Back to 80: My Literary Life

This is a very ordinary village on the edge of the northern desert, with low farmhouses, dusty roads, solitary poplar trees, and large expanses of spring wheat fields surrounding the village.

It is very similar to the small village where Minghua followed Wu Tianmin to Minqin, Gansu Province to film "Into the Dust" a few years ago.

In fact, the northwest, especially the villages near the edge of the desert such as Gansu and Ningxia, are like this.

"In the past ten years, nothing has changed." Zhao Hongjun said with emotion.

"Who said that? Look at that house on the edge of the village." Fang Minghua said, pointing to a house on the east side of the village.

"Ouch. Someone actually built a tile-roofed house!" Zhao Hongjun exclaimed.

The houses here are similar to those in Guanzhong. They are all half-built. What is unusual is that this house is not the traditional adobe house, but has green brick walls one brick to the top. The roof is covered with red machine tiles. It looks like it was newly built recently.

At this moment, a man rode a "Red Rooster" motorcycle and drove towards this direction.

The official name of the Red Rooster motorcycle is Jialing 50. It is produced by the Chongqing state-owned Jialing Machinery Factory and is modeled after the Japanese prototype PA50. It is known as the "red rooster" for its small and exquisite body and unique red appearance.

This two-stroke, continuously variable transmission motorcycle is loved by ordinary people for its excellent fuel economy and convenient handling, and is also very common in the Guanzhong area.

The motorcycle rider was a man in his early thirties, wearing a somewhat wrinkled suit. Obviously, he was surprised to see the sudden appearance of an off-road vehicle. He slowed down and passed by cautiously. When he missed the car, I didn't forget to take a look inside.

"Jianlin, Zhang Jianlin!" Zhao Hongjun, who was sitting in the passenger seat, suddenly shouted to the man.

When the man heard someone calling his name, he quickly braked and saw the glass of the car window slowly going downstairs, and a big face appeared smiling at him.

Seem to have seen it somewhere?

"I am Zhao Hongjun. Zhao Hongjun, the educated youth who jumped in line, has lived in your house."

"Is it you? You're so fat that I can't even recognize you." The man named Zhang Jianlin quickly parked his "red rooster" in the open space at the back of the car. At this time, Fang Minghua and Zhao Hongjun also got out of the car.

Zhao Hongjun was about to take out his Soft China from his pocket, but when he saw that Zhang Jianlin had already taken out his own cigarette, he put his cigarette case into his pocket and took the other's cigarette.

It is the "ocean" produced by Lanzhou Tobacco Factory.

It is strange to say that Gansu Province is located inland, but the reputation of the "Hayang" brand cigarettes produced by the Lanzhou Cigarette Factory has surpassed the "Lanzhou" brand cigarettes it originally produced.

It is said that this is the fantasy and desire of smokers in the mainland area about the ocean.

Zhang Jianlin gave Fang Minghua another one, but the other party smiled and declined, saying that he didn't know how to smoke.

"Fang Minghua! You haven't changed much." Zhang Jianlin looked at him and said with a smile.

"Why hasn't there been any change? I've also gained a lot of weight." Fang Minghua said with a smile.

"That's not as fat as Zhao Hongjun. He's so fat that I can't even recognize him." Zhang Jianlin said something and then asked: "Who are you?"

"The Red Army and I came back to take a look. We have been away for ten years and have nothing to do recently, so we came back." Fang Minghua explained.

"Let's go, let's go to my house, which is the one on the edge of the village. I repaired it myself after we separated after we got married." Zhang Jianlin greeted warmly, so the two of them drove towards the village, following the motorcycle.

"Zhang Jianlin is a capable person. When we first joined the team, this guy was smart and liked to do things. He became the production captain in his early 20s." Zhao Hongjun said with emotion while driving.

"So, a capable person will be a capable person in any era." Fang Minghua replied with a smile.

The car drove directly into the yard, perhaps hearing the sound of the car outside, and a woman came out of the house, wearing a tacky floral shirt, with a plump figure and a dark and rosy face common in this area.

"This is my wife, Cailian." Zhang Jianlin placed the motorcycle by the eaves and shouted to his wife again: "These two are educated youths who jumped in the queue at our place. If you come here specifically to visit the folks, hurry up. Cook."

The woman smiled, turned around and entered the kitchen without saying anything.

Fang Minghua and the two entered the main room and saw this year's calendar hanging on the side wall. Naturally, they were all beautiful and famous celebrities. Brand-new furniture. There was a 14-inch color TV set on the square table opposite.

"Jianlin, you have changed a lot in the past few years, replacing shotguns with cannons!" Zhao Hongjun sighed.

"Hehe. It's just a fool's errand." Zhang Jianlin was very humble, but his pride was still evident.

"Jianlin, I just saw you going out on a motorcycle. Is there something wrong? Why don't you do your thing and we can just go around casually." Fang Minghua reminded.

"It's not a big deal. I've contracted a project with the county and I'm going to have a look. I can go there later."

"Hey Jianlin, are you the boss?"

"What kind of boss is he? He's just a small contractor." Zhang Jianlin said with a smile: "I have more than 20 people who are fellow villagers nearby. Some big bosses in the county take over projects and give some to us. If they eat meat, I will follow them." Have some soup."

"Yes, yes, you have vision! So are you the production captain now?" Zhao Hongjun asked again.

"The production team was disbanded a few years ago and is now called a village group. Murakami asked me to be the team leader but I didn't want to. It's not interesting."

Zhang Jianlin replied and looked at the two of them again: "I heard that you have returned to your hometown in Xijing. What are you doing?"

"The Red Army is now the big boss of a company in Xijing." Fang Minghua answered with a smile.

"Big boss! Red Army, you are rich, no wonder you are so fat!" Zhang Jianlin said in surprise.

"Minghua is even more powerful. He is now a great writer and the vice chairman of our Provincial Writers Association."

Zhang Jianlin was even more awe-struck after hearing this.

He didn't know what kind of official the vice chairman of the Writers Association was, but he knew what a great writer was.

Tsk tsk, what a cultural person.

The three of them were drinking water and chatting in the living room. Zhang Jianlin's wife was busy in the kitchen, and it didn't take long for her to bring out several bowls of noodles.

"Isn't this fried noodles?" Zhao Hongjun said looking at the big bowl of fragrant noodles.

"Red Army, do you remember? This thing used to be only eaten during the Chinese New Year. Now you can eat it casually. How do you like it?"

Zhao Hongjun put a chopstick into his mouth and chewed it for a while.

"Well, the noodles are chewy and have a rich flavor, not bad."

"Haha, then eat more."

"Where are your children? Just you two?"

"I'm still in class at the village primary school. I won't be back until later. We'll have three meals late here."

At this time, Zhang Jianlin's wife brought another large bowl of fish, which was fragrant.

"Try it, the authentic carp from the Yellow River! Yesterday I went to the county to buy one, and you guys happened to be here today, so I killed it and ate it."

"A big bowl of fish at Jingtai? Then we are in for a treat." Zhao Hongjun picked up a piece of fish and put it in his mouth without hesitation.

After eating, Zhao Hongjun said he wanted to visit the brigade committee, and Zhang Jianlin agreed.

The three of them walked towards the center of the village together.