Written by: Wang Chongsheng
I had written my second brother's articles a few times before, but I felt that most of them were a bit rushed, a bit general, not detailed and rigorous enough, so I decided to write them again.
In August 2003, the second brother died in a sudden car accident. He is only 37 years old, but he has gone through an extremely short life.
Throughout the life course of the second brother, it is thrilling and exciting.
My second brother is four years older than me, and I have an older sister between him and me. At that time, the sisters were almost always going from house to house. It is not so much that it is two years older, but rather that it is separated by a genus. Therefore, we have many sisters, and in addition to two who passed out and one who died young, we have five sisters.
Among the five sisters, I have three older sisters and one elder brother (second brother), and I am the youngest.
When I was a child, all I had to do was cry. Grandpa asked: Little cushion, what's wrong? Do you want to eat fat dolls (a kind of half-catty boxed biscuits, because the exquisite packaging is printed with male and female fat dolls, so grandpa calls himself fat dolls)?
My grandfather was very patriarchal, a daughter for a lifetime, and a scourge for three lifetimes! This is grandpa's mantra. Therefore, as long as my grandmother gave birth to a girl, he would take it away and abandon the hill, so that we didn't even have an aunt. He and his grandmother have raised four sons in their lifetime.
As for the birth of my sisters, my grandfather has reprimanded me many times: What's the use of raising so many girls?
But my parents didn't pay any attention to him. Boys and girls don't dislike it, let alone throw it away, and they are reluctant to give it away.
If not, in order to treat me and take care of me, none of them would be willing to give it away.
As one of the boys in the family, I am a stingy and stingy grandfather, and for me, I am still quite angry. If it was his sisters, he would be reluctant to take out the fat doll at all.
Of course, my second brother was also loved by my grandfather. In addition, the second brother is particularly clever and diligent, and grandpa regards it as a treasure.
The second brother is smart and clever, and when he is young, he will see what he will do. He has a flexible brain and a super memory, but it's a pity that he doesn't want to go to school, otherwise he has a bright future.
He especially likes to tinker with some small things, and he often disassembles, unloads, and assembles some toys.
He has a lot of hobbies, and he loves one line of work. No matter what he does, precision is the principle he has always adhered to.
He went to school twice, each time for a day or two. For the first time, under the persuasion of teachers and parents, I reluctantly went for two days and never went again. Because he was so smart, the teacher couldn't bear to let him drop out of school, so he went to his home to find him. After some talking, he agreed to enroll.
But after another day, he gave up. And swore in front of his parents: he decided not to go to school anymore, please rest assured that even if he is begging for food in the future, he will never complain about his parents.
In this way, the second brother, who was only a few years old, followed his father and began his farming career.
He began to plow, he began to sow seeds, and he began all the labor of an adult. Sometimes he couldn't even hold a plow, but he insisted. Therefore, when he was more than ten years old, he became a strong laborer in the family.
And what about the father? It has become a foil and an auxiliary. What fertilizer to buy? How much fertilizer to buy? How much is sown in an acre? What is planted in this land? What is planted in that land? He will make reasonable arrangements for farming according to the soil quality and terrain conditions.
At this time, my father completely handed over the power of farming to him, and he almost became the pillar of my family.
Not to mention the farm work of farming, every piece of land he cultivates is from edge to edge, and the land that has been ploughed and raked is delicate and soft. Even his grandfather's carpentry work, he also memorized the whole process.
When my grandfather was doing carpentry, he always watched silently from the sidelines, and after a long time, he said that he could do it himself.
My parents didn't believe it yet, but he stole my grandfather's tools and made small tables and stools, and they were so fine that they impressed him.
Later, he developed into cabinets, crates, beams, doors and windows and other furniture, he could do anything. Take the matter of cutting the wooden soles of cotton shoes in winter, he uses small clippers, not to mention the fine pushing, and it is particularly practical, so in winter, almost all the men, women and young masters in the village ask him to cut the wooden soles. But no matter how busy he is, he always squeezes out time to give production.
He inherited his father's weaving of mats, baskets, and hunting skills. Moreover, the mats and baskets made up are particularly strict and delicate because of their young hands and strength, completely surpassing their fathers. Because of his good eyesight, he hunted with great accuracy.
These are all crafts that he knows at a glance, but if there is a problem with the sewing machine and bicycle at home, he can solve it by groping.
He has a wide range of hobbies and hobbies, fishing, turtle hunting, catching birds and birds, and is omnipotent.
In front of the bike he just bought, he didn't learn it once, and he would ride it when he went up.
The small wooden cart he made himself, together with his companions, was taken to a steep slope in Beigang, and people sat on it, rushing down like arrows from top to bottom. Then pull it up with a rope, and the person who sits on it rushes down again. Over time, a bright avenue has been grinded out. From a distance, it looks like a waterfall.
His homemade earthen guns are also exquisite. On a rainy day, the gunpowder was damp. So he found an old pot and put it on a stone. Then he lit a fire and fried the gunpowder, and as a result, a large fire threw itself into his face.
It scared the hell out of my parents. His whole face turned pitch black, and he was immediately sent to the hospital.
Fortunately, the rescue was timely, and maybe the dodge was quick, so later, the face was just a layer of skin. There were no scars or marks.
Originally, at the age of fifteen, he was going to go on a blind date, but it was postponed due to this disaster.
The second brother's first love, what did he encounter?
To be continued
June 16, 2024