Yuan Peng stood outside the gate of the community, walking around very boringly, and waited for a long time.

"Yuan Peng," someone behind him called his name. Yuan Peng turned to look behind him. Huang Lei and his wife stood opposite the community and beckoned. Yuan Peng looked at Huang Lei opposite, and only then did a smile appear on his face and walked over to stand in front of them. The three of them walked together in the night. Huang Lei introduced him while walking slowly, and said, "This is my wife, Mengjie." Yuan Peng looked at Mengjie who was walking on the side and said, "Sister-in-law." Then Huang Lei looked at Yuan Peng next to him and said, "He is my brother, Yuan Peng." ”

"Yuan Peng, hello, I often heard Huang Lei mention you, it seems that the relationship between the two of you is not ordinary."

"There, sister-in-law, all over the world are brothers. My sister-in-law is young and beautiful. ”

After a while, they stood at the door of the Hunan Cuisine Restaurant, and then faced Yuan Peng, who was standing next to him, and said, "The taste here is very good, let's go first." ”

"Alright," Yuan Peng followed them in. Huang Lei stood in the hall, looked around, there were many people eating here, basically overcrowded, turned around and shouted: "Boss." The business here is very good, and the owner of the restaurant seems to be very busy, busy rushing forward, and said, "Three, you are going to eat." ”

Huang Lei looked around and said, "Is there any location?" ”

"It's coming soon, but you'll be waiting a bit."

"You guys have a good business here," Mengjie, who was standing next to her, said, "Husband, there are so many people here, let's go eat elsewhere, don't bother to queue up." ”

"It's going to be there right away," he said, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and dispersing them. Huang Lei took the cigarette from the boss's hand, and when the boss gave it to Yuan Peng, Yuan Peng stretched out his hands and refused, and said with a smile: "I'm sorry, I don't smoke." The boss took it back. Huang Lei sat aside, put the cigarette in his mouth, took out a match, lit the fire and lit the cigarette in his mouth, took a puff and spit out the smoke, looked at Yuan Peng and Mengjie, and said, "Let's wait here for a while." ”

"Okay, let's wait a little longer."

"Boss," someone called out in the room. The boss turned and ran inside. Not long after, four or five people came out of the room. The boss walked out behind these people, stood in front of them, and said, "There is a place in the room, please go inside." Huang Lei, Mengjie, and Yuan Peng walked inside, and the boss called the waiter to follow him to the inside, wiped the table clean, and then the three of them sat down. They walked into a la carte restaurant. Huang Lei and Yuan Peng walked out of each of their favorite dishes, walked into the small stool and put it on the small stool, went to get some snacks, brought a dozen beers, put them aside, and put the oil dish in front of them. Huang Lei and Yuan Peng each picked up a bottle of beer and poured it into their glasses. Huang Lei raised his glass and said, "Yuan Peng, come, let's dry this glass of wine." ”

Yuan Peng raised his glass and said, "Okay, we'll dry it." The two raised their glasses and touched each other, drank the wine in the glass, put it down, and took the beer that was placed next to it and poured it full. After that, Huang Lei raised his head to face Yuan Peng and said, "Yuan Peng, it's almost the New Year, do you plan to stay behind or go home for the New Year." ”

"Go home for the New Year and reunite with your family."

"Why don't you stay? In fact, the salary of the left-behind is quite high. ”

"I want to go home and spend more time with my family and their families."

"It's okay," he said, seeing that the pot began to boil, ready to serve the dishes. After a quarter of an hour, put the scalding dish in your own bowl. Meng Jie, who was sitting next to Huang Lei, raised her head and looked at Yuan Peng, and said, "Yuan Peng, you are still single now." ”

"Yes, I'm single," Yuan Peng buried his head in his mouth and chewed slowly, raising his head and replying. Yuan Peng looked at Mengjie with some puzzlement, and he must be thinking in his heart, do you want to introduce me to one. Mengjie glanced at Huang Lei, who was sitting next to him, Huang Lei raised his head and said, "My cousin is going to Shanghai after the Chinese New Year, and I want to introduce her to you." ”

"What's her name?" Yuan Peng looked at Huang Lei curiously and said.

"Her name is Xiaowei," Huang Lei laughed a few more weirdly after speaking, and said: "This girl of mine is a little wild, it depends on whether you can control it." ”

"Then give it a try."

Time passed quickly, and in the middle of the night, they walked out of this Hunan restaurant together and stood at the entrance of the community. Yuan Peng faced them and said, "Huang Lei, I'll go first." ”

"Yuan Peng, don't go up and sit for a while."

"No, I don't think it's early, and I have to go to work tomorrow, so you guys should rest early." Yuan Peng said goodbye to them and left alone, standing on the side of the road. At this time, the bus had already been collected, and the only way back to the dormitory was to walk. He walked slowly alone in the darkness, and the cold wind blew a little cold. Yuan Peng stretched out his hands and erected the collars on both sides, and shrunk his head against the cold wind, his pace of walking was getting faster and faster, and he quickly returned to the dormitory. When he returned to the dormitory, everything was so warm, after washing, he lay down on the bed and relaxed, took out the pager and looked at the time, and I don't know who sent the message, and said, "Call back quickly." Yuan Peng walked out of a phone booth and dialed according to this number, and the other party replied, "Hey." ”

"Who are you? What are you looking for me? ”

"Want to see your child? If you want to see your child come to my home for an interview, the conditions can be lowered. After that, the other party hung up the phone. Yuan Peng must have been pondering when he walked out of this phone booth, my child, is it Wen Hui, he hasn't killed the child yet, and it must be her family who calls him. Yuan Peng was also thoughtful, thinking that he was going to see his child, he hadn't named the child yet, and he was pleasantly surprised in his heart, so he was overjoyed. When he went to work the next day, Yuan Peng wrote a leave note, handed it to Huang Lei, and said, "Line leader, I want to ask for leave and go home early." ”

"Is there something urgent going on at home? It's so urgent," Huang Lei took the leave slip in Yuan Peng's hand, looked at it, and then raised his head and asked.

Yuan Peng just nodded silently. Huang Lei looked at Yuan Peng in front of him, pondered for a moment, and said: "Since there is an urgent matter at home, you can go back first, even if you want to keep you, you can't keep it, remember to call me if you have something." ”

"Okay."

After getting off work, Yuan Peng walked on the road alone, the sky was white, and there was sporadic light rain, the ice rain hit his face like a knife, and it was extremely cold on his body, making him sneeze several times in a row. At this time, Yuan Peng may be thinking that his family must be thinking about him when he sneezes at this time. In fact, Yuan Peng has had a few failed romances, the past is no longer mentioned, everything is a floating cloud, like a dream bubble, and he is always worried and anxious, because the years are not forgiving, now Yuan Peng is thirty years old but still single, watching these couples walk past him, or laughter, or chasing each other, playing among the flowers, it is really enviable. At the same time, I also thought that I would be left out again after returning home. In his hometown in the countryside, people as old as him are married and have their own children, because the rural areas are married relatively early, so it is worrying, and his family must be the same. Yuan Peng walked on the road very slowly, and somehow felt sad in his heart, so he returned to his bedroom. Everyone sat on their beds and smoked cigarettes. At that time, it was not like now, when I returned to the dormitory, I would lie in bed, holding my phone in both hands, playing games or watching some Douyin videos. At that time, there were no cell phones, and they had nothing to play except to chat and make fun, and there was smoke in one of the bedrooms. Yuan Peng walked into the bedroom, probed the smoke that swirled, and stepped forward to open the window to ventilate.

"Yuan Peng, you're back."

Yuan Peng just nodded, walked to his bed, sat down for a while to rest, and began to pack some clothes and put them in the package, as well as some toiletries that he usually used. Everyone looked at Yuan Peng, and one of them said, "Yuan Peng, aren't you going to work tomorrow?" ”

"I took a leave of absence and needed to go back to my hometown early."

Yuan Peng packed up the clothes he was going to wear tomorrow and put them next to his pillow. Towards midnight, everyone turned off the lights and began to sleep, and the bedroom was much calmer, there was no noise, only the sound of snoring or grinding teeth, and sometimes someone talked in a dream. The next morning, Yuan Peng sat up at the head of the bed and looked around, there was no one in the bedroom, maybe everyone went to work, only Yuan Peng stayed alone in the bedroom. Yuan Peng put on his clothes and wandered around the dormitory for a while, then walked out of his bedroom after washing, and stood next to the phone booth, waiting for the person who was calling in the phone booth to come out. After half a ring, Yuan Peng stepped into the phone booth and dialed the number, and it took a long time for the other party to answer the phone.

"Hey, Yuan Peng, where are you and how are you doing now?" It seems that the other party is very anxious.

"Uncle, I'm working in a factory here in Songjiang, how are you doing?" It turned out that Yuan Peng was calling his uncle Yuan Kun.

"I'm still the same old way, except for going to work and getting off work."

"In severe cold weather, pay attention to wear more clothes, and take care of your body on the construction site."

"I see, what's the matter with your call?"

"I'm coming over today."

"Well, if you want to come over, come here, I'm still in the old place, you come to the construction site, I'll hand you the key," the other party hung up the phone after speaking. Yuan Peng walked out of the phone booth and looked at the long queue outside the phone booth, thankful that he came early, otherwise he would be like these people, waiting in a long queue to call his family. It's a cold wind, and a gust of wind makes you shiver. Yuan Peng returned to the bedroom and sat on his bed for a long time, feeling a little reluctant. Many people come back from other places with large and small luggage packages, which is extremely inconvenient, and they also move forward slowly when walking. Yuan Peng was different from them, carrying a package, walking out of this dormitory, out of the living area, and waiting for the bus in front of a bus stop. A bus slowly approached here, stopped in front of the platform, and waited for the doors to open. Yuan Peng stepped onto the bus in a few steps and sat by the window. Head looking out the car window, looking at this factory, where he works. The bus starts to start and moves forward to get out of here. Yuan Peng took off the pager hanging on his waist, looked at the time, and put it back on his waist. At this time, Yuan Peng turned his head and touched the seat, maybe he was a little sleepy, closed his eyes, fell asleep, and didn't know when he would reach his destination.