A cross-century reunion of relatives

Mo Ya

2018.0226

After a long period of separation, when the relatives reunited, the wheel of time suddenly turned forward. In an instant, They matured or grew old instantly from the frozen images in my mind back then!

Are you excited at this time? Extremely excited? Or is there a sudden feeling of sadness that time waits for no one? Now let us take a look at what our relatives who have not returned for thirty years look like now!

This is a cross-century reunion, stemming from family affection, time, and longing.

The fourth father, an old man over seventy years old, is a relative of the same father as his father. He has been away from home for decades and suddenly came back from Heilongjiang this year to reunite with everyone. This time, a family of eight, including two sons, two daughters-in-law, and two grandsons, came back wrapped in the cold northeast wind, carrying longings, and bathing in the smell of the New Year. They were very kind and happy to see their relatives.

On the night of the fourth day of the first lunar month, I suddenly received a call from my mother saying that my fourth father was back and wanted to meet you. I was surprised that after so many years, nearly thirty years, the fourth father's family has not come back. Everyone thinks that he may not come back in this life, and the people in the village also think so.

Because he didn’t come back even after the death of his uncle and second father. Perhaps because of the long journey and old age, returning home has become a confusing and entangled problem for him.

The dinner was held on the third floor of HSBC Hotel. I walked in and saw a short old man with white hair, broad body and fat body sitting at the top of the wine table, sitting side by side with my father, facing the door. I saw him at a glance.

His two sons, Wang Bin and Wang Dong, were also at the table. After the sixth brother’s introduction, I held the fourth father’s hand and didn’t know what to say. I just felt a warm current surging from the bottom of my heart, slowly overflowing, filling the entire atrium.

"When a young man leaves home and his elder brother returns home, his local pronunciation remains unchanged and his hair on his temples fades away." Fourth Dad’s hometown accent has not changed at all. I was asking him: "Four dad, you have lived in the Northeast for more than 50 years, how come you still speak the Henan dialect?"

He smiled, squinting his eyes and smiling brightly, "I definitely don't I will forget that I have always spoken Henan dialect, and sometimes my grandson can also speak Henan dialect. "

"When your uncle died last year, I happened to be sick and had a cold for more than 20 days, and your little brother ( The sixth father told me that I won’t go back this year, and I will try my best to go back to my hometown during the Spring Festival next year.”

I met the fourth father, who kept explaining. Under the yellow-red light, I saw crystal tears welling up in his eyes.

I seem to understand the fourth father’s mood. This is the inner self-blame and guilt of an old man in his seventies. But each of us can understand the true confession of this aging old man.

Decades of wandering allowed him to slowly adapt to life in the Northeast. However, he spent half a century alone and helpless in that strange city. He must have had his difficulties and pains. In that difficult era, after brutal military service, he was assigned to the cold northeast without any choice.

I was thinking: In those hard years, in the cold winter, in the far northeast, the fourth father's family must have been even more lonely and desolate in their hearts, suffering from the pain of homesickness away from their loved ones, except for my own family. The family of four has no relatives in that city.

The torrent of life swallows up their dream of returning home bit by bit. Life repeats year after year, and the longing will still grow like crazy weeds.

Like each of us, he is also burdened when he is alone in a foreign land. Everyone has to move forward, so powerless, so helpless, and so unavoidable.

That kind of wandering, helplessness, wandering and homesickness will definitely entangle and involve their lonely family.

I'm thinking: In the past few decades, every time during the holidays, especially the Mid-Autumn Festival or the Spring Festival, my fourth father will definitely miss home, miss the elderly and brothers and sisters at home, and he will definitely long for it. In this cold and strange city, there are some relatives who can share the joys and sorrows with him.

People all have feelings. No matter where they are, they will miss their family and home. He may stand at the door of his home or on the platform, facing the direction of his hometown in Henan and staring thoughtfully. . Jinzhuang in Dengzhou is the place where he was born and raised. There are his parents and relatives there, and it is the place where he dreams about.

Maybe when he suffers hardships in life, falls into a trough, or is made things difficult for him, he will think of his relatives. He will definitely feel deeply lonely because he does not have the help and comfort of his relatives around him.

If he has not come back for so many years, he will definitely not be like some people in the village. He has forgotten his roots and is afraid that his relatives will stick to him. When I heard this when I was a child, I just listened. I had no ability to distinguish right from wrong. Sometimes I just wondered alone.

Now, with the thinking of a mature person who is also running for life, especially the thinking of a relative, I speculate that the fourth father must have his own difficulties and many helplessness in life. Every family has a difficult time to recite. Maybe the journey is too far, the vacation is too short, and it would be too stressful to go back and forth; maybe the children are in school, and life is too stressful, so they dare not have the luxury to think; or maybe it is the family at home. My parents and elders have all passed away, and my family is living a good life. Every family is very busy, and they all have varying degrees of work and life pressure, so I don’t want to come back and disturb these relatives.

In any case, the relatives are back, bringing a family of eight with them. The reunion across time and space cannot but be said to be a rare reunion. Dad Liu and his aunt came back from Hefei last summer. At that time, everyone was reunited at the HSBC Hotel. The lively atmosphere that night was just like tonight. When the uncle passed away at the end of the year, the sixth father brought his son back from Hefei and personally buried the uncle.

Dad Liu originally lived in Shandong and has been living there for decades. The doctoral student's son worked in Hefei, and later his father retired and lived with his son in Hefei. Dad Six was also a soldier. He always loved reading. He was like a scholar. He was very elegant and kind. His speech and behavior always showed the solemn atmosphere of a soldier and a scholar. He always talks to us with a smile and gives us younger generations more effective and pertinent instructions on how to treat our parents, support our parents, etc. That night, the relatives sat together and talked about everything. There seemed to be endless household topics to talk about.

Home will never be far away from you! Even though we are separated by thousands of mountains and rivers, even at the end of the world, your silent hometown will always stare at you during your long and tiring journey. All your thoughts and concerns are the reason why you travel through time and space and return home without hesitation.

Wang Dong and Wang Bin have transformed from ignorant teenagers in their teens to mature and experienced ambitious men today. Their sincerity, humility, and smiles are unforgettable. We are from the same ancestor. Holding my brother's warm hand tightly, a feeling of déjà vu arises spontaneously. It is the warmth of family affection that comes from the same origin. It spreads instantly on the round table in front of me, rises to the whole room, and warms everyone. Personal face.

The dinner party seems to have stretched out a lot! The ceiling lights on the roof of the room swayed leisurely, and the lights flickered in a blur. The originally chilly night turned out to be warm and lively that night. Everyone stood and sat freely at the big round table and tasted various delicacies, which was full of Chinese New Year flavor.

On the dinner table, a bottle of Heilongjiang liquor with the words "Ningcheng" on the red label came into view. That is liquor from the Northeast. That bottle, which was originally cold, instantly warmed up on this lively dinner table. The rich aroma of wheat from the Northeast flowed into the warm hearts of my relatives drop by drop, slowly melting and settling in the bottom of my heart...

However, no matter how beautiful the food is, it is not worth the reunion, conversation, steaming meals, mellow wine, and intimate words of long-lost relatives.

Under the warm lamp, the smiles on everyone's faces were like blooming roses.

Father and Fourth Dad sat directly above the large round table, and the two white-haired old men became more immersed in their conversation. He kept waving his arms and shaking his head. Under the light, I saw my father talking very congenially. When he was excited, spittle sprayed into the face of the fourth father, but the fourth father completely ignored him. The fourth father almost put his face close to his father's face and spoke from his heart. The fourth father was very naive, and his figure was very much like the second grandma's.

We don’t understand their world very well. Their old brothers may have their own ancient topics, they have similar understandings, and they are so affectionate that we younger generations have never experienced.

The fourth father is in good health and is much stronger than my father. I heard from Bin’s wife that the fourth father is in good health and even cultivates land and vegetables for them to eat after retirement.

Everyone took photos at the dinner, and their happiness was beyond words. During this period, Dad Liu, who was far away in Hefei, also made a video call to everyone and said hello repeatedly. His mood at that time was definitely no less joyful than our warm reunion at the scene. He was obviously very happy on the other end of the phone, smiling like a child, and kept asking questions about this and that. His mother even joked with Dad Six.

I heard the conversation between four old people at the dinner table: father, mother, fourth father, and fourth mother:

"I didn't expect that we would become old women in a blink of an eye!" Fourth mother said to her mother Said.

"We must not forget that our grandfather died in Zhulinqiao (Hubei)." The father emphasized to the fourth father.

Perhaps the most unshakable human emotion is the deep feeling of returning fallen leaves to their roots. The deepest concern in people's hearts is really the family that gave birth to you and raised you.

The conversation continued, and the supplementary explanations from the eldest brother and the second brother made me understand my master’s life experience.

The old man died in Zhulinqiao, Hubei while begging for food with his grandma, grandpa, second master, and aunt. After the old man died, the locals buried him locally and sent the old woman, mother and son back to their hometown. Lao Nai's younger brother (uncle) saw how pitiful his nephews were, so he never married and raised his sister's children.

Later, the second master adopted his uncle (surnamed Wang) as his son, and changed his surname from Li to Wang. After listening to what they said, I understood the history of my family. The Li Wang family was originally from a family with the surname Li and Hu Zhangtang from their hometown. In the past, I was always confused about these family histories and could not understand them.

I heard from my father that my grandfather and Erye later went to Hubei Zhulinqiao to look for his grave, but they could not find the detailed address where he was buried. The locals did not allow outsiders to come here casually. Digging graveyards. Later, the matter of raising the grave was dropped.

(This is the most classic scene)

I heard from my second brother that later they also had the idea of ??going to Zhulinqiao to raise a grave again, but because everyone had different opinions, they added There are many superstitions in the past, saying that digging up the earth's energy may destroy wealth and luck, so the search for the ancestor's tomb has been abandoned.

As long as everyone is well, don’t say anything!

This is a cross-century family meeting. I hope that such a scene will happen every year in the future!

The cheerful atmosphere in the room was still high, and everyone's laughter echoed throughout the hotel.

After walking out of the hotel, relatives shook hands and hugged each other, said goodbye, exchanged greetings, and blessed and prayed.

Suddenly, I felt that this small town was much more lively. The laughter of my relatives drove away the chill of the city, and the night air became much warmer...