Time flies so fast, when Cen Xinrui picked up the eighteen loads, the sun was already directly above his head.

"What, do you still want to pick a load?" Huang Fusheng, a neighbor who was about to get up and down from the gangplank to the barge with an empty basket and already loaded his basket with coal, asked Huang Fusheng, who was about to get up.

"The man who weighed the yard said that he was waiting for me. Cen Xinrui picked up a shovel from under his feet and loaded himself with coal.

"Brother, money is inexhaustible, your bones are still tender, take it easy. Huang Fusheng slowly straightened his waist, jumped a load of coal on his shoulders, and stepped on the slightly swaying gangplank towards the barge deck. Although he walked steadily, the muscles on his shoulders were still bulging because the burden was too heavy.

Looking at Huang Fusheng's courage of at least more than 150 catties, and looking at his sturdy calves, Cen Xinrui was very envious. He estimated that Huang Fusheng could jump forty pounds a day, totaling 6,000 catties. According to 100 catties and 7 cents, there are four yuan and two cents in a day, and more than 120 yuan in a month. After deducting the 15 percent management fee withdrawn by the neighborhood committee, there are more than 100 yuan a month. Unlike himself, he can only pick up a hundred catties at a time, and he has to rest his shoulders halfway, which is a maximum of 3,000 catties a day. The income is only half of Huang Fusheng's.

When can I have the strength of his, Cen Xinrui thought as he loaded the coal.

"Xinrui, have you loaded it, let's go together after you have installed it. In another partition cabin, Shao Yishan, who came with him to pick coal, greeted him.

"Come on, or you go first. Cen Xinrui turned his head and responded.

"Okay, I'll wait for you in the coal stack. ”

Listening to Shao Yishan's footsteps coming from the front deck of the barge, Cen Xinrui spat into the palm of his hand and sped up the movement in his hand. Honestly. After a morning, he was a little tired, so the work of loading the basket with coal was actually a kind of rest for him. It has been more than half a month since the start of coal picking. During this period of time, he truly realized the hardships of doing heavy work: picking less, not to mention how much money he earns, and not looking good on his face; picking too much, his shoulders hurt, his waist can't hold up, he can't go far and he has to rest, and he can't earn much money. Because of the back pain, his whole body seemed to fall apart, and he had the idea of retreating after two days, but when he thought that his father had been deducted from his salary, and it was not the same thing to stay at home and eat idle meals, he decided to persevere. It's strange to say. After gritting his teeth and holding on for three or four days, he gradually adapted to this kind of work, not only did his strength increase a lot, but his mood calmed down a lot.

No wonder some people say that labor can cure diseases, and now it seems that it is really like that, Cen Xinrui thought. These days, he is not only more selective than he started, but also knows a lot of people who are also here to beg for a living. In his conversation with them, he found that although they were rude and straightforward, they were kind-hearted, and they did not fight or grab when they got on the coal, and they were humble to each other when they crossed the springboard. And they were surprisingly bold, even daring to talk about the Great Revolution. Especially Huang Fusheng, a neighbor who had rarely interacted with him before, often said something very out of line, which made his heart tremble. He knew that these people were well-born and not afraid of things, so he warned himself that he could not listen to their nonsense, and he really could not hide from them, and he could only listen to them without speaking, let alone call them brothers and sisters like each other

But that's how strange things are, he doesn't look for others, but others come to him. No, just as he was loading his burden and about to carry it onto the gangplank leading to the barge deck, someone outside the cabin shouted: "Is Cen Xinrui down there? ”

"Ah, here we are. Hearing the question, Cen Xinrui responded casually, but he felt very puzzled in his heart: Who is looking for me, and they have all found here? He put the flat shoulder on his shoulder, slowly straightened his waist, and then carefully stepped on the springboard. Since it was the last load of the morning, this time he was more full.

"Slow down, posterity. Seeing that he was a little struggling, the middle-aged sailor on the barge reminded.

"Thank you. Cen Xinrui replied, with the slight flashing of the springboard under his feet, he walked up to the deck step by step, and then walked over the springboard between the deck and the dock, and stepped on land.

"Cen Xinrui!" Just as he was climbing up the embankment along the slope with heavy steps, a call came from the side.

"It's you, what's wrong with me?" Cen Xinrui stopped, and when he turned his head, he found that it was Lin Hongying who called him.

"I can't look for you if it's okay?" Lin Hongying said coquettishly.

"I'm sorry, I don't have time to chat with you. Cen Xinrui replaced the heavy burden on his shoulders and walked forward with a "snort".

"After climbing such a steep slope, I have to take a break. Seeing this, Lin Hongying followed behind.

"The people who weigh the coal stack are going to have lunch. Cen Xinrui was struggling, and he was a little impatient to be talked to by a person who had nothing to do. He replied to her very reluctantly, and without squeaking, he staggered towards the yard with the coal on his shoulder.

"Then—I'll be waiting for you outside. Looking at the black in the stackyard from a distance, and looking at the clean shoes and socks under her feet, Lin Hongying followed behind, walked a few steps, and trotted a few steps.

At this moment, a large group of men who picked coal walked out of the stack yard with empty baskets, and when they saw Lin Hongying standing outside and looking in, their eyes suddenly straightened, and after a moment of amazement, they began to talk nonsense-

"Hey, what's the matter with a little girl?"

"Don't say it, she looks really good, look at her face, waist, and ass, tsk!"

"Tsk, no matter how much you, you won't have your share!"

"Can't you just talk about it?"

"Hahahaha. ”

Listening to these foul words, Lin Hongying was naturally very annoyed, but somehow, she was a little proud. She knew that she had a good face and a slender figure, so it was no wonder that these rude men in front of her would squeeze their eyebrows and cast ambiguous and even dirty eyes at her. But it is precisely because of this that she is very puzzled by Cen Xinrui's performance: doesn't he like beautiful and enthusiastic girls? If not, why is he turned away every time he takes the initiative to greet him?

After waiting for a long time, Lin Hongying finally saw Cen Xinrui who came out of the stack yard, and Shao Yishan beside him.

"Cen Xinrui, Lin Hongying is here to find you, right?" Seeing Lin Hongying looking over here, Shao Yishan asked.

"Maybe. Cen Xinrui said vaguely.

"Let's talk, I'll go first. Seeing Lin Hongying coming from Cen Xinrui, Shao Yishan walked away with interest, although he liked this beautiful girl very much and had been eager to have more contact with her.

"If you have anything, just say it, I'm going back to have lunch," Cen Xinrui looked into the distance and said expressionlessly, "I still have to go to work in the afternoon." ”

Seeing Cen Xinrui treating himself as nothing, Lin Hongying suddenly became a little annoyed. But she didn't dare to show it, so she could only endure it and say in a gentle tone as much as possible: "I just want to tell you that I didn't squeeze you out of the printing house." I just want to squeeze you, and I don't have the ability. ”

"I know, so I didn't blame you. Hearing this, Cen Xinrui turned his head and glanced at her, but his expression was still faint.

"Then I'm relieved. Hearing him say this, Lin Hongying was very happy, and couldn't help but caress her plump chest with her hand.

"Nothing else, then I'll go. Seeing this, Cen Xinrui said goodbye.

"Oh, there's one more thing," Seeing that he was leaving, Lin Hongying hurriedly said: "I see that you have worked too hard to pick coal, and you have nothing to do after picking these coals, so I found you a temporary worker." ”

"You got me a temporary job?" Hearing this, Cen Xinrui suspected that something was wrong with his ears.

"Yes, it is to pull coke and iron for the cupola at the Qiyi Foundry, thirty yuan a month. After a pause, he said, "Of course, it is also manual work, but it is easier to pull it with a bucket truck than to pick coal, and it is not outside." ”

"It's your father's factory, right?" Cen Xinrui remembered that Lin Hongying's father was the deputy director of the Qiyi Foundry.

"Yes. Lin Hongying admitted.

"Thank you, but I'm not going. Hearing her say this, Cen Xinrui refused.

"Why?" Lin Hongying was a little dumbfounded. She thought he would be glad to hear it.

"No, I just don't want to go. Cen Xinrui said expressionlessly. After speaking, he walked home with an empty basket. He didn't have time to chat with her, and his grandmother, mother and little sister were still waiting for him to have lunch.

Looking at Cen Xinrui's back, Lin Hongying was very bored. For the temporary worker of Qiyi Foundry, she lied to her father for several days, but Cen Xinrui didn't take it seriously at all. She was so frustrated and annoyed that she wanted to ignore him again. But she couldn't let go of anything in her heart. She didn't believe that this almost seventeen-year-old man was not enlightened about men and women, and he was unwilling to be nothing in his eyes.

Standing on the riverbank that was gradually empty, looking at Cen Xinrui who was getting farther and farther, Lin Hongying was very depressed.

But what Lin Hongying and Cen Xinrui didn't expect was that in the interaction between men and women and the meaning of social life they implied, their relationship could not be more pediatric, and the surprising events caused by emotional connections were not only unseen, but also unexpected. In the early morning of the second day, when they could not talk, a sudden incident stunned the residents of Yahou Street, including the two of them

Isn't this woman Tian Xingju? The man should be her boyfriend Li Mingqing! The neighbors rushed forward one after another, discussing and pointing out, but of course, they were more puzzled and shocked.

"Cheating, who saw it?"

"Yes, catch the thief and take the dirty, catch the traitor and take the double, have you caught the current situation of the people?"

"It's a sin, someone else's big girl's family has to marry a cub, it's not good to spray like this!"

Although the people on the stage spoke righteously and strictly, the residents of Yahou Street had their own opinions. Especially the old man, Tian Xingju grew up with them, what kind of person she is, they know very well in their hearts.

Seeing that few people responded, on the contrary, they clearly sympathized with Tian Xingju and Li Mingqing, who were being beaten, and some people could no longer hold back, so they jumped out and shouted loudly: "Who is speaking for the bad guys? You stand up! What else do you say that you didn't catch the traitor, let me tell you, this pair of dogs and men and women are the ones I pressed on the bed." ”

When everyone heard this, they were taken aback, and when they looked closely, they found that it was Zhou Bajin again.

"What are you doing at Tian's house when you have nothing to do?" The neighbors had never seen this-stirring stick, and some people immediately questioned his claim.

"You don't know, right?" This time it was Zhou Bajin's turn to be proud, "Let me tell you, this time it was her stepmother who called me, but people are righteous and kill relatives." ”

Hearing this, everyone was even more shocked, and then sighed: This person is the head of the family, and Tian Xingju deserves to be unlucky.

Although it was far away, Zhou Bajin's words still reached Cen Xinrui's ears. Faced with this kind of fact, he naturally despised Tian Xingju's stepmother, but at the same time, he was puzzled by Tian Xingju's behavior: When is it, how can you still have the courage to accept your boyfriend who is serving a prison sentence, don't you know that it is easy to go wrong? Standing on a high place outside the crowd, watching Tian Xingju and her boyfriend

The neighbors were talking about something, but the dizzy Tian Xingju didn't hear a word clearly. Due to being pushed and staggered along the way, her head was a mess like a pot of porridge, and there were occasional times when she was awake. is also a good heart, just when she subconsciously dodged Zhou Bajin deliberately playing with her arm, even one side of her face, her eyes collided with Cen Xinrui's gaze. At that moment, like lightning, she understood what this young man was thinking.

Why did he do this? Thinking of this question, Tian Xingju was very sad. In the eyes of many people, this is an extremely stupid act: it is too worthless to fall into this field for the sake of a suppressed man. But how did they know that she was actually doing this for herself, for the emotion that she had held on to for seven years. Naturally, there is indeed something inappropriate for Li Mingqing to sneak back, but since he did not hesitate to risk the punishment and ran back to see her, she couldn't be ruthless and unrighteous and shut her door, not to mention that she never thought he was a bad person. In her mind, he has always been a good person worthy of being entrusted with his life. You must know that without his nine years of jumping into the water, she would have been dead since she fell into the lake on the outskirts of Lichuan City when the school organized a spring outing.

Li Mingqing sneaked back last night. When he saw that he was tired and suddenly appeared in front of him, Tian Xingju was very surprised. She knew that he was the target of key supervision in the labor camp, and he was not allowed to go out easily. But she didn't ask about the situation, just busy giving him Zhang Luo food and drink. From the way his gray face and dry lips were shells, she knew that he was hungry and thirsty, and that what he needed most at the moment was food and water. It's just that what she didn't expect was that Li Mingqing's purpose in sneaking back was to tell her that he was told by the correctional officers that he would be transferred to Qinghai soon, and this meant that he didn't know if he would meet Tian Xingju again, so even if he might be charged with escaping from prison, he would have to meet her before the transfer.

Hearing such news, Tian Xingju was stunned, and was speechless for a long time, and he didn't even know that the water in the cup in his hand was rippling out.

"Xingju, I can't drag you down anymore, I think we'll stop here. In the cramped and dimly lit house, facing his beloved girlfriend, although Li Mingqing was very miserable, he still said the decision he made after difficult consideration.

Li Mingqing's painful words made Tian Xingju come back from her stunned, and when she figured out what the other party meant, she was very angry: "Why do you say such things again?"

"This time I went to Qinghai, not only the distance is not much farther away, but it is really hard to say whether I can come back alive. Li Mingqing avoided Tian Xingju's dissatisfied eyes and said hoarsely. He is telling the truth, and some of the prisoners who are serving sentences with him today have been transferred from Qinghai because of "good reform," and they have heard them say that not only are the conditions there much more difficult than those in the mainland, but also that the discipline is particularly severe, and every year people die from work-related injuries, starvation, disease, and so on.

"I don't care about that, as long as you live in this world, I won't marry anyone else. Hearing Li Mingqing's words, Tian Xingju didn't think about it, so he refused.

Faced with such a reply, Li Mingqing was speechless. It's just that he really doesn't want to bother her. For him, she withstood the high pressure of her parents and the ridicule of public opinion, and spent nine years with difficulty from the age of seventeen to twenty-six. There can be several nine years in her life, not to mention that these nine years are the best youth years in her life. When he thought that she was just a middle school classmate who was a few years lower than him, and he didn't owe him anything, but he had brought her so much pain, he felt ashamed, sad, and ashamed. Thinking of this, especially of the fifteen years he had been sentenced to prison and six years of hard work, he couldn't help but tremble, and two lines of bitter tears flowed down his cheeks.

Seeing her lover like this, Tian Xingju mourned in her heart, and tears overflowed in her eyes. When she was sad, she walked up to Li Mingqing, who was sitting in a chair, and hugged his head into her chest.

Li Mingqing sat in a daze, because he was still immersed in painful thoughts, he didn't react to Tian Xingju's actions for a while

"That's it, let's get right!" After a moment of silence, Tian Xingju suddenly pushed Li Mingqing away and began to unbutton his clothes.

What are you doing here? In the face of Tian Xingju's sudden move, Li Mingqing didn't understand it at first, but when he saw her quickly take off her coat and pants, especially when he saw the resolute look in her eyes, he immediately knew what she was going to do.

"Don't do that!" he got up and rushed over to grab her hands.

Tian Xingju struggled, but finally had to stop his movements because he was not as strong as the other party. It's just that at the moment, she feels even more uncomfortable. In the midst of suffering, a very sad sentence rushed out of his mouth -

"That's it, you still don't want me?"

"I can't hurt you!" Looking at her tearful eyes, Li Mingqing's heart trembled for a while, he pressed her hands hard, and whimpered silently: "Even if we want to do this kind of thing, we will have to wait until the day when I regain my freedom!"

Hearing him say this, Tian Xingju was speechless, but the tears couldn't be stopped, like the flow of water that opened the floodgates, silently flowing on his face. Maybe she was too excited, but at this moment, she felt that her body was so soft that she was about to be paralyzed, and it was easy to support her and not fall. To be honest, since she linked her fate with Li Mingqing, she has been under huge life pressure and mental burden. Sometimes she also doubts the meaning of her hard work, but when she thinks of Li Mingqing's kindness to herself, especially whether he can support himself without his own love and support, she feels that she should grit her teeth and wait for the day when he walks out of the labor camp. It is precisely because of this that no matter how her father pressures her or how others persuade her, she is unwilling and unable to expel Li Mingqing from her heart and accept another man instead. Although she and he were in love for each other in the first two years of college, his character and talent, especially his love and care for her back then, took root in her heart. She thinks that if she doesn't marry, forget it, and if she marries, she will marry such a person. It's just that she never thought that such a person would be beaten to the extreme right and sentenced to a heavy sentence. She often wondered, how could he, a college student who was born as an orphan, be a bad person? If he was a bad person, how could he join the party when he was in high school, and why could he be elected president of the student union in college?

What Tian Xingju was thinking, Li Mingqing had no way of knowing, what he was most concerned about at the moment was her emotions. Watching her gradually calm down, his heart slowly calmed down. But just as Tian Xingju put on the clothes and pants he had taken off, there were chaotic footsteps and noises outside the door. Before they could figure out what was going on, led by Zhou Bajin, a large group of unknown people rushed into the small room and dragged them into the courtyard outside the house. couldn't help but say it, not only Li Mingqing was slapped a few times, but Tian Xingju was also constantly pushed. Although Tian Xingju couldn't tell who these people who broke into the door one by one due to panic, there was one person she could see clearly, that is, the stepmother with a smug face, although she hid behind everyone and didn't say a word.

Alas-

Thinking back to everything that happened last night, Tian Xingju felt as if he had walked in hell. Although she knew from the beginning that it would be very risky to take on a boyfriend at home, she never imagined that things would happen this way. Of course, she was very uncomfortable with the humiliation she had suffered, but she was more worried about Li Mingqing's situation at the moment. She knew that with the ferocity of the rebels, especially the deliberate involvement of Zhou Bajin and other gangsters, he would inevitably suffer from flesh and skin, and if the correctional staff of the labor camp could not understand why he had run away from him, the punishment for him would be even worse.