He would fall down every time he wore shoes
For 38 years, 44-year-old blind man Yu Xingjiang from Qianjiang District has never worn shoes. "Because I would fall down every time I wear shoes," said Yu Xingjiang. While others use their eyes to see the road, he uses his feet as eyes. Yesterday, before dawn, Yu Xingjiang left home barefoot, stepping on frost: "There's no firewood at home and my mother is sick again, so I need to bring some firewood back for her to warm herself."
Yu Xingjiang lives with his mother Tang Cuilin in Dazhuang Community of Chengxi Subdistrict in Qianjiang District. At the age of six, he became blind due to an eye disease. That summer, while walking around barefoot at home, he suddenly had a feeling: "I could roughly know where I was." Since then, Yu Xingjiang stopped wearing shoes and deliberately learned to "see" the road with his feet. After 38 years, now, Yu Xingjiang can do many things barefoot: cutting pig grass, digging soil, weeding, harvesting crops, and even chopping wood in the mountains.
"I haven't seen him wear shoes all year round. In summer, the stone slabs are scorching hot under the sun, and in snowy days, the roads are icy, yet he still walks barefoot," said neighbor Tong Chunmei. Out of pity, the villagers advised Yu Xingjiang to wear shoes, but he replied: "If I wear shoes, I won't be able to find the way, and if I fall and get injured, I will burden my mother."
Walking barefoot for 38 years, Yu Xingjiang has developed a thick layer of calluses on the soles of his feet. "I used to feel cold, but now I'm used to it, and I don't feel cold anymore," said Yu Xingjiang. In winter, when chopping wood, he sometimes has to walk for more than half an hour. Once, he fell off the embankment and, fortunately, had a few small stones in his hand. He threw the stones to listen to the sound and identify the path ahead.
"At first, I didn't trust him, so I secretly followed behind him. After a few trips, I let him go up the mountain alone," said Tang Cuilin. When her son goes out to work, he often returns home late at night because he cannot distinguish between day and night. Yesterday, the reporter personally witnessed Yu Xingjiang's skill of walking barefoot: on a very narrow mountain road, he carried a large bundle of firewood, throwing stones forward as he walked, moving as quickly as a fully abled person.
Due to his father's early death, over the years, Yu Xingjiang and his mother have relied on each other, living on low-income assistance. His mother is often ill, and all the heavy work at home depends on Yu Xingjiang. For tasks he cannot do, he exchanges labor with neighbors—cutting ten bundles of firewood to exchange for help plowing fields or threshing rice for half a day. To earn money for his mother's medicine, Yu Xingjiang also helps neighbors make nutrient trays for tobacco leaves, earning two fen per tray. He makes hundreds of them a day, saving all the money he earns: "My mother is often hospitalized, and she needs money." Whenever there is something delicious, he also saves it for his mother.
After returning from chopping wood, thorns often pierce the soles of Yu Xingjiang's feet. His mother always carefully picks them out with great concern: "My son is especially filial. The only thing I can do for him is this." At such times, Yu Xingjiang holds his mother's hand and says: "Without you, Mom, there wouldn't be me. Everything I do is what I should do."
Chief Reporter: Zhou Li
Reporter: Zhou Ge
Communicator: Wu Chaoxia