The Pentium Era - South to North

Zhang Chen parked his motorcycle and took two large bags of seafood from the car. He heard Jin Lili shouting from upstairs: "Zhang Chen, don't bring it up. It's too fishy. Just wash it down below."

Zhang Chen looked up and saw Jin Lily and Liu Ligan standing in the corridor. Liu Ligan also called: "Let's come down."

Zhang Chen put the seafood on the washboard next to the pool and looked at the two bags of seafood, but he was a little helpless.

When I bought these things, I didn’t even think about how to deal with them next, especially the squid. Zhang Chen had only seen dried squid before. Where can I wash fresh squid? There was also a lobster. The boss was the last one. Zhang Chen I bought a lot of other things from his stall, so the boss gave this lobster half to him and half to him.

Yilin's mother was eating with Yilin, leaning against the door of her house. Seeing this, Yilin's mother turned around and put the bowl on the table in front of the hall, walked to the pool, and gently pushed Zhang Chen with her hand, meaning Let him go away a little.

Zhang Chen took two steps away. There, Yilin's mother turned on the faucet and started cleaning. She removed what should go and kept what should be left. She didn't even use scissors, but used her nails to pinch out the fish's belly. There was a small hole, and when I put my finger in it, I pulled out the entire internal organs.

Her washing movements were so skillful and fast that Zhang Chen was dazzled. After Jin Lili and Liu Li got off the pole, they stood next to Zhang Chen and were also stunned. Jin Lili shouted: "Yilin mother, you are so It’s too fast, it’s like a quick shot in a movie!”

I don’t know if Yilin’s mother understood, but she turned around and smiled at them.

In just a few minutes, the two large bags of seafood were cleaned. Zhang Chen and Jin Lili were thinking about how to cut them next, when Yilin's mother called out, "Hey."

Yilin understood, and trotted over to get a cutting board and a knife. Yilin's mother threw the cleaned offal and squid bones into the trash can by the pool, turned around, and asked them with a kitchen knife in her hand. , what are you going to do with these seafood?

"Build a side stove." Liu Ligan said to her and pointed to the utility room with his finger.

Yilin's mother understood, turned around, sliced ​​what needed to be sliced, chopped what needed to be chopped into pieces, and after a while, she had processed both bags of seafood, cleaned them again under the faucet, and still filled two bags. , handed it back to them, and the three people quickly thanked them and went upstairs.

They went back upstairs, and after a while Yilin came up and brought them a jar of the yellow and sticky assorted sauce they had eaten in that mutton hot pot restaurant, and a bowl of small green oranges. Jin Lili was overjoyed to see her.

Zhang Chen asked Yilin to eat together. Yilin shook his head and told them that he had just had dinner. Yilin leaned on the railing of the corridor and did not leave until Liu Ligang put the gas can into the cassette stove and lit it. gone.

The three of them each mixed their own sauces in bowls according to their own needs, and then stared at the pot on the cassette stove, eagerly waiting for the water to boil.

Yilin and his mother came up. It turned out that Yilin had just gone down alone and talked to his mother for a long time, but he didn't explain what the stove was for and how it could be used as a side stove. Yilin's mother decided to come up and take a look. Look, if you understand it, you can demonstrate it to your customers when she sells it tomorrow.

Liu Ligan and Zhang Chen got up quickly. Liu Ligan turned off the flame of the cassette stove. Zhang Chen took away the pot on the stove. The stove was still a little hot, so Liu Ligan used a napkin to cover it. , taught Yilin’s mother how to fill cans and how to light a fire. Yilin’s mother did it herself, learned it, and smiled happily.

Jin Lili asked Yilin's mother to sit down and eat together. Yilin's mother said she didn't want to eat, so she led Yilin downstairs. Before leaving, she picked up the bottle of soy sauce on their table and looked at it.

After a while, Yilin came up again, brought a bottle of soy sauce, and told them, my mother said, your dipping sauce is not delicious, use this.

Yilin turned around and went downstairs again. The three of them were doubtful. Jin Lili made the first move and made another bowl of dipping sauce with the soy sauce Yilin brought. After mixing it, he dipped it with chopsticks and put it in his mouth to taste. He waved his chopsticks and shouted: "Change quickly, change quickly, there's a huge difference!"

They ate too much in this meal, and they also knew why Hainanese people like to eat the side oven so much. The fresh seafood in the oven is so delicious, especially with dipping sauce and small green oranges. Jin Lili said, I don’t want to I went to a big hotel to eat, but I didn’t want to eat outside.

Zhang Chen smiled and said, then we will often make side stoves at home in the future.

OK, I agree! Jin Lili raised her hand.

Before they ate, they originally said they were going to watch a movie. After eating, none of the three of them wanted to move. The neighbors on both sides were not at home. Yilin, mother and son went to bed early again. The whole yard, except for their room, , pitch black and seemed very quiet.

Zhang Chen also turned off the lights in the room, and the three of them sat in the corridor chatting.

In December, the wind has already brought some coolness. For the locals in Hainan, it is already winter. They all wear dual-purpose shirts. But for mainlanders like them, especially those who have experienced the biting cold in Jiangnan. For them, in such weather, wearing this long-sleeved shirt and letting in some cool wind would be just right.

They thought that Yongcheng was already wearing coats and cotton trousers. In our ghost room, the wind whizzed in through the cracks in the door and window. The two of us were hiding under the quilt, but it was still cold.

Jin Lili said.

The same goes for us. Tan Shuzhen covered everything she could with the quilt. I laughed at her, but the only thing missing was the pot lid and toilet seat. She hit me, a dozen times, to keep me warm.

Liu Ligan smiled.

The three of them were all glad that they had come to Haicheng now, and they all expressed deep sympathy for Tan Shuzhen, Xu Jianmei and Feng Laogui.

Liu Ligan said: "Have you ever felt that when you arrived in Hainan, although it was very hard and tiring, the money was much more than in Yongcheng, but when you compare the prices, you didn't actually earn much more, but the people seemed to be better than in Yongcheng. Enrich, if you ask me to go back now, I will never go back."

"Neither can I." Jin Lili said, "When I think about my days in the bearing factory, I feel like I'm going to die of boredom."

"Zhang Chen, what about you? Do you want to go back?" Liu Ligan asked Zhang Chen.

Zhang Chen did not answer whether he wanted to go back or not, but said:

"Do you remember that in the troupe, we complained every day, scolded the troupe, the bureau, and the county, as if the whole world owed you, but now that we are here, there is no need to complain. How are you? It’s your own business. Hello, it’s because you have the ability. If it’s not good, it’s because you don’t have the ability. No one walking on the street or every colleague in the office owes you anything.”

"Yes, that's the feeling." Liu Ligan said, "If someone told me, Liu Ligan, you bastard, you will have to wash the floor every day from now on, look at other people's eyes all day long, and be like a beggar. People are rushing here and there, I would never believe it, but now, haha, you can see that I enjoy it so much, no one makes fun of me or looks at me coldly every day, I’m not even fucking used to it.”

"Yes, you are a bitch!" Jin Lili cursed.

Zhang Chen remembered. He stood up, returned to the room, turned on the light, and said to Jin Lili, "Lily, come and see."

"What are you doing?" Jin Lili walked in.

Zhang Chen took out the painting he painted the day before yesterday from the painting folder and gave it to Jin Lili: "This is for you, hang it in the room."

Jin Lili held the painting, looked at Zhang Chen and asked, "Where did it come from?"

Zhang Chen smiled and said: "Of course I drew it."

"Drawed here?" Jin Lili asked curiously.

"Of course." Zhang Chen said proudly.

"When you arrive in Hainan, do you still have the heart to paint these things?" Jin Lili asked.

"What happened to Hainan? I am also a painter wherever I go." Zhang Chen said.

"Painter, hum, do you know that painters are worthless here?" Jin Lili said, and then she immediately realized that what she said was serious and changed her words: "I mean, how can you have the time and energy?"

"I am just a fish, I have to surface and take a breath." Zhang Chen said.

"But you are not a fish. If you are a fish, you don't have to come to Hainan. You can just be in the Qiantang River." Jin Lili said, put the painting on the table and walked out. Zhang Chen was stunned.

After Jin Lili sat down, she continued: "Gangzhi, what teacher did you mention last time? He was a well-known writer. It's useless. It's not like he doesn't even have an office. Let me tell you, Hainan is just like this."

Zhang Chen glanced at the paintings on the table, turned off the light, and walked out. In the darkness, he leaned on the railing and looked outside, no longer paying attention to Jin Lili.

Jin Lili asked Liu Lizhan: "Gangzi, do what you said make sense?"

"Don't ask me, I have no thoughts every day now." Liu Ligan said.

"Look at people from Qihang and Peking University, they are all so tanned." Jin Lili said.

Liu Ligan shouted: "We from Zhejiang University and Zhejiang American University are not bad at all, and they work very hard."

Jin Lili sneered: "But you are fakes, I am the real Peking University. I heard from Lin Yiyan that Chen Qihang will soon be the vice president of their company."

Liu Ligan and Zhang Chen stopped talking. In the distance, the ghost was singing again. This time, he was probably not playing billiards, but was watching and singing:

"She always only leaves her phone number and never lets me send her home. I heard that you also fell in love with her..."