On Chinese New Year's Eve 2013, after the dinner of all employees, the boss distributed year-end bonuses and New Year's gifts. One of the gifts that stood out to me the most was a case of four bottles of local specialty liquor that went on sale after a year later.

I didn't pay much attention to the specific name of a temporary worker who hired a handyman a few years ago, but I only knew that his family lived in Tianhe Township, so everyone often called him "Tianhe people". At that time, he also got a box of liquor, and when he asked us about the price of this liquor, a colleague replied: "A box of liquor is at least 200 yuan, and it is estimated that there will be more than this price on the market after the year, and it is possible to sell it for 3 or 400." ”

He muttered: "I don't drink, I want money, I take the wine and exchange it for 200 yuan with the boss." ”

I stopped him: "Swap the wine for two hundred dollars?" It's not a good deal, you think about it again. ”

He shook his head and immediately rushed into the office to find the boss. In the end, everyone carried the wine, and only he happily carried two hundred yuan.

The older accountant muttered to himself in a slightly sympathetic tone: "For some people, two hundred yuan is 'big money'." ”

The warm sun was in the sky on the first day of the new year, and I was on duty on the second day of the new year, who knew that the weather suddenly changed in the morning, the cold wind was raging, and the sky was full of white flocculents. In this kind of bad weather, few leaders are willing to go out to check their posts, so just after ten o'clock, I plan to close the door and leave. I didn't expect that "Tianhe man" to suddenly appear in front of me: a sugarcane-thick stick carrying two urea pockets, one end containing a quilt, the other end containing a few changes of clothes, and there are bulging things in the pockets, which should be enamel bowls or lunch boxes.

I beckoned him in, and he waved at me, saying that he had mud on his feet and was afraid of soiling the floor. Then he told me that he was going to work on a construction site in the south and wanted to say hello and say goodbye. Only then did I realize that his sneakers were already soaked, mud crawling down his ankles and knees, and his thighs were half damp.

"It's only the second day of the Lunar New Year, so I'm going to go out, can't I delay it for a few days?"

"My two sons are in their early twenties, and they all have to buy a house in the city, and they can't marry a daughter-in-law if they don't have a house, so can't they work?" He shifted the burden from his right shoulder to his left.

"How can one person's strength work, buying a house requires the joint efforts of a family."

"yes, how can you expect me to do it alone? But if I get a little more tired, they get a little less. Now while I'm in good health, I can get tired a little. ”

"Come in, right? It feels like the snow is getting heavier and heavier......"

"No, I'm leaving. It's nothing, people have to work when they are alive, and they can't save up and use this strength if they keep it, why keep it, do you say this is the reason? With that, he turned and walked into the vast snowstorm.

That summer, I heard that he had an accident at the construction site, and his family was willing to go private after receiving 400,000 yuan in death compensation. Later, the workers whispered in private, saying that he deliberately jumped from the balcony on the 16th floor, and that he wanted to buy a house for his son as soon as possible......

There is no way to verify the exact reason, and no one can tell the truth. In the autumn of that year, the two sons of Tianhe people each received 200,000 yuan in compensation, and they paid a down payment for the house, and finally fulfilled their dream of buying a house in the city.

Yesterday at noon, an acquaintance told me that a few local migrant workers who returned to their hometowns for the New Year ignored the seriousness of the pneumonia epidemic and took a private car to return to the original small workshop to work.

"They are also forced by life, and there is no way to ......"

"You know what?" The acquaintance is so angry that he almost jumps his feet.

I didn't argue, I could understand their anxious mood and helpless behavior when they rushed out to work.

Yes, it is difficult to keep a family without knowing it: firewood, rice, oil and salt, living necessities, housing loans, car loans, consumer loans, water loans, electricity bills, gas bills, property fees, Internet fees, phone bills, etc., the elderly and children, a large family, food, clothing, housing and transportation, all aspects, all kinds of expenses have to be spent, what should they do if they always stay at home?

The poet Oscar Wilde said that when I was young, I thought that money was the most important thing in the world, but now that I am old, I know that it is true.

I think of myself as a person with few desires, at least not utilitarian, in fact, sometimes I still think that money is a pile of paper and a string of numbers for the rich, but for the poor, under very special circumstances, it is no exaggeration: money is equivalent to life!

For those who return to work, I understand, I respect, I bless, I want to say: pay attention to protection, I wish you health!