People are crowding, pushing forward, and they all stretch out their hands, and this scene is really difficult to parry. Huang Meifang is nimble with her hands and feet, turning the pot and spoon, cooking makes perfect, but there is still no way, so she asked the diners to take the powder in the plastic box and add soup and ingredients by themselves.
This is the case almost every day. In the evening, the city is lit up with neon, and in the manhole, 40 kilometers away, a continuous industrial park is lit up. At 5:30 p.m., when the workers got off work, Huang Meifang must have set up a stall and waited here.
She sells Liuzhou snail noodles, puts the powder in a spoon, stews in the pot, and comes out of the pot quickly. In the third industrial zone of the Republic of Bao'an District, on the east side of the intersection of Yuetai Road and Industrial Road, there are mobile rice stalls on a road, selling food that is easy to take, bundled zongzi, boxed dumplings, soft sweet potatoes, starchy sausages or meat skewers, bowls of soup, noodles, and noodles, all waiting.
As soon as 5:30 a.m., the door of the park was like a net breaking open, and the crowd rushed out, filling their stomachs with money. The snail noodle business is good, there are a lot of old customers, Huang Meifang is busy, diners take the powder, add chili, peanuts, capers, bean curd, fried bean skin, as well as fried meat pieces, ham sausages, eggs, etc., and hold a big spoonful of boiling red soup, steaming, fresh and fragrant.
Huang Meifang's booth came to many customers Photo/Xiang Zhilin
Huang Meifang knew that being busy was only temporary. Sure enough, only 20 minutes have passed, and there are already very few people. The workers hurried back, and at 6:30 a.m. it was the evening shift, and the white light with high color temperature would continue to run on the huge machinery until late at night.
Suddenly, the road became deserted again, and the vendors all withdrew, and a few familiar faces joked and asked Huang Meifang: Sister Fang, why are there reporters following you, are you a celebrity?
For whom it is hard
Huang Meifang doesn't think she is a celebrity, 3 years ago, the popular documentary "The Second Time in Life" was broadcast on CCTV and Station B, she was the protagonist of the eighth episode, but she never figured it out, "People like me, there are everywhere here, why did you choose me?"
The poster of Huang Meifang's "The Second Life".
3 years ago, her son Qin Wuao was in the "junior high school", because he was not a Shenzhen hukou, and his school scores were not high enough, so he could only study in a private junior high school. But junior high school is okay to say, when the "junior high school" is reached, the gap in admission standards brought about by the difference in household registration, as well as the gap in fees between public and private high schools, is like a mountain pressing on this family.
The issue of children's reading is the most important thing in Sister Fang's family.
At that time, Huang Meifang was still working in the factory, and when she arrived at the factory in the morning, she changed into a white overalls jacket (with a horizontal and vertical light-colored checkered checkered on it) with everyone, and followed the crowd into the square factory and walked to the horizontal and vertical assembly line.
During the one-hour lunch break, Huang Meifang divided the time into 4 "15 minutes": the first 15 minutes are used to go home, the second is used to cook, the third is used to eat, adults and children eat a few bites, and the fourth 15 minutes, go to school and go to work. Just like Huang Meifang said, you have to take care of work and baby, and everyone in the industrial park is the same.
Huang Meifang at the workstation
The problem of the child's high school education has always been pressed on this mother who is not a deep household. The data of the past years shows that at the time of the "junior high school", the admission line for students from deep households is "AC", and the admission line for public high schools is about 460 points, and the admission line for non-deep students is "Class D", with an admission line of more than 500 points.
In terms of the proportion of different categories, the gap is more intuitive. In 2022, the admission rate of public high schools in Shenzhen is 53%, and non-Shenzhen students only occupy 25% of the places.
Huang Meifang's dream at that time was to enter the deep household, and thus entered the track of "points into the household".
She laughed at herself and said: "Saving points is harder than saving money." ”
She is also preparing for her social work certification and bachelor's degree. After a trivial family, taking her baby to school, and working in a factory, she sat at her desk in her 40s, often late at night. Despite this environment, she successfully obtained a college diploma, took the exam five more times, and enrolled in an adult self-examination undergraduate college.
The college dream has come true, but the deep dream is still ethereal.
After the broadcast of "The Second Life", it had no impact on Huang Meifang's life. On the contrary, it was his son Wu Ao, who rebelled as soon as he was "promoted to the beginning of his life", "making me almost depressed". Huang Meifang's speech is also quite fresh, "This kid is rotten", after she finished speaking, she also laughed out loud.
decade
Sister Fang's family is a typical Chinese-style family. Mom is straightforward, a little nagging, and manages the home and outside. Dad is diligent in his work, and for more than 20 years, he has been taking money to the family every day to ensure food and clothing, but he has a higher pursuit of the family, such as the size of his son's high school, he is to be the shopkeeper, and he is the main listener and respectful to the mother and son, and he doesn't seem to care.
As for Wu Ao, the only son in the family, Huang Meifang was puzzled when she observed, "He seems to have a dual personality." She explained that her son was sometimes like her, grinning and cheerful, and sometimes like his father, a stuffy gourd.
Huang Meifang and her son Wu Ao
Huang Meifang is very concerned about the cultivation of her son, she understands that being a mother is a difficult process that needs to be learned, and the growth of children needs to be supported at all times. When Wu Ao was in elementary school, he went home to do his homework, and Huang Meifang also read books on the desk, overcoming college and undergraduate textbooks, which can be regarded as a kind of teaching by word and deed.
In 2014, in order to study for their children, the couple moved from Dongguan to Shenzhen, and "saving points" also started at that time. A high-intensity life is 10 years. But she never said a package of education, points, and household registration, "I don't want to put too much pressure on my children."
Huang Meifang also often takes Wu Ao to the self-examination institution. "Seeing so many older people also studying, he understands and lives to learn. Huang Meifang said.
After filming the documentary, Wu Ao was "promoted to junior high school", from a peaceful community to a junior high school in Fuyong, the whole person has changed. In the first year of junior high school, Huang Meifang received a call from the teacher, "Now (the child) is not a question of whether he will be able to do it, he doesn't do it at all, and he just messes it up."
She was furious. In order for her son to study hard, Huang Meifang quit her factory job and concentrated on taking care of the baby, she only felt that Wu Ao "grew up and was disobedient".
Mother and son often quarrel, and when it is serious, they almost have to get started. But the son didn't dare to do anything, so he closed the door, and the sound of ping-pong smashing things came from inside. "I got angry and even started fighting. Huang Meifang said. When she was emotional, she would also yell at her son: "Why should I work so hard? Like everyone else, I put my children in my hometown, isn't it good to be chic by myself?"
The son is in a rebellious period, and the mother and son often quarrel
The first year of junior high school is the year in her eyes that "her son is against her". It was only during a public welfare class that she heard the concept and manifestation of the so-called rebellious period, "Isn't this my son's situation?"
She was surprised and quickly adjusted her "tactics". When she stopped quarreling, as soon as the atmosphere was tense, she walked away and closed herself, and usually took her son outdoors when she was free, running, running mountains, swimming, and visiting the park. His knot is also simple, he changed to a new school, it was difficult to adapt, and he often rode his bicycle for an hour back to the peaceful community to find friends. The mother and son talked about their hearts, and it was fine.
The rebellious baby, the depressed mother, ends with the rebellious period. What made Huang Meifang sigh afterwards was that in this year, the matter of "accumulating points" was delayed.
road
Letting her son receive education in Shenzhen has almost become an obsession in Huang Meifang's heart. She said: "Don't you think that the children who study in Shenzhen have a higher quality of education and a larger vision?"
She is not a mother who only emphasizes reading, and she is rarely emotionally oppressed. Whether it is weekends or winter and summer vacations, Huang Meifang actively pulls Wu Ao to find some fun and interesting educational projects in Shenzhen. Wu Ao has taken fencing experience classes, learned painting, swimming, and worked as a little newsboy in a newspaper group, and he also enjoys it. In terms of physical fitness, Wu Ao is not bad at climbing, playing ball, and swimming.
Go to the voo on the weekend to experience fencing lessons
Huang Meifang said that if Wu Ao grew up in the village or town of his hometown in Guangxi, then these big city things must be unimaginable. Life in the big city is extremely rich, and the little thing that leaks is enough for their mother and son to increase their knowledge.
Wu Ao's father has little opinion on this, he is a junior high school graduate, and it is difficult to interject from educating children. In Huang Meifang's words, "He doesn't like to talk, and when he speaks, it's easy to make people angry."
Wu Ao was in his second year of junior high school, and his father said that he was worried that his son would not be able to get into a high school in Shenzhen, and that he would not have a school record when he returned to his hometown, so it was better to go back to his hometown to study, at least to ensure that he had books to read. Huang Meifang immediately became angry and asked him, how can you look down on your son?
Huang Meifang's heart is high, she can afford her son and herself, and her mother and son are actively preparing for the exam. Workers and neighbors have told her that others raise their children as human beings, and only you raise them as "talents".
Huang Meifang, who is serious about preparing for the exam
Although the heart is high, people still have to return to reality. In 2022, in the second year of Wuao junior high school, Huang Meifang's undergraduate thesis was finally passed, and she got her diploma, plus 20 points. However, this year, Huang Meifang was 44 years old.
According to the settlement method, applicants can add 5 points within the age of 35, and no points will be added or deducted from the age of 35-39, but from the age of 40, 2 points will be deducted for each additional year, and those over the age of 45 will not be eligible to apply. After calculation, Huang Meifang scored 98 points, which is 2 points short, which is a year short.
In February 2023, the rules for points entry have changed. In the new policy, the original 100-point settlement policy is invalid, and the points are sorted "from high to low", and only the top of the ranking can get the settlement index.
The "end" that was close in front of her suddenly became blurry and distant, and Huang Meifang felt that she couldn't catch up.
But Huang Meifang can't lie down, 2023 is also the third year of junior high school in Wuao, and the last year before the age of 45.
This is the last chance. She soon transferred to the intermediate professional and technical title and wanted to settle down as a "technical talent".
But at this time, she couldn't be completely unpanicked.
During the Spring Festival in 2023, under the anxiety and momentary mood, Huang Meifang bought a small apartment in her hometown to prepare for Wu Ao to come back to study. After paying the money, the house has been repaired and built so far, and there is a suspicion that it is unfinished, but she doesn't care too much.
When Wu Ao learned the news of his family's purchase of a house, he was emotional, and he went to his parents to ask, I have always studied in Shenzhen, and I never thought about being in my hometown, why didn't I discuss this matter?
In the second half of 2023, the results of the examination for intermediate professional and technical titles will come out, and one of the three exams will not be passed, and Huang Meifang's deep household dream will be completely shattered. It was also from then that she began to set up a stall to sell snail noodles.
Huang Meifang on the stall / Xiang Zhilin
It was Wu Ao who stood up, and he said to Huang Meifang: "Mom, you have to believe me, don't make yourself so tired, I won't be without books to read, I will work hard to take the exam." He wanted to prove that he could be admitted to a public high school without a Shenzhen hukou.
The son's two active speeches made Huang Meifang a little confused and a little confused. When the child is older, he has his own way, and he wants to go on his own.
next
The snail noodle stall will be set up from the National Day in 2023, a place on Industrial Road in the industrial park, and after a long time, Huang Meifang is familiar with other vendors, and there are always regular customers in the business. Other vendors praised her for her good business and the taste of her powder, and a short-haired woman with a loud voice came running to her and asked her, "How is the soup made, can you teach me?"
"I can teach you, but where are you? Huang Meifang also responded to her with a loud voice, pretending to laugh. The two added WeChat, and ignored it the next day.
No longer for the sake of household registration verification, Huang Meifang's pressure has been relieved of a large chunk. Her pressure now is mainly "Make more money, if Wu Ao really didn't get admitted to the public office...... "There is always a way to be rich."
As a mother, there is less life that is completely your own. In the past 10 years, Huang Meifang's heart and vitality have been used in the cultivation of Wu Ao.
In the past 10 years, Huang Meifang's heart and vitality have been used in the cultivation of Wu Ao
On closer inspection, it makes sense that her heart is high. Huang Meifang was born in a family with many brothers and sisters, and she is the eldest sister.
My father was active and contracted a mountain in the local area, relying on the mountain to eat the mountain. There is no patriarchal preference in the family, whoever reads well will go up. Huang Meifang was the only girl in the village who was admitted to high school that year. She said that in the 90s, secondary schools were good for employment, but she wanted to go to university and didn't consider other options at all.
However, in 1996, her father died, and looking at her younger siblings, she knew that she could not go to university, and she went out to work in Dongguan after getting a high Chinese certificate. After being introduced, I met Wu Ao's father, and "just live like this".
She didn't want to make Wu Ao a left-behind child. Soon after giving birth to Wu Ao, the young couple was tired of coping in Dongguan, so they asked their mother-in-law to take care of them, and the mother-in-law's family asked to take the child back to their hometown.
Since then, she has broken off the idea of turning to her in-laws.
Huang Meifang has seen left-behind children, who are the sons of her husband's brother, "a little person, after his parents left during the Chinese New Year, he hid in the quilt and cried for 3 days." She lamented the sensitivity of children, so she would rather suffer herself than become strangers to children.
But there is a price to bring your own baby. In 2011, when Wu Ao was 4 years old, the couple had enough money to open a high-end restaurant in Chang'an Town, Dongguan, to do business with the owners of small factories nearby. I made money in the first year, but when the bird flu came, I lost everything in the second and third years, and I still owed debts.
In their 30s, the couple has a baby and has nothing but debts.
When moving from Dongguan, Xiao Wuao asked her why she moved to such a small home, and if she could sell her original home and replace it with a bigger one. She felt sad and told Xiao Wuao that it was someone else's house, our home, and we had to earn our own money to buy it.
"That's right, I failed all the way, nothing, and people asked me why I still laughed haha. Huang Meifang herself laughed, saying that she has such a personality and a good attitude. After the hotel closed, Wu Ao's father was very sad, she kicked him with her foot, saying that you are too annoying, people should look forward rather than backward.
Huang Meifang on the stall / Xiang Zhilin
As she said, in terms of success or failure, she has failed again and again in major events in her life. The most recent failure is that after 10 years of hard work, I have not been able to get back my Shenzhen hukou.
She planned that when Wu Ao went to high school, she could live in Shenzhen and study, and the couple would go back to Dongguan, and the house would be bigger and they could concentrate on work. The stage of "10 years around the children" has come to an end.
This time it seems that nothing has been found, but Huang Meifang is such a person: look forward and continue next time.
This article was first published in the 7th issue of Nanfeng Window magazine
Author | Xiang Zhilin
Editor-in-Chief on Duty | Huang Mingting
Edit | Sumi
Typography | Get up