Chapter 11 Wang Yici

Coming back from the city, someone is already waiting for me in the living room!A young lesbian stood up with a smile on her face, came up to shake my hand, "Do you remember me? Wang Yici—an old hen..." I hugged her happily, "How can I not remember? You are an adult now. I heard that you have become a childcare worker. Now you are really an old hen! " I knew Wang Yici five years ago.At that time, the house we lived in was very close to my daughter's school. After school, her classmates would come to our house to revise the class.Let’s say it’s a warm-up class. The girls are together, like little birds, chirping. They sit on the porch with a few small chairs, talking and laughing, often making me unable to read the book, and I can't write an article, but if one day they suddenly stop coming, I will feel bored and panic again.

These girls are all of the ox and tiger, and they all have "nicknames", such as "little monkey", "silly girl", "fat grandma", etc. "old hen" is the smallest, everyone Also called her little sister.In fact, she is not necessarily the youngest. On the day they "talked about teeth", I heard people ask her in the window: what month and day was she born, and she said: "I only know that I am a tiger. My mother gave birth to me." When my father was not at home, two years later, when my father came back, my mother was already dead..." These words made the group of little bird-like girls temporarily silent, I stood up and looked carefully through the window. Wang Yici took a look: she was small, with two thin braids hanging down her chest, with a few freckles on her face, delicate features, innocent and gentle—at this moment, everyone said almost in unison, "I don't know." It doesn't matter, even if you are the youngest, we are all your sisters!" Everyone surrounded Wang Yici as they spoke.

Later I asked my daughter how Wang Yici got her nickname.My daughter said with a smile: "Wang Yici likes children the most. Everywhere there are groups of children around her, like an old hen." So when their class graduated from high school, Wang Yici did not attend the university No one thought it was strange when I took the exam and went to work as a childcare worker in a nursery school. On this day, we sat and chatted under the tree in my yard. Wang Yici said: "My father wants me to study medicine, and I completely agree. In the summer five years ago, when I was preparing for the university entrance exam, there was a A nursery school was established, and several young women in the yard had just started working, and they all happily sent their children there. But Mrs. Li came back from the outside, her eyes were red, and I asked her what was wrong? She forced a smile in embarrassment Said: "I sent the child to the nursery just now. The child refused to go in at the door. The childcare worker came out without a smile at all. He said in his mouth: What are you afraid of? Come in quickly! Pulling and pulling the child away, I stood at the door and heard the child crying inside, my tears couldn't stop, actually... really...'

"You know that I have no mother since I was a child, and my father often travels on business. I grew up in foster care, and my godmother didn't treat me well at all. Later, my father lived in Beijing for a long time. Every Saturday, he He picked me up after work and dropped me off again on Sunday afternoon. I remember my father’s room with messy quilts and pillows, dusty tables and chairs at that time, it was already a paradise for me! After we finished eating, my father hugged me silently and sat in front of the lamp. He put his bearded face next to my ear and said softly, "Yici, what are you thinking about?"Why are you always acting like a fool? 'It was always when I woke up the next day and found that I was sleeping next to my father that I became lively, talking and laughing, my father was cooking and washing clothes, I would hand him this and that, bouncing around , my father also seemed very happy. In the afternoon, when I saw my father put things away for me, I became "stupid" again. I lowered my head, tightly grasped a handkerchief with both hands, and sat in the corner of the bed until Time to go.On the way to the godmother's house, all I could think of was the godmother's cold face, 'what are you afraid of, come in! ' It was the first sentence that hit my head—and this sentence was exactly the same as what Mrs. Li just repeated, and my hands suddenly trembled!

"At the age when I entered elementary school, I said nothing and went to my godmother's house. I told my father that I would take care of myself and help him with things. Since then, my father and I have lived happily. read high school. "The children in our yard are all friendly with me. The next day, I saw Mrs. Li's child crying and refusing to go to the nursery. I said to Mrs. Li, 'You put him at home first, and I will take care of you. Look at it.” Mrs. Li said: “How can I do it?” But seeing the child holding me, she hurriedly went to work. Other children saw that the Li family’s child was not going, so they didn’t go either. He pulled me around in circles. I felt a little regretful, and I thought, wouldn’t this be the demolition of the nursery school? After a few days, I heard that the childcare worker was tired and quit. Several committee members on the street were very anxious. Turning straight to the mill. I suddenly thought, let me do it, even if I do it for a year first, and when the nursery is full, it will not be too late for me to go to college.

"The nursery school is not easy. Let's sing and dance. I'm not afraid of these things. It's just that I take care of thirty or forty children all day long. Each child has a temper. Sometimes it's really annoying. But when I think of myself when I was a child Looking at each child, I think they are all cute. The first few days passed, and the children quickly became familiar with me. When I stood at the nursery door every day, I saw the children seeing me from afar. , I broke free from my mother's hand and ran towards me with a smile, my heart felt hot. The mothers left with a smile, but my tears fell down instead... "I love children, and children love me too." My mothers and I supported it happily. Gradually, our nursery not only offers day care, but also full-time care.It's very strange that not only the mothers won't let me go, but I won't go away myself--it's the fact that I've been doing it for five years, and I think I'll be doing it for the rest of my life..."

Speaking of this, she suddenly looked down at her watch, stood up quickly, and said apologetically, "I have to go. Today is Saturday, and a child called at home, saying that his mother fell down and no one came to answer it." , I sent the child back, it just so happens that his house is nearby, so I just stopped by to see you..." I reluctantly sent her out, and I said, "Yici, you are a commended childcare worker, please tell me, what is the strength that inspires you and makes you take childcare as a lifelong career?" She lowered her head for a while, thought about it, and smiled, "At the beginning, I used my godmother as my negative teacher, recalling the painful past, and I treated every child as my former self. I take good care of them with all my heart. Over the years, I have received more socialist education, and I have further realized that these children around me are not only the children of their parents, but also small citizens of the socialist motherland. Becoming a happy, brave, and hearty builder of socialism is worthy of my lifelong efforts. Maybe this is too high and too far away? The fact is like this..."

She smiled hastily, shook my hand tightly, and left.I stared blankly at her, watching her turn the corner... Those girls who sat outside my window five years ago have all walked to their jobs happily and bravely.Wang Yici is one of them.In the happy atmosphere of "Six Day" Children's Day, I especially think of her, because I remember it as above. (This article was originally published in "Beijing Daily" on June 1, 1962.)