●—≺ Preface ≻—●
During the period when the educated youth returned to the city, I took away a 12-year-old girl because of my soft heart, but I didn't expect that time has passed, but now she has become my biggest dependence, and it can even be said that it is my only dependence.
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This article is a short story, the content is purely fictional, please watch it rationally, if there is any similarity, it is purely coincidental
●—≺ Leaving ≻ hometown—●
My name is Li Shuang, I was born in Beijing in the 50s, not long after I graduated from junior high school, I started the movement to go to the mountains and go to the countryside in China.
In 1970, when I was 17 years old, one day in November, the staff of the neighborhood office came to my house and informed my parents that they had taken out a child to go to the countryside.
There are 3 children in our family, I am the second, my brother works in a factory, and my two younger sisters are not yet 15 years old, so I am the only one in the family who meets the conditions for going to the countryside.
To be honest, I don't really want to go, I have heard from the mouths of people around me that going to the countryside is not as simple as going to the village for a few years, but to move the household registration to the countryside, as for when I can go home is unknown.
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In mid-November, I embarked on this unknown journey, and the platform of the train station was crowded with parents who had come to see me off, some with smiles on their faces, and asked their children to go there to work hard.
And some parents are full of tears, because they don't know when they will see each other this time, or rather, this farewell is goodbye.
On the day I left, my father was the only one who came to see me off, and I clearly remember what he said to me: "In the past, the other side took care of his temper, and had nothing to do with the above, and had a lot of trouble." ”
At first, I didn't understand why my father said this, I had the impression that my father hated scolding his superiors the most, and it wasn't until I went to the countryside that I understood the meaning of his words, but it was also the last thing I heard my father say in my life.
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After a day and a half of train rides, the vehicle arrived at Xi'an Station, and then a dozen people and I were put into an open-top military vehicle, and it took nearly a day for us to reach our destination.
Located in a village in Yanchuan County, Yan'an Prefecture, with rolling hills everywhere and almost no flat land around, I have imagined my future life in such a harsh environment.
Maybe it's the novelty of collective life, but many people are more excited than worried about the days ahead, including me.
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On the first night of our youth career, we didn't sleep in the dormitory almost all night, chatting with each other about some topics, and we didn't fall asleep until the early hours of the morning, but we didn't sleep for long, and we were forcibly shouted by the captain of the production team.
Since it was winter, there weren't too many people working in the fields, but that didn't mean the job would be easy.
After breakfast, the production team leader began to assign work, some to feed the cows, some to go outside to chop firewood and collect wood, and of course, to pick up dung.
I'm relatively lucky, I was assigned to go outside to chop firewood, and a buddy was assigned to pick up dung, and immediately quarreled with the production captain, but in the end, the guy could only obediently pick up dung.
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●—≺ Zhang Xiaolin's family ≻—●
There were three people who went to chop wood with me, and at first we all worked seriously, but after just over two hours, we felt tired, and the thought of having to repeat the same action for the whole day made us feel even more tired, so we simply became lazy, after all, there was no one to watch.
At noon, we went back to our accommodation for lunch, and to be honest, I couldn't swallow the rice here, and they mixed sweet potatoes, pumpkin, turnips and flour to make a dark-looking dry food, and a bowl of millet porridge, which was one of the foods that I often eat.
After a brief lunch and a short rest, we began to continue to work, and then had dinner at 6 o'clock in the evening, so it can be said that there are only three things in the daily life of the educated youth, eating, sleeping and working.
When I went to bed that night, there was not enough firewood for burning the kang in our dormitory, and I later learned that the wood used to burn the kang in each dormitory needed to be solved by the educated youth of the dormitory themselves, and it was from then on that no one dared to be lazy when chopping wood.
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At first, these villagers did not have a good impression of us, after all, there is a shortage of water and food here, and now there are more young people from outside to occupy food, and we are understandable that people do not welcome us.
Fortunately, as time went by, the vast majority of the villagers still chose to accept us, and among these villagers, Uncle Zhang and I were the closest.
Uncle Zhang's family has only three people, namely himself, his wife and a little girl, I remember that it was on the eve of New Year's Day in 1972, Uncle Zhang flashed his waist when he was working, so I helped his family to grind.
In order to thank me, the family invited me into the house for a light meal, and during the dinner, the old couple made a request to me to teach the little girl to read.
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The girl's name is Zhang Xiaolin, she was 5 years old at the time, and she is the granddaughter of the second elder, Xiaolin's father was a miner, unfortunately died in a mining accident, after the death of her father, her mother did not say goodbye soon after, leaving the young Xiaolin to her grandparents.
I felt pity when I heard about this family's background, and in the days that followed, as long as I was free, I would go to Uncle Zhang's family to visit, and also teach Xiaolin some culture by the way.
Since I got to know this family, my daily life is no longer so boring, and sometimes when the team is tired of cooking, I will go to Uncle Zhang's house to open a small stove.
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In the blink of an eye, in 1974, I had been here for four years, and according to the requirements for educated youths to be transferred out of the countryside, anyone who went to the countryside for more than two years would be eligible to return to the city to go to school, return to the city to work, and enlist in the army.
That year, our team talked about the transfer of places, and I immediately went to sign up, and normally speaking, whether it was personal conditions or usual performance, I was not bad, and I deserved this place.
But I didn't expect the captain to give the quota directly to a few female babies, I was not convinced to go to question, but the captain prevaricated my question on the grounds that "the female baby is too tired to work".
However, when I heard that the girls who got the quota were all good-looking, I roughly guessed why the quota was given to them, and after that incident, I realized why my father wanted me to have a good relationship with the above before leaving.
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●—≺ Father's bad news ≻—●
One day in August 1976, when I was busy working in the field, a partner ran up to me and said, "Shuangzi, there is a person named Li Dong outside looking for you, saying that he is your eldest brother." ”
Hearing that someone from the family came to visit, I said hello to the production team leader and went to meet my brother, but before I could experience the joy of my brother's reunion, a bad news stabbed me.
According to my eldest brother Li Dong, not long ago, my father went to Tangshan on a business trip, but an earthquake broke out while he was asleep, and my father did not have time to escape, so he was buried on the spot, and it took rescuers two full days to dig my father out from under the rubble, but at that time my father had no heartbeat.
My father's death hit me hard, and for a long time, I was not in a state to work, and my partners and captains knew about my situation, so they were not embarrassed to talk about me, and I was groggy for about a month before I came out of the haze of my father's death.
In the blink of an eye, it was the Spring Festival of another year, and I ushered in the seventh year of going to the countryside, and on the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, the team organized a party with the villagers and the young people.
During the party, Zhang Xiaolin, the granddaughter of Uncle Zhang's family, took the stage to perform a poem recitation, which was "Fengqiao Night Park" that I taught her not long ago.
Xiaolin finished reading this poem with a smile on stage, but many of the young people sitting in the audience cried, yes, we should cry, everyone has been out for so long, who can not miss their hometown, who can not miss their relatives who have not seen for a long time?
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That year's Chinese New Year's Eve was different from the past, the dumpling filling was leek eggs and vermicelli, since I came here, I only ate leek egg dumplings in the first year, and then the filling was either potatoes, or cabbage radish, after a few dumplings with a few glasses of wine, the homesickness in everyone's hearts became stronger, and I also made up my mind that I must return to my hometown this year.
In the days that followed, I changed my way to please the production captain, invited him to drink from time to time, and went to his house to help with the work, and finally in the summer of 1977, I got a place to return to the city to work, but before I left, another bad news followed, Uncle Zhang died of a sudden cerebral infarction.
With the departure of Uncle Zhang, there are only two people left in the family, the wife and granddaughter are left, Uncle Zhang's wife is almost 70 years old, her legs and feet and eyesight are not very good, and her granddaughter Zhang Xiaolin was only 10 years old at the time, and she couldn't take care of this family at all.
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●—≺ Leave northern Shaanxi with Xiaolin ≻—●
In 1979, Zhang Xiaolin's grandmother followed her wife, and the conditions for returning to the city were not so harsh at that time, so I took 12-year-old Zhang Xiaolin back to Beijing.
After returning to Beijing, I took the lead in visiting my home, but I never saw my mother, and only my eldest brother Li Dong was in the whole family.
According to the eldest brother, after the death of his father, his mother suffered from a serious illness and died a year later, the third sister just got married not long ago and moved out of the family, and the fourth sister went to the south to work, leaving only the eldest brother in the whole family.
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On the night of my homecoming, my brothers and I drank a lot of wine, and I told me what had happened to me in the past few years and what happened to Zhang Xiaolin.
"Shuangzi, you are also 26 years old this year, I have no objection to you bringing a child by your side, but you have to think about it clearly, you are going to get married and start a family in the future, what do you think of the girl with such a big child?"
I didn't take my eldest brother's words to heart, and chose to laugh it off, after all, I have no plans to marry a wife.
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After resting at home for three days, I went to work to report, where I met a girl, her name is Chen Mei, and we became boyfriend and girlfriend.
After getting along for about half a year, we reached the point where we talked about marriage, I didn't want to hide anything from Chen Mei, so I told her about Xiaolin, hoping to live with Xiaolin after marriage until she could support herself.
Fortunately, Chen Mei's heart was softer, and she was deeply sympathetic to Xiaolin's experience, so she agreed to my proposal.
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In the winter of 1980, Chen Mei and I got married, after marriage, we both took Xiaolin and moved into public rental housing, in order to let Xiaolin go to middle school, I would give her homework every day after work, Xiaolin passed the entrance exam and went to junior high school the following year.
After marriage, Chen Mei and I gave birth to a son, although we have biological flesh and blood, but our husband and wife still did not snub Xiaolin, Xiaolin, the child is also sensible, whether it is life or study, we don't have to worry about it.
In 1988, 21-year-old Xiaolin was admitted to university, returned to Beijing to work after graduation, found a boyfriend during work, and the two held a wedding at the end of the same year.
Chen Mei and I attended the wedding, and during the toast, Xiaolin cried in front of me, and I comforted her that even if we got married, the door of this home was still open for you.
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In 2018, my wife Chen Mei went before me, and at that time my son was also married, but he rarely came back to visit me, a lonely person, even if I was sick and hospitalized, my son just went through the motions, only Xiaolin would often come to visit me.
After being discharged from the hospital, Xiaolin paid out of his own pocket and sent me to a high-end nursing home, according to normal speaking, this cost should be half of the son and Xiaolin, but my son is a typical "married daughter-in-law and forgot his father", unwilling to spend a penny, Xiaolin and his son-in-law bear all the expenses.
In the past few years in the nursing home, the number of times my son has visited me can be counted on one hand, but Xiaolin and his son-in-law bring various things to see me from time to time, and I know in my heart that Xiaolin has become my only support.
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●—≺ Summary ≻—●
Although kindness can not make people wealth, but it can be exchanged for the sincerity of others, which is far more precious than material wealth, Li Shuang from the adoption of Xiaolin to her graduation from college, although it took more than ten years of economy and energy, but in exchange for Xiaolin's life repaid.
To a kind and true person like Li Shuang, any return is taken for granted, only when there are more and more "Li Shuang" in the world, the trust between people will not collapse at the touch of a button, life in the world, please be more kind, less suspicious.
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