pomegranate

My aunt has a pomegranate tree, which was planted by my uncle's great-grandfather. It is said that it has a history of 100 years. Strange to say, since the tree was planted, there has been a son at home. But what is even more surprising is that no matter how many sons were born, only three survived in the end, and the others died for various reasons, either bright or dark. His great-grandfather had three sons, his great-grandfather had three sons, and his grandfather also had three sons. When everyone thought that his father had only three sons, his mother stubbornly gave birth to the fourth son and took care of him carefully. Finally, the child who broke the spell miraculously survived. He is my uncle.

People in the village knew that Lao Yang had a good pomegranate tree, so they came to beg for a child. Finally, everyone picked a pomegranate and went back. It is said that all the people who begged for a child finally got what they wanted. Later, this effective pomegranate tree was known to outsiders, and many people eager for children came from far away just to hang a red belt and a pomegranate on this pomegranate tree.

My uncle ranks fourth in the family. He has three brothers on his head. I call them Uncle Yang. My uncles are all married and have a son. Look, how effective pomegranate trees are! My uncle lives in a small building with three floors. On the third floor, my uncle and uncle live, each with two rooms. My uncle and uncle live on the second floor, each with two rooms. On the first floor, there is a room where Grandpa Yang and Grandma Yang live, and a large living room for eating. Three-story building, nine rooms, a large family just enough to live.

Because of the restriction of household registration, the family can't afford the high borrowing fee, so they can only go back to their hometown from big cities to attend junior high school. I usually live at school and stay at my aunt's house on weekends. When I first set foot in my aunt's yard, the pomegranate tree deeply shocked me. I had never seen such a tall pomegranate tree before I saw it. I remember that it was just summer, and the trees were full of fiery pomegranate flowers, which were very bright, and the trees were covered with red blessings. A gust of wind blew, and the word "Fu" fluttered. It seems not a pomegranate tree, but a burning fire. I have never seen a pomegranate tree burning like fire at this time.

The pomegranate tree with good effect just didn't show its great power on my aunt. Aunt Tou gave birth to a daughter named Tong Tong. But at this time, no one will believe that her second child is a daughter. After all, there is such an effective pomegranate tree at home, and it must be my daughter's confidence to have a second child, so the whole family showed great joy in this first child. After all, this is the first girl in three generations, and the exception may be a surprise.

Aunt didn't have a wedding. She just chose an auspicious day with her uncle and went to the Civil Affairs Bureau to get a little red book. On that day, the three-story building was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and the family sat together for a meal, which was considered as a door. There is nothing lacking in other weddings except that there is no wedding. Everything in the wedding room is new, with warm yellow matte wardrobe, European aristocratic dressing table, beige tatami, and a two-meter bed covered by court curtains hanging from the ceiling. ...

One summer night many years later, she soaked in a bathtub full of petals and smelled the faint pomegranate fragrance coming in from the window, but it would never be more attractive and deadly than it is now.

She often takes a bath after putting the bunch ofred grapes on the bed, and the feeling of being surrounded by warm water is always unforgettable. She told me that it was her happiest time.

Because of the large population in menstruation, I go there less and less on weekends, only during the school holidays. This May Day holiday, I went to my aunt's house. At this time, pomegranate flowers are in full bloom, but the pomegranate flowers all over the tree are not as bright as when I first saw them, but anyway, with so many flowers, there will be many fruits in autumn. I am looking forward to autumn. On the third floor, Xiao Yan is playing with Tong Tong.

I suddenly asked on a whim, "Aunt, what is your dream?"

"My dream is that your uncle earns a lot of money and the whole family is healthy and happy."

"No, this is your dream. What was your dream when you were my age? "

"That's the one just now." My aunt refused to answer my question directly.

At that time, she had just been married for two years, her skin was still white and red, her hair was black and elegant, she could see all kinds of cosmetics on the dresser, and she often asked other young mothers to go shopping. That year, I was in Grade Two. Just won the first prize in the city biology competition and dreamed of becoming a biologist in the future. That night, I had a long dream that I was wearing a black silk evening dress and holding a huge trophy as big as mine. Just to say thank you, I finally became a biologist.

A

In my memory, I didn't put my hand in my mother's arms, but my mother said that I was a crying baby when I was very young. Walk with a hug and feed at the age of three. I still like to cry at night. In order not to affect my family, she walked up and down the road to the outside with a big belly. But I don't remember at all. How dare a pregnant woman walk that road in the middle of the night? Not far from this road is a hill where the dead are buried.

Mom said I could write when I was very young. How young? She said that others had just learned to walk, and I could already draw my name on the ground with branches. The thing is, one day, after weeding, she went home for dinner and found me squatting on the mud in the yard with my name written on it, "Wang Yiyi". She was so happy that she immediately took me to Xinhua Bookstore in the town by bike and bought chalk, a small blackboard and an arithmetic stick. Originally, she was going to hoe another weed in the afternoon, but he was so happy that he bought stationery and took me to town to eat duck porridge. When I got home, I was scolded by my grandmother because I didn't finish the task. I don't know how many times she has said this paragraph. I have no impression at all.

I remember when I was a child, I played game cards with Yao Qi, who was five years older than me. I always bullied the younger ones, so I always lost. But I was born stronger, and the more I lost, the more I wanted to play. Yao Qi often takes me to catch fish in the river, poke beehives in the Woods, and go far away to herd cattle. Yao Qi's hands and feet are dirty, and he likes to steal things, even from me. Dad was driving a taxi in g city. At that time, it was a very profitable industry and our family was relatively well-off, so my father often sent me things back. Electronic watches, pencil sharpeners with cartoon dolls, novel pencil cases … but these things will disappear inexplicably within three days. I came here for a long time, until I forgot that these things ever existed. Yao took them out and proudly said to me, "Look, someone else bought them for me. Isn't it beautiful?" At that time, I was still young, even though I knew these things were mine, I dared not take them back. Mom is not at home, and my grandparents don't care about me. Only in this way can I not be beaten.

I remember once going to school, the road ahead was blocked by a pile of high mounds. Because I was late that day, I was the only one on the way to school, and no one could help me walk there. I decided to wait, someone would pass by. But after waiting for a long time, I didn't even see anyone. The mound was too high for me at that time, but I decided to climb it. I buried the cup hanging around my neck in the soil and planned to dig it out after school, because it hindered my climbing. I was afraid of heights and didn't dare to climb halfway up the mountain, so I stopped halfway up the mountain, but the soil was too loose and slipped before I could support it. I really want to cry. Why do I have to go to school alone? Xiaoling in class is picked up by her mother every day. Yesterday morning, I saw her mother buy her a cupcake at the school gate. Why isn't my mother with me? I keep asking myself. But what can I do? Mom is going to have a little brother and go to G city. About this memory, I'm not sure if it exists, but it's so real. I once asked my grandmother if the road in our village was blocked by high mounds. My grandmother said no, it was strange, but I remember it clearly, or it might just be a dream.

I remember many times that my parents packed their bags under the orange light, and every time they were so similar. They always thought I was asleep, but I wasn't. I buried my head in the bed, looked at them through the gap, and then secretly cried, but they never knew. Mom and dad will kiss my sister and me before they leave. I know they can't stand it, but what can I do? They want to have a little brother, mainly because mom always wants a son, but dad thinks it's enough to have the two of us. So the two of them often quarrel about it, but it is often the father who compromises with his mother.

I remember once my mother came back from G city and took my sister and me to a temple to worship Guanyin. Finally, I have to eat lotus seed syrup, which is so sweet that it is disgusting. We each have a bowl. I don't like it, but my mother makes me eat it. I still remember that there seemed to be many pomegranate trees planted outside the temple. The tree was covered with pomegranates, and my mother picked one.

This is my childhood memory before I went to G City.

(2)

Autumn has arrived, and I have been thinking about pomegranate, so I went to my aunt's house on a weekend. Who knows, when I went to have a look, there were not as many fruits as I expected, only dozens of them were thin and shriveled. What white joy! Grandma Yang said that although there are many flowers this year, they are basically seedless. I am very lost in my heart. Anyway, I want to taste the fruit of this century-old pomegranate tree. I hit a ripe pomegranate with a long bamboo pole, eagerly peeled it off and put it in my mouth. God, it's not as sweet as I thought, but so bitter! I asked Grandma Yang if her old pomegranate was so bitter. Grandma said it was the first pomegranate.

In the evening, I was doing my homework in my room. I looked up through the screen window and saw a big round moon hanging on the pomegranate tree, with a faint cold light, as if the moon was too heavy, and the trunk was cracked, thin and imperceptible.

In winter, my aunt gave birth to a daughter named Nanxi.

I have only been to my aunt's house once since I was in the third grade. My aunt was cooking in the kitchen with a man on her back that day, and the smoking machine had already broken down. At this time, the kitchen fumes choked my nose, and the man and the woman were crying all the time. Crying is really annoying. My aunt kept patting the man's ass with one hand and coaxing him with her mouth: "Be good, don't cry, we will soon ..." "Bang-"There was the sound of metal falling almost at the same time. ""Go up and see Tong Tong quickly! " Aunt said to me.

When Tong Tong and I went downstairs, my aunt was nursing a man and a woman. The man is taking a sip of milk in his mouth, and one hand keeps pulling, which hurts when pulling her. Her two breasts hung there like two water bags, hanging all the time.

The hole in the pomegranate tree is getting bigger and bigger. Grandpa Yang pricked it with a wire, but it still didn't work. In the afterglow, Grandpa Yang looked at the tree for a long time, leaving two lines of muddy tears. He said what should come would come sooner or later.

B

My sister and I went to G city. Dad is very happy. We took a taxi around the whole city of G so that we could see the world. Countless tall buildings that reflect light excite me. I hope I can wear them to work one day. But my mother was particularly sad at that time, because not long ago, she had an abortion in an unknown clinic and killed her sister who was still in the womb. It was this operation that deprived her of the right to bear children. She often said, this is fate. She often shed tears for no reason, and always hugged me and my sister and said if only one of us was a boy. I hate my mother's tears and what she said.

I am the first in grade every semester from grade two to grade six in G city. My father is proud of me, but my mother always sighs that if only I were a boy. I feel frustrated, because no matter how hard I try, I can't be the son my mother wants. Having no son is my mother's biggest worry, and she also regards it as a stain on her life. For this reason, she didn't set foot in our Wang Jiacun village.

In junior high school, I went back to my hometown to attend a key middle school. My mother calls me twice a week, once on Monday and Friday, and each call is less than ten minutes. We basically have nothing in common.

(3)

After three years of hard work, I was admitted to the city's key high school. In high school, I became more and more nervous about my studies, and I didn't even have time to go to menstruation's house on weekends. It's probably the winter vacation of senior three. On the first night of New Year's Day, my mother received a phone call from my aunt. My aunt just gave birth to a baby and gave birth to a daughter, and she wants to give it to her for raising. Mother agreed with this practice and encouraged menstruation to have another child, and she must have a son.

"You are crazy!" I cried, "What a heavy burden it is for them to have another child. It's not like it used to be. Now you are responsible for him when you give birth to him! "

"What do you know, woman? How can you not have a son? My biggest worry is not having a son. When you get married, you will know why women must have sons! " Mom said.

I slammed the door and left. For so many years, my efforts have never made up for my mother's regret.

Soon, the little cousin was sent away. But as if by destiny, a month later, she was sent back by others because they couldn't register her children. Aunt named the third child Niannan.

I went to menstruation's house on purpose before I went to college. The pomegranate tree is still alive, but the cut in the middle divides the tree into two halves, like an open box. In front of the people who show all the internal organs, there are still a few pomegranate flowers on the branches. The bright red color is like oozing blood. The century-old tree was so shocking before it died.

? Walking into the three-story building, my aunt was hunched over to wash clothes. One bucket is washed and two buckets are piled in the corner. Her washing machine is broken, and she hasn't bought a new one. I called my aunt and she turned around. I can hardly recognize her, or I have never observed her so carefully. She became very fat, the meat on her waist piled up in circles, and her breasts almost hung down to her stomach. Moreover, her face is covered with freckles, like mouse excrement sticking to it, and her fluffy hair is tied casually, like a pair of yellow weeds. I wonder when she became so ugly. My aunt was very happy to see me and asked me where I was admitted to the university. I said it was a key university in G city.

After chatting for a while, there was a baby crying upstairs, and my aunt asked me to go up and help look after the baby. It turns out that all three uncles bought houses in the city and moved out, and grandparents followed them to the city. Today, there is only one aunt left in the third floor. Usually, my aunt takes care of the children at home, my uncle works outside, and the income is very small. The family barely lives.

I went up to the second floor and was stopped by two long benches at the stairs, probably to prevent the child from falling. I moved the stool and walked into the living room. The boy is only three years old. She was licking a candy that stuck to the ground and drooling all over the floor. I have no time to care about her, because the third child in the cradle is crying. I picked up the third child, patted her on the back to coax her, and suddenly there was a stench. Oh, my God! A bubble of shit really makes me sick! I have little chance to take care of my children. What should I do now? I put my third child back in the cradle. I really dare not touch her. I guess the child is hungry, too. I went to my aunt's room to help my third child nurse. Both windows in my aunt's room were open, and the wind blew the curtains over and over again. The air is very ventilated, but even so, the smell of toilet water in the room can't cover up the smell of urine and milk. The cotton tatami is full of clothes, and the dresser is also full of milk powder cans, baby bottles, children's cups and other miscellaneous things. I wonder when the mirror was blown up. I mixed the milk powder for the third child, and she finally stopped crying! After much hesitation, I went back to my aunt's room and found a pair of plastic gloves on the pile of clothes, a mask in the dresser drawer and warm water in the bathtub. I am fully armed and ready, just waiting for my third child to change her pants and wash her ass after drinking milk wine.

The third child is obedient. He kept laughing and splashing when he washed her, but I was splashed all over. It was a terrible experience. After cleaning up the third child, I put her back in the cradle. The man is still licking the candy on the ground. I grabbed her, probably scared by me. I helped her clean up the stains on her face and she cried. Ho ho ... My ears are buzzing. I suddenly felt dizzy. Fortunately, I didn't faint, but I saw the light again after it was dark. I ran to the corridor to breathe. The air inside almost suffocates me. A cool breeze poured into my body, and the sun shone on me, warm. I have never felt that the outside world is so beautiful.

Back in the house, I cleaned up the candy on the floor and found toys for men and women to play with. Only then did I find that Tong Tong was daubing something on the white wall. Oh, my god It's eyebrow pencil and lipstick. Crazy, crazy, messy! Don't care so much, just draw. Who didn't paint the wall when I was a child?

I took my old three's trousers downstairs to menstruation, and menstruation was washing the last bucket of clothes.

I went back without staying for dinner. My aunt didn't see me off, because she sat on a stool and nursed the third child. It may be a long time before I can leave here again. I will look back at this familiar place. The three-story building, I don't know why it became so low, because it didn't turn on the light, and it looked like a huge shadow in the twilight. A chubby woman sat in it, dark, and I couldn't see it clearly, but two lights burst out of her eyes and stared at me straight. A cool breeze, the blessing belt on the pomegranate tree actually fell on my shoulder, and I suddenly felt a sense of terror and fled in haste.

C

In college, I met Mr. A.

We met in the library. I remember that the sun was fine that day, and the phoenix flowers outside the window were particularly brilliant. We have the same book in our hands at the same time.

Those hands are beautiful, with long joints and delicate skin. Then I saw him smile with white teeth, as clean as fresh air washed by rain. At that moment, I remembered Wang Wei's: an empty mountain stands in the autumn night after the rain. The bright moon shed clear light from the cracks and cleared the fountain on the rocks.

Later, I told him that this was my first feeling for him. He pretended to be angry and asked me why it was a poem like "Inner Peace" instead of a deer crashing into it. I told him because I like his abstinence as a male god.

People say we are a good match. Indeed, we have a lot in common. For example, we all like to eat light and sweet food, listen to Jason Mraz's songs, like dupre's songs, like climbing mountains and traveling ... I really have countless similarities with him. We often know what each other wants to do without talking. Being with him will make me feel very comfortable and secure.

Once, we were lying on the grass slope behind the school to bask in the sun. I asked him jokingly, "Hey, Mr. A, if we only want one child, do you want it to be a boy or a girl?" I finally asked the question that lingered in my mind for a long time.

He paused for a moment, took my hand and said, "It is painful to have boys and girls, but one after another, I am the only child in my family."

Needless to say, I know what he means.

(4)

I haven't been to menstruation's house since I went to college in G City. It was not until my junior year that my mother called to say that my aunt finally gave birth to a boy. She was happy on the phone, as if she had a son. I sneer at my heart, how many people's wishes have been realized by the arrival of this boy! My mother asked me if I had time to go back and drink this little cousin's full moon wine. I said no, the first three sisters had never drunk full moon wine, but he fell in love at birth and was loved by thousands.

But not long after, there was news that my uncle was seriously ill.

I have a chance to visit my uncle during the holiday.

When I entered the yard again, the pomegranate tree had already turned into a dead tree, and the faded belt on the tree was swaying in the wind, as if telling a distant and mysterious story.

My uncle fell asleep in bed, his hair fell out, his face was like wrinkled white paper, and his arms were exposed in his fat sleeves. I gently walked over to tuck him in, and he opened his eyes. It turned out that he didn't fall asleep, but closed his eyes. My uncle said he was worried, so I advised him to treat him with peace of mind and everything would be fine.

Aunt came in to serve uncle to take medicine. I walked out of the room and saw my little cousin lying in the cradle, sleeping quietly. I walked by and looked at him carefully. He has thick hair, long eyelashes, a high nose and chubby pink cheeks. He should be a handsome boy when he grows up. However, his two little hands were clenched into fists, as if he had a nightmare and was afraid. According to the old man, the baby's palm is open, which indicates that its parents will be lucky. If it's a fist, then vice versa. I pushed his little hand away several times, but soon he held it tightly again. It was all in vain, so I had to give up.

On the way back, I called Mr. A and officially broke up.

About a month later, my uncle left. I came out of the funeral home that day and I accompanied my aunt home. It was already late at night after sending the children to bed. Tonight, the moon is particularly round and high in the sky. My aunt said she wanted to take a bath. I helped her put away the bath water, took the clothes and rubbed her back slowly. The autumn wind blew in from the window, and the cold intention climbed up my back. My aunt closed her eyes and said that she smelled the faint pomegranate fragrance in the wind. I looked at the window. I don't know when the bright moon climbed to the pomegranate tree, as I saw it in those days, but it was already dead.