Freezing Point Special Issue No. 1227
Home that can't be destroyed
She knows that her hands can't stop, and only if they don't stop, can there be business.
It was the left hand that was burnt into a ball, the small gap between the thumb and the index finger was filled with wool, the burned finger of the right hand was 90 degrees perpendicular to the back of the hand, the crochet needle was clamped in the tiger's mouth, and a sunflower was slowly hooked out.
At the exit of a shopping plaza on Jianghan Road Pedestrian Street in Wuhan, her stall was especially lively.
From time to time, sanitation workers, umbrella vendors, and restaurant staff chatted with her. She took out plastic bags or white plastic foam boards and asked them to sit down.
Her name is Lu Guizhi, from Shangqiu City, Henan Province.
In 1995, a kerosene lamp at home exploded, burning her hands and face.
Her 3-year-old son Guo Xiaofei was also burned beyond recognition, with his mouth growing together, leaving only a straw-sized gap.
In order to treat their burns, the family ran out of savings and owed debts.
Lu Guizhi's husband, Guo Yanli, was pushing a cart and begging with his wife and children.
Later, Lu Guizhi painted with her fingers that could not distinguish her. Guo Yanli sold fruits and candied haws and wandered in several cities.
In the end, Wuhan accepted the family, but the city management did not rush them. The eldest son and daughter-in-law were weaving flowers. Guo Yanli wrapped twine on the flowerpots. Lu Guizhi and Guo Xiaofei sold them. The family was tied together because of the flowers.
This family not only did not collapse, but also added a new member-an abandoned baby with hemangioma.
It was a rainy day when the girl was picked up, and it was also the most difficult time for this family. Nan Nan was the same voice, and they named the girl "Yun Nan".
1
In the eight years since coming to Wuhan, Lu Guizhi has never been to the Yellow Crane Tower or shopping malls. Even the Jianghan Road pedestrian street where she sells flowers all the year round, she just walked through once in a hurry, or when she gave flowers to customers.
In an old rental house in Hongluo Community, Wuchang District, cartons full of flowers and fertilizer bags filled the entire home. Guo Yanli shrank in the narrow aisle every day to make flowers for more than ten hours.
Flower making is very boring. Guo Yanli wraps flowers and leaves on iron wires and embeds them in plastic flowerpots, then brushes yellow glue on the flowerpots and wraps them with twine.
In order to pass the time, he works while watching various live broadcasts. "Sounds are fine." He smokes a lot, even riding a bicycle. He smokes three or four packs of cheap cigarettes a day for 5 yuan.
Hua is the livelihood of a family of 8 people.
After graduating from university, the eldest son stayed in his hometown in Henan, hooked the flowers and sent them to Wuhan and Changsha. Guo Xiaofei sold flowers in Changsha and Lu Guizhi sold flowers in Wuhan.
Jianghan Road is one of the most prosperous commercial streets in Wuhan, and Lu Guizhi takes eight or nine hours to sit.
She didn't yell, and a piece of cardboard was placed on the flower with the words "Disabled by fire, adopted and abandoned baby". The price of knitting flowers ranges from 5 yuan to 65 yuan, and the most popular is the 40 yuan sunflower.
Most people who visit the flower stalls are young people. Seeing her gray hair, many people call "grandma", but in fact, she is only 54 years old.
Some people saw media reports that they made a special trip to buy flowers. Some people would transfer 10 yuan more when they paid. Others were too expensive and bargained with Lu Guizhi.
Every time a flower is sold, the payment information will be sent to the husband and eldest son's mobile phones.
Some customers change the price of sunflowers to 4 yuan, and family members will promptly remind Lu Guizhi that the other party paid the wrong amount.
Lu Guizhi is sold from 2 pm to 10 pm. When you are hungry, you can buy a bowl of noodle soup without meat for 7 yuan. When you get home at almost 11 o’clock in the evening, the family has eaten and slept until 1 o’clock late at night. .
They are contented when they spend their days, and they have experienced the pain of not having money.
Originally, they were a happy family of four. Lu Guizhi took care of the children at home, Guo Yanli ran a kiln factory, and the family had a deposit of 10,000 yuan.
But the sudden explosion destroyed the home.
One day in 1995, Lu Guizhi added oil to the kerosene lamp, Xiao Fei took a candle to light the oil wick, and there was a sound of a cannon, and the low-quality coal was fried.
When Lu Guizhi woke up in the hospital, she heard her husband crying. She went to look in the mirror and was frightened by herself—no hair, bulging eyelids, teeth barking, her hands wrapped in thick bandages, "like a ghost." ".
She went to live with her sister, her niece was too scared to sleep, and the eldest son was afraid of her, hiding from her for a few meters.
The younger son burned harder, his face and hands burned to pitch black, and he could not speak or cry for a few days in the hospital. “It's just flickering and a little angry.”
Overnight, the family was impoverished.
Guo Yanli went to the County Civil Affairs Bureau and received 200 yuan in relief money. Seeing that he had no food and clothing, he was pushing a scooter with his 5-year-old son and 3-year-old Xiaofei sitting in the car. Lu Guizhi followed behind. , They go to beg for food, and go to the hospital for treatment when they ask for money.
In 2008, Lu Guizhi was treated in a hospital in Henan and found that a baby on the right half of his body was covered with hemangioma lying on the side entrance of the hospital, wrapped in a red quilt, crying as the crowd watched.
She took the child home.
"She has hands and feet, and I and Xiao Fei have no hands. She can reach both of us." Lu Guizhi once said to others.
Now, 13-year-old Yunan helps Lu Guizhi button up buttons and carry shoes.
Lu Guizhi was afraid of the dark, so she didn't dare to go out alone at night, so she wouldn't be afraid to be accompanied by Yunan.
2
Recalling the experience of begging for dinner in those two years, 53-year-old Guo Yanli had moist eyes, "It was really difficult those years."
Regarding this couple, there are all kinds of voices. Someone told Guo Yanli that they should not break their conscience and abandon their wives.
Once, Guo Yanli was pulling a car, and two little boys walked across from him. One boy said, "Look how ugly his wife is, and the man still hugs her. If you want me, I don't want it."
A few meters away, the couple heard the conversation and said nothing.
Lu Guizhi thought she was ugly, and never took her husband's battery car to go out in the village. After going out to work, she deliberately staggered her home time with her husband. "It feels like normal people and disabled people can't get through together."
She even introduced other women to her husband, "I said I will give you my husband, and the family and children belong to you. I will go out to earn money and you will take care of the house." But Guo Yanli did not leave, "I am not willing to leave this house." He mentioned this. Guo Yanli was a little embarrassed about the matter, saying "there is nothing".
Guo Yanli stayed and took care of Xiao Fei wholeheartedly.
Less than two weeks after being discharged from the hospital, Xiao Fei's lips had grown together, leaving only enough gaps to plug the drinking straws. Guo Yanli rolled the buns into thin strips and fed them into his son's mouth.
When he caught a cold, Xiao Fei could not breathe in his mouth and nose, foaming at the mouth, and a bun-sized bag swelled out of his chest. Guo Yanli could only use a cotton swab to guide his son's nose.
Later, when Lu Guizhi begs for food, Guo Yanli does odd jobs and earns dozens of yuan a day.
In the meantime, an Anhui native wanted to take Xiao Fei away and went to a temple in a county in Zhejiang to sell incense. He gave Guo Yanli 3,000 yuan a month, but Guo Yanli refused.
Xiao Fei couldn't eat, and Guo Yanli kept going.
For a while, he almost couldn't support it anymore, thinking "one out of a hundred".
It wasn't until 1997 that Xiao Fei underwent several operations in succession, with his mouth open and no one was taking care of the meal, that Guo Yanli saw hope.
That was when Lu Guizhi was happiest, and the couple confirmed that the youngest son's life was saved.
After a few years, the children gradually grew up, the eldest son started to go to school, the younger son reached the age to remember, and the two sons would marry a daughter-in-law in the future. The couple discussed that they should not beg for food anymore and had to do something "business."
Lu Guizhi used a few centimeters between the thumb and index finger of his right hand to clamp the drawing pen.
She has been to Nanjing, Xuzhou, and Beijing, where she specializes in setting up stalls in crowded places, painting flowers, birds, and fish, and allowing customers to bid at will.
Guo Yanli went to Kunshan, moved bricks, sold fruits, and decorated glass.
The two rarely go home, and Lu Guizhi sometimes does not go home during Chinese New Year.
The sons missed their mother, crying on the phone to let her go home.
Lu Guizhi always thinks that students will be on holiday during the New Year, and there will be a lot of people, "earn more."
3
Making money has always been the most important thing in this family.
Lu Guizhi's daily income from selling flowers varies from one thousand yuan to one hundred to two hundred yuan.
Only if the family earns 300 yuan a day, the rent and daily expenses of the family can be kept.
In Yu Nan's eyes, his parents always circled the flowers.
There was a parent-teacher meeting at the school. My mother had never been there, but my father went. Once, my father overslept and didn't go to the meeting.
She used to go back to her hometown every winter vacation and Chinese New Year. This year, she didn't go back. It was just a festival. She only ate dumplings. For so many years, it was stuffed with leeks and pork.
When she was not going to school, she played with her mobile phone at home until the early morning, and only got up the next afternoon.
Because the hemangioma oppresses the eye nerves, Yu Nan is almost invisible in one eye, and has mild nearsightedness in the other eye. Lu Guizhi does not let her play with the mobile phone, and Yu Nan does not listen. She feels that she has nothing to do without using the mobile phone.
Once, Yunan asked Lu Guizhi, do you know what the child wants? It was parents who took it to the square on weekends.
Lu Guizhi said that they were children from the city. The more weekends we get, the busier our business will become.
"Then you guys can make money." Yu Nan shook it.
Because she was busy selling flowers, her family forgot to celebrate her birthday in May this year.
Originally, Yu Nan made notes on her mobile phone memo, alarm clock, and calendar. She wanted to invite friends to play at home on her birthday, but her parents forgot and she didn't mention it.
Four days later, Lu Guizhi suddenly remembered, and Yu Nan said frustratedly, "I thought no one remembered."
This summer, an outsider accompanied her to play in the Yellow Crane Tower. What she was happiest was meeting a tabby cat.
She likes animals. In the past, she had a pet rabbit in the house, which was left by other tenants.
Yu Nan pours water and feeds the rabbits every day, and raises them to a weight of eight or nine kilograms. Later, Lu Guizhi sold the rabbits because they could not bring them back to their hometown during the Chinese New Year.
Yu Nan cried all night, and Lu Guizhi found the man again, and wanted to buy it at 5 times the price. Unfortunately, the rabbit was taken back to the country.
When they were working in Kunshan, they also raised three native dogs at home. They were very obedient. Yu Nan liked the dog called "Ball Ball" the most, and always ran around her, but the three dogs were later slaughtered by Guo Yanli—— The city management asked them to vaccinate the dogs. A dog would cost several hundred yuan. Guo Yanli felt it was not worth it and stewed two pots of dog meat.
Yu Nan was three or four years old at the time. She remembered that her father made a necklace of dog teeth for her. She threw it away and didn't eat a bite of the dog meat.
If you can raise another dog, Yu Nan also wants to name it "Qiuqiu".
She said that raising animals is hoping to play with her because "the house is busy".
Lu Guizhi said that because Yu Nan had no one to play with, he "forgot everything when he played."
Once, she and her friend were playing in Jianghan Road Pedestrian Street, and they said they would go home at 9 o'clock, and no one was seen at 10 o'clock.
The family was searching all over the street and found her in a theater on the 7th floor of a shopping mall.
When he got home, Guo Yanli beat Yunan and said that she would not be needed anymore.
Sometimes Yu Nan went to school in the morning and didn't get up no matter how she called. Lu Guizhi was anxious and said, "Let's go, I don't want you anymore."
Maybe it was because she took the words of her parents seriously, she was afraid of losing the love of her family.
Seeing Lu Guizhi holding her grandson, she said angrily, this is my mother, not your mother.
She competed with her elder brother and said that she would earn money in the future and buy a big house for Lu Guizhi to live in. She loved her more than her two elder brothers.
She cares about being said to be an abandoned baby, and let Lu Guizhi say that she is biological.
She is cautious in this home.
Once she bought a hamburger and didn't finish it, and threw it into the trash can, but she tricked Lu Guizhi into eating it.
Lu Guizhi picked out the hamburger again and asked Yunan why she lied. Yunan said she was afraid of being criticized for being unable to finish eating.
She also remembers the good of her family.
Once she had a fever and she vomited all night, and her mother helped her clean up the vomit, but she didn't close her eyes overnight.
The second brother hadn't seen her for more than a year. This time he came to Wuhan and brought her a Pikachu doll. The second brother also charged the phone bill.
Aware of Yunan's sensitivity, Lu Guizhi always pays attention to her emotions.
Only the second bedroom in the house was equipped with air-conditioning. When Guo Yanli squeezed in to sleep, Yu Nan had no place to sleep, and she sulked in hiding. Lu Guizhi quickly consoled her.
A student wanted to design clothes for Lu Guizhi for free. Lu Guizhi was afraid that "Yun Nan didn't feel good in his heart" after wearing the clothes. She asked the students to help Yu Nan design a suit.
4
Lu Guizhi tried his best to meet the requirements of Yu Nan.
When in Kunshan, Yunan said that she wanted to go to kindergarten. Lu Guizhi pushed her in a car, looked for people all over the street, and asked where the Education Bureau was.
When I went to find it for the first time, passers-by pointed her to the wrong place. She walked out of the county seat and the car broke down. She held Yunan in one hand and a wheelbarrow, panting with exhaustion.
The second time I found the right place, but the person in charge was not there. After a few days, Lu Guizhi went to find her again, and the Education Bureau issued a certificate for her to go to a school near where she lived.
But the school refused to admit Yunan on the grounds that she was suffering from hemangioma.
Lu Guizhi went to the Education Bureau again, and the Education Bureau asked her to go to a private school, but the school still refused.
This time, Lu Guizhi stayed in the school office and did not leave. She talked good things to others and said nothing else, just trying to "learn a word" for the child, and she started crying as she talked.
The school accepted.
Immediately afterwards, the problem came again. Yunan did not have a registered permanent residence and needed to go back to his hometown to make up for it.
For this reason, Lu Guizhi did not know how many times she ran to the police station and the Civil Affairs Bureau. The police station asked her to show her adoption certificate. Lu Guizhi did not. She showed the newspapers that reported on her before, proving that she was not adopted illegally.
Not only worrying about Yu Nan, in this house, Lu Guizhi has always been the one to show his face.
In 2012, Guo Yanli went to Wuhan to sell candied haws, but the tricycle was confiscated by the city management several times.
In desperation, Lu Guizhi went to Wuhan to help Guo Yanli ask for a car, and the urban management took pity on her and returned the car to them.
At that time, the eldest son and girlfriend were both in Wuhan. They were going to school while selling handmade roses. After the flowers were confiscated by the city management, Lu Guizhi asked for them for his daughter-in-law.
At the suggestion of his son, Lu Guizhi began to sell roses, and when he saw others selling sunflowers, the family bought them as hooks, and the variety of flowers became more and more.
In 2015, after the local media in Wuhan reported on Lu Guizhi, her booth was crowded the day before yesterday.
A local foundation also helped them all year round, sending oil and rice every year, and organizing volunteers to help them sell flowers, and sold them for 10,000 yuan in three days.
During the Wuhan epidemic in 2020, they returned to their hometown, and the foundation paid them one year's rent.
A local hospital also offered to treat them free of charge. Lu Guizhi’s left hand tiger’s mouth was cut with a larger opening. Just when he was burned, Lu Guizhi’s right thumb and index finger grew together. The tiger’s mouth could only clamp the chopsticks, and the right hand could not clamp anything To live, hold things with both hands, wash clothes and step on them.
Xiao Fei underwent two surgeries and opened his hands even wider, and the connection between his chin and neck was not so tight.
Yunan had laser surgery on her face, but it was not cured.
Although media reports can increase flower sales and bring medical aid resources, most of the family members are unwilling to face the camera.
During the interview, almost all Lu Guizhi said.
In a TV interview, the host asked Xiao Fei if he wanted to find a girlfriend. Xiao Fei was unwilling to answer. Lu Guizhi immediately took over the stubbornness and kept the show from falling out.
The night before the interview, she prepared her lines carefully and was so nervous that she couldn't sleep all night.
On stage, speaking of the sad past, she tried her best to make herself cry. She felt that only when she cried would the audience shed tears, believing that their stories are true.
But in fact, when telling reporters about her experience of scaring others away and begging for food, she always laughed, like stories that happened to others.
She has many friends, and the vendors on one street love to chat with her and help her. Everyone is familiar with this face: the mutilated nose shows nose hair, and there is only one ear. After many skin grafts, how is the face covered? Also ironed uneven folds.
An old man gave her unfinished magnolia flowers, another Henan fellow sold umbrellas next to her, helped her get plastic bags to customers, and a stranger always gave her masks, so her family hadn’t bought masks for a year. .
An elder sister who works in a restaurant and often gives her noodles said that Lu Guizhi is very optimistic and does not easily accept charity from others. She initially gave Lu Guizhi a bag of sugar, and Lu Guizhi resolutely gave her a flower in return. .
Lu Guizhi had found wallets, mobile phones, and gold bracelets on the street, some of them were handed over to the city management, and some were temporarily kept for others.
When someone came to pick it up, she asked the other party to buy her a flower as a thank you, or sent a circle of friends to promote her.
When someone buys her flowers, she will say "thank you" and explain that Xiao Fei will do the same, smiling at people and not "hanging her face".
She has always lived for this family, she has never given herself off vacation, nor has she bought skin care products.
The two or three pieces of clothing purchased in a year are all bought in the wholesale clothing market, worth tens of yuan each.
She loves beauty, and her clothes are mostly red and green with broken flowers.
At the end of June, a TV station in Harbin invited them to record a program. It was the first time the family took a plane and stayed in a star-rated hotel. Lu Guizhi felt that the hotel’s toothpaste was good, and the teeth she brushed were very white. She wanted to take it home. Guo Yanli wouldn’t let her. Angrily said, go home and buy toothpaste.
This time, she told the clerk that she wanted the "best toothpaste", and it cost 17 yuan.
She is the most frugal in the family. People often throw umbrellas on the subway, and she picks them up home. There are so many umbrellas covered with door hooks.
5
In Lu Guizhi's view, marriage is "two people working together to do business", running a good family, and supporting the children to grow up.
Lu Guizhi always praised Guo Yanli for being "capable", saying that he worked hard at home and was no better than her on the street and there were people chatting.
Guo Yanli makes flowers every day, and it takes more than ten hours to make flowers. Sometimes the business is good and the flowers can only be driven out by staying up all night.
Now that the eldest son is married and the younger son is independent, he said that he is "satisfied" to be able to get this far.
Before, Xiao Feizui could not eat, he had thoughts of suicide.
After decorating glass in Kunshan, he became obsessed with playing cards.
At first, the boss played, let him accompany, and the pay was paid. Later, he played by himself, and after winning once, he wanted to win, and then he kept losing.
The eldest son Guo Lianjie advised his father not to fight, he let his son go.
"That will make people not people, ghosts not ghosts. It's like being crazy." Guo Yanli described himself at the time.
Later, he followed the advice of his eldest son and came to Wuhan, which was regarded as a "restart".
Selling candied haws didn't go well. He helped the family make flowers. He didn't have time to go out, isolated from the outside world, and passed the time by watching live broadcasts.
Once Yu Nan heard her parents quarrel, the reason was that her father gave someone a gift of 300 yuan in the live broadcast room, which is equivalent to the family's food and housing expenses for a day. In many cases, Lu Guizhi squatted outside for a day and couldn't make this.
One evening, Lu Guizhi told reporters that mobile phones also had "bad things", especially for live broadcasts. Some female anchors asked men to swipe gifts once, and then shouted to her brother, "How many families have been destroyed", but she did not mention peace. Husband quarreled about buying gifts.
She felt that Guo Yanli still took care of his family over the years. He went out to eat by himself and always bought another one to take home to her.
Lu Guizhi said that she was a chronic child, and Guo Yanli was anxious.
When the two quarreled, Lu Guizhi said nothing and went out carrying flowers.
In the evening, Guo Yan's courtesy disappeared, and she waited for her to go home after dinner.
No matter how noisy, every afternoon, Guo Yanli still rides an electric car to send Lu Guizhi to the subway station, although this section of the road can be reached in 5 minutes.
At 10:30 in the evening, I picked her back on time, rain or shine.
Sometimes when Lu Guizhi couldn't wait for Lu Guizhi at night, Guo Yanli would call to inquire. When receiving the call, Lu Guizhi was smiling.
30-year-old Guo Lianjie is now the father of two children. He slowly understands his father’s difficulty in raising a family. "He is under a lot of psychological pressure." He believes that for his father, playing cards and watching mobile phones is a catharsis.
Sometimes the business gets busy, and the father and son stay up late together through WeChat videos and talk about the children.
In 2014, Guo Lianjie graduated from a technical school in Wuhan and worked as an intern in a technology company. With a monthly salary of more than 2,000 yuan, he "cannot survive", he returned to his hometown in Henan and settled down.
As another pillar of the family, Guo Lianjie takes care of many chores at home.
Parents don't know how to pay by mobile phone. He helps save the money spent on sales and pays them water, electricity, rent, and living expenses at regular intervals.
He also worries about the weddings, funerals, and friendships in his hometown.
During the years when he was in school, he noticed that there were many vendors on the streets of Wuhan, and that the urban management did not drive out the disabled, and encouraged the family to come to Wuhan. Later, he sold flowers.
He opened a Taobao shop in the name of his mother, and when someone placed an order, he notified his father to deliver the goods.
In his spare time, he makes flowers with his wife, and with the income from selling fruits online, he can barely afford a family of four.
Both Guo Yanli and his wife felt that they owed their eldest son.
When they were young, the brothers quarreled. Considering Xiao Fei’s disability, Guo Yanli would teach his elder son a lesson.
Lu Guizhi said that once, the eldest son asked her aggrievedly whether he was born with him and why his parents always turned to his younger brother.
Guo Lianjie no longer remembers these things. As far as he can remember, he lives with his grandparents. His parents take his younger brother out for treatment all year round and rarely go home.
He only remembered that his father was very strict and would be beaten if he didn't finish his homework. He understood that his father wanted him to "get ahead."
Taking care of a big family sometimes makes Guo Lianjie tired, but he feels that men can’t talk hard, "Drink two glasses today and continue to work tomorrow."
6
Now, the family is most at ease with Xiao Fei, hoping that he will get married.
Lu Guizhi introduced a divorced woman with two children to her son. The woman said she was afraid to see Xiao Fei.
She also brought a young girl home with a lame leg and unable to move her arms. The girl’s mother asked Xiao Fei to buy a house in Wuhan, and the relationship was gone.
Sometimes, the family and Xiao Fei try to discuss the matter of starting a family, and Xiao Fei always says "Nothing is right" and "Don't worry about it."
Lu Guizhi understands his son, looking for a normal person is afraid of being looked down upon, and it is not easy to find a disabled person, "there is pressure in my heart."
In Guo Lianjie’s impression, his younger brother spoke very little, never confided in his family, and asked everything "anything".
Although Xiao Fei didn't say anything on his mouth, his family knew that he cared about his appearance. His face was hurt more severely than Lu Guizhi's, and there was no complete facial features.
After repeated skin grafts on the face and hands, Xiao Fei's thigh and waist skin was cut off several times, leaving scars.
The most frequently performed operation is the chin. Because of severe facial burns, Xiao Fei's chin and neck grow together. Each time it is reopened, it takes several months to recover.
Speaking of the accident, Guo Xiaofei was reluctant to say more, saying that "it has been like this since childhood" and he got used to it.
Lu Guizhi remembered how Xiaofei looked good before she was burned. She regretted not taking pictures of Xiaofei as a souvenir. She had a black-and-white wedding photo of her when she was young. In the photo, she had short hair, round face, and clear eyebrows.
But as far as Xiao Fei can remember, all she sees is her incomplete self.
Guo Lianjie felt that his younger brother seemed to wrap himself up, resisting the eyes of the outside world.
When the family gathered in Wuhan, he found that his brother was always at home. When he got tired, he went for a walk nearby. He went out at night. When he came back, his family was asleep.
Every time Xiao Fei returns to his hometown from Changsha, Guo Lianjie feels that his brother is dressed in "tattered" clothes, "I feel like he never goes out to buy clothes."
Guo Lianjie guessed that his brother might be embarrassed to go shopping in the mall. He asked his wife to ask his brother's clothes size, buy him winter and summer clothes, and send it to Changsha.
Guo Yanli and Lu Guizhi also tried their best to take care of their younger son.
In the past, the children in the village would hide far away when they saw Xiao Fei. Xiao Fei was afraid to go out. Guo Yanli encouraged him to go to the supermarket to buy things. When the sellers didn't laugh at him, Xiao Fei gradually became willing to go out.
In 2012, Xiao Fei dropped out of school and went to Kunshan to help her parents take care of Yunan.
Lu Guizhi looked for him everywhere.
A supermarket recruited trolley recycling personnel. She took Xiao Fei to apply for the job, but the other party said that they would not recruit disabled people.
To sell newspapers, it didn't work.
Cannot find a job one after another, Xiao Fei is a little depressed, playing with her mobile phone at night, and sleeping during the day. Lu Guizhi feels that her son is "enclosing herself with a wall". She is afraid that Xiao Fei will have a psychological problem, and asks a foundation that helped them. , Arrange garbage collection for Xiao Fei.
后来，小飞尝试卖水果，郭彦礼陪着。遇到城管追，小飞就跑，芦桂芝怕小飞一害怕，撞到人，又去跟城管说好话，让城管别撵他。
直到2015年开始卖花，小飞的生活才走上正轨。郭连杰说，起初，弟弟不愿意卖花，家人天天劝，把小飞说哭了，那是小飞第一次在家人面前哭，以前做十几次手术，他都没掉泪。郭彦礼知道，儿子不想出去是“嫌丢人”，陪着他卖了3个多月。
卖花时，小飞和母亲一样坐着钩花，只是他的花更贵，母亲的太阳花卖40元，他卖80元，但也有人买他的花。随着花越卖越多，小飞对卖花不再那么抗拒。
郭连杰明显感到，弟弟卖花后朋友变多了，常出去吃饭，他很高兴，“毕竟不窝在家里了”。谈到长沙的生活，小飞变得健谈，他说周围朋友都是摆摊的，有个朋友没钱交房租，他让这位朋友免费到家里住。
小飞不抽烟、不喝酒，很少买东西，除了每月500元的房租，大部分支出都用来请客。
有段时间，他想赚更多钱，和人合伙开包子店，还买过理财产品，炒过股，都不顺利。那之后，郭连杰督促弟弟攒钱，帮助他在老家买了房。
郭彦礼说，哪怕小儿子不能成家，将来把房子留给大儿子的孩子，也能仰仗着后辈照顾。
芦桂芝打算努力卖花，攒几年钱，帮着小飞成家，再给雨楠治病。
这么多年熬过来，芦桂芝觉得自己很幸运。她喜欢武汉这座城市，年轻人买她花，养活了她一家人，城管照顾她，给了她一片容身之所，在这里，她可以做自己，因为没人认识她，“他们想看我就看，不看就不看。”
遭遇爆炸后，她似乎什么都不怕了，“前面有事，一样一样的解决。”去哈尔滨时，她坐在飞机上，望着窗外，看不到人，只有一朵朵白云飘过。她突然“迷茫得不得了”，觉得活着没有意义。但飞机一落地，看到人，她感慨人真厉害，创造这么丰富的世界，“还是人间好。”
中青报·中青网记者 尹海月