In 2015, the "part-time work and accommodation" travel method was a mess in China. At that time, many people were keen to find a homestay for recruiting "volunteers" between trips, help the boss to do some non-heavy chores in exchange for free food and accommodation, walk around when not working, and start their own travels.
This way of travel is very different from the traditional.
The traditional trip is to punch in the major attractions, and there is no chance to feel the beauty of local life; Volunteering not only saves money, but also has the opportunity to slow down and integrate into local life, make more friends, and feel the local customs and customs.
In the same year, Gu Shaoqiang, a 35-year-old psychology teacher at Henan Experimental High School, also ushered in a new type of journey of "working for accommodation" and went to dali, the ancient city he had always wanted to go to.
It was such a decision that changed Gu Shaoqiang's life for thirty-five years.
A journey that changes destiny
In the Spring Festival of 2015, Gu Shaoqiang came to Dali with simple luggage and stayed in a homestay. She enjoyed her days as a volunteer in the homestay, not only had a lot of time to go out and enjoy the folk culture of Dali, but also met a lot of interesting friends in the homestay.
Gu Shaoqiang
One day, Gu Shaoqiang was fiddling with the boss's stereo in the store, when suddenly a male voice came: "Can you turn the sound bigger?" ”
She looked up, and a tall man came into view.
This person had a small braid behind his head, smelled intricate patterns on his arms, and exuded a free and uninhibited Wenqing temperament all over his body, which immediately aroused Gu Shaoqiang's curiosity about him.
The vicissitudes of the song coming out of the sound filled the entire space, creating a wonderful chemical reaction between the two. Gu Shaoqiang developed an inexplicable sense of intimacy and familiarity with the strange man in front of him, and after a few seconds he smiled and turned up the volume and talked to him naturally.
During the conversation, Gu Shaoqiang learned that the man's name was Yu Fu, an authentic Sichuanese, who ran a barbershop and traveled all over the country.
Gu Shaoqiang and Yu Fu
As fellow travel enthusiasts, Gu Shaoqiang and Yu Fu are the same at first sight. They talked passionately about their lives, work, and travel experiences, until the sky had become dark.
"Can I add your contact information?" Before leaving, Yu Fu, who had a straightforward personality, took out his mobile phone and smiled and asked Gu Shaoqiang. Gu Shaoqiang smiled and agreed to his application.
In the days that followed, the two maintained high-frequency contact, and at the same time, a different kind of affection gradually fermented. So in less than two months, Gu Shaoqiang and Yu Fu quickly fell in love.
The winter vacation slowly ended, and the day of returning to school was getting closer and closer, and Gu Shaoqiang began to struggle in his heart:
She has adapted to the leisurely and comfortable life of the ancient city, accustomed to the company of Yufu, and does not want to return to the boring and boring life of the past. But staying in the ancient city means that she must give up her stable life and work, which is equivalent to overturning everything she has painstakingly managed before.
Faced with two very different ways of life, Gu Shaoqiang knew that she had to make a choice, and she decided to resign, follow her inner thoughts, and truly live for herself once.
Yufu was shocked when he heard the idea that she was going to resign, and quickly advised her not to be impulsive and to consider it carefully.
After all, the iron rice bowl of middle school teachers is still very fragrant, not only has a stable income and work, but also has a good welfare treatment, and there are three months of vacation a year to rest.
Gu Shaoqiang was already tired of the so-called "stability" and said firmly:
"You have to grasp your own life."
Does Gu Shaoqiang really want to give up his teaching position and comfortable life for an "encounter"? In fact, she did not want to resign after meeting her husband, and the desire to leave a mediocre life had appeared in her mind countless times.
What made Gu Shaoqiang have such a strong desire to resign? It has a lot to do with her upbringing.
A "good girl" who craves freedom
Gu Shaoqiang was born in Henan in 1980. Her parents were intellectuals and very busy at work, leaving her young at home alone.
For Gu Shaoqiang, the lonely air is the only thing that accompanies her growth. Her childhood was locked in a closed family space, and she looked out at the lively world countless times, eager to touch more beautiful things, but this desire was always defeated by the bland but tense rhythm of growth.
Gu Shaoqiang
Like children in traditional Chinese families, Gu Shaoqiang began to go to school, from elementary school to high school, and his days unfolded on the golden road paved with test papers, and there was never a second choice.
Her mother's expectations urged Gu Shaoqiang to run on this road, and she did not have time to think about the life she wanted, because life had been filled with the weekly examination and the monthly examination.
She could only carry her mother's expectations and desperately move forward, hitting her head and bleeding on the one-wood bridge for exam education.
And the little desire for freedom buried in the heart of childhood has lost the soil for growth in this tedious and monotonous but fulfilling learning life.
Kung Fu pays off, and years of hard work finally paid off in the year of the college entrance examination.
In 2000, Gu Shaoqiang was admitted to the Department of Education of Henan Normal University with excellent results, majoring in psychology, and successfully graduated four years later with a bachelor's degree in psychology.
Gu Shaoqiang
Excellent as her, after graduation, she received several job offers from middle schools, and finally selected the Henan Experimental High School and started her teaching career.
It is not difficult to see that Gu Shaoqiang's life has been smooth sailing so far, and he has hardly encountered any difficulties and setbacks that are difficult to resolve. As a student, he was successful in his studies, and he had just graduated from a smooth job and found a stable job.
What Gu Shaoqiang has is the pursuit of many people's lives. But Gu Shaoqiang's heart was not happy, because this was not the life she had chosen.
The seemingly perfect life is actually achieved under the control of her mother, and her desire for a free life has not disappeared, but it has become deeper and deeper under the illusion of a "well-behaved woman", and even she herself has not noticed it.
The job of a teacher has indeed given Gu Shaoqiang a great sense of satisfaction, she devotes all her energy to the teaching curriculum, not only attaches great importance to the teaching content, but also likes to innovate the teaching form and enrich the learning experience of students.
However, this sense of satisfaction still had to give way to the college entrance examination.
Psychology as a subject that does not use the college entrance examination, in high school, especially in the third stage of high school, is very unappreciated, and students have no energy to cooperate with Gu Shaoqiang to explore psychology courses, which makes Gu Shaoqiang's sense of loss stronger and stronger every year.
Gu Shaoqiang
Traveling twice a year became the only way for her to decompress. Whenever there is a winter or summer vacation, Gu Shaoqiang will carry a backpack to take a trip that can go, release the pressure close to nature and listen to the voice of his heart during the trip.
While other colleagues are busy falling in love, getting married, and taking care of the family, Gu Shaoqiang, who lives a wanton and elegant life, is visiting the magnificent Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an, feeling the warm sunshine and the leisure brought by the sea breeze at the seaside.
Traveling soothed her soul and made her understand what she really needed.
With each trip, her desire to break free from the shackles of her mundane life grew stronger.
Until she met a like-minded Yufu in the ancient city of Dali, she found love, and also saw a completely different way of life from herself, and finally made up her mind to resign.
After the Spring Festival, Gu Shaoqiang returned to Henan Experimental Middle School from Dali, gave his students one last lesson, and formally submitted his resignation letter.
Overnight fame
On April 14, 2015, the principal of Henan Experimental Middle School stepped into the office on time to start the day's work.
Except for a letter lying quietly on the desk, everything was as usual. The principal opened the envelope and found it an "alternative" resignation letter with only ten short words, "The world is so big, I want to see it."
The money is a psychology teacher who has been working hard in this school for eleven years, Gu Shaoqiang.
The principal looked at this simple but idealistic resignation letter, and it was difficult to confront Gu Shaoqiang, who did his duty in his daily life.
At that time, he did not realize how "lethal" it would be to write a letter. He would not have thought that a short ten words would soon roll up a hot discussion on the Internet.
Gu Shaoqiang originally wanted to write "Don't do it, go travel" on the resignation letter, but she finally decided to use a more poetic sentence to express her position with a more poetic sentence.
So, there is the sentence "The world is so big, I want to see it." ”
Immediately afterward, Gu Shaoqiang took his suitcase and ran to Chengdu, where Yu Fu was, and began a new life.
The moment the plane landed and opened her phone, she realized that she had become an Internet celebrity.
Gu Shaoqiang
It turned out that at that time, colleagues saw her resignation letter and felt very curious, and took a photo and posted it in the circle of friends. Who knew that this sentence was repeatedly forwarded, and it quickly became a hot topic on the Internet.
Gu Shaoqiang's popularity just proves how much pressure young people are carrying in this era. Growing up, they faced fierce competition, from exams to getting married, buying a house, and having children.
The pressure of the times is like a leather whip on people's bodies, turning them into spinning spinning tops, never stopping, and never having the time and courage to think about whether such a life is what they want.
And Gu Shaoqiang dares to jump out of the comfortable circle of life and greet the unknown life with a fresh heart, this courage and feelings are enough to make people admire, and also make her popular.
Netizens reprinted Gu Shaoqiang's story and praised her resignation letter as "the most emotional resignation letter in history."
Gu Shaoqiang did not care about these sudden influx of attention and praise, and soon began a sweet two-person sightseeing trip with Yufu.
In three months, the two people in love walked through Hainan, Xiamen, Xi'an and other cities together, and had a lot of fun.
Gu Shaoqiang and Yu Fu
The ideal is still based on reality, although Gu Shaoqiang has worked for many years and has a good salary, the hobby of travel is too expensive, and she has only saved about 10,000 savings in eleven years.
Watching the numbers on the bank card rapidly decrease, Gu Shaoqiang began to worry: What if you continue to play like this, and finally have nothing?
The game of reality and ideals begins.
Choose the ideal or bread
After Gu Shaoqiang became famous overnight because of his resignation letter, he encountered many opportunities to monetize his "fame". Many travel websites saw the huge commercial value and advertising effect behind her resignation travel, and threw an olive branch of cooperation to her.
As long as Gu Shaoqiang can advertise for the website during the trip, a large amount of generous remuneration will hit her bank card.
But Gu Shaoqiang did not want to do this, she was not willing to confuse ideals with business, so no matter what sky-high price travel network offered, she refused one by one.
Gu Shaoqiang and Yu Fu
There are also many game manufacturers who offer millions of salaries to invite her to be an endorsement, but Gu Shaoqiang is still unmoved. She said she released information to the outside world that she would not be involved in business.
The reality is still in front of us, and the ideal of no money can only be a castle in the air. After thinking about it, Gu Shaoqiang and Yu Fusi finally decided to return to Chengdu and open an inn in the ancient town, so that they could maintain their romantic feelings while maintaining their livelihood.
The two have no savings, and if they want to open an inn, they have to "pull investment".
Gu Shaoqiang and Yu Fu raised money everywhere, and finally put together more than a million. They used this money to set up an inn, renovated the inn according to their own wishes, and named it "Yuangui Inn".
In October 2015, Yuangui Inn was officially opened, and Gu Shaoqiang and Yu Fu also held a wedding ceremony in the inn.
As worldly escapees, they are reluctant to hand themselves over to the cumbersome wedding process, so they do not hold any ceremonies, do not invite friends and relatives to a feast, and only wear simple clothes to take a group photo at the entrance of the inn, simple but warm.
Gu Shaoqiang and Yu Fu
Friends and relatives heard that they had a wedding and sent their blessings and gifts. However, Gu Shaoqiang and Yu Fu said that they would not accept money at all, saying: "If you have to give red envelopes, it is better to send books!" ”
As soon as this remark came out, many netizens who followed their recent situation sent gifts, and hundreds of books flew from all over the country to the warm return inn, sending the most sincere wedding blessings to the couple.
Gu Shaoqiang rubbed the pages of the book with the aroma of ink with his palm, feeling the warmth and happiness given by strangers.
After the opening of the inn, many netizens also came to visit, and the business of the far-return inn was once very hot.
Gu Shaoqiang and Yu Fu
As the hostess, Gu Shaoqiang seriously runs his own business.
Manpower in the town is scarce, the inn can not find the person in charge of health work for a while, Gu Shaoqiang had to do it himself, clean the room and change the sheets, when the business is good, he also has to personally brush the toilet and mop the floor, and spend every day in repetitive labor work.
Such a life seems to be far from that poetic ideal, but it is the same as Gu Shaoqiang's nine-to-five work life.
After some netizens stayed in the Yuangui Inn, they found that it was not as "idealistic" as they imagined, and Gu Shaoqiang, Yu Fu and other inn owners were no different, and they could not help but shout "deceived".
The wind criticism of Gu Shaoqiang on the Internet is also declining, and the young people who used to regard her as a spiritual symbol of fighting against the loss of life began to question the original intention of her resignation, believing that her arrival at the inn from resignation was just a commercial means of marketing herself and deceiving the public.
Gu Shaoqiang
It is understandable that Volkswagen thinks so, because Gu Shaoqiang, who once said conclusively that he would not engage in any commercial activities, not only opened an inn with Yufu, but also accepted the employment of a company in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, in August, and became the company's "lifetime free smart travel experience division" and enjoyed lifelong free travel treatment.
While saying that he would not engage in commercial activities, and at the same time accepting the invitation to open an inn, Gu Shaoqiang's inconsistent practice was not punching himself in the face?
In the face of the tide of bad comments, Gu Shaoqiang said calmly: "I am not rejecting all commercial things, if commercial behavior can have a good impact on society, and their hobbies and interests are in line with their own hobbies and interests, and their own ability can do it, why should they not go through with money?" ”
If there is only idealism and no realism, the ideal can only be empty talk in the end, and only by laying a good foundation of reality can we truly realize our ideal blueprint.
Gu Shaoqiang had a rare sense of sobriety, and behind every decision she made seemed to be impulsive, it was carefully considered.
Resignation may seem irrational, but it is actually the result of her obedience to her heart, and only in this way can she truly live a fulfilled and happy life.
The verbal attacks of netizens did not make her give up some business activities that she was interested in, because it would not only allow her to survive, but also spread some good things to society.
In the final analysis, Gu Shaoqiang is not opposed to commercial activities, she is against those who only want to use their temporary fame to earn gold, and will still actively participate in normal and valuable business activities.
Gu Shaoqiang
But not everyone can understand her logic, and some people in the town will still laugh at her when they see her working: "Teacher Gu, do you still work yourself?" ”
In the face of questioning and ridicule, Gu Shaoqiang cried and laughed:
"It's impossible for anyone to live without grounding!"
Time flew by, and seven years passed in a flash. Many people are curious about Gu Shaoqiang's life today: What happened to Gu Shaoqiang, who said he wanted to see the world?
Returning to the public vision again, Gu Shaoqiang, in addition to the inn owner's wife, also has multiple identities such as mother and psychological counselor.
Gu Shaoqiang
While running the inn with her heart, she picked up her old business and opened a psychological counselor studio, and her business life is still very rich, practicing yoga, running Banna, learning guqin, Go, etc., and even published a book.
In 2016, Gu Shaoqiang and Yu Fu had their own daughters, and she began to learn how to be a good mother, planning to continue to travel with her daughter and explore more unknowns.
"Life is not only about the present, but also about poetry and distant places." This may be the best description of Gu Shaoqiang's living conditions.
She gave up a stable and comfortable job and chose a richer, freer but also harder life, and we cannot judge whether her actions are right or wrong, as long as she can be satisfied in it, it is the most complete life for her.