Soon after breakfast, on the simple road leading from the Dama River Road to the county seat, there had already begun to appear bustling with croppers going to the market, and due to the changes in rural policies in the past two years, the individual economy has developed greatly, and rushing to the market and buying and selling business has become an important part of the farmers' life again.

On the highway, young people ride bicycles wrapped in colorful plastic in groups of galloping by. They all put on brand-new "seeing people" clothes, either Dibu or Diliang, and they looked very fashionable. Rough croppers wear nylon socks and plastic sandals solemnly on their bare feet. The face is cleaned, the hair is combed, and he happily goes to the county seat to make an appearance: to the store, to the theater, to buy fashionable goods, to make friends, to meet the object......

Most of the more croppers are carried on their shoulders: those who carry firewood, pick vegetables, call pigs, lead sheep, carry eggs, hold chickens, pull donkeys, and push carts; Scalemakers, shoemakers, blacksmiths, carpenters, stonemasons, scornsmiths, feltmakers, potsmiths, masons, traveling doctors, witches, gamblers, thieves, trumpeters, cattle dealers...... They all flocked to the county seat. On the highway under the roots of the mountains in northern Sichuan, there are streams of yellow dust.

When Gogarin joined the torrent with a basket of steamed buns, he immediately regretted it. He felt like he had suddenly become a real hillbilly. He felt people on the highway looking at him. He, a teacher who used to be dashing and dashing, is now like an old woman in the countryside, selling steamed buns in the market! His heart was as uncomfortable as countless insects gnawing.

But there is no way around it. The harsh life drove him down this dusty road. He had to admit that he could only start a new life like this now. The family has no money to buy oil and salt, and his parents are still working hard for life all day long at such an age. He carried a basket of steamed buns, kept his head as low as possible, didn't look at anything, only looked at the road under his feet, and hurried towards the county seat. On the way, he remembered that his father had told him to shout when he was leaving, and his face immediately felt hot and feverish.

Oh my God, how could he cry out!

"But," he thought, "if I don't sell it, who knows what I'm doing with it?" When he came to a small ditch, Gogarin suddenly thought: Why don't you let me run to this ditch where no one is trying to shout, and get used to it when I go to the city!

He looked at both ends of the highway with a flushed face, and saw that there was no one, so he hurriedly turned around and walked into the ditch by the side of the road, as if he had to do something. He walked a long way in the ditch until he could not see the road. He stopped, his mouth open, but he didn't have the courage to shout. I opened my mouth again, but it still didn't work. In a short period of time, sweat was already dripping his forehead. Quietly in the four fields, a few snow-white butterflies flew peacefully in a clump of pale blue wildflowers in front of him; The dense absinthe on the hillsides on both sides emits a fresh, pungent smell. Gogarin felt the whole earth waiting with bated breath for his "white steamed bun——! "Ah, that's so difficult! He felt as if he had to learn a dog bark in front of a large public. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, determined to shout out! He swallowed hard, closed his eyes, and opened his mouth to scream, "White steamed buns—" He heard his acting, mournful shouts echoing throughout the four mountains. He bit his lip with his teeth, holding back the tears in his eyes so that they did not overflow.

He stood in this barren ditch and wilderness for a long time in a daze, and then returned to the road uncomfortably and continued to walk towards the county seat. It was a dozen miles from their village to the county seat, but he felt how long and arduous the road was. He knew that greater difficulties lay ahead—in the crowded bazaar!

When he walked to the place where the Dama River and the County River meet, the whole picture of the county seat has already appeared in his field of vision. A patch of bungalows and buildings, high and low, stretches from the hillside to the riverbank. The dear county town is still as gray as ever, showing its alluring charm. He didn't go to a bigger city, and the county seat was a big city in his eyes, a different world. He was familiar and kind to everything here; He spent his time here from junior high school to high school. His in-depth understanding of himself and society, as well as his countless dreams for his future life, began here. Schools, streets, cinemas, shops, baths, stadiums, ...... How colorful life is! However, three years ago, he said goodbye to all this...... Now, he's here again. He is no longer the young man of the year, his clothes are neat and straight, his body is full of soap, and he proudly pins the school emblem of the highest university in the county on his chest. He is now carrying a basket of steamed buns, and he is an ordinary farmer who rushes to the market.

The memories of the past made him sad. He leaned against the stone railing of the Dama River Bridge and felt his head dizzy. Crowds of people from all directions are crossing the bridge and entering the streets. In the distance, a large cloud of dust rose above the streets of the city center, and the noisy sound of the city sounded like the hum of a swarm of bees.

He suddenly thought of an even worse question: what if he ran into his classmates in the county seat? He subconsciously raised his head and hurriedly looked back and forth. That's when he really regretted rushing to this set. It's nothing to catch up with the market, but he's here to sell steamed buns! Now turn back, but how can this be done? He has already made it to the county seat. Besides, the family doesn't even have a little pocket money, so although the parents won't say anything when they go back like this, they will definitely feel uncomfortable - not only for this basket of steamed buns that have not been sold, but also for his lack of interest!

"No," he thought, "since I'm here, I'm going to go to the set!" ”

Of course, he also prayed in his heart not to run into classmates in the county.

He quickly picked up the basket, crossed the bridge, and walked out into the street. He was going to cross the street and go to Nanguanli. There is a pig market, a grain market, and a vegetable market, and the people are very dense, except for the cadres who have bought vegetables, most of them are croppers, and they are inconspicuous.

As he crossed the street outside the bus station, his face turned white — and soon turned red again. He felt blood all over his body rush to his face: he suddenly saw his high school classmates Huang Yaping and Zhang Kenan standing at the door of the waiting room. It was too late to hide, and they had obviously seen him too, and had already walked towards him one after another. Gogarin was eager to throw this basket of buns into a place that no one knew. Zhang Kenan and Huang Yaping quickly walked to the ground, and he had to stretch out his free hand and shake Kenan's hand. They asked him what he was doing with a basket. He improvised a lie and said that he would go to a relative's house in the south of the city. Huang Yaping quickly said to him enthusiastically: "Garin, you have made great progress!" I've seen those essays you published in the regional newspapers! It's not easy! The writing is very beautiful, and I copied several paragraphs in my notebook! ”

"Are you still teaching at the horse shop?" Kernan asked him.

He shook his head, smiled bitterly and said, "I have been replaced by the son of the team secretary, and now I have returned to the team as a member." ”

Huang Yaping immediately said anxiously: "Then you have less time to study and write articles!" Gogarin said mockingly: "There is more time! Didn't a poet write a poem that said, 'We have written countless lines of poetry on the earth with a hammer'? ”

His humor amused both of his classmates.

"Are you on a business trip?" Garin asked both of them. He vaguely felt that the relationship between the two of them seemed a little delicate. In middle school, their relationship was very average.

"I'm not going out. Kenan wanted to go to Beijing to buy a color television set for their unit. I'm wandering around ......," Huang Yaping said, looking a little embarrassed.

"Are you still a custodian in a grocery company?" Garin asked Knan.

"Nope. Not long ago, I was transferred to a non-staple food store. Kernan said.

"Elevated! Became the director of the sales department! However, there is a subword in front of it! Yaping looked at Kenan a little mockingly, and pouted disapprovingly.

"If you want to buy anything like tobacco or alcohol, you come, I'll try to find a way for you. I don't have any other powers. You can do these specific things. Alas, it's so hard for countrymen to buy something now! Kernan said to him.

Although Zhang Kenan's words were sincere, Gao Jialin, because of his own status, was sensitive to them. He felt that Zhang Kenan's words were boasting of his superiority. His self-esteem was too strong, so his spirit was immediately in a state of contempt for everything, and he said a little unceremoniously: "If you want to buy it, I will think of other ways, and I don't dare to make trouble for my old classmates!" One sentence stabbed Zhang Kenan in the face.

Huang Yaping is also a spiritual person, and she has already heard that their words are not speculative, so she said to Gao Jialin: "If you are free in the afternoon, come to our radio station and sit down!" After you graduated, you never came to us to talk to us when you entered the county. You're still like that, and you're so tough-tempered! ”

"You are in a high position now, we ordinary people, we really don't want to climb high!" Garin's bad mistake has been made again! As soon as he felt that he had been humiliated, his words immediately became very mean, and he could not get off the stage.

Zhang Kenan was obviously a little unbearable, and the announcer at the station asked passengers to line up to buy tickets, which relieved everyone.

Konan immediately shook hands with him and left first. Yaping hesitated for a moment and said to him, "...... I really want to talk to you. You know, I also love literature, but in the past few years, I have been a broadcaster, and I have just practiced my mouth, and I can't even write a small article, so you must come! Her invitation was sincere, but Gogarin, for some reason, felt very uncomfortable in his heart. He said to Yaping, "I'll come when I'm free." Go get Knan, I'm leaving. ”

Huang Yaping's face turned red and said, "I'm not going to send him!" I came to the station to pick up a relative from my hometown......" She apparently also improvised a lie. Garin thought to himself: you don't have to lie!

Gogarin said no more, he nodded politely to her, and turned and walked out into the street. As he walked, he felt amused in his heart for the lies he and Yaping had told, and couldn't help but say to himself: "You go and pick up your 'relative', I also have to watch my 'relative' go......"

However, the meeting with Kenan and Yaping just now quickly evoked his memories of his past school life. When I was in school, Yaping was the class leader, and he was the learning officer, and there was a lot of interaction between them. They were also the best students in their class, and they both loved literature and respected each other. He and Kenan are not usually too close, because they are both on the varsity basketball team, and they only socialize more together when they play.

Huang Yaping is a native of Jiangsu, and her father is the county armed forces minister and a member of the standing committee of the county party committee. Yaping was transferred to the county with his father when he was just in high school and inserted into his class. She has the characteristics of a distinct southern girl, and has seen the world; That kind of smartness, generosity, and not cheesiness immediately stood out throughout the school. Although Gao Jialin was born in a peasant family and never walked through the big city gates, he usually read a wide range of books; And because the isolated environment in the mountains stimulates his fantasy nature, he seems to be more open than ordinary classmates, and his horizons are broader. Huang Yaping quickly discovered this temperament of his, and naturally got closer to him in the class. He also likes to be with her. Because before this, he had never been in contact with such a girl. Compared with Huang Yaping, the local female classmates are a little unreasonable, some are very cheesy, they talk about food and clothing at every turn, and most of their studies can't catch up with their male classmates, and he rarely socializes with them. Sometimes they were together discussing a book they had read together, or music, painting, or international issues. At one point, the classmates talked about their strengths and weaknesses. He didn't dare to think about anything out of the way at the time. Compared with Huang Yaping, he has an insurmountable inferiority complex. This is not to say that he is personally worse than her, but to family, economic conditions and social status. In these aspects, Zhang Kenan has them all, Kenan's father is the director of the county commercial bureau, and his mother is also the deputy manager of the county medicinal material company, and they are all characters who are very similar to Zizi in the county. At that time, Kenan also had a crush on Yaping and often managed to get close to her, but it was seen that she did not have much desire to associate with him.

Soon, I graduated from high school. None of them were admitted to college. Students with rural hukou have returned to the countryside, and those with urban hukou are looking for jobs. Yaping went to the county radio station with her high-level Mandarin and became an announcer. Kenan worked as a custodian at the prefectural food company. The changes in life separated them very quickly, and although they were only a dozen miles apart, in real life, they were already in two worlds. After Gao Jialin returned to the village, whenever he heard Huang Yaping's crisp and beautiful Mandarin broadcast, he always had a very melancholy feeling, as if he had lost something valuable, and he had no hope of finding it back. Later, it all faded into obscurity. It's just that at some point, he vaguely heard a classmate from another village say that Huang Yaping might be in a relationship with Zhang Kenan, and he felt inexplicably uncomfortable. He quickly pushed it all further, and for a long time he didn't even think about them...... He had just met them and was very unlucky. He now walks to the middle of the bustling market with a basket of steamed buns, his eyes turning nimbly in case he runs into his classmates who work in the city again. As soon as he arrived at the crossroads, close to the whirlpool of people, he ran into an acquaintance again!

This time, though, he didn't panic. When Ma Zhansheng, a cultural and educational specialist in their Chengguan Commune, came over to shake hands with him a little embarrassed, he didn't feel embarrassed by the steamed bun basket on his arm at this moment—hum! Let him see, they have driven him to this point! When the specialist asked him what he was doing, he told him very simply: Sell steamed buns! He took one out of the basket. Shove it into Ma Zhansheng's hand; He felt that he was holding a smoking, retaliatory grenade!

Ma Zhansheng hurriedly grabbed the steamed bun with both hands, stuffed it into the basket again, touched the face that already had stubble, looked very uncomfortable and said, "Garin! You've probably been hating me all along! I have nowhere to pour bitter water! There are some things I really want to say to you, but it's hard to say! Now you listen to me tell you. Ma Zhansheng pulled Gao Jialin to a corner of the bicycle repair department on Cross Street, touched his face again, lowered his voice and said:

"Alas, good Garin! You don't know, Secretary Zhao of our commune and Gao Minglou in your village have been friends for more than ten years. Don't look at the relationship between superiors and subordinates, the two are so good that they don't distinguish between you and me. A few years ago, the Ming Lou family didn't have anyone to arrange, so they kept letting you teach. This year, his second boy graduated from high school, and he ran around the commune a few times, so of course Lao Zhao had to think about it. As you know, in the past few years, the national economy has been adjusted, and the state has not recruited workers in the rural areas, so the rural areas regard the work of private teachers as very important. Of course Minglou wants to ask him to do this! Teachers in other villages, who will let them? Therefore, I had to take you off and let Samsung go on. Although I announced this at the meeting, it was not my decision! How can my horse Zhansheng have such a big cowhide! Therefore, good Garin, you must not hate me! ”

Gao Garin absentmindedly combed his hair with his fingers, and said to Zhuangan: "Old Ma, you have too much heart. If you don't say it, I know all of this, we've been working together for a few years, you should know me. ”

"Of course I know you! Among the teachers of the whole commune, you are top-notch! Besides, you doll has a lively heart and a hard temperament, and I like this person. Unafraid! …… Oh, I forgot to tell you, I've been transferred to the labor bureau of the county government, which is considered a promotion, and I have become a deputy director. I talked to Secretary Zhao of the commune a few days ago, telling him to consider you as a teacher if he has the opportunity. Secretary Zhao agreed...... Unafraid! You wait! …… You're busy with you, I'm going to have a meeting and the new official will take office three times! We can't start a fire. At the very least, you have to entertain others on time! ……”

After Ma Zhansheng finished speaking, he touched his face with his hand, shook hands with Gao Jialin, and quickly got into the crowd as if he was running away from something.

Gogarin, because he had always had a bad impression of the commune's famous slippery head, basically didn't take what he said seriously. All he knows now is that he has left the Chengguan Commune and has been promoted to the county government. But what does all this have to do with him? The most important thing for him now is to sell the basket of steamed buns on his arm!

Gogarin quickly squeezed through the crowd of people in the street and walked towards the Nanguan trading market.