Chapter 2 second quarter

Although the beach is far away from the village, it is not a paradise. The competition is more superficial and sharp than in the field of responsibility.In the responsibility fields of each household, whose wheat grows well and whose cotton seedlings are strong, it depends on the operation skills to conduct competitions and competitions silently. It is different on the beach!It's not just about who gets more or less stones, it can only be half of the success, or even less; the key point is whether the stones exchanged for sweat can be sold in time; In the compartment of a truck or tractor, after receiving the invoice from the driver with the purple seal of the commune’s gravel management station, it is only then that I can say with confidence that the RMB washed out by sweat is actually put into my pocket.No matter how many stones are caught, they cannot be sold if they are piled on the beach. It is just a pile of stones, not tickets!And once the Spring Festival can't be shot, Xiaohe will enter the flood season in April of the Gregorian calendar. If a flood comes down, the sweat will be in vain.

Every time a green or blue truck turns into a bend in the river, a group of young or old rock-fishing peasants throw down their shovels and run over, with fawning and begging smiles on their sweat-stained faces. , stuffed the already lit cigarette into the driver's mouth, and repeated a sentence almost in the same way: "Master, our stone is as clean as washing in water..." Cao Runsheng ran, ran, the sand was soft, he took a step, and the soft sand slid back half a step, which was not as comfortable as running on a hard and smooth basketball court.He also wants to sell stones, he must participate in this kind of competition, he ran panting, ran, and finally stopped in the middle of the road.late!Three or four people had already stopped the car one after another, filling up the windows on both sides of the driver's building, and it was too late to start by themselves.He turned around and walked back to his own Shaliang, but he heard thick voices making noise and scolding each other, and he started to fist and kick.Many people ran towards the car to watch the excitement.Runsheng also ran over slowly, wanting to see who was fighting whom?

ah!An old man in his fifties, his nostrils and mouth were all sticky with bright red blood plasma, which was really scary.Sitting on the sand, he tightly hugged the right leg of a young man named Cao Zhansun with both hands, yelling and cursing.Cao Zhansun didn't care at all, with a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, his eyes squinting at the sky, with an arrogant and domineering air. The problem is not complicated. Uncle Changcai and Zhansun ran to the car at about the same time. Zhansun was agile and jumped on the pedal of the car. His shoulder knocked the clumsy Uncle Changcai down and fell beside the car. Hold the wheels down on your legs.The talented uncle got up in a hurry, kicked Zhansun's ass, and Zhansun punched him backhand, causing his nose to bleed profusely... The strange thing is that many people gathered around the car to watch the fun, but no one fought .Uncle Changcai knew that he was not the opponent of the young man Zhansun, so he didn't dare to fight back, so he hugged his legs and feet, and stood in a stalemate.In order to sell their own stones, quarrels and quarrels happened from time to time. No one was willing to get involved in the disputes that had little to do with them. They took a look at them indifferently and separated.Several people even surrounded the driver, pestering them, completely ignoring the two people who had clashed because of the dispute.The driver sat in the driver's cab, sucking on a cigarette, not looking at anyone, and casually staring at the beach ahead, with smoke coming out of his mouth.Seeing the driver's indifferent attitude, Runsheng felt disgusted in his heart, look at your attitude!How much trouble will it take for you to get out of the car to persuade me?

Runsheng looked at the bloody mouth of the talented uncle, stepped forward, pulled his arm, and persuaded him in an adult tone that he couldn't understand: "Forget it! Forget it! Folks in the country, don't lose your temper... "Yes, in school, the head teacher often tells them civilized morality, respect for other people's personality, respect the old and love the young, and be polite... But in this wild place on the river beach, who would say these principles! "Call him a bastard and beat me to death! I've been bored for a long time..." Uncle Changcai shouted and cursed.

"Kill you? I don't pay for it..." Zhansun still said arrogantly. Uncle Changcai was clasping his hands tightly together, and he couldn't break them apart. Runsheng couldn't find any more useful words to persuade him, so he was in trouble.He wanted to say to Zhansun: You took advantage of it, so stop saying a few angry words!Or a few words of apology, and the long-term uncle will have the face to get up from the ground!It happened that Zhansun didn't buy it, and he didn't let go after hitting someone. Cao Runsheng hated that domineering face in his heart. "Who is Cao Runsheng?"

Runsheng let go, turned around, and saw the driver poking his head out of the window of the driver's building, calling his name.Strange!This bearded driver has never met, how does he know my name?Runsheng stared blankly at the driver, and said, "I am, you are looking for me..." The driver puffed out a puff of smoke, stared at him, and asked, "Where's your rock?" "Below..." Runsheng pointed in the direction of the pile of stones in a daze: "Put your rocks in." The driver retracted his head, "Let's go, lead the way." What's going on here?Runsheng saw several fellow villagers who were pestering the driver around the car; they all looked at him inquiringly.Runsheng understood the meaning in everyone's eyes: only by secretly bribing someone, can there be such a beautiful thing as naming someone to install your stone.However, he has never given gifts to any drivers, and he doesn't know any cadres at the commune's gravel management station. What's going on?

On such an occasion, encountering such an unexpected event, Runsheng felt that everyone's eyes were sticking to his back like thorns, and even felt that the actions of persuading the talented uncle were hypocritical.Ho!Others were beaten badly for blocking the car, but you don't bother to sell stones, and you even put on a show to persuade the fight... Suddenly he had an idea, and said to Uncle Changcai: "Get up quickly, and put your stones on!" Uncle Changcai was startled, got up from the ground suddenly, and cursed at Zhansun: "You son of a bitch, just wait and see, I won't be able to finish with you..."

Runsheng had already jumped on the pedal of the car, grabbed the window of the driver's building, and led the driver until he reached Uncle Changcai's pile of stones. The car door opened, and the middle-aged driver came out of the driver's building and jumped onto the beach. A middle-aged man with thinning hair and a bushy beard, with a straight chest and a protruding belly, only the bottom button of the canvas overalls was buttoned, and he was round. The belly stretched the sweater out of shape.He walked up to the stone pile, pulled the stone with his feet, checked the color, and asked casually, "Is this your stone?"

"It belongs to my uncle." Runsheng said. "I was assigned to pull your stone!" said the driver. "My uncle's stone..." Runsheng said hastily, "It's the same thing as mine." "Put it on!" The driver waved his hand, and several stevedores in the compartment jumped out of the car one after another. Uncle Changcai has already washed the blood on his face in the river, wiped his water-stained cheeks with the hem of his clothes, picked up the shovel, helped the strange loaders load the stones, and fought with Zhansun It's been forgotten.Just after two strokes of the shovel, the uncle Changcai stopped, took out a pack of "Golden Monkey" cigarettes from his padded jacket, and stuffed them one by one to the stevedores.The driver glanced at the crumpled cigarette case and pushed it away with disdain.Uncle Changcai stuffed the cigarette case into Runsheng's hand again: "Run baby, you smoke with the master!"

The driver sat down on the sand, lit his black cigar, stared at Runsheng with strange eyes, and said, "Little brother, how much tribute have you paid to the commune's gravel management station?" The word tribute is a word that Runsheng often heard after he was born on the river beach, and it means bribery.In school, the teacher talked about bribery, and the villagers used to say "stuffing black food", which is really vivid and accurate.However, the peasants fishing for stones are neither accustomed to speaking of elegant bribes, nor have they discarded the too blunt and too explicit common saying "sai black food", and now use the implicit but popular word "tribute".

However, to be honest, Cao Runsheng, a simple and young high school graduate, has never passed this way, and he has never even entered the front door or the back door of the gravel management station.He didn't know anyone in the management station at all, even if he wanted to get some tribute, he had nowhere to ask!He would rather go to chase the truck, entangle with those drivers, and grind, and no one laughs at this kind of begging on the river beach.The speed with which he can chase down a car is unrivaled, as is the lightness with which he hops onto the pedals of a moving car.He used to be the main center of the county's middle school basketball team, how could those clumsy peasants compare!His stones were sold in time without excessive hoarding. "I have already enjoyed the tribute!" Cao Runsheng squinted at the driver, feeling insulted.You yourself are so greedy that you can't even button your belly, but you suspect that others will pay tribute.He turned his head disdainfully, "I haven't learned anything yet!" "So... is it your uncle or your uncle at the management station?" The driver sneered viciously, "Then it's a bullshit management station!" "My son isn't there either!" Cao Runsheng retorted, "Whoever enters the gate of the management station——we, who is the son!" Cao Runsheng said angrily, looking at the driver's angry face cheek. "Since you didn't pay tribute, since your uncle and uncle are not at the management station, then—" the driver stared at Runsheng, with two bulging eyes looking at him maliciously, "then I ask you, the gravel management station Why did the woman at the ticket office transfer me to this ghostly place, Cao Village? Why did you name me and ask me to pull your stone? It made me run dozens of miles and burn two kilograms of gasoline..." Runsheng was puzzled. He didn't know the name of the woman who billed the ticket at the gravel management station. He was really at a loss.Look at the driver's angry look, it doesn't look like lying or deceitful!What is going on here? "That woman who looks so painful reminded me again and again, 'Go to Cao Village to install stones and find a young man from Cao Runsheng...'" the bearded driver lowered his voice, foolishly imitating the voice of the woman. , Then his face changed, and he said jokingly: "Is that woman your wife? I think it's almost inseparable..." "Nonsense..." Runsheng blushed with embarrassment, his heart suddenly moved, could it be her?When did she go to work at the gravel management station?He doesn't know a thing. "Am I right? I'm blushing!" The driver laughed happily, and joked even more presumptuously, "That woman is so beautiful! My little brother is blessed... Hahaha..." Cao Runsheng's face became hot, and his heart beat uncomfortably in his chest.When his classmate Liu Xiaolan went to work at the gravel management station, he secretly helped him.He couldn't resist the sharp awl-like eyes of the bearded driver, and avoided the driver in confusion. "There is such a loving girl who secretly blesses you..." The driver stood up, patted him on the shoulder in a friendly way, and said with a triumphant smile, "You should jump up!" When the stones were full, the stevedores climbed into the carriage one after another, wrapped their clothes tightly and sat down.The driver got into the driver's building, started the car, poked his head out of the window, and smiled slyly, "Little brother, don't forget that my brother built a bridge for you in the future..." The car drove away. Uncle Changcai handed over a card while wiping the sweat from his neck: "Look, Runwa, how many tons is written on it?" "Four and a half tons." Runsheng said. Uncle Changcai carefully put the card with the purple seal into the pocket inside the padded jacket, smiling happily.He sincerely patted Runsheng on the shoulder, with a big mouth and long tongue spattering saliva, and said emotionally: "I, Runwa, have been to high school after all, know how to behave, and are different from that bastard grandson..." Runsheng couldn't listen to the long-winded words of the talented uncle, and he was thinking about the woman who billed the gravel management station...