There was once a picture on the Internet of three women with doll-like bodies and heads like adults, one sitting in a basin of water, like a "potted doll".
In fact, these three women are indeed adults, and they are also three sisters.
All three sisters suffer from the same disease – "osteogenesis incompleteness".
Logically, three children with the same disease in a family should be inseparable from genetics. The mothers of three should not have the idea of reproducing.
However, their mother, Jiang Tinglan, still chose to fight for four children.
Is this fourth child the same as the sisters?
The first child often fractures and does not know how to be good, and the second child is born with great expectations
Jiang Tinglan lived for many years in Xiaozhai Village, Yunyang, Chongqing, a village surrounded by mountains and misty in the morning, and the fog did not dissipate until ten o'clock.
Just like Jiang Tinglan found out that his one-year-old daughter had broken her bones again.
In 1988, Jiang Tinglan's eldest daughter, Peng Yan, was more than one year old, but she had begun to suffer frequent fractures.
Xiaozhai Village is located in the middle of nowhere, 10 kilometers away from the nearest town where it can catch the market.
The doctor in the deep mountains, where do you know what is called the disease of "incomplete bone", but Jiang Tinglan hugged Peng Yan over, and when he saw where the fracture was, he connected the bone.
After receiving the break, breaking the connection, and repeating it again and again for an unknown number of times, the bones of Peng Yan's body slowly began to deform, and eventually they could not grow, and their limbs were like withered branches.
Jiang Tinglan did not understand why her daughter had such an illness. Later, I heard that it was because when the mother was pregnant, the child did not absorb enough calcium to have such a disease.
This caused Jiang Tinglan's misunderstanding, and she thought that it was only her failure to eat well that led to Peng Yan's misfortune. So they decided to conceive a second child.
Of course, Jiang Tinglan was not without fear - what if the second child was the same as Peng Yan?
So when she was pregnant with her second daughter Peng Jiangqiu, Jiang Tinglan went around looking for a relationship with someone, and finally did a B ultrasound in the hospital.
The results of the B ultrasound show that Peng Jiangqiu's development is normal.
This reassured Jiang Tinglan, who had great hopes for Peng Jiangqiu's arrival.
Not long after Peng Jiangqiu was born, she also suffered intermittent fractures, but the situation was much better than Peng Yan, and she could still walk on crutches.
Just when the Peng family thought that Peng Jiangqiu was at most a girl who could not walk smoothly, but could grow up healthily, tragedy occurred.
When Peng Jiangqiu was six years old, one day when the weather was not good, Grandpa watched that it was about to rain, so he urged Peng Jiangqiu to go home quickly.
This is just a matter of speeding up the pace and running two steps in ordinary children, and Grandpa didn't think so much. Unexpectedly, it was Peng Jiangqiu who sped up her pace, causing her to fall.
Since then, she has never been able to stand up again.
What is even more tragic is that Peng Jiangqiu also has a 3-year-old sister who is 3 years younger than her- Peng Jiangdan, who, like Peng Yan, has been incomplete since childhood.
Three children in a row suffered from the same fracture disorder, and the husband's sudden accident was exacerbated
Incomplete bones, in the ears of ordinary people, are just four words that do not hurt or itch. But in the ears of the three sisters of the Peng family, they represent the never-ending torture in the body.
People with this disease have extremely fragile bones, like porcelain dolls, and fractures are a common thing.
Peng Yan's arm, the skin is intact, but the bones can be twisted into twists anytime and anywhere.
Most of these diseases are genetic, with an incidence of less than 3 in 100,000.
Although the Peng family did not want to admit that they had the disease in their genes, doctors said that the 50% probability was inherited.
On average, the three sisters of the Peng family fracture once or twice a month.
Peng Yan once described that feeling: "Sometimes I really want to cut off my limbs, so I can't feel the pain." ”
In order to "lighten the burden" on the bones, they can hardly wear too thick clothes and cover too thick a quilt - otherwise the bones will be crushed into broken bones; when sleeping, it is best not to turn over, I don't know which bone will break so easily...
And such a simple thing as folding the quilt requires three sisters to help.
At this time, their bones will emit a faint pain, so that their tears can't help but fall.
Even they dare not cry, because this will only involve the bones of their bodies and make them more painful, so they can only cry "little by little".
For the three sisters, their world is the size of a bed.
Twenty-four hours a day, they stayed in bed.
For them, the outside world is the small square inch of the window. Facing the window is a Temple of Guanyin, and they sometimes look at Guanyin and feel much calmer.
When he was a child, Peng Boxiang shaved the heads of the three sisters in order to take care of them conveniently.
This made the three sisters have a "compensatory" mentality for their hair, and each of them grew up with their hair very long and loved to dress themselves.
Taking care of the three daughters is already a heavy burden for Peng Boxiang and Jiang Tinglan.
Someone once asked Jiang Tinglan to throw away the three children, but Jiang Tinglan did not agree: "Their own doll, good evil is a life, adults have bowls of porridge to eat, they must not be hungry." ”
Peng Boxiang also has no complaints about his daughter's encounter, he is a hairdresser, from a young age to go around to different places to get haircuts, when he comes home, he will bring small candies and small snacks bought outside to his daughters, so that they can feel the outside world from the taste.
But for the sake of the family's economic income, Peng Boxiang went to repair the house.com. Unexpectedly, I accidentally fell from the third floor, causing a serious concussion and surgery on the abdominal cavity.
When Peng Boxiang had a hard time retrieving a life from the ghost gate, he could no longer do heavy work and could not go out of the far door.
The family's income suddenly decreased sharply, and the economic burden fell on Jiang Tinglan at once. Jiang Tinglan also knows that what is most lacking in rural areas is labor.
And their family, not only has no labor, but also needs someone to take care of the four people who stay at home.
I don't know if it was lucky or unfortunate, at that time, Jiang Tinglan's fourth child had already been born.
Not giving up on having a fourth child is always normal, and from the age of three, he learned to take care of his sisters
When giving birth to her fourth child, Jiang Tinglan also had a moment of hesitation.
But she knew that giving birth did not necessarily ruin the family, and that a rural family that lacked labor and did not have children was really ruined.
When the fourth daughter turned one year old, there was a phenomenon of dislocation.
The three sisters were terrified to death, afraid that their fate would repeat the same mistakes on their sisters.
They used the leftover popsicles as bamboo sticks to ask for a signature, and wrote their blessings to their sisters on them, hoping that the Guanyin in the Guanyin Temple opposite the window would bless their sisters.
Perhaps it was that Heaven always had a little mercy for the family, and the fourth daughter grew up healthy.
She went to school like a normal child, carrying the hopes of her three sisters.
From the age of three, her fourth sister began to learn to take care of her sisters. Combing her sister's hair, bringing tea and food, taking a bath and washing clothes, and when she grows up a little, she can also pick up her three sisters and walk around.
Regarding the matter of taking care of her sister, the fourth sister never felt hard. Because she thinks that if she does more, her parents will work less hard.
Let the youngest daughter, like half a mother, take care of her own family, Jiang Tinglan said in her heart that no guilt is also false, the palms of her hands and the backs of her hands are all flesh, how can she not be distressed?
The three sisters also knew that the existence of the younger sister was a new flame in their lives.
Although their strength is meagre, they also want to do everything they can to protect their sister.
Later, in order to seek help, the three sisters went to many news media, and many people asked about the fourth sister.
They are all silent about their sister's privacy, and they do not want their special life to become a burden on their sister and bring a different vision to their sister.
However, until the sister grows up and has the ability to earn financial income, the mother is still the main source of economic income for the family, which is still a heavy burden for the mother.
Jiang Tinglan once said that when she was working in the fields, she was endlessly confused about the future, and she could not die at once, but also had to take care of her family, so she fainted.
I don't know how long it took to wake up, but when she was relieved, she had no other way but to continue her work.
The mother alone bears all the financial burdens of the family, and the three sisters have been working part-time to earn pocket money
As her husband recovered and was gradually able to manage the housework, Jiang Tinglan decided to leave home and go to the county to work in order to earn more money.
For sixteen years, Jiang Tinglan spent less time with her daughter and husband, and she spent most of her time in the county town, only to come back once a month.
Every time she came back, she would make a lot of delicious food for her daughters, bathe them, comb their hair, and hug them.
And the sad thing is that she gave up the time to take care of the children and went to a job of caring for other people's children.
Jiang Tinglanduo makes money, in fact, the purpose is very simple - I hope to be able to make up for the tuition of my younger daughter's study. The little daughter is the only hope for their family's future.
Peng Yan, Peng Jiangqiu and Peng Jiangdan are not unaware of their mother's hardships.
The government has also given them some subsidies, and the provincial points can also be used.
They have also thought about helping the family, but they can't even get out of their own bed, so how can they do anything else?
It wasn't until 2014 that the Peng family's cousin sent them a gift — a mobile phone.
The phone opened up a whole new world for the three sisters.
Although they have not read books, they have only been able to watch TV since they were young, and they have also learned a lot of things from TV - including learning Chinese characters under subtitles.
After learning a certain cultural foundation from TV, it is not so difficult to use a mobile phone.
They found that downloading software could make money, and although it was only a dime, it could also accumulate less.
Later, they learned to apply for an account to shake the traffic, sell the traffic to netizens at a low price; or when playing with them, it was just an ordinary card game, and they only made 3 yuan an hour...
At most, you can earn 300 yuan a month. Little by little, I made money.
After 2 years, in 2016 they scraped together enough money to buy the first computer in their lives.
In the Internet age, new business opportunities began to help families, and now they are still optimistic
The functions of the computer are always more complex and comprehensive than those of the mobile phone, and the three sisters have drawn more knowledge from the computer.
Later, they learned that their disease was called "incomplete bone", and they knew that there were many people on the Internet who had the same disease as them.
In 2020, they also learned about some TV column groups, and sent emails to contact the column groups, and even went on TV.
In this way, through the network cable of the information age, the world of the three sisters has gradually become broader.
They were able to go to Beijing, to Shanghai, to different places...
Later, they even started a live broadcast on the short video platform of Kuaishou, ready to sell some hometown specialties.
Behind the vast world, there are more eyes and mouths.
Many people asked them what really happened when they broadcast live? Some have also spoken sarcastically.
But they all patiently explained one by one, hoping to build a bridge of friendship in this regard.
In 2021, the optimism of the sisters touched a little girl named Kexin. Her home is 10 km from the three sisters' house.
In order to be able to meet the three sisters, the family situation is not very good, in the hot summer, walk 10 kilometers to the Peng family, but also brought a lot of cute headdresses to the three sisters.
The three sisters are very fond of headdresses and often wear them on their heads when they are broadcast live. They are very happy to have such a platform for them to communicate with more people.
Through the live broadcast, the three sisters met many well-meaning people. In order to express their goodwill, they often transfer money directly to the three sisters on WeChat.
However, although the three sisters are poor, they still adhere to the bottom line of making money. I want to make money with my own efforts, so I categorically rejected well-meaning netizens.
For the three sisters, in the future, they hope to open a physical store so that their mother, who is on the go, can settle down and start a small business.
Jiang Tinglan hopes to live in the county town, because in this way, the goods they sell when they live broadcast are more convenient for express delivery, without having to go through a lot of trouble.
Until 2022, the three sisters still live in their hometown and do their short video accounts.
On January 11, 2022, when Peng Jiangqiu was carried to the bath by Jiang Tinglan, he accidentally fell and broke his thigh.
During this period, the sisters and parents have been taking good care of Peng Jiangqiu.
Although some people have asked about their recent situation, it is far worse than the heat of the news media when they first reported two years ago.
Even if people's momentary heat of the three sisters dissipates, the three sisters are never discouraged and always strive to exude their positive energy.
Someone once asked the three of them, if their parents are a hundred years later, how will they be good? They smiled and said, who will leave first.
For the three sisters, "later" is a distant word. What they can do is to do a good job now. In the short video platform, they have repeatedly mentioned that they want to move to the city, and perhaps it will be on the agenda in the near future.
I hope that they can complete each small goal step by step, and finally be able to spend every day safely in the stormy life.
Resources:
"Towards Happiness"
"Happiness Knocks on the Door"
Three Sisters Kuaishou account