sent Yan Qingshan away, and Zhong Shan's work was left alone.

Zhang Lei found Zhong Shan and said, "I was transferred out of the industrial group, Lao Yan left again, and you have been here for more than half a year, so you can work independently." Director Tian meant that he would let you work independently and pick up the units that Lao Yan used to run. ”

Zhong Shan nodded silently, and accepted such an arrangement.

After getting off work in the evening, Zhong Shan rode a bicycle to the house of his eldest brother Lao Yan, and saw that there were people selling freshly shaken Lantern Festival on the side of the road, and remembered that it was the Lantern Festival that night, so he got out of the car and bought two bags of five-kernel stuffing to bring with him. Knocking on the door of the two-bedroom apartment, the sister-in-law had already prepared dinner, her son was eating, and she was busy in the kitchen.

Seeing Zhong Shan coming, the sister-in-law said, "Brother Xiaozhong, let's take a bite here." ”

Zhong Shantui said that he had to go back to help his daughter-in-law take care of the children, and said, "Sister-in-law, I came to ask you, the things in the eldest brother's office, do you want to go over and help clean up?" ”

The sister-in-law's eyes were a little red again, she sighed, and said, "Just trouble Brother Xiao Zhong to deal with it, it's all work things, and I don't understand it." Keep what is useful, and throw it away if you are useless! After speaking, the sister-in-law got up and entered the house, took out a string of large and small keys and handed them to Zhong Shan.

The next morning, Zhong Shan came to Taili and did not contact for an interview, but wanted to spend half a day cleaning up the relics left by Lao Yan in the office. was busy, Tian Chunming came in and said, "Zhong Shan, are you alone?" You tell the comrades in the group, during this period, Zhang Lei, deputy director of the information department and the leader of the industrial group, you pack up Lao Yan's things and vacate the desk, Zhang Lei may sometimes come to work. ”

Zhong Shan let out an "um" and continued to busy himself.

The drawer of Lao Yan's desk was a mess, there were interview books with a few pages written on them, ballpoint pens that had run out of oil, pencils that had broken points, cigarettes that had been half smoked, lighters that worked well and badly, folding fans that he used in summer, and a bunch of business cards from people from all walks of life...... Zhong Shan left what he could use and put it on his desk, and threw the unusable into the paper.

Next, Zhong Shan opened Lao Yan's roll cabinet, but the books inside were neatly stacked, including hardcover volumes from one to five volumes of Mao Xuan, professional books on various subjects majoring in Chinese at the correspondence university, local history of Qingshan, and some professional books on television news, which were placed in different categories. Sandwiched between Mao Xuan and correspondence textbooks, there was also a red plastic diary, Zhong Shan hesitated, opened it, and a brown paper envelope fell out of it, and the envelope contained a brand-new ten-yuan bill, counted it, a total of 1,000 yuan. In the plastic cover of the diary is a two-inch ID photo, which is a black and white photo of Sister Guo when she was young, with two braids, a long round face, and big eyes, which is a typical beauty of that era. Looking at the diary again, it is all about Lao Yan's experience in high school, especially in his third year of high school, almost full of books, page by page, most of the content is to record the restlessness and unruliness of a teenager in that special era, more than a dozen of which mention Guo Dongmei, at this time Yan Qingshan suddenly became quiet, and the language style was subtle and warm.

Zhong Shan took out the diary, relocked the roll cabinet, went downstairs, and went straight to Sister Guo's Madame Jin beauty salon.

It's not yet peak hours, and the beauty salon is deserted. Sister Guo sent Zhong Shan to a beauty room that exuded a wonderful aroma and asked the waiter to make green tea. Zhong Shan opened his backpack, took out the diary and the 1,000 yuan in it and handed it to Sister Guo.

Sister Guo took the diary, cried at the time, and after a long time, adjusted her mood and said: "Such a big living person, if you say no, you will be gone." I keep this diary, money, you can send it to his family, the child is in the third year of junior high school, and he is using the money. After a pause, he said: "Little brother, sister doesn't hide it from you, I just divorced a few years ago, dragged a child, the beauty salon was not very prosperous, life is very difficult, Lao Yan has helped me a lot." In the past two years, business has been good, but I have taken a lot of him, the Hilton cigarettes he smokes, the Citizen watch on his wrist, and the brand-name suit he wears, all of which I bought. Lao Yan always didn't want to go, saying that he had become a eater and drinker. I said, the relationship between old classmates for more than 20 years, what you have more and less me, don't care about those. ”

On the way back to Taili by bicycle after leaving Mrs. Jin's beauty salon, Zhong Shan thought: This Sister Guo is really a good woman who is graceful and generous, and Lao Yan has had such a relationship with her in his life, and it is worth it.