Chapter 8 T-Junction

Living in South Village, I wanted to go into town to do some errands.It just so happened that the trucks in the team went to the city today to pull goods for the supply and marketing cooperatives.As soon as it was clear, I rushed to the driver Nan Xiaoqiang's house to wait. Xiaoqiang just got up, sat on the edge of the Kang, bent over to tie his shoelaces, and kept shaking the black hair that fell on his forehead.Between the kang and the table, there is a steel basin frame painted red. In the washbasin printed with the Chinese characters "Double Happiness", red checked towels are folded into three and soaked in steaming warm water.A toothbrush is placed horizontally on the mug, and a drop of toothpaste has already been squeezed on the bristles. You only need to pick it up and stuff it into your mouth.Xiaoqiang picked up his cup and walked out the door, only to hear the rhythmic sound of a toothbrush brushing his teeth in the courtyard.

I thought to myself: The driver Xiaoqiang married a good wife, she really knows how to serve men! The daughter-in-law walked in, holding two bowls in both hands, and a pair of pink plastic chopsticks were placed horizontally on the bowls.She put a bowl on the table and handed the other bowl to me with both hands. There were three poached eggs on the bottom of the bowl. "If you don't eat, she won't be happy." Xiaoqiang rubbed his neck and smiled sincerely at me, "I have this temper." "Look at the ink on your eyebrows, how did you wash your face?" The daughter-in-law pressed her finger on a faint dark spot on Xiaoqiang's left eyebrow, "Rewash. The soap is there, no need, it's sloppy!"

Xiaoqiang grinned at me, and although he looked helpless, he obediently picked up the water again. The daughter-in-law has straight eyebrows and straight eyes, she can't be regarded as a beauty in the pictorial, but she is also pretty.She has such strict requirements on Xiaoqiang's hygiene, but she doesn't necessarily have to dress up so fancy.The upper body is a men's yellow military uniform, with a circle of red wool protruding from the neck, and the hair is the free style of a female athlete, which is ironed and draped over the head.She went in and out, making preparations for Xiaoqiang before leaving the car.Now, she came in again with the teapot.

"Did you pass this time?" Xiaoqiang faced his daughter-in-law, smiled mischievously, and went to serve the bowl of eggs.The daughter-in-law pursed her lips, unscrewed the lid of a small box containing something like grease, and handed it to Xiaoqiang. Xiaoqiang grinned again, smiled at me, and stuck his finger into the box with a look of embarrassment. The daughter-in-law screwed on the cover and said: "It's cold, the wind is blowing rough and the flesh is torn..." I regret it and should have waited in the street.What an eyesore to be inserted between such a hot young couple!

"Remember—" before going out, the daughter-in-law said solemnly, with a serious tone of warning. "What?" Xiaoqiang stopped and stared. The daughter-in-law patted her mouth twice with her fingers. "Oh! I remember." Xiaoqiang smiled with relief.After going out, far away from my wife, Xiaoqiang explained the riddle to me, "I am not allowed to go out to drink." The truck drove through the streets and alleys, and when it left the village, it turned onto an asphalt road. "Look!" Xiaoqiang pursed his lips and pointed out the window. I looked out through the window glass, and the daughter-in-law was standing on the earthen platform outside the door, watching the car leave the village.Xiaoqiang smiled, nodded to her, then turned around and proudly showed off to me: "It's like this every day, it's a habit."

"Good daughter-in-law! It's rare." I said casually, trying to draw out interesting stories between them.I have long known from other people that they have an unusual relationship, and today is a good opportunity. "Hey!" Xiaoqiang smiled, with such sincere joy... In the winter evening, it was cold and dry, Nan Xiaoqiang finally walked to the valley mouth with a bamboo basket on his back.He leaned the back pan against the stone, stretched out his arms, and his sore and numb shoulders suddenly relaxed. A road runs across the root of the mountain, forming a T-shape with the asphalt road leading to the plain.

The strong atmosphere of the New Year’s festival hangs over the countryside. At T-shaped intersections, men and women are coming and going after visiting relatives and friends; the young man with his wife behind his buttocks, ringing the bicycle bell, flashes past Nan Xiaoqiang . Xiaoqiang stretched his arms into the loops of the pannier again, gritted his teeth, and stood up.Isn't there only ten miles left?I walked out of such a narrow road in the mountains, and walked back to such a wide road on Pingchuan with my eyes closed. Just stepped on the T-junction, and saw a familiar figure riding a bicycle on the asphalt road stretching from the plain, it was Juanjuan.They studied in the same classroom in Sangyuan Town Middle School for three years, and then entered the key middle school in the county together, where they studied in high school for two years.The classmates said that they are good, and he also thinks that they get along very well.She admired him and believed that he would be admitted to a decent university, even more firmly than she believed that she could be admitted to a university.And when the tense college entrance examination was over, amidst unbearable expectations, they received notices of not being admitted one after another.What a heart-wrenching pain of failure!

"Take the exam next year!" She came to his house and encouraged him, "Review for a year. If you can't do it financially, I will support you!" "Take the exam again!" He was really not convinced. The shame of failing the ranking seriously hurt the self-esteem of the high-achieving students. He stayed in that small hut, except for eating, shitting, and urinating. He didn't go out the door, and he didn't step in the other door, so as not to be shaken by seeing his father and mother sweating hard. After the autumn of this year, Nancun newly elected a captain, Nan Heng, who should be called brother according to his seniority.Nancun has changed several captains, and the life of the members is still difficult.He buried himself in piles of calculation papers, not paying attention to any movement in the streets and fields outside the window.

The noises in the village alleys and the fields, through the doors and windows, and through the nagging of parents in the small courtyard, came into the small house.In order to recover the collective property embezzled by the former captain (the brother of the new captain Nan Heng), Nan Heng fell out with him.The land was contracted, and the big pot was closed.The cattle breeding farm is being prepared, the brick kiln is smoking, and the seeds of medicinal materials have broken through the ground.The gray and decadent atmosphere that had permeated the streets and alleys of Nancun for many years was replaced by a jubilant and warm air rushing into the small buildings through the doors and windows.Nanheng's urgent eyes flickered between the lines on the page.He forced himself to sit down several times, picked up the pen and calculation paper, but couldn't hold back his mind, finally stood up from the desk, gathered the books and calculation paper into a pile, and stuffed them into the box.He put his back on his back and went up the mountain to collect sheep manure, throwing himself into the fervor of manure initiated by the new captain.

Juanjuan sent three letters in a row.After he replied to the first letter, he was determined not to reply again.She followed her father, who was the principal, to study homework in Xi'an, determined to continue the exam, and finally entered the gate of a certain college.Life has made them each go to their own world, and all unrealistic expectations are unnecessary for Nan Xiaoqiang! The bicycle is getting closer and closer.Yellow shirt, blue trousers, and a red scarf on his head.The smoky evening mist could not cover the flashing bright red scarf.Nan Xiaoqiang's heart beat faster, and when he lowered his head, he saw strings of cotton wadding protruding from his knees, which were the result of scraping thorns and stone blades in the mountains.Both hands, bloodstained by jujube thorns, looked like two crow's claws.Without a mirror, one can imagine what kind of face dust and sweat have dressed up.Why did he meet her at this moment?

It was too late to escape.Xiaoqiang put down his backpack, turned his back to the road, and let the tall backpack cover his body. What a strong young man, he couldn't hide the weakness in his heart. The sound of bicycles chugging and chugging came from behind, and they turned into a T-junction.He wanted to turn his head away to see what the female classmate who had been in the big city for a year looked like now, but finally he didn't raise his head, he just grabbed the dry blade of grass blindly. "Nan Xiaoqiang!" Hearing a call, as sweet as a bell, he stood up in a hurry, almost knocking down the pannier. She has propped up the car, jumped up and down, and stood in front of her. "Hmm...you...are you going to visit relatives?" She didn't answer, she held the basket with both hands, looked at Xiaoqiang, her eyes were full of sorrow and love, very touching expression.After a while, I asked, "Just carry it back like this?" "That's it... carry it back." "There are still ten miles to go!" "Ten miles, not far. After a while..." "Use a trolley to pull it up, how light it is!" she suggested. "No car," he told honestly. "I have them at home." "There's no need to toss about it, just carry it back and forget it." "You know how to be stupid!" Juanjuan said, in such a touching tone, "Put the basket here, no one will steal it from you." Nan Xiaoqiang didn't have the strength to be stubborn anymore, and sat on the back seat of the bicycle. The sky darkened, and the gray fog covered the villages and fields mistyly.Xiaoqiang sat upright on the back seat of the car, a warm breath penetrated into his senses under the floral padded jacket covered by the yellow shirt, and he felt that the fatigue of the day had dissipated. "I heard that the newly appointed captain in your village is very good." "It's great." "I heard that a five-year plan has been set." "Yes, the five-year plan has been set." "I've heard rumors that your team leader said: Peasant boys can't recruit jobs, can't go to school, what do you do? Do crops. To run the countryside well, farmers have to wear leather shoes, wear watches, and live in western-style buildings! Is that what you say? ?” "Yes." Nan Xiaoqiang said, "How do you know?" "Everyone says it!" Juanjuan said, "This speaks to the hearts of rural youths. Be ambitious!" "It's okay if you don't have ambition!" Xiaoqiang felt at ease, and the words were speculative, "Our village..." If the boys couldn't find a partner, he was embarrassed to say it. "So you don't take the exam." "hey-hey……" At the entrance of Wangcun Village, the two jumped out of the car one after another. "I'll wait here, you pull the car." "Let's go home, we're at the door." "No..." "What are you afraid of?" "I'm like this..." Xiaoqiang looked at his clothes all over his body, hesitating in embarrassment. "What a big shelf!" Juanjuan said instead, "If you don't do it yourself, let me bring it to you?" She said and walked away. Xiaoqiang then walked into the gatehouse of a strange village. "This is my classmate, Nan Xiaoqiang." As soon as Juanjuan entered the door, she introduced, "Borrow our shelf car." Juanjuan's father, who works as the principal of a middle school in Xi'an, came back to the countryside during the winter vacation. Now he is wearing a coat and standing in the yard, saying enthusiastically, "The car is parked in the aisle." Juanjuan's mother is white and fat, and looks much richer than ordinary women in the country. Her clean hair is pulled up from the back of her head and pinned with a black hairpin. Her eyes, which were originally kind, now have a ray Suspicious and disgusted look.Being at such a disadvantage, Xiaoqiang has a very keen sense of poverty.It was difficult for her to understand her daughter dealing with classmates dressed like this. The old headmaster has already done it himself, pulled the shelf cart out of the empty room, handed it over to Xiaoqiang, and asked him to drink water and smoke, just like treating any working people, showing the sincerity of an upright intellectual. Xiaoqiang was still flustered, neither smoking nor drinking, took the shelf car, and bid farewell to the principal and his daughter who came outside the gate. Early the next morning, while the villagers of Wang Village were still soundly asleep, Nan Xiaoqiang pushed the shelf cart into the earthen wall of Juanjuan's house, put it in the yard, walked out quietly, put on a basket on his back, and went up the mountain to collect dung.At that time, the sky was full of stars and the Milky Way was brilliant. The ravine was so quiet that it was hard to breathe, and one or two foxes could be heard in the distance.He was carrying a pannier on his back, and as he walked, he kicked the stones on the road and rolled them down the ditch.Oh, what a panic!She asked him so many things, but he didn't even ask her a word.How did she go about resuming classes in Xi'an? Are teachers in big cities better at teaching than teachers in small counties?How are you doing in this year's exam?All these, I was so flustered that I didn't ask a word, alas! On this side and the other side of the mountain, the morning sun casts mysterious hues that are half bright and half dark. This is the moment when the emotions of sensitive young people are most likely to flow.He remembered that he had found a pack of pastries in his desk, and in surprise, he naturally looked back at Juanjuan who was sitting next to him, and his talking eyes made his heart pound.He also thought of the summer evening, they were walking home along the river embankment, and suddenly a heavy rain made them drown, the ground slipped, and they seemed to hold their hands together naturally, and ran into the river embankment In a small detached house for flood protection.He lit the wheat straw on the kang, took off his undershirt, wrung out the water, and roasted it.She also took off the short-sleeved shirt with floret dots, wrung out the water, stood opposite him to bake, the soaked underwear was tightly wrapped around her body, the beautiful and clear lines of female breasts and waist made him For the first time, I felt a temptation that I had never had before.The feeling of holding those cold and soft hands that had been drenched in the rain in his palm was clearly felt again at this moment. When he stretched out his fingers to pick up the frozen sheep dung grains from the frost-covered withered grass and the slate, his heart suddenly became cold.The rough fingers were cracked by the cold wind in the mountains, and the blood marks from jujube puncture needles were criss-crossed. ow!Juanjuan lived in the city for a year, and when she returned to the countryside on New Year's Day, she didn't look down on her old classmate who became a farmer, which is not easy!He sincerely wished in his heart that she would study hard for another year and enter the gate of the mysterious university.There is no need for the aunt to look at him with such disdain.How could he, a farmer, pester her college student daughter with such a lack of self-awareness?joke! The sun rose from the east of Jiuchong Mountain, moved across the vast blue sky over the Weibei Plateau, and sank into the river again.Xiaoqiang carried a basket full of sheep dung on his back, and when he walked out of the valley from the rugged mountain road of Jiuchong Mountain, the first bright star had already appeared on the sky.He suddenly saw Juanjuan sitting on the bluestone slab where he used to rest his feet, with the rack cart he used last night beside him. If the encounter and help last night were purely a coincidence, then tonight is a deliberate and conscious wait. "Who are you waiting for here?" Mingming was innocent in his heart, but he stammered out some stupid words. She didn't answer, she straightened the trolley, held on to the shaft, and waited for him to remove the pannier. Xiaoqiang put the pannier in the trunk and let out a long breath.Juanjuan stuffed a small cloth bag over and untied it. It was steamed Chinese New Year steamed buns. When he looked at her in the blink of an eye, he saw the same look as when he found the pastry in the desk.Modesty is completely superfluous to sincerity.Juanjuan has already pushed the car and left Yukou. The vast gray mist and the blue smoke from the firewood burning pit melted together on the fields around the village and slowly spread to the wheat fields.The road leading up to the plain goes downhill along the slope. You only need to hold the shaft with both hands, and the car will roll forward naturally.A group of scattered stars twinkled brightly. "Is the sheep manure easy to pick up?" "It's easy to pick up." "Are there all over the mountains and slopes?" "I finished picking nearby. I walked far and touched a cliff nest where the sheep herders sheltered from the wind and rain. There is a layer of sheep dung on the floor..." "Is the road easy to go?" "It's hard to walk. Over two mountains and three ditches, the road is only one foot wide." "Just go straight from this valley?" "Just go straight from this valley." The sound of the wheels of the shelf cart is harmonious and beautiful, like music, like flowing water.Again she kept asking, and he kept answering.All his words were hidden without a trace, and he couldn't find a word.As soon as she stopped asking, the two silently followed the rhythm of the wheels. Juanjuan turned her head again, and said solemnly: "I have something to discuss with you, and I want to hear your opinion." "What's the matter?" She has a well-educated principal's father, and she herself is a decisive and even a bit willful girl, so why should I listen to his opinion? "I don't want to take the exam anymore." Juanjuan said, obviously in a thoughtful tone. "What's wrong?" Xiaoqiang didn't expect it at all, "Others want to make up lessons, but they don't have such good conditions as you!" "Don't ask why now." Juanjuan said calmly, "Our family has been having conflicts over this for the past few days. I want to hear your opinion." Xiaoqiang fell silent.How would he say such a major event that is related to other people's lives, futures, careers, and family relationships? "Think about it, and tell me when we meet some other day." She walked lightly, and the night covered her pretty face.He looked up, and the outline of the irregular wall that protruded and indented from the South Village farmhouse was in front of him.He blocked Juanjuan: "Let me carry it back, it's here." "Are you afraid that I will come to your house for dinner?" Juanjuan raised her head. "Where..." Xiaoqiang said in embarrassment, "My house is too narrow." "I don't believe it." She deliberately tried. "Really." He was even more embarrassed, the low building, the roof blackened by firewood smoke, and the dilapidated furniture. "You are afraid that people in the village will gossip," Juanjuan said, "that you are in love." "Ah..." Xiao Qiang blushed, not knowing what to say. "If you're afraid people will say it, don't live in this world." Juanjuan stopped the car, looking a little angry, "Carry your sheep dung on your basket! I'm going back." Xiaoqiang held on to the back basket, feeling helpless. Pitiful for this strong body that can carry a load of more than one hundred catties from the cliff, he stood there blankly at this moment, unable to even say a word to make things right.It's hard to imagine that among the many students in this county, the talented students who can speak and count have become so clumsy in front of a girl. How could the young man be able to sleep!His father's heavy snoring was mixed with sighs, which came from the kang in the kitchen.In the sheep shed in the backyard, there are occasional lambs bleating.The rooster has already crowed twice.That strong girl was beating and laughing in his heart, and the red scarf was fluttering in front of his eyes.The words could not be more obvious, the eyes are full of flowers and sunshine... As soon as I opened my eyes, I realized that I was lying on the kang of a dilapidated building, and those romantic and blurred garlands and ribbons disappeared.The inferiority complex which poverty instills in the grown-up boy is so irresistible that it compels him to submit: practically! He couldn't watch his elderly father and mother put down their shovels and pick up their shovels from morning to night, and let themselves spend their time in the small hut.He couldn't bear the impact on the small building from the new momentum in Nancun after Brother Nanheng came to power.He finally put down his books and picked up the basket.But why does Juanjuan have to give up the opportunity to continue her studies?He is neither jealous nor narrow-minded, he hopes she can be admitted to university.Her father was the headmaster, and although her mother lived in the countryside, she lived a better life than ordinary farmers.Would he, a typical offspring of a typical poor man in South Village, dare to marry the daughter of the middle school principal?He felt doubly the invisible heavy pressure that all disadvantaged men face with their superior lovers. I have to persuade her to study hard and keep the friendship of the past classmates as a good memory in her heart. The sky is thinning, and it is later than usual, so hurry into the mountain. At the T-junction, the red gauze scarf was shaking again in the cold wind of dawn. Nan Xiaoqiang suddenly took courage and shouted: "Juanjuan—" "Hey—" There was an emotional echo in the wilderness. "Are you waiting here for me...to answer your question?" "No... I'll go with you... to pick up some sheep dung..." "Go—wow—" The inferiority complex caused by poverty was overwhelmed by the sudden surge of enthusiasm. The wind in the valley in the early morning of the first lunar month does not seem to be as stinging as usual.The early chickadees flew out from the thorn canopy or the crevice of the cliff, and their crisp calls trembled in the valley, and the stars disappeared one after another.The blue sky is so high and far away. "Why did you get up late today?" "Yesterday...think about your question." "Don't say it, I don't want you to say it. If you don't say it, I know what you will say." Juanjuan said, "No matter what the consideration is, you must have the same opinion as my mother." Xiaoqiang was surprised, she was too smart. "I've already made up my mind." Juanjuan said, "I'll tell you, just to say hello." "Does your dad agree?" "I agree now." "Where's your mother?" "Can she stop me!" "But you...why didn't you take the exam?" "I'm bored." "Why bother?" Xiaoqiang asked, "You said that you must go to university, even if you take the exam for five years." "You also said back then that you must go to Tsinghua University!" Juanjuan asked back. "My situation is different from yours." Xiaoqiang smiled. "It's different. You have your reasons for not wanting to take the exam, and I have mine too." Juanjuan said, "I'm bored, very bored!" "Why bother?" Xiaoqiang still didn't understand. "Why don't you bother?" Juanjuan said, "A lot of people want to go to my dad's middle school to make up lessons, day and night. At home, I would rather pay for my own tuition for my baby at night and on Sundays. I suddenly thought, are these people studying for the Four Modernizations? Not necessarily. They just want to find a good job! Anyway, the university collects those students every year Students, everyone squeezes and squeezes, competes and competes, and there are still so many people who can squeeze in. I think I am also squeezing, and I also want to grab a good job, and I am a little bored." "Oh!" Xiaoqiang didn't expect that Juanjuan, who got such learning conditions that the rural students envied, would have such a reversal in her heart. It was so unexpected. "When I received your letter, I was even more annoyed." Juanjuan said, very sincere, and moved, "You said that you were going to start a business in Nancun with Brother Nanheng. The fate of the folks'I cried when I saw it. You, you were better than me in school. Nine times out of ten rural youths still have to follow your path." "Ah... ah..." Xiaoqiang blushed, his heart was bouncing under his padded jacket, and he almost wanted to cry when he heard such heartfelt words.He suddenly wanted to hug the girl he was close to, cry and laugh.Facing the mountains, cry loudly, laugh freely, and don't say a word!Rationality suppressed the impulse, Nan Xiaoqiang stopped, stared at Juanjuan, and said a word from his heart: "Let's create our own life together! A new life!" A steep mountain ridge lies ahead.Nan Xiaoqiang climbed up, stretched out his hand, and grasped the soft hand that she stretched out. It seemed that there was an uplifting force rushing out of his heart, and Juanjuan floated up gently from below, and fell into his arms. He took her arm with both hands.She jumped away, laughed, stood on the edge of the cliff, looked at the rolling mountains, and said boldly: "Let's create our own life, a new life! Brother Xiaoqiang, what you said is not complete... also create our own life!" love!" "We got married in winter." Xiaoqiang turned the steering wheel and said to me, "Is it enough for you to write stories?" I was hearing the excitement, and I was very dissatisfied, and asked, "Is it that simple?" "It's that simple." "Did her family members...did not stumble?" "Her father is open-minded, and he is an educator." Xiaoqiang said, "Her mother—my mother-in-law, doesn't agree with anything." "then what should we do?" "Crying first, then making trouble. Holding Juanjuan and crying, falling off a cliff, jumping into a well..." Xiaoqiang said, "I'm so upset because of the trouble, my parents advised me to calm down." "Hmm!" I think this is in line with the reality of life, "What happened later?" "Juanjuan ran to my house, took me to the commune with a bicycle, and got a marriage certificate." Xiaoqiang said, "I was dreaming." "Ah!" I admired the principal's lady. "She doesn't want a dowry, she doesn't hold any ceremony, and she lives in my house." Xiaoqiang said, "Can you believe it?" "What about her mother?" I believe what she will do. "The relationship is severed, and Juanjuan is not allowed to enter her house." What kind of courage is needed for this!I couldn't speak, and stared at Xiaoqiang again: "Aren't you dating now?" "It's reconciled." Xiaoqiang smiled, "Nancun has turned around. No, I'm driving a car, and my mother-in-law has calmed down, and now she loves me very much. She whispered to Juanjuan that she wants to make up for her." The car runs on the Weihe Plain in the late autumn and early winter. On the fields where the autumn crops have been harvested, the sown wheat shows a touch of light green, boundless.Rows of poplars have lost their leaves, but the willows are still green.The sun showed its face from the peaks of Jiuchong Mountain, bathing the fertile Weihe Plain...