Chapter 39 Chapter Thirty-Seven

After racing against time for the last time to "pay the public grain" according to the quality and quantity, he and Xiaoyu went out with big bags and small bags.Lao Hong is home, I want to take a taxi, and Xiao Yu wants to save money.We got off the subway from Guomao, came out of the Junbo subway exit panting, and rushed to the West Railway Station from Yangfang Road.Seeing the vast sea of ​​people returning home like refugees with large and small bags, Xiaoyu was very excited. When the car is crowded, the fruit bag is first squeezed out, and before it can be picked up, it is trampled to pieces.Then, one of Xiaoyu's shoes was squeezed out again, and she burst into tears. I squatted down and grabbed the leather shoe with all my strength;Crying and shouting, she squeezed into the car, and was stuck at the junction of the car door and couldn't move.The air is not circulating, and the peculiar smell on the train makes people feel that they are no longer in this world.The temperature rose sharply, and the people who were squeezed into meatloaf couldn't take off their thick winter clothes, and soon they were dripping with sweat.I used self-deprecating instead of consolation: "Now that you have experienced the sufferings of the working people, let's treat it as a private visit through microservices. I toss back and forth several times a year."

Xiao Yu half-closed her eyes and said weakly: "One time is enough." People continued to struggle in the stalemate they had created. The conductor shouted, cursed and pushed, and the stagnant water finally stirred slightly.It took an hour for the train to struggle from the overcrowded aisle to the hard sleeper berth.The position had been occupied long ago, and the occupant left slowly.Climbing back into the berth again, struggling to remove the luggage of other occupants from the luggage rack, this is always a matter of small quarrels and compromises.Settling down, climbing into the berth and lying down, that is a dignity and happiness.

Xiaoyu on the upper bunk quickly fell asleep, and I lay on the middle bunk and read a book.After dark, Xiaoyu woke up, stretched out her neck and asked curiously where she was.I picked up the water glass and fed her a sip, saying that Shijiazhuang had just passed, and there were still more than 20 hours left.Xiaoyu complained that this is the express, so I said, "Be content, express plus sleeper, lucky enough, if you buy a temporary bus, shake you for three days and three nights." Xiaoyu winked: "Anyway, it's only one day, so I'll just bear with it. Finding you, an outsider, is really bad luck."

"It's only one day? Don't be beautiful, it's early." I stretched my waist exaggeratedly. I was so bored that I bickered with Xiaoyu: "The road is long—it's a long way. More than 20 hours is only the first step in the Long March." After getting off the train, we still have to travel seven or eight hours by car—if all goes well." "Do you still have to go?" Xiaoyu looked stunned, and I said seriously: "When we arrive at the small county town, we will take another three or four hours to a small town by country car. The road is not easy, the muddy road is not afraid of bumps, but we are afraid of slipping and derailment. "

"Ah——, do you want me to live?" Xiaoyu's eyes were wide open, and I expressed deep regret: "It's in the western mountainous area, there is no way. But soon, when we arrive at the small town, we will take a minibus to get there." It only takes more than two hours for a village. The scenery on the road is wonderful, with cliffs and cliffs, deep abyss, five ridges and winding waves." "Come on, Wumeng Pangmao is still walking Niwan." Xiaoyu exclaimed, "Where are you from? Aren't you from Dicheng?" "I'm from Dicheng, and that place belongs to the urban management of Dicheng—you're from Beijing, don't you belong to China?" She was stopped by the question, she nodded, and asked cautiously, "How long will it take?"

"It's almost there." I said lightly, "The distance in a straight line is not far. The mountainous area is high in altitude. You can go around and around. You will know when you pass the Qinling Mountains tomorrow. When you arrive at that small village, there is a big river. Bridge, we have to change trains." "There is no bridge, what should I replace?" "It depends on the situation." I looked like an expert, "Usually take a boat. If it freezes in winter but is not too thick, or if there is a flood in summer and we dare not ferry, we have to take the cableway."

"so fun!" "Don't get excited. Strictly speaking, it's not sitting. Why don't you sit on the seat?" I gestured to her, "Let's tie a belt around the waist to help with a rope. There is a metal hook on the rope, and it is hung on a thumb-thick. Sliding across the air on a steel cable. Some farmers even slide past pigs and donkeys like this. Don’t look down, it will scare you to death! But it’s nothing compared to taking the Luding Bridge by flying—at least you don’t have a machine gun to hit you .” "You kill me now!" Xiao Yu's face was crooked, I comforted him: "Don't be nervous, maybe it's not frozen yet. Then take a boat, take a small ferry, and you can see the boatmen on the Chuanjiang River. "

"Is it like MTV's "Tracker's Love"?" She was a little curious, and I pretended to be mysterious: "How can it be so romantic? If you don't pay attention, the boat will capsize and you will die. Don't look for the dead body. It's either feeding fish or wild dogs. La." "That's too scary." Xiao Yu shrank her neck and shivered. "Aren't we good swimmers? We have to change trains after landing." "Then what shall we sit for?" "This time I'm taking a coal truck. There's a small coal mine near my house." I was in the act, "Be careful, when the mountain wind blows, there will be no fragrance of flowers and birds. It's all black rouge—coal ash! It’s Li Kui. We don’t have a shower at home, but it’s okay to boil some snow water in a pot and wash it.”

Xiao Yu was dumbfounded: "Ah——, you—are you really a farmer?" "You look down on the peasants? We peasants don't farm the land, you Beijingers drink the northwest wind? Thanks to your parents, you were educated youths." I said every word seriously, "The laborer is the most honorable silver (person). " Others who listened to our conversation couldn't help but laugh.Xiaoyu was a little embarrassed: "I'll just say that casually. Why do you look more and more like a human trafficker? Doesn't the family already have a lot of yellow-faced women and children?"

"Hey, it's possible." The people around laughed out loud, and I showed my true colors like a successful liar, "It's too late to run now." Xiaoyu chuckled and bickered with me: "Small, what you said, I really want to find out. Who will sell it is not sure. Tell me, do we still have to change the car?" "Change. When we arrive at the small coal mine, my younger brother will pick us up in his own car." "That's great, what car shall we take this time?" "Tractor—hand-held. I didn't tell you about my brother, right? He is an excellent tractor driver in our village. Except for throwing a few pigs off the cliff, he has never had any accidents." I gestured and said, " At that time, he will use a rope as thick as the mouth of a bowl to tie us firmly. The scenery along the way is called a good one. Thousands of miles of ice-covered snow drifts the original wax figure. Heaven and man are one."

"Finally home." Xiaoyu took a deep breath, and I shook my hand: "Don't worry, there is still a section to go. The mountain is blocked by ice and snow, and there is a section of the road that is too narrow and slippery. In summer, you can find a porter or ride a donkey, but in winter Let us push you away with a rooster cart." "Chicken bus?" Xiao Yu looked at a loss.A small group of foreman-like people next to him laughed loudly, and couldn't help saying in broken Mandarin: "Rickshaws like Jigong (rooster), one-wheeled." Xiaoyu still didn't understand, this person took out a pen and paper and sketched it out with a few strokes. The concise and clear brushwork made me question whether he was a carpenter, and when I asked, he was indeed a technician in a furniture factory in the suburbs of Beijing.Xiaoyu looked at the picture and suddenly realized: "I've seen it on TV, so this is it?" "Look at how awesome we are. Apart from airplanes, missiles and aircraft carriers, what kind of transportation is useless?" I said, Xiaoyu said with a sense of accomplishment on her face, "That's true." Along the way, Xiao Yu was very curious about the scene outside the window, so I became the guide.The Yellow River Bridge and the Loess Plateau are eight hundred miles away from the Qinchuan Shu Road.She was particularly excited by the huge and continuous ice peaks, foggy pines, thrilling deep ravines and dense tunnels in the Qinling Mountains.After entering Sichuan, the chill had subsided a lot, the sun was shining brightly, and the green wheat fields were distributed irregularly like patches on the hillsides. The Jialing River meandered prostrately. Occasionally, a few buffaloes were playing or farming by the river.Xiaoyu was taken aback, she had never seen a mountain, nor any wild animals. Behind the iron fence of the Dicheng Railway Station between the mountains and depressions, people who received passengers were crowded behind the iron fence, forming two long vertical queues.Except for my mother, the whole family came, laughing and waving, as if a member of the Politburo came to a small county town. Only my brother-in-law met Xiaoyu when he was on a business trip in Beijing. I introduced them one by one, and Xiaoyu couldn't stop laughing, calling her whatever I called her.The family took the luggage, surrounded us and got into two cars. My brother borrowed a car, and a buddy came to help. "My brother can drive a tractor besides pushing a chicken bus." I joked, Xiaoyu giggled, and the family was confused. The square in front of the station is also full of people. The most indispensable thing in this country is the high-level animals with two legs upright.A mess of celebration.Along the way, banners with red cloth and white characters were pulled up, paying equal attention to politics and business.Streets and buildings are covered in red and green, urban management has been lax, and street stalls are placed in disorder.Carrying a basket on their backs and carrying a dustpan (Note: "dustpan", a bamboo strip container in the rural areas of Southwest China.) Fruit vendors wandered around.Rows of speakers in front of the store play neurotic and inferior advertisements in a loop like a ring.Pedestrians with small-town temperament and well-dressed crowds, children wearing new clothes and running wildly in the street with candies or firecrackers, bicycles, rickshaws and taxis passing by... Xiaoyu looked at the city curiously and said that it looked like a suburban county in Beijing. .I said unconvinced: "What are you talking about? A majestic prefecture-level city! The center of the junction of three provinces! It is the boss with a radius of several hundred kilometers. While talking, the car came to an abrupt stop downstairs. My sister laughed: "Haha, your central city is too big, and you will be home in five minutes." Xiaoyu got out of the car and looked around in surprise. Although new buildings are crowded, except for an elevator apartment under construction, there are no buildings with more than ten floors. She smiled and said, "Boss, this is the Manhattan and Wangfujing you mentioned?" "Yes, the little prince's mansion." I opened the trunk while talking, "I am the little prince, and now the prince is taking his wife back to the mansion." Go up along the path in the courtyard with potholes.Downstairs, a shabby shed-style small restaurant does not rest during the New Year. It emits choking oily fumes, and the takeaway boxes placed on carts in the alleyway attract people.In order to close this disturbing restaurant, everyone has fought for a long time, but nothing happened. The building of my parents' house is adjacent to the busy city, and the lower part is a business building and the upper part is a family building. After several rounds of crazy old house renovations, this building that was only built 20 years ago has become the oldest building in this thousand-year-old city.After several high-level public servants moved away more than ten years ago, it became a forgotten corner.After the housing reform, these buildings have become orphans whose parents don't care whether their grandma doesn't love them or their uncles don't love them.In the early 1990s, he was still proud of the busy city, but he became a gray mouse in an instant.In the past few years, small cities were keen to make political achievements with innovation and health. The outer walls of old buildings were suddenly painted with a little bit of grease and powder, just like dressing up a beggar, glamorous, and could not hide his hunger. The staring eyes and shriveled abdomen show the level of governance of "treating the symptoms but not the root cause". It has been rumored that this urban area is going to be demolished, the interior has not been renovated, and the floor is still cement, which is worn out.The furniture has been used for almost 20 years, and the row of old TV cabinets and old sofas were moved from my sister's house after they were eliminated.The only new facility is that I bought a new color TV and a window-mounted air conditioner after I "developed well" in Beijing, but my mother thought the air conditioner was expensive and only used it occasionally during the dog days.Sichuan has no heating system, and the coldness that invades the bone marrow in winter is much more uncomfortable than Beijing.There are various ways of heating.Those who have money and power can use natural gas or air conditioning calmly.We used to use electric stove wires or electric heaters, which were clean and not too expensive, but the heating space was too small, and the front chest was roasted, and a piece of frozen meat was still in the back.In the end, I had to burn charcoal like the general public. This thousand-year-old method is dirty, but the room is warm. You can also boil a pot of water, cook porridge, cook a hot pot, and roast meat buns. To be honest, the conditions of my family are considered poor in the current city of Di.Fortunately, most girls in Beijing are very tolerant. If you change to a Shanghai baby, if you see this situation, you don’t use the methods of human traffickers, handcuffs, fetters, superglue, punches and kicks. strange. My mother is sorry that the small place is not as good as yours in Beijing. Don't laugh, Xiaoyu is very open-minded: "This is better than when Mom and Dad were educated youths." "The times are different." I laughed at myself. "The times are improving, and the Little Palace has become Harlem (Note: Harlum, a poor area in New York, USA.)." After washing up a bit and entering the steaming living room, Xiaoyu looked at a large pot of red charcoal fire, curiously stretched out her hands to grill it, and kept applauding: "That's great, you can grill skewers." I said that this is what the great leader baked in the cave in Yan'an back then. Do you know how Comrade Zhang Side sacrificed himself?Xiaoyu is like a primary school student endorsing: "It is for this-charcoal. To die for the benefit of the people is heavier than Mount Tai-" "To die for one's own benefit is lighter than a feather..." The little nephews recited it, and the revolutionary education was passed down from generation to generation. Xiaoyu called her three families one by one, and my mother and I also paid New Year's greetings to them.The curious Xiaoyu looked around at home, sat down in the hut where I lived for twenty years, looked at my bookshelf, said that I am such a nerd, and took out my photo album, from the black and white and yellow photos when I was wearing crotch pants. After comparing for a while, he frowned: "Why are you getting uglier!" It's not that Xiaoyu is too vengeful, but because of her personality.It is very difficult for you to hear any positive comments from the mouths of girls in Beijing. If you don’t make fun of you, you will make you look good.There is a photo of a green head with a rebellious face and hair that grows past his neck. Finally, I heard Xiao Yu say, "This one is a bit handsome, a bit cool", and my nephew immediately answered, "Cricket's cricket, underwear trousers", that bullshit is popular enough.My pitiful prestige was strangled by the inside, outside and outside.When I went to the balcony to watch, there were few people there, and firecrackers or fireworks were released sporadically in the residential buildings, and the smell of gunpowder smoke that I hated was getting stronger and stronger in the air. After circulating my new book, Xiaoyu took out gifts, mostly for children.Take out three more red envelopes, one for each niece (daughter) and nephew.My mother also stuffed Xiaoyu a red envelope, meaning the whole family.This surprise made Xiaoyu's eyes and eyebrows twitch, she pretended to decline, and accepted it. The New Year’s Eve dinner has been prepared for many days, and it is jointly presented by my mother and my brother-in-law who is a restaurant chef. Compared with the few home-cooked dishes I can cook, they are as childish as playing games. No wonder Xiaoyu is so happy to eat, Coupled with the family's attentiveness, it's almost blocked the voice. Followed by the traditional program.After a few rounds, mahjong novice Xiao Yu wins more than she loses in this bloody mahjong town, and everyone praises her for her superb skills, and even she takes it seriously.I could only hear her cheers from time to time after playing the bluff: "Husband, I'm bluffing again!" Xiaoyu usually calls me my husband or old hooligan in private, and usually calls me boss in public, but this time she didn't shut up, which made her family burst into laughter.Xiaoyu won the embarrassment, and I, who "listened to the government behind the curtain", was also a little ashamed.My family has long lost the habit of keeping the old age. When it was almost midnight, the old-fashioned "Uncomfortable Tonight" came on the TV, and I felt sleepy.Get up and set off fireworks and firecrackers, the meeting adjourned.Before going to bed, Xiao Yu took out some of the money she had won, and she was so happy that she couldn't close her mouth: "Honey, I earned more than six hundred." "There is still a red envelope." I reminded, Xiaoyu took out the red envelope, I cut it over and touched it, and reported the number: "One thousand." "Ah! Are there so many?" "If it's not enough, I'll make up for it, and if it's too much, you'll refund me." Xiao Yu opened it and saw that it really didn't owe anything.She couldn't close her mouth: "I have never earned so much New Year's money. Your family is so kind." My eyes rounded: "Image project, can it be bad?" Taking the time to go to the cemetery, Xiaoyu imitated us, kowtowed to her father decently, offered incense and burned paper money to report safety.For the rest of the day, we swaggered through the city, went for a walk and drank tea in one of the few parks, and from time to time met the old lady Yangko team, the farmer's dry boat team and the lion dance team, which opened Xiao Yu's eyes.I also took her to climb the tallest tower in the city, where you can have a panoramic view of the city between the mountains.In the park under the pagoda, there were at least a hundred tables of people playing mahjong at the same time.Xiaoyu sighed that people in Sichuan are so laid-back, but I didn't take it seriously: "In other words, they are depraved. Have you ever heard the phrase 'You don't want to go to Sichuan'?" "Grandpa said, you are the opposite." The two rivers divide the old and new urban areas into four parts. I pointed to the city under my feet and asked, "Isn't this central city beautiful enough? It's called Little Shanghai." "Small and exquisite, it's only Huilongguan or half of Tiantongyuan community." I argued: "What's so good about big, big is stupid, stupid, big and black, careless, big and useless, big mountains without firewood, big red bags...; small is fine, short and powerful, small bridges and flowing water, concentrated are all fine... There are too many sayings. Even if you are stupid, you are just a little fool." "There's also little cleverness, narrow-mindedness, small belly, small size, little Japan, little plum, little bastard...what are you talking about? Didn't I say small and exquisite at the beginning, that's a good word! ——and Xiaoyu! Xiaoyu joked, "Why are you so fragile?" During my stay in Dicheng, I bickered with Xiao Yu everywhere, struggling to maintain the humble self-confidence of a countryman. In addition to eating Haisai at home lake, I also go to restaurants, teahouses, bars and KTV.The banquets from Xu Dakuan, Wang Wenge, Dong Gua and middle school teachers came out one after another, so that we sometimes had to drink one party and leave the house, and one party sang the other party before appearing on stage.Xiaoyu admired sincerely: "This small town has so many stories! This place has become a comfortable place." "Then let's settle down here." I jokingly said, "Think about it, I'll be a camel Xiangzi all over the street, and you'll be a barbecue Xishi downstairs." Xiaoyu immediately gave the African hungry people a painful expression: "Wouldn't it be that they want to roast their slender hands into African pig's trotters?" A local literary friend asked me to get together and listen to me talk about the creative situation in Beijing.The TV station did an exclusive interview, blowing me up as a cultural celebrity in Dicheng. In order to prove that I was "developing well" in Beijing, Xiaoyu even showed my face.The authorities are fascinated, Xiaoyu believed the lie after telling the lie once. Unexpectedly, she met Xueer and Yuanyuan.In a clothing store, when my sister and I were looking at clothes with Xiaoyu, someone suddenly shook my arm, and when I turned around, it was her. She and her cousin Yuanyuan happened to be shopping at this store.Yuanyuan spent a year in Beijing and went home to celebrate the New Year. She is not the stupid "hired girlfriend" I was back then.Feeling a bit astonished, Xueer quickly calmed down: "Yeah, you're all on TV." "Hey, don't believe that, it's propaganda." "You're a great writer, well hidden." Yuanyuan smiled. "Ashamed." I smiled.Xueer asked me to give her a book, but I said it was not enough to give to the family. "Okay, then I'll buy a copy." She pouted at Xiaoyu again, "This is my girlfriend from Beijing, she glanced at the TV a few times. She's so pretty." She chuckled again and said that I can't earn your money now, so I smiled.She said she opened a tea house and invited me to drink tea.Xiaoyu turned her head when we exchanged cell phone calls, and I introduced casually: "Classmate——'s younger sister." Everyone smiled politely and left.Xiaoyu muttered: "It looks so vulgar in wearing gold and silver." "Who doesn't want to? Don't you want to?" I teased, Xiaoyu smiled: "I want to wear gold handcuffs and silver anklets in my dreams." Xiao Yu's smiling baby face and sweet mouth made her very popular, and her three nephews even had a hot fight with her.The two sisters insisted on buying a red woolen coat for Xiaoyu. Xiaoyu's fair complexion matched her baby face quite well.According to the standards of the city, we armed her to the teeth again. We talked about the issue of Beijing household registration with our family members. They were very happy to hear it at first, but they were frightened when they quoted the price. At that time, the money could buy two houses in Dicheng.Xiaoyu and I said what Lao Su said in a more reliable tone, and the family began to feel that there was some truth.My mother said that her stock market money is considered to sponsor me.Xiaoyu immediately said: "You misunderstood what we meant, so we just said it casually. The boss accepted a contract and earned 100,000 yuan a month." The whole family was very surprised, and my nephew was in awe of me again. "It's not earned, but it's possible." I briefly talked about the situation and reprimanded Xiao Yu, "You can't hold your breath? Do you understand the tense? What are you excited about? Have you seen money?" Xiaoyu hid behind my mother like looking for a backer: "Look, he bullied me." "Don't worry, I'm here." My mother laughed loudly, quoting her famous words to educate Xiaoyu, "Don't get excited, you have to eat and get the money." Xiaoyu stayed for less than ten days, and received several text messages, and several companies invited her for an interview.I quickly tried to find a way to get a ticket for her. TMD, it's only at this time that I know how old I am.Dicheng is not the starting station. During the Spring Festival travel season, not to mention the sleeper ticket, even the hard seat, I can't wait to exchange your arm and leg.No matter how expensive it is to fly, we still have to go to Chengdu.After a few days of tossing around, my sister beat around the bush and found a relationship to get a hard seat ticket.Every few hours, Xiao Yu sent a text message: "Report to my husband, I am still alive."