"i'm not showing off, i just want to relive the sincerity and friendship between my comrades-in-arms back then" | zhang chijian
2024-09-26
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
photo taken by ma xiaomao on the afternoon of september 16, 2024, at the yan'an elevated road in shanghai
1.
this is a simple bungalow in the vast wilderness of heilongjiang's great northern wilderness. the cold winter is coming, the wind is howling in the wilderness, and the candlelight is swaying in the hut. however, at this moment, its two protagonists feel the warmth and openness they have never felt before - they have just heard from the radio that the country has decided to resume the college entrance examination. they can't suppress the excitement and surging of their hearts. the flame of desire to study that has never been extinguished in their hearts is like encountering a spring breeze, "whoosh" burning up - this may be the starting point for changing their destiny!
they are a couple, the man is ye zhihong and the woman is li huirong, they are educated youth who came here from shanghai. they were high school students in gezhi middle school, a famous key middle school in shanghai. they are both excellent in character and learning, and have thought about the plan of going to university for further study again and again. however, the cruel reality completely destroyed everything beautiful. they came here to farm. no matter how hard, tired, lonely, they can bear it, but when it is late at night, the hidden pain of not being able to go to university comes, which makes them unbearable. they also pray to be "recommended" and "admitted", but the "congenital deficiency" of their family background destined them to have no chance of this. today, the fair and equal opportunity has finally come, how can they not be excited?
the most precious thing right now is time! the exam will be held in more than a month, and time is the key to success or failure. when the two talked about this, their eyes were cast on their son who was just over one year old and was sleeping soundly. they loved this child born on the black soil and placed all their hopes on him. they named him "xiangzhou", which means "riding the wind and waves, smooth sailing". but now, the clinging little guy has become a "burden", a "burden", "holding us back" - thinking of this, huirong couldn't help crying - was she too selfish and thinking too much about herself! but what should she do in the face of this sudden and major opportunity to change her destiny, which may be the only one? is there a win-win solution?
——they decided to send the child back to his grandparents’ home in shanghai.
2.
han fuzhuang opened the door of ye zhihong's home. fuzhuang was also an educated youth from shanghai. as a junior high school student, he was the younger brother among the educated youth. in the company, old ye was the platoon leader of the third platoon, and he was old ye's soldier. later, old ye was transferred to the school as a teacher. he delivered food to the school and often went to his big brother's house to reminisce and satisfy his cravings. old ye's family raised a flock of chickens, and he loved to eat scrambled eggs. on this day, he told old ye that he was going back to shanghai to visit his relatives and asked if there was anything he needed to do.
"what a coincidence," old ye said, "i was just thinking of sending zhou zhou back to shanghai." after explaining the whole story, fu zhuang agreed. old ye added: the child's uncle is studying in daqing, and he will take the train from there to qiqihar and return to shanghai. you just need to hand the child over to him at the qiqihar railway station. when the educated youth go home to visit their families, they visit each other and are familiar with each other's families. fu zhuang said, "leave it to me, big brother, don't worry."
this time fu zhuang's visit was different from the previous ones. he was not alone, but with two people. the other one was yang zhijuan, the educated youth from tianjin whom he was in love with. zhijuan wanted to take him to meet her parents and listen to their opinions.
but when fu zhuang told zhi juan that he wanted to take zhou zhou with him, zhi juan was surprised: taking a 14-month-old child on a long journey was no joke! but she knew fu zhuang, a warm-hearted and honest man, so she didn't say much, but quietly prepared some more things.
the farm is located in a remote area. to get to the train station, you first have to take a bumpy ride for dozens of kilometers, then take a ferry across the nuomin river, and then take a half-hour ride to the small train station called "laha" built in the town. there are only passing cars here, no starting cars, and there are many farms in the north, with many educated youth, and the cars from there to the south to laha are often crowded. at the station that day, fu zhuang and zhi juan said to zhi hong and hui rong: "don't worry, you should review well for the exam!" then they squeezed into the car with their children and luggage. sure enough, there was no place to stand in the carriage, and zhou zhou, who had lost his parents, kept crying and making a fuss. soon, the three of them were soaked. seeing this, several educated youth who didn't know each other gave up half of their seats, and zhi juan and zhou zhou finally calmed down a little. fortunately, it only took more than two hours from laha to qiqihar, and they managed to get through it with some coaxing and teasing.
i thought the mission was accomplished, but unexpectedly something went wrong at qiqihar railway station.
after getting off the train, zhijuan held the child and looked after the luggage while fuzhuang waited for the train from daqing. when the train arrived, fuzhuang ran back and forth on the platform for several times, but he couldn't see the shadow of lao ye's brother. he was so anxious that sweat broke out on his forehead. more than ten minutes passed in a flash, and the train slowly drove away. fuzhuang sat down on the cold ground.
on another platform, the train to tianjin also went away.
looking at zhou zhou and the empty platform, the two people were stunned.
zhijuan calmed down, soaked the "xingyuansu" she brought with her in hot water, and fed zhouzhou mouthful by mouthful. she said to fuzhuang, "since things have come to this, we should take zhouzhou back to tianjin first."
there was only one bus going to shenyang, so they had to get on it. after waiting for several hours in shenyang, they boarded a bus going to tianjin. they finally got home at around 2 a.m.
at that time, hebei was hit by an earthquake, and tianjin was also affected. every household lived in a shed built in front of or behind the house. the sleepy family heard zhijuan's voice and hurried to greet her. but when they saw her holding a child, they were immediately surprised: she said she brought her boyfriend, how come she also had a child? ! after some explanation, the family members smiled. the earthquake-proof shed was simple, but safe. zhijuan's father gave up his bed and let zhijuan and zhouzhou rest; fuzhuang lived in the house with his uncle.
the next night, the little guy had a high fever. at about 11 o'clock at night, zhijuan, fuzhuang and several people in zhijuan's family rushed him to the emergency room. the doctor said that he had eaten too much and had a fire in his stomach, and that he would be fine if he was fed some chinese medicine. in the early morning, when it was just getting light, zhijuan felt something warm around him. she looked over and saw that zhou zhou had pooped a large amount of "gold". the little guy was grinning.
3.
it was strange that there were no mobile phones at that time. old ye's younger brother was waiting in the car at that time. he thought this was a car to shanghai, and fu zhuang would definitely take this car to go home to visit his relatives. after the car started, he looked for it in every car, walking back and forth for more than an hour, but there was no trace of him. he was immediately sweating. he couldn't figure out what the problem was, he just knew that things were bad. when they arrived in shanghai, the grandparents who had been waiting for several days only saw their youngest son, but not their eldest grandson. they were so anxious that they didn't know what to say. at this time, fu zhuang's telegram came: the grandson is in tianjin and will be back tomorrow.
4.
it was originally planned that fu zhuang would return to shanghai alone after staying in tianjin for three days. whether zhi juan and fu zhuang's parents would meet and when they would meet would be decided after zhi juan's parents "interviewed" fu zhuang.
plans can't keep up with changes. during these three days, zhou zhou, who was "stuck in the middle", played an "important role" in zhijuan's family's investigation of fu zhuang. to be honest, fu zhuang's appearance is not outstanding, his eyes are squinting, he wears a pair of myopic glasses, and he is not tall. in short, he is not very "eye-catching". but he is enthusiastic about helping others and considerate to zhou zhou, which shows that he is a responsible and caring person, which is more important than anything else! zhijuan's parents quietly discussed: the girl is reliable with this guy.
the father said to zhijuan: "it's not convenient for fu zhuang to take care of the child alone. the child is more familiar with you these days. you should go to shanghai with him so that he can take care of you on the way." zhijuan could tell from her father's statement that he basically approved of fu zhuang.
fu zhuang's family lived in a narrow alley. it was broad daylight when they arrived in shanghai. in broad daylight, fu zhuang brought a woman, who was holding a child, and a lot of bags and small things. it was a "grand" scene, which made the curious neighbors stick their heads out to look at him as if they were welcoming him. "fu zhuang is amazing. i haven't heard that he got married. his daughter is so big!" soon, the whole alley was talking about fu zhuang's story. then, of course, there was a lot of explanation. after calming down, fu zhuang's family carefully looked at zhi juan's beautiful appearance.
——hey, isn’t this section a bit off topic? from sending zhou zhou “away” to the love story between fu zhuang and zhi juan. but to be honest, sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between “on topic” and “off topic”!
5.
what happened next was a matter of course, so i won’t go into detail: zhihong and huirong both passed the college entrance exam. after graduation, zhihong was chosen by an educational enterprise in the provincial capital; huirong stayed at the school to teach, and later went on a government-sponsored study in germany, becoming an expert in the field of biology. after that, they taught at a university in jiangsu. when huirong reached retirement age, the school did not allow her to “retire completely”, and continued to play the role of a senior professor and supervise young teachers. their son xiangzhou really “flew” - he was admitted to a university in singapore after graduating from high school, where he studied and worked, and achieved excellent results.
fu zhuang and zhi juan got together as they wished, and lived in harmony. their daughter also had a daughter, and they happily became grandparents.
6.
the story of sending zhou zhou thousands of miles away has always been buried in the memories of fu zhuang and zhi juan.
unexpectedly, the educated youths have grown old, but their hearts are still young. they have set up a website where they can recall the past and talk about their friendship. zhijuan can't forget that time and wants to write it down and put it online. fuzhuang disagrees and says that we shouldn't show off. zhijuan said: "i'm not showing off, i just want to relive the sincerity and friendship between the comrades back then."
thus, this unknown experience spread. zhihong and huirong watched the film with tears in their eyes, not just once, but several times. they knew how difficult it was to bring a child thousands of miles away to shanghai, but they didn't expect there would be so many touching and tortuous plots in the process...
an email quickly sent zhijuan's memories to singapore, to its "originator" xiangzhou. xiangzhou was stunned and warm as he read it, and tears welled up uncontrollably...
author: zhang chijian
text: zhang chijian editor: qian yutong responsible editor: shu ming
please indicate the source when reprinting this article.
