Vernacular prose: Wontons forever

Vernacular prose: Wontons forever

Text: Wang Zengrui

　　During the years when my father and mother were alive, every time I broke up with them, they always made wontons to send me off. At that time, I always thought that the stuffing was the best to eat, and the second elder was distressed by me; later, when the second elder was gone, I learned that eating wontons in the north represented a certain meaning.

　　When I was 16 years old, when I couldn't go to school, I was reluctant to repair the earth at home for a lifetime, and I didn't care about my parents' bitter persuasion, so I left the second old man and went to Xi'an City to break in.

　　Every Spring Festival, I return to my hometown from a distant big city to reunite with the second elder. After spending the New Year at home, I was fifteen years old, and then I went back again. The night before leaving, the whole family had dinner, and the second elder began to get busy again: making ravioli for me and eating it the next morning before leaving. The father bowed his head and chose the dish in the dim light, and the mother bent down and slowly and methodically reconciled... It was busy until most of the night, and a curtain of small ravioli was wrapped.

　　The next day, the sky was just dark, and the second elder got up early. My father was busy packing my bags for me. Mother was busy burning the fire. By the time I lazily got up from the bed, the hot ravioli was already on the table.

　　The second elder watched silently from the sidelines, and I took a big bite. After I had eaten, my father lifted my heavy luggage for me and sent me to the village entrance to wait for the car...

　　Year after year, I grew up to be old enough to marry and have children, and I didn't have a foothold in the city. By this time, the parents were old. The night before I left, the second elder was not as silent as before; during this night, they often quarreled endlessly over trivial matters. Over time, I soberly realized that the quarrel between the two elders was false, and hoped that I would stay and live a peaceful and stable life at home by marrying and having children; but none of them would express it directly to my face, but only hinted to me through quarrelling. At this point, I was silent.

　　The two elders quarreled and quarreled, and the wontons before leaving were still wrapped, and the next day they still got up early to cook wontons for me, and my father still carried a heavy salute and sent me to the village entrance silently...

　　Later, at the repeated urging of my eldest brother and sister-in-law, I finally solemnly considered my marriage. People in their 30s, if this continues, it will be worrying! - Men who have reached this age in the countryside have become futile to find a partner. After being introduced by a friend, I found a girlfriend, a little girl from the outskirts of Xi'an. Although her appearance is quite sorry for the audience's gaze, for a wanderer who is eight or nine years older than others and has no fixed place and is uncertain, it is a blessing that people can look at me. To be honest, I am not "Lao Wang selling melons, selling himself and boasting": how can a girl who grew up in a honeypot on the outskirts of the city look up to a hairy boy who came down from the countryside and is so poor? Isn't it just Tu Li this person? Although I am not the best among men, whether it is body or facial features, it is the kind that cannot be counted in the surrounding three villages and five miles.

　　I talked to her for two years, and we didn't have any opinions between us, so she took me to meet his family. In front of her family, I was also impeccable. I look at it clearly! When her family members saw me, they were all happy, and they just smiled at me, no other expression! ...... Next, she said that her family was going to go to my hometown to meet her parents and see her family situation. At this point, I had no bottom in my heart. It's a rural area, a dirt-like countryside, and compared to the big cities, it's heaven on earth! So, I told her that I would go back to my hometown to clean up, and when they got to the station, I would go and meet them.

　　When I returned to my hometown and told the second elder about this, the second elder could no longer stand up when he heard it, which was what they had been looking forward to: my father was smiling and kept cleaning the courtyard with a broom in his hand; my mother was even more excited, as if she was going to celebrate the New Year, cleaning up these old old earthen houses from the inside out...

　　Back home. In the evening, I was at the brigade headquarters of my hometown when I received a call from her. She said she had boarded the train. The next morning, without giving it much thought, I quickly called my nephew, got on the village bus, and went straight to the city.

　　My nephew and I waited at the station for half an hour before we finally saw her, her mother, and her aunt. For some reason, when several people saw me and my nephew, their faces were as heavy as water, and their faces were unhappy. I quickly rented a bread car nearby, invited a few people to the car, and then went straight to my hometown.

　　Along the way, they didn't say a word, still with somber faces. I felt that the air in the car was solemn, and my heart was particularly impetuous, anxiously urging the driver to drive faster. Since the wind was quite strong on this day, the driver said that he could not accelerate anymore, and if it was faster, the bread would have to be turned over!

　　In anticipation, I finally arrived at my hometown. When her aunt saw my parents, she was hunched over, rustic, and had the true face of a working people, and she lost her temper and said that she had met primitive humans; her aunt saw my family's three earthen houses and said that she had come to the primitive village, and no matter how much I persuaded her, she refused to enter the house. They didn't go in, and my mother and father stood in the courtyard at a loss, as if they knew they had committed a grave crime, but they didn't know where the mistake was, and their faces were dazed. After the eldest brother and sister-in-law arrived, they saw this scene and quickly persuaded: The elder brother and sister-in-law came from afar, no matter what, they had to eat a meal! ...... To put it mildly, several people were finally persuaded into the house.

　　On the clay kang, the table is full of chicken, duck and fish meat - this is something that my father and mother carefully prepared and enjoyed during the New Year! It was her aunt again, when she saw the house, it was dark, the light was extremely dark, and she saw eating and drinking, and she ran outside without moving her chopsticks, saying that she was deceived, deceived, this is not a place for people to stay! How can you get a girlfriend to marry this family! She said to go to the station right away and she was going home! ...... When the mother saw it, she tiptoed her little foot and quickly reached out to keep the family. I didn't want to be thrown by people, stumbling, almost falling down one by one, if she fell down her old mother, don't look at the aunt, it is the mother-in-law, I also have to play with her life! What's wrong with the old man? If you want to kill me, you have to come with me... As a result, she and her mother could not stay still, and ran outside with her aunt. No way, the twisted melon is not sweet, I gambled and told my parents and big brother and sister-in-law that they didn't have to chase, let it be natural. My sister-in-law began to blame me for going to the station to pick up people, and did not inform them in advance, who took a small child to go, too much attention to people, right? Besides, the guests should be allowed to their yard, it is better than this yard... Nine times out of ten this time it was blown! I sighed and said, Love it!

　　Back in Xi'an City, I took the initiative to contact her. I didn't expect her to see me, and she didn't mention anything about my return to my hometown, and she didn't complain about me! I slowly realized that when people came to their hometown and played tantrums with us, it was not at all that they hated my family's poverty and the looks of my parents, just like the eldest brother and sister-in-law said, to go to the station to meet two men, and the nephew is not a big man, a teenager! If I change to my girlfriend, the other party treats us like this, I will be a hundred unwilling, immediately pat my ass and leave! Will there be any more to it? Definitely not such a happy ending as it is now. ——Think about how you don't think about it, causing the second old man to be busy with the busyness, hard preparation, and follow the eating of melons, and the heart is always not a taste - who does the old man recruit to provoke whom? hey! ......

　　It wasn't long before we rented a house in the city, and my father gave me half his life savings, plus the scattered silver I had accumulated over the years, and finally finished the wedding in the city.

　　After getting married, every Spring Festival, in order to save money, I always left her and went home alone to reunite with my parents. Every time I left, my parents still silently wrapped ravioli for me, carrying a salute and silently sending me off - it can be seen that the second elder is still reluctant to let me go away, as before, hoping that I will stay and live with them...

　　In the third year after my marriage, my old father, who had worked hard all his life, said goodbye to me due to illness and this family. The mother was the only one left in the family. Fortunately, the nephew came with her in the evening. Every Spring Festival, I go home to reunite with her as usual. Although I was missing my father, my mother made ravioli for me the night before I left, and I got up early the next morning to cook ravioli for me... Every time I advise the old man to rest, he does not have to prepare for me anymore. But the elderly mother insisted on the bag. I couldn't help her, so I came with her...

　　The nephew took me to the village with his luggage, and my mother stood bent over at the gate and looked at us silently—I heard the nephew say that after he sent me back, the old man was still standing at the door looking in the direction we were going.

　　Two years later, my elderly mother also said goodbye to me. Without the second old, I realized alone that I was no longer a child, a child loved by my parents! I'm an adult!

　　There is no second elder at home, and every Spring Festival, I will no longer return to my hometown for the New Year.

　　After several years, I finally gained a foothold in the city and had my own career. In the fall of the year my son was five years old, he led his wife back to his hometown.

　　I heard that the old yard of the eldest brother's mother could no longer be inhabited, and after we returned home, we lived directly in the eldest brother's house. We stayed at home for a few days, saw that the eldest brother and his family were all fine, and were ready to return to the city.

　　Unexpectedly, in the early morning before our departure, my sister-in-law actually cooked a pot of wontons for us. I saw, discreetly asked the sister-in-law: "When is this wrapped ravioli?" ”

　　"Knowing that you love ravioli the most, your daughter-in-law and I wrapped it the day before yesterday and kept it in the refrigerator!" The sister-in-law laughed.

　　"I don't know if this thing is good or not, it's really troublesome to make!" The wife on the side said.

　　It turned out that when my mother was alive, my sister-in-law knew that before I left, my mother had been wrapping wontons for me, so my sister-in-law thought that I loved to eat wontons, and she wrapped them for me in advance and wanted to surprise me.

　　Seeing the hot ravioli coming up, my father lowering his head to choose dishes in the dim light, and the scene of my mother bending down and slowly and methodically meeting the noodles immediately appeared in front of my eyes... A pang of depression, a pang of sadness; at the same time, tears blurred my eyes. I dared to push out of my stomach with some discomfort, so I hurried out of the house. Standing in the courtyard, I let out a long breath and let the tears burst down the embankment... In the courtyard, I could hear my wife's laughter in praise of the wontons in her hometown.

　　The wife is a foreigner, and she only knows that the wontons before the trip are delicious and extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive, but she does not know who the person who left this practice is, and how many years it has lasted! She will not know that eating wontons in the north means reunion! ......

　　Later, I lived in the city and never returned to my hometown. But every New Year's Day, after greeting my family by phone, I always think of the wonton before I left in my hometown - it is already an eternal ravioli! At this point, tears quickly blurred my eyes.

　　Cangzhou author, Wang Zengrui, male, from Cangxian County, Hebei Province, engaged in teaching work, his works are scattered in Cangzhou Daily, Novel Monthly, Selected Essays and so on.

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