Chapter 15 Chapter Fourteen For the "Curved Tree" at the Ancestral Grave

There are luxuriant vegetation in the world, but whether there is a "curvy tree" or not, I have not conducted research.When I was a child in the countryside, I saw strange trees growing on barren graves. They were usually about ten feet high, with thin and curved branches and rough skin.Of course, there are also a few that are towering and straight, with lush leaves.There is a saying among the common people that no matter whether it is a straight towering tree or a thin curved dry tree with a height of only ten feet growing on the grave, its descendants will be inscribed on the gold list for generations to come, and the ancestors will be honored.Since China has been saying this for thousands of years, planting a tree on the grave of the deceased is considered an important funeral content.There are many ways to say this. If the deceased did his best while he was alive, then his offspring will be able to be named on the gold list and flourish, and a "curvy tree" with deep roots and luxuriant leaves will grow on his grave. ", can only grow some weeds.

Chinese people have been influenced by Confucianism for thousands of years, and the awareness that "everything is inferior, only reading is high" has never been broken.As for the idea of ​​wishing for a child to become a dragon, a daughter to become a phoenix, and expecting future generations to succeed, in a sense, contemporary people value it more than ancestors of past dynasties.Conditions are better now than in the past. No matter the rich or the poor, men and women, they are all equal in terms of education.The development of the times has made the country and the people pay more and more attention to the "revolution in science and education".Chinese people who have the traditional virtue of emphasizing education, since the university gates were opened to themselves, we can see the moving scenes of parents anxiously waiting in front of the examination room during the days of the college entrance examination every year. You can see the hurried whereabouts of parents carrying their children to make up lessons every weekend and Sunday. On July, August, and September, 1998, when I was commuting every day, I could see scenes in front of the gate of Beijing No. 4 Middle School that you can imagine and scenes that you can't imagine: some parents carried oxygen bags, Waiting outside the school gate under the scorching sun all day long; a three-star hotel 100 meters away was suddenly overcrowded, and the people staying were all the students and parents of the city’s college entrance examination... A parent told me, At this time, if parents are required to go through fire and water and go bankrupt for their children to be admitted to college, he said that all parents will not hesitate.

After hearing this, I felt a strong shock in my heart.Is not it?All children are the hope of their parents.When human beings evolved to the end of the 20th century, this "law" is still unbreakable.Especially among Chinese urban residents, where only children make up the absolute majority, the phenomenon of parents willing to let their children go to college at all costs is becoming more and more prominent.In the vast rural areas of China, going to university is the only and best way to "jump out of the farm and enter the dragon's gate".Especially with the impact of high technology becoming stronger and stronger, the degree of knowledge-based social occupations is getting higher and higher, and the reality of "if you don't go to college today, you will have no job tomorrow" has been cruelly placed before people's eyes.We undoubtedly believe in one fact: every college student's parents and family are the strongest backbone and backing for every college student.As for the parents of poor families with difficult economic conditions, the price they paid to ensure that their children can leap into the "Dragon Gate" and complete their studies has moved the face of God and the tears of Mother Earth...

In a remote mountain village on the Loess Plateau in northern Weibei, there is a 53-year-old hunchbacked peasant woman named Yang Xiuru. She and her husband, who are also farmers, raised four children in a cave dwelling.Later, her husband died of illness, and Yang Xiuru managed to get her three daughters and one son into college by farming, selling eggs and digging medicine by herself.After her children went to college, she used her thin shoulders to pay all the tuition and living expenses of the four college students' children.Yang Xiuru's children couldn't bear to look at their mother's hunched back and trembling feet, so they thought about "playing truant" and dropping out of school again and again.Seven years ago, Yang Xiuru had just borrowed money to deal with her husband's funeral, and her second daughter, Xiaoli, hurried back from Xianyang Teachers College upon hearing the news.As soon as she got home, Xiaoli went straight to her father's grave, and the mother and daughter hugged their heads and cried together.At night, the cave dwelling without father added to the coldness.The daughter suddenly said sternly: "Mom, I don't want to go to college anymore. I will come back to help you farm and pay off the debts so that my younger brother and younger sister can go to school." The sky is falling, don't worry about it, I'll go back to school tomorrow!" "I won't." The daughter protested forcefully for the first time. "How dare you!" My mother was furious.The next day, when Xiaoli was not paying attention, she locked her inside with a "bang-dang--". "Baby, you should think about it inside, and when you figure it out, Mom will open the door for you." Xiaoli knew that she couldn't resist her mother, so she had to carry her luggage on the third day and went back to school wiping away tears.Just two or three months after the incident, Yang Xiuru, due to excessive fatigue, was rescued by kind people and sent to the hospital where she had 57 stitches on her head. .The first thing Yang Xiuru said after waking up from a coma was "Don't give me expensive medicine".At that time, the third daughter, Yamei, was in her third year of high school. Seeing her mother injured like this, the daughter vowed not to go to school again, and quietly went to work in the field.After the mother was discharged from the hospital, seeing this scene, she dragged her weak body and called Yamei to her side: "Son, do you feel sorry for Mom? If you really feel sorry, then go to school. Mom wants to see that you can be like the eldest sister and the second sister." Going to college, ah, listen to mom, go to school quickly, the college entrance examination will be in a few days." Yamei just didn't respond, and she just didn't go back to school.The mother was in a hurry, and she resorted to the method of "closed confinement" again, and locked the third daughter inside when she was unaware.Knowing that her third daughter had a stubborn temper, she refused to bring her meals for three days in a row.On the third night, Yamei finally couldn't stand it anymore, so she had to surrender to her mother with tears in her eyes.However, Yamei, who has always had good academic performance, missed the university with a difference of 30 points in the subsequent college entrance examination. "Mom, you should feel relieved to let me go to the field with you this time, right?" Yamei was not at all displeased by the defeat, on the contrary, she said this to her mother with great pride.As for the mother, she just felt very guilty, thinking that her injury affected her daughter's test scores, so when the new school year started, she walked out of the cave, searched for several schools, and finally sent Yamei to one. Repeat high school classes.But in the pre-examination next year, Yamei failed again.This time, the mother understood what was going on, she called Yamei, and then took her to her father's grave which was already covered with weeds: "Meimei, tell me clearly in front of your father's grave today, you are like this!" If you deliberately failed the college entrance examination, who would you be worthy of? Tell me!" Looking at her mother's sad and desolate face, Yamei finally knelt down in front of her mother and cried, "Mom, the family is so poor, and you are the only one working. If the four brothers and sisters all go to college, what if you get tired out, we as children are sorry to God! Mom, I beg you, don’t let me go to college again..." This time it was my turn The mother felt distressed, she squatted down, hugged her daughter, and caressingly wiped away tears for Yamei, and said earnestly, "Son, why don't you understand this: No matter how hard Mom is, if I can see you alone My heart is sweeter than anything else. Do you know that if you don’t pay attention and are worthless, your mother will love you all your life? You should understand this, right?" Yamei fell into her mother’s arms and burst into tears .At the end, she raised her face and assured her mother, "Don't worry, Mom, I will definitely be admitted to university!" "That's right." The mother hugged her daughter tightly, her face full of happiness. In 1994, the third daughter, Yamei, was admitted to Hanzhong Teachers College in one fell swoop.In the same year, the youngest son, Zhao Jun, was also admitted to the provincial key high school. Three years later, in 1997, Zhao Jun was admitted to the University of Science and Technology of China with excellent results, causing a sensation in the poor and remote mountain village. Of course, the happiest thing is his mother Yang Xiuru.Although Yang Xiuru is still burdened with heavy debts and her body looks prematurely old, every time she thinks of her sons and daughters being so promising, she can finally say from her husband's grave: "My child's father, my heart is more than before. You are much more at ease, and you can rest in peace under the Nine Springs..."

Mothers are always the greatest. Among the huge family groups of impoverished students, there are not a few college mothers like Yang Xiuru who weave and favor a group of children with their thin body and vast maternal love.In the two villages of Hongmao Township, Fuxin Mongolian Autonomous County, Liaoning Province in the north, there is a peasant woman who is also a mother. In the past twelve years, under extremely difficult conditions, she has raised all six children by raising chickens and selling eggs. Went to college.The six children are: The eldest son, Wei Guangping, was admitted to the Department of Electronics and Computer Science of Peking University, and is now studying for a Ph.D. at the University of Michigan;

The second son Wei Guangli was admitted to the Department of Optics of Beijing Institute of Technology; The eldest daughter Wei Xiuling was admitted to the Department of Automatic Control of Northeastern University; The second daughter, Wei Xiuxia, was admitted to Fuxin Normal College; The third daughter Wei Xiuyun was admitted to Liaoning Bank School; The youngest daughter Wei Xiu'e was admitted to Liaoning College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The mother of the six Wei family siblings is Hou Junrong, who is 62 years old now, but from her wrinkled face and hunchback figure, you can hardly find any charm that women of this age should have.In addition to being old, it is a feeling of dying.However, which woman of the same age who still has charm can share so much happiness and relief like her?No.All of this belongs to Hou Junrong alone.

Hou Junrong, like Yang Xiuru in Weibei, is a peasant woman and illiterate. Naturally, they are not any wiser than those noble ladies with higher education and rich financial conditions in the city, but they are unique in raising their children. That is the spiritual power that cannot be measured by values. The six brothers and sisters of the Wei family do not fall within the scope of "family planning", because the time when their mother, Hou Shi, gave birth to them was not yet the era when the whole party was clamping down on childbearing.But having so many children is a heavy burden after all, and the children's mother, Hou Junrong, can't read a few words, but understands a lot.The eldest son was the first to go to college, and Hou Junrong, a mother, paid special attention to it. She couldn't tell the truth, but she knew the role of the "leader".So in order to pay for his eldest son Quang Binh's college education, Hou Junrong, who had no family sideline at that time, relied on grass for money. 1 catty of hay can be sold for 3 cents, and 10 catties of fresh grass can only be dried for 1 catty of hay.When Guangping went to Beijing to report to the school, he took 150 yuan from his family, which was exchanged for 5,000 catties of grass that his mother beat.Another thing that Quang Binh still keeps with me even though he is studying for a Ph.D. in the United States is the mattress that his mother sewed one by one with 144 pieces of leftover cloth.When the eldest son went to Peking University, he hadn't caught up with the "merger", and the school fees were not so much.But it was different when the children went to school. In addition to the different fees charged by the school, the living expenses of the children also skyrocketed year by year with the sharp rise in prices. Hou Junrong really felt the heavy pressure. Sometimes it was hard to get money Just saved 30 to 50 yuan, but the older ones and the younger ones don't see much money.The eldest daughter, Xiuling, was the most impressive. When she was in college, she encountered the dilemma that her family could not afford a penny.Mother Hou Junrong was very anxious for the first time, because the money she borrowed from the credit union the day before yesterday was used to pay the tuition fees of Xiuling's younger siblings, so no one would lend her money now!Xiuling silently watched with tears in her eyes as her mad mother was sweating profusely rummaging through boxes and cabinets in the house, but she still couldn't find anything of value. "What can I do? What can I do..." The mother slammed her head against the dirt wall sadly, muttering in despair.Suddenly, Xiuling heard her mother laughing loudly: "I'm rich! I'm rich this time!" After her mother said this, she desperately scratched the earthen wall with both hands... Xiuling was terrified, thinking that her mother was crazy. I didn’t want to, so I rushed over to stop her crying: "Mom, don't be like this, I won't go to college, okay! I won't go to..." I don't want my mother's face to darken, and said: "Who will you not go to college? Ah, you damn girl, tell me!" Xiuling had no choice but to say: "If our family has no money, don't..." The mother didn't wait for her daughter to finish speaking, and took out a large bag of things from the earth wall like a magic trick: "This It's not money! Damn girl, save some money!" This time it was Xiuling who was stunned, but it wasn't a big bag of money!But she immediately realized: "Mom, this money is useless a long time ago!" "What? I secretly hid this money when I married your father. How could it be useless?" It was a lot of trouble, but one thing still made them very happy, that is, the next day they took these coins from the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China to the bank and actually exchanged them for a sum of cash, which relieved Xiuling who was in college.The sons and daughters are still going to college one by one, but it is impossible for "miracles" to appear in the earthen wall.Hou Junrong, who was nimble in his hands and feet when he was young, thought that he could not make a lot of money by relying on a few acres of crops in the field and by himself, so he had to find a way to "get rich"!It’s impossible to do business, that’s what the old men do; cut grass, the money is too little, and it’s only a hundred or eighty yuan, which can’t save the emergency.Let's raise chickens. I heard that some people can become "ten thousand yuan households" or "one hundred thousand yuan households" by raising chickens. Yes, let's try it too.So, Hou Junrong, who was uneducated, chose the sideline that she thought was most suitable for her—raising chickens.In the first year, she raised 80 dogs and earned a net income of 150 yuan; in the second year, she raised 100 dogs and earned 728 yuan.With the experience of the previous two years, Hou Junrong started to work hard, raising 2,000 chickens at once in the third year, and increasing to 3,000 chickens in the fourth year...Hou Junrong is happy, she has become a well-known "big chicken farmer", and more importantly What's more, she exchanged the eggs laid by chickens for the banknotes that her sons and daughters can go to college!In this way, Hou Junrong, an illiterate peasant woman, successfully sent all six children of her family to the university for 12 years and allowed them to complete their studies one by one.It is worth mentioning that Hou Junrong not only made her sons and daughters realize their college dreams by relying on her calloused hands, but also sewed a bed for each of her sons and daughters going to college. 144 quilts made of cloth corners, she warned her children in this unique way: Never forget that you were once a poor child.

I am going to talk about the hard experience of a laid-off female worker who devoted her heart and soul to her son who was going to college. Her name is Chen Xiufeng, and her son is at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.Chen Xiufeng used to be a worker at the Harbin Hengfeng Carton Factory. She was laid off in 1995. She was only 40 years old at the time. According to the factory regulations, only people under the age of 35 remained in the factory. Just one yuan sent her and a large group of sisters and brothers back home.At first, Chen Xiufeng thought that she would be laid off if she was laid off. It happened that her son was about to go to university, and her husband drove a taxi day and night to pay off the tens of thousands of debts he borrowed. thing.But at this time, a catastrophe happened to the family: On the third day of the Lunar New Year in 1996, the husband who was out of the car was snatched away by a group of robbers who snatched the car, and then he was brutally burned and thrown into the wilderness hundreds of miles away...

A complete family, faced with such a blow all at once, Chen Xiufeng, who lost her job and her husband, was faced with a large debt left by her husband and a son who was about to go to university, and she herself was in a situation where she had no source of income. bleak time.Chen Xiufeng, who was immersed in extreme pain, spent countless nights and days in a daze, and no one could comfort her severely injured heart. "Mom, after graduating from high school, I'm not going to go to college anymore..." One day, the son said softly to his mother. Chen Xiufeng seemed to wake up suddenly: "Why? How can you not go to college?"

"I'm 17 years old, I have to support myself, I can't make you work harder!" In Chen Xiufeng's eyes, her son seemed to have grown up overnight.On that day, she, who was hit repeatedly, had a kind of special gratitude to her son, because it was his son's words that made her raise the sail of life again.Chen Xiufeng felt that it was time to cheer up.While resolutely stopping her son's plan, she began to seek her own way of making a living. Chen Xiufeng came to the labor market, and after a lot of twists and turns, she was finally hired by a restaurant as a dishwasher with a monthly salary of 400 yuan.She felt that this was already very satisfying, plus the original 200 yuan given by the factory, the mother and son could live on tight with 600 yuan.Later, a male wage earner in the restaurant who was in charge of carrying dirty slop buckets thought the work was too tiring and dirty and slipped away. Chen Xiufeng approached the boss and said that she would take care of the dirty work.The boss was worried that no one would do the job, so he promised to give Chen Xiufeng an extra 150 yuan per month.For the 550 yuan, Chen Xiufeng seems to be desperate every day.

This year, with her encouragement, her son was finally admitted to Beihang University.But before Chen Xiufeng sent her son away to breathe a sigh of relief, the creditor of the 30,000 yuan debt owed by her husband came to her door. "It's been half a year. It's a good deal—if you don't pay it back, the house will belong to me. When you have money, you can redeem it." The creditor was already impatient, and with just a wave of his hand, Chen Xiufeng The only shelter was also lost... That night, Chen Xiufeng wanted to jump into the river and everything would be over, but she couldn't worry about her son who had just entered university. She must survive for her son.For my son's four years of study, he must live well. Houses in the city cannot be rented, so Chen Xiufeng only got a farmer's house in the suburbs to share a room with the landlord, all in order to save some money.And the son who is studying in college in the capital doesn't know all this. When the mother was kicked out of her house, the only thing she asked for was to ask the creditor to help her receive letters from her son, so that she could leave her original address without being caught. The son who is away knows what has happened. Having just obtained a place to live, in order to send her son’s living expenses on time every month, she immediately started looking for a job again. The restaurant could no longer work because she changed her residence in the suburbs. Arrived at a back rubbing job.When she first came to work in the bathhouse, facing the arrogant, contemptuous and critical eyes of customers, Chen Xiufeng really wanted to walk away, but in the end she forced herself to stay with a smile on her face.At that time, she could no longer take care of her own face and self-esteem. The only thing she thought about was that she had a job, and her son's success in college was all her spiritual sustenance and strength pillar. In the first month of wages, she sent 300 yuan to her son, and wrote a letter saying that she was working at the counter in a shopping mall. Her money is less distressed.But even if Chen Xiufeng weaves such a "good environment", it won't last long. The bathhouse where she worked was closed down because someone reported that she was engaged in pornography. Chen Xiufeng lost her job for the third time. How can this be good?In those days, Chen Xiufeng was so anxious that she went out to look for a job every day, but there were more and more laid-off workers in Harbin. It seemed that there was no longer a job for her to make a living in this world.One day, Chen Xiufeng went to countless labor markets in the city, and she was so tired that she couldn't hold on anymore. She had to pick up an old newspaper on the side of the road and sit down to rest.Looking at the bustling city, Chen Xiufeng reluctantly lowered her head in pain and low self-esteem... um, what is this? "A Zhejiang shoe repairman built a building in his hometown with the money he earned from repairing shoes in the city for several years, and made the whole family a well-off society." Chen Xiufeng looked at it and couldn't help picking up the newspaper and started reading.That's right, people from the countryside went to the city to repair shoes and made a fortune. Why can't we city people also become shoemakers and make a fortune?Chen Xiufeng's discovery was no less than Newton's discovery of the "Newton's Law" of apples falling to the ground. Her eyes lit up immediately, and she picked up old newspapers and strode into the rushing crowd. Although Chen Xiufeng has suffered all kinds of hardships, she feels that she doesn't care if she does dirty, tiring or low-level work behind others, but when she set up a stall for the first time, she faced so many passers-by looking at her, especially when she occasionally bumped into her. When she met a few acquaintances, she really couldn't hold her head up.What's more, since she was not familiar with shoe repairing techniques at first, she, who has always been quick, was ashamed of her clumsy work in front of everyone.On the first day, the right hand holding the hammer was so sore that it couldn't straighten up, while the left hand, which had been hit by the hammer countless times, was already bruised... As the days went by, one day a young master who set up a stall on the street together suggested to her that if she wanted to earn more work, she should go to a place with a lot of people, such as the gate of the university. away from family.Chen Xiufeng suddenly thought of her son, yes, the shoes and socks of college students are the most torn, why not go to the gate of the school!Chen Xiufeng moved as soon as she said, and the business was booming as soon as she set up a stall at the school gate, especially after class and weekends and holidays, students gathered in groups to ask for shoes and socks to be repaired.Looking at these children who are far away from their parents, Chen Xiufeng seemed to see her own son, both distressed and loved: "You just take it, give as much as you have money, count as a favor if you don't have money..." Unexpectedly, Chen Xiufeng's sincerity made college students like to come to her even more.The small business makes more money, and the income from the small business is not bad. Apart from her own necessary living expenses, Chen Xiufeng also has the 300 yuan sent to her son every month. Since then, Chen Xiufeng has formed a good relationship with the university.Many people like her who were laid off or engaged in other small businesses also set up stalls at the gate of the university, but in the end there were not many left. Only Chen Xiufeng never left the gate of the university.They don't understand why Chen Xiufeng can achieve different results in the same location and the same business?In fact, the difference is precisely because in Chen Xiufeng's eyes, those college students are like her own children, and it is her love from the heart that makes the students fall in love with this warm-hearted "Chen" Aunt". "Aunt Chen" later became "Boss Chen". At the beginning of the new year, Chen Xiufeng discovered that the students of the university where she used to set up a stall also engaged in work-study activities such as shoe repair.She knew that those who participated in this event were poor students like her son, so she voluntarily gave up her booth.However, she did not leave the school. After going through the two climaxes of the holiday and the beginning of school, Chen Xiufeng found that students bought a lot of bags, especially some students from other places.This is a good market!If you open a bag shop near the school that specializes in purchasing goods from formal channels, and the price and style can match with young people, the business will be good.At this time, Chen Xiufeng already had a lot of business awareness. She scraped together 2,000 yuan and bought more than a dozen bags from a luggage market more than ten miles away. She sold six of them at the school gate on the first day. The next day, I ran to the gates of several other universities, not wanting that all the goods in my hand were out of stock. Although the price she sold was cheaper than that in the store, she still made a lot of money after all. In this way, Chen Xiufeng approved and sold once, and the students also knew that "Auntie Chen who repaired shoes" had become "Auntie Chen who sold bags", and the wholesalers gradually regarded her as a "big customer" and treated her politely.One day, Chen Xiufeng came to the luggage market again, and a sales manager of a luggage factory in Wenzhou, Zhejiang stopped her: "Sister, we see that your business is very good, and we want to invite you to be our 'Jinlong luggage factory'." The general agent of the business, open a bag shop in Harbin. Would you like to?" "Me? I'll open your bags for you? Sir, are you right? I'm just a laid-off stall operator!" Chen Xiufeng was quite surprised. The Wenzhou man laughed and said how about taking a look at this bag again, elder sister? "This, isn't this the bag sample I drew blindly for a boss a while ago?" Chen Xiufeng never dreamed that she tried to get someone to ask if there was a bag sample of the style she imagined half a month ago. , Now they are placed in front of her in batches. "That's right, this is exactly what you designed. We just changed the materials and decoration a little bit. Look, we have a lot of people ordering this style just after it was launched!" Wenzhou people have a nose and eyes, but it is definitely not a fake Say, "Our luggage business, in fact, you are a designer and a distributor, and we are a manufacturer. The profit is divided according to the turnover. What do you think?" What else is there to say, if you don't eat the pies that fall from the sky, you won't eat them for nothing! Soon, Chen Xiufeng's "Golden Dragon" luggage shop officially opened, and she specially hired three female shop assistants who were also laid-off workers to serve as the general manager.After the opening of the luggage store, the business is really as good as predicted by the people of Wenzhou.At this time, Chen Xiufeng was so excited by this unexpected harvest that she didn't know what to say. During the Spring Festival of 1997, Chen Xiufeng knocked on the door of the creditor who occupied her house with a huge sum of 30,000 yuan in her pocket. "I'll give you back the money, and you must vacate my house immediately!" Chen Xiufeng tried to hold back the tears from her eyes.A few days later, when she returned to the lost and found room again as the owner, the tears that had overflowed for a long time burst out of her eyes... A few days later, my son returned to his home from Beijing.When he saw his mother's face flushed, and the room decorated by her mother, he was so happy that he hugged his mother and said repeatedly: "Mom, after I've been away for so long, you are much younger...Really, Mom! " After hearing this, Chen Xiufeng just smiled at her son, but couldn't say a word.There are too many tears flowing in her heart, and all these sons who are studying outside don't know it at all.If it hadn't been for the female reporter Yu Xiuwen who later wrote about Chen Xiufeng's extraordinary experience in the article "Meeting Laid-off", her son and all of us may never have known that there was such a mother who was forced to do so for her son who was going to college. Give it all. There is no love in the world better than a mother's love.The love in the world is the love of father. On a construction site on the outskirts of Beijing, a college student who asked not to be named took me to see his seriously injured father.It was a very busy construction site of a modern new district, but the college student's father was not in this place, but in a small cement mixing field nearby with extremely poor conditions.After we walked through several large puddles, we walked into a low and damp grass shed again. "It's right here." After the student finished speaking, he entered the hut by himself. It seemed that he was a frequent visitor here. I went in and met his father.The student's father probably didn't know why I came. He thought it was his son's teacher who came, so he quickly got up from the "bed" made of two broken cement boards, but he was still very nervous afterwards. Lie down with difficulty. "Teacher, I'm sorry, my feet..." He apologetically revealed a gauze-bound leg from under the dirty quilt. "Don't, don't, just rest." I quickly motioned, and then asked, "How did you hurt? Is it serious?" "It was the floor that hit it. It's okay..." The student's father tried to shake the injured leg in front of me effortlessly, but he yelled "Ouch, Ouch". "what happened?" Not wanting my question, the student stood aside and cried, "He... is almost festering, and he said he's fine. Huh..." "My child, why are you crying!" The father glared at his son, then smiled embarrassedly at me, "Small problem, we country people don't take it seriously, I can go to the construction site in a few days..." The son suddenly howled at his father: "Why are you going? If you hadn't gone to work last week, you wouldn't have broken your leg again!" "This child!" I saw that the father and son were a little bit competitive, so I hurriedly interrupted: "Brother, can you tell me about working in Beijing?" "Hey, isn't it just for the children to go to school!" After the father sighed, there was a long silence... "It's a long story..." After his son went out to fetch water, the student's father chatted with me. What I didn't expect was that this student who had lived in the same city as us for three years An Anhui man went to the capital several times for his son's studies, went through vicissitudes, and almost lost his life.Here are his words: …Speaking of which, my family is not considered a rural area, but it is not considered a city either. It is a typical small town in the south.My child's grandparents did small businesses before liberation, and later set up a small workshop, but they were classified as petty capitalists after liberation.Well, since then, the crooked tree on our ancestral grave has been uprooted and thrown into the wilderness... In fact, I, a "capitalist son of a bitch" born after liberation, have not seen him since I was born. What "capital" was there in my family that I could show off outside, but because of the hat on my father's head, I dropped out of school after only entering junior high school, and then I was driven to one of the most remote farms in the commune to settle down.I didn't regain my status as a town resident until 1980 when all the "puppies" started to regain their human dignity.But what's the use?At that time, I had neither the education to study in university nor the age to be an apprentice. At the age of 27 or 18, I became a "vagrant" who no one wanted.Later, he set up a small factory in a hometown and worked as a janitor.At that time, although I "turned over" politically, people have begun to care more about material things and getting rich.As for me, a gatekeeper, I have neither technology nor diploma, and decades of "rebellion" have completely wiped out my family's "capital".I was very old, and I was introduced to marry a rural girl—a real poor and lower-middle peasant.Not only is she born well, but her family has been poor until now.Anyway, we still have a son to carry on the family line, and I feel at ease that at least half of my son's blood is from a revolutionary progressive family.I didn't feel like my life had really begun until after I had my kids.But the child's mother was already weak, and fell ill after giving birth. When the second child could walk, she was paralyzed on the bed and could not move.From then on, I had to take care of the four mouths of the whole family. I can't even explain how the days have passed. Anyway, there is no hard work in this world that I haven't done.It's fated, what can I do?But I know that there is one thing that cannot be delayed, and that is the matter of children going to school.I have no chance in this life, and I call it "the delayed generation" in the words of your city.Both of my children are promising. The older one was admitted to your university here in Beijing in 1995, and the younger one was admitted to a university in Hefei.Seeing that my son is more promising than me, I am happy in my heart, and the child's mother is also happy.But I have to support two children to go to college by myself, and I have to take care of a sick person who is paralyzed in bed at home. I know that it is not enough to earn the three or four hundred yuan I used to be a janitor in the factory.So after my eldest son was admitted to Beijing, I heard that working here in Beijing can make more money, so I came here.In the first year, I worked in a contractor team, and I was paid 600 yuan a month. I was in charge of transporting bricks, and they took care of a meal.I keep 100 yuan a month for myself, 300 yuan for my son in Beijing, and 200 yuan for my son in Hefei.But the good times didn't last long. This contracting team had a quality problem during construction for others and was disbanded.Later, I found a construction team at the construction site in the Asian Games Village, but the contractor had a dark heart and said that he would only pay 500 yuan, and not give everyone the full amount. Each person deducted 100 yuan a month, saying that he was afraid that we would run away halfway. . With 400 yuan a month, my life will be difficult. The eldest son can only reduce it to 200 yuan, the younger son will give 150 yuan, and I will keep 50 yuan for living expenses. What can 50 yuan be used for?But I basically saved all the 50 yuan. I know my son has a lot of things to do at school, and besides, there is a person paralyzed on the bed at home who has to eat!The contractor is very dark and works more than ten hours a day. Although he is in charge of food, what is it called food?In the morning, there are two steamed buns and a few pieces of pickles. At noon, there are two steamed buns, and there is an extra pot of vegetables.Evening is about the same as noon, and at most the steamed buns are changed to noodles.That dish has never lost the oil star and meat taste, and it has not changed for many years.The contractor is not afraid that you will quit. In his words, it is not easy to contract a project in Beijing, but wage earners with two legs can put ten or eight in one pocket.Besides, if you leave after working with him for a while, it will be your own loss, because you will not get a penny of the money he withheld if you leave this way. Just after the Spring Festival in 1996, I suddenly had a stomach problem and wanted to quit. It happened that my eldest son was going on winter vacation, and we wanted to go back to our hometown together.But the contractor just didn't agree, saying that he had to wait until his project was finished to get the money.I just quarreled with him, to no avail.I had no choice but to stay and work again, but my stomach was getting weaker and worse. I was sent to the hospital by the workers and stayed for more than ten days.At this time, the son sent a telegram from home, saying that his mother was dying.So I quickly went to the contractor and asked for money to go home, what do you hear?He said what money do you take?Who will pay for your medical treatment and hospitalization that cost me more than two thousand yuan?I said I was sick and hospitalized while working for you, of course you should pay for me!Who did he say stipulated?I said there is a "Labor Law".He said that you should go to the Labor Law to ask for it.When I wanted to reason with him again, he simply called a group of hooligans and threw my bedding into the pond, driving me out of the construction site.At this time, I received an urgent call from home, saying that the child's mother was in danger.But at this time, I don’t even have a train ticket on me!What to do?我开始想到孩子的学校去借，后来觉得这不是给孩子丢脸嘛！所以就没去。但几十块钱也不是白白在马路上能捡得到的呀！不瞒你说，我还真一个人偷偷到五洲大酒店、康乐宫门口转悠过，但一个下午没见到过一个子儿，倒是别人把我当做小偷似的轰了好几回。后来我到西单地铁口当了两天真正的乞丐，总算把回家的火车票钱要到了手。那天我上火车时，正是大年初一，从北京开往合肥的车上没几个人，服务员比平时服务态度好多了，她们不时推食品货车过来问你要不要这个买不买那个，我呢，心里想要可口袋里掏不出一分钱，二十来个小时，就吃了对面座位一个下车旅客留下的半截要扔掉的香肠……可是我就这么千里迢迢赶回家，却没有来得及同孩子的妈说上一句话——她在我到家的前一天夜里已经断气了。 办完孩子他妈的丧事，我又欠了一屁股债，可孩子开学又得要钱呀。有一天我看到一则报纸上说有人愿出3万块钱换个肾，我瞒着孩子悄悄到县医院想跟人家商量这事。不知孩子是怎么知道的，赶到医院把我拖了回去。两个儿子哭着说，爸你要是这样做我们就不上大学了。我说那怎么行，我跟人家换肾也是为了你们上大学，你们不能胡想，我就是苦到头，也全是为了你们完成学业。儿子说爸你身体本来就不好，你一旦少一个肾就全完蛋了。无奈，我说那爸就听你们一回，但有一个条件：你们必须保证好好学习，争取多拿些奖学金，我呢也争取再谋个打工机会。孩子们答应了，就这样我们爷仨在家里没等孩子妈“头七”就分别重返北京和合肥。 我到北京后还是打工，开始听儿子劝后想找个轻松点的活，但找来找去都没成。北京这两年外地来京打工的人太多，像我这样年龄的人又没啥文化，只能到建筑工地上干那些最苦最累的、待遇又最低的活。这一年多里，不瞒你说，我已经挪了七八个地方。孩子现在上大学正是花钱的时候，又是买书，又是买衣服，一个月二三百块钱当然不够，所以我见哪儿钱多、哪儿能当月付工钱的就上那儿。你说苦不苦？Of course it is bitter.有时我觉得实在支撑不住了就上医院看看，医生说我的胃病该彻底治一治了，可我说不行，我要是一下不干活了，两个孩子的学业咋办？我现在想，至少等我再拼上那么两三年，让小儿子也念完大学，到那时再说…… “那时……那时你就来不及了！”我们说到这里，打水的儿子已经从外面回来。他一边抹泪，一边又怨起父亲来。 “你知道啥？现在你的任务就是把书念好，有可能明年争取考研究生！”看来这对父子总是谁都说服不了谁。 因为天黑了，所以我不得不与这位学生的父亲告辞。临别时我劝他注意身体，还是要想法把受伤的腿尽快养好。 “他从来对自己的事不在乎，看他那么可怜，我有几次都想退学了，可我知道不能，那样他会一下垮了。”回城的路上，这位不愿透露姓名的学生一直在为父亲低泣着，“他实在太苦、太可怜了。医生已经检查出他的胃上长了个东西……” “是什么？”我心头一紧，问。 “凶多吉少。” “那你得劝他休息呀！” “他能听吗？只要我和弟弟在大学一天，他就是死在工地也不会停下来歇着的……” 这位学生又在悲切地哭泣。我心头也早已难受不堪…… 是啊，一个贫困生，后面就是一个贫困的家庭。而每一个贫困的家庭里，又有多少像上面的这些父母们在为了他们子女的前程、为了祖坟上的那棵“弯弯树”而含辛茹苦，甚至不惜用生命的代价，在托筑起一条可以让儿女们完成学业的血路！ 这些学生们的父母，有的在把儿女送上大学路时就病倒了，有的没等看到儿女们上完第一个学年回家过春节就离开了人间……虽然他们永远地倒下了，虽然连最后的一面都没来得及见上，然而他们在儿女们的心目中永远是一座不倒的丰碑。 在我采访的诸多贫困大学生中，他们中间几乎十个里面就有三四人的父母或在他们上大学之前就积劳而死，或是在他们上大学的期间不别而逝。因此，这些大学生们对用生命换取自己儿女一张大学文凭的父母们，怀有最强烈和深切的亲情。我见过许多学生或在大学期间、或在毕业时刻写给亡父亡母的悼辞。这里抄下一份，一慰我对那些平凡而伟大的父亲母亲们的敬意——