Mysterious cabinets

When I was very young, I started thinking about what is precious and what is valuable. From the day I started thinking, the long treasure hunt began.

"Grandpa, where are your most precious things?"

When I was in elementary school, I had to take a lunch break at my grandfather's house every day, and before I went to bed, I liked to ask this question the most.

Grandpa squinted and smiled every time, pointing to the highest cabinet. "Grandpa's most valuable things are there." Then, my grandfather told me a story about "Li Ji Kills the Snake" and then lulled me to sleep.

I don't know how many lunch breaks have been like this. I even think that my grandfather will only tell the story of "Li Ji Kills the Snake" to lull the child to sleep.

When I woke up, I forgot about my grandfather's treasures, because every 20 minutes before class, the whole living area would remember the rushing music. Most of my lunch break was wake-up.

But my grandfather's "treasure" filled me with curiosity, and I wondered if there were heirlooms handed down from ancient times, or many, many jewels, just like the treasures in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. When I was young, I combined cartoons with my brain to make up the pictures every day.

Countless times, I've wanted to open that cabinet and see what's inside.

However, even with my height, I can't touch the cabinet. Hey, short children have to suffer a lot when it comes to exploring the world.

Ordinary box

Later, when I grew up, when I went to junior high school, I stopped taking a lunch break at my grandfather's house at noon.

The environment of junior high school is much more "social" than that of elementary school, and the people here are not as simple as their elementary school classmates. Kindness, diligence, and integrity are no longer the only criteria for judging a student's excellence.

There is a lot of competition here, and the results and interests are the most important. In the words of our homeroom teacher, "When you think that a diamond is more valuable than a beautiful glass ball, you have grown up sadly." ”

As for my grandfather's treasures, I don't care anymore.

But it didn't take long for me to know the truth about this treasure.

Before the Chinese New Year that year, my grandfather's family bought a new cabinet, and we juniors and adults were responsible for moving the cabinet and moving the contents of the cabinet.

At that time, I was standing on a stool and could barely open the cabinet that I could not control in childhood, and I went in with my hand and touched it.

That treasure turned out to be two boxes.

The mysterious treasure of childhood was cracked like this, and I was not excited at all, and I didn't even bother to open the box.

Because at that time, I already knew that the most precious thing in the world is money - !

In addition to the passbook and bank card, what else can be contained in these two boxes?

Don't think about those useless things, hurry up and brush up on two more questions, and the most important thing is to meet the high school entrance examination.

The truth of the treasure

However, the story is not over yet, I remember one day in 2018, I came to my grandfather's house again to help him clean up his things.

Because my grandfather is moving to a new house this year, the useful things in the old house have to be moved.

At this time, my grandfather was already old, and he could only walk slowly. But my grandfather kept holding the two metal boxes in his hands.

I said, "Grandpa, I'll help you take it, and you will be responsible for directing us, don't take anything." ”

My grandfather handed me the box and told me repeatedly, "Take it well, it's my most precious thing." ”

At this time, the box is not the same as before, and there is an extra white note pasted on it, "*** commemorative medal".

Yes?! It turns out that grandpa's treasure is not money!

Maybe my grandfather was afraid that the moving things would be messy, so he put a note on this ordinary box.

Childhood memories and junior high school fantasies, these things flashed through my mind again.

It seems that the plot of a shocking case many years ago has been reversed and turned into an unjust, false and wrongful case.

This?! What is it? Once again, the curiosity of my childhood came to me.

I couldn't wait to open the box.

。。。。。。

It turned out that my grandfather's treasure turned out to be the national medal of honor that my grandfather, the old Red Army, had been awarded over the past few decades!

The medals were neatly arranged in categories, and each pile of medals was carefully wrapped in paper by my grandfather and attached with words.

An overall description of the contents is also included in the box. Write down the origin of each medal clearly.

My grandfather regarded these as the most precious things in his life, and my admiration came from my heart.

I felt like I had returned to my grandfather's young world.

It was a time of misery, there was not enough to eat, wars were raging, everything was devastated, and money was nothing at all. And my grandfather survived by this "treasure", that is, love and hope.

The country has changed from poverty in the past to prosperity today, and my grandfather has always loved this country, shed blood for the country, regarded the affairs of the motherland as a lifelong career, and was proud of the motherland. Until his death, he was still concerned about the Sino-US trade war. He is full of infinite hope for the future of the country.

My grandfather regarded these medals as not only honors, but also love and hope for the nation.

For those of us who have not experienced that era, it is difficult to appreciate how precious it was to maintain "love and hope" in that era.

On the other hand, we are ashamed of ourselves, and now we blindly emphasize "innovation", thinking that foreign countries are superior, and that old things should be revolutionized, but we forget that the basis of innovation should be "inheritance".

Now we are slaves to money, and we have been on our knees for so long that we have forgotten how to stand up!

Inheritance

In 2019, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the state awarded the Republic Medal to my grandfather, but unfortunately, the person who received the medal is no longer there.

On January 3, 2019, my grandfather left us forever, but he lit us up with the torch of his life. It lit a fire in the hearts of everyone in our family.

Thanks to my grandfather for leaving us this treasure, and touching the imprints of these years, I felt as if I felt the power from another parallel universe.

From that moment on, I was determined to pass on this spirit with what I had learned all my life, and to contribute to the development of my country with "love and hope", and I think this is what he wants to see.

And we will light up the world with our torches.

In fact, every family has such a group of old-timers, they are not good at talking, they are dazzled, and they may not even be alive, but they have seen the various states of life, and they will precipitate the most precious things and put them in a "box", waiting for the younger generations to "open" and pass them on.

Grandpa's treasure

When he was young, he struggled to find treasures, but the treasures were hanging in high cabinets.

When I was young, I got a brocade box by chance, but I couldn't see it with ridiculous frivolity.

After all, I will get the truth when I grow up, but I sigh that things are sleeping in people.

The inheritance of future generations needs to forge ahead, and love and hope will last forever.

———— psychochemist Yu Fan