🍵 That short and fat afternoon
On the window sill of my grandma’s house, there was always that enamel teapot with a white background and blue flowers.
The belly is round, the spout is slightly upward, and the handle can just fit into my eight-year-old little finger.
Grandma said this is called a "short-mouthed pot" and the jasmine tea brewed from it is the most fragrant.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the sun slanted through the sycamore leaves and sprinkled mottled patches on the stove.
Grandma stood up on tiptoes, pinched a handful of tea leaves from the hanging basket, and then put it into the pot, then washed it down with boiling water, and then the petals spread out in the water, stretching like a child waking up.
The aroma of tea leaves slowly floats out along the spout of the pot, and mixes with the sweetness of sweet potatoes roasted on the coal stove, making the entire kitchen atmosphere warm and full of warmth.
"Come here and taste the new tea that was only available this year." Grandma pushed the teacup in front of me. There was a circle of light golden tea stains printed on the rim of the cup, which was a mark of "warmth" that was left over from the years.
I imitated her, pushed aside the floating leaves, and drank slowly with a very small mouth - the first sip had a bitter taste, but as I swallowed, a ray of sweetness returned to my throat.
Grandma said, this is the taste of life.
From downstairs came the shouts of an old man sharpening a knife, and the jingling of bicycle bells.
Grandma Zhang, the neighbor, knocked on the door with a bowl of mugwort cake that had just come out of the pot, and said, "Let the baby have a try!" Grandma took the bowl and handed her two oranges.
This situation of you coming and going has a human touch, and it flows particularly smoothly during the slow afternoon.
🐴 Ride a wooden horse to Banbury
Under the old locust tree at the entrance of the alley, carpenter Uncle Chen made a rocking horse for his grandson.
The horse's body was remodeled from an old bed board, and its wheels were dismantled from a scrap stroller. It was then painted with blue paint, and its eyebrows were painted to look particularly lively.
A group of children lined up in a long queue, taking turns to ride, their little buttocks shaking up and down, murmuring these words: "Go to Banbury! Buy a penny of white bread!".
Uncle Chen was sitting on the horse with a pipe in his mouth and a smile in his eyes.
He said he had a wooden horse like this when he was a child, and his father made it out of shrapnel boxes.
There were no toys anywhere at that time, but this shake was actually the entire childhood. Now he is passing on this memory. This wooden horse keeps shaking. What shakes away is the past, and what shakes back is a kind of inheritance.
In the evening, the setting sun stretches the shadows of the locust trees.
The children dispersed, and the rocking horse parked quietly under the tree, waiting for tomorrow's adventure .
It can't speak, but every adult passing by will take a second look at it - perhaps seeing their own dreams flying in the past on it.
🐷 Go to the market and buy a fat pig
The Saturday vegetable market is the most lively place in the city.
In the vegetable market, every time the meat seller Lao Zhou spoke, his voice was always the loudest: "Today's three-layered meat is perfect for braised pork!" He operated smoothly and smoothly, cutting the meat, weighing it, and tying the rope. A series of movements were coherent and smooth, and he completed it in one go without any hindrance.
When you buy it, you will get two free tube bones: “Make soup for your children!”
Among the crowd, I pushed a stroller and moved forward slowly. The stroller was filled with tomatoes, green peppers, and lively river shrimps.
When the daughter pointed at the rabbit in the cage and refused to leave, the vegetable seller pulled out a carrot and handed it to her, saying, "Take it and feed it, no need to pay!" The daughter timidly took it, stretched out her little hands tremblingly, and the rabbit's three-petal mouth kept moving. She giggled, and the sound was as clear as the sound of a silver bell dropped on the ground.
Isn't this smell of fireworks in the world the most concrete form of happiness ?
You can buy a handful of celery for two yuan. When handing the celery to the customer, the boss conveniently added two extra green onions. The girl weighing the apples took an extra apple and said she gave it to the baby because she saw how cute it looked.
There is generosity in the caress, and there is warmth in the interactions between you and me.
☀️ Chimney Road on Sunday afternoon
There is a small square downstairs in the community, paved with colorful rubber floor tiles.
Every Sunday afternoon, this place becomes a paradise for children.
Those who ride balance bikes, skateboards, and chase bubbles can overturn the sky with their shouts.
I live on the fifth floor, and my window faces the square.
My daughter said that there is such a place, which she calls her "observatory". She has a preference of lying on the window sill and watching the children downstairs. She gave the children names: the one who rides a red bicycle is called "Brother Sun", and the one who always wears a pink skirt is called "Sister Moon".
She pointed to the chimney in the distance and said, "Mom, did they make a circle around the sun, and then around the moon, and finally returned home by sliding from the chimney?"
Children's imagination is always surprising.
In her eyes, this ordinary neighborhood square is the entire universe .
However, those mothers upstairs leaned out of the windows and shouted "come home for dinner". They became the gentle gravitational pull that powerfully called their children back.
This everyday scene has the power to soothe the hearts of mortals the most.
❄️ Walking around the mulberry bushes on a cold morning
There is an old mulberry tree at the entrance of the kindergarten. The trunk is so thick that two children can hug it.
In the early morning of winter, the ground was covered with frost. The children were wrapped up like little cotton balls. One pulled the other's back hem and circled around the mulberry tree doing morning exercises.
Under the teacher's playing, the notes of the electronic keyboard floated to the horizon, but the children sang extremely seriously as usual: "We surrounded the mulberry bushes on a cold morning...".
I was standing in the group of parents, looking at my daughter stomping her feet seriously, and my eyes were a little hot.
This simplest collective game hides the deepest sense of belonging .
Decades ago, I pulled my classmates' clothes like this and spun around in circles on a cold morning.
At that time, the mulberry tree also stood quietly like this, watching generations of people grow up.
After school, my daughter picked a few purple mulberries under the tree, causing her little hands to be stained purple. Then she held it up and showed it to me: "Mom, it's sweet!" I tasted one, and it was really sweet. It was as sweet as all the beautiful childhoods, and it was as sweet as the light that suddenly lit up in this ordinary day.
Life is probably like this. There are not major events that can shake the world, but only these little moments that are in a fragmented state, filled with warmth and shining with faint light.
Mr. Egg, who is in a state that can be put back together, fell down, and Gray-Headed Bill does not need to take a bath. However, ordinary people like us live our lives like steam rising from meal to meal, and among the grass and trees, passing on warmth and goodwill from one generation to the next.
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