After her mother was lost at the subway entrance, the husband and children complained to each other, sent out missing persons notices, and tried every means to find her. They followed her tracks and restored the memories about her... Then they discovered that no one really knew her.
one
Mom likes the noisy atmosphere of family reunion. At every family gathering, she would pickle kimchi a few days in advance, go to the market to buy meat, and prepare toothpaste and toothbrushes. She also needs to squeeze sesame oil, fry and mash sesame seeds and sesame seeds separately, and bring a bottle when everyone leaves. While waiting for her family to reunite, whether she met neighbors in the village or met acquaintances in the market, her mother was always beaming when talking with people, and her speech and demeanor were full of pride.
The warehouse is densely packed with large and small glass bottles, which contain the fruit and vegetable juices she brews in each season. Mother's sauce tank was full of yellowstone fish sauce, anchovy sauce and clam sauce to be distributed to family members in the city. I heard people say that eating onions is good, so she makes onion juice. Before winter came, she made old pumpkin juice with licorice and gave it to her family living in the city.
My mother's home is like a factory, making things for the family in the city all year round. The soybean paste is marinated, the Qingqu paste is fermented, and the rice is ground. I don't know since when, the number of times family members in the city returned to J City became less and less, but the number of times fathers and mothers went to the city together more and more. Mom and Dad’s birthdays were also celebrated in a restaurant in the city. In this way, there is indeed less toss.
Later, my mother said: "My birthday will be celebrated with your father. The summer is too hot, and there are two summer festivals that take two days to complete. How can there be time for birthdays?" At first, the family said: " How can this work?" Even if my mother didn't want to come to the city, the children in the city would rush to the country in twos and threes to celebrate her birthday. A few years later, everyone prepared gifts for Mom on Dad’s birthday, and her birthday passed quietly. Mom likes to buy socks according to the number of people in the family, but most of the socks bought are not taken away by the family, so they keep accumulating in the closet.
Name: Pu Xiaonv
Date of Birth: July 24, 1938 (69 years old)
Appearance: Short perm, many gray hair, high cheekbones. Wearing a blue shirt, white jacket, and beige pleated skirt.
Missing place: Seoul Metro Station
Regarding which photo of my mother to use, there were differences of opinion again. Although everyone agrees that recent photos should be used, no one has the latest photos of their mothers. I don't know since when, my mother became disgusted with taking pictures. Whenever she took a family portrait, she would walk away without knowing it. There is no mother alone in the photo.
two
When did I know that my mother was illiterate?
After the eldest brother enters the city, I will write down for my mother what she wants to say to the eldest brother. It was from that time that I learned to write letters. The elder brother completed a formal high school in the small town where he was born, and prepared for a year alone to take the civil service examination, and then he was appointed to enter the city. This is the first time my mother has parted from her own children. There was no telephone at the time, and the only means of contact was to write letters. The older brother in the city wrote huge letters on the letter paper and sent it to the mother in the village. My mother knew exactly when her brother's letter arrived, and it was exactly right. At 11 o'clock every morning, the postman came to our village on a bicycle with a large postal parcel hanging in front of the car. On the day my brother wrote, whether it was working in the fields or washing clothes in the ditch, my mother would rush home on time, personally receive my brother's letter from the postman, and then wait for me to come home from school. As soon as I entered the house, my mother dragged me to the corridor behind the house, took out my brother's letter and handed it over. "Read it aloud!" Mom said.
The elder brother who left home always starts with "Mother's letter beforehand", which seems to be a letter format learned from a textbook. The elder brother first asked about the condition of his hometown in the country, and then reported to his mother that he was safe. He said in the letter that he sent a change of clothes to his cousin's house every week and asked her to wash himself. This is what my mother told my aunt. The brother said that he eats well. Because I work at the Dong Office (equivalent to the Subdistrict Office), even the accommodation is settled, so please don’t worry about your family. The brother said that now that he has come to this city, there is nothing impossible to do, and there is still a lot he wants to do. He expressed his determination, that is, to strive for success and one day to let his mother live a happy life. He wrote sophisticatedly and boldly: "Mother, please don't worry about me, you must take care of your body."
I read my brother's letter aloud, and occasionally went to see my mother through the letter. Mother's eyes didn't blink, staring quietly at the taro and sauce jar in the backyard. She propped up her ears keenly like a rabbit, lest she miss a word. After reading the letter, my mother asked me to write down my words on the letter paper. Her first sentence was "to Hengzhe". Hengzhe is the name of the eldest brother. My mother said to Hengzhe, I wrote "For Hengzhe". Mom didn't let a period be drawn, but I still drew a period after the name. My mother called "Hengzhe", so I wrote "Hengzhe". Mother seemed to have forgotten what to say, and fell silent after saying "Hengzhe". I brushed the slipped short hair behind my ears, twisted my ears with a ballpoint pen, and stared at the letter paper, waiting for the words below her. My mother said "The weather has turned cold", I wrote "The weather has turned cold". Mother went on to say the weather: "Spring is here, and the flowers are in full bloom; summer is here, and the rice fields are cracked; in the autumn harvest season, there are soybeans everywhere on the ridges."
Only when I wrote to my brother, did my mother not speak dialect. "Don't worry about family affairs, I hope you will take care of yourself." Mom has no other instructions. My mother's words "to Hengzhe" finally changed into a turbulent flow of emotions: "I can't help you, my mother is very sad." I wrote mother's words on the letter paper, "pop" , Big tears fell on the back of mother's hand. The last sentence my mother dictated is always the same: "Don't be hungry." Signature: "Mom."
I am the third child in the family, and every time my brothers leave home, I see my mother endure the grief, pain and worry of parting. After sending the eldest brother away, my mother wiped the sauce jar on the sauce jar table every morning. The well was in the front yard, and it was very laborious just to lift the water, but she still wiped all the sauce jars that filled the entire backyard one by one. She also lifted the lid and wiped it smoothly and translucently. While wiping the sauce jar, her mouth was still humming: "If the sea was not between you and me, there would be no such bitter parting..." Mom kept soaking the rag in cold water, taking it out and wringing it out. Busy shuttle between the sauce jars, but she is still humming: "One day you will not leave me." At this time, if you shout "Mom", she will look back, she is so honest and honest. Tears are already in the old cow's eyes. Mother stood in front of the sauce jar and called her brother's name: "Hengzhe!" Suddenly she fell on the ground as if exhausted.
The way his mother loves his elder brother is to cook instant noodles for him alone after he returns home from his late self-study. Occasionally I told my eldest brother about the old story, and he responded: "Isn't it just instant noodles? As for this?" What is meant by "isn't it just instant noodles". At that time, instant noodles were already the best delicacy. Mom bought the newly produced instant noodles, hid them in the empty sauce jar, and cooked them separately for the elder brother in the dead of night. After wiping so many jars, my mother stood in front of the sauce jar that used to hide instant noodles. She couldn't restrain the miss of her brother and wept loudly.
Whenever my brothers leave home, all I can do for my grieving mother is to read aloud the letters they sent, write down the verbal reply from my mother, and drop the letter into the mailbox on the way to school. That being the case, how can I be ignorant of the fact that my mother has never set foot in the world of words? I read letters to my mother and recorded her words, but I never thought that my mother was illiterate and had to rely on me, who was still young. Her entrustment was regarded as my usual order, just like she told me to pick hollyhock in the house or go to the oil shop to buy oil. After I left home, my mother didn't seem to give the matter to others. Because I have never received a letter from my mother. Maybe I didn’t write a letter? Because of the phone. When I left home, a public phone was installed in the chief's house. This is the first phone in the village. Every morning, someone "hey, hello" adjusts the microphone, and then broadcasts that someone is calling from Seoul, so hurry up and pick it up. The older brothers who used to convey peace in letters now also call this public phone. Since there were public phones in the village, people whose families were out of town, whether in rice fields or dry fields, every time they heard the sound of "hey, hey" on the radio, they raised their ears and asked each other who they were looking for.
The mother-daughter relationship either knows each other very well, or is even stranger than strangers. Until this fall, I always thought that I knew my mother well, including what she liked, how to ease her emotions when she was angry, and what she wanted to hear. If someone asks what my mother is doing, I can answer within ten seconds. My mother is drying the bracken, or my mother went to church on Sunday. However, in this autumn, my idea was shattered. That was when my mother cleaned up the house in front of me, and I suddenly felt that I was no longer my mother's daughter, as if I had become a guest of my mother. I don't know from what day, my mother will pick up the towels that have fallen in the room and hang them up; when the food on the table is all eaten, she will quickly add new food. If I go back to my mother's house without telling me in advance, she will feel guilty because the yard is messy or the quilt is not clean enough. Open the refrigerator and take a look, my mother will go to the market to buy groceries regardless of my persuasion. Family members, even if the table is messy after dinner, you can rest assured to do other things. My mother no longer wanted me to see her diverse livelihoods, so I realized that I had become a guest of my mother.
