Chapter 13 Thirteen

Before Luo Bin went to the countryside, he spent four months picking soil at his sister's construction site in the municipal engineering company.That is to open up a road leading to Leifeng Commune. There used to be a simple road leading to Lei Feng’s hometown. This caused regular traffic jams. Once, a central leader came to Hunan to inspect the work. Before leaving, he decided to visit Lei Feng's hometown.Several cars drove away happily, but were stuck in a traffic jam for three hours on the way back, so the municipal government made a decision to ask the municipal engineering company to open a new six-lane main road directly to Leifeng Commune.

Luo Bin graduated from high school and lived at home for a week. He became the official chef of the family. irritable.The eldest brother had returned to the city at that time, and although he did not live at home, he brought his wife to eat at home every day; the second brother and his girlfriend slept at home and ate every day; I have a small responsibility for my boss, so I don’t come every day, but my sister’s female colleagues and her former female classmates often come, as well as my eldest brother’s classmates and friends, my second brother’s classmates and colleagues, and... Luo Bin’s daily visits The job is to provide food for 10 people, which made him sparks, and his heart became more and more angry. Of course, he was determined to get rid of this burden.One day after dinner, my sister took a shower and squatted at the kitchen door to wash clothes, but Luo Bin stood at the kitchen door washing dishes. "Sister, do you want me to pick soil from your place?" He looked at his sister, "I want to earn some money before going to the countryside." My sister glanced at him: "You go to pick soil, who in the house can make food?" "Don't starve to death, Luo," Luo Bin said, "I won't make a living in the house." My sister said, "In such a hot day, you are afraid that picking soil is fun?" Father did not object to Luo Bin picking soil. , "Let Xiaomao go to exercise."

My sister said: "Xiao Mao picked up the soil, who in the house will make food?" "Everyone will do it when you come back," the father said, "It doesn't matter if you eat later." Bitter." Early the next morning, he and his sister went to the construction site where her sister was.At that time, his sister was no longer a road builder, but a surveyor on the construction site, responsible for measuring earthworks, and belonged to the object that the captain of the earthworks team wanted to curry favor with.My sister brought him to a man surnamed Liu and said, "Hey, this is my younger brother. I'm picking soil here... You are not allowed to bully my younger brother." "Then I dare?" The captain surnamed Liu smiled. "I dare to bully Sister Luo's younger brother. I'm afraid I'll be in trouble if you lose your temper." As soon as Luo Bin's sister walked away, the captain surnamed Liu said: "Go to the work shed to get a pole, and pick up the soil with you." That's right. Go Luo."

The scorching sun in July is so hot that the temperature is 60 degrees Celsius at least under the sun. You have to wear long clothes, trousers and straw hats to avoid skin sloughing.After a few loads of soil came down, the clothes were soaked, sticky and sticky to the body, which was uncomfortable, and my eyes were dizzy and my legs were swollen.He really wanted to find a place to sit, but he saw some older men and women walking back and forth carrying soil, as if they were not that tired, so he had to grit his teeth and follow suit.The only way to be lazy is to go to the shed to drink a bowl of herbal tea and take a look at the distant view.

One morning, no matter how much water he drank with his throat open, he didn’t need to urinate, because the water he drank in his stomach immediately seeped out of the billions of pores on his body, further wetting his clothes and pants, and he ate a catty at lunch. , with a distended stomach, drank a bowl of herbal tea, and then imitated those men and women, picking up a piece of grass in the shade of a tree, lying down, and sleeping with a straw hat over their faces.For the first time, he felt that the wind was so comfortable on his body.First taste of rest.He soon fell asleep.When the starting whistle woke him up, he felt pain in his shoulders, legs and waist.He sat up and glanced at the deserted forest, the houses in the distance and the white clouds floating in the sky. He seemed to understand the difficulties of life all at once.After the whistle blew again, people poured out from the shade of the trees everywhere, stepping into the golden sun cursing.Of course, Luo Bin also staggered into the sun.When picking soil in the afternoon, his right shoulder was red and swollen, and when the shoulder pole was pressed on it, he grinned in pain, so he had to use his left shoulder to pick it, and his body was bent like a big male shrimp.All afternoon, his head was on the ground, and sweat flowed across his body, sometimes blinding his eyes, and "burning" made his eye sockets ache.

When the work was over in the evening, my sister, accompanied by the team leader, finished measuring the earthwork and came over to him and said, "Are you tired?" My sister looked at him with a sarcasm.He said indifferently: "It's okay." "Aren't you tired?" My sister looked at him incredulously, "I think you can hold on for a few days?" "You see." He raised his head forcefully.When he got home, he showed a tired face, took a bath indiscriminately, ate three big bowls of rice (food cooked by his father), climbed to the bamboo bed and lay down, and was unwilling to move.The first day Luo Bin stepped into the society to support himself was a day of strength and perseverance fighting for hegemony against hard labor and fatigue, and he did not give in on this day.

After a few days, perseverance finally defeated fatigue.He got used to the strenuous labor of carrying a load of soil up and down in the sun.One day when it was raining, he didn't go. He sat in the house and painted a plaster statue of Gorky. Yang Xiaohan walked in with an umbrella and wearing a pair of suit shorts. "Are you painting in the house?" Yang Xiaohan said, "Your painting has improved a bit." "I'm picking soil now." Luo Bin said, stood up and made a cup of tea for Yang Xiaohan, "It rained today, so I didn't go." "Where are you picking soil?" Yang Xiaohan looked at him enviously.Luo Bin said: "At my sister's construction site."

"Do you want your sister to introduce me to picking soil?" Yang Xiaohan looked at him expectantly, "I don't feel like staying at home." Luo Bin yawned a lot, "It's quite tiring to pick, you can eat this Is it bitter?" "If you taste the bitterness, I will be more aggressive to taste the bitterness." Yang Xiaohan said, "Anyway, I won't be able to finish staying in the house." Yang Xiaohan sat until Luo Bin was about to have lunch and then left .In the evening, after Luo Bin's sister came back, Luo Bin told her that Yang Xiaohan wanted to go digging soil with him. "I'm not interested on my own. Those people are all ruffian, so I have nothing to say." Luo Bin said, "Just get him in, so I can have a companion." My sister glanced at him, "Introduce you to Picking soil, others are enough to save face, I will trouble you, you think well!" "Sister, help me." Luo Bin was not angry, "He is my best classmate, not just anyone ..." The elder sister couldn't help the younger brother's entanglement, "I will talk about it in two days," the elder sister admitted defeat.

A few days later, Yang Xiaohan also became a member of the earth team.Like Luo Bin, he stared at the fatigue and the scorching sun for the first few days, dizzy, backache and so on.A week later, he also got used to working in the sun, and his eyes began to pay attention to the men around him. Luo Bin met a very interesting old man in the earth team. His surname was He and his name was Guangzong. This name is very straightforward, that is, it means Guangzong Yaozu.He was a graduate of Hangzhou Art College before liberation, and he studied oil painting. According to his own statement, he knew Xu Beihong. "Mr. Xu Beihong once guided me to paint," he boasted. "Mr. Xu Beihonghuai told me at that time that I would be successful. Now my future is to repair the earth." It was this that made Luo Bin want to get close to him.He told Luo Bin that he was labeled as a counter-revolutionary in 1961 because he made a mistake in saying one sentence, and was sent to Bailianhu Farm for three years of forced labor. "Don't go where there are a lot of people," he warned Luo Bin and Yang Xiaohan, "don't let the misfortune come out of your mouth. You know people, you don't know your heart, little brother.

Sometimes you say a word unintentionally, and before you can react, the nightmare falls on you like a wild goose. " This is knowledge that is not found in books. "Uncle, you just said how many nightmares you avoided?" Luo Bin asked him.He Guangzong took a puff on his cigarette and glanced at them, "Not one of them got around." He didn't care. He said, "I'm unlucky." Luo Bin and Yang Xiaohan often sit with him in the shade and chat with him. He is very talkative, and even a 50-year-old man still looks relaxed and happy. "When a person encounters any recitation of current affairs, he has to think about it. You recite it, and there are people who recite it more than you." One day during a lunch break, the three of them were sitting in the shadow of a camphor tree chatting. Smoking a cigarette, he looked up at the sky solemnly: "When I was in the cell, I had a hard time thinking that if I killed someone or defrauded the country's money and went to prison, I would feel more comfortable... In a word, I just sat in the cell. Now, compared to those reformed prisoners who really did bad things, I’m a bit confused, and I’m useless when I recite it.” He breathed out, “But when I recite it again, compared to blind people and lying on the bed, I can’t move. For those who can’t move, they are much luckier. Thinking that I only have a few decades of life, everything will be indifferent.” “You can recite time, and there are people who can recite time more than you.” This sentence is indeed true. A good truth can basically widen Luo Bin's heart.

One morning in mid-September, when Luo Bin and Yang Xiaohan passed Lingguandu on their way home, Luo Bin wanted to go swimming. "Swimming?" He glanced at Yang Xiaohan friendly and said, "It's been a long time." Yang Xiaohan has grown into a big man, and of course he is no longer afraid of swimming. "Whatever you want," Yang Xiaohan said.The two walked to the river, and within a few minutes they walked happily to the embankment, "The water is so clear!" Luo Bin said.Yang Xiaohan replied: "The sun is about to set, so swim quickly if you want to swim." So the two walked to the wooden raft and busily took off their clothes and pants.Just as Luo Bin took off his sweat-stained trousers and raised his head, he caught a glimpse of Wang Dali with a crew cut. "Brother Li." Luo Bin greeted.Wang Dali was released when Luo Bin was still in high school. The two met on the streets several times, but they pretended not to see each other.A few days after Wang Dali came back from the cell, he told the young people in the alley that he was going to beat Luo Bin, saying, "This little turtle, Luo Bin, killed him, and he will say this one day. "One day when Luo Bin came back from school at noon, the two met face to face on the street. Wang Dali attacked him and stared at him fiercely. "You little turtle!" Wang Dali pressed his big hand on Luo Bin's shoulder, and the other hand turned into a tight fist, and he raised it. "You're so boring." After finishing speaking, his fist filled Luo Bin's chest, but the punch was not heavy because he didn't really hit it. "Brother Li." Luo Bin called out a little afraid of him, just as a policeman from the police station came over, Luo Bin hurried away.Luo Bin seldom went swimming in the river, because he was afraid of meeting Wang Dali and being beaten up by him. "Little turtle," Wang Dali stared at him maliciously, "Aren't you afraid of drowning?" Luo Bin blushed, "I just came to see." "Come down." Wang Dali waved. Luo Bin didn't move, and cast his gaze to the golden sky. "You dare to swim when you see me here?" Wang Dali tapped Luo Bin's acupuncture points, "Are you so afraid of me?" These words pointed directly at Luo Bin's sore spot, causing the blood on Luo Bin's body to rush, and he suddenly felt his whole body All have strength.Wang Dali is a piece of tofu shorter than Luo Bin's. The past two months of picking soil made Luo Bin realize that he has grown a lot.Luo Bin was thinking about whether he could win him in the fight, but Wang Dali said, "Don't hit you little bastard Luo, if you want to hit you, I'll hit you early." When it was over, Wang Dali swam over there with a few big moves gone.Luo Bin looked at the head of Juzizhou on the other side of the river, where the setting sun cast a faint red glow.Chairman Mao was really a good man back then, Luo Bin thought so.Of course, he jumped into the river bravely. Yang Xiaohan also went down to the river, and whispered to him: "Don't swim too far, call Wang Dali to harm you." Luo Bin didn't say anything, he swam between the wooden raft and the barge, but from the corner of his eye, he noticed it from time to time. Look at Wang Dali's position.Wang Dali suddenly swam up to him with a dive, hugged him without saying a word, and sank down.Luo Bin tried to get rid of him, but Wang Dali hugged him and they both fell to the bottom of the water.Wang Dali was prepared, so he sucked enough air. Luo Bin felt that his stomach was short of air, and naturally felt very uncomfortable. In desperation, he smacked his head against Wang Dali's face desperately, pushed his hand, After getting rid of Wang Dali, Luo Bin rushed out of the water, quickly grabbed onto the iron ropes that fixed the barge, and stared warily at Wang Dali who had surfaced.Wang Dali was very annoyed, because Luo Bin smashed Wang Dali's nose with blood.Wang Dali swam over and punched Luo Bin on the shoulder, "You little bastard," he said fiercely, "I'll kill you with one punch." "Brother Li, forget it," Luo Bin didn't want to fight him, "What do you mean by harming me? I admit that I'm afraid of you, okay?" Wang Dali punched him on the shoulder again, "You bastard made my nose bleed." Luo Bin further begged : "Brother Li, I'm sorry to ask you? I didn't understand anything at that time, so we can be friends again, can you tell me?" Wang Dali felt better, and swam to the side to wash his nose. .Yang Xiaohan swam to Luo Bin's side and climbed on the iron chain, "Let's go? Slow down and he'll mess with you again." "I'm quite afraid of him, but I'm not afraid of him." Luo Bin said, glancing at the sky that was about to break black.When the two of them climbed onto the pontoon and sat down to rest, Wang Dali also jumped onto the pontoon. While covering his bleeding red nose, he folded his head and poured water from his earhole. "What are you doing now?" he said, squinting at Luo Bin.Luo Bin said: "Pick the soil." Wang Dali said: "Where to pick the soil?" "Hexi, on my sister's construction site." Luo Bin said.Wang Dali is already a 21-year-old young man, with worries written all over his sturdy face.He has been released from prison for 3 years, but no unit is willing to accept a released prisoner, not even a construction company recruiting a thief like him. "Introduce Lao Tzu to pick the soil?" Wang Dali said tentatively, "If you introduce it, I will cancel the festival with you, or not?" Luo Bin replied uncertainly: "I will try my best to help you with this. ""I and Meituan (Black Lives: Girlfriend) go to the movies at night, and she still takes the money." Wang Dali looked at him feeling ashamed, "You look uncomfortable."