Chapter 84 life (3)

Not long after breakfast, on the simple road leading to the county town from Damahechuan Road, there were already bustling farmers going to the market. Due to the changes in rural policies in the past two years, the individual economy has developed greatly. , has become an important part of farmers' life again. On the road, young people are riding bicycles wrapped in colorful plastic, passing by in groups.They all put on brand-new "Jianren" clothes, either Dibu or Diliang, and they looked very fashionable.Nylon stockings and plastic sandals are solemnly put on on the bare feet of rough peasants.With his face cleansed and his hair slicked, he happily went to the county town to show his face: to shop, go to the theater, to buy fashionable goods, to make friends, to meet the object...

More farmers are mostly shoulder-to-hand: those who carry firewood, those who pick vegetables, those who carry pigs, those who lead sheep, those who carry eggs, those who hold chickens, those who pull donkeys, and those who push carts; scalers, shoemakers, blacksmiths, and carpenters Carpenters, masons, carpenters, felters, potters, masons, wandering doctors, witches, gamblers, thieves, drummers, cattle dealers...all flocked to the county town.On the road under the mountain roots in northern Sichuan, puffs of yellow dust rose up. When Gao Jialin joined the torrent with a basket of steamed buns, he immediately regretted it.He felt suddenly a real country bumpkin.He felt that people in front of and behind him on the road were looking at him.He, a teacher who used to be unrestrained and unrestrained, now looks like an old woman from the countryside. He went to sell steamed buns in the last episode!His heart was as uncomfortable as countless bugs were biting.

But all this is helpless.The harsh life drove him on this dusty road.He had to admit that he could only start a new life like this now.The family has no money to buy oil and salt, and his parents are still struggling all day long for life at such an age. How can he, a young child, have the nerve to stay and eat?He carried the steamed bun basket, lowered his head as much as possible, didn't look at anything but the road under his feet, and hurried towards the county seat.On the way, he remembered his father telling him to yell when he was about to sell buns, and his face immediately felt hot.

God, how could he cry out! "But," he thought, "if I don't sell it, who knows what I'm doing with this steamed bun?" When he came to a small ditch, Gao Jialin suddenly thought: Let me run here first. Try yelling in the gully, and get used to it in the city! He looked at both sides of the road with his face flushed, and saw that there was no one there, so as if doing something he had to do, he hurriedly turned and walked into the ditch beside the road.He walked for a long time in this wild ditch, and stopped when he could not see the road.He stopped and opened his mouth, but he didn't have the courage to cry out.He opened his mouth again, but it still didn't work.In a short time, sweat had filled his forehead.The surrounding fields were quiet, with a few snow-white butterflies flying peacefully in a clump of light blue wild flowers in front of him; the dense absinthe wormwood on both sides of the hillside gave off a fresh and pungent smell.Gao Jialin felt that the whole earth was holding its breath waiting for his "White steamed bun!" Oh, this is so difficult!He felt as humiliated as if he had to bark like a dog in front of the public.He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, determined to shout out!He swallowed hard, closed his eyes, opened his mouth and screamed strangely: "White steamed bun——" He heard his theatrical and mournful cry echoing in the four mountains.He bit his lip, trying not to let the tears overflow from his eyes.

He stood in this barren ditch for a long time in a daze before returning to the road uncomfortable and continuing to walk towards the county seat.It was about ten miles from their village to the county seat, but he felt how long and difficult the journey was.He knew that even greater difficulties lay ahead - in the market crowded with thousands of heads! When he walked to the place where the Dama River and the County River meet, the whole picture of the county town has appeared in his vision.A piece of buildings intertwined with bungalows and buildings, high and low, extending from the hillside to the river bank.My dear county is still the same as before, showing its seductive charm in gray and fluffy.He has never been to a bigger city, and the county seat is a big city in his eyes, just a different world.He is familiar with and kind to everything here; from junior high school to high school, he has spent time here.His in-depth understanding of himself and society, and countless dreams of future life all started here.Schools, streets, cinemas, shops, baths, stadiums... how colorful life is!However, three years ago, he bid farewell to all of this... Now, he is here again.He is no longer the Pianpian boy of the past, with neat and neat clothes, smelling of soap all over his body, and proudly pinning the school badge of the highest school in the county on his chest.He is now carrying a basket of steamed buns, and he is an ordinary farmer going to the market.

The memory of the past made him sad.He leaned against the stone railing of the Dama River Bridge, feeling a little dizzy.Crowds going to the market from all directions are passing the bridge and entering the street in an endless stream.Above the streets in the city center in the distance, a large cloud of dust rose up, and the noisy city sounded like the buzzing of bee swarms. He suddenly thought of a worse question: what if he ran into his classmates in the county?He raised his head subconsciously, and first looked back and forth hastily.Only then did he really regret rushing to this fair.It's nothing to go to the general market, but he's here to sell steamed buns!Turn back now, but how can this work!He has already reached the county seat.Besides, the family didn't even have any pocket money. Although their parents wouldn't say anything when they went back like this, they would definitely feel uncomfortable-not only because of the unsold basket of steamed buns, but also because of his worthless And uncomfortable!

"No," he thought, "since I'm here, I'll go to the fair even if I get a choked scalp!" Of course, he also prayed in his heart not to meet his classmates in the county. He quickly picked up the basket, crossed the bridge, and walked out into the street.He was going to cross the street and go to Nanguanli.There are pig markets, grain markets, and vegetable markets there, and there are a lot of people. Except for the cadres who buy vegetables, most of them are farmers and are not conspicuous. When he passed the road outside the waiting room of the bus station, his face turned pale--the pale face soon turned red again.He felt the blood all over his body rushing to his face: he suddenly saw his high school classmates Huang Yaping and Zhang Kenan standing at the door of the waiting room.It was too late to hide, the two of them obviously saw him, and they had already walked towards him one after another.Gao Jialin wished he could throw this basket of steamed buns to an unknown place.Zhang Kenan and Huang Yaping came to the ground quickly, so he had to extend his free hand to shake Kenan's hand.They asked him why he was carrying a basket?He lied impromptu, saying that he would go to a relative's house in the south of the city.Huang Yaping quickly said to him enthusiastically: "Galin, you have made great progress! I saw the few essays you published in the regional newspaper! It's really not easy! The writing is so beautiful that I copied several times in my notebook. Duan!"

"Are you still teaching at the horse shop?" Kernan asked him. He shook his head, smiled wryly and said, "I have been replaced by the brigade secretary's son, and now I have returned to the team as a member." Huang Yaping immediately said anxiously: "Then you have less time to study and write articles!" Gao Jialin said mockingly: "More time! It's not like a poet wrote a poem and said: 'We write on the earth with a picket Down countless lines of poetry'?" His humor made both of his classmates laugh. "Are you going on a business trip?" Galin asked the two of them.He vaguely felt that the relationship between the two of them seemed a little delicate.In middle school, the relationship between the two of them was very ordinary.

"I'm not going out. Kenan is going to Beijing to buy a color TV set for his unit. I'm just hanging out..." Huang Yaping said, seeming a little embarrassed. "Are you still working as a custodian at the non-staple food company?" Galin asked Kernan. "No. I was just transferred to the non-staple food store not long ago." Kernan said. "I've been promoted! I've become the director of the sales department! However, there is an adverb in front of it!" Yaping looked at Kenan mockingly, and curled her lips disapprovingly. "If you want to buy something like tobacco and alcohol, come here, and I will try my best to find a way for you. I have no other skills. I can do such specific things. Alas, it is really difficult for country people to buy a little stuff now!" Kernan said to He said.

Although Zhang Kenan's words were sincere, Gao Jialin was sensitive to them because of his status.He felt that Zhang Kenan's words were flaunting his superiority.His self-esteem was too strong, so his spirit was immediately in a state of contempt for everything, and he said a little bluntly: "If you want to buy it, I will find other ways, and I dare not cause trouble to my old classmates!" Zhang Kenan's face was stabbed red in one sentence. Huang Yaping is also a spiritual person, and she already heard that the two of them were not speculative, so she said to Gao Jialin: "If you are free in the afternoon, come to our radio station to sit down! After you graduated, you never came to see us when you entered the county. Talking. You are still like that, you have such a stubborn temper!"

"You are in a high position now, we ordinary people really don't want to be high!" Jialin's bad habit has committed again!As soon as he felt humiliated, his words became so harsh that it was almost unbearable. Zhang Kenan obviously couldn't take it anymore, and the announcer at the station happened to let the passengers line up to buy tickets, which relieved everyone. Kernan immediately shook hands with him and left first.Yaping hesitated for a moment, and said to him: "...I really want to chat with you. You know, I also like literature, but I have been a broadcaster for the past few years, and I have only practiced my words. I can’t even write small things, so you must come!” Her invitation was sincere, but Gao Jialin felt very uncomfortable for some reason.He said to Yaping: "I will come when I'm free. You can send Kenan off quickly, I'm leaving." Huang Yaping's face turned red, and she said, "I'm not here to see him off! I'm here to pick up a relative from my hometown..." She also lied impromptu.Jialin thought to himself: You don't have to lie at all! Gao Jialin didn't say anything more, he nodded politely to her, then turned and walked down the street.As he walked, he was amused by the lies he and Yaping told each other, and couldn't help but said to himself: "Go and pick up your 'relatives', I have to see my 'relatives' too... ..." However, the meeting with Kenan and Yaping just now brought back his memories of his school life in the past.At school, Yaping was the class monitor and he was the study officer, so they had a lot of contacts.They are also the best learners in the class, both love literature, and respect each other.He and Kernan are usually not too close, because they are both on the school basketball team, and they only hang out together when they are playing. Huang Yaping is from Jiangsu, and her father is the Minister of the County Armed Forces and a member of the Standing Committee of the County Party Committee.Yaping was transferred to the county with his father when he was just in high school, and joined his class.She has the characteristics of a distinct southern girl, and she has experienced the world; her intelligence, generosity and non-tackiness immediately stand out in the whole school.Although Gao Jialin was born in a peasant family and never went through the gates of the big city, he usually studied a wide range of subjects; and because the closed environment in the mountains stimulated his fantasy-loving nature, he appeared to be more relaxed and broad-minded than ordinary classmates. .Huang Yaping quickly discovered his temperament and naturally got closer to him in class.He also liked being with her.Because before this, he had never come into contact with such a girl.Compared with Huang Yaping, the local female students are a bit awkward, and some are very vulgar.They sometimes discuss a novel they have read together, or talk about music, painting, or international issues.The classmates in the class once talked about their long and short.He didn't dare to think about anything out there.Compared with Huang Yaping, he has an inferiority complex that is difficult to overcome.This is not to say that he is worse than her personally, but in terms of family, economic conditions and social status.In these aspects, Zhang Kenan has all of them. Kenan's father is the director of the county's commercial bureau, and his mother is also the deputy manager of the county's medicinal materials company.At that time, Kenan also had a good impression of Yaping and often tried to get close to her, but he could see that she did not have much desire to associate with him. Soon, graduated from high school.No one in their class was admitted to college.Students with rural hukou have all returned to the countryside, and those with urban hukou are looking for ways to find jobs.With her high-level Mandarin, Yaping went to the county radio station and became an announcer.Kernan worked as a custodian in the county non-staple food company.The changes in life made them very far apart very quickly. Although they were only ten miles apart, in actual life, they were already in two worlds.After Gao Jialin returned to the village, at first whenever he heard Huang Yaping's crisp and pleasant Mandarin broadcast, he always felt very melancholy, as if he had lost a valuable thing and had no hope of getting it back.Later, all this gradually faded away.But at some point, he vaguely heard a classmate from another village say that Huang Yaping might be in love with Zhang Kenan, and he felt uncomfortable again for no reason.He pushed it all further away quickly afterwards, and didn't even think about them for a long time... He was very unlucky to have just met them.He is now walking towards the bustling market with the steamed bun basket while moving his eyes nimbly, in case he runs into a classmate working in the city again.As soon as he arrived at the intersection, near the vortex of the flow of people, he ran into another acquaintance! This time, however, he had no panic.When Ma Zhansheng, cultural and educational director of Chengguan Commune, came over to shake his hand in embarrassment, he didn't feel ashamed of the steamed bun basket on his arm at this moment—humph!Let him see, they are the ones who drove him to this point!When Zhuangan asked him what he did, he told him simply: selling steamed buns!He also took one out of the basket.He forced it into Ma Zhansheng's hand; he felt that what he was holding was a smoking grenade with strong vengeance! Ma Zhansheng hurriedly grabbed the steamed bun with both hands, stuffed it into the basket again, touched his stubbled face with his hands, and said with a distressed look: "Gallin! You must have been I hate me in my heart! I am full of bitterness and have nowhere to pour it out! There are some things I really want to tell you, but it’s hard to say! Now listen to me.” Ma Zhansheng dragged Gao Jialin to the bicycle repair shop on Cross Street. At a corner, he touched his face again, lowered his voice and said: "Oh, good Jialin! You don't know, Secretary Zhao of our commune and Gao Minglou of your village have been friends for more than ten years. Regardless of the relationship between superiors and subordinates, the two are so good that we can't distinguish between you and me. A few days ago In 2008, the Minglou family had no one to arrange, so they kept asking you to teach. This year, his second boy graduated from high school, and he ran a few times in the commune. Of course, Lao Zhao has to consider it. You know, the national economy has been adjusted in recent years. The country does not recruit workers in the countryside, so the rural areas regard the work of private teachers as very important. Of course Minglou wants to ask him to do this job! Who will give way to the teachers in other villages? Therefore, we have to send you Down, let Samsung go. Although I announced this at the meeting, it’s not my decision! I, Ma Zhansheng, don’t have such a big cowhide! So, good Jialin, don’t hate me!” Gao Jialin brushed his hair absently with his fingers, and said to Zhuan Gan: "Old Ma, you are too caring. If you don't tell me, I know all about these things. We have worked together for several years, so you should know me. " "Of course I understand you! Among the teachers in the commune, you are top-notch! Besides, you have a bright heart and a hard temper, and I like this kind of person. Don't be afraid!... Oh, I forgot to tell you, I have already transferred to The labor bureau of the county government has been promoted and became a deputy director. I talked to Secretary Zhao of the commune a few days ago and told him to consider you as a teacher again if he has the opportunity. Secretary Zhao agreed...don't be afraid! You wait Go!... Hurry up and work on your work, I still have a meeting! The new official takes office! We can't start a fire. At least we have to entertain people on time!..." After Ma Zhansheng finished speaking, he touched his face with his hand, shook hands with Gao Jialin, and quickly got into the crowd as if he was escaping from something. Because Gao Jialin has always had a dislike for the well-known slippery man in this commune, he basically didn't take what he said seriously.All he knows now is that he left Chengguan Commune and was promoted to the county government.But what did any of this have to do with him?The most important thing for him now is to sell the basket of steamed buns on his arm! Gao Jialin quickly squeezed through the crowd in the street and walked towards the trading market in Nanguan.