Among the four sons of my uncle, only my second cousin, Xiao Gui, is handsome and tall, willing to show up in public and have the spirit of making a living. He didn't like studying, so he worked in farming for a while and begged his parents to go out and make a fortune. At this time, my uncle found my father.
After my uncle passed away, everyone in the village came to see him off.
At that time, my father was a chef in the General Affairs Office of Dalian Marine Fisheries Company. He knew many acquaintances. He took advantage of the opportunity of the company to recruit crew members and recruited Xiao Gui, the second cousin of Xiao Hai, the second cousin of Xiao Hai, the second cousin of Xiao Hai, the second cousin of Xiao Hai, and became a crew member on the ship.
These two cousins usually drift on the boat. When the boat returns to the port to dock, they will stay at my house temporarily. At that time, my family lived in the Liaoyu Company's family district, Xiaohongfang, which was a well-known shanty town in the Dalian Bay area at that time.
At that time, Liaoyu Company had many employees and family members, and the distribution of houses was very tight. Xiaohongfang is a high slope opposite Litun Village, Beimengang.
At first, this was a wasteland. There were only a few large houses built during the rule of Japan and Russia in Dalian, which were lonely.
At the beginning, the company assigned several employees who did not have housing to these large houses. Unexpectedly, more and more employees are not allowed. The workers who were not assigned to the house relied on these large houses built in Japan and Russia during the Japanese and Russian periods of Xiaohongying to build many low-sized sheds.
For several years, the scope of Xiaohongying shanty town has expanded rapidly, and finally formed a shanty town with thousands of households.
I remember that Xiaohongying had a very difficult time to eat water at the beginning. Later, at the west end of the shanty town, the company built a small water house, which was taken care of by an old man. Every four or five o'clock in the evening, the old man opened the door with a key, a bucket of water costs 50 cents and a load of water costs one yuan. He sat next to him and watched the faucet collect the money.
The residents of the shanty town lined the buckets in front of the water house early. The buckets were like long dragons, winding and winding, and the scene was spectacular.
After Xiao Gui and Xiao Hai returned to the port, they would come to my house to help carry water. At that time, I felt very happy. If it were normal, my sister and I would have to pick the water at home. I was short and weak at that time, and I regarded carrying water as a fear of being a good way. Besides, there were idle people saying that when a child's bones had not grown strong, if he often carried water, it would make the child not grow taller!
Sometimes I measured my head with a rice ruler, and it turned out to be one or two centimeters shorter than my brothers Xiaoxin and Xiaobin!
Let me talk about Xiaogui Ge. He went overseas for a few years and had some savings. He bought a house in the Dalian Bay area and started a family and a business. Life was booming and gave birth to a son.
My son studied hard and developed an ambition to study in the United States. Later, he was admitted to the international class of Dalian No. 24 Middle School. After graduation, I went to a university in the United States.
Second cousin Xiaogui has dropped sharply since his son was admitted to an American university. At the same time, in order to make more money, he also gave up many opportunities for vacation and wandered on the sea all year round.
Mom often said that my second cousin’s salary as a crew member at sea was quite high. In the two years he got married, he usually worked for half a year and took a break for half a year, and his life was very comfortable.
But the second brother's son was admitted to an American university, and the tuition fee was tens of thousands of yuan a year, which made Xiao Gui's brother unable to lift his waist. Later, he felt that the salary of the boats that traveled to China was low, so he worked on the boat of his private boss.
The work at sea is heavy and intense, and finally crushed this strong man. Last summer, a bad news came from the coast of Guangdong. When Xiao Gui Ge's ship was in the sea area near , he suddenly suffered from a heart attack and died of illness on the ship.
When my relatives and I heard this news, we couldn't believe it. Brother Xiaogui, his strong body appeared in front of us, how could he leave like this?
The cruel reality still needs to be faced. My uncle was eighty years old at that time and my aunt was in poor health. Everyone discussed it and decided to hide the news of their second brother's death.
When my uncle asked about my second cousin, everyone said in a unified manner: "He has gone abroad."
Uncle was like this, and was successfully concealed by his relatives. Until he was dying, he looked at the people around him and asked: "Xiaogui, why didn't you see him?"
Uncle passed away, and everyone in the village came to attend the funeral.
Everyone replied: "He has gone abroad, and his ship is still abroad now. "
That's it. My uncle didn't see my second cousin until his death, and closed his eyes full of regret.
I think my uncle has left. In another world, he went to see my second cousin. When they met there, I didn't know whether it was joy or sorrow...
My uncle passed away and stopped in the yard to prepare for funeral.
This is one of the series of articles by Teacher Ge of Patriotism recalling relatives from my uncle in his hometown. The articles recalling my uncle are many episodes, and this is the second episode. It is not easy to climb the grid, please continue to support and follow.
