The sun shines on the Municipal Square for the first time in a long time. The square was crowded with people, gongs and drums were noisy, and colorful bars with slogans were hung on balloons above the square. Twenty big characters on the background of the main podium: Ceremony of sending the Chinese People's Liberation Army to Xiangzhou to fight floods and rescue troops. At the bottom of the venue, there are also twelve big characters corresponding to the main table: You are the eternal memory of Perfume Galaxy!

The twelve large characters were held by twelve uniformly dressed young men. Xiao Liu of the sales department of Perfume Galaxy Hotel - Liu Yuanhang will approach for a while, run away for a while, and make some fine-tuning of the angle of the brand. Someone was calling his name, and he answered while he went about his own business. It wasn't until he stopped and looked at the placard with satisfaction that he realized that the person standing next to him was Li Hao.

Li Hao is Liu Yuanhang's high school classmate and works in the political research office of the municipal government. Liu Yuanhang went to the army after failing in the college entrance examination that year; Li Hao went to college as he wished. What do you think? Liu Yuanhang pointed to the placard, with a smug look on his face.

Li Hao said, are you asking about words or content?

Both.

Words, so-so is passable; Well, the content is not much of a problem just from the literal level.

What is literally not much of a problem? Liu Yuanhang said, what a great sentence! We picked out dozens of options. It not only expresses gratitude to the rescue and disaster relief troops, but also implicitly promotes our perfume Galaxy Hotel. Such a grand scene, the eyes of the people of the whole city are focused here, we can set up a slogan here, don't you think this is an ingenious business plan?

Here's the problem! Li Hao said that you are always taking advantage of every opportunity to infiltrate your business interests into all aspects of Xiangzhou's social life.

Where does this begin? Liu Yuanhang looked at Li Hao and felt as dazzling as watching a fish drift in the wind and waves.

I feel that you can barely accept any food festivals, reunion dinners and thank-you banquets. But what are you doing with the "Me and Perfume Galaxy" essay contest for elementary school students; What to choose Miss Perfume Galaxy; what Christmas parades; What romantic Valentine's Day; All year round, Xiangzhou is not at peace. What do you say you have to open a hotel and drag hundreds of employees out into the streets? What kind of press conference are you holding for your own internal business adjustments? During the Lantern Festival that year, you caused tens of thousands of people to gather, and almost had a big accident. As a result, the Standing Committee of the Municipal Party Committee held a special meeting for this purpose, and several leaders in charge were criticized. And this time, for such a serious event, you put up a billboard here. Nondescript!

Li Hao said and said, excited. His subversive accusations made Liu Yuanhang stunned, these are all geniuses for hotel sales work. All he heard was praise, and suddenly he was bombarded indiscriminately, like a flower encountering hail, which made him feel very hurt. I was clumsy and didn't know how to deal with it.

He heard Li Hao saying again, I heard that you will come to the stage to give you mooncakes made in the hotel later. In the name of beauty, it is to express your heart to the flood fighting and rescue troops, but fools know that you are taking the opportunity to engage in product promotion.

Liu Yuanhang felt very ashamed, as if he had been stripped of his clothes and thrown in public. There was indeed no such item in the original conference ceremony, and Li Fei personally came forward to find Vice Mayor Chang to add it. The hotel made mooncakes in its first year, which was a great opportunity to raise awareness. It wasn't until two hours ago that the mooncake box arrived, and everyone was in a cold sweat for it.

Tell me, is there anyone who really does good deeds with such fanfare as you do? Liu Yuanhang knew that Li Hao was staring at him, so he had to passively raise his eyelids to receive the other party's disdainful gaze.

The sun was muffled in the clouds, and balloon slogans hung like inverted exclamation marks in the still air. Liu Yuanhang felt sweating profusely; The tie around the neck is suffocating. He irritated and loosened his neckline, still not getting rid of the feeling of being pinched.

Actually, it's not all like you say. Due to the weakness in his heart, Liu Yuanhang's speech became slurred. In August, we sent two truckloads of watermelons to the flood fighting and rescue troops; Not long ago, we also organized an internal fundraiser. The general manager and department manager took the lead, and all employees actively participated, and a total of more than 8,000 yuan was raised, which was sent to the most severely affected villages. This has only been reported in our internal publications, and we have never publicized it externally.

I admit that many of our activities are indeed motivated by business considerations, Liu Yuanhang said. However, these activities, such as the Colorful Boat Contest, the Dragon Lantern Contest, the Festival Fireworks Show, various indoor performances, and outdoor costume parades, objectively play a role in enriching the cultural life of citizens. As our boss said, in order to make Xiangzhou better and happy with the citizens.

Li Hao retorted, let Xiangzhou be better and rejoice with the citizens? Before you, did anyone in Xiangzhou celebrate Valentine's Day in the West? Does anyone celebrate Christmas? It was you who introduced these things to Xiangzhou for your own business interests and for your own selfishness. And it's getting worse. Have you ever considered that these things are harmful to our society? The funny thing is that you also don't know anything about it. Use Halloween ghost masks for Christmas parades and scare some of the children into screaming ghosts. You're still laughing!

Liu Yuanhang said: In fact, we also have different opinions on this point. But our boss said that he saw on TV that many Americans were also celebrating the Spring Festival with the Chinese, just to make it lively. In the future, the world's cultures will always move towards integration. It's not who destroys whom, who assimilates whom, but you have me, I have you, symbiosis and common prosperity, and they don't exclude each other.

I can't agree with that! Li Hao said, I can't agree with many of the practices of your Perfume Galaxy Hotel. Li Hao shook his head and held his misplaced glasses with his hand. What you call standardization, standardization, is actually the one that Taylor did more than a hundred years ago; The four-level vertical management that you practice is actually a kind of dictatorial management. Li Fei alone has the final say!

Liu Yuanhang was surprised by Li Hao's statement, leaving him speechless. Later, he asked Li Fei: Some people say that the four-level vertical management we engage in is a kind of dictatorial management, what do you think? He deliberately concealed Li Hao's name, and did not say such harsh words as "Li Fei alone has the final say". Li Fei said with a smile that he should have confused the essential difference between administrative management and enterprise management.

Li Hao pointed to Liu Yuanhang's pocket: Is your phone ringing? Liu Yuanhang took out his mobile phone and waved his hand to Li Hao, who was doing something else. It was Xie Han who called, saying that the mooncake presentation ceremony would start immediately, and asked him to go to the scene to prepare to take pictures.

In this noisy venue, it was Ma Ke who did not hear the incoming call. When the meeting ended, Marco took out his mobile phone to look at it and noticed that there were several missed calls. The call was an unfamiliar landline number. Who could it be? Ignore him, nine times out of ten it will be a harassing phone call. Just as he hesitated, the phone rang again. Hey, hello! A girl's voice came from the other end of the phone: Are you Marco?

Who are you?

My name is Zhang Yan......

After more than a month of tossing and turning, the flood water has finally begun to recede. Submerged in a vast ocean, the village is revealed like an island. But the clouds still refused to give up, trying to make a comeback, gathering over Haichuan Bay from all directions. In the morning, the blue sky is still as clear as a wash, painted with a deep and light gray. However, the August sun is strong after all. It generates water vapor on the surface of the sea, which generates clouds and winds that drive away clouds. The clouds huddled together in heaps like flocks of sheep, allowing the sun and blue sky to outline them.

Zhang Yan's father took her, her mother and her brother in a small wooden boat to the island-like village. The south wind stirred up the waves on the water, and the frolicking sound of the water crashing on the bow of the boat could be heard. A few small waterfowl play not far away. One will dive to the bottom, the other will surface, and I will not be afraid to see the boat coming. The younger brother picked up a handful of water, shouted "Chicken", and threw it at the water bird. The frightened waterfowl flapped their wings and fled, their feet scratching slender waves on the water. Water droplets fell with the wind and landed on Zhang Yan's shirt, making her feel cool and happy instantly.

Sit down for me! Looking at his younger brother who stood up to chase the waterfowl, Dad shouted loudly.

This is a large courtyard on the edge of the Yangtze River. Once upon a time, it was a large lake as far as the eye could see, and people called it Haichuan Bay. During the flood season, the river water will carry a large amount of sediment into it. Later, it became a shoal. Later, there were ponds and meadows. Later, people came here as if they had come to the Great Northern Wilderness.

When Zhang Yan was still in his ancestors, every winter, people would come here in groups to harvest reeds. It's their side hustle. It's one of the few ways you can make some living money. They call it the Timber Mountain Forest. There are also people who go to the depression pond in the forest to dig dry pits and catch fish. People used local materials to build sheds with wood and reeds to shelter from the wind and rain. In the beginning, people just came and went like migratory birds. Later, some people began to cultivate land here and enclose the lake to create fields. Began to build a house here and settle down.

When Zhang Yan was young, I often heard my mother complain to my father: This ghost place is flooded nine times in ten years! Dad always said dissatisfiedly, you say some old things in the old society. Although it is flooded every now and then, what if it is not flooded? If you don't flood, you can harvest for several years in a year!

This year's water is particularly large, and it is said to be a once-in-a-century experience. It turns out that when the water is flooded, it is just a matter of carrying the food up to the attic. Wait for the water to recede, and then return to the original state. This year's water has flooded the rooftops, and only the treetops floating on the water can make out traces of the village.

When they got off the boat, only Zhang Yan and her younger brother were wearing galoshes. The ground is a layer of mud that has been heated by the sun; The air smells of rancidity. The trees in front of the house and behind the house are like mud figures, all of which have no mouth, nose, eyebrows and eyes. The branches and leaves attached to the mud and sand drooped down, showing that they were overwhelmed. Only the black or red plastic bags hanging from the branches reveal false vividness.

Some houses collapsed; Some houses collapsed in half. Zhang Yan's house is still quite solid, and it still stands there tenaciously. It's just that the door panels and window sashes are gone, leaving black holes that want to cry without tears. Only the cicadas are still singing in a high tone, completely unaware of the taste of sorrow. Dad touched his feet and walked in front, and he kept talking about being careful. The younger brother slammed his foot into the mud.

The younger brother stepped into the mud by the slope in front of the door. He saw a bottle of mineral water stuck in the peach tree on the slope, and a coin glittered in the bottle.

It's a one-dollar coin. The younger brother spread it out in the palm of his hand to show his family, looking happier than when he found gold. He threw off his arms, ready to toss the empty bottle high. Wait a minute! Zhang Yan shouted. Is there still a note in the bottle?

There was indeed a note in the bottle. The younger brother pulled it out with a thin twig like a cricket. Zhang Yan opened the note, and the message on the note made her excited: Dad, look!

Leave a message saying, Hello, the person who picked up this drifting bottle. If your home has been damaged and you need help, please contact me as follows. This is followed by the phone number and name.

Nine times out of ten, it is a lie. Dad shook his head and said. Hearing her father say this, Zhang Yan was a little discouraged. But I am unwilling: what if it is true? Mom sighed: If only someone could help us! One of you is going to high school and the other is going to junior high school this year, and the destroyed houses have to be repaired, and there is no harvest in the fields. I was so scared that I couldn't even sleep.

Dad glanced at Mom, and a dissatisfied "sigh" came out of his mouth. Meaning, don't nag these things in front of the children, okay?

Back in the village where she lived, Zhang Yan was a little entangled in her heart. It was a note with a clear meaning and contact information. And in her eyes, she felt that it was not just such a note. Who is that person with a name and a surname? Why did he do it? And his age, his appearance? All of this made her curious.

At the village commissary, she picked up the phone with trepidation. I dialed several times in a row, but no one answered. She pulled out the note and checked it again, yes. She called again, but no one answered. She felt a sense of annoyance that someone had been tricked: Liar! Just as she was about to give up, a young voice came from the other end of the phone: Hey, hello! She felt an inexplicable nervousness, and almost stammered: Are you Marco?

On that day, Marco had come to Voyage Bay with a group of colleagues from the hotel. They came to deliver relief money to the hardest-hit villages.

The hotel organized a disaster relief fundraiser and raised a total of more than 8,000 yuan. The employees were very enthusiastic, and even the employees with difficult family life donated 10 yuan and 20 yuan. Li Fei took the lead in donating 1,000 yuan. Among the department managers, Xie Han donated 500 yuan, and some of the other managers donated 300 yuan and some donated 200 yuan. This made Marco feel a little uncomfortable. Among these managers, only Xie Han and Huang Kanghua are at the director level, and he and Huang Kanghua both donated 300 yuan.

Donations are voluntary, and there is no rule on who should donate how much. But this incident still made Ma Ke like a thorn in the throat and a man's back. He blamed Xie Han: Why don't you tell us if you donate 500?

Xie Han is a weirdo. Spending one's own money is like spending the public's money, such as spending more than 2,000 yuan to buy a BB machine, and donating two or three hundred to others for disaster relief, and he donating 500. And spending the public's money is like spending your own money. The power supply bureau was also unlucky, and when they met him, the more true master, they chased back the overcharged electricity bills with a lot of money.

When I came to the donated village, I stood on the embankment and looked at the endless water, and someone asked the village chief: Where is the opposite side where you can't see the edge?

It's the Yangtze River. The village chief said.

The Yangtze River is ahead?!

Yes, we are flooded here because of the Yangtze River flood.

Did anyone drown?

No. There was a death order from above, and no one was to be left in the submerged area.

Is it possible to rent a boat here?

The village chief brought a motorized boat. In order to satisfy their curiosity, take them to the place where the Yangtze River breaks to see. The sun travels like a flying saucer through a sea of clouds, alternating light and dark shadows in the waves. The motor boat roared "suddenly" and marched against the southeast wind. Both the wind and the waves are magnified. The waves shattered on the bow of the ship and were sprinkled like rain and rain, causing a wave of joyful exclamations. The rain soaked the clothes and soaked in the cool air everywhere.

The village chief pointed to the treetops that were sticking out of the water and said that those places were the homes of the submerged. Marco pointed with the mineral water bottle in his hand: Is it there? At this moment, an interesting idea popped into his head. He was going to make a drifting bottle and let Providence decide which one he should help alone.