"East, West, North, South, Central, Fortune to Guangdong. ”

This sentence, which suddenly emerged at the end of the 80s due to the deepening of reform and opening up, spread all over the land of China in the early 90s, stirring up the ambition of countless migrant workers to go south to pan for gold.

Although in a sense this group can be described as "humble", history must admit that whether it is an ordinary assembly line worker, or a small vendor who does not want to enter the factory to be angry, or a foot bathing technician who spreads his legs on a two-meter-long, one-meter-and-five-meter-wide chopping board, this group of south-drifters has carried the magnificent process of China's reform and opening up in the past 40 years.

Since 1992, more than 10 million people from other provinces have poured into Guangdong every year to work, and the floating population has exceeded 26 million.

In early July of 1993, midsummer was thick, it was the best time of the year, and it was also the peak period for students to graduate and leave school, and it was the heyday of the South Drift, in this era without 12306, the Spring Festival and graduation season to buy a train ticket to the south is the most painful moment of the year for everyone.

Even if you buy a train ticket, the seat is not a luxury for the vast majority of ordinary people, every time you pass through a station, the tide of people will rush to the train like refugees, the situation is tragic and spectacular, you can review the story of Huang Hero blocking the eye-catching in the primary school textbook.

Because the passenger flow is too large, at this time the train used to transport goods or pull cattle will also come in handy, this kind of train car only has a 30 centimeter long and wide window, in those days commonly known as "stuffy tank car", just like the name of this image, suffocating, the sun shines during the day, sultry like a sauna; at night the temperature plummets, the cold is pressing, every time the train is picked up, the first thing the staff do is to check one canopy after another, to check whether there are dead people in the carriage.

Zhang Yunqi and his entourage took the most primitive green train in the 90s, with an average speed of 60 kilometers per hour, the same crowds of people, there is no place for the aisle to stand, most people's station method is the golden rooster independent, the toilet is always in a bursting state, and it is common to wait for a few hours to finally dry in the crotch of the crotch, but in any case, at least it is better than the stuffy tank train.

In addition to the agreed few people, there are also Wang Guibing and Ma Shi who went south this time, Ma Shi only returned to Jiangchuan a few days ago, Zhang Yunqi talked to him, and brought him on by the way, because the people brought this time are not yet adults, and the journey is really not peaceful, Wang Guibing and Ma Shi can take care of his safety.

In fact, Zhang Yunqi didn't know how Ji Ling persuaded her father Ji Chong to let her a girl go out for a trip, although Ji Zhong called him, but he didn't say anything, just asked him to take care of Ji Ling.

He didn't know how Ji Zhong could trust him so much.

Except for Zhang Yunqi and Wang Guibing, everyone else is taking the train for the first time, very interested, eating snacks and looking around, this is the graduation season, there are many graduates of Shonan College on the platform, crying and hugging together, especially girls, some are soft into a stall, that scene is not so much a graduation parting, in fact, it is more like a battlefield, when the train leaves the platform, waving arms and tears fly together. The picture is quite touching, although they are only freshmen in high school.

After the train left the platform, Wang Xiaokai and the others pulled up the window one by one to look at the rivers that were gradually moving away and receding, perhaps for them who grew up in this land for the first time, there would be a wonderful feeling at that moment, the feeling of dandelion leaving its mother.

There were a total of nine people in the group, Zhang Yunqi and his sister Chunlan sat together, opposite Chu Jian and Ji Ling, in the next compartment sat Wang Guibing and Wang Xiaokaitian Zhuang Yang Wei, and Ma Shi sat alone in the position diagonally opposite.

Wang Xiaokai's table was upgraded as soon as he got on the car, and he had a lot of fun playing in the smelly, crowded and bumpy carriage, this kind of attitude of being able to relieve himself no matter where he rested is quite enviable, but Zhang Yunqi is not interested in this thing, and he is sleepy when he plays, and he can't play cards with Ji Ling and Chunlan at first sight, and a few people chat nonsense.

The best spirit is Ji Ling, she brought a very metallic Konica camera, took a lot of photos on the way, and the first meeting next to her brought a book, but I didn't look at it, the bumpy train was too dizzy.

The position of the first meeting is close to the side of the aisle, the aisle is full of people, a skinny and dark-skinned migrant worker carrying a large bag leaning next to her, there are too many people, his feet are almost in a suspended state, all relying on one arm to lean on the edge of the position of the first meeting, with the strength to support the golden rooster independence, the train at that time did not have air conditioning, the weather in July was stuffy, hot and dry, the carriage was like a steamer, the migrant worker was full of sweat, especially difficult.

Maybe it was a little unbearable at first sight, so he got up and gave up his seat to the migrant workers.

The migrant worker pulled out his hand with great difficulty and waved it, and then grinned and showed a mouthful of bright white teeth: "You are a student returning home from other places, it is not easy to go out to study, I just stand." ”

In the sound of "clanging" wheels, the green train destined for Guangdong galloped like a wild horse in the Central Plains, and Ji Ling took a lot of photos with his camera.

In that invisible roll of film, there is a picture of a couple who can't buy a ticket and stand and sleep together, and a family of three huddled in one position stacking Arhats, I hold you and you hold your child. Of course, there was also the moment when the peasant uncle grinned at the first sight.

Zhang Yunqi gave up his position to the farmer uncle, chatted, it seems that he is very old, in fact, he is only thirty-eight years old, a native of Sichuan, particularly shy, and only after chatting did he say that he went to Guangdong to work to make money, and he is not married, there is a niece below, and the niece's parents are gone, he raises it, and now his niece is a freshman at Xiangnan Normal University, and he can't afford to farm, so he left his hometown and went south.

From getting on the bus to now more than ten hours, this migrant worker has not eaten anything, in the middle Wang Guibing ordered a box lunch to eat, he asked how much money, after asking nothing, just sat there, but the mental state is very good, especially when talking about his niece, he said that he raised his niece for a few years before he went to normal, and now he has lived for half his life, and he does not plan to ask for a wife, and wants to provide his niece with a stable job after graduating from college.

Zhang Yunqi asked him, "How are your niece's grades?"

"Very good, the first college student in our village is a famous college student. He smiled very happily, and the feeling hidden in the smile could be experienced by Zhang Yunqi every time he showed his mother the test paper with 100 points in his previous life.

。 m.