Zhao Yuemin happily signed the employment contract, handed in the documents, and walked towards home with his bags on his back happily.

Zhao Yuemin was still an unemployed young man who returned to his hometown on the long-distance bus this morning, and he found a job as soon as he arrived in his hometown in the afternoon.

In those days, it was very difficult to find a job. At the end of the 70s, a large number of young intellectuals returned to their hometowns, and the country's unrecovered industry could not accommodate such a large flow of people, resulting in a large number of unemployed young people. Wandering around the streets is nothing, fighting and messing around is the norm, and being able to enter a state-owned unit such as an oil field as a technician is really a qualification worthy of the envy of others.

As Zhao Yuemin walked, he sighed at the changes in his hometown, most of the people who came and went in the town were not from the town, and there were many soldiers in military uniforms, shouting the slogan of the oil battle, and passed by him in a lined up.

Shaohu Town is located in the northern part of Jiangbei Province, surrounded by lakes, worthy of the name of Jiangnan water town. If it is a spring in March, when the wind is warm and willowy, it has the beautiful beauty of a small town in the south of the Yangtze River. Zhao Yuemin remembered that although his family had a house in Weiyang City, and his household registration was also considered a city hukou, his father insisted on moving to this small town to live, and he probably liked this grace. However, after the Jiangbei Oilfield is settled, I am afraid that it will be more lively and less demure.

Walking along the stone bridge in Shaohu Town to the three-way intersection, a middle-aged man in his fifties was already waiting there. His forehead hair was sparsely combed to the side, and he wore a pair of black, square-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, and his sleeves were still greasy, looking casual and unkempt.

"Yuemin!"

The middle-aged man beckoned to Zhao Yuemin.

"Dad!" Zhao Yuemin's face became excited, and he immediately trotted all the way over.

This middle-aged man at the three-way intersection is Zhao Yuemin's father, Zhao Chunda.

"Yuemin ......" Zhao Chunda patted Zhao Yuemin's shoulder heavily,

"You've lost weight."

"There's nothing to eat when you cut in line." When Zhao Yuemin saw his father, he also said with tears in his eyes:

"Dad, why are you still fat?"

Zhao Chunda almost didn't hesitate when he heard this, he helped his glasses, and scolded with a red face:

"Stinky boy, all nonsense. These days, I am full of pickles on weekdays, how can I be fat? Am I fat? I'm puffy. He took the cover on Zhao Yuemin's body, pointed to the front and said, "Let's go, let's go home." ”

Zhao Chunda carried Zhao Yuemin's bed, and his fat figure walked slightly effortlessly in front. This middle-aged man, who is not good-looking, and even walks with a somewhat funny posture, has a glorious resume that the residents of the town do not know. Zhao Chunda was born in the Republic of China, when he was young, he studied in Europe and the United States to study petroleum engineering, which was just emerging at that time, and returned to China after 49 years to give up foreign high-salary benefits and return to China as a technical consultant in the Ministry of Petroleum Industry, and was the first batch of petroleum engineering experts in China. It's a pity that in the following three antis and five antis and ten years of catastrophe, Lao Zhao was beaten as a rightist and imprisoned in the cowshed. After being released, the person has grown old, so he has been incognito and took the young Zhao Yuemin to take root in Shaohu Town.

Zhao Yuemin rarely heard his father mention his mother. He only knows that more than ten years ago, shortly after he was born, his parents had a violent dispute over the question of whether to take root at home or abroad, and then parted ways because of values, and finally his father stayed in China, and his mother went to the United States alone with her luggage.

After Zhao Yuemin's mother left, the family's quality of life plummeted. A high-level intellectual like Zhao Chunda, who used to know nothing about life, was laughed at by his colleagues in the unit and called "a waste from the neck down" as a single father, and a father and a mother, Zhao Yuemin also knows that his father's difficulty is not easy.

Looking at his father's slightly staggering steps, Zhao Yuemin couldn't help but think of the bitterness and loneliness of settling in the queue in recent years, and the other party living alone.

His father's slightly bloated posture was like the scene of Zhu Ziqing's "Back", Zhao Yuemin felt a little sour in his heart, and stepped forward and said, "Dad, I'll take it." ”

"Apparently your dad is useless?" Zhao Chunda dodged Zhao Yuemin's outstretched hand, and said with a straight face, "The parts of your father's body are very good, and they are far from reimbursement." ”

"Dad, what are you talking about?" Zhao Chunda smiled bitterly. The arrogance of a high-ranking intellectual like his father is full of cynicism, and he has not been used to it since he was a child.

"Dad, we haven't seen each other for a few years, and you don't say a good word. I've been thinking about you......" Zhao Yuemin said helplessly.

"The party and the people have sent you to Yunnan to accept the transformation of the poor and middle peasants, and I believe that the commune comrades in Yunnan will not treat you badly. I'm relieved. Zhao Chunda still kept a straight face, snorted, quickened his pace, and walked forward.

The two walked down the slope and saw a few big characters framed on the gate - "Jiangbei Petroleum Workers' Family Compound".

"Our home, right there." Zhao Chunda pointed to a row of two-story red-tiled small brick buildings in front of him.

Jiangbei Oilfield set up a staff dormitory, occupied part of the land, and after discussing with the town government, some local residents also temporarily moved into this workers' family compound.

Entering the house, Zhao Yuemin looked at the furnishings at home with surprise, as expected, his father, as a former scientific researcher, was obviously very bad at housework, and the furniture and objects in the house were also placed at random.

"Dad, do you have anything to eat?" Zhao Yuemin touched his rumbling stomach and asked with a smile.

"I can't starve you." Zhao Chunda responded, "Yuemin, you sit for a while, my soy sauce bottle has bottomed out, go to the neighbor's house next door to borrow some." ”

Zhao Chunda pushed open the door, still maintaining a wooden expression and walked to the door of the neighbor's house, however, after not taking a few steps, he suddenly lost control and slammed the door of the neighbor's house with his fist.

"Old Zhao?" The neighbor pushed the door open.

Zhao Chunda gasped for breath, his face was purple, and he just stared at his neighbor and couldn't say anything.

This frightened the neighbor and asked in fear: "Lao Zhao, are you having a heart attack?" ”

Seeing that Zhao Chunda just panted and shook his head, the neighbor asked again:

"What the hell is going on? What's new up there? ”

"Lao Zhao, you're in a hurry, say it quickly......"

Zhao Chunda leaned against the wall, his body trembled and said:

"My ...... My ......"

"What's wrong with you?"

"- My son is back!"

Tears swirled in Zhao Chunda's eyes, and the mist condensed on his glasses.

He stood on tiptoe, burst into tears, and said incoherently with excitement: "It's been five years—five years!" ”

"A good thing, a good thing. After five years of waiting, my son finally returned. Old Zhaotou, you have saved up food stamps and meat stamps for so long and are reluctant to eat them, just to cook a meal for your son today. The neighbor also said excitedly.

Zhao Chunda cried like a tearful man and nodded, took out a stack of tickets from his arms, and sobbed: "I am reluctant to use it, I am reluctant to use it...... Waiting for the son...... Waiting for my son to ......"

He clenched his fists and waved them in the air, trembling all over, leaning against the wall and panting.

"Old Zhaotou, your life is hard, just guard your son to live, don't let him run around anymore." The neighbor was moved. He knew that Zhao Chunda had been staying in this empty house for five years in a blink of an eye, and the topic of chatting with him every day was to mention his son, but he stubbornly refused to write a letter to Yunnan.

Zhao Chunda immediately nodded like a chicken pecking rice, and then suddenly remembered something, stretched out his hand and said:

"By the way, borrow some soy sauce."

The noon meal was four dishes and one soup, which was extremely sumptuous in that era, and the legendary braised pork that Zhao Yuemin had not seen for several years came to the stage with a fragrant aroma.

When Zhao Yuemin was in the wind, Zhao Chunda rarely moved his chopsticks, just looked at his son, and occasionally showed an imperceptible smile at the corner of his mouth.

When Zhao Yuemin saw his father, he couldn't hide the matter in his heart, and immediately told Zhao Chunda about becoming a driller.

Zhao Chunda responded lightly, didn't seem to care, and cleaned up the dishes and chopsticks with a calm face.

But it didn't take long for Zhao Yuemin to hear his father's long-lost pentatonic singing in the kitchen.

In the afternoon, Zhao Chunda happily helped Zhao Yuemin buy some fruits, washed them and put them on the table, and told Zhao Yuemin that he must work hard when he goes to the oil field, listen to the words of the leader, be willing to endure hardships, and do more things.

Zhao Yuemin accepted all the orders, remembered something, and asked, "Dad, have you been idle in the past few years?" ”

When Zhao Chunda heard the word idle, his brows furrowed, and he said in a cold tone: "What are you idle, your father and I play chess and read books when I have nothing to do, and I also go fishing, and my days are very busy." ”

"No, Dad, now that the Jiangbei Oilfield has just been established, there is a shortage of talents. You are an old group of oil experts in the founding of the People's Republic of China, if you are willing, you can make a report to the organization and go to Jiangbei Oilfield to be the deputy director of the Exploration Bureau. Zhao Yuemin suggested enthusiastically.

Zhao Yuemin proposed this sentence, and Zhao Chunda's face was wrong. He straightened his face and said: "I'll be a deputy director, and then you rely on me as a father, eat and drink, and live the life of a capitalist without effort, right?" ”

"Dad, look at your ......" Although Zhao Chunda said Zhao Yuemin's heart, looking at his father's bad face, he had to pretend to be indignant and said: "Dad, I'm thinking about you." Now that the Gang of Four has been smashed, industrial construction is in ruins, and talents like you are still needed. ”

Zhao Chunda shook his head and said, "Yuemin, you don't know what your father has experienced. Now, I'm not interested in oil anymore, I'm getting old, and my brain is useless. It's better to live two years of leisure life. Now your dad has a job as a boiler burner, and it's good to do it, and he doesn't want anything else. ”

The experts of the Ministry of Petroleum Industry did the boiler burning, and Zhao Yuemin was a little disappointed. However, when he saw that his father was not interested in returning to the oil industry, he stopped squeaking. Indeed, going through such a dark period and suffering a lot is enough to make people disheartened.

After dinner, while Zhao Chunda was out for a walk, Zhao Yuemin placed the bedding that he had settled in line. The first floor of this small red brick building is only about 30 square meters, and those bedding porcelain plates are unsightly in the living room. He simply dragged the things to the attic room on the second floor.

Walking slowly up the narrow staircase, Zhao Yuemin pushed open the door of the attic, but was dumbfounded.

In a narrow, half-person-high attic, there is a desk and bookcase. There are a lot of papers and books spread out on the desk.

Zhao Yuemin took a closer look, they were all professional books on petroleum engineering, and many of the books were circled with red pens.

In the middle of the desk was a stack of manuscript paper, all of which were in the handwriting of his father's pen.

Zhao Yuemin picked up one and saw that the title read "Research Report on the Problem of Card Drilling of Romanian Cone Drilling Rig".

Zhao Yuemin took a look at the manuscript and knew that his father was studying some mechanical failures of oilfield drilling rigs, so he carefully put down the manuscript and placed it in its place. He sighed in his heart that his father still did not forget the oil industry, even if he had left the Ministry of Petroleum Industry, he still did not forget to care about the technical problems of petroleum equipment in the motherland. I went to Yunnan to cut the queue for five years, and I am afraid that in the middle of the night, it is these petroleum books that can accompany my father.

Zhao Yuemin was a little emotional, he was admired by his father's tireless research spirit, and he felt sorry for his father's current situation.

A wish welled up in his heart that one day he would be able to return his father's talents to the oil industry.

Tomorrow is the day of registration, this night, Zhao Yuemin thought for a long time before falling asleep......

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