This article is a fictional novel, the pictures are all network pictures, and the names of people and places are all apocryphal.
1
My name is Li Qiang, I am 38 years old, and I grew up in a small village not far from the city.
My family is a typical urban-rural family, with two older brothers in front of me, and our family used to live in a brick house that was about to collapse.
I remember that house, every time it rained heavily, we used a basin to catch the dripping rain, and I still remember that scene.
However, with the wave of reform and opening up, the new wind from the outside world has slowly blown into our lives, and family conditions have gradually improved.
When I was just 20 years old, my parents decided to renovate their old house, hoping to make the family look decent and find a good daughter-in-law for me.
Although the family environment has improved, my blind date road is simply full of twists and turns, all because when the girl at that time heard that I was a rural hukou, she avoided it as if she had seen a ghost.
I remember one time, a blind date directly told me that if I was a city hukou, she would be willing to consider it, and at that moment, I felt embarrassed.
Faced with such a situation, I knew that I had to find a way to change the status quo on my own.
So, I started running around and trying different jobs in the hope of improving my family's financial situation.
At first, I worked in a factory in the city, and I had to catch the first train every morning, and I was the only one at home after work at night.
But no matter how hard the work is, it is nothing, mainly because the salary income is too unstable, high and low, and there is hardly much improvement.
In order to provide some financial resources for my family, I also tried to open a small shop.
I remember that it was at the entrance of the village, covering an area of only a dozen square meters, and I invested almost all my savings into it to sell some daily necessities and snacks.
However, due to my lack of experience and the fact that there was not much traffic in the village at that time, my small shop was very hard to open, and the profit was pitiful.
During that time, I was worried about the business of the store and the financial situation of my family almost every day.
Sometimes at night I sit alone in the small semi-open shop, looking at the sparse pedestrians outside, and my mind is full of ideas about how to make business better, but it is always difficult to sustain it.
I felt depressed about my inner struggles and sense of failure, and I didn't know how to deal with my parents' expectant eyes.
They have worked hard all their lives in the hope that our generation will be better off than theirs, but I seem to have become a burden to the family.
Whether it's a blind date or improving family conditions, I can't do anything.
Late at night, when I lie in bed and think about the experience of the day, I feel an indescribable sense of loss, a feeling of being abandoned by the whole world.
That's all for my story.
The ups and downs of the blind date experience and the efforts to try to change the family's financial situation have not been successful, but they have also forged my strength and perseverance today.
2
On a hot summer day in 1995, the roof of my neighbor's Lao Wang's house suddenly leaked.
Lao Wang's hair was about to turn white, so he quickly found me, hoping that I could help him repair.
Thinking that the family was counting on this house for shelter from the wind and rain, I didn't say a word and agreed.
That day, the sun was scorching the earth like iron sand, and Lao Wang and I were busy on the roof.
In order to fix the roof before the rainy season arrived, the two of us endured the hot weather while working together to lay new tiles.
After a busy morning, the clothes on my back were already soaked with sweat, but I thought that I could help Lao Wang, and this hard work was nothing.
Just as we were about to call it a day, Wang and I walked along the village lanes and prepared to go home to rest.
Suddenly, we heard someone crying quietly on the side of the road, and when we got closer, it turned out to be an old woman in her fifties, looking at the crumbling roof of her house, with tears in her eyes.
She told us that she was the only one in the house, and there was no way to repair the roof, and that the sky was getting gloomy day by day, and that she was afraid that one day the rain would come, and there would be no place to hide from the rain.
At that moment, my heart somehow softened.
I think that although I am short of money, I am better than this poor aunt.
So, I said to my aunt that I would help Lao Wang fix the roof first, and then come to help her immediately.
When my aunt heard this, her eyes lit up, and she thanked me even again.
Having said that, in the process of helping my aunt repair the roof, I learned that my aunt was actually my future mother-in-law.
Unexpectedly, by such a coincidence, I helped my future mother-in-law.
Later, she knew that I was a real person and a diligent worker, so she introduced her daughter to me.
On that sunny afternoon, her daughter, my future daughter-in-law, brought us a basin of watermelon to quench our thirst.
The first time I saw her, I felt that my eyes lit up, and I thought to myself, how can such a virtuous and beautiful girl be destined for me?
At that moment, I seemed to see a glimmer of light in my life.
The experience of helping Lao Wang and his future mother-in-law repair the roof was not only a physical effort for me, but also a turning point in my life.
Through this experience, I not only won the respect of the villagers, but more importantly, I met my other half and started a new chapter in my life.
This scene seems to be like what happened yesterday, and I remember it vividly, and I still have a lot of memories of it.
Every time I think about it, I feel a warm current in my heart, grateful for everyone I met in those years, and those seemingly ordinary, but extraordinary days.
3
Just a few days after I finished repairing the roof of Lao Wang, my aunt came to my house with her daughter Meihua, saying that she wanted to express her gratitude.
That day, they were carrying a basket of fresh vegetables and a few local chickens, and Meihua had a shy smile on their faces, looking at me with gratitude in their eyes.
As soon as I saw the plum blossoms, I was secretly happy, thinking that this girl was not only good-looking, but also gentle, and her tutor must be good.
At the dinner table, my aunt drank a few sips of self-brewed rice wine, her face was flushed, and she suddenly offered to let me go on a blind date with Meihua, hoping that we could start a family.
Startled by this sudden suggestion, I looked at Plum Blossom and saw that she had also lowered her head, her cheeks as red as ripe apples.
But in my heart, I am happy, which means that I may really have a fate with Meihua.
In the days that followed, Meihua and I often went out together to catch fish in the village river or to visit the market.
Gradually, we got to know each other's personalities and hobbies.
I found that Meihua is not only a good person, but also diligent, intelligent, and has its own plan for the future.
We talked more and more about each other, and it didn't take long for us to feel like we were the right people for each other.
Eventually, we decided to get married.
Although the wedding was simple, the villagers came to congratulate us, and everyone was happy for us.
After marriage, Meihua used her diligence and wisdom to help our family gradually get rid of poverty and become rich.
The vegetables she grows and the chickens she raises are among the best in the village.
Every corner of the house is full of her intentions and wisdom.
A few years later, our son was born, adding a lot of fun and hope to our lives.
Watching the children grow up day by day, my heart and Meihua's hearts are full of happiness and satisfaction.
In order to thank my mother-in-law for her help back then, we decided to take my mother-in-law into our home and take good care of her.
Whenever I see my mother-in-law and children laughing and laughing, I deeply feel that without the persistence and responsibility of my mother-in-law, we would not have the happy life we have today.
Recalling that Meihua and I met each other, and then became husband and wife to build this small family together, every step is full of unforgettable memories.
This experience has taught me deeply that kindness and helping others in life can really bring unexpected happiness and rewards.
Every time in the dead of night, I will silently thank the summer meeting in my heart, thank you for the original intention and perseverance, they let me have this warm home now.
This story is purely fictional, the names and events in the story are fictional, and the purpose of using place names is only for the purpose of describing the plot and making it easy to read and understand.