Chapter 9: Selling donkeys to raise money, and going south to the group to be excited

Author: Biantang Wushi

Chapter 9: Selling donkeys to raise money, and going south to the group to be excited

I fell into deep thought and didn't hear my mother's question at all. Seeing that I didn't answer for a long time, my mother didn't ask again. She just said softly, "Let's have dinner first, and I will give it to you tomorrow." Then I went to Guowu to cook. I originally wanted to ask who to borrow it, but I still shut up, who can I borrow it? Alas, I could only sigh.

Soon my mother fryed a shredded chili pepper and a shredded carrot, a vinegar and a plate of cabbage, and brought out a plate of pickles and a plate of salt beans. On weekdays, my sister, third and fourth brothers were not at home. My parents and brother rarely even cook hot dishes. Basically, every meal was pickled vegetables, and salt beans were dealt with. Otherwise, I would go to the field to pull up a green onion, a roll of pancakes, and drink a little boiled water, and even eat it. The elder brother followed the construction team to do some work outside. Every morning when he went out, he would stack two pancakes, bring a small glass bottle of chili to garlic, and eat it in a jar of hot water at noon.

During the meal, my father asked a few questions about the school’s curriculum arrangements and internships. I explained it in a few words, but my father stopped asking. This is also my father’s usual style. Generally speaking, for a thing, he will first help us analyze the details and prospects, discuss a few words, so that the children know how to make choices, how to plan, and what to do the rest. Whether any thing can be accomplished in the end is to figure it out and plan it well. The most common saying of my father is, “The mountains will fall on the back, and everyone will run away, and only you are the most reliable.”

After dinner, my father went out to help build the yard wall for Brother Dali's house behind the village. I carried a fork and followed my mother to the vegetable garden in front of the village. While it was not frozen, I quickly loosened the ground and sprinkled manure to raise it. After a winter fermentation, it was just right for spring to sow it. This vegetable garden has about 300 square meters, which is more than four parts of the land. Although it is not big, it is also an important source of income for our family.

This land is almost idle all year round. In spring, rapeseed, garlic sprouts, Chinese cabbage, Chinese cabbage; in summer, cucumbers, beans, eggplant; in autumn, peppers, pumpkins, winter melons; in winter, celery, cabbage, and radish. Mother will use a cart to pull trucks of vegetables to the town and county to sell vegetables to subsidize household income.

There is nothing to do in winter, so the next day, I slept until after 8 o'clock. After getting up, I found that my father and mother had already gone out. I drank two bowls of porridge, ate a pancake, and read a book for a while. At noon, my mother came back. As soon as she entered the house, she took out a handkerchief from the cloth bag she carried, opened it layer by layer, and then took out a stack of money to hand it to me, saying, "You can take this money first. If it is not enough, I will sell corn at the end of the year and exchange it for money, and then let your master (local dialect, father's name, single-character master refers to father, and two-character grandfather refers to grandfather) call you."

I asked my mother how she got the money. My mother said, it's hard to borrow money, and it's not easy for relatives. I went to the market early this morning and sold the donkey until noon.

What? The little donkey is sold, what should I do in the field in the future? I have to cultivate the land, pull the cart, and push the mill. How can I do it? I was anxious when I heard this. Will the heavy work at home depend on people in the future? What am I doing? It’s a sin!

My mother smiled and said, "You don't have to worry about this anymore. We have our own way. There must be a road before the car arrives at the mountain. Don't you understand this? Have you learned so many years in vain?"

I held back my tears and took a stack of money from my mother's dry hands. I counted it for a while. There were 1,080 yuan in total. I took out 80 yuan and stuffed it into my mother's hands. Mom, I took 1,000 yuan and I went back to school in the afternoon.

My mother said no, you can take it all. When you go out, it’s not as much as at home, everything is expensive. I forced it into my mother’s hands, and after lunch, I went back to school.

After returning to school, several of our student union cadres who signed up were called by Director Liu and asked us to help count, screen, and review. Finally, 98 boys and 22 girls were identified, most of whom were students from the School of Finance and Economics majors, including international trade, accounting, chamber of commerce, English, foreign-related secretaries, business administration and computer science schools.

Because Mr. Duan said that these majors have good employment prospects and high demand in Shenzhen. Although there are hundreds of people who have registered, they can only go so many for the time being. Until the day before departure, many people hope to take them with them, eager to go to Shenzhen to try their luck.

We can only communicate with them endlessly: our first group of people will first go to the front station to see what is going on in Shenzhen. If it goes well, we will slowly open up a new way of employment. After graduation in June, you can go to Shenzhen, and there are classmates who have gone before to join us. Isn’t that great?

The school came forward and booked tickets to Guangzhou at the railway station. We also started to prepare. My classmate Miao Meng gave me a dress of Adidas sportswear. He is a well-known second-generation official in our class. According to him, it was a souvenir distributed by his father when he participated in the training of the Provincial Party School. He and his father didn't like to wear it. I traveled thousands of miles this time and there was nothing to give, so I gave me this sportswear, hoping that everything would go smoothly. I was particularly moved. It was not that it was a famous brand, mainly due to brotherhood. Although I have been in more than 20 years, I still want to say this here, Brother Mon, thank you.

A few classmates and I went to Chaoyang Market north of the railway station and bought a suit: a pair of black sneakers (75 yuan), a beige shirt (35 yuan), a blue casual suit (70 yuan), a purple-red tie (15 yuan), and then bought a 20 yuan 300 phone card. It is said that it is universally available nationwide, 0.26 yuan per minute. The shirt I bought for 35 yuan is still neatly hung in my closet. Every year, I have to take it out and wear it for a few days to recall it. It was it that accompanied me throughout my green years.

On January 4, 1998, at 2:00 pm, more than 120 of us followed Director Liu and successfully boarded the train to the south, occupying a whole carriage. It took nearly 30 hours to drive along the way, and everyone was in an excited state. No matter how they looked, they didn’t look like they were looking for a job, but they were like they were traveling in groups, playing cards, reading books, and chatting, which was very lively!

Every time we arrived at a stop, everyone would stretch their heads and look around, and some would even run down to let go and go around, which made Director Liu come from the sleeper carriage, come from the sleeper carriage, reminded this and that, let our student union cadres take responsibility, don’t make any trouble, don’t let anyone down.

We played and made fun of each other, laughing and joking, the long journey ended soon. We didn’t feel it yet, and we arrived in Guangzhou. At around 4:20 pm on January 5, as soon as we left Guangzhou Station, we looked at the eight big words on both sides of the station: "Unify the motherland and revitalize China". We suddenly felt shocked, and the sense of responsibility in our body seemed to be immediately activated: Isn’t the reunification of the motherland and the revival of China what we should do? Standing in the square, I took a deep breath of the air from the southern country, and secretly shouted in my heart: Shenzhen, I am coming!

I left the train station and turned to the right, walked about 200 meters, crossed the overpass, arrived at Liuhua Station opposite, took the bus to Longgang and set off. On the bus, everyone was still chattering and talking nonstop. It was strange that after taking the train for a day and a night, I was not tired at all, but excited and excited. I think everyone must be yearning for their future life: wearing a suit and tie, sitting in an air-conditioned office, using a computer, making phone calls, and having a high salary, becoming a white-collar worker who everyone envies.

The bus boarded the Humen Bridge 30 minutes later, it was so majestic! Humen, Lin Zexu's Humen, the beginning of humiliation of the Chinese nation, but for us, it will be the beginning of a new life and a witness to our success.

Along the way, we were shocked by the prosperity of Guangdong. It took nearly two and a half hours to drive, with factories on both sides of the road and brightly lit. From time to time, we saw groups of workers shuttle back and forth.

When we arrived in Shaling, we met a factory worker after get off work. Nearly 10,000 people rushed out of the factory like fish that were drifting away, shocking our chins! It was so spectacular. Countless boys and girls left their hometowns for their families, and for their families. What was the purpose of? It was the yearning for a better life in my heart, and the pursuit of my ideals in my heart. This new era provides us with opportunities. What we need is to work hard and work hard.

At around 20:50, when we arrived in Longgang, it was obviously more lively. Although there were not many high-rise buildings, the traffic was full of traffic, bright lights and people came and went, but it was an unusual scene in the mainland.

Everyone got off the car and lined up and called us. Mr. Duan from Longgang Career Introduction Office took us to Mingcheng Hotel opposite the introduction office. There were 4 people in a room, each with an accommodation fee of 8 yuan per day. Each room had a bathroom, toilet, showerhead, and everything. For us who stayed in a hotel for the first time, this condition was already great.

Everyone quickly unloaded their luggage, washed and rinsed. Director Liu explained that he should not run around. He emphasized again that Shenzhen is very chaotic and anything can happen. You can have dinner nearby. After the group leaders of each group came to Director Liu's room for a meeting.

There are many small restaurants near the hotel. A few of our good classmates entered a fast food restaurant. I ordered a fried rice noodles with eggs for 3 yuan. It tasted really good. Everyone walked around the neighborhood and went to Director Liu's room. This was a single room. Director Liu was already waiting for us. First, he emphasized again that several of us cadres should take responsibility and pay attention to the movements of other students at any time to avoid accidents. Then he talked about tomorrow's arrangements, etc. Finally, when he saw that the watch was 23:00, he urged everyone to go back and rest quickly, get up early tomorrow to prepare for the interview.
Chapter completed!