When I was a child, I looked forward to pulling two feet of red rope.

When I was a child, I looked forward to pulling two feet of red rope.

Text/Fu

Pull a red rope two feet long.

Let's braid our hair.

Men, women and children are happy.

Smile, smile again.

I was born in a small mountain village in Hongfanchi Town, Pingyin County, Jinan City, Shandong Province. When I was a child, my family was not rich and there were many brothers and sisters. I rely on my parents' hard-working hands to eat and dress, cultivate land, grow some vegetables in vegetable fields, raise a few chickens, a few sheep and a pig, exchange some money and get help from my grandmother's family.

Girls are born to love beauty and like braiding, and my sister and I are no exception. Every new year, I look forward to my father catching up with the new year's collection, buying a few feet of red rope for our sisters and tying a beautiful bow. My hair is split into two strands and tied high. When you walk, you swing back and forth rhythmically, and your hair is smooth. Straightening is better than now, and I feel happier than drinking honey water.

When I was a child, I didn't need soap or soap to wash my face, let alone facial cleanser. I'm more frugal. When I go to school in the morning, I wash my face in the stream and then go straight to school. At that time, the stream had a large water flow, which could fill the width of the barrier. The water quality was crystal clear and there would be small fish and shrimp. People in our village wash clothes here, which is very close and the running water is still very clear. Until now, I am used to washing my face with cold water, without any raw materials to clean my skin. Fortunately, the face is more considerate, not so embarrassed, and not too dark to look good.

Looking forward to the New Year is also a time to look forward to improving your diet. At ordinary times, because the grain yield per mu is too small, there is not much oil and water, and our appetite is large, food is really in short supply, and most of them are borrowed food. Or go to grandma's house to get some. Later, my uncle sent it to us every year, so I was close to my uncle since I was a child.

When I was a child, my braids were tied with cloth and my head rope was made of wool, which made my parents feel expensive. Because a foot costs ten cents, it is also useful to cut fertilizer bags to make a rope. The headdress is made of paper and satin, but my sister and I seldom wear it.

Brothers and sisters have new clothes to wear during the Spring Festival, but the old people are reluctant to spend money on them. Make a new coat in two or three years at most, take it out for a day or two every year, fold it neatly and put it in the chef's place. Sometimes neighbors will come and borrow them, and when they come back, they will clean them with clean water and dry them before putting them in the chef's place. They are reluctant to wash them with water, for fear that they will fade and look bad. I remember there were a lot of blue clothes at that time. Maybe my mother liked blue, just as I had a soft spot for sky blue as she did.

My mother loves children very much. I remember in winter, my brother and I were under the covers. When we were cooking, we ate a sweet potato cooked by her old man. We didn't brush our teeth and wash our faces at that time. My mother took hot water with a towel and wiped our hands. When we finish eating sweet potatoes, we will get some firewood to light, warm our cotton-padded clothes and trousers, and let us get up. Seeing those people who sell baked sweet potatoes, the feeling of happiness will still be fresh in my memory. It's just that my mother has left and I can't find her. I can't help crying at the thought of her old man leaving us early.

When I was a child, the countryside was very lively. Firecrackers are essential. But I didn't want to spend so much money on firecrackers because I was poor at that time. We will set off a small string of firecrackers first, and then listen to the rich neighbors set off long firecrackers. In order to comfort his poor family, there is also a popular saying, "Fools shoot and smart sons listen." You can judge who owns the firecrackers according to their length, and you will envy others. Old people will also educate us children to be that kind of people when we grow up, and we can be extravagant and willful if we have money. Now I am rich, but I am not very rich. I can afford a big red carpet, but firecrackers are forbidden everywhere. It's hard for you to listen to firecrackers boldly anymore. You can get a free lunch and eat a few more meals by hanging the whip.

On the New Year's Eve when I was a child, my grandmother gave me stewed pork and cabbage vermicelli, fish and shrimp from Dongping Lake, with meatballs, big bones cooked in water, fried meat with garlic sprouts, stewed a bowl of dried long beans and dried eggplant, and then boiled the stew with boiling water. As long as there is celery at home, we will do everything and fill the table to show our wealth. In fact, it is not enough for children to eat, but it can't be eaten all on the table. Mom will add fried food when we are about to eat the CD, so that we can stay, indicating that the money is more than enough every year. I look forward to a bumper harvest in the coming year and a better life with good weather. Unlike now, we want to advocate CD-ROM action. When we are rich, we eat delicious food every day. We simply eat more than the delicious food on the plate.

Perhaps it is because the taste of the New Year's Eve dinner I ate as a child is not quite the same as usual, so it is still fresh in my memory and memorable. I can still recall the taste at that time, and occasionally I can eat delicious childhood food when I delay eating. That kind of happiness is beyond words.

Grow up and make your own money. My long hair is still cut very long. I also wear a ponytail, but there are countless headbands and various ways to tie my hair. Sometimes I like long hair shawls, preferably waist-length. That would be more feminine.

Red rope is no longer the exclusive product for girls to braid their hair. Instead, there are all kinds of headbands, which are wrapped with rubber bands and various types of diamonds. Although diamonds are defensive, they are beautiful. The style of the headdress flower is even more beautiful, which makes you have an impulse to buy everything. But the thought of buying it as a decoration made me resist the desire to buy it. Because now there are fewer braids and long hair shawls are scattered. I don't need those beautiful decorations anymore.

The red headrope has become the epitome of our times. With the improvement of material life, today's children have all kinds of braiding accessories. Only in dreams can they secretly tie a beautiful headrope to themselves and become addicted to accessories.

The footsteps of 2008 are getting closer and closer, and the hope of 2008 is not as close as my childhood. There is also because both parents are around, unlike when I just went out to work, I don't want to go home for the New Year. Now their home is in Jinan, they don't have to go anywhere, and they don't feel crowded on the way home, and they don't feel the joy of reunion after a long separation.

There is only a special attachment to the taste of Chinese New Year when I was a child, and a beautiful attachment to the red rope with braids.

Childhood home is the warmest and unforgettable. It's time to create a warm home for your children. It runs in the family, old and young, is happy, which should be the picture that the elderly and we all hope to have.

The taste of childhood, childhood attachment, childhood home, warm harbor that can't be returned, and childhood that can't be returned have all become the thoughts of this life.