That year I was in the fifth grade of elementary school. My mother and my third wife took half a bag of wheat flour and a quilt and took a day-long bus ride to Nanjing to scavenge. It was her first time traveling far away.

That year I was in the fifth grade of elementary school. My mother and my third wife took half a bag of wheat flour and a quilt and took a day-long bus ride to Nanjing to scavenge. It was her first time traveling far away. From that day on, I longed for my mother day and night. To be honest, I didn’t really want to see my mother. What I wanted to see more was that my mother could bring back expired candies in half snakeskin bags like another aunt in the village. The candy that is difficult to peel off the candy wrapper is the sweetest snack in my heart, and its taste is far better than the candies that cost only a dime or two in small shops in the village.

I can’t remember how long my mother stayed in Nanjing. Is it a month or 40 days? In the end, she did not bring back fresh things from Nanjing like those villagers who often come to Nanjing to scavenge. In Nanjing, she only picked up rubbish from garbage dumps or roadside river beaches. How could so many people be so stupid as to throw away good things? She can only find valuable items from a pile of garbage, and then change hands several times and turn them into resources.

I remember that there seemed to be a sentence in the junior high school politics textbook that said, "There is no garbage in the world, only misplaced resources." In this strange city, my mother worked from dawn to dusk to use her hard-working hands to put misplaced resources. The resources were dug out, but she has not been here a few times in total, because the land at home still needs people to take care of it, otherwise how can we grow high-yielding crops?

I never knew where my mother picked up rags in Nanjing before. When I was a child, I only heard her talk about Xinjiekou and Shuiximen. At about two or three o'clock every day, I started to pull the trolley through the small alleys of Nanjing. At that time, the trash cans were not as standardized as they are now. I tied the trolley to a tree and started picking up with a snakeskin bag on my back, almost like the sun. After she came out, she was able to pick up a bag full of tattered clothes and shoes, as well as drink bottles and plastic lids. As long as the waste collection station was willing to give money, she would not be willing to throw away any items, even if it could only give one or two points. A pound of glass shards.

In 2021, my mother came to Nanjing again to temporarily help me take care of my children for a period of time. This was the first time I heard my mother explain in detail the journey she had taken. She walked around the foot of Mount Wutai, walked through Guitou Lane and Majia Lane, and also walked through Zhongshan Road and Huaqiao Road. She said that Ai Shang had not yet been built at that time, and there were not so many high-rise buildings in Nanjing. She no longer knew how to get to Shuiximen, but Helmet Head Alley was an alley she had to walk several times every day. But there were no street lights at that time. Sometimes when she opened her eyes and was about to go out, she would not dare to breathe loudly when walking through the dark alley. Fortunately, the third lady had been here for many years and was already accustomed to the brightness and brightness of the city. dark.

I didn’t dare to ask my mother again, was she afraid, was she tired? I was afraid that I would expose her youthful embarrassment again. If it weren’t for the purpose of coming to this wealthy city to grab some wealth like those in the village, I think my mother would never have come to Nanjing with us without her beloved crops.

Fortunately, poverty is always temporary and always relative. My mother no longer cares too much about our poverty. She has been to Nanjing two or three times to pick up waste. Each time, there will be a reason to go home suddenly, such as my grandma was in a car accident, or my father burned bricks and had no time to take care of the crops. My mother couldn't let go of us when we were young. , and couldn't let go of her beloved field and her elderly mother.

As long as you pay attention, you can still eat and clothe yourself while digging in the loess soil. My mother's snakeskin bag was not willing to be thrown away in Nanjing, and it is unknown where the scraps in her bag went. In short, she exchanged the scraps for some money. This is the feedback of waste to hard work, and it is also the praise of hard work from life.

Whenever I feel that I am burdened with too much pressure, I will go to Helm Head Alley. My mother does not recognize a word of it, but she remembers this alley and a wall in this alley. School, there is always the sound of reading. Therefore, even though her family was not wealthy, she did not give up investing in her children's education. The mother took firm steps from the muddy dirt road. Her snakeskin bag contained the most glorious wealth in the city - education, so that her children could receive as much education as possible.

Helmet Head Alley, if it weren’t for the fact that I happened to live not far from here, my mother might never know the name of this alley in her life. If it hadn't been for her walking through this alley in the dark, my eyes wouldn't have been bright. I think this may be the feedback from the world to my mother, and it is also the best gift my mother has given me.

Today happened to be my child’s kindergarten graduation ceremony. I couldn’t attend on time because of work. When I finished the work I had to do, I rushed to the kindergarten gate at a very fast speed. Since it was graduation season, I had to do it anyway. Post your graduation photos. I rushed to the gate of the kindergarten at a flying speed and heard the teacher announcing in a sweet voice: "This is the end of the first graduation ceremony. Parents will not attend the lunch at noon the next day."

I stood outside the door, like Like a fool, he doesn't know whether to advance or retreat. Since becoming other people's parents, we want to run desperately to catch up with them, but we will get older and older, our steps will get slower and slower, and they will only go faster and faster, farther and farther away from us. Just like I often walk through the alley that my mother walked back then, I always feel the warmth from afar in this alley.

Perhaps one day, when their children grow up, they will realize that those flying years have crushed their parents' dreams when they were young, but their love for their children has not been affected at all.