( Quang Ngai Newspaper) - The news that the bridge connecting the two banks of the river is about to be inaugurated, connecting the two banks, has made the whole commune excited. For the whole week, every village has been cleaning their houses, roads, and hanging red flags and flowers all over the road. Everyone is eagerly waiting for the moment to step to the other side without having to cross the primitive bamboo bridge that shakes violently when people cross the river.
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| MH: VO VAN |
This is a big river, in the rainy season the water flows very dangerously. Many tragedies have happened when the main means of crossing the river was by boat. The boat was replaced by a bamboo bridge which is less dangerous, but when the water rises, the bamboo bridge must be removed or else the water will wash it away, the children on the other side of the river have to stay home from school, watching their friends go to school with longing eyes. Now there is a bridge built so big, so beautiful, who wouldn't like it?
It was just after 7 o'clock but people from both sides of the river were already flocking to the bridge, everyone wanted to be one of the first to step foot on this concrete bridge. The chairman of Chon commune, his shirt drenched in sweat, checked the work one last time, he told his subordinates that everything had to be completed before the inauguration. While he was busy, Ha - the beautiful officer in charge of the cultural sector - came over and whispered into the chairman's ear:
- Bro! Where did Mr. Thuan, the director of the bridge construction company, go? I've been looking for him for a long time but he's not here. Some journalists want to interview him as a construction engineer!
Everyone was shocked and went looking for him. Director Thuan's personal driver, Tung, smiled and asked Ha in a low voice:
- Is there a don restaurant nearby?
- Yes, sir! Mrs. Hai's shop is across the river.
Following Ha's instructions, Tung smiled and said to Ha.
- I know where my boss is. You go to work and I'll find him.
Ha was happy to hear that and thanked Tung profusely before going to entertain the guests. Tung hurriedly crossed the bridge to find Mrs. Hai's don restaurant as Ha had directed. He quickly recognized his boss sitting there enjoying a steaming bowl of don. Seeing Tung, Thuan excitedly said:
- Make a bowl. Don is delicious this season. If I don't eat it when I get home, I'll feel sick to my stomach.
- Eat quickly and then meet the reporter.
Thuan hummed to Tung while slurping down the bowl of don in one gulp and breathed a sigh of relief.
- There is hardly any delicacy that can compare.
Mrs. Hai came to the table to clean up the two bowls of don Thuan had just finished eating and asked suspiciously:
- You are the director, the one who built this bridge?
- Yes! Thuan answered while taking a sip of fresh tea.
The old lady asked with a doubtful look:
- Do you like to eat don from my hometown?
- Yes! I'm from the next village, don and mussels are in my blood and flesh so I love eating don, grandma!
- Who is your uncle here? Mrs. Hai continued to ask.
- Yes, Mr. Thac's son!
Mrs. Hai exclaimed, “Ah.” So he was from our village. Mr. Thac’s family was famous throughout the village, because everyone knew that seven of his children had gone to university. She asked Thuan:
- Are you the eldest son? Only my brother doesn't know, but I know all his younger siblings.
- Yes, I study far away, so you probably don't remember, but your don shop is where my dad took us all the time when we were little. You liked my don, it was clean and fresh, right?
- Yes! Are your parents healthy now?
She sat down and chatted with Thuan. Tung was busy eating don while listening to the grandmother and grandson telling stories. It turned out that the whole village knew that a director from their hometown had come to bid to build this concrete bridge with a profit of only one hundred thousand. The villagers were very curious, wondering who could be so good! So today, the inauguration of the bridge was one thing, and the other was to see the director. Hearing that director Thuan was in the don shop, the villagers rushed in to see him, filling the shop so much that there was no more room. Some shook hands, some touched faces, and the voices of thanks were endless. Everyone praised director Thuan for his simplicity and loyalty to his homeland.
Hearing everyone praise his director made Tung feel happy, he felt honored to be Thuan's subordinate.
The bridge inauguration ceremony ended quickly, Thuan said goodbye to his hometown and returned to Saigon, not forgetting to say: "If you guys in Saigon need anything, just call me, I will do my best to help."
Getting in the car, seemingly too tired, he gently pushed the car seat back, leaned back and closed his eyes.
Seeing that the director wanted to rest, Tung slowed down and turned on some soft music to help him relax. In recent years, his director had been busy with projects far from home. From breaking ground on one project to inaugurating another, it was rare for him to get enough sleep. Looking through the rearview mirror, seeing Thuan's gray hair, Tung felt grateful and loved this director very much. If it weren't for Thuan, he probably wouldn't know what he would do or how he would live.
He met director Thuan by chance. At that time, he was still a taxi driver, waking up early and staying up late to make a living. Many of his taxi drivers considered him crazy because he didn't know how to cheat customers, drove around to earn extra money, and often invited customers to drink, was persuaded by friends to bet on football, and was deeply in debt. That time, threatened by gangsters, he unexpectedly met Thuan from the Central region who came to the South to make a living. Knowing his situation, Thuan took him in and helped him, and then from gratitude became close friends.
What he likes most about the director is his filial piety. When his family had not yet moved to the South, despite being busy with a thousand things, he always arranged to return to his hometown to visit his parents, eat meals cooked by his mother, and go with his family to set traps to catch gobies and don to eat to "satisfy the mouth" as he said, although in Saigon, as long as you have money, you have everything, but for him, the "country" quality has seeped into his blood and flesh, he said:
- Don, braised goby with pepper, you have to eat it in your hometown to feel the real don, goby. Eating it in Saigon is just to ease your homesickness.
At first, Tung did not like to eat don at all. He could not understand why his director liked to eat that tiny thing. However, after many times returning to Thuan's hometown, he was taken to visit the beautiful scenery. Feeling the sincerity of the farmers, the elegant beauty of his boss's hometown, he knew what love for his homeland was like. His director's hometown is a poor coastal commune, the people are simple and gentle. Although it is now a city, the tranquility and peace of the village by the city still attracts all human emotions. It is also the concrete roads filled with sunlight like any other countryside and the red tiled roofs nestled peacefully in cool gardens. The river still flows gently on summer afternoons with the cheers of children playing in the water. Mothers still keep the habit of washing clothes by the river while chatting happily, their eyes never leaving their beloved children.
But perhaps the time he went with Thuan to dig for don, to place the don baskets to feel the meaning and value of this small nutritious product, he found it delicious, and then without knowing when he became addicted to it to the point of not being able to give it up. So every time he returned to his hometown with the director, as soon as he set foot in his hometown, smelling the fragrant don wafting from a roadside restaurant, the two brothers would stop the car and slurp until they were full. Now, just imagining a bowl of don with some fragrant chili peppers makes his mouth water.
Director Thuan often told him that when he was young, his family was very poor. His parents raised him and his siblings by making don and setting traps, so they could study and become successful. He accepted the construction of this bridge to express his gratitude to his hometown, the place that raised him. To show his gratitude to his parents who worked hard to raise him.
The image of Thuan, simple and full of emotion on the inauguration podium, is deeply imprinted in Tung's heart. His speech about his homeland is like a message, like inspiring love for his homeland for Tung - who sees his homeland as not a place to return to. "My homeland is where I return, where I long to contribute. As a businessman, I put interests first, but with my homeland, I put loyalty first. As long as my homeland needs me, I am ready to respond." And only then did he fully understand the meaning of the lyrics of the song "Homeland" by Do Trung Quan: "If anyone does not remember their homeland/ They will not grow up to be a person."
DUONG THANH HUONG
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