Just because he hadn't saved up a satisfactory amount of cash after two years of work since graduation, Ahua (a pseudonym) a college graduate from Shandong who came to Dongguan to work not only refused to go home to visit his parents, but when his old father traveled a long distance to visit him, he even played "hide and seek".
From before the Spring Festival until now, Ahua's father, Mr. Li has been staying in a small inn without seeing his son once, and in the end, his son stopped answering his phone.
"I've already spent all the cash I brought with me. The inn owner took pity on me and didn't charge me for my stay. What the child is doing has broken our hearts," Mr. Li said to the reporter yesterday morning.
The son said he didn't have money and was embarrassed to go home.
Mr. Li, who is nearly sixty, told the reporter that his son, Ahua, graduated from a university in Shandong two years ago and came to Guangdong to look for work. He changed jobs at least five times a year until last summer when he finally settled down at a real estate company in Dongcheng, Dongguan.
Because Ahua didn't go home for the Spring Festival last year, Mr. Li repeatedly urged his son before this year's Spring Festival to definitely return home for a family reunion, otherwise his mother wouldn't be able to rest easy. But Ahua's response over the phone made the elder very upset: "I've been out for two years, not only haven't I made any money, but I've also used a lot of my parents' hard-earned money. This year, I really don't have the face to go home. I'll come back to visit you when I've earned enough money."
After several unsuccessful attempts at persuasion, Mr. Li decided against his son's wishes to come out during the Spring Festival for a father-son reunion. On January 18th, Mr. Li took the train to Changping Station in Dongguan and called Ahua's phone asking him to come pick him up, but Ahua's response left him incredulous: "I don't have money, I'm embarrassed to see you. Since you insisted on coming out, there's nothing I can do about it. Just go back early."
Mr. Li had no choice but to find a small inn near Tangxia to stay in, planning to slowly persuade his son and leave after seeing him once. But after several phone conversations, Ahua stubbornly and coldly refused his father's request to meet, and in the end even threw out a line: "You figure out how to go back yourself, I don't want to answer your calls anymore." Sure enough, on New Year's Eve and the first day of the New Year, Mr. Li tried calling his son countless times, but couldn't get through.
Since Mr. Li quickly ran out of money, his life fell into difficulty. The owner of the small inn, Mr. Zhang, out of sympathy, waived the elder's accommodation fees and advised him that perhaps his son wouldn't agree to meet him, hoping he would go home. "This old man is very pitiful. During the Spring Festival, he was eating cookies and drinking plain water in the hotel room, just watching him made me cry."
Yesterday, when the old man called his son again and was refused, feeling hopeless, he bought a train ticket to go back to Shandong under the help of some kind-hearted people around him. Before leaving, he gave his son's phone number to the reporter, asking the reporter to convey to his son: "Young people going out isn't just for making money. Conscience is more important than face, more important than money. Treating even your own father like this, no matter how much money you make, you will end up being abandoned by everyone in the end."
When the reporter called Ahua's phone, upon hearing it was a reporter, he immediately hung up and stopped answering.
A survey claims that holidays lead to a rush of charitable acts, with one elderly person getting their hair washed eight times in a day. Guessing lantern riddles becomes a competition of internet speed, too utilitarian. Folklore experts suggest enjoying the process. College students unable to return home for the Spring Festival due to lack of money, father travels a thousand miles to visit and gets rejected. After the holiday, the domestic service market heats up, with monthly nannies earning 7000 yuan per month still needing to be "reserved".