After eating and sending his sister back to school, Xu Yiyang easily found the location of the old Yingzhou Education Bureau according to his memory.

In September 1999, Xu Yiyang left home to go to college, and since then, he has basically only returned twice a year.

Immediately after graduating from university, I started working and came back twice a year.

Therefore, after 1999, he actually didn't know much about Yingzhou.

In my impression, every time I come back after leaving home, I feel that Yingzhou has changed a lot, becoming bigger, more prosperous, and more foreign.

Just like the folk singer Zhao Lei sang in the song: "My hometown is getting younger and younger, like a cheesy dress." ”

However, every time Xu Yiyang came back, he didn't have time to get acquainted with it, so he left with his bags on his back.

In this way, year after year, twenty years have passed, and he has become less and less aware of his hometown.

However, Yingzhou before September 1999 has always been imprinted in his mind and lingered.

Because only the current Yingzhou is the Yingzhou he is familiar with, and it is the Yingzhou that he has lived in for 18 years.

This old, small city carried his childhood, childhood and adolescence.

Therefore, he has almost no strangeness to the current Yingzhou.

On the contrary, it feels more intimate.

When Xu Yiyang came to the gate of the Education Bureau, it was 1:50 p.m., and Secretary Hu was already waiting for him at the door.

As soon as he saw Xu Yiyang, Secretary Hu said: "Xiao Xu, Director Cai and the foreign guests have arrived, so I will be waiting for you." ”

Xu Yiyang nodded and hurriedly followed him inside.

After entering the gate, I passed by the open government affairs column, and took a look at it, and found that the top of the list was Director Cai who I saw today.

Director Cai's full name is Cai Zhongyun, and he is the leader of the Yingzhou Education Bureau.

When they arrived at the meeting room of the Education Bureau, Thomas and his wife and Director Cai had already sat down, accompanied by several officials from the Education Bureau.

Two reporters from the Yellow River in the morning also rushed over, this time bringing an additional photographer and a videographer.

Everyone was more or less embarrassed because of the language barrier, and it wasn't until Xu Yiyang came in that everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Thomas Raut waved at him excitedly and said with a smile: "Xu, you are finally here!"

Xu Yiyang smiled: "I'm sorry I'm late." ”

"No, no!" Thomas Raute waved his hand and smiled, "We came a little early." ”

Director Cai also breathed a sigh of relief and said to Xu Yiyang: "Xiao Xu, if you don't come, our communication will not be carried out at all......"

Xu Yiyang nodded and smiled, and said, "Hello Director Cai." ”

Subsequently, he accompanied Thomas and his wife and sat opposite Director Cai and other leaders.

As soon as he sat down, Thomas Raute went straight to the point and said to Xu Yiyang: "Xu, please tell Director Cai that I came to Yingzhou this time to help my grandfather donate 200,000 German marks to Yingzhou, specifically for education. ”

Xu Yiyang translated on the spot, and thoughtfully added: "Director Cai, 200,000 Deutsche marks, almost 1 million yuan." ”

"A million?!"

Director Cai was dumbfounded!

A single donation of 1 million RMB, which is definitely a record-breaking single donation in the field of education in Yingzhou!

In 1999, the purchasing power of 1 million yuan was still very high.

If you take housing prices as a reference yardstick, then it will be at least 2 or 30 times higher than in 2020!

So, Director Cai quickly stood up, shook hands with Thomas Raute with both hands, and said gratefully: "Oh, Mr. Raute, thank you so much! Thank you grandpa for thinking about Yingzhou for so many years!"

Thomas Raute smiled slightly, and said seriously: "Actually, our whole family is very grateful to Yingzhou, if it wasn't for the people of Yingzhou to take in and raise my grandfather, it is likely that he died in a shipwreck with his parents when he was a baby, and naturally there would be no children and grandchildren." ”

After speaking, Thomas Raute said reverently: "Director Cai, I have a small request. ”

Director Cai said, "Please speak!"

Thomas Rauter said: "I hope you can help me find the village where my grandfather lived when he was a child, and my grandfather told me that the place is called Wangjiadu. ”

The three words of Wang Jiadu, Thomas Raute used the standard Yingzhou pronunciation.

According to him, his grandfather grew up in a farming family in Yingzhou, but because of the difficult conditions at that time, he did not study.

Until he was brought back to Germany at the age of twelve, he spoke the standard Yingzhou dialect, but he could barely write a word.

Therefore, the place name of Wangjiadu was also said by the old man to Thomas Raute in the Yingzhou dialect.

Everyone also understood, and the three words he said were Wang Jiadu.

But the problem is that there doesn't seem to be a place called Wangjiadu in Yingzhou at all.

Director Cai pondered for a moment and said to Xu Yiyang: "Xiao Xu, you ask Mr. Laute, did you remember the wrong place name?"

Xu Yiyang thought for a while and said, "Director Cai, Wang Jiadu said the three words very slippery, I shouldn't be mistaken." ”

As he spoke, he said in a low voice: "Director Cai, his grandfather lived in Yingzhou from 1914 to 1926, and the place of Wangjiadu is likely to be the name at that time, after so many years, could it be that the name has been changed?"

Director Cai nodded lightly and said approvingly: "Your analysis is reasonable, it is likely that you have changed your name." ”

After speaking, he instructed Secretary Hu beside him: "Xiaohu, you call our retired old cadres and ask if there was a place called Wangjiadu in our place before." ”

"Okay, Director Cai!" Secretary Hu hurriedly got up and walked out of the conference room.

After a few minutes, he ran back with an excited face and said: "Director Cai, our retired Section Chief Zhao said that there was indeed a village called Wangjiadu in the past, which was on the edge of the Yellow River and was a ferry across the Yellow River, but in the sixties, Wangjiadu Village merged with several small villages next door to form the Happy Commune, and later the People's Commune disintegrated, it was directly called Happy Village, and Happy Village was in Xiaguan Town, a suburb of our city. ”

After listening to Xu Yiyang's translation, Thomas Raute said excitedly: "It's really good, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find this place before I came!"

At this time, Director Cai slapped his thigh excitedly: "Oh, what a coincidence, the town primary school teaching building in Xiaguan Town has been in disrepair, and I want to renovate and rebuild it, but I can't implement it due to lack of funds, so it's better to allocate a part of this donation to renovate the teaching building, and then name it after the old man!"

A million may not seem like much, but after all, the purchasing power is strong, and it is completely enough to renovate a teaching building that is not so large.

Thomas Rauter was also very excited when he heard this, and blurted out: "It would be great if it could really be named after my grandfather!"

As a result, the two sides hit it off and were happy.

Thomas Rauter was also relieved.

After talking about business, Thomas Raute said to Xu Yiyang: "Xu, tomorrow I have to trouble you to accompany us to visit Yingzhou, and we still want to go to Wangjiadu to have a look." ”

Xu Yiyang immediately agreed, and Thomas gave himself almost 3,000 yuan, and he should serve others for one more day.

But he didn't expect that Thomas would pay 600 German marks on the spot, saying that it would be tomorrow's translation fee.

This time, Xu Yiyang didn't dare to accept it, and he was embarrassed to accept it.

I had already received 600 German marks from others before, and Director Cai and the others were all watching.

If you collect so much money from others, you are afraid that others will think that they are too greedy.

So, Xu Yiyang politely refused on the spot, and insisted on righteous words for a long time before Thomas dispelled the idea of giving money.

Director Cai heard that Thomas Raute was going to visit Yingzhou and wanted to go to Wangjiadu again, so he smiled and said: "Xiao Xu, you tell Mr. Raute that tomorrow I will arrange Santana from the Education Bureau for you to travel, Xiaguan Town is still a little far from the city, and the traffic is not so convenient." ”

Xu Yiyang nodded and translated Director Cai's words to Thomas Rauter.

The latter listened to Xu Yiyang's translation and immediately thanked Director Cai.

Director Cai also warmly invited Thomas and his wife to dinner together, but Thomas Raute politely declined, saying that he wanted to walk around Yingzhou with his wife.

Xu Yiyang, as his translator, wanted to accompany him out of professionalism, but Thomas also declined him, and said with a smile: "Xu, you have worked very hard today, go back and rest well, let's see you tomorrow morning!"

Seeing this, Xu Yiyang did not insist anymore, but made an appointment with him to meet at the guest house at eight o'clock tomorrow morning, and then rode to No. 3 Middle School to prepare to take Xu Yishan home.