A 12-year-old girl cooks for her brother and sister according to the ＂cookbook＂： her mother works and goes home once a month.
Twelve years old is a happy age. You can go to school with a small bag on your back every day, cuddle up in your mother’s arms and eat delicious meals cooked by your mother … … But for 12-year-old Xiaomei (a pseudonym), all this seems to have become a long memory. After my mother went to Nanjing for business last year, she could only live in a cramped storage room of about 10 square meters in a residential area in Economic Development Zone of Suqian City, washing and cooking for her 16-year-old brother and 9-year-old sister, day after day. For her, the future is looking forward to growing up earlier. "Mom said that when she is 16 years old, she can go out and find something to do."
Yangzi Evening News reporter Gao Fengwen/photo
The girl cooks three meals a day according to the "recipe" on the wall
On the afternoon of January 19th, the reporter of Yangzi Evening News came to Xiaomei’s house according to the address provided by enthusiastic citizens. This is a storage room on the first floor of the community, only about 10 square meters. When you walk into the room, a musty smell comes.
Two 1.5-meter-wide beds are placed almost next to each other, occupying most of the room. Walking in from one end of the bed, the right hand side was separated from a bathroom with a washing machine outside. The prominent place in the corner of the room, with an area of about 1 square meter, became a kitchen. On the small round table, there was a single-headed gas stove with a range hood on it, and pots and various items were randomly placed next to it. The iron pot was open, and there was a bowl of hot sauce on the empty and dirty chopping board.
There is an air conditioner hanging on the wall opposite the bed. Under the air conditioner, there is a piece of stained paper, the edge of which has been curled. On the paper, there are three meals a day arranged by the mother for the children:
Breakfast 7— 9 (Reporter’s Note: Meal time) (only one can be selected): milk +2 eggs, millet porridge +2 eggs, millet porridge +4 steamed buns (pure meat);
Chinese food 11— 13, pancakes+scrambled eggs with tomatoes, steamed bread+fried meat with onions, pancakes+fried mung bean sprouts with leeks, fried shredded pork with celery+pancakes, and 4 steamed buns;
Dinner 5— 7. One cucumber, one apple, one tomato and half pitaya.
Xiaomei said that at first, it was my brother who cooked the meal. Later, my brother went out to find something to do, and he began to cook for his brother and sister according to the "recipe" for three meals a day prescribed by his mother. Every time my mother leaves, she will specially cook a bowl of hot sauce for the three brothers and sisters, which has become the next meal for the three brothers and sisters for a month.
On the morning of 20th, the reporter of Yangzi Evening News came to the community where the children lived again, only to see the door locked and the sisters playing with the children in the community.
"My sister’s cooking is delicious. Let’s have dinner at my house at noon." Near noon, my sister sent an invitation to a six or seven-year-old girl. Then, the three men walked into the house and the door closed.
Parents divorced and all three children dropped out of school.
In an interview with reporters, Ms. Li, the mother of three children, happened to have a rest and rushed back to Suqian to take care of her children. "I usually take four days off a month and come back once to see them. This time I only come back once every two months."
Ms. Li said that she is an Anhui native. After she married Fengxian County, Xuzhou, she gave birth to three children. The older one is a boy, now 16 years old, and the two younger ones are girls. Xiaomei is now 12 years old and the youngest child is only 9 years old. Ms. Li said that due to family breakdown, among the three children, the older child dropped out of school in the first grade, Xiaomei dropped out of school in the sixth grade, and the youngest daughter was forced to drop out of school just after entering the first grade.
Last May, she came to Suqian with three children and started her life again. Ms. Li rented a storage room in the community at the monthly price of 450 yuan, and the family settled down temporarily. Soon, Ms. Li found a job selling cosmetics, going out early and returning late every day, earning more than 2,000 yuan a month. Last October, Ms. Li went to Nanjing to do cosmetics business and earned more than 3,000 yuan a month. Every month, she will transfer more than 1,000 yuan to her son through WeChat transfer, which is the monthly living expenses of the three brothers and sisters.
For Ms. Li, although people have arrived in Nanjing, her heart is still concerned about Suqian’s three children. "I call several times a day, send WeChat, tell her how to cook, and ask if the clothes are hanging … …”
After learning about this special family, the residential property was very sympathetic and began to do some odd jobs with the brother of three children. "On the one hand, it can take care of him, guide him, prevent him from being adversely affected, and go to the wrong road. At the same time, it can also make him supplement some household expenses."
So, after her brother went out every day, 12-year-old Xiaomei took over the burden of cooking.
The police are worried about safety.
On the afternoon of 19th, when interviewed by Yangzi Evening News reporter, the police in the jurisdiction happened to visit Xiaomei’s home. "At the end of last year, we found this special family in the community investigation visit." The police said that at first, the family was very resistant to outsiders and could not communicate. After many times of communication, they learned something. "I am very worried about their safety. I can only come and walk more, and the community security guards will take care of them."
conversation
"I want to go to school but I don’t want to go to school"
Reporter: Do you cook?
Xiaomei: Do it. My brother’s cooking is not delicious.
Reporter: So you can cook?
Xiaomei: My mother always calls me to tell me what to do before cooking.
Reporter: Do you sleep after dinner at night?
Xiaomei: When my brother comes back at night, let us sleep after dinner. But I can’t sleep. My sister always cries for hours, which wakes me up and won’t fall asleep until 12 o’clock.
Reporter: Usually all the children in the community go to school. What do you do?
Xiaomei: Go home to sleep, and then get up to buy food and cook.
Reporter: Do you want to go to school?
Xiaomei: Yes and no. I want to go to school because I am bored at home, and I don’t know a word out of ten when I read a book, and no one teaches me. I don’t want to go to school, because I have to board and live at school, and my sister goes to school, so there is no one to pick me up.
Reporter: Do you want your mother to accompany you?
Xiaomei: Yes! But it’s no use, because my mother is going out. How can we live without going out?