Classmate Zhang Baotong 2018.8.6

Zhang Jun and Li Jian are the two most promising classmates among the children of their railway workers. The two have been studying in the railway school from elementary school to junior high school to high school, and they have always been classmates, Zhang Jun is the class leader, and Li Jian is the deputy class leader. After graduating from high school, both went to the countryside and worked together in the railway department. They are classmates, comrades-in-arms, and good friends. After the Spring Festival in 1985, when their classmates held their first reunion, Zhang Jun was already the head of the propaganda section of the railway electric section, and Li Jian was the director of the office of the railway public works section. So, both of them were the main organizers of that class reunion.

Soon after, the railway bureau built several cadre buildings in the north of the road, and the two families chose the three doors and three floors of Building 5 together when selecting houses. Zhang Jun's house is in the east household, and Li Jian's family is in the west household, which is the kind of two-bedroom and one-living room of more than 60 square meters. Since then, the two classmates and friends have become door-to-door neighbors, and the relationship between the two families has become more intimate. The Zhang family will send a bowl of dumplings to the Li family, and the Li family will also send some to the Zhang family when making sweet wine. Moreover, Zhang Jun and Li Jian are both propaganda cadres and have a common hobby, that is, literature. The two often discussed literature and writing together, and if Zhang Jun saw a good book, he would immediately recommend it to Li Jian. When Li Jian saw a beautiful article, he would bring it to Zhang Jun to appreciate. Although the two are young cadres in the unit and are very busy with work, when they return home from work, they still insist on writing, and their works often appear in the newspapers.

There is not only affection and friendship between classmates, but also comparisons and competition between each other. In the past, it was about academic performance and personal progress, but now it is about job titles and achievements. However, this contrast and competition does not affect the friendship and affection between them, on the contrary, it has been pushing them to constantly work hard and progress.

The cadres of the railway bureau and the station section were adjusted several times, Zhang Jun became the secretary of the electric affairs section, and Li Jian became the section chief of the public works section. In the 90s, the overall situation of the railway was reformed, the station section was upgraded, and the secretary of the section chief was promoted from the main section level to the deputy department level. As a result, Zhang Jun was transferred to the Railway Newspaper as the deputy editor-in-chief, and Li Jian became the vice president of the Engineering Corporation. At this time, the railway bureau built a high-end hot spring garden community in the center of the city for department-level cadres, which is a small high-rise building with 11 floors, an area of more than 90 square meters, and three bedrooms and one living room.

After the renovation of the new house of the two families, they handed over the old house and moved to the new house to live in. Although the two families are no longer door-to-door neighbors, they have become neighbors on the upper and lower floors. Zhang Jun is on the fifth floor and Li Jian is on the sixth floor. The two could often meet in the elevator, and sometimes, Zhang Jun would invite Li Jian to come over and chat. Li Jian often asks Zhang Jun to come to his house for a drink.

However, the railway newspaper office is outside the second ring road in the northern suburbs, while the engineering company is located on the third ring road in the southern suburbs. From the hot spring garden to the newspaper office to work, you have to take a bus, and you have to change trains in the middle, if the way goes well, you can get there in about 40 minutes, if there is a traffic jam on the road, sometimes you can't get there for two hours. But because Li Jian works in an engineering unit and has his own special car, he is picked up and dropped off by a driver. However, this is the case, from the hot spring garden to the South Third Ring Road, there is no hour that you will never be able to arrive, and if you encounter the rush hour of commuting, it will be almost eight or nine o'clock when you return home.

Half a year later, Zhang Jun suspected that the unit was too far away from home, it was inconvenient to commute to work, and there was no place to rest at noon, so he bought a second-hand house in the Beixincun community next to the unit, which was also a two-bedroom and a living room, but it was only more than 60 square meters, and it was the sixth floor of the top floor. Because I just changed to a new house, I spent more than 100,000 yuan to buy this second-hand house, and I was very tight, so I only put this second-hand house in a simple way and moved over.

Although the second-hand house of this six-story building is not too big, it is also a two-bedroom apartment, and it is okay to live in a family of three. But the main thing is that the house is next to the unit's office building, and it won't take three to five minutes to get home. In this way, Zhang Jun no longer has to squeeze the car at both ends in the morning and evening, and he doesn't have to go out to find a place to eat at noon, but he can walk a few steps to get home, not only can he eat delicious food, but also sleep comfortably. Zhang Jun thinks that it is better to be close to home, and it is more affordable than spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a good car, because you just have a good car, and you have to be patient to sit in the car for an hour or two every day to get to and from work.

In fact, Li Jian can also buy a house near the unit, he earns more money than Zhang Jun in the engineering unit, but he can't look down on the house nearby. The houses in this neighborhood are all ordinary high-rises, and both the facilities and the environment are much worse than the hot spring garden. He felt that he was a deputy department-level cadre, so he had to live in a high-end house, otherwise it would be too inconsistent with his identity. Besides, the unit provided him with a special car, so he overcame the difficulties and ran back and forth.

Zhang Jun rented the renovated hot spring garden house to someone else, and the family moved to the Beixin Village residential area. Because you don't have to get up early in the morning to catch the car, you can eat a good meal and take a nap at noon, so you have plenty of energy to think and write in the evening. A year later, a collection of essays called "on the Moon" was published. And after Li Jian saw Zhang Jun's book, he called Zhang Jun to congratulate him. Zhang Jun asked Li Jian if he was still diligent in pen farming. Li Jian said with annoyance, "I go to work before dawn all day, and I don't come home until it's dark, and after eating, people are so tired that they don't want to move, how can they still have the heart to write?"

Zhang Jun thought about it for a while, so he said, "You are so rich, why don't you buy a house next to the unit, and stop spending time on the way to and from work all day long, after all, we are all older, how much energy do we have?" Li Jian felt that Zhang Jun's words made sense, and said, "I want to do this, but I haven't found a more suitable house yet." Zhang Jun said, "The house, as long as you live in it, there is nothing suitable or inappropriate, don't be too particular." Li Jian smiled and said, "That's right." ”

Although Li Jian said so, he still has a good idea of what kind of house to choose. Soon, he bought a 120-square-meter three-bedroom, two-living room and two-bathroom house in Baiyun Community, near the Daming Palace Ruins Park. Because the environment and location of the house are very good, the price is also expensive, but he has money. He found someone to decorate the house beautifully and meticulously. The house is renovated and can be described as magnificent, like a small palace.

The first thing he had to do was to show off in front of Zhang Jun and let him know that his Li Jian's ability was no worse than that of him Zhang Jun. In fact, when Zhang Jun and Li Jian were neighbors in the past, the two families were secretly comparing to see who was more capable than the other and lived a better life. Because Zhang Jun's wife is beautiful and can speak well, which makes Li Jian envious, Li Jian feels that he has lost a layer compared to Zhang Jun. But Li Jian felt that he was the number one administrative leader in the unit, and Zhang Jun was just a secretary, and he was better than Zhang Jun in terms of real power and benefits. However, Zhang Jun recently published a collection of essays, which compared him to him all at once. Don't underestimate this thin collection of essays, it's a sign of talent. After all, in today's society, there are many people who can make a lot of money, but there are very few people who can publish books. Therefore, Li Jian decided to use this new house to fight back and move back to the first game.

Soon after they moved into the new house, Li Jian invited Zhang Jun and his wife to dinner in the name of his wife. Baiyun Community is near the North Second Ring Road, very close to the Beixincun Community where Zhang Jun lives. Therefore, Zhang Jun took his wife to choose a weekend and came to Li's house. Zhang Jun and his wife, under the guidance of Li Jian and his wife, took a closer look at the whole room. The house is spacious, bright and exquisite, which makes Mrs. Zhang admire and envy. Mrs. Zhang said to Mrs. Li, "It would be good if I could live in a house like yours." Your husband really bought you such a high-end house, and living in it is like a palace. Mrs. Li said modestly and proudly, "Your husband is so talented, he has published books, and he will become a great writer if he continues to develop." But Mrs. Zhang shook her head and said, "What's the use, when I published a book, instead of earning money, I also posted 5,000 yuan into it." Listening to Mrs. Zhang's complaints, Li Jian was afraid that his old classmates would lose face, so he relieved Zhang Jun and said, "That's not easy, if I can publish a book, let alone 5,000 yuan, I am willing to post 50,000 yuan." Mrs. Zhang said, "How can he make as much money as you?"

These words made Li Jian and his wife feel happy in their hearts, and they felt that they had finally overshadowed the Zhang family. Whether Chinese or foreigners, the most important sign of whether a family has money is to look at the house. Men and women love to compete for the rich, but it is difficult to say who is stronger than whom, and who is richer than whom, so everyone looks at each other's houses, and it is clear at a glance.

However, Zhang Jundao didn't think the house was very important. He said to Li Jian, "Your house is really good, but it's too far away from where you work." "Because Daming Palace is in the northern suburbs, it is at least nearly half an hour away from here to work than from the hot spring garden in the center of the city to the South Third Ring Road. But Mrs. Li immediately replied, "It's okay, our old Li will retire from the second line in two years, and he doesn't need to go to work anymore." ”