Text: Wang Weide
Although I have not seen my grandfather, I have learned from the mouths of the elders in the village that my grandfather was upright and charitable before he died, and he has some reputation in the local area. In particular, his carpentry skills, within a radius of tens of miles, can be called first-class. From the small table and chair bench, to the large wardrobe and dresser used for marriage, it can be said that each piece is a fine product. Therefore, the number of people who asked grandpa to take care of furniture was endless, and the door was like a city, so the family was also quite rich.
After the death of his grandfather, the question of the succession of carpenters' craftsmanship was placed in front of the four brothers of their father. The second uncle and the third uncle successively participated in the work, the uncle was extremely uninterested in carpentry since childhood, in order to make the ancestral carpentry skills not lost halfway, the father who worked outside the home resolutely took over the set of woodworking tools left by the grandfather. His father's carpentry skills were much inferior to his grandfather's, but while his father was working, he was still busy making a lot of furniture for the family. Sometimes, when neighbors ask for it, my father always agrees cheerfully, and the prescribed construction period is never delayed. The unsmiling father was never the same at home, and the severity of our brothers was the best embodiment of the carpentry work of our brothers.
Vernacular Prose: Lost Family Craftsmanship
Since the day I can remember, there has been a tall and thick acacia tree stake in the middle of our yard (specially fixed there for sawing wood), when sawing wood, first in the middle of the wood to be sawn with ink to mark a straight line, my eldest brother stood on the bench, the second brother was slightly bowed at the other end, the two of them went up, with tacit understanding, the saw blades pulled back and forth rhythmically, smoke-like wood chips fell down, when a long piece of wood in the garden was sawn into two pieces, the brothers were already tired and sweaty. My father was extremely strict with his brothers in their carpentry work, and he was never merciful to anyone who went wrong. Once, when the eldest brother saw wood, his brain deserted and sawed off the line, and a good plank became waste, and the father was furious and beat the eldest brother violently. Since then, the brothers have been very careful every time they work, afraid that one day their father's fist will fall on them again. In the winter of 1973, the eldest brother enlisted in the army, and the second brother's carpentry work was also honed to be able to work independently. But sawing boards was ultimately a job done by two people, and it was naturally the turn of me, who was only 9 years old. But I hate carpentry work from the bottom of my heart, just like my uncle! Therefore, with a rebellious heart, I naturally did not cooperate with the second brother to saw wood. Once, when I sawed a wooden board, I deliberately twisted the saw blade to the side, and the sharp saw blade quickly pulled down the line and rushed out obliquely, and a good end of the wooden board turned into scrap. When my father saw this, he was angry and painful, but he suppressed the anger in his heart, and he unusually did not treat me with his fists, but just scolded me loudly. The reason why my father did not dare to commit violence against me was that he still expected me to continue to pull a big saw for my second brother as an assistant. I was deeply disappointed!
Although his father was strict, he did not have so much time to take care of family affairs because he was away from home. My father's absence was so easy and pleasant, no one supervised me anymore to force me to pull a saw, and the capable second brother was surprisingly good to me, not only did not let me pull a saw, but also encouraged me to go out and play with my friends. I am grateful to my second brother who gave the green light. But I soon learned that the scheming second brother wanted to inherit the carpentry skills handed down from his ancestors alone and weaken the opponents who competed with him. Seriously, as long as I am not allowed to do carpentry work, it is equivalent to personally removing the shackles that have been put on me and removing a heavy stone grind that is pressing on my heart! How could I not thank him?! The second brother finally confessed his wishes to his father. Since then, my father has no longer forced me to work.
After I joined the work, I occasionally returned home and found that the family had added new dining tables, dining cabinets and small benches, all of which were masterpieces by the second brother. After years of research, although the second brother's carpentry skills are not as exquisite as his grandfather's, the level is not below his father, and he is also a leader in the woodworking industry in the village. Fast forward to the early 1990s, and the trend of going out to work also blew to the remote hometown, the small village was restless, and some flexible villagers began to move. When the first villager to go out to eat "crabs" returned to the village in a brand-new tractor fanny pack, the second brother who worked as a carpenter no longer had the heart to make the furniture for the villagers' glory.
Finally, one day, the second brother showed his father at the dinner table, went out to sell briquettes, and abandoned carpentry to engage in trafficking. Oh, my God! This means that the ancestral carpentry craft is facing an unprecedented "destruction"! The father was enraged. Like an angry lion, he overturned the dinner table and scolded the second brother with a dog's bloody head! The sudden change hit the unprepared father very hard, and the father fell ill. During his father's illness, the stubborn second brother left the house with tears on his back.
In 2003, his father unfortunately died of a heart attack. The whole family was immersed in grief, and the second brother fainted several times in pain. I think that the second brother's crying also has a deep remorse for his father.
The second brother has bid farewell to the woodworking industry for 20 or 30 years, from the initial sale of briquettes to the sale of coal blocks, sales channels from rural to urban, the scale of coal has expanded year by year. The means of transportation for selling coal have been replaced by small tractors to large agricultural vehicles carrying five tons, and have long become famous local coal professionals. After the second brother's pocket bulged, he bought a building in the city and married his son to a daughter-in-law. The set of carpentry tools handed down from the ancestors was stored intact by the second brother in the south bungalow. When there was nothing to do, the second brother would walk into the south bungalow alone, stand in front of the neatly arranged woodworking tools and meditate for a long time, then wipe the dust off the tools with a towel, and then put the tools back in place. After having the little grandson, the second brother was excited, and then moved out the carpentry tools and made all kinds of wooden toys for the little grandson, although these small toys are not as high-end as those bought in the store, but the antique has its own charm.
Times are changing. Our family has been passing down the carpentry craft for more than half a century for three generations, but it was eventually lost. However, the set of woodworking tools displayed in the south bungalow of the second brother's family not only represents the glory and glory of the ancestors, but also the precious spiritual wealth left to the descendants of the Wang family.
I believe that my father and grandfather Izumi have knowledge and will definitely understand the second brother's choice.
About the author: Wang Weide, male, born in the 60s, a member of the Communist Party of China, works in Rizhao Radio and Television Station, likes to write, so far there have been more than 300 news and literary works scattered in national, provincial, municipal newspapers and periodicals, many works have won awards.
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