My colleague my brother
Text/Shao Liting
Brother Lei, whose real name is Cao Lei, is just that I love to call him that, but it's not just me who calls him that, the brothers and sisters of the charging team love to call him that. I met him at the Dahaituo toll station, and then came to the Wuyi Road toll station together, and I have been here for five years.
Cao Lei, born in the 90s, wears a pair of glasses, is energetic, has a clear appearance, is tall, and is enthusiastic and warm, so we affectionately call him Brother Lei.
I remembered that at that time, the Dahaituo toll station had just opened, and everyone was not familiar with each other, and Brother Lei and I were on the same class, except for staying in the camp, we rarely had the opportunity to meet. The first time I dealt with him was because my mother-in-law broke her knee.
It was a rainy evening in July, and I was on my middle school shift, ready to work at the gatehouse. Suddenly received a call from my father-in-law: "Tingting, come back quickly, there is an accident at home, your mother went out to buy a steamed bun for the child, fell on the concrete floor, broke her kneecap, we are in the hospital, need surgery." On the other side of the phone, the child's cry was heard again: "Mom, my poor grandma, my poor grandma..."
I'm anxious, but what can I do? There are only four people left in the class, I asked for leave, the other three people can't rotate normally, I don't ask for leave, what about the poor mother-in-law, who will take care of the child who has just turned three?
In such an urgent moment, when I had no idea, the squad leader comforted me. She said I could find the right shift, but the question was: who to find? It's dark, it's so late, who can go all the way to make this trip?
Later, she thought of Cao Lei. At the same time, she said anxiously: "But I heard that his brother-in-law is also in the hospital, but you have no other way but to try now." ”
When I dialed Cao Lei's phone, out of politeness, I called him Brother Lei.
Brother Lei, my mother-in-law broke her leg and wants to change two shifts with you, is it convenient for you?
He told me on the phone not to worry, he said that his brother-in-law was also in the hospital, but he would still try his best to see if he could help me, and asked me to wait for him for a while before calling me back.
Sure enough, after a while, Brother Lei called back, saying that he had settled his brother-in-law and immediately drove to the unit and asked me to go home first.
In this way, Brother Lei drove hundreds of kilometers from Beijing to return to work in the middle of a rainy night, and he left his brother-in-law in the hospital.
In November 2022, the pandemic forced me to confine myself to my home. During that difficult period, it was Brother Lei who helped him, without a trace of hesitation, he overcame many difficulties and transferred to me.
Since then, these memories, these memories of suffering and being helped by others, can no longer be erased in my heart, and Brother Lei has become the embodiment of friendship and warmth in my heart.
After a long time, you will find that Brother Lei cares for every colleague, no matter who has hardships and difficulties, he always puts his own affairs aside first and puts other people's affairs first. The friendship between us, the friendship between him and his colleagues, was carved out little by little. This is his quality, a kind of innate selflessness, a kind of dedication, a kind of tenacity and perseverance of a high-speed person.
In the class, Brother Lei is always diligent and enthusiastic, with 200 CPC cards in a box, to be honest, heavy, but Brother Lei will always help to carry it. Wuyi Road has a large traffic flow, encountering summer, thousands of teams to escape the heat, the recovered CPC card needs to be taken to the departure lane, Lei Ge left trip, right trip, a box of cards, a box of neat CPC cards flowed. There is labor to have mobility, labor allows us to gain dignity, labor and create wealth, with labor, our high-speed career is not difficult to thrive, and behind the people who work silently without regrets, is Brother Lei, but also many "Brother Lei", is thousands of "Brother Lei".
Brother Lei not only cares for me, but also for my colleagues, and he also loves the station like home.
On a quiet night in the winter of 23, it was the cold winter wax moon, and there were large snowflakes floating in the sky. During this time, our class was in the middle class, and Brother Lei was resting on the day shift.
The squad leader Jing Xin sprinkled salt on each lane in the lane, and Brother Lei cleared the snow in the yard in the station area by himself. It was supposed to be his time to rest, but he didn't. In another two or three hours, he would have to continue working the night shift.
He clenched the big shovel with both hands, one shovel, two shovels... He wore a work hat and a pair of gloves, and the cold wind blew the tightly fastened straps of the hat, leaving only the frozen red cheeks, and the cockade glistened in the light of the lamp and the snow as his figure pushed the snow.
It snowed all night. The next day, the heavy snow bent the branches of the ginkgo trees on both sides of the Wuyi Road and filled the yard of the toll booth; It has increased the difficulty of passing on the departure lanes of toll lanes. On this day, Brother Lei should go home off work. But he decided not to go home and stayed at the station to remove the snow.
Two days ago, Brother Lei told us that before he came to work, his daughter had put her arms around his neck and told him that she would listen to her mother at home, and would obediently write her homework, and would write her homework neatly and wait for him to come back. He said that every time he stepped out of the house, his daughter began to think about him. At the same time, we also miss and worry about home.
How can we not think that we are all people with families and children, and we suddenly enter the ranks of our thirties, becoming the pillars of our families and society. Back then, everyone had just walked out of the school gate, and then walked into the big family of high-speed, and at that time, we were both young and full of enthusiasm. Later, one by one, we started our own small families. Time flies, we have grown up, but our original intention has not changed. Our original intention is to serve.
He applied to the stationmaster and resolutely stayed in the station, but the stationmaster couldn't resist him. But his daughter was still waiting for him. Yes, we work for four or five days when we leave the house!
Brother Lei said that there are many female comrades in the station and few gay men. He said that he needed to be a gay man for menial work. He said that the station area needed him, and he said to hurry up and clear the roads that were clean and neat and smooth.
What is the belief that supports him to love us colleagues and love the lovely station area? Love this honorable cause?
How cold the winter is in the north, but Brother Lei has light and heat hidden in his heart.
Winter goes to spring, Brother Lei shines in an ordinary post, simple and respected.
I think that another five years have passed, time has washed away, maybe many people and things will change, and Brother Lei will still be like him in the old years, silently sticking to the high-speed post, and the friendship between us will also bloom like flowers, like our scorching youth, not to talk about dedication, just to be worthy of the heart!
About the Author:
Shao Liting, female, Han nationality, born in 1989, native of Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, graduated from Yanshan University majoring in Chinese language and literature, and is now working at the Dahaituo toll station of Yanchong Expressway. Since childhood, he has loved literature and has never stopped writing.