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in Liangji Town, Suining County, Xuzhou in May 2013. Du Changsheng dragged long and slow steps, stooped and walked on the rural road in the fields. The sack on his back contained his last debt of 40,000 yuan.
When he handed the money to his creditor Du Hui, he breathed a sigh of relief and smiled with relief. This is the third year that he has paid off the debts owed by his son Du Cunping and his daughter-in-law Zhu Yanli, who passed away in 2010, and now he has finally paid them off.
Du Changsheng
When his son’s noodle business grew, he borrowed a total of 3.3 million yuan from neighbors to build a flour mill. At the age when his career was successful, his son died in a car accident six months later. Misfortunes never come singly, 's daughter-in-law took up the burden of her husband, and unfortunately died in a traffic accident a few months later due to the driver driving drunk.
At the funeral, Du Changsheng's wife fell to the ground crying. During this year, two elderly people in their seventies gave away the two pillars of their family. After 's young life passed away, he was left with only an unprofitable flour mill and huge debts. What can
do in the future? Du Changsheng's wife asked Du Changsheng, and the creditors who suddenly broke into the house also asked Du Changsheng.
Du Changsheng and his son’s flour mill
After several days of careful consideration, the old man with years on his face gritted his teeth and made a decision: Return! Even if you throw away the pot and sell it, you still have to pay it all back!
In 2013, how did the 74-year-old Du Changsheng finally pay for this huge sum of money?
Sudden bad news
Upon hearing the news of the death of Du Cunping and his wife, creditors soon came to the door with IOUs.
3.3 million, even if it is spread equally to everyone, it is not a small amount.
Although they had prepared for the worst, everyone still held a glimmer of hope in their hearts and wanted to come to the Du family to see the situation and see if their problems could still be solved.
came to the small bungalow where Du Changsheng lived. In the early years, the old man also ran a flour mill and made some money. But Du Changsheng was not born with a hedonistic personality. He had the simplicity and down-to-earth nature of the previous generation, so he never changed to a bigger house.
Looking at the two gray-haired old men, the villagers kept asking about the debt, but in the end no one spoke.
Du Changsheng's family has a high moral character and a good reputation in the village. The eldest son Du Cunping has also been promising since he was a child and is a kind man.
Du Changsheng and his wife
In 2009, Du Cunping began to follow Du Changsheng and learn the noodle craftsmanship in his factory. When grew up, he married Zhu Yanli and gave birth to Du Yong, Du Changsheng's grandson. The family was not rich, but they had no worries about food and clothing.
will start a family and then start a career. Du Cunping hopes to expand his family's business, open a new flour mill, and establish a flour company with the help of Du Changsheng.
Du Changsheng’s factory was that Du Changsheng gave to him when he was young and learning the noodle making craft from a Zhejiang boss after he changed careers. He didn't have much talent in business. He had been working in circles for thirty years and only added a few more machines to increase output.
Since his son has great ambitions, the father will naturally help him to the end. After years of hard work in , he accumulated more than one million yuan in family property, all of which was given to Du Cunping.
Du Cunping's blueprint is big. The factory he wants to set up is a fully mechanized factory. The cost of the machine alone is far more than one million. Lin Lin finally settled down and found that the factory would cost more than four million yuan to build, which was far from enough money.
I heard that the eldest son of the Du family was going to build a factory. The village had been demolished not long ago. The relatives and neighbors who had received a lot of money for the demolition raised funds and lent Du Cunping the 3.3 million yuan as investment.
The reason why I dared to lend him money was, on the one hand, that the Du family did have some assets and were not afraid of losing all their money; on the other hand, Du Changsheng was a really good person and was one of the first to make a fortune in the village, so he was very prestigious.
Du Cunping also has some abilities. has been preparing various equipment and materials since August 2010. From site selection to decoration naming to factory assembly line equipment, gradually took shape.
Du Changsheng felt happy every time he heard his son talking about his factory progress and future plans. He and his wife have their own savings in their later years. Their son is capable, their daughter-in-law is filial, and their grandson is well-behaved and sensible. They are truly a happy family.
However, things are unpredictable. Who would have thought that in the event of a car accident, the white-haired person would give away the black-haired person.
On the day of the accident, Du Cunping drank with the client he had finally won over.. After it was over, he got on his four- to five-year-old motorcycle and hit the road. It was too late and he didn't want his family to worry, so he drove faster than usual. Finally, hit the guardrail under the bridge and died on the spot.
Du Changsheng, who was sitting on a low stool, couldn't help but feel sore eyes every time he thought about his son. The tears have long since dried up, and even the sadness has begun to numb me.
At that time, the flour mill was about to be completed. It was originally the hope of changing the fate of the family. After the death of the son, it turned into a mountain and weighed heavily on the family. 's daughter-in-law Zhu Yanli, no matter how grief-stricken she is, has to shoulder the burden left by her husband.
And this pillar was quickly broken.
On that day, Du Changsheng’s wife had just paid the household utility bill and was coming back from outside. When she reached the stairs, her neighbor hurriedly stopped her and said: Yanli was hit by a car.
When the old woman heard this, she felt like the sky was falling and she hurried to the hospital. When she arrived, Du Changsheng was already standing beside his daughter-in-law. He noticed his wife's arrival, slowly turned back to look at her, and shook his head in despair.
The doctor came from the next room and announced Zhu Yanli's death. Du Changsheng didn't respond for a long time, but his wife's body shook violently and fell limply.
The two pillars of the family died one after another, leaving behind the broken family two underage children, a flour mill that was not yet profitable, and debts between neighbors.
This burden has shifted from the shoulders of his daughter-in-law to the 71-year-old Du Changsheng.
Looking at the familiar people in front of him, Du Changsheng knew clearly that they were here to ask about debts.
He tremblingly took out a notebook and spread it on the table.
The son repays the father's debt
Du Changsheng has not interfered with his son's finances for a long time. He only knows that his son owes a lot of money, but how much is not very clear.
He assured the people around him that he would pay back all the money to . His son and daughter-in-law were upright people during his lifetime, but after his death, he did not want them to bear the infamy.
just needs to give him some time. For some things that cannot be taken out at once, he will pay them clearly in installments.
Du Changsheng's wife sat quietly next to him. She has always supported the old man's decision.
The creditors looked at each other. Du Changsheng's request was reasonable and far exceeded their expectations.
Seeing Du Changsheng bowing to them, everyone felt nervous and quickly helped him up. Most people said that they don’t need to pay back the whole amount, just give a round number if there is a fraction, but Du Changsheng is particularly insistent that every cent must be paid in full.
"I can't be confused when I get old!"
Soon, a complete accounting sheet appeared on the notebook, every cent and dime, and there were zeros and wholes.
Not only that, Du Changsheng re-drafted the IOU signed with the name of his son or daughter-in-law, and added his own name . Because some of them were very close and familiar with their sons, they borrowed money without leaving IOUs, and Du Changsheng insisted on making up the money.
There were still some creditors who did not come to the house at that time. Du Changsheng called them one by one to notify them, expressing his willingness to assume these debts, write a new IOU, and sign his name.
It was already late at night after communicating with all the creditors. Du Changsheng took his grandson to settle the accounts for him. Adding them up one by one, found that the debt was as high as 3.3 million yuan.
Grandson Du Yong was a little timid when he saw this number. He had just grown up and was about to bear huge debts with his grandfather. The pressure made him breathless.
Looking at this miserable child, Du Changsheng told him not to be afraid. There are still assets in the family that can be replenished. Even if it is not enough, it will be paid off one day if it is not enough.
After calming down Du Yong's mood, Du Changsheng began to criticize his family's property.
There is a house in the son’s name that can be sold; the daughter-in-law received a compensation of 320,000 yuan because the party responsible for the accident was drunk driving; the half-built factory can be tried to see if it can be run with its own old skills; the old house During the demolition, in addition to getting a resettlement house, I also had 800,000 yuan in demolition money to use.
What's more, the money borrowed by the son has not been used up yet, leaving about 500,000 yuan.
is almost enough. Du Changsheng had a clue in his mind. Since the death of his son, this matter has been like a mountain weighing on his heart. Now that major issues can be resolved, the pain of losing a child begins to come flooding back.
He gave birth to two sons. The younger son is not as clever as the elder son, but he is still practical. Long before today's "creditor meeting", they had a family meeting, and the youngest son also agreed with his idea.
"Let my brothers come and leave innocently."
Now that we have the road, it's time to sell the house.
Because he had interest in mind, Du Changsheng wanted to dispose of the assets as quickly as possible.
Soon, the house was listed online. In order to sell it as soon as possible, Du Changsheng discounted the price and finally sold the 100-square-meter house with a garage at a discount of 350,000 yuan. On the day when
went through the registration procedures, Du Changsheng was heartbroken.
Family wealth cannot be turned into money overnight. In order to be able to repay the money in each installment, Du Changsheng became extremely frugal with food and clothing from then on.
He grew vegetables in the wasteland around the flour mill for his family to eat. If he couldn't finish eating, he would sell it in the county town. The money he earned was used to pay off debts before he could warm it up. He hardly ate meat all year round.
But these are just small amounts of money. Now more than 1.8 million have been repaid, which is far from 3.3 million.
Thinking about the factory his son left behind, Du Changsheng sat in front of his house smoking a cigarette, worrying every day and night.
This is your last asset. Do you want to leave something to your grandson?
If that factory could operate and make money... He thought of this and decided to give it a try. Just like when he first started, could it be difficult to make noodles?
He sold some of the machines to pay off the debt, and kept one set, ready to start operation. Du Yong, who was worried about his health, dropped out of high school and insisted on coming to the factory to run the business with him.
The idea is rich, but the reality is cruel.
Thirty years have passed in the blink of an eye. The 71-year-old Du Changsheng does not understand the mechanized operation process, nor does the 18-year-old Du Yong, who has never studied before.
Du Changsheng forced himself to read the machine manual for more than ten days. He and his grandson Du Yong studied and discussed in the factory, and thus managed to get the factory running.
Day by day, one is old and the other is young. The bones of the two bodies are strong and they have been able to hold on for several months.
gradually became proficient, and the production volume of the flour mill also increased. Du Changsheng and Du Yong were the only "workers" in the factory. They were so tired that they couldn't stand up straight every day. They had to work hard to find a market and sell the flour.
Du Yong was the main force. He got up early and worked hard at night, carrying several carts of flour bags every day. The skin on his back was all torn, and Du Changsheng felt very sad.
"Children can endure hardship, but after a few months, they cannot survive."
But the elderly Du Changsheng persisted in this kind of life for several years, just to have some income to pay back the money.At 's age, if he didn't have this factory, where would he be able to work?
It’s not that I haven’t considered taking out a bank loan, but now my family doesn’t have commercial housing, and there are old and small houses at the top, and there’s no floor in the middle, so I can’t borrow money. Moreover, using loans to offset loans is a bottomless pit. In the long run, the debt will only get higher and higher.
The money Du Changsheng earned from flour was immediately used to repay creditors. As a result, the remaining raw materials in the factory became less and less, and the two people's production soon became unsustainable.
was a drop in the bucket, and in desperation, the Du family decided to make preparations to sell Du Cunping's factory. When
first built the factory, including borrowed money, Du Cunping invested more than 4 million. Nowadays, there is only one machine in the corner in the empty factory.
Du Changsheng found his son’s investors to come up with a valuation. Outside the half-used factory building, there was also a field planted by Du Changsheng. When the investor came over to see it, he couldn't help but shake his head. He regretfully told Du Changsheng that he would not be able to recover his capital by selling it.
Du Changsheng never thought that he would be able to get his money back. After the death of his son and daughter-in-law, he was an old man who was neither a businessman nor knew anything about mechanical production. The factory was neglected and continued to depreciate in value.
Du Changsheng did not consider selling it at first. His son's career has been spent half his life. Seeing this factory is equivalent to seeing his son's expectations for the future. Du Changsheng vividly remembers it.
However, there is interest on the remaining debt. One day's delay in repayment is an extra amount of money, and it cannot be delayed.
In the end, Du Changsheng gritted his teeth and sold the factory for more than one million yuan, just to fill the final gap.
The dead leave behind pain and memories, but the living have to live their lives.
By the end of 2013, most of the debt of 3.3 million yuan had been paid off. Du Changsheng's body was also exhausted. He was lying on the hospital bed thinking about the more than 200,000 yuan in interest money that he still had to pay. After all, he was still powerless.
None of the creditors who had been repaid expected that Du Changsheng would actually pay the debt in full as he said, showing great admiration and respect for the old man. When they learned that Du Changsheng really couldn't make up the interest money, they all said they didn't need to continue to repay it. And he often visits the elderly with supplements.
At first, in order to raise money as quickly as possible, Du Changsheng and his wife only had pancakes and salt beans for food every day, and they went without meat for several months. All the creditors saw this.
The two old people suffered enough in their later years because of sudden debts. Now that I have finally paid it off, my body is falling ill.
Some people defended Du Changsheng and felt that he should have a good rest for the rest of his life without having to pay off his son's debts. Because legally, Du Changsheng only needs to settle his son's inheritance and pay it back. Du Changsheng does not need to pay back the remaining debt of more than one million yuan.
But Du Changsheng said: "Isn't it necessary to pay off the debt for your son?"
Du Changsheng's insistence on repaying the debt is, firstly, because honesty and trustworthiness are the most basic standards for being a human being, and one cannot lose integrity in his life. The second is to set an example for young children and grandchildren. The integrity of the Du family must not be lost no matter what.
Later, Du Changsheng's deeds of repaying his son's debts in his seventies were publicized and reported by many media and moved many people. When interviewed by the media, creditors at that time were full of praise for Du Changsheng's quality.
On October 13, 2015, after everyone’s voting and election, Du Changsheng was named a national moral model of honesty and trustworthiness.
The old man was very surprised at that time. He never expected to receive this honor. Not only was he not proud of it, but he felt that it was an excessive compliment to himself.
He refused many times the 400,000 bonus offered by the government, and in the end he had no choice but to accept it. But the next day he brought the money to the Liangji Town Government and asked that the money be donated to poor students.
Liangji Town Government did not accept this donation considering that the old man also had a difficult life. Du Changsheng went back and forth five or six times for this purpose and insisted on donating money.Seeing Du Changsheng's persistence, the Liangji Town Government accepted only 20,000 yuan, screened 20 primary and secondary school students from poor families, and issued bursaries to them.
Not only that, Du Changsheng’s contribution has not stopped:
On February 4, 2021, to contribute to the motherland’s epidemic prevention, he came to the Liangji Town Government with serious illness and donated 10,000 yuan in cash to Liangji Town .
He told the person in charge of the epidemic in Liangji Town that the 10,000 yuan was the part of the 400,000 yuan awarded to him by the state, which he had not yet used up for medical treatment. He hoped that this money could be spent wisely to support the fight against the epidemic. front.
At the end of February, old man Du Changsheng appeared on the official documentary. His deeds were promoted on many TV stations, and as a representative of promoting positive energy, it spread throughout the motherland.
On October 18, 2021, 83-year-old Du Changsheng closed his eyes forever at home. The old man left the world with a smile on his face and a kind face.
He experienced the pain of losing his son in his later years and lived in poverty having to pay off his son's debt. But he never gave up on his commitments and responsibilities. In the face of setbacks and sufferings, he blazed a commendable path for future generations.
On the day of the farewell ceremony for Du Changsheng, villagers came from all directions, pulled up banners on the roadside, held chrysanthemums, and bid him farewell.
"A gentleman should cultivate his heart, but he should not be good at the city." The word "sincerity" is like the source of life, the origin of integrity.
However, in today's society, how many people are so greedy that they not only lose their integrity regarding the basic principle of repaying debts, but also go astray for their greed, which eventually leads to big mistakes.
In a flashy world, it is not easy to stick to oneself like Du Changsheng, but the world is like a melting pot, which can temper a person's character into gold and become the most precious wealth.
If we can always keep the everlasting light in our hearts, we will not be afraid of any setbacks and darkness.
What do readers think of Du Changsheng’s deeds of losing his family’s fortune to pay off his son’s debts and ultimately maintaining both loyalty and justice? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment area.
