Ask for peace of mind

The early morning wind blows thick fog, covering the small village by the river.

At about four or five o'clock in the morning, Xu Wei'an got up from the bed. He made an appointment with his cousin yesterday to catch cicadas on the other side of the river this morning.

It was too hot in the house in summer, and Xu Wei'an couldn't sleep well, so my grandmother placed a simple bamboo bed for him in the yard outside the house.It was foggy and cool outside the house. The young people were energetic and had nothing to do. The old couple, grandpa and grandma, couldn't bear it and stayed in the house all the time.

It was daylight, but the room was still dark.There is no electricity in the village these days, and lamp oil is expensive, so Xu Wei'an didn't turn on the lamp, and quickly washed in the dark.

As soon as he left the house, he heard his cousin Sun Yan urging him in a low voice in the yard, "An'an, hurry up!"

"Come on, come on!" Xu Wei'an didn't have time to wipe his face with a towel, wiped the water from his face, hurriedly picked up a bamboo pole with a net bag and a large canning bottle, and ran to the river with his cousin.

The river in front of my grandma's house is neither wide nor deep, the deepest point is only up to the adult's knee, but the river flows very fast.Xu Wei'an and Sun Yan took off their shoes on the river bank and rolled their trouser legs up to their thighs. Xu Wei'an carried a bamboo pole on his left shoulder, and held a can with his left hand on the bamboo pole. Sun Yan held two pairs of shoes in his right hand. across the river.In fact, there was a stone bridge not far away, but both of them wanted to save some time and catch more cicada monkeys, so they chose to venture across the river.

On the other side of the river is a poplar grove, and beyond the poplar grove is a peach grove, but the peaches have long since disappeared this season.In the early morning, the fog by the river was so thick that water could be squeezed out, and the grass on the ground was full of dew.After crossing the river, fearing that the dew would wet the shoes, the two put the shoes on the grass-free gravel by the river, and started looking for the monkey with their bare feet.

Sun Yan is tall and is in charge of the top part of the tree, while Xu Wei'an is in charge of the root part.It was foggy in the morning, and some climbers knew that the monkey had shed its shell, and its wings were too wet to fly. Sun Yan pounded it with a bamboo pole, and the monkey fell off.Of course, there are also those who have not shed their shells. This kind of cicada monkey has a lot of meat, some crawl slowly, some crawl quickly, and some are even just unearthed.After rummaging through the poplar forest, the sun came out, only a thin layer of fog remained, and the bottle containing the cicada monkey was also full.

The two packed up their equipment and walked through the poplar forest. When they looked up, they saw eleven or twelve-year-old boys from my uncle's neighbor hurrying over with tools for catching cicadas.

"Anzi, Yanzi, you guys got up too early too." Seeing that the bottle in Xu Wei'an's hands was full, he knew that the two of them had gone too far.Sun Kai was rather resentful, his fat face wrinkled and bulging.

"Hey, my brother is coming back tomorrow, catch more cicada monkeys to improve your life." Sun Yan stuck out her tongue and made a face at him.

"Oh, then there is no meat to eat today." Fatty Sun Kai frowned in distress, his fat little face was squeezed into a ball, and his eyes were all squeezed out.

Xu Wei'an blinked, suppressed a smile, and reminded: "We haven't been to Taolin, you can go there and have a look."

The little fat man smiled immediately, and waved his fleshy fist, "Swallow, Anzi, go to my house to play if you have nothing to do, the fog will soon clear, I'll go for a walk in the woods." After saying that, Sun Kai's chubby figure slipped into the forest. It's in the woods.

"Sister Yanzi, let's cross over the bridge." Xu Wei'an reached out and pulled Sun Yan towards the bridge.His uncle's family also lived on the river embankment, and he was afraid that his uncle would reprimand him if he saw them crossing the river.

Xu Wei'an has two uncles. Although the two separated and moved out of the old house after they got married, the relationship between the two families is very good, and they are also very filial to their grandfather and grandmother.Many old people in the village, like grandmothers and grandfathers in their 70s and [-]s, have to work in the fields to subsidize their children.The two uncles did not allow their grandfather and grandmother to farm the land, and now they provide food and flowers for the two old people every year.Grandpa happened to be the kind of person who didn't like to worry about anything. He followed the wishes of the two uncles and became the hands-off shopkeeper. He drank wine and played chess when he had nothing to do.Grandma can't be free, she helps two uncles cook, feed the livestock, and care for the children during the busy farming period.The old lady felt sorry for her daughter's hard work in marrying into another family, and she couldn't take care of it, so she cared for her two daughters-in-law very much, and would help them with everything she could do.

Both uncles have a pair of children.My uncle’s cousin, Sun Yue, is 18 years old, a very gentle and hardworking girl, and she is visiting her. My cousin, Sun Yang, is 14 years old, and is still half a child. He can eat well, but he is as thin as a bamboo pole.My uncle’s cousin, Sun Yan, is 9 years old, one year older than Xu Wei’an. She is usually mischievous and good-natured, and is Xu Wei’s main playmate. My cousin, Sun Lin, was admitted to high school at the age of 17 and became the only high school student in the village for several years. , The whole family is saving money to provide for him to go to school.

The old house is on the river embankment, and there are only three tile-roofed houses. Due to its age, the walls are mottled, and some moss even grows on the tiles. It looks dilapidated.However, in this era when it is good to have rough-blank houses, the only few tile-roofed houses in the village are high-end housing.Xu Wei'an's own house is still a blank house, and the whole family is crowded together. In winter, it's better to say, it's a little crowded at most. In summer, the house is like a steamer.

Every year during the winter and summer vacations, Xu Wei'an lives at his grandmother's house. Firstly, to make room for the family; a little job.When he was free, Xu Wei'an would mess around with his cousin, Sun Yan, who was one year older than him.

After returning to the old house, grandma had already cooked the meal, and the bamboo bed in the yard was also moved under the eaves.

"Swallow, go ask your grandpa to eat. An'an, you move the dining table to the yard, and eat in the yard later." The old lady took the bottle from Xu Wei'an's hand, poured the cicada monkey into the bamboo sieve, and divided it skillfully. Pick and clean.Although the old lady is old, she works very quickly.

Xu Wei'an and Sun Yan responded at the same time.Sun Yan bounced around to the threshing ground on the bank of the river to find her grandfather who had been walking around in the early morning.Xu Wei'an put the bamboo pole against the corner of the wall, scooped a ladle of water from the big tank and poured it into the washbasin, washed his hands and face briefly, and then went into the house and moved out the tables and chairs.

Breakfast is simple corn tortillas, sweet potato polenta and pickle lumps.Grandma is good at cooking, and food is very expensive these days, the four of them don't waste anything, and eat clean food.

After eating, Sun Yan bounced back home.Xu Wei'an helped grandma pick out the table and tidy up the kitchen.Grandpa was used to smoking after meals, so he held the pipe hanging on his waist to fill the shredded tobacco.When Xu Wei'an came out of the kitchen, grandpa wasn't in the yard either, so he probably went out to find someone to play chess and chat with.

Xu Wei'an saw that there was not much water in the big tank, so he picked up the small bucket beside the tank, and said to the old lady who was tidying up the tables and chairs: "Grandma, there is not much water in the tank, I'm going to fetch water."

"Hey, be careful, don't slip into the water, the water is cold in the morning." The river in front of the door is not deep, so the old lady is more at ease.

Xu Wei'an is not very smart, he can only lift a small bucket of three or four kilograms of water, and the big tank in grandma's house is very big, and it takes dozens of times to go back and forth to fill the water tank.Although the old house is very close to the river, Xu Wei'an carried buckets to fetch water a lot, the sun was already hanging high when the big tank was filled, Xu Wei'an was sweating profusely and was very tired.

"Hey, why are you carrying so much water? Seeing that you are tired, wipe off your sweat. There is sugar water poured for you on the table in the house. Drink it quickly!" The old lady just came out of the vegetable garden behind the house, Seeing Xu Wei'an wheezing, his face pale, and sweating profusely, he was startled, and quickly helped Xu Wei'an sit on the bamboo bed, went to the room to get sugar water and handed it to Xu Wei'an, and then went to get a towel from the clothesline Wipe off Xu Wei'an's sweat.

"Grandma, it's okay." Xu Wei'an took several deep breaths in a row, shook his head, and was still a little dazed.But he still sat obediently, tilting his head obediently so that the old lady could wipe his sweat with a towel.If it weren't for the fact that his face was too pale and his arms were shaking all the time, it would really make people feel that he was fine.

"You child... well, next time you either let your uncles fetch water, or you take your time." The old lady wanted to say something, but she couldn't say it in the end.

"Well, I know." Xu Wei'an nodded obediently, then hugged the old lady's arm and rubbed it, his heart was full of dependence.The old lady turned her head and gently wiped the water from the corners of her eyes.

The author has something to say:

After writing the article written a few years ago, I read it myself, and found that too much personal information was exposed and the writing was not good, so I dare not continue to update it.I want to edit the whole article and upload it again, but I have never had the time.Recently, I have tried to change it when I have time, one or two chapters a day.The ones written before are locked first, and unlocked while changing.Although not many people read it, I still feel very sorry for the readers who read the article. I would like to apologize to you here!I will try to finish it as soon as possible.