Dumpling stand under Willow Tree

Three years ago, there was a time when I wouldn't get home until two or three in the morning. Many roadside storefronts have closed, but not far from home in the two big willow, a dumpling stall is still brightly lit, accompanied by hot steam, rolling with the world's fireworks. A young couple set up a few folding tables and a Maza under a willow tree on the side of the road. They also set up a simple gas stove. A big pot of boiling water was boiling and boiling dumplings were boiling, in twos and threes, the guests called out to their friends and companions, laughing and shouting.

I have observed several times, slowly found that these early morning sitting around the roadside eating dumplings people have many common characteristics. For example, most of them are wearing the uniforms of sanitation workers and security guards big brother, and occasionally there are a few big sisters, they should be and the boss, the boss are very familiar with the wife, when ordering food often with a mouth I do not understand the dialect; For example, they eat very fixed, a few plates of dumplings, a few cloves of garlic, a small plate of vinegar, a bowl of dumplings soup, a bottle of wine. The proprietor seemed to know all the tastes of the guests at each table, and the young proprietor would sneak in and have a little drink with them if they drank, and the proprietor's wife would scold him angrily, to the collective laughter of several tables of men, the proprietor took another sip of wine and trotted back to work, while throwing a begging look at the proprietor's wife; and most interestingly, among the guests who mingled with the young proprietor was a few young Chengguan in uniform, who had a serious relationship during the day that was unique between management and being managed, at two o'clock in the morning this bowl of steaming dumplings and a thick accent in the world was dissolved into a natural life of the landscape.

I am infatuated with the atmosphere.

If my stomach is growling with hunger, I often go to pick up a mazar and squeeze it into the corner of a table to order a dumpling.

After a while, everyone got to know each other. His name is “Zhenhua”, a native of Jiangxi province, and he is thirty-two. Andy cheerful personality, like to chase Hong Kong police drama, most like to wear jeans, smile to reveal a small white teeth, often make everyone happy. The hostess is from Shanxi province. Her face is delicate and gentle. She speaks very little and is very quiet, just like her name“Ying Ying”. She always has a slight smile on her face. Jiaozi restaurant's old customers are mostly Jiangxi and Shanxi villagers, a long time, they can also understand each other's dialect. I once envied the young couple's feelings. Although life was hard, in the wee hours of Beijing, the husband wiped his wife's sweat from time to time. After wiping, he smiled foolishly at the shy woman. The woman looked back at him tenderly, love like that is so moving.

One day, however, the stall suddenly disappeared. At first I thought it was because of the city's construction and management. I sighed and didn't think much about it.

About a month later, it was late autumn, and one night I saw these folded tables again, and the pot of boiling water. I was so happy that I ran over and sat down as usual and ordered my favorite dumplings filled with chives and meat. But after a while, I found that today, only the hostess was busy inside and outside, rolling out the pastry, wrapping the filling, and putting down the dumplings. The guests seemed to have made an appointment as well. Who wanted to eat what and how much, are their own hands from the pot, eat the table clean, tableware tidy up, put down the money, silently left.

I was puzzled by the orderly silence, and there was an inexplicable vibration in my heart. I went up to ask, the boss wife's short answer, let me realize that this family has suffered from a devastating disaster.

A month ago, Zhenhua, thirty-two, was having chest pains that he dismissed as minor. Ying Ying urged him to go to the hospital check, the doctor said may be pulmonary nodules. After two weeks of observation in hospital still no improvement, and then transferred to a large hospital to check again, is the lung cancer in the middle and late.

Life is hard and a short respite is a luxury for them. Zhenhua's mother came from her hometown and spent the day in the hospital, but at night she came back to set up a stall to earn money. The news gradually spread among the guests, everyone to eat, there is a big sister silently rolled up his sleeves to help make dumplings, there is a young man running to do voluntary waiter... ... and this is what I saw a month later.

For three years, I kept in touch with the Zhenhua family. Three years later, as I was writing my book, I received a long letter from Ying Ying:

Xiaonan teacher, Zhenhua today buried in peace, buried in his father's grave, is also a living wish for him.

For three years, day and night seemed like a dream. Zhenhua and I had no skills, no big ideas, just wanted to eat with our hands, and God wouldn't even give us that chance.

His last days, the most worried about my mother-in-law. He told me that his biggest regret was not being able to take care of his mother. He is usually happy, but when talking about his mother, he will hug me and cry. During this period, he has been arranging blind dates for my mother-in-law, and many interesting stories have happened. We saw a lot of interesting old people, mother-in-law at first heart is rejected, the vision is also very picky. Until uncle Li holding a bunch of red roses to the hospital to see her, looking at her mother-in-law smiling from ear to ear look, we all know, to trust the person is Uncle Li. Zhenhua also gave them a decent wedding, although simple, but a lot of people came that day, relatives and friends are crying, not all sad, but also touched. In the end, Zhenhua was relieved. Uncle Li was really good to his mother-in-law. Mother was taken care of, the elderly also accepted the impermanence of life, the family spent the last time together.

When my father-in-law divorced his mother-in-law as a young man and moved to another city, Zhenhua said he had always resented his father. Until his father died, and Zhenhua never got over it. On the contrary, when he was lying in his hospital bed, he often recalled with Me the pictures and stories of his childhood with his father. He said that his father loves to clean especially, the corner of his shirt and pants leg is always flat. Although the family is very poor, but my father every day to buy a newspaper back to read, the village people make fun of my father is a cultural worker doing farm work. My father always liked to carry him on his shoulders. Once he fell, my father told him that he was not afraid when he fell. A man should not be afraid of pain and get up on his own... Zhenhua told me then with a smile. He said he was not afraid of pain this time, but he would never get up again ...... At the end of his life, Zhenhua said, he realized how much he had wanted to get out of his father's shadow, but the more he lived, the more he realized he was finally becoming him. One night, in tears, he told his mother-in-law that he missed his father. She held Zhenhua's hand and kept apologizing to him, saying that she shouldn't always say bad things about his father in front of the children. My Mother-in-law also wanted him to be buried with his father.

Over the past three years, I have also completely changed, a lot of growth. I'll be alive and well, with Zhenhua's share. You Can Count on it.

Enclosed is a photo of the whole family. Uncle Li was wearing a black suit and a fuchsia bow tie. Zhenhua wore a burgundy hat for chemo, which matched Uncle Lee's bow tie. Yingying was all red and smiling as she stood by, holding Zhenhua's arm. Aunt a soft white wedding dress, shyly looking at the camera. The dress, the aunt said, was Zhenhua's protection and companionship for the rest of her life.

As a child, always worried that parents will grow old, will be separated, but do not want to, fate is unpredictable, the sky is ruthless, and some black hair just in time, but had to say goodbye to this world.

I have a lot to say to her after I read it, but I don't know where to start. Type A lot of words, in the moment before sending and deleted, only returned to her four words: “Live Well.”