one

10 After my father died, under my "carrot and stick", my mother finally agreed to come to Zhengzhou to live with me and her little daughter. This year, my mother was 70 and I was 40. The 70-year-old mother is very thin. The original height was only 1.5 meters, but she was reduced by several centimeters by years. She looks thinner, but her face is still bright and clean, and there are not many traces of vicissitudes. Her hair is not all white, and a little black hair is growing tenaciously.

We borrowed a car to pick her up. She has packed up the old house where she has lived for decades and packed her luggage. There are two bags of flour in those luggage, which she specially grinds for us with the wheat at home. This flour smells like wheat. But that day, I decided not to bring those two bags of noodles, because the trunk of the car was too small and we had to bring too many things. Mom insisted on bringing noodles, she said. When she said this, I suddenly froze. Looking at her, I realized something. I motioned for my husband to move the noodles to the back room, and I reached out to touch the outside. Sure enough, there is a small hard thing in the soft surface at the bottom. If I am not mistaken, this is the money my mother wants to give us.

Putting money in grain has been my mother's secret for many years. Ten years ago, I just got married and rented a small house in Zhengzhou. It was the hardest time of my life. At that time, what I wanted most was not a house or a more promising job, but a decent wardrobe. It was that winter that my mother sent half a bag of millet. Later, when Mr. Wang poured the millet into the rice barrel, he found 500 yuan money hidden in it, and a small note written by his father: Buy a wardrobe for Mei. When I got married, my mother gave me a wardrobe in her dowry. Later, she knew that I had used the money for other purposes, so she made up for it. That night, I cried with a thick stack of money 10 yuan.

In those years, my mother put the money saved in the grain again and again, and let people bring it to me, to my elder sister and my second sister. After we were married for many years, it still supplemented our lives. But we don't know how she saved the money from those acres. This time, even if she went with us, she still put the money in the flour bag, which, in her opinion, is the safest.

After the noodles were sent back, I took out the money and returned it to my mother, who said it was for Tong Tong to buy a car. Tong Tong is her grandson. He always wanted a racing car. I didn't buy it for him because it was expensive. Last time he went back to his hometown, he told his mother about it, and her mother wrote it down. 2000 yuan is her annual harvest of several acres of land. None of us wants to give up, but she does.

In my memory, my mother has always been a willing person. She is willing to pay, give things, borrow money and make efforts for us, her relatives and her neighbors. Sometimes I don't know why she is so reluctant as a thin rural woman.

two

Mom stayed. Every morning, she got up early to cook. Millet porridge, steamed stuffed buns and egg cakes ... changed their patterns. After work at noon, we don't have to rush to buy food anymore. It's all taken care of by housewives. Two pots of green garlic seedlings were added to the balcony. With my mother's home, there is an indescribable comfort.

My mother brought two bags of noodles, one was poured into the bucket and the other was put on the balcony by my husband. A few days later, I found that the bag of noodles on the balcony floor was moved to a high platform to dry. Mr. Wang is a careless person, so he shouldn't have put it there. I asked my mother doubtfully, and she said, Oh, I put it there, let it dry, and don't break it. As soon as I heard it, I was anxious with her. Platform, more than one meter high, a bag of noodles, sixty or seventy kilograms, less than one meter, less than 90 kilograms. Actually, my mother moved it herself. I yelled at her. How did you get it up there? So heavy, flash your waist? What if I hit you? What should I do if something happens ... a series of intense her. She just stood there with a smile and an apron. When I lost my temper, she whispered, Isn't that okay? If something happens, it will be late! I'm still scared, but I feel even more distressed. I didn't calm down until my mother promised me that I wouldn't do any heavy work in the future.

Shortly after my mother came, one day I told my husband that you should invite your classmates home for dinner on Sunday. I have been here for more than half a month and haven't seen them.

Mr. Wang goes to college in Zhengzhou. There are indeed many classmates in this city, and the relationship is good. At first, they would visit each other, but now, everyone is used to meeting in restaurants. City life is so prosperous and indifferent, it is not very close, and people generally don't entertain guests at home. I'll explain for my husband, mom. They often get together outside. Mother shook her head. Where is home outside? The food outside is expensive and unsanitary. Besides, where can I not go home? Only when you go home can you be close. Then, mother insisted that Mr. Wang take his classmates home for a get-together on weekends. We can't beat her. We agreed. Mr. Wang called several of his classmates' closest fellow villagers and invited them to our home at the weekend.

Mom is busy in the kitchen all day on weekends. In the afternoon, Mr. Wang's classmates came one after another, bringing some gifts symbolically. I brought the meals prepared by my mother one by one, and those men who were successful in their careers and entertained in restaurants almost every day were immediately attracted by several dishes and pasta. One of them couldn't help but reach out and pick up a vegetable dumpling, muttering that she liked the vegetable dumpling made by her mother when she was a child and hadn't eaten it for many years. Mother put the whole plate of jiaozi in front of him and said, Eat more if you like. I will often go home to eat in the future, and I will make it for you. The man nodded and his eyes suddenly turned red. His mother has been dead for many years, and he hasn't returned to his hometown for a long time.

That night, everyone drank less wine, but ate more food and talked more. The content of that sentence is not a business field, a unit or a society that is usually said in hotels. Family matters, rarely mentioned, talk slowly. Speaking of hometown and parents, it turned out to be a long-lost closeness.

three

After that, the family was more lively than ever. Mother said, that's good, people live in the world, always close to each other.

Three months after my mother came, one weekend afternoon, someone knocked at the door. It's a woman who lives opposite, carrying a basin of washed big cherries. The woman is a little embarrassed to say, give it to her aunt. I'm surprised. When we first moved here, we had a little conflict with her family because of the problem of decorating and wiring. We don't know each other well, so the relationship is even colder. I have lived for more than three years without any contact. Even the corridor in front of the door is a small area that sweeps each other. She suddenly sent me fresh cherries that had just come into the market, and I didn't know what to say at the moment because I was at a loss. She blushed like that, a little incoherent. The snacks made by my aunt are so cute that the children can eat them ... I suddenly realized that it was my mother.

Mom didn't know we had a little holiday. In fact, even if she did, she would still do it. In her mother's view, "a distant relative is better than a close neighbor" is the most reasonable sentence. So she knocked on the door from door to door, sent them snacks, jiaozi wrapped by herself, and fresh garlic seedlings planted by herself ... and sincerely helped us open the door of our neighbor's house. Later, I became friends with that woman, and her children often came to our house. Grandma followed her mother briefly and became as close as a family.

Neighbors, not just across the hall, around, many people living in the same community, are taken care of by their mothers. She often chats with her husband's parents and colleagues in the garden of the community and helps them take care of their grandchildren. Not only that, but also material communication. My mother often makes some snacks made by herself and gives them to her neighbors enthusiastically, which is also a habit my mother developed when she lived in the countryside. Snacks are not expensive, but because they are mellow and can't be bought outside, they are very human.

Once, I learned that a colleague's child had leukemia, and my mother asked us to send some money. Because we are not close colleagues, we just want to express symbolically, but my mother firmly refuses, saying that anyone may encounter difficulties in this life, and they will be willing to help others if you have something. It is a great difficulty for people to make their children sick. We must help them as much as possible. We listened to our mother.

Half a year after his mother came, Mr. Wang was promoted unexpectedly, and the number of votes in the recommended election of the unit was obviously dominant. Mr. Wang came back and said with a smile, this time it was my mother's credit, and my ticket was pulled by my mother. We just found that recently our interpersonal relationship is better than ever, obviously less polite and more sincere. My mother, who doesn't know a word, quietly won so much for us just because she wanted to, which we always wanted to win but never got. Think again about what she said. You are willing to be kind to others, and others will be willing to be kind to you. For her, this is the most simple and true words of a rural woman; For us, it is undoubtedly a profound truth.

four

I really want to show my mother around on a warm day. But my mother often refuses to go out because she was born carsick and took the second train like a serious illness. That weekend, I decided to take her to the zoo. Mom said, I have never seen an elephant. The zoo is not far from home. How many stops are there? Mother said, let's go. I don't agree. A few stops is still too far for a 70-year-old man. But she insisted on not taking the bus. I had an idea, mom. I'll take you by bike. Mother smiled and agreed. I pushed her out of the car and carefully carried her to the front beam, with one arm around her. My heart ached when I hugged her. She was so light that she curled up in front of me like a child.

There are two intersections on the road, one of which is right in the city. Be careful to ride to the intersection, it's a red light. I got off the bus gently, but I didn't stand firm. A policeman walked through the crowd and came up to me and said, Don't you know? Still ahead. Then he bowed his head and issued a ticket. My mother paused and grabbed my arm to come down. I quickly held her and said sorry to the young policeman, explaining that my mother was carsick and was too old to take the bus. I want to take her to the zoo. ...

The police also paused, only to see that I was taking an old man. My mother scolded me before he could say anything. Why didn't you tell me that cycling is not allowed in the city? And then insisted on coming down. I was at a loss when the policeman reached out to help his mother. Aunt, I'm sorry, I didn't see it clearly. Bicycles are just not allowed to take care of children in the city. Please sit down. Then he suddenly raised his hand and gave me a serious military salute. Then, he turned around, let the person in front make room for me, made a gesture, stopped the traffic around and waved me over.

I took my mother and walked slowly through the wide intersection. Cars and pedestrians in all directions stopped, and only I proudly pulled my mother in the eyes of everyone. This is the first time in my life that I have been treated with such courtesy. Because of my mother, because she is willing to give her a little love, a young policeman I met by chance is willing to make an exception for me and give me such high respect.

My mother gave me this courtesy.

five

My mother followed me and was diagnosed with lung cancer in the third year. After the results came out, a friend who is a doctor sincerely told me that if it is for the good of the old lady, don't have an operation, just let fate do it. This is what a doctor should not say to the patient's family, but it is true. After discussing with my husband, I decided to follow the doctor's arrangement and take my mother home. He decided not to hide it from his mother, so he told her the truth. Mother listened to us calmly, nodded and said, yes. Then, my mother proposed to go back to her hometown.

I stayed with my mother at the end of her life. Drugs are only used to stop pain, but they can't resist the ravages of cancer. Her body is failing so fast that she can't stand it. When the weather is fine, I will take her out and carefully put her on the sofa to bask in the sun with her. She gradually couldn't eat any food, and she would spit it out when she drank saliva, but she never showed a painful expression. Those black hairs are still stubbornly flourishing, and her face is thin but smooth. As long as she is awake, there will be a slight smile on her face.

That day, my mother told me that your father missed me. Mom, but I can't bear to part. I held her hand in my palm, trying to hold it firmly, but I didn't dare to use force, only gently. May, this time, you must give up. She smiled, gently pulled her hand back and patted my hand. But this time, mom, I can't bear to part. I can't say it. My heart hurts. It hurts to break.

On the day my mother left, the funeral procession was vast, from the head of the village to the end of the village. In addition to relatives, there are classmates, friends and colleagues of my husband and me, as well as neighbors around our community ... Many, many people, including not only adults but also children, are rare sights in the countryside. The team walked slowly through the village and vaguely heard someone talking among the onlookers. Is it an official? Or a child who is a big official outside. ...

In my life, my mother has a son and three daughters, all of whom are the most ordinary people, neither officials nor businessmen. Mother herself, more ordinary, has never seen much of the world, read a book or received any formal education. She just has a heart that is willing to love. And the last grand scene of her life was won for herself unintentionally with her lifelong will.