Text: My Neighbor Totoro in Peach Editor: Zhai Xiaoting
Source: Marriage & Family Magazine
Tomorrow is the 16th anniversary of the May 12 Wenchuan earthquake.
On May 12, 2008, a major earthquake struck Wenchuan. In an instant, countless mothers were orphaned, and countless children lost their mothers. Those unspoken loves came to naught in an instant.
16 years have passed, what happened to those lost mothers' love now?
01
Kitagawa's mother hung a banner for 16 years
Every year when the 5.12 anniversary is approaching, banners will be seen hanging on the rocks of the collapse site of Jingjia Mountain in the old county town of Beichuan, and this year, this banner has been hung to the 49th.
Hanging the banner was a mother named Cheng Xingfeng. Sixteen years ago, her son was killed in the Wenchuan earthquake.
For 16 years, Cheng Xingfeng would be fixed on the Spring Festival, May 12 and his son's birthday, the thirteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, and came to the site to hang a banner with words to his son. She will also bring what her son liked to eat before his death, peanuts, bacon, sausages......
Some people find that the content of the banner changes every year, but the only thing that remains unchanged is the last sentence: "Son, mom misses you so much." ”
There will also be a mobile phone number left at the end of the banner, which was used by his son, and Cheng Xingfeng has not canceled it.
Whenever someone asked, she would always say that she would never sell her account. In Cheng Xingfeng's heart, his son is still alive, but he can't be contacted for the time being.
On January 9, 2024, Cheng Xingfeng found that due to his own negligence, the mobile phone card was in arrears, and the original mobile phone number had been withdrawn by the operator and registered by a stranger.
This mobile phone number is the only thought that his son left for himself, if the mobile phone number is taken by others, then Cheng Xingfeng is tantamount to losing his son again.
With all the strength around her, she called the customer service number, the phone number of the new owner, and contacted the reporters who had interviewed her......
Finally, with the help of reporters, Cheng Xingfeng contacted the new owner of the mobile phone number, and after listening to Xingfeng's story, the new owner of the number immediately decided to transfer the number to Cheng Xingfeng. The mother's longing for her son was once again continued.
Cheng Xingfeng's daughter survived the earthquake in 2008, because of the pain of losing her son, she was particularly concerned about her daughter, for fear that if she was not careful, her daughter would also leave her.
Cheng Xingfeng photoshopped the photo of his son's third year of junior high school with a group photo of the whole family to form a headshot of the whole family
Her daughter works in the Leshan Song and Dance Troupe as an adult and needs to perform abroad frequently. Once, my daughter suddenly encountered a turbulence when she was on a plane, and it was very turbulent, but fortunately, she landed safely.
After coming back, her daughter told her mother about it, and Cheng Xingfeng tried her best to persuade her daughter to return to her hometown to work, and told her daughter that she didn't have to get ahead, as long as she lived in good health.
A mother's greatest love for her children is not to expect them to become heroes, but to hope that they will be safe.
Because, the happiest thing in this world is just "You grow up with me, and I grow old with you." ”
02
Mom who came out of the earthquake
On May 11, 2008, Yang Jianfen received a call from her daughter from school. On the phone, her daughter promised to make up for the gifts owed to her when she came home from vacation.
However, Yang Jianfen did not wait for this belated gift, and the next day's earthquake fixed her daughter's life forever at the age of 16.
Yang Jianfen has never been able to accept her daughter's departure, and she often chatters to others: Why did she call the day before and say that she wanted to give me a gift, but the next day she was gone?
Compared with the painful blow caused by her daughter's death, what is more difficult for her to bear is the feeling of family breakage.
After the death of his daughter, the husband was an alcoholic and depressed. The couple looked at each other at home, but they seemed to be separated by thousands of mountains and rivers, silent.
In order for her life to return to normal, she decided to adopt a child. However, due to family conditions, age and other factors, the adoption application has been rejected repeatedly. This made Yang Jianfen inevitably begin to wonder: Could it be that he can really only be a "lonely person" for the rest of his life?
Maybe God couldn't bear it, so he secretly prepared a surprise for her. One day in 2013, Yang Jianfen was passing by a bridge when he suddenly heard the cry of a child nearby. She followed the voice and walked over, and it turned out to be an abandoned baby girl!
Yang Jianfen hurriedly called the police and published a newspaper to help find the baby's parents. But three months passed, and no one came to claim it. The Civil Affairs Bureau asked Yang Jianfen: Are you willing to adopt? She immediately decided to adopt the baby and named it "Yang Yang".
Since adopting Yangyang, Yang Jianfen's home is no longer as deserted as before, and the daily trivialities have gradually regained the family's vitality.
But her husband's physical and mental state was very bad and he couldn't go out to work, so the responsibility of making money to support the family fell to Yang Jianfen.
Yang Yang was very thin when he was brought home, and in order to make the child strong, Yang Jianfen got up at a fixed point three times every night to feed the child. The cost of taking care of the baby is quite large, Yang Jianfen has no job, and the whole family has to rely on her husband's pension for food and drink, which is completely insufficient.
So, after settling the children during the day, she would go out to do odd jobs to earn money to buy diapers and milk powder for the children. The "white and black" work mode made her lose less than 60 kilograms, which originally weighed 82 kilograms. And Yang Yang, who was as thin as a little monkey when she was brought home, was healthy and cute under her care.
Everyone around him persuaded Yang Jianfen that there was no need to be so concerned about the adopted child. But she didn't listen at all, and tried her best to take care of the children and take care of the family. Yang Jianfen feels that as long as you pay, life will always get better day by day.
But the world is unpredictable. In 2017, Yang Jianfen's husband died of cancer. In order to treat her husband's illness, the family owed a huge amount of debt.
After her husband left, Yang Jianfen not only had to take care of the children, but also make money to pay off her debts, and the burden on her shoulders became heavier.
During the day, Yang Jianfen drove an electric three-wheeler to help others pull goods on the street. In the evening, Yang Jianfen had to rush to do night patrol work from half past two to half past four in the morning.
Before going to work every time, she would put the child to sleep, and then put up a "wall" with a quilt next to the bed to prevent the child from rolling down.
When Yang Yang was 2 years old, Yang Jianfen found another job as a community grid worker, with a salary of 500 yuan per month. Every time he went out to work, Yang Jianfen tied Yangyang on his back with a rope, walked the streets and alleys, holding a large stack of documents in his arms to register household information.
In this way, day after day, Yangyang slowly grew up, began to learn to wipe the table and wash the dishes, help charge the battery car, and would call "Mom" when Yang Jianfen came home.
Some people didn't understand why Yang Jianfen was working so hard, and suggested that she give Yangyang away, so that she could reduce her pressure. But Yang Jianfen didn't think so, she worked so hard just because when she went home, she heard the child shouting "Mom" in a childish voice.
A mother, a lifetime of responsibility.
Mother's love is that my child is not yet in her wings, even if she is full of holes, she must be protected.
03
Daughter in the phone
Liu Li's daughter, Hu Huishan, was the first to be rescued in the earthquake, but in the end she was unable to save her life.
Hu Huishan as a child
After her daughter left, Liu Li found her QQ number in her daughter's schoolbag, and after finding someone to decipher the password, Liu Li opened her daughter's QQ space, but there was no content in it.
This gave Liu Li an inspiration, and she decided to build an "online memorial" for her daughter. Post what you want to say on your daughter's message board.
In this way, on her daughter's 100th day and 18th birthday, she has been insisting on leaving messages and recording her dreams in it. Her daughter's QQ space has become a "secret base" for her to communicate with her daughter.
Today, Liu Li has published thousands of messages and tens of thousands of photos here. The "secret base" records and carries a mother's extreme longing for her daughter.
Also having a similar experience to Liu Li is Ye Hongmei. Ye Hongmei's daughter was only 8 years old when she left, and a mobile phone containing her daughter's image is a treasure she regards as a treasure and her only emotional outlet.
Ye Hongmei's family photo
Whenever the thoughts swept over, Ye Hongmei would hold her mobile phone and watch the video inside repeatedly. It is also at this time that she feels that her daughter has not left and is still by her side.
One day in 2015, Ye Hongmei wanted to open her mobile phone to see her daughter as usual, but found that the mobile phone could not be turned on. In order to repair the mobile phone, Ye Hongmei went to hundreds of mobile phone repair shops across the country, but got the same answer: the mobile phone system is too old to repair.
This was like a bolt from the blue for Ye Hongmei, in order to repair the phone, Ye Hongmei did not give up any hope, and she began to ask the media for help. After learning about Ye Hongmei's experience, a company decided to help the mother fulfill her wish.
So, a team of more than 10 engineers appeared, they rewrote the mobile phone code, customized the mobile phone parts by hand, and after 22 days of hard work, Ye Hongmei's mobile phone was finally repaired as before.
Seeing her daughter in the mobile phone again, Ye Hongmei seemed to be a little relieved in her heart, because this time, she finally "saved" her daughter.
A mobile phone is sometimes not just a cold machine, it can also be a mother's spiritual support.
"A son comes for a ride, and a mother misses it for a lifetime."
When the child comes, it is the mother's blood that leads the way; After the child left, it was still the mother's heart that was dripping blood.
All the maternal love in this world is worth cherishing for a lifetime.
Every mother's love has been born to death, and it is thrilling where you can't see.
Those who became orphaned mothers in the earthquake, those who bravely walked out of the predicament and accepted a new life, and those who turned their thoughts into daily life, all have a common name - mother.
May all mothers in the world be able to love and gain; May all the mother's love in the world be sustenance.
Resources:
Documentary: Ten years, don't forget
Documentary: Alive (2011)
Cover News: Beichuan Mother Ten Years 30 Banners to the Son of Heaven: The banners will continue to hang, and the family will have a good life
Surging News: Beichuan Mother: I heard my adopted daughter call her mother, and I felt that my daughter was back again
Characters: Half of mine is in heaven, and half of him is on earth