The story of a cook

Chapter 436 Chatting with the old family

Life is a practice.

Those who walk in the world are either practicing in the world or practicing in their own inner world.No matter whether you are born or entered the world, you are constantly experiencing, and this experience is practice and life.

Every time I go home, I hope that I will be returning home, but every time it is mediocre.I hoped that I would come back wearing gold and silver in a luxury car, but I couldn't.Every time I come back, I am getting older and exhausted, and then I have a wanderer's heart.

I haven't made a fortune after working outside for more than ten years. The biggest achievement is to start a family. Like everyone in my hometown, I have a wife and children.

Is it not working hard enough, or wasting time?
When I left home more than ten years ago, I told myself that I must make a good appearance outside and build a big house for my mother so that my mother can spend her old age peacefully.But until now, I haven't built a big house for my mother, and I still live in the old house 30 years ago.

Is my mother spending her old age in peace now?
In my perception, my mother lives with me, Lin Yan and I go to work to earn money every day, my mother coaxes grandchildren at home, the whole family stays together during Chinese New Year and holidays, the wife is virtuous and the son is filial, and the three generations live together. That is the life I want .

Now it is not.

Is it possible to achieve that kind of life?

Is my current life a success?

Now I am working in the provincial capital, have a family and a business, and have children.Earn the money to cook as a chef for a month, support the family, and support the mother.

The mother is a 72-year-old man who is alone at home.

This is unfilial.

Especially after the son is born, the money given to the mother is very little.Although the mother is not short of money at home, but not giving it is unfilial.I knew in my heart that what my mother lacked was not money, but company, and the company of her children.But I don't come back several times a year, and the number of days I spend with my mother is only a handful.The reason given to myself is that I have to earn money to support my family, and I don’t have time to go home to visit my mother.

What is time?why not?
Where a person's heart is, there is time.

Ashamed of my mother.

My mother said that I don't need to support him, and after two years I feel that I can't live alone, so I will go to Fifth Sister's house.But I am a son. When my mother decided to go to the Fifth Sister’s house for the elderly, I felt that I was incompetent and unable to provide for my mother. Not only was I unfilial, but I was also incompetent.

If you are good and have developed well outside these years, you can buy a big house in the provincial capital and take your mother to live there.My mother felt that it was difficult to go upstairs, so I bought a first floor instead of going upstairs.

But now not only did he not buy a building, but he also rented a house to live in.

It is only now that I realize that I am an ordinary person, living an ordinary life, whether I am working outside or at home, I am an ordinary person.

In the past ten years, I haven't learned bad things outside, and I haven't lived a bad life. I have been working hard for my life every day, but I haven't lived a good life.

I still remember that when I went out, I was wearing a padded jacket, a dress made during the Chinese New Year, a pair of jeans on my lower body, and cotton-padded shoes on my feet.a small bag.There were two changes of clothes in it, and only 100 yuan in my pocket, and I got on the train to the provincial capital.

At that time, I didn't have a big dream. The only dream was to be a human being, change the current situation of my family, and no longer be poor.Earn money outside to pay for Fifth Sister to finish her normal education, and if possible, bring a daughter-in-law back to solve her lifelong affairs.Earn enough money, go home, knock down the house and rebuild it, build a big house, and repair the yard, and it is also dignified, and asks my mother to walk in the village with her head up.

Now I am 32 years old. If I don’t start a family outside, the house at home has already been built. If so, the daughter-in-law may not be Lin Yan, but it should be at home.

Things make fun of people, don't follow people's wishes.

A lot of things don't develop as I thought.But all development is experienced by oneself and participated in by oneself.

What decides oneself is not the initial, but the choice.

If this is fate, then fate is not destined by the sky, but comes out by itself.

God let me be born in a difficult family. According to this meaning, my fate should be suffering and poverty.But now I dare to say that I am neither bitter nor poor. Although I am not rich, I feel at ease.

Some people's lives are not as good as mine. Their families were much richer than mine.

A person should be content, and contentment can lead to happiness.

I found that I was a bit like "Zhang Damin, a poor mouth".

After paying for my father's grave, I stopped by the small market at the bottom of the village to buy something to go home.

There is a small market in front of the mine store, and there are several vendors selling green vegetables, all of which are packed in foam boxes, covered with quilts outside the boxes, in case the vegetables are frozen.To the east of the store used to be a mining equipment factory, but now the equipment factory is yellow, and the office facing the street has been converted into a store, with a restaurant and a pork seller.

When I came out of the house, my mother said that this pork seller sold boiled pig offal and haggis.I went inside and took a look, and recognized the boss as the brother of my junior high school classmate, but he no longer knew me.He didn't even say that he was his younger brother, and bought two catties of haggis and a pig intestine.When I was outside, I thought of the pig intestines that were fed when the pig was slaughtered at home, so I bought one when I saw it.

Get out of the pork shop and come to the vegetable seller.There are three vegetable sellers, one of whom is from our camp. She sells vegetables here when I am at home. According to her seniority, she must be called my uncle.

She also knows me.

"This is not from Old Tan's—" She couldn't remember my name.

"Guohua." I said with a smile.

"Yes, yes, Guohua, are you back?" She asked enthusiastically.

I said, "Well, I'm back."

"He brought his wife back?"

"Well, I brought my wife back."

"I heard from my grandma that your children are quite big."

"One and a half years old, just know how to walk."

"A family of three are back?"

I said, "They're all back."

"Look at my grandma is enjoying the blessings now. You can treat my grandma better. My grandma has suffered all her life, and she will only enjoy happiness when she is old. Hello, my sister-in-law, I will come back to visit my grandma every Sunday. It would be nice for my grandma to buy food from me when I come back," she said.

"My fifth sister is filial." I said.

"Who doesn't say that my sister-in-law is good in our village? She really did her job well. My grandmother is also good. Now I seem to be in better shape than the first two years, and I have more energy. We, who have been working to the age of the camp, add up. , One counts as one, and none of them enjoy the blessings of my old lady, and that old lady is blessed by cultivation."

I smiled and nodded, and bought some vegetables from her.

My mother said that there were fruit sellers in the store, and told me to buy some fruit for my son. There were oranges at home, and I would buy some apples and bananas.The shops used to belong to mines, but now they are contracted by individuals. One big shop is divided into two small shops.One specializes in selling agricultural and sideline products, and the other specializes in selling department stores.

Walking into a store that sells general merchandise, the sellers are a mother and daughter, and the man is cooking at the stove, which seems to be for lunch.

I know all three members of this family. The woman used to sell goods in a store. She was in her 30s at that time, and she is in her 40s now.The man is a mine worker, and he can always meet him when he goes to the mine to take a shower when he is in school.Her child was still in elementary school at that time, and now she is a grown girl.

The woman greeted me and asked me what to buy, I said to have a look and buy some fruit.She said that the fruits are all on the shelf, and she can see for herself that the bananas were new yesterday, and the pears were also new.

I walked over to look at the fruit, and the woman looked me up and down again, and then asked, "Are you from Old Tan's family in Qianyingzi?"

I said, "Yes, did you recognize it?"

"It looks like it, but I don't dare to recognize it, I feel like it's shaking." She said, "You were a child at that time, but now you're an old man, your head is still bald, and you've gained weight."

I smile.

"I heard from your mother that you are in the provincial capital?" she asked.

"Well, it's in the provincial capital." I replied.

"What are you doing in the provincial capital?" she asked.

"Be a chef and cook for others." I said.

"No wonder I'm so fat, I ate it in a restaurant."

I smiled and said: "Almost, eat well."

"You can make money as a cook, more than 1000 a month, right?" she asked.

"That's it, it's better for you to earn money." I said.

At this time, the man also remembered who I was, and said loudly: "Oh, I haven't seen you for more than ten years, and I don't dare to recognize you if I don't tell you."

I laughed, took out a cigarette from my pocket and handed him one.

"Is this home for the New Year?" he asked.

I replied: "Well, it's the Chinese New Year at home."

"How are you doing outside? Isn't the wife from us?" He asked.

I said, "It's okay outside, my wife caressed me."

"That teacher is your sister?"

"Yes, my fifth sister."

"Your mother's old lady is good. Sometimes I just watch it. It's cold this winter, and the old lady doesn't like to go out of the house anymore."

"Yes, my mother doesn't go out of the house very much in winter."

The woman came over and asked me: "What are you doing at the Provincial City Hotel?"

I said, "It's not considered a big hotel, so it's okay."

"Many of us are working in restaurants in the provincial capital. I heard that they make a lot of money," the woman said.

"It's okay. Now going out to work is the same as being at home, and it's fine at home. It's not good to open a store like you." I said.

The woman said: "What's the matter? The first two years were fine, the mine was not profitable, the power plant was profitable, and the store was still making money. Now the mine is yellow, the power plant cannot be opened for wages, and the workers have no money to buy. What? Now our industrial households are not as good as agricultural households. Why do agricultural households still have land? There is a garden at home to eat vegetables without spending money, and a little food in the field is enough to eat. What does this industrial household have? Just listen to the famous It sounds better, it’s useless, the poor are almost begging for food.”

I said: "How can I? There are no beggars now, and I can earn some money by moving around."

The woman said: "You don't know the people in our family. You won't remember what you haven't eaten unless you have a break tomorrow. If you have something to eat, just stay at home and stay still." She glanced at the man and said to him : "I know I'm smoking there, take a look, the food will be mushy after a while."

The man hurried to see the dishes stewed on the stove.

"Now we can't do it anymore. Those who are capable have left, and only the incompetent are left. The agricultural households in your former camp are okay, but the industrial households are all finished." The woman complained.

I smiled, noncommittal.

"The restaurant you run has a lot of waiters, right?" the woman asked.

"Well, not much." I said.

"My child is always reluctant to go out to work, and I am not willing to let her go out." She said.

"Little girl stays at home as much as possible, besides, your family is not short of the little money she earned from working part-time." I said.

She said: "It's not bad, but now you see that we are like her eldest child and a few of them are at home. They all go out to work. No one wants to stay in this poor family, and they all go out."

I said, "If I didn't go out, I would regret it if I went out. It's better to be home."

"Have you settled down in the provincial capital?" she asked.

"I've got a family, but I haven't bought a house yet," I said.

"What about renting a house?" she asked.

"Well, rent a house."

"It's okay, save money for a few years to buy a house there. There is no development in our place, so don't come back when you go out. It's better to be outside than at home."

I smile.

"Leave me your phone number for a while. If my child goes out to work after the Chinese New Year and asks her to come to you, you can arrange a job and help take care of it. You can rest assured when you stay with the family," the woman said.

I was taken aback for a moment, and then said: "That's fine, but you'd better ask her to stay at home. It's hard work going out, so it's better to stay at home."

I didn't expect this to happen when I bought a piece of fruit. It's not that I don't want to take her child, but her child is too young to take responsibility, especially a girl.

(End of this chapter)