In July 2022, Yao Lingdi of the Xinjiang Construction Corps dialed the phone number of Taiwan's Hualien Rongmin Home, hoping to talk to her eldest uncle Yao Da, who had been missing for many years, and she was both nervous and excited in the process of waiting.
After searching, the staff told Yao Lingdi that Yao Dachuan had died in 2013 and that he had no relatives.
Yao Lingdi was shocked and burst into tears.
If there are no distant relatives in their hometown, endlessly borrowing money from the uncle, the uncle will not ruthlessly cut off contact with his family, be lonely for the rest of his life, and die in another country...
In 1943, Yao Dachuan, a peasant in Tongcheng, Anhui Province, who was under the age of 16, saw the Kuomintang's conscription information on the streets of the county seat.
The specific requirements of the conscription, Yao Dachuan did not remember, but a monthly military salary of 1,000 legal dollars, which made him remember deeply, and when he listened to the onlookers talking about how 1,000 legal dollars could buy 10 cultivated cattle, he was eager to try.
At a time when warlords were fighting in a chaotic situation, the Japanese invaders were rampant, the situation was turbulent, and the people were living in poverty.
Yao Dachuan's parents are honest, taking Yao Dachuan and his younger brother, and the family of four makes a living by farming.
However, the war and all kinds of taxes and taxes, as well as successive floods, famines, etc., these endless sufferings overwhelmed people.
In troubled times, a safe life has always been a luxury.
In addition to helping his parents do housework and take care of his younger brother, Yao Dachuan went around doing odd jobs at a young age to subsidize the family, but it was a drop in the bucket and to no avail.
The recruitment information at this time was nothing less than a life-saving straw for Yao Dachuan.
Yao Dachuan was overjoyed, he felt that the opportunity to make money had come, so he rushed to sign up.
As everyone knows, at that time, in order to replenish the troops, the Kuomintang was wantonly arresting Zhuang Ding, and Yao Dachuan automatically sent him to the door, which was tantamount to a sheep entering the mouth of the tiger. Without any process and screening, he was immediately admitted, and they were worried that Yao Dachuan would regret and escape, and immediately arranged for him to set out with the army.
Yao Dachuan, on the other hand, did not realize the potential danger at all, and was still immersed in the fantasy that he could finally make his parents and younger brother's life better.
Yao Dachuan was afraid that his parents would oppose him and prevent him from joining the army, so when he was about to leave, he asked someone to write a letter to his parents, telling them of his whereabouts and saying that he would make money to send it back.
Who knows, this difference turned out to be 40 years.
Yao Dachuan, who became a soldier, was sent to the anti-Japanese front without any military training.
The ignorant Yao Dachuan scrupulously adhered to the responsibilities and missions of a soldier, and he showed great courage, and fought with his comrades again and again, defeating the Japanese invaders to the ground.
At the same time, Yao Dachuan was also lucky and saved his life in the rain of bullets.
Of course, he also paid 1,000 French dollars a month, but through the explanations of his comrades-in-arms, Yao Dachuan learned that these legal currencies were an expedient measure of the Kuomintang to alleviate inflation, and in 1937, he could indeed buy 10 scalpers, but in 1943, he could only buy a chicken or buy 10 eggs.
Yao Dachuan woke up like a dream, feeling that the idea of becoming a soldier and making money from military salaries was simply a joke.
Moreover, in the era of military chaos, Yao Dachuan has been fighting on the front line, and the military salary cannot be sent to his parents at all, and in the end it can only become a pile of waste paper.
Discouraged, Yao Dachuan no longer hoped to make money, but only hoped to end the anti-Japanese resistance as soon as possible and be able to go home and reunite with his parents and brother.
Any aggressor will not end well.
In 1945, the Japanese aggressors announced their surrender, and China celebrated with national joy.
When the good news reached Yao Dachuan's unit, he was ecstatic, cheering with his comrades in the trenches, and his excitement was indescribable.
He can finally go home.
However, when Yao Dachuan and his comrades completed the handover and asked for retirement, they were rejected, and their superiors told everyone that they could not leave the troops, but to rest and stand by.
Yao Dachuan couldn't understand that the War of Resistance Against Japan had been won, and it would be a peaceful day in the future, so why did he stay in the army? For this reason, he also got into a dispute with his superiors and was put in solitary confinement.
Soon, Yao Dachuan finally knew why not let them retire, it turned out that Chiang Kai-shek was already ready to fight a civil war. Yao Dachuan's unit was also mobilized to participate, and his return home was far away.
Yao Dachuan had no choice but to carry the gun again, but the Kuomintang army, which had lost popular support, was defeated again and again on the battlefield, and Chiang Kai-shek finally retreated to Taiwan with an army of 600,000, and Yao Dachuan's unit was also among them.
When he boarded the ship, Yao Dachuan and his comrades were told that they would be able to "counterattack the mainland" and reunite with their families in as little as two or three years, or as many as four or five years.
Despite this, almost everyone did not want to leave their homeland, but the Kuomintang was heavily guarded, and it was difficult to escape to the sky, and Yao Dachuan and his comrades-in-arms, despite all their reluctance, still boarded the warship bound for Taiwan with tears in their eyes.
Who knew that when he arrived in Taiwan, Yao Dachuan's hope of returning home became more and more remote, and his life became more and more unbearable.
The Kuomintang has become more and more meticulous, and its promise of "counterattacking and restoring the country" in three years and five years has long been in vain.
Not only that, in 1951, Taiwan issued a conscription order, and a group of local Taiwanese soldiers replaced Yao Dachuan and these "provincials", and for a time, Yao Dachuan and his comrades-in-arms were forced to leave the army and became so-called "honorary nationals".
With a meager "retired servant", a mosquito net and a roll of straw mats, Yao Dachuan, who left the troops, was like a lost lamb.
Yao Dachuan was unfamiliar with life, and Yao Dachuan had no culture, so he could only go around doing odd jobs to make ends meet, and when he couldn't find a job, he could only dig wild vegetables in the mountains, pick wild fruits to fill his hunger, and sometimes even fall into the streets to beg.
Later, Yao Dachuan, who was adrift and helpless, finally settled in the Rongmin House in Hualien County.
The Home of the Veterans is a place for veterans given by the Taiwan authorities.
Although life has settled down, Yao Dachuan still longs for returning home, waiting year after year for the Taiwan authorities to open the strait and reunite with his relatives.
If you do not forget, there will be an echo.
In October 1986, in order to develop the economy and conform to the open world pattern, Chiang Ching-kuo decided to open up the Taiwan people to visit relatives on the mainland.
Yao Dachuan was over half a hundred years old at this time, and he was overjoyed when he learned the news, and his homesickness could finally be resolved.
Yao Dachuan, who was like an arrow in his heart, filled out the application form, got approval like a year, and finally embarked on his journey home in 1987.
Yao Dachuan, who had been adrift for half his life, took a boat, train, and car, and returned to Tongcheng, and he was excited.
Time has passed, everything has long been different, and through the help of the local government, Yao Dachuan found his hometown.
However, to Yao Dachuan's disappointment, none of his loved ones were in his hometown. His parents have long passed away, and his younger brother Yao Huanan's family lives in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.
Although he did not see his brother, Yao Dachuan was also very pleased to look at the distant relatives and villagers who were gathered around him and had never met.
After visiting his parents' graves, Yao Dachuan lived in the house of a distant relative, and every day he either talked to his neighbors or walked around the village.
The loneliness in Taiwan made Yao Dachuan feel warm to the enthusiasm of the villagers, and he responded to this warmth with his heart and lungs.
However, he never imagined that behind these long-lost smiling faces, there were various purposes hidden.
At first, just a few people tentatively told Yao Dachuan that life was difficult, and he couldn't even make up enough money to buy seeds and fertilizers, and Yao Darumor immediately took out money to subsidize.
He felt that he had been away from home for many years and that it was reasonable to do some favors to his hometown, so as long as relatives borrowed money, he would not refuse.
Unexpectedly, more and more people asked Yao Dachuan to borrow money. Buying farm machinery, getting married with children, building new houses... There are many different reasons to borrow money.
And Yao Dachuan's money was also borrowed very little. You know, these money are the "retirement money" that he has saved for half his life, and he has barely saved it after decades of saving money.
Facing the villagers with a sincere face, Yao Dachuan's heart was very entangled, and he had the intention to refuse, but he couldn't bear to say it, and he was in a dilemma.
The borrower swore to him and threatened to pay it back as soon as he had it, but no one paid him a penny.
In the end, Yao Dachuan found that his money was only enough to travel to Xinjiang, and he thought about meeting his brother. He hardened his heart and stopped borrowing money.
And these distant relatives in their hometown, who could not borrow money from Yao Dachuan, took a 180-degree turn in their attitude towards him, and they were originally smiling, but now they not only alienated him, but also sneered at him.
Yao Dachuan was both disappointed and sad.
Fortunately, he finally contacted his younger brother Yao Huanan, and Yao Dachuan immediately set off and left the land of right and wrong.
Family affection is the blood of the world, and the Yao Dachuan brothers reunite, even if they have not seen each other for many years, they can still see each other.
The younger brother Yao Huanan's family made Yao Dachuan feel more cordial and had the feeling of going home, and the unhappiness he encountered in his hometown before was swept away.
Yao Dachuan and his younger brother Yao Huanan's family got along happily, and his younger brother took him around Xinjiang, hoping that he could stay in Xinjiang and spend the rest of his life together.
In the face of his brother's hospitality, Yao Dachuan was very moved, but he felt that he was old, one could not adapt to the plateau environment of Xinjiang, and the other did not want to drag his younger brother.
After thinking about it again and again, he politely refused his brother's retention and returned to the Hualien Rongmin Home in Taiwan.
Yao Dachuan, who returned to the Rongmin House, although he could not get along with his younger brother day and night, but the long-cherished wish of returning home for many years was fulfilled and he was in a good mood.
He often spoke on the phone with his brother and distant relatives back home.
However, what Yao Dachuan did not expect was that distant relatives in his hometown still borrowed money from him, as if he were a wealthy businessman and an ATM.
In order to retain this difficult hometown feeling, Yao Dachuan endured the pain of sending a few retirement salaries, and when he hesitated, he would provoke bad words from relatives.
Later, Yao Dachuan was stretched thin, and even life became a problem. He was in desperation, so he asked the staff of the Rongmin House, and whoever called him in the future said that there was no such person.
At that time, communication was not developed, and Yao Dachuan personally cut off contact with those distant relatives in his hometown, and also lost contact with his only dear brother.
When his younger brother Yao Huanan, when he found that his brother could not be contacted, he was very anxious, so he called his hometown to understand the situation, and when he learned about his eldest brother's experience of being loaned money, he was distressed and speechless.
Yao Huanan contacted many parties, but he was unable to "find" his eldest brother back.
Until his death, he also told his daughter Yao Lingdi to find his brother and bring him home.
Yao Lingdi remembered her father's instructions and never gave up looking for Yao Dachuan. She posted search notices on the Internet and also sought help from some agencies, but she was always lost in the sea and never heard from.
It was not until 2020 that Yao Lingdi learned at a cross-strait family tracing agency that her uncle lived in Hualien Veterans Home, and she planned to go to the Veterans Home to find relatives in person, but she could not go because of the epidemic.
In July 2022, Yao Lingdi struggled to find the phone number of the Home of the Elders. However, Providence tricked people, and she got the message that her uncle had died.
Yao Lingdi was both surprised and sad, and in time, she would bring home the ashes of her uncle, who had suffered all her life, and reunite him with her parents and brother.
Happy to find relatives, emotional and rooted, is a happy thing.
However, for the veteran Yao Dachuan, it is full of sourness.
In order to make a living, he left home to join the army, and due to historical reasons, he was forced to stay in Taiwan, and in his lifetime, he was able to return to his homeland and reunite his relatives. In his happiest time, he encountered blackmail from distant relatives, was overwhelmed, and finally died in another country.
What happened to Yao Dachuan is sad and lamentable.
If Yao Dachuan had refused to lend money to relatives at the beginning, and openly stated his actual situation, perhaps the nostalgia that haunted his life would not have ended in such a sad way.
If the relatives in his hometown can care about family affection and feel more sorry for this wanderer who is floating in a different place, instead of treating him as a cash cow, he will not force Yao Dachuan to resolutely cut off his flesh and blood affection.
How short people's lives are, and the world is complicated and complicated, a little more mutual understanding and less calculation, people's hearts will not become cold, and the warmth will be far-reaching.
—END—
Resources:
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1tG4y1j7Em/?spm_id_from=333.337.search-card.all.click
【Author│Muhiko】
【Editor│Green Grass】
【Typesetting│Green Grass】