Teacher Liu Ailing is a very kind woman, but she always felt guilty in her heart, because when she went to the countryside to go back to the city, she abandoned her own flesh and blood on Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi. The abandoned child became his eternal concern and guilt in this life.
When telling the life experience of educated youth, Teacher Liu Ailing choked up several times. She said that leaving the child in northern Shaanxi was the last thing she regretted. If she had returned to northern Shaanxi, perhaps the child's living conditions would not be like this. The story starts with Liu Ailing going to the countryside to go to the countryside to go to the lineup.
In fact, Liu Ailing is also a miserable child. When she was seven years old, her mother died of illness. It was her father and grandma who raised her and her five-year-old sister with great difficulty. The year before she went to the countryside to go to the countryside to go to the countryside to join the army, her father remarried and her family had another seven-year-old brother (a younger brother brought by her stepmother). Although the stepmother is very kind and kind, the two sisters Liu Ailing have a sense of resistance to this new mother because their father focused all his attention on the stepmother and that younger brother.
Just after the Spring Festival in 1969, the neighborhood committee came to Liu Ailing's house to mobilize again, and asked Liu Ailing, who graduated from junior high school, to go to the countryside to go to the countryside to work in the countryside. Liu Ailing knew that her father could not bear to suffer from her going to the countryside, but no one could resist the general environment at that time. In order not to make her father embarrassed, the seventeen-year-old Liu Ailing agreed to go to the vast world to receive re-education.
Picture source: Internet
On March 4th, the second day after the Lantern Festival, Liu Ailing and a group of good classmates took the train from Beijing to Shaanxi. They were going to the old revolutionary base in the countryside of northern Shaanxi to settle down, and go to the vast world to temper their revolutionary will. After three days and three nights, Liu Ailing came to the Houjiagou Brigade of Nanmahe Commune. Seven male educated youth and six female educated youth were assigned to the Houjiagou team, and everyone was scattered and lived in the homes of fellow villagers.
Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi were arranged to live in the family of a team of workers Li Yucheng. Liu Ailing, Zhang Xinyi and Li Yucheng's mother lived in a dirt kiln and slept on a dirt kang. Li Yucheng's mother slept on the kang, Liu Ailing slept on the kang, and Zhang Xinyi slept in the middle.
Li Yucheng was twenty-one years old at the time and had not yet got married. He relied on his mother for life. Let’s talk about Li Yucheng, he is also a miserable person. When Li Yucheng was nine years old, his father followed the old captain to Shanxi to buy livestock for the team. On the way back, he encountered an unexpected accident when he crossed the Yellow River. Li Yucheng’s father and the old captain were both killed. Li Yucheng and her mother and an eleven-year-old brother depended on each other. When Li Yucheng's brother was 21 years old, he went to the neighboring village to be his son-in-law, and he and his mother were the only ones at home.
To be honest, Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi stayed at Li Yucheng's house and fell into the Fu Tank. Li Yucheng's mother was kind and diligent, and she took out all the delicious food at home for Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi to eat. They didn't have to worry about cooking in the fire. Even when washing the pot and washing dishes, Li Yucheng's mother didn't have to deal with Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi. Li Yucheng would not worry about the two female educated youth from Beijing with the strength of carrying water and harvesting firewood. The big water jar at home was full every day, and the firewood piled in his yard was enough to burn for more than half a year. Seeing that the landlord Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi live in such a good place, other educated youth envied them.
Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi lived with Aunt Li (Li Yucheng's mother, the young people and educated youth in the village called Li Yucheng's mother an aunt), in addition to attending a meeting to study in the brigade, they only went to fetch firewood once, but they strongly asked to follow everyone to fetch firewood. After the second day of the second month of the lunar calendar, after the annual spring plowing preparations began, Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyicai came out to work with the members.
The first day of work was to carry manure on the slope south of the ditch. The night before, Aunt Li sewed a cotton shoulder pad for Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi, each of them with old fabrics and old cotton wool. Aunt Li said that when carrying the load, the shoulder pole would not be worn torn clothes or hurt her shoulders. Holding the cotton shoulder pads sewn for them by Aunt Li stitching, Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi felt an indescribable warmth and touching heart.
After the spring plowing and spring sowing production began, Aunt Li also went out to work with everyone, earning 7% of the labor every day, and earning the same work points as female members . Li Yucheng originally did not allow his mother to work, but he said that he earned work points alone, which was enough for his mother to have a meal. The main reason was that Li Yucheng felt sorry for his mother and he was afraid that the villagers would laugh at him. Aunt Li is a person who can't stay idle. She says that it's not embarrassing to work in the mountains. She relies on her strength to make a living, and does not steal or rob. Who is laughing at? The radio still calls the glorious labor every day.
Although Aunt Li is forty-four years old, she can carry loads and pull plows and plows. At first, the female educated youth thought that the work points given to them were low (the female educated youth first participated in the production labor , and the team recorded five divisions of labor every day). Later, she felt that it was no less than five divisions of labor for them. The one load of manure they carried was less than forty kilograms, and the one load of manure that Aunt Li carved was 60 or 70 kilograms.
Aunt Li came out to work like the female members, and she also made three meals a day at home. Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi saw that Aunt Li was too tired, so they rushed to hold firewood and burn the fire after work, and also learned to steam buns with Aunt Li. Every time she eats, Aunt Li will give Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi a better meal. Sometimes she and Li Yucheng are reluctant to even eat pickles. Because the living conditions in rural northern Shaanxi were very poor at that time, the villagers' lives were very hard, and even the villagers could not eat pickled .
It was autumn in a blink of an eye. Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi had been living in Aunt Li's house for more than half a year. The relationship between them and Aunt Li was already very close, just like a mother and daughter. Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi also regarded Li Yucheng as their own brothers, and Li Yucheng really cared for Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi like their own brothers. Aunt Li told everyone that she not only had a son, but also had two daughters.
After the autumn harvest, a team leader Hou Yanjun led the members to build three spacious caves for the educated youth. The earthen kang was built in the cave and a stove was built. When the earthen kang in the cave was boiled, the educated youth moved to the new cave to eat and live, and no longer had to stay at the homes of fellow villagers.
On the day Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi moved, Aunt Li cried. Two female educated youth stayed at her house. Although she had to worry about and be burdened, they were about to move away. Aunt Li really couldn't bear to leave. Fortunately, the place where the educated youth lived was very close to Aunt Li’s house, just across a ditch, which was only three or five minutes away. Seeing Aunt Li crying, Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi also burst into tears. They choked and said, "Auntie, don't feel uncomfortable. You are so close. We will come whenever you want to come. As long as you don't bother." In the days after
, whenever Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi have free time, they will come to Aunt Li's house for a while. What delicious food did Aunt Li cooked? If they didn't send it to them, they would ask them to come to their house for food. Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi had nothing to say to Aunt Li and Li Yucheng. During the Spring Festival that year, they bought pork and soybean oil for Aunt Li's house, and gave the pastries and sausages sent from Beijing to Aunt Li for food.
Li Yucheng is a team reporter. He looks very good and is considered half a cultural person, but Li Yucheng's marriage is not going well. He met several partners in a row, but none of them succeeded. The main reason is that the woman's parents think that Li Yucheng has no father and say that his family has no one in charge. By 1974, Li Yu was 26 years old in Chengdu and had not found a partner yet. This made Aunt Li very worried. She really didn't want to watch her baby be a bachelor. A woman from Wangjiaping, behind the mountain, has a crush on Li Yucheng. The person’s request is to let Li Yucheng become a son-in-law. Aunt Li said that being a son-in-law should be a son-in-law, it is better than being a bachelor. Li Yucheng disagreed, saying that he would rather be a bachelor than let his mother live alone.
Picture source online
That winter, Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi returned to Beijing to visit relatives for the Spring Festival. Liu Ailing's father said that if there is a suitable family in northern Shaanxi, he would find a man to get married and start a family. When he gets older, he will not be able to find a good partner. Liu Ailing's stepmother also meant this. She said that when a girl gets married and starts a family, her parents don't have to worry about her.At that time, Liu Ailing's sister also went to the suburbs to settle down. Seeing her stepmother's impatient look every day, Liu Ailing secretly swore that she would never want to see her stepmother's hypocritical face again.
After spending the Spring Festival in Beijing, Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi returned to northern Shaanxi in advance. Zhang Xinyi originally wanted to stay with her parents for a few more days in Beijing, but Liu Ailing insisted on returning to northern Shaanxi in advance. Zhang Xinyi and Liu Ailing returned to Houjiagou early with her.
Back to Houjiagou Brigade, Liu Ailing and Zhang Xinyi took Beijing specialties to visit Aunt Li and Yucheng. That day, Aunt Li cooked several dishes, including bacon and croquettes left over from the Chinese New Year. Li Yucheng also killed a chicken. While having dinner, Zhang Xinyi accidentally talked about Li Yucheng's marriage. Unexpectedly, Aunt Li felt uncomfortable again. She choked up and said, "If your brother Yucheng married his wife, I can be a cow or a horse. You Yucheng is 27 years old. The older you are, the harder it is to find a partner. I am really afraid that you, Brother Yucheng, will be a bachelor..."
Seeing Aunt Li wipe her tears, Zhang Xinyi also regretted it, regretting that she shouldn't have mentioned this. Just when Zhang Xinyi didn't know how to comfort Aunt Li, Liu Ailing spoke: "Auntie, don't feel uncomfortable. If you don't dislike me, let me be your daughter-in-law..."
As soon as Liu Ailing finished speaking, Li Yucheng hid in the yard with a red face. Zhang Xinyi opened her mouth and looked surprised, and she wanted to speak but stopped. Aunt Li held Liu Ailing's hand tightly and started crying.
After the autumn of 1975, 23-year-old Liu Ailing married 27-year-old Li Yucheng, a beautiful Beijing female educated youth, and became the wife of a farmer in northern Shaanxi. Not only the educated youth did not understand Liu Ailing's choice, but even the villagers did not understand. They all said that Liu Ailing must have let Li Yucheng and his son give him a ecstasy soup, otherwise, how could she marry a farmer four years older than her?
After the fall of the second year, Liu Ailing gave birth to a pair of twins. The older one was a boy named Li Dalong and the younger one was a girl named Li Xiaofeng. Seeing that his daughter-in-law gave birth to a pair of twins, Aunt Li bought incense, candles and paper money and went to Li Yucheng's father's grave to cry for a long time.
In a flash, it was 1979. Only Liu Ailing and a male educated youth named Wang Yansheng were left in Beijing who had been working in the Houjiagou Brigade. Wang Yansheng was a private teacher in the brigade elementary school at that time. He did not leave because he was worried about the children in the school.
Check out the other educated youth who have entered the city and those who have returned to Beijing. Liu Ailing was also very melancholy and lost. Her sister had already returned to Beijing. Why didn’t she want to go back to Beijing? However, the educated youth who married local farmers in the countryside at that time had no policy of returning to Beijing yet.
Just when Liu Ailing was filled with melancholy and confusion, her sister suddenly sent her an urgent telegram. Her father fell off water tower and was being rescued in the hospital. Liu Ailing handed over the two dolls to her mother-in-law and husband, and she rushed back to Beijing as soon as possible.
After Liu Ailing returned to Beijing, she took care of her father in the hospital for several days. Although her father was out of danger of life and was awake, she lost consciousness below the lumbar spine. The doctor said that there was no good treatment for this symptom, and it was recommended to go home to recuperate, and it is possible that she would have to stay in bed all her life.
Liu Ailing's stepmother heard from the doctor that there was little chance of improvement. The day after she returned home, she took away all the valuable things and small savings at home, and filed for divorce within a few days. At that time, the company did not give a letter of divorce introduction, so Liu Ailing's stepmother simply refused to go home.
After staying in Beijing for more than 20 days, Liu Ailing first asked her sister to take care of her father, and she hurried back to Houjiagou. After several days of ideological struggle, she filed a divorce request with Li Yucheng on the grounds that she wanted to return to Beijing to serve her bedridden father. Seeing Liu Ailing lying on the kang for several days without eating or drinking, Li Yucheng and his mother felt sorry for Liu Ailing and were worried that she would have something to do. Li Yucheng agreed to the divorce request and put forward a condition that he would leave Li Dalong to his family and leave some roots for the old Li family, and Li Xiaofeng could go back to Beijing with her.
quickly completed the divorce procedures. Liu Ailing took Li Xiaofeng back to Beijing, and her mother and her household registration also moved back to Beijing.After returning to Beijing, the street arranged a temporary job for Liu Ailing, using a sewing machine to process work clothes for the clothing factory at home and earned wages based on pieces. She did not delay serving her bedridden father.
A year later, just when Li Xiaofeng was worried about work (the clothing factory stopped processing clothing at home), Liu Ailing's father's condition miraculously improved. Not only did he feel the lumbar spine, but he could also get out of bed and walk. After exercising with crutches for more than a month, Liu Ailing's father threw away the crutches and could basically take care of himself in life.
In the summer of 1982, after Liu Ailing's sister got married, Liu Ailing's father also planned to go back to work. Seeing that her father's health has basically recovered, Liu Ailing wants to go back to northern Shaanxi. She has always been thinking about her son, husband and mother-in-law in northern Shaanxi. She wants to go back to remarry. Liu Ailing's father disagreed with his daughter going back to remarry, and Liu Ailing's sister also disagreed. She said angrily: "Others want to go back to the city but they can't come back. You finally came back, and you can't go back to the rural areas of northern Shaanxi no matter what you say."
To be honest, although Liu Ailing was thinking about her son and husband in northern Shaanxi, she didn't want to live in that poor valley because life there was too hard. Under the persuasion of his parents and relatives and friends, Liu Ailing gave up her plan to return to the rural areas of northern Shaanxi. Her father completed the medical withdrawal procedures at his unit, and Liu Ailing replaced his father's job. In the autumn of 1983, Liu Ailing married her father's apprentice Sun Ming. Although Sun Ming had a clear scar on his face, he was upright and kind, and was very diligent. He even passed the TV University .
The second year after marriage, Liu Ailing also got admitted to the TV University. After more than ten years, she finally realized her dream of college. After graduating from TV University, Liu Ailing was transferred to the Commercial Bureau, and Sun Ming was transferred to the factory office and promoted to the office director. Although Liu Ailing has not been pregnant with a child for many years, she and Sun Ming have always had a good relationship. The two never quarrel. Sun Ming also loves Li Xiaofeng very much, just like treating her biological daughter. During the Chinese New Year and the holidays, Liu Ailing would send some money to her mother-in-law and ex-husband in northern Shaanxi and buy a set of clothes for her son. Although Liu Ailing's financial conditions were not good at that time, it was much better than in rural areas of northern Shaanxi.
In 1996, Li Xiaofeng was admitted to Medical University . After graduating from undergraduate, he studied for postgraduate studies. After graduating from graduate school, he went to in a Grade A hospital. His salary and benefits were very generous.
In the autumn of 1998, the 22-year-old Li Dalong got married. Two days before Li Dalong got married, Liu Ailing and Li Xiaofeng rushed back to Houjiagou. The engagement bride price and money for the marriage were paid by Liu Ailing. After the wedding, Liu Ailing asked Li Dalong if he wanted to go back to Beijing with her to live. Li Dalong said, "I won't go anywhere. Houjiagou will always be my home. I will stay in Houjiagou to respect my grandmother and take care of my father."
That time I went back to northern Shaanxi, Liu Ailing felt very uncomfortable because northern Shaanxi was still very poor. Li Dalong had not graduated from junior high school, so he dropped out of school and went home to help his father plant a field of responsibility. His living conditions are simply incomparable to Li Xiaofeng. Because her son was very cold to him, Liu Ailing had not been to northern Shaanxi for a long time after leaving northern Shaanxi. It was not until Li Yucheng's mother passed away in early winter 2016 that Liu Ailing and Li Xiaofeng returned to Houjiagou.
Although Houjiagou was not as poor as before, the villagers' lives were not very wealthy. Li Dalong's family of three still lived in the three-kong cave built twenty years ago. Although the three-kong cave was connected to the stone mouth ( kiln ) and wore brick hats, they were already very worn. Li Dalong's son failed to get into high school, took the driver's license, and planned to buy a car for transportation, but hesitated. Looking at Li Yucheng's old and haggard face and looking at the living conditions of his own son and his family, Liu Ailing felt very uncomfortable. His twin daughters and his brother and sister's lives were simply two different.
That time, Li Xiaofeng left her brother with 50,000 yuan, Liu Ailing left Li Yucheng with 10,000 yuan, and told them to call if they had any difficulties in the future.
It has been almost six years since then, and Liu Ailing never returned to northern Shaanxi again. She said that although she was always concerned about Li Yucheng and his son, she really didn't want to see them because she felt uncomfortable for a long time when she saw them. Li Yucheng and his son on the northern Shaanxi Plateau became the eternal concern and guilt in Liu Ailing's heart. Liu Ailing said she regretted it too. After her father recovered from health, if she returned to Houjiagou, Li Yucheng and his son's living conditions might not be like this. No matter how poor or difficult it is, she would support her son to study hard. She said it was her wrong decision that ruined the future of her biological son. But regret is useless, because everything is sold in the world, but there is no regret medicine.
Image source online
Two days ago, on the eve of Mid-Autumn Festival , Liu Ailing transferred 20,000 yuan to her son. Her grandson (Li Dalong's son) was about to get married. Because she was not feeling well, she was not going to attend her grandson's wedding. Li Xiaofeng also transferred her brother to a bank card for 20,000 yuan. She said that when she took annual leave next year, she would take her mother to northern Shaanxi to see them. She and her mother have always been concerned about their relatives in northern Shaanxi. Here, Li Xiaofeng also wishes her father and brother’s family safety, health, happiness and happiness.
Author: Grassroots Writer
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