Backtracking to the Age of Literature and Art

Chapter 152 The Coward

When the beer arrived, they knocked the mouth of the bottle on the bench to open the lid, and without a cup, they gulped a few mouthfuls into the mouth of the bottle.

After taking these few sips, when he put down the wine bottle again, a large part of the wine in the bottle had already been poured down.

Only then did they hiccup comfortably and began to pick peanuts to eat.

Yu Dong didn't like to drink, but he was also affected by it. He felt extremely refreshed. It seemed that there was nothing more refreshing than a sip of cold beer on a hot day.

The two of them started talking while eating peanuts. One of them, an older man with a little bald head, said, "I used to work on construction sites, but in summer I felt like I was squatting in front of a cooking stove, and I was so uncomfortably roasted." .Now at the hardware factory, I have changed from a pot to a steamer, which makes me dizzy.”

"That's right, but it's better in the factory." Another young man pointed to his sweaty arm, "This year I'm a lot whiter than before, and the construction site is very messy. No one wants to go back."

"That's right." The older man took another sip of his drink and sighed: "Poor old Zhang, it's already like that, and something happened to his kid again."

"His son is too, why can't he think about it." The younger one shook his head.

"People are all fate. They are only in their early 20s. It is not easy to bear such an accident at home..."

Yu Dong was about to get up and go back when he suddenly heard the conversation between the two, but he didn't get up and wanted to continue listening.

But the two of them didn't go any further when they chatted here, and began to eat peanuts with a sigh.

Yu Dong was so anxious that he couldn't help but ask, "What's the situation with that old Zhang that the two elder brothers are talking about?"

The young man glanced at Yu Dong and ignored him.

Yu Dong smiled embarrassedly, "I'm sorry, I didn't overhear your conversation. Of course, you don't want to talk, it's okay, I interrupted."

The older man said, "It's okay, we're just chatting nonsense. Old Zhang is our fellow worker, and something happened on the construction site before."

Old man Wang inside heard their conversation, stretched his head and said with a smile: "This is a great literati in Shanghai, and it is not easy for us to talk to him."

Yu Dong glanced at old man Wang. The old guy's words were a little narrow, and he was obviously still unhappy because he didn't respond enthusiastically to him just now.

But those two people didn't know the inside story, they just felt that everyone in Shanghai spoke in this tone, and when they heard that Yu Dong was a great literati in Shanghai, their attitudes changed, and the older ones smiled and said: "Hey, hello, hello, we It’s really blind to see Mount Tai.”

Yu Dong waved his hands again and again, "Don't, don't, I'm not a great literati, but I'm just a teacher. In this way, we are also destined, and I will treat you to a drink."

He specifically said that he was a teacher, and he wanted the other party to have a better impression of him.

As he said that, he yelled towards old man Wang: "Uncle Wang, bring some more bottles of beer to my two friends, and I want it to be iced."

It's not over yet, Yu Dong wants to go to the deli next to him and order some braised vegetables.

"How embarrassing." Seeing that Yu Dong wanted to buy them a drink, the older one immediately declined, "It's really unnecessary. If you want to hear it, we'll just tell you, and forget about the wine."

"That doesn't count." Yu Dong smiled and waved his hands, and then shouted at Old Man Wang: "Uncle Wang, can I return this wine?"

Old man Wang has already come out with the wine in his hand, "How can I do that, my wine is going in and out of the refrigerator one after another, it consumes a lot of my air-conditioning."

Yu Dong smiled and shrugged at the two, "It seems that you can only deal with this wine."

The older one is still hesitating, but the younger one has already boiled the wine, "That's three grams of oil."

Yu Dong was stunned for a moment before realizing that the other party spoke English, and replied with a smile, "You're welcome."

At this time, Yu Dongming's stewed vegetables were also brought over, and the older one was no longer polite, opened a bottle and started to eat the vegetables.

"Lao Zhang is our hometown. We worked together on the construction site before. Last year..."

Then they slowly told Yu Dong about Lao Zhang's story.

They used to do water and electricity installation on the construction site, and Lao Zhang was their team leader, belonging to the category of foreman.

There was a burglary case at the construction site last year, and the cable was missing by more than 200 meters.

The police did not find out who it was, but they probably confirmed that the suspect was in their team. As the team leader, Lao Zhang was under a lot of pressure.

Later, when Lao Zhang went home to celebrate the New Year, he was always frightened and restless. On New Year’s Eve, he suddenly heard police sirens and thought it was the police who came to arrest him. He had a cerebral infarction and was sent to the hospital.

Lao Zhang's wife died early, leaving him and his son alone in the family.

As the pillar of the family, something happened to him suddenly. His son couldn't bear the pressure and committed suicide.

"Well, last time I went home, I saw Lao Zhang. He was on crutches, and he couldn't speak clearly. In fact, this matter has nothing to do with him. He didn't steal the things. He heard the boss scare him, saying If the thief cannot be found, he will be in charge. Later I heard that the thief has been found.”

After listening to the whole story, Yu Dong also sighed.

He was not worth it for the son who committed suicide, and he shouldn't have died because of this matter.But as a bystander, he has never experienced such pain, so he has no position to say such things.

Some people may laugh at Lao Zhang as a coward, but what is wrong with him? He is just an honest and responsible rural man. For him, the theft of cables is a big deal, and he cannot bear it at all.

He didn't understand, so he was worried that he would be implicated because of what the boss said.

"I'm wasting your time today, so I won't bother you."

Yu Dong said something to the two of them, then got up and walked towards home.

Looking at Yu Dong's back, the young man said, "Why do you think he is interested in this matter?"

"I probably haven't seen this kind of thing before, so I'm quite interested. Just like we are interested in things in the city, city people are also interested in things in the countryside."

The young man shook his head, "Is there anything interesting about rural affairs? I think they are too busy in the city."

……

When Yu Dong came home, Jimmy was still reading the manuscript.

He took a pen and paper from the table, and sat down at the living room table.

Jimmy took over his desk, and he temporarily made the dining table his own.

He was deeply touched by the story he heard from two worker friends just now, and he had the urge to write it into a novel.

"A large part of the cable at the construction site was lost. Lao Zhang heard the news when he was about to take people to work..."

Just do it, Yu Dong thought about it for a while, and then started to write.

(End of this chapter)