Humanity...

It was the summer of 1980, I was a third year student at Hanoi University of Science and Technology.

Illustration photo. Source Internet

I was a soldier returning to study, the class party secretary, and at that time I was assigned to verify the background check for a student in my class named Quan, who was from Dong Tho commune, Thanh Hoa town. I was given a work permit from the school and took the train to Thanh Hoa. In those days, weather forecasts on our country's radio stations were often inaccurate. Meteorology was always a source of jokes. When it was sunny, there was heavy rain, and when it was rainy, the fields were cracked and there was no sign of rain. I went to Thanh Hoa on the day a storm hit the East Sea without knowing it.

I passed by Quan's neighborhood, knowing that he was home but I didn't turn in to keep to the rules. I went straight to the commune committee headquarters on the edge of the village, where the party committee also worked. I gave my letter of introduction and talked to Ms. Binh, the standing member of the commune party committee, before I finished my pot of tea when the wind blew fiercely outside. It was only about three o'clock in the afternoon. As soon as Ms. Binh stood up to close the window, the rain started to fall heavily. The raindrops were so big that I could count them. Ms. Binh immediately locked the door, gave me a raincoat, and the two of us ran through the rain to her house, nearly a kilometer away.

Binh's house is located in a small hamlet next to the railway, from there to Thanh Hoa station is about a kilometer. When I got home, I saw the rain pouring down on the sky and the ground. Binh's house is a small brick house with three rooms and a small brick yard. At the front and back of the house, there are some dense bamboo bushes, leaning to block the wind. At home, there are only her two children, who are just in primary school. After a while, her husband came running back in the rain and wind. He works as a fish pond keeper for the cooperative. He is about ten years older than me, with dark brown skin, he looks like a strong man. We greeted each other, his voice was loud like someone who talks loudly.

That night I stayed at Binh's house, having dinner with the family. They cooked a lot of rice, the food was a bunch of small fish like mackerel that he brought back from the pond to cook. The vegetable was a kind of boiled lotus stem, I think it was called lotus root. The whole family ate deliciously, including the two children who quietly and well-behavedly scooped up food by themselves. Binh and I only ate three bowls each, but her husband had to eat seven or eight bowls. For each full bowl of rice, he would pick up a piece of fish and put it on top, then use his chopsticks to cut the rice bowl into four pieces like we cut banh chung. Then each time he used his chopsticks, he would push a quarter of the bowl into his mouth. Just like that, four times he would cut the chopsticks, four bites, and the bowl of rice was gone. I had only eaten a few bites of rice, and strangely stopped my chopsticks to watch him eat. While he was serving his wife a new bowl of rice, he waved his hand and told me, "Eat well, why do men eat so slowly?" I sped up but finished the meal much later than him, Binh had to eat and wait for me. In the end, I finished my meal just a little bit earlier than the two children.

That night, Binh left his wife in the room with the children, and he put an extra bamboo bed outside the house for me to sleep with him, each of us on a bed. They were so kind. Only later, when I had a wife, did I understand that he had sacrificed several nights away from his wife to sleep next to me, an unwilling guest, to ease my sadness. That night, the rain poured down, the wind blew loudly in the yard. The sound of the rain seemed to chase each other on the roof. Binh and his wife's neighborhood had no electricity. It was dark all around, but every now and then there was thunder and lightning, everything looked flickering. I was a soldier, used to sleeping under the open sky and very easy to sleep, lying down anywhere. I used to sleep in the sun in a large field without a tree, covering my face with a towel and sleeping, letting the sweat pour out and dry, my clothes burning hot. At the outpost for several weeks during the rainy season, I slept with only half of my body wrapped in plastic, and from my thighs down, soaked in the rain all night long, but still slept. Hearing the sound of enemy artillery fire, I jumped up and rushed down into the wet valley. After the artillery fire, I crawled back up and wrapped myself in plastic to continue sleeping, even though my clothes were now soaked. But at Binh's house, I lay listening to the rain and wind in the yard, and it took me a long time to fall asleep.

The next morning it was still raining heavily. It seemed like this area was in the eye of the storm. The rain was not as persistent as the rain in the forest, but being in the eye of the storm was still very scary. The rain was heavy and the wind was very strong, as if the sky was pouring water down. Binh and his wife got up early to boil sweet potatoes for breakfast. The rain was still pouring down on the sky and the ground, and they couldn't see anything from afar. The water in the yard was still ten centimeters deep before it could drain away. After breakfast, he went to the fish pond, and Binh also put on plastic and went to the committee office. I was the only one at home with the two children. I asked them about the story, the older sister was in fourth grade, the younger brother was in second grade. There was nothing to do, so I told the two children to take out their books and study. It turned out that the two children were very studious. They were bustling about asking me about the exercises they hadn't done yet. So I played the role of a village teacher teaching the two children. At noon, Binh and his wife both returned home. They had caught a bunch of shrimp from the pond and a handful of lotus stems that he brought back for food. Lunch was the same as last night's dinner, he still ate quickly and a lot. Still urging me to “eat well”. In the afternoon, I was home alone with the two children studying. Sister Binh prepared a large pot of guava tea for the three of us to drink. Late in the afternoon, my brother and sister came home in the pouring rain to have dinner. In the evening, they just sat and talked for a while and then went to bed early. Because of the storm, they couldn’t do anything at home.

For three days straight, everything went on without any change. He went to the pond to look after the fish, and she went to the commune party committee to work. I still stayed home twice a day with the two children to study and do math. They liked and respected me very much. As for the work of checking the background of Quan to join the party, Binh helped me to do it completely. I did not have to go to the house of the party cell secretary or the commune party committee secretary to present and ask for opinions and to sign and stamp. The rain gradually stopped, only pouring down and then clearing up. Sometimes the sky was a little sunny. The train, after several days of being quiet to avoid the storm, was now running again, so it was time for me to say goodbye to Binh and his two children and return home. I had been at Binh's house for more than three days and four nights.

Early in the morning of the fourth night, Binh and I woke up early so he could take me to the train station. On this business trip, I thought that I would finish my work that afternoon, and in the evening I would go to the station to buy some cakes and fruits to eat and sleep there until morning to return to Hanoi. Therefore, I only brought a little money and no rice stamps. I didn't expect to be stuck because of the storm and stay at Binh's house for several days. The night before, to prepare to say goodbye, I thanked Binh and her husband and awkwardly gave them some money from my pocket, keeping only enough money to buy a train ticket. They brushed it off, and she even blamed me:

- Don't let us down. That's looking down on us. You used to be a soldier too. This time I came here to work for public purposes. If Uncle Quan is allowed to join the Party, our commune will have one more government official, adding glory to the commune. You stay at our house for a few days, helping the children study, the affection is like a soldier with the people. We can help you a little and feel warm inside. Don't think about it. Please send our regards to the elders. If you have a chance to come here in the future, stop by our house.

There was only a dim oil lamp in the house. I held Binh and his wife's hands and felt tears welling up in my eyes. Binh and his wife were so kind. The people of Thanh Hoa were so kind and benevolent, just like the spirit of those days when they gave everything to the front line.

Mr. Binh took me by a shortcut to the station when it was still dark so that he could come back in time for breakfast and to go to the pond to watch the fish. I was almost the first passenger to board the train at Thanh Hoa station that day.

When I arrived in Hanoi, I immediately went to buy two sets of textbooks for grades two and four. Back then, it was not easy for students to buy enough textbooks, especially in the countryside. I sent Quan a message, telling him that if he ever returned to Thanh Hoa, he should bring them to Ms. Binh's house for me.

The beautiful and warm memories of the people of Thanh Hoa have followed me throughout my life, helping me to always believe and try to overcome all difficulties in life.

Vu Cong Chien (Contributor)

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/tinh-nguoi-218465.htm