[Commentary] You raise me to grow up, and I will accompany you to grow old.
On the top of the 10th floor of an old residential building in Beibei District, Chongqing, there is a special "canteen". The owner of the "canteen" is a couple over eighty years old, and the diners are all kinds of birds. .
This "canteen" is visited by hundreds of birds every day. Every time it is time for meals, they will arrive on time, flap their wings and eat happily. The scene is very spectacular.
[Concurrent] Li Yarong
This is mainly my hobby. I have liked flowers, birds, insects and fish since I was a child, and I like these small animals.
To see these birds doing evil, poor, good.
[Explanation] After graduating from University, Li Yarong was assigned to a machine tool factory in Chongqing to engage in technical work. In 1970, he moved with the factory to Beibei District, Chongqing.
Jiang Wenzhen came to Beibei with her husband and worked as a teacher in an elementary school.
In 1990, the couple moved to the building where they now live.
The two usually like to grow flowers and grass, so they chose the top floor and built a sky garden of about 160 square meters on the roof platform. The "Bird Canteen" is located in this sky garden.
[Concurrent] Li Yarong
Birds, come on, let's eat.
[Commentary] Every morning, Li Yarong and his wife don't brush their teeth and wash their faces first after they get up, but go upstairs and call the birds for dinner.
After the bird's food was settled, the couple began to prepare their own breakfast.
Talking about the origin of these birds, the two old people said that when they first moved here, there was a flour mill downstairs, and the birds nearby would peck at the scattered wheat grains in the flour mill.
Twenty years ago, the flour mill went out of business.
One day, they saw the birds flying around for food in their garden and worried that they would be starving.
[Concurrent] Jiang Wenzhen
You think that the flour mill is gone. After the demolition, there will be no food in this place.
It turned out that there were so many birds, thousands of them.
After the demolition, the birds had nothing to eat. Many birds flew on top of us. They looked pitiful and couldn't find anything to eat.
We just wanted to let us feed the birds and feed them for more than 20 years.
[Explanation] The main food for the couple to feed the birds is rice, which is fed once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and more than two catties are fed every day.
The old couple only eats 10 kilograms of rice every month. The little bird has more rations than them every month, but the old couple enjoys it.
[Concurrent] Jiang Wenzhen
We like it, it comes with the scent of birds and flowers, it's a taste.
Of course, this hobby surpasses everything. In addition to survival, you still have some hobbies.
[Explanation] The old man said that the relationship between them and the birds is no longer a simple relationship of feeding and being fed, but a relationship of mutual companionship.
They feel that life has become vibrant and colorful since they had these birds in their lives.
[Concurrent] Jiang Wenzhen
We are very concerned about it. If we go anywhere, the first thing we think about is that the birds have not eaten, so we will go back quickly. Even if he (Li Yarong) is hospitalized, he will run back to feed the birds.
Anyway, these birds are our eternal concern, unless we die.
[Commentary] As the couple grow older, they also start to worry, if one day their legs and feet are inconvenient, who will feed these cute birds?
But the old couple is sure of one thing: as long as they stay in this place for a day, as long as they can feed, this "bird canteen" will continue to open.
Reporter Xiao Jiangchuan reports from Chongqing
Responsible editor: [Fang Jialiang]