Once upon a time, horses were slow, long letters, and only enough to do one thing in a lifetime.
Yesterday (May 30, 2021), a bad news appeared on Weibo's hot search: Wang Shunyou died of illness at the age of 56.
For some, this is a relatively unfamiliar name. After all, he was just an ordinary postman before he was born.
Yet there are thousands of people who remember him and miss him deeply:
"Some people only do one thing in their lives, one thing to be proud of, and go all the way."
"Ordinary and great. In fact, he is not ordinary, it is really not easy. ”
What did he do to make everyone so obsessed?
A man, a horse, a road... He made a legend on "China's loneliest postal route."
● Source: Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Kai photo
For 20 long years, he trekked 260,000 kilometers on the snowy plateau.
In the history of world postal services, there has never been such a miracle.
Some time ago, a passage widely circulated on the Internet was actually very suitable for Wang Shunyou:
"When you are old, looking back on your life, you will find that when to go abroad to study, when to decide to do your first career, when you choose a partner and fall in love, when to get married, in fact, are all great changes in fate. It was only at that time that you stood at the fork in the road, saw the storm clouds, and the day you made a choice, in the diary, was quite dull and ordinary, and I thought it was an ordinary day in my life. ”
When Wang Shunyou was 19 years old, his son inherited his father's business.
It was 1984, and his father, a postman and older, had given him the reins of his horse.
Young Wang Shunyou, there was still a little childishness in his face. He took his father's reins and didn't know what that meant.
At the time, postmen were seen as "iron rice bowls".
In the eyes of the common people, although they also want to go in the wind and rain, it is "imperial food" that they want to eat. In that era of great urban-rural disparities, it was a very decent job to be able to do things for the government.
However, the situation facing Wang Shunyou is very complicated.
Because, the place where he served as a postman was Muli County in Daliangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan.
Anyone who knows a little about Daliangshan knows what the situation is over there.
Muli County, where Wang Shunyou is located, is extremely poor and the traffic is very backward.
There are few decent roads throughout the county. Postmen delivered parcels of letters and had to ride horses to reach the villages. Wind and sun are the norm, and it is not uncommon to get sick in bad weather.
Wang Shunyou's father had already anticipated that his son would have a gap and gave him a preventive injection in advance:
"To send a letter is to do things for the party, and those who do things for the party must be able to bear hardships."
Wang Shunyou soon realized the weight of his father's words.
Delivering letters in Muli Prefecture is really hard. After taking on this burden, he became the loneliest postman.
Muli County is high in elevation.
The postal route that Wang Shunyou often takes is almost 4,000 meters above sea level, which belongs to the proper plateau area.
Every month, for about 28 days, he was alone on the road leading his horse.
The road in the southwest mountainous area is rugged, and if you are not careful, you will fall to the ground, and it is even more fatal when you encounter rain and snow, and it is common to be covered in water and mud.
The most difficult thing is not the hardships on the road, but the loneliness of the bones.
There is no signal on the road, the different villages are far apart, and the road between villages is rarely inhabited, only Wang Shunyou trudged on the road alone.
To get rid of loneliness, he could only talk to the horses.
On the way, he also met two outlaws. The other party wanted to attack him, but he did not retreat in the slightest, but instead yelled at the robbers that he was sending mail, "Asking for money is not a life."
Fortunately, he carried a self-defense knife with him, and after a long confrontation, he recovered a life.
Even with so many rains, snow, winds, frosts, risks and setbacks, he still regards his duties as more important than his life.
In 1995, he encountered danger on the way. His horse kicked him in the stomach due to fright, and his large intestine ruptured.
You can imagine what kind of pain and despair it was.
But he gritted his teeth and went to the hospital after delivering all the letters. The doctor said that if he had done the operation later, Wang Shunyou might have died.
What keeps him going?
The wave of market economy has swept the country, and young adults like Wang Shunyou can go out to work and earn higher incomes.
This job as a postman has long been less tempting in the eyes of outsiders.
Only Wang Shunyou knew what he was holding on to.
Daliangshan is too poor and closed. In the absence of electricity, the postman's horseshoe sound is the only way to connect the village with the outside world.
Whenever he delivered letters and packages to the villagers, everyone's surprised eyes were the greatest comfort to him.
Someone once joked, "He is more famous than the county party secretary!" ”
Yes, the secretary of the county party committee has changed one term after another, but Wang Shunyou has always stuck to his post. The people of the ten miles and eight townships are looking forward to his arrival.
Among them, the most unforgettable is a story about the notification.
It was in the summer of 1998, when Muli County suffered a major natural disaster and all post offices were shut down.
The superiors were concerned about the safety of the postmen and did not ask them to continue delivering mail, and the postmen rested at home.
Wang Shunyou originally planned to follow the instructions of his superiors and rest at home for a few days. After all, he had not spent too long with his family, and he had been spending time with his wife and children.
Moreover, in the extreme weather of torrential rain and mudslides at that time, continuing to work was equivalent to fighting for your life.
However, Wang Shunyou was still not at ease, he checked the email this time and found that the two emails were sent to the university.
It's summer vacation, and it's time for colleges and universities to issue acceptance letters!
This should be the children's college admission letter!
Wang Shunyou didn't say a word, so he put on his raincoat and went out. At this time, it was still pouring rain outside, and there was a risk of flash flood mudslides on the road.
He took the two notices in his arms and hurriedly began to hurry.
By the time he arrived at the two students' homes, his whole body was soaked with rain. Because of the many falls on the road, muddy water and blood seeped into the clothes.
● Source: Workers Daily Zhang Xian photo
When the notice was received, the students burst into tears.
The person in front of him almost treats his work with the most sincere and deep feelings.
For a full 20 years, Wang Shunyou created a miracle on the postal road:
He never lost a single mail, never delayed a single one, and walked on his own "Maban Mail Road" rain or shine.
All his thoughts were told to his horses.
Sometimes, he would sing mountain songs loudly, both to embolden himself and to dispel loneliness.
In 2005, Wang Shunyou was selected as a "moving China" figure. He has been called a legend in the history of the world's postal services.
The award speech reads:
He was as simple as a stone, a man and a horse, a legend in the history of world postal services. He waded across the beach, crossed the mountains and mountains, used a long march of one person to spread the mail for thousands of miles, and used the 20-year trek to fly snow to convey his heart. There is still a road at the end of the road, the other side of the mountain is still a mountain, the neighbor is still a hundred miles away, and the most pro-postman in the world.
The years passed quietly and silently, and the spirited young man already had white hair on his sideburns, and his postman's uniform was also extremely vicissitudes.
On May 30, 2021, at the age of 56, he remained in the land of Daliangshan forever.
After Wang Shunyou's death, someone's words of remembrance poked people into tears:
Heaven needs Mai Lang's voice, so Grandpa Yuan Longping left us; Heaven needs a postman, so Wang Shunyou also said goodbye to us.
In fact, Wang Shunyou could have gone not so early.
When he was young, he was strong and strong, and it was not a problem to cross mountains and mountains. However, day after day of rain, snow, wind and frost crushed his waist.
The climate on the other side of The Liangshan Mountains is not as good as that of the plains, and once it encounters a storm, it is not even easy to find a place to hide from the rain. Sometimes the dry food and clothes were wet, and Wang Shunyou could only eat barley noodles in the rain, hungry and full.
● Source: Chuanguan News
In order to fight the harsh winter cold, he had to bring a pot of liquor before leaving, relying on the wine to warm his body a little.
This way of heating can certainly solve the urgent need. However, over time, the damage to the liver is irreversible.
After reaching middle age, the body begins to "protest" in an all-round way.
Arthropathy, liver disease, heart problems... The boy who was once as strong as a calf became a weak and sickly middle-aged man.
Or is it the question, why bother to spend your life like this?
Wang Shunyou himself gave the answer: "If I had been born in the war years, I would have definitely become a soldier and charged for the people." Now there is no chance to fight, and to send the letter well is to do things for the party. People always have a death, and if they die for work, it is worth it. ”
The humble did not dare to forget the worries of the country.
He never forgot his father's teachings until his death, and spent his life fulfilling the promises of his youth.
Qu Yuan wrote in "Leaving the Troubles": "What is good in the heart, although it is nine deaths, it is still unrepentant." ”
Even if the glory of idealism in this era has dimmed, there are still countless people who are willing to turn themselves into torches and walk on the road of glory.
Click "Like" and send off the postman. As long as there is faith, small people can also have a life in capital letters. Text/Gu Jingyan