Meng Yan's Transformation

"Zhan Yu, are you at home? There is a remittance slip sent from Heilongjiang, please sign for it." The postman shouted at the gate of Zhan's compound.

Yunqing quickly wiped her hands that were washing clothes, took out her household registration booklet, asked the postman to verify it, and finally signed the remittance slip on her behalf.

"Mengyan, you are saved. Your brother Zichuan has sent you money for buying medicine!" Yunqing said with tears of joy, holding the remittance slip.

Yunqing hurriedly took her household registration booklet, went to the production team and Xinxing Commune to get a letter of introduction, and went to the post office to collect the remittance.

Yunqing took Mengyan to the county hospital and asked the doctor to examine Zhan Mengyan. The doctor prescribed medicine. When Yunqing went to pay for the medicine, she found that the remittance money from Zhan Zichuan was not enough for two courses of treatment. (The doctor said Zhan Mengyan needed at least two courses of treatment)

Yunqing first prescribed a course of medicine for Mengyan. When passing by the Cultural Bureau, she found that there was an art exhibition inside and a hall where a revolutionary Peking opera model play, "Red Lantern", was being rehearsed. Yunqing silently had an idea in her heart...

Yunqing returned home and made some medicine for Mengyan. Then she started to rummage through the boxes and cabinets. She found some of her paintings from a few years ago and her long hair when she was young.

When Yunqing was young, she had two long and thick braids. Someone was willing to exchange a bicycle for Yunqing's long hair, but Yunqing was reluctant to sell her hair. Before she got married, Yunqing's hair was black and shiny, like the wings of a crow, black and shiny, and as soft as willow branches. Yunqing's hair was black and shiny, like ink dyed, giving people who saw her a strong visual impact. Coupled with her beautiful big eyes, she was the goddess and favorite object in the hearts of many young men...

Fate seemed to have played a joke on Yunqing. Many people introduced a man to Yunqing, a talented woman, but Yunqing arrogantly refused. She was neither too high nor too low, and she was still unmarried at the age of 27. Her uncle Wang Fu was criticized by the Red Guards for being a Kuomintang policeman, and his legs were broken. His eldest son took the college entrance examination and ranked first in the county, but because his father was a Kuomintang policeman, he failed the political review and was rejected. The children of poor and lower-middle peasants in the same village went to college instead. This was a huge blow to Wang Fu. He felt sorry for his eldest son and fell ill from then on. Aunt Wang Li asked Zhan Yu to treat Wang Fu. She was impressed by Zhan Yu's medical skills and appearance. In order to make it easier for her husband Wang Fu to see a doctor, Yunqing's aunt Wang Li concealed the fact that Zhan Yu had seven sons from Yunqing. When Zhan Yu and Yunqing met, both were very satisfied with each other's appearance. Yunqing is an unmarried woman who is not familiar with the love field. Under the influence of Zhanyu's medical skills and sweet words, she married Zhanyu. After marriage, the children who were fostered in other people's homes were taken back by Zhanyu one by one. When the stepchildren fought with the children outside, the parents came to the door and pointed at the pregnant Yunqing and scolded her, saying that the stepmother could not educate the children and was protective of the calf. Yunqing was so angry that she gave birth prematurely. She realized that she was deceived. She cried to her aunt and cried to Zhanyu for a divorce. But in the end, she couldn't bear to leave when she saw the hungry children. Finally, she cut her long hair, determined to forget the past, and lived with Zhanyu wholeheartedly.

Yunqing and Zhanyu went to Heilongjiang to make a living. Every year during the Spring Festival, when the village was rehearsing programs, Yunqing would use her own long braids to give to her daughter Zhan Yingying, letting her play Li Tiemei in "Red Lantern". Zhan Yingying's appearance was vivid, and Yunqing's long braids were a highlight on Zhan Yingying, which aroused cheers from the people in the village. It was a boiling and lively scene...

Today, Yunqing took out the two black braids she had cut off, and her heart was like a pot of mixed feelings, with bitter, spicy, sour, sweet and salty all coming to her mind...

"I hope all the emotions will go with the wind, leaving only the touch and warmth..." Yunqing thought to herself.

"Mom, why are you taking out your braids?" Zhan Mengyan asked in confusion when she saw Yunqing holding the two braids in a daze.

"Mengyan, Mom has brought you the medicine. After you drink it, take a rest and then do the homework I assigned to you. I have to go to the county town to sell the painting and my hair, and then buy you a course of medicine. This time, we must completely kill the hepatitis..." Yunqing said.

"Mom, I don't want to sell your paintings. They are the products of your hard work. And you can't sell your braids either. They are precious memories of your youth..." Meng Yan said while crying.

Yunqing wiped Zhan Mengyan's tears in a hurry and comforted her, "My dear daughter, don't cry. Mom feels so guilty and remorseful for not taking good care of you and making you sick. Besides, if you want braids, Mom can grow long hair again. You can also paint again. But if our Mengyan's health is lost, no amount of money can buy it back. Look at your brother Ziqiang, he missed the best time for treatment and became disabled for life. Do you want to be like him? Do you want Mom to spend her life in pain and guilt? Don't you like playing basketball? When you recover, you can go to the basketball court again and become a slam dunk master, a sports champion..."