Dictation: Zhang Lanying
Text: The Vanishing City
One
Near the Spring Festival, others are shopping for New Year goods, but I have nothing to prepare, because I have no money to buy. That day I was doing a big cleaning, tears were flowing down, and suddenly, my mobile phone rang very harshly. Seeing that it was a strange phone call, I was stunned.
Because of the terrible retirement years, I automatically avoided various parties, and the contact with the outside world was getting less and less, and the phone was naturally pitiful, but the phone rang over and over again, and I had to answer it.
I never imagined that this phone call was actually from a police officer of the City Bureau's Investigation Brigade, who informed me that my adopted daughter Feng Yanhua had been arrested for suspected telecommunications fraud, and asked me to take advantage of the fact that the detention center's service agency had not closed before the Spring Festival, and quickly bought some necessities for Feng Yanhua to send in.
Feng Yanhua claimed that she was very busy at work and had not come to see me for several months, and I did not expect that she had entered a fraud company, catching up with the police to crack down on telecommunications fraud, and even these ambitious employees who wanted to earn high commissions were also served.
After hanging up the phone, I slumped on the couch and didn't wake up for half a day, not understanding how my adopted daughter had become what she is today.
Two
Feng Yanhua is the daughter of a distant relative of my second-married husband, Feng Guowei.
Before Feng Guowei, I had a history of marriage, and my ex-husband and I worked in a large factory. Because my stomach did not bulge after two or three years of marriage, my in-laws who were anxious to hold their grandchildren were anxious and urged us to go to the hospital for examination, and it turned out that I was infertile. Ex-husband is three generations of single transmission, in order not to delay his succession, we had to leave, ex-husband and I still have a certain relationship, took the initiative to give me some financial compensation.
I am an only child, my father died of a work injury a few years ago, and I also replaced him in his class. After the divorce, I went back to my mother's house and took full care of my mother, who was not in good health. After my mother died, I naturally inherited the family's old house.
This house is in the bustling area of the city, but also worth a few dollars, although I have divorced, but there is no drag on the child, the age is not too old, and there are iron rice bowls, once busy to me as a matchmaker, there are many people, blind dates from civil servants, state-owned enterprise engineers, to teachers, doctors, small traders and hawkers, what conditions are there.
Even, there are a few unmarried, some of the young men are a few years younger than me, after tossing and turning, I like the older I am seven or eight years old, the appearance of white and pure Sven, speaking politely, in a private enterprise responsible for technical work Feng Guowei.
Feng Guowei originally had a happy family, but that year he accidentally had a car accident when he drove his wife and daughter on a self-driving trip, and his daughter unfortunately passed away, and Feng Guowei and his wife suffered some minor injuries. The wife missed her daughter into a disease, when she was in a bad mood, she kept complaining that Feng Guowei's car skills were not good, killing her daughter, Feng Guowei was more and more guilty, and his wife saw that he did not speak, only smoked vigorously, and said that he was cold and violent.
The family did not have the joy and laughter of the daughter when she was still alive, and the two finally left.
Feng Guowei and I cherish each other, and we are also very close to each other, and we got married in a few months. Feng Guowei's hometown is in the countryside, and after the divorce, he left the house he bought after marriage to his ex-wife, and rented a small apartment in the old city. After the two of us remarried, I asked Feng Guowei to retire from the dilapidated rental house and move to my side.
Feng Guowei is very considerate to me, my ex-husband still has some "straight male cancer", but Feng Guowei does not have those problems, I will help me cook ginger sugar tea, wash underwear during my physiological period, when I am busy in the kitchen, he is never idle, either mopping the floor or washing clothes, watering flowers, cleaning the home.
After dinner, we often go for a walk in the small park together and go shopping together at the supermarket on weekends. People who don't know each other look at the two of us talking and laughing, and they definitely can't imagine that we are both married for the second time.
Three
The only fly in the ointment is that we don't have children. Acquaintances with good relations advised us to adopt a child, or you will know the desolation of no children before you are old, and gradually we are both moved.
At that time, Feng Guowei's rural cousin happened to accompany his wife to the provincial city to see a doctor, and in order to save money, he temporarily lived in my house.
The cousin's family was poor, with four daughters and a son. Seeing that my family conditions are good, my cousin half-jokingly proposed, anyway, we don't have children, the big house is empty, or do you want to give their youngest daughter to us to raise? His family is poor, his wife is sick again, he really can't raise so many children, and he is really reluctant to give them to strangers to raise them.
When Feng Guowei returned to his hometown, he was deeply impressed by the girl, saying that she was lively, intelligent and beautiful, very likable, and looked very similar to his daughter. He discussed with me, the child is only four years old now, has no memory, it is easy to establish feelings, or we really take it and raise it, right?
Feng Guowei said that he had already entrusted his relationship to go to the orphanage to inquire, but any child with a better nature could not take our turn to adopt. Besides, we don't know where those children come from, such as whether there are any evil genes in the genes? Is there any genetic history? In contrast, raising the children of their own relatives, knowing the roots, is undoubtedly a lot less troublesome.
Of course, because we have heard about the legendary "poor people are difficult", in order to eliminate the various troubles after adoption, we also have to make a three-chapter agreement with our cousins, for example, since they gave their daughters to us to raise, they can only walk around as relatives in the future, and they can't wait for us to help them raise their children, and then they recognize them and let their daughters give them a pension. The cousin agreed with a full mouth, and although the cousin did not give up, she finally agreed.
Four
In this way, we took our adopted daughter Feng Yanhua to our side.
At first, I thought that Feng Yanhua would make a fuss about going home, but what made us happy was that the little girl was very accustomed to my family's environment, just like she had lived in my house before, and she liked the children's room we carefully prepared for her.
One by one, she tore off her chocolate-rich coat, ate candy while fiddling with all sorts of beautiful Barbie dolls, and couldn't remember to ask her parents in the distant mountain village. Seeing this situation, Feng Guowei and I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Because the adopted daughter and our lives are seamlessly connected, we also began to raise the adopted daughter as our own daughter without reservation, as if Feng Yanhua was our daughter, but only sent to the countryside to raise for a few years. Hearing Feng Yanhua shouting "Mom" in front of me, the sweetness in my heart was no less than that of other mothers.
After having children, the cost is not small, the little girl has suffered a lot in the countryside before, and even if our two sons keep compressing their own expenses, they also strive to implement "rich support" for their adopted daughters.
Feng Yanhua grew taller and taller throughout the year, and the longer she grew, the more she looked like a foreign city girl. When my husband's rural relatives came to the city, they all praised me as an adoptive mother, and it was definitely Feng Yanhua's blessing to meet an adoptive mother like me who was kind and kind.
Feng Yanhua's adoption procedures and household registration are all handled by our entrustment relationship. Seeing that Feng Yanhua loves to play, but has good talent, our two sons have put a lot of effort into her, and a few years ago Feng Yanhua was successfully admitted to a university in the city.
Five
Unfortunately, in Feng Yanhua's junior year, my husband, who worked overtime in the unit for three consecutive days, suddenly had a headache and was in pain after returning home late one night.
I thought it was his old migraine problem, so I quickly found him a few painkillers. Unexpectedly, my husband's headache symptoms did not alleviate at all, and he fell into a coma not long after. I was so frightened that I called for an ambulance, but before I got to the hospital, my husband had no heartbeat and no breathing.
According to the doctor's analysis, Feng Guowei's sudden death should be related to the pressure of work and long-term overdraft health. I think of these years my husband in order to earn more overtime pay, what tiring work is rushed to do, can't help but be sad from it.
Immersed in the pain of widowhood, overnight, my sideburns turned white and my two large eyes collapsed. Acquaintances say, but in just a few days, I am like a teenager or twenty years old.
My husband works for a private enterprise, in recent years, the efficiency is not too good, although he is a technical backbone, has made a lot of contributions to the company, but the company only paid him an extra three months of wages as compensation for the "sudden death". Before this, I had already done the internal withdrawal procedures according to the policy of the unit, and my income was suddenly much less than when I went to work. Thinking of my daughter, who has just graduated for more than a year, I feel more stressed than ever.
Because Feng Yanhua and her husband's deceased daughter look particularly similar, her husband has always treated her as a daughter, preferring to save some herself and try her best to please her baby daughter.
In order to make our daughter more decent in college, our two sons tried our best not to make our daughter sad outside, and although her consumption level was not as good as that of the children of those rich families, it was still much higher than that of poor students from mountainous areas.
I was determined to beat my spirits, and no matter how much I gave my daughter out of college, I was worthy of my husband who hurt me.
Six
What chills me is that maybe we are too accustomed to adopted daughters, after the death of my husband, Feng Yanhua's saddest thing is not the early death of her father, but the fear that her quality of life will plummet like a cliff, then she is "too humiliated in front of her classmates"! She also asked me to share half of the money his dad's company had lost, because in a sense, she had a share of that money.
At that time, I had not yet come out of the grief of my husband's unfortunate death, and my adopted daughter's performance made me stunned, and I had a hard time accepting her selfish indifference. I consoled myself that Feng Yanhua was probably too stimulated and too sad, so she said something shallow and frivolous.
Even so, I don't want my adopted daughter to think that I want to monopolize my husband's little money, simply transfer all the compensation of nearly twenty thousand yuan to her, let her manage her own living expenses, I told her, in the future, only my little pension support is available, she is also about to go to society, must know that it is not easy to earn money, to learn to live within the limits, do not consume ahead of time, blind consumption.
What made me feel that before I said those words for three months, Feng Yanhua began to ask me for living expenses, and it turned out that she had taken that money to give herself a new Apple mobile phone, and now her hands have become tight again.
For the first time, I scolded my adopted daughter, saying that she should not compare herself with the little compensation that her father had exchanged for his life, and she angrily confronted me and said, this is "a 13 artifact that all young people today must have", and she cannot be left behind!
I listened more and more angry, counting the various things that my adopted daughter had not done in the past few years, Feng Yanhua looked at me with a shocked face, and then gritted her teeth and said: "I spend my father's money, what are you excited about?" A few days after my father died, you changed your face to me, I really didn't expect you to be so hypocritical! Wait, I'll expose your face in front of my relatives! ”
I was shocked by these words, and for a while I had mixed feelings, and then I thought of what a girlfriend said when she saw that I was too good to my adopted daughter, "No matter how good you are to your adopted daughter, she may not really appreciate it!" After all, it is not your own birth, she will not have a mother-daughter connection feeling for you, in the end you are just a thankless effort! ”
The more I thought about it, the angrier I became, and I couldn't help yelling at Feng Yanhua: "Okay, the little money your father sold his life, I have already given it to you!" Don't expect me to raise you in the future!" ”
Who knows that Feng Yanhua almost killed me with a single sentence: "You don't raise me, who raises me?" We are legal mother and daughter! Before I go to work, you have to raise me whether you want to or not! Otherwise you are worthy of my father's spirit in heaven? Also, your house is mine sooner or later, I am just borrowing you to live for a few days now, you want to live a few days of comfortable days, it is best to be kind to me! ”
I shuddered angrily, "You! I didn't expect you to be so brazen! We have worked hard to raise you for so many years, and your conscience has given the dog to eat? Your dad and I are so blind! ”
Feng Yanhua sneered: "That's because you are blind, my father can have a bright mind, if you don't have an iron rice bowl and a good house, just because you won't have children, my father will never marry you!" If I hadn't made you two daughters, you wouldn't have endured much gossip! So don't talk about yourself as noble and selfless! ”
She also said that she was trying to make me happy, and she had only called me a mother all these years, and if I didn't want to provide for her again, even if she walked on the street and bumped into me face to face, she wouldn't look at me!
I believe in my husband's personality, but my adoptive daughter's words are still like sulfuric acid, corroding my originally intact heart. I angrily kicked her out of the house and let her support herself through work-study.
After that, whenever I think of the words of my adopted daughter on that day, I feel a chill in my back, and for the first time I have a lingering dislike for this adopted daughter with a beautiful face but a cold belly and a dark belly.
Seven
For more than a month, I was reluctant to take care of Feng Yanhua. During this period, Feng Yanhua sent me a "sorry" meme, I did not reply, I feel that such an apology does not have the slightest sincerity, not to mention that now I have a hard time believing the girl's sincerity.
But when I went downstairs that night to take out the garbage, I was in a trance and accidentally turned my foot. Seeing that my ankles were swollen badly, the kind cleaner aunt quickly helped me to the community health center for examination, and the doctor thought that my feet were not in serious trouble, and I could basically move at home for some days.
After my aunt sent me home, despite my objections, she took my mobile phone and informed my daughter, telling her to go home after class to take care of me.
Seeing that Feng Yanhua rushed home on the last subway that night, still carrying a bag of apples, red and tongtong, a warm light, the qi in my heart unconsciously faded a lot, I comforted myself, now young people are rebellious, mouth poison, what is difficult to hear, in fact, the heart should not be so bad, maybe my adopted daughter is not so bad, the heart also cares about me. The good villain is an elder, and he should not be too harsh on her.
In those days, Feng Yanhua would rush home from school every night to take care of me. Not only helped me order takeaway, but also helped me wash my hair, burn my feet, apply medicine, massage, very patient. Seeing her sweating profusely, I was very reluctant not to go, and the shadow in my heart faded a little.
Because of my limited mobility, Feng Yanhua took the initiative to take over the daily purchase at home. Because I didn't have much money in my WeChat coin purse, Feng Yanhua wanted to buy rice for her family that day, so I gave her my salary card.
Feng Yanhua said that in order to take care of my convenience, my card was temporarily kept by her, and when I moved conveniently, she would return it to me. Besides, she has been busy with her homework recently, in case I need something she can't catch up, she still has to go online to book for me, she can't put some money on WeChat.
There's nothing wrong with that, and if I object, it's a little small. I had to ask my adopted daughter to take my pay card first.
Eight
But I still think of Feng Yanhua too well, since taking away my card, Feng Yanhua has been perfunctory to me and rarely goes home. The reason is that I am almost too good to be true anyway, and she has not been able to prepare her graduation thesis in order to take care of me some time ago, so now I have to hurry up for a while.
Considering that the previous period really dragged down the adopted daughter, I don't have much to say. After a while, the family's reserves were exhausted, and there was really no money to spend, so I contacted Feng Yanhua again, saying that she could move around and ask her to return my salary card, and Feng Yanhua hung up the phone impatiently.
After a while, she transferred me three hundred yuan, saying that the money to buy some necessary items must be enough, not enough to ask her again, and now the family relies on my money to support, and must save some flowers.
Listening to her words, I cried and laughed, my own salary, now used as much as begging people!
Since then, it has entered a cycle of endless cycles. As long as I want to use the money, Feng Yanhua will send me two or three hundred yuan like a flower. Feng Yanhua has entered a private company internship after graduation, with a salary of more than two thousand at the end of each month, she loves to eat and wear in the circle of friends, I don't think she looks like she takes that little salary.
Once I really can't help it, I said a few words about Feng Yanhua on WeChat, Feng Yanhua actually blamed me for not knowing people's hearts, which means that now the society is so chaotic, the middle-aged and elderly people are the most love of the scammers, I am in a trance all day, in case I am cheated, it is not good, she is just kind enough to help me manage the salary card, but I misunderstood that she wants to cheat me of money, it is really a dog biting Lu Dongbin ...
I settled accounts with Feng Yanhua, she took away my salary card for more than a year, I gave her at least fifty or sixty thousand subsidies, why should I use my own salary to support a parasite? Feng Yanhua said, "What's wrong with me using your money, isn't that a matter of course?" Even if you go to sue me, see if anyone cares? ”
Although Feng Yanhua sent these words through WeChat, I felt that her voice was deafening and seemed to echo throughout the room.
Nine
In order to make myself less angry, I tried to contact Feng Yanhua as little as possible after that. Living a life of unpleasantness and frugality, I became more and more haggard, and my gray hair, which had no money to burn, was messy in the wind.
On the eve of the Spring Festival of the reunion of thousands of families, I suddenly heard the news that my adopted daughter had been arrested, and I couldn't help but have mixed feelings, but I was somewhat relieved. In fact, through my experience with my adopted daughter over the years, I have come to believe that the police will not catch the wrong person.
Feng Yanhua's retribution came so quickly that I was convinced that those evil and despicable people would be beaten by society sooner or later.
However, thinking of the painstaking efforts that my husband and I spent on our adopted daughters, my heart is still bitter, and Feng Yanhua's evil results today do not show that our family education is indeed a big problem?
That sentence is well said: "Habit is equal to killing children", I told the story of my own family, in order to remind parents and friends not to take our coddling road again. It is not advisable to blindly spoil children, no matter when, as parents, we must not forget to love ourselves and leave dignity for ourselves.