1987, I didn't know I would meet you

After finally arriving home, I was exhausted as soon as I put down my bag, and no matter how thick a layer of dust had accumulated on the stool, I just sat down to rest.On the other hand, those two brats didn't cry tired either. As soon as they got home, they yelled and went out to play with great energy. They must have gone to meet those little friends.I sat up and took off the dusty cloth shoes on my feet, and knocked them on the ground. There were a lot of gravel and gravel on the dirt road home.After putting on my shoes, I stood up, took a breath, and immediately felt better. I helped my parents go to the door and carried those big and small bags into the room.

"I won't be free this time around. Zhiqing, you can go and clean the tables and chairs later. I won't cook tonight. We still have some dry food in our bag and take it out for the night...just tidy up the house. I am busy." My mother said to me while taking out the clothes in the bag.I responded and went to the kitchen to find a rag.At that time, the country still used wells for drinking water, and every time a large tank of water was kept in the kitchen for backup, but it was obvious that I hadn’t returned for such a long time, and there was not much water in the tank.I went to the yard with a washbasin and filled a basin full of water into the house. During the period, I met Uncle Wang who had just come back from the field. He was surprised when he saw me. Later, I heard that our family came back during the summer vacation. After a trip, I clamored to come to my father for a drink another day.

After the sun went down, I wiped the bed boards and furniture, and wondered why the two children hadn't come back. Thinking this way, someone knocked on the iron gate in the courtyard.

"Here we come!" My mother quickly put down her work and opened the door, and saw that it was Aunt Li who was in the hospital.

"Yo, why are you here?"

"Zhiyuan and Mengting came to my house to find Xiaofeng to play with, and that's when I knew you're back. Come and have a look!" Aunt Li's family is our neighbors in the next yard, and they are very kind, and the land is harmonious Our family is next to each other, and we help each other on weekdays. When my mother is bored, she also likes to drop by her house to peel and dry corn together and talk.

"It's not long since we got home. It's almost cleaned up just now... By the way, wait!" The mother was very happy, and suddenly seemed to think of something, and hurried back to the house quickly, and picked up a piece of paper in the house. Yes, when I came out, I was holding a red plastic bag, which was still rolled up.

"What is this?" Aunt Li took it and asked curiously.

"This is the cream I brought you back from Beijing. It's very easy to use!"

"Oh, what are you doing with me? It's a waste of money." Aunt Li blushed, she was embarrassed to pick it up, and handed it to her mother.The mother smiled and pushed Aunt Li's hand and forced her to keep it.

"Okay, just accept it, I'll take it all with me."

"Thank you!" Aunt Li was also very happy in her heart, because the winter here is very cold and the wind is very strong. Sometimes when she chatted with her mother about the housework, Aunt Li always complained that the ones in the market were not top-notch at all. Yes, every winter my hands get chilblains and it's not easy to heal, it's itchy and swollen.I really didn't expect my mother to remember it so clearly.

"By the way, is Mr. Lin there?"

"Here, in the back room."

"I'm sure you won't be able to cook at home just after you come back. Come eat at my place. As soon as our family's food is cooked, I told you to come over and let you eat. Zhiyuan and Tingting are also at my place!"

"Ah... will this work..."

While he was talking, Dad also came out when he heard the voice, and when he saw Aunt Li, he hurried up to say hello.

"There's nothing wrong with that. Our two families are so familiar...Zhiqing, I will clean up with your parents in a while and go to our house for dinner. Xiaofeng even said that you are gone and miss you!" Aunt Li was happy He yelled at me with a big smile showing his big white teeth.

"Okay!" Aunt Li's family has a son who is two years younger than me, named Li Qianfeng.Although he is said to be two years younger than me, he is still so naive and loves to play. Compared with Zhiyuan and the others, I occasionally go to explain his homework to him, or take him fishing in the river or something.

When we arrived at Aunt Li's house, as expected, the two little guys had already started eating with their rice bowls. Uncle Li was sitting at the top of the dining table, smoking a cigarette, and there was a seat beside him, which should belong to his father.

A few new dishes were obviously added to the table, and the three of them sat together happily chatting while eating.Seeing us coming, Tingting called her brother sweetly, left her job and ran towards us.

Uncle Li quickly put out his cigarette butts and greeted us to sit down. His face was very excited. He took out a bottle of homemade rice wine from under the table and poured it into the small wine glass in front of my father. A trip to taste his new brewed wine.Although my father is a scholar, he is getting old and has more worries. He has also learned a little about smoking and drinking, but he does not drink too much.He and Uncle Li have known each other for a long time. At that time, I was still young and was catching up with the Youth Cultural Revolution. Most of the people were sent to the countryside to do farm work.Poor parents took their younger brothers and sisters who hadn't even learned to walk and me, who was just sensible, trekking all the way. According to my parents, that was probably the most difficult time.Coincidentally, Uncle Li was also one of those people. The two had similar interests. There was only one child in their family. Aunt Li was kind-hearted and helped our family a lot. I grew up together from a young age.At that time, there was a shortage of supplies, and little money was earned. It was so difficult that even my father could hardly support it for a while. At that time, there were not a few families who starved to death.If you think about it, my father used to be a student. How could he do such heavy farm work? My mother was anxious when she saw it, but there were still three children in the family waiting to be fed. My father still managed to keep going, so Aunt Li’s family can be regarded as The benefactor of our family.This situation did not get better until the end of the 70s. In the 80s, due to the resistance of the masses and the stalemate of the government, the problem of returning to the city for employment and the college entrance examination was resumed.

At the dinner table, as soon as the two drank, the conversation started. Uncle Li kept asking his father how Beijing was like, and his father explained it to him happily with a touch of complacency.After dinner, Aunt Li and mother were chatting beside me while nibbling melon seeds, maybe they all talked about what happened in the past few months when they left.Nothing big can happen in a village, it can only be that the daughter of a certain family married a wealthy family in the city, and the dowry gift was sent three times.Radios, sewing machines, bicycles and TV sets, and a telephone was installed in their home, saying that everyone is really envious of watching it!

As for me, I can only accompany Zhiyuan and Mengting to write and draw on paper, and try the newly bought colored pens.After a while, Qianfeng ran towards me with a piece of paper in his hands, proudly showing me his works. He looked at him with a foolish smile and always thought of his childhood. He stood under the tree pitifully with snot and tears in his eyes and looked up at me sitting on the branch, turning around in anxiety.However, when I grow up, my impression of him is still that of a childish child, because he is not mature at all. Children who grew up in the countryside are not very mature, because here They don't have any rich foreign knowledge, they can only play the same games as they used to when they were young, and when they grow up, they will follow a fixed path, guarding the family's land to plant and harvest, and then save some money to marry a daughter-in-law and have a second life. Big fat boy, so repeatedly.

Thinking of this, my heart sank a little. Looking at Qianfeng's innocent smiling face, I was dazed in a daze, wondering if in a few years, those childhood playmates would all marry wives and have children Walking the same path as their parents...

When I came back to my senses, I was already standing in the yard of Aunt Li’s house. There was a vine planted in the yard. The crooked vines were all attached to the bamboo sticks inserted into the soil. Lush.Looking at those vines, I somehow thought of Lu Yuandong, and the scene when I saw him for the first time in the hospital that day.

foreign...

There is no doubt that I envy his life, if I think that I will be in such a dark place in the future and live a repetitive life tirelessly every day.Whenever someone brings up something new, I don’t want to stare blankly for a long time with blank eyes and nod my head in embarrassment. I know that I will not regret the ideal in my heart and what I am now. What I am doing - leave the small village, go to the big city or see more in other places!

That's why I worked so hard to get into college...