The weather is very good and the moonlight is very white. If it was during the day, the sun should be very bright, but it was night now, and my father was sitting in the yard, peeling corn kernels alone under the moonlight.
Father does not turn on the lights. There was obviously a light in the yard, but my father didn't turn it on. Without turning on the light, my father still works, and corn kernels scattered from his father's palm into the dustpan. Occasionally, when I fell outside, my father could pick it up as soon as he reached out.
The weather is very good and the moonlight is very white. My father was working while waiting for his sister to come home.
My sister worked as a nurse in the obstetrics and gynecology department of the health center in the town. Although she got off work at half past five, she always had to work overtime, and sometimes even had to work overtime until very late before returning home. She also has to work on night shifts, one night shift every four days. Once on night shift, my sister would not go home, but my father always forgot and still had to wait until very late. It was very late, and my father suddenly remembered: "Oh, Nizi is on night shift today, I won't go home!"
My father always sat in the yard like this while waiting for his sister. In fact, if he didn't wait for his sister, he wouldn't be idle, as if God called him to this world just to let him work.
My sister loves to eat braised Wuchang fish . To be precise, my sister loves to eat braised Wuchang fish made by her father. The braised Wuchang fish made by my father is golden in color, fine and glutinous in meat, oily and smooth, and has a particularly delicious taste. It would be a pity that he would not be a chef in the five-star hotel in the city.
My father was busy in and out of the kitchen, and drew an oblique cross-cut pattern on the fish, cut the garlic and ginger into extremely thin slices, moved the chopped wood from the woodroom, and used dry pine needles as fire tips to burn the fire in the stove red. The oil in the pot was hot, and my father put the scallion slices, garlic slices and ginger slices, and the oil pan was crackling. The father rubbed his hands and looked up at the quartz clock on the living room wall.
When the fish scent on the dining table was full of fish, my sister had not come back yet. A fly was flying back and forth, and his father drove it away with a palm-leaf fan. I reached out to have enough chopsticks, and my father hit me in the hand. After a while, my father rubbed his hands again and looked up at the quartz clock on the living room wall.
My father took off his apron, put on a raincoat, put on an umbrella, rode his bicycle, and said to himself: "I'll pick up Nizi home."
But it was clearly a sunny day!
After a while, my father came back with his bicycle alone, and said to himself: "Nizi hasn't gotten off work yet."
The fish is cold, and my sister hasn't come back yet. My father brought the braised Wuchang fish back into the kitchen and boiled water to heat up.
My father said, "Nizi is so busy."
Someone told me, "Didn't your father have PTSD , right? Take him to the hospital for a look."
My father seemed to hear it, and waved his hand and said, "It's okay, it's okay."
It was dark, and my father sat alone in the yard, peeling corn kernels in the moonlight.
The weather is very good and the moonlight is very white. My father was wearing a raincoat and an umbrella at his feet. Corn kernels scattered from my father's palm into the dustpan. Occasionally, when I fell outside, my father could pick it up as soon as he reached out.
The night a month ago, it rained so hard. No one expected that the flood would instantly wash out the reservoir dam and the township roads. My sister disappeared in the heavy rain and never came back...
My father was busy in and out of the kitchen, drew cross-cut patterns on the fish, cut the garlic and ginger into extremely thin slices, moved the chopping firewood in the woodshed, and used dry pine needles as fire tips to burn the fire in the stove red. The oil in the pot was hot, and my father put the scallion slices, garlic slices and ginger slices, and the oil pan was crackling.
On sunny days, my father put on a raincoat, brought an umbrella, and said to himself: "I'll pick up my girl home."
The father did not have any way to do this. (Author He Junhua)
