Chapter 22 bridge

A layer of snow fell at night, and it cleared again at dawn, a dark blue sky.The snow fell too little, not much thicker than the thick frost, which barely covered the ground, roads, river embankments, and beaches. The frozen wheat leaves were exposed on the thin snow quilt, messy and miscellaneous.The branches of the poplars and willows on the river bank were also frozen, trembling in the bitter morning wind.In the cold and dry north, this is often the case in the early morning of midwinter. The river is so small that it cannot be smaller, no matter how small it is, it cannot be called a river, and no matter how small it is, it should stop flowing.The river beach looks very open, and the bare sand and dense river pebbles are now covered with a finger-thick thin snow, which looks soft.A thin stream flows freely on the beach, twists and turns, sometimes wide and sometimes narrow, sometimes tight and sometimes slow, flowing out a curve that is difficult to describe artificially.The water is very blue and very clear; when the narrow water channel is tight, the water splashes hit the river rocks; the series of water splashes that hit each other become crystal clear, and when they fall into the water, the water splashes again. It's blue.

There is a small bridge over the river, made of wooden boards.There is a four-legged wooden horse frame in the heart of the river. A wooden board is built to the south and a wooden board is built to the north. The southern board cannot reach the shore, and two straw bags filled with sand are stacked in the shallow water. The wooden board is placed on the sandbags. On the top, go south and build a small piece of wood, and connect it to the beach on the south bank. A wooden horse frame, two long and one short, three wooden boards, bridge the small river and connect the traffic blocked by the river between the south bank and the north bank.For people on both sides of the river, this small wooden bridge is much more important and practical than the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge.

A layer of snow also fell on the two-foot-wide bridge deck.A middle-aged man held a rice broom in his hand, bent over, and swept it once and for all, and the snow particles fell into the water under the bridge.He swept carefully and steadily, so that the board was clean without leaving a speck of snow.He swept from the south bank to the north bank, dropped the broom, grabbed the plank with both hands, shook it, and shook it again, until he was sure that both ends of it were securely set up, then he let go of his hands in peace, picked up the broom and walked back to the south bank.In the same way, he shook the two boards on the south bank, one long and the other short, and finally found out that one end of the short board was not stable. It's true.

He patted his fingers, took out a cigarette from the shabby grass-green military overcoat, struck a match, covered the small flame with his hands, lit it, and a puff of blue smoke drifted in front of his eyes.Seeing that there was nothing else to do, he picked up a cigarette, put his hands into the sleeves of his oil-stained overcoat, and paced on the sandy ground at the end of the bridge. His feet were freezing when he stopped! The sky is bright, and the dark blue sky has become blue. The light snowfall last night condensed the fog that had been diffused for many days and fell to the ground. The sky is clear and clean, and the sun should come out of the mountain.

On the north bank of the river, a head in a tufted hat rose from the embankment.The man was very rich, wearing a gray woolen coat rarely seen in the country, pushing a bicycle, walked down the slope of the river embankment, hurriedly walked across the beach, stepped on the wooden bridge, pushed the bicycle carefully, and moved carefully. feet.He guessed that this must be a villager working in Xi'an, with a lot of style, and must be some kind of official.The man finally walked across the small bridge and stepped onto the sandy ground on the south bank. He breathed a sigh of relief, and then pushed the car, ready to get on the car and go on the road.

"Slow—" He took two steps forward and stood in front of the bicycle wheel. The man raised his head, the skin on his cheeks was soft, his eyes were kind, but he was not without surprise and asked, "What are you doing?" "Look here—" He took his right hand out of his sleeve, calmly, and pointed to the side of the bridge, where there was a small wooden sign, with a very striking line written with a brush: Pay the toll when crossing the bridge One cent. When the man saw it, his kind eyes immediately became less kind, and a sullen look appeared: "Crossing the river...why do you need money?"

"You don't need money to cross the river, but you need money to cross the bridge. You are crossing the bridge." He corrected the confusion in the man's language, and emphasized the key words that should be emphasized, but his tone was calm, even pleasant, and full of patience . "I have never asked for money to cross the bridge in my life!" said the man. "Yeah! I haven't wanted it in several lifetimes, but I want it in this life!" He was still calm, "The old Huangli will not be used!" The man's face once again showed a contemptuous look of disdain and entanglement. He wanted to say something but finally didn't open his mouth. He slowly raised his hand, took out a dime from the pocket of his woolen coat, and stuffed it into his hand. But with a lot of energy, he "hummed" in his nasal cavity, stepped on the car and left.

See a lot!If you pay a dime, you will lose a dime, and most people who pay for it look like this, with this air.He's been through a lot and doesn't get angry or care.He turned his head and saw two people pushing a wheelbarrow onto the wooden bridge. The wheelbarrow was pushed by a young man, and there were two pieces of frozen pork in the cart.Followed by an old man, with a scale beam hanging on his arm.These two were probably father and son, who crossed the river early in the morning and rushed to the southern construction site to sell pork.In the south of the village, along the root of the mountain, there is a large factory where thousands of workers and their families live. On both sides of the wide cement road in front of the gate, there is a farmers' market.At the beginning of the factory construction, it was called the South Construction Site. It has been more than 20 years since the factory was built, but the local villagers are still accustomed to calling it the South Construction Site and not the XXX mailbox.

The young man pushed the wheelbarrow and got off the bridge. He didn't stop taking a step, but quickened his pace.The old man carrying the scale also hurriedly followed, but no one seemed to have seen the sign at the end of the bridge. "Pay the bill," he called. The guy pushing the cart still didn't answer or stop.The old man turned around and forced a smile: "Brother, look, the meat hasn't been cut yet, so there's no money to pay! When the meat is sold, pay double when you come back." "No," he said. "Innocence now." "I really have no money to pay!" The old man spread his hands.

"No money? That's easy—" He took two steps forward and said coldly to the old man, "Push the car back to the north bank and cross the river." The old man hesitated, his face was ugly. He took two quick steps, grabbed the handlebar of the cart, and said to the young man, "Pay the fee." The young man bulged his eyes, dropped the car with a "crash", and pulled out a sharp knife from under the meat fan.The knife had just stabbed a pig to death, and there were still traces of blood on the blade.The guy put on a posture, ready to go all out: "Do you want this or not?"

As if he had expected it, he took a half step back, didn't appear to be panicked, sneered, opened his military overcoat, pulled out a bright knife from his waist, and said coldly: "Little brother, I'm afraid that your Just kidding, don’t guard the bridge! Let’s do it—” Perhaps it was this gloomy aura that calmed the young man, and he didn't stab the sharp butcher's knife over.During the brief stalemate, the old man rushed over, paled in shock, snatched the knife from the young man's hand, cut off the pig's tail from under the meat, and calmly persuaded: "Brother! Take it back and go to the bar!" He caught it, weighed it in his hand, it was no less than half a catty, and it was more than enough to fold horizontally and vertically.He loaded the knife, turned and left.From behind came the young man's angry grunt: "It's more hateful than a bandit!" He pretended not to hear it. The father and son broke a pig's tail, so of course they would not bid farewell politely. On the north bank of the river, a group of men and women came walking, and seven or eight people dragged and dragged them to the bridge. Judging from their unusual clothes, they must be a group of men and women on a blind date, right? The sun came out from the east plain, and the river was shining red.He threw the pig's tail under the wooden sign, watching the group of happy men and women walking across the bridge... His name is Wang Lin, and he is from Guiduwang Village on the south bank of the Xiaohe River. It is unclear whether it was the Han Dynasty or the Tang Dynasty. A prince was assassinated by his brother because of succession issues. He escaped from the palace in a panic. He beat his chest and stomped his feet, and there was no way to escape.He would rather die by drowning than fall into the hands of his brothers, so he closed his eyes and jumped into the waves of the river.This jump didn't matter, it just happened to fall on a stone in the river, and it didn't sink.The prince woke up, but unexpectedly the stone floated to the surface of the water, floated up, dipped obliquely across the river, skimmed the high waves of the roof, and floated to the north bank flickering.The prince jumped onto the beach, puzzled, looked down and saw that it was a tortoise the size of a millstone, just as he was startled, the tortoise dived into the water and disappeared. In this wonderful legend, only the village name of "King Guidu" is left for generations of villagers to chew with relish, and there are no more affordable relics left behind. The prince who later inherited the throne is also a heartless person. Is it the stupid king?They didn't even repay the life-saving grace of the tortoise, so building a "Temple of the tortoise" or a "Turtle Crossing Bridge" here should at least be right?They won't spend the emperor's own money, and the common people can get rich, but they don't.If the prince who later ascended to the throne really built the next bridge, he would not have created a way to make money by charging fees at the bridgehead.During Wang Lin's free time when no one was crossing the bridge, he paced the beach at the head of the bridge and often had some inexplicable thoughts. Wang Lin's real business is to dig sand and gravel on the beach and sell it to those construction units in the city. Charging bridge tolls is just a sudden idea.As soon as spring came, the river was no longer cold, and passers-by rolled up their trousers and waded across the river, and no one wanted to hand him a dime. He was thirty-four to five years old, just in the golden age of a strong farmer. He was born with a strong and strong body, with broad shoulders, a thin waist, long arms and long legs. farmers.He cultivates six or seven mu of dry and dry land, which was distributed equally to his family according to the population when the people's commune was disintegrated. There are four seasons of the year, except for the busy seasons of harvesting and planting in autumn and summer, there are ten months of lying on the ground. On the beach, sand and gravel are excavated, and the sand and gravel are thrown into a two-layer net with a shovel, and the sand is filtered out, leaving two types of stones, which are then sold to the car drivers who come to the river beach to haul the stones, This is the most clumsy way of making money in the country.The northwest wind of March 9 opened gaps in people's hands, and the poisonous sun of the three volts scorched people's faces and bodies with oil.Most of the villagers who do this job on the river beach are the most clumsy people in Guiduwang Village. They couldn't find any easier ways to make money, so they had to walk down the beach with pickets and snares and exchange their sweat for banknotes.Peasants can't eat and sit quietly at home! Fishing for rocks is not a bad job!Wang Lin used to be very obsessed with this job that was looked down upon by others. It was based on his own reality.He wants to farm, and there are usually some housework that requires him to do it, such as buying piglets and selling fattened pigs, pulling manure and fertilizing, etc. Women's families are not competent.In this way, he can't go far away, like some people who go out of Taiyuan to Guangzhou to sell medicinal materials to make a lot of money, he can't go, obviously he can't do without.What's more, it's easy to make money but also easy to lose money. He might be fooled, tricked, and take big risks, but he doesn't have the bottom line, so he can earn ten times but not lose one. ah!He is not stupid, but he is not a spirit ghost with many rings and eyes.He is ordinary, like King Guidu's nine out of ten peers, there is no difference between being too stupid or too bad.He felt that it was very appropriate for him to earn money by fishing for stones. One cubic meter of sand and gravel could be netted four dollars a day, except for certain taxes. Except for rainy and heavy snow weather, he could drop more than one hundred dollars a month. money.His wife also came to help when she had time, and she could earn a little more in a day.For him, the entry of more than one hundred yuan a month is already at ease. One year before he went to the river beach to fish for stones, he worked as a general worker for a private construction team, moving bricks, cement and mortar, and pulling carts, with a monthly contract of 60 yuan.He worked for three months. In the first month, he happily received fifty-two yuan (four days of absence from work). In the second month, he was temporarily owed.After the project was completed, that unscrupulous guy ran away overnight with the money and cheated Wang Lin and his group of general workers of their wages.They inquired around, and all the addresses of the foreman they got were false, and they still can't find out where he is from.There was no other way, and he returned home frustrated with the blanket on his back, and went down to the river beach to fish for sand and gravel the next day. My goodness!If you are stupid, you will be deceived. Is it possible for a stupid person to make money?After experiencing this time, he felt deeply afraid of the chaotic city life.There was no chance for us to make money there, and the river beach was where we did what we could. He has a wife who is just as tough as him, and she is also a tough character who doesn't care about life and death.When he married her, he once had a heart disease that was not satisfactory. He felt that her waist was not her waist (too thick), her face was not her face (too fat), and her eyes were not her eyes (too narrow). He planned to give birth to three daughters and a son, and the heavy burden of life no longer allowed him to pay attention to his wife's eyebrows and the thickness of her waist and legs.He wants to earn money, save money, and save as much RMB as possible, the more the better, and the sooner the better.The land has been cultivated by households for two or three years, and the tanks are full, and there is no need to worry about food and clothing, but there is a shortage of money.The three daughters are all studying in middle school and elementary school, and the tuition fees have increased exponentially. The son goes to "preschool" and charges five yuan a time, but it used to be free.Moreover, girls grow up and start to pay attention to the style of clothes. Girls like to dress earlier than boys, and there are more ways to spend money. He wants to earn money and save money.He wanted his daughter to dress properly in school.He was also planning a more important event in his heart, to build a big tile-roofed house with brick and wood structure.How inspiring it is to think of three large tile-roofed houses with blue bricks and red tiles propped up in the small and dilapidated courtyard of my own house!Whenever I think of it, I can't help but grip the handle of the picket and shovel tightly, wow!Shovel wow!The thrown sand and stone hit the barbed wire netting.The wooden handles of the picket and shovel were thinned by his rough fingers and slipped away. Her woman, with a thick waist twisted like a gourd and a butt like a skin drum, was busy in front of a net opposite him, digging and planing, with holes cracked by the cold wind on the back of her hands.He thinks this skinny woman is extremely cute, much more affordable than those pink-faced and thin-waisted women in movies.They worked from dawn to dusk for a year, and the husband and wife walked into the bank branch in Mulberry Town to have the savings book soaked in the couple's stinky sweat.Another year, they added to that little savings book.After another year of working, you can start building a new house!A new tile-roofed house, if you calculate it carefully, it will cost more than three thousand yuan! While he and the woman were poking their butts and digging gravel like mad, they somewhat ignored the various changes that had taken place in Guiduwang Village. After the Spring Festival, Yang Qi picked up, and many farmers broke ground to build new houses.The sound of firecrackers breaking the first soil and raising the beams exploded at intervals and spread to the river beach. The warm and festive "cracking" sound tickled the heart of the middle-aged man Wang Lin. The delicate smell of gunpowder that filled the beach stimulated his nostrils.Finally one day, when he walked back to the village from the river beach, he was surprised to find a two-story flat-roofed western-style building erected high at the west end of the village.In a few days, a two-story building will appear in the middle of the village.A few days later, a two-story building with a tiled roof appeared at the east end of the village.In January, Guiduwang Village erected three two-story buildings one after another like a show of grandeur, high above the old-fashioned old houses in a low crop yard, which is particularly eye-catching. Holding the shovel in his hand, Wang Lin was working hard on the net, his eyes were bulging, and he asked himself from time to time: With such clumsy earning money by myself, how can I support such a two-story western-style building? That's ten years!He began to wonder if his way of making money was too clumsy and too slow? So stupid and too slow!Compared with those people on the beach who are also washing sand and filtering stones, he may earn a little more than them, because he is stronger than them, rises earlier and rests last.However, compared with the owners of the three new buildings in the village, it was not only frustrating, but also enviable, especially when he heard the rumors about the glorious and dishonorable fortunes of the owners of the three buildings. Afterwards, he was literally on fire with jealousy. Frowning, he sat in front of the trap, smoking until the pipe creaked, thinking and planning fiercely in his heart, and vowed to find a way to make more money and save energy.Think and plot!Finally, I fixed my eyes firmly on the sparkling and undulating water of the small river. A northwest wind swept away the remaining yellow leaves of the poplars and willows in the river, and a thin layer of ice formed in the pools by the river, making it impossible for people to go into the water barefoot.As if Wang Lin had been waiting for this northwest wind for a long time, he loaded the four-legged horse frame and three wooden boards that had been prepared for a long time on the frame cart, and pulled them to the side of the small river.He took off his cotton trousers, prepared his hot legs to adapt to the cold wind, raised his neck, poured half a bottle of cheap, low-quality shochu down his throat, and then carried the saddle down into the piercing river water. Build a solid single-plank bridge... The sun is rising in the blue sky above Dongyuan Flattop, and it is time for the country people to have breakfast.Few people passed the wooden bridge. Those workers who rushed to work in the city and the peasants who went to work in the city had already started working at their posts at this moment, forgetting the dime bridge toll went.Those men and women who rushed to the farmers' market in Nangongdi were probably tearing their throats out at this moment, selling their own vegetables, pigs, lamb fresh meat and eggs.It doesn't matter, the small bridge toll of ten cents, they have to pinch the scale for a while and then get it back into their pockets. They will not be able to complete the transaction until about noon, and then walk back to Xiaohe, and then give him the bridge toll of ten cents, Walk back to a village on the north shore. His wife came, carrying a bamboo basket and a hot water bottle.He uncovered the cloth towel of the bamboo basket, and took out a porcelain plate, which contained scrambled eggs that were spiky, burnt and shiny.He couldn't help but stare: "What are you doing with scrambled eggs?" "It's cold in the river!" she said, "Your body needs to be tight." She loves him.Although this kindness moved him, it consumed a few eggs after all.It should be noted that it is the off-season now, and eggs are sold for five yuan, and at least four or five eggs are scrambled on the plate, and the yuan is gone. "Anyway, it was laid by our own chickens, and I didn't buy them with money." The wife said, "It's too rare to be a chicken." Anyway, the raw eggs have been scrambled to maturity, no matter how expensive or regrettable it is, it is useless.He broke open a steamed bun, stuffed it with an egg, and smeared it with bright red peppers. He chewed it, and looked at his wife who was pouring water from the water bottle for him.She was wearing thick cotton trousers and a purple turban on her head, making her look even more round and thick.In fact, this woman whose waist is not her waist and her face is not her face has a very good heart, she is loyal to him, and lives a solid life.She scrambled a plate of eggs for him without even tasting a bite herself. He ate, took out a handful of money from his coat pocket, and put it on the sand in front of her feet, full of dimes and nickel coins: "Take it up, take it back. " She knelt down, picked up and counted, smoothed out the crumpled bills, folded ten bills, put them in her waist, and then picked up the coins. He sat on a river rock, watching her rough fingers clumsily counting money, her unhurried demeanor, and felt very comfortable.Yes, every time he handed over the money he earned to her and watched her concentrate on counting the money, he often felt a surge of manly pride in his heart. "It's time to get rich!" A cold and heavy voice made the couple raise their heads in shock at the same time, and his old father-in-law stood in front of him. He swallowed the steamed bun he was chewing, stood up quickly, and said to his father-in-law, "Father! Eat the steamed bun while it's hot." "I think it's disgusting!" The old man flicked his hand, his brows and eyes were full of disgust, "I still have the guts to tell me to eat it!" He froze, what's going on?She also blinked her narrow eyes inexplicably, and asked her elder brother a little angrily: "What's wrong? Daddy! You should say it clearly if you have something to say!" "I've lost all my face to you guys!" The old man pouted the sparse goatee on his chin, "I've charged the bridge fee! Hmph!" Wang Lin finally heard the reason for the old man's anger. Before he could open his mouth, she had already said, "What's the matter with charging the bridge toll?" "You don't listen to what people say: bandits, sons of thieves! Eight generations of ancestors also posted it!" The old man shook his hand holding the cigarette bag, and stated to the two juniors that people on the north bank of the Xiaohe River were killed by his when they crossed the bridge. The son-in-law took the fee and went back to scold and scold!Love money shameless ah!He was scolded by the township party members so much that he was almost drowned by spitting Xing'er.He angrily reprimanded his daughter and son-in-law, "This small river area has been built in winter since ancient times. Who has seen who paid for it? You don't even think about it, how can you be ashamed?" "Is there anything you can't be ashamed of? We have suffered a lot in building the bridge, we have suffered from the cold, and we have lost the wooden planks. Will others lose face when they cross the bridge for nothing?" But we didn't pull him across the bridge." He also interjected to persuade: "Father! The government builds a road and collects tolls from the main households with cars and tractors!" The daughter and son-in-law spoke so eloquently that the old man was speechless for a while. He avoided the daughter and son-in-law's excuses to cover up and defend himself, and just said what he wanted to say: "Since ancient times, building bridges and repairing roads has been done for good deeds. It’s a matter. If we want to build a bridge, it’s good; if we don’t have the strength to build a bridge, it’s fine; but we can’t... build a bridge and collect bridge tolls from others... This is a immoral thing that hurts people’s lifespan..." When he heard what his father-in-law said, he almost died of laughter. If it was not his father-in-law, but someone else came to tell him the old sayings about accumulating virtue and doing good things, he would have been impatient; He didn't dare to laugh out loud, so as not to offend.He couldn't help but glance at the woman, she was also looking at him, and probably thought her father's words were too ridiculous. "Father! You just plant your land and live your life, don't worry about me," the woman said.Wang Lin didn't say a word, it was more convenient for her to confront her biological father than for him to come forward.He encouraged her with his eyes. "You are my daughter! If someone scolds your ancestors, I will burn my face!" The old man became angry, "Are you in a hurry because you can't make money? I can't persuade you with kind words, and I said that I am nosy. Okay! I will come today Just manage to get a result——!" When the old man said that, he took two steps forward, grabbed the wooden signpost with the words "10 cents to cross the bridge", pulled it up from the sand nest with a "chuckle", and threw it on the bridge with a wave of his hand. in the side river.He and she took a step slower, did not block them, and saw the wooden sign drifting away with the flowing water across the bridge deck.Now I took off my shoes and socks and went to the river to fish it. It was obviously too late, and I watched the wooden sign drifting away, drifting away. He watched the drifting wooden sign, and at the bend where it drifted about fifty or sixty yards away with the current, it was caught by a rock out of the water and stopped motionless.When he turned around, the father-in-law was gone, and when he looked again, hey!With his hands behind his back, the old man has already walked across the small bridge and stepped onto the river embankment on the north bank. The sheepskin black smoke bag is shaking on his buttocks. It seems that the old man came all the way to persuade them, probably because of the gossip of others. The loss is overwhelming, people who want to save face!He couldn't persuade his daughter and son-in-law, so he pulled out the sign angrily and left stubbornly.He watched his father-in-law's back gradually going away, and finally didn't say anything to persuade him to stay, and let his father-in-law leave without saying goodbye. She didn't want to keep her own father either, instead she let out a disdainful anger from the corners of her eyes, and muttered in her mouth: "What's wrong with Dad today? He got angry as soon as he came!" "Da Ping's temperament is very good!" He also felt baffled, and said to his wife, "It's been more than ten years since I married you, and my father hasn't said anything harsh to me! Today... I'm so irritable!" "It's just such a trivial matter as collecting bridge tolls for us, you shouldn't be so angry, you are so heartless." She said, "Maybe there is something not going well in your heart?" "It's hard to say... It's hard to say..." He couldn't say clearly, and after pondering for a while, he finally said, "It seems that people have lost their tempers? They get angry at the slightest thing... For example, this morning, a guy crossed the bridge for a dime Fei, you actually pulled out the butcher knife... I'm not polite either!" "But this is our father! No better than others..." she said. "It's the same with my dad, he's got a bad temper!" he said. As he spoke, he stood up, walked down the river bank, crossed the rocks exposed in the shallow water, picked up the wooden sign from the water, and carried it back to the bridge. He found the sand nest where the old man pulled out the wooden sign, inserted the sharp end of the wooden sign post into the sand again, and trampled the surrounding empty sand with his feet.She came over and stepped on it with her fat feet wearing cotton shoes, as if she was afraid that he would not be able to step on it alone.The wooden sign that had been soaked in water stood up again! In winter in the north, it gets dark early. At four o'clock, the sun presses down on the flat top of the western plateau slope, and in the blink of an eye, the evening clouds gather.The wind in the river is so cold! Wang Lin shrunk his neck and put his hands in his sleeves. He paced on the sandy ground at the end of the bridge. He stopped only when he met someone who wanted to cross the bridge. start. He felt depressed and awkward, and wanted to complain, even curse.His old father-in-law didn't care about indiscriminate behavior, beat him up, scolded him, pulled out the wooden sign and threw it into the water, then walked away with a shake of his hand.He is his father-in-law, relying on the old to sell the old, making him speechless, gritting his teeth and allowing him to ridicule him, he is really as useless as a turtle.More importantly, the old father-in-law passed the gossip and gossip of the villages on the north bank of the Xiaohe River to his ears, and he couldn't get out after passing it in, and it was nestled in his heart. Wang Lin had an intuition that the people on both sides of the river had become his enemies!They handed him a dime unhappily, and they exchanged the dime for their financial loss with the most vicious expletives possible.Although he knew that those who had paid the money would scold him, he didn't scold him face to face after all.The harsh words passed directly to his ears by the old man.All of a sudden, it disturbed his heart and destroyed his emotions. He was irritable and angry, but he had nowhere to vent. A hapless ghost threw himself into the trap. The person who came was Wang Wentao, a native of Guidu Wang Village, Wang Lin's childhood friend.What now?To tell you the truth...it's just a small clerk of the township government running errands.It was getting dark, what was he doing on the north bank of the river?Should he be charged a dime for the bridge toll? receive!Wang Lin resolutely decided to accept it.Charge him a dime and tell him to act like a big shot. "Brother Wang Ling, Gong Xi Fa Cai!" Wang Wentao greeted with a grin, walked up to him, but was not in a hurry to cross the bridge, took out a cigarette from his pocket, handed one to him, took one himself, and started to light the fire . Wang Lin took the cigarette from Wang Wentao and lit it on his lighter.At this moment, Wang Lin suddenly changed his mind, forget it, don't charge that dime anymore, he will give him a good "golden snub-nosed monkey", and it will be difficult to ask for money anymore. Wang Wentao lit a cigarette, and before he got on the bridge, he spread his legs apart, stuffed one hand into his trouser pocket, and twisted a cigarette with the other, and said bitterly: "Brother Wang Ling, you are rich, let me sit on the wax! Are you really so rich?" ... have no conscience!" "You will be your township cadre, and I will be my farmer. We have nothing to do with each other! Why am I in your way?" Wang Lin laughed. "Yeah! The two of us didn't bother each other. Unexpectedly—" He took out an envelope from his pocket and handed it up, with a look of embarrassment in his eyes, "Please read this letter first Bar!" Wang Lin took the envelope curiously, it turned out to be the public envelope of the newspaper office, it was even more strange, he quickly took out the letter and read it from the beginning to the end.As soon as he finished reading, he suddenly raised his neck, raised his head, and laughed loudly, with a gloating look on his face. When he had just built this small wooden bridge on the small river in front of Guiduwang Village, Wang Wentao wrote a manuscript for the newspaper in the city, called "Lianxin Bridge", which was published in the newspaper soon.Wang Wentao once stroked back his long hair triumphantly, spread the newspaper in front of his eyes, and let him read his masterpiece.In that newsletter, he vividly described the process of his bridge-building, "braving the piercing river" and so on; passionately praised his noble style of self-sacrifice and sacrifice for others; etc.Now, the newspaper office sent a letter to Wang Wentao to investigate, saying that someone wrote a letter to the newspaper office, saying that someone in Guidu Wang Village borrowed a convenient bridge to steal people's money, and asked him to clarify whether the facts written in the "Lianxinqiao" newsletter were fabricated?Is it true?If it is inaccurate or has fabricated elements, it must be publicly reviewed in the newspaper.In this way, Wang Wentao felt that it was a troublesome matter to get rid of "sitting wax". "What should I do?" Wang Wentao was embarrassed by his laughter, "You make money, I will criticize you, but you still laugh..." "Who is to blame for this?" Wang Lin spread his hands and said leisurely, "I didn't ask you to praise me in the newspaper, it was your own nonsense that wanted to write about it. Who is to blame for this?" "If you had stated that you would charge bridge tolls, of course I wouldn't have written it." Wang Wentao said dejectedly, "I thought your brother had a good mind and a high style... I never thought that you built the bridge just to make money. ..." During the first three to five days when the small bridge was built, Wang Lin was eager to sell the stones he had piled up on the beach, plant the wheat in the field of responsibility where he had dug sweet potatoes, and attended a parent meeting in middle school. By the time these entangled family affairs were freed up to go to the bridge to collect fees, Wang Wentao's manuscript had already been submitted.These kinds of manuscripts are posted really fast.At that time, Wang Lin finished reading the newspaper, sent Wang Wentao away, and then walked down the river beach with the wooden sign that read "10 cents to cross the bridge".Now, Wang Wentao complained that he didn't explain the charge sooner, and he found it even more ridiculous. He said sarcastically, "Can't you think of it? Haha! You probably only want to write a book to earn manuscript fees! Tell me, you How much did you earn for writing a manuscript praising my brother for building bridges?" Wang Wentao blushed blushingly, and hesitated: "Writing a manuscript! Mainly to report the situation for the party newspaper...to be a party propagandist..." "Okay, ok, ok! Don't brag! Don't sell dog skin plasters anymore! I want to write a manuscript, but I'm afraid people will say I want to make money, it hurts!" Wang Lin waved his hands again and again, and suddenly stuck his neck, "I just want to build a bridge. To make money. I don’t want to make money, so I don’t risk the piercing water to build a bridge! Not for making money, can my three boards be trampled on? I want to make money. The sign is on the bridge, and the price is clearly marked If you want to cross the bridge, pay a dime; if you don’t want a dime, then please take off your socks and pants and go into the water... My brother is not like you, who wants to make money but is shy and loses face!" "Don't be so righteous, as if everyone is like you, doing everything to make money." Wang Wentao blushed at the loss of Wang Lin, and was unwilling to accept this fallacy, "It can't be said that people love money and don't want money." Face? There are always a lot of people or..." "Who cares about money? How come I haven't seen any of them?" Wang Lin interrupted Wang Wentao and said angrily, "You wrote nonsense and boasted nonsense in order to earn manuscript fees, and this time you got into trouble. Do you love money and face?" A return of the carbine directly hit Wang Wentao's heart.Wang Wentao couldn't help it, his face turned pale with shame, he opened his mouth a few times, but couldn't reply.Wang Lin seemed to be even more irresistible. He jumped from the side to face Wang Wentao, facing his face, and said in a vicious voice: "Let's just talk about Guiduwang Village! The rich man who built a foreign-style building with three households, do you want to have face? Can you build a foreign-style building if you want to? Let's talk about the one in Xitou first. That person works in the County Materials Bureau and manages it. The supply and distribution of timber, steel and cement. With such a little power, the floors, bricks, doors and windows of the two-story building are all delivered to the house by others for free. The mother-in-law died of pines, so these materials are sent to the house for nothing. The driver of the car with bricks, doors and windows didn’t even care about the food, but the drivers still delivered it. How about the one in the middle of the village? The man works as the infrastructure section chief of a factory in Xi’an, and has committed two family buildings to the construction team of Data District. Just this sentence In other words, the construction team in Data District built a two-story western-style building for them, with labor and materials included, without taking any cents. Tell me, does this type of person love money and shame? He is still a party member and cadre! "Only the two-story mansion built by the old man Wang Chengcai at the east end of the village was built by himself. The old man went to the market with a burden of steamed buns throughout the year. Although this western-style building is not easy, it is more convenient than ordinary people. Why? The son-in-law of a talented old man drives a car for the family, and every time he goes back to northern Shaanxi on business, he brings Qiao Mai back to his father-in-law. The freight will naturally be allocated to the public account. Even so, the grown-up old man is still a man who loves money and shame." "But how did you write it? How did you brag about the article you wrote for the newspaper "The peasants in the village of King Guidu live in a small western-style building"? Did you hear how the poor people in our village scolded you?" ?” A return carbine, another string of cannonballs, hit Wang Wentao so hard that he couldn't argue, he couldn't stand it, and was completely defeated.He said a little flatteringly: "What you said is not empty words. Good old man! My brother just likes to write small articles, how can he manage people's bribery?" “管不了也不能瞎吹嘛！”王林余气未消，并不宽饶，“你要是敢把他们盖洋楼的底细写出来，登到报纸上，才算本事！才算你兄弟有种！你却反给他们脸上贴金……” 王文涛的脸抽搐着十分尴尬，只是大口大口吸着烟，吐着雾，悻悻地说：“好老哥，你今日怎么了？对老弟平白无故发这大火做啥？老弟跟你差不多，也是撑不起二层小洋楼……” 王林似乎受到提醒，是的，对王文涛发这一通火，有什么必要呢？他点燃已经熄灭的纸烟，吐出一口混合着浓烟的长气。 “好老哥，你还是给老弟帮忙出主意——”王文涛友好地说，根本不计较他刚刚发过的牢骚，“你说，老弟该怎么给报社回答呢？” “你不给他回答，他能吃了你？”王林说，“豁出来日后不写稿子了。” 王文涛苦笑着摇摇头。 “要不你就把责任全推到我头上。你就说，我当初架桥的目的就跟你写的一样，后来思想变坏了，爱钱不要脸了。” 王文涛还是摇摇头，试探着说：“老哥，我有个想法，说出来供你参考，你是不是可以停止……收过桥费？” “门都没有！”王林一口回绝。 “是这样——”王文涛还不死心，继续说，“乡长也接到报社转来的群众来信，说让乡上调查一下坑拐钱财的事。乡长说，让我先跟你说一下，好给报社回答。让你停止收费，是乡长的意思……” “乡长的意思也没门儿！”王林一听他传达的是乡长的话，反而更火了，“乡长自己来也没门儿。我收过桥费又不犯法。哼！乡长，乡长也是个爱钱不要脸的货！我早听人说过他不少七长八短的事了，他的爪子也是够长够残的！让他来寻找我吧！我全都端出来亮给他，叫他吃不了兜着走……” 王文涛再没吭声，铁青着脸，眼里混合着失望、为难和羞愧之色，转过身走了。 王林也不挽留，甚至连瞅他一眼也不瞅，又在河石上坐下来，盯着悠悠的流水，吸着从自己口袋里掏出的低价纸烟。 脚步声消失了。王林站起来，还是忍不住转过身，瞧着王文涛走上河堤，在秃枝光杆的柳林里缓缓走去，缩着脖子。他心里微微一动，忽然可怜起这位龟渡王村的同辈儿兄弟来了。听说他写《连心桥》时，熬了两个晚上，写了改了好几遍，不过挣下十来八块槁费，临了还要追究。他刚才损他写稿为挣钱的话，有点太过分了吧？ 王文涛已经走下河堤，他看不见他的背影了。王林又转过身来，瞧着河水，心里忽然懊恼起自己来了。今日倒是怎么了？王文涛也没碍着自己什么事，为啥把人家劈头盖脑地连损带挖苦一通呢？村里那两家通过不正当手段盖小洋楼的事，又关王文涛的屁事呢？乡长爪子长指甲残又关王文涛的屁事呢？再回头一想，又关自己的屁事呢？ 他颓然坐在那块石头上，对于自己刚才一反常态的失控的行为十分丧气，恼火！ 一个女人抱着孩子走过来，暮色中看不清她的脸，脚步匆匆。她丢下一毛钱，就踏上小桥，小心翼翼地移动脚步，走向北岸。 他的脚前的沙地上，有一张一毛票的人民币，被冷风吹得翻了两个过儿，卡在一块石头根下了。他久久没有动手拾它。 他瞅着河水，河水上架着的桥，桥板下的洞眼反倒亮了。他忽然想哭，说不清为什么，却想放开喉咙，大声淋漓地嚎啕大哭几声……