Actually, I was only four and a half years old when I left Wuxi.
As for why I remember it so clearly, it's because the day the accident happened was my birthday.
That morning, Grandma first boiled a big white-shelled egg and rolled it all over me from head to toe.
She said that since the egg has been rolled in the water, she will be safe and healthy all year round.
My father and mother wished me a happy birthday and then went to work together.
They promised to bring me a birthday present and a birthday cake when they came back tonight.
I was happy all day long, playing outside in the new clothes that Grandma had specially made for me.
Grandma was busy making glutinous rice balls and cooking, waiting for my parents to come home in the evening so they could celebrate my birthday together.
But that night we waited until midnight and our father and mother still didn't come.
The old woman held me tightly, trembling, and muttered to herself, "All is well, all is well..."
We didn't sleep all night.
The next morning, my mother returned.
Her carefully styled long hair was gone.
His entire head was bald, with uneven stubble of short hair on top.
The mother was also carrying a rabbit doll.
However, there were several black footprints on the rabbit doll's snow-white face.
Later, my father, mother, and I went to Lijiapo Village.
The three of us lived in the cowshed, and our neighbors on either side were a big blue mule, an old yellow ox, and a big braying donkey.
At first, I couldn't adapt and would always cry and make a fuss about going home to find Grandma.
Whenever this happens, my mother will hug me and cry, and my father will cough incessantly.
Later, I got used to it.
Although Lijiapo Village is located in a different part of Wuxi, the several large rivers on its left and right sides are strangely similar to those in Wuxi.
The people of Lijiapo are very nice.
The three of us settled down there.
Looking back on my childhood, the most prominent theme was hunger.
I'm so hungry.
My stomach is empty every day.
It's not that the people of Lijiapo Village are xenophobic; the key issue is that they themselves are very poor.
I once secretly visited the home of the brigade leader in Lijiapo. Of course, at that time, the brigade leader was already Xiangdong's father, my father-in-law, Li Jin!
They have many children, and their situation is no better than mine; they are always hungry too.
Later, I became familiar with the other children in the village, and we would go out to forage for food together.
As soon as wild vegetables sprout in spring, we scatter into the wild like a flock of ducklings, our eyes shining, hoping to find some edible wild vegetables.
At this time of year, there are very few wild vegetables to eat, but the advantage is that the ice in the river has melted, so you can use a net to catch some small fish and shrimp.
Uncle Yuliang, the brigade's zookeeper, is a very kind person; he never bullies us.
Even when my father was unwell, they would let him rest while they cut grass, chopped hay, mixed feed, and fed him at night.
Uncle Yuliang would feed the livestock several times a night. He always said, "A man cannot get rich without unexpected wealth, and a horse cannot get fat without night grass."
At night, my dad couldn't sleep because of his cough, so he worked with Uncle Yuliang.
Uncle Yuliang always says that my father is too weak and needs to supplement his nutrition.
Whenever this topic comes up, the two of them run out of things to say.
Supplementing nutrition?
It's so hard to even get enough to eat these days!
Later, Uncle Yuliang made a landing net for his father and would take him to the Baiyang River to fish whenever he had free time.
Back then, there was no deep-fried fish and shrimp. My mother would mix a handful of coarse flour into a thin batter, throw in small fish and shrimp, add some coarse salt, and then spread it into pancakes in a pan.
Whenever there were fish and shrimp cakes, my father would cook a pot of cornmeal porridge and serve it with a large bowl of cold salad made with freshly grown dandelions.
Once the Rain Water solar term arrives, there will be more and more food available.
At this time of year, there are more wild ducks, but they are all very clever, and it is difficult for people to catch them.
If you're lucky, you might find a nest of wild duck eggs in the reeds.
Wild duck eggs have a bluish-green shell and are smaller than domestic chicken eggs.
Summer is hot and humid, everything grows wildly, and food is plentiful.
Autumn is the harvest season.
The fertile fields were covered with crops, and everyone's face was beaming with happiness.
Even my father and mother, whose faces were usually full of worry, would show a rare look of ease.
When it was time to harvest the grain, the brigade leader allowed us children to carry small baskets and pick up the fallen grain at the back.
We love to go to the peanut field to pick wild peanuts.
Peanuts grow underground, and when digging them up, there are always one or two that get missed.
Sometimes when we find peanuts, we ignore the dirt on them and eagerly crack open the shells to reveal the tender, pinkish-white peanut kernels inside.
At this time, the peanuts have a milky aroma and are tender.
One bite and you'll want to eat more.
Often, after picking peanuts all afternoon, people would only have a few scattered peanuts left in their baskets.
I can endure it.
Peanuts can be dried and pressed for oil.
When my mother has a stomachache, eating a few dried peanuts can relieve the pain.
Besides picking peanuts, we can also pick sweet potatoes, corn...
Speaking of sweet potatoes, my mother could mix dried sweet potato leaves with sorghum flour to make cornbread.
The taste was actually not bad.
Unexpectedly, Xiang Dong wrinkled his nose and retorted, "What's so delicious about it! The sorghum flour is too rough and scratches your throat, and you can't even bite through the dried sweet potato leaves!"
I thought about it for a moment, then felt doubtful. "Really?"
Back then, the steamed buns made with sorghum flour and sweet potato leaves were so delicious!
Xiang Dong looked at me with pity in his eyes, "You must have been too hungry at that time to think this tasted so good."
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