The masthead inscription Ding Hongjun, a famous calligrapher in Shaanxi, Jiangsu Province
In the subconscious of most Chinese, there is a strong or light, light or heavy patriarchal thought. The source, as the saying goes, is that a woman who marries out, spills water, and ends up empty. Only the son can not only pass on the lineage and continue the incense, but also send himself to the end of his life. For the sake of their sons, I don't know how many parents, like candles, burn themselves and dedicate themselves.
, Cover of "The Wind Through the Narrow Door"
The couple of Black and Zhenzhen portrayed in "Boiling Meat" in Lu Zhijun's short story collection "The Wind Passes through the Narrow Door" is such a person. They are a portrayal of Chinese-style parents, a microcosm.
Hei Hei and Zhen Zhen are both farmers, but they are different from other farmers who stick to the countryside. They were quick-witted, and seeing that "the money in the soil was not easy to plan, they took their savings into the city." Opened a small shop selling cement. The husband and wife have a clear division of labor, black and black are responsible for running procurement, and Zhenzhen is responsible for guarding the store sales. The small shop business is doing well and making a lot of money. The mud tile house of the old home was torn down and a three-story small western-style building was built. "It can be said that they are the first people in the countryside to get rich.
They are not the kind of people who are small and rich, long-term and forward-thinking. Less than half a year after his son Wang Peng got married, the two sons spent more than 800,000 yuan, "picked the best location in the county, the best floor," bought a three-bedroom and two-hall commercial house, and made a wedding room for his son. It took more than 100,000 yuan to decorate the house "to a golden splendor, refrigerator air conditioning business law stove and bathroom, all available." When they took their son and daughter-in-law to see the house, they heard a satisfied sentence from their son and daughter-in-law, "The old two are happy like magpies on the branches."
The little two lived in the new house, the smiles on the faces of the old two had not completely dissipated, and their brows were locked again. "The wind came and went, the black had rheumatoid arthritis, the weather changed, and the legs hurt so much that they didn't dare to go to the ground." Zhenzhen had trachoma, tears in the wind, and swollen eye bubbles for many years. ”
Author of "The Wind Through the Narrow Door"
In order to avoid the pain of running back and forth, the old couple had to live in a small shop. Because the shop is too small to turn around, "when moving cement, the bags fall together and the dust is everywhere." "Boil a pot of meat," the aroma of meat wafted through the shop, hooking up with the dusty smell of cement. The hot dough skin in the bowl that was too late to eat, "fell a layer of ash, had to be poured out." ”
In desperation, Zhenzhen told her husband Hei Hei that she lived with her son's family. When she carried a box of boiled meat made by herself to her son's house, she did not wait to speak, but her daughter-in-law suggested that the two of them rent another house.
Zhenzhen, who touched the soft nail, did not complain about the world, but comforted herself, "After all, a generation of people has a generation of people's world, or it is better to think of their own way." "Take advantage of your free time to do work for your husband Black Andi." After his desire to live in a new house with his son became a bubble, Black Black had a feeling in his heart that "The Head of the Wall" was staged on his body. However, what he thought was, "After all, the son does not have too much disobedience, and when he and Xiulan become parents, they will know the hardships and hardships of their parents." ”
This is the love of parents, a kind of broad-minded love, a kind of selfless love that thinks more for their sons and thinks less for themselves. This kind of love not only made them forgive all the words of their son and daughter-in-law, but also continued to pay without hesitation.
I heard that my son Wang Peng wanted to buy a car, and Hei Hei and Zhenzhen did not care about their difficulties, even if they borrowed from east to west, they also had to meet their son's wishes.
After the birth of her granddaughter, due to the light business of the small shop, Zhenzhen, who was not too busy, wanted to take care of her granddaughter and enjoy the joy of the world, but she did not expect that this little wish was also disappointed. I saw my son and daughter-in-law living in a spacious building with my family, like a family, sitting around the dining table, eating rice and drinking pork trotter soup. Sitting on the couch, holding my granddaughter, shaking the rattle, laughing, I seemed to be a superfluous person.
A cruel reality of giving all your strength but not getting it back, like a basin of cold water poured on her head, cold on her body, hurt her heart.
Through the depiction of Zhenzhen's tragic and joyful heavenly situation, there are praises for the uncomplaining and regretless dedication of Heihei and Zhenzhen, sympathy for their neglected encounters by their sons and daughters-in-law, condemnation of the selfishness of their sons and daughters-in-law, and reflections on the social reality problems caused by the only child.
A fragment of the novel "Boiling Meat"
If the novel is written here, it is also a work of practical significance. However, the author set up the plot of Hei Hei being hospitalized due to illness, Zhenzhen sending food, sharing food for the patient's son, and black and black letting his wife pay hospitalization fees for the patient without saying a word, writing out the simple qualities of Hei Hei and Zhenzhen couple with a kind heart, eager justice and righteousness, and also making the two characters of Hei Hei and Zhenzhen more plump and fresh.
At the end of the novel, it is amazing. The author describes his son Wang Peng as having been frustrated and educated at work, and realized that "home is home, and when he needs it, family affection will never be absent." When he fell, there was always a pair of invisible hands supporting him, giving him support and strength. ”
Her granddaughter was sick and hospitalized, and Zhenzhen carried a lunch box to deliver food. Wang Peng saw the old mother, "He suddenly felt that his mother was like this incubator, in the wind and rain for a lifetime, no matter what happened outside, what kind of bumps were suffered, but always loaded with delicious food." ”
These two detailed descriptions made Wang Peng suddenly wake up, and the changes in repentance and self-renewal appeared real and natural, and also expressed the author's joy and affirmation of Wang Peng's changes.
In the end, a family of seven sat around and ate the boiled meat with the aroma of meat, and they enjoyed it.
This kind of reunion comedy ending is in line with Chinese sense of identity and is also the author's greatest expectation.