<b>To the day after tomorrow, Shanghuang County</b>
"To the day after tomorrow, Shanghuang County!" When I was a child, my mother used to say this to me. Huang County, is today's Longkou, no way, we have always been used to calling Huang County.
Why Shanghuang County? Go see my mother's eldest sister, my great aunt. Why go the day after tomorrow instead of tomorrow?
"Go tomorrow, it's a bit too rushed." Tomorrow we have to get ready, see if your dad is going to catch the sea, see what sea goods he can get back. If you can't get back decent seafood, let's see what fish are sold in the fish market. Your aunt's house is not near the sea, and they are not easy to eat fishy. "Mother told me.
If my father had caught a lot of crabs or hit a lot of sea mackerel the next day, or caught up with the fish market on the riverside of the painting river with relatively good seafood to sell, my mother would have been busy immediately, steaming crabs, washing fish and frying fish, steaming steamed buns, packing and preparing, and the day after tomorrow led me straight to the bus station in the north of the city, opening a ticket, and going to Huang County.
Painting of a church by the river Courtesy of the author
The mother was particularly kind to the aunt, especially respected the aunt, and thought of the aunt everywhere. The eldest aunt has two daughters, and each daughter has a large family. When I was a child, I especially loved to go to my aunt's house, because as soon as I arrived at my aunt's house, my generational division suddenly increased, and the children of my aunt's daughter's family had to call me my brother-in-law. When eating, the delicious things are all for me to eat first, and wherever I go, there are nephews and nieces who are older than me carrying me.
When I came back from my aunt's house, I didn't come back empty-handed. Each time I brought back a particularly delicious variety of sauces, such as sweet noodle sauce, salty noodle sauce, watercress sauce and pickles. My aunt is especially good at making noodle sauce, and the pickled pickles are also particularly delicious.
When it was time to pick pears in the autumn, my aunt picked a bag of pears for us. The pear tree on the edge of her pigsty is a very peculiar breed, called fennel, round, very moist, especially sweet.
"My eldest sister is really like a mother." My mother used to say it to me. The eldest aunt is 16 years older than her mother. My mother told me that she had no father when she was very young, and from childhood to adulthood, she was basically brought up by her aunt.
When her mother was 8 years old, her aunt took her to a school run by the American Christian Church, working half work and half reading, half reading and reading, and half a day doing needlework. My mother was good at needlework, which was what she learned at that time, Tong Zi Gong. I have been in school for 4 and a half years, my mother can read a lot, there is no problem in reading and writing, I can recognize the English alphabet, and I can speak a few simple Words of English.
My aunt cared for my mother meticulously, and even married my father, and was also a matchmaker that my aunt helped to do. My father also had a special respect for my aunt and had to make a new pair of shoes for my aunt every year, and my father was a shoemaker.
50 years later, go to Huang County
"To the day after tomorrow, Shanghuang County!" On the first day of my 56th birthday, I told my mother on the phone. She was 94 years old.
"50 years ago, when I was 6 years old, the first time I went out with you was to go to my aunt's house in Huangxian County. 50 years later, I drove you and we went to Huang County. Accompany you to cataract surgery. What's good? ”
"Oh well! I can't hope it is! I'm so old, do people do it in the hospital? ”
"I asked the dean, people can do it, no problem." When we get to the hospital, they will give you a test first, as long as you meet the conditions, you can do it. 98-year-olds older than you can do it and do it well. The key is to check it out. ”
"Great, this broken eyeball, suffocates me every day."
When I arrived at my hometown, I made simple preparations the first day, and the next morning the two of them set off. Before leaving the nursing home, more than twenty elderly people basking in the sun sent us both off. The mother felt very beautiful, and she probably never imagined that her young son would be able to drive her to HuangXian County in a car. The old people talked endlessly:
"You see, this old lady, the courage is so big!" They are all over 90 years old, and they dare to go to the surgery of the eyeballs, so they are blind! ”
"You can really wait for the 'hoop' to be good, people can come back and read books."
"Yeah, every day I watched her wear reading glasses, with a magnifying glass in my left hand and a pen in my right hand to take notes.
Penglai is not far from Huang county. Driving out of the nursing home, 3 consecutive right turns, we got on the original 206 national highway, all the way to the west.
The road in Jiaodong, which is a famous high-grade highway in the country. The scenery along the way is also good, this section of the road is a coastal road. To the south of the road are low hills, terraced fields, freshly harvested crops; to the north is a vegetable field or orchard, and further north is the seaside. In the late autumn, take a deep breath, wafting in the aroma of ripe apples and the fragrance of the land that has been planted with wheat.
In the car, the mother's spiritual head was doubled. She said she wasn't sleepy at all and told me to drive a little slower to see the scenery along the way. Whenever she stopped at a red light, she had to ask where it was. Xiazhu Pan, Beigou Sancun, Huangshuihe, she still remembered these names, but her mouth kept chanting: "Changed, everything has changed." ”
Out of the Penglai border into Huang County. I have to say that the people of Huangxian Are more diligent, more brain-conscious, and more able to take care of their own land, and even the trees along the highway are different from other places. The general highway is a single tree species along the road, although dense and tall, but always feel a little monotonous, there is no sense of layering.
The road in the Huangxian section is green along the road, which can be exquisite. The green belt is divided into three layers, the lowest is the dwarf holly, which does not fall leaves in winter; behind the holly is a tall and tall poplar; the most poetic and creative thing is that between the holly and the poplar, pomegranates are planted. It is shorter than poplar trees, but taller than holly. The leaves of the pomegranate tree are colorful and shiny with oil, water spirit, and look vibrant in the autumn sun. In particular, the trees still have large and small pomegranates that have not been picked, and hey, this harvest autumn feeling is so good!
I told my mother about the greening creativity of the People of Huangxian County, and she would smile knowingly, saying that she couldn't see clearly what kind of trees they were, "You drive well first, and when I cut the cataracts on this trip, we will take a good look." ”
Mother tells stories
When I got to the hospital, I stayed down and started to do various tests. The hospital was very thoughtful, they knew that my mother was in her 90s and needed to be taken care of at night, so they arranged a single room for the two of us, two single beds, and a basket of flowers and fruits.
One of the most important examinations, which determines whether the patient can undergo cataract surgery, is atropine drops, dilating the pupils. If it can be scaled up smoothly, there is no problem and surgery can be performed. Otherwise, surgery is not possible.
As soon as the dean heard that the patient was an old man in his 90s, he did not say a word, and immediately arranged an experienced guide to accompany him throughout the process. After examination, the mother's naked eye vision is 0.02, in broad daylight or under the light, that is, only a person can see a shadow.
With atropine indigestion, the pupil dilation is smooth; anesthesia and surgery are also smooth. Doctors praised and encouraged her, an elderly man in her 90s with a flexible mind and strong language skills.
After the operation, she was bedridden blindfolded, and I accompanied her in the ward. Blindfolded, the mother began to tell stories—
"Huang County, now assigned to Longkou City." This is an old county with a lot of history, you don't look at the size of Huang County, the population is not very large, huang county people can have the ability. There is an old saying in Penglai that burying Huangxian people is 'Huangxian set', in fact, Huangxian people are diligent and hardworking, both can speak and do, unambiguous. If you casually taste the food in the restaurant in HuangXian City and look at the amount given by others, I see that it is one of the best in the whole Yantai area.
The people of Huangxian County are diligent and fast, and we Penglai people are all convinced. Selling cabbage in winter, if this cabbage can sell 3 cents more in Penglai 1 pound, in the tenth winter month, huangxian people will also brave the wind and snow to push the cabbage on Penglai to sell.
Tell me about your aunt.
Your aunt's name is Li Peifen, and there is no one in the county seat of Huang County. In her early years, she attended the church school run by the American missionary Cicero Pruitt (1857-1946), working half-time, attending classes in the morning and making coats in the afternoon. I went all the way to junior high school graduation, the junior high school before liberation. Later, she participated in the establishment of the North China Theological Seminary.
This missionary Pu Qiwei was really a personal figure, he came to Huangxian from Penglai in 1888, and on the banks of the Dai River, he ran churches, hospitals, schools, and churches, and made a great contribution to Huangxian County. There is a Chongshi Middle School in Huangxian County, and there is also a Huailin Hospital, which is very famous and is led by him.
Your great uncle, great aunt, and your aunt all studied medicine in Huailin Hospital, all worked in this hospital, and later returned to penglai's hometown to open a hospital with your grandfather to practice medicine. If not, we have to come to Huangxian for cataract surgery, Huangxian has a tradition and high medical technology.
Your aunt has no children herself, she adopted two daughters, which are probably abandoned babies. It is your 'Huangxian big sister and second sister'.
Why is it rare for me to have a writer named Lao She in Beijing, which was recommended to me by an old doctor in Huailin Hospital. She said that this Lao She and Pu Qiwei's eldest daughter Pu Ed were good friends, and Pu Ed helped Lao She translate "Four Generations Together".
When I arrived in Beijing that year to help your brother watch the children, I found out that everyone in Beijing especially liked Lao She! Lao She is a Manchu, he grew up without a father, his mother is particularly poor, he relies on washing clothes and doing needlework to earn food. During the 'Cultural Revolution', Lao She touched the lake, which is a pity..."
I never imagined that my mother would tell me so many stories. I'm in my 90s, and I still have this spirit, which is really remarkable.
The surgery was successful and there were 3 days of hospital stays. Before discharge, checked the postoperative vision, 0.4! This is good, it is really re-seeing the light.
"You go downstairs to the restaurant to buy 20 steamed buns, huangxian high pile steamed buns can be delicious." We brought back a few, and I gave them to the director of the nursing home and the neighbors and friends. On weekdays, people bring me good food. She instructed.
"Also, when we came, didn't you say that the tree next to the Huangxian Highway had three layers, and then you stopped the car and asked me to see the 'three-story tree' in Huangxian County." Now my eyeballs are 'tied', look at the situation more! ”
The most interesting thing was that the two of us went back to the nursing home, and as soon as we got out of the elevator, my mother looked down, "Ah, this ground is white!" For 3 years, I always thought it was gray-black. ”
The mother and son laughed.
Author: Zhang Xinhong
Edit: Huang Yufeng