Knowledge can't change fate.

Teng Zhenguo, 42, once made a sensation in Henan and even the whole country as a migrant worker. With the first degree from high school and the perseverance of self-study for several years, he was admitted to the glory of master's degree at the age of 38.

Little known is that after his master's degree, his life and work returned to the original point.

For him, knowledge has not changed the hard fate of life: he returned to the university where he used to work in management; The meager salary can't afford him to buy new clothes boldly; His wife has been sweeping the floor there for years, and it's still useless to scold him. ...

Is this the failure of career and life, the embarrassment of academic qualifications or the workplace employment discrimination of "retiring at the age of 35"? On July 28th, the reporter interviewed Teng Zhenguo and his family who returned to their hometown in Ruzhou, Henan from Changzhou, Jiangsu.

□ Today reporter Lu Zhiou/Twain

In the struggle against poverty, youth flies.

Born in 1968, Teng Zhenguo, like thousands of rural children in Qian Qian, is a realistic version of Sun Shaoping in Lu Yao's Ordinary World. They firmly believe that knowledge can change fate.

His mother Tian Jian still remembers the 12 square meter tile house where her son lived from primary school to middle school. There is only a table, a stool, a bed, a kerosene lamp, a dark and damp ceiling made of sorghum stalks.

From 1988 to 1990, Teng Zhenguo took part in the college entrance examination three times, but he usually got excellent grades and was favored by teachers, but he failed one after another.

At the age of 22, he finally gave up the idea of going to college.

In the following years, Teng Zhenguo's main business was farming and selling vegetables, and he also worked as a temporary worker at Ruzhou Railway Station. During this period, there was a fever of self-taught examination in China. He took the advice of others and began to take the self-study exam for junior college.

1995 During the Spring Festival, at the age of 27, he didn't have much hope of learning to change the future. He hoped that his bedridden father would see him get married before he died. So, following the advice of his relatives, he met a girl they introduced on January 16th. They got married a month later and gave birth to a son a year later.

He is looking for a job in Ruzhou City with the college diploma he just got, but there is no result.

Seven years later, he worked as a cleaner, porter, builder and insurance salesman. None of them lasted long. "I am 34 years old like this." Teng Zhenguo said, "In those years, my idea was to sell vegetables and go out to do odd jobs to make money. Now when I talk about this with my former classmates, I blame myself for taking a detour. If someone could guide me at that time and learn skills like a chef, life would not be so difficult. "

He is honest and shy by nature and has no ambition. His hands to change his destiny are pale and powerless, and his youth passes away in the rush to survive.

The school decided to use the postgraduate entrance examination to realize the university dream.

In the summer of 2002, his junior high school classmate Dong Suiqiang went back to his hometown to visit relatives. Teng Zhenguo suddenly thought, why not ask his old classmates to help him find a job?

Three months later, with the help of his old classmates, Teng Zhenguo became the manager of the main teaching building of the logistics service company of Jiangsu Normal University of Technology, earning 540 yuan money every month.

Teng Zhenguo's daily work is to look after the main teaching building, manage multimedia equipment, and is not responsible for cleaning. Which teacher needs multimedia, he is responsible for opening it.

It has been rated as an advanced model of college logistics work for three consecutive years.

In the meantime, he took his wife Feng Junmei to school, and the company arranged for her to be a cleaner with a monthly salary of more than 500 yuan.

Teng Zhenguo is very satisfied with such works and feels "like in a dream".

Wu Jinchuan, an art teacher familiar with him, encouraged him to take the opportunity to continue his studies, which just catered to Teng Zhenguo's desire to study. One day, he told his wife, "I want to get my lost things back."

Teng Zhenguo soon took part in the undergraduate course of secretary self-taught examination in Nanjing Normal University. After passing the 10 course, he learned that college education can also be used for postgraduate entrance examination and decided to "take five years for postgraduate entrance examination".

In 2005, he took the postgraduate examination of philosophy major in Hainan University.

This time, he scored 56 points in English and 74 points in politics, both exceeding the admission scores of national key universities, but his scores in professional courses were almost the same, and he failed to get what he wanted.

At the suggestion of a friend, he was admitted to Chongqing Normal University in the second year.

He thinks the future will be bright from now on.

In June, 2006, Teng Zhenguo received the admission notice of the public-funded graduate students majoring in ideological and political education in the Department of Philosophy of Chongqing Normal University.

At the age of 38, he transferred from a migrant worker to a master. As soon as the news came out, he quickly became a "celebrity". With all the stars in the moon, he felt that this was a big turning point in his life and his fate changed from then on.

He said, "This is my best year."

The Propaganda Department of the Party Committee of Jiangsu Normal University of Technology held a forum for him to listen to him talk about the past, feelings and ideals. The leader of the logistics company specially held a farewell party and personally drove him to the railway station.

In his hometown of Pingdingshan, he was selected as one of the "Top Ten News People who Moved Eagle City (Pingdingshan)" and "Top Ten Outstanding Youth in Ruzhou City".

After returning home during the Spring Festival holiday in 2007, Teng Zhenguo was invited to give lectures to students from Ruzhou Vocational Secondary School, No.1 Middle School, No.2 Middle School and Technical School.

Teng Zhenguo felt that he was really worthy of the pride of Ruzhou people at that time. "Postgraduate work is not simple, but it is impressive."

During the Spring Festival, I went to my parents' house to pay a New Year call. My mother-in-law is much more enthusiastic. She also surrounded him and said, "I voted for you and lobbied my neighbors and friends."

Friends who have not contacted for many years are now actively contacting him, and some colleagues who have forgotten have also sent text messages. "Speaking of this, I feel like Fan Jinzhong." Teng Zhenguo said.

Facing the threshold of 35 years old, the master of 4 1 year old was disappointed again and again.

Before the Spring Festival in 2009, six months before his master's degree, Teng Zhenguo, 4 1 year-old, was busy looking for a job. He wants to go back to Henan to teach in a university or take an examination of civil servants. To say the least, he can teach in a middle school.

As one of the top ten outstanding young people in Ruzhou, Teng Zhenguo had the cheek to find Li Quansheng, secretary of Ruzhou Municipal Party Committee. Secretary Li told him that the administrative institutions in Ruzhou still have a recruitment plan, which can be reported as soon as it is completed. However, later Secretary Li said that he was too old. If there was a recruitment plan at that time, there was still no way for the leading group to refuse to register after studying.

This made Teng Zhenguo realize that this road was impassable and began to find his own unit. He said: "Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Pingdingshan, I submitted resumes to many schools, and the other party was not interested."

The responses of Pingdingshan University, Xuchang University, Zhengzhou and Luoyang are basically the same: "Old age, wrong major." Ruzhou technical school, where he practiced for half a year, also doesn't want anyone. This is the school where he once gave a report to the students, and he is full of glory.

Teng Zhenguo said: "I applied for civil servants, but people refused to register. I checked the conditions for the provinces to take the civil service examination online, which are basically under 35 years old. "

He once wanted to go to the enterprise. He found Tian Rui Group in Ruzhou through connections, but it didn't work. When applying for shenhuo group, people thought he was too old ... and many resumes he had submitted were even worse.

Some people have made statistics on the recruitment plans of civil servants in most provincial units and provincial vertical management systems in 20 10, and found that almost all positions were not registered by people over 35 years old. Many colleges and universities recruit counselors and other positions, requiring masters under the age of 28 and doctors under the age of 32.

When more and more older graduate students are turned away, the "35-year-old phenomenon" of workplace employment discrimination is attracting attention from all sides, and some people have begun to call for legislation against discrimination.

It is difficult for senior masters to find jobs, but they have no choice but to be administrators.

In desperation, Teng Zhenguo contacted Jiangsu Normal University of Technology, where he once worked.

The leader of the school logistics service company said to him, "As a graduate student, you should at least find a school to teach. Isn't it useless to study in our company and waste talents? " As you know, a high school student can do well in our company. "He was speechless.

In August 2009, Teng Zhenguo returned to the property service center of the logistics service company. His labor relations are exactly the same as before. The only difference is that he used to be the librarian of the teaching building, but now he is a librarian.

Many colleagues who have worked together are still engaged in their original jobs. They were all surprised to see Teng Zhenguo: "Did you come back from graduation?" Some people say this sentence is a surprise, others say it is contempt. "This is similar to the scene of going to work in farmland after losing the college entrance examination." Teng Zhenguo said: "When I left, I said I would always regard Changzhou as my second hometown. I never thought I would come back. "

This year, Teng Zhenguo's daily work is to manage the central air conditioning, lecture hall and monitoring room of the library to ensure the normal operation of these places.

Today, Teng Zhenguo's monthly salary is 1.85 yuan, and his job as a teaching building manager has risen to 1.400 yuan. In this way, his salary is higher than that of three years ago, which is the result of the general increase in wages.

Life is like a play, struggling like a peer, but still only for survival.

From postgraduate entrance examination to postgraduate graduation, he went to school in Chongqing, his wife worked as a cleaner in Jiangsu Normal University, his 80-year-old mother took care of his grandson in his hometown, and his family of four separated.

What makes Teng Zhenguo feel most uncomfortable is that his 15-year-old son Ma has entered the third grade. But nobody cares at home, and I am addicted to playing games. His grades have plummeted, and he seems to be more interested in going out to work than in school.

When the reporter interviewed him, he had just returned to his hometown from Changzhou and just wanted to solve the problem of his children. Taking him to Changzhou will increase the pressure on the couple a lot. More importantly, the textbooks in the two places are different, which makes him a headache. He really wants to find a job in his hometown.

Teng Zhenguo said: "I don't regret going to graduate school. This experience is a valuable asset. What is disturbing is that the current job is too different from the ideal to learn. "

His wife blamed him for not going to graduate school, wasting time and making less money. In the face of more and more complaints from his wife, Teng Zhenguo once said, "I just want to study, which is my belief and reverence for knowledge", which has been shattered by reality. "Cowper has no practical significance. By the time I graduate, I will be nearly half a year old. Who will want me? "

When he is alone, Teng Zhenguo will stand quietly by the school river, overlooking the small bridge on the river. When I was admitted to graduate school, there was a red banner "Congratulations to Teng Zhenguo for being admitted to public graduate school".

"If I succeed in entering the university ... if I learn a skill ... if I get a university degree, I will go to work in the coastal areas ... if ... if ..."

Unfortunately, life has no assumptions.