Return to Singapore 1995

Back in the test workshop, Li Xiaofan continued to operate the No. 8 test machine he was responsible for last night.

Ah Qing and Ah Fei, who were working on the next machine, saw that the team leader Ah Long was not there, and came over. Ah Fei also brought a small Sony tape recorder.

"Ah Fan, brother, thank you!" The two said affectionately.

"Thank me for what?" Li Xiaofan asked curiously.

Ah Fei smiled and said, "Brother Fan, thank you for helping us last night and not affecting our third shift's KPI!"

"We were worried that we would be scolded when we came back!" Ah Qing continued.

"Haha, so that's the case..." Li Xiaofan smiled.

Ah Qing and Ah Fei were the two idiots that Ah TAN told Li Xiaofan last night, who took a temporary sick leave to book a night in Geylang. Ah Qing is from Johor, West Malaysia. Johor is next to Singapore and is separated from Singapore by a bridge. Ah Fei is from Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.

After Li Xiaofan arrived in Singapore, he found that among the Malaysian workers, the ones who came from big cities were more naughty and cunning, like Ah Fei and Ah Qing. In contrast, workers from the countryside, such as those from East Malaysia, are more simple.

The two guys who came back from a night out in Geylang last night are now exhausted and pale. I don’t know how many times they were tossed around by the Thai girls last night. They look exhausted.

“Afan, I’ll leave this radio here tonight. What music do you want to listen to?”

There is an unwritten rule in the Ximu Electronics Factory. After 10 pm and until 6 am, each workshop is allowed to have a radio playing music to stimulate the sleepy nerves of the workers and refresh them! During this time period, the senior management of the factory will not come to inspect. Even if the workshop director comes, everyone will turn a blind eye and tacitly agree to ignore it.

As A Fei spoke, he plugged the radio into the power socket of Li Xiaofan’s workbench.

After plugging in, a female DJ's voice with a soft voice came from the radio:

"Good evening, dear listeners and friends. This is Singapore's top pop music radio station FM933 Zuixin Channel. We will continue to play the most popular music in the Chinese music scene for you..."

"Now, let's review the Chinese music scene in 1994, which we can't say goodbye to. In the past 1994, many friends said that it was not only a great year for world movies, but also a peak era that our Chinese music scene could not surpass, leaving countless classics..."

FM933 Zuixin Channel is the radio station with the highest listening rate in Singapore. Later, it was renamed the top pop music radio station Y.E.S. It is also a relatively old Chinese radio brand in Singapore. Zuixin Channel has been broadcasting 24 hours since May 1994, setting an unprecedented record and far ahead of other local radio stations. On June 1, 1998, the golden name of 933 Zuixin Channel was changed to Y.E.SY.E.S., which is the abbreviation of YOUR ENTERTAINMENT STATION, creating a youthful and avant-garde feature.

As DJ said, the year 1994 was called the year of world cinema on the Internet, because countless excellent films were produced in the world, such as "Forrest Gump", "The Shawshank Redemption", "Speed", "To Live", "Ashes of Time", "Chinese Bond", "Justice, My Foot", "God of Gamblers", "Drunken Master 2", "Eat Drink Man Woman" and other classic blockbusters.

And the Hong Kong music scene that year, the so-called "Alan Tam and Leslie Cheung" era of the two emperors of the Hong Kong music scene, Alan Tam and Leslie Cheung, who competed for the supreme position in the music scene, had just passed, and then the era of the Four Heavenly Kings came. After two years of monopolistic development, the Four Heavenly Kings ushered in the most brilliant blooming of the Hong Kong music scene in 1994, and produced countless classic hits that are still popular today, such as Faye Wong's "Dream Man", Jacky Cheung's "I Waited Until the Flowers Withered", Wakin Chau's "Who Did You Marry Last Night", Andy Lau's "Forget Love Water", Eric Moo's "Too Stupid", and Tom Cheung's "Use "Good Heart", "999 Roses" by Tai Zhengxiao, "Ruthless Rain, Ruthless You" by Qi Qin, "Wanderer's Love Song" by Wu Bai, "Understanding" by Hsin Xiaoqi...

Ah Qing also brought a bunch of cassettes: "Ah Fan, you can listen to cassettes. Here are the latest albums of Eric Moo, Andy Lau, and Zhang Yu, as well as Jacky Cheung's latest "A Thousand Reasons to Be Sad" and Jeff Chang's "Over the Top". Whichever one you like, just pick it!"

At this time, the DJ in the FM933 Zuixin channel selected one of the top ten golden songs in mainland China in 1994, "Are You Okay in a Foreign Land" by Li Jin and started playing.

Li Xiaofan felt that this song was very appropriate, so he said:

"The music in FM933 is pretty good, let's listen to the radio, thank you!"

After Ah Qing and Ah Fei left, Li Xiaofan operated the machine while immersing himself in the music.

"On that rainy Sunday, I sent you away from your hometown.

We couldn't hear the sorrow in each other's hearts because of the rain.

We had said what we should say, thousands of times.

The unspeakable feeling floated in the rain.

When tears blurred my vision, I found that you were gone.

Let the cold rain wet my thoughts.

Are you okay in a foreign land...

On that rainy Sunday, I sent you away from your hometown.

We couldn't hear the rain because of the rain. Let the cold rain wet my thoughts.

Are you okay in a foreign land? Did tears wet my eyes?

Are you okay in a foreign land? Have you ever thought of leaning on my shoulders?

Your smile that is no longer familiar..."

Listening to the familiar music and recalling the past, Li Xiaofan couldn't help feeling sad, and tears blurred his eyes.

Just then the team leader came over and asked curiously: "Ah Fan, what's wrong?"

Li Xiaofan wiped away his tears and said: "It's okay, maybe some dust got into my eyes..."

After Ah Long left, Ah Fei and Ah Qing came over again.

"Ah Fan, what's wrong, are you homesick?"

"Brother Fan, do you miss your girlfriend?"

Li Xiaofan shook his head and smiled: "No..."

Ah Fei smiled evilly: "Ah Fan, I heard from Ah TAN that you seem to be a virgin, and you haven't even been to Geylang?"

Oh, damn, Ah TAN is such a big mouth!

"Brother Fan, next time you go to Geylang for a night with us, it's very cool!"

Li Xiaofan was happy to hear this: "Looking at the way you look now, let's forget it..."

Recently, there are surprisingly many orders for circuit boards. At Ah Fei's request, Li Xiaofan had to work overtime until eight in the morning.

After the overtime at eight o'clock, it was already Saturday.

Four hours of work on Saturday is enough.

Li Xiaofan got off work on time from 5:30 to 10 o'clock in the evening. He wanted to have a good sleep tonight.

He slept soundly that night, and he hadn't slept so soundly at night for a long time.

After waking up in the morning, he went to the market to enjoy a delicious Singaporean breakfast.

The so-called Singaporean breakfast is charcoal-grilled bread wrapped with cold butter slices and a large smear of kaya paste made from coconut milk and eggs, accompanied by a cup of Nanyang coffee or milk tea, two half-cooked eggs with slurry yolks and transparent egg whites, and served with black soy sauce and white pepper. It is an authentic Singaporean breakfast.

After eating, he felt unsatisfied and ordered another carrot cake. Carrot cake is also called "carrot cake". It is made by wrapping steamed rice noodles and white radish into pieces, frying them with eggs until golden, and then sprinkling on onion flowers. Contrary to the name, the local fried carrot cake does not have a trace of carrot orange, but is divided into black or white. It is a very common food among the Chaoshan residents in Singapore and is very popular.

After breakfast, he walked to the Changi Village No. 2 Bus Terminal next door and boarded the No. 2 bus to the Tampines Town Center.

Route 2 is one of Singapore's oldest bus routes, going directly to Bugis and Chinatown in the city center with relatively frequent service. Although it overlaps significantly with the Singapore MRT East-West Line, it is still quite popular among passengers along the route.