I was born into a family that was once wealthy, but, according to my grandmother, my family was actually poor before I was born.
In my grandfather's generation, my family was a well-known local landlord and controlled the economic life of the township. However, after the death of the great-grandfather, the family's wealth quickly receded like a tide, and only half of it remained. And the grandfather fell into the whirlpool of gambling and bad habits in this gradually impoverished family.
After the death of the grandfather, the grandfather became even more unscrupulous and addicted to gambling, and the grandmother was powerless to stop it. The family's wealth gradually disappeared. My father has witnessed all this since he was a child, but it seems that he has inherited the vices of this generation, and gambling has become his daily routine.
When the father and mother got married, there was still some property left in the family, and the wedding was decent. However, after marriage, his father's addiction to gambling made him irritable and often beat his mother. My memory begins with hearing my mom crying every night, and the father figure in my heart gradually became an abomination.
As time went on, my father indulged himself even more, selling everything he could sell, even using my secret savings from school to gamble. My mother had to work harder to save money for me to go to school. Because of my father's behavior, the whole village looked down on our family, and even the children did not associate with me, giving me the nickname: "Little Gambler".
Whenever my father came home drunk, I silently prayed that he would never come back again, so that my mother and I could have a better life. Perhaps the heavens heard me, and on a cold winter night, my father lost all his gambling and got lost and returned home, and finally froze to death in a firewood stack. He never woke up again.
Although he was gone, my heart was filled with joy. No more having to do anything to us for his alcoholism, and no more seeing him gambling with his mother's hard-earned money.
As I went to elementary school, my family life was still difficult. At that time, it was not easy for a widowed woman with a child to support the whole family by earning money by manual work.
Then, from time to time, one of our family members came to look for my mother with a happy face. I recognized her as a well-known local matchmaker, perhaps trying to find a new home for my mother.
One day when I came home from school, I heard my uncle talking to my mother in the house, urging her to remarry. He said that the light guards me, and life is too hard. My uncle usually loves me the most, but when I heard this, I couldn't help but rush in angrily and shouted, "Don't you know that my dad hurt us?" ”
After saying that, I regretted it, I know best how hard my mother has been in the past few years, how can I say such hurtful words?
I came home late that night and went to my uncle's house beforehand, apologized to him, and said that my mother wanted to remarry and I agreed, but I didn't want to find another person like my father.
The uncle sat on the kang and sighed silently.
When we got home, my mother's eyes were still red and swollen, but we both chose not to mention the daytime. Soon after, the uncle found a new home for his mother, who was also poor, so the new father raised his two older daughters on his own.
The man was ordinary-looking, thin, and looked older than his mother, but the actual age difference was not that big. He was a simple man.
On the day my mom got married, I burst into tears. I don't know if it's because I'm happy that she's able to start a new life, or because I'm suspicious of my stepfather. My biological father has treated me badly, so what will happen to my stepfather?
Later, I went with my mother to a new village and started a new family life. He asked me to call his two daughters sisters, but he didn't force me to call him father.
Despite the addition of a new stepfather to the family, from one child to three children, life has become more difficult. In order to increase his income, his stepfather started working in the coal kiln in the town, and although he was tired, he earned more, he said in order to make a good life for his children. The mother is responsible for managing the family's acres of land and a few pigs, and also works by hand to supplement her income when she is not working.
Although life gradually improved, I was not happy. My sisters thought that it was our arrival that made my stepfather work in the coal kiln and work hard every day, so they had a bad attitude towards me and my mother. What bothers me even more is that my mother's love for me seems to have diminished. In the past, I used to buy new clothes every year for the Chinese New Year, but now I only buy fabrics for my sisters and make clothes that match the trends.
Every year, the family only eats meat once a year during the Chinese New Year, and this time she always gives it to her sisters, saying that I don't like to eat it. I felt that in my mother's mind, they were family, and I seemed to be superfluous. For this reason, I made up my mind to study hard and wanted to leave home early and never look back.
When I was in junior high school, my sisters were going on to different levels of education, my stepfather was getting older, and the family was not as financially good as before. One night, I overheard my stepfather and mother discussing that they had to break the boat in order to send their three children to school. The mother sighed and mentioned that the stepfather's physical condition could not be reckless, otherwise.
I didn't dare to listen to it, but I understood my mother's character, and if I could only afford two students, I would be the one who was abandoned.
Sure enough, not long after, my stepfather and mother summoned us and explained the situation of the family, which could only afford two students. Hearing this, I stood up and said, "I'm not going to school anymore, you're a family, I'm just an outsider." ”
With that, I hurried away, lest they would see the tears in my eyes. I walked aimlessly, telling myself that it was okay not to go to school, that I could work earlier, make money earlier, and no longer be subject to others.
Walking and walking, it was already dark. In order not to worry my mother, I went home leisurely. The stepfather sat on the threshold and smoked, the smoke was so thick that it was difficult to read his expression.
Seeing me come back, he slowly stood up and said, "Prepare your registration form tomorrow, and we will go to the middle school to register." We are a family and we can't say anything like that again. ”
I stood still, unable to believe what I was hearing, and I was so excited that I stayed up all night. The next day, my stepfather led me to the town's middle school with a handful of crumpled money. Looking at the money he pulled out of his jacket pocket, I felt sad for the first time.
After junior high school life began, I needed to eat at school for lunch. To save money, I usually bring my own bottle of pickles and two steamed buns. I fainted on the way home due to long hours of eating like this, malnutrition and busy schoolwork, but fortunately, an uncle from the same village found me in time and took me to the hospital.
When I woke up, I had a drip on my body, and my mother and stepfather were anxiously waiting. The doctor told me I had to eat well. From then on, every day after school at noon, my stepfather would personally go to school to bring me food. Since he worked in the coal kiln, he was always dark, so he always asked me to go out and get it from a distance.
No matter what you're eating, you'll always have two eggs and a chicken leg in your lunch box. At first, I was worried that it would be too luxurious, but my stepfather said that it was a working meal from the coal kiln, and I could get a few servings a day. He always brought it to me after he had eaten in the coal kiln. This became a tacit understanding between us.
However, one day after school at noon, my stepfather didn't come. For peace of mind, I had to go to his place of work to find him in person. However, I found that everyone was eating, only my stepfather was still working on coal, and they were eating cold steamed buns and pickles.
When my stepfather saw me coming, he smiled a little helplessly, and then led me out of the coal kiln. I asked him: Didn't you say that the daily food was distributed from the coal kiln? My stepfather was silent, stuffed my lunch box to me, and left in silence.
When I got home, I asked my mother and found out that the lunch was not made from the coal kiln at all, but by my stepfather, an uncle from the same village who owned a restaurant in the town. They offered us this meal at a cheap ** and it was guaranteed to be hot. Still, in order to order this meal for me, my stepfather had to do one-third more work every day than anyone else.
After learning the truth, I had mixed feelings and could only devote myself more hard to study.
After the college entrance examination, I was successfully admitted to a good university and applied for a bursary. The day I received the notice, my stepfather was excited and shouted to the people: "My child has a future, even in the ravine, he can cultivate a golden phoenix." ”
Although at the time I still couldn't call him Father.
Then, I stepped into the workforce, earning more than my stepfather earned in an entire year. I called my mother and told them that they didn't have to work hard anymore and that I was now able to support them. But my mother always insisted that I concentrate on my work and not worry about my family.
Every time I called, I still couldn't hear my stepfather's voice.
As time went on, I fell in love, and the day I came home with my girlfriend, my stepdad was a rare delight and prepared a great dinner for us. After the meal, he called me into the house and handed me a passbook containing 50,000 yuan. I was very surprised and hurriedly asked where the money came from.
The stepfather said that the money he sent back every year over the years was useless, and with some savings, the 50,000 yuan was not much, but it was a part of his heart. He confessed that his son's marriage to his daughter-in-law was a big deal, and he couldn't do more for me. With that, he smiled, and I actually felt my nose sour.
I suddenly remembered the year when I went to school in the town and he rode me home. It was a very cold winter, but he always asked me to put my hand in his clothes to warm up, saying it would be warmer.
Although he is not his biological father, he has used his life's hardships to shield me from the wind and rain.
When I was leaving, I left the passbook to him, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Dad, your son is prosperous now, don't worry about me anymore, you can enjoy my happiness." He nodded, and turned his back, his eyes wet.
It was the first time in 20 years that I had called him Dad, but I didn't expect it to be the last. Not long after I left, there was a ** message from home that he had passed away. As a result of working in the coal kiln for many years, his lungs were already dying, and he became ill from overwork.
My mother told me that he passed away peacefully. At noon that day, he ate two eggs and a chicken leg for the first time, and drank a glass of wine. He thought of me before he left.
His funeral was very grand, and I took the initiative to bear the entire cost, without letting my two sisters pay a penny. After the funeral, my two sisters called me aside and said with emotion that over the years, they had long regarded me as their own brother and my mother as their biological mother.
They said that no matter what difficulties and challenges I face in the big city in the future, I can rest assured that I can go ahead, because my mother will always care about me at home, and I don't need to worry too much.
Hearing these words, my heart could not be calmed for a long time. Despite my poor background, God blessed me with such a loving father and two confidant sisters.
This article is for informational purposes only **From the web.