In the spring and summer of 1989, the tile-roofed house on He Street where my family had lived for more than ten years finally collapsed under the wash of the continuous spring rain due to disrepair. The landlord took advantage of the opportunity and raised the price. The needy mother tried many different ways to get a house from her workplace, and the family moved to the small courtyard at No. 44 Baihua Pavilion across the street.
The small courtyard is not big, and there are more than a dozen families living there, with eight surnames: Zhang Wang, Li Xia, Xiao Chen and Bai Yu. The entrance to the yard is a narrow alley with slightly winding terrain. The highest ones are my house and the house of Li Erniang next door. Further in, there is a three-story small foreign-style building at the end, where the richest people in half the street lived. contractor is a family of three.
Li Erniang was about fifty years old at the time. She was slightly fat and of medium build, with shiny white skin, small swollen eyes, a nose, and a row of yellow rake teeth. She was cheerful, enthusiastic and generous. I often went to school after school. You can hear her voice when you go home and enter the alley. The man she lives with is eleven years younger than her. His surname is Guo. He repairs shoes and umbrellas for people on the street on weekdays. My mother asked me to call him Uncle Guo.
The fourth uncle is of medium build, with slightly curly hair and deep facial features. He wears a fake military uniform without rank marks all year round. He talks little and welcomes people with a smile. Li Erniang has two sons. They have the same surname as me. I have never seen the older one. It is said that after graduating from college, she went to work in Qingdao . Whenever she talks about this son, Erniang will raise her voice an octave high, with incomparable enthusiasm. pride.
The younger son is very active in our city (meaning he is prosperous) and often does not come back. Occasionally, he will ask his mother for money every once in a while. In the winter, she always wears a snug double-breasted suit, with her hair combed back and shiny. In the summer, she wears all kinds of white T-shirts, and her feet are always as bright as her hair in leather shoes. I asked my mother, why is his surname not Guo? Mom would glare at me, "Don't ask random questions if your child understands everything. If you call me second brother, that's the wrong thing!"
In the spring and summer when I was promoted to the second grade of junior high school, my second brother brought back a girl named Wu'er. She was tall, plump and fashionable, with short curly hair and a small, sparkling crown on her head. She sleeps until three o'clock in the morning every day and doesn't get up until three o'clock in the morning. She squats at the entrance of the water hole with a water ladle and brushes a mouthful of white foam. After dressing up, she holds a large bowl of porridge that Li Erniang has cooked and let it cool down. She drinks two or three of the kimchi while snoring. bowl.
When Friday was full and full, he threw away the bowls and chopsticks and went out hand in hand with his second brother. When he came back in the evening, his second mother would stand up and open the door to greet him with a smile, turn on the stove, cook a meal and bring it to the table. When the parents heard the news, they would occasionally sigh and say that Sister-in-law Li was too used to pampering her children, and she would be in trouble the next day.
Zijiang has just come on the market, and its price is comparable to that of meat. There are three families in the yard who would buy it and eat it without hesitation, and Li Erniang is one of them. The fourth uncle went to set up a stall early in the morning, and the second mother, holding a basket and twisting her waist, went back and forth on both sides of the street in Baihua Pavilion to collect all kinds of good vegetables. When she got home, she started busy washing and cutting them.
Freshly unearthed ginger must enjoy special treatment. Put it on a white porcelain plate, scoop out two ladles of water and rinse it thoroughly. Carefully break off the long ginger thumb piece at the end, and then carefully Tear off layers of skin, leaving the tenderest core. I asked my mother, why did you eat the ginger toe thumb without tearing it clean? Look how comfortable Li Erniang is. Mom said, I have no time, if I don’t work to find money for food, your baby will starve to death.
As the smell of ginger gradually faded away, the life of Li Er's family returned to peace. The second brother and Friday'er spent more and more time at home. They didn't go out to the room or out the door, and they were tired of playing and playing in bed every day. Noisy, won't come down until dinner time. When the fourth uncle came back to pour water, he would occasionally complain and murmur dissatisfaction under his breath, and the second mother would yell at him, "You are looking for your money, my son and I are waiting on each other, so don't criticize me."
People in the yard were all talking about Er Niang's pampering of her son, and the three aunts and six wives dispersed after chatting with each other. Er Niang never exposed it, and continued to exchange greetings with the neighbors openly and chat about everyday things.Until one day I came home from school. When I arrived at the entrance of the alley, my second mother's loud cries echoed. I ran in and saw my fourth uncle standing blankly at the door of my house. My second brother and Wu'er were struggling with each other. My mother sat on the bluestone where the ginger was dried, wiping her tears and blowing her nose.
I put my school bag away, opened the stove door, put on new briquettes and prepared to cook. I listened to the noise outside and almost burned the rice. My parents came back from get off work and cooked the dishes. During the meal, I happily told them that there was a fight next door. My mother waved her chopsticks at me: What did I tell you? Don't meddle in other people's business, your job is to study hard! Dad sighed and said, something is going to happen to this family.
From that day on, I never saw Friday'er again. My second brother resumed his routine of leaving early in the morning and returning home in the middle of the night. Not long after, even the figure disappeared. The fourth uncle still works at the stall every day, but Li Erniang's spirit is getting sluggish day by day, and she doesn't cook or buy groceries much. The fourth uncle often can't wait for the lunch delivered, so he runs back to eat a few bites overnight.
A lot of version updates about the second brother gradually appeared in the yard. One said that he made Friday’s belly bigger and refused to take responsibility. He was beaten to death by several of Friday’s brothers. Another said that he made Friday’s belly bigger. After selling his son to Guangdong to make chickens, he didn't dare to come back. He said that he and Friday'er went to steal a rich man's home and took the money to Qingdao to join his brother.
During that time, I took every opportunity to gain full curiosity, and then used my immature psychology to analyze it carefully into the results I could think of: they should have wandered around the world.
Li Erniang moved to the vicinity of Nanmen Bridge not long before I left home, and Uncle Guo also moved his shoe repair stall to the head of Nanguan Bridge. The story about them ends here. Later, I heard that my fourth uncle had been earning money to take care of his second mother. This woman, who was more than ten years older than him and had an unattractive appearance, was a responsibility that he could not let go of for the rest of his life. Maybe this was his way of expressing his love.
No one knows whether Li Erniang’s ex-husband is dead or divorced. I have never seen the legendary college student son. As for the second brother, some people say that he later appeared in the city and became a drug addict. The deepest impression I can remember about Wu Wu'er is how Er Niang fingered each ginger root for her, because this is Wu Wu'er's favorite dish.
