In the winter of 1999, the Mongolian grassland , the north wind was biting and not a single blade of grass grew.
Japanese explorer Sekino Yoshiharu recorded the snow-covered northern country with his lens.
Suddenly, a little girl appeared in the camera leading a group of cattle and sheep.
On the vast grassland, the appearance of the little girl is particularly eye-catching.
She is young, wearing two braids, riding a horse vigorously and skillfully, and waving a whip.
Plateau Red 's face was full of high vigilance for this "uninvited guest".
Sekiye raised the camera and casually captured the scene he saw in the lens.
The little girl was very alert. When she noticed someone approaching, she immediately waved her hands in fear and said: "Don't get close to take pictures, don't come over."
After that, the little girl rode away on horseback.
When Sekino saw this, he immediately became curious about this "rebellious" girl and came up with the idea of photographing her.
After learning about the girl’s residence from the local villagers, Guanye decided to pay a visit, firstly to explain that he had no ill intentions, and secondly to invite the girl to take a group photo.
At that time, Guanye would not have thought that this visit would allow him to witness the tragic life of a girl.
1.
Lingxiaohua on the cliff Girl
In a small yurt, the girl's grandfather, grandmother and two-year-old cousin Basa lived. When a stranger came to visit the family, the grandmother immediately brought out warm salty milk tea. entertain.
Unlike the girl who is very defensive, her grandmother is a warm and hospitable person.
Guanye learned from her that the girl’s nickname was Pujie , and her full name was Prusig. In Mongolian , it means the sweet girl of heaven who was born on Thursday.
But what does not match Pujie’s name is that at only 6 years old, she has become the main labor force in the family.
Pujie’s father went to Ulaanbaatar to work when he was very young. There has been no news over the years. In Pujie’s memory, his father’s face is blurry and distant.
As for my mother, she is herding cattle and chasing sheep at home, with an elderly man on one side and young children on the other.
In order to make her mother less tired, young Pujie did everything she could.
Pujie was busy collecting firewood, cleaning pots, and feeding sheep, and her skillful movements made people forget that she was only 6 years old.
The white snow is falling and scattered in every corner of the grassland.
seemed to be used to the biting cold, but Pujie didn't take it seriously. She is more concerned about the warmth and warmth of her cattle and sheep. If they get sick, it will be a big expense.
The north wind whistled by. Pujie wrapped herself in a tight winter coat and ran to the sheep pen and said to herself: "The sheep should stay warm when they lie down."
Although she was just as tall as the fence, she knew clearly How many animals do you have at home, and they come to visit your "partners" who get along day and night every day?
The nomadic people's residence is not fixed. They may have to move their locations with the changing seasons throughout the year, settling down wherever they go.
So for Pujie, the grassland is not only the only world in her eyes, but also her only "friend".
After getting acquainted with each other, Pujie accepted an interview with Guanye.
When talking about her dream, Pujie squatted down and fiddled with short grass roots, and said with a shy smile: "In the future, I want to be a teacher and read to everyone."
Yes, she has reached the age of education, but she has Because of family reasons, I can only spend time with cattle and sheep on the grassland every day.
Although the grassland is the root of Pujie’s heart, she does not want to be trapped in the grassland her whole life.
She said: "There is no future in taking care of cattle and sheep. I don't even know what is taught in school." Obviously, Pujie's desire for knowledge has far exceeded everything in the grassland.
saw her granddaughter’s desire to study, and her grandma said in front of the camera: “Without education, it will be very hard in the future.”
Even though life is so difficult, the family has to work hard to lift Pujie out of the grassland.
has been bothering her for many days, and Guanye is ready to say goodbye to Pujie's family. The day before departure, he proposed to take a group of family photos outside the yurt.
Pujie’s silver bell-like laughter, grandma’s kind face, and mother shyly looking at her family. The warm and happy picture is particularly warm under the sunset.
Before leaving, his mother Aiden Chimei brought a horse and gave it to Sekino as a gift.
After learning that this horse was originally Pujie's "exclusive", Guanye couldn't bear to accept it.
Pujie said calmly: "There are other horses." Faced with Pujie's kindness, Guanye promised to give Pujie a game console that she had longed for when she came to visit.
What I didn’t expect was that after only one year apart, things had changed when we met again.
2.
A series of bad luck
Changes are pushing her to grow
The spring grassland slowly regains its vitality, and on the appointed day, Sekiye arrives as promised.
The person who greeted him was still Xiao Pujie. Herds of cattle and sheep, simple yurts, everything looks the same for the first time, but something seems to have slowly disappeared.
Guan Ye stepped forward and put his arms around little Pujie's shoulders and asked with concern: "Where is mom?"
Pujie dodged and said, "Grandma? She went to herd sheep with her uncle."
The answer was wrong.
What happened to Pujie? Guanye didn't get to the bottom of it.
Guanye played with Pujie outside the yurt. A long sound of cattle and sheep ended their greetings, and grandma came back.
Pujie hurried forward and took her grandma’s hand, timidly hiding behind her.
Grandma warmly invited Guanye to sit in the yurt, and she still served him warm salty milk tea.
Looking at Guanye's hesitant face, grandma answered the questions in his mind.
"She is dead and no longer in this world."
There was a bolt from the blue, and Guanye could not calm down for a long time.
What? The mother who smiled so brightly in her memory passed away in just one year...
Huge sadness accompanied by silence enveloped everyone present. Little Pujie hid in the dark and said nothing.
Grandma explained: "Our custom is not to say more, sorry."
Obviously they were the ones who were hurt, but Grandma still felt sorry to her granddaughter for hiding Sekino.
She then said: "She fell off the horse and passed away."
Following the direction of her grandma's finger, Sekino saw Eden Chimei's posthumous photo.
Guan Ye recalled that when they first met last year, he accidentally learned that this precarious family lost 39 horses in one night.
9 horses is a huge sum of money for Pujie's family. Eden Chimei searched day and night, but every time he returned disappointed.
On the day of the accident, she rode a horse and led another one to visit a family of herdsmen who had been kind to her family.
It was difficult to walk in the snow, and the horse fell on the ice, knocking Eden Chimei off hard, and another horse stepped over her.
After returning home, her family saw that her back was in unbearable pain and they quickly called the emergency number, but the ambulance was delayed.
After calling for an ambulance for three days with no response, grandma thought about it and decided to take a taxi to the hospital. At this time, 12 days had passed since Eden Chimei was sacked.
Who would have thought that a family would be turned away without even entering the hospital gate? The reason why the hospital refused to accept her was that Eden Chimei did not have insurance.
Eden Chimei passed away the same day she was kicked out of the hospital. Her short 33 years have passed.
When her mother passed away suddenly, Pujie’s sky fell.
She hugged her grandma and cried bitterly. She cried for 10 days. After her uncle came back, she got slightly better.
From then on, Pujie never wanted to leave her grandma for a moment. She was afraid that her remaining relatives would leave unexpectedly in the blink of an eye, and Pujie, who had no father or mother, could no longer leave her grandma's arms.
arrived at her mother's "Qiqi" in a blink of an eye. Pujie wanted to see her mother, but her grandma did not agree.
She said: "My children will not be able to visit their graves for three years. Whenever they cry, they will cry into a sea of tears and their souls will not be able to leave this world."
Eden Chimei's life has been too bitter, and her grandmother wants her to be reincarnated as soon as possible.
For the first time, the stubborn Pujie played tricks on her grandma: "Get out!" "Someone asked me to come."
This little girl missed her mother so much.
But in the end, grandma still didn’t let Pujie go to worship her mother.
Eden Chimei's tomb is a small mound. My uncle planted white Gesang flowers , and grandma played the sad music of transcendence. As the cigarettes slowly floated up, the family could no longer bear it.
Grandma’s eyes were filled with tears, and she wiped her already red eyes over and over again. Uncle turned aside and sobbed softly. Guanye ate the sacrifice in his hand, but it was so sweet that it felt bitter...
In March of that year, Mongolia was covered in ice and snow, and it was so cold. People are trembling, and the entire animal husbandry industry is suffering unprecedented damage.
Due to the high and cold weather, herdsmen no longer have any stored hay to feed their livestock. Long-term food shortage has led to the death of livestock one after another. Cattle and sheep carcasses can be seen everywhere on the grassland.
The rapid development of the market economy has also destroyed the ecological balance of the grassland.
Between 1999 and 2000, 5.75 million livestock died of hunger and cold.
Pujie’s family is having a tough time.
Despite this, Grandma killed a sheep to celebrate Guanye's return. In her heart, she has long regarded Guanye as her own child.
The family members who were killed one after another still did not bow to the reality. During the conversation with Pujie, Guanye felt that there was a belief in the girl's heart that was slowly becoming extremely firm.
When describing the severe damage to the animal husbandry industry, Guanye finally focused on a touch of green on the grassland.
The touch of green that grows tenaciously is a symbol of hope.
3.
Having hope
can find the greenery in the desert
After her mother passed away, Pujie was depressed for a long time.
Until the day when school started, Pujie finally showed her long-lost smile.
She wore a brand new headdress and accompanied her uncle to the school in the city.
Pujie was excited about the spacious classroom and the friendly classmates, and the bright light in her eyes shone with a desire for knowledge.
Uncle couldn't wait for her to get out of school. During the break, he couldn't wait to put a handful of candies in his arms into Pujie's hands.
At this moment, he was more excited than his niece.
Knowledge opened the door to a new world for Pujie and gave her a touch of green, which symbolizes hope, in her life.
If you study hard and step out of the grassland, you can take your grandma to live in a big house.
When Pujie thought about the future, she shook hands with the sorrow that fate had brought her.
After experiencing the death of her family members and the severe damage to the ranch, Pujie no longer wanted to be a teacher. She said to Guanye: "I want to be a Japanese interpreter."
's fresh and hot soul took Pujie to explore a world wider than the grassland.
Four years later, after traveling to Africa, Guanye visited Pujie's family again.
It was Pujie’s cousin Barcelona who greeted Guanye this time.
The elderly grandmother’s face was full of wrinkles and she couldn’t squeeze out a smile. She told Guanye that Pujie had passed away.
On the mahogany table, Pujie's posthumous photo was closely attached to her mother...
The day after the graduation exam, Pujie fell into a pool of blood due to a traffic accident and never got up again.
The hemp rope is specially chosen to break at the thinnest places, and the bad luck is specially chosen to pick out the misfortune.
thought that her mother's death was a fatal blow to Pujie, but she didn't expect that her own life would pass by so quickly.
In the posthumous photo, Pujie looks ahead resolutely against the background of blue sky and white clouds. This stubborn and unyielding little girl has been fighting against her unyielding fate all her life.
Regardless of natural or man-made disasters, Pujie's strong and upward heart cannot be resisted. There is a sky broader than the grassland in her heart. If fate hadn't been too hasty and refused to give her a chance, Guanye believed that Pujie would be able to break out of her cocoon and be reborn.
The last shot of the documentary is the back view of Pujie and her mother riding a horse together.
Where are they going?
don’t know.
Maybe it will be a tomorrow that mother and daughter will not have time to experience.
