This is a small county town that is not big. According to legend, it was once one of the ancient capitals of Pakistan. Like the city where I grew up, it is also a city where two rivers meet and is built on the mountains. This place is rich in a kind of pickled food called pickled mustard. Common rapeseed heads are pickled with salt water and spices to become a delicious dish with rice.
Since I have never been to this place, everything is very strange to me. The political struggle here seems to be relatively gentle. Although you can occasionally see young people forming gangs on the street, and occasionally you can see obstacles and checkpoints set up, but in general, the people here are still not that radical. , people walking on the street, there is no sign of being timid and passing quickly.
I hadn't had breakfast yet, so I inquired about a supply canteen and bought some fried dough sticks and soy milk to eat. While eating, I took out the letter Meng Dongxue had given me and asked the people at the next table how to get to this place. The fellow was also very enthusiastic and told me how to get there, but because I was a foreigner, he was afraid that I wouldn't be able to find it, so he drew a simple map for me with a pen and paper.
That place is Meng Dongxue's home. Although Meng Dongxue and I are childhood sweethearts, I don’t think Meng Dongxue has ever told these things to her family. So when I meet her family later, I can't express my position to let them know, because it will be very embarrassing. But for me, this is a good opportunity to show my goodwill to the elders of Meng Dongxue's family. Maybe after I take good care of her father this time and leave a good impression on her parents, it will be much easier for her and I to develop further in the future.
Meng Dongxue's home is located in the west of the city near the suburbs, next to the train station. However, this railway station is not connected to the place where I grew up. The trains here are all freight vehicles used to haul coal and goods. It is a small station and the line is said to be not long. I learned from Meng Dongxue earlier that her parents were both railway workers, her mother worked as a clerical worker, and her father was a technician in railway maintenance. There is also a little sister at home, and it is precisely because she is a family with two children that Meng Dongxue is asked to go to the mountains and countryside.
The address on Meng Dongxue's envelope belongs to her home, which is the kind of employee dormitory assigned by the factory, where there are about seven or eight households in a corridor. Meng Dongxue told me that her father had been staying at home to recuperate since he fell ill. The little sister is still in elementary school, and the mother has her own job, so she needs someone to take care of her. The time when I arrived was actually quite embarrassing, because Meng Dongxue’s mother and sister should not be at home right now. I knocked on the door of Meng Dongxue's house with anxiety. The person who opened the door was a middle-aged man wearing long johns on his lower body and a dark blue labor insurance suit on his upper body outside his autumn clothes, but his hands were not in the sleeves. . His hair was a little messy, his face was covered with stubble, and he looked gloomy and listless.
I knew that this was Meng Dongxue's father, so I greeted him very politely, "Hello, uncle, I am your daughter's friend and I have sent you a letter." When I said this, I stood at the door. Meng Dongxue's father had just opened the door and hadn't let me in yet. His eyes were a little suspicious. He looked me up and down and said, "You said you are our Xiaoxue's friend, but why do you look so much older than her?"
I smiled awkwardly and said that it was actually Meng Dongxue who jumped in and stayed at our house. She received a letter from your lover a few days ago and knew that you were not in good health recently. She was worried and cried for several days. I want to come back to take care of you, but this is against the policy and discipline, so I can't come in person. I just happened to have something to do in your county recently. I just finished my work and came to see you and brought you your Letters from home, and some thoughts from our aunt.
After saying that, I mentioned the chicken in my hand and said that it was a pheasant from the countryside. It is rich in nutrients and the meat is tender and tender. Hahahaha! After saying that, I didn’t know why I laughed, but I didn’t actually want to laugh, but the atmosphere was a bit awkward. I tried to use my hearty laughter to dispel Meng Dongxue’s father’s wariness.
Then I handed Meng Dongxue’s letter to Uncle Meng and asked him to open it and read it first. After Uncle Meng saw the photo of his daughter, a knowing smile appeared on his face, but when he saw the photo of me and her, the corners of his mouth twitched a few times. I saw something was not going well, so I quickly said to Uncle Meng, this little girl Meng Dongxue is really nice, good at singing and dancing, and knows how to care about others. She also has a good relationship with me in private. She is afraid that you don’t believe that I am Her friend specially took a photo like this for you to see.
Uncle Meng's expression finally relaxed, so he said with a smile on his face, since he is Xiaoxue's friend, please come in quickly. Our house is small and a bit messy. Don't be surprised, young man. I breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that I had passed the first hurdle of entering. Judging from Uncle Meng's tone and demeanor, it was obvious that he was pretending to be worried, but in front of outsiders like me, his behavior was normal, but he felt a little anxious. After I entered the house, I sat down and began to look at the place where Meng Dongxue grew up.
Uncle Meng was right. This place is indeed quite narrow, with one room and one living room. Because there are so many people in the family, that room is divided into two rooms. Meng Dongxue lives in one room with her sister, and her parents live in the same room. Ever since Meng Dongxue jumped in line, her sister had the entire room to herself. And this living room is actually very narrow. In addition to a sofa and a dining table, there is a small cabinet against the wall. There are teacups, kettles, and a radio on the cabinet. On the wall are many awards and certificates received by Meng Dongxue and her sister, as well as some photos of her family.
From the moment I entered the house, I discovered that they used simple stoves set up in the corridor to cook the entire meal. You can only go to the two sides of the passage to go to the toilet, with the men's toilet on one side and the women's toilet on the other. Judging from the things at home, although Meng Dongxue's family is not considered rich, it is not considered poor either. Both parents are workers, and workers were an iron rice bowl profession in that era, and everyone wanted to be rich. Work in a factory as a worker. So I guess that Meng Dongxue has never suffered much since she was a child.
While I was looking around, Uncle Meng had been sitting on the sofa reading Meng Dongxue's letters, with a smile on his face from time to time. It is not difficult to see that this is a father who loves his daughter. If Meng Dongxue came back in person this time, I think he would be so happy that he would forget everything. After reading the letter, Uncle Meng said to me, young man, is your name Situ Shan?
I quickly sat upright and answered yes. Uncle Meng said, the surname Situ is rare in our area, right? I said yes. According to family members, my ancestor was an official here hundreds of years ago. He was from the north and his surname was Sima. But later, after he retired and returned to his hometown, he no longer used the official surname Sima and changed his surname to Si. It was not until around the time of the Republic of China that compound surnames were restored. I smiled and said, maybe my ancestors made a mistake and regarded Sima as Situ, so starting from my father's generation, the surname was Situ.
Uncle Meng also smiled and said that the name is just a code name, nothing important. I saw my daughter mentioned in her letter that you came here specifically to help her take care of me. Is that right? I quickly stood up and said, yes, Meng Dongxue is very good to all of us, and we should do something for her. I hope I didn't cause any trouble to my uncle. I see that your home is not very convenient for people to live in, so don't worry about me. I can just find a place to live nearby. Uncle Meng, probably because of my polite relationship, also had a smile on his face. He thanked me and said that his illness was caused by worry. In fact, he didn't have any physical symptoms, but he just couldn't think of it.
I told Uncle Meng, I know that my little sister has to go to school and my aunt has to go to work. You are at home all day long and you are in a bad mood. I will come to accompany you, cook for you, talk to you, play chess with you, no matter what. Whatever worries you have, forget about them for now.
That afternoon, I talked a lot with Uncle Meng, and he also asked about my life experience. Maybe it was due to inferiority complex and fear. I didn’t tell him my occupation, nor did I tell him that I went to the mountain village because I was fleeing. Because I feel that even if I want to talk about these things, I shouldn’t do it now. Uncle Meng's impression to me is still a little different from that of ordinary workers. He doesn't want to be the kind of person who has no cultural knowledge. He is also very measured in all aspects of his conversation. It can be seen that he is a knowledgeable person.
At about four o'clock in the afternoon, someone opened the door and came back. It was Meng Dongxue's little sister, a ten-year-old girl, with a pretty and cute appearance. She was carved out of the same mold as Meng Dongxue. Seeing a stranger coming to the house, the little sister Asked Uncle Meng who I was, I told her first that I was your sister's friend and I came here to visit your father. I also brought your sister's photo, which was in that envelope.
For a person like me, it is actually very difficult for me to deliberately flatter other people in my life, but when it comes to the Meng family, I do it and feel comfortable doing it. Maybe there was always an idea in my mind at that time, that Meng Dongxue and I would eventually get together, and I would always have to face this family, so it was crucial to lay a good mass foundation as early as possible.
After Meng Dongxue's younger sister looked at her sister's photo, she just went back to her room to do her homework with the door closed. After a while, Meng Dongxue's mother also came home from get off work. So I had to stand up again and introduce myself. However, unlike the previous reactions of Uncle Meng and Xiaomei Meng, Meng Dongxue's mother did not show that happy look. Such a person who was not sick actually showed hesitation. , after greeting me politely, he got busy cooking.
I am a relatively sensitive person, and I am very good at observing people's emotions, because this helps me in my career. But when faced with Meng Dongxue’s mother’s reaction, I felt a little uneasy, wondering what was going on? Am I not welcome?
