text: Camel thorn Picture: From the Internet
My grandfather is very handsome, a big man of 1.89 meters. And he was a soldier, even when he was sitting, his chest was straight. I still remember his black and white photo of him sitting. Before his death, he had been enjoying state subsidies.
My grandfather has been to many places in war. Unfortunately, during his lifetime, I didn't let him tell the story of his war. Maybe I was a girl.
One year, I bought a pictorial and posted it on the wall. The name of the pictorial was "Shanghai Bund on National Day". At that time, I didn’t know that one day I would go to Shanghai, but I only knew that there was a city like Shanghai.
After grandpa saw the pictorial, he directly said "Shanghai Bund". He has been to Shanghai and met the Bund in Shanghai. Participated in the Battle of Xuzhou. I was a child at that time. I heard him tell other adults that once, several of them were having a meal, and a bomb exploded not far from the table...
If a soldier is a soldier, he has the temperament of a soldier, impatient and upright. The soldier's figure is straight and straight.
Because of his tall figure and walking like the wind, I never could keep up with him. It seems that he is just walking around casually, but I have to trot a few steps after walking, otherwise I will not be able to keep up. I always fall behind him until he becomes a veritable old man. As long as I go with him, I never surpassed him.
My grandfather is not my biological grandfather. I have never seen my dear grandfather before, and I thought this was my dear grandfather. During some intermittent chats between my mother and others, I learned that my biological grandfather had long passed away and that the current one is my grandfather. He and my grandmother gave birth to two children, my aunt and uncle. In this way, my father became my grandfather's stepson.
In fact, my grandma is not my father's biological mother, nor my grandma. I won't talk about it here.
Since I can remember, my grandparents have been my biological grandparents, and I have only seen them. Even though I am a girl, I don't feel that they don't like me.
When I tore off the pages of my uncle's book, when I put the sweet potatoes that I didn't want to eat into my uncle's bowl. My uncle was already very angry, and my grandma was still talking to me and asking my uncle to forgive me. In fact, my uncle is only nine years older than me.
As long as I can remember, I have been sleeping with my grandma and sleeping at her feet. She slept on one end of the bed and I slept on the other end of the bed. In her words, I'll cover her feet. Maybe I often wander around them and listen to their commands. Grandpa and grandma always praise me for being sensible, and even scold my uncle for being inferior to me.
Although my two younger brothers are boys, they seem to be less popular than me. Because they are naughty, they rarely see their shadows at home.
Later, my elder brother said that they were ignorant when they were young. Once, they used the nitrogen fertilizer they bought at home to prepare for watering vegetables as sugar. They grabbed a handful and put it in their mouths, and were just seen by their grandfather. Grandpa grabbed the pole that carried the manure and went to beat the two younger brothers, and chased them to jump down from the ridge of the vegetable garden. The same goes for
. In those days, fertilizers were lacking, let alone sugar. The key is that the consequences of eating fertilizers are unimaginable! With grandpa’s military personality, it would be strange if he doesn’t handle the shoulder pole!
My grandfather has no education. There are many brothers in his family and they have never been to school. It was precisely because of the many brothers that he went to serve as a soldier.
But grandpa is very smart and capable. There was a family of eight people, and the team didn't have enough food to eat. He made full use of the vegetable garden and planted a lot of vegetables that he couldn't finish eating, so he even carried it to the market to sell it. Of course, these are also the hard work of my mother.
The family division of labor is clear. Grandma raises cattle for the team, and uncle earns work points after junior high school. My father was grinding rice and grinding noodles on the team and pumping water. My mother has three of us children, not only has to earn work points, but also has to do a lot of housework. There are so many vegetable fields, which are managed by my grandfather and my mother.
Everyone and everything in the family will follow my grandfather’s arrangements.
At that time, many families in the production team did not have enough food every year, and adults and children were hungry and borrowed food everywhere. But in a big family like ours, there is always surplus grain every year when vegetables and food are combined. Thanks to my grandfather’s good management.
My grandfather is not educated, but he is always doing business when he goes to the market to go to the store.
During the years when I raised cattle for the team, my grandmother was not in good health in the later period, and my grandfather was cutting the cow grass. A big man of 1.89 meters, carrying a big back, cut and drafted it, so casual and calm. It is not at all contrary to the rules. But we know that there are no men who mow the grass there. Grandpa is the first person to mow the grass.
My grandfather loves cleanliness. When cooking, I always keep my apron sleeves away. He doesn't smoke or drink, his clothes are always clean and refreshing. When he walks by him, there is no trace of the strange smell of an old man.
In our mountainous area, those who used to make clothes and repair shoes went to the countryside to travel. Once, a shoemaker came to our yard, and my grandfather immediately took off the shoes on his feet and asked the shoemaker to repair them. The shoe repairman was amazed: I have been repairing shoes for years, but I have never seen such clean shoes, and I don’t smell any sweat at all!
After the reform and opening up, our big family also split up. Because my uncle has already started a family, he can't do it without distinction.
In the twelfth month of 1982, my grandma fell ill and it was a kidney disease. At that time, the two old men still raised a big fat pig. Grandpa and grandma argued about how to deal with this pork. Grandpa advocates selling them all, while grandma advocates selling them half and keeping half. Maybe my grandma was sick and had no taste in her mouth and wanted to eat meat.
Finally, my grandfather compromised and sold half of it and left half of it. On the day of the pig killing, everyone on the team came to buy meat, and visited grandma and talked to grandma. In fact, grandma didn't eat a few bites of meat.
During the first month of the Chinese New Year, my grandmother's illness became more and more serious. Since my grandma was seriously ill, I have stopped sleeping in her room. My father and uncle were accompanying her day and night.
On the 29th day of the first lunar month, I went to my grandma's room and my grandfather asked me to call me grandma and try whether she was still awake. I called "Mother-in-law" (we all call my grandma mother-in-law there), but my grandma didn't respond at all. I immediately burst into tears, which made the whole family cry. It was not until the only aunt ten miles away arrived that grandma took her last breath in the early morning of the next day on the 30th.
That night, my second sister, who was the same uncle's family, and my aunt were sleeping in the same bed. My aunt just gave birth to a cousin and was not yet full month old.
In the early morning, the kerosene lamp that had been lit overnight did not go out. At that time, there were no TVs, no watches, no mobile phones, and no concept of time. In a daze, I felt a corner of the mosquito net float suddenly, and it fell down after passing the kerosene lamp. The kerosene lamp was not extinguished, and the mosquito net did not catch fire. Afterwards, it was said that grandma had seen her granddaughter before leaving.
Immediately afterwards, I heard the busy voice of the adult next door. Uncle and my father have always been by my grandma's side. Just as my uncle turned around and took something, grandma died in my father's arms and her stepson's arms. For three children, my father was not her biological child, but my father was the only one who died for her.
Later, I was far away from studying and only went home once a week or two. When I got home, my grandfather would bring out a handful of noodles and some spicy meat, and asked my mother to cook it for me, saying that when my aunt or other guests came, I didn't catch up and kept it for me.
Later, I got thousands of miles away. When I went back, it was seven years apart.
At that time, I always thought it was still early, and my parents and grandpa would always stay in the way I remembered and would not grow old. I neglected my family’s longing for us.
The moment I saw my grandfather, I cried so hard that I couldn't say a word.Grandpa's eyes were also red, he held my hand and kept saying, "It's good to come back! It's good to come back!" Looking back on that scene, he still has tears...
When he went back, it was winter. I didn't expect anything else, I just thought that the cotton shoes in the north were quite warm, but we didn't. I bought a pair of cotton shoes for my grandfather. When my aunt saw it, she said, "It's great! I didn't even think of making a pair of cotton shoes for your grandfather." And the pair of cotton shoes were kept on the box where my grandfather kept putting them on. Until I lived for a month, I didn't see my grandfather wearing them.
My grandfather passed away a few months after I left. At that time, my family had greenhouse vegetables growing and was busy all day long.
The wheat has not yet spitted ears. One morning, I followed my child's father to pick cucumbers in the shed, and I was crying alone behind him. He asked me what I cried, and I said, "Grandpa passed away", and then I couldn't help crying anymore. Grandpa died of heart disease. It seems that most of the soldiers died of heart disease.
At that time, I received a letter from my father a day ago, and grandpa passed away a month ago. My parents thought I had just returned home not long ago, and it was thousands of miles away, so I didn’t inform me to go back at that time.
Especially when my sister-in-law told me that before my grandfather passed away, he called everyone in the family over and over again... I still feel guilty for not being by my grandfather's side; I feel guilty for only buying a pair of cotton shoes for my grandfather.
Grandpa's death has never been let go in my heart. Until the spring of the following year a great man died. I comforted myself in my heart: No matter who it is, I will take that step in the end. The great man has left, not to mention that my grandfather is just an ordinary member.
One year, two years, more years... the grief is slightly reduced, but I cannot recall that past event. The voice, appearance and smile of grandparents have always been in my dreams and in my heart.
