Chapter 11 The Spring Festival of 1997, the Spring Festival of 1 yuan and 8 cents

With the rapid development of the economy in the 1990s, the suburban villages scattered around Yangcheng were quickly surrounded by various high-rise buildings. village".The most obvious change in these places at that time was that the villagers who had money built tall buildings one after another.In addition to their dividends in local companies, most of them rely on renting out these houses.Almost all the renters in these densely packed houses are migrant workers from other places.The more famous "urban villages" in Yangcheng at that time included Shipai Village, Xian Village, Yuan Village, Yangji Village and Ke Village.Since 1995, I have lived in these places successively, like the underground guerrillas in the past, as a wanderer in Yangcheng. Among them, Shibei Village, because there were many wandering journalists living at that time, became one of my hometowns in Yangcheng. important habitat.

During my short stay at Liu Liang's house, I entered Guangdong Legal News.Although I have also published a lot of works, but there are not many journalism works, and I have no diploma, so when I went to apply for the job, the leader still said that I did not have the conditions to be a reporter, but let me be an assistant to the editor-in-chief, that is, to help Answering the phone, sending and receiving letters, selecting manuscripts, I had to do all the chores, and the probationary salary at that time was only 350 yuan, which was lower than when I was at the first newspaper.Still, I'm happy.No matter what I do, in a word, it is in the newspaper office; no matter what I am asked to do, as long as I have the opportunity, I can still write manuscripts.Sure enough, I later collected and wrote a lot of manuscripts, which were reviewed by an old newspaperman who retired from the Yangcheng Evening News and became the boss of the newspaper. been prominently placed.

I have been staying at Liu Liang's house for more than 20 days, and I decided to move out.Besides, I have a job now, with a monthly income of 350 yuan, so I should rent a house by myself.In order to save money, I got to know Zeng Huafeng, who was working as an editor at Guangdong Population Daily, through the introduction of a fellow villager.Prior to this, he had just left Guangdong Legal News.Zeng Huafeng comes from a coal mine in Shaoyang, Hunan. He wears a pair of myopic glasses. He is honest, honest, cautious, and a frail scholar. In addition, we are similar in age, come from poor families, share common dreams, and have low education. Therefore, we hit it off. Become a friend who talks about everything.Like me, he only paid 350 yuan a month in the legal newspaper. Later, he resigned because the wages here were too low.When Zeng Huafeng came to Guangzhou, he used to work in a company. His income was good and he had some savings, but he didn’t have much money. He always wanted to find someone to share a house with.He was also a bachelor at the time, and he lived in a room for one person. The monthly rent was 300 yuan, excluding water and electricity bills of course.After hearing that I was looking for a house, he immediately invited me to live with him, and all the expenses were half of each person.In this way, I only need to spend more than 100 yuan per month to solve the major housing issues, and the remaining money can be used for other living expenses.At that time, we were so poor that we couldn’t even sell a bed, so we had to retrieve some old carton shells from the outside, add a few layers of newspapers, and then put a thin summer mat on top of it as a bed.Stack a few books and put them at the head of the bed as pillows.

The house we rented was the sixth floor on the top floor, and the summer sun just shone on the cement slab above.It was July when I moved here, and the sun hanging above my head always baked our hut like a stove. A small electric fan was always turned on to the maximum, and I dared not let it stop day and night.Even so, we were still unbearably hot, so we had to roll up mats and run outside to sleep on the balcony.There are always more than a dozen men and women lying on it in disorder, all of whom are migrant workers rented here.There are too many mosquitoes outside, as soon as we come out, the buzzing mosquitoes will happily rush towards our sweaty skin, biting us so badly itchy.

Later, Liu Liang and his wife also moved here.At this time, Liu Liang entered the "Guangdong Labor Daily" as a reporter.The emaciated Min Hongsong had better luck than me because he had a bachelor's degree, so he soon joined the Guangdong Public Security Daily as a reporter.After his younger brother went abroad, he rented a house by himself, and moved into the same building where Zeng Huafeng and I lived.Living here, there are two other wandering journalists.We have lived here for more than half a year, and although some people have moved, they are generally within the scope of Shibei Village, not very far apart.In this way, we often gather together to brag, or play "Fight the Landlord" and "Tractor" together, and get together to have a side stove (a kind of hot pot in the south).Although none of us had much money, we also bet when we played poker, a dime or two, but in the end, whoever won the most money would take it all out and invite everyone to go out for supper.At that time, although everyone was very poor, they still had a good time.

Later, the wandering journalists living in Shibei Village went their separate ways.I chose to wander again.I, who advocate wandering in my bones, decided to take a trip to the simple and beautiful Xiangxi.So, carrying a set of "Selected Novels of Shen Congwen" and "Selected Essays of Shen Congwen" published by People's Literature Publishing House on my back, with my magnificent literary dream, I followed the footsteps of the life of Shen Congwen, the literary master I admire, along the Along the Xiangjiang River and the Yuanshui River, we set off from Jishou, the capital of western Hunan, to Fenghuang, the beautiful border town of Mr. Shen's hometown.The emerald green river here is so clear that it winds around the foot of the ancient city wall, and the emerald Nanhua foothills reflect the heart of the river. It's so beautiful.Later, I went to Guzhang, the hometown of the singer Song Zuying, and passed by Zhangjiajie, a scenic spot. Although I know that there are more than 3,000 rock peaks rising from the ground, towering into the sky, and 800 winding streams in the scenic spot. , is a fairyland on earth integrating peaks, forests, caves, lakes, and waterfalls. It is a holy place known as "the original Chinese landscape painting", but I know that it is difficult to go to such a scenic spot without money. In the end, I I can only sit on the long-distance bus and look at the "scenery" and sigh.I entered Longdong from Sangzhi, the hometown of Marshal He Long, passed through Taoyuan and Shimen to Changde, and finally arrived in Changsha.I spent more than 40 days in that strange land in Xiangxi, wandering all the way, full of travel and dust, but I feel that I have gained a lot.When I returned to Yangcheng more than two months later, I was naturally penniless again.

Every time I wander, my life will be poor, but my knowledge will increase and my horizons will also broaden a lot.When I ran out of money, I went back to the south to work, earning money while continuing to pursue my dreams.After returning to Yangcheng this time, although I had no money to rent an apartment, fortunately, I had a group of friends who were also degenerates in Tianya, especially wandering journalists, to help me. So for a while, I always went around like an underground guerrilla to fight guerrillas. I didn't rent a house until I found the newspaper again.Soon, I was admitted to the "Guangzhou Traffic Light" newspaper sponsored by the Guangzhou Traffic Police Detachment, and became a reporter mainly covering traffic safety and life of the traffic police.Although there is an income of more than 1,000 yuan per month, since this is a highly professional newspaper, except for writing some innocuous manuscripts, it is impossible to give full play to its own strengths.I only worked there for three or four months and quit.Soon, I ushered in another winter in the southern country.

When I resigned this time, I still had more than 1,000 yuan with me, but I paid two months' rent and some odd bills at once, but there was only more than 100 yuan left.Even with this more than 100 yuan, for me alone, the Chinese New Year is still passable.It has been raining in Yangcheng for the past two days.I came to a nearby supermarket and wanted to buy some food, right now.Unexpectedly, when I had selected some food and waited in line for a long time to pay, I touched my pocket and couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat: my only 100 yuan had disappeared at some point!Under the strange eyes of the salesperson and the mocking whispers of the large group of customers behind me, I quickly dropped the bag of things, and fled in embarrassment like a thief who was bumped into.

I rushed back to the house, rummaged through the boxes and cabinets angrily, and took out all the pockets. I managed to find 1.8 yuan from an old dress.Can this 1.8 yuan celebrate the New Year?Anyway, at this critical moment, I still have 1.8 yuan. What if I am penniless? At this time, it is already more than 10:00 am on the New Year's Eve, and after a while, all the shops outside, large and small, will be closed, and all the rich and not rich, happy or unhappy people will close their doors. Welcome to the new year.I tightly held the only 1.8 yuan in my sweaty palms, and hurried out. I went to a nearby canteen, pretended to be indifferent, and picked rice that cost 1.4 yuan a catty.This is the cheapest rice here. You know, the best rice here is fragrant rice from Thailand, which costs 6 yuan a catty!I picked left and right, and took a pack of Sichuan mustard.Judging from the packaging, this kind of pickled mustard is likely to be fake, because usually mustard mustard costs at least 5 cents a pack, but here it only costs 4 cents.Seeing that I only picked a catty of the cheapest rice and a pack of pickled mustard at this time, the little boss who also came from other places seemed very enthusiastic, and still gave me this unique "New Year's goods" with a smile on his face. "In a small bag.

I went back to the hut in three steps and two steps at a time, poured a catty of rice into the rice cooker, and cooked a big pot of rice porridge.This has become my New Year's Eve dinner for this Spring Festival—no, it's all my food for a few days during the Spring Festival.And of course a pack of mustard... I remember that at this time last year, I celebrated the New Year with my younger sister in the suburbs of Guangzhou. Although we were also living in a poor year, I still had a few hundred yuan on me at that time, and I could buy things like others Some simple New Year's goods.Besides, I had a family member by my side at that time.This year's Spring Festival, my sister's shoe factory does not have a holiday due to the rush of goods, but at this time my sister seems to be luckier than me, because she has more than a dozen fellow villagers from the same village by her side, and more than 100 workers celebrate the New Year together.But what about me?I am inseparable from each other, and I have only my own shadow for company.

The winter in the south is not too cold, but due to the continuous rainy days, especially the rare cold current that surges from the north, a cold current that has not happened in decades reaches the south from Siberia through the Yellow River and Yangtze River Basin, making the south that has always been warm as spring come suddenly The land is shrouded in an extremely rare cold-although such coldness is nothing to people who have lived in the north for a long time, it can be said to be disastrous to southerners who have always lived in a subtropical climate.In the winter of this year, the front pages of the major newspapers in the south were all kinds of news about the local government calling on the people to prevent the cold and frost, the leaders sending warmth to the poor citizens, and how the meteorological department advocated cold protection for everyone. There were also several cases of elderly people in Hong Kong. People were accidentally frozen to death, or local people died of other diseases caused by the cold.In fact, the lowest temperature in the south this winter is only 2°C, but this is enough for the southerners who rarely experience the cold.It was from this winter that I took a cold bath, which was called a shower in the southern dialect at that time.Taking a shower is originally a colloquial term relative to summer, but it seems to be perfect for this special winter in the south.Later, I went to the freezing north.In winter, I still insist on exercising with cold water, and this good habit has continued until now. Outside the window came the sound of Kenny's saxophone, intermittent, melancholy and lyrical; the strong aroma of stewed chicken came in bursts, which made me greedily sniff my nose.But in my cold hut, there is only a burnt smell from the rice cooker, which is because a pot of porridge is repeatedly boiled with water.With gusts of cold wind, the choking smoke of fireworks and firecrackers floats from the window. At this moment, this kind of smoke that pollutes the environment has become a unique fragrance for me. This is the taste of the Spring Festival! At this time, in my distant hometown in southeastern Hubei, in the poor mountain village called Shiyinggao in Daye, Hubei, my fathers and villagers should have lit firecrackers for celebration inside and outside the house, right?I am still not at home during the Spring Festival this year. At this time, who lights the firecrackers at home?Yes, no matter how poor the family is, the Chinese New Year is always lively.Firecrackers must be set off, fish and meat and all kinds of New Year’s goods must be prepared. The whole family sits together, and the strong family affection is joyful and sweet on the fragrant reunion dinner. I am not at home this Spring Festival, nor am I in the barracks where the shouts are loud.In the years when I was in the army, I spent the Spring Festival in the barracks.At that time, there were always lights and festoons in the serious military camp, singing and dancing, and all the comrades were happy. Even the recruits who had just joined the army would soon be infected by this special happy atmosphere.How happy the military camp during the Spring Festival is!We take the company as the unit, and the officers and soldiers of the whole company are holding hands. Everyone uses the loud voice unique to soldiers, and follows the steps of time in the joyful singing and dancing. Count loudly and neatly: "One, two, three, four, five , six, seven, eight, nine, ten..." Then, more than 100 hands held more than 100 large teacups, amidst the deafening sound of "ahho", beer foam splashed everywhere, and the joyful Spring Festival feast began earth-shatteringly. up. At this moment, the shouts of joy came from outside the window, which were sung by the children during the Chinese New Year; the shouts of joy came from upstairs, and it was the three generations of the landlord's family who were toasting and cheering.There are joyful singing voices, but they come from outside the window, from upstairs, and from the neighbors.Joyful songs do not belong to me, but joyous songs tempt me like a devil.There is no singing in my little house, but there is a song in my heart, which is a lonely and emotional song.At this moment, the singing turned into a real taste of appetite in my cabin.I only have half a pot of glutinous rice porridge here and half a bag of mustard mustard that I can’t bear to eat all at once. There is a faint hot and sour smell mixed with all kinds of singing, cheering and firecrackers coming from outside. Intoxicates my soul. During the festive season, I miss my relatives a lot.At this time, the family is busy for the Spring Festival.Is my father concentrating on writing Spring Festival couplets at this time?At this time, the mother should be full of tears of missing her son, and she is silently leading the whole family to make dumplings, right?Farmers are always careful about their budgets, but at this time they will always spend all they have, and put ten dishes on the table of the Eight Immortals on New Year's Eve, which means perfection, and the family happily eats the reunion dinner; After a full meal, they would take a hot bath and put on the new clothes they had prepared long ago. Then, they would either watch the Spring Festival Gala, or sit around the stove while tasting the melon seeds and peanuts grown by themselves. , broad beans, and popcorn, while discussing New Year’s plans. Now that we are all grown up, we no longer dreamed of wearing new clothes like we did when we were young, but the warmth of childhood came to our hearts again.However, the deep nostalgia was like a sudden flood, which couldn't be stopped no matter what.Yes, I am restless, wandering for the magnificent dream in my heart, like a leaf of duckweed, still floating with the wind and drifting with the current. On New Year's Eve, sitting alone in the small empty house, looking at the colorful lights outside, listening to the laughter of others at the reunion, I felt an unspeakable sadness in my heart.I can't see the sky from the window, all I see is one thick wall after another, so I have to let the strands of thoughts float to the sky with the wind.Yes, in a foreign land, the heart will become extra sensitive, a casual expression, a simple movement, a casual word, may stir up ripples in the heart lake.The bitterness of wandering, the bitterness of wandering, like the smoke floating in the night sky, rising slowly, hovering in the air, unable to dissipate for a long time. It was cold inside and outside the house, I shrank on the cold floor, accompanied by a lonely lamp, and thought of my mother again.Every year on New Year's Eve, my mother would spread out a warm thick quilt for us, and let us wear the newly made thick cotton shoes.The mother is busy in the fields during the day, and when the night is quiet, she always rushes to make cotton shoes with the oil lamp as a special New Year's gift for the children.The shoes made by mother, we don’t call them cotton shoes, we call them “warm shoes”. Every late autumn, my mother always uses thick rice milk, the corners of the cut cloth, pieces of rags, Carefully stick the door panel to dry, and when it is peeled off, it will be a piece of colorful cloth.With dexterous hands, the mother used the white cotton she had grown herself to sandwich between two layers of corduroy. In a cold night, in short, every Chinese New Year, my mother would use her cracked hands to make a pair of warm shoes of the right size for the whole family.In the sound of cheering firecrackers, in the joyful crackling of the fire on New Year's Eve, in the steaming heat of the delicious dumplings, my brothers and sisters and I can always wear these warm shoes full of maternal love. Feel the deep maternal love. When I was in the army, although we all practiced a supply system, my mother always made a few pairs of new shoes for me every year.During the Spring Festival of the year when I first joined the army, I received a pair of cotton shoes from my mother all the way while I was training in the recruit company.That night, on the beach by the Beibu Gulf, in the gusts of sea breeze, I read my mother's letter while holding the new pair of shoes in both hands. My mood was like the sea around me, and I couldn't calm down no matter what.Later, I wrote a poem titled "Family Love", which was published in the newspaper in my hometown. I still remember part of it:...reading my mother's letter/reading every word/grows into green leaves on the coast/every season is emerald green Looking at my thoughts/Holding the insole in my hand/Looking at my mother/I see the mountain ridge in my hometown/There is smoke rising from the kitchen/Dyeing the loving mother's hair/Mother's silent tears/Mother's silent concern/Full of heavy affection / Always bend me / The branches of longing... Time flies, and seven or eight years have passed in a blink of an eye.At this time, when I was sitting in front of my second-hand computer and typing these words, the Spring Festival of 2004 was coming with the severe cold in the north.At this time, I had already wandered from the south to the north.In a small one-story house on the outskirts of Beijing, I once again fell into the memories of the past.However, at this point I still have nothing.My fate seems to have not changed because of the passage of time, except that the wind and frost of the years left a series of prematurely aging fine wrinkles on my forehead, except that the footprints of time sprinkled fine gray hairs in my hair, Except that the vicissitudes of the world have produced many unspeakable emotions and melancholy in my tired heart, I am still the same as I was six years ago: poverty, confusion, hesitation, pain and sadness.From the south to the north, from a rural boy who dropped out of school to a coastal defense fighter in the Republic, from a migrant worker who was wandering and hungry to a political and legal reporter for many central and provincial newspapers, I think, no matter from time to time In terms of age, I should be considered mature.It should have been time to start a family and raise my parents, but I am still the same as before, I seem to have nothing but to write down some news, I feel extremely ashamed... The pain of growing up is so long, but now I have grown into a Manly.From a poor hometown to a bustling big city, from a village to a military camp on the South China Sea, from a warm southern country to a snow-covered capital city, I have long since transformed from a passionate and passionate fantasy boy to A down-to-earth, truth-seeking and pragmatic man. Now, in the Spring Festival of 1997, that painful Spring Festival has passed by my side for several years, but I still remember it vividly.I am still reluctant to use the memories of the past to touch my heartache, and use sad thoughts to touch my lonely growth process.Yes, no matter in the past, now or tomorrow, no one can help me. At that time, I didn't understand anything, and no one would let me understand.If I am mature, I will know - wandering youth, tearful youth, bleeding youth.