My hometown is a small town at the foot of Taihang Mountain in the hinterland of Central Plains. My diet is mainly noodles, and my dinner is usually noodle soup.
Soup is different from porridge in that it has more water and poor quality. There are only a few grains of rice in a big bowl of soup. When I was in Nanjing before, I found that I drank less water than others, that is, I was used to drinking soup instead of water since I was a child.
Tonight's burrito with soup, soft and thin round cake with white flour, spread on a flat-bottomed plate, and sprinkle several strings of vegetables evenly on the cake, which can be green vegetables, shredded potatoes, pickles, bean sprouts in vinegar, pig's head in sauce, etc. Then roll up the cake and fold the bottom. The food in your mouth is delicious, the burrito is strong, easy to digest and full of satiety, which is really unique.
Because it is difficult to eat such authentic hometown meals outside, I ate a lot of dinner. Walking after dinner is the first choice for digestion.
Although it is already midsummer, because of the light rain these days, the night is still a little cold, and the evening breeze blows on my face, which makes me feel very comfortable.
My father and I joined three or five old friends of his family, and then went out along the hutong.
Hutongkou is a large clearing, which used to be the distribution center of agricultural trade in my hometown, but now it has been abandoned. There are many weeds in the open space, some of which are more than one person tall, but those tall and straight poplars have not changed much. The row of facade houses on the edge of the clearing was dilapidated and could not see the excitement at that time. Because of the epidemic, the whole clearing was sealed by a blue iron plate, and only a small door let people pass through, and the closed space was even more desolate.
Coming out of the small door, it's a completely different scene outside. A straight road looks like a long queue, and across the road is an open-air civic square newly built in recent years.
It is the noisiest and most lively time of the day in the square, showing a vibrant scene of nightlife in a small town.
The square is rectangular, with several circular open spaces and winding corridors in the middle, a small football field in the west and a basketball court in the east. The middle of the square is carefully dotted with all kinds of green plants, which makes the whole square full of green. This rectangle is surrounded by plastic track and horizontal bar, table tennis, comprehensive fitness equipment and other sports equipment.
At half past eight, it was completely dark and the square was brightly lit. Some people dance, some play basketball, some play football, some run, some walk, and three or five friends sit together and chat. On the edge of the square, there are some people with a keen sense of business. They have set up many booths, such as the children's air cushion castle and the cold drink booth.
Before the square was built, most people around here got together to drink at night, while the women did nothing. After the completion of the square, there will be more activities to get out of the house. A square can change the lives of many grassroots in China. My father and his old friends are members of the cool walking team in this community. When I arrived at the square, my father didn't go to the cool walking team with my old friends, but walked with me alone.
My father has a goal of walking 10 thousand steps every day. I am glad that my father can stick to such a healthy living habit. According to my dad himself, first of all, there are external incentives for fitness: as long as you insist on walking more than 10000 steps every month, and exceed 15 days, the unit will issue some awards. It seems that the health unit of employees also attaches great importance to it.
My father and I walked and talked, and walked four times counterclockwise along the plastic runway in the square. Father took out his mobile phone and looked at the steps. Today, he only walked more than 6,000 steps, and my dad suggested that we go for a walk on the river bank together.
We came out from the east end of the square, passed many gateball courts for the elderly, brightly lit indoor badminton halls and quiet small parks in turn, and came to the crossroads in the east. The northeast corner of the intersection is a newly-built distribution center for farmers, and the path leading to the river bank goes all the way east. We crossed the intersection and entered the path.
On one side of the path is a row of typical houses with two or three floors in the north, which are generally called yards. Many people enjoy the cool at the door, some are shirtless, some are wearing vests, and many children play ball under the simple basketball stand installed on the wall at home. On the other side of the path is a large black farmland with corn and vegetables.
We walked forward quickly and passed this row of houses without street lights. The path is completely dark, only the tulle moonlight is spread on the path, and the river bank about 200 meters ahead is like a city wall.
There is no light on the river bank, and occasionally a few beams of light tear the darkness like scissors, cutting this smooth and thick black silk at night.
Walking on the river bank is like being in the darkness of a winding train. It is also cool on the river bank, and the breeze mixed with the moisture of the river mixed with the fragrance of plants and trees, which calmed my heart.
Stand on the riverbank and look down. The riverbank is about 100 meters away from the river. Next to the river bank is a dense and tall Yang Shulin. There are a few rays of light in the middle of the dense forest, which are the light from the monkey catcher's flashlight on summer night. Catching cicadas usually takes place on summer nights. At this time, the cicada moved slowly and the flashlight shone on it.
The path through the poplar forest is a fertile grassland that extends to both sides of the river. The grass occasionally glows like a firefly, which is the light that night fishermen lure fish to the bait. The river is not wide, about ten meters, and the water quality is clear and gurgles like a dream.
Not far from the other side of the river bank is a two-way two-lane wide road with patches of Yang Shulin growing naturally on both sides. The warm yellow light of the street lamp is printed in the eyes through Yang Shulin, like a lullaby that grandma hummed with a cattail leaf fan on a summer night when she was a child.
My father and I walked along the river bank. Not long after we walked, a path went down the river bank and connected with the road. We walked along the road back to the square of the activity center. By this time, all the dancers had dispersed, and only some people were still walking in the square. My father looked at the steps again. Today, the goal was achieved, so we walked slowly through the dark abandoned food market and went home non-stop.
Although my hometown is not as beautiful as Jiangnan water town, walking in Nanjing at night has never given me such a quiet and down-to-earth feeling.
It's past ten, and the night is deep. My wife is working in Nanjing far away, so she can't enjoy my leisurely life at this time, and now she is asleep.