Rebirth Night Talk

On Monday, early in the morning, Gao Juzi made cornbread soup, steamed a few buns, and cut a plate of shredded mustard greens for breakfast for the whole family.

On this day, Zhao Jianguo got up even earlier. He paid for gas at his own expense, greeted the leaders and borrowed the only jeep in the city to go home to pick up his wife.When he got up early, Zhao Jianguo rummaged through his new woolen cadre uniform in the closet. After searching through boxes and cabinets to find nothing, he asked his wife loudly, "Orange, where is my new cadre uniform?"

Gao Juzi shook his hands and feet, and a large corn lump fell into the pot. Zhao Xuejun, who was washing his face, shouted to the back room: "Dad, my mother said, your clothes are a little tight, take them here and change them for you!"

"How did you choose this time?" A murmur came from the inner room, followed by another burst of rummaging.

Gao Juzi glanced at his youngest son, Zhao Xuejun grinned and said to Gao Juzi, "Then... I lent you money, Mom, but you have to pay it back."

After hugging her son and kissing her vigorously, Gao Juzi whispered into his son's ear, "Please borrow more money from Mom." Seeing her son looking at her strangely, she quickly explained: "Mom swears, I will never stick to your grandma's house again." Really, your grandma's family is not a daughter of your mother. You see, your father should go back to his hometown. The sugar should cost two catties. Mom only needs 12 yuan, so I’m afraid it’s not enough.”

Zhao Xuejun thought for a while, went into the back room, took out 30 yuan bills and stuffed them into his mother's hands. How many waste newspapers and old books have to be found with both hands to exchange for this money.She pretended to be strong, bit the thickest piece of flesh on her son's hand with her teeth, and sighed softly: "Oh, old son, why aren't you a girl."

Zhao Xuejun looked at his own mother strangely: "Why is it a girl?"

Gao Juzi smiled, wiped away tears, and continued to cook, while cooking, nagging: "I always say you are a girl, when you were in the mother's womb, you were born safely, and they also said that you must be a girl, so ah , The little clothes and quilts I prepared are all red and green. I just thought, I am a lucky one, if I have another girl, I will braid her hair and make a skirt, Dress her up every day."

Zhao Xuejun shook his head unbearably, moved out the small dining table to the side, set the bowls, and put the pickles on the table.Gao Juzi looked at the flimsy tabletop, then turned around and put another radish on the table.

At [-]:[-] in the morning, the whole family gathered around the table and had breakfast. In the Zhao family, it is rare to have breakfast together. The children usually only get one dime and two taels of food stamps.

Zhao Jianguo was wearing a neat old cadre uniform, and he took out his all-steel Shanghai watch and put it on his wrist. On his chest, there was a Hero brand pen hanging. Lining, people at this time are very economical about fabrics. For the sake of appearance, men invented half shirts. To put it bluntly, it is the kind of thing that is similar to the bras of acquired women. This thing has multiple straight shirt collars.

Gao Juzi looked at her husband, and she watched him pick up the bowl, instead of eating properly, he stuck out his tongue and licked around the bowl vigorously.So, Gao Juzi was disgusted, she knocked on the bowl and said to her husband with a trace of reproach: "Zhao Jianguo, can you stop licking the bowl!"

Zhao Jianguo, who had no new clothes to wear, was a little annoyed: "Why can't I lick it? I am a farmer, and you are a child of a farmer."

Gao Juzi was furious: "What are you talking about? Is it? The children are watching. This person who dresses, eats and hangs the household belongings has something to do tomorrow. In case someone invites our family, the four of you go together. Okay, sit in the restaurant, the food is not served, let’s go together Pick up the bowl, stick out your long tongue and lick it. Looks good? Let me tell you, if you are wrong, you are wrong! What does this have to do with the farmer's son?"

Zhao Jianguo reached out and wiped the spray from the sky on the bridge of his nose, and put down the bowl bitterly: "Gao Orange!"

Gao Juzi also put down the bowl heavily: "Zhao Jianguo!"

The three brothers stood up together and carried their schoolbags. Zhao Xuejun said to Gao Juzi, "Mom, who does grandma live with?"

Zhao Jianguo suddenly thought of his words, the old lady is coming, starting from today, this daughter-in-law will honor the older ones and serve the younger ones, and her position as the head of the family is obviously due to the heavy burden that will be placed on the wife's shoulders. Shaken, so he turned his head and let out a long breath, forced a smile on his face and turned around: "Gao Juzi, I'm a good man and don't fight with women!"

Gao Juzi fumbled for the 30 yuan in her pocket and the non-staple food coupons she had saved on a daily basis. She didn't have the heart to quarrel with her husband. She stood up, took off her apron, picked up her broken leather bag, and wore those high-heeled shoes that had been repaired countless times. Walking outside: "Zhao Jianguo, wait for me when the car arrives. This man has a pig's head on his head. It's rare to go back to his hometown. He doesn't bring good cigarettes or buy snacks. You are going back to your hometown, folks in the village." Yes, you are also kind."

The three brothers looked dull, followed by Zhao Jianguo, who looked silly and happy. Everyone had long been accustomed to the endless bickering between the couple every day. Zhao Xuejun shrugged his shoulders and followed the elder brother's footsteps to school.

At noon, Zhao Xuejun ran home without waiting for his brother to pick him up. This was the third time in his life that he saw his grandma. People from Shanxi do not like to go out by nature. Grandma has been staying with relatives in her hometown all the time, and does not want to come to the city to enjoy the blessings.The old lady is 70 years old this year, and she has to walk eight or nine miles of mountain roads every day to farm.Zhao Xuejun didn't have a deep impression of grandma, because the old lady went there when he was in the fifth grade of elementary school. The only thing he remembered was grandma's little feet bound in the old society. It's very fast.

"Mom! Mom! Where's my milk?" Zhao Xuejun opened the door and asked his mother loudly.

Gao Juzi entered the house from the front yard, stood in the living room and said to him, "I haven't come back. Who knows what happened to me. It's probably because I haven't been back for a long time. I'm going to see relatives. The rice is in the pot. You can eat it yourself. I'll give it to you." Your grandma is making the bed." After finishing speaking, she went to the front yard again.

Zhao Xuejun walked to the stove, opened the steaming drawer, and saw the big steamed buns. He was overjoyed. He opened the small iron pot on the side, but it was a pot of hot tofu soup.He took a bite of the bun, hey!Mince.

"San'er, you are only allowed to eat two, and the rest will be kept for your father and your grandma." Mother shouted into the room.

Zhao Xuejun responded, biting the bun, and entered his hut.Yo, my little bed has moved and another bed has been added in the room.My mother knelt on the side of the new wooden bed, and was laying a new checkered bed sheet. After finishing, she picked up some world maps that she didn't know where they would come, turned them over to reveal the white side, and began to press the maps on the wall with thumbtacks. .

"Buns!" Zhao Xuebing's uncontrollable ecstatic voice came from behind, Zhao Xuejun and his mother glanced at each other, Gao Juzi jumped off the bed, and ran into the house: "Zhao Xuebing, I tell you, you only need to eat two! "

Soon, Zhao Xuebing's voice came from the room with a sad tone: "That's not enough to eat."

"Aren't there steamed buns? The next floor, there are many."

"Can steamed buns be compared with buns?"

"Why can't it be compared? It will take six or more years to starve you to death, and see if you still dare to dislike the taste of steamed buns."

Zhao Xuejun smiled, took the buns in his mouth, and began to help his mother press the thumbtacks. He pressed them for a while, and Gao Juzi walked in, and they got busy together. .”

Swallowing the last mouthful of buns, Zhao Xuejun looked at his mother sadly: "Mom, why don't you put it back for me and reheat it again, maybe I'm a girl."

He slapped his son with his hands. Gao Juzi was about to say something when Zhao Xuewen's voice came from behind: "Mom! My grandma and dad are back!"

The mother and son ran out to greet her, only to see grandma bending over, throwing up on the ground, and father Zhao Jianguo stroking mother's back with a distressed expression.

"Oh, I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm so rich, I just say ride in a donkey cart, it's so fast, so fast, my intestines are going to turn over."

Zhao Xuejun walked over slowly and looked at the rural woman wearing a big soil-dyed blue jacket. This was his grandmother. Many, many years ago, she married her grandfather and walked more than 100 miles. Carrying the fifty catties of wheat that he brought as a dowry.This old man has never left Shanxi in his life. He doesn't know that there are planes in the world, he has never taken a train, and he has never worn a piece of clothing worth more than ten yuan.

He gently held the old lady's arm, and the old lady looked up at him, but said suspiciously: "This is a student soldier, they are so big, are they so big!"

"Mom, this is the third child, Xuejun." Gao Juzi explained.

The old lady burst into tears: "Is Xuejun so old? I don't even know him."

Zhao Jianguo's snacks, more than half of the candies were brought back by his mother. According to him, the old lady counted the candies and the rice sticks. The reason why she came back late was that the old lady insisted on holding the The milk goat came to the city, and that milk sheep is grandma’s wife. Since grandpa left, grandma has been holding lambs to raise them. She has raised them, grown old, and is reluctant to eat them. After raising them to death, she digs a hole and buries them. .

The family welcomed grandma into the house happily. The old lady looked around her son's residence, saw that the house was clean, and saw that her bed and bedding were new, she felt a little uncomfortable. If she agreed, she turned to her daughter-in-law and started nagging: "My hometown has bedding." Gao Juzi, who had expected it a long time ago, just smiled: "Mom, you miss you and want to get you a new one." The old lady went to the kitchen, Gao Juzi put the buns on the table, and the old lady said again: "I don't eat white film, I just eat cornmeal." Gao Juzi quickly persuaded: "Mom, this is the meal." The old lady Annoyed, she immediately said, "Isn't it easy for Jianguo to make money?" Gao Juzi quickly said, "Mom, this is the money I earned." The old lady calmed down, and sat down to drink tofu soup and eat steamed stuffed buns.

After a meal, Gao Juzi's enthusiasm for being a good wife was about to be blown away. Zhao Jianguo was an idiot, and he was sweating in a hurry. Zhao Xuejun put down the bowl, smiled and said to grandma: "Grandma, my mother knows you are here, but I'm happy. I'll buy you a new bed when I get up early in the morning."

The old lady drank a few sips of tofu soup without expressing her opinion, looked at her son, and murmured: "Have you got married to live the day and the moon? Don't you want to eat the next meal? You won't live."

The family stopped their chopsticks and looked at the old lady. After eating half a bun, the old lady added angrily: "The landlord's family dare not steam white buns in a large steamer."

Zhao Jianguo begged and looked at his wife, while Gao Juzi lowered his head and ate in silence.Ears are filled with the old lady's nagging.

"Before your father died, he wanted to eat white buns. Your brother ran for thirty miles, but he didn't get any. Who dares to have white noodles? Before liberation, Murakami Yongyong's family only gave coarse grain buns for weddings. There are [-] acres of rich land, one acre is the grain of our family’s three acres of land. No one dares to make white buns. Your brother goes to school and can’t get enough to eat. He is so hungry that he eats Sophora japonica, and he is about to starve to death. He stole the commune cafeteria Half a cornbread, did your father carry a big stone for three days for this half of the cornbread..."

Gao Juzi suffocated bad breath, she stood up and went to the back room, then Zhao Jianguo followed, the three brothers looked at each other, quietly walked outside the parents' room and looked in through the crack of the door.In the room, Gao Juzi was crying. She didn't dare to make a loud noise, and ignored Zhao Jianguo, who was accompanying her with a smiling face. She just took out the photos of Zhao Jianguo in the album at home, and tore off her head one by one to vent her anger.

It's about tearing up photos, which is a famous product of the old Zhao family, a kind of Wendou, Gao Juzi's special way of venting his anger.Zhao Jianguo did not say a word, and followed his daughter-in-law to tear it up. After Gao Juzi finished tearing it up, he wiped away his tears and went back to continue eating with his mother-in-law with a smile on his face. When she returned to the kitchen, half a basket of steamed buns miraculously disappeared.

Zhao Xuejun has nothing to do with the war between mother and mother-in-law. You must know that since ancient times, the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law has been a matter of learning.He just does what he can.

For example, at night, I actively wash and scald grandma's feet, saying: "Grandma, my mother asked me to wash and scald your feet."

Another example is that grandma is too old to come down. He soaked honey water and said, "Grandma, my mother said, drink a laxative."

The grandma who has lived for more than 70 years old looks ungrateful and has no good looks towards her daughter-in-law.Zhao Xuejun understands that the old lady is not ignorant.She is just used to being poor, and it has been difficult all her life. For her, the life of her son's house is fine rice noodles, big bed and warm quilt, and the old lady feels that she can't bear it.She felt that she should not have such a blessing in her life, and she felt that her daughter-in-law would not succeed, and she didn't know how to save money.

That night, the Zhao family was quiet, the parents continued to be angry silently, and the three brothers sat on the roof of the house and sighed.

Early the next morning, the family got up in a hurry, preparing to go to school, preparing to go to work, they left the bedroom and went to the small kitchen together.The whole family was shocked when they saw everything there.

The table is set, the sweet potato porridge is ready, the cold vermicelli is served, and the fried cabbage is fragrant.

But grandma... Grandma didn't come to the table, she lay on the cement ground floor, took a piece of cloth and folded it into a square, and scrubbed the kitchen floor so that a figure could be seen.

Zhao Jianguo walked over, knelt down, and choked up, "Mother, I brought you here to enjoy the blessings."

The old lady looked at him and said, "Those who have polished rice and fine noodles, give me something to eat, give it to the children, and oranges are also going to work, you eat." After finishing speaking, it was another meal.

Zhao Xuejun, who has lived two lifetimes, is sitting on a small bench and biting the steamed stuffed bun that his grandma hid yesterday. He saw the old lady hiding something. To be honest, he felt a little resentful last night that the old lady didn’t know what to do. Now, he is biting the steamed stuffed bun. The memories that were left behind came to my mind in a mess.When his grandma passed away, he went back to his hometown. When he was packing up the old lady’s belongings, he saw a bottle of sesame oil that his father had sent back three years ago. eat.