My mother and many others called her that, seemingly as a courtesy.
Only her grandmother calls her Ah Chang.
I usually call her "Ama" without even using the word "长"; but when I hate her, for example, when I find out that she was the one who murdered my hidden rat, I call her Ah Chang.
There is no one named Chang in our area; she was born yellow, fat and short, and "long" is not an adjective.
It's not her name. I remember she said herself that her name was some girl.
What girl, I have forgotten now, she is not a eldest girl anyway; I finally don’t know her last name.
I remember she also told me the origin of this name: A long time ago, there was a female worker in my family who was very tall. This was Zhen A Chang.
Later, she passed away, and my girl came to fill her shoes. However, because everyone was used to calling her, they did not change their tune, so she became the eldest mother from then on.
Although it is not a good thing to talk about people's shortcomings behind their backs, if you want me to tell the truth, I have to say: I really don't admire her very much.
The most annoying thing is that he often likes to whisper to people.
He also raised a second finger, shaking it up and down in the air, or tapping the tip of his opponent's or his own nose.
Whenever there is some minor turmoil in my family, I always suspect that it has something to do with this "Qie Qie Cha Cha".
I was not allowed to move around, and if I pulled out a blade of grass or turned over a stone, they would say I was naughty and I would tell my mother.
In the summer, when she was sleeping, she stretched out her legs and hands to form a "big" character in the middle of the bed. It was so crowded that I had no room to turn over. It was already so hot from sleeping on the mat in one corner for a long time.
I pushed her, but she didn't move; I called her, but she didn't listen.
"My eldest mother was born so fat. She must be afraid of heat, right? Her sleeping appearance at night may not be very good..." My mother once asked her this after hearing my many complaints.
I also knew that this meant asking her to give me more empty seats.
She didn't speak.
But at night, when I woke up from the heat, I still saw the word "big" placed all over the bed, with an arm still resting on my neck.
I think this is really unthinkable.
But she knows a lot of rules; these rules are probably what I am impatient with.
The happiest time of the year is, of course, New Year's Eve.
After saying goodbye to the New Year, you get lucky money from your elders, wrap it in red paper and put it next to your pillow. You can use it as you like after one night.
Sleeping on the pillow, looking at the red envelope, thinking about the snare drum, knife and gun, clay figurine, sugar Buddha... I bought tomorrow.
However, she came in and placed another lucky orange on the bedside.
"Brother, please remember this!" she said solemnly.
"Tomorrow is the first day of the first lunar month. As soon as I open my eyes in the morning, the first thing you say to me is: 'Mom, congratulations!' Remember? You have to remember that this is a matter of luck for the year. You are not allowed to say goodbye.
After that, I have to eat some lucky oranges." She picked up the orange and shook it in front of my eyes. "Then, all year round..." I also remember New Year's Day in my dream.
I woke up very early the next day and had to sit up as soon as I woke up.
But she immediately stretched out her arms and held me down.
When I looked at her in surprise, I saw her looking at me anxiously.
She shook my shoulder as if she was demanding something again.
I suddenly remembered - "Mom, congratulations..." "Congratulations! Congratulations to everyone! You're so smart! Congratulations!" Then she seemed to be very happy, smiled, and at the same time stuffed something cold into my chest.
In the mouth.
After I was shocked, I suddenly remembered that this was the so-called lucky orange. The ordeal of growing my head on New Year's Day was finally over and I could get out of bed and play.
She taught me many things. For example, when someone dies, one should not say dead, but must say "old"; one should not walk into a house where a child has been born after a person is dead; rice grains dropped on the floor will
It must be picked up, preferably eaten; it must not be crawled under the bamboo pole used to dry pants...
Besides, I have mostly forgotten it now, only the weird New Year’s Day rituals I remember most clearly.
In short: these are all extremely cumbersome things that I still find very troublesome when I think about them.
However, there was a time when I had an unprecedented respect for her.
She often talks to me about "long hair".
What she calls "long-haired" includes not only Hong Xiu's entire army, but also all later bandits and robbers, except for the Revolutionary Party, because they did not exist at that time.
She said it was very scary to have hairy hair, and they couldn't understand what they said.
She said that when Changmao entered the city, all my family fled to the seaside, leaving only a concierge and an old cooking woman to look after the house.
Later, Changmao came through the door as expected, and the old woman called them "King"--it is said that this is how Changmao should be called--and complained about her hunger.
Changmao smiled and said: "Then, I'll give you this thing to eat!" He threw a round thing over with a small braid, which was the concierge's head.
The old woman who cooked was terrified from then on, but when she mentioned it later, her face immediately turned pale, and she patted her chest gently and said, "Ah, it scares me to death, it scares me to death..." I seemed to be stunned at that time.
I'm not afraid, because I think these things have nothing to do with me. I'm not a concierge.
But she probably felt it immediately and said: "Children like you have to be kidnapped to make long-haired ones. There are also beautiful girls who have to be kidnapped." "Then it doesn't matter to you.
"I thought she must be the safest. She doesn't work as a concierge, she's not a child, she's not pretty, and she has many burn scars on her neck.
"What about that?!" she said seriously.
"Are we useless? We will also be taken captive.