Reborn 1980

The place where Gu Anran's parents used to work was a shoe factory in the town. They found it according to the location provided by He Dabiao. After so many years, fortunately, the shoe factory is still there.

Just because too much time has passed, the owner of the shoe factory has changed, and the employees there have also been replaced by new ones and old ones. No one knows Gu Anran's parents anymore.

When they were about to leave lonely, the enthusiastic security guard at the door said, "How about you go ask the old man who burns the boiler? I heard that he has been burning the boiler here since the shoe factory was first built. It hasn’t moved anywhere.”

Gu Anran's eyes showed hope. They thanked the security guard and went to the boiler room.

The boiler room is at the very back of the factory building and is easy to identify. You can find it by following the tall chimney.

From a distance, you can see two coal mountains standing in front of a bungalow.Three eye-catching characters are written in red paint on the door of the bungalow: Boiler Room.

The doorway of the boiler room is high and wide without a door, which makes it easier to push the coal outside on a flatbed truck inside.

They stood at the door of the boiler room and looked inside. The light inside was very dark, and only the boiler glowed red.

This luster reflected the red side of a man's face. The man had very short hair and deep crow's feet at the corners of his eyes, as if they had been carved with a carving knife.He was wearing a shabby old cotton-padded jacket with exposed cotton. He was hunched over and holding a shovel in his hand, adding coal to the boiler.

Gu Anran thought in her heart: Is this Old Ding?

I saw Lao Ding adding a few shovels of coal and then stopped. The fire in the boiler was covered by these shovels of coal. The fire dimmed for a few seconds, and then suddenly he charged out with strength, and the flames jumped out.

Lao Ding pulled out the pipe from his waistband, ignored the puffs of black smoke, stepped forward, and lit the pipe with a small flame coming out of the stove.

He took two puffs of his pipe with satisfaction, turned around and saw two young men, a man and a woman, coming in from outside and walking towards him.

Lao Ding walked towards them and waved to them. His voice was a little hoarse, "What are you doing here? Get out! You can't enter here casually."

"Old man, we are here to see you. Can we have a few words with you?" Gu Anran directly explained the purpose of our visit, "Do you know Gu Chengsheng and He Hongmei?"

"Huh?" Lao Ding was slightly stunned. He tilted his head and looked at Gu Anran in front of him and asked, "Who are you? What are you asking them for? They are both dead long ago."

After asking everyone in the factory, I finally found someone who knew her parents!

Gu Anran said: "I am their daughter. I want to ask about the situation back then."

"Go out and talk. It's too dirty in here. The clothes on you two kids are so clean. It's hard to wash them with all the soot." Old Ding took the lead, "Let's go, I'll take you to the boiling water room next to you to talk. ."

After entering the boiling water room, Lao Ding mixed warm water with the basin and washed his hands and face. After washing, the water in the basin turned into ink color.

Even after washing off so much soot floating on his face, his fingerprints, fingernails, and face still looked dark, as if the soot had penetrated into his skin.

At first glance, it seems that I have been dealing with coal for many years. Is this considered an occupational disease?

"Old man." Gu Anran asked, "Have you never considered changing your job? I heard from the security guard at the door that you have been working as a boilermaker here since the factory was built. After so many years of exposure to coal ash, I am afraid that it will be harmful to the lungs. Well, there is a possibility of lung disease in the future.”

"Harmful." Old Ding wiped the water on his hands and face with a towel with several holes in it, and showed his white teeth indifferently.

He smiled and said, "I am very satisfied to have such a job, and I don't know how to do anything else. With the salary I earned in this factory, I built a house for my three sons, married a wife, and provided a house for my two sons." My daughter gave me a dowry, and this life is worth it. Even if my life comes to an end tomorrow, I have nothing to regret."

Seeing the old man's heartfelt smile of satisfaction, Gu Anran frowned slightly and swallowed the words of persuasion when they reached his lips.

Old Ding's cloudy eyes looked at Gu Anran and then at Mo Bei, and finally fell on Gu Anran, "I remember that when Gu Chengsheng and his wife left, they only left behind a daughter. You are their daughter. Then the young man next to you is..."

"Old man, I am her husband." Mo Bei nodded to Lao Ding and said.

"Oh." Old Ding looked around Mo Bei up and down several times with his appraising eyes, "Okay, okay, the young man is really good! Time flies so fast! This little girl from Gu Chengsheng's family has become someone else's wife! Young man, Your daughter-in-law has lost her parents since she was a child, so she must have had a hard time, so you must love her well!"

Mo Bei held Gu Anran's hand and said, "I will, old man."

"Yes." Lao Ding's eyes were filled with relief. He showed a loving smile and said to Gu Anran, "I am a few years older than your parents. Your parents are both good people and very down-to-earth people. We are in the same factory. I have been working there for several years and the relationship was good, but it’s a pity that such a good couple left just as soon as they said they were leaving.”

"Alas!" After saying that, Lao Ding sighed and asked her, "Girl, why did you come to me to ask?"

Gu Anran asked: "Do you know what kind of poison my parents were poisoned back then? I heard that they suffered from physical problems due to serious pollution in the work environment, and eventually died one after another in a short period of time when they felt unwell. "

"It was said that the problem was caused by the quality of the glue. The factory didn't know what was going on at the time and imported a batch of inferior glue." Lao Ding recalled, "At that time, your parents' job was to use glue to stick shoe soles. The new glue came in. The smell is very pungent, and they will have physical problems if they smell that glue too much."

"But they are unlucky. There are more than a dozen people doing that kind of work with them. Some of them are unwell, but they will be fine after going home and resting for two days. Your parents are the most serious. They lost their children directly. Life."

"After the accident, the factory director was dismissed and the purchasing department was punished. Then a new factory director was replaced and gas masks were distributed to all workers. Later, people working in the workshop were also worried that your parents would appear. In this case, most people will quit after working for a few years and find another job.”

Gu Anran nodded thoughtfully: No wonder this shoe factory is still there, but there are no old employees working in it. It turned out that they were worried that their health would be threatened if they worked for a long time, so they resigned after working for a few years. Something else.

After speaking, Lao Ding took a sip of water, then shook his head and sighed, "Girl, I told you everything I know. I don't know what you young people think, but I have lived to this age, and I believe in fate. Your father Mom is that fate, please be more open-minded!"