Street, end of year

A corner of Vinh street on Tet eve. Photo: Duc Anh

His brother-in-law, named Trung, has just entered the age of thirty this year. Originally from Vinh, he also had a rather bumpy and difficult youth. At the age of 10, Trung became a player for the Song Lam Nghe An Football Club. He competed in all the children's, youth, U13, U15 tournaments, and also followed the team and the group to fight in the North and the South. Just past the age of 17, Trung was subject to contract termination due to an irreversible injury. The dream of the football field, not only Trung's but also his entire family's, was extinguished. After a long time pursuing a career in shorts and jerseys, when football refused, Trung became unstable.

There are many people making a living with different jobs during Tet. Photo by Le Thang

With no job or profession, Trung became bored and followed his friends with the same fate to learn to play and drink. But the football career was in his blood and he could not stop. There was no place for Trung on the football field, although he had driven many people crazy with the strength of his legs. Trung applied to the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports, Da Nang University. With his intelligence and innate talent for playing football, he easily passed the exams in the pedagogical environment.

After graduating, life was still a series of challenges for Trung. Holding a degree, he knocked on doors everywhere, from schools in the plains to the mountains, but no one accepted him. Being alone, without a big enough support to find a job, Trung continued to struggle. During this time, he played amateur football. Sometimes people saw Trung playing for hire for this or that business. Thanks to his "familiarity" on the evening football fields, people also got to know him better as a football graduate. A few years ago, his friends saw Trung as a coach for a children's and youth football team in a district near the city. The football career is a thankless one, among thousands of people chasing the ball, only a few players became famous and became stars. However, people talk about players and football as if it were a profession with a lot of glory and money.

For Trung, he understands all too well the price that football brings, his legs still ache every time the season changes, his shoulders still have pins and nails driven deep into his bones. However, as Trung said, once you follow football, you can never leave it for the rest of your life, one way or another it still lurks in every meal and sleep. Trung was accepted as a seasonal contract coach for the locality, the money is just a little bit but it also satisfies his passion.

Selling peach blossoms for Tet. Photo: Nguyen Sach

So this year he “went digging”. “Take advantage of the opportunity to earn some money for Tet, and buy milk for the children” – Trung said in his muddy clothes. The first year of selling peaches, not knowing who told him to go all the way to Nam Can commune, Na Ngoi (Ky Son), to the Mong people’s fields to cut peaches. Not knowing the profit, the whole family, from parents, wife, brothers, uncles, aunts, all went out to help sell. It was Tet, feeling sorry for the hard-working nephew and niece, everyone helped. Luckily, Trung’s peaches were wild peaches, with bright flowers, thick petals, and many buds, so he was not picky about customers. Then, thanks to an acquaintance who bought each person a branch to encourage them, after only a few days in town, more than half of the nearly 100 peach branches were sold. “That’s enough capital, bro” – Trung said excitedly about the remaining peaches: “If we sell them here, we will make a profit.”

Yellow apricot blossoms were brought from the South to Vinh to welcome spring. Photo: Le Thang

Hearing my younger brother say that, I suddenly felt happy. Who said that city people are bored with Tet, hate Tet? That's right, the whole street is usually quiet, but in the last days of the year, it suddenly seems to change into a lively outfit. Starting from December, people from nowhere come to clear the bushes, level the ground, set up tents, spread tarps, and then bring in countless goods. No need to be a merchant or a market researcher to know that Tet is an opportunity to do business and trade. From threads, needles to silver, gold, precious stones... everything is in demand. That's why the entire Lenin Avenue running all the way to Xo Viet Nghe - Tinh Street down to Cua Lo is filled with Tet goods everywhere. City people are always considered the most gourmet, so countless specialties, delicious and strange things from all regions come here. In the mountains, there are pigs, black chickens, wild boars, and sticky rice. In the coastal areas, there are catfish, tuna, shrimp, and crab. The best, most unique, and most delicious things are all bought by city people on this occasion to treat friends and to show off their sophistication.

But in the vibrant picture of the streets filled with flowers and sparkling lights, there are still the shadows of the poor and struggling to make a living. I met a man named Thai, whose age was hard to guess, sitting on a cyclo. Every time he smiled, his face was covered with countless wrinkles, looking miserable. With a Northern accent, he said that he usually worked for a building materials store, customers called for cement to be delivered, and steel to be delivered.

Choosing apricot blossoms for Tet. Photo by Duc Anh

On the last day of the year, the shop was closed, so Thai took the opportunity to go to the peach market, doing whatever job anyone hired him to do. When he had no customers, he asked about his life, and he said that he was from Ninh Binh, an orphan of both parents, and had wandered everywhere since he was 9 years old. Then, on an uncertain train journey from the North to the South, he stopped in Vinh, and was adopted by a kind-hearted woman who fed him, clothed him, and gave him a thatched house with only the two of them, but for Thai, that was a real home. His adoptive mother did not have the means to send him to school, but she gave him the opportunity to grow up. Every day, she went to the market while he worked as a construction worker and hired laborer. Later, he bought a cyclo to make a living.

But during the peaceful days in Vinh, Thai could not help but long for his hometown, where he had a younger brother who had also wandered aimlessly after his biological parents passed away. His mother fell ill, and before it got worse, she used all the money she had saved to give to her adopted son and asked him to return to his hometown to find his younger brother. Thai had been gone for nearly a month, and luck smiled on him when he found his younger brother who had also been adopted by a family in the district. At his hospital bed, Thai showed his mother a photo of the two brothers and the whole family that had taken care of his younger brother. Before she died, his adoptive mother told Thai to return to his hometown and find a way to make a living, but he did not listen. He said: "In Vinh, I have a mother, a family, this is my hometown." While we were talking, an elderly woman came to see him, Thai said that she was his wife, then he reached into his shirt pocket and took out a stack of nearly 300,000 VND from his pocket and gave it to the woman. He smiled, the wrinkles on his cheeks furrowed: "Go buy things for the kids. Tet is coming soon."

As a habit for many years now, on the last day of the year I walk around the streets, not buying anything but just walking. Walking to blend in with the bustling, noisy atmosphere of the last day of the year, to see people bringing Tet home and nurturing hopes for the new spring.