Twelve years ago, Jiangcheng.

When the furnace of the Jiangcheng Iron and Steel Plant was working at full capacity, the billowing smoke always obscured the sky. The Cangjiang River runs through the city, and the steel plant is built along the river.

Jiangcheng is divided into four cities: southeast, northwest and northwest. Among them, Nancheng is the place where the rich and Jiangcheng officials and businessmen live. Because Nancheng is the upwind outlet, the smoke and dust of the steel mill can't fall here, and it is the only place in Jiangcheng where the air is still good. It is also the largest civilian market in Jiangcheng. Jiangcheng's vegetable market, grocery stores, and grain and oil cloth shops are gathered here.

And Xicheng is the most prosperous place in Jiangcheng. Because Jiangcheng has a large steel mill that ranks seventh in the empire, Jiangcheng's specialty is all kinds of steel and metal products. The steel merchants of Canghaidao gathered here, and opened the largest steel wholesale market in Canghaido in Xicheng.

Almost all the merchants who came to Jiangcheng came to Jiangcheng for the purpose of wholesale steel materials. Therefore, in addition to a large number of steel shops, there are also hotels of various grades for merchants. From the sky-high price of 300 gold yuan for a luxury suite and a single courtyard, to a cheap hotel where dozens of people sleep in a large bunk, and only five commutes a night, you can find it here.

Because of the large floating population here, the Qinglou Casino is also the most in Xicheng. From Miss Oiran for a hundred gold dollars a night to a cheap warbler who only needs twenty copper plates at a time, there are them all here.

This is the most chaotic and prosperous area of Jiangcheng, and it is also the place with the highest taxes in Jiangcheng.

As for Beicheng District, this is probably the worst place in Jiangcheng. Because the smoke from the Jiangcheng Iron and Steel Plant just covered the top of Beicheng, there was not a trace of sunlight visible here during the day. Want to dry your clothes? Okay, white clothes can turn gray after a day of drying. Because the dust in the sky is enough to dye a white coat.

In the other three urban districts, there are some high-rise buildings, and the steel building in Nancheng has 15 floors, which is the tallest building in Jiangcheng. There are also many six- and seven-story high-rise buildings in the east and west cities. Although the streets of the other three cities are dusty, they are otherwise clean and tidy, while the northern city is a mess.

The tallest building in the North City is only three floors, and the houses here are in a mess as if they had never been planned. Obviously, a house is only that big, but many people use bricks to expand outward and occupy the position of the street in order to improve the living area. As a result, the once neat streets have become crooked, and the wide streets, which once could accommodate three four-wheeled carriages, are now laborious for even a four-wheeled carriage to pass.

The houses that have been expanded are like human bones with hyperostosis and look extremely incongruous in the city.

This is the poorest place in Jiangcheng. Most of the people here do not have regular jobs, either to sell coolies at the docks to earn some money, or to go to Nancheng to do chores. The biggest wish of people who live in Beicheng is to hope that someone in the family can be selected when the steel factory recruits, so that the family can leave Beicheng.

"Xiaoyu is back, how is Mengxue?"

"Hello Aunt Li, I learned a lot of new knowledge from the teacher of Mengxue today. ”

"Little fish is so smart. Come, Auntie will give you an egg. ”

"Eh, Auntie, this is too expensive for me to take. ”

"Take it, take it. There is a happy event today. ”

"What's the happy event?"

"Your brother Li can go to work in the steel mill next month!"

Ten-year-old Jiang Xiaoyu had just returned home from school in Meng, and he greeted his familiar neighbors along the way. The aunt of the Li family, who lived in his door, happily told Jiang Xiaoyu about the good things that happened in her family.

Aunt Li still likes Jiang Xiaoyu very much. Because Jiang Xiaoyu, the child has red lips and white teeth, looks cute, and talks again, living in two pairs of doors and being very polite to his family. So Aunt Li likes him very much. Jiang Xiaoyu is very good, unlike his waste dad, who can't do anything, and can't eat enough.

"Next month, your brother Li will enter the factory and come to our house for dinner. Aunt Li greeted Jiang Xiaoyu with a smile.

Jiang Xiaoyu nodded in agreement and turned around and pushed open the door of his house.

Jiang's house is not big, it is a very dilapidated small courtyard. Fortunately, the house in Beicheng is not valuable, otherwise the Jiang family would not even be able to live in this small courtyard.

The small courtyard is very small, with only one courtyard of less than 15 square meters, and then there are the common three rooms in the southeast, north and south. Facing the door is the main house, with a side house on the left and a kitchen hut on the right.

"Dad, I'm back. Jiang Xiaoyu raised the egg in his hand and said, "Aunt Li give me an egg, let's eat it separately." ”

Hearing Jiang Xiaoyu's shout, the door of the main house in the small courtyard was pushed open, and a thin middle-aged man walked out with a book. He glanced at Jiang Xiaoyu, didn't care about the eggs in his hand, but said to him majestically: "What did you teach in school today?"

Jiang Xiaoyu looked at his father like this, and he immediately clenched his fists: "Back to my father, the teacher taught fifty new words today." I also learned the ninety-nine multiplication formula, the table, and four operations. In the martial arts class, the teacher taught the third level of mantras and exercises of the "Tuna Method". There is also the practice of soft skills. ”

"Hmm. Father Jiang nodded: "Then come in." ”

Jiang Xiaoyu followed his father to the main house, and Jiang's father looked left and right, and closed the door after making sure that there was no one. And took out half a blackboard and some chalk heads from under the bed.

"Do you remember what your father taught you before you became a father?"

"Yes. My father has taught Xiaoyu more than 2,000 words. Xiaoyu will review every day. ”

"Didn't show it to anyone else?"

"Nope. ”

"Okay, then I'll teach you a new ...... today What's wrong? How do you put on a face like this?"

"Father...... It's the new imperial calendar, and what we're all learning is the unification of the first emperor. What's the use of you teaching me to learn this lost text......"

Father Jiang stared at Jiang Xiaoyu for a long time. Jiang Xiaoyu bowed his head silently: "Xiaoyu is wrong, please educate my father." ”

"Hey, little fish. You don't understand. The words that the Father taught you are not the old words. Rather, it is a text related to the first emperor. ”

"Relevant?"

"Well, you don't understand it yet, though. You'll always understand it one day. You're too young to tell you something. When you grow up, your father will tell you everything. You just need to remember now that these words will be of great use to you in the future!"

"Xiaoyu understood. Jiang Xiaoyu suppressed the doubts in his heart and began to follow his father to learn those words that he had never seen elsewhere. These words are really weird, boxy, not mellow at all, and they are very different from the words of the empire. And the pronunciation is very different from the imperial script, just like learning an ancient language or a foreign Chinese.

After teaching Jiang Xiaoyu more than an hour of writing, Jiang's father seemed a little tired. He took out a handwritten book from his sleeve and threw it to Jiang Xiaoyu: "You review it yourself." ”

"Good. Jiang Xiaoyu took the book, and it was written with those square words. After studying for so long, Jiang Xiaoyu can read the words written on it. On the cover is written three big characters "Three Character Classic".

Jiang Xiaoyu began to review, and Jiang's father found that Jiang Xiaoyu brought an egg back. He asked, "Where did it come from?"

"Aunt Li next door gave it. ”

"That shrew has such a good heart?"

"Because Brother Li is going to work in the steel mill next month. So Aunt Li was very happy and gave it to me. ”

"It seems that the rumors are true. ”

"Father, what rumors?"

"It's nothing, you don't care so much about your little children. It's just a pity that your sister Li Yue is going to suffer at a young age. ”

"Father, what's wrong with Sister Li Yue?!" Jiang Xiaoyu looked very excited when she heard Li Yue's name.

Li Yue is Aunt Li's youngest daughter, sixteen years old this year, although she was born in a poor place like Beicheng, she is the same as a water hibiscus. Jiang Xiaoyu has been playing with this sister on the other side since he was a child. Although I don't understand what love between men and women is, Jiang Xiaoyu once said: "When I grow up, I want to marry Sister Li Yue as my wife!"

At that time, Li Yue couldn't straighten his waist when he was amused.

Li Yue is a girl who loves to laugh, but she can't laugh today. She sat in front of the window, looking out the window at a half-dead cannonball flower and fell into deep thought.

"Sister Li Yue. Jiang Xiaoyu didn't know where to get out, and his little head appeared in Li Yue's window.

"I'm scared to death, Xiaoyu, you don't have a sound when you walk. And how did you get in?" Li Yue patted her chest.

"Sister, I'm here to see you. Brother Li is about to enter the steel factory, why don't you look happy?" Jiang Xiaoyu looked at Li Yue with wide eyes.

"Happy, of course happy. Li Yue squeezed out a smile: "My brother is twenty-five years old, and he has never talked about his wife." Now I just heard that he will be able to enter the factory next month, and these three aunts and six mothers-in-law said that the matchmaker is about to break the threshold of our house. It's good to enter the steel mill, do six days off and one day, and have 30 gold dollars every month. Xiaoyu, do you know how much thirty gold dollars are?"

"I don't know. Jiang Xiaoyu shook his head.

"A big chicken sells for three silver dollars, and thirty gold dollars can buy a hundred big chickens. ”

"Wouldn't you be able to eat roast chicken and stew chicken every day?!" Jiang Xiaoyu drooled unintuitively.

"Yes, you can eat all-you-can-eat chicken every day, do you think it's okay?"

"Okay!" Jiang Xiaoyu nodded hard: "Then I will also go to work in the steel mill in the future." ”

"Huh?"

"I grew up and married my sister, so that my sister can also live a good life of eating stewed chicken every day. ”

Li Yue's eyes suddenly glistened with tears, and she reached out and touched Jiang Xiaoyu's head. The sixteen-year-old girl's hands were already full of calluses, but they were still the warmest hands Jiang Xiaoyu felt.

"Silly boy. ”

The tears fell on the ground, not broken into eight petals, but silently absorbed by the soil. It's like Li Yue was picked up by a sedan chair that day, silently, and no one cared.

ps: New books, ask for tickets, ask for collections. The contract was sent yesterday, and it should be officially signed tomorrow. Tomorrow is a new week, and I would like to book a recommendation ticket for everyone here, because this book is going to hit the new book list! Everyone, give me a hand!