Watching the strangers who were watching gradually disperse, she sighed and said with a bitter smile: Why is life so miserable?
"Brother, who doesn't have a hard life in BJ? You can't stand it after only one hour of commuting? It takes me two and a half hours each way every day. I worked overtime at work until one o'clock last night and got home at three-thirty to have a meeting at nine o'clock. , what can I say?" As the subway in front of her arrived at the station, an older brother suddenly squeezed in beside her. He was talking on his mobile phone and rushing on his way.
The passerby's coincidental answer once again comforted Zhang Xianxian. It turned out that everyone had slept for three hours a night. No wonder they met at the subway station. Isn't this the legendary fate? Because three hours was also Zhang Xianxian's sleep time last night.
Last night, my father suffered from severe vomiting and diarrhea, and the family did not rest until 1:30 in the morning. As a result, at 3:20 in the middle of the night, my father’s attending doctor in the hospital called me hurriedly. Tell Zhang Xianxian that at 11:30 this morning, a patient will be discharged from the internal medicine department of the inpatient department, leaving a bed available.
In this way, my father could finally go to the internal medicine department to get hospitalization procedures and have surgery as soon as possible instead of continuing to receive treatment in the radiology department. There is always a shortage of beds in the internal medicine department of the inpatient department. If a patient is late the next day, the beds may be allocated to other patients who are urgently hospitalized.
In BJ's authoritative tertiary A hospital where beds were hard to come by, the news of her hospitalization was the good news she had been waiting for for ten full days after begging her grandfather and grandma everywhere. Therefore, she was overwhelmed with excitement and immediately sent a WeChat message to her boss to apply for leave.
As a result, until 8:09 this morning, Zhang Xianxian still did not receive a WeChat reply from the leader. Based on her experience with leaders in the past few years, she knew that if she had no sense of presence and asked for leave continuously, the other party would no longer be able to read her back.
The shame and anger of being looked down upon, the anxiety of continuously asking for leave, and the uneasiness of being disgusted by my boss made me insist on checking my phone with difficulty in the morning rush hour, trying to wait for a miracle that would never happen.
Until 8:29 minutes and 42 seconds, Zhang Xianxian was still standing in front of the credit card machine at the door of the unit, struggling, and still did not receive a reply from the leader in WeChat on his mobile phone. I remember the last time I asked for leave from my boss this month, he asked the question: Are you qualified to enjoy so much leave?
Standing at the door of her unit, she felt that the soles of her feet were a little weak when she thought about this problem, and her anxiety became more intense. Her father suffered from severe gastric ulcer, was diagnosed with gastric cancer, and then was hospitalized for surgery. As the only daughter in the family, Zhang Xianxian had indeed used up all the leave she could ask for every month at her workplace.
Every time she asked for leave, it became the last thing she wanted to face. It felt like waiting to be executed by someone, but she had no choice.
At that time, parents actively responded to the country's family planning policy, not only delaying marriage and childbearing, but also having only one child. Today, my mother is 68 and my father is 73. Both of them are in poor health and cannot live without care, especially my father who is sick.
Zhang Xianxian's parents are ordinary retired workers with some pensions and some meager savings. Six years ago, when she first came to BJ to work hard, like all parents who want their children to live a better life, they tried their best to buy an apartment for their daughter.
As a result, the old couple resorted to selling iron and steel to supplement everything. Not only did they sell the house in their hometown and everything they could sell, but they also used all their coffin books and pensions to provide a house for their daughter. A house represents home, which is what Chinese people cherish most. It seems that only by having a house can people have roots. Therefore, with her parents' sacrifice of everything, Zhang Xianxian, an ordinary person, actually bought a small house next to the Fifth Ring Road in BJ, where housing prices are unlimited.
This small house was built in 1996. It is said to have an area of 54 square meters. However, after excluding the shared area, the actual usable area is only 36 square meters. It is a southwest-facing one-bedroom and one-living room. The house is located an hour and a half away from her work. It takes nine bus stops and then a subway ride to get there. If it weren't for the inconvenient transportation in the community and the location near the Fifth Ring Road, her family wouldn't be able to afford it.
Three people were crowded into this small house. My parents lived in the bedroom inside, and Zhang Xianxian lived in the living room outside. There was almost no space to move around. But the family is very satisfied with this. After all, compared to many Beipiao who need to rent a house constantly and move around, it is already a very happy thing to have a house where they can live their own lives in this strange and cruel city. things.
Before her father got sick, Zhang Xianxian still didn't quite understand her parents' obsession with buying a house. But now looking at her sick father, she suddenly understood the meaning of having a house to have a family. This small house gave my father a place to stay when he was seeing a doctor. No matter how much his illness tormented his body, no landlord would dislike him and drive him away.
However, another cruel survival problem looms before us, that is, medical treatment costs money. Even if my father has social security cover, there are still many medicines and treatments that cannot be reimbursed and need to be paid out of pocket. Buying a house has long emptied her family's savings. After graduating these years, she has not saved any money at all, even though she is usually very frugal and simple.
The only bankbook worth RMB 40,000 left in the family was her parents' last coffin book. Her mother also took it out today to pay for her father's hospital bills. A live-in nanny costs 5,200 yuan a month, while Zhang Xianxian's salary is only 7,100 yuan. Add in his parents' pension, and throw away necessary items such as mortgage repayment, daily food and drink, etc., and he can barely have 2,000 yuan left every month.
For families suffering from gastric cancer, 2,000 yuan per month is a drop in the bucket and cannot solve the actual problem at all. If she loses her job again, how will she pay for her father's hospital bills? Making money, taking care of the elderly and working suddenly became an endless loop, and Zhang Xianxian still couldn't find a solution.
"Girl, it's 8:30, come in quickly, the door is about to close!" The security guard reminded her to regain her consciousness.
"Oh, okay, thank you, uncle!"
She walked quickly to the company's office building, when her empty stomach made an inappropriate "gurgling" sound, which was particularly harsh in the silent corridor. The company's canteen will close on time at 8:30, because the company claims to not encourage everyone to work overtime and to come to get off work on time, but in fact it is to avoid paying overtime pay and overtime benefits. Closing the canteen after 8:30 every day can reduce company expenses. As for when KPIs are pressed down like a mountain, working overtime all night is still common.
But her stomach didn't care about this, it still growled, reminding her that it was time to eat something after commuting for an hour and a half. Zhang Xianxian rummaged through his bag, trying to find some snacks, but unexpectedly saw the small red wooden coffin that had been thrown away last night reappearing at the bottom of the bag.
