Chapter 27 Chapter Twenty Six

The beginning of spring has passed, and the scenery in the mountains is not much different from that in the cold winter. The trees are still bare, the mountains are still gray, the roads are still deserted, and the glaciers are still hard. Especially those animals in the mountains are more afraid of the cold than the people in the mountains. From time to time, the people in the mountains can see a few sparsely. And the lively animals, as if they disappeared from this place, disappeared throughout winter and spring. A world without animals is like deathly silence. Shi Jiamin, a Chinese-American, wanted to donate to build a Hope Primary School in Hougou Village, and invited Guo Tianliang to participate, as well as her classmate Mayor Li Lilin.Guo Tianliang drove Shi Jiamin to the village.

"How are you getting ready?" The car entered the valley. "Your friend Dahei is very interesting. As soon as he said that I was your friend, he immediately called the principal of the village primary school and made arrangements." Shi Jiamin and Guo Tianliang cooperated on some things, and found that as long as he participated , no matter whether she was present or not, the relevant people all supported her sincerely as if to repay her kindness, "By the way, Dahei said that he has looked for you several times, but he has never seen you." "That's why I avoided him on purpose." Guo Tianliang said unhurriedly.

"Why do you hide from him? Aren't you going to help him with the construction of a new countryside? Can you escape?" Shi Jiamin felt that the car was driving on the bumpy mountain road, making herself very uncomfortable. "Why? It's like Li Lilin hiding from you. I don't know what to say when we meet." For some reason, whenever I'm with Shi Jiamin, I can't help but think of that paranoid Mayor Li. "Li Lilin hides from me? It's nothing. Let me make it clear to you that before the Chinese New Year, he drove me to Longquan Fort to do research." Shi Jiamin suddenly remembered, "I even gave your donation to the widow Those old ladies in the village, they are grateful to you."

"It seems that as long as I'm not around, Li Lilin will dare to touch you without any scruples." Guo Tianliang felt that he was starting to climb uphill, so he deliberately increased the gas pedal. "What do you mean? Are you jealous?" Shi Jiamin turned to look at him, "I'm telling you: when we were young..." "When you were young, you were childhood sweethearts." Guo Tianliang understood the relationship between the two without her saying, "It's not that I'm jealous of him, but he is jealous of me." "Really?" Shi Jiamin looked at the bare area outside the window.

"You don't need to ask." Guo Tianliang was very careful when turning the car, because the mountain road was very steep. "I...I..." Shi Jiamin suddenly remembered that the last time they went out together, as soon as he mentioned Guo Tianliang, Li Lilin immediately changed his face. "If you don't believe me, let's try again. Don't you say that he will be here today? Let's make a bet: as long as he sees me, he will definitely feel uncomfortable, and he will definitely try his best to ridicule me, and he must show enough of him." The mayor is arrogant." Seeing the old locust tree in the village, Guo Tianliang understood that Hougou Village was just around the bend of the mountain.

"Why do you think he did this? After all, he is in his forties, and he still cares about everything like a child." Shi Jiamin was puzzled. "It means that he cares about you, it means that you hold a lot of weight in his heart." Guo Tianliang saw the bare old locust tree at the entrance of the village more and more clearly. Shi Jiamin blushed a little, and deliberately changed the topic: "I asked you why you don't want to see Dahei, and I didn't ask you about our relationship." "Didn't I say it before, I'm embarrassed." Guo Tianliang saw the shadows of the villagers waiting for them under the big locust tree, "Chinese New Year, I went to Europe, and those gangsters who planned to kidnap me ended up kidnapping Dahei. You say, How can I have the face to meet my brother? What should I say when I see you? After thinking about it for several days, I still can't come up with a solution."

"Who told you all this?" Shi Jiamin asked. "A few days ago, when the Federation of Industry and Commerce held a meeting, Duan Tiansheng, the secretary of the municipal party committee, quietly revealed it to me." After speaking, the village arrived, and the two got out of the car. Under the big locust tree, besides Dahei, the village party secretary, and a few expected people waiting for them, there was another person beyond their expectations: Mayor Li Lilin. Mayor Li was wearing a military overcoat. He had obviously waited for a long time in the cold wind, his feet kept moving, and his face turned purple.

"Let's go, everyone hurry to Guandi Temple to warm up." Dahei and the village party secretary greeted all the guests and entered the back room of Guandi Temple.There was a big iron stove inside, with fiery red flames coming out, and hot air blowing towards the face. After staying for a while, the guests changed from "popsicles" to "fritters". "It's just that the coal boss has a lot of face, and there is an American female bodyguard behind him." Mayor Li Lilin was obviously very unhappy because of the long wait. "Don't be so bitter, okay?" Shi Jiamin looked at her old classmate, and thought of the bet on the road, which was very funny. "I'm Chinese, and I'm not a bodyguard."

"I didn't mention you." Li Lilin pretended not to be as knowledgeable as a woman, "I said Mr. Guo, look at what your coal boss has ruined the good mountain: there is not a single tree on the entire mountain, and the entire mountain Not a single blade of grass, not a single hare on the whole mountain, not a single drop of water on the whole mountain. This is all a waste of digging coal!" In front of the villagers, Guo Tianliang did not defend himself, but secretly looked at Shi Jiamin with an imperceptible smile. This subtle movement, conveyed to the woman, turned into a big laugh: "I said mayor, what time is it now? Just a few days after the cold weather, don't say that there is nothing in the coal mining area, it is any northern area, including Those so-called Saibei and Jiangnan can't burst out a trace of green, a blade of grass, or a drop of water!"

"Don't talk about that." Mayor Li Lilin still looked at Guo Tianliang who was wearing a fur coat, "You coal bosses dig out the treasures in other people's mountains, earn a lot of money, buy a house in Beijing, and go to Macau Gambling, and vacationing in Hainan. But the common people here have no food or drink, can they not hate you? Village Chief Dahei, stand up and speak on behalf of the masses, am I right?" Guo Tianliang didn't look directly at the mayor, but secretly conveyed his smile to the woman.Shi Jiamin didn't have any scruples, and still laughed hard.

The most embarrassing thing was Dahei. The mayor suddenly threw him a difficult problem, and Dahei didn't know how to answer it. "Because of coal mining, the environment has been destroyed, groundwater has been polluted, geological disasters have occurred in villages, villagers have no fixed homes and returned to poverty, and social conflicts have been severely intensified, especially the common people hate the coal bosses and upstarts who brought disasters to them. "Mayor Li Lilin enumerated all the crimes committed by coal bosses, "Dahei, do you think I'm right? Speak up, don't be dumb." Guo Tianliang couldn't bear it anymore, turned around and coughed deliberately.Shi Jiamin, who was not far away, couldn't help being overjoyed like watching a comedy show. "Mayor, do you want me to tell the truth or lie?" Dahei felt that if he simply catered to the leader, he would lose his best brother.Therefore, he specially threw out a green channel to step down, so that the mayor would allow him to get in without blaming him. "Of course I told the truth." In Li Lilin's mind, the villagers must treat the coal boss like the poor people treat the landlord. "Then I'll tell the truth, don't blame me." Dahei emphasized again. "Speak, say what you want to say most, in person, and don't hide anything." The mayor seemed very open-minded. "I said, Lilin, aren't you just asking for fun?" Shi Jiamin felt that the comedy was about to reach its climax. "How can it be self-defeating for the common people to confide in their own suffering?" Li Lilin's most uncomfortable thing is that Shi Jiamin's heart is still turned to others in front of everyone, "Dahei, hurry up, tell the truth, today the mayor Let me decide. Even if there is a mistake, I will never pursue it." "Then I'm really telling the truth." Dahei poured out his thoughts like pouring beans, "Others think that the coal boss is a black-hearted boss, but everyone in our village thinks that Guo Tianliang is the best man in the world: He built the Guandi Temple, he built the roads in and out of the village, he helped the widows and the poor during festivals, and he even raised the initial funds for the construction of the new countryside!... Folks, right? " "Yes!" Everyone echoed. Mayor Li Lilin was surprised to find that the atmosphere in front of him was completely opposite to what he had imagined.He was not only extremely embarrassed, but also became the laughing stock of everyone. Dahei was still chattering: "Everyone knows that I was kidnapped around the Spring Festival. Maybe everyone didn't know why the kidnappers wanted to kidnap me? I didn't understand it at first, but it was only later that I fully understood: the kidnappers originally planned to kidnap us The benefactor, it happened that the benefactor was abroad and kidnapped me as a target. Although I have suffered a lot and suffered a lot, for our benefactor, no matter what price I pay, it is worth it!..." Dahei is not a speaker, but his casual speech won applause from all the halls. Guo Tianliang and Shi Jiamin were suddenly moved to tears by his unexpected speech. At this time, the person with the most unnatural expression, the most abnormal expression, the most confused logic, and the most complicated thinking is the mayor Li Lilin standing in the middle of the room... I hope that after the primary school ribbon-cutting, the villagers will all go home.Dahei proposed to sit down with Guo Tianliang, and the two of them entered Guandi Temple and closed the door to continue their in-depth conversation.And Shi Jiamin took the mayor's special car back to the city. "Unexpected, unexpected." The annoyance in Mayor Li Lilin's heart has been lingering all the time, "Jiamin, it's a good thing we still... how could you design such an embarrassing situation with others, and put me in it in the end." "Who set up a trap for you?" Shi Jiamin was very upset, "As soon as he came in, you scolded the coal boss to the point of utter absurdity. It's a gimmick and a scam. There's no mayor like you!" "From the moment you walked in, I could feel the secretive smiles on each other, which means that you have planned everything in advance. Do you think I'm a fool?!" Mayor Li Lilin began to take revenge on his old classmates. "Then what about the witnesses you named?" Shi Jiamin defended herself. "It was also designed by you in advance!" The mayor could not doubt it. "Ridiculous!" Shi Jiamin began to really laugh at him, "Don't do practical things for the 'witnesses', don't make contributions to the 'witnesses', don't make friends with the 'witnesses', rely solely on the authority of your own mayor, and drag people down casually. Don't you feel ashamed to come out and testify to your ridiculous point of view?!" "You!..." For a long time in this city, no one dared to confront him face to face, let alone humiliate him unscrupulously. Li Lilin encountered a troublesome opponent, and this opponent was almost self-indulgent. "What are you, you!" Shi Jiamin was annoyed, "Li Lilin, if I remember correctly, you were a farmer's child before you went to college, right?" "Of course." Wherever he went, Li Lilin was proud of being a farm boy.Behind this pride is his history of success from "slave to general". "It's strange, how can a farmer's child forget the true nature of a farmer?!" Shi Jiamin sighed. "Who has forgotten the true nature of a farmer?" Li Lilin defended himself. "You, who else!" Shi Jiamin didn't save him any face, "If you don't do things for the peasants, don't benefit the peasants, and don't make friends with the peasants, you have to pull the peasants out to testify for your ridiculous views. How do you look like a descendant of a farmer? You are clearly a descendant of a pampered, ignorant nouveau riche!" "Look, here we go again. You can just say that I am Guo Tianliang's son and the grandson of the coal boss." Li Lilin was furious, "No matter how wrong I am, I can't be ruined like this." The two are at odds with each other.Shi Jiamin took the initiative to choose silence, and seeing that the other party didn't say a word, Mayor Li Lilin also began to concentrate on driving and stopped talking. When approaching the urban area, I felt that the road was getting flatter and smoother, and the scenery outside was getting clearer and clearer.Because the big trees on both sides were wrapped with thick green anti-freeze cloth, they seemed to have a kind of vitality and were carefully cared for by loving people. Shi Jiamin felt much more comfortable. "In the future, don't blatantly ridicule me as a descendant of an upstart, can you? You know, I am the son of a farmer." Mayor Li Lilin said cautiously. "If you are really the son of a farmer, don't forget your roots, and be the mayor of the farmer down-to-earth." When Shi Jiamin said this, her voice became soft. "You taught me the most vivid lesson of 'serving the people' today." Li Lilin said from the bottom of his heart, "What the coal bosses can do, I will do better than them." "Don't speak bureaucratically to me, you are my old classmate, and you used to be my favorite person, you should talk to me with the peaceful language and peaceful mind of those days." Although Shi Jiamin can't drive, she understands life How to get on the main road. "I don't know why, but I can't bear the hypocrisy of that upstart Guo Tianliang, and I get angry when I see him." In front of the person he once loved the most, Li Lilin did not hide his emotions. "In your heart, Guo Tianliang was originally a piece of black charcoal stuck in his chest. Because of my appearance, this piece of black charcoal was completely burned and turned into a raging fire, right?" When Shi Jiamin was in school, the kind of superiority Li Lilin, who was born in the countryside, was envious of his intelligence. "How do you know?" Li Lilin was very surprised. "Your narrow mind told me!" Shi Jiamin felt helpless, "Tell me, am I one of the people who know you best in this world?" "You are the only person who can understand my heart." Li Lilin drove slowly, "I am really small-minded, and the darkroom is even narrower, and can only accommodate you alone." "What about your wife?" Shi Jiamin suddenly felt that he had malicious intentions. "Although she has lived with me for nearly twenty years, and we have a daughter, she has never been able to enter my heart, especially the dark room in my heart." Li Lilin completely opened the passage to the dark room in my heart. "How do you say that your husband and wife are not in harmony?" Shi Jiamin asked knowingly. "Could it be that you and your divorced husband in the United States used to live in harmony?" Li Lilin didn't answer directly, but instead asked about the other party's privacy. "I asked you, not you. You have no right to reveal a woman's privacy." Shi Jiamin refused him politely. "You don't want to answer directly, which just confirmed my guess." Li Lilin's speed was getting slower and slower, because the traffic jam on the road was too serious, "Life, there is only one real, pure, soul-stirring, unforgettable love affair in life and death. , isn’t it? Except this time, any other time can’t be replaced, and the more you want to replace it, the more painful it will be.” "A married man speaks such outrageous words with ulterior motives." Shi Jiamin was very calm. "Because of the mayor's curse, I didn't tell anyone." Li Lilin revealed the secret, "Actually, we agreed to divorce two years ago. At that time, I didn't even know that you had returned to China." "Next time, we'd better not meet alone." Shi Jiamin was surprisingly calm in her heart, "Some inner secrets are completely dead, and there is no possibility of resurrection." "Why? Why is that?" Li Lilin didn't expect that when he told everything with enthusiasm, what he encountered was a block of ice. "I have no obstacles, and neither do you." "But I have!" Shi Jiamin couldn't make a choice. "Are you really with him..." Suddenly, Li Lilin became frightened. "What with him?" Shi Jiamin guessed immediately, "Your jealousy has started to burn again, hasn't it?" "Since there isn't that, what else is there?" Li Lilin was a little relieved. "You guys remarry, there is absolutely no possibility between us." Shi Jiamin looked firm, "Tell me where she is, and I will go to work." "Aren't you just teasing my feelings? Why, when you were young, didn't you tease enough?" Li Lilin moved forward step by step on the blocked city road like driving a bullock cart. "I didn't tease you. Besides, when we met again, you were already divorced. Let me tell you plainly: there is something wrong with your marriage, it is your problem, and I have no responsibility." In the car, in stark contrast to this, a calm woman speaks at a crisp pace. "You're not a third party, so don't worry." Li Lilin sensed a woman's difficulty, "I've already said that the part between me and her is ahead, and our part is behind. It's not because of your interference." "We don't have the latter stage." Shi Jiamin is determined to block the emotional "dam break" tightly, so that the big water cannot flow out, "You should give up on this, we are just a working relationship, just like Guo and Guo. It's the same as before dawn, a good friend who gets along with each other sincerely, innocent and upright." "Tell me the reason why you are determined not to release a drop of water." Li Lilin pressed on. "Because I am the most ordinary woman." After more than 40 years of ups and downs, Shi Jiamin has long understood her destiny, "I no longer dare to expect those pure and turbulent loves, those seemingly passionate, pure, The turbulent things, for me, the most ordinary woman, are the greatest disaster in my life, hurt me the most, and hurt me the most. I am already in my early forties, and I don’t have the ability or opportunity to heal myself.” Li Lilin listened, his heart hurt like a knife. "Besides..." Shi Jiamin was in agony. "Besides what?" Li Lilin asked. "Besides, as a graduate of Harvard University in the United States, I am now working in China. I am most afraid of others talking about me taking advantage of my old relationship and clinging to the powerful!" Shi Jiamin has a serious psychological barrier, "So, nothing is possible for us! I would rather find an ordinary person." Li Lilin finally understood that all his hard work today was in vain...