning went smoothly. We waited at the station, took the shuttle bus, and arrived at the horse court an hour later.

Ma Yuan is a small market town with mountains at its back and water on its side, making it refreshing and pleasant. Passing vehicles stop here, and there are some snack bars and grocery stores scattered around the town. My father and I sat at the food stall and had breakfast. Millet porridge, stone buns, pickled cabbage, very refreshing. Stone buns are a unique local pancake. They use clean stones, pour oil on them, heat them in a pot, and then bake the buns in the stones. I've also eaten it in the county town, but it was so chewy and hard to bite. I was afraid that my father wouldn’t be able to bite it, so I said, “Can I give you a pancake?” My father said he wanted stone buns. Unexpectedly, the stone steamed buns here are fragrant and delicious, with chopped green onion and minced sesame seeds inside. The female stall owner is simple and enthusiastic, and she is busy explaining to us that the stone buns here are different from those in the city. She said, our noodles are made with yeast, and they are done well. We use firewood to bake the buns, and we have a strong fire, and we are willing to use oil, chopped green onions, and sesame seeds. eat. My father said happily at this time, I used to make stone buns when I was a child. When I came back from school, there was a steamed bun shop in the village, so I helped people light the fire, and gradually I learned how to make it. For this meal, my father and I ate two bowls of millet porridge, three stone buns, and two plates of pickled cabbage. After the meal, my father said happily: "Today is the best breakfast I have ever had. It is comfortable and comfortable." Then my father said to me: "I am still used to the life in my hometown. I get up in the morning and do a small amount of work, and then Let’s eat again. As for your mother, I’m not used to eating as soon as she wakes up.”

The village is seven or eight miles away from the town. After dinner, I went over to discuss with a taxi driver, “Hey, Master, how much does it cost to get to Minwan Village?" "It's too expensive. It's only seven or eight miles away. Even if you start at five yuan, it's only ten yuan. Can it be less?" "Then you have a rest." My father and I went to take a tricycle again, "Master, how much does it cost to go to Minwan Village?" "Four yuan per person, get on the bus." My father, I, and another one went to Minwan Village The girls all got on the bus. The road is much wider than last year, but the road has not yet been paved with asphalt, making it very bumpy in the car. My father smiled and said, "If this person is not strong, I'm afraid some part will be knocked off.

Before we even reached the village, my father and I asked the man to stop, "Master, please turn around. There is still a long way left. Let's go. It's too dangerous." The master said, "That's right, this way is not possible." "When I was looking for change, I gave him ten yuan and said, no need to change. I'm sorry for letting you go so far." But he insisted on looking for it.

While we were talking, we arrived at the second brother’s bungalow, but the door was locked. A neighbor saw it and said, "It's up there, in his store." Another old woman shouted, "Go and shout for them." Just as he was talking, a young woman came over pushing a cart with a frame. The man said, "This is his daughter-in-law." As soon as I heard about it, I knew that this was Yunzi, the daughter-in-law of Haibo, the second brother's son.

There are three rooms, with a store outside and goods piled on the floor. Inside there are beds, pots and stoves and other items. On the bed, a baby who has just turned seven months old is sleeping soundly, with a chubby face. He is the grandson of his second brother. The room was very messy, but I felt very friendly. The second brother's son Haibo drove a three-wheeler and went to the city to buy goods for others. The second sister-in-law went to her parents' house. The second brother and his daughter-in-law were packing goods to go to the temple fair. Relatives like each other very much when they meet. My daughter-in-law brought tea and water, and my second brother brought a stool for my father and me. He pulled the stroller himself and sat on it to talk.

Grandpa, grandma, the second eldest son, the third eldest son, and the fourth eldest son, the five main branches on the family tree were all cut off by the "chachacha" during the revolutionary years. Not only that, but also the The living have been disgraced for decades. After surviving the disaster, my father and his nephews had a stronger affection for each other and a little more sympathy than other families. At the age of 17, my father left his hometown and fled, finally settling in a rural area more than fifty miles away from his hometown. We sisters were born and raised in suburban areas, so we don’t have much awareness of our hometown. Before the Second Liberation, he served as the mayor of Mayuan Town and was well-known. The second brother is the younger son of the second elder. The son of the former mayor is now a 64-year-old man and has already become an accomplished farmer. My son-in-law has been working outside, but she stopped going out after giving birth to a child last year. He bought a tricycle and went to the store to sell goods and people at fairs to earn some cash. He also opened a consignment store. The second brother planted more than ten acres of land by himself. In addition to growing crops, he also grew tobacco and fed two cows. A telephone was installed in the house, my son bought a mobile phone, and cable TV was installed. Life got better.

The second brother told his father that Haibo just didn’t want to work on crops. He worked on this for three days and that for two days. He even made an oven to bake bread. Oh, he can do it. Here you go. My father said, if you are a young man, forget it if you don’t want to work on crops. Being able to fall back is better than not being able to fall back. No matter what you do, as long as you can live. The father also advised the second brother that there were too many samples to take care of, and people would suffer from old age. Sell ​​the cow and get a small four-wheeler, which will make plowing easier. The second brother said, well, now that farmland has been returned to forests and grazing is prohibited, the cattle have no place to graze. They need to feed them at home, and there is a lack of grass. I want to sell it, but the cow is getting fat right now. When the opportunity arose, I sold it. The father also said to the second brother, please pay attention to your health. Your eldest brother has cerebral thrombosis. I am most afraid that you will also suffer from this disease. Brothers, please take care of yourself. To prevent it early, take Danshen tablets and Weinaolu regularly. These medicines are not expensive. No matter how busy you are, you must pay attention to your health. The second brother said, "It's okay. I have low blood pressure. I've measured it and it's lower than the average person." My father said that both low blood pressure and high blood pressure are abnormal. Low blood pressure can easily turn into high blood pressure, so we need to be careful.

It was already past 10 o'clock in the morning when we talked. The second brother said, Wu Da, you guys have a rest for a while. I helped Yunzi pull her things to the venue. She looked at the stall and I came back. I thought, it’s boring for us to sit at home, so why not take the opportunity to go see a temple fair in the countryside? The main reason I went back to my hometown was to walk around and take a look. I told my father, let’s go too and see the temple fair. As he said that, he helped load the shelves with things, including drinks, biscuits, toys, fruits, and toilet paper. In the end, I simply put the stroller on so that the baby could sit on it when we got to the venue, freeing up my second brother’s space, and we had to go to the old grave together.

The second brother was pulling the cart, my father and I were pushing it behind, and Yunzi was walking behind with the child in his arms. The fun is also harmonious.

I have no feeling for my hometown. I remember it as a painful place.

When we talked, it was as if our relatives underground could hear us, without any barriers. Although I have never met them or visited their graves, I felt very friendly and not strange at all as soon as I arrived. I guess this is blood connection. A person is like a tree, the old grave is our root.

My father said that the graves of grandpa and Sanda were originally buried in the middle of the ground. In the 1980s, life for the third brother was just getting better, when the old grave was dug up. Later it was moved to the edge of the ground. People who dig graves have two purposes. One is to see if there is any gold or silver buried inside, and the other is to destroy the wind. And two new tombs were erected in front of Grandpa and the three major tombs. They want to get a little pulse. People in my hometown are very superstitious and believe in Feng Shui. I asked my father, people say our tomb has good feng shui, is this true? My father said, probably so, or else that old Mr. Lei led the people around for half a month before he designated this place. It's so far away from the village, so what's the point? People here are very superstitious. I looked carefully at the front, back, left and right of the old tomb. Behind it was a big mountain, in front was a big river, on the opposite side of the river was a small hill. The water formed a whirlpool in front of the hill, and then flowed away slowly. Behind the small hills are mountains, with continuous ups and downs. There is a large, lush tree growing by the river, and a faint and dense atmosphere flows into my heart. The second brother said that people say that the old tomb is good because it is on Yingshan Mountain in front. It has a history and never stops. I don’t believe in Feng Shui, but I would rather believe it now. In fact, if a living person looks comfortable, a dead person must also live in a comfortable place.

The sun was very quiet, with only the sound of the water in the distance. Sitting on the grave, looking at the mountains and water opposite, and listening to the conversation between my father and my second brother, I felt an unusually warm feeling in my heart. , familiar, nostalgic feelings. One moment back to the past, the other moment back to the present. History and reality, past and future, seem to be one and the same, flowing through my body and swaying before my eyes. It seems that yesterday has not left, and now has not come. The events of decades are all connected together. I seem to have matured all of a sudden, as if I understand everything. I understand yesterday, my father's generation, and I also understand the future and people. As if needing something. At the same time, I feel that I have a heavy responsibility on my shoulders and there is still a lot to do.

I really want to sit down like this and think endlessly, sinking into ancient times and prehistoric times. But we still have fifty miles to go, and when we get to the county seat, my father has to go back to the village. Therefore there can be no further delay. Just go back the way you came. Back at my second brother’s house, my son Haibo also came back from the city and wanted to take us to the town on a tricycle. As we were starting the engine, a taxi came from the village behind. It said it was picking up people in the county, so it took us on board. It's really better to catch it well than to catch it wisely. The second brother reluctantly sent us off, complaining that he left without eating. I said loudly: "No need to worry about it, we will be in the city in a minute."

My father was very happy today. He achieved his intended purpose when he returned to his hometown. He met the people he wanted to see and did what he wanted to do. But what makes his father most happy is that his second brother, whom he has always missed, is doing well. Better than expected. My son and daughter-in-law are very capable, filial, sensible, and speak kindly. The son is not the second brother's biological son, but he was raised by the second brother since he was a child. The raised son is very kind to his second brother, which is rare in rural areas. We are most gratified that our second brother, who has suffered so much, can have a harmonious home in his old age.