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Abstract: A steamed dumpling shop of only 80 square meters in Changchun brings together 11 special children's families such as autism, cerebral palsy, and Down syndrome. A few months ago, with the help of Xu Xu, a teacher at Changchun University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the steamed dumpling shop was officially opened. 11 moms are both employees and shareholders. Relying on ten tables and two large steamers, mothers re-enter society and face unknown risks with their children.
Text | Cai Jiaxin
Edit | Wang Shan
Video clip | Zhang Xinyue
Owning a small restaurant is Yu Chunfang's dream for many years.
This dream is related to his daughter Xu Qiang. Xu Qiang was born in 1999, and doctors concluded that the child was most likely unable to speak or walk. The first time Yu Chunfang saw Xu Qiang, the little doll was lying in the incubator, puffy, and her two eyes were bulging so big, "like a frog."
After 22 years, Xu Qiang's height has jumped to more than 1 meter 5, he takes the bus to school every day, and he can go to the vaccine alone. Yu Chunfang was very satisfied. But my daughter has one year to graduate from a special school, where can I go next?
For this moment, in the past 22 years, Yu Chunfang has tried many times. She worked as a breakfast shop, opened a noodle shop, and went to a training class to learn steamed buns to make pancakes. She needs a place where she earns money to support her family, looks after her children, and exercises her child's independence. To this end, she worked two jobs a day, running back and forth, and the plan to open a restaurant was finally abandoned.
Until three months ago, in a new community at the northern end of Changchun, Yu Chunfang and 10 other mothers jointly ran a steamed dumpling shop. Like her, these mothers have a less-than-sound child. In this kitchen, they open up new hopes.
Ordinary moments
Water vapor flows down the gap in the steaming drawer to the log-colored table. Xu Qiang picked up the tray, ignoring the guests who were eating, reached out and lifted the drawer of steamed dumplings on the dining table, "want, pad, pad, have, oil", her mouth is not clear, and she did not control the volume, it sounded like a reprimand. The male guest who buried his head in the mobile phone frowned and looked up, saw that she was stunned again, and then smiled and said "thank you".
Xu Qiang is now a part-time clerk at the steamed dumpling shop, and in addition to her, there are three children in the shop, who stand side by side next to the freezer, ready to collect tableware, wipe the table and hand drinks to customers. Like her, they all suffer from cerebral palsy, autism, Down syndrome and other diseases.
Located in the north of Changchun City, this special steamed dumpling shop is run by the mothers of 11 mentally handicapped children. The service, the kitchen, the washing of the dishes, including the cleaning of the toilet, are all done by themselves.
Yu Chunfang, 46, has experience in making catering, and alone holds a water heater for cooking noodles and a small stove for making soup. She doesn't talk much, but she does things neatly. She and Wang Chunzhi met in a public welfare art troupe activity, and after hearing about the business philosophy of the steamed dumpling shop, she quit her job as a salesman with five social insurance and one gold, and brought her daughter here.
Wang Chunzhi, 49, is the manager of the steamed dumpling shop. As soon as the sound of the beaded curtain hitting the door sounded, she immediately straightened her back and shouted "Welcome.". Wang Chunzhi had a gentle temper and a soft voice, and no matter who he spoke to, he always had a smile on his face. Mothers are slow,carrots are broken, there's always a big cut left, and the spring onions are cut too long to sprinkle on the noodle soup. Wang Chunzhi didn't say anything either, he made up for his own work, "They haven't come out for too long, and their hearts are very fragile." ”
I haven't had such a fulfilling life in too many years. 15 years ago, as soon as Wang Chunzhi's son was born, he was diagnosed with Down syndrome, "not long to live", "can't talk", "can't walk", which is the doctor's judgment on the child. Over the years, she took her son to seek medical treatment everywhere, accompanied him to school, and went to the hospital with him for rehabilitation training, leaving only the child in her life.
This is also the life of steamed dumpling shop mothers for more than 10 years. Although they are only between the ages of 38 and 49, their life trajectory has basically stagnated, and their eyes are like a fog. Almost every mother has accompanied her child to special education classes for several years, and in the crowded classroom, the child sits in front and the mother follows behind, listening to the teacher explain the simplest pronunciation and movements.
In this steamed dumpling shop, they can temporarily remove their mother's identity. Wang Chunzhi's daily arrangements are full, and the meals, inventory, settlement, and ordering are orderly. No longer like when I was at home with children, I always forgot what to do next. Now, in addition to children, mothers are most concerned about which dumplings are popular today, the ratio of takeaway orders to dine-in orders. It was autumn, the business was not as good as before, they analyzed the reasons, the northern farmers were busy, people were spent in the fields, there was no time to go out.
At 2:30 p.m., after school hours at the special education school, it was time to pick up the children, and several mothers took off their aprons one after another. School, hospital, and home-to-home trips have made it difficult for them to find a stable job. Steamed dumpling shops are different. There is an early shift here, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., and then walk two kilometers to the special education school to pick up the children and take them home.
In the corner of the store, children and mothers make cultural creations together.
After walking a few moms, the kids who came back from school got on top. There are now four children working in the shop, the youngest being 15 years old, from 3 p.m. to about 8 p.m. They are assigned basic tasks such as choosing leeks, cutting potatoes, serving dishes, and polishing glass.
There is a need to be skillful in managing these children. Wang Chunzhi said that although some people are in their 20s and their minds cannot keep up, they still have to treat children in a way. "Whatever you do, just praise him and encourage him."
In order to let the children learn to count, Wang Chunzhi tried to let them count the working hours and set a schedule for each person. There is a 20-year-old boy with autism who, compared to other children, is more verbal and behavioral and can calculate accounts independently. But he did not abide by the rules, the working hours were set at will, halfway up, directly ran out to deliver takeaways, Wang Chunzhi persuaded and did not listen. Finally, Xu Xu, the initiator of this public welfare plan, came forward, as punishment, blocked his WeChat and demanded that he not be able to go to work for two weeks. The boy narrowed his eyes and whispered, "I'll never do it again." "Xu Xu did not accept." To let them know the rules is an important step for them to embark on society. ”
Wang Chunzhi's son, Liu Hongxu, also works in the shop, and most of the time, he sits in the corner and chooses leeks, first carefully tearing off the leaves with mud outside, and then choosing to remove the yellowed ends. He chose the leaves while humming songs to the music. Seeing his son's focused appearance, Wang Chunzhi's eyes smiled. With her son, she could still work, and in the past fifteen years, she didn't dare to think about such a moment.
Yu Chunfang is making cold dishes.
Small world
In the rumble of the range hood, in the bubbling sound of boiling water, the mothers have their own little world. Wang Chunzhi said that every day is very busy, and everyone is comfortable working together, and can "briefly forget the stone in their hearts."
Wang Chunzhi was born in a wealthy family, grew up well, with big eyes and thick eyelashes, fair skin, and a fleshy face. After graduation, he went to the factory to make clothes, soon became a workshop supervisor, and later promoted to tailor, specializing in taking haute couture orders in the mall.
Before the birth of the child, the husband drove a taxi, she worked as a tailor, and the life was relatively warm. She placed ordinary expectations on life: in the future, she will teach her child music and art, cultivate him to go to college, and when he is old, he can also bring children to his children.
Lying on the delivery bed in the hospital, the doctor carried his son, who weighed only 4 kilograms, and said, "If you want to treat it, you can treat it." The anesthetic effect had not yet faded, and in the vagueness, she had this thought: "My family's life, my fate has been designated to change." ”
In order to accompany her child's rehabilitation and training, she took off her high heels and put on casual clothes and flat shoes. Many late nights, remembering their tailoring skills, honing for more than ten years, just like this? After a long time, she advised herself, "Don't think about it, thinking about it is also a vain thought." ”
The 11 mothers in the steamed dumpling shop are basically like this, and they have their own unique bright colors. A mom studied law in college and started a flower shop after graduation. A mother as an interior designer, always running in hotels in Changchun and Changchun, Beijing, after the birth of her son, she took the child at the same time, while taking private work at home, the work could not be delivered on time, can only give up, "can not do anything."
In the end, only the identity of the mother remained.
Mr. Bai worked in the shoe wholesale business in Moscow, earning tens of thousands of dollars a month and buying a house there. There are dozens of hundreds of shoes in the warehouse, and she knows the color position of the goods number. My son was diagnosed with autism at the age of three, and in order to treat his illness, the house was sold, "Other people's lives are getting more and more upstream, I am more and more depressed, and I can't see the end." ”
Husbands are on the move, and mothers are alone in coping with the trivialities of life. No work, no personal entertainment. Suicide was something they had all thought of. Bai Weiwei said that holding the child countless times, she wanted to jump directly from the large platform of the hospital.
For a long time, Wang Chunzhi even fell into self-doubt. His son briefly went to the ordinary primary school for a few days, and when other parents were talking about various topics at the school gate, Wang Chunzhi shrank to the side. She did not dare to open her mouth easily, and she always felt that her thinking could not keep up, for fear of saying the wrong thing. When he took his son out, passers-by always cast strange glances. Sometimes, the son pulled the corner of her clothes in a panic, and Wang Chunzhi would squeeze his son's hand and comfort him. Later, she tried to go to the alley as much as possible, avoiding the crowds, and did not participate in the gatherings of relatives and friends, "can not make others uncomfortable."
A month after the steamed dumpling shop opened, Wang Chunzhi stood on the cash register for the first time. The first order was a young girl who ordered a donkey steamed dumpling and a chicken soup tofu skewer. She begged the cashier not to leave, "In case something is wrong, I can correct it in time." On the opening day, the guests lined up from the counter to the door, and a mother panicked and stayed on the spot without responding. Because of the lack of reception capacity, many guests left with dissatisfaction that day.
More than two months have passed. Moms are still used to being dull, and there are some changes. In the past, they used to take the bus back and forth alone to pick up and drop off the children, but now they go to the school gate together after work. Nowadays, the back kitchen can produce nearly 3,000 dumplings a day, and the fastest speed of a drawer of dumplings is 1 minute and 43 seconds, and the takeaway function has also been launched.
In the past, Wang Chunzhi only had sons in his life. She accompanied her to class every day, and every morning she left home was her most depressing moment, "another day, another day." Many nights, her son lay sleeping next to him, she tossed and turned alone, thinking about the past and the future, and tears wet the pillow.
Now, she has regained her sense of fulfillment and feels like every day is passing fast. Once, the work in the shop was so dense that Wang Chunzhi even forgot to pick up his son. At 2:30 p.m., her son suddenly appeared next to her, "Mom, I'll come back by myself." Wang Chunzhi's eyes couldn't stop red. In those days, she said to everyone that my son could ride on his own.
Two mothers are busy in the back kitchen. Pictured on the left is Wang Chunzhi.
Choose and change
At more than 8 o'clock in the evening, after working for 12 hours, Yu Chunfang and her daughter Xu Qiang took the No. 285 bus home. It was a one-bedroom house, less than 60 square meters, and the in-laws took their daughters to live in the bedroom, and she and her husband lived in the living room. In the dark carriage, Xu Qiang grabbed Yu Chunfang's arm and told what happened at school and in the store, she couldn't control the volume, causing people to turn back frequently.
Yu Chunfang skimmed these glances and could only ignore them as much as possible. Children are the hidden pain of her life, colleagues talk about children, she is accustomed to silence; every college entrance season, hearing other people's children go to college, her heart will be stinging. For 20 years, Yu Chunfang forbade her family to bring her daughter to the supermarket to find her, "unable to lift her head" and "the impact is not good"
Two years ago, she decided to cross the threshold. The first time she introduced her daughter to a colleague, she cheered herself up in her heart, "Yes, this is my daughter, she is like this." After that, she took her daughter to the supermarket and taught her to dispense the product.
In the more than two months of the dumpling shop, Xu Qiang's changes are obvious. At the beginning of doing two hours, I cried and cried tired, and now I have not complained for half a day. There is more communication with the guests, and she is more willing to express it. In the past, Xu Qiang could only say simple words, and he was reluctant to say more than 4 words. Now, a text message on the mobile phone, a large paragraph, with the encouragement of Yu Chunfang, although stumbling, it is good to read it in its entirety, "much more than before."
Xu Qiang herself likes this place, she said it is "clean and beautiful", even if there is no shift, she also competes to come to the store to help.
A hand-drawn, mother in his eyes by an autistic child.
Wang Chunzhi also felt that his son had become cheerful. In the past, at home, he couldn't shout his son to work; in the store, with the encouragement of his friends and mothers, he could independently choose a few pounds of leeks every day. In his spare time, he would dance in front of the store, no one around.
As night falls, sky blue and white shop signs light up the corner of the night. The son was picked up by her husband in advance, and after booking the next day's dishes, Wang Chunzhi also took the night bus home. The years had worn away the brilliance of her youth, and the corners of her eyes were occupied by deep folds. Her eyes had shed too many tears, and now they hurt when they saw the wind. Over the years, most of the insomnia, once waist-high black hair, sad white, but also become sparse.
She also maintains the habit of loving beauty. Dye your hair once a month, dark brown or dark millet, and perm your hair roots after washing your hair to make your hair look bulky. Every day before going out, she traced her blue eyebrows and eyeliner, and used mousse to shape the bangs into a cockscomb so that she would not be crushed by the chef's hat. She said, "Now that I have a shop, I can dress up cleanly and neatly, so that people can be convinced when they look at it." ”
Talking about the previous days, Wang Chunzhi was full of nostalgia, "At that time, it was beautiful, but it was clever." In those years, chasing time to make money, although it was a tailor, there were not many clothes for themselves, and the deepest impression was a crimson and dark green pattern cheongsam, a silk dress, and blue polka dots on a black background. She recalled excitedly, "Cardigans, tweed coats, trench coats are all beautiful."
I used to hate fumes and the kitchen the most, but now I have to rely on it to survive. Although full of gratitude, when she put on her apron and chef's hat every morning, Wang Chunzhi was "scared and lost." She was always worried about meeting former friends.
The bus was getting closer and closer to home, and the autumn wind blew through the window and blew cold. She wanted her mother to be dead, "I can cry in front of her in any way, and I can be relieved." ”