The legendary road of ancestors

Occasionally, I passed by the elderly activity center in the village and saw that it was desolate. Weeds grow under the fitness equipment, the original white wall is covered with black stains left by rain, cobwebs are hung in the corner of the roof, and broken tiles fall from time to time. There is no lively scene in the past here, and the old people who used to regard it as their second hometown have long since disappeared.

But for me, their stories have long been integrated with this place.

(1) Third Master

In my impression, the first old man who died was San Ye. He was the village head at that time, the initiator of building this activity center for the elderly, and the most prestigious and respected figure in the village. No one knows his name except a few old people his age, but everyone really calls him the third master of life when they see him.

Third Master is not from our village. Because of the famine in his hometown, many people starved to death and were forced to leave their homes and beg all the way to the east, so he survived.

It is accidental and inevitable that Third Master came to our village.

It is said that when Third Master came to our village, the whole person seemed to climb out of the soil. It was very cold at that time, and it was the next morning when people in the village found Third Master unconscious. Grandma, who had just married her grandfather, got up early to sweep the yard and saw a mass of mud lying at the door. When she took a closer look, she realized that this was actually a lie. Grandma quickly called grandpa, took Sanye to the house to clean up the mud for him, let him eat, understand his situation, and took him in with grandpa. After his recovery, Third Master was very grateful to Grandma, hoping to do something to repay her for saving his life, but he couldn't figure out how to repay her, and he was embarrassed to eat and drink at Grandma's house for nothing, so he had to leave. Grandma finally persuaded the third master. Grandma is a Buddhist and can't bear to see Third Master beg again. After thinking about it, she decided to keep Third Master as a long-term worker, and his room and board expenses were deducted from her salary, so Third Master agreed to stay.

Third Master is very capable, diligent and knowledgeable. He often teaches my father and them. In this way, Third Master worked in Grandpa's house for five years.

In that year, the commune informed that a team should choose a captain to be responsible for the production report of each team. At that time, few people in the village could read, and then everyone thought of the third master of grandma's family. Later, San Ye became a captain, and later he became an accountant. After the reform and opening up, although the commune system has not been implemented, everyone is still used to taking San Ye as the team leader and accounting as the backbone. When dividing the land, although the third master is a foreigner, after unanimous discussion, everyone agreed to give the third master a piece of private land and raise money to build a house for him, which will also be used as a home and office.

Later, the third master married his daughter-in-law, and the third aunt introduced him to his cousin. Third Master has a good relationship with his new wife and has never quarreled. They were as respectful as guests and gave birth to a son the following year. Third Master finally has a complete home here.

I don't know when, the back of Third Master began to fade out of my sight. Several times, I saw him pass by my door, and the "click" sound of the chain and his cough were left behind. In the sunset, the back of the bicycle was pulled obliquely for a long time. ...

One night in the middle of the night, Third Grandma was patting my door in a hurry. The barking of the neighbor's dog and Third Grandma's urgent crying woke the sleeping villagers. It turns out that grandpa three has been in poor health for several years. Tonight grandpa three coughs badly, coughing up a lot of blood and pus in his stool.

My second uncle, my father, grandpa, grandma, grandpa three and grandpa five dragged grandpa three to the hospital in the town by flatbed. After listening to my dad, that night was really "thrilling". My uncle is pulling the cart in front, and my father and them are pushing it behind. Ice flowers splashed on the uneven path. In a hurry, Wu Ye almost fell into the ice hole in the river. When I arrived at the hospital, my father and their anxious cries echoed in the silent hospital: "doctor, doctor, is anyone there?" The doctor on duty took a flashlight and shone it in the eyes of the third master. He immediately said to the nurse around him, "Go to the emergency room quickly."

A group of people sat anxiously in front of the emergency room. Grandpa three and grandpa five each squatted silently at the door with an old hookah, smoking cigarettes again and again. Grandpa Wu still has ice on his trouser legs. ...

After waiting for a long time, the doctor pushed open the door of the emergency room, took off his mask and shook his head helplessly. "Sorry, we have tried our best."

Third grandma rushed in like a madman, watching Third Master lying quietly in the hospital bed, crying in pain, and the shocking crying kept ringing in the empty corridor. Even strong men like uncle and my dad can't help but silently wipe their tears.

Third master is gone.

I clearly remember that on the day of Third Master's funeral, all the people in the team got together. With the manager's "before and after" and people's crying, his coffin was put into the grave and then buried in the soil bit by bit.

This activity center for the elderly is the last contribution of Third Master to the village, but unfortunately he didn't enjoy it for long.

(2) Aunt Sun

First of all, Aunt Sun is not Sun Erniang's sister, but an ordinary rural woman.

Aunt Sun, like Third Master, is not a local. She is an out-and-out Sichuan spice girl. In the early years, I fell in love with Grandpa Sun who went to work in Sichuan at first sight, and then she left her hometown for love and followed him to a completely strange place.

When Aunt Sun first came, she was called "Man Zi" behind her back because of her fluent Sichuan dialect and local people's prejudice against outsiders.

Aunt Sun doesn't agree with this insulting nickname. She is still optimistic about life and is as friendly as possible to everyone. Everything she does in the team is rushed to do, and she never says anything bitter or tired. After a long time, everyone's attitude towards her has changed greatly. At least her name is no longer Man Zi.

A "Sun Lao everyone's" is that Aunt Sun has been integrated into this whole.

In order to adapt to the life here, Aunt Sun changed the habit she developed in Sichuan and even changed the taste of eating. No one knows how hard she has worked behind her back. But one thing has never changed, and that is her special accent.

In the next few years, Aunt Sun gave birth to two big fat boys, and the happy Uncle Sun kept laughing all day.

With the reform and opening up, life in rural areas has been greatly improved. In order to make his family live a better life, Uncle Sun started some small businesses in the village and worked day and night. It is said that during that time, no one saw him walk, but he trotted all the way, just to save time.

Time flies, and Uncle Sun's two children are getting married. In order to facilitate the introduction, Uncle Sun took out his savings for many years and built a two-story building, one for the boss and the other for the second child. He and Aunt Sun still lived in adobe houses with decades of history and still lived a hard life.

Finally, Uncle Sun died and didn't see the two sons get married. Aunt Sun was sad for a while, not eating or drinking, staring blankly at the sky. It's useless to persuade anyone. At that time, everyone thought that Aunt Sun was dying, probably leaving with Uncle Sun. But this time, Aunt Sun cheered up. She can't fall yet. The two children are not married yet, and she will continue to do the tasks that her wife has not finished.

In the next few years, Aunt Sun worked overtime every day. Naturally, her body is not as good as before, her face is aging rapidly and her hair is turning white. Fortunately, her efforts were not in vain and her sons got married smoothly. And she also moved back to her adobe house, leaving a good living environment for her children.

But fate always likes to play tricks on people, so this time she played a big joke with Aunt Sun.

One night, the second child drove his newly bought Wuzheng car to the station to pick up the old couple who came back from work. As a result, he had an accident because of the weather. The second child and the eldest daughter-in-law died on the spot, and the eldest was seriously injured and became a vegetable. He followed after half a month. The second daughter-in-law who just got married naturally didn't want to be a widow all her life, and remarried after half a year. For a time, there was only one person left in the bustling home, guarding the big house on the second floor alone, with countless pains and thoughts.

After such a blow, Aunt Sun was as silent as a completely different person.

In this way, after a few years, Aunt Sun's hair turned white, and she looked like a centenarian before she was 60 years old, and she could fall down at any time. Until the village chief made a decision to build an activity center for the elderly.

After the center was completed, Aunt Sun, who basically didn't communicate with others, turned out to be a frequent visitor, which was refreshing. I have a new hobby, fighting landlords.

……

After more than two years, Sanye passed away.

I haven't seen Aunt Sun for two days.

People haven't seen Aunt Sun for a week.

I haven't seen Aunt Sun for half a month.

Worried old people found Aunt Sun's home, which was dusty and empty.

Aunt Sun is missing. Even if the police intervened later, there was no result. It's like she just vanished into thin air.

Until now, no one has seen Aunt Sun again.

(3) White Beard Brothers

I remember when I was a child, I came to the activity center to play. I often saw several tables in the middle of the yard, and a group of old people gathered together to play cards and chess. It was very lively. The three people at one table have never changed, and the items they play have never changed. They are permanent landlords. And these three old people are also very distinctive. Two old men with long white beards brought a wrinkled and extremely thin old lady.

This old lady is Grandma Sun, who has been miserable all her life, and the real names of the two old people are estimated to be known only by those who are similar in age to them. However, because they all have beards, we juniors have given them a nickname. The thin one, we call him white beard; We call a man with a beard on both cheeks a hairy beard. Gradually, these two nicknames actually spread in the village. A little careless.

Grandpa White Beard was the second-in-command of the production team when he was young. He was commended by the commune every year and soon became the production captain. He once led the production team to the peak of commune production and was one of the most respected figures of the team members.

But there are always accidents in the world. In a production activity, Grandpa White Beard's left leg was accidentally run over by a tractor and became disabled. The production team was once depressed because it lost its backbone, and it was not until the appearance of loose leaves that it regained its spirits. Later, Grandpa White Beard installed rubber legs, which restored his mobility to a certain extent, but he never lost his former style.

However, as the saying goes, "When God closes a door for you, he will open a window for you." With the reform and opening up and rural reform, Grandpa White Beard also staged "every cloud has a silver lining".

At that time, our local mushroom, a specialty here, was so popular with the city people that later someone came to us to buy local mushrooms at a high price. As a result, a storm of mushroom digging soon began. In a short time, all the local mushrooms were dug up, and we will wait until next year to make plans.

This is because grandpa with white beard, who is physically disabled and determined, has found business opportunities at home. He thought that if local mushrooms can be cultivated artificially, they will surely make a fortune. Soon he put his idea into action and started his own local mushroom cultivation plan.

After many failures, Grandpa White Beard finally succeeded. And popularized his cultivation method in the whole village. Later, a local product sales company was established in the village, and Grandpa White Beard naturally became the general manager.

In this way, he has been busy for more than ten years. Finally, when Grandpa White Beard was old, he gave all his work to the younger generation who were motivated and enjoyed life with his old comrade-in-arms Mao Beard in the activity center.

Compared with the story of white beard, Grandpa Mao's life experience is relatively simple. In a word, I have been a people's teacher all my life and trained countless young people.

In a relatively backward place like ours, there is only one rural primary school around, which provides a place for children in several nearby villages to study. There are only 100 students and a dozen teachers, and Grandpa Hu Mao is one of them.

It is said that the middle-aged people of my father's generation in the village are all students of Grandpa Hu Mao, and even the peers who are several years older than me have been baptized by him. Later, at the retirement age, Grandpa Hu Mao, who didn't give up the campus, accepted the re-employment of the school and worked for another five or six years. Finally, I was really old and became a frequent visitor to the activity center with my old friends.

On their first day in the activity center, two bearded grandfathers noticed Grandma Sun looking in at the entrance of the activity center. Naturally, the two old people knew about Grandma Sun. Together, they helped Aunt Sun, and from then on, Aunt Sun swept away the gloom and became positive.

Two years later, two major events happened, the death of Third Master and the disappearance of Aunt Sun. The two old people lost interest and went to the activity center less and less. Finally, the two old people moved to the city with their children, and never came back except for the annual ancestor worship in Tomb-Sweeping Day.

(4) Memory

I couldn't help shouting from my heart and went into the activity center again. Several dark clouds floated across the sky and then drifted away with the wind. Pale yellow leaves fall one by one, forming a new carpet on the ground.

Flowers bloom and fall, year after year, things are different.

Two white-bearded grandfathers and Aunt Sun sat around the square table, tirelessly bickering with the landlord, which caused a burst of laughter.

Third Master pushes his old bike out of the central office, looking busy. The old man who was having a good time casually asked, "What is Third Master doing?" "The town informed me to go to the meeting, and there was a new spirit on it." Say that finish, three master rode away, the chain tinkling.