Note: This story is purely fictional, the names and events in the story are fictional, and the purpose of using place names is only for the purpose of describing the plot and making it easy to read and understand
To be honest, every time I see that sloppy old man haunting the community, my heart is filled with countless "why"?
You must not have imagined that such a poor old man can receive a high pension of 16,000 yuan every month after retirement.
Obviously receiving a retirement salary of 16,000 yuan a month! But he looked like a flower child who came out of the middle of the water.
Lao Wang is 70 years old this year, his wife has passed away a long time ago, and he lives alone in an old-fashioned bungalow in the community.
The first is that his high retirement salary makes everyone envious and jealous.
It is said that he used to be a full-time cadre in the government, and he had several units under his command, and with this glorious career and the retired high-ranking officials and low-level positions, it was enough to make the residents of this old bungalow stare straight.
Unbelievably enough, all he seemed to be wearing was an old patched padded jacket and a pair of old pants that had been washed to white.
When I go out every day, I put these two clothes on my body, and I look sloppy and shabby.
The residents of the community all stared at him directly, and in addition to that, they were full of endless curiosity and confusion about how his high income was "wasted".
But Lao Wang himself didn't seem to think there was anything wrong, he was used to being like this, and he didn't care about his clothes.
But when he opened the door, I think anyone would be amazed by the only furniture left in the room and the living conditions that were so disproportionate to their income.
01
Once, I went to Wang's house to remind him of a meeting, but as soon as I entered the door, I was greeted by a damp musty smell, and the floor and walls were moldy as far as my eye could see.
There was no furniture in the room except for a worn-out double bed and a small, crooked table crammed into the corner.
The sheets and bedding were decades old, stained and torn, and on the small table was an old porcelain jar containing the homemade cool white water that Lao Wang drank every day.
The most surprising thing was that there was not even a TV in that small room!
But Lao Wang himself seems to be accustomed to this environment, and every morning he will open the door, sit at the broken table, sip a sip of cold white water, and start a new day.
Sometimes neighbors would see him walking alone to a small park outside the neighborhood and sitting there all day, watching the Go endgame and meditating on his own.
One night, in the commissary of the community, I happened to hear a conversation between several elderly people, which seemed to explain the philosophy behind Lao Wang's frugal life.
"Old Wang, in fact, he is not really that poor," said an old man, "he was only deeply influenced by the ideology of the old society, and was taught to be diligent and thrifty since he was a child. ”
"Yes, take me as an example," another old man echoed, "When I was a child, my family was also very poor, there was nothing on the four walls of the house, even firewood was often not burned, you can't see it now, but at that time, in order to survive the winter, our family burned almost everything that could be burned." ”
"So later, I had the financial ability, but I couldn't get rid of this stingy problem, this is not my son scolding me every day for being a little child, but I can't help it." The old man spread his hands helplessly.
I listened to it and seemed to have a new understanding of what Lao Wang was doing.
Yes, it may be difficult for us young people to imagine the poor living conditions of the past, and the older generation, like Lao Wang, who grew up in that environment since childhood, even if the conditions changed later, could not completely strip away the awe and cherishing of "money".
That's why Lao Wang is so diligent and thrifty, living a life far less than his retirement income.
Perhaps in our opinion, this is indeed a bit excessive and overkill, but for Lao Wang himself, it is a true portrayal of his lifelong habits and philosophy of life.
Later, one day, an unexpected thing happened in the community, which really let everyone see the reason behind Lao Wang's thrifty life.
02
At noon that day, Lao Wang sat on a bench in the small park and took a nap as usual.
But it didn't take long for a middle school student wearing a school uniform to run up to him, leaning over and trembling and saying to him: "Grandpa, a teacher came to the school and said that the tens of thousands of yuan in alimony you owe have not been paid for several years, so let you pay it back as soon as possible!" ”
I was sitting in the shade of a tree, and I was stunned by the sight. Alimony?
Lao Wang still owes such a sum of money? The news spread quickly, and everyone in the community was shocked and opened their mouths wide.
The next scene made us even more stunned, only to see Lao Wang sit there in a daze, and then began to inspect his body.
He first dug through every pocket of his torn padded jacket, then rummaged through his trouser pockets, and after a while, he found a small stack of crumpled renminbi from a hidden pocket.
We all watched as Lao Wang carefully took out a bulging plastic bag from the flower, and then carefully flattened each piece of money in it, counting the money on it.
Finally, he folded the bills neatly, turned to the boy and said, "This, this is all my savings, which add up to only 2,500 yuan." ”
The big guys were shocked by the scene in front of them! This is Lao Wang, who receives a pension of 16,000 yuan a month, why is his "savings" only 2,500 yuan? This is so counterintuitive!
What was even more unexpected was that when he said this, the expression on Lao Wang's face was extremely guilty and helpless, which made all of us feel indescribable sympathy and pity for him again.
At this moment, I don't know who suddenly opened his mouth and asked, "Old Wang, where are you sacred?" Obviously the pension is so high, but you live such a miserable life, just to pay back other people's money? ”
Lao Wang didn't answer immediately, but took a deep breath, wiped the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand, and then said: "This alimony is actually owed to my daughter, my daughter had a serious illness, and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for treatment, for which our couple borrowed a lot of foreign debts, but in the end she didn't survive." ”
"After the debt was paid, my boss and I decided to donate our limited savings in the name of "child support" to the orphans who could not afford to go to school! ”
Speaking of this, Lao Wang's voice began to choke: "Although 2,500 yuan is too little, this is all I can take out now, and I will continue to work hard to save money in the future and give more alimony to the children!" ”
Everyone listened quietly, speechless for a while, looking at this old man who was once called a "poor bastard", but now he has such admirable chastity and noble character, we couldn't help but wipe the tears in the corners of our eyes and sighed secretly.
Lao Wang's words were like a blow to the head, and we all woke up hard.
It turns out that the reason why Lao Wang lives such a simple and difficult life is not because he is stingy and stingy as we thought before, but because of a reason that can be sung and cried, we can't help but feel ashamed and have commented and criticized him.
Just when everyone was deeply troubled by what happened to Lao Wang, someone suddenly put forward an idea: "We are all Lao Wang's neighbors, why don't we raise money to give some alimony to those children?" ”
Then everyone immediately plunged into this "rescue" operation, only to see Aunt Liu be the first to take out the banknotes in her wallet, muttering: "I'll give 200 yuan to share the worries and solve problems for your old people." ”
Then Lao Li also took out the money, then Lao Zhang, as well as the housewives and children of several families in the community, all took out their change and put it into the donation box.
In less than half an hour, we scraped together 4,500 yuan!
It was nearly twice as much as all the savings that Lao Wang could take out now, and when everyone tied up the banknotes and handed them to Lao Wang, the old man burst into tears and said breathlessly: "I...... I can't thank you so much!"
After that, Lao Wang finally bought a new padded jacket for himself, although it was still very simple, but it was very decent.
Even with brand new furniture and electrical appliances, for the help of those of us who are enthusiastic, Lao Wang sincerely said a lot of thanks.
However, when I asked him if he could live a good life now, Lao Wang just smiled, pointed to a newly built public rental house in a corner of the community and said:
"When our new house is built, I'll move there, and although I'll be able to rest at home by then, I'm afraid I won't be able to rest for much longer at my age.
Why don't I vacate my family's house and let the young people in the community who still need to work hard to live in, all thanks to your loving help, I will never be able to repay it. ”
I looked at his kind and simple smile, I couldn't help but be in awe, Lao Wang is so humble and simple, generous and virtuous, although he was poor all his life, but he has not only money, but also a kind and simple, never give up heart.
Lao Wang's generous gesture really surprised and delighted our neighbors, and we never imagined that an old man who had experienced so many hardships would still be so generous and kind after getting rid of the burden of poverty.
Lao Wang finally moved into the public rental housing in the community, where the conditions were indeed ordinary, but he was very content.
Sometimes when I visited him, I saw him basking in the sun in the courtyard, and he always smiled and beckoned me to sit down, and then he told me all kinds of interesting things about his youth.
I once asked him, are you still happy now? Lao Wang smiled and said: "Happy, there is nothing to be unhappy about not renting water and electricity money under the sun, didn't you kind-hearted people help me so much?" If I'm not happy again, I'm ruining your kindness!"
Epilogue:
Sometimes I wonder what a wonderful scene it would be if everyone in the world could live in the moment with such composure as Lao Wang!
At the same time, I also deplore that such noble and philosophical wisdom of life is not understood and valued by us young people.
Until one day, when we are also scarred and helpless in life, we can experience a little bit of the life experience of the older generation.
Note: This story is purely fictional, the names and events in the story are fictional, and the purpose of using place names is only for the purpose of describing the plot and making it easy to read and understand
All the pictures in the article are from the Internet, if there is any infringement, please send a private message to Xiaoba, delete quickly!