February 8, the eighth day of the first lunar month. Liang Hongmin "suddenly met" her daughter's birthday, but could not buy a cake.
What to do? He and his comrades-in-arms made a simple "cake" out of eggs and dough, lit a lighter as a candle, and celebrated a special birthday for his 4-year-old daughter in the police room next to the Sino-Vietnamese border.
Liang Hongmin's family of four took a group photo with the boundary monument. Photo by Dai Wei
Liang Hongmin, 39, deputy director of the Mengtong Border Police Station of the Wenshan Border Management Detachment in Yunnan Province, has not returned home for the Spring Festival in five years, although his work is only 150 kilometers from home. On the eve of the Spring Festival this year, Liang Hongmin's wife Lu Qingmei came to the border with her two daughters, and the family had a reunion year, and only then did they have a scene of "dough making cakes and lighters as candles" celebrating their daughter's birthday.
Special birthdays. Photo by Dai Wei
The police "suddenly encountered" their daughter's birthday
Not going home during the Spring Festival is the norm for many border people's auxiliary police.
This Spring Festival of the Year of the Tiger, many families of the Shubian People's Auxiliary Police chose to take their children and come to the place where the Shubian People's Auxiliary Police worked to spend a reunion year with their families, and the police sister-in-law Lu Qingmei was one of them.
"He didn't have time to come back, so we'll go." Lu Qingmei said that after learning that Liang Hongmin could not go home for the New Year this year, she decided to take her two children to guard the border with her husband and spend a reunion year together. "Only when there is a country can there be a home, and I support him very much."
After work, the family of four walks on the Border Patrol Road every day, which is very happy. On the morning of the eighth day of the first year, Lu Qingmei proposed to return to Wenshan the next day and asked her husband what day it was?
Afterwards, Liang Hongmin herself felt very ashamed: "At that time, I was directly asked, and I didn't know how to do it, I really forgot the second daughter's 4th birthday." ”
"Suddenly" her daughter's birthday, Liang Hongmin felt helpless. Pulling out his mobile phone to ask his brothers and sisters for help: "Who can help me see if the cake shop on the street is open, today my second princess has a birthday, and the cake has not to be eaten." ”
The comrades-in-arms inquired, but Liang Hongmin was disappointed that the only cake shop in town had not yet opened.
Special birthday cake. Photo by Liang Hongmin
Dough is made into a cake lighter as a candle, and this birthday is very special
"I can't remember my daughter's birthday, I can't buy a birthday cake, this father is too incompetent." Liang Hongmin blamed herself while trying to find a way to remedy it.
In the afternoon, dai wei, an auxiliary police officer who was also on duty in the police office, learned that Liang Hongmin was blaming himself for not finding the cake, and he came up with an idea: "The fancy cake can't be made, and the simple one can try it." ”
Liang Hongmin listened, as if grasping the "life-saving straw", "caught" Dai Wei came to the kitchen, watched Dai Wei beat a few eggs and poured them into the flour, while stirring, said: "The work of Shubian is very special, many times we forget our families, and it is more meaningful to have this opportunity to make cakes for our daughters than to buy them." ”
Seeing that Dai Wei had a confident look, Liang Hongmin's hanging heart finally landed on the ground, and he smiled happily and peeled up peanuts and melon seeds. Seeing that Dai Wei had reconciled the dough, he crushed the peanuts and melon seeds and sprinkled them on the dough, carefully placed them in the rice cooker and steamed them.
Twenty minutes later, Liang Hongmin brought a cake that looked "sloppy" to the table, and he said to his daughter: "This is the cake that Dad and Uncle made for you together, make a wish." ”
Seeing the "cake" made by her father and uncle, the 4-year-old daughter jumped and jumped, closed her eyes and began to make a wish. The family celebrated a special birthday for their daughter, and they were very happy.
Liang Hongmin took his wife and children on a patrol together. Photo by Dai Wei
Their family portraits contain a national boundary monument
In the 10 days of the Spring Festival reunion with his wife and daughter, in order to establish a national security concept for his daughter, from cement roads, dirt roads, and then to sheep gut trails in the jungle, some had to slide down the hillside, some had to climb up on all fours, and some needed to take off their shoes and pull up their pants legs to cross the river... Liang Hongmin either carried or carried her daughter on her back, and roughly completed the daily patrol road.
During this period, they came to the Boundary Monument No. 249 between China and Vietnam, liang Hongmin held his daughter's hand, painted the word "China" and the numbered number in red, and educated her daughter while painting: "This word reads 'zhong', this word reads 'guo', our country is called 'China'." ”
In this way, Liang Hongmin taught her daughter over and over again, and the family of four was immersed in happiness and took a family portrait with a brand-new boundary monument.
"I know that patrol roads are difficult, but I still want my wife and daughter to see our well-guarded motherland and hope that they will understand and support border management more." They left the border pass, and Liang Hongmin will continue to stick to it, watching over the happy Spring Festival and home.