As soon as I bowed to the trough door, my mother prepared a table for a sumptuous breakfast. She watched me eat and drink so much that I finished the breakfast. She kept asking: "Is it enough? Are you full?" The kindness in her eyes pampered me and I was a little willful.

.

At this time, I am no longer a grown man in his thirties, but a swaddled baby waiting to be nursed.

Brown rice porridge with wild vegetables is what my mother will prepare for me every time I go home. At this time, the shepherd's purse is tender and crisp, which is not available in the city.

I recall that back then, when my father passed away and my brothers and sisters were still young, during the lean years, wild vegetables from the mountains and brown rice harvested by my mother were the staple foods for the brothers and sisters.

While I was helping my mother clear away the dishes, firecrackers crackled outside the hospital.

Several children poked their heads out of the courtyard to look around, and then ran quickly outside the courtyard.

My mother looked at me with a smile and said, "Uncle Qingshan's baby is going to be a treasury." "Why?" I looked at my mother in surprise.

My mother pushed my arm: "Go, go and take a look." I unconsciously followed my mother's footsteps to the trough door in front of the yard.

The trough gate, the gate of the family compound, is not as grand as the archways or archways in the north. It stands in front of the courtyard and can be seen from a distance.

This is the best evidence that my grandfather was wealthy back then. The thick stone pillars on both sides are more than four meters high, and the cornices are carved with auspicious clouds and beasts.

In my childhood memories, the slot door has experienced ups and downs for more than a hundred years, and has fallen into disrepair and is dilapidated.

But at this time, the trough door in front of me was renovated, the cornices were painted with red paint, and the auspicious clouds and beasts were painted, which made it more vivid.

I saw Uncle Qingshan standing in front of the desk sorting the offerings on the desk. His son Songqing stood timidly in front of the desk, being looked at by the villagers like a monkey in a troupe. He was eighteen or nineteen years old, thin and tall.

, fair skin.

Under the guidance of Uncle Qingshan, he knelt down and bowed several times to complete the process of worshiping the trough door.

I think his mind must be blank at this time, and he definitely does not have the piety to kneel down and beg God.

When I came up to watch the fun, Uncle Qingshan seemed to have discovered a new master when he saw me. He hurriedly pulled me to the trough door table, understanding that I would also pay my respects to the trough door.

Not understanding at all what circumstances, it would be inappropriate to go against the old man's wishes, so he respectfully made three bows.

Then he turned around and retreated to the crowd behind him.

Uncle Qingshan set off a large number of firecrackers again, and the matter of uncle Qingshan's family becoming a slave was over.

When I returned to the courtyard, before my mother could sit down, I spoke up: "Mom, why do uncle Qingshan's children have to go to the trough?" My mother looked at me with a hint of pride in her eyes and said, "It's not you who takes care of me.

"My head." Yes, it's me.

Exactly 20 years ago, I bowed in front of the trough gate in front of all the neighbors in the yard, who were shocked and weeping.

How could I forget this?

2. Through the spring sunshine, looking at the mountains and mountains in the distance, the mountains and rivers are still the same, which quickly brought my thoughts back to 20 years ago.

I remember that day, I was on summer vacation after the high school entrance examination. My second-year high school girl and I came home from school, and my mother was still so busy.

After eating some porridge with wild vegetables and whole grains, I studied hard under the five-watt yellow light.

Mother sat down across from us and said to the little sister: "Jiao baby, after this semester, you and your sister will go to work part-time. Mom really can't afford to take care of you two at once." After that, mother's words

Tears fell down.

"Mom, actually I have long wanted to work with my sister. Reading so many books is enough for a girl like me." My sister clasped the book in her hand with her hands, lowered her head and spoke, her lips trembling a few times.

, she wanted to say it but didn't say it, just tears falling down from her seventeen-year-old face.

"Mom, let my sister finish high school. My sister's grades are so good. The teacher said she can get into a good university." I looked at my mother with pleading eyes.

I hope my mother won't make the decision just like this.

But seeing my mother shaking her head in despair, I didn't dare to insist too much.

It was destined to be a sleepless night. At the age of fourteen, I knew what helplessness and despair were.

In the middle of the night, I heard my sister sobbing in bed, just like the sudden violent storm in the summer that ravaged all the crops in the fields and dashed all hopes for a good harvest.

One morning not long after, before dawn, while I was still sleeping, my mother put my sister on the car heading south.

When I woke up I was told that my sister was gone.

Standing alone at the entrance of the trough, looking at the entrance of the village, hoping that my sister would disobey her mother and return.

But nothing happened except the chirping of cicadas at the entrance of the village, and tears burst into my eyes.

At the same time, I also made a bold decision in my heart.

When I got home, I saw my mother busy. She tore the admission notice I received from a key high school in half in front of my mother, and then said categorically: "I won't go to this school. I want to go out too."

Working." My mother didn't react to my sudden move. When he reacted, she picked up the broom and chased him.

It landed on my butt with a crackling sound.

I stood there, staring at Niu, motionless, letting the broom fall on me forcefully.

I feel that every time I take it, I am redeeming something for myself and my sister, like a kind of meritorious service, a kind of reward.