Taizhou, Jiangsu: The owner of a wonton shop becomes the “National Reading Promotion Ambassador”, making the city full of books.

On April 21, the 2024 “World Book Day” Taizhou Xingao District National Reading Exhibition was held. At the meeting, Taizhou citizen Chang Meigui was hired as the “National Reading Promotion Ambassador.” Many people didn’t know that Chang Meigui’s other identity is the owner of a wonton shop. Chang Meigui, who graduated from junior high school, loved writing when she was in school. Later, she opened a wonton shop in Taizhou city to make a living while accompanying her to school. After her daughter went to college, she picked up the pen again and has now published more than 50 articles in various newspapers and periodicals. More and more people have gotten to know Chang Meigui through writing, and the wonton shop has become a salon for Taizhou literature lovers.

Opened a wonton shop for my daughter

Chang Meigui is from Maoshan, Xinghua. In junior high school, teachers regarded her as the most promising star of tomorrow and always smiled when they mentioned her.

Her choice for the high school entrance examination was a normal technical secondary school, the most popular major at that time, which was ten or twenty points higher than that of key high schools. However, she missed the mark and her high school entrance examination score was ten points behind the technical secondary school score line. In fact, with this score, I can go to a key high school, but my family cannot afford the tuition.

After that, Chang Meigui grew up day by day and started a family. Because she only had a junior high school education, there were no good job opportunities. She and her husband went to the Northeast to work just a few months after giving birth to their daughter.

“To be honest, I must be reluctant to let go, but life has to pass.” Chang Meigui said that she will always remember the night she left. After the child fell asleep, she and her husband left quietly, fearing that the child would cry and she would not be able to bear it down. .

A few years passed like this, and in a blink of an eye, the child reached the sixth grade of elementary school. One time, the child called her and Chang Meigui decided to go home.

That time, Chang Meigui sent a gift to her daughter. When she received a call from her daughter, she said: “Mom, I don’t want a gift. I envy other children’s parents for sending them to school, and I envy their mothers for making beds and quilts…”

“I burst into tears at that time. I knew it was time to go home.” Chang Meigui said that she spent too little time with her children and missed many of their children’s first times. She didn’t want to leave any regrets.

After that, in order to accompany their daughter who was in junior high school, the family of three opened a Maoshan Wonton shop near their daughter’s school.

Chang Meigui still remembers the first night a family of three slept together. She and her husband curled up, turned around, and saw their daughter looking at them with a happy smile on her face. “At that moment, we had no suffering, only happiness. I knew I did the right thing. What my children want is not money, but companionship.”

Pick up the pen again and write about the various aspects of the world

Six years later, her daughter was admitted to college. People coming and going in the wonton shop seemed to be business as usual, but Chang Meigui felt empty. It turns out that the days when the daughter comes back from school every day and the mother and daughter cuddle up and read together are bitter yet sweet. Now that her daughter has left, Chang Meigui is not used to it.

The daughter who was far away in Nanjing also noticed the subtle changes in her mother. During a phone call, she tried to ask: “Mom, you have time now, why don’t you regain your literary dream? Pick up your pen, I am sure it is you.” first reader.”

Her daughter’s encouragement gave Chang Meigui a lot of confidence, so she started to pick up the pen again, recalling every bit of the past, and injecting the love she owed her daughter into her words. “I overheard your sister saying that you were wronged and cried all night holding the corgi you raised. I cried too, thinking of you who was left behind when you were a child, and your loneliness and helplessness. Difficulties and setbacks are the thorny road for everyone to grow up. Mom believes you can come out bravely…”

In this way, Chang Meigui began to write stories about her and her daughter while studying at a wonton shop.

Destiny always knocks on your door unexpectedly. Jiang Weijing is a high school Chinese teacher at Tianjiabing Middle School in Taizhou City. Among her colleagues is Chang Meigui’s fellow villager. She told Jiang Weijing Chang Meigui’s story, so she came over specially to eat a bowl of wontons and the two chatted. A lot.

July 7, 2020 was the first day of the college entrance examination. The local newspaper supplement “Pozi Street” published “Chang Meigui Opening a Wonton Shop” written by Jiang Weijing. It was this 1,400-word essay that changed Chang Meigui’s life.

Jiang Weijing, who was the first to write the story of Chang Meigui, also came to congratulate her on the same day.

Jiang Weijing said that after listening to Chang Meigui’s story, she felt that the huge gap in fate over the years had not knocked Chang Meigui down. She also wrote this article in the hope of passing on her resilience in the face of adversity to students facing the college entrance examination.

Chang Meigui still remembers that morning. The neighbor at the door took a newspaper and shouted while walking: “Roseley, you are in the newspaper!”

“Who will write about me?” Chang Meigui said, and he grabbed the newspaper in a hurry: “Chang Meigui opened a wonton shop”, written by Jiang Weijing. “We met her once, but she wrote about me so well.”

Holding the newspaper, Chang Meigui’s heart was surging, and she began to write the next article “The grass also blooms”. In the article, Chang Meigui said: There are many roads in life. If one road fails, another one will surely unfold for you. If you don’t walk it and step on it, how will you find it? If you keep going, there will always be a day when you suddenly become enlightened. I am a small grass that can also bloom buds, and wind and rain cannot stop it from blooming.

Since then, Chang Meigui has published more than 50 articles in various newspapers and periodicals, such as “The Fragrance of Wisteria”, “The Guy Who Rented the Garage”, “Meeting the Birthday Star Grandpa Yuan”, and she has become a well-known grassroots writer in Taizhou.

Turn a wonton shop into a literary salon

In the past two years, literary friends who have read Chang Meigui’s articles have traveled thousands of miles to come to her wonton shop to eat a bowl of wontons and talk about literature. This has become a common practice in wonton shops.

After literary friend Du Ping read “The Grass Also Blooms” by Chang Meigui, she wanted to get to know the author, so she came to a wonton shop.

“I was very moved after reading it. I wanted to see what kind of person Chang Meigui was, and then I got to know her. After I met her, I often came to her store. I liked her articles and I liked her even more. “Du Ping said.

As a result, everyone who read the article liked to go to the wonton shop and communicate with each other among literary friends and friends.

On April 16 this year, Chang Meigui bid farewell to the original roadside stall and officially opened its new store in Oriental Town.

That morning, literary friends from all over the country came to congratulate him.

67-year-old Cheng Qilong lives in Senyuan Community, Hailing District. He got up at around 6 o’clock that day, rode an electric scooter to the bus station, then took a bus to the wonton shop, and presented his own gift – a set of Liang Xiaosheng’s “The Human World”.

“Chang Meigui’s writing and language are simple, and she writes about the people and things around her…” Cheng Qilong said, the wonton shop is full of smoke and smoke, and people come and go every day. Everyone has their own story, so why is it another place? A kind of “human world”.

There were many people coming, and Chang Meigui was busy making wontons and saying hello.

“I think the wonton shop is a window to life. Through this small window, I can also see the big world.” Talking about why so many literary friends like her, Chang Meigui said that only true love can move people. “Maybe people read the true feelings and their own lives from my words.”

In the new store, wontons are sold on the first floor, and the second floor is turned into a literary salon, named “Rose’s Date Reading Bar”. Not only can Chang Meisei herself read and write here in her free time, but diners and surrounding residents can also use it. Literary salons, reading sharing sessions, etc. can be held.

“Many people become literary friends from customers. I have always hoped to have a place where fireworks and culture are combined.” Chang Meigui said that he was very grateful to the relevant departments and leaders of the High-tech Zone for their support from the early site selection to the later stage. It was a great help for the smooth opening of the wonton shop.

The new wonton shop opened as scheduled. Chang Meigui posted this message in the circle of friends to the old customers who have supported her for many years: Here, the small space is my window to see society, and the shortcomings of parents are the fireworks of the world. I was moved by you and your stories, and I couldn’t help but record them. By chance, they were spread through the media, thus touching more people. Now, I want to combine this touch with wontons to warm more people. Although I’m reluctant to give up, I think it’s worth it, because there are more people like you who need me to treat them the same way I treat you.