​LRS: Xing Lang

Xing Lang lives in Yongshan county of Yunnan Province. He is 16, but he developed slowly. He was diagnosed congenital heart disease last year. The family tried their best to borrow money. For a poor family, ten thousands seemed a huge figure. When the family was concerning the money, his grandfather fell ill. They had to spend money to treat his grandfather. Life became more difficult for the family. Xing Lang’s father works away. His mother and brother who had dropped out of school take care of Xing Lang and his grandfather.

​Though the family had tried their best to earn money for the operation, their income from the crops was not ideal. The family could rely on his father’s income. Saving enough money for the operation seemed impossible. Xing Lang is a good boy. Though he wants to be a healthy boy, he knows the situation of the family. When they received the call, Xing Lang’s brother took him and came to Kunming.

When I saw Xing Lang in the hospital, he was sitting on the bed. He looks smaller than his contemporaries. He seldom answered questions. His brother was talking. I could see he relies much on his brother. When I asked if they were at school, he looked at his brother. His brother said, “no, we villagers have to work earlier.” Then he turned to Xing Lang, “don’t think too much. I don’t like study.” Xing Lang smiled at his brother. I said, “you are good buddies!” His brother said, “he thought too much. He was afraid he would be a burden for the family, but he would afraid we would leave him alone. How can we leave him alone?” They smiled to each other which warmed me at that moment.  

On the day he took the operation, I met Xing Lang’s mother who had been anxious about him. She gave me 2 pomegranates and expressed her thankfulness. She said the pomegranates were planted by themselves and she insisted I would take them. I took one of them and said thank you to her. She said it was she who should say thank you to us. She had not expected the operation would be done so fast. Her son would be saved. The mother could not help weeping which I thought must be happy tears.

Xing Lang’s brother was busy to do paper work for him on the day he was discharged from hospital. His mother helped to pack things. She asked Xing Lang to keep warm. Xing Lang became more relaxing and spoke more than the first time I met him. He said words of thanks to us. His mother said he has outgoing personality and many curious ideas, but he only told the family members. He may feel inferiority. I accompanied them to the gate of the hospital. They kept saying thank you to me. They said goodbye to me with sincere smiles. Though they are poor and Xing Lang had congenital heart disease, his family care him, which is the most valuable.

All the best to Xing Lang! We hope he will be better though he would not go to school. Every trade had its master. We hope he would find something he will be good at. ​

Original article written by Lin Guo, translated by Maggie Li and edited by Yanyan Zhang

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