Day 73 The New Way (2)
On December 16, Lu Li, Xu Yunjian and Zhao Xiaodong boarded the train to the north. It was mid-winter, and the doors and windows on the train were closed, covering the carriage with a human smell. The three of them found a seat and sat down, "Brother Zhao... Well, this is not a good name. I can call you Brother Zhao, do you think it's okay?"
"Why can't it be?" Zhao Xiaodong Qingqing's face burst into a smile, "Hey, Xiao Lu, I didn't have the nerve to say in front of Xiao Zou when I happened last time, really, you are so nice!"
"I have such ability. You are my friend again. If you can, please help. Don't always talk about this. Besides, I lent you the money and have to pay it back." He said: "And, this time you left your job and took us to the Northeast. I was invaded by the wind and cold. But I owe you a big favor."
Zhao Xiaodong laughed, "No wonder Jiahua said you can talk. When I saw you today, it was true! When I arrived at the place, you would like to mention it to them if you had anything to say, but you didn't say anything!"
"Well, Brother Zhao, do you think that just by speaking from the branch secretary in the brigade, can it work? Is it necessary for the town and the county to go around?"
"If you want less, I don't think there is a big problem. If there are more, you have to think about it."
"This, then let's do this. When we go this time, please ask Brother Zhao to lead us. We have a walk in the town and the county. We just think it's acquaintance. Don't mention the serious matters at first. When the first time is successful, we will have a good relationship in the future. If it fails, we will just think it's acquaintance of a few new friends. What do you think?"
"Then, do you mean, do you still have to give gifts?"
"I have to give it, but there is no need to give gifts. It costs 2000 yuan for a family. What people like to buy is more affordable and more convenient, right?"
Xu Yunjian listened while listening, and didn't interrupt, and was amazed in his heart: How could he think about it? This mind was so quick!
I talked and laughed all the way. After 48 hours, the train stopped at Tongliao Station. As soon as I went out, I smelled a strange fragrance. "What is this?" Xu Yunjian asked.
"This is a nationally famous MSG factory. The city is not big, but this MSG factory is very big, so the taste is very strong."
"How did you know?"
"I came here once, did you forget?"
"Oh, isn't it?" Xu Yunjian also remembered that Lu Li was still in junior high school at that time. Before the New Year of a certain year, he went to the Northeast with Yu Fang to visit his second sister who went to the countryside here!
But although I have been here, it was many years ago. When the two of them got off the train, they felt the cold and cold weather in the three northeastern provinces. They shivered with coldness, "Don't say so much, Brother Zhao, where are we going?"
"Let's go to the county first today, open Lu (county), and stay for a night, and then go to the commune tomorrow."
"Don't go to the commune tomorrow. I want to see it in the county. Well, Brother Zhao, can you take me to the leaders at all levels in the county?"
"Of course this is OK, but I think it's not enough to cover the bridge. You should go to the commune first and then ask the branch secretary to take you to visit one level after another. What do you think?"
Lulio thought about it and nodded immediately, "Okay, let's listen to you. By the way, where will we stay at night?"
"No problem, I know someone in the county - I'll tell you, I often came here when I went to the countryside."
There was nothing to say along the way, the three of them took a red and white bus to Kailu (county), and found a bathhouse in the county town. The three of them took a comfortable hot bath, then went to the only restaurant in the county to order a few stir-fry dishes, and the three of them had a full meal. "Next, let's go to the police station in the county and complete the relevant procedures, and then, Brother Zhao, let's find a place to sleep."
Zhao Xiaodong was very surprised, "Are you even ready for this?"
"Yes, thanks to my second sister, didn't she be in the police station, and she issued a certificate - don't underestimate this piece of paper, which is covered with a seal! It's all working all over the country!"
Xu Yunjian punched him hard, "You grandson thing! I now understand a little why you have been the leader since childhood. Your mind is indeed more thoughtful than ordinary people, and more importantly, you think farther and farther!"
Lu Li smiled and wiped his mouth, "Then, Brother Zhao, let's go?"
As Lu Li said, in this era, holding a piece of paper with a seal in his hand, he was not afraid of traveling all over the country! He went to the local police station to show the certificate, and the other party was so enthusiastic that he not only issued the corresponding certificate documents immediately, but also sent a young elite to take a guide to a small hotel in the county town, and only left with confidence until he was settled.
The three of them asked for two rooms, Zhao Xiaodong lived alone, and Xu Yunjian and Lu Li lived together, "Xiaoxiao, did you and your aunt come back then, the same was true?"
"No, when we came, it was my second sister who picked up the car. She was a local educated youth. With her, why did she use so much?" Lu Li brushed her teeth and rinsed her mouth, and turned the flames in the stove in the house smaller, and she got naked into the bed. The weather in the northeast was really stunned, and he screamed, "It's so cold, so cold!"
Xu Yunjian looked funny and couldn't help but joke with his old friend, "Xiaoxiao, how old are you? Why don't you sleep in clothes?"
"I've been used to it since I was a child. Now I've asked me to wear clothes and sleep again. I can't sleep well every night." He said, "I've tried the underwear we sell several times, but it just won't work."
Xu Yunjian laughed and took the cigarette from the cabinet to light it. He slowly squirted out a stream of green smoke, "Xiaoxiao, we guys have been fifteen years. To be honest, why are you so big?"
Luli laughed and scolded him, "Can you speak human words?"
Xu Yunjian laughed, "No, I didn't mean that, I just felt curious. You said that when you went to school and later went to the countryside, we won't mention it. Now? Why are you just going this path with all your heart? Although it's a bit difficult, in general, it's still successful. What did you think?"
"Are you upset? Why do you want to be a philosopher?"
"Who? I'm the worst in my studies, you don't know what kind of home you have?! That's right, Cao Xun and Zhang Qing and I sometimes talk to each other, and the topics always talk about you. You say you are not much older than us, and you are even younger than Zhang Qing. Why do you think so much and so deep?"
Luli moved his body in the quilt, and after this moment of breaking, he had already warmed up a little space. "If you think too much, it is because you are unwilling to use your brain. You are pointing at me in everything. It has become a habit for so many years, right?"
"That's right. After so many years, you just say it, and you can do whatever you want. Think about it, it's really that way. Alas, Xiaoxiao, did you listen to what Brother Zhao said on the train just now?"
Luli was a little sleepy, closed his eyes slightly, and chatted with him, "What are you saying?"
"That is, our educated youth in Tianjin are not things?"
Luli immediately became energetic, "What?"
"Didn't you hear Zhao Xiaodong say that? The educated youth in Tianjin are the most agitated in the local area. They are not only angry with the locals, but also the other educated youth. It's not because they are incompetent, but because they don't join forces! One hundred people are only one hundred and scheming, and none of them can bring them together. How can that sentence be said?"
"A plate of loose sand."
"Yes, this sentence is all a mess. To be honest, it can be seen from Wu Yingwei and the others. What a good guy, he is really a person and a person is very sensible. Now think about it, our brothers are lucky to have you, otherwise, even in the business forest, they would have to be bullied to death by the local old farmers, right?"
"I'm sleepy, go to bed."
"No, let's talk to me again."
“…………”
After waking up, the fire had already gone out. The morning in the northeast was so cold that even getting up was a hard thing. Lu Li hissed and hummed and went down to the ground. He first lit the stove, and then went to Zhao Xiaodong's room to light the stove. When the temperature in the room increased, the other two people got out of the bed. "Oh, it's so cold! Xiaoxiao, aren't you cold?"
Luli was so angry that he said nothing, "Hurry up, I still have to hurry up today."
"I know, I know, I will brush my teeth and wash my face first, and then we will set off."
Zhao Xiaodong was a little embarrassed, and walked in with a smile, "Xiao Lu, I'm sorry, look? You also asked you to make a stove for me, what... what do you say?"
"It's okay, Brother Zhao, I'm used to doing it at home."
After the three of them finished washing up, they had breakfast in the cafeteria of the small hotel, and took a stranded car to the commune and headed straight to the Sankeshu Brigade. "Actually, let's talk about it, Xiao Lu is not an outsider. Your second sister also went to the lineup here back then, and we all knew each other after talking."
"Yes, the last time I came, I saw a lot of people." Lu Li looked at the seat. There were very few people in the car, all wearing heavy winter clothes. The cat tightened his body in the seat, as if it was windy and cold. "These people, Brother Zhao, are they all from the local area?"
"Some are, some are not. There are not many people now. When the twelfth lunar month enters the county town, more people start to enter the county town."
"Are you buying New Year's goods?"
"Yes. But you can't buy a lot of them - the farmers are poor. We are in the city, no matter how much a month we have, we can always have some salary, and farmers rely on the weather to make a living. In that year, they can't even get a penny at home."
"What should I do during the Chinese New Year?"
"Make some sorghum noodles, put the cabbage in the pot, add some pork assigned by the production team, and then wrap some dumplings filled with sauerkraut. Even if it's the Chinese New Year, I'm going to say that I don't even have vinegar to put dumplings, and sometimes I can only deal with soy sauce! Oh, looking back now, I don't even know how I got through these years. Good guy, it's thirteen years!"
"I haven't been in the business forest for so long, four or five years, and to be honest, it's not as hard as the Northeast. But I think this period of educated youth has the same meaning for all of us. After such difficult hardships, you may encounter any difficulties in your future life with a smile - can it be more difficult than the past ten years of going to the countryside?"
"That's true! Just say that. Now you work in the factory. You often run around from north to south. Sometimes you can't sit or sleep on the train. You feel very tired. But when you think about the years you went to the countryside, is this kind of hardship still enough?" Zhao Xiaodong patted his shoulder in emotion, "As you said, this kind of suffering is a kind of tempering! Oh, by the way, how are Lao Wu and the others doing with you?"
"It's okay." Luli didn't want to say more and vaguely perfunctorily.
"They don't have to go off work now. The last time I met them was when Zheng Kai got married, I chatted with them a few words. I heard them say, are you doing a good job now?"
"It's not very good. I'm a self-employed person... I'm very restricted, so I said that there is no business in this season, so I'm trying to find a way to open up other... ways now."
"Hey, I didn't ask you along the way, what do you do when buying sheep? Can't you buy mutton in the city?"
"I want a lot of meat tickets. Meat tickets are a hurdle that cannot be avoided. One day, the meat tickets will be cancelled, so it may be better."
Zhao Xiaodong laughed loudly! "Xiao Lu, can you really have fun and cancel the meat ticket? How can you have that day?"
Lu Li smiled bitterly helplessly. This was just his personal opinion. He could not convince others at all. It would be more accurate to say that it was unrealistic.
The car was bumping and undulating on the dirt road in the countryside. Zhao Xiaodong pointed with his hand, "Hey, we're about to arrive."
Luli looked out through the foggy car window. As usual, it was the yellow soil ground, without even any reference. It was just that in the distance, smoke seemed to rise. He and his aunt were accompanied by their second sister, but the time passed too long and they no longer remembered it. "This... can you tell it?"
"So, I have lived here for thirteen years! You don't know that if it snows and winds in winter, every household will not go out - if no one comes out of the village, you may get lost. Maybe you will freeze to death in the fields in the northeast. Let's get out of the car."
The three of them walked down, and a burst of blue smoke came out of the butt of the car, and they drove away. Zhao Xiaodong looked at his watch and it was already past 11:30 noon. "Let's go, let's go to the village first, and then I'll take you to the branch secretary. You have never seen our child branch secretary, what do you want me to say? Haha, you will know when you see it later."
Walking into the village, there were piles of adobe houses everywhere. In front of the house was a fence made of wooden sticks and shrub branches, and a small courtyard was opened with bundles of corn piles. "Hey, Xiaoxiao, this is almost the same as returning to the business forest, ah?"
Lu Li laughed and walked carefully - the snow that had fallen a few days ago was broken and the snow that had not been sorted out was on the road, hard and slippery when you step on it, "Be careful."
"At this time, the house in front is where I lived when I went to the countryside. The landlord's surname is Hua. Hua? Is Hua at home?"
As soon as the door opened, a young man popped his head out, with a dark face and a thin figure. In such a cold weather, he was wearing only a pair of thin shorts, bare upper body and feet, "Xiaogu? Is your grandma at home?"
The child shook and shrank back. After a while, the door opened again and a woman came out, "Who?"
"San Sister-in-law, I am Zhao Xiaodong." After saying this, Zhao Xiaodong's voice choked, "San Sister-in-law, is the aunt at home?"
"Yeah, here, mom! Look at who is here? Xiao Zhao, come in quickly and come in!"
Lu Li and Xu Yunjian followed Zhao Xiaodong into the house. The shape of the house in the countryside is always the same. When you enter the door, you will see a large stove. The flue leads to the kang inside. When you turn in, you will see a big kang. A woman is moving her legs, as if she is about to go to the ground. "Xiao Zhao (Auntie)?"
"Auntie, sit down and don't move." Zhao Xiaodong pressed the woman's hand and sat with her on the edge of the kang, "Auntie, are you pretty good?"
"Okay, it's all good, it's all good. Xiaodong, why are you... back again? Are you all back, or are you back? It's okay, we're suffering, but we still haven't said anything to raise one more! Just stay here with peace of mind, nothing to say!"
Zhao Xiaodong was very moved! Not only did he, but Lu Li also felt a heat in his heart. No wonder people say that Northeastern people are generous and enthusiastic, but this woman can be seen from this woman! "Auntie, is it because I am back this time, I have something to look for the branch secretary, um, or the old boy?"
Chapter completed!