Sangganhe Songanhe
The first time I went to my mother-in-law's house
How much do I receive a dowry
Original Mei Zhixin Yanzhao Xinsheng 
022-10-08
, duration 0:45
Author: Mei Zhixin
selected from "Crape myrtle blossom" "The Love of the Year"
The first time I went to my mother-in-law's house
My lover and I met in the winter of 1991. We have been together for more than half a year. We both felt it was appropriate for each other and we were preparing to get the marriage certificate in May 1992 and officially hold a wedding in autumn.
Of course, you must first meet your in-laws before getting your certificate. My lover said that my father-in-law doesn’t drink or smoke. He just drinks tea every day, likes snacks, and especially likes to eat middle fruit eggs. My mother-in-law doesn’t really like food and drink, but like most women, she loves to wear beautiful new clothes.
I prepared two boxes of snacks, two kilograms of medium fruit eggs, and two kilograms of tea. I bought my mother-in-law a short-sleeved flower top and a pair of black velvet cloth shoes on the one-belt, and a pair of high-flavored yellow rubber shoes for my father-in-law from the military store. This is the first time I went to see my in-laws with a gift.
My mother-in-law's house is in Liujiagou Village, Hedong Township, Zhaojiapeng District, Zhuolu County, about 200 miles away from the county town.
On a sunny morning in early spring, my wife rode her bicycle to my parents' house to pick me up and went to the bus station at the west end of the county town to take the bus.
Because I had a problem with motion sickness, I took a tablet of motion sickness medicine prepared by my mother in advance and sat in a seat close to the car window. I was worried that I would feel nauseous or even vomit in the car.
Not to mention the feeling of motion sickness, if it is too embarrassing, how can you meet your parents-in-law after getting off the car?
The car left the station and slowly drove towards Nanshan District . After crossing the Sanggan River Bridge, the scenery of the mountains and fields appears in front of you: towering mountains, full of pines and cypresses, and clusters of mountain flowers. Although I feel uncomfortable when I take the bus, I am not too uncomfortable with the good mood and the good scenery along the way.
The car bumped around the mountain road for more than two hours and finally arrived at the terminal - Hedong Bus Station in Zhaojiapeng District.
got off the car, I sorted out my clothes and braids, and my lover looked me up and down and said, "Everything is good, go quickly!" He said, "My parents would never have thought that you would be so good!" However, I knew I had nothing to praise.
Liujiagou Village is one mile away from Hedong Bus Station. There is a large sand ditch at the entrance of the village, which leads directly to the innermost part of the village. On the high foundations on both sides of Shagou are the houses of the villagers. When I walked into the village, I saw my parents-in-law waiting for us at an alley from a distance.
My lover shouted loudly in a strong local accent: "Dad! Mom!"
The father-in-law also shouted loudly: "Oh, I've waited for you back! Your mother has come out to greet you two several times!"
The mother-in-law faced with her face. He walked towards me, took my hand and said, "Girl, I heard you were motion sick, so you didn't feel uncomfortable in the car, right?"
I said, "No, it's pretty good!" Because my lover and I haven't gotten a marriage certificate yet, I think it seems that it's not time to call my parents, and it seems that it's not appropriate to call uncle or aunt. I feel a little happy and a little embarrassed, so I can only follow my lover to the courtyard stupidly.
The yard is very large, and several small fruit trees are lush and leaves. Some trees have already produced small fruits the size of fingertips and belly. At the west end of the yard is a small vegetable garden with two or three green leeks and green onions, and several eggplant seedlings with fist-sized purple eggplant hanging on it. The western wall is covered with vines of gourd , huge leaves, trumpet-shaped yellow flowers, and cute little gourds are hidden inside. "Jijiji-" The crisp and pleasant chirping of grasshopper came from the high part of the vine.Not far outside the courtyard wall is a small hill, and the lush vegetation on the hillside can be seen clearly. At this time, I remembered the poem "Picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, leisurely seeing the southern mountains." I couldn't help but say to my lover, "This yard is so cute, why haven't you told me?" My lover once told me that there was a hundred years of walnut tree in his family's responsibility field, and many hawthorn tree and apricot trees, but I never mentioned to me what his yard looked like.
My lover said with a little pride, "There are many beautiful places in the mountains! From now on, this courtyard will be yours!"
My father-in-law looked at the fruit trees and said, "The fruits of these fruit trees in our house are very delicious. After a month, the apricots will be ripe." Later facts proved that my father-in-law was not boasting. The apricots, peaches and plums in the yard are the best of the same fruits I have ever eaten. Whenever the fruits are ripe, my mother-in-law always finds ways to get people from the village to bring us some.
Walked into the east house among the five main rooms in the courtyard. The ceiling on the roof was just hung, the walls were freshly painted, and a brand new flower paper was pasted on the kang of a large kang, and a statue of Chairman Mao hung on the wall above the big red lying cabinet. My lover said that a month ago, my family heard that he was going to bring his prospective daughter-in-law back, so they started to prepare. It seems that the two old men have tried their best to do everything they can think of and do. In fact, even if the two old men don’t do all this, I won’t dislike it.
There are four plates of cold dishes on the round table: peanuts, canned hairtail, pickled eggs, and cold bean sprouts ( mung bean sprouts are self-bred); hot dishes include scrambled eggs , scrambled eggs , chili fried tofu (tofu is made at home), tofu meatballs, and stir-fried pork mushrooms (mushrooms are picked by my mother-in-law from the mountain); there is also a large bowl of skewers in the middle potato stewed chicken nuggets (chicken is killed in the morning); there are two sorghum stalk grates next to it are wrapped dumplings, and the dumplings are small and exquisite, with half a circle of patterns on it like the teeth of a small comb, which shows that my mother-in-law is very attentive to make every dumpling.
I think the two old people have made every effort to prepare for such a table of meals.
Although both of them are happy inside, except for my lover, my mother-in-law and my father-in-law and I are a little restrained and uncomfortable. My wife took out the gift I bought for the two old men from the bag and said, "Dad, mother, try the shoes and clothes Xiaomei bought for you!"
My father-in-law took the shoes to the west room to try on. After a while, he came over with new shoes and said happily, "It suits you very well. These shoes are tall and thick. It's really hard to wear to work on the mountain!" My mother-in-law tried the top and shoes on, and they were all very suitable. She looked in the mirror and said, "The clothes in the county are still fashionable. You can't buy such beautiful clothes in Hedong Township."
The awkward atmosphere suddenly became much looser and more natural. Then, my parents-in-law went to cook dumplings and we had a meal together.
After eating, I was a little sleepy. I was going to wash dishes, but my mother-in-law pulled me to the kang and said, "You have to take a break." She turned around and gave my lover a wink and said, "Let's go to the west room to chat, let Xiaomei lie down for a while!" My wife and father-in-law and mother-in-law went to the west room to chat.
I lay on the big kang and fell asleep quickly.
After a nap, I woke up and saw my lover sitting on a small stool at the round table smoking dullly, looking worried. I asked, "What's wrong? What's wrong with me?" My wife paused, took a deep breath of cigarettes, vomited out a long smoke, sighed, and said what she had just chatted with the two old men in the west room: The family agreed that we would give us 2,000 yuan when we got the marriage certificate, but recently, we spent some of the prepared money in decorating the house. My parents-in-law thought that it was necessary to keep their words and get some money for the child to get married, so they discussed going to my cousin's house in the neighboring village to borrow one thousand and collect two thousand. We will get it back this time.
Two old men thought about it and thought that my cousin would not refuse: First, my father-in-law and his cousin grew up together and had a good relationship; second, five years ago, my cousin married his son and came to my in-laws to borrow money; third, my cousin's family has been doing well in opening convenience stores in recent years, and life is very prosperous.
or six days ago, my father-in-law brought two kilograms of eggs to my cousin's house. My cousin said that he had saved some money regularly. My father-in-law gave him a withdrawal of 1,000 in advance, saying that after the autumn harvest, he would definitely pay it back with the principal and interest at the bank's regular interest, but my cousin still hesitated and reluctantly. My father-in-law is a stubborn and strong old man. He never borrowed money from others in his life. He came back in disappointment and suffered great damage to his self-esteem. He was so angry that he didn't eat or work the next day.
My lover finished talking to me and lit another cigarette thoughtfully.
I said, "There is one thousand at home, so let's take this thousand first. It's not bad. What's there to worry about?"
My lover said, "But at present, it's time when fruit trees need to be used for pesticides and crops need to be fertilized. The family also wants to buy a pig or a few chicks. If we take this thousand yuan away, the family has to find a way to get the money for these things."
I was silent for a moment and said firmly: "You told the two old people that we don't take a penny, and we will keep the 1,000 yuan at home. Let’s have a family matter! “Looking at the watch, it was already past three o’clock in the afternoon, and the last bus back to the city was five o’clock. I said, “Let’s clean up and prepare to take the bus. I have to go to work tomorrow!”
My lover looked at me, sighed, and said, “You are so easy to talk to!” After a pause, he seemed to remember something and said a little apologetically, “If you don’t take this thousand yuan, I can’t buy the gold ring I promised you.” During my relationship with me, I saw that I was wearing a silver ring and a silver necklace (there were not many people wearing gold jewelry at that time), and knew that I like these small jewelry very much. once said that when we got married, I will definitely buy you a gold ring. I said, "If you don't buy it, don't buy it. I didn't ask you for it either!"
I comforted him half-jokingly again: "Don't make things difficult. Marrying you, a poor boy in the mountains, I didn't plan to ask you to spend anything for me."
My lover suddenly stood up, threw away the cigarette butt in his hand, swept the depression on his face, and said, "Okay, with you, I will have confidence in my heart. I will definitely buy it for you in the future."
At this time, my in-laws came from the west room, and my lover told them what we mean: if you don't take the 1,000 yuan at home, let the old man take care of the family affairs first.
My parents-in-law emphasized with some apology: "I will get my marriage certificate first when I go back to the city. When the wedding is held in the autumn, my family will definitely be able to give me more than 3,000 yuan." I know these words are mainly for me. My parents-in-law probably worried that I wouldn’t be able to take out the two thousand yuan at this time and blew up the marriage.
My lover said, "Dad, what's the hardship at home in the future? I'm here! Don't open your mouth and borrow money from others. You are also in your early sixties. Don't be too tired to work. Take care of your health!" My lover looked at me and said to the two old men, "Dad, mother, don't worry about my marriage anymore. If you don't take a penny from home, Xiaomei and I can handle this happy event!" My lover looked confident and his tone was solemn. Suddenly, I felt that he had grown up and matured, from a young boy to a tall and upright man. My father-in-law sucked his nose twice, and his eyes were a little red.
We started packing up and preparing to go back to the city.
In-laws brought the gifts prepared for my parents from the west room: six bottles of locust flower honey were taken by my father-in-law for more than 20 miles a few days ago. He bought it from a bee farmer's house. It is the best locust flower honey .
A plastic bag of yellow rice noodles fried cake , it looks like it weighs seven or eight pounds. My mother-in-law said that the round ones are solid, the flat ones are brown sugar bean paste stuffing, and the dumplings are vegetable stuffing.
A plastic bag of glutinous rice dumplings is also worth seven or eight kilograms. My mother-in-law said that when people in the mountains eat rice dumplings, they like to dip them in honey, so that my parents can also dip them in honey.
A carton of homemade chickens, firewood eggs , which is more than ten kilograms. Fried tofu and tofu meatballs in a carton are also made by yourself.
My father-in-law hugged a big flower rooster from the yard and said to my lover: "I want to pluck this rooster in the morning. Your mother said, take it back and let Xiaomei's parents eat and slaughter it, and the meat is fresh!" The rooster's legs were tied together with a rope. It seemed that this was also prepared in advance.
I looked at the cute and pitiful big rooster and said, "Let this rooster be kept first, keep it at home, and take it back, we can't bear to kill it."
My mother-in-law seems to like this rooster very much, and she has a lot of affection for it. She hugged the rooster from her father-in-law's arms, stroked the fur on the rooster's back and said, "This rooster is very spiritual. She often goes to the market with me to buy things or work in the field, and has never been lost..." Seeing that I refused to take it, she looked at her father-in-law and said, "Then keep it first!" Then she untied the rope tied to the rooster's legs and put it back in the yard. My father-in-law went to pick up the things he wanted to bring to us again.
My mother-in-law walked to the big red lying cabinet, called my lover and I to the front, lifted the cover of the cabinet, and there were four sets of new bedding inside. The quilt was made of two silk quilts, one red and one green; two jacquard quilts, one on top was peony flower quilts, and the other was a mandarin duck playing in the water. The mattresses are covered with large red velvet cloth.
She took out another floral bag, which was full of fabrics, with more than twenty pieces of large and small. The larger ones can be made into double bed sheets, and the smaller ones can be made into small mattresses or bag sheets.
My lover asked in surprise: "Mom, when did you buy so many fabrics?"
Mother-in-law smiled sweetly like a little girl and said, "Some of them bought more than ten years ago, and some bought them in the past one or two years. Sometimes I go to sell eggs and meet someone selling cloth heads in the town. When I see someone who likes, I buy one."
"I just love to look at the flowers on this fabric. Look, they are all beautiful! Xiaomei, pick a few pieces of what you like and take them." The mother-in-law held the stack of fabrics with one hand, and looked through them piece by piece with the other hand.
I said, "Let it go first, and then take it later!"
These floral cloths, whether they are gorgeous and festive, or simple and elegant, are indeed very beautiful. Judging from the texture, colors of the four quilts and mattresses and the colors of these fabrics, my mother-in-law is a delicate and tasteful woman.
My father-in-law has put all the gifts brought to my parents in an extremely large basket.
My father-in-law was carrying a big basket, and his mother-in-law was holding the box of eggs and took us to the station to take the bus back to the city.
walked out of the village. My mother-in-law looked at the sun in the west and said to her father-in-law: "It's still early, I'll go to see two children. You go back first. There is a market today. By the way, go to the market to find out the price of the sow."
My father-in-law said: "This basket is calm, let's go."
l1 While my wife took off the basket from her father-in-law's shoulder, she said, "Dad, go back first, I'll carry it."
My father-in-law handed the big basket to his son and said, "If you go back, send the things to Xiaomei's parents."
He said to me again, "Say hello to your parents on my behalf." After a pause, he seemed to want to say something, swallowed the words back, and turned to walk towards the market.After walking a few steps, he suddenly turned around and shouted my lover's nickname, "Second boy, you two are thinking about registering for marriage certificate when you go back! Don't ruin this matter!" His voice was very loud, like a command, and it seemed to be a little begging.
"I know, dad, don't worry!" My lover's voice was also very loud, full of comfort to the old man.
The voices of father and son resounded throughout the valley.
walked forward for more than ten meters. My mother-in-law looked back and saw that my father-in-law's figure was gone. She looked around again. There was no one. She walked under a large walnut tree on the side of the road, put the egg on the ground, and said to me and my lover, "Stop and stop and then go." My mother-in-law lifted the corner of her shirt and took out a red cloth bag from her waist.
My mother-in-law grabbed my hand and said, "Girl, take this little money and go back to buy new clothes, or buy shoes and socks, etc.."
I was a little overwhelmed by my mother-in-law's sudden action, and pushed my mother-in-law's hand and said, "Oh, Mom, what are you doing? I don't want..." I called Mom for the first time.
My mother-in-law's hands were very big and strong. She grabbed my wrist and stuffed the money into the palm of my hand, saying, "Silly girl, take it! Don't think it's too little."
My lover said, "Mom is sincere to you, just take it!" We continued to walk towards the station.
My mother-in-law seemed to be talking to herself, and said to me, "In my opinion, the 1,000 yuan in the family should be taken by you two. But your father came back from his cousin's house and felt angry. In order to make him feel more relaxed, take one thousand yuan to deal with the matter in front of him."
My mother-in-law looked at the various fruit trees on the hillside and said, "Look, there are a lot of fruits hanging on walnuts and hawthorns this year, it depends on whether the price can be increased. After the autumn harvest, the family will be more abundant..."
My mother-in-law sent me and my lover to the station.
got in the car, and I was still sitting near the window, with the egg on the ground on my right foot.
I pushed the glass on the car window a crack and looked out. My mother-in-law raised her big hands and placed them on her forehead to block the sun's light, staring at me and my lover in the car window. It can be seen that my mother-in-law was also a beautiful woman when she was young. In the sunset, her beautiful duck-egg face shone with a black and red light. Although she is in her fifties, her figure is still tall and upright, exuding the unique toughness and ability of women in the mountains.
The car left the station and slowly drove towards the mountain road. The people in the car also stabilized.
Out of curiosity, I put the red cloth bag given by my mother-in-law on my lap and opened it. The roll of money inside was stacked very neatly from large to small. The largest denomination was ten yuan, and the smallest was one yuan, totaling 298 yuan.
The lover sitting next to him looked at the roll of money and said, "I knew that my mother sent my father away, maybe she wanted to give you money!" After a pause, he said, "Don't look at the fact that this little money is not much, it's not easy for my mother to save this little money. This is the private money saved by my mother selling eggs."
My lover said that my father-in-law is a hardworking and strong person, but he is very stubborn and more macho. He controls and controls the money for selling crops at home, pigs, sheep, etc., and only the money for selling eggs is controlled by his mother-in-law. My mother-in-law often saves some private money by selling eggs to manage things that can be decided by herself without discussing with her father-in-law. For example, someone in the village gave birth to a child and gave her a bag of brown sugar; someone married a wife and bought a washbasin or a thermos, or bought a flower cloth or a pair of shoes and socks for her family... But she never wanted to spend her private money on herself.
After hearing my lover's words, I felt so sad.
I sorted out the roll of money, wrapped it solemnly in a red cloth, and put it in my shoulder bag.Looking out the car window, I hope to see my mother-in-law's tall and tall figure again, but only the green mountains are visible.
I think, my mother-in-law gives me the 298 yuan, how many eggs will I have to sell to make it!
Look at the box of eggs under my feet, and I feel that I really shouldn’t have taken them!
The first time I went to my mother-in-law's house, I felt that I had integrated into this family. Although I am a city girl and my husband's family is from the mountainous area, I feel that there is no barrier or discomfort with each other. My parents-in-law's words and actions, and a certain breath emitted from them, touched the most sensitive and soft feelings deep in my heart, and made me feel love and respect for these two old people in the mountains.
After marriage, when my parents-in-law were alive, I had to go back two or three times a year: during the Spring Festival, I bought New Year's goods, bought new clothes for my parents-in-law, and went back to celebrate the New Year with them with my lover; during the summer vacation, I went back to help my parents-in-law build apricot kernel , and sometimes I went to the mountains with my mother-in-law to pick mushrooms and go to the market to go to the market...
Every time I went back, I always left some money for my in-laws. I divided the money into two parts: one for the two old men in front of my parents-in-law, and the other for the mother-in-law, secretly for the mother-in-law, and let the mother-in-law keep it as private money.
When my mother-in-law was alive, she always came to my house to live for a few days after the autumn harvest every year. When she came, she would always bring two crops in snakeskin bags: walnuts, , mountain red , almonds, peppercorns, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, potatoes, peanuts, dates, etc. Whether it is on the mountain or in the field, any of the parents-in-law who can pick them up during the autumn harvest will not fall.
Every time my mother-in-law comes, I will take her to the store and buy one or two clothes she likes; take her to the barber shop to cut her hair, baking oil ; I also take her to the flower shop and the park... It can be seen that my mother-in-law is happy and satisfied in my house. I also hoped that she could live for more days, but often for more than ten days, my father-in-law called to urge her to go back, so my mother-in-law was uneasy and told me that she would not go back again, so she should be angry. My mother-in-law is thinking about her father-in-law and the chickens and pigs raised at home.
My lover and I have been married for nearly 30 years, and my mother-in-law has passed away for many years, but the scene of going to my husband's house for the first time is still vivid in my memory.
Memories of a rural female teacher
022-09-27 just dawn 86
"Crape myrtle blossoms, the love of the years", the name of the book for the first time, I thought it was another collection of chicken soup essays or a book that had been written to pieces was a bit uninhabitable. This kind of article may be quite good at first reading. After reading it, you will forget it. It doesn’t have much nutrition and waste a lot of time. This book is completely different from the former. This is a collection of prose written by a female teacher who loves writing for many years. It is not a quick product, not utilitarian, but it is entirely from the heart. It describes her rural life since childhood, writing life, teacher life, and rural life full of human fireworks. The simple words deeply touched us.
Author Mei Zhixin, whose net name is Ziwei , was once a rural female teacher. She lived in the countryside since she was a child, without a prominent background, only a love for life and writing. When she was in elementary school, she particularly liked composition classes. Because her essay "My Dad" was recognized by her teacher's performance and her parents, she gave her great confidence. Zeng Liming wanted to become a novelist. When she was a teacher, she wrote a novel "The Story of a Female Teacher". Unfortunately, she gave up because of her busy work. The manuscript of 40,000 to 50,000 words that had been completed was lost, which is a very regrettable thing. Over the years, she especially liked reading when she was fine. The more books she read, the stronger her impulse to write novels. Now, although she has not left any novel works, she has left many prose works. This book is a collection of her words over the years.The best dream is to have a small house of her own where you can read books and write articles. Now this dream has finally come true. I believe she will write more warm words in her corner.
Her words were published by Chinese Publishing House , which made her words reappear. It was a great blessing. It reproduced the life experience of a woman who grew up in the countryside as a daughter, wife, mother, friend and teacher. It was basically arranged in chronological order and divided into sixteen series: "Golden Childhood", "Diverfulness", "Drivenness can make up for clumsiness", "Mobilization Interlude", "Little Fire in the Years". Each series contains articles ranging from three to five articles and as many as ten articles. Each article is true and very interesting, worth writing, and has touching points, because when the author once wrote essays, he always emphasized interesting and touching points, and only wrote them. There is no need to remember words that are plain as water and recorded in the flowing accounts without any meaning. The whole book is completed, with a total of 350,000 words, and a 16-page book with a total of 428 pages. I guess the author himself is amazed that he has been able to leave such a big book over the years.
"Golden Childhood" records the beautiful memories of my childhood. Perhaps it was the most beautiful and happiest time. This part of the text was also the happiest. "Looking at New Year's pictures and buying New Year's pictures", "Hometown, small courtyard, ice flowers", "Big Red Horse", and "Little Pony Carriage in Childhood" all deeply moved me. Although I was about ten years younger than her, it was still very similar to my childhood life in the countryside, and also made me memorize many interesting stories about my childhood, such as jumping rubber bands in childhood games, fanning cards, and catching fish in the river. When I was a top student at that time, I was praised and envied. "Saving a Happy and Interesting Childhood with Children" is a story about the writer accompanying children to spend a beautiful childhood. The author turns from a child to a mother of children, and the two childhoods also form a contrast, which is also very interesting.
"With Books Accompanied" is of course a writer's interesting reading story. Teacher Mei, who has loved reading since childhood, certainly has an indissoluble bond with books. This part tells the author's teaching, reading, buying books, and collecting books. It expresses his love for books between the lines. I have loved reading since I was a child and I have a special liking for books. Over the years, I have read a lot of books, but the more I read, the less knowledge I feel, probably because the more I know, the more I come into contact with the unknown world.
The author's tactful and moving words deeply inspired me. Maybe one day I will write some words, remember the beautiful past that I can still remember, and not leave myself regrets. This is a book that touched me a lot. The more gorgeous the words, the better, but writing about life with all your heart, recording the beauty of life and the true feelings in the world can be more touching.
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