In August 2019, it was the height of summer, the sun was like fire, and the weather was unusually hot. In the back kitchen of a cold leather shop in Xin'an County, Luoyang City, although several ceiling fans have been turning desperately, they are still extremely hot.
Wang Mengge, a little girl who was working in the back kitchen, had beads of sweat crawling on her face and was soaked with sweat.
She wiped the beads of sweat from her face, looked out the window, and saw that on the street not far away, her twin sister Wang Mengxiao, who was setting up a roadside stall, was also wet, and even her small face was baked red by the sun.
Just at this moment, the sister also happened to look at her side, and the 18-year-old sisters looked at each other and smiled, made a cheering gesture to each other, and then got busy again.
One
Wang Mengxiao and Wang Mengge are twin sisters in Shisi Town, Xin'an County, Luoyang City, Henan Province. The 18-year-old, with excellent scores of 540 and 548 points in 2019, was admitted to zhengzhou university of light industry and Henan Normal University.
For the sisters who were born in the cold door, this is a great joy in life, but in the face of more than 10,000 yuan of tuition fees, the sisters are worried: because they know that their parents, who are not in good health, can not come up with so much money.
The sisters' father, Wang Zhiguang, and their mother, Deng Rongqiao, were farmers. When the sisters were in their teens, their father Wang Zhiguang had a serious illness, and since then they have basically lost the ability to work, and the burden of the family's life has fallen on their mother, Sun Hongyun.
In order to survive, Deng Rongqiao worked as a bather in the bathhouse in his spare time, also opened a sewing shop, and earned a meager income by helping people men mend clothes. But these incomes can only sustain the survival of the whole family, and it is very difficult to support two college students.
The children of the poor are in charge of the house early. Wang Mengxiao and Wang Mengge have known since childhood that the conditions at home are not good, so the sisters are very sensible and have developed the habit of saving since childhood.
Over the years, in addition to the necessary costs of studying, they have hardly ever reached out to their parents for money, but have only devoted all their energy to learning. The sisters have always had excellent academic performance, which has also made their parents particularly pleased.
Since the sisters were admitted to high school and entered the county town, in order to take care of the sisters and earn some living expenses, their parents also came to the county from the countryside, and the whole family lived in a bungalow rented for less than 20 square meters.
My father set up a street stall selling plastic pots, knife boards, mops and other groceries; my mother went into a restaurant and worked as a waiter.
Although the family usually saves money, but the father's stall business is not very good, and the mother's monthly salary is only more than a thousand yuan, so the family's life is still very difficult. Father went to the stall every morning at six o'clock and did not return until ten o'clock in the evening.
In order to earn more money, he always rode an electric tricycle to buy goods in the city tens of kilometers away from the county seat, because there was a small commodity wholesale market in the city, where the goods were cheaper than in the county.
Although the distance from the county to the city is only a few tens of kilometers, most of it is mountainous and the slope is steep and sharp. Every time my father rode an electric tricycle to buy goods, the whole family would worry at home all day.
Even so, the father's income from setting up a stall a month is only more than 1,000 yuan, plus the mother's salary, the family's life is still stretched.
Two years ago, Wang Zhiguang saw that some people in the village went to Xinjiang to pick cotton to make a lot of money, and he also had the idea of going to Xinjiang to pick cotton, but the labor service company saw that he was not in good health, refused to sign a labor contract with him, and refused to take him to Xinjiang.
This incident made Wang Zhiguang depressed for a long time after returning home, and even revealed several times in front of his lover that he was a waste and did not want to live. If it were not for Deng Rongqiao's patient enlightenment, it is uncertain what accidents would have occurred.
Walking into the "home" rented by Wang Mengxiao and Wang Mengge, the monthly rent is only 60 yuan, so it is very simple, except for two beds and a stove, there is almost no decent furniture.
They also eat very economically, and the family's monthly food expenses add up to less than 500 yuan. In this home, there is not even a desk that the sisters use to do their homework.
Every time the sisters had to do their homework, they had to sit on an upside-down plastic bucket and lie on a bench to study. The place where the sisters studied was next to the gas stove where their mother cooked, and if they encountered their mother who wanted to cook, the sisters could only move the stools outside to study.
Two
Wang Mengxiao and Wang Mengge, who grew up in such an environment, know that only by studying hard can they change their destiny. Sister Wang Mengxiao wrote in her diary: "We can remember poverty, we can also change poverty."
We should thank poverty for its strength to fight and forge ahead, and for the opportunities it gives us to inspire, hone and forge. Poverty is not a reason for depravity and depression, but also the understanding that poverty is the root of strength, and strong people will never bow to poverty.
Thank you for poverty, you made me realize true joy and contentment. Thank you poor, you make me believe in the power of education and knowledge. The light from truth and wisdom finally illuminated my naïve and ignorant heart through the deep fog in my soul. ”
In the eyes of the class teacher Yi Shuiyan, Wang Mengxiao's temperament is lively and cheerful, especially love to laugh; Wang Mengge is more introverted and does not like to talk much. Both sisters are very able to endure hardships and have good academic performance.
Yi Shuiyan said: "The school has done many surveys of poor students, Wang Mengxiao and Wang Mengge did not tell us, probably because the children's self-esteem is relatively strong, and then one weekend, the English teacher of my class saw Wang Mengxiao and Wang Mengge on the street helping their father sell plastic buckets, we only knew." ”
After learning about the situation of the sisters, Teacher Yi Shuiyan was more concerned about the sisters, and in the third year of high school alone, Teacher Yi made four or five home visits to the sisters.
What touched Teacher Yi was that in such a difficult family, the parents of the sisters still insisted on cultivating the sisters into materials.
Teacher Yi was particularly impressed by a sentence from the sisters' mother: "I can't read a few words, but I hope that they can all be admitted to college and have a good way out when they grow up." ”
Deng Rongqiao has no culture, but she always trusts her two daughters and never puts pressure on the sisters, because she knows that the sisters study very hard.
She could see that in addition to studying, her daughters never compared with other girls, and even the clothes and shoes they usually wore were basically eliminated by the children of relatives and friends, and the sisters never cared. How many children can do this now?
After the end of the 2019 college entrance examination, Deng Rongqiao only asked how his child did once. When the two children confidently told her that they felt that they had done well in the test, Deng Rongqiao did not doubt it at all.
Because she knows her daughters, knows that these two children never brag, they say that if the test is OK, it must be OK.
The day after the end of the college entrance examination, Wang Mengxiao and Wang Mengge proposed to their parents that they wanted to find something to do and help their parents make more money.
Although Deng Rongqiao and Wang Zhiguang felt that the children were still young and a little reluctant, but seeing the children's firm eyes, they knew that these two children were very assertive, and the things they decided were generally not compromised easily, so they agreed.
Sister Wang Mengxiao has a more extroverted personality, so she decided to help her father set up a stall together, so that she can give full play to her personality advantages and attract guests; sister Wang Mengge is more introverted, so she chose a cold leather shop in the county to work.
For her, this kind of step-by-step work can better play the advantages of her careful character.
The liangpi shop where Wang Mengge worked was not very far from the school they attended. When the two sisters were in high school, their mother met the kind owner of the cold leather shop.
Because the sisters were very nervous when they went to high school, they did not have time to go home for dinner at noon, so every day's lunch was sent to the children by mother Deng Rongqiao every day.
And this cool leather shop is at the entrance of the school, sometimes Deng Rongqiao came early, always sit in this shop for a while, waiting for the school to end.
One after another, Deng Rongqiao and the owner of this cold leather shop became acquainted. After the boss knew about Deng Rongqiao's family situation, he was also very sympathetic, so he always left a table in the store for the Wang Mengge sisters every time, and let the two children take the meal sent by their mother and sit on the table to eat, instead of squatting at the school gate to eat like other children.
After the end of the college entrance examination, Wang Mengge saw that the door of this cool leather shop posted a recruitment notice to recruit summer vacation workers, so he went to the door to apply.
As soon as the boss saw that it was her, he immediately hired her. Although the salary is not high, and the salary is only 1200 yuan a month, in a small county in the central province of Henan, this wage is not low in summer vacation workers. Having an income of 40 yuan a day has made Wang Mengge feel very satisfied.
This summer, the Wang family of four "went to work" together every morning and went home together in the evening. Although it was a little hard, the thought of sharing some burdens with her parents made the Wang Mengge sisters' hearts as sweet as honey.
Three
Compared with her sister Mengge, Mengxiao is more difficult. Because setting up street stalls in the summer is a very hard job, not only to carry the fiery sun overhead, but also to watch the six roads, listen to the eight directions, and attract business.
In the summer, there are not many pedestrians on the streets, and the demand for groceries such as plastic pots and mops is limited, so sometimes at the end of the day, it does not sell much. This made Mengxiao very anxious.
Mengxiao is a girl who loves to use her brain, after setting up a stall for a few days, she found that there are not many pedestrians on the street during the day, but every night, there are many people walking on the pedestrian street of the county, so she decided to let her father rest at home at night, and she took the goods to the pedestrian street to set up a stall.
Because of her generous personality and ability to attract business, her turnover every night is several times that of the day.
Some small items that are not bought by people during the day will be bought by some housewives who come out for a walk at night, and sometimes the gross income of one night is a few hundred yuan.
Although the profit of plastic products is very low, a few hundred yuan of gross income also means that there is a net income of nearly one hundred yuan, which makes Mengxiao very satisfied.
More than a month after the college entrance examination, the sisters received admission letters from Zhengzhou University of Light Industry and Henan Normal University respectively. Along with the notice came the explanation of tuition fees from the two universities.
According to the above requirements, the sisters must credit one year's tuition and accommodation fees to the school's designated account 10 days before the school starts.
The sisters roughly calculated that the fees to be paid by the two added up to nearly 14,000 yuan. This money may not be a big money in the eyes of rich people, but in this family, it is a huge amount of money that is difficult to put together.
On the day they got the notice, seeing the tuition fees above, both sisters lost sleep. Deng Rongqiao knew what the children were thinking, and she said to her husband privately: "No matter how difficult it is, I must let them go to school, if I let them drop out of school because I don't have money, I don't think I have the face to be their mother!" ”
Although the sisters are planning ahead and spending a summer vacation desperately trying to earn money, but after more than a month, the sisters have only earned more than 2,000 yuan from getting up early and greedy, and there is still a big gap from 14,000 yuan.
In particular, Mengxiao, who sets up stalls under the scorching sun every day, and has to solicit business at night, because he has to shout all day long, and his voice is already hoarse.
Knowing that the county has a funding policy for some poor students, Deng Rongqiao also took the time to inquire and submitted an application to the relevant departments in the county. But according to the policy, their families received limited financial support, receiving only a 4,000 yuan grant.
After learning about the situation of their family, the relevant departments also specially handled the minimum guarantee for the sisters, and the sisters each received a monthly subsidy of 200 yuan.
Although this subsidy is a drop in the bucket compared to the tuition fee, it is also a blessing in disguise, solving some of the sisters' difficulties.
After learning about the situation of the Wang family, some well-wishers in the local area also generously donated money to fund some tuition fees for the two sisters, plus the money earned by the two sisters and their parents in the summer, and finally enough to make up for the cost of the sisters' schooling.
Teacher Yi Shuiyan and several other classroom teachers of the sisters also bought a new dress for the two sisters, encouraging them to study hard in college and change their fate through their own efforts.
That night, Deng Rongqiao specially bought two pounds of meat and wrapped dumplings for the whole family. Eating the dumplings wrapped by their mother, the sisters made a decision: after entering the university, they were determined to solve part of it by working and studying, and they could not let their parents worry too much!
Hearing the children say this, Deng Rongqiao's eyes became moist. She felt a little guilty, feeling that she and her husband could not make a lot of money, and the two children had suffered a lot with themselves over the years, and they had tired the children.
The hardships of the parents, the sisters are also in the eyes. So they never blamed their parents.
While eating dumplings, the sisters told their parents the "little secret" when they filled in their volunteer applications: sister Mengge applied for a normal college, wanted to become a teacher after graduation, and stayed with her parents to take good care of her parents;
Sister Mengxiao chose to major in business administration, but she wanted to go to a big city after graduation, strive to get a high-income job, improve the economic conditions of the family, and let the elderly parents enjoy their old age in peace.
Four
After the sisters successfully enrolled, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry and Henan Normal University quickly learned about the sisters' practical difficulties in the new student survey, and arranged work-study positions for them.
During their four years at the university, the sisters worked in student apartments and cafeterias, cleaning and cleaning dishes. From the first day of college, the sisters fulfilled their promise to their mother and did not ask the family for a penny of living expenses.
Although participating in the work-study institute took up a certain amount of their extracurricular time, the sisters' studies did not fall at all. Her sister Zhang Mengge ranked at the top of the class in the exam every year and won the National Inspirational Scholarship.
Sister Zhang Mengxiao is even more outstanding, not only occupying the first place in the class for a long time, but also winning many honors such as the National Inspirational Scholarship, the Self-Improvement Student Scholarship, the Fenghua Student Scholarship and so on.
Zhang Mengge's teachers have a high evaluation of Zhang Mengge, although she comes from a small county, compared with her classmates from a big city, the computer foundation is thin, and she has hardly touched the computer in the high school stage, but she is particularly able to endure hardships, every night after completing the work-study work, she will always stay in the computer room to study, other students have gone to rest, she still insists on studying inside.
Later, a professor proposed that she take over the job of a work-study classmate who had previously graduated and manage the computer room part-time.
With the key to the computer room, Mengge has a feeling of being in the water, and he has to study in the computer room until late every night. When her mentor mentioned her, he was always full of praise: "Mengge is the fastest improving student I have ever brought, and I have represented the school in the National College Software Skills Certification Competition for two consecutive years, and won two awards, which is really not easy." ”
In addition to studying, every winter and summer vacation, the sisters will participate in various social welfare activities organized by the school. During the COVID-19 pandemic, both sisters signed up for the University Student Volunteer Initiative in Henan Province, where they were responsible for helping the children of frontline workers in the fight against the epidemic learn online.
Both sisters have a grateful heart. They have not forgotten that when they faced difficulties, it was all walks of life that gave them help and love in a timely manner, so they must also pass on this love to serve the society.
Wang Mengxiao said that from childhood to adulthood, relatives and friends are very concerned about their family. Among other things, in the past ten years, the vast majority of the clothes they have worn have been sent by relatives and friends.
Although many of these clothes are old, they are not torn, and some are still very new, so they are not willing to throw away a single one, and all of them are washed and worn on their bodies. Because they know that this will save mom and dad a lot of money.
At present, zhang Mengxiao, an older sister who is still a junior in college, has been favored by a famous enterprise in Henan with her excellent performance.
According to the person in charge of this enterprise, Zhang Mengxiao's spirit of self-reliance coincides with the spirit of this enterprise, and they believe that after Mengxiao graduates and joins the company, he will be able to better contribute to and serve the society in his post.
Compared with her sister's "ambition", her sister Mengge is more fond of the profession of teacher. At present, she has passed the examination for the teacher qualification certificate, and only waits for graduation to participate in the recruitment of teachers in the province.
Her wish is that it is best to return to Luoyang, so that it is more convenient to take care of her parents who are not in good health, and to help her parents who have worked all their lives to share the burden on their bodies.
Nowadays, more and more students like the Wang family sisters, relying on their own efforts, are counterattacking their own destiny.
The story of the Wang sisters tells those cold students like them that they may have more difficulties than some of their peers, but through hard work, they can achieve their dreams.
As Sun Shaoan said to Sun Shaoping in his sister Mengge's favorite novel "Ordinary World": "As long as there is one school in this family, there is hope in this family!" ”