Chapter 40 Chapter Four

Really bad!We didn't plan to write any mystery novels or thrillers, and we didn't want to engage in unnecessary gimmicks, but things have developed to this point, to our surprise, it seems that there is a tendency to develop into detective novels, so we have to find Comrade Zhao Xinshu quickly , to find out what he meant by that telegram, and to keep our memorandum going along with the normal course of life, without setting up a cheap suspense like a bad novel.When we found a guest house in this city according to the sender's address in the last column of the telegram, Zhao Xinshu was resting in a Class B room with his eyes closed.

Outside the window, the early autumn sun is warm and bright, there is no cloud in the blue sky, and the green curtains are gently lifted by the breeze from time to time; the faint noise from the street and the hazy, milky white mist in the farthest distance under the blue sky seem to call people Go out for a swim.Yes, this is a good day for traveling; and this historic city has many good places to go. From the Qin Dynasty to the Republic of China, it left her with relics for future generations to pay tribute to.But Comrade Zhao Xinshu has no interest in traveling.He is engaged in technical work, and monotony and rigidity have become the routine of his life.And that kind of life just happened to suit his character.He arrived in City C yesterday, and he will take a long-distance bus to a large factory similar to his workplace to attend an on-site meeting in the morning.He can have half a day to visit some places of interest, but he would rather lie in bed and not move.So what's on his mind?Now let's get inside him.

It turned out that there were a lot of boring numbers, equations, mechanical graphics, applied technical theories and many foreign words that we didn't know in his stomach.Ah, wait a minute, there seems to be a faint light here, flickering in my heart like a firefly.When we climbed there, we would find that it was a kind of crystallization of friendship. Although it was very small, as big as a mustard seed, it made his heart that lacked water radiate a faint blue light. No wonder his face sometimes appeared. Smile that only you can understand!Now let's study this crystal. This crystal was only formed two days ago.Just because his heart lacks water, like a stone, this crystal is very small, but at the same time very precious.This is an old bachelor who is withdrawn. He has no relatives around him, and no close friends in his workplace; Man, for many years, has lived in a cocoon of his own making.He doesn't have any hobbies, but he likes to play chess.

But in the work unit, he rarely fights with people.Some young people like to play chess, but he hates that as soon as he puts on the chessboard, a bunch of people around him will point fingers, they are more active than the two players in the game.He hated the oily tone of those young people even more, "Go! Go! There is a blue sky ahead..." He kept humming "La Ya La—La Ya La—La——" body At the same time, it trembles as if being touched by electricity, as if riding a horse. It is said that this set is learned from a Japanese movie and a Chinese cross talk.It seemed to him a profanation of civilized entertainment.He would rather bury his head in the chessboard and fight with himself in his free time than participate in that kind of group activity.

This time, he took a train from his city S to city C for a business trip, and had to change trains in city L on the way.In the Victory Hotel in L City, I ran into a rare chess player.This person is the receiver Qian Ruquan.The two of them lived in a guest room at the time.Qian Ruquan was in his fifties, a little older than him, but he was fair-faced and fat, very rich, and his behavior seemed young and lively.He introduced himself that he was a cadre of a foreign trade company in City C, and he would go to Xinjiang to do some work in City L.He was born in poverty, and was sent to a pawn shop as an apprentice at the age of twelve. In addition to sweeping the floor, pouring tea and handing hookah, he also learned some knowledge of recognizing antique jade calligraphy and paintings with his clever head.This foreign trade cadre is obviously a well-informed person who is good at making friends and has a bit of a quack style.That day was Sunday, and it was raining again in L City, and the two of them were bored in the room with nowhere to go.Qian Ruquan drank two or two big tunes, and after waking up at noon, he stretched his waist. At first, he chatted with him casually, and gradually he chatted about gods from all over the world: from Qin bricks, Han tiles, to growing flowers. Planting grass, from the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou to the "Gang of Four", talked endlessly and eloquently.Except for X, Y, and Z, Zhao Xinshu's nerdy belly is actually very poor in social knowledge. In front of this almost omniscient and omniscient miscellaneous person, he can only listen attentively and be dumbfounded.Qian Ruquan, an old-fashioned social idiot, is rare in his remote S City, and is even more unheard of in the technological world. In the eyes of nerds, he is no different from a social encyclopedia, so he can't help There was an interest and affection for him.This kind of emotion is often easy to flash out when a lonely person is on a lonely journey.

After the bland dinner in the hotel, Qian Ruquan braved the drizzle and went to the street to buy a roast chicken.It seems that this is still a person who will never let his stomach be wronged.He tore a chicken thigh and gave it to Xinshu Zhao.Zhao Xinshu hurriedly waved his hand and refused.His stiff and dull appearance aroused Qian Ruquan's interest again at this moment.In terms of educational background, Zhao Xinshu is a graduate of a prestigious university in the early 1950s, and now he is an engineer, but when it comes to talking about the world, this person is so dumb that he doesn't understand anything, even Jiang Qing's scandal and now buying cloth instead of cloth tickets. have no idea.So Qian Ruquan asked in surprise: "Then, what do you do in your free time? You can't just read books all day long!" "...I also like to play chess sometimes." I am ashamed of my lack of knowledge, said Ai Ai Qiqi.

"Oh? Play chess?" Qian Ruquan lay on the bed and slapped his thigh. "I can also make two moves! It's a pity that there are no chess pieces at the moment." "Ah! I have it, I have it." He suddenly became excited, and his face was flushed. "I take chess with me when I am on a business trip. When I am bored, I put it on the chessboard and study it..." He said, opening his travel bag, and took out a chess box with tape on the sides. "If you are interested, we might as well play two games." He said to Qian Ruquan with a pleading smile. "Two sets, two sets." Qian Ruquan sat up cross-legged on the bed.He got enough sleep at noon, and now he is refreshed.They spread the chessboard on the small cabinet between the two beds.Qian Ruquan took the initiative to pick the sunspots, and said: "The red comes first and the black comes first, you invite first!"

After a few moves, Zhao Xinshu found out that this opponent is really a "doctor" who is proficient in everything; he also has extraordinary moves in chess, with many changes.He had a hard time dealing with it. Until twelve o'clock in the middle of the night, Qian Ruquan won most of the games, but in the two games that he lost to him, he could see that Qian Ruquan also deliberately gave it up to him in order to save his face.A person's chess style can reflect a person's character and moral level, and he has a good impression of this foreign trade cadre. "You said you 'research'," Qian Ruquan smacked his lips and said with a smile, "it can be seen that your brother only knows how to study machines, but has not studied the ancient book "Taolue Xuanji" and the "Complete Book of Chess" edited by modern Xie Xiaxun. "Hey! There is a lot of knowledge here! You see, as far as this game is concerned..." He lifted the teacup and turned the chessboard carefully.The endgame on the chessboard is exactly the kind of situation that Zhao Xinshu was thinking hard about in the business hall of the Telegraph Bureau—he was clearly at a disadvantage.Now, it is up to Qian Ruquan to become popular to deal with the decadent situation.

"Look," Qian Ruquan said confidently after taking away a few more red pieces, "I'll just play these few pieces, and it's hard for you to beat me. Don't underestimate this handsome man's fighting power. In fact, he has great potential. Big, especially at the end of the endgame, it can be said to be "out of the nine palaces, and win a thousand miles". Hehe! It's the same as in the "Cultural Revolution"... If you don't believe me, let's wait and see..." Sure enough, Zhao Xinshu changed the account On the winning side, Qian Ruquan conceded a few pieces, and in the end, it was still a draw.Zhao Xinshu admired Qian Ruquan as if he had met Einstein.At this time he also became active.The two talked more and more speculatively, and ate up a roast chicken.Please note that two people with completely different personalities, educational backgrounds, and experiences may sometimes form a friendship that is closer than that between similar characters.Zhao Xinshu hated Qian Ruquan because he met him late. He felt that this well-informed man suddenly opened up a colorful world in front of him.Qian Ruquan also said boldly that it was a pity that he had to go to Xinjiang, otherwise he would go back to City C with him and treat him well. "My house is very spacious and there is a small courtyard; my wife cooks good meals." Qian Ruquan said with a sigh, "I am not young anymore, and this is my last business trip; from now on, I will stay If you don’t come out at home, it’s time to retire in two years. You said that the factory in City C is cooperating with your factory, so you can’t stop coming to City C in the future. Come, don’t live in a guest house, just live in my house. Don’t you Come on, you look down on me! Let’s have a good chat, I’ll take you to City C for a good stroll. I think highly of you, don’t think you can’t play chess, but brother, you are a person with real talents, it’s us The pillars of the country..." It was almost dawn, and the two exchanged correspondence addresses before dozing off vaguely.At seven o'clock in the morning, Zhao Xinshu washed up hastily, packed his bag and went to catch the train to C City.Qian Ruquan insisted on sending him to the station, even if he couldn't stop him. "Here, why are you being polite to me?" Qian Ruquan rushed to pick up a small bag from him, "I sent you off, have some breakfast at the station, and just go to work. Let's go, let's go!"

On the platform, the two finally broke up reluctantly. Zhao Xinshu had never dated people like Qian Ruquan in his life; at the same time, he felt that his stupid appearance in front of Qian Ruquan would never win the respect of others, but Qian Ruquan could tell that he was "People with real talents and real learning are the pillars of our country"!The heart that lacked water was nourished by the friendship of bosom friend. On the train, he was almost moved to tears.Shitou's heart is as long as it is not emotional, but once it is emotional, it is no small matter and it is difficult to deal with it.He couldn't hold back the passion to express his thoughts to this bosom friend.

Coincidentally, when he went to live in a guest house in City C, when he was packing his travel bag, he found a black cannon missing in his chess set. This reminded him of an interesting anecdote about a technician in their department. The technician was a newly assigned graduate from South China Institute of Technology, nicknamed "Little Lao Guang", a lively, frank, literary-loving young man.At the beginning of this year, he went to Guangdong to visit relatives, and he had a warm relationship with his partner for a while.Back at work, just like Zhao Xinshu's mood at this time, he was eager to express his thoughts to his object.It was too slow to write a letter, and the cost of long-distance calls was too high. After much deliberation, he sent a telegram to the girl who taught in the middle school, with only two words - "Red Bean"!Both fun and endless implication.Soon, the fiancée wrote a letter. "Xiao Laoguang" did not hide anything, and happily read the love letter in public in the department: "My dear: 'Red beans are born in the south, this thing is the most lovesick.' I completely understand your feelings now. I am the same, I am afraid Deeper and more painful than you. You should know that I am a daughter of a southern country, and I am the 'red bean' in my hometown..." The love letter also had some nasty words, and everyone who listened to it laughed so hard.Only Zhao Xinshu sat silently in front of the window, moved by those affectionate words.In the ravine in front of the office building, wild peach blossoms are about to bloom, willows and locust trees have opened new leaves; in the damp mountain depressions, clumps of weeds have begun to spread around—everything shows that youth grows and will Again and again, but his youth will never reappear!When he was in college, he fell in love with a female classmate, the two were very close, and she got a lot of help from him in her homework.However, after graduation, she married another male classmate and went to Guizhou together.What made him saddest was when she said to a female classmate before leaving: "Zhao Xinshu is a good person, but you can only make friends with this kind of person, you can't marry him. If you marry him, there will be nothing wrong with family life." Fun!" The female classmate told him this as the eldest sister, meaning to persuade him to be more lively, cheerful, and have more interests in the future, but it turned out to be a fatal blow to him.Since then, he has become more inferior, more shy, and less manly in front of women.In addition, he was assigned to a mine in the Northwest, where there were more men than women, and the yin and yang were imbalanced. Even though he later had a high salary of more than 100 yuan a month, there were no educated women who matched him to favor him. Yes, nature's youth goes round and round, and he, as he sang in a song he had heard in college: "My young bird is gone forever!" What a beautiful, heart-stirring word!But no matter in the letter or in the ear, no woman has ever called him that.There was a deep sorrow in his dry heart, and he felt that his life was wasted, and there was not an hour or a minute worth showing off, or worth cherishing when he was dying. He secretly envied the young and lively "Little Lao Guang". "Little Lao Guang" enjoyed happiness that he had never enjoyed in his life.And that ingenious, quick, unique and romantic way of expressing missing also left a deep impression on his mind.At this time, this nerd who was moved by the friendship established by accident suddenly had a whim, and immediately associated "red beans" in "Little Laoguang" with "black cannon"; at the same time, his intuition also told him that Qian Ruquan, the fat man He is a man with a bright future, if he doesn't take the initiative to write to him, Qian Ruquan will never think of writing to him.So, after breakfast the next day, he ran to the street, bought a few newly published books on science and technology, and then went to the Post Office to type the telegram.On the surface, they want Qian Ruquan to look for the chess piece, or send it to him, or keep it for him to pick it up when he comes to C City next time, and establish regular contact from then on, but in his heart, there is a kind of sympathetic feeling. Romantic love.This nerd has lived without romance for more than fifty years, and this time he romanticized a bit.However, Dong Shi followed suit and Handan learned to walk. This telegram almost made him twist his waist and crawl for the rest of his life.