In a humble and dilapidated rental house hidden in the bustling hustle and bustle of the Great Wall Street in the Lushunkou District of the civilized capital, two elderly people, Mr. Cao Zhaogang and his partner, Ms. Liu Hongyu, are silently suffering from the great pain caused by the disease.
Once ordinary and hard-working workers, they now barely survive on a meager pension that can afford even the most basic medical expenses.
Mr. Cao Zhaogang lay panting on the dilapidated hospital bed, his face as pale as paper, his eyes empty. He gently turned his head sideways, stared at his wife, Ms. Liu Hongyu, who was sitting on the edge of the bed and wept silently, and said in a choked voice: "Hongyu, did we make a mistake back then, so that Sissi resented us so much?
Ms. Liu Hongyu burst into tears, her hands trembled and clenched her husband's hand, and she choked up and responded: "We must have had a problem somewhere, that's why she abandoned us so ruthlessly."
But I really, really longed to see her again, even if only one last time" Her eyes darkened, and her tone was filled with endless pain and deep regret.
Indeed, their only daughter, Cao Qian, went to Germany 17 years ago with a dream to study, but due to excessive financial pressure, she gradually became estranged from her family and eventually lost contact completely.
Now, they learned from media reports that Cao Qian not only has a successful career and a happy life in Germany, but has even become a German citizen and established a happy family.
After hearing the news, Mr. Cao Zhaogang fell into deep despair. He looked around weakly, and the small, dimly lit rental house was filled with an air of pain and helplessness.
Cao Qian has been an outstanding child since she was a child, and she has won the love and expectation of her parents. She excelled in her studies, always at the top of her grades, and every time she took home a certificate of honor, she always made her parents cheer.
However, it was precisely because of her parents' excessive doting and strict discipline that she was constrained in her growing up and never experienced the taste of freedom.
In the depths of Cao Qian's memory, she has always spent every day with her parents' extremely strict discipline, and has never had a moment of relaxation! Recalling the experience of poor Cao Qian during her school years, Liu Hongyu involuntarily sighed that at that time, in addition to immersing herself in the knowledge of textbooks, she was endlessly swaying in endless exercises, and completely lost the possibility of experiencing other pleasures.
Even seemingly trivial extracurricular activities, such as dancing and choiring, were strictly forbidden by her parents, who feared that they would have any adverse impact on her studies.
Liu Hongyu's eyes were a little gloomy, and her tone was full of deep remorse: "I still clearly remember that scene, Sissi secretly participated in a wonderful dance performance in the school's art show.
When I saw the confidence and calmness she showed on the stage, I couldn't help but feel a sense of relief in my heart, however, after the event, I reprimanded her mercilessly" She said this, tears in her eyes: "At that time, Sissi silently lowered her head and held back her tears, but I didn't notice the grievance and dissatisfaction in her eyes."
After entering the university stage, Cao Qian began to try to resist the strict discipline of her parents. She deliberately chose some relatively easy courses as her main direction, and she often dozed off absentmindedly in class, and the final exam was even more perfunctory, resulting in a decline in her grades.
When the news spread home, Cao's father, Cao Zhaogang, was immediately furious, and he immediately rushed to school.
"The moment I walked into the classroom, I saw Sissi curled up in the last row napping. I angrily slapped her in the face and publicly accused her of 'destroying her bright future'.
Cao Zhaogang's face turned pale, his clenched fist slammed on the table, his tone full of anger and remorse: "What a terrible father!
When her family was waiting with high expectations for her to choose a decent and stable career as a teacher, Cao Qian resolutely embarked on the more distant and challenging path of studying abroad, contrary to everyone's expectations.
This was undoubtedly an excellent opportunity for her to break free from the strict control of her parents and pursue a free life, and her heart must have been full of longing and expectation for a new life.
However, it all started when Cao Qian had to ask for help from her family due to a lack of living expenses while studying in Germany. However, Cao's father, Cao Zhaogang, had become the breadwinner of the family by this time, and although his income was not very good, he was still unable to provide sufficient financial assistance for his daughter.
At that time, when Sissi, who was in distress and grief, spoke earnestly about the hardships of life on the phone, my heart was full of deep sympathy and concern for her.
On the other end of the phone, Cao's father's deep sigh could be heard clearly, and he poured out his last patience to his daughter, and said earnestly: "You are an adult, you should learn to face and solve these problems alone."
Since then, despite their best efforts to find their daughter's traces, Cao's father and mother have never been able to obtain any useful information. Whenever they tried to call the mobile phone number that their daughter had used, they were always responded to by the cold shutdown tone, which made Cao's mother often cry because of this.
Even Cao Qian's classmates were in despair at the ignorance of her whereabouts, and the Cao couple could only pin all their hopes on the help of the Chinese embassy in Germany, but in vain, let alone reconnect with their daughter who had been away from home for a long time.
Cao Qian's decision to study abroad undoubtedly brought huge financial pressure to Cao Zhaogang's family. In order to support their daughter in realizing this dream, they did not hesitate to take on heavy debts.
As an ordinary worker, Cao Zhaogang's meager income could not afford his daughter's high tuition and living expenses in a foreign country, and in order to raise the first cost of studying abroad - a full 70,000 yuan, they had to run around and ask relatives and friends for help.
Liu Hongyu still vividly remembers that her eldest brother did not hesitate to take out 30,000 yuan, and her sister also generously donated her own savings for two years to support her niece's studies.
Her eyes glistened with tears of emotion, and her tone was full of gratitude: "Without their selfless assistance, we would really be in a desperate situation of financial embarrassment".
Even so, they still faced a serious shortage of funds and could not scrape together the huge sum of 70,000 yuan. Cao Zhaogang recalled that at that time, they could only repeatedly bow their heads to relatives and friends to borrow, and finally barely survived the difficulties and barely made up enough money to study abroad.
"I remember very well, once I went to Xiao Ming (pseudonym) to borrow money, he was busy repairing the water pipes in his house, and when he saw me visiting, he laughed sarcastically: 'Oh, it turned out to pay for the princess's daughter to study abroad?
In this way, Cao Qian embarked on a study abroad journey to Germany with the ardent expectations of her family and the heavy debt pressure. However, it was not long before the family had little savings left.
When he learned that his daughter was affectionately confessing to her embarrassment on the other end of the phone, Cao Zhaogang's heart swelled with endless grief, and he deeply understood that he could no longer provide financial support for his daughter's education.
Just as Cao Qian begged her family to do their best to raise another 35,000 yuan, Cao Zhaogang could only respond helplessly: "I'm really sorry, our family is not rich, and almost all the expenses for studying abroad are borrowed, and now you have to face this problem alone."
These words were undoubtedly a helpless move made by Cao's father in a difficult situation, and it was this phone call that ruthlessly severed the deep emotional bond between father and daughter.
Since then, Cao Qian has never taken the initiative to contact her family. Looking back on the bits and pieces of the past, Cao Zhaogang still feels deeply remorseful, he believes that it was his original phone call that deeply pierced his daughter's heart, making her extremely distrustful of her family, and she did not even leave a last look when she parted.