Chapter 7 5

The radio in the car broadcasts liberation songs and Soviet music, non-stop from morning to night, deafening.The train is rumbling and galloping forward, but it will never get out of the atmosphere of the music. No matter how fast it runs, the rumbling music will always stick to it, and it cannot be pulled or broken. It was dark, and the lights were turned on in the car.A high-pitched female voice came on the radio: "Now—start—serve—dinner—now—start—serve—dinner—" Passengers began to commotion, obeying the dispatch of the sharp voice, and took turns to go to the dining car to eat in batches according to the number of the vehicle.

After dinner time, it was dark outside the window.What was played on the radio was a military song of the Soviet Red Army, with golden drums beating in unison, and the shouts shook the sky.The audience seemed to be locked in the dark and suffocating gramophone box, wrapped in the crazy melody, with no room for dodge or movement. Fortunately, the Chinese have always been insensitive to loud noises.Everyone still dozed off, reading newspapers under the dim light.The woman on the broadcaster suddenly yelled again: "The great—Yellow River—Iron Bridge—is about—arriving! The great—Yellow River—Iron Bridge—is about—arriving!── Everyone──Raise─Vigilance──Defend──The Yellow River──Iron Bridge!──Everyone──Close the windows──Everyone──Protect──the Train!──Defend──The Yellow River──Iron Bridge !"

There was a banging sound in the carriage.Everyone stood up and closed the windows. Zhang Li and Liu Quan had been dozing off on the backs of their chairs, but they also woke up.Liu Quan sat near the window, stood up sleepily and closed the window.But the window was firmly embedded in it, and it was so stiff that it could no longer be pushed up.Zhang Li also stood up and helped him pull it, but it was useless. "Comrade! Comrade flight attendant!" Zhang Li shouted. No flight attendant in sight.Only one People's Liberation Army appeared in the carriage with a gun on his back, slowly pacing back and forth in a corridor between the seats.

Liu Quan continued to forcefully pull the window. The train was galloping, and the wind was very strong. Another person who closed the window spit out casually, and was immediately blown to the back by the wind. Liu Quan was sticking his face out of the window. Spit stars were on his face.He frowned, and reached into his pocket for a handkerchief. Then he suddenly noticed that the People's Liberation Army was pointing his gun at him nervously.He dared not take out the hand in his pocket. Apparently he thought he was pulling out a grenade, ready to blow up the iron bridge. The rumble of the train wheels and rails was suddenly amplified a hundred times.The car was crossing the bridge, and the lighter gray and black oblique crosses kept passing by outside the thick black window, and the silhouette of the steel bridge railing was fleetingly glimpsed.

"Comrade flight attendant!" Zhang Li was still yelling anxiously: "What's wrong with this window, it can't be closed!" The last gray diagonal cross disappeared in the darkness.The rumble of the wheel rails suddenly subsided and returned to normal.The PLA put down its guns.Liu Quan also breathed a sigh of relief, and pulled his hand out of his pocket.I also forgot why I was holding the handkerchief just now, and just weakly wiped the sweat from my head with the handkerchief. "Comrades!" The shrill voice from the radio shouted again: "The train -- now -- has -- successfully -- passed -- the Yellow River -- Iron Bridge! Victoriously -- passed -- the Yellow River ──Iron Bridge!" was full of joy, as if he had just won a battle.

Does this section of the track often have accidents?There are often guerrillas or special agents blowing up the iron bridge, and it is still open to traffic after emergency repairs?If there had been such a thing, of course it would not have been published in the newspapers, and no one would have known about it.Liu Quan and Zhang Li couldn't help but glanced at each other, thinking to each other: "I really didn't expect it just now, so we are in such a dangerous situation." But Liu Quan immediately thought: "It would be great if it really fell like that. At least you can feel that the ground in China is not lifeless. But I'm afraid there may not be such a thing. However, I don't blame the Communist Party for being so neurotic—don't say that China is the only one." One or two years after liberation, even the Soviet Union, which has been established for thirty years, is still constantly tense, with machine guns everywhere, and is often in a state of battle, and every citizen may be a reactionary and a spy.”

The broadcaster was still there, singing and cheering to celebrate the train crossing the Yellow River iron bridge.Following the flight attendant, he appeared in the carriage, carrying a kettle to refill the passengers' teacups, which also seemed to imply "suppression".The flight attendant was a slender young man, dressed in a crepe blue-gray cloth people's attire, sluggish, pouring tea all the way, and kept yawning at the passengers' faces.Everyone looked away in disgust. "Look at him dozing off," Zhang Li smiled and pushed Liu Quan with his elbow. "At a small station you passed by during the day today, you saw that there was no blackboard newspaper, praising the flight attendants on this road, patriotic overtime, and those who worked for more than 27 hours in a row are not considered a thing; Counting three times, there are two times of more than thirty-five hours," he recited with satisfaction: "even thirty-nine hours."

Seeing the flight attendant staggering and swaying, Liu Quan couldn't help but say, "It's not right to simply pursue efficiency, and workers' health should also be paid attention to." "This is the spontaneous enthusiasm of the workers, and the leaders can't do anything about them. It's the same situation in factories everywhere." The flight attendant stood in front of their desk with sleepy eyes, lifted the lid of Zhang Li's glass with one hand, and held the big black hard-shelled kettle high with soot, facing the glass from a distance. down the cup.The one-foot-long water shoots were not launched accurately enough, and all of them fell on Zhang Li's legs.

Zhang Li is a tried and tested member of the Communist Party, but the attack came so suddenly that it shattered his will of steel. "Ah, oh, oh, oh, it hurts to death!" He jumped up, and the flight attendant was bumped by him suddenly, and a pot of boiling water fell to the ground, splashing on his feet and part of it On Zhang Li's instep, it was like adding fuel to the fire. The flight attendant also yelled. "He is sincere!" Zhang Li yelled with red eyes: "My good fellow, such flying water is just a joke, pouring it on people with staring eyes! It would be strange if it wasn't sincere! Find the responsible comrade in the car Go talk—a spy is out!"

The flight attendant squatted on the ground humming in pain, and didn't bother to answer. Zhang Li also had tears in his eyes from the pain, his face was trembling, and his heart was burning like fire. "Damn it must be a spy! Damn it. Do you know who I am? My life was almost in your hands! The revolution still needs me, do you know that?" "Forget it, Comrade Zhang, go to the infirmary quickly, find a hygienist to apply the medicine, wrap it up, it's not good to delay!" Liu Quan desperately persuaded: "Leave this guy to me, don't worry, you can't run away!"

Zhang Li didn't dare to delay, cursing and touching the wall, struggling to go to the infirmary at the rear of the car.The two hygienists are both women, and they are not bad looking. They counted the medicines for him, wrapped the bandages, chatted with him for the whole day, and made an appointment to change the medicines tomorrow, and Zhang Li's anger disappeared. half. When he came back, sleepers had already been set up in the carriage, and everyone was lying down.Liu Quan specially reserved the lower berth for him, because he hurt his leg and it was inconvenient to climb the ladder.The floor is wet and greasy, freshly mopped. "Damn it, I have to ask the Railway Bureau!" Zhang Li stood there and unbuttoned the button, and said to Liu Quan who was sleeping on the upper bunk: "What patriotic overtime, surprise overtime, competition overtime, compulsory overtime, unlimited procrastination When working long hours, who is responsible for accidents? The leaders only know to "eliminate accidents", so how can there be no accidents like this? There is no guarantee for the safety of passengers!" Liu Quan didn't make a sound, and seemed to be fast asleep.The whole car fell into an unaccustomed silence, because the radio finally fell silent.Only the rumbling sound of the wheels and rails remained, which seemed very pleasant even in the monotony.Section after section of the train twitched smoothly and heavily, bumped up and down, and galloped into the endless night.