The Northern Stories of Chef Lao Tan

Chapter 269

Lao Tan didn't go back to the apartment right away after he came out of Zhou Xiaomei's house. He was still thinking about his father and mother at the dinner table just now, feeling a little depressed and depressed.

Speaking of his father, he didn't have a deep impression, even his appearance was a little vague.At that time, my family was poor, and I didn’t even have a photo. I just vaguely remember my father’s tall, square face, and combed back hair, like a cadre.

She seldom speaks on weekdays and always reads books.Or just clutching his belly and moaning, mother and several sisters took turns beating their backs, night after night.

He is a little afraid of his father, so he always plays outside.It wasn't until the neighbor's third sister called him home one day that he realized that his father was leaving—because there was a carpenter in the yard making coffins, and the coffins that hadn't been painted were white and creepy.

The elder sister and the second sister led him to his father with tears in their eyes. His father was lying on the kang, surrounded by the elders of the family, all with serious faces.

The father stretched out his arms with difficulty, his head was full of gray hair, his gray eyes were dull, he looked at him with different eyes than usual, and after a long time, he closed his eyes again.

At that time, he didn't know what was in his father's eyes, and he was somewhat afraid.Looking back now, I can't help but cry—it was my father's reluctance and nostalgia, thoughts and worries, and hopes.

We can imagine that in a dilapidated courtyard, the neighbors silently help prepare for a person who is about to pass away, and the whole family is immersed in grief and misery.A child who is only seven years old looks at everything around him, at his father lying on the kang, looking at his five sisters who are crying, and at his mother who is holding back the tears. What kind of situation is it?

For a poor rural family, it was tantamount to the sky falling.

As Lao Tan walked forward, the images of memories flashed by his eyes blurred by tears were messy, but each image was clear.

This is the memory he least wants to bring up, and every time he thinks about it, his heart hurts.

The memory is too deep, so deep that many happy and carefree time fragments of childhood are severely suppressed. The scene in front of me is only the scene of my father's death, and I can't think of anything else.

My father didn't make it through that night, and he developed a high fever that night when he was weak and sick. The barefoot doctor in the camp said Gu Xiao's was serious, and then he shook his head and sighed.

What he can remember is that his father was lying on the door panel of the outer room, his face was covered with yellow paper, and he was guiding his father who was about to go west under the guidance of Mr. Yin Yang——
Also, when his father was buried, his sisters cried heart-piercingly, but at that time he had no tears in his eyes and was dying in his mother's arms.

The next memory is blank, and then the father's funeral after dawn.

It was raining, and the whole village, the whole yard, and the whole family were shrouded in sorrow and misery. The mud in the yard and the slippery outside the gate made people feel heavy and sad.

He knelt in front of his father's coffin in the rain, Mr. Yin Yang dropped the funeral basin from his head, and accurately hit the stone on the ground, breaking it into pieces.

He kowtowed and shook his head.

That was the first time he felt cotton stuffed in his throat, it was terribly uncomfortable, tears were streaming down, and there was no sound——
The rain is falling, blurring the vision, and the world is full of sadness.

The four-horse-drawn coffin cart will not move no matter how much the owner of the cart whips and shouts, or how hard the horse pedals.

The father lying in the coffin has too many worries and is unwilling to leave home——

The neighbors at the funeral were stunned, the five sisters cried together, the cry was desolate, sad, painful, heart-wrenching, and those who heard it wept—
The seven-year-old seemed to understand many things at once, wiped away the tears on his face, walked to the carriage in the rain, knelt down on the rain-watered ground, and kowtowed three times to his father.

"Dad, let's go, I will take care of Mom—"

"Dad, I'll take care of the family—"

"Dad, take care all the way—"

He stood up from the mud, stunned for a while, and passed out.

The owner of the car yelled, the four horses raised their hooves, and the coffin was covered with a banner, and they moved in the stern rain——
When the tears in the eyes no longer flow, the screen jumps.

He goes to school.What I carry on my back is a blue cloth schoolbag sewn by my mother, which contains newly issued textbooks.My mother is illiterate, but she is willing to look at the pictures in the textbook.He took the art books to his mother, and the mother flipped through them one by one, not making a happy "tsk tsk" sound.

Apart from looking at the pictures in the textbooks, my mother only loves to look at the awards posted on the wall.

In addition to the New Year pictures on the wall, there are his and Fifth Sister's "Three Good Students", "Excellent Students" and certificates of various competitions. If they can't fit, take off the old ones and put new ones on them.

Those awards are the comfort and pride of the mother.

When the father left, everything in the family fell on the shoulders of the mother.

The mother propped up the family with her frail body. Although she was poor, she was warm, although she was in distress, she was warm, and despite the wind and rain, she was sweet, happy, and thriving.

Memories are painful, especially when I was a child, there is nothing but sadness and gloom.Many people like a good childhood, that is, they have good memories. If what is left is sadness and pain, they are reluctant to mention it.

He passed the primary school time and went directly to junior high school.

He was thirteen that year. He was half a child. Due to long-term farm work, he was physically strong and stronger than his peers.

At that time, there were only three people in the family, the mother, the fifth sister, and him, and the four older sisters were all married.

The family is poor and cannot afford livestock, so my sisters come back to help with farming and harvesting.

Farming in spring and harvesting in autumn, he and his fifth sister have to ask for leave to go home and help with the work. They usually work on the land after school and on Sundays. Regardless of his young age, he is also a half-launched farmer. All the ready-made farmers in the village I admire it very much.

People in the countryside can't live a life and are always bullied.

He was 13 years old and began to appear in the village as the only male in the family and the head of the family. Of course, because his family was poor and no one looked down on him, he was often bullied and beaten. of.

But he refused to admit defeat in his bones, he would fight even if he couldn't, and he was the kind who didn't want to die.Gradually no one dared to provoke him, and there was less bullying.His principle is not to bully others, and it is not easy for others to bully, don't cause trouble when there is nothing to do, and don't be afraid of trouble when things happen.

Don't look at his young age, but he is reasonable. Since then, he has developed a good tongue. Most people can't talk to him, and even the director of the police station is unwilling to argue with him, so he might get involved.

I can talk about it. I have been doing farm work for a long time and my physique is good. In addition, from being beaten to beating others, I have developed a fighting ability. By the time I was 16 years old in high school, I had become a character in the village. No one does not know.

He studied in high school for two years in three years, but he had no choice but to drop out of school because his family was poor and he couldn't afford it.

Up to now, he does not regret his decision to drop out of school, although his two years of high school life was gloomy and he failed to enter the university examination room.

Still the same sentence, when people say what they say, what kind of reality determines what kind of choice, there is nothing to regret or regret.I am the one who drives the chariot of life, and I decide how to go on the road. No matter whether it is uphill or downhill, or in ditches, it is over.

Reality is for changing, not for complaining.

Twenty-two years have passed in a flash, and the vigorous young man at the time has become a middle-aged man with gray temples, which is not considered a success, but compared to most migrant children from rural areas, it is considered okay.

"That's enough, I'm content, I have a family, my child is sensible and excellent, my mother and fifth sister take care of me, and I have nothing to worry about. Now it's time for people to work together, everything goes well, and it's time to start a career."

Lao Tan concluded to himself.

The mind jumps out of the memories of the past and into the reality of the present.

He thought: Go back to the provincial capital tomorrow, make arrangements for this month's outstanding employees to travel to the grasslands, then go to various stores to inspect, hold a meeting, and then go to Suzhou, where we must focus and not relax.

And those who were sent out to study are coming back soon. After returning, they will arrange internships and on-site drills. The first private restaurant can't be ruined.

The central kitchen must also be implemented. This year, the location will be selected and the new year will be built.

Thinking of these things, the old caterer began to feel hot all over, accompanied by a little excitement.

(End of this chapter)