Their family was once an enviable "rich family", with four generations living together, their father was healthy, and their two sons had excellent grades. The couple worked outside with peace of mind to make money.
However, everything came to an abrupt end in that natural disaster. He traveled back and forth on the mountain road with frequent aftershocks for a day and a night, but in the end he only found his son's cold body.
All the grief and despair turned into the only belief at that moment. He wanted to take his son home, hiking 25 kilometers, and met many people along the way, and everyone was silent and hurt at the same time.
His name is Cheng Linxiang. During the Wenchuan earthquake, his father was heartbroken by a photo of his son coming home. How are he doing now?
Cheng Linxiang's family lives in Lianshanpo Village, Shuimo Town, Wenchuan. It is surrounded by mountains and cliffs. The village has a small population and is not rich. The only road to enter and exit the village is the dirt road. It is difficult to move forward in rain and snow. When encountering strong winds, it is yellow sand everywhere.
Cheng Linxiang got married in 1991 and had two sons after marriage, named Cheng Lei and Cheng Yong. Cheng Linxiang's parents were very strong, and he almost didn't have to deal with his wife in the family's farm work, so the two of them worked outside, and the family's income was quite considerable. Within a few years, a beautiful three-story building was built, and the villagers were envious.
Cheng Linxiang and his wife have been working outside all year round, so they don’t spend much time with their two sons, but the two brothers are very sensible. The older brother has taken care of his younger brother since he was a child. They never run around in the village. They often help their grandparents do farm work. They also go to school to hand in their homework on time, so they don’t worry their parents at all.
Not only that, the two brothers have good grades. As long as Cheng Linxiang comes home, the two of them are always scrambling to show off their full marks to him. Cheng Linxiang always smiles from ear to ear, and the villagers also envy Cheng Linxiang for his good fortune, saying that these two sons will definitely have a future in the future.
Sure enough, during the high school entrance examination, the eldest son Cheng Lei was admitted to the famous local Yingxiu Middle School, which is a key high school in Wenchuan . When he received the admission notice, Cheng Linxiang happily invited the teacher to his home to set up a thank-you banquet.
On May 11, 2012, Cheng Lei packed up his food and clothing for a week, took the living expenses left by his father to go back to school. When he went out, he saw the cherries on the cherry tree at home and climbed up to pick a few of them. He happened to be caught by his grandmother. He hurriedly shouted at him that he would fall down, and even scolded him a few words.
Cheng Lei responded with a smile, turned around and saw his younger brother learning a motorcycle. He did not forget to remind him to be careful not to fall, and then he went to the station. No one knew that these few words turned out to be farewell.
On the afternoon of May 12, Cheng Linxiang and his wife, who were working on the construction site, were confused by a violent shaking. When they realized, they saw people around them running wildly, shouting, "There is an earthquake!"
Cheng Linxiang reacted and pulled his wife up and ran out desperately. The ground under his feet began to shake wildly, and rocks flew everywhere. After finally confirming safety, Cheng Linxiang rushed home non-stop. Fortunately, Shuimo Town is not a severely affected area, and few houses collapsed, most of them were slightly cracked.
Cheng Linxiang hurriedly contacted his son Cheng Lei again, wanting to know his situation, but because the communication device was damaged, there was almost no damage to Shuimo Town Middle School at that time, and Yingxiu Middle School was much better than here. Cheng Linxiang thought in his mind that if the school in Shuimo Town was fine, Yingxiu's should be safer. Later, the couple made the worst plan, that is, they were injured or smashed their heads.
But the next day, the news brought back by the villagers made their hearts suddenly rise to their throats. It is said that the Yingxiu Town Government is in a very bad condition and the entire town has been razed to the ground.
Hearing this news, Cheng Linxiang and his wife could no longer sit still, and did not care whether the road was open or not. They took some simple dry food and went to Yingxiu Town .
Along the way, gravel rolled down the cliffs. People who met the rescue team advised them not to move forward. It was very dangerous, but Cheng Linxiang could no longer take these into consideration. He felt a vague premonition in his heart, which prompted his pace to get faster and faster.
4 full hours of mountain road, Cheng Linxiang and his wife did not stop for a moment, but after rushing to Yingxiu Town, they saw a ruin in front of them, and cold sweat oozed from behind Cheng Linxiang.
When Cheng Linxiang saw the ruins of Yingxiu Middle School, his heart was sank again. The officers and soldiers of the rescue team kept lifting the wounded, and each of them was very injured. Cheng Linxiang asked if he had seen his son when he saw someone, but the people in the rescue team did not know Cheng Lei at all. Cheng Linxiang could only shout his son's name over and over in the ruins with his wife.
There are also many survivors looking for their families in the ruins, and some people reminded Cheng Linxiang that his son might have gone home. After hearing this, Cheng Linxiang turned around and walked home with a glimmer of hope. The four-hour mountain road went back in one breath. Before he could enter the house, he called his son's name, but it ended up being in vain.
Cheng Linxiang felt a bad premonition and was ready to continue to go back and search. The youngest son Cheng Yong advised his father to rest for a night before going back to at least eat something, but Cheng Linxiang waved his hand, scooped up a scoop of cold water and poured it into the stomach, and turned around and disappeared into the night.
A whole day and night, Cheng Linxiang ran on the mountain road for 12 hours, and when he returned to Yingxiu Village, it was already dawn.
After seeing his wife, the two continued to search deep into the ruins. At this time, a rescued classmate told them that Cheng Lei was probably studying in the teaching building at that time, but during the entire earthquake, the teaching building was the most severely damaged and collapsed instantly. The search and rescue team had no reaction when they went to do life detection.
Hearing this news, Cheng Linxiang and his wife became more and more desperate, but they still looked towards the collapsed teaching building against the flow of people.
Cheng Linxiang tried to ask for help from the search and rescue team, but the other party's answer was also helpless. The current situation could only save the wounded with greater hope of survival.
Cheng Linxiang had to shout his son's name in a hoarse voice between the collapsed floor slabs. However, the closer he got to the teaching building, the more uneasy he felt. Finally, his wife found his son's homework book near a cement board. Cheng Linxiang rolled and climbed forward, stepping on the broken bricks, shouting his son's name frantically towards the gap under the floor slab, but he did not get any response. However, through the dark gap, he saw his son's bloody face.
Cheng Linxiang used his hands to scoop up the gravel and bricks, and his hands were grinding blood, but the heavy cement board could not be moved no matter how hard it was.
Finally found a shovel, Cheng Linxiang didn't know where he got the strength, so he smashed the cement boards one by one, and finally pulled his son out of the ruins.
However, at this time, Cheng Lei was cold all over, and no response was given to his parents' shouts. His hair was stuck together by blood, his body was covered with soil, and there was no sign of life.
Seeing this, Cheng Linxiang and his wife were completely desperate. At that moment, the only idea was to take their son home. Then the wife cleaned her son's clothes, covered the blanket she carried on her body on her head, and tied her son to Cheng Linxiang with a few ropes.
Cheng Lei is nearly 1.7 meters tall. Cheng Linxiang has struggled to carry it, but at that moment he felt that his son was so light. His wife was holding him behind his back. Cheng Linxiang said to his son, "Young son, Dad, take you home, don't move around!"
takes 25 kilometers from Yingxiu's return water mill. The road has collapsed so much that it cannot be seen. Aftershocks continue to occur. Gravels are constantly rolling down the mountain. Batches of rescue teams and medical teams are heading into the mountain. Cheng Linxiang walks back against the crowd and his son is carrying him home.
Some medical staff saw Cheng Linxiang carrying someone on his back and thought he was injured. They stepped forward and asked him if he wanted to help. Cheng Linxiang shook his head, "My son is dead, I will take him home." After hearing this, the other party could only retreat silently.
There is a section of the road in the middle that was seriously damaged by falling rocks. The rescue officers and soldiers were repairing it. Cheng Linxiang was really unable to get through with his son on his back, so his wife found two thick branches to make a simple stand. The two carried their son away. After the rescue officers and soldiers learned about their situation, they took the stretcher and sent them out of the construction section. A group of victims were evacuating the road section behind
. When they found Cheng Linxiang, they all silently made way and asked Cheng Linxiang to leave first so that he could take his son home earlier.
During the period, they met a media reporter. He raised the camera in his hand to record the moment before him. After the photo was released, it hurt the hearts of the people across the country.
25 kilometers of mountain road, Cheng Linxiang and his wife walked for eight hours. Cheng Yong and his grandparents had already been waiting at the entrance of the village. The moment when Cheng Linxiang saw them, he could no longer hold on and fainted in an instant.
When Cheng Linxiang woke up, the villagers had already helped to resettle Cheng Lei's mourning hall. Cheng Linxiang insisted on accompanying his son despite his family's dissuasion. For him, the bad news was too sudden. He still couldn't accept the fact that his son was no longer there. When he was in a coma, he dreamed that his son was a teacher and went home for dinner.
From when he dug out his son's body and returned to the village to settle everything, Cheng Linxiang never shed a tear, as if he couldn't cry, until he finally collapsed on the day he went to buy a coffin for his son.
Due to the earthquake, the road was closed. Only one coffin shop in the village was out of stock. There was only one bite of defective products left in the store. A corner was burned by fire. When Cheng Linxiang thought that he could not even get a decent coffin for his son, his sourness and sadness all burst out in his heart. He immediately cried out in the dark.
Later my wife recalled that it would be fine if she cried. If he didn't cry, it would be wrong. In that case, people would get sick. Cheng Linxiang buried his son not far behind his house, feeling that Cheng Lei never left them in this way.
After Cheng Lei was buried, Cheng Linxiang originally planned to burn everything he had used, but his wife disagreed and took it out from time to time to see and see the people he thought. After
, the wife began to suffer from frequent insomnia and could only rely on drinking and taking medicine to assist in falling asleep. She often woke up in her dreams, and then ran to her son's grave to sit with her whole day. Her spirit was getting worse day by day. Cheng Linxiang wanted to persuade her, but she didn't know how to speak. Considering her wife's situation, she asked her to stay at home with her parents back to the construction site in the town to continue working.
But disaster never came singularly. The next year, my father drove a tractor to the town. When he came back, he had a car accident and rolled off the cliff with his car. In just two years, Cheng Linxiang lost his son and father. Such a heavy blow made his eyes, who was originally full of energy, lose light, and half of his white hair appeared overnight.
After learning about the situation at their home, the village and the town all extended a helping hand. In the face of everyone's kindness, Cheng Linxiang also put forward his own ideas. He hoped to repair the road into the village. If the road was completed as soon as possible, his father might not have any accidents.
More than half a year later, the dirt road that Lin Xiang had walked for most of his life finally turned into a cement road, and his wife's mental state improved day by day. After the Wenchuan earthquake, Shuimo Town Middle School received support funds from superiors, rebuilt the school building and recruited many excellent teachers. The youngest son Cheng Yong no longer had to go to school outside.
After my brother left, Cheng Yong took on the hope of the whole family, studied very hard, and his grades were always among the best. He made great progress all the way and got into a good university. Cheng Linxiang and his wife finally felt that life had brighter.
In 2011, Cheng Linxiang's wife gave birth to another son. The arrival of this child finally gave the whole family a long-lost smile. Cheng Linxiang named him Tianle, and the meaning is very simple, that is, he hopes he can be happy every day.
Cheng Linxiang is still working in the town. His wife stays at home to take care of her mother and children, and there are several acres of land at home. The family's life is gradually getting better.
In 2017, Cheng Yong graduated from university and found a good job in the city. This year, his youngest son Lotte also became a primary school student. More than 0 years later, Cheng Linxiang once visited the Wenchuan earthquake site. He was not unfamiliar with those photos. He stood on the ruins again and was vivid in his mind. When he thought of his son who had been sleeping, his heart still felt a little painful, but the deceased had gone, his life had to continue. Cheng Linxiang was still working hard to live with his son's unfulfilled wish and see the times he had not seen.
