The Northern Stories of Chef Lao Tan

Chapter 597

On the morning of Li Shuang's father's funeral, it snowed. The snow was not heavy, but it kept drifting.

Due to the simplicity of everything during the epidemic, not many people came to see the elderly off.

On the way back from the crematorium, Lao Tan remembered that today was his mother's birthday, so he took out his mobile phone and called Fifth Sister.

The fifth sister said on the phone that everything is fine at home, the elder sister and the others are back, chickens were killed yesterday, and the New Year’s pig was killed on Laba Day. Mom’s birthday will be as lively as usual, so he doesn’t have to worry about it.

Old Tan hung up the phone and looked up at the sky, the sky was blank, killing sadness.

Zhang Li told him to get in the car and go back, he waved to Zhang Li, and Zhang Li came over.

"It's my mother's birthday today, can I go back if I can think of a way?" He asked.

"It's too bad. I can go back. I guess I have to quarantine." Zhang Li said.

Old Tan sighed.Now he really wants to go home to celebrate his mother's birthday, it may be the reason for attending the funeral continuously, he is worried——
It stands to reason that this kind of worry should not be there, but the mother is old after all, and the children are always praying for the longevity of their parents in their hearts, but they are worried in reality.

"Isn't the old lady very nice?" Zhang Li said.

"It's good, but I can't go back and make trouble."

"A drink with you?"

"No -- if you're okay, walk with me."

The two walked on a road that extended to a construction site that had been shut down. The snow covered the road with a thin layer, leaving two clear footprints behind them.

Old Tan was smoking a cigarette, and the smoke drifted slowly in the air.

"Sister Shuang is worried about her mother." Zhang Li said.

"Hey, wife, wife, the other half must feel bad after leaving halfway," Lao Tan said.

"The old couple have a good relationship, and they have never blushed in their lives—"

"Um--"

"Seeing Sister Shuang's son crying and scratching his heart, I can't bear it—"

"The child was brought up by his grandparents since he was a child, and he has feelings."

"Hey, man, a lifetime of being a sucker, a lifetime of being rich and powerful, a lifetime of hard work, a lifetime of eating, drinking and having fun—it's all the same when you're old, what can you do if you burn it?"

"Everyone has to take this step—"

Zhang Li's feet were padded with stones and she almost fell down. Old Tan hurriedly helped her stand upright.

She said: "You are mainly panicking because of Miss Wang's imminent departure. Even if you don't tell me these few days, I will know. Sister Wang is a good person, like a sister, especially when you are sick, she is with your daughter-in-law every day. Serving you and taking care of you, can you not want to? To be honest, I want to.

Hey, God is jealous of beauty—”

Old Tan did not speak, smoking silently.

In the distance through the snowflakes is a vague city shrouded in snow, which looks like a dormant beast at this time.

After a while, Lao Tan seemed to be talking to himself, and also seemed to be asking Zhang Li: "What should I do?"

"What do you want to do? What do you mean?" Zhang Li asked.

Lao Tan shook his head and said, "I don't know what it is, it seems that I don't know what to do all of a sudden.

You don't know, from coming out to Li Shuang's house in the morning, watching them kneeling there to mourn, then waking up, going to the crematorium to bid farewell to the old people, and then cremating, to packing the ashes and putting the urns, I was like a wooden man.Although he directs what to do, it is all habitual. In fact, he doesn't know what he is doing at all.

Especially when she came out of the crematorium, everyone got into the car, Li Shuang cried while hugging her father's ashes, her son also cried, her mind went blank, as if she felt that everything was normal, everyone had to die , there will be such a day, but sooner or later--
Last night I was still thinking about my mother's birthday today, 86th birthday, so I called home in the morning.But I forgot, looking at Li Shuang's father's urn, I suddenly remembered it.

At that time, I wanted to go home, I wanted to see my mother, but I couldn't cure it——
I also think about it now, think about it with fear, fear——
Oh, I'm so afraid--"

Zhang Li took Lao Tan's arm and said, "I understand."

Old Tan lit another cigarette, took a puff and said, "You don't know, my mother begged for food to raise us six siblings, and she suffered so much——
I was ignorant when I was young, and loved to play with whips. I was only about four years old, and I don’t remember much——
But I remember that time, my dad twisted a whip for me with a rag, but it didn't work, and it couldn't whip.I was about to smack, and my dad told my mom to pull out the waistband——
I clearly remember that my mother's waistband is a tattered agricultural triangle belt, the kind with rubber on the outside and thread belt on the inside.My father took out a string from my mother's waistband and tied it to the whip, and when he whipped hard, the whip rang.

Then my dad gave me the whip and said it reverberated.But I didn't answer it, I watched my mother tie the triangle belt back into her waist—you know, my mother was holding my pants while my father was whipping me, it was winter, and it was snowing ——”

Old Tan's voice was choked up, and tears blurred his eyes.

Zhang Li took out a tissue and handed it over, Lao Tan took it and wiped away his tears.

"I never played with the whip after that--not even hated.

My father left when I was seven years old, and my mother took our siblings there.Let’s not talk about hard times—but I don’t feel embarrassed, because my mother is always at home, and I don’t need anything.

It is said that adversity produces talents, suffering tempers people, and suffering is the wealth of life-but is it true?I never thought so.

Poverty and misery, wealth and happiness, they are realities that exist, whichever reality you were born in is that reality, which cannot be changed, nor can you blame others.

When I was young, I didn’t know what poverty was, and I didn’t feel it. The only thing I could feel was that the food and clothes were different from other people’s, and everything else was the same.

When I really felt what it means to be poor, I was in the first grade of elementary school. The teacher asked me to pay the tuition fee. I didn’t have it. I asked my mother for it when I got home. My mother wrote me a letter of introduction in the brigade, saying that my family is a poor household and the school is free of tuition fees. .

I took the letter of introduction to the teacher, and the teacher accepted it without saying anything. After that, I knew that my family was poor and different from other families.

Poverty is reality, and there is nothing to be ashamed of.You eat your rice and scrambled eggs, and I eat my dry cornmeal and pickles.From elementary school to junior high school to high school, I didn't wear a decent piece of clothing, but I didn't feel chilly, and I definitely didn't accept my fate, but just endured it.

But poverty really oppresses people, and sometimes it can be overwhelming.

I didn't finish my high school, and although my tuition was reduced or exempted, I really couldn't continue my studies because I was poor and had no money.

I have been poor and know what it is like to be poor.

Poor people don't care about what to eat and what to wear, what they have and what they don't have at home, what they care about is the supercilious look and contempt from others, especially from close relatives and relatives.

I remember that after I dropped out of school, I worked as a farmer at home. In my twenties, it was time to be a daughter-in-law in the countryside, and some of them were engaged to get married.My family is poor and there is no matchmaker.

My mother was anxious, and told an aunt in the family that if there was a suitable one to introduce, my aunt would introduce it in front of my mother, who would give it to the daughter-in-law of your poor family?You can be a bachelor for a lifetime.

My mother didn't say anything, turned around and left.

I kicked that aunt away. "

　On the way back from get off work in the afternoon, it was raining, and the martial law in Beiling Park was to welcome the return of the remains of the martyrs who resisted US aggression and aided Korea.

　　In the rain, people stood upright.There was an old man with descendants holding an umbrella behind him. When the convoy of the martyrs approached, the old man said: "The umbrella has been withdrawn, let me salute the old comrades in arms."

　　In the rain, the old man’s military salute came from the convoy until the convoy drove away, and the people on both sides and on the opposite side also took off their umbrellas and raincoat hats, and stood there to salute——
　　The hero returns to his hometown, and the mountains and rivers are safe.

　　In the flourishing age of China, the blood of the seniors is bloody, and the younger generation should be self-improving!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)