□ Cao Xiangling bursts of flower fragrance wafted from the window, like honey, and the osmanthus flowers were blooming. A dome-shaped flower veil is supported on the slender tree pole, and the four-petal yellow flowers add a lot of color to the sunset. The fragrance of osmanthus

□Cao Xiangling

The fragrance of flowers floated from the window, like honey, and the osmanthus flowers were blooming. A dome-shaped flower veil is supported on the slender tree pole, and the four-petal yellow flowers add a lot of color to the sunset. The fragrance of osmanthus is beautiful, and the sunset is now Double Ninth Festival.

Osmanthus fragrance. Photo provided by CFP.

As aged, the seasons seem empty, and the father-in-law who has removed the heavy responsibility of labor is more concerned about the arrival of the festival. He remembers it in advance which festival, which day of the lunar calendar, and what the weather is like, and the days become concrete and full. My father-in-law changed his usual quietness as a monk. He opened the cabinet and refrigerator to see if the items were complete, and checked which children, which birthday, and handed red envelopes in person. Even my nephew's and niece's children had red envelopes on their birthdays. This surprised me a little at my father-in-law's memory.

Just like when I first got married, I was surprised that my father-in-law who had never studied, but had won the honors of "Excellent Squad Accountant" and "Excellent Credit Union Director". My father-in-law said that he remembered the names and numbers of villagers based on his "image memory method". He practiced the abacus from one plus one, two plus three, and three plus until 36. The abacus beads were so skillful that he remembered the team's work points, grain accounts, and fertilizer accounts clearly; he classified what income and expenditure should be included in the public welfare fund and which should be included in the provident fund one by one; he took back the principal and interest of the villagers' loans and paid them to the township credit cooperative in full on the same day. My father-in-law's unambiguous and careful style is still preserved today.

tree branches. The 87-year-old father-in-law and 83-year-old mother-in-law have been married for 64 years. They are like towering trees with deep roots and lush leaves, endlessly growing. Today, the big family has 34 members.

Festivals are like silent calls, and relatives return to their nests like birds. "Grandpa, grandma, grandma, grandma, grandma, grandma, grandma." The hard-working raising of her father-in-law turned into warm calls. Her father-in-law responded, and the corners of her mouth were raised to her earlobes. The children ran and played, and they were completely out of the pressure of homework. The festival scene was like birds rushing on the trees, and my father-in-law spoke with great enthusiasm, as if he had become younger.

Everyone's arrival, the father-in-law's face is like a stretched landscape painting. However, the most surprising thing was that she married her daughter from , Shaoxing , who had to travel and take a bus for two days when she came back. The mother-in-law secretly cried. It was her father-in-law who agreed to the marriage. Now her father-in-law said that it is convenient to drive now, so you have to come a few more times. I heard that Shaoxing's niece won the first place in the city's Go competition. When she entered the provincial team, her father-in-law who didn't know what Go was, happily said, it was really good! Good news like

is often repeated and spread during festivals, like a gentle breeze, which paints the smell of home in a gorgeous color.

Early in the morning during the holidays, my father-in-law lit the stove with pine hair and made his specialty dishes: braised pork , bacon, pickled tofu pot, or bacon and radish pot. The two columnar round-mouthed sealing furnaces were made of iron sheets and soil by my father-in-law. They simmered slowly over charcoal fire. On a low heat for four or five hours, the delicious gravy was evenly released. The braised pork was soft and tender, and the color was bright. The child swallowed his saliva, climbed onto the stool, grabbed it with his small hands, and stuffed it into his mouth. The bacon cooked with charcoal is not greasy or greasy. The slight aroma of oil is like eating a piece of meat when I was a child. It is very unforgettable. The taste is cooked by my father-in-law and can't be eaten elsewhere.

My father-in-law said that when he was a child, he was doing farm work at home. His younger brother went to Xinwo School to study. Each student had to cook his own food, each with a sealing furnace, lined up. His younger brother was still young, so his father-in-law carried the sealing furnace, charcoal, rice and vegetables for his younger brother, and walked ten miles back and forth every day. My father-in-law said that my brother's sealing furnace could not burn this fragrance because there was no oil or meat. When my father-in-law said this, he still had a yearning for studying.

The father-in-law's family of eight, he had no books to read and no meat to eat. He sold all two pigs a year for the children to go to school. Now he can’t finish eating pigs, sheep, beef, fish and meat, but he doesn’t want to eat it anymore.

Eight years ago on the Dragon Boat Festival, my father-in-law lost an organ in his body - the stomach, and had more cannulations.On the night of the operation, my wife and I were with me all night. After waking up anesthetic, my father-in-law slowly touched the stomach with his hands and touched the intubation. He wanted to unplug the cannula, but his wife quickly moved his hand away and comforted him softly. A tear rolled in my father-in-law's eyes, and my nose felt sore.

On the days when I had no stomach, my father-in-law said that there seemed to be wind in his clothes wiping his blade, and itched like ant was crawling. The doctor said that it was the knife injury recovering. During the days when I had no stomach, my father-in-law seemed to have become much more impatient. I remember that on the first festival after surgery, everyone bought fish, shrimp, crabs and pork. When my father-in-law saw it, he shouted, "It smells so fishy. Can you buy so many things for food?"

Father-in-law needs to eat easy-to-digest porridge and noodles. He can't eat such a big fish and meat. We forget his feelings, and each other's eyes show guilt. I can’t blame my father-in-law for his bad temper. I looked at my father-in-law sitting in front of the sealed stove, cooking braised pork and bacon, thinking whether he could not chew many foods, but lacked a sense of pleasure?

It’s time to eat, adults and children, they can’t sit down, so they eat while standing. Someone asked my father-in-law to sit on the table, "top the head". I wonder if my father-in-law would be angry when he watched everyone eat fish and shrimps with relish? My father-in-law said calmly, you can sit down and eat. When everyone had eaten, he smiled and said, "Eat more!" He picked up the radish and potatoes he liked to eat, and sat aside to eat with a small bowl of noodles. The deliciousness seems to be out of his way.

Sometimes my mother-in-law advises him to eat more, and he will yell: "If you eat too much, you will become swelling and it will be full, which is very uncomfortable." The food my father-in-law has nowhere to put, so he can only eat less and more meals. The food he eats is like a child, so he needs special attention. Even during festivals and restaurants, when facing good dishes, he never eats more. Even if he puts chicken, duck and seafood into his bowl, he will pick it up and say, "I don't want to eat it." Snacks and fruits are just a simple taste. His strict self-discipline made him thinner his neck like a rubber band. Some villagers said that my father-in-law had no good fortune, and his father-in-law said, "It is hard to buy a lot of money to lose weight when you are old. My blessing is my children."

In the lives of the two elderly people, their children do their best. I heard that my father-in-law likes to eat biscuits, so I immediately gathered all kinds of biscuits such as peach crisps, green onions, crisps, , and cream on the table. My father-in-law said it was very delicious. Later, he found that the biscuits were over the shelf life, so he found that my father-in-law didn't want to eat biscuits. My mother-in-law said that he likes to eat eight-treasure porridge, so there are more eight-treasure porridge and more tonics.

A person who is an elderly person will be in line with their concerns about their health. My father-in-law has rheumatoid arthritis and . When he sleeps at night, his legs will hit the bed board with a "bang bang", and his sleep time is very short.

Once, my lover took my father-in-law to the hospital. His face seemed to be cut by a knife, and his voice was as light as a mosquito. I quickly supported his left arm. He raised his other arm slightly and said, "Don't support it." His five fingers were trembling, like five yellow leaves hanging on a branch, trembling slightly. My father-in-law is a stubborn and unyielding person, but at this time he suspected that he had a serious illness. After the doctor checked and treated, he told his father-in-law, don’t worry, there is no major problem with the health, other indicators are normal, and nutrition should be strengthened.

After being discharged from the hospital, my father-in-law rested in my uncle's factory for a few days. My sister-in-law cooked a variety of foods and was delicious. My father-in-law's face gradually became plump and rosy. I have an old treasure in my family. I hope that our treasure will be fatter and the road ahead will be longer.

During Double Ninth Festival, the younger generation brought milk, yogurt, and eggs again... This time, my father-in-law no longer yelled that he couldn't eat it anymore. He handed over red envelopes one by one, and the breeze brought the honey fragrance of osmanthus.

Author: Cao Xiangling, member of Jinhua Writers Association.

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