Country chronicle

There is a chestnut tree behind my house, which is very strong. Every autumn when the chestnuts are ripe, the chestnuts on the tree flutter with the wind, and one falls to the ground from time to time, and it hits my heart with a bang, making my mouth water.

When I was a child, there were few snacks at home. I remember eating the most with my sister. I grabbed a handful of salty beans from the jar, scooped up a bowl of well water, and then took a sip of salty beans from well water. I actually ate it with relish, no less than the taste of my daughter eating ice cream now. In addition, there are some wild fruits and fruits in the village.

At that time, there were no peach trees, orange trees and plum trees at home. Of course, this chestnut tree doesn't belong to my home, so it arouses my appetite. Because every autumn, the owner of this chestnut tree, the grandmother who lives in the adobe house opposite, will smile and ask me for help, knock it with a stick, then pick it up together, smash it with stones, and open it to reveal golden chestnuts. She will also give me a few generously.

I can't wait to bite open, and let out a crunchy, sweet and crisp chestnut meat fragrant between my teeth, regardless of the pain of my hand being hit by a stone and stabbed by chestnuts. After busy, grandma will limp again and send a bowl of chestnut to my house with a bowl.

This preciousness reminds me of my primary school days. The math teacher said he was lucky before: we caught up with the natural disaster for three years and had nothing to eat. We go to other people's homes to dig sweet potato fields, and we can pick up a few sweet potato roots a day and be happy for several days.

In my impression, the old woman always limped with laughter-because she was carrying water in the pond, stepped on moss, slipped and fell on the slate, and had no money to go to the hospital. She stayed at home for half a year. On a sunny winter afternoon, she moved a stool and sat on her street, looking at me and grinning.

I thought she would live a long life, but I never thought that she would suffer from Alzheimer's disease soon and often have hallucinations. She always suspected that her old man was having an affair with his grandmother next door and hanged himself with a rope made of straw on a winter morning. At that time, I was still in the fifth grade of primary school.

The smell of chestnut trees and chestnuts slowly faded out of my memory.

2

Studying is very hard, the conditions at home are average, and there is no extra pocket money for me to eat snacks

When I was a child, I went to school to buy some snacks and tricked my mother into giving me fifty cents. At dinner this morning, I pretended to have a stomachache and said I couldn't eat. Without thinking, my mother helped me put the rice in a mouthwash cup, then covered it with a newspaper and tied a rubber band on the cup, so that I could take it to school to eat.

There is no microwave oven in the school, and there is no equipment for heating meals. The food brought to school has long been cold and tastes terrible, so I have never thought about it since then.

Fortunately, I have been studying very smoothly, attending key high schools and universities, and then graduating to work in Beijing. With a salary, you can enjoy delicious food. At that time, I was dating my girlfriend. On weekends, we often ride bicycles through the streets and pass by a street roasted seeds and nuts shop, and we smell a fragrance. Look up: fried chestnuts with sugar.

Bought a pack and ate one. Oh, it tastes completely different from when I was a child. It is fragrant and sweet, pink, like wax. At that time, I was not good at falling in love and didn't know how to be modest. I sent them to my mouth one by one and ate up a bag of sugar-fried chestnuts in an instant. My girlfriend stood next to me and scolded me: so greedy? It seems that I have never eaten anything delicious.

Later, when I was shopping in the morning, I saw a vendor shouting: Miyun chestnut, the best chestnut! nb7i

My girlfriend had a brainwave and suddenly remembered one thing: when I was a child, my grandmother steamed meat with chestnuts, which was super delicious. Since you like chestnuts so much, I'll cook them for you. I just don't know if I can cook them.

Grandma has passed away, so I called my mother and asked about the basic methods. We found a quick and convenient way to peel the hard shell of chestnut online, and then bought a piece of pork belly, cut it and steamed it on the pot.

The first time it was unsuccessful, the chestnuts were half-baked and the taste was not sweet. Put it on the pot and steam it again. This time, it will take a long time. When you take it out, the pork belly melts in your mouth, the chestnuts are waxy and sweet, and the steamed soup is salty and sweet. Compared with the sugar-fried chestnuts bought outside, it has another taste, which is the sweetness and honey of love.

Later, every autumn when chestnuts are ripe, we will cook this dish. I am responsible for peeling chestnuts, and my girlfriend is responsible for cooking and steaming chestnuts. After eating for two more autumns, we got married.

Back home, my mother took me upstairs and said to show me something good. In the dark corridor, there is a basket containing half a basket of peeled chestnuts. I wonder: where did you get so many chestnuts?

Mom said that after his son inherited the chestnut tree from his grandmother's house, once his son was reluctant to waste the chestnuts on the tree and climbed up with a stick to fight. As a result, the soles of my feet slipped and fell from a tree several meters high and fell to the ground. He didn't get up for a long time, but because his family was poor, he didn't go to the hospital for treatment. He took it home for half a month and slowly recovered, as tenacious and magical as his mother. But from then on, he didn't care much about this chestnut tree. Every autumn, when chestnuts are ripe, everyone can pick them.

Mom listened to me on the phone and said that steamed chestnut meat was delicious, so she picked up so many chestnuts with her heart.

three

I studied in my hometown and went to Beijing after graduation. After many years, I traveled around and returned to my hometown from Beijing to work. When I grow up and become a father, my relatives at home will be old.

In the past two years, my grandfather, my second uncle and my uncle have all passed away. When my uncle died last year, I stood in front of my uncle's house and saw that his loquat trees, orange trees, peach trees, jujube trees, chestnut trees, buttonwood trees and cypress trees had all grown up. Later, I heard the old man say that cypress trees could not be planted in front of my house, so I cut down the cypress trees. It was also said that there should be no big trees in front of the house, and he had the buttonwood cut down.

But not long after, he got cancer and died before his grandmother. Mother said: That buttonwood tree should not be cut down, which destroyed the geomantic omen, or my uncle would not have died so early. Everyone in the village knows that my uncle's body is one of the best in the village. No one expected that his good health died in just one month.

Not long ago, grandma also passed away. Dozens of her descendants rushed home to attend her funeral. At this time, the oranges are not ripe, the dates are red, and the loquat has been secretly sold by the neighbors in the village. Only the chestnuts on the chestnut tree are still there, hanging on the branches alone and fluttering in the wind.

Several children rushed over excitedly, knocked down chestnuts with sticks, and then stoned them like I did when I was a child and trampled them with shoes. Finally, a chestnut meat rolled out and several children scrambled to eat it. Two nephews joined in, grabbed some and sent them to me. I peeled one and put it in my mouth. It is still crisp, but it is dull and tasteless.

Grandma's cemetery was chosen opposite my uncle's house, which was the place she chose before her death, saying that she would help my uncle look after the house after her death. Later, my uncles found Mr. Feng Shui, and Mr. Feng Shui also said that this is a treasure land with mountains behind and water in front. The sun comes out in the morning, and the sun shines down from the trees, which is infinitely soft.

When my grandmother goes up the mountain, she will pass my uncle's grave. I don't know if my grandmother knew that my second uncle had left before she died, because my family kept telling her that my second uncle had gone to other places for treatment and was recuperating at my cousin's house. Seeing the weeds in front of my uncle's grave, I think of my uncle's poor, hardworking, simple and kind life, and I think of my grandmother's white-haired people sending black-haired people. I followed grandma's coffin and suddenly burst into tears.

Aunt cried the saddest, because my mother had six brothers and sisters, my second uncle died, my third uncle and my fourth uncle both worked and settled in other places, and my mother has been living with me in the city. Now that my grandparents are gone, only my aunt stays at home, lonely, just like chestnuts on that chestnut tree.