animal ferocious

Chapter 2
一
"I'm a writer, my name is Baokang—you haven't heard of it?"

"Oh no, I'm so sorry."

In the office of the "Three T" company, the manager Yu Guan was receiving the third customer in the morning, a young man with a skin and tender flesh.

"My pen name is Zhiqing."

"I still can't remember. Tell me, what's the matter with you, don't you want to experience life with us?"

"No, no, I don't have enough experience in life. It's like this. I wrote some things, which are unpopular. Anyone who reads them will 'buzz' their heads. It's silly for a long time-I'm not exaggerating, there are many Everyone who has seen it thinks so, at least they can win a national award, but..."

"Empty?"

"To be precise, I didn't participate in the awards at all. I think there is no hope. Look, I am a self-aware person. Maybe you don't know much about things in the literary circle. Every award is a balanced result. Some good things go up. works, but some equally good works just don’t make it.”

"I'm afraid there is nothing we can do to help. We currently have no business relationship with the Writers Association, and we lack attractive female staff."

"Oh, I'm not asking you to run sports for me. I don't care if I win a national award. I'm actually very indifferent to fame and fortune. I just want some kind of recognition for my labor. Any award will do."

"You mean even a 'Triple T' award?"

Yu Guan asked tentatively.

Baokang laughed nervously: "I'm so sorry, I'm so embarrassed, am I being too explicit?"

"No, no, you're just right. Of course you'd like it on a larger scale?"

"It doesn't matter how big or small it is, but it should be grand, with rich prizes, rent the most luxurious theater, and hire some vice-chairmen of the democratic parties—I have plenty of money."

"How about the prize being an air conditioner for each winner?"

"Everyone? I'm doing it for myself..."

"Safflowers also need green leaves to support you. Aren't you lonely standing on the stage? You should find some fun. I want to award you and some famous writers at the same time. In this way, our award will appear to be Then, you can also be among the famous writers. How enviable it is to be on the same stage as a famous writer.”

"One air conditioner per person, how much does it cost? Although I really want to have the opportunity to stand side by side with famous writers for a while, I don't want to lose my fortune."

"If you don't agree with extravagance, there are ways to save money. Divide the prizes into first, second and third prizes. The grand prize is for the air conditioner, and the rest are 'fool' cameras of different grades. Then control the number of winners. We only choose most famous."

"That's good, it's much more reasonable." Baokang smiled happily, "I have the air conditioner, and others have the 'fool'. You can make a budget, and I will pay later."

"When you come to pay, can you bring your work for us to read? Of course, we don't care which one wins, but I have never been so close to a real writer. I have no chance with literature and I have to be moved."

"Yes." Baokang said reservedly and humbly, "I can even sign your name. My most famous works are "Legend of the Eastern Empress Dowager" published on "Fiction Group" and "Writer Lin "I'm going to say I don't want to say it but I'm going to say it anyway."

"It's amazing, it must be interesting, I just don't want to do anything else."

"Tell me, will those famous writers put on airs and refuse to accept the award?" Yu Guan sent the young writer to the door, and the young writer was suddenly worried.

Yu Guan comforted him: "Don't be afraid, it's their business whether to accept it or not, and we won't force it."

"Thank you, thank you very much." The young writer turned around and shook hands with Yu Guan enthusiastically, "If the lights are not turned on, it will not work, your words really make people suddenly enlightened."

"You're welcome, the purpose of our company is to help people like you who have great ambitions but can't do anything."

At the intersection of a bustling commercial street, Yang Zhong was striding towards a girl he had never met standing under the police watchtower with a happy face.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I'm in a hurry or I'm late. Have you waited for a long time?"

"It's okay, you don't need to apologize." Liu Meiping looked at Yang Zhong curiously, "I'm not waiting for you anyway, it doesn't matter if you don't come."

"You're just waiting for me, but you don't know it. No one else is here today except me."

"Really? You know what I'm doing better than I do—don't interrupt me, the police are right around the corner."

"Did I recognize the wrong person?" Yang Zhong was still smiling, not embarrassed at all, "Isn't your name Liu Meiping? You're the head of the handkerchief counter in a department store, and you're waiting for Wang Mingshui, an anal surgeon. Which one of us made a mistake? "

"But there are two moles next to Wang Mingshui's nose."

"Oh, his two moles are still there. This morning he was taken from his home to the emergency department. One of the leaders was bleeding profusely, so he hurriedly called our company and entrusted our company to send someone to attend the appointment on his behalf. He can't bear to disappoint you. My name is Yang Zhong, and I'm a salesman for the 'Three T' company, and this is my business card."

"'Three T' company?" Liu Meiping took the business card handed over by Yang Zhong hesitantly, and glanced at it, "What is that? It looks like a pesticide seller."

"'Three T' is an abbreviation for solving problems for others, solving boredom for others, and suffering for others."

"There is such a thing, who are you all? Brazen idlers?"

"We're decent businessmen trying to fill in the gaps in social services. Don't you think you'd have a very dull day without me?"

"But I'm not used to it. I was waiting for my boyfriend, but an intimate substitute came and asked me to fall in love with this substitute... as if it were real?"

"You don't need to empathize at all, and our professional ethics don't allow me to lure you in that way. We have made an oath to customers. Maybe you understand better, I just want to take care of you for a day like Wang Mingshui, and accompany you Your day."

"Can you be as gentle and considerate as he is?"

"I can't say it's the same—that would be messy—I'll try to be as human as possible. Where were you going to play today?"

The two walked down the street side by side.

"He promised to buy me a fur coat today."

"Oh, he didn't ask me to do it for him."

"I said it wouldn't be the same. We, Mingshui, have always been generous."

"It's boring to live."

A stout man sitting opposite Yu Guan's desk said in frustration.

"It's boring to live." Yu Guan echoed absent-mindedly.

"what should we do then?"

"What can I do? You have to live if you're bored." Yu Guan raised his head.

"I don't want to live anymore." The man stared at Yu Guan and said.

"Don't, don't want to live." Yu Guan muttered and persuaded, "It's better to live than to die."

"Well, if you let me live, I will live. Find me something to do, I'm bored."

"Can you play cards? Shall we play cards?" Yu Guan suggested.

"Boring." The man shook his head.

"Then play chess?"

"It's even more boring."

"Going to the park, boating? Watching a movie?"

"The more you talk, the more boring you are." The man became angry, "You are just such a cliché."

"Then what are you talking about? I will accompany you whatever you do."

"Jump off the building and you will accompany me—why do I want you to accompany me? You are not a woman either."

"Oh, we don't pimp people here. There is a special place for this - a marriage agency. If you have too much free time, you can practice calligraphy, enjoy music, or do voluntary labor."

"Damn you, I paid [-] cents to register after making trouble for a long time, and you gave me these ideas. Isn't this a fool?"

"I'm not a god, nor is the US embassy in charge of visas. Personal happiness depends on the progress of society. Keep calm."

"Do you think you have the strength to live?" the man asked with burning eyes.

Yu watched the man, but couldn't tell if he was provocative.

"Very strong."

"I think you're boring, you're so boring, I don't even want to slap you anymore."

"What are you doing back here, you shameless one? Then 'cut' off with your buddies!"

A young woman scolded Ma Qing in her apartment.

"Don't go home, it's so boring to be with your wife, you just 'cut' with your buddies all night, maybe you can 'cut' dizzy the watery-eyed female student just like 'cutting' dizzy me back then, despicable What kind of bird did you say you became? People have alcohol addiction, chess addiction, and smoking addiction. Any addiction can be justified. I have never heard of a hacking addiction like you. Wherever you sit, your buttocks will be dull and your eyes will shine. , like a flush toilet, flushing and spraying water, no matter whether you know it or not, you have heard of it or not, if you know this specialty, you can go to the Sino-Soviet negotiation. You are like a starling outside, and you can’t see me when you go home. Ci'er, it will be annoying to say one more word to you."

"I change."

"Changing farts! What have you changed in your life, except for changing the urine bed, what you were born with is still what you look like now." The young woman cried, "It's okay, I can't be determined, I can't get over it, I can still look good before I get married After getting married, she became a little widow."

The young woman raised her hand and swept the cups on the table to the ground, and then threw a tray of tea cups to the ground one by one.Ma Qing also grabbed the ashtray and threw it on the ground, then picked up the TV: "It's nothing but nothing!"

"No price." The young woman screamed and rushed over to hold his hand, "This can't be dropped—are you here to make me angry or to anger me?"

"You said that your husband caught and threw everything in a hurry." Ma Qing said confidently, "And you asked me to be like him."

"But my husband doesn't drop valuables when he's in a hurry, so you're doing it at will."

"You didn't explain clearly."

"It goes without saying."

"Okay, put the TV back on. What's the next word?"

"That sucks, it looks like your company sent you here without good job training. Here's my love..."

"I love you."

Ma Qing and the young woman looked at each other blankly.

"I love you." Ma Qing repeated, seeing that the young woman still didn't respond, he said awkwardly, "Stop messing around, baby."

The young woman laughed.

Ma Qing blushed and defended himself: "I can't imitate it any more, this word hurts people."

"Okay, I'm not demanding on you." The young woman smiled and waved her hands, "It's fine if you want it."

"Actually, I treat you well in my heart, and I don't say it out of my mouth."

"You'd better treat me badly in your heart and say it out of your mouth."

"Isn't it advocating silent dedication now?" Ma Qing looked as if a martial arts master had grabbed his crotch, "You look so good when you are angry."

"Okay, okay, let's stop here and stop torturing you." The young woman hiccupped while laughing, "It's really hard for you."

"There's nothing wrong with me, as long as you're satisfied."

"Satisfied." The young woman took out her wallet and gave Ma Qing money, "It's not so interesting to punish my husband. I'll come to you next time if I have something to do."

"Hey, life," Yang Zhong exhaled smoke rings, looked at the ceiling of the cold drink room, and said gesticulating, "that's what life is like. It's just playing football. A lot of people are running around. They might not be able to play the entire game. Go in a goal, but you have to kick it hard because the audience is cheering and cheering hard. Life is running around and listening to others applaud."

"I found that you are very deep." Liu Meiping stared at Yang Zhong fascinatedly with her face in her hands, and even forgot to drink the yogurt, "Are you usually thinking?"

"Yes." Yang Zhong said with empty eyes, "I usually like to think and think deeply."

"Did you go to college?"

"Well, let's go."

"No wonder, people who have gone to college are full of thoughts and thoughts."

"Are you also fond of thinking?"

"Ah, I like to think about things, and I like to think about people. A profession like ours is a profession that deals with people. I have to talk to thousands of people every day. I just observe the characteristics of these thousands of people. For example, Fat people generally like to buy big handkerchiefs, fat people have a lot of snot, and thin people buy smaller ones."

"Is there a relationship between gland secretion and body weight?"

"Of course it does. It doesn't matter who is with whom. You and this yogurt bottle are probably related by blood. Your ancestors died and were burned to ashes. They were thrown into the ground, and even the soil was dug out and burned. Make it into porcelain or glass, fill it with yogurt, and sell it to you."

"This is dialectics, right? It's relatively simple."

"I don't know if it's true, I just know that there is a reason for everything. If you sneeze, someone will write a dissertation with hundreds of thousands of words and get a doctorate."

"There is such a thing. We circulated this paper when we were in school. People don't call it sneezing, it's a vulgar way of saying it. People call it 'a violent and vocal puffing phenomenon caused by irritation of the nasal mucosa'."

"You know so much."

"No, you still know better."

"You know a lot."

"Ashamed ashamed."

"Humble and humble."

"Let's stop arguing, this will never end, I appreciate your love."

"I really compliment you with all my heart. I think it fits you very well, my bosom friend."

"Don't, I can't stand boasting."

"I'm going to be mad at you for always being so modest, as if I'm hurting you by praising you."

"Then even if I know a lot, in fact, I also feel that I can talk to you very well."

"I am very happy."

"I'm also very happy."

When Ma Qing returned to the company office exhausted physically and mentally, Yu Guan was being dragged around the office by the man by the neck.

"Don't be like this, let me go, it's not decent for people to see."

"Just let me do it, just slap me twice, just two."

"No, I can't eat, I'm weak."

"You just let me do what I want to do. I haven't done it myself since I grew up."

"Other matters can be discussed, but this matter is definitely not acceptable. I am telling you, if you touch my finger, I will fight you."

"They're all so selfish. They only care about themselves and don't care about others. What's the matter with solving problems for others? When it comes to themselves, they stop doing it." The man let go of his gaze and began to cry, "I'm so unfortunate, I'm not free."

Yu Guan breathed a sigh of relief, pulled his crumpled clothes, and signaled Ma Qing to put the softball bat back behind the door.Go back to the desk and sit down, and say to the man:

"Stop crying, the registration fee will be refunded to you, let's go quickly."

Weeping, the man took the [-] cents from Ma Qing's hand, and walked out the door holding it tightly.

"Hu Da, what kind of unlucky mission are we doing?"

After the door closed, Ma Qing walked over a few steps, sat down on Yu Guan's desk, and said loudly.

"I go door to door every day to be scolded, and you were almost beaten again. Yang Zhong enjoys the blessing, goes to the street every day to hang his shoulders, and uses coupons for the present. I want to exchange jobs with him, and the fields have to be fallow."

"We don't have a gentleman's agreement first, appointing people on their merits, and teaching students according to their aptitude." Yu Guanyang said wearily on the back of the chair, "You are too gentle, let you talk to other women, you turn temporary helpers into full-time contractors every time. , I can’t let a husband call the door every other day.”

"According to you, I can only be constantly scolded by women forever and have no chance to communicate with them?"

"Don't worry about them, her, just one, and you can communicate with each other as you like. You have to eat one bite at a time, and you have to fight one by one. Sometimes your kind of inclusive spirit that is suitable for all ages and everyone who has a sense of justice feels angry , that's immoral..."

"But Yang Zhong is not an eunuch either."

The phone rang, Yu Guan stretched out his hand to pick it up and retorted:

"But he knows how to collect and extract the essential, but you always swallow the jujube. He is patient, he can talk nonsense all day and still enjoy it. If you can't carry the dustpan in 3 minutes, you will go to the next one... Hey, who are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for you." A male voice came from the microphone, "I'm Yang Zhong, I can't hold on anymore, I can't stand this woman's pestering."

"I just praised you for your patience and nonsense."

"You don't know that this woman is a modernist, the kind who likes to explore life. I'm out of words. I've exhausted all the foreign names I can remember."

"Dealing with the modernists is my strong point." Ma Qing said aside.

Yu Guan glared at him and said into the microphone, "Tell her about Nietzsche."

"I'm not familiar with Nietzsche. And I can't 'cut' anymore. She has already introduced me as her first confidant, and her eyes are no longer right."

"That can't be done. We are responsible for that anus doctor. You have to retire."

"She didn't allow me to retreat, and fought me desperately."

"Well, we'll rescue you right away. You first lead the topic to a lower level, change your image, and make her think you're a vulgar person."

"Come here quickly, I've been fooled. In the past, I just heard and didn't believe it, but now I can taste the power of modernism... She is walking towards me, and I have to hang up the phone."

"Remember, transition with Freud."

"Come on, I can't last much longer."

Ma Qing giggled, jumped off the desk, and walked around the room excitedly, waiting for Yu Guan who stood up to tidy up the desk.

"I am good at Freud, and I am the Chinese descendant of Freud."

"You are the automatic Chinese copy of Freud's case." Yu Guan walked around the desk and walked out, "I don't allow you to take the opportunity to show off."

It was a sunny noon, the streets were crowded with people, all the small restaurants and fast food restaurants were full of people eating, and some people who didn't have a seat even brought their meals to the street and ate them standing up.It took Yu Guan and Ma Qing a long time to find Yang Zhong and the female customer next to the cold drink counter in the foyer of a movie theater with colorful advertisements.The movie theater had just finished, and the hall was crowded with people, everyone was talking loudly and making noise, they crowded around Yang Zhong, but he didn't notice.Apparently he had run out of talent, and he seemed in a trance in the face of the eloquent and high-spirited handkerchief counter leader.

"You must really want to marry your mother?"

"No, it's my father who married my mother. It's impossible for me to marry my mother before my father and my mother get married. It can't be wrong."

"I'm not saying you're married to your mother, that's not decent, no one can marry their own mother, close relative. I mean you want to marry your mother but you can't because of your father unless your father is castrated But even if your father is eunuched, it doesn’t help because you have ethics and morality, so you suffer. You see, no one will look down on you. I just want to marry your mother, but I can’t get married because of your father. Why did you say it again? It’s just that someone’s foreign quotations say that when you pick a partner, you actually pick your mother.”

"But my mother is a one-eyed dragon."

"His mother is not a one-eyed dragon, and he will not want to marry his mother to have a younger brother or younger sister, because his father will eunuch him before he eunuchs his father, because his father eats eight steamed buns and two catties for a meal. Pig head meat is working in the breeding station again. Tens of thousands of castrated pigs are oily. No need to squeeze them with a knife, they look like a pair of squeezed meatballs. The Japanese respectfully call him Dad Testicle Taro." Ma Qing slashed out and stood next to Liu Meiping Stand up and smile.

"This is my colleague, Ma Qing, and this is our manager, Yu Guan." Yang Zhong became active like a ghost, staring at Liu Meiping's smiling Ma Qing and Yu who had just dragged a chair and sat down. Guan introduced to Liu Meiping, "They are all my teachers, high-talented students majoring in instant noodles in the Department of Jiaotong University, and members of the Central Committee."

"Really? But I rarely talk about life with three people at the same time."

"It doesn't matter." Ma Qing stood sideways to block Yu Guan and Yang Zhong, "You can mainly talk to me, and let the two of them fill in the gaps."

"Don't be so close to me, I don't know you yet."

"Does that anal doctor look a lot like your father, what do you think?"

"What are you talking about? I can't understand what you're saying..."

Yu Guan turned to Yang Zhong with a smile and said, "You guys just spent the whole morning here? Didn't you go in to watch a movie?"

"Look, "Obidos Donkey in Action."

"Foreign film?"

"Where, domestic films, don't you know that domestic films now have foreign names?"

"Yes, I also feel very empty, and getting married is very boring." Ma Qing said in a tone, "I searched for my father or my mother. It's not like a foreign country, anyone can sleep with anyone, and they can sleep with anyone." It’s convenient, everyone has a house, do you have a house of your own?”

Yu Guan and Yang Zhong laughed together, Yang Zhong took out a cigarette and handed it to Yu Guan, and the two put their heads together to light the fire.

"...I really admire the foreign women who don't twist the men's arms even when they sleep, and go to the store to buy this or that... I have never been twisted. Yang Zhong was always twisted and dislocated several times."

Ma Qing turned her head and blinked and asked Yang Zhong with a smile, "Is that Yang Zhong?"

Yang Zhong knocked on the cigarette ash and said with a smile, "Just make fun of me."

"Let's go, Yang Zhong." Liu Meiping stretched her neck and showed her face from behind Ma Qing's head.

"Sit for a while, sit for a while," Yang Zhong said.

"Don't keep pulling our buddies away, you and I have already taken over, and Yang Zhong has another appointment this afternoon."

"Is it Yang Zhong?"

"Yes." Yang nodded emphatically, and smiled at Liu Meiping, "I can't help myself."

"Just talk to me down-to-earth, I want to talk to you a lot."

"You're not serious, why don't you invite me to dinner, I'll be hungry just sitting here and listening to you."

"If we are alone on a date, I will definitely treat you to dinner. I am working at the moment, so I have to ask our manager if I want to treat you to dinner. Manager, can I treat Meiping to a light meal?"

"Yes, but you have to pay for it yourself."

"Destroy me?" Ma Qing turned around and said to Liu Meiping, "Why don't I invite you to play bumper cars, which is expensive, but it's very fun, and you won't be hungry after playing."

"No, I'll faint when I see a car."

"Go, go, it's not an ordinary car. You can try it again, and I'm sure you won't like to get off when you get on it. You two should also move." Ma Qing pulled Liu Meiping up from the seat, supported her, and greeted him to the side Yu Guan and Yang Zhong are happy.

A group of people left the movie theater and walked across the street to an amusement park at the corner of the street.Liu Meiping was immediately attracted by the colorful amusement facilities. Ma Qing went to the box office to buy four bumper bus tickets, and with his hands covering his mouth, he said to Guan and Yang Zhong: "Later, the three of us will bump into her together, and we'll be fine."

The bumper car field was empty and there was no one there. The three men held back their laughter and entered the venue and each chose a car to sit in. Ma Qing also raised his voice and told Liu Meiping, who was also sitting in the car: "When the electricity is turned on, you will go crazy. "

The administrator switched on the power supply of the bumper cars, and the four cars immediately spun around like crazy, drove away in all directions, and then turned back one after another, slamming into each other one after another.Liu Meiping had never played with bumper cars, so she couldn't manipulate or evade them with ease. She stared at the three people rushing towards her from different directions and was helpless. She jumped up from her seat after being bumped.The bumper car was spinning sharply and gliding at high speed. The three men grinned loudly and drove into Liu Meiping again and again. Four cars roared and stacked in a pile, and Liu Meiping flew in midair from time to time.

After a game, Liu Meiping's face was pale, angry and startled, she climbed out of the car with limp legs, unable to speak for a while.

"Is it okay?" Ma Qing ran over and said hypocritically, "Foreigners like to play this, it's exciting."

"It's okay." Liu Meiping insisted and said, and then there was a tear in her words, "But our Mingshui never asked me to engage in strenuous exercise without eating."

"Then you go to Mingshui, he must miss you too." Ma Qing hugged Liu Meiping and walked down the street without touching her feet. Liu Meiping struggled and turned her head to Yang Chong who had just left the bumper car park: "goodbye."

Ding Xiaolu and Lin Bei passed the street crossing from south to north in the trolley bus. From the car window, they saw Yu Guan and the two standing on the side of the road happily talking. When the tram passed by them, she showed her face and yelled.

"Someone called you." Yang Zhong said to Guan.

Yu Guan turned his head and looked at the crowd behind him: "Where is it? I seem to have heard it too."

"Pass, in the tram ahead."

The tram stopped at a street station, was almost empty, filled up again in an instant, staggered away, and the streets were still bustling with people.

"Whoever he is, let's go."

The three of them were about to turn around and leave when someone called Yu Guan again very close by.The three turned around, and Ding Xiaolu and her daughter walked up to them along with the crowd.

"Hey, it's really rare to meet you." Yu Guan said happily.

"I can't even hear you." Ding Xiaolu nodded to Yang Zhong and Ma Qing, and asked Yu Guan with a smile, "Why are you standing on the street? Where are you going?"

"Look for a place to eat." Yu Guan introduced Yang Zhong and Ma Qing to Ding Xiaolu, and Ding Xiaolu also introduced Lin Bei to them.

"Actor? Ah, what a job." Yu Guan said perfunctorily.

"I don't think you guys are wandering around looking for restaurants on the street." Ding Xiaolu suggested, "Come to my house and make it together, we didn't eat it either."

"Is there anyone in your family?" Yang Zhong asked.

"Just my mother." Ding Xiaolu turned to look at Yang Zhong, "But it's okay."

"Her mother is fine." Yu Guan also said, "It's pretty cool."

"Then let's go." Ma Qing interjected, "Don't stand on the street talking endlessly like ordinary people. How many buses should we take?"

"Then take the tram." Ding Xiaolu smiled and took Lin Bei on his arm, leading the way.

"Are you okay this afternoon?" Ding Xiaolu asked Yu Guan in a low voice on the tram.

"It's okay." Yu Guan said, "I was fine this afternoon."

Ding Xiaolu's house is a bulky, solid gray building built in the Russian style during the Soviet aid construction period in the 50s. It has a thick roof, huge windows, and each unit has a small number of bays but a wide area.The furniture was also distributed by the government at that time. The style was old, the paint was peeling, and the springs of the leather sofa had collapsed.The old lady was holding a big white cat and sitting comfortably on the old wicker chair that had been re-tied. Seeing a large group of people whimpering in, the big white cat jumped off the ground and ran away.A large group of people called "Auntie" in a messy manner, and the old lady politely invited the young man to sit down.It can be seen that the old lady is educated and tested by brutal struggles, and she is both peaceful and dignified.

"They're here for dinner, Mom." Ding Xiaolu said, "What else is there to eat at home?"

"I'll show you." The old lady stood up, walked to the kitchen, and said to Guan, "You haven't been here for a long time."

"I'm busy this time."

"Oh, Yu Guan is busy too."

Yu Guan smiled embarrassedly, chased after the old lady and said, "Don't be so busy, Auntie, we will make what we eat."

"I'll show you what's there. Anyway, you have to make do with Auntie's place. You can only control your fill."

After a while, the old lady came back from the kitchen and said to Ding Xiaolu: "There is only a little minced meat in the refrigerator, and there are only potatoes and cabbage in the kitchen."

"I'll go buy it." Ding Xiaolu said and stood up.

"Don't go." Yu Guan pressed Ding Xiaolu's hand to take out his wallet, "That's enough, let's make dumplings."

"It's very close." The old lady said, "There's a vegetable market downstairs."

"I know, don't go there either. We don't want to eat anything. Making dumplings is good."

"No need to go, no need to go." Yang Zhong and Ma Qing also said, "Don't bother, let's eat whatever we want."

"Let's go buy some." The old lady said to her daughter, "Boys can make do with it, but girls need something delicious."

"I don't need it either." Lin Bei said, "I like stuffed ones."

"Really don't go." Yu Guan said to Ding Xiaolu, "You are too polite, so we will leave."

"Okay then, let's make dumplings." Ding Xiaolu said to her mother, "I'm not an outsider anyway."

"That's right, I'll mix stuffing with Mian Xiaolu, old lady, you can just wait to eat while you rest——Yang Zhong, don't just smoke by yourself, give the old lady one."

"Oh, I didn't know that my aunt also smokes, so here's this one." Yang Zhong, who had just put a cigarette in his mouth, hurriedly handed a cigarette to the old lady.

The old lady lit her cigarette and looked at the sign: "Young people now only smoke good cigarettes."

"We don't buy houses or land. If we have money, we just smoke two cigarettes for fun."

The old lady took a breath of cigarettes, nodded with a smile, and sat back on the wicker chair: "Young people nowadays have no burden."

"You smoke enough."

"My history of smoking is longer than yours. At that time, I had meetings every day and smoked every day, and I will be fine."

Yu Guan followed Ding Xiaolu to the kitchen, Ding Xiaolu took out an aluminum basin, scooped out noodles from his noodle pocket and gave it to Yu Guan to wash and chop vegetables by himself.The two of them were working very hard without saying a word, and the people in the living room chatted very lively, and there was a burst of laughter from time to time, the old lady's laughter was particularly loud.

"Your mother is in good spirits."

"Don't worry, don't worry, the natural spirit is good."

"How about you, too?"

"What about you?" Yu Guan kneaded his face intently, his face was covered with sweat.

"I noticed that you don't like talking very much."

"Who said it? You didn't hear me when I was talking, oh, sometimes the words are short."

From the living room came Ma Qing's fast talking alone. When he paused, there was a burst of laughter. Just as the laughter stopped, Yang Zhong said something again, and the laughter resumed.

"You two colleagues are quite funny!"

"They're my best friends."

Ding Xiaolu stopped for a moment, then continued to chop vegetables: "You finally have such a friend."

"I'm always happy with them."

The laughter suddenly grew louder, the kitchen door opened, and Lin Bei walked in.

"Why are you here? What are you talking about so happy?" Ding Xiaolu raised his head and said.

"They're talking about their company's customers." Lin Bei leaned against the door and said, "I don't like to hear it."

"But I heard you laughing too."

"Laughing, but I don't like it. They are very bad. A female customer just wants to discuss life with them. There is nothing wrong with them. They trick them into the playground, deliberately hit them with a bumper car, and knock them off. angry."

"I didn't say anything, Yu Guan must have come up with this bad idea." Ding Xiaolu smiled and straightened up looking at Yu Guan and said.

"It's not my idea, Ma Qing." Yu Guan also said with a smile, patting the smooth dough with his hands vigorously.

"You guys are really outrageous, so excessive." Lin Bei pouted and said.

"She didn't realize it was intentional."

"That's not good, it's not sincere to people at all."

"Our little Bei has a sense of justice."

"It's not a sense of justice and injustice. I don't like dealing with this kind of person. Who knows when he is real and when he is making fun of you."

"Why did Lin Bei come here standing here?" Ma Qing smiled and went into the kitchen looking for fire with a cigarette in his mouth. Ding Xiaolu took the match from the gas stove to him and said to him with a smile:
"I was talking about you."

"What are you talking about?" Ma Qing lit a cigarette and threw the match back.

"Call you bad, do bad things." Lin Bei said straight, staring at Ma Qing.

Ma Qing took the cigarette from his mouth, looked at Yu Guan, and said to Lin Bei: "I didn't dare to offend you, why is it 'broken'."

"You treat others badly, and I'm a woman too, so I don't like to hear how you play tricks on other women."

"That is, we must respect women." Ding Xiaolu pushed the chopped vegetables into the meat pot and stirred them vigorously.

"But I'm not old 'bad'." Ma Qing said to Lin Bei, "Can I show you a 'good' one? You allow me to brew it."

"Make dumplings, let's make dumplings." Ding Xiaolu walked towards the main room with the stuffing basin, "Don't be poor, go wash your hands."

Lin Bei turned and went to the bathroom, Ma Qing sucked on a cigarette and said to Guan: "Look at me—this girl."

"She's not used to you yet." Yu Guan smiled and picked up the basin, "She's a good girl."

"We're all bad guys, dare you."

When everyone was busy making dumplings, the old lady suggested "play some tunes for the workers".Ding Xiaolu turned the knob of the old-fashioned box-shaped radio for a long time, and called up a set of heroic and lingering expedition songs. These songs are also popular songs, and everyone hummed along with the melody.When the singer sang: "If this is the case, don't you mourn." The three men raised their heads and sang the second part together: "—I am not sad!"

two

The sky was bright, there was no wind, and the street was pouring silently. The tree canopies on the street were trimmed like the simplest children's paintings, standing in rows in the rain straight and motionless.Ma Qing jumped out of his seat and pedaled a flatbed cart covered with plastic sheeting, staring at the theater with towering columns in front of him amidst the rain curtain.Yu Guan and Yang Zhong, both with their hair back and trousers on their backs, stood solemnly in front of the glass door inlaid with heavy copper decorations to welcome the guests who walked up the wide granite steps, and nodded gracefully like chicken pounding rice.

Ma Qing pedaled the flatbed to the bottom of the steps, crossed his legs, and Yu Guan immediately yelled at the top:
"Pull to the door of the stage, pull to the door of the stage, master, do you hear that?"

Ma Qing looked at Yu Guan pitifully, but Yu Guan ignored him, so he could only swallow his anger and push the flatbed cart to the backstage door of the theatre.

Baokang was wearing a shiny suit, standing beside Yu Guan with his chest out and his hands behind his back, staring with satisfaction at the pair of men and women in suits and leather shoes with fluffy hair and pale faces walking on the wet steps, and asked with a smile: Yu Guan:
"Where did you collect all these distinguished people--it opened my eyes. Everyone has a snow-white nape."

"It's not that I have a solution. I just sent some notices. They actually came here in your name. These are young people who love literature."

"Tell me, if they know that this inconspicuous person standing at the door is Baokang himself, won't they be surprised?"

"Yes, definitely, I guarantee that they will surround you like they surrounded foreigners a few years ago."

"Comrade," a tall young man with his girlfriend on his arm asked Yu Guan, "is there really a dance after the party?"

"Yes." Yu Guan hurriedly turned around and whispered, "It's printed on the invitation card."

"But we are often fooled, saying that there is a dance party to lure us here, and we have a half-day meeting with those fools, but after the meeting, there is nothing, and people are kicked out."

"Don't worry this time, not only is there, but it is also a 'disco'."

"Don't lie?"

"I swear."

"Is it true that there are free drinks at the prom?" the young man's petite female companion asked.

"bring."

"It's worth ten yuan." The couple turned around and handed in their tickets and entered the venue.

Yu Guan turned around and glanced at Baokang: "There is no way, where there are crowds, there are left, middle and right."

Baokang didn't mind: "Some laymen are allowed. You said that I can't talk too much about myself after a while, right? Doesn't that seem too complacent?"

"Let's put the flowers in it. Talk about yourself while talking about the nurturing of the people, the care of the organization, the warmth of the society, and so on."

Yang Zhong ran over: "Boss, it's almost time, we should go in too."

"You also go in and take a seat on the rostrum." Yu Guan said to Baokang, "Practice what you want to say, and don't forget the words when the time comes."

Ding Xiaolu and Lin Bei got off the bus at the station in front of the theater and walked towards the theater.Lin Bei took a [-]cm plain flower umbrella, and Ding Xiaolu was almost naked in the rain, but her clothes were not too wet, and she walked calmly through the gaps in the rain.Yu Guan waved to them, and they walked up.

"It's actually here, didn't you say you can't come?"

"After thinking about it, I decided to come here and see what you guys are up to." Ding Xiaolu smiled softly, "Hi, Yang Zhong."

"Hello." Yang Zhong stretched out his hand shyly to shake Ding Xiaolu's.

"Where's Ma Qing?" Lin Bei looked behind Yu Guan.

"He was unloading prizes backstage."

"It's very grand." Ding Xiaolu, Yu Guan and his party entered the theater, "You guys are pretty good at it."

"Hey, not bad, the ones here are all breeds above wolves." Ma Qing, drenched like a bum, peeked into the theater from the side of the curtain, and said to the little buddies who came to help.As soon as he turned around and saw Yu Guan and Ding Xiaolu entering the backstage, he called out, "Oh, Lin Bei."

"Oh, Ma Qing." Lin Bei smiled and raised her hand, and walked around the pots and pans on the ground, "Where is the writer who named her aunt? Show me."

"Here." Ma Qing pushed his mouth towards the rostrum, "That single bowl is sitting on the podium and roasting it."

Lin Bei looked at Baokang and laughed: "It's pretty cool."

Cheerful tunes are being played at high volume in the theater, forcing a warm atmosphere. People are coming in and out of the lounge, biting ice cream cones and looking sideways for their seat number in the narrow row of seats. No one is watching them sitting on the stage. Stretching his neck and looking at everyone's Baokang happily.

"Where is the prize?" Yu Guan asked Ma Qing.

"Isn't that?" Ma Qing pointed to the air conditioner and a row of black leather cameras on the table, and joked with Lin Bei.

"I'm asking about trophies."

"On the ground." Ma Qing pointed to the pots and pans under the feet of the crowd.

"That's it?!" Yu Guan held up a jar with a big belly and looked at it in disbelief, then slammed it on the ground, and said angrily, "This is a jar for pickled duck eggs."

"Don't be angry, boss." Ma Qing said with a smile, "This jar is so calm. If you don't give me money to make a jar, it will be good if you get this pickle jar. What kind of jar is not a jar?"

"Okay, this time the jar is alleyed." Yu Guan said desperately, "How can I quietly give each of the famous writers a pickle jar? They will definitely annoy us."

"Stolen last night—these jars?" Yang Zhong asked Ma Qing in a low voice.

"Where," Ma Qing said, "it's really sponsored by our Hutongkou non-staple food store. Boss, I want to thank you. I promised him, and I can't just keep my word."

Yu Guanqi glared at Ma Qing and said, "Just spoil my business."

There were bursts of shouts and applause interspersed with whistles in the theater, and people in the backstage lifted the curtains to look down.

"Who's here? Which writer is here?" Yu Guan asked nervously.

"No one came." Yang Zhong turned his head and said, "The people below have not started booing yet."

"Is it time?" Yu Guan stroked his sleeves without expression.

"It's passed." Yang Zhong said, "It's been 10 minutes."

"Not even a famous writer comes, it's really embarrassing."

"Do you want to wait any longer?" Yang Zhong asked.

"We can't wait anymore, we're not used to this problem, we'll still have a fucking meeting without them—" Yu Guan waved his hand at the stunned people in the background, "Everyone who has nothing to do should go to the rostrum, don't laugh! No one knows you."

Yu Guan stood at the edge of the curtain, took a step up the stage, and immediately put on a happy face, and then went down the slope and clapped his hands gently to meet the roar of the audience.Behind him, Ding Xiaolu, Lin Bei, Yang Zhong and other dubious people also bravely entered the stage, and the last one who was reluctant to enter the stage was almost pushed out by Ma Qing.

The music stopped, the voices of the audience grew louder, and waves of applause and shouts came onto the stage, and it was hard to tell whether it was a welcome or a booing. Smiling, they file into their seats, all bowing their heads after sitting down.

"Cough, cough." Yu Guan put his elbow on the table, coughed a few times in front of the microphone and said loudly, "I will announce that the 'Three T' Literary Award Ceremony will now begin—"

There was thunderous applause at the venue, and then it stopped abruptly, and a voice said: "Yeah." Immediately there was another thunderous applause.Yu Guan sat on the seat and closed his eyes. He heard that "Ya Ya Ya" was his own voice, which was recorded by accidentally pressing the record button when listening to the recorded applause.

The staff in the backstage stopped their applause, and Yu Guan said listlessly: "The first item on the agenda of the meeting is now, Comrade Yang Zhong, chairman of the 'Three T' Literary Award Committee, will give a speech."

The thunderous applause rang again, and then it was interrupted, and a person shouted "Yeah!"

Yang Zhong took over the microphone passed by Guan, was stunned for a moment, and began to say:

"Today, we are all here, and it's good to have this meeting..."

Thunderous applause, "Yeah!"

There were clear and recognizable laughter from the venue, and some people on the rostrum were laughing with their heads down.Yu Guan stared blankly ahead, as if resigned to fate.Ding Xiaolu tried to signal to Ma Qing, who was standing by the screen, to turn off the tape recorder. Ma Qing also used various gestures to guess what she meant, and finally seemed to understand, and still stood still, looking away , Ding Xiaolu sighed.

Yang Zhong said "very good", and passed the microphone back to Yu Guan amidst the thunderous applause and "Ah Yah Yah", obviously relieved.

"Next, the second agenda item of the meeting will be discussed. Please invite the leaders of the municipal party committee to speak."

Yu Guan glanced at the princes on the rostrum, everyone lowered their heads even more, and none of them stood up.I had no choice but to jump into the river, close my eyes, and pass the microphone to the person closest to him.That person was taken aback for a moment, then passed the microphone to his next person, and a silent "drumming and passing flowers" began on the rostrum. murmured:
"I was invited here temporarily, I didn't think well, and I didn't have a good idea. I don't need to say polite words. Congratulations, congratulations to the 'Three T' company for doing a good thing..."

"That's pretty good, it's pretty similar, let's go on like this." Yang Zhong looked at the audience and whispered encouragement.

The man plucked up the courage to raise his head, and sure enough, the venue was completely silent, thousands of shining eyes looked up at him innocently.The man was happy and confident, unbuttoned his clothes, opened his skirts and crossed his waist:
"It's all young people here today." He turned his head and looked at Baokang who was sitting in the second row, "I saw that the comrades who won the prizes were not too old, and the young people wrote their own things and judged the awards. I think this is a It is a pioneering work, very bold, daring to think and dare to do it, which was simply unbelievable in the past..."

Yu Guanhan came down immediately, and hurriedly signaled Yang Zhong to stop the "comrade leaders of the Municipal Party Committee". Seeing Yu Guan whispering to Yang Zhong, the man asked with a smile, "Comrade Yu Guan, what are you talking about? We need to do more activities like this." Well, I support it. In my opinion, the prizes can be more advanced, and the face can be wider. It is best to set up a reader award, and give some souvenirs to those who come to the meeting. It is also right for people to come to the meeting Your support."

"Wow——" There was real warm applause at the venue, and the "leading comrades of the municipal party committee" greeted the crowd with a blushing smile, while handing the microphone to Yang Zhong: "You deserve it, who told you to give me the microphone to let me speak. "

The prize distribution was carried out with the accompaniment of the folk song "Suffering people look forward to a good situation". With the help of Ma Qing, Yu Guan distributed the pickle jars to Baokang, Ding Xiaolu, Lin Bei and others, and asked them to hold the jars to the audience. Hold it high.Lin Bei was about to throw the jar on the spot, Yu Guan and Ma Qing clamped her on the left and right, helped her lift the jar, and kept saying: "Please, please, you should return to weightlifting. "

The conference continued solemnly. Baokang spoke on behalf of the award-winning writer. He was very excited and emotional, and his joy made him almost incoherent.He talked about his mother, about his childhood, about the small river by the village and the creaking sound of primary school teachers writing on the blackboard; The talk was very emotional, with tears in his eyes, choked up and sobbing, so that an audience member who arrived late said moved to the people next to him: "This young man who lost his footing spoke so well."

After Baokang finished expressing his long, lingering feelings, Yu Guan announced the end of the meeting, "Comrades are invited to dance".

In the dance hall on the second floor, the waiters have filled the long tables along the wall with hundreds of glasses filled with beer and bottles of beer that have been uncovered like a jungle. Looking from a distance, it is quite spectacular.

Two huge leather-wrapped doors that were almost as high as the ceiling were slowly pushed open, and the corridor was crowded with well-dressed men and women. They moved in darkly like the Red Guards who stormed the Winter Palace, and rushed in. Immediately there was silence.Walking in the front row were all tall, strong, and athletic young men. They walked lightly and neatly, like the infantry phalanx during the National Day parade, paying attention to the beer on the table in front of them.Although the influx of people put more and more pressure on their line, they still tenaciously maintained the formation, but their pace became faster and faster, and finally they ran and rushed to all the long tables. Dodging and hiding, the hall was filled with victorious cheers.Amidst the deafening din, those first to the table began to drink from cup to cup, rapidly and without blinking.A steady stream of people crowded to the tables, and countless hands stretched out to snatch wine bottles and glasses, and wiped out the drinks on dozens of long tables.

When a group of Yu Guan, Baokang, and Ding Xiaolu stepped into the ballroom, what appeared in front of them was a large group of sculptures celebrating the harvest. Groups of images of swig drinking in different shapes were stacked around the surroundings. The men and The women's eyes gleamed joyously from behind the upside-down wine bottles that gagged and hid their faces.

"My God! The Chinese people are really the best people in the world." Yu Guan said excitedly, "They don't actually have any extravagant demands."

The jazz drums sounded earth-shattering, like rolling thunder, the orchestra blared, and the group sculptures started to move, like group gymnastics performers who heard the order, running and stopping, shaking and twisting in different swings, gradually excited and frantic, like a pot of boiling water Porridge.

"Jump, jump, get up and jump." Yu Guan danced Tantric disco like a moving stake, and said to the people who sat down one after another with passion and seriousness, "There is no fixed rule, just jump up."

At night, the rain is still falling, but less.The road with street lights was foggy, pedestrians on the street shrugged and shrugged, and the neon lights of the shops were blurred in red and green in the rain and fog.

Yu Guan, Ding Xiaolu, Baokang and others crowded into a taxi talking and laughing.The driver stared nervously at the hazy traffic police posts passing by the roadside, and complained:

"Up to six at a time, the police will fine me if they see it."

"What are you muttering all the time, are you annoying?" Ma Qing, who was sitting in the front seat, turned his head to talk and said, "If you continue to mutter, you will be fined two dollars."

"I'm not punishing you, of course you're fine." The driver retorted while driving carefully, "I would say the same thing if I were."

"It's really fun to be with you." Baokang said with emotion, "I don't care about anything, it's really comfortable to be alive."

"You rascal, if you are a rascal, you don't care about anything." Lin Bei, who was tightly squeezed by Yang Zhong and Baokang, said.

"No, no, I think the rascal means nothing to rely on." Baokang said thoughtfully, "Oh, I have read all the poems you wrote, and I like them very much."

"I haven't written any poems." Lin Bei said with a smile, "I am not a poet. You were deceived by them. I was temporarily arrested and used as an impostor."

"Really? It's interesting. Then you are not Mengdie?" Baokang asked Ding Xiaolu who was sitting on the other side of him.

"No."

"I said, I was still wondering on stage, how did Mengdie change her appearance, I remembered wrongly? Don't be timid."

"It's not our fault. It's Yu Guan's good deed. If you want to settle the score, ask him to settle it."

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter at all, haha. But I don't see that you are fake at all." Baokang said to Lin Bei, "You have a very good temperament, and you have the demeanor of a poet."

"Look, it's time to seduce." Yang Chongfu whispered to Ma Qing in the front seat.

"Well, let's learn and learn from the writer." Ma Qing stared at Baokang.

"Among you, I find that Yang Chong has the best demeanor." Baokang said again, "It's more serious."

"Okay, buddies, don't scold me." Yang Zhong patted Baokang on the shoulder, "I know I'm stupid."

"Hey, writer, you're here." Ma Qing said to Baokang as the taxi stopped by the side of the road.

"Wait a minute." Baokang looked out of the window, hurriedly took out a notepad and a pen and stuffed them into Lin Bei's hands, "Leave me your phone number, I can call you if I need anything."

"I only have a group phone number, and you may not be able to find me by calling this number. I am not in the group unless I rehearse." Lin Bei wrote down the phone number and returned the pen and notebook to Baokang while talking, "You If you can’t find me by this number, call Xiao Lu, she knows where I am.”

"Then you can also leave your phone number to me." Baokang handed the notepad and pen to Ding Xiaolu, and Ding Xiaolu scribbled a string of Arabic numerals.

"I already have your phone numbers, so you don't need to keep them." Baokang put the pen back in his pocket, and he pulled his legs apart to get out of the car, "Goodbye, buddies."

"Goodbye." Ma Qing grunted, and waved to Bao Kang standing on the curb through the car window.The car drove away, and Lin Bei waved to him from the rear window.

Everyone in the car was silent, only Lin Bei was active and talked a lot:
"I think this Baokang person is very nice. He is not angry when you lie to him so much."

"Anyway, whoever you think is better!" Ma Qing said without looking back.

"Originally, I just thought that everyone was pretty good—only you were not."

"Where are we going?" Ma Qing turned around and asked Yu Guan who had been silent all this time, "Should we find a place to play together, don't let the master drag us around, the master is already full of displeasure , isn't it Master?"

"You feel sorry for me again now." The driver only looked at the driver ahead, "It doesn't matter, you can turn around as you like, and at the end of the payment, don't throw a noose to strangle me around my neck."

"Inappropriate, you are being polite, we have to be sensible."

"Go to my place." Ding Xiaolu said, "If you still want to chat."

"I don't want to go." Yu Guan said, "I want to go home."

"Then you go home, let's go to Xiaolu's place, master, you put him on the side of the road."

"Don't go home, why go home?" Yang Zhong said to the audience, "It's boring to go home, you don't have a wife, and your father doesn't want to see you."

"Stop?" the driver asked.

"Don't stop, pick it up and drive it straight." Yang Zhong said.

"Thank you, master." In front of Ding Xiaolu's building, after Ma Qing paid the fare, he was the last one to get out of the car, and said to the driver who bent over his head and rushed into the car.

The driver smiled and waved his hand: "It's okay." He leaned over and closed the door, turned off the lights and started to drive away.

The old lady was about to go to bed, when she heard the door lock ring, a burst of chaotic footsteps interspersed with chatter and laughter went straight into the living room, and hurriedly put on her clothes and came out.

"Mom, you haven't slept yet?" Ding Xiaolu asked in the crowd.

"No, there are so many people here."

"Auntie, Auntie, Auntie, Auntie."

"Keep your voice down, boys and girls." The old lady pointed to her tightly closed mouth and said, "It's getting late, please make a fuss and don't disturb the neighbors."

"Keep your voice down, everyone keep your voice down." Yu Guan said to Ma Qingyang, who was laughing loudly.Turning around, "Go and rest, old lady, we won't make trouble."

"I'll go right away. Xiao Lu, these people live here tonight, I'll find out the bedding for you."

"I'll find it myself when I need it."

"You don't need to look for it, we can do it overnight on the sofa."

"That can't be done," said the old lady. "Young people don't know what to do, and they will have trouble sleeping."

The old lady went back to the house and opened the box, took out the bedding and piled it into Xiaolu's room, and after explaining clearly, she picked up the white cat that had slipped out and walked around, and went back to the room to close the door and sleep.

"Make some tea, Xiao Lu." Yu Guan said.

"Let's go." Ding Xiaolu went to the kitchen to get a thermos bottle, took out a teapot, teacup and tea tube from under the coffee table, grabbed a few pinches of tea leaves, put them in the teapot, filled them with boiling water, covered them, and took out a big biscuit tube , "Whoever is hungry will eat."

Ma Qing reached out and grabbed a few biscuits and returned to the sofa, chewing one by one in his mouth.Yang Zhong leaned on the sofa and waved his hands, saying no to eating, and asked Xiao Lu, "Do you have any cards here?"

"Yes, in the desk drawer. You want to play?"

"Do you want to play?"

"Okay." Ma Qing said with squinted eyes, "You can't lose if you play."

"Stop playing cards, let's chat, I love to hear you chat." Lin Bei curled up and said.

"Chatting is boring, what else is there to talk about? Do you agree to play cards, Xiaolu?"

"I don't care. If you say play cards, you can play cards. If you say chat, you can chat."

"Playing cards." Ma Qing said.

Ding Xiaolu took out the poker and threw it on the coffee table, and poured the brewed tea into the cup.

"What's the matter, what are you playing?" Yang Zhong shuffled the cards and said, "Pick?"

"Playing 'picking' alone has nothing to do, don't play 'picking'." Yu Guan said.

"Then there is still one less person playing 'Triple Top'."

"You guys play, I'll watch." Ding Xiaolu said.

"That's not good, can't you find another person? Is there anyone in your neighbor who hasn't slept yet? Call them."

"I'll try knocking on the door." Ding Xiaolu stood up and said.

Ding Xiaolu went out of the unit door to knock on the door opposite, chatted with someone in the corridor for a while, and led a group of men and women back.The young men smiled and said as soon as they entered the door:
"I heard there is someone called Quaner here?"

"Hey, it's just a group of people who have nothing to do tonight." Ma Qing smiled and said to the audience, "Practice, people are here."

"Hey, we don't have a place for women anymore." A smiling girl who came in later said, "You have enough people."

"You come to play with me, but I don't want to play." Yu Guan said.

"Don't stop playing." Yang Zhong said.

"I really don't want to play." Yu Guan said, "If you don't have enough people, I can join in. If there are too many people, it's fine." Yu Guan pulled the smiling girl to sit next to him, "You play—— I help her look at the cards."

"Come and show me the cards." Ma Qing called Lin Bei to sit beside him, "See how I win."

A group of people began to shuffle and draw cards, and a young man on the other side asked: "Shall we play all the points or hang on to blood?"

"Blood." Ma Qing said.

"Don't get blood." Ding Xiaolu said, "It's not good to get blood, just keep score. I'll find paper and pens for you."

In the first few hands, both sides were polite and played their cards quietly. After the winners and losers were determined, the atmosphere became heated, and everyone who could talk began to make jokes about their opponents, true or false, and engaged in a nervous battle with each other.

"Move? If you move, I will chop you! Hurry up, and if you are with them, you will have a license plate. The big supply truck is not stinky!"

"Don't break into the card, Liao just wants to take the card? The one holding the 'cat' hasn't spoken yet, is it broken? Whoever breaks into who!"

In the morning, it was already bright, and the sound of buses running, bicycle bells and pedestrians' voices could be heard downstairs.Ding Xiaolu and Lin Bei had already gone back to their room to sleep, and the smiling girl had already returned home because of Guan's replacement.The six men were still engrossed in playing cards, smoking one by one, squinting and twisting the cards in their hands, the room was full of smoke, and everyone's faces lost their color.The big white cat walked in without a sound, looked at them, Yu Guan beckoned it to come over, it turned and walked away.

This round was lost again by Yu Guan, and everyone threw their cards on the coffee table one after another.

"Come here," said a young man on the other side, "I can't stand it anymore."

"Come here." Yu Guan gathered the cards together and put them in a box, "Practice again when we have a chance."

Those young men took a few puffs, put the cigarettes in their mouths into the ashtray full of cigarette butts, stood up and said goodbye to Ma Qingyang, and went out to knock on the opposite door one after another.

Yu Guan turned off the lights, opened the windows to let out smoke, it stopped in the rainy night, and the cool air wafted into the house.Yang Zhong stood up, yawned and stretched, and said with a smile:
"It's been another night, playing cards is a mess."

"Actually, we were able to win the last game because of Yu Guantai." Ma Qing came back from the bathroom, buttoned his trousers and said, "I'm holding on to the 'hanger' and I'm waiting to see the painting."

"He plays poker badly, as if he doesn't know how to play."

"Why didn't I sell it? I couldn't sell it. The 'cats' were sitting in other people's hands. They were sold for nothing, and they couldn't leave in the end."

"I'm afraid you didn't make it! At this time, you can't take care of so much, just cut the family, stretch the cards from the big to the small, carry them, and don't let them play the small cards. If you can't leave, others can. The fleeing family is a family, so we can't let them hit ten zero."

"Yes, learn from you."

"Hey, he's excited." Ma Qing looked at Yang Zhong and said, "Should we punish him?"

"It needs to be cured." Yang Zhong agreed.

"Come on." Yu Guan turned around in front of the window and opened his posture, "You two come here if you are not afraid of hurting yourself."

"It's really crowded with a living person." Yang Zhong said as he leaned over, "I will be born as a cripple."

Yang Zhong and Ma Qing rushed forward, and the three of them wrestled tightly. After a short struggle, Yu Guan was overwhelmed, and said with a smile, "Don't make trouble."

"What's this called? It's called 'catch the chicken in the cage'! Tell me, say you stink."

"I stink."

Ma Qing and Yang Zhong let go of Yu Guan with a smile.Ma Qing puffed up his chest and said, "It doesn't matter what my brother is practicing, professional karate."

"Nice." Yang Zhong threw his body sideways on the sofa, "I have to sleep for a while."

"Go to sleep, I have to go to the company to see." Yu Guan said and walked out, "If you don't come in the afternoon, call me at noon."

"I said you should sleep for a while too." Ma Qing said, "Quan is now studying in the whole company."

"I'm not sleepy, I don't want to sleep."

"You don't 'think' about anything, you don't even want to sleep, what do you want to do?"

"I don't remember you having any priesthood."

"you are not normal!"

"You're not normal!"

Yu Guan tiptoed through the main room, the big white cat jumped off the dining table with a "bass" and knocked over a bottle of milk, Yu Guan took three steps at a time to help the milk bottle up, the milk had already spilled on the table.Ding Xiaolu called Yu Guan in her room, then opened the door a crack: "Come here."

Yu Guan walked into Ding Xiaolu's bedroom, Ding Xiaolu was sitting on the edge of the bed in pajamas with disheveled head, Lin Bei was fast asleep with his face against the wall, his long black hair scattered on the pillow.

"Have you slept for a while?" Ding Xiaolu asked in a low voice.

"Slept for a while." Yu Guan also replied in a low voice, "Why did you get up so early?"

"I have to go to work today, and I can't stay away. Would you like something to eat? There's milk in the outhouse."

"The cat has eaten the milk."

"Really, this greedy cat." Ding Xiaolu smiled, "What else can I do for you?"

"No, I don't want to eat it. It doesn't matter whether you have breakfast or not. It's not essential."

"It's too irregular for you to live like this, it's not good for your health."

"Anyway, I don't plan to live to be a hundred years old. I don't care if he is good or not."

"Yu Guan, what's the matter... Forget it, I know you don't need my help. That's it, just come."

"I know." Yu looked at Ding Xiaolu and walked away.

Yu Guan was walking on the sunny street when a bus full of passengers passed behind him. He ran desperately to catch up and squeezed into the chaotic crowd at the station.

three

The sky is blue and cloudless, and there is a warm and dry wind blowing on the streets of the city. Pedestrians look lazy and walk leisurely, letting the wind blow their hair and the hems of skirts and trousers fluttering and bulging.Ma Qing and Yang Zhong sat on the window seats of the coffee shop with glass windows like a greenhouse, watching the passers-by, and listening to an old man talking nonsense:

"Think about it, the restaurant for thousands of people, how spectacular! How exciting! It will stand upright in the land of China! Don't always say that the moon in foreign countries is round, we also have some of the world's best. I put it all together and quit my job. , We will spare no effort to make this happen. Don’t we just do it for the sake of getting it done? We don’t hesitate to waste it! Wasn’t the Great Wall a waste of people and money at the time, how is it now? All pointing at it and trembling. Just do something epic! "

"Is it possible to deceive so many foreigners?"

"Yes, Guan Neng! What do you think foreigners are doing all day long? Why don't you come to China to feast on yourselves?"

"Yu Guan!" Yang Zhong knocked on the glass and shouted when he saw Yu Guan wearing a crumpled jacket walking slowly on the street outside.

Yu Guan turned his head and looked this way, and saw Yang Zhong and Ma Qing, like orangutans locked in an animal house, holding on to the glass and waving their arms, leaving the crowd and walking towards this side.

"I'm looking for you." Yu Guan went around the scattered tables in the coffee shop and walked to their seats, Yang Zhong said, "Don't go back to the company at noon, there is a dinner."

"Whose dinner?" Yu Guan sat down, took a sip of Yang Zhong's leftover coffee, and put it back.

"Baokang invites us, Ding Xiaolu called in the morning and said he must call you."

"How did he think of being slaughtered?"

"He called Ding Xiaolu to call Lin Bei, understand?" Yang Zhong blinked, "If you don't eat for free, you won't eat."

Yu watched Ma Qing: "You guys hang out here in the morning?"

"This buddy is following us about the restaurant they are going to open for ten thousand people."

"A restaurant for ten thousand people?" Yu Guan's five senses squeezed together, "It's another story."

"It's not a story, it's reality." The man said calmly, "Citibank has already agreed to the loan, with an interest rate of [-]%, and only requires the Bank of China to guarantee it."

"Impossible?" Yu Guan said, "You think this is China lending money to Vietnam to fight the Yankees? I've never heard of such a low commercial loan, so maybe who is fooling who. Let's talk about a restaurant with 700 people? Good guy! Even if there are two meals a day, one meal and one tour, there will be more than [-] million foreign devils every year, how many Eight-Nation Allied Forces will be organized?"

"You may not understand the current situation in the world. The ranks of the proletariat are growing, and the number of bourgeoisie is also increasing sharply. You don't have to worry about the source of customers. I just hope that you can help me get the Bank of China guarantee."

"It can't be done. Bank of China never guarantees this kind of pheasant project."

"I remember you said that your little nanny used to be a nanny in the house of some vice president of the Bank of China?"

"That's right." Yu Guan turned his face and said to Yang Zhong, "I can tell her if you want to abduct their child."

"If you can't do it, then you can't do it." The man looked at Yang Zhong, "Don't be too embarrassing, if you can't do it, I'll find someone else."

"It's not that I don't want to help, it's that I can't help it."

"It doesn't matter. I've done this a lot, and people's abilities are limited. To be honest, I did it with the determination that I couldn't do it. If it was done, it was a surprise. Be confident."

"This is the way it is now." The three laughed flatteringly.

"You didn't return that dress?" Ma Qing looked at Yu Guan's jacket and said, "Why did you put it on yourself?"

Yu Guan tugged at the sleeve of the jacket, "The salesman said that the collar is dirty and will not be refunded. I think I have promised that I will return it for them. I have given them the money first, and I am embarrassed to ask for it. Forget it, anyway, I will return it for you. They are also short of clothes for spring and autumn."

"But your clothes are not suitable, and the sleeves are short. The grandson is good enough for a grandson. We will return the clothes you have worn. You didn't look carefully when you took the job."

"A piece of clothing is no big deal, and I don't need to look good, so I can just wear it."

"You talk, I'm leaving." The man stood up and said, putting the cigarettes on the table back into his pocket.

"Let's go?" Yang Zhong and Ma Qing said, "Don't go, and have dinner with us later."

"No need," the man said with a smile, "I'm past the age of not doing anything for a meal—I still have things to do."

"This is also karate." Yu Guan said.

As soon as the man walked to the door of the coffee shop, Lin Bei rushed in like a butterfly.The man stepped aside for her, looked back at her, and went out.Lin Bei dexterously passed between the tables, came to their table with the eyes of the whole hall attracted, and sat down on the seat of the person who had just left:
"I ran here as soon as I finished walking the stage in the theater. I'm not late, are I?"

"Not late." The three men looked at her with a smile.

"Who is treating you, are you?" Lin Bei asked Ma Qing.

"I can't afford it, Baokang please."

"He asked? Why did he ask?"

"You don't know and we don't know, we are in your light."

"Stay in my light? I have nothing to do with him."

"No one said you have anything to do with him." Yu Guan said with a smile, "Why are you nervous."

"Why am I nervous? Why do you talk in a weird way, as if something is wrong with me. In fact, I don't have anything to do with Baokang. I don't think he is nice at all. I think he is ridiculous."

"Don't explain don't explain."

"Really, I won't talk to you anymore."

The more anxious Lin Bei was, the more the three of them teased her. In the end, it was Ma Qing who helped her out and asked her if she was going to perform tonight.

"Yan, are you still going to cheer for me?"

"Of course you have to go. If you don't let me go, you won't succeed."

"Are you going to charge me for your support? I don't have money for the fee."

"No charge, just pour a glass of wine for each of your three brothers after dinner."

"It's easy, then it's settled."

"Have you noticed? Actors smile differently from ordinary people. Others smile with squinted eyes, but they smile with wide eyes."

"Bao Kang!" Yu Guan clasped his hands into a loudspeaker and shouted to Bao Kang who appeared at the entrance of the coffee shop.

Baokang turned around and smiled beamingly. Beside him stood a middle-aged man with a kind face and gentle manner.

"This is Zhao Yaoshun, my teacher."

The group changed to a Chinese-style restaurant with golden-red hues, and sat down around a large sandalwood round table. Baokang introduced the middle-aged people to Yu Guan.

"I heard Baokang talk about you a long time ago, and I really want to get to know you, so I came here."

While talking, Zhao Yaoshun took out a pack of cigarettes from his trouser pocket and put a lighter on the table, took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, lit it with the lighter, and pressed the lighter a few times in a row, but it failed to ignite: "What happened?"

Yu Guan threw Yang Zhong's match to him, and Baokang picked up the match and lit it for Zhao Yaoshun to light a cigarette.

"Ms. Zhao just loves to make friends with young people."

"Yes." Zhao Yaoshun said, exhaling smoke, "Young people today are very different from when we were young. Many mentalities and ideas need to be re-understood. I don't think young people today are difficult to understand. The key is whether you want to understand. They. I have many young friends, I can talk to them very well, and I understand and sympathize with their depression and hesitation."

"Ms. Zhao is also very supportive of young people's careers."

"We are just a group of ordinary people, men and women who only know how to eat."

"I can't say that. I don't agree with calling today's young people the 'Beat Generation'. You also have pursuits. People don't have pursuits. How can you live without pursuits? Of course, what you pursue may be what others pursue. It’s just different. People are very interesting. They always live by hope. Whether they live well or not, they all hope that their environment will change, become a little newer, and be a little more elusive. Otherwise, they will feel flat and empty. ,the same as you."

"Oh, yes, no wonder."

"Or it can't explain why human beings keep improving!"

Yu Guan stared at Zhao Yaoshun and laughed: "It seems that I myself don't know that I have an inescapable responsibility for human progress."

"Talk well, have a good chat when you have time." Zhao Yaoshun patted Yu Guan's back like a horse herder caressing his beloved mount, "Young man, a promising young man."

"Mr. Zhao, don't just praise him, please praise me too." Ma Qing poked his head and said with a smile.

"They're all good, and you're good too. All of you here today are lovely young people."

"Why hasn't Ding Xiaolu come yet?" Yu Guanzhi asked Baokang loudly, "Did you tell her that she was eating here?"

"Sue her, I don't know why she hasn't come yet."

"Is this Ding Xiaolu the Ding Xiaolu I know?" Zhao Yaoshun asked Baokang and Yu Guan with a cigarette in his hand.

Baokang didn't speak, and Yu Guan lowered his head and fiddled with his chopsticks: "Female, it's from "Capable Women News."

"That's her. I know her very well. Don't worry, she will come. She knows I will come. She knows I'm coming, right?"

"Yes, I told her specifically that you are coming." Baokang said.

"Oh, you guys know her too." Zhao Yaoshun looked at everyone's faces, "That's a very nice girl. Her mother used to work with me. She's not young, and she probably hasn't had any personal problems until now. solve."

"We don't know her very well, but we know her generally," Yu Guan said.

"That girl's heart is not bad, but..." Zhao Yaoshun pointed to his head with a smile, "Slow down here."

"Serve the food, Baokang, please ask the waiter to serve the food, I'm hungry." Lin Bei yelled, propping the table with her hands and tilting her chair back to look at the densely embedded light holes on the ceiling of the hall.

"Serve the food, waiter, serve the food." Baokang called the waiter in the red uniform, "Why are you in a hurry? Do you have something to do this afternoon?"

"There is a show in the evening, so I have to set up the stage early in the afternoon." Lin Bei dropped the chair back to the ground, took out the chopsticks from the paper sleeve, and said while holding a pencil on the table like a pupil, rolling his eyes.

The waiter quickly served the cold pints, and then began to transfer hot and fried dishes one by one.Lin Bei stood up holding the wine bottle and said, "I'll pour wine for everyone." Smiling, she poured wine from Ma Qing to Zhao Yaoshun and asked, "Do you want a drink?" "Come on," Zhao Yaoshun said.Lin Bei poured it upside down, and poured it down one by one.

"Shall I say a few words first?" Baokang stood up with his wine glass in his hand, and consulted Huan.

"What can I say?" Ma Qing stuffed a large piece of beef into his mouth, "Don't play with that nonsense, let's eat our own."

"That's good, that's good, everyone can do whatever you want." Baokang sat down, beckoned on the table with his hands, picked up the chopsticks and first picked a preserved egg for Zhao Yaoshun.

"Come by yourself." While eating, Zhao Yaoshun turned his head and asked Yang Zhong, who was under Yu Guan's hand, "Where are you from, and you are also from the 'Three T' company?"

"I'm just silly Boyi." Yang Zhong, who was eating and drinking, replied rudely, "Don't bother about me."

"Young people always underestimate themselves." Zhao Yaoshun laughed and stretched out his arms to pinch sea eggplants.

"Why don't you drink?" Baokang asked Yu Guan who put down his chopsticks and sat for a while after eating, "I don't eat much."

"I don't drink, never drink, they know that."

"There's no man who can't drink, no." Baokang held up his glass, "I'll drink with you, what kind of man doesn't drink."

"Maybe you can drink a little." Zhao Yaoshun also said, "I couldn't drink at first, but after I had to socialize all the time, I learned how to drink."

"Don't force people to drink if they don't drink." Yang Chong said to Baokang, "What kind of man is not a man, I just bother with the chest hair. Play it."

"Let me drink this with you." Ma Qing stood up and clinked the glass with Baokang, and drank it down in one gulp.

"It's very interesting." Baokang sat down, and Zhao Yaoshun smiled and said to him, "—You guys talk."

"How else would I like being with them?"

"Straightforward, friendly, rare."

"Old Zhao, let me send you a girl."

"No, no, I can't do this. This is what you young people do."

A group of people reeking of alcohol walked sparsely among the crowds on the street, Ma Qing put his arms around Zhao Yaoshun's shoulders.

"Don't be shy, I can see that you are actually very willing in your heart, you still have more courage to do it - which one do you think is good on this street?"

"The little girl in jeans has a good temperament."

"Isn't it her? I'll capture it for you."

"Don't mess around, pony, that's not what I mean."

Ma Qing had already left Zhao Yaoshun behind, and quickly followed the girl in front who was walking on a spring.

"Excuse me, how do I get to Flat Pot Alley?"

"Flat Pot Alley?" The girl frowned as she walked with elastic strides, wondering, "Is there such an alley?"

"Yes, yes, I have been there, but I can't remember it now. I only remember that there is a bun shop at the entrance of the alley."

"Ah, then you go forward." The girl raised her head and glanced at Ma Qing, "There is a steamed stuffed bun shop at the second crossing after passing the traffic light, but I can't remember if it is the Flat Pot Alley, where are you going? Find someone else to ask."

"Thank you, the people of the capital are really nice."

The girl gave Ma Qing a slanted look, smiled sweetly and left.

Ma Qing stopped and smiled and waited for Zhao Yaoshun.

"Old Zhao, I have an appointment with you and others. See you at Jiufeng at [-] o'clock tomorrow afternoon."

"It's really you, you have said something to him, and you got hooked up so quickly." Old Zhao said with a smile.

"I told the little girl that there is a Teacher Zhao here who wants to meet you. Zhao Yaoshun, Teacher Zhao, is famous all over the country. The little girl said: "Well, Teacher Zhao, I know him. Where is he?" I want to see you, it seems that I admire you very much. I said that Mr. Zhao can't see you whenever you want. He is very busy, and he has to meet with the head of the central government and write an article. You have to make an appointment. The little girl said: "Just make an appointment. I don’t know what a good place is, how about Jiufeng? It’s far away and quiet, and Teacher Zhao taught me to concentrate on it.’”

"Look at what nonsense you're talking about. It's not good to spread it out."

"Old Zhao, don't think the conditions there are bad or unsafe. I'll stand guard for you with a gun. If it doesn't work, I'll use my body as a bed for you."

"Don't make fun of older people." Yu Guan and Yang Zhong walked side by side with them, Yu Guan said to Zhao Yaoshun, "Don't listen to his nonsense, he is just kidding with you."

"I've lived for so many years and still can't tell if his words are true or false? It's okay to take a walk after dinner and joking, I'm also a very joking person."

"Old Zhao, to be honest," Ma Qing asked with a smile, "Have you ever flowed through the fields of outsiders in your life?"

"No, dare not, you don't understand people of my status. It looks famous and admirable, but in fact it is very restrained. You restrain yourself, unlike you young people who can have no scruples. We are young It was different from yours now. At that time, people were very cautious, and they had to report to the party organization when they were in love. My wife... let’s not talk about it, it’s boring to talk about it. The personal life of our generation is a tragedy——Bao Where is Kang? Why is he missing?"

Zhao Yaoshun stopped and looked back: "Where did he and Xiao Lin go? Should we wait for them?"

"I really don't like the person who came with you." Lin Bei lowered her head and clutched her bag, and walked slowly side by side with Baokang in the dense crowd, "It's a fake."

"I don't like it either. But you don't have to judge him by liking or disliking at all."

"Is he really your teacher?"

"That's it. I asked the teacher to open his mouth. There are too many teachers in this world. How long have you known Yu Guan and Ma Qing?"

"Not too long, not too long, about the same time as knowing you."

"I thought you guys knew each other well. What do you think of them?"

"It's good, it's funny."

"Don't you realize how boring and empty they really are?"

"It was discovered early, and I discovered it as soon as I contacted them."

"Don't look at them laughing and joking all day long, they don't care about anything, in fact, that's not the case. I know people like them very well, and I feel very depressed. I really want to do something but can't do it. I have great ambitions and talents, so I have to joke around every day. Show a look of seeing through everything, this kind of person is the most worthless! ——Don’t get involved with them, you won’t learn anything but you will delay yourself.”

"I didn't get involved with them. I just had nothing to do to join in the fun. Don't I know that I should study more and improve myself?"

"Don't deny it. In fact, I don't want to blame you. I just think that a girl with such talent as you should be able to control herself. You are beautiful and simple, and many people will surround you, and you will slip down easily. .Really, I say this to you in all sincerity. I can't bear to see you end up where some girls are: bruised and homeless."

"I know."

"What do you know? You don't know anything. You will follow people every day. You are happy when they are happy, and you are also worried when they are sad. You spend your time on dressing up, dressing, eating snacks, and let your youth go away. .”

"You speak so profoundly. What should I do then? I don't have the willpower."

"I'll help you, do you want to learn to write novels?"

"Oh, so much. Can I?"

"Take your time, I will teach you."

"That's great, I mean what I say. I've always wanted to write a novel about my ups and downs, but I can't find someone to teach me. Now I have someone to teach me. I think if I write a novel, others will love it, regardless of my age. There are so many pains and joys, and I want to cry when I think about the past."

"Why did you go? We've been waiting for you for a long time. Is Baokang teaching people how to write novels again? Writers will come here."

At the intersection, Ma Qing yelled at Baokang and Lin Bei who had just caught up.

"I didn't say this, I didn't say this, we just chatted casually, and walked slowly."

"Lin Bei, be careful, Baokang is not a good thing. Haven't you heard that rogues are now called rogues or writers?"

"Mr. Zhao and the others?"

"When you are old, go to the mall."

In front of the leather shoe counter in the department store, Zhao Yaoshun turned his hands back and walked while bending over to look carefully at each shoe with a different shape.He was talking with Yu Guan and Yang Zhong who followed two steps behind like a pair of bodyguards.

"What do you usually do in your spare time?"

"We don't do anything, watch martial arts videos, play cards, or just sleep."

"Find some books to read. You should read books. Books are the panacea for eliminating troubles and loneliness."

"We don't worry, we don't worry if we never read books."

"It's not a good thing to worry too much, and it's not necessarily a good thing to have no troubles at all. Doesn't that make you an idiot? If you don't like reading books, make more friends. Don't confine yourself to your own small circle. Sometimes a friend with extensive knowledge can still make you happy." People benefit a lot.”

"There are only two kinds of friends: those you can have sex with and those you can't."

"I don't agree with your statement!" Zhao Yaoshun suddenly stopped, "God, this is simply obscene and filthy!"

"You are quite right."

"Yang Zhong!"

"Who called me?" Yang Zhong turned his head and saw a saleswoman behind the opposite counter smiling at him, walked over, and immediately shouted to Yu Guan with a smile on her face: "Come here, let's see who we met!"

The saleswoman looked at Yu Guan with a smile on her face: "Have you forgotten about me?"

Yu Guan also smiled: "I didn't forget, I remembered, you work here."

"Isn't it right here, do you want to buy a handkerchief?"

"No thanks. How are you?"

"Fine. Where's the pony? Not with you? How's he?"

"It's all good. Who else are you dating?"

"Yeah, we're getting married soon. I'm so happy to see you. I had such a good day. I'm still thinking about that day. Yang Zhong, I called you later."

"Why didn't I receive it? I'm here every day."

"Who knows? I always want to go to play with you, but I'm embarrassed, so I don't go. I think you probably have forgotten me long ago."

"Why? Come on, we've been talking about you all the time, and we still talk about when to eat your wedding candy."

"Really? If so, I'll go. I feel very happy to be with you."

"What's her name? Why can't I remember?" Leaving the handkerchief counter, Yu Guan asked Yang Zhong.

"I can't remember either, I just remember seeing it."

"Mom, why don't you understand your daughter's heart!" Lin Bei, with her ponytail and overalls and white sneakers, walked beside the "old lady" who was sitting on a cardboard sofa and wearing a gray hair cover with wrinkles on her face. She ran away quickly, stopped abruptly at the entrance of the stage, and the chasing light hit her body. Facing the dark audience under her feet, she slowly raised her face, looked affectionately into the air, and said word by word:
"We are a new generation of young people who want to see the world with our own eyes..."

"But mother loves you."

"What did Rousseau say?" Lin Bei twisted her body, stretched her neck and shouted at the "old lady", "Why do you want so many things? Where do you put it?"

The "old lady" stood up shuffling, and shouted back, "What did Brennan say? 'The beauty of marriage is that it keeps one from being alone without feeling lonely.' What did Strimat say?" 'The meadows are full of flowers, but the cattle come and find only feed.'”

"What did Cervantes say? 'I never stick my nose in other people's porridge, because that's not my sesame sauce roll.' What did Roland say?" Since the day she weighed 140 pounds, a The chief thrill of a woman's life is to find a fatter woman than herself.'”

"What did Chairman Mao say? 'Don't be afraid, don't be afraid—it's me!'"

"What did a boy say when he carried an old lady across the river? 'You're comfortable, I can't see anything.'"

The applause in the audience rose from wave to wave, and even after the actors finished their lines, there were still a few people clapping and cheering desperately. "Mother" was panicked by the applause, and quietly asked "daughter":
"Is there an earthquake forecast for these two days?"

"I heard that the Chinese women's volleyball team won again."

four

The weather is getting hotter and hotter. The strong sunlight hits every road and street corner. The luxuriant street trees are swaying and rolling in the hot wind. They are so green that they are dazzling. Some people are already wearing shorts and sweaters on the street, and the cicadas are singing all day long.

In the office of the "Three T" company, the hot air blowing in from the open windows covered every desk with dust, and people were sweating and talking with their elbows on the desk.

"What do you say? I love her and she doesn't love me, but she should love me because I deserve to love her, but she can't understand this truth. It doesn't matter what you say. People nowadays are like this. Men don't work. Women won't let it go."

"If you don't break, you can't stand. If you break the word, stand is included."

"We can't send someone to beat the son of the leader who won't let you transfer, that's outrageous, we are decent people. I suggest you go to the leader and have a good talk, go to his house, talk patiently and kindly Don’t carry a box of snacks, it’s too tacky and you don’t need to be in charge. Take the bedroll and go, just like going to your own home, eat as you eat, and sleep as you sleep, just like in the play: ‘I’ve settled down in Shajiabang.’”

"You should go to the traffic team. Just listen to what the police say. Don't be so arrogant. Just pretend that you are young and your father scolds you. Think about them. Standing on the road every day, except for the telephone poles No one is as unlucky as the third one, and they don’t earn a lot of money, and it’s too inhumane not to let them scold you. He’ll give you the bike back when he’s done training you enough, after all, it’s to maintain order, not a car theft gang.”

"To be honest, people's living standards have improved. In the past, you didn't feel that meat was expensive because you didn't eat meat at all. You cut off two cents to make dumplings for the whole family. If the price of meat is still the price of the previous two years Even if the country turns the whole country into a big pigsty, it’s not enough for you to eat it hard.”

"If you look at your daughter-in-law and get dizzy, then go and take some pills like 'Liuwei Dihuang', 'Jin Kui Kidney Qi', 'Gui Ling Ji' to resist for a while, and if you don't, put some sleeping pills in your daughter-in-law's bowl when cooking porridge at night Let her feel sleepy when she’s full, and she can’t open her eyes even if she doesn’t wash her feet when she sees Donald Duck. She just wants to go to bed and doesn’t have the mind to do anything else. At most, snoring won’t endanger your health for the rest of your life.”

"Don't go to bed too early when you're too sick to go to bed. You need loose underwear. Buy two iron balls and hold one in one hand. Start for ten kilometers at dawn. Don't hang pictures of movie stars in the room. Just start thinking about hippopotamuses. Liu Yingjun can't help but be himself. It’s glorious to stand alone on the front line of Laoshan, and it’s glorious to be able to hold on.”

"Yes yes, love and marriage are two different things, one is one and two is two - why don't you look one is one and two is two? Oh sorry I was distracted and thought of something else I'm sorry you don't get angry ...you go on."

"I'm not angry, I don't mean to be angry at all." Wang Mingshui looked at Yu Guan with a tired face and said tolerantly, "It's okay."

"Go ahead." Yu Guan scribbled circles on the paper with a pencil, "Love and marriage are not the same thing, what's the end?"

"I think I'd better put it simply. I've had enough. I don't want to deceive myself anymore. I'll blow it off with her."

"Who did you blow with?"

"Of course it's the girl who wants to marry me. It's no big deal, and it's blown after a while."

"It's nothing special, just blow it up."

"You didn't understand me. I mean I fucked her and I didn't tell her I didn't want to hurt her, at least not myself. I don't know what to say, what's the right thing to do in a situation like this, but I think you can do it, don’t you specialize in this? It’s all oily.”

"Leave it to us, and we will make up a set of high-sounding rhetoric for you."

"Thank you so much. You guys saved my mother. I will write a letter of thanks for each of you with your left and right hands. You have to let her accept the reality rationally. It is best to be happy. Don't let her cry. I hate it the most. Women cry."

"I'm afraid I can't guarantee it."

"Yeah, I also think it's an extravagant wish. How about this? It's okay to cry, let her shed a few tears if she wants to, but don't let her cry so much that it will cause crowds to watch on the street. This will not affect well. Please stay with me Accompany her and wait for her to calm down before letting go. You don't know how much she loves me, if you hear the news that I don't get along well with her, it will undoubtedly be a bolt from the blue, or it will kill someone. "

"We are billed according to the salary standard of the fifth-level skilled workers. Less than half a day is charged as half a day, and overtime is charged for more than eight hours. In addition, the meal allowance and night shift fees are all in accordance with the current national regulations. Business trips are reimbursed."

"No problem, I'll pay the full amount. If you need a few days, you can work for a few days. She won't be unable to think about it for the rest of her life."

"By the way, how far has your relationship with her developed? Is there, um, a horizontal relationship?"

"I can't lie to you, I can't say no, I hope it doesn't conflict with your moral values. In fact, it's not important, it's not a problem, it's very popular, she doesn't care about it, she's a good girl who only knows how to give but not to take..."

"Give me her name and phone number."

"You have met her. In fact, I asked your company to do it for me when I was not available for a date. Her name is Liu Meiping, and she sells handkerchiefs."

"Wait, you're not that expert in asshole maintenance, are you?"

"I'm sorry for your wording."

"I can't always write well. Once the pen is on the paper, my mind is empty." Lin Bei stared back at Baokang who was smiling at her, and walked backwards on the street. "Is there any trick to writing?"

"Be willing to bear yourself."

"Hey, Yu Guan isn't here, go out." Ma Qing picked up the phone and shouted in a rough voice.

"Where are you going?"

"Who are you? Ask so carefully."

"You don't care who I am, tell me where he went?"

"Fuck you!" Ma Qing dropped the phone.

"We all live for others, right?" Yu Guan asked Liu Meiping, who was half a head shorter than him, while walking on the street with his hands in his trouser pockets.The wind ruffled their hair, and there were beautiful girls with bright parasols walking about in the street.

"Yes, we all live for others."

"The happiness of others is our happiness."

"Yes, that's all."

"If the happiness of others requires us to suffer misfortune, we are ready to do so."

"Anyway."

"You really think so?"

"Really. Since I was a child, I swore that no matter if I was asked to be Liu Hulan or Hua Mulan, I would never look back."

"Who is lesser than the two of them?"

"Do it too!"

"Now there is such an opportunity, a person needs you and needs you to give him happiness."

"Who? He wants a handkerchief?"

"No, no, it's not buying handkerchiefs. Of course I know that your service attitude has always been very good. You treat customers like relatives. It's not buying handkerchiefs, it's something else. He needs your help. Only with your help can he avoid pain. Get a new life."

"Am I that useful?"

"You are much more useful than you think. You are not only kind but also kind. You always consider others more. You have no self but others in your heart."

"Tell me, what do you ask me to do, I am willing to do anything. Go up the mountain of knives, go down to the frying pan..."

"It's very simple, you don't have to do anything, as long as you don't do anything, don't go to him again and you can do the work."

"You mean..." Liu Meiping's voice trembled.

"That's right, I'm talking about Wang Mingshui. He entrusted me to tell you that he doesn't want to see you anymore, and he hopes you don't go to him again."

"You're not kidding, are you?"

"No, I'm not in the mood for a joke. Can it be done?"

Liu Meiping turned pale, turned around and left quickly.Yu Guan hurried to catch up with her:
"You'd better not go to his house to find him."

"..."

"You'd better not go to his house to find him."

"I'm not going to his house!" Liu Meiping stopped, with a sharp-mouthed little beast's expression, "Is that okay?"

"Don't get excited, it's nothing."

"I'm not excited. I know it's nothing. You don't need to make irresponsible remarks. I'm leaving and I have something to do. Please get out of the way—please get out of the way!"

Liu Meiping walked straight forward, and Yu Guan walked up the steps of a nearby fruit shop, watching her disappear into the bustling crowd and walk into the fruit shop.In the fruit shop, he browsed around the mirrors and the colorful fruits under the fluorescent lamp, and then walked forward slowly.The sun was very poisonous, and the parasols of the girls who came to meet him and passed by from behind would pester him from time to time.He passed a department store with household appliances and plastic mannequins in woolen coats in the window; a post office newspaper department with a variety of magazines on display; I saw Liu Meiping sitting at a wet table drinking yogurt and crying outside the glass window of a cold drink shop on the corner.

He walked into the damp cold drink shop, asked for a bottle of yogurt, sat down at Liu Meiping's table, didn't drink, looked at the pedestrians and vehicles passing through the window, the tinted glass faded the sunlight, and it looked like a cloudy day outside.Two girls in skirts walked arm in arm, stopped at the window, looked in, and walked away talking; a man walking with his head bowed passed by the glass window, and glanced in.Liu Meiping stopped crying, and sucked the yogurt with her hands on the straw, not looking at him.

"Am I a bit mean? Men are mean."

Liu Meiping closed her eyes, was still drinking yogurt, and crossed her legs.

"You know I'm not out of any kindness, sympathy, pity, etc., just doing my duty."

"I didn't blame you." Liu Meiping said in a low voice, "You are not responsible here either."

"I do mean to make you feel better--a little pain, isn't it?"

"Why not?"

"Don't be miserable."

"You put it lightly." Liu Meiping chuckled, and then grinned at the corner of her mouth, ready to cry, "It didn't happen to you."

"Then suffer for a while, but not too long. Is an hour enough?"

Liu Meiping cried and laughed, "Not enough."

"An hour and a half? An hour and 45 minutes? Is it enough time for a movie?"

"I feel uncomfortable, and you still tell jokes. You are really incompetent. You should comfort me."

"Then drink another bottle of yogurt." Yu Guan pushed the bottle of yogurt he bought to Liu Meiping, "Do you want to eat when you feel uncomfortable?"

"How do you know?" Liu Meiping bit the straw and looked at Yu Guan, "Why don't you go? You can't die."

"That's right, live well and be angry with them." Yu Guan smiled slightly.

"Who answered my call just now?" An old man with a straight back and wearing a military uniform with his collar off broke into the office of the "Three T" company aggressively, "How dare you curse at someone, damn it."

"What's going on?" Ma Qing pretended to be stupid and said in a daze, "Don't get angry, sit down and talk slowly if you have something to say."

"I won't sit!" the old man roared, "Don't do this! Whoever scolded you just now stood up and said why."

"He, he's already gone out, the person who answered the phone just now has gone out." Ma Qing said with a smile on his face, "I'll do whatever you want."

"Going out? I sound like you!"

"No, no, it's not me, I just came here." Ma Qing's face was covered with sweat.

"Indeed it's not him, he just came here." Yang Zhong hurriedly helped and brought a chair for the old man, "We will criticize him when he comes back."

"Where's Yu Guan?" The old man sat down straight with his legs crossed, "Where did he go? You find him."

"Manager Yu?" Yang Zhong and Ma Qing exchanged glances, "He's gone out too, tell us if you have something to do."

"Tell you?" The old man looked Yang Zhong and Ma Qing sideways, "Okay, then let you tell me, what kind of tricks has he been doing these days? Who is he hanging out with? Did he let the police The police are watching? I was so scared that I didn’t even dare to go home.”

"Manager Yu doesn't have one. He's very good. No one pays attention to him, but he is often praised and said that he does good things."

"I knew you would cover each other up. You are a group, right? A group of liars! I have heard rumors about your ridiculous company. It's a joke. If you want to solve problems for others, why do you need the Communist Party?" Yu Guan came back Send him to see me right away."

"Which temple are you a monk..."

"I'm his father!"

Yu Guan and Liu Meiping leaned head-to-head with great interest to watch the resin-wrapped spiders and fossilized beetles in the long glass showcases.They were in a palatial museum hall, wall-walled with painted charts and photographs of real objects.The hall is empty, there are few tourists, and the terrazzo floor is almost slippery.The glass showcases lined up along the wall are densely packed with various minerals. Under the illumination of the lights, the rough and dull rock sections are shining with bright and extraordinary splendor, especially the samples of some paragenetic minerals are really colorful.Yu Guan and Liu Meiping walked slowly through one seemingly endless exhibition room after another, and suddenly entered the realistic environment of the original landform vegetation and sky dome made of colorful foam plastic poured and piled with ingenuity; The ferocious ancient animal model; suddenly there are bare-faced ape-men dancing sticks and grinning behind him.In the last exhibition room on the third floor of the museum, they were stunned as soon as they entered—as if they were in a dream: under the bright electric lights, there are countless exquisite and beautiful diamonds in the four-walled glass cabinets that are radiant and brilliant. Dazzling, its brilliance is unparalleled.These are the most famous diamonds in the world, and each diamond has a fascinating name. It is really a thrilling spectacle-only a beautiful fake can achieve a breathless effect.

"Don't look back." Baokang whispered to Lin Bei.They were standing in front of the window of a candy store looking at Linlang's wine-core chocolate and cream cakes. From the reflection of the window glass, they saw Yu Guan and Liu Meiping walking behind them.

"Isn't that Yu Guan?"

"Don't call him, I don't want him to see us, I have to say hello - I'm annoying him."

"Didn't you say you liked being with them?"

"That's a compliment. I don't want to talk to him now. It's useless to talk to him."

The two turned around.Yu Guan has already walked over.

"What did I say, the next boring step is depravity."

"Oh, Yu Guan, you're back." Yang Zhong raised his head to see Yu Guan coming in and said loudly, "You didn't see us making a big fuss just now. Your father came, and Ma Qing had a fight with him."

"Yu Guan, why does your father behave like this?" Ma Qing walked over and said, "Like a leopard, he catches and bites anyone."

"Come in." Yu Guan turned around and said, Liu Meiping timidly walked into the office.

"Hello Ma Qing, hello Yang Zhong."

"You are here, sit down quickly, Yang Zhong will pour water for him." Ma Qing enthusiastically opened a chair for Liu Meiping to sit down.Yang Zhong graciously brought a glass of water.

"I'm not thirsty."

"Drink, we don't drink tea, only boiled water."

"Thank you."

"Why are you being so polite? You're home when you come to this room, and the people in this room are all your old friends. Yu Guan, your dad probably hates me."

"Don't pay attention to him, he has such a dog temper." Yu Guan went to sit behind his desk and sat down, "Don't meet him in your life, and we rarely pay attention to him at home."

"Hey, why are you crying?" Yang Zhong bent down to look at Liu Meiping's face, "Ma Qing, what nonsense are you talking about to offend her?"

"I'm not crying." Liu Meiping raised her tear-stained face, "I'm fine."

Yu Guan and Ma Qing surrounded her to coax her.

"Don't listen to Ma Qing, he is an incurable oral dysentery patient."

"Yeah, I got bad breath, and my stinky armpit got on my mouth—what did I say?"

"It's really okay, he said good things, I just feel sad all of a sudden."

"You'd better go home." Yang Zhong said to Guan, "Your father may have something to do with you."

"I won't go back. He has nothing serious to do. He just wants to tease me and cough when he's so idle."

"You'd better go home." Ma Qing said, "Or your dad might think we're blackmailing you."

Yu Guan entered the house with a serious face, went into the living room, took off his shoes and changed into slippers, then unbuttoned his shirts one by one, without saying a word, staring at the smiling old man sitting on the sofa with his hands spread out, and then took off his shirt suddenly, Wearing a small vest, I went to the bathroom and turned on the faucet to wash it. After a while, I returned to the living room with a big towel and wiped it vigorously, and continued to look at the old man.

"What are you looking at me for? Do you think your father is embarrassing for you?"

"No, you gave me a face, now everyone knows that I have a confident father." Yu Guan threw a big towel on the armrest of the sofa, turned on the electric fan and stood in front of him, "I know why you practice Qigong gone."

"Beware of catching a cold—did your cronies sue me?" The old man stood up and walked around the room in satisfaction. "Actually, I'm very polite to them."

Yu Guan snorted and didn't speak.

"I care about you. Why don't I care what those wild boys on the street are doing? Who made you my son."

"So, I didn't say anything else. If another person did this for me, I would definitely twitch his mouth."

"Look at you, take a look at yourself, that cynical look, how can there be a taste of a new generation of youth?"

"Stewing can't get the heat." Yu Guan turned off the electric fan and turned away, "Neither onion nor ginger."

"Come back!" The old man blocked Yu Guan's way with his hand, looked up at his tall son, "Sit down, I want to talk to you."

Yu Guan sat down on the sofa, picked up a "Chinese Elderly" magazine and flipped through it: "Is the mahjong table not full today?"

"Be serious." The old man sat down next to his son, "I want to understand your thoughts, what do you do every day?"

"Eat, drink, talk, sleep, just like you."

"You are not allowed to talk to me in such a rogue tone! I am very worried about you now, you are too old, just wandering around like this day by day? It is time to think about the future, and how to do more useful things for the people .”

Yu watched the serious old man and laughed.

"What are you laughing at?" The old man blushed, "Could it be wrong?"

"Yes, I didn't say no, I was laughing at myself."

"It's not right? I can see from your eyes that you don't take what I said seriously. Is there nothing that can impress you now? I heard a report two days ago. Heroic deeds. I was very moved when I heard it. I was blind and still fighting tenaciously. They are all young people younger than you. Are you not ashamed to compare with others?"

"Ashamed."

"Not moved?"

"move."

"We old men wept."

"I cried too."

"Alas—" the old man stood up with a long sigh, "I really can't do anything about you, why did I raise such a shameless son like you?"

"Then what do you want me to say?" Yu Guan also stood up, "Do I have to say that I am a bastard and a parasite? Why do I dislike you so much? I didn't kill people, set fires, or parade in the streets. Who am I obediently provoking? I have to be a good boy if I look upright and high-spirited? Aren’t I being vulgar?”

"It seems that you are not going to have a frank exchange of ideas with me."

"Let me cook you a meal. I have recently learned a few hands of Western food."

"No, no, I don't eat Western food. The meat in Western food is raw and not easy to chew. We still eat our hometown dish casserole balls. There are tofu, rapeseed, cucumber and mushrooms at home."

"These dishes should be fried separately."

"No, no, I think it's better to stew them together for better nutrition, and you won't be able to escape."

"It's not the same taste."

"There's no other smell, it's not all MSG in the end."

"Is it you who do what I do?"

"How many bowls of dry rice do you eat? Do you know what is delicious?"

"Well, according to you, who told me to call you Dad."

Yu Guan lazily stood up and went to the kitchen to wash vegetables and cut meat.The old man turned on the pocket semiconductor radio, tuned up a lively opera station, put on his glasses, picked up "Old Chinese" and read it carefully.Wearing an apron, Yu Guan barged in with his arms and hands dripping wet and asked:
"Aren't you going to help me at all?"

"Didn't you see that I'm busy?" The old man peeked out from behind his glasses, "Just let me be quiet for a while as soon as I sit down."

"You're not busy if you don't have work, and you're busy right away when you have work. How did you become so lazy? I remember that you also came from a hard life. When you were a child, you were bitten by a landlord's dog begging for food. It's been a long time since you lifted your trouser legs for others to see, right?"

"How did you grow up so big? How did I make you so fat because I was so lazy?"

"It was raised by the people, and the people will send you money to let you train revolutionary offspring."

"Did you forget how I peed on you when you were a child?"

"..."

"Is there no words?" The old man said triumphantly, "Don't compare this with the old man, how many days have you been walking?"

"That's the way to say it. Who of us calls who is daddy? If you want to call me daddy, I'll piss for you too."

五

Yu Guan Laoya's:
I have been waiting for you for several days, and I want you to take me to find a fun place to play, but if you don’t come, I will wait for my mother to make a fuss. Now I have gone to work and come back to clean you up after get off work.

"Who left this note?" Yu Guan said with a smile, "It's too wild."

"Liu Meiping." Yang Zhong said with a smile, "This girl seems to have grown up here these days, and she comes here every day. What holy place did you take her to last time? She will never forget it."

"Ma Qing." Yu Guan turned his head and said to Ma Qing, "I can see that you have taught Liu Meiping a lot in the past few days, and you have passed on your martial arts to her."

"No." Ma Qing raised his head from the novel he was reading, "All I told her these days were words from the Xinhua dictionary."

"Can you idle counter-revolutionary oral sex offender?"

"Him?" Yang Zhong said with a smile, "It's strange that what he wants to pull out is gold and silver."

"Who else has been here these two days?"

"Old Zhao always comes and sits for a long time. We don't have a word with him, just listen to him blowing, and don't leave when the blowing gets boring. We just sit. We are so old that we are too embarrassed to hit him. It's embarrassing."

"Why did he hit us?"

"Who knows, do you think we need him very much?"

"Next time, I'll ask the police to arrest him." Ma Qing said, "It's so annoying. When did my mother give birth to such a brother..."

"Ah, three, okay? We're here today." Zhao Yaoshun came in with a Confucian demeanor, and greeted everyone with a smile.

The three people in the room stopped talking and dispersed to go back to each table.Zhao Yaoshun walked to Yu Guan table and sat down, opened the paper folding fan and fanned:

"Yu Guan, why haven't you come these days?"

Yu watched him "Hey" and didn't say anything.

"Xiao Ma, bring me a glass of water." Zhao Yaoshun turned around and said, "You are very free today."

"We're going to a memorial service this afternoon."

Ma Qing put a glass of boiled water in front of Zhao Yaoshun, walked away and went back to his desk to look this way.

"Who died?"

"A child who can't water."

"Oh, does such a person have to hold a memorial service? It seems that your daily work is really meaningless."

"It's really boring."

"It's not surprising. Young people like you have no education, so it is impossible for them to develop any further. They are discriminated against in society, and their hearts are very painful, but they have no choice but to smile."

Yu Guan lit a cigarette slowly, raised his face and stared at Zhao Yaoshun.

Zhao Yaoshun looked at Yu Guan sincerely: "It's not fair, the society should create better conditions for you. I want to speak out and let the whole society care about you. I am no longer a youth, but my blood is still flowing , still excited, these things, when I think of you, Ma Qing, Yang Zhong and other lovely young people, I can't help myself, and I can't sleep."

"You say we are in pain?"

"Of course, it's too obvious. I can feel it even if you don't tell me."

"What if we weren't in pain?"

"It's impossible—it's illogical. You should be in pain, why not? Pain is the only way to save."

"Then let me tell you, we are not in pain."

"Really?"

"real."

"That can only make me feel sad, it can only show how insensitive you are. This is not Su Sheng but sinking! You should cry yourselves."

"But we don't cry, we are happy."

"The proletarian breaks free only from his chains..."

"Look, we can live with our inconveniences and be comfortable because we know that no one is perfect, it's the same everywhere. We don't expect anything from other people, and we don't want to blame anyone else if our lives don't go our way, and we really can't. Others, not to mention we don't feel that we have been mistreated, and cynicism comes out of nowhere. If you are good, you will benefit the world, but if you are poor, you will be alone. Since it is not enough to accomplish things, we would rather wait quietly until the end of time. You know if you hate someone, how can you politely ask Does he go away?"

"It's better not to speak, to show that you've lost interest in him."

"..."

"I'm leaving."

"I want to hit someone, I fucking really want to hit someone." After Zhao Yaoshun withdrew, Ma Qing jumped out from behind the table, rolled up his arms and sleeves and said with frenzied eyes.

"I want to hit someone too, I want to beat someone badly." Yang Zhong clenched his fists and said tremblingly, "If I hadn't kept telling myself that you would have to go to the Public Security Bureau to pay the medical bills for beating someone, especially the old ones. If it doesn't work out, raising him for the rest of his life is like having another father for no reason, so I rushed forward a long time ago."

"But I really want to fight, I can't care so much, I don't want to think of a way, so I have to fight with you two."

"Okay, let's do this." Yu Guan stood up suddenly, and walked out with his fists clenched, "Let's go to the street and challenge those well-dressed, white and fat gentlemen."

"It's really comfortable, it's really comfortable, I haven't done this for a long time."

Ma Qing and Yang Zhong were gearing up, jumping and following with excitement on their faces.

On the street, the three of them bumped into those middle-aged men with neat hair, straight trouser lines, and unhappy. When they bumped into each other, they all turned their heads and stared at each other. Without exception, the thick middle-aged people did not respond. They understood their situation with just one glance, raised their heads proudly, and walked away without expression.Such forbearance and performance that are similar to each other make the three of them have a good feeling that they are invincible every time they succeed.

Ma Qing excitedly walked to the front, shaking his fists and shouting at passers-by: "Who the hell dares to provoke me? Who the hell dares to provoke me?"

A thick-skinned man in overalls approached him and whispered, "I dare to mess with you."

Ma Qing was stunned for a moment, looked at this young man like a steel tower, looked around and said:
"Then who the hell dares to mess with us?"

At the other end of the street, Zhao Yaoshun was walking aimlessly in a daze. He walked past a telephone booth on the street and turned back. He exchanged a large handful of coins in a small tobacco and alcohol shop on the side of the street, holding it tightly in his hands. , walked into the phone booth, and carefully closed the door.He took a breath, took off the phone, stuffed coins, put the rest of the coins into his trouser pocket, and started dialing. The call was connected. He held the receiver and put it close to his ear, when he heard someone say, "Hello?" Seriously: "Go to your mother, go to your mother, go to your mother!"

At home, Baokang turned red with a microphone and cursed loudly: "Go to your mother!"

Lin Bei turned her head from the table in surprise: "Who are you scolding?"

"Go to your uncle, go to your grandma, go to your eight generations of ancestors!"

Baokang's neck was erect and angry like a penis, he dropped the phone with a "slap", and strode back and forth in the room excitedly:

"Despicable! You start cursing without saying a word, thinking that I can't tell that it's you who are so young."

Zhao Yaoshun flipped through the phone number book and checked carefully, took out a coin and stuffed it into the coin slot, and dialed the number calmly.

"Hello?" said an old, solemn voice.

"Fuck your mother!"

"Our motherland is a garden. The flowers in the garden are so bright. The warm sun shines on us. Everyone has a smile on their face. Wahaha, Wahaha, everyone has a smile on their face."

"This woman has a nice voice."

In the ancient hall surrounded by large pillars, the band played cheerful dance music and the singers sang heartily, and the gorgeously dressed people spun towards each other like a top, and the dance had reached its climax.As soon as Yu Guan, Ma Qing, Yang Zhong, and Liu Meiping entered the dance floor, they were infected by the warm atmosphere. Yang Zhong pulled Liu Meiping up, and Yu Guan and Ma Qing each dragged a girl who was sitting and watching to join the vortex of the crowd.During the big circle tour, they met Baokang and Lin Bei who were also spinning, saw Ding Xiaolu sitting in a corner with a strange young girl peacefully watching the dance, and beside the bandstand they also saw Zhao Yaoshun of the crowd.

When she danced in front of Ding Xiaolu again, she saw them, smiled and waved, and shouted to the audience: "Okay, it's terrible."

Yu Guan smiled and let go of his partner, walked out of the venue, Yang Zhong followed, Liu Meiping let someone else pick him up immediately, Ma Qing also continued to dance with the crowd and walked away, "Long time no see, where are you going? "

"I stay at home every day, not to mention that I can't be found anywhere." Ding Xiaolu said with a smile, "Hi Yang Zhong, please invite our lady to dance around."

"Please." Yang Zhong took the hand of the girl next to Ding Xiaolu, put his arms on his back and danced away.

"Ouch, I'm exhausted." Liu Meiping, who came back from dancing around, fanned the wind with a handkerchief and left the stage with relish. Yu Guan was asked to leave before she could sit still.

"Did you see Lin Bei? She's here too and that Baokang. They're getting married soon."

"She didn't tell us. After all, it was a positive result."

"She's a little scared of you."

"What's so scary about us? You don't know what's going on with us yet?"

"I'm not afraid of you, but people who don't know you think you look hideous."

"Xiao Lu." Lin Bei walked along the dance floor alone with a flushed face, "Why don't you dance? Oh, hello Yu Guan, long time no see."

"I heard you're getting married soon?"

"Ah, that's it, let's see if we end up, we can't leave."

"Don't be so serious, this is a major event in life." Yu Guan said with a smile, "People say that there are a hundred ways to commit suicide, and one of them is to marry a writer."

"Really?" Lin Bei smiled and bent over, "You're really funny."

"Fart! Fart!" Ma Qing pointed at Lin Bei and laughed, dancing in front of them.

"I hate it." Lin Bei gave Ma Qing a faraway look, and turned around with a sweet smile.She was wearing a cotton crewneck with a big "P" printed on it.

"Hey, Yang Zhong, don't sit down." Ding Xiaolu walked away and stopped Yang Zhong who had just come off the stage, and led him to a girl who was sitting dry, "Please ask our lady to dance around again."

"Come on." Yang Zhong led the girl's hand into the arena, adjusted his pace, and danced sharply.

The dance music changed to tango, the rhythm on the dance floor slowed down, and the people who were hugging each other separated, walked cautiously together, bowed and walked.

"Where's Baokang? Why don't you come over?" Yu Guan asked Lin Bei.

"Oh, he was talking to people over there, and he met a few acquaintances."

"Don't listen to what they say." Baokang and Zhao Yaoshun stood side by side, looking at Ma Qing and Yang Zhong, who were in high spirits in the dance hall, talking loudly to each other and controlling the pace of their dance partners, "These people are finished. Not a word of truth came out of their mouths."

The dance music became faster again, and the people began to rotate collectively again, rolling and flowing.Liu Meiping was almost covered by a broad-chested man in his arms, twirling in the wind like a wind, and smiled foolishly: "No, no, I'm not from a song and dance troupe, but I liked dancing when I was young because I have long legs. People in our unit call me Xianhe."

"Hu Da, I really can't do it anymore." Yang Zhong, who had changed his partner to a fat girl, twirled with all his strength, sweating profusely, and said to Ma Qing, who was striding happily beside him, "Ding Xiaolu put the whole The world's heaviest big cucumber was given to me."

Baokang stretched out his hand far away with a smile, and ran towards Lin Bei like a head of state who just got off the plane and walked towards the ranks of dignitaries who greeted him.

With a sullen face, Zhao Yaoshun led a middle-aged woman into the dance hall from time to time looking at her feet and the people behind her.

All the people were dancing and grinning, heads were surging, arms and legs were flying, and the music was deafening.The sweat swaying from people's faces forms a shimmering mist under the light, making people's faces blurred and chaotic, with only parts of nose or eyes showing clearly and fleetingly. , Under this layer of fog are hundreds of crazily writhing bodies and stomping feet, intertwined together, changing positions chaotically.

"Let's dance for a while too." Yu Guan opened his arms.

Ding Xiaolu stood up, tugged at the front of his clothes, and put on Yu Guan: "I can only dance the one we are most familiar with - slow four."

The two slowly swam along the edge of the dance floor.

At night, in Guanjia, the old man was half asleep and half asleep, tuning the pocket semiconductor radio, looking for a station, and the announcers of each station were saying: "This time the program is over..."

(Originally published in "Harvest" No. 1987, 6)
(End of this chapter)