The wind at Forty Mile Liang has been hard and blowing for a hundred years.
The people here live like mules pulling a cart, with toughness and tenacity. Grandpa and grandma gave away their third aunt, adhering to the old principle of "valuing boys over girls", but hid all their guilt and love in a pot of dry smoke and red eyes again and again. The daughter who was sent away became a scar that the family could only heal during the holidays.
Uncle Hou is the "top dog" in the family and the number one "troublemaker". He overturns his car, plays games, borrows money to marry his wife, and loves to be pretty. He is not afraid of anything but the glare of his shrewish eldest sister. The uncle was the "big brother" in the school. He used his stinginess to the best of his ability. He used a plate of fish-flavored shredded pork and a pot of Sanye meatballs to get his thin wife back and live a prosperous life.
There is also the capable and fierce mother, the second son who is always working, and the father who comes here on a motorcycle to chase love... Their stories are all blended into a handful of universal glue that can seal all the cracks, into the Mongolian songs, and into the beam that has been polished countless times by the wind and sand.
This is an essay written for my parents, recording those bumpy but warm days on Shili Liang.
Purpose: Through an affectionate review of the daily life of a family in Shililiang, it shows the tenacious and simple vitality of a Chinese family in a difficult environment. The work uses "universal glue" as a metaphor to explore how time and family affection can mend the cracks in life. In the seemingly rough rural life, it unearths the deep and warm brilliance of humanity, in order to pay tribute to those fathers who silently persevered in the torrent of the times.