The life of the woman
Hairy swallow
Three years ago, on the afternoon of Qingming Festival, the weather was gloomy.
The astringent drizzle is like my mood.
The mother's room is full of relatives. The sound of firecrackers sounded outside the main hall. Amid the crying of relatives and the sound of firecrackers, the mother-in-law's life ended at the age of ninety-one.
From childhood to adulthood, my relationship with my mother is not good or bad.
The mother-in-law died early when she was young. She married her grandfather with the title of "landlord". My grandfather was a landlord at his family when he was a child. At that time, the landlord's family was criticized and looked down upon, so he was in his thirties and had not yet gotten a wife.
Finally got married to her mother-in-law, and her grandfather loved her very much and treated her aunt as her own. She didn't let them do any dirty and tiring work. When my grandfather comes back from earning work points every day, he has to cook for them to eat.
Fortunately, my aunt is very obedient, considerate and sensible, and she learned to help with housework early on. From then on, my grandfather was busy outside and basically took care of the housework by my aunt.
It is undeniable that mother-in-law is lucky and happy.
The mother and grandfather gave birth to four more children, and the elder sister brought by the mother-in-law had a total of five children. Apart from the contribution of giving birth to a child, the mother made no more contributions to the family. Grandpa thought about tradition and was ashamed of having no descendants. In his heart, his wife left his blood for him. If his life continues, it is a great achievement.
Grandpa cherishes his mother very much and loves her mother very much. He listens to her everything and does not let her suffer any grievances. He is a lively "wife slave". This also creates a strong personality and a lack of understanding in dealing with people.
I don’t know why, after thirty years, I still remember the home before I was five years old, similar to the courtyard, with a large yard in the middle used to dry millet and red peppers. There are two wooden rooms on the north side of the yard, one of which is the room of my grandfather and my mother-in-law. Before my mother got married, my eldest aunt got married. The remaining second aunt and younger sister lived in the attic of the wooden house, and the other one was my eldest wife (grandfather’s sister-in-law).
There are three brick and tiled bungalows on the east side that live in our family and our third uncle. On the south side, we planted a lot of flowers and plants by two aunts. Two simple bungalows are built behind the flowers and plants to make cow pens and pig pens.
My father is the eldest son of his mother-in-law and was adopted by the helpless and trustworthy eldest mother since childhood. After my father got married, my mother was an honest, hardworking and capable countryman. For some reason, my mother didn't like her mother and often quarreled with her.
A few of our girls were raised by our grandmother and had no intimacy with our mother-in-law. But we occasionally go to the mother-in-law's room to play, and the mother-in-law will also give us some delicious food.
The two sons of the mother-in-law (father and third uncle) got married and separated from each other. When I was six years old, my home was rebuilt into a brick and tile house with one floor and one floor, and since then the courtyard has disappeared. The brick house on the first floor and the bottom has become the old house we call it many years later.
The mother-in-law is not good to her mother. After the third aunt got married, she was also mean to her. Although everyone lives in the same building, they are all responsible for their own food, clothing, housing and transportation. My mother-in-law knew that both daughter-in-law didn't like her, so she would rather live alone with her grandfather.
The old lady left a few years after the new house was built. When I sent my grandmother to the funeral, my grandmother was extremely happy. She took the initiative to cook noodles for our sisters, and while cooking, she said: "I'm not here, I'm the only one in the grandmother, I'm the grandmother, I'll cook delicious food for you in the future. After school, I'll come to the grandmother's house to find food... She nagged a lot alone, but no one responded to her, and no one could really understand her heart.
I still remember it deeply about the old lady.
I remember when I was young, I chased my grandmother to go to the field with her, but that time my grandmother was not convenient to take me with me, so I asked my grandmother to help take care of her. I was disobedient and insisted on following my grandmother, and shouting, "She is not my grandmother! You are! I want to go with you." My grandmother was very unhappy when she heard this, thinking that it was my mother or grandmother who taught me on purpose, so she slapped me twice in front of my grandmother.
I stomped my feet in pain, covered my hot face and couldn't help crying and screaming, and immediately broke free from my mother's hand and ran behind my mother. The screaming became more and more powerful.
The old lady protected me tightly when she saw this and said to her mother with heartache: "Forget it, let the child go with me." But the woman was even more excited when she heard this. She stepped forward and pulled me from behind her, ready to take another ruthless move on to me. She pointed at her mother's nose and shouted loudly: "I am her mother! I will do whatever I want!"
The old lady was very ashamed and embarrassed, and she couldn't stand it and could not say anything to her mother. She didn't want to have a head-on conflict with her mother-in-law, and felt very aggrieved, so she could only turn a helpless look at me, indicating that she was powerless and let me take care of myself.
The old lady walked away with tears of grievance in her eyes and screamed at the top of her lungs. After the eldest lady left, the mother took me into her room and tried every means to prevent me from crying, but no matter how my mother did or coaxed me, I never smiled. The two slaps she gave me had already left a deep mark in my heart.
was also very impressed. It was a summer afternoon, and the sun was dazzling. My mother came back from the field with a heavy load of pig grass. Before she could drink water, she hurriedly chopped grass and fed pigs and cows. Maybe it was because my mother was cutting pig grass too loudly or for some other reason that the mother suddenly ran out of the room, took a shoulder pole and knocked it down on her back. My mother didn't understand why, and the disaster that came from the sky came too suddenly, which made her not come back to her senses for a long time.
When she turned around, she saw tears mixed with sweat rolling down. My mother asked her aggrievedly why she beat her? The mother ignored her and kept cursing and pointing fingers. She looked no different from a mentally ill person. I was so scared by the sudden formation that I cried loudly.
The old lady heard her mother's swearing and my crying, and hurried to rescue her. But things went against my wishes. Not only did the grandma not help but also got herself in.
At this time, the mother became even more aggressive and refused to give in. Even the eighteen generations of ancestors of the mother and the mother were scolded. Later, when my grandfather heard the news, he rushed back, coaxed him and persuaded him to pull the lady back to her room.
The mother is an elder, and her mother respects her, and she can’t do anything about her, so she can only swallow her sadness and grievances with her grandmother. At that moment, I had a worse impression of my mother! I feel she is too bad! She is not a good woman, she can be described as a shrew and witch ! Why did this shoulder pole fall on my mother? My mother doesn't know, and I don't know. Since then, such beatings and scoldings for no reason have often happened, and they are always while my father is not at home.
The second year of my marriage, my grandfather passed away. The one who grandfather was most worried about before his death was his mother. He said to his wife, "After I leave, you must take care of yourself, know the right position, and take good care of yourself." His wife knew it well and shed tears to relieve her grandfather.
Grandpa left, and the mother cried the most sadly. It was from that time that the mother's personality changed. She knew that she was not good to her mother in the past. Although her mother repeatedly asked her to live with us, she was embarrassed to accept it in the end and lived alone downstairs for twelve years.
When I go back occasionally, I will bring some soft cakes to my mother. The lady took out a piece and put it in her teeth-free mouth and chewed it slowly, her eyes smiling.
Every time I go back, my mother-in-law will ask me if I can get along with my mother-in-law and daughter-in-law? Is anyone bullying me? I would joke, "My mother is so fierce and powerful, who dares to bully her granddaughter?" After that, I and my mother laughed.
Once I went shopping in the square and saw my mother on the street. She was carrying a woven bag containing some drink bottles and fine dry wood. She walked and climbed over the trash cans on the side of the road, which made me both distressed and funny.
I didn't dare to walk forward. I watched my mother put the plastic bottles I picked up and the dry firewood on the lawn into the bag from a distance. Sometimes, as the drinks in the hand of passers-by were almost finished, my mother stood by and waited to pick up the empty bottle.
Seeing that her mother's bag was full, she happily and struggling to carry it on her shoulders, and stopped to rest without walking far. I ran over and snatched the bag from her, carried it and left. The mother looked at me in surprise and shouted from behind that it was too dirty and asked her to take it by herself. I ignored her and walked forward very quickly. My mother had to trot and follow me.
After I got home, I accused my mother of her angrily, asking her not to pick up these rags and garbage in one day, which made the room full of stinking. My mother-in-law was raped by me. She looked at me pitifully and explained that if she saved too much rag, she would be more money to sell. After hearing this, I was angry, speechless, ashamed, and couldn't do anything to her.
is approaching supper time, and I am about to go back. My wife said she cooked for me and then went back. She said that she quickly cooked a hot pot, for fear that I would leave.
The mother is used to burning firewood and has always kept the firewood stove when her grandfather was still there. The lady said that she was idle all day long. She went out to pick up some fine wood and bottles and came back, which could be burned or sold, killing two birds with one stone. She said as she smiled and added fire to the stove hole. The jumping fire reflected on her smiling face, and the wrinkles were even deeper.
I figured it out at once and thought it would be better if I just wanted to be happy as long as my mother-in-law is happy and no longer cares about her going out to pick up garbage.
The woman’s dishes were not cooked well, and they were even a little dirty, but I was afraid that she would not be happy, so I still held back to eating them. Before leaving, my mother took me out of the alley and stood under the street light and watched me walk away. Every time I come back from now on, I will see my mother sitting under the street light at the intersection, as if she is deliberately waiting for me to come back.
Later, my family and my aunt's family bought new houses in the suburbs, and from then on, only mother-in-law left in the old house. My mother took my mother to live there and bought a new bed for her. She lived there all night and refused to live there. She said she was not used to it. She also said that the neighbor next door was not familiar with it, and it was not convenient to go to the street, and she did not have her old friends, so she insisted on going back to the old house. My mother couldn't convince her, so she could only let her go.
My mother has lived in the new house for three years. From time to time, she has to go back to the old house to see her mother, dry her quilt and wash her clothes. As my mother grew older, all the elderly people next to the old house passed away one by one, and there were only a handful of elderly people whom I found to talk to. My mother and father were worried and worried that their mother-in-law would be lonely, so they moved back to their old house. The mother didn't say anything, but she was happy.
After the mother prepares the meal, she will call her mother to go upstairs to eat, and will specially cook the rice soft and some, and each meal will be served with a soup. The lady has a good appetite and can eat a big bowl.
The mother is short and a fat man. She wears thick clothes in winter and can’t wash them. In addition, she has some urinary incontinence and when she is older. She can’t clean up herself, so her mother will bathe her mother, wash clothes and quilts for her. She is afraid that she will not be able to dry if she washes too much, so she specially bought a dryer.
Seeing my mother so filial to her mother, I once asked her, "Mom, when she was young, my mother was so fierce and mean to you. Why are you so kind and filial to her now?" The mother sighed and said, "Everyone has a day old, let alone her mother-in-law. She gave birth to your father, I had your father and you. I also had one day old, and I am also the mother-in-law of my daughter-in-law. If the family cares too much, it will be better. There is no harmonious family anymore."
paused for a while, and the mother sighed again, and then said, "I remembered the days I lived in the past. If I was not kind to your mother now, I could say that I would not feel any shame at all. That was because she deserved it. I thought of the past and wanted to cry... There is something particularly sad that I have never told you, mainly because I am afraid of hurting the family's relationship."
I asked my mother Dear: "Mom, what else do we don't know? Let's hear it?"
Mother turned her eyes to the distance and said with pain:
"In the first month of that year, you were only one and a half years old. I was pregnant with my sister for more than seven months. I remember that there was no noodles at home that morning, and your father loved noodles, so I went to my mother-in-law to see if there were any noodles? Your second aunt was down there at the time, and I borrowed it from her. She was not very sensible at the time, so she said 'If you borrow it, you will have to pay it back. If you don't pay it back, you won't have the next time'. That afternoon, your mother-in-law had no rice at the top of her house. She asked your second aunt to come and ask for rice. I used the same words to pay it back, and said half-jokingly and half-seriously: 'If you borrow it, you will have to pay it back. If you don't pay it back, you won't have the next time'. Your second aunt ran to complain to her. At that time, your father had not come back to work outside, so she called her second aunt and third uncle. They came to my room without asking any questions, just cursing, and at the same time they also took action against me, a pregnant woman.Not only did I have no power to fight back, I didn’t even have the courage to win back my dignity. I could only protect my stomach with my hands and run out with my head. You followed me all the way and cried. If you couldn't run, I would hold you and run to Pingkai Bridge in one breath and stop. The cold wind on the bridge made my face hurt in the first month. I didn’t have a trace of coldness at that time. The cold wind made my hair messy by them even more messy. I looked at Mei Jianghe under the bridge in despair and looked at you again. Your little face was red from the cold and your eyes were swollen. I squatted down and hugged you tightly into my arms. I thought that if I live like this, I would be tortured to death sooner or later. Even if I die, I might as well take you to die together. I was really forced to not want to live anymore. I was about to jump into the river with you in my arms when your dad came to me. Seeing that I was about to jump into the bridge with you in my arms, he was so scared that he shouted and hurriedly called our names, and even approached us while shouting and persuading us. You are still young and ignorant. When you see your dad coming, you will reach out to him to hug him. When your dad took you, he suddenly hugged me tightly, comforting us softly, saying that no matter how poor, hard, hard, or difficult, you will have to live together... After hearing your dad's words, I woke up and leaned on your dad's shoulder to vent all the sadness and grievances. A few months later, your sister was born in the hospital. The entire delivery room was full of boys, and only I had a daughter. Your mother-in-law will not allow any family member to come to the hospital to see me after she knows it. I was worried that your dad would despise your sister, so I deliberately showed it to him and refused to ignore your sister. Your sister was so hungry that she screamed and didn't feed her breasts. Unexpectedly, your father comforted me, saying that my daughter is good, and there will be more sons-in-law in the future, and we will not have any more children in the future. We will only have two precious daughters, don’t care about other people’s opinions... So I can live to this day entirely due to your father’s understanding and care. Even if there are thousands of mistakes in the old age, she has given birth to your father. Everything has to be looked at your father's face. All the past has passed. We who should be filial to us must be filial to us..."
After listening to my mother's story, I burst into tears. I was too young to remember those things in my early years, but even if I only heard about them now, I couldn't stop hating in my heart, but I felt helpless. After all, she is my real wife.
I admire my mother from the bottom of my heart. She is What a strong and tolerant woman...
Ten years after marriage, I divorced and took my youngest son to live back to my parents' old house. Next door is the room where my mother lives.
The mother is getting older and older, and her health is not as good as before. She can't live without crutches when walking, and she no longer has the energy to go out to pick up waste and firewood. Seeing that I suddenly came back to live, the mother didn't ask much, but just said happily: "Good grandson, you are back, and the mother will have a blessing in the future. "
In the winter of 2019, my mother fell and had a broken hand. My mother is nearly 60 years old and she recovered slowly. The doctor said that she would have to recover completely for at least one year. Since then, the work of bathing and washing clothes for my mother has fallen on me, the eldest granddaughter. When I first started serving my mother, I was very uncomfortable. I remember that when I took off my clothes and bathed her mother, she had just pulled herself all over. I was really stinking and fainted. I was very complaining: My mother has so many children and grandchildren, why did my mother and I have such a job?
complained, but I still followed my mother's clothes and set them to warm them up in a fire bucket. After washing, I put them on one by one. I comforted myself in my heart, who made me the eldest grandson?
Such troubles are really tiring But every time I bathe my mother, I help her dress up, blow dry her short silver hair, and look at her refreshing and smiling face. I feel very accomplished. Thinking about it, compared to my parents' tiredness when I was young, my tiredness is nothing.
has been serving my mother for about a month, and in this month I found that my mother is really old. In the middle of winter, she doesn't know if she wet her pants, and she doesn't feel cold.
Every day when I go home from get off work, my mother always sits in fire bucket and asks about her long and short questions, and then waits for me to bathe her. She is short and round, and she is happy like a child every time she takes a shower. She is obedient and tells her that the floor is slippery and does not move around, so she just stands without moving.
Second aunt and younger sister come to visit her mother.Seeing that their mother was unable to move, they discussed that each child would take care of her mother for a month, so that she would not be too tired if she took care of her in turn.
First go to the second aunt's house, and then to the younger aunt's house. In the end, it was my third uncle's turn, but my third uncle and my third aunt were unwilling to do so. I thought my mother was troublesome and dirty. Moreover, I guess my third aunt still resented her mother's meanness to her before. After all, she was not as generous and tolerant as my mother.
In the end, the third uncle paid the second aunt and asked the second aunt to take care of his mother for him.
There were not many days, and the second aunt called and said that the wife had fallen. Upon hearing the news, my mother and I hurriedly took my mother back to the old house. The night when
was picked up, my mother kept moaning in pain. My mother said this would not work, so she would better send it to the hospital. But the lady never went there, and said that she had never been to the hospital in her life, and she would not go even if she died.
There is no way, so our family had to take turns taking care of her.
The mother couldn't get up and couldn't get off the ground. After lying for a long time, she felt pain everywhere. As time went by, she began to get irritated and cursed at those of us who served her from time to time.
Gradually, the mother-in-law couldn't eat staple food and could only rely on liquid food to solve three meals a day. The originally chubby person was so thin that he was skinny that he was left with bones. Moreover, her spirit began to be dazed, and she muttered her third uncle and aunt vaguely...
The mother said that she was afraid that she could not get through it, so she notified her relatives. That night, everyone rushed over, but only Uncle San's family did not come.
When I went to see my mother-in-law, I found that under the quilt was so flat that there was almost no one. She only showed her head, her short silver hair made the shriveled face look like there was no trace of blood, her cheeks and eye sockets were deeply sunken, her cheekbones were raised high, and her wrinkled mouth was slightly open, as if she had something to say but couldn't say anything. My mother's appearance instantly hurt my heart, making me forget all her bad things. I lay on my mother's body and next to her face. The coldness from her face made me sad and I burst into tears. At that moment, I couldn't smell any smell or feel any dirty. It didn't matter whether my mother-in-law was good or bad.
Before his death, the third uncle and the third aunt did not come after all. The mother-in-law shed a tear of regret in her father's arms and closed her eyes forever. Firecrackers sounded outside the main hall, and the aunts started to wail...
A few days after the burial, I dreamed of my mother-in-law. She was still the same as she was when she was alive, and she looked at me with a fat smile. My nose felt sour, and I threw myself into my wife's arms and hugged her tightly, and said to her with my face raised and crying: "My mother, I'm sorry, I'm not filial to you...My mother gently stroked my head, she didn't say anything, but looked at me with a kind face...
Later I woke up, tears flowing from the corners of my eyes. I know that my mother didn't blame me, and she couldn't hold a grudge against anyone...
(the author is a member of Xiushan County Writers Association)
Editor: Luo Yuxin
Editor: Chen Taiyong
Review: Wang Cheng
