Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 615 Tiexi District

Taxis are driving on the street.

It snowed two days ago and the streets looked a little muddy. There was still no sun today and the sky was gray.

It should be said that the whole world is gray.

The gray sky, the gray buildings, the tall chimneys flashing by from time to time in the sight, and the faint smell of smoke in the air.

Tiexi District is known as the "Eastern Ruhr". It has the first machine tool factory, smelter, transformer factory, chemical plant, tractor factory, blower factory, Northeast Pharmaceutical Factory... Each factory is a leader in its respective industry in the country. China's first national emblem, first tractor, first internal combustion engine, etc. were all born here.

But now, it has begun to decline.

My uncle lived in a place called Workers' Village. My father told me that this place was once known as the "No. 1 Village in the Country". It had electricity, telephones, gas heating, grain stations, cooperatives, post offices, motorcycles, labor parks, clubs, and cinemas. It was like a small society.

When Fang Minghua and his friends arrived, the place was indeed very lively. There were vendors setting up stalls on both sides of the street, video halls, dance halls, and so on.
Although it is daytime now, I can still hear music coming from inside.

Fang Minghua and his father rushed to his uncle's home and lived in a three-story building, a typical building in a workers' village. It was designed in the 1950s according to the drawings of the former Soviet Union and had a special name called "three-story gabled roof house."

It is commonly known as the "Su-style building": the building is square, with wooden floor panels, a brick-concrete structure, extremely thick walls, and a ceiling height of 2.8 meters.

My uncle lives on the third floor.

They went upstairs. There was a white couplet pasted on the door. Many people were coming in and out. When they saw Fang Changhe and his son, someone greeted them immediately.

"Second Uncle, Minghua, you're back."

The two entered the house. The space inside was not big, but there were many people. Among them was an old woman with a haggard face, who was Fang Minghua's aunt.

There were a few people in mourning nearby, they were Fang Minghua's peers.

After a round of greetings, Fang Minghua also had a white mourning curtain put on his head.

"Where is my uncle's mourning hall?" Fang Minghua asked softly.

"In the third mourning hall of the funeral home. There is too little space at home to place the body, so it is usually placed there. Mingjie and Mingjun are guarding there." said the aunt.

"Dad, you take a rest first. I'll go over and burn some incense for uncle."

Fang Changhe agreed.

Fang Minghua put down his luggage, then went downstairs and took a taxi straight to the funeral home. As a junior, he did not forget to buy three wreaths, and wrote the names of his eldest sister, younger sister, and his own family on the ribbons to express the junior's condolences to the elder.

When they arrived at the third mourning hall, Fang Minghua saw a coffin inside, with his uncle's portrait in front and several people in mourning next to it.

Leaning the wreath against the walls, Fang Minghua knelt in front of the portrait, lit three incense sticks, kowtowed three times respectfully, and then stood up to chat with his brothers.

My uncle had two sons. The eldest, Fang Mingjie, took over his uncle's job as a worker at the Fengtian Heavy Machinery Factory. His wife is a worker in the factory. The second son, Fang Mingjun, went to a technical school run by the factory after graduating from junior high school. He also works in the factory now, and his wife is a kindergarten teacher in the factory.

It can almost be said that my uncle's entire family lives in this factory.

The brothers had not seen each other for many years and had no common experiences, so they had nothing to say after greeting each other. However, Fang Minghua felt that this was too boring, so he made small talk.

The eldest brother was in his early forties and seemed to be a taciturn person. The second brother, Fang Mingjun, was a little younger than Fang Minghua, and the two started chatting.

After chatting about their respective family situations, Fang Minghua then asked, "Mingjun, how is the performance of the factory?"

"Efficiency?" Fang Mingjun smiled bitterly. "Efficiency! Damn it, I'm going to be laid off soon! Shit!"

Fang Mingjun suddenly swore, causing Fang Mingjie next to him to glare at his brother. Fang Mingjun was usually casual, but he didn't dare to say anything in front of his father's funeral hall and kept his mouth shut.

Fang Minghua didn't know what to say anymore.

After staying in the mourning hall for a while, Fang Minghua decided to leave. He first had to find a hotel and arrange accommodation for himself and his father - his aunt's house was too small to accommodate them.

In addition, as the younger generation, we have to take turns to keep vigil here at night.

According to the customs of Northeast China, people are usually buried on odd days after death, such as three, five, or seven days. Today is the third day since his uncle's death, which means he can only be cremated and buried after two days.

Fang Minghua would keep vigil at night and go back to take a nap during the day. As someone who came from so far away and was unfamiliar with the surrounding environment, he was generally not assigned any work, so he basically had nothing to do all day. It was not until the fifth day when he held a memorial service for his uncle and buried him in the cemetery after cremation that the day came to an end.

However, Fang Minghua did not return to Xijing with his father.

According to the customs of Northeast China, there is also the concept of round graves, which means that on the third day after the burial of the deceased, relatives and friends have to go to the mausoleum to round the grave, add soil and burn paper.

Fang Changhe decided to stay and bury his elder brother before going back.

Fang Minghua decided to look around to see if he could find a few more workers' families to talk to, so he found his cousin Fang Mingjun.

"Brother Minghua, what is there to talk about?" Fang Mingjun was a little confused.

"You know, I'm a writer, and I want to write some articles that reflect the life and work of workers' families." Fang Minghua stated his purpose.

"Okay, I won't be working these next two days. I'm familiar with the area, so I'll take you around." Fang Mingjun agreed readily.

Wearing an old military coat and a locomotive cap, Fang Minghua rode on his cousin's motorcycle and braved the severe cold to visit nearby factories and residential buildings.

I ran for three days and took notes of my interviews.

November 1992, 11, first impression.

The afterglow of the setting sun enveloped the entire urban area. Standing on the once prosperous Jianshe Avenue, Fang Minghua truly felt the desolation of this place.

At the gate of XX Industrial Electromechanical Factory, the Chinese character "Shen" in the factory name has been largely removed, leaving only two dots on the left and right of "Ye". The factory building is empty, and most of the window glass inside is incomplete.

The cold wind blew through the broken window, making waves of whimpering sounds.

Fang Minghua never expected that he and his cousin would experience an "elevator scare" when going up to the staff dormitory building: when returning from taking photos on the tall building, the elevator suddenly stopped on the sixth floor, then quickly slid down, and stopped only when it was almost at the bottom.

Fang Minghua was still frightened and asked an elderly man in the same elevator, "Is there no one to repair this elevator?"

The old man smiled bitterly and said, "This is an old problem that occurs almost every day. The factory is going bankrupt, so where is the money to repair the elevator?"

This was Fang Minghua's first impression. There were many factories like this here. Night fell.

Fang Minghua followed Fang Mingjun, riding a motorcycle from the factory area into the family area. During the chat, Fang Mingjun told Fang Minghua: "In the 1950s, this was the most modern residential area in China.

The saying "upstairs and downstairs, electricity and telephone" refers to this place."

It was not even 8 o'clock in the evening, and there were already few people on the streets of the workers' village. The lights in the buildings were dim and there was silence.

Fang Mingjun explained: "All the workers have been laid off. Who would have the heart to enjoy a nightlife?"

The only lights visible on the street were the small bulbs lit by a few fruit vendors. As our car passed by, the vendors shouted at us, "Duck pears! Three yuan for six pounds! Cheap!"

(End of this chapter)