"There's nothing to worry about, I'm not a child. Staying in this remote village all day, opportunities will never come to me, and even if there are plenty of opportunities outside, it has nothing to do with me. The outside world is really big, and I don't know what the sea and the sky are until I go out. Jianping had already prepared this set of rhetoric.

"Now that you've made up your mind, then you can go, I won't drag you back, it's just that you go out blindly, which is really reassuring." Yuling's worries cannot be dispelled by Zhou Jianping's words.

"It's not that scary, there must be a road before the car reaches the mountain. Besides, two or three years ago, I went to Guangzhou alone, and now the situation is much better than then, and the environment in all aspects is much more relaxed than in the previous two years. Zhou Jianping said with relief.

On the twenty-second day of the first month, Zhou Jianping left home and came to Huaxing City, he was going to visit a classmate in high school, this old classmate named Ma Xingwei, the college entrance examination score was not as good as Zhou Jianping, but he was a city resident, his old father was a factory director in a local state-owned enterprise, after graduating from high school, Ma Xingwei was arranged to work in his father's company.

Although the family conditions are very different, Zhou Jianping and Ma Xingwei have similar personalities and temperaments, as the saying goes, people gather by like, and things are divided by groups, and in a class of more than 60 people, they can talk the most. Although Zhou Jianping's clothing and living conditions are not at the same level as Ma Xingwei, Ma Xingwei does not dislike it, and whenever he returns to school on Sunday afternoon, he brings something delicious from home, and Ma Xingwei is always willing to share it with Zhou Jianping.

In the afternoon, Zhou Jianping walked around the big shops in Huaxing City a few times, spent dozens of yuan, and bought two bottles of local wine, a cigarette, and a few catties of apples. In the evening, according to the contact address left at the time of graduation, Zhou Jianping found the residence of Ma Xingwei's family, which is a factory and residential area some distance from the city center, there are about dozens of old-style buildings, these buildings are almost exactly the same shape, the surface is only two colors, either bare red bricks of the wall, or showing the gray of cement, and each building is five floors, if it is not for the eye-catching building number written on the side of the building, outsiders can not tell at all.

After some inquiry, Zhou Jianping found Unit 2 of Building 9, he climbed up to the 3rd floor, came to the door of No. 302, and recalled again whether he remembered wrong, after getting a positive answer, Zhou Jianping raised his hand and knocked on the door twice, "Who?" As the question was spoken, a young woman appeared in the doorway as the door opened.

"May I ask if this is Ma Xingwei's house?"

"Are you looking for Xingwei? Xingwei, here comes the guest! The woman turned her head and shouted in as she let Zhou Jianping into the house.

"Who's looking for me?" I haven't seen anyone yet, so I'll hear it first.

"Xingwei, old classmate, I'm coming to see you!" Zhou Jianping replied loudly.

"Ouch! Jianping old classmates, welcome! Ma Xingwei walked quickly to the foyer, "What are you doing here?" He pointed to what Zhou Jianping was carrying.

"I'm coming to see you!"

"Come on, come on, be so polite with me?"

"A little meaning, for the elderly, not a tribute."

"Hey! You're really out of sight, how can I use this? Uh, let me introduce, Jianping, this is my lover Xiao Min, Xiao Min, this is my best classmate Zhou Jianping in high school. ”

"Hello!"

"Welcome, welcome!" Ma Xingwei's wife took the initiative to reach out and shake hands with Zhou Jianping.

"Xingwei, don't stand and talk, please sit down and talk." Xiao Min reminded.

"Oh, yes, let's go into the living room and sit down and talk."

The so-called living room is a usual eating place in the hallway, in addition to a dining table, there are two simple sofas and a coffee table. This is a typical old-style two-bedroom and one-hall structure, with an overall area of about 70 square meters.

"Xingwei, why didn't you see your uncle and aunt?"

"Before I got married, the unit assigned them a new home, so they left the old house to me. Jianping, you're married too, aren't you? What have you been up to in the past few years? When you were still in school, you were an assertive and thoughtful person, and it was impossible for you to return to the village and be a farmer willingly, right? It doesn't look like it. Ma Xingwei asked.

"I only got married at the end of last year, a little later than you. In the past few years since graduation, I have tasted both the ups and downs, and it is difficult to put into words. ”

"Xingwei, don't you ask the guests if they've had dinner?" Xiao Min reminded.

"Yes, we met and talked, Jianping, have you had dinner?"

"I've eaten it."

"It's only seven o'clock, you're running errands outside, where are you going to eat? If it doesn't work, I'll eat some more with you. ”

"I've really eaten, so I'm not polite to you."

"It doesn't matter if you've eaten, we haven't seen each other for many years, today you came to my house, I'm really overjoyed, I asked Xiaomin to make two dishes casually, let's have a drink together, and talk about the experience of the past few years."

"Xingwei, it's okay to drink, just chat."

"You don't have to worry about it. Xiaomin, please help us with the service. ”

Ten minutes later, Xiao Min prepared three dishes, and after serving the table, she went into the back room.

"We get off work early, and we have dinner at six o'clock, and the two of us sit down not simply to eat and drink, but it's not interesting to chat and talk without drinking some wine, Jianping, you said yes?" Ma Xingwei's father is a factory director with thousands of people, and he grew up in such a family, so he is naturally indispensable in life.

"Old classmate, I don't have these particularities, it's good to talk and chat and drink a glass of water." Zhou Jianping said.

"If you come, you will be safe, just listen to me." Ma Xingwei took out a bottle of liquor from the storage cabinet, opened the cap, and filled the cups in front of the two of them with wine, he picked up the wine glass, "Old classmate, for our first reunion in three or four years, cheers!" ”

"Thank you for your hospitality!"

"Don't be so flattering, what kind of hospitality is this? It's a glass of light wine! Tell me, what have you been busy with in the past three or four years? Facelessly, you don't look like you've been growing crops in the field all day. Ma Xingwei said.

"To tell my old classmates the truth, I haven't planted a single day of crops in the past few years."

Zhou Jianping told Ma Xingwei about his experience of trafficking bananas, reversing second-hand clothes and setting up stalls, "Until last summer, in order to prepare for the wedding, I didn't do anything for more than half a year. ”

"I'll just say, my best classmate, who had brains and ambitions when he was a student, and had a calm and pragmatic personality, how could he be willing to be bound by the one-third of an acre of land in his hometown?"

"But old classmates, I am also constantly reflecting and summarizing, selling bananas and setting up stalls is not a long-term solution after all, relying on this kind of opportunistic small business, it will be mixed with rice, it will not become a climate at all, and the risk is quite large." Zhou Jianping said.

"Yo, don't you want to go back to business?" Ma Xingwei was a little surprised.

"I'd like to wait and see for a while."

"Observe for a while? What do you want to observe? National policy? Now it is clear that the policy is definitely becoming more and more open. Jianping, with all due respect, you are now married, you are a family and a family, and you have to shoulder the responsibility of supporting your family. ”

"Thank you old classmates for reminding me that I know my role now. The so-called observation just now is really waiting and looking for opportunities, and I want to see if there is a better opportunity than reversing second-hand clothes and setting up a stall. Zhou Jianping said.

"Well, I support this idea! Although our buddies were not admitted to university, they are also the 'new third' high school students who graduated from Huaxing No. 6 Middle School, a key middle ---school in the city, carrying a big bag all day long, and pouring old clothes from the thrift market in the southern city to the north again and again, and then setting up a stall here, wind and rain, hungry and full, even if you earn two dollars, I don't think you can play your potential. Ma Xingwei understands Zhou Jianping's current situation very well.

"Old classmate, borrow your wine, I salute you! It's been three or four years since we graduated, and you still understand me and care about me so much, which touches me very much. As the saying goes, you have to be a confidant in life, and you are the confidant in my life! Zhou Jianping spoke with excitement in his tone.

"What are you touching? I didn't do you much of a favor. Jianping, do you have any plans for the next step? ”

"Apart from waiting and looking for opportunities, there are no specific plans."

"Looking for or waiting for an opportunity, you can't just walk the streets all day, can you? I think you should find something to do for the time being, firstly, to support your family, and secondly, to make ends meet. ”

Don't look at Ma Xingwei as the son of the director of a large enterprise, but he is by no means a gentleman, and he is very reliable in his words and actions, otherwise, he and people like Zhou Jianping would not be good friends.

"And thirdly, when the opportunity arises, wait for the opportunity." Zhou Jianping added.

"The two of us have thought of it together, Jianping, for your chance to appear as soon as possible, cheers!" Ma Xingwei drank the wine in the cup in one gulp, and seeing that Zhou Jianping still had some left, he picked up his empty wine glass and shook it, "Jianping, drink dry, like me." ”

"Xingwei, why are you drinking so much wine, how good it is for us to chat!"

"No one is too much, no one is too much, two glasses of wine per person, don't shirk, isn't it just right to drink and chat?"

Ma Xingwei poured the glass full of wine again, "It's a good idea, but what are you suitable for?" ”

"yes, I'm thinking about that too."

Ma Xingwei was silent for a moment, and he suddenly looked at Zhou Jianping, "I thought of something for you, I don't know if you want to do it?" ”

"What's the matter?"

"Last year, our unit set up a subsidiary enterprise company, the purpose of which is to solve the employment of the children of the employees of the unit, and to arrange jobs for the last group of educated youths who have returned to the city. Some of the new employees recruited by the subsidiary are pampered and they are reluctant to go to the production line, so I have heard that some production positions need to recruit temporary workers. Ma Xingwei said.

"Oh, temporary?"

"Yes, it is a temporary worker in the production workshop, the working environment may be poor, operating the machine, I don't know if I am tired or not, it is said that the monthly salary may be ten or eight yuan worse than ours, and it is estimated that it is thirty or forty yuan."

"Xingwei, no matter how bad the working environment is, can it be worse than setting up a stall? No matter how tired I am, can I be more tired than unloading 2,000 catties of bananas by myself? I have suffered all these hardships, what else can I not suffer? It's just that I think, can such a good thing befall me? Zhou Jianping looked at Ma Xingwei with suspicious eyes.