What is love?

Love is an indescribable thing!

Jiro Ono is the oldest chef in the world with three Michelin stars. The documentary "Sushi Gods" tells the story of his life. After watching this, many people admired Jiro Ono for his lifelong commitment to making nigiri sushi. But what impressed me was another detail.

Ono Jiro is extremely rigorous. For myself, in order to protect my hands, I always wear gloves when not working, and I don’t dare to slack off even when sleeping. Apprentices need to hone their basic skills over and over again, starting with twisting a towel, and only ten years later can they get their turn to make an omelette. Even his own son is no exception.

The eldest son Ono Zhenyi shoulders the burden of the family business, but he has been in charge of the green leaf all year round. He has not yet taken over in his 50s. It wasn't until Ono Jiro suffered a heart attack at the age of 70 that the heavy responsibility of purchasing was transferred to Zhenyi's hands.

Facing the camera, Zhenyi shared the little-known hardships of inheriting his father’s business. The long and boring technical training often made him want to quit. The inner suffering during this period often made him hesitant about life. But it wasn't until he started his apprenticeship and established his career that he realized how much warmth there was in his father's gaze when he was eating every batch of fish and making every sushi.

In the adult world, there is no such thing as easy. Many things may seem like dark clouds at first glance, but you won’t understand the deep meaning behind them until you have trekked through mountains, rivers, lakes and seas.

Every time I mention Jiro Ono, I will think of my experience in Antalya, Turkey.

Antalya is a port on the southern coast of Türkiye adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea. Along the tram line in the center of the city, you can overlook the sea that glows with sapphire luster in the sun. But I didn’t expect that many years later, when I looked back on my three-day stay in Antalya, what impressed me most was not the scenic spots, but a food shop in the central square of the city.

The approximately 30-square-meter store is filled with all kinds of handmade chocolates, jams, honeys and biscuits. The shop owner is a middle-aged man in his 40s with gray hair. Whether he is a new visitor or a neighbor of many years, he diligently handles every business and chats and laughs with every customer.

When I first entered the store, I saw that he was tired and asked him how many days he worked per week. He said "7-11", open all year round. I'm curious as to how we can stay busy with only two employees, and we have to take inventory and replenish goods. He laughed loudly, as if hearing a strange question from a foreigner: "My father came here this way."

I looked down again and saw that the name of the store was written on all the food packages. There is also a line of small print below, starting in 1875. Not only his father, but his father's father and his father's grandfather have only lived for this store their entire lives.

“Have you never thought about leaving the store to others and doing something you like?” I asked him. The uncle's answer was quite true: "I wanted to do it when I was young. But after I finally opened the store, I gradually understood the thoughts of my grandparents and fathers from every piece of food, and also understood the reasons for their persistence."

In Europe, such stories abound. I encountered a perfume shop that has been passed down for five generations in southern France, and a cheese shop that has been passed down for three generations in Switzerland.

In their lives, time moves very slowly, and their days pass like water, but they are plain and solid, and they also have stable happiness.

In comparison, it seems difficult for us to understand the endless life and death between families. Going back three generations, most of them are "immigrants" in big cities. Even if you stay in your hometown, no matter whether you are engaged in agricultural work or studying in rain or shine, you will still face ever-increasing temptations.

My grandparents, who worked hard all their lives, never thought about entrusting the family business. The most ardent hope is that the children and grandchildren will study and become talented, have a stable life, and even better hope that the class will rise. But behind these desires are actually anxieties about poverty and rootlessness.

As for us, struggle is more important than anything else. We always focus on ourselves, life, love, career and travel. We regard the transmission between generations as a useless luxury, and the genealogy and ancestral hall are dusty past events in our imagination.

At first glance, we pride ourselves on being rebellious and independent, actively and passively running towards reality. Through careful identification, we have diluted some emotions that are based on blood and are difficult to describe.

When we were leaving, the uncle at the Antalya food store told me that after his father passed away, every time he made chocolate or jam, he seemed to feel that his father was still there.

This kind of thing that cannot be expressed in words is probably love.

It’s interesting to see the world this way, WeChat public account: Fu Kicki WeChat ID: futeetee