Chapter 72 Section 7 Taichung, the age of smoking trains

My job as a teaching assistant at National Taiwan University has become busy. There are more teachers from the mainland.He came from Fu Jen Catholic University in Peking. He was single in Taiwan and went to work irregularly at the beginning. I still had to open the door every morning and lock the door at dusk to leave work.The official documents and teaching materials of the department are still handled by me, typed and distributed, and the new teaching assistants Hou Jian and Dai Chaosheng work in the research room downstairs. National Taiwan University has newly received a batch of small Japanese-style faculty residences in the alley between Zhoushan Road and Roosevelt Road, and "senior" teaching assistants can apply.Huayan from the Department of Economics got a household and told me to apply quickly.There is only me as a senior teaching assistant in the Department of Foreign Languages, so I can also be assigned to one household.The small tatami room has all the windows opening to the garden with flowers and trees. I happily told Yuchang the good news. I thought he would be happy too, but he was silent after hearing this.The next day, he told me very formally that he could not be his wife's dependent as soon as he got married.The two of us public and educational staff can only be assigned to one public dormitory. If he goes to live in the dormitory of National Taiwan University, he will not be able to apply for a house from the Railway Bureau in the future.The most important thing is that his job is open all year round, and he has to keep the railways open at all times. It is impossible to take two buses every day to get to work on time. The only thing he can dispatch is a bicycle (I have a Philips bicycle in my dowry, It was very handsome at that time, almost like today's cars), if there is an urgent need for construction, it takes half an hour to ride from Jingmei to Taipei Station, which will delay business.The nearly 100-mile railway in Taipei is really too much responsibility, so he does not approve of moving to the National Taiwan University dormitory.My father fully agrees with his opinion. Before I return to Taiwan from Shanghai, he has solemnly said many times: "Don't let my husband delay business, and don't hurt his dignity."

Soon, there was a vacancy for the chief of the Taichung section of the Railway Bureau. Yuchang discussed with me and wanted to be transferred to the Taichung section.He believes that the dormitory for Mr. Duan there is very good, with a rather large yard, and it is more comfortable for us to raise our children there. The situation is also worrying.When we arrive in Taichung, we can calm down and live our own lives, read our books quietly and think about our future.If Taiwan can settle down and seek development, the hub of the railway operation will be in the central region instead of Taipei. Maybe the work of the telegraph depot in the future will not only be repairing the poles and communication along the train line.

When he asked to be transferred to Taichung, people in the Railway Bureau said, "This old Luo is really strange. He did a good job as the chief section chief in Taipei, but he automatically wants to be transferred to the small section!" When I resigned from National Taiwan University, the former dean of the department Professor Wang Guohua said, "Miss Qi, no one resigns at National Taiwan University." But my work has been transferred with my husband all my life, so I moved to Taichung with him and lived there for 17 years. On June 5, 1950, I walked into the front yard of No. 25, Fuxing Road, Taichung City for the first time. The tree outside the entrance was full of lantern flowers, as if hanging lanterns and festoons to welcome us.

The tatami house of about 20 pings is divided into two large rooms and one small room. Outside the French window of the corridor is a spacious yard, and at one end is a big banyan tree with its whiskers hanging down to the ground.I immediately fell in love with this new home. At this time, I was six months pregnant, and on September 19, I gave birth to my first son in Zhang Yaodong's obstetrics and gynecology department.Because the separation process was too long, he struggled until the next night and fell into a coma.My mother was frightened and cried, and called my name, just like my uncle called her name in Hankou Catholic Hospital, snatching my life back from the hands of death.The doctor used forceps to remove a nearly four-kilogram fetus, and I was unable to walk for about 20 days.

When the baby was nearly three months old, my mother had to rush back to Taipei, and my sister-in-law gave birth to her second child at the end of December. A few days after his mother left, Yuchang didn't come home after get off work, and the house was dark and cold.I was probably so weak that I didn't dare to stay in the house, and sat at the gate with a small bench in my arms.The house is facing the street, and Fuxing Road is a big road with many bicycles and pedestrians passing by. Near the railway yard, all the way to the Taichung Sugar Factory, there are about 30 railway dormitories. I sat at the door. Nearly nine o’clock, Mr. Liao Chunqin, a colleague from the electrical department, passed by. He didn’t know that I was sitting at the door because of fear, and told Me, "Mr. Duan took us to the swollen Raft Creek this afternoon to repair the circuit. Half of the bridge foundation was washed away. Duan Chang had wires tied around his waist and led us to climb over the suspended sleepers to set up the wires, one by one, inch by inch. Climb one inch at a time, these lives are picked!"

Soon, seeing his tall and thin figure walking from the darkness to the first street light, I wept with joy, and the child cried when he was hungry.When he half-ran across the street and surrounded us into the house, he also said tearfully, "I'll be fine when I come back, hurry up and make milk powder to feed the baby." My married life was full of all kinds of railway disasters. Until he retired in 1985, in the past forty years, all typhoons, flash floods, and earthquakes... He had to rush to On-site command for emergency repairs.The midnight phone call still scares me. I have to shake him awake from his deep sleep and watch him put on his thick raincoat and rush into the wind and rain.Then I worried all night until he called to let me know where he was.

In fact, until his retirement, he was never home after a natural disaster or a train wreck.He is responsible for wherever the railways go in the top ten construction projects. He puts his clothes and washing bag in the office. At any time, with a phone call, he will go to Kaohsiung; another phone call, he will go to Hualien.How many days will we go?have no idea.When the Suhua Line was being expanded, I took an engineering vehicle and watched along the line. There was a bench on the vehicle, so I could sit by the track and supervise the work: if the tunnel collapsed and then dug, he would not go home for many days. During holidays and festivals, they would rush around and worry about it. day.Our neighbor on Lishui Street in Taipei, Mr. Chen Denian, is also an electrical engineer. During the five years he was the director, he never stayed at home to celebrate the New Year.Before his wife died of a serious illness, it was at an important juncture in the railway electrification project. He had to go to the site to cheer, and he could not stay with the sick bed all day.I am full of sympathy and respect for engineering personnel all over the world.