At the National "Two Sessions", Liu Li, a representative of the National People's Congress, pointed out that some married migrant workers came to the city to work. Due to the long-term separation between the two places, there have been many cases of forming temporary couples without affecting the relationship between husband and wife. Immediately, one stone stirred up a thousand waves, and the issue of "temporary couples" among migrant workers aroused widespread heated discussion throughout society.

At present, in the process of urbanization in our country, population mobility is frequent, and a large number of migrant workers are pouring into cities to work. However, in cities, their normal physiological needs are generally not met, and it is difficult for them to obtain the same education, medical care, and social security as urban residents. In some cases, even a place to live is a problem. Under such conditions, they can only choose one to go out to work and the other to stay at home. It is under such conditions that "temporary couples" are born.

In 2011, the Ningbo Municipal Migrant Workers Service Management Work Conference pointed out that the number of migrant workers in Ningbo has reached 4.3 million, and the total migrant population exceeds Wenzhou and ranks first in the province. At that time, Ningbo's registered population was 5.74 million, and the migrant population reached 4.3 million, accounting for 43% of the total population. Among them, the migrant population in Beilun, Yinzhou, Zhenhai and other municipal districts has exceeded the registered population.

Ningbo is the city with the largest migrant population in Zhejiang Province. Our reporter spent more than a month visiting Jiangbei, Yinzhou, Beilun, Zhenhai and other places where migrant workers live in large numbers, trying to truly restore the living conditions of this group of "temporary couples" , thus hoping to attract the attention of relevant government departments, face up to this existing problem, and think about how to alleviate or solve this embarrassing "existence".

Xia Shen Village, Hongtang Street, Jiangbei, where thousands of migrant workers live due to cheap rent.

When the 30-year-old female owner of a roadside grocery store was asked whether there were "temporary couples" in her life, she immediately laughed out loud, "This is people's privacy, how can you tell others?"

Just after finishing the last sentence, the female boss changed her tone again: "It's normal. After all, when a person works outside and comes to a strange city, he will always have some thoughts in his heart. It's just this kind of thing. You know, it’s hard to tell. When you open your business, you’re afraid of offending people.”

Small notes with information about rental houses can be seen everywhere on the telephone poles in the sinking village. According to the contact information above, we found the landlord, Master Shen. As soon as Master Shen heard about "temporary couples", he said bluntly, "I'm used to this. It's just that it's their own business and it's not easy to take care of it. As long as they pay the rent and don't damage things, that's enough."

Before, Master Shen rented the house to a "temporary couple". "I didn't know at first. I thought they were a real couple. It wasn't until one day when another woman showed up with her son that I found out." When encountering this kind of thing, Master Shen wouldn't say much. After all, he is a family It's not good to break up other people's families because of your own affairs.

Also on Xingzhuang Road, Zhenhaizhuang City, the proprietress of a canteen told us, “There is one in the office building opposite. The men work as security guards, but the women don’t know what they do. They often come to our store in the summer. Come and enjoy the cool air at the door.”

Although everyone has long been used to it, when they try to get them to talk about the living conditions of "temporary couples", most people turn away and do not want to say more.

After more than a month of visits, we finally contacted the "temporary couples" who were willing to be interviewed.

Through the self-narration of the parties involved, the mysterious veil covering the "temporary couple" was lifted, and what was experienced was the bitterness and helplessness behind the "temporary couple" (in order not to affect their lives, the following characters use pseudonyms) ).

A

At first I just wanted to find someone to talk to

Later, we slowly became together

Lao Shen, a native of Jiangsu, came to Ningbo to work in 2000. Currently he works as an electrician in a machinery factory in Jiangbei. In the factory, Lao Shen had a separate office with no computer and only a writing desk. It is said to be an office, but actually it is more appropriate to call it a warehouse, because there are some electrical equipment placed everywhere, and screws and nuts can be seen everywhere.

On the desk, there is a small promotional magazine for the gynecological hospital, which contains some sexual reports and emotional stories. Opening the magazine, we unexpectedly saw a line of pencil words: "I love you, you love me."

"When I'm bored, I just write whatever I want." Old Shen took the magazine from the desk and put it in the drawer. He seemed a little ashamed.

Lao Shen is not busy at work. As long as there are no problems with the equipment in the factory, he basically has nothing to do and just stays in the office alone.

"At first, my wife and I came together and worked together for two or three years, but no one took care of the children at home, so my wife went home to take care of the children." Lao Shen said that since then, he has been working alone in Ningbo to make money. . In order to save money, he rarely went home, and he didn't even go back to his hometown for the Spring Festival in several years.

"It's hard to buy train tickets for the Chinese New Year, and it costs a lot of money to go home, where there are so many sophisticated people, so I won't go back. I can still earn more overtime wages in Ningbo." Speaking of this, Lao Shen was very calm.

After talking about family, we were silent for a while. After all, the topic of temporary couples is still a bit heavy for Lao Shen.

After a while, I was probably ready. Lao Shen lowered his head, took out a Hongtashan bottle from his trouser pocket, lit it and took a few puffs. He slowly started talking.

Last year, Lao Shen met Xiao Yan in the same factory. "At that time, she was just an honest and quiet woman in my eyes." Lao Shen said that until one day, the light in her rental house broke and she asked him if he could help fix it. Lao Shen readily agreed.

After get off work, Lao Shen followed Xiao Yan to the rental house where she lived. From then on, the two would talk on the phone every night. "During that time, I wanted to get off work early every day, not for anything else but because I had someone to chat with." Lao Shen said that it felt like falling in love at the time, but he didn't dare to think about it that way.

In addition to talking on the phone, the two of them would also go shopping together, but they were basically just shopping but not shopping. This indescribable distance makes Lao Shen and Xiao Yan very satisfied. After all, they no longer have to stay alone in the room in a daze. "When I was shopping, I was happy but also very nervous. I was afraid of meeting someone I knew." Lao Shen said that at first, neither of them dared to get too close.

One day in August last year, Xiao Yan caught a bad cold and called him. Lao Shen put down his work and hurried to the hospital, where he stayed with Xiao Yan for IV drip for a whole day. It was already dark when all the drips were hung, and Lao Shen volunteered to take her home.

After sending him off, Lao Shen didn't come out until the next morning. "That night, she hugged me and wouldn't let me go, so the two of us slept together." Lao Shen said that at dawn in the morning, he got dressed in a panic and ran out, and then went to work in the factory.

The whole day after that, Lao Shen deliberately avoided Xiao Yan.

The factory was just that big, but the two still met. "She didn't say anything, she just smiled at me and walked away." Lao Shen said, feeling as sweet as honey at that time. From then on, he would go to Xiao Yan's place three or four times a week. He would chat for a while at first, but then he would lie down on the bed as soon as they met.

"Before she had a relationship with me, she had not been married for several years." Lao Shen said that Xiao Yan's husband worked in Yunnan, and the two could only see each other during the Chinese New Year. In fact, isn't Lao Shen himself like this?

However, whenever he was physically satisfied, Lao Shen would unconsciously light up a cigarette and take a few puffs.

"Whenever I woke up alone at night, I couldn't sleep. I kept feeling guilty and thinking about who I could be worthy of doing this. Can I be worthy of my family and my wife? I felt very conflicted and wanted to leave her, but And I feel a little reluctant." The guilt in Lao Shen's heart made him very hurt.

During the Spring Festival this year, Lao Shen still couldn't get over the hurdle in his heart, so he returned to his hometown to have a showdown with his wife. "I'm divorced, my wife is in trouble, and my son and daughter don't recognize me as their father. What can I do? Everything has been done. I don't want anything. I'm back in Ningbo alone." Lao Shen said, now He can't even go back to his hometown. Everyone in his hometown is telling jokes about him and messing with women outside. All he can do now is send the money he earns every month back to his hometown. After all, a son will always be his son.

At the same time, Xiao Yan also divorced. Now, he lives with Xiao Yan. But the two did not get married because neither of them was sure how long their relationship would last.

B

Don’t dare to live together for fear of being discovered

Go to a small hotel whenever you have time

Although they are both temporary couples, compared to Lao Shen's needs, his friend Jianguo is more direct.

Jianguo is from Shandong and has been in Ningbo for almost ten years. He is a very tall man and works as a laborer on the construction site. If Lao Shen still had some feelings inside, Jianguo would simply satisfy his sexual needs.

Jianguo's life was far less comfortable than that of Lao Shen. He had to work basically every day except on rainy days. After finishing his work, he had to stay in a construction site dormitory with dozens of people to one room. "Like Lao Shen, my wife takes care of the children in my hometown, so I can only make money alone." Jianguo said that whenever a person feels uncomfortable, he especially wants his wife and children to come with him. But then I carefully calculated the cost and secretly rejected it.

"My son came to school, and the three of us had to rent a house. The consumption here is so high, and the salary is simply not enough." Jianguo told us that more than a year after coming to Ningbo, he found a woman through QQ, and she also had a family. Unlike Lao Shen, they did not live together, but kept in touch by phone. Whenever both parties were free, they would go to the small hotels in the city to get an hourly room. The price was very cheap, only a dozen yuan.

After finishing their work, both parties returned to their respective places. "She also lives in a factory dormitory. We actually need each other. Renting a house is too expensive, so it's better to save money this way." Jianguo said that they would not ask each other about family affairs, and they would be together if they could get along. If I feel like I can't get along, I won't contact you anymore.

Would you feel uncomfortable if you saw that woman having too close an affair with another man?

"It's a lie to say it's uncomfortable, but it's not painful to say it's hard. In fact, when we first got together, we knew that no one should think about the other's responsibilities to themselves. This is simply unrealistic." Jianguo To put it very bluntly, his wife is not around, and he is a normal man. Going to a hair salon is not only expensive, but also unsafe. Looking for this, everyone needs each other, and they don’t hate each other, so they are together.

What is a little surprising is that Jianguo has a very good relationship with his wife at home and is very loving.

As soon as he returns to his hometown, Jianguo will definitely buy a lot of things for his wife. "When I do this kind of thing outside, I always feel indebted." Jianguo said that every time I buy something for her, seeing her happy makes me feel a little better.

Over the years in Ningbo, Jianguo has found nearly ten women and lived a "temporary couple" life together.

For Jianguo, the "temporary couple" is very simple, with no feelings at all. What they have is just each other's sexual needs, which is as simple and ordinary as helping each other. Apart from feeling guilty about his wife, Jianguo didn't feel there was anything wrong with doing this at all.

C

There is no relationship if we live together

Just living together

Unlike Lao Shen and Jianguo, Lijuan from Jiangxi found a man and lived together.

Lijuan works as a waitress in a small restaurant next to National Highway 329 in Zhenhai. Why did she come to Ningbo to work alone? Lijuan said that her husband worked at a construction site in Henan. Her son went to high school the year before last. She heard from fellow villagers that Ningbo had many job opportunities and good pay, so she came here.

When I come to Ningbo, I am unfamiliar with the place and cannot rent a suitable house. In order to save money, she rented a house together with a fellow male, Guoliang. The room I rented is a room divided into warehouses, which is relatively large, nearly 30 square meters. In a room, there were two beds, with a red sheet pulled between the beds as a shield.

Living alone outside was far from being as simple as she imagined. "It's not a big deal if the work is hard and tiring. In my hometown, farm work is even harder. I'm just afraid of the night, when there's no one to talk to." Lijuan said, Guoliang also has a wife and children at home, and besides, a man and a woman live together, and It's not good to be too intimate.

In the beginning, Lijuan would cook a little more and leave it to Guoliang, who came home late. This move made Guoliang, who had been living alone in Ningbo for a few years, feel the warmth of home.

Last year during the Mid-Autumn Festival, Guoliang Factory distributed boxes of rice dumplings. After get off work, he bought some cooked food and beer, picked up the rice dumplings and hurried back home.

To his disappointment, Lijuan had not returned home from get off work yet. Guoliang cooked the rice dumplings first, then sat in the room and smoked. Although his stomach screamed with hunger, he still held back and did not peel a rice dumpling to eat first.

At around 9 p.m., Lijuan returned home feeling tired. "Seeing the steaming rice dumplings in the pot and the food on the table makes my heart feel warm." Lijuan said that the feeling in her heart is really great for living alone in such a big city and living at the bottom. I can't even say it.

That day, the two drank a lot of beer, talked a lot, and had a great time. When Lijuan got up and wanted to sleep on her own bed, Guoliang hugged her from behind.

"After I got up, the good feeling from the night before yesterday disappeared immediately. I sat on the bed and cried non-stop. All I could think about was how sorry I was for my husband and son." That day, Lijuan deliberately came home very late because she was afraid that Guoliang was still awake.

When he opened the door, he saw that Guoliang was already lying on the bed. Lijuan didn't even take off her clothes. She climbed onto her bed and lay on the bed. She couldn't fall asleep.

"It's all lies to say there is no demand." Lijuan said that that night, he actually did not fall asleep, and later climbed into her bed, and she once again chose the default.

Since then, although the curtain has not been removed, Lijuan has never slept in her bed again.

The two live like a couple, but there is no talk of love. As we spent more and more time together, Lijuan had a clearer feeling in her heart, "His physical needs for me are far greater than my emotional needs."

It is precisely because of this that whenever Lijuan calls her husband or family, Guoliang will consciously walk out of the room. Similarly, when Guoliang calls, Lijuan will walk away silently.

Every Spring Festival, the two of them go home to celebrate the New Year. After the New Year, they returned to Ningbo and lived together again. Speaking of this kind of life, Lijuan knew that it was wrong, but it seemed difficult to get rid of it. For the sake of her children, working outside the home would always make more money than at home.

Regarding the guilt in her heart, Lijuan only feels better and truly feels happy when she sends money to her son every month.