Father's hometown was in Mingshui Town, east of Jinan. That winter, my father brought me back to Mingshui Town to visit my grandmother. That was the first time I traveled far away. I walked twenty miles to a place called Zhengkou and took a bus to Dezhou. From Dezhou, I took a train to Jinan. The Jiqing railway passed through Mingshui Town.
Along the way, my father's temper was very good, as if he had changed into a different person. I actually wondered if this amiable person in front of me was really my father.
Grandma did not have her own house in Mingshui Town. In her early years, she worked as a servant in a small church on the edge of the town. After the liberation (after the establishment of the new dynasty), the small church became a house for business, and Grandma still worked as a servant there.
Grandma was kind and dignified, and her words were gentle. In modern words, she was a very cultured person. Although Grandma didn't talk to me much, I had a good impression of her.
Father was not as hot-tempered in front of Grandma as he was with us brothers. He spoke to Grandma very kindly. During the few days he was there, he helped Grandma do things and talked to her every day. All of this was something I had never seen before.
The house in the chapel was very western-style, and the windows were made of glass, which was completely different from the adobe house in the doctor's village where the windows were pasted with paper.
There was a stream in front of Grandma's house. The stream kept emitting hot air. There were paddy fields near the stream. It was winter at that time, and the crops in the fields had been harvested. The water was soaked with the stubble left behind after the harvest. I didn't know what rice was, but I thought that wheat was planted in the water.
Looking into the distance, I saw the outline of a gray mountain like a snake. I couldn't imagine what a mountain was like since I was born in the plains. I even found it strange to see a stone at Grandma's place. I asked Grandma,"Do rocks grow on the mountain?"”，"Where does the stream come from? Won't the stream run dry? "Won't wheat drown when planted in water?”Grandma held my face and looked at me with smiling eyes. She didn't answer my curiosity about too many things. She just whispered to herself," Could it be that the doctor can't see these?”。
There were saline-alkalized land, sandstorms, bitter pear trees, and a big water bay in the village. In the winter, the fields of the doctor's village had no trace of green, only the desolate weeds in the saline-alkalized land and the thick ice formed by the water bay. The only vitality that could be seen was the sprouts of the cabbage and radish that were stored in the kiln at home.
Before coming to Grandma's place, I had never seen a stream, a paddy field, a western-style house with glass windows, or even a big rock.
During the day, Dad helped Grandma out to do things. I found a tin can to scoop water from the stream. The stream was very hot. There was a kind of dark green water grass growing in the stream. The water grass kept swaying with the stream. The shape was very dynamic, like a beautiful song and dance.
This kind of water grass was like the ferns on the southern hillside and also like seaweed. Looking at these water grass, it would make people have an appetite. I pulled up a water grass and smelled it. The water grass gave off a faint fishy smell like seaweed. It was very rough when I chewed it in my mouth. However, I still deeply liked its beautiful body. I pulled up some water grass and put it in a can filled with water and placed it on the windowsill of the house. The next morning, the water in the can turned into ice. The water grass was frozen in the ice. When he looked back, the water in the stream was still steaming, making the unique sound of a stream. That sound was the best music in nature. It could soothe all the pain of the young mind and body.
Dad took me to Mingshui Town to play. The streams in the town crisscrossed, and the stone bridges were all over the streams. The bottom of the stream was green pebbles without any mud. The clear spring water gurgled out from the cracks of the pebbles, causing strings of splashes.
Every house was built on green stone slabs. When the stone slabs were removed from the floor of the living room, the sound of water splashing could be seen below. It was like the sound of ancient musical instruments playing day and night.
I asked my father,"How can there be so much spring water?" Wouldn't the water flood the house?”Father smiled and replied," The name of Mingshui Town came from the spring water. Since ancient times, it has never flooded the houses!”
The walls of the house made of green slate were painted with various pictures. There were pictures of Zhuge Liang waving a fan, Zhao Yun holding a spear, and advertisements of cooling oil. Compared to the mud walls and dirt roads of Dafutun, it was unknown how westernized it was. If she had not come to Grandma's hometown, she would not have known that there was such a beautiful place. She really envied Grandma for being lucky enough to live in the beautiful Mingshui Town.
There are trains passing by Grandma's place, but you can't even see cars in Dafutun. How nice it would be if we were born here. Why did Father and Mother give birth to us brothers in that poor and remote Dafutun?
His grandmother was a servant in the church, and his father was also influenced by the preaching. When he was twenty years old, he joined the church and was a devout believer of Jesus. Before dinner, he led the whole family to pray and give thanks. He was not allowed to speak or chew during dinner. If we don't do it, we will be reprimanded by him. We brothers are very afraid of him. However, in front of his grandmother, his father was so considerate and kind. And these days, he spoke softly to me and never scolded me. I was used to being scolded by my father, so I felt happy. Just based on this point, I really wanted to stay in my grandmother's hometown with my father forever and never return to the doctor's village.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。