Warm memories
Cao Li
In the long years, the beautiful childhood time is the most unforgettable. Seeing an old thing, missing the old person, the door of memory will be reopened, and the past will be presented one by one. The Song Zhuangzi Village Museum in Gushu Town, Yutian County is one such place. Every object in the museum fascinated me and brought me back in time......
One day in the winter of 2021, we participated in the "Lonely Tree Walk in Shanshui Zao Township", and we came to the beautiful Songzhuangzi Village, Lonely Tree Town. I've heard for a long time that there is a folk museum here, but I don't know what kind of world is inside. When I was about to arrive at the folk museum, I heard an older sister who was traveling with me say, "The plastic sandals there are the kind we used to wear when we were kids." Hearing this, my curiosity was aroused even more, and I was looking forward to some kind of magical beauty.
As he spoke, he came to the Folklore Museum, and the first thing that caught his eye was a pair of red plastic sandals on the shelves. It was something that hadn't been seen in nearly forty years. I remember when I was a child, it rained a lot in summer, and it was a pleasure to wear plastic sandals to wade in the water. My hometown is located at the foot of Yanshan Mountain, and every time it rains, the rain will flow down from the gravel road on the mountain. My friends and I wore our sandals or walked barefoot, stepping on the natural stones, playing to our heart's content, and the laughter is still beautiful. Plastic sandals are not afraid of water, but they can't withstand abrasion, and a pair of shoes can't last all summer. Especially for naughty lads, sewing and mending is a common thing. After sewing the damaged area with thread, burn the joint with fire to ensure that it is strong and strong. A little girl like me who loves beauty will ask to buy a new pair if she wears out an old pair. In order to wear a new pair of shoes, some little clever ghosts secretly use artificial methods to break the shoes, and then tell their parents that they are worn out. In fact, the difference between worn-out and vandalism can be seen at a glance, and if you are catching up with your parents who have a lot of money and are in a good mood, no one will ask anymore. The plan to have a new pair of shoes will be a success. But some friends are not so "lucky", and they may be beaten because of this.
The shelves in the folklore museum are full of green rubber shoes, black striped mille-feuille shoes, headscarves, old-fashioned snack boxes, canned food bottles, and ...... Next to the counter is a large vat of soy sauce and vinegar, on which are placed soy sauce grapes and funnels; A large wooden box contains large grains of salt, which were necessities of life in the seventies and eighties of the twentieth century.
Walking along the sequence, the stove you used when you were a child is revealed. So far, such stoves are used in rural hometowns, but the countertops are lined with tiles, which are clean and easy to maintain. There is a wind box on the side of the stove, which is used to help when the fire is burned, the wind box and the stove are connected, when the firewood is wet and not good to burn on a rainy day, hold the wind box handle with your hand, pull the wind box back and forth, and the fire in the stove will be prosperous. Looking at the flames, you will feel a sense of accomplishment. When I was young, there was no running water in the countryside, so the adults used buckets to carry the water to the village well, and then poured buckets into the water tank. When I was thirsty, I scooped water with a wooden scoop and drank it, which was so sweet that I can still remember that the sweetness is better than all the drinks nowadays.
Most of the old-fashioned houses in the countryside are three-room, and many elderly people in rural areas still live in this style of house. The middle room is called the hall house, and the stove is built in the hall house, and the east and west rooms each have a stove, and they all depend on it for cooking, heating, and burning the kang. The furnishings in the folklore museum are the most in line with my childhood memories. This two-bedroom is both a bedroom, a living room and a dining room. When you open the curtain, the first thing you see is the quadruple backing mirror. You can not only look in the mirror but also have landscape calligraphy and painting, or a high-grade work of art. Under the backer mirror is a wine cabinet. On the wine cabinet is the most decent household appliance - the radio, which is also a symbol of the family's economic level. It is mainly used as an ornament, and the real high utilization rate is the kind of small radio (commonly known as "box") that can be carried around. You can listen to storytelling and radio dramas while working. Next to the wine cabinet is the wall cabinet, on which are placed bonsai and table clocks, which are essential decorations for almost every household. I remember that the wall cabinet in my house is a particularly beautiful red, which is polished by my mother every day, and this habit of cleanliness has always affected me. Although there was no heating at that time, the warm sunlight shone into the window and spread all over the large kang on a cold winter day, and it was very comfortable to lie down on the hot kang at this time. Now when I go home, I still like to sleep on the hot kang burned by my mother.
There is a spinning wheel on the kang in the building. When I was a child, my grandfather and grandmother had a spinning wheel, and those snow-white cotton would turn into white thread balls in my grandmother's spinning wheel. These white thread balls are thick and thin, and are used to hold shoe soles and make quilts, satisfying the simple life of the family. My grandfather and grandmother lived with us, they had no son, only one daughter, and treated my father as if he were his own son. When I was a child, I would occasionally live in my grandmother's house, and my favorite thing was to let my grandmother tickle me, because my grandmother's hands were the roughest, especially anti-itching, and when my grandmother tickled me, she never got bored. Now I write this, but I am very sad, when I was a child, I only cared about my own happiness, but I didn't think about why my grandmother's hands were so rough?
That brazier reminds me of my grandmother. My grandmother is the best grandmother in the world, my grandfather died young, and my grandmother gave all her love to her children, especially to me and my brother. In winter, when the house was very cold, my grandmother put the unburned firewood from the stove at the bottom of the brazier and placed corn cobs on top to make it burn. The brazier is placed in the center of the earthen kang to heat the whole house. Grandma sat by the brazier, baked potatoes, sweet potatoes and other ingredients in the brazier, and then handed them to me, and I was in charge of enjoying them. My grandmother's cheeks and I were also warmed and red by the brazier...... Now that I think of the happiness that these intergenerational relatives have given me, it is precious and unforgettable. This love has turned into courage and strength, allowing me to face the ups and downs of life and always tell myself that love will never be absent.
While reminiscing and visiting, there is a granary in front, and all kinds of agricultural tools are placed on the side of the granary: shovels, pickaxes, rakes, wooden forks, hoes...... When I was a child, my parents used their hard-working hands to make the family's life very solid, although they were not very rich, but they were also well fed and clothed. Mom and Dad were never pampered by my brother and me. Since childhood, my sister and brother have been cooking and doing farm work, and often work in the fields with adults, cultivating a good habit of enduring hardships and standing hard work. After her father's death, her mother, who was in her seventies, was reluctant to give up her farm work and rented out her land, saying that now it is all mechanized, which saves trouble and makes farming easy. I know that what my mother can't let go of is not the farm work, but the joy of the abundant grain harvest at that time.
Stopping in every corner of the Folklore Museum, as if discovering a treasure, there are already people outside the door shouting "Assemble, ready to go to the next place". My sister and my colleague, who were the same age, didn't see enough, so we took pictures while walking, and reluctantly left the folklore museum.
Walking on the clean and flat road of Zao Township, feeling the happiness of the new socialist countryside, recalling the old style in the folk museum, and deeply feeling the vicissitudes of wind and rain for decades, the rapid changes. The memories of childhood are warm, and the good days of the present are also what people look forward to at that time. Today, we have a prosperous and prosperous life, and have realized the dream of several generations of the Chinese nation. Recalling the past, being grateful, only by cherishing and not forgetting the original intention, can we walk steadily, walk steadfastly, and stand further. Goodbye, Folklore Museum, next time I will bring my childhood friends to come, so that your beauty warms more people.
Excerpt from "Tangshan Labor Daily"
About the Author:
Cao Li, a professional and technical talent of the Momo County Bureau of Culture and Tourism (a cadre of Yutian County, Tangshan City), a member of the Tangshan Writers Association, prose and poetry were published on the "Tangshan Literature", "Tangshan Labor Daily", "Tangshan Evening News" learning power platform and "Cultural Tourism China" and other websites and micro-journal platforms, and the lyrics and song "Planting Jade Field is Waiting for You" won the second prize of the city's professional group in the "Rap Tangshan" theme short video collection and evaluation activity.