The foot is the support of the body, is also the fulcrum of life, but also a tool for the creation of happiness in life, if you lose your foot, then the whole life will also lose the meaning of existence, will bring endless hardship and distress to life.
In my life, I almost lost my left foot twice, two unexpected encounters that left unforgettable pain and suffering in my life, two heartbreaking experiences that planted a deep hidden pain in my heart, which is still fresh in my memory after more than 40 years.
On the 19th day of the first month of 1975, I was in my second year of junior high school. In those days, my family was very poor, the family’s economy was difficult, the family’s population was large, food became a big problem, bitter fasting, sweet potatoes became my family’s staple food.
My family has seven members, one sister, two brothers, a disabled second uncle, sister in the fourth grade when my mother did not let her study, in order to my two brothers and I can go to school, sister at home to help my mother run the house.
My grandmother had just passed away due to illness, and my grandfather had also left soon. My parents had borrowed a lot of money from friends and neighbors to treat my grandmother and bury my grandparents, and my family was already in debt. There is still half a month before the start of the school year, and we three brothers have no money for school tuition, let alone money for school fees, stationery and clothes.
My sister was understanding and comforted my mother, saying, “Mom, don’t worry, my brother’s tuition, we’ll take them to cut wood to sell. So, my sister went to my uncle’s mountain field and cut two bamboos, went home and made three pairs of firewood shackles out of the bamboos, my father gave my sister sixteen yuan, my sister bought three firewood knives at the blacksmith store at the entrance, and started to take me and my eldest brother to the mountains to cut firewood, at that time each catty of firewood was only sold for eight percent, I estimated that it would take more than 20,000 catties of firewood to exchange for a full semester of tuition.
The 20,000-plus pounds of firewood, to pick from the dozens of miles away from the mountains home, is how difficult, it goes without saying. Every day, my sister took me and my eldest brother to run 13 miles up the mountain to cut firewood in the mountains of Sugiro apricot and Niuzui pit, my feet were worn out with blisters, my shoulders were worn out, my hands were red and black, and when I returned home, my mother said with tears in her eyes, “Weiya Wei, you have suffered, don’t pick so heavy ah, this will wear out your body. …… Whenever this happens, I will smile and say The actual fact is that you can get a lot of money, and this is nothing.
The eldest brother was only thirteen years old, cutting firewood for a few days to eat, my mother would not let him go with my sister and I to the mountains to cut firewood, but every day the eldest brother and second brother will go to the cattle goo stone pass and so on my sister and I, for us to share the firewood piece, reduce the weight, go home early.
The days of cutting firewood were hard and tiring, physically demanding, sweaty on sunny days and dripping with water on rainy days. Sometimes hungry, eat two or three pieces of sweet potato chips, drink a few mouthfuls of mountain spring water to quench thirst and hunger; sleepy, on the firewood stretcher to take a nap, rest for three or five minutes, pick up the firewood stretcher non-stop rush, to 70 to 80 pounds of firewood pieces picked home.
The school year began, my sister and I cut firewood into a large pile, my father asked the production captain to send staff to buy, a weighing of 25,600 pounds, a calculation, three people enough money for tuition. The day school started, my three brothers did not owe the school a penny. I was so excited and proud to have enrolled and gotten my textbooks. That is my sister and I sweat for ah, I especially cherish the hard-earned textbooks. I asked my father to find kraft paper and wrap the textbooks tightly, fearing that they would be worn and dirty, and I took great care of them.
Two weeks into the school year, in order to earn school fees, pocket money, every Friday afternoon when I returned home from school, I dropped my school bag, find an axe, pick up the firewood stretcher, alone to go to the Sugiro apricot mountain to cut firewood. After dinner, I slept in bed with pain all over my body, but when I woke up, I was full of energy and vigor.
At 5:00 a.m. every morning, I got up early and followed my cousins, sisters, brothers and sisters-in-law in the morning dew, marching in the dark all the way to the cattle mouth pit, we went into the mountains before dawn, and when we got to the mountains, we found a big pine tree, and we all worked together to cut it down, then we all cut it off one by one, split it into pieces of firewood, loaded it into the firewood stretcher, picked up more than 100 pounds of firewood pieces, and rushed all the way home to have breakfast. After breakfast, I took a shower, changed my clothes, picked up a school bag, almost running to five kilometers away from the pile of former polder town high school classes.
Countless times to go up the mountain to cut firewood, through the difficult days, so that I feel the parents are not easy, but also feel the hardships of a farmer.
In the summer, the summer break, I came home, in addition to reading books and doing homework, I still have to go to the mountains to cut firewood.
The summer days were colorful, the mountains were hot during the day, but at night the cool breeze made the whole village cool and refreshing.
One night, I walked out of the village and saw the lights in the fields shining like stars, I approached and asked, only to learn that they were lighting lanterns in the fields burning fish to catch loach, I saw their fish basket alive loach, I would also like to catch some loach to improve the family diet. However, the necessary tools for catching loach at night is to have a lantern made of wire, and a pine tree chips containing pine oil. Pine chips are taken from the pine tree pockets that are cut down in the mountains. Pine tree pockets buried in the soil, to use a hoe to shave the surrounding soil, and then cut down with an axe piece by piece. This pine oil piece, is the best raw material to light the fire, but also the most primitive, the oldest ignition tool, no sticky oil pine pieces put into the lantern to light the route, is unable to illuminate the loach in the field. But there was no oil-sticky pine chips at home, and some people were selling them, but I couldn’t afford to buy them. So I said to my sister, I want to go to the cattle mouth pit to dig pine chips, I also want to catch loach at night. Sister said, so far away, you have to pay attention to safety. I said, “Don’t worry, I’m not too young.
The next morning, I picked up the firewood stretcher, carrying a hoe, to go 15 miles away from the Niu Zui Keng mountain digging pine tree pocket.
The mountain is a mountain forest in the western mountains of Suichuan, more than 600 meters above sea level, this piece of mountain is my ancestors left behind their own mountain, closed for more than ten years, the mountain is densely wooded, a few years ago after felling left a large number of pine tree pocket. Because the road is far away, few people go to this mountain to dig pine bibs.
I found two 30cm pine trees halfway up the mountain. The upper layer of the felled pine pockets was condensed with pine oil, and the pockets were very strong and lubricated. I used a hoe to shave away the surrounding soil, and used an axe to first cut the bottom of the pockets into broken layers, and then used the axe to split the pockets piece by piece into small pieces of firewood. The pine tree is a tough piece of wood, which has been cut a dozen times without breaking.
My left foot on the soil, the right foot stood in the tree pocket side, raised the back of the axe to hit the soon to fall off the piece of tree, unexpectedly, the tough piece of tree rebound axe, sharp axe blade back to my left foot below the back, suddenly, the back of the left foot skin split, the wound long strip, ankle bone exposed, I was confused, all of a sudden the wound blood flowing like a waterfall, I was terrified, momentarily caught off guard, unbuckle the belt, the heel tied to death, but The blood kept spurting out and could not be stopped. I knew that no one could save me at that time, there was no one in the mountain, I shouted, but no one answered me, I had to save myself, so I tore off my pants, grabbed a handful of loam on the ground to cover the wound, wrapped the back of my foot tightly, while calling, while holding the grass and groping down the mountain. When I limped to the foot of the mountain, I met my neighbor, brother Fangjing, who was carrying firewood home.
The blood flowed and my foot hurt, but I gritted my teeth all the way and didn’t cry out. The 15-mile road from the mountain to home, dripping blood all the way …… Fangjing brother carried me home, I passed out.
My father rushed home and sent me to the township health center for treatment. The doctor stopped the bleeding for me, but the mud in the wound could not be cleaned, the doctor blamed me should not use the mud to stop the bleeding to cover the wound, but I was in this moment of screaming at the ground, is a helpless initiative, otherwise, life is difficult to save ah. Five days of treatment in the hospital, due to wound infection, ulceration occurred, swelling smooth and swollen, the hospital doctor suggested my father said to send me to the county hospital, my left foot sawed off, otherwise the consequences are unthinkable. When I heard that my left foot would be sawed off, I cried bitterly and strongly disagreed. I didn’t want to be treated at the hospital, so I clamored to go home and get treatment from a local doctor. Finally, my father hired an old doctor for bruises and injuries to treat me with Chinese herbs. The old doctor used herbal antiseptic and anti-inflammatory treatment to clean my wound almost every day, and then put herbal medicine on it. Every time he cleaned the wound with salt water, I sweated profusely and endured the pain, but never cried out in pain. After twenty days, the wound turned to be safe. I am not sure what kind of medicine the doctor used, but the wound got better day by day. I lay at home for five months while my parents and sister took turns carrying me to school. This injury was one of the most painful in my life. During the period of healing, I insisted on reading and writing essays while I was being treated.
People’s lives are not smooth, born and raised in the countryside, will experience many hardships, disasters, ups and downs, endless, as the saying goes, depends on luck, but also depends on how you face.
A year later, the scar on my left foot had just healed when another disaster struck. When I was a freshman in high school, my family was building a house, and the master carpenter said that the whole house still lacked six Bing trees to make the beams, no Bing trees how to do, only to go to their own mountain to cut, the task fell on my sister and me, my father took me and my sister to the cattle mouth pit own mountain field stepping point, my father explained, on this mountain to choose a good felling fir trees, pick 20 centimeters above the fir tree harvesting.
It was a weekend morning in summer, my sister took me up the mountain to find several Bin trees are not suitable, I said, sister, we look for separate. Sister in the northern col to find, I looked in the eastern col, I found a tree about twenty-four centimeters Bin, Bin grow in the weeds, surrounded by climbing willow vines, I cleaned up the surrounding mess of branches, began to cut the tree, but the tree pocket cut empty, Bin was two willow vines entangled can not fall to the ground, I cut a willow vine from halfway up the mountain, to cut the second willow vine, I used the axe to cut two times did not break. I stood on the left foot in the earth, the right foot in the earth under the can, holding an axe to make every effort to cut up the willow vine, the axe fell vine broken, the vine is too brittle, the momentum is like breaking, but unexpectedly the axe hit the back of the left foot, I held the axe dazed, the back of the foot by the axe split a large mouth, a bloody flesh, not long after the wound of blood like a spring, I panicked and rushed to tear off the shirt long sleeve, the wound bandaged, shouted loudly: “Sister! “Sister, come and help me!” Sister heard, asked what happened, I said my foot was cut, come quickly …… sister a crawl and a fall from the north side of the slope to run over, see my foot can not stop bleeding, tore off their own long-sleeved shirt, my left foot blood vessels tied, but the blood still can not be stopped, sister panic, learn from my previous injury, did not use the yellow mud to stop the bleeding, but to find two nearby tea oil trees. Instead, I found two tea oil trees nearby, with an axe from the tea tree scraped off the fine tea tree ash powder, plugging the wound, re-bandaged, the blood flow is small. Sister said, hurry home, can not delay! Said my sister picked me up and flew to home.
Thirteen miles of mountain road, sister did not even breathe, carrying me all the way to trot, sweating, drenched in wet. Thirteen miles of mountain road, blood dripping on the road, my left foot pain all the way to my sister to stop and rest before walking, but my sister cried and carried me home in one breath.
My father, who was on duty at the township sand turning plant, heard that I had cut my foot again and rushed home on his bicycle, and because he could not afford to send me to the hospital for treatment, he called the doctor who treated me last time.
The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to its customers. The doctor finally disinfected my wound with iodine, which was so painful that I almost fainted. The doctor washed my wounds for an hour, but I gritted my teeth to endure the pain and never screamed out. The doctor said that the axe had broken the blood vessel of the left foot, and the wound was only a centimeter away from the last injury, and that a tendon was broken at the wound on the back of the left foot, requiring four to six months of treatment. The doctor used all the herbal powder, yellow sand strips, began to change the medicine once a day, a week later, every other day to change the medicine, ten days later due to the heat, the wound pus, the left foot swollen and swollen, my father sent me to the heap before the health center for examination, the doctor said the hospital’s medical facilities are poor, the wound can not be handled, the doctor asked my father to send me to the county hospital for treatment, but to the county hospital is too far, hospitalization without medical fees, can not afford to pay The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to the public.
The herbal medicine is an ancestral recipe that has been used to treat countless stab wounds, burns and bruises. After ten days, the inflammation basically disappeared and so did the swelling. The wound healed after two months, and I was able to walk on the ground after four months, and the wound returned to normal after five months. However, the wound was left with a convex round lump.
The year I graduated from high school, I participated in the Air Force physical examination, after three rounds of physical examination physical requirements all pass, is the left foot two scars, the army medic brushed off, the Air Force dream and I passed.
Suffering is a needle. Later I was fortunate enough to become a people’s police officer, realizing the dream of the police, but also the dream of public security writers, and I have no regrets.
