01
A few years ago, when I went back to my hometown’s provincial capital, my mother took out her pension social security card and asked me to help her check whether her monthly pension had been issued.
She said she had heard that if the pension social security card was not used for a long time, the pension would not be issued. So, more than half a year ago, she withdrew all the money that had been issued in the past few years.
I said that this must be false news, the country will not miss this little pension of yours.
Seeing that my mother was worried, I had to check it for her. Well, it was 192 yuan per month for the past six months, and the same was true for my father’s card.
02
After returning and telling my mother the results of the check, my mother was very happy and said that her pension had actually increased.
When she said that, I remembered that when my parents first started receiving their pensions, I also helped them check, and at that time it was about 120 yuan per month. Later, it seemed that it increased once every one or two years, and each time it would increase by about twenty yuan.
My mother said that the nearly 400 yuan they get each month is enough for them to buy rice, oil, and salt.
My mother and father are the same age, both born in 1957, and are 68 years old this year. As far as I remember, they have been receiving pensions for several years.
Because this money is really insignificant, so, many times, including themselves, they have also ignored this income.
Moreover, because they are living in the provincial capital, they have been doing odd jobs these years, relying on the economic development of the city. My father works on the assembly line of an electrical appliance factory all year round, using a small cart to deliver parts to the workers’ workstations, while my mother works in various bath and foot massage centers as a cleaner or kitchen helper.
They both have an income of two or three thousand yuan per month, and they are very pleased and satisfied with this, saying that it is much better than farming at home. Yes, it’s much better than farming. My hometown still has nearly twenty acres of farmland, which is contracted to a distant relative, and the rent is 500 yuan/year per acre. It is said that it has now risen to about 700 yuan/acre, but my parents still insist on only collecting 500 yuan/acre.
The only thing that makes me a little sad is that every time I hear that my father has to get up early every day, regardless of the heat or cold, wind or rain, snow or frost, and ride his bike to the factory, while my mother has to work until late at night before she can come back.
03
During the Chinese New Year, relatives inevitably visit each other, hold banquets, and drink alcohol. A cousin, who works and lives in a county town and is married to a family in the county town, will invite us to a meal every year during the first month of the lunar year.
Her father-in-law, who is talkative and forthright, has also retired for several years, and relatives all call him Chairman. Although I should call him uncle, I can only follow the crowd and call him Chairman.
His age is similar to that of my parents. I generally know that he used to work in a certain township, and then retired to the County Political Consultative Conference before retirement, and as the last stop of his official career, he retired from the position of Vice Chairman of the County Political Consultative Conference – this is also why relatives and friends all call him Chairman.
A few years ago, at a banquet, I also took the liberty of asking him, under the influence of alcohol, whether he retired with the treatment of a deputy department-level cadre? He proudly and contentedly said yes.
The reason why I asked this is because retiring with the treatment of a deputy department-level cadre was once the ideal and wish of a university classmate of mine who went into the system, when he was chatting in the dormitory.
Later, although I wandered in society and often interacted with people in the system, although I had also seen provincial and ministerial-level officials, most people, throughout their lives, are ultimately difficult to reach or surpass this ceiling.
04
In the banquet with my cousin’s family, we first talked about the current economic downturn, saying that it is not easy to make money in all walks of life, and that after the real estate market fails, the financial difficulties of the county-level government, the reduction of wages for in-service personnel, and so on.
My cousin works as a nurse in the county hospital, and said that if there is a surplus of money in the county hospital’s account, it will often be transferred by the county government. Therefore, the leaders of their county hospital often quickly issue their wages on payday, so they have never owed wages.
Then, everyone talked about the issue of retirement pensions, I don’t know how. I saw my cousin’s father-in-law, whom everyone called Chairman, after drinking a few glasses of wine, angrily said that his pension would be reduced from next month.
Everyone hurriedly asked why? He said that he used to get 11,000 yuan per month, of which the state bore more than 7,000 yuan, and the county-level finance bore more than 3,000 yuan. Now, because the county-level finance has no money, he has received a notice that the 3,000 yuan borne by the county finance will be temporarily not issued from March of this year.
After hearing this, everyone comforted him by saying that it was only temporarily not issued, and that it would be made up later when the county finance had money. Yes, everyone is relatives, and no one would be low-EQ to tell him that his retirement salary of more than 7,000 yuan is not bad.
And when I heard this, thinking of the 192 yuan per month on the details I saw a few days ago when I went to help my mother check her pension account, I could only remain silent.
05
Just a few days before returning to the city, Lao Xu saw an article on WeChat Moments about the discussion of farmers’ social security and pension issues, and the author called for raising the basic pension of farmers to 800 yuan/month, and reducing the retirement pensions of people within the system, and so on.
The article said that the farmers of the past had paid too much (paying public grain, paying levies, etc., Lao Xu has a deep understanding of this), and that the current pensions of farmers are too low, while the retirement pensions of people within the system are too high. Lao Xu, as the son of a farmer, has never dared to hope and ask the state to increase the pensions of farmers, just like my simple parents, they would not hope and ask for it.
But after the banquet that day, Lao Xu still silently calculated an account. My uncle, known as Chairman, has been retired for several years, and his pension is 11,000 yuan per month, which is 132,000 yuan per year. And my parents only have about 2,000 yuan per year, and only 20,000 yuan in ten years.
My parents, throughout their lives, have not received as much pension from the state as Uncle Chairman’s pension for one year.
All the relatives praised and envied Chairman’s comfortable life after retirement, every day except for picking up and dropping off his grandchildren from school, and then spending time in the chess and card room playing mahjong.
And my parents, although they are close in age to him, still live like grandchildren every day, and sometimes they have to be angry at work in order to keep their jobs and keep their income of two or three thousand yuan per month.
My mother often says that they are old, and people don’t want them anymore. They are lucky to find a job, so they are satisfied. In order to keep their jobs, in order not to look old and frail, my mother has to use the cheap hair dye she bought every two months to dye the gray hair of her and my father black.
Perhaps, only that relative is qualified to retire, while my parents are not qualified to retire.
But, are only they qualified to retire, and can they enjoy a peaceful and comfortable old age; while my parents are not qualified to retire, and are not qualified to enjoy a peaceful and comfortable old age?
06
Lao Xu is not an unfilial person. I often advise my parents not to do odd jobs anymore (because the money my parents earn from odd jobs is also given to me). I also know that with their usual simple and frugal habits, they don’t need much for their monthly pension expenses.
I also often advise them that they have worked hard all their lives and should rest. As long as Lao Xu, this son, is around, he will definitely not let them be without care in their old age.
But my mother often says that they can earn a little more, which will always reduce the burden on their children, unless they really have nowhere to rely on, and can only rely on their children again.
Well, the agreement reached with them at the moment is to do it until they are seventy.
Finally, after writing this article, thinking of how my parents used to regard paying public grain and paying levies as a matter of course, thinking of how they used to applaud for the state’s reduction of agricultural tax and agricultural subsidies, thinking of how they are grateful for the state’s monthly pension of more than one hundred yuan…
And I, I am somewhat at a loss for words!
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