In the evening of that day, Gu Ao and Ma Feng, two middle-aged boys, took turns riding their bicycles to Gongchen Bridge Wharf.

If you ride a bike from Qiantang to Hujiang, you will be 180 kilometers long and you will definitely not be able to bear the physical strength.

But if you can take a boat from the Grand Canal to Gusu first, and then ride a bicycle from Gusu, 60 kilometers is enough, and it will only take 3 hours to ride faster. Nowadays, young people have to do some physical work, so riding dozens of kilometers is completely normal. (Farmers in the mountains can walk dozens of kilometers)

Gu Ao was also quite curious about the ancient mode of transportation, such as the canal.

In later generations, he had only seen the structure of a pleasure boat on the Grand Canal. From Wulin Gate to Gongchen Bridge, he could use a city bus card that costs 3 yuan every time.

I never thought that the ancient Grand Canal was still used to transport people by the late 1970s.

Just try to experience the hard years.

The ship was divided into two upper and lower cabins, but there were no people.

Gu Ao's boat ticket costs 50 cents and can sleep above the deck; while Ma Feng only bought 30 cents himself and had to sleep below the waterline, and there was no ventilation in the can holder without windows.

It seems that he is very aware of being a horse-boy. He knows that smelling the dirty air for a night will save his elder brother two cents.

When Ma Feng helped Gu Ao carry the bicycle onto the boat, the boss of the boat tried to stop him, saying that the car took up space and insisted that he would make up for two cents of extra boat money.

Gu Ao didn't care about the two cents at first, so he was ready to pay for them.

Ma Feng refused to accept it and bargained with the boss of the boat: "Don't bully people! Who can't bring some luggage when traveling far away? We have less luggage, and this car is too heavy?

Look at how many things the uncle has carried just now? The shoulder pole has been bent, it is definitely much heavier than our car, and you didn't ask him to add money! Are you bullying us young? And who else, I want to see what he carries on the load, and whether my bicycle is heavy..."

Ma Feng had sharp eyes, and as he spoke, he started a map cannon and pointed out the guests who looked like old farmers and carried heavy shoulder poles.

These days, it is not easy to go out, so it is normal for luggage to overload.

The few crab farmers who were pointed at by Ma Feng looked like they were all brave. Perhaps they had carried a load of hairy crabs from Gusu and came to Qiantang for private dealers. When they returned, they refused to run away, so they sold some local agricultural and sideline products from Qiantang to earn some money with their hard work.

These people all want to be low-key, after all, they are doing speculative business, and they are not good-looking when they are called out.

So they all spoke to Ma Feng with a calm mind: "Boss Boss, it's not easy for him to go out, so how big is it."

Seeing that the other side was full of people, Ma Feng was instigated, he gave up.

Gu Ao watched secretly, thinking that his emotional intelligence would still improve.

Even a child like Ma Feng can incite the masses to use it for themselves without a teacher. The difference is that.

...

After getting on the boat, Ma Feng didn't want to go downstairs to sleep immediately, and there was no place for him in the upper cabin, so he sat on the open-air deck to watch the scenery.

Actually, there is nothing good to look at. The Grand Canal in the 1970s was not yet environmentally friendly, and the water quality was very smelly, not better than the lower canned cabin.

Gu Ao picked up a cleaner position and sat aside, then told Ma Feng some truth: "Actually, there is no need to buy a boat ticket today. Just tell me: if you want to buy a long-distance bus ticket, I'll get a letter of introduction."

Gu Ao said, pulling out an envelope from his arms and swaying in front of Ma Feng.

Ma Feng was shocked at the time and felt that Gu Ao was extremely powerful: "This is the letter of introduction? Brother Gu, how did you get it?"

Gu Ao whispered: "My father is currently working on a technical research project in the factory, and he needs to coordinate various scientific research materials. He is the head of the technical department, so I asked him to ask the unit for a letter of introduction.

I think that if we go to Hujiang in the future, we want to buy a rare book. It will definitely be much more convenient to have this "Shangfang Sword" and it will be more convenient to force them to cooperate with us."

His father and Director Qin had such an important task, and asked the factory for some sufficient letter of introduction, but wasn't it easy to get it?

Ma Feng was envious and felt a little discouraged: "That's because I'm kind-hearted to do something bad. If I hadn't made my own decisions and could not buy a long-distance bus, I would have bought a ticket. You can still take the bus comfortably tomorrow..."

"Don't think so," Gu Ao quickly stopped Ma Feng's ruthlessness. "The reason why I told you now is that I don't want you to think too much, which has dampened your enthusiasm. You do whatever you want to achieve your goals. This is a good thing and worth cultivating.

Anyway, I have never taken a boat to another place, so it would be great to take a ride to experience life. And if you didn’t remind me, I wouldn’t have thought of getting an introduction letter—so, if you encounter something in the future, you should let it go. It doesn’t matter if you make a mistake the first time, just don’t make a mistake the second time.”

"Brother Gu, what you said makes sense, much higher than Teacher Yang." Ma Feng carefully savored Gu Ao's words and felt a sense of encounter.

The two chatted for a while, then they went back to the cabin to sleep with the smell.

The boat drove very slowly, estimated to be less than 20 kilometers per hour, and the sound of the diesel engine was also very loud, which really refreshed Gu Ao's three views. It took him more than 100 kilometers to drive for a whole night.

It was about halfway through midnight when the boat left the Grand Canal and went to Taihu Lake. Because the water of Taihu Lake was clear, the environment was better. Gu Ao's advantages of the top-class cabin were also reflected.

It’s a pity that Gu Ao has already slept soundly and can’t smell the difference between the smell.

At around four o'clock in the morning, the boat was docking in Wujiang. The boss of the boat raided the bell to wake up, and the group got off the boat in a daze.

If you are paired with the BGM of Plants vs. Zombies, it will be more picturesque.

Gu Ao endured the bad breath of toothbrush. When he walked down the deck, he saw that there were already a large queue of old farmers on the dock, carrying crab loads, and they should have been preparing to take a boat to sell outside the country.

"Is it so hard? Going out at around 4 o'clock is it too hard, right?" Gu Ao couldn't help but sigh.

Ma Feng seemed to know the sufferings of the people better than him, so he explained: "This is all speculation. It is inconvenient to go through broad daylight, and he is afraid of being seen."

Gu Ao's heart moved: "Or we would buy a few kilograms and let them cook them for lunch, so we can't eat them at noon anyway."

Nowadays, people who go out to another place on business trips, not only do they need to introduce letters to buy train tickets and stay in guesthouses. They also have to send you national food coupons and meat coupons to buy food in the hotel.

Otherwise, even if you have money, you have to wait to starve to death on the streets.

If you are lucky, you can be found before starving to death and then repatriated.

Because Gu Ao and Ma Feng only went out for one day, they brought a few steamed buns as dry food on the road, and they didn't plan to buy food in Hujiang at all.

However, Ma Feng disagreed with Gu Ao's suggestion: "What's the good thing about hairy crabs? They are so expensive, they are all shells, not big meat."

People in this era generally think that fat pork is the real meat, and other aquatic products are not a big deal. Especially freshwater fish raised according to the plan, they have to be purchased with tickets, which is the most unprofitable.

The benefits of shrimp and crabs are not included in the category, and many of them are privately harvested by fishermen and can be bought without collecting tickets.

In addition, in the market today, in less coastal cities, the only fish that can be bought without tickets is the only stinky hairtail fish - hairtail fish cannot be cultivated and are all caught by wild. Moreover, it will die if it leaves the water and is not easy to store for a long time. The official also allows the private to sell it if it is caught, without tickets.

However, Qiantang is at least 200 kilometers away from the sea, and there is no refrigerated truck now, so all the hairtail fish in Gu Ao's memory is a bit smelly, and they died for at least three days.

However, Gu Ao is still the soul of later generations, and his impression of hairy crabs is obviously better than pork.

So he ignored Ma Feng's advice, so he directly found a crab farmer who was carrying a load and queuing up: "Uncle, how do you sell this crab?"

The crab farmer looked up and down, thinking that Gu Ao was just joking.

On this pier, the price of crabs is relatively cheap, after all, they are not worth it locally.

Gu Ao knew his concerns, so he asked: "Don't worry, I'll buy two or three kilograms. You can calculate it for me according to the price you shipped to Qiantang - but the boss of the boat borrowed the fire and helped me cook it."

When he heard Gu Ao buy it at the destination price, the crab farmer immediately agreed: "The average one is 40 cents per pound, the largest one is 60 cents."

Gu Ao took out two dollars: "Hey, here are two dollars. Give me the largest one with three pounds, and the extra two cents, you can borrow the stove from the boss of the boat and cook it quickly."

Of course, the most delicious hairy crabs need to be steamed, but Gu Ao knew that the boss of the boat would not stop for too long and there was no time, so he just let it cook.

It’s not that particular about traveling outside.

When the crab farmer heard that it was worth 20 cents to cook the crabs for a few minutes, he took the money and left. In less than five minutes, he picked up a basket of red hairy crabs that were almost boiling on high heat and poured them into Gu Ao's duffel bag containing dry food, and vinegar was poured on the crabs.

"Go to Wujiang Wharf to buy crabs? Hey, what a weirdo."

"Can it be that the rich overseas Chinese from Hujiang who don't use money as money?"

Looking at Gu Ao's beautiful departure, a group of crab farmers were still stealing legends.

After all, pork is only more than 60 cents a pound now, and few local people in Suzhou buy hairy crabs at such a high price.

But Gu Ao was blaming his father for not living his life at this moment: "Oh, I just know how to stare at meat! There are so many good things that I can buy with just money without meat tickets, but I just turned a blind eye! I have eaten vegetarian for so long!"

Taking advantage of Ma Feng's bicycle in front, he sat on the cushion of the newspaper stand behind, holding the car bar with only one hand, and then disassembled the crab bag with the other hand, chewing all the way.

It was inconvenient to remove the crab legs carefully in the car, so he chewed them a few times and spit them out. He only focused on eating crab bags with plump meat and thick and yellow paste.

Anyway, I bought three pounds in one go, and I have to eat them all in one day, so it would be a pity to throw away my legs.

Dozens of crab legs were sprinkled along the provincial road from Gusu to Hujiang.

After almost half of the meal, Ma Feng also carried the person on the bicycle for three hours. He was almost exhausted and finally arrived in Hujiang City.

Gu Ao patted his stomach, got off the schoolbag shelf, and walked towards the Xinhua Bookstore written on the address.

As he walked, he stuffed the dry food bag on his hand to Ma Feng:

"Hey, you rode your bike to deliver it to me today, which was equivalent to saving me 3 yuan in tickets, and I haven't suffered any extra burden yet.

I will give you one-third of the money I saved. This is a crab that costs one dollar, so take it to eat. Remember, this is called performance appraisal. In the future, everything that exceeds my expectations will be rewarded."

When Ma Feng heard this, his face was happy at first, and then turned into regret: "Brother Gu, you said it would be better to buy half of it and give me the money!"

Ma Feng felt so worthless when he exchanged a pound of hairy crabs for one dollar.

The generation gap between values ​​is too big.
Chapter completed!