take a break

1. Miracle...

On December 1981, 12, the first snowfall since winter fell in Pingqiao Town, County C, City H, in the eastern part of the Jianghuai Plain.

As soon as the get out of class bell rang, the children who had been restrained by the classroom for an afternoon immediately rushed to the snow like birds just out of the cage.

The children raised their heads to the sky and cheered, waving their arms to welcome the snowflakes flying in the sky.

Snowball fights, snowmen... The children were playing and laughing, completely immersed in the fun of the first snow.

Chen Shuhua was wearing a patched padded jacket and trousers, standing in the classroom as cold as an ice cellar, looking enviously at the "cotton bags" running around on the ground outside the window.

At the age of 6, he also has the nature of children who love to play.However, he knew that if he got wet with his only clothes to keep out the cold, he would not be able to go out to school tomorrow.

Chen Shuhua looked up at the countless "little cotton balls" falling from the sky, imagined that they would turn into thick, warm little padded jackets and put them on himself, and couldn't help laughing happily.

I'll treat you as my birthday present!

Chen Shuhua sighed like a little adult to Xuehua, carried a small schoolbag patchworked with rags on his back, and stepped on the snow to leave the noisy campus.

Today is Chen Shuhua's 6th birthday, and it is also the second year since his relatives left him forever.

Two years ago, his parents died in a construction site collapse, and his grandmother died shortly after hearing the bad news.

Overnight, he who once had a happy family became a loner.

Later, helpless, he was admitted to the Pingqiao Town Welfare Institute under the arrangement of the people's government.

The Pingqiao Town Welfare Institute was founded in 1970.

A great flood that year claimed many lives, leaving behind dozens of helpless orphans and old people.

In view of this special situation, Pingqiao Town built this comprehensive welfare home.

Due to financial difficulties, the conditions in the Pingqiao Town Welfare Institute are relatively difficult. Orphans and elderly people live together and are looked after by two staff members.

The clothes Chen Shuhua wore were old clothes left over from older children, patched layer upon layer.

Three meals a day are basically porridge, and only a little meat can be eaten every month.

Every time he was too cold or too hungry to fall asleep, Chen Shuhua would secretly shed tears, calling for his deceased relatives in his heart.

Although the Chen family is not considered rich, Chen Shuhua, who is loved by his parents and grandma, has never suffered from hunger and cold.

Now, he has tasted all the ups and downs of the world at a young age, and he has matured prematurely.

The snow was falling, and it was getting bigger and bigger, covering the earth with a thick silver blanket.

Chen Shuhua rubbed his little hands as cold as carrots vigorously, put his hands into the sleeves of his cotton-padded jacket, shrunk his neck, arched his back, and quickened his pace of walking.

There is a custom in the Pingqiao Town Welfare Institute that everyone can eat a bowl of longevity noodles and two boiled eggs on their birthdays.

Chen Shuhua's little heart jumped for joy at the thought that he would be able to eat delicious noodles and tender eggs in a short while.

The snow poured into the neck doesn't look so cold anymore.

The road was quiet and there was no one.

Chen Shuhua could clearly hear his gradually thickening breathing.

Faintly, there was a weak whimper like a kitten.

Chen Shuhua breathed lightly, curiously following the intermittent weak voice to search.

In the snow-covered dry grass, there is a dilapidated package half buried in the snow.

Chen Shuhua opened the package and found a crying baby inside.

The baby's eyes were closed, his face was blue and purple, and he was waving his small fists weakly, fighting against the snow on his face and the heavy snow falling down.

Chen Shuhua panicked, not knowing what to do.

He scanned the surroundings anxiously, trying to find the figure of the adults.

Unfortunately, all he could see was the vast white land, snow-covered trees, and white snow flying all over the sky.

Chen Shuhua was afraid that the baby would freeze to death, so he didn't dare to waste any more time.

He picked up the dying baby and ran to the orphanage anxiously.

In the past two years, the shadow of the death of a relative has been pressing heavily on Chen Shuhua's immature heart like a dark cloud.

Thinking that the baby in his arms might leave the world forever like his parents and grandma, Chen Shuhua seemed to be strangled by panic, completely breathless.

"Don't die...survive..."

Chen Shuhua chanted these two sentences over and over along the way, running staggeringly on the snowy road.

"Mother Liu...Mother Liu..."

As soon as Chen Shuhua rushed into the gate of the orphanage, he shouted at the top of his voice.

"I'm here……"

A middle-aged woman with short hair reaching the ears and gray temples poked her head out of the kitchen.

She is Liu Chunhua, the head of the Pingqiao Town Welfare Institute.

"The noodles are cooking, and it will be ready in a while. You can do your homework first, and I will call you later."

Liu Chunhua thought that Chen Shuhua was in a hurry to eat noodles, and laughed at him for being childish.

"Mother Liu..." Chen Shuhua rushed to the door of the kitchen panting, and said anxiously, "Hurry up and save it...it's going to die!"

"This is……"

Liu Chunhua looked suspiciously at the worn-out package with snow stuck in Chen Shuhua's arms, and let Chen Shuhua, who was out of breath, into the room.

"Little baby..." Chen Shuhua took a few breaths and added, "I picked it up by the side of the road..."

"It's really a crime..." Liu Chunhua sighed, "Isn't the girl also my own flesh and blood? Why did they have the heart to throw it in the snow?"

In rural areas, patriarchal thinking is very serious. Even though the national family planning is strictly enforced, there are still some people hiding in Tibet to have boys.

Once a girl is born, those parents will throw the girl away, hide in another place, and continue to "struggle" to have a boy.

In recent years, the six girls newly admitted to the orphanage were all picked up by the villagers on the side of the road and sent over.

Liu Chunhua was very angry at those parents who cruelly abandoned their own flesh and blood, but they were powerless to change the social reality, so they could only complain occasionally.

Liu Chunhua was unable to have children because of a serious illness when she was young, so even though she is 40 years old, she is still single.

When the Pingqiao Town Welfare Institute was established, she was appointed as the director of the orphanage while working in the town government.

She gladly accepted the order and decided to dedicate her life to the orphanage.

She hopes that she can let the orphans in the orphanage enjoy the warm maternal love as much as possible, and let the old people live a happy old age.

Liu Chunhua ordered her subordinate Xu Huifang to bring clean clothes, and asked her to help make a brazier and boil water, while she put the baby's package on the large dining table, quickly unwrapped the package, and took off the baby's frozen wet clothes .

"Why is it a boy?"

Liu Chunhua stared at the "little insect" between the baby's legs, and opened her mouth wide in surprise.

"This baby must be sick?" Xu Huifang guessed, "Otherwise, who would be willing to throw the baby away!"

Liu Chunhua turned on the light, looked at the shivering baby boy by the dim light, and said, "Hui Fang, go and get the medicine box for me. Let me check it."

Xu Huifang responded, while Liu Chunhua grabbed the thin quilt and covered the baby boy, and rubbed his whole body with moderate force to help raise his body temperature.

"Xiaohua, the noodles should be cooked. You can take them out by yourself, be careful not to burn them. The bowl is on the stove, and the seasonings are ready. The eggs are covered in straw nests, and you peel and eat them yourself."

Liu Chunhua gave instructions to Chen Shuhua while moving swiftly.

Chen Shuhua agreed, unloaded the small schoolbag soaked in the melted snow, and walked to the "hissing" steaming stove.

The soy sauce was poured into the rough porcelain bowl, and the black soy sauce was covered with emerald green onion and semi-solidified white lard the size of a thumb, which made Chen Shuhua pleasing to the eye.

Chen Shuhua stepped on a low wooden pier, and with both hands struggled to remove the heavy wooden cauldron cover, and a gust of scorching white steam rushed towards his face.

While blowing away the white steam that blocked his vision, he used a spoon to poke the noodles that were tumbling in the boiling water.

There is only one longevity noodle, implying longevity.It will be very unlucky if it breaks before it comes out of the pot.

Holding the chopsticks, Chen Shuhua carefully pushed the noodles into the big spoon, took them out of the pot and put them into a bowl.

The hot noodle soup melted the lard, and the aroma of oil, green onion, and soy sauce overflowed at the same time.

Chen Shuhua was seduced by the seductive aroma, making the glutton go crazy, and his flat belly gurgled and gurgled non-stop.

He hastily stirred the steaming noodles a few times, then stood in front of the stove and started to gobble it up.

Chen Shuhua ate so eagerly, on the one hand, because he was hungry, and on the other hand, he was worried that his brothers and sisters would come into the kitchen to compete with him for noodles.

There are many people and few meals, and it is inevitable for ignorant children to scramble.

Although Chen Shuhua never robs other people's food, he doesn't want his own food to be robbed by others.

He has been experiencing the feeling of being hungry for the past two years, and it is absolutely uncomfortable.

Liu Chunhua quickly took a hot bath for the baby boy, helped him put on a clean old cotton jacket, cotton trousers, cotton shoes, and a dry old diaper.

As the body temperature gradually rose, Li Xiaoyu, whose consciousness had been in a state of chaos, gradually woke up.

He opened his eyes and looked at the dimly lit light bulb above, recalling the thrilling scene of the private plane crashing into the sea out of control, he couldn't help secretly rejoicing for his miraculous survival.

The aroma of food floated in the air, and the sound of "huluhulu" eating noodles and drinking soup made Li Xiaoyu hungry.

He sat up with difficulty, looked around for the source of the aroma, and finally fixed his eyes on a thin boy who almost buried his face in a big bowl eating noodles