Chapter 43 On the train

The flight attendant with double braids led me through several cars full of passengers until the door of a room in a sleeper car with soft seats. He smiled slightly and said, "You can sit for a while, and I will let you know when there are vacant seats." " She still wanted to say something to the passenger, but when she saw the passenger was waving his hands out of the car window, she stepped back quietly. As soon as I breathed, I sat down in the corner of the sleeper near the door, took out a handkerchief from my handbag, wiped the sweat from my forehead, and observed the room: on the two opposite sleepers, there were several Handbags, large and small, with all kinds of hotel and ship labels attached to them.The guest was wearing a short-sleeved white nylon shirt, gray pants, and gray hollow leather shoes. His upper body was almost completely out of the car, and he was waving a handkerchief vigorously.It wasn't until the train walked out of the platform that he slowly retracted into the car, slowly lowered the screen window, sat down slowly, raised his head and saw me, as if surprised.I quickly explained to him with a smile: "I'm sorry, because I was in a hurry, I bought a ticket and got on the bus. There were no soft seats. The flight attendant took me to this room to sit for a while. Fortunately, I got off in less than an hour. Car..." He nodded blankly and smiled and said, "It's okay, please sit down, welcome!" I saw in his absent-minded eyes that he seemed to have a lot on his mind. I was afraid of disturbing his mood, so I took out a bag This magazine, I looked down.

The guest was obviously very excited. He first opened a black folding fan and kept fanning it. Then he stood up and pushed the small boxes next to my seat to the window. He sat there looking out the window for a while, then turned his head and looked at me again and again.I simply put down the book and looked at him with a smile.He seemed very happy to have the opportunity to talk to people, and immediately greeted me with a smile.He looked to be about fifty years old, with a medium build, a little bald on the top of his head, a red face, sparse eyebrows, thin eyes, and upturned lips, showing a simple and shrewd look.He laughed and said, "I came back from Indonesia to visit relatives. Can you understand me? My Mandarin is not good..."

I laughed and said, "Understandable, you are right, your origin is Fujian, right?" He laughed and said: "Yes, yes, I am Fujian Jinjiang. Is there a Fujian accent in my accent?" I said: "Then we are from the same hometown, and I am also from Fujian..." He quickly stood up, shook hands with me, and kept shaking my hand, his face glowing with joy, "So, you can speak Hokkien now?" He turned around, rang the bell, took out another pack of Chunghwa cigarettes from his shirt pocket, and handed me one.I said no, so he put it in his mouth, lit it with a lighter, and started talking Hokkien with me.

"Let me introduce myself: My surname is Chen, my name is Chen Yiqian, and I have been farming for generations. You know that our side is near the sea, and the wind and sand are very strong. In winter, the strong wind overnight and the quicksand in bursts have leveled the fields.After the strong wind passed, we had to pick up the quicksand from the ground by loads of loads before we could plant seeds.Those who farm the fields are really suffering, and the harvest is not much.Thirty years ago, a strong sandstorm completely wiped out our village of twenty-three households.My father died at that time.My mother escaped with us three brothers.My second brother sold his young man, and I went to Nanyang with a few people from the same village.On the day before I left, my mother stuffed a bag of incense ashes from my ancestors into my arms, and my elder brother also put a bag of sand from my hometown in my hand.My mother cried and said: "If there is a way to survive over there, please send a letter back..." But my elder brother gritted his teeth and said: "This ghostly place, it doesn't matter if you don't come back."Now that you have a foothold and money, you can send some money back to control sand, I will stick to it! '"

The flight attendant stood at the door with a smile, and the guest said to her with a smile: "Please bring some beer and soda. I'll buy this fellow a drink." The flight attendant agreed, nodded and smiled at me, turned and left. He went on to say: "My heart is like a knife being cut out, but, as my mother said, it's better to go out for a while than starve to death at home... I followed the villagers and went to Jakarta. First, I picked a pair of shopkeepers. Dan, sold some groceries in various villages, and slowly saved a little money..." He smiled and scratched his head, "I got married in Indonesia, and my family—is it called lover in China? Chinese, she was born in Indonesia, we have eight children, the oldest daughter is eighteen years old this year..."

I asked, "Are they all in Indonesia?" He said, "No, my eldest daughter, Xue Lian, is studying in Beijing. I came back to China this time just to see her." At this moment, a strange look appeared on his face. Joyful brilliance, our conversation clearly got into the center of his excited mood!The flight attendant just came in with a beer pop and two glasses.He stood up and opened beer, poured two glasses, raised the rustling glass again, and said to me: "Let's congratulate our great motherland! Our motherland is so great!" He drank the wine in a few sips Dry, took out a handkerchief, wiped his mouth, lit another cigarette, and said, "This has to start with my daughter, no, let's start with me.

"Before liberation, I didn't dare to come back. I'm afraid you also know that there are many bandits on our side, and officials are more powerful than bandits. Overseas Chinese are cash cows. No matter how much money you have, you will be jealous when you see us coming home, and you must blackmail us heavily. That's all. When my hometown was liberated, my mother kept writing letters, saying that the new China was so good, so good, and that the eldest brother became a village cadre, and the second brother also came back. Their children have all entered school and studied... They told me to come back and take a look, but I was still skeptical. Later, several groups of people from our side came back, and they all agreed that it was great, so I came back boldly. Once I entered the country, everything was really renewed. Arrived I have to take a look at my hometown—” He patted his thigh, “Hey, speaking of it, it’s like entering heaven. The green land is endless, and the white sand has disappeared. Guess what, they planted dozens of windbreaks of casuarina, The wind is blocked and the soil is gathered. The land is more and more every year, not less every year. There are hundreds of thousands of windbreak forests in this area. Can it be done with the strength of one or two hundred people in our village? The next day I returned home, I went to the city to meet our parents and officials, which was even more surprising to me. It turned out that he was also a farmer! I'm still an expert, no wonder he manages the place so well, he is one of our own!

"From my hometown, I went to Beijing for sightseeing. This journey and what I saw and heard in Beijing made me shed tears countless times! Thank God, our motherland has today! Go back to Indonesia, and friends from the same country We talked excitedly for several days and nights. At that time, my eldest daughter Xuelian was only twelve years old. She was graduating from Huaqiao Primary School. She was happy to hear what I said, and she wanted to go back to the motherland to study. Her mother said She had never left home, and she was a little bit reluctant to go so far all of a sudden. Her grandparents even shook their heads. But I said, when I was a child, I came out of Nanyang. What is there to be reluctant to go to the bright motherland? Our father and daughter were happy, only her mother and grandparents were crying to see her on board.

"Xue Lian and her classmates entered the school not long after they arrived in Beijing. Every letter they wrote happily talked about the warm family life in the school and the meticulous care of the party and the country for them. Her mother Don't worry, her grandparents also said that Xuelian is a strong child, even if she is homesick and sad, she would not say it. A few years ago, when she heard that there was a drought in the country and the supply of supplies was difficult, her grandmother secretly sent money to Xuelian , asked her to buy nutritious food to eat, and then sent some parcels, such as cod liver oil, cocoa, milk powder... almost every day to the post office. Unexpectedly, Xuelian wrote a letter and got angry with her grandmother, saying that I am not short of anything here, If my mother-in-law keeps sending things, I will never write to her in the future. Xuelian is our firstborn daughter. As soon as she had a younger brother, her grandmother took her over and spoiled Xuelian as if she was afraid of the wind. Blowing, and afraid of the sun, I can't wait to cover the snow lotus with a glass cover and put it on the bedside! She is very obedient to the snow lotus, so when the snow lotus scares her, she dare not send anything anymore, but her heart is always Muttering. She said that Xue Lian is such a spoiled child, and now she is willing to eat a big pot of rice and wash clothes by herself. She couldn't believe it. She read Xue Lian's letter over and over again. She secretly said to my lover, could it be that it was written by Xuelian?

My wife said with a smile, you don't know Xuelian's temper, "the cow doesn't drink water and forcefully presses her head", so she won't be manipulated by others! "This year is Xuelian's high school graduation day. My mother-in-law has an excuse. In fact, not only my mother-in-law, but our husband and wife also want to take this opportunity to bring her back something..." He smiled and pointed to the sleepers on both sides. "Here's all the stuff we brought her, and bought everything we could for her. Who knows..." He shook his head, smiled, and looked at me with almost reverent eyes: "Guess I traveled thousands of miles to bring her so many things that she loved in the past, and sent them to her school in big boxes and small boxes. But she didn't say a word of joy, and asked me to bring them all back to the hotel. She came back with me herself, sat on my bed, held my hand, and explained a lot of truth to me. Not only did she say that I should not I bought her so many unnecessary things, and advised me not to buy those unnecessary things for her younger brothers and sisters in the future. Her words were simple and correct, and every sentence hit my heart. Children who have not been educated will know so much and so thoroughly! I am really ashamed and grateful. I am ashamed that I have forgotten the poverty and suffering that I and my ancestors have suffered. I am grateful to my motherland for educating my spoiled daughter into such a A sensible person. I said: Xuelian, you are absolutely right. I will take all these away, and not only will I not send you any extra things in the future, but I will also not buy any extra things for your younger brothers and sisters. Are you satisfied with this? Only then did I laugh, and came to hug me, holding my face with both hands like when I was a child, calling me good daddy!"

Tears of joy suddenly filled his eyes, he lowered his head and stamped out the cigarette butt: "I will tell my mother-in-law and lover when I go back, and I will also tell my children that Xuelian has obtained things that are tens of millions of times better than these. She has long given up on these superfluous material enjoyments!" As he spoke, he folded his arms and bowed his head in thought.I looked up at the window, the train was still going fast, and there were several buildings and chimneys in the distance, and I gradually looked into my destination. I stood up softly, went back to the seat by the door, and put the book away in my handbag.At this time, the aisle was already full of people getting out of the car.Mr. Chen walked over as if he had woken up. I stood up and said with a smile, "Today is really an unexpected encounter. I didn't expect to meet a fellow from my hometown on the train. I haven't spoken Hokkien for many years!" He laughed and said: "No,..." The train shook and stopped.I quickly picked up my handbag, shook hands with him, and said, "Goodbye, you will definitely come back. I know the address of your daughter and her school, and I will definitely visit her when I return to Beijing.I wish you a safe journey and a happy family! "His face was full of passion, and he couldn't speak. He only held my hand with both hands and shook it vigorously. As soon as I jumped off, the train was already moving, and the wheels were turning faster and faster, rumbling out of my sight.My heart seems to follow this passionate countryman, and with his endlessly excited and moving words, he is rushing towards his overseas home.August 7, 1963 (This article was originally published in "Children's Literature Series" No. 1, 1963.)