1980 My literary era

Since the death of his mother, Shi Tiesheng's family's life has been in embarrassment.

In order to support his family and pay off his debts, he had to roll his wheelchair to work in a street factory every day. His job was to draw ladies on duck eggs, day after day, and he could earn more than ten yuan a month.

During this period, in order to obtain the government's disability subsidies and housing area subsidies for the disabled, he spent about two years traveling between the Civil Affairs Bureau, the Educated Youth Affairs Office, and the Housing Authority once a week.

This year I finally got the disability subsidy stipulated in the policy and a house that doubled in size.

The new house is next to Yonghegong Lama Temple, No. 26 Yonghegong Street.

In the large courtyard of the former Yongkang Hutong, Shi Tiesheng's family was packing up when Lin Weimin and Qu Xiaowei arrived. Lin Weimin met Shi Tiesheng's father for the first time. He used to work at Yanjing Forestry College and was transferred to South Yunnan Forestry College a few years ago. . Since his mother passed away, his father has been taking care of Shi Tiesheng's daily life.

Not only Lin Weimin came today, but also two friends of Shi Tiesheng, a man and a woman, a couple. Shi Tiesheng introduced their names as Xu Xiao and Zhou Yiying.

Qu Xiaowei quietly said to Lin Weimin, "The couple are the main force of "Today"."

"today"?

Lin Weimin has traveled back in time for more than a year, and of course he has heard of "Today". The magazine is sponsored by several heavyweight hazy poets such as Zhao Zhenkai and Mang Ke. It has been very popular in the past two years, but it has been suspended recently.

After a few pleasantries, they took the time to help the Shi family move.

Zhou Yiying found a tricycle to come over in advance, and Lin Weimin and Qu Xiaowei could just take care of it.

The Shi family's house is small, but there are a lot of things that can be emptied out. Shi Tiesheng is a little embarrassed, "They are all old belongings, and you are tired."

Qu Xiaowei smiled and said: "What's so tiring about this? There are so many of us and we can finish moving in two trips."

The situation is similar to what he said. The former Yongkang Hutong and Yonghegong Street are a vertical T-shape. The total moving distance may not even be 500 meters. The few young people who came here did not expend much effort.

There is a public tap on the west side of the Lama Temple gate next to the main street. There is a small courtyard in the middle of the courtyard. There are two bungalows in the courtyard. They look to be old. I guess they are. The Republic of China was built.

This is the house that Shi Tiesheng spent two years searching for.

The area of ​​this house was indeed larger than that of the former Yongkang Hutong house. Shi Tiesheng had a room to himself. He rolled his wheelchair around the house. He took out a tape measure from nowhere and asked to measure the new house. area.

With the help of Lin Weimin, the area of ​​​​the house was calculated. It was just over 12 square meters, which was exactly twice the size of the original house.

Shi Tiesheng smiled heartily, as if his long-cherished wish had finally come true.

Cleaning up the house is a troublesome task. After moving everything that can be moved into the new house, the men's work is basically completed.

Xu Xiao took Shi Tiesheng's sister Shi Lan to be responsible for cleaning.

Lin Weimin took advantage of no one's attention and dragged Qu Xiaowei out.

"Why go?"

"Go buy something."

"buy what?"

"Nonsense, it's just something to eat. When we were here last time, didn't you say that Tiesheng loves boiled mutton?"

"Isn't it easy to buy?"

“You have money but are you afraid that you won’t be able to buy anything?”

In the middle of summer, mutton rolls are really not easy to buy. Lin Weimin and Qu Xiaowei went to two vegetable markets and non-staple food stores, but found nothing.

Lin Weimin thought of a way, and the two of them ran to Donglaishun. If there was no mutton elsewhere, it must be available here.

Lin Weimin paid for the mutton. It was a rare moment for Qu Xiaowei to be generous. Lin Weimin didn't give him this opportunity, so he could only buy some vegetables and sesame paste.

"By the way, does Tiesheng's family have a copper pot?"

"It seems not."

I turned around and bought another copper pot.

Vegetables, sauces, eight pounds of mutton, and a copper pot cost nearly 20 yuan. When Lin Weimin and Qu Xiaowei came back, Shi Tiesheng's family and Zhou Yiying and his wife were surprised.

Father Shi was a silent man. He pursed his lips and said, "It cost you money."

"Uncle, you are so polite. Today is our family's housewarming, so let's just celebrate it."

Shi Tiesheng was not polite, but shouted happily: "It's time to eat boiled mutton! I haven't eaten it in a long time!"

Lin Weimin smiled and said: "I will let you eat as much as you want today!"

Everything was ready, and the rest was tidied up. The main force of the work became Father Shi and Xu Xiao.

While they were doing their shopping, the four men were chatting.

Everyone is engaged in writing work, so when they talk about it, they are kind to each other. In the past two years, "Today" has become very popular in the literary circles of Yanjing, and Zhou Yiying and his wife have also become famous.

Although "Today" is considered to be pornographic nowadays, the couple can be considered as friends all over the world. When they talk to Lin Weimin and others, they both know many people, including many people from the Literary Research Institute.

"Let's all come to the table and eat."

The way of eating Lao Yanjing Copper Hotpot is slightly different from the southern hotpot and Dabian stove. The bottom of the pot is usually clear soup.

At this time, the bottom of the pot was boiling and steam was rising. Coupled with the 30-degree weather outside, everyone was covered in sweat within a short while of sitting at the table.

But this heat does not delay eating, but makes people feel more relaxed.

"I think hot pot is a must-have in this summer. It makes your body feel so comfortable!" Qu Xiaowei grinned and was sweating profusely.

"Comfortable, so comfortable!" Zhou Yiying is a person who loves to eat. After boiling the mutton in one bite, he also has to have a sip of soda.

Shi Tiesheng laughed and ate while not forgetting to add meat to his sister Shi Lan. Father Shi silently paid attention to the bottom of the copper pot and the food, and immediately added more when he saw something missing.

While eating, everyone did not forget to chat.

While chatting, we talked about the recent new works of several people. Zhou Yiying and his wife were more engaged in editing rather than creative work. Qu Xiaowei had no inspiration for more than half a year.

The only two people present here, Shi Tiesheng and Lin Weimin, are constantly creating.

Starting last year, Shi Tiesheng first published his short story "The Destiny of Love" in the journal of the Chinese Department of Northwest University. Not long after, he wrote a short story "Brothers", which was published by Xu Xiao in "Today" , and then was reprinted by "Flower City".

Later, he wrote "The Corner Without Sun", which was also published in "Today" and then reprinted by "Youth Literature" with the title changed to "This is the Corner".

"The article "The Death of Yura" in "Contemporary" was written by you, right? I read it and it was really well written." Xu Xiao said to Lin Weimin.

"Not only that, he also published an article in "Zhongshan" this month, which is a novella." Qu Xiaowei showed off.

Zhou Yiying said with an appreciative tone: "Weimin's age is the time when his creative ability is at its peak!"

…

Everyone chatted while eating, and in less than an hour, the eight pounds of mutton were exhausted.

These days, there are not many people who are not short of oil and water in their stomachs.

Shi Tiesheng patted his belly and laughed: "It's a rare meal!"

His humorous tone also made everyone laugh.

After lunch, Shi's father and Shi Lan went to clear the table. Several people wanted to help, but the father and daughter refused. They were asked to chat with Shi Tiesheng.

In the afternoon, Shi Tiesheng's body was very tired after being busy all morning.

A few people didn't stay long and took the initiative to say goodbye.

I felt like I was going to die, my whole body ached to the bones, and my internal organs ached.