It was also January 25, 1987, when Ning Weimin and his subordinates were toasting to celebrate.
In order to return to the capital for the New Year, another wanderer like him, who had left the country under a building at the front gate of the capital a few years ago, had already preceded him and boarded the plane back home.
That is Mi Xiaoran, who has been married to the United States for more than four years.
And she didn’t come back alone, her American husband Zhao Hanyu also used his annual leave to accompany her.
The two of them also bought a lot of gifts in large and small packages. There were two large pieces of checked luggage alone.
For no other reason than because Mi Xiaoran was unexpectedly pregnant for two months.
And she will complete her studies in a few months and get her undergraduate degree.
Considering that Mi Xiaoran gave birth to a child and obtained her academic qualifications, their lives were about to enter a new state.
I’m afraid I’ll have to rush again and make a lot of new arrangements and plans.
It is very likely that I will not return to my country for several years.
That's why they jointly decided to return to the capital to visit relatives on the eve of the Spring Festival this year, so that Mi Xiaoran could reunite with his parents and relatives after being away from his hometown for many years.
…………
The super large Boeing 747 passenger plane carried hundreds of passengers flying eastward.
This specially designed giant passenger plane flies very fast and has spacious seats.
Although Mi Xiaoran and Zhao Hanyu only booked economy class, the comfort of the seats was far superior to that of a medium-sized passenger aircraft, which made them particularly satisfied.
It’s just that during the more than four years since I left, most of the contact was through letters, and there were only a few opportunities to hear the voices of family members on the phone.
So since getting on the plane, Mi Xiaoran's homesickness began to overflow.
Thinking of the upcoming reunion with her relatives, she never lay down at all. She always tilted her head towards the window and kept looking out.
She looked down at her watch and counted down the minutes.
She couldn't sleep, she was anxious, and she thought the plane was flying slowly.
United Airlines' departure time was in the afternoon, and the sun disappeared within a few hours. The rotation of the earth matched the speed of the plane.
After dinner, all the small lights in the cabin were turned off one by one.
The guests in the cabin almost all asked for blankets and collectively fell asleep.
Even Mi Xiaoran’s husband, Zhao Hanyu, fell asleep on her shoulder.
In the quiet cabin, only Mi Xiaoran was still half-squinting his eyes, silently recalling the four years he spent in New York in his mind.
She has not wasted her time in the past four years, and her life has not been easy, but it has been fulfilling and very lucky.
Husband Zhao Hanyu is a reliable and good husband, and he has fully fulfilled his promise to her.
Since finding a job in Manhattan, Zhao Hanyu has taken her away from the big family, which is completely controlled by Zhao's parents, regardless of her family's objections.
I rented a small apartment with her and lived a two-person world by self-reliance.
Zhao Hanyu also used all his strength to support her in her studies.
Not only did he spend money to enroll her in a cram school, but he also tried his best to share the housework for her on weekdays.
Because of this, she was able to concentrate on her studies. She successfully passed various relevant examinations that year and successfully obtained admission to Queens College, City University of New York.
Although Queens College has a short history, it is not ranked high in New York, a city with many institutions of higher learning.
And in order to make it easier to get into school and make graduation less difficult, she chose the business administration major, which can be called a "one-size-fits-all" major.
But then again, this is a regular public university after all!
For people like her who would never have the opportunity to access higher education institutions in China, it is a precious opportunity that they can only dream of.
There is nothing dissatisfied about her.
Especially because of her husband’s financial and emotional support, she does not have to work hard every day to wash dishes in the staff restaurant for three yuan an hour like other international students. Work.
Even if you are working part-time, you can still earn a leisurely wage of five yuan an hour by looking after the children at the house of your husband's supervisor. By the way, you can also chat with the children and become familiar with spoken English.
This made her feel even more satisfied and relieved.
She even skipped a grade with excellent results due to her intelligence and hard work.
I think she would tell her parents this news, and they would be as proud of her as her husband...
She kept thinking about it along the way.
After thinking about relatives, I just think about relatives.
After thinking about relatives, I thought about my neighbors, classmates from primary and secondary schools, and colleagues at Chongwenmen Hotel...
There were so many people and she wanted to meet them.
Not for anything else, she has to let everyone know that she is living very well now, very well, very well.
I think she was so disappointed when she left the unit, and she even cried bitterly without anyone noticing.
Now it's finally time for her to prove everything to everyone - she made the right choice, she went the right way, and she married the right person!
On the contrary, those who are willing to hold on to the iron rice bowl and earn hundreds of dollars to stay are wrong.
They dare not strive for opportunities in life, and they dare not leave everything behind and go abroad, otherwise they will have to suffer and be poor forever.
She admitted that she was vain, and coming back this time meant returning to her hometown in glory.
Because she usually doesn’t pay much attention to dressing up, she went to Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue to carefully select a brand-name coat in order to return to Beijing this time, in order to impress her relatives in her hometown. Friends, take a good look.
She also invites all her relatives and friends to dinner and chooses the most expensive dishes.
But instead of spending Zhao Hanyu’s money, she used her own money.
In New York, she worked as a nanny in her spare time for three years. She took care of the children for an average of twelve hours a week, which cost her sixty yuan.
After tax, it’s fifty yuan a week, two hundred dollars a month.
And Zhao Hanyu never mentioned the money to her, tacitly agreeing that it would be all at her personal disposal. So in addition to buying some gifts for Zhao Hanyu on their wedding anniversary, sending some money to her family, and buying herself a coat, she now still has a total of 4,500 US dollars in cash.
This should be a huge amount of money worth tens of thousands of yuan in China. It is a huge amount of money that an ordinary person cannot earn in a lifetime.
There is no way, the gap between China and the United States is so huge!
Even if she earns pocket money as a nanny, it is enough to impress people in China.
So this time, she has to return the $1,500 to that person.
And I have to tell him face to face, don’t look down on others, I can live a good life in the United States on my own.
What is a joint venture? Auntie is not interested! Pooh!
As long as my aunt can find a job, they will all be in genuine American-owned companies!
I was lost in the chaos, and felt a tearing pain.
Why does she still act like this when she thinks of that person?
Don’t know.
…………
There are always various coincidences in this world.
Just like now, in different cabins on the same flight.
No one will know that there is another woman, just like Mi Xiaoran, whose heart is filled with excitement about setting foot in her hometown in the capital city and the desire to meet old friends, making it difficult to close her eyes.
However, they are not the same, not only in age, experience, knowledge, wealth, social level, and family environment, but also in the way they perceive their hometown and old people and their emotional entanglements.
…………
There were only four or five people in the first class cabin, and a few flight attendants were sitting in the empty seats.
Among the few guests, a mother and son from New York with Oriental faces stood out the most.
The middle-aged man is over thirty and looks elegant and steady.
The old lady is dressed like a real lady, there is no doubt about this.
There is no need to tell whether the old lady’s jewelry is genuine or fake, and there is no need to verify whether the old lady’s leather bag is from the Queen’s royal brand - LAUNER.
Just the texture of the old lady's mink coat and the smoothness of the precious fur color are enough to explain it all.
So the flight attendants paid special attention to all her requests.
After nightfall, these ladies took the initiative to provide services for her.
In addition to laying out a blanket for her and giving her fruit and coffee, I also asked her if she wanted to flatten the seat so that she could rest more comfortably.
However, this noble old lady refused help from all of them. In the end, she just asked about the time difference, adjusted her watch, and ignored everyone.
I just kept staring out the window at the gray-black sky where I could see nothing.
Even her son urged her to rest, but he just watched so stubbornly.
Seeing that she insisted on doing this, even her son couldn't rest, so he had to sit up and chat with her softly.
"Mom, you can't hold yourself up like this, it will take several hours. The conditions there cannot be compared with New York. If you really get to the capital, if you don't have a good rest, you will feel uncomfortable again. This body is just..."
"What are you talking about? Beijing is my home. No matter how good New York is, I am living under someone else's roof. I have never heard of people who go home feeling uncomfortable..."< br>
"Mom, I didn't mean that. I just think the journey is too long. I hope you can sleep for a while. I'm afraid your body won't be able to bear it..."
"I'm not even 70 or 80 years old. It's really a waste of worry." "
"Yes, mom, you are still young. What I know is that you are sixty years old. If outsiders don't know, you are only fifty years old at most. But then again, my son is like this. It’s also a filial piety. If I watch you suffer like this, I won’t be at ease..."
"Okay, okay, I know you feel sorry for Mom, but the problem is, I can sleep even if I want to. No. Think about it, I haven’t been back since the 31st year of the Republic of China. How many years have passed? I heard that even the city walls are gone, and I don’t know that the alleys and streets I’m familiar with are now gone. What has become? Who lives in the places I once lived in? Are the places I loved to visit like Beihai, Jingshan, Longfu Temple, Zhongshan Park, and Dong’an Market still there? "I understand your feelings. Don't worry, we can find all the places you mentioned as long as they don't have long legs."
I'll accompany you to take a good look. We can stay a few more days if you want. We can go around the capital and experience all the delicious and fun things you told me about. Every time I just listened eagerly to what you said, it was all based on my own imagination..."
"Okay, okay, but I have to say first, those food and entertainment are so lively, firstly, I don't know if they are still there, and secondly, you will definitely not adapt to it. It won't be as good as you imagined when the time comes, so don't be disappointed, and don't blame Mom and Dad when the time comes. I tricked you from far away..."
"Look at what you said, no, because as long as I can remember, I can always hear adults around me reminiscing about the customs and customs of my hometown, and the last time. My grandfather, uncle, and mother told me about the past, and it is almost the same as what you told me. I still remember that my grandfather wanted to cook mutton. My mother looked like she was thinking about sugared quinces. But the sentence that impressed me the most was your words, "There is a kind and kind humanity in Beijing." br>
"It should not change. In the vast China, only Beijing is a cultural city, so it is much more humane and warmer than Shiliyangchang. Maybe my hometown is a little poorer, but there is a lot of humanity. . Speaking of which, it’s not that I miss home all the time, but that I feel awkward no matter where I go outside the capital..."
"Mom, you should take better care of yourself, you are finally back. , shouldn’t you look your best? If you have dark circles under your eyes, how can you meet those old friends? It will be even worse if you cry again. I’m afraid you will regret it later. "Does that make sense?"
"You're right, okay, okay, I'll just listen to you. Please help me get a glass of cherry brandy. I need to calm down. I'll try it later." Squint for a while.”
The middle-aged man quickly followed the instructions, stretched out his hand to greet a blonde stewardess, and lowered his head to give some instructions.
After thinking about it for a while, I gave a few more instructions.
"Mom, what my son wants to say is that I am thinking about all the things you have been thinking about for you. Even if I try my best, I will let you visit your hometown again and explore for you the things you want to see. Old friend. However, after so many years, things have changed. It is inevitable that there is a big gap between reality and imagination. I am not worried about anything else, but whether you are adequately prepared..."
"You are so verbose. How can a man who is a dignified man be more trivial than a woman? Mom is no longer a child. She has experienced the displacement of people and the helplessness of being alone in a foreign country during extraordinary times. What has she not seen until today? Passed? Don't worry, I will accept it calmly no matter what happens..."
"Okay, okay, son, don't talk too much. You can have a drink and rest later... ”
In this way, the conversation between mother and son ended again, and they returned to peace.
However, even though this is said, how can it be so easy to do?
In fact, she was leaning on the large sofa seat. Even though she did feel hazy and sleepy after drinking, her heart was not stable.
Nearly forty years of expectations, forty years of crazy dreams.
The closer I get to my hometown, the more memories from the past surge up from the bottom of my heart, and I can’t suppress them even if I want to.
I'm back home. After more than 40 years of going in a big circle, I'm finally back.
This is not a dream, everything in front of you can prove it.
For some reason, she remembered the song "Butterfly Loves Flowers" written by Prince Gong Sun Puru after he left his hometown because he missed the capital.
The vast sea and the sky are far away, and thousands of miles of clouds are blocking the way to the Central Plains in the north. Outside the clouds, there is a line of sailing mountains, and you can't see the Hengyang geese in a different direction.
The spring in the orchestral sky is infinite, and the mighty dragons in China are born in Penglai. Thousands of willows are full of sorrow, and the world is still full of ice.
When I taste it at this time, I feel infinite nostalgia for each sentence, especially the sentence "Going north to the Central Plains, blocked by thousands of miles of clouds", which adds to the sadness.
She is an old Phoenix returning to her nest!
However, although it makes people want to cry, there are no tears. (End of this chapter)