Prose essay on the way home

The small mountain village where I was born is located near a large river. This river is called Danjiang River. It originates from Shangzhou, passes through our small mountain village, and finally merges into the Han River from the mouth of Danjiang River. Now the South-to-North Water Diversion Project is to divert water from the Danjiang River to Beijing. Slogans are posted everywhere along the river, "Conservate soil and water, send water to Beijing" and "One river will bring clean water to Beijing." Residents along the coast don't quite understand what these slogans mean. They only know that people in Beijing also drink our water, and a sense of honor arises spontaneously. We children don’t even understand the meaning of these slogans. The teacher said that Beijing is the capital, but we don’t know where it is. Every day when we pass by this river after school, we stand in a neat row on the bank, urinate into the river, and shout: A river of urine will be sent to Beijing, and then we laugh and go home contentedly.

This river was our paradise when we were children. Every summer, we were like unsupervised wild children. We swam and fished in the river all day long. Sometimes we even stole watermelons on the river beach and played often. Didn't get home until very late. As soon as my father saw that my brother and I were covered in mud, he picked up a broom and beat us. I didn’t hide. After the beating, my father asked me if I dared to go again. I said I would never dare again. But the next day, we Still so. My father said that if you go all the way down this river, you will reach the county seat. Further down is the mouth of the old river. The water there is very deep and the fish are bigger than people. If you are washed up to the mouth of the old river, you will be eaten by the fish. Dropped, never to come back. I always thought that the Laohekou mentioned by my father was just a fictitious place to scare us. When I went to college, I searched on the Internet and found that there really is a place called Laohekou in the lower reaches of the Danjiang River. But at that time, I really thought about going down the river and rushing to the city to see what the county seat looked like.

From the village to the county town, there is a mountain road built along the foot of the river embankment. It extends along the river bank to the county town, a distance of fifty kilometers. My mother said that when she was a child, there was only one small road to the county seat and she had to walk to the county seat. Many people had never been to the county seat in their lives.

This mountain road was built after the reform and opening up in the 1980s. Each village raised funds to build it. The rich contributed money and the poor contributed effort. This was called a big battle. Each family had to contribute a labor force to build the road. From now on, it will be much more convenient to go to the county. It can be reached by bicycle in five hours. Occasionally, when a car passes by, the villagers will rush to see the novelty. There are two rows of people standing along the road, as if they are waiting for a distinguished guest.

There are two rural shuttle buses passing through the village every day, and the earliest fare to the county seat is seven yuan. For an ordinary family, seven yuan is a huge expense. In my mother's words, seven yuan was my living expenses for two weeks when I was in junior high school. Seven yuan bought enough salt for the family for half a year. Every time someone from the village goes to the city, it will become a big news and a topic of discussion. In the end, someone can even judge which family is rich and which is not based on the number of times a family has entered the city. In order to enter the city, some young men often ride a bicycle for five hours and go for a walk around the city without buying anything. When they return to the village, they feel like they have entered the city, which is doubly respectable.

I often hear them say that the city is very big. There is a three-story department store with many shops selling everything. In the department store, there is a 17-inch black and white TV. Very large and very clear, these are what I yearn for very much. When I was in elementary school, every time I saw someone coming back from the city with a happy and bright smile, I always looked forward to growing up quickly and dreamed that one day I could go to the city, even by riding a bicycle. It doesn't matter if you go there, just go and see what the big city is like and you'll be satisfied.

In junior high school, I studied in a school thirty miles away from my home. Taking a shuttle bus from the village to the school cost three yuan, which was equivalent to my meals for a week. In order to save travel expenses, I often carried it alone. Carrying my schoolbag and the sauerkraut I brought from home, I walked for more than two hours to school. I walked up and down this road hundreds of times during the three years of junior high school. I wore out many pairs of cloth shoes on this road home, rain or shine.

I go home once a week, change my clothes, and then live in the school for a week with the dry food and three yuan of living expenses prepared by my mother.

I just want to use my own efforts to help my parents work less and have time to rest. I gradually no longer envy those classmates who work part-time during the summer vacation and do not go home. After all, after graduating from college, I still have a lifetime to work. Maybe it's just that our situations are different, and everyone has different choices, but I always choose to go home, to the small mountain village where I was born and raised, tell my parents about the outside world, and listen to them talk about the past. At this moment , I am their continuation and future, carrying dreams and hopes.

When I was looking for a job, I only applied for companies in the province, just to be closer to home and make it easier to go home. After I started working, I called my parents once a week and listened to my mother talk about trivial things in the countryside. She also told us to eat well and dress well. Sometimes my mother suddenly stopped talking and stopped talking. I asked my mother what was wrong. She said I talked too much and the phone bill was so expensive.

Last year, I was quite busy at work. One day I saw several missed calls from my mother. I thought there was something big going on at home, so I called back in a hurry. My mother said, it’s nothing. You haven’t had a call for two weeks. I called. I just wanted to ask how you were doing recently. I said I was fine. I'm such an old person, so you don't have to worry. My mother said, no matter how old you are, you are still my son, can I not worry about it? I felt extremely guilty at that moment. From then on, no matter how busy I was, I made one or two phone calls to my mother every week, just to say a few words! Maybe every parent is the same, and their children will always be the constant concern.

Now that the expressway home is open, it is very convenient to go back, and it only takes half a day. Every once in a while, I would go home, have dinner with my parents in the afternoon, and take the bus back to Xi'an the next morning. My mother often nags me that it is not cost-effective to come back in such a hurry and the travel expenses will cost more than 100 yuan. But every time I come home, my mother is the happiest one, cooking a lot of delicious food for me and my brothers and sisters. I couldn't buy anything for my parents when I got home. They were all daily necessities such as medicines, cotton socks, towels, etc., because I knew that my mother would not be willing to buy even such small things. Later, I brought my parents to live in Xi'an so that they could enjoy the blessings, but they stayed there for three days and then went back on their own. My mother said that I can only live in a unit here and don’t know anyone. It’s very lonely. When you get older, you want to have a few people to talk to. You are used to living in a mountain village and live a comfortable life. You are busy outside. Career, just go home and visit when you have time. As long as we can be reunited, wherever we are is home, and we will be content!

My mother said that in everyone’s heart, there is a road, which is a road home. Parents are at this end of the road, and children are at the other end of the road. Parents don’t expect much, and return home. Home is the best gift for parents!