Chapter 41 five

The neon lights in Lane 125 have been extinguished, and restaurants and hotels have begun to close.Only the few watermelon-sized lanterns at the gate of Meiyuan, each blushing, were still hanging there.After all, it was the Mid-Autumn Festival, and in the middle of the night, a cool breeze blew up in the alley, which made the red lanterns swing back and forth.The last group of late-night snack guests just came out of Meiyuan, took a taxi, and drove out of the alley, so the first, second and fifth alleys gradually fell silent.Suddenly, from the front of the Fengcheng Hotel at the entrance of the alley, a full moon surged out, dazzling and astonishingly large.For many years, I have not paid attention to the moon in the mid-autumn night.I didn't expect it to be so huge and so brilliant.Like a big searchlight, hanging high above the alley.Since my mother left that year, our family has not celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival.When my mother was at home, every Mid-Autumn Festival, she would worship the moon mother.At night, when the moon rose to the mid-heaven, my mother took my younger brother and me to the courtyard in the backyard to burn incense. My mother bowed on her body and worshiped the moon alone, and my younger brother and I went to grab the five-nut mooncakes from Jushuixuan on the altar table. eat.My father never came to the courtyard. When my mother finished worshiping the moon, he would cut a plate of moon cakes and send them to my father.The only exception was that year. It was the last Mid-Autumn Festival when my mother was at home, but my father made an exception and went to the backyard to join us in enjoying the moon together.During the Mid-Autumn Festival of that year, my father's cooperative paid double wages, and each of us added one more mooncake, one with five kernels, and one with bean curd.The moon was so bright that night that it made the cement floor in our courtyard turn white, it made my mother's long black satin-like hair hang down on her back, and it made my younger brother's jade-white arms shine. On a layer of Qinghui.My father was very excited that night, and made a grapefruit lamp for me and my younger brother.Unexpectedly, my father's giant palms with bulging veins and gnarled globules were so dexterous in making the pomelo lamp, peeling the pomelo heart out in a few strokes, while leaving the pomelo shell intact.With a sharp fruit knife, he carves two human faces out of the grapefruit shell with great care, with distinct noses and eyes.My brother's mouth is crooked to the left, mine is crooked to the right, two grapefruit lamps, round head and round face, smiling with crooked mouth.We lit a red candle, inserted it into the grapefruit lamp, and hung it under the eaves. The bright yellow candle came out from the eyes and mouth of the grapefruit lamp.When the moon reached mid-heaven, the mother lit incense and murmured blessings to the sky. After paying her respects, she sat down on her bamboo chair, hugged the younger brother in her arms, patted his back, and coaxed him sleep.The younger brother had already eaten one and a half moon cakes, his head rested on his mother's chest, he burped twice, opened his mouth, and fell asleep contentedly.Father walked up and down in the courtyard with his hands behind his back, all night without speaking.He walked to the two grapefruit lamps, raised his gray head, looked at it for a long time, and suddenly said to himself:

Our grapefruit in Sichuan is much larger than this. I walked to the entrance of the alley and looked up. The moonlight was like a basin of cold water, pouring down on my face and pouring over my whole body.