Dictation: Mr. Ding
Author: Xiaoya
I am 55 years old, living in a small mountain village, and I am currently dependent on my wife, children, and elderly mother.
Two months ago, my family held two funerals in just half a month, one was my dad's, who passed away in early November at the age of 80 and did not see the sun in 2024.
The other one was my second brother's, in fact, many people said that this funeral should have been held ten years ago, but my parents never believed that my second brother was dead, so they didn't agree to do it.
My parents have three sons and two daughters, and I am the eldest son in the family, with an older sister and two younger brothers and a younger sister below.
My parents are authentic farmers, although they don't earn much, our brothers and sisters have lived a thrifty life since childhood, but our parents love us very much, treat their children equally, and have always taught us to be brothers and sisters, help each other, and spend our lives together, telling us that we are brothers and sisters who break bones and tendons.
Under the education of our parents, the relationship between the five siblings has always been very good. Even as we grew older, we settled down separately and stayed in close contact with each other.
The eldest sister married in another county and came back to visit her parents about once a month. My sister was admitted to a junior college, became a teacher after graduation, and now has a home in the city, and will often come back to visit her parents.
As for the third brother, because the family conditions are too poor, he can't afford to marry a daughter-in-law, so the third brother entered a family with the permission of his parents, went out to work hard with his father-in-law, and is currently settling down in the provincial capital.
After I got married, considering that I was the eldest son and needed to take care of my parents, I stayed in my hometown in the countryside and made a living from farming. When we were farming, my wife and I would go to the county seat to do odd jobs to subsidize the family. After my second brother married his daughter-in-law, he also made a home on the highway and took care of my parents with me.
Until ten years ago, an event shattered the peace of our lives. The second brother's junior high school classmates went out to work before, and they didn't know what way to find it, and they made a lot of money, not only drove back to their hometown, but also used the money to build a building for their family, which made everyone feel envious.
When the second brother saw it, he also felt very envious and went to find his junior high school classmates. After coming back, the second brother told me excitedly: "Brother, my classmate said that he does have a way to make money and is willing to take me to make money together, do you want to go with me?"
I was also very happy to hear this, but thinking that my elderly parents needed to be taken care of, I gritted my teeth and rejected my second brother's suggestion, so that my second brother could go out and make money with peace of mind, and I would take care of my parents, my younger brother-in-law, and two nephews at home.
The second brother agreed, and before leaving, the second brother drank wine with me all night and conceived a beautiful blueprint for the future. He said that when he made money, he would build two buildings, one for each of us, and he would give his children good educational conditions, train them to become talents, and no longer suffer the hardships we had suffered. He also wants to take his parents to live in a good house and prevent his parents from continuing to suffer.
I patted my second brother on the shoulder and encouraged him to work hard, while at the same time letting him relax, saying that I would take good care of the family's affairs.
The next day, under the reluctant gaze of the whole family, the second brother followed his junior high school classmates on the road to work.
In the first year of the second brother's outing, everything was normal. He would call us whenever he had the opportunity to tell us about his situation outside, that he was doing well, that his work was going well, that he would be able to get his salary at the end of the year, and that he would ask about his family.
I told him about the family and told him that everything was fine at home, that he didn't have to worry too much and that he should work hard.
The New Year is approaching, I called to ask when the second brother will come back, the second brother said that he didn't know when the holiday would be, but promised me that he would go home for the New Year, but it didn't come to pass, this became our last call.
After that, when I called my second brother again, I couldn't get through, which made me feel worried.
Seeing that the end of the year was approaching, the second brother disappeared and did not answer the phone, and the whole family felt panicked. My parents went to my second brother's junior high school classmate and asked his family, but the other party didn't know when he had moved, and the building was already empty.
I thought that the second brother might be in trouble, and I didn't want to trouble us so I deliberately played missing, and comforted my parents a few words, but as the footsteps of the New Year got closer and closer, my dad couldn't sit still and decided to go out to find the second brother.
However, we only know that the second brother went to Guangdong, and the specific city is not clear, and it is undoubtedly a needle in a haystack to go out to find someone. However, no matter how much we persuaded him, my dad couldn't listen to him and insisted on going.
In desperation, I accompanied my father to Guangdong, stayed in Guangzhou and Shenzhen for two weeks, spent all the money in my hand, and failed to find the whereabouts of my second brother.
After the third brother found out, he asked his wife's maiden family for help, but to no avail. We even went to the newspaper to find someone, but we couldn't find the second brother.
In this way, the second brother disappeared for ten years, and there was no news. The villagers and elders talked a lot, everyone suspected that my second brother might have died, because no one knew his identity, and he couldn't contact the family, so no one informed us, but my parents didn't believe it, and they went to find it every year, and they were disappointed every year.
Seeing that the second brother was born and died, my parents felt grief-stricken, my mother couldn't bear the pain of missing her son, and fell ill, if it weren't for the careful care of my sisters, wives and daughters-in-law over the years, my mother was afraid that she would not be able to survive until now.
When it comes to my second brother and daughter-in-law, I feel very guilty. In the past ten years, every time we went to find someone, our second brother and daughter-in-law followed, full of expectation and disappointed.
In the fifth year of my second brother's disappearance, the family of my second brother's daughter-in-law came to the door and suggested that my second brother's daughter-in-law divorce and go back with them, so as not to waste time in my house. My parents felt sorry for their second brother and daughter-in-law, and nodded in agreement.
However, the second brother's daughter-in-law refused to leave, saying that she wanted to see people in life and corpses in death, even if it was a divorce, she had to wait until she saw the second brother and let him give an explanation.
My dad lasted for ten years, and he went to find it every year and returned disappointed every year, and finally he couldn't hold on. Since half a year ago, my father's health has been getting worse and worse, and the doctor also said that he will die soon.
In late October, my dad said to me, "Boss, I now believe that the second child has passed away, and I think I'm going to see him soon." Before leaving, I want to do a funeral for the second child and bury his clothes next to me, so that I can probably find him as soon as I go down. ”
Hearing my father's words, everyone couldn't cry, and finally agreed to my father's request and held a funeral for my second brother, and relatives and friends came to mourn.
In fact, I understand what my dad meant, he knows that over the years, in order to find our second brother, we have not only been sad and sad, but also put a lot of money in. Holding a funeral for the second brother is also determined to let the matter of finding the second brother come to an end.
Ten days later, my dad passed away, and in order not to make my mom too sad, my eldest sister took my mom away.
However, what we didn't expect was that the day before yesterday, while I was cooking at home, I heard a knock on the door, and when I went to open the door, I saw a strange and familiar man standing in front of my house, with tears in his eyes.
I couldn't believe it, and called out the name of my second brother with a glimmer of hope, he shouted "brother" and threw himself into my arms, and I knew that the person in front of me was really my second brother.
My second brother and I hugged and cried, and it took a long time for us to recover and call all our relatives. Soon, everyone rushed over.
The second brother's daughter-in-law saw the second brother who had not been seen for ten years, did not move, and asked him what he had been doing all these years.
The second brother told me that he went out to work with his junior high school classmates, and found that his junior high school classmates' work was harmful to others and self-interest, and he felt very angry and unwilling to do such a conscienceless thing.
After falling out with his classmates, he wanted to go home, but he didn't make any money and was unwilling, so he looked for work everywhere and ended up in a factory.
He worked hard for nearly a year, saved a sum of money, and originally planned to go home for the New Year, but at this time he unfortunately fell into the hands of his trusted co-workers, not only lost his hard-earned money, but also owed a lot of debt, which made him feel even more shameless to go back, and he was also worried about affecting us, so he played missing, and changed his mobile phone number.
In the past ten years, the second brother has paid off his debts while working, with ups and downs, and it was not until these two years that he paid off his debts and saved tens of thousands of yuan before he dared to go home.
For the second brother's explanation, we always felt that something was wrong, but when we saw the mother who was crying and shouting "It's good to be back" while holding the second brother, we thought about it for a while, and it was better to live than anything else, and we decided to let it go.
END.
Today's topic: Do you have any good advice for Mr. Ding? Feel free to share your views in the comment section.