Song Yuanchao They left school on the day of the holiday on the 25th, the train station was crowded, Song Yuanchao deliberately did not let Lin Yan send him, said goodbye to Lin Yan, left the school directly with his luggage and returned to Huhai, and Li Xiaoyun went with him as when he came, but Li Xiaoyun went directly to Huhai, but Song Yuanchao went to Jinling first, and wanted to stay in Jinling for a few days before returning to Huhai.

Luo Yang helped buy the train ticket, and knowing that they were going back, he specially helped get two sleepers. It is much more comfortable to sit in a sleeper for a long journey, and now the relationship between Song Yuanchao and Luo Yang is just a trivial matter, Song Yuanchao accepted Luo Yang's kindness without shirking, and after saying goodbye to his classmates, Song Yuanchao boarded the train to the south.

I slept on the train for one night, and at noon the next day, the train arrived in Jinling first, and explained a few words to Li Xiaoyun, Song Yuanchao got off the train, waved goodbye to Li Xiaoyun on the platform, and said goodbye to Huhai in a few days.

After Li Xiaoyun's train slowly left the platform, Song Yuanchao turned around and left, and walked out of the train station a moment later.

The current Jinling Railway Station is located the same as the Jinling Station in later generations, and the famous Xuanwu Lake is opposite the exit station. However, the most famous train station in Jinling is not here, but Pukou Station, which was deactivated at the same time as the new station where it is now located ten years ago.

Pukou Railway Station, not many people who know this name except for those who know the history of Jinling, later this station began to be reopened after 1985, and at the same time changed its name to Jinling North Station.

But if you have read Mr. Zhu Ziqing's "Back", you can know that the railway station described by Mr. Zhu at that time was Pukou Station.

Standing in front of the railway station, Song Yuanchao looked at the Xuanwu Lake not far away, which had become a landscape in later generations, but now it still seems to be very depressed.

Jinling is not far from Huhai, but Song Yuanchao has not been here a few times before, although he has the address of Ying Caixia's house, but how to get to Song Yuanchao does not understand.

After thinking about it, Song Yuanchao dismissed the plan to take the bus directly and called a tricycle outside the station.

The human-powered tricycle, also known as the "rickshaw", is a relatively primitive taxi, this kind of car has lasted until the late nineties before it was completely replaced by a taxi, said the address, negotiated the price, Song Yuan got on the tricycle, sat in the back of the front of the master pedaled hard, Song Yuan looked at the style of Jinling City with great interest, and chatted with the tricycle master without a ride.

Ying Caixia's family lives in Lane 378 near Wudingmen, which is located south of the train station, some distance in the past.

Half an hour later, the tricycle arrived at the corner of the street, and then the road was narrow and the car was not easy to turn around, so Song Yuanchao got off here and paid the toll, looked around, followed the road signs, and went straight to the alley in front.

This area is full of old alleys, most of them are old Hui-style buildings, and there are stone roads on the ground, many of which have been damaged, and they look like they are some years old.

After walking forward for a long time, Song Yuanchao finally found the location of Ying Caixia's house, and he was a little surprised that Ying Caixia's house actually had a high-walled compound, although he couldn't see what the building behind the wall looked like, it could be seen from the rather imposing gate that Ying's family must have been a big family before.

Song Yuanchao, Lin Yan, Qin Zhengguo, Ying Caixia and the four of them had the best relationship among the educated youth in the northwest back then, but to be honest, in the days when they went to the countryside, everyone didn't talk much about each other's family situation, Song Yuanchao only knew that Ying Caixia's ancestors were not only officials but also businessmen, otherwise she would not have left her hometown and went to the northwest to go to the countryside.

In his previous life, Song Yuanchao had been busy since he returned to Huhai because of life and work, so there was not much contact with Ying Caixia, and later, in addition to Qin Zheng, Song Yuanchao and Lin Yan and Ying Caixia gradually lost contact, Lin Yan He inquired and knew that she went abroad after graduation, but Ying Caixia's situation was not clear, and he never saw her again until the moment Song Yuanchao passed away.

Putting down the luggage, Song Yuanchao stood in front of the dark and heavy door, grabbed the knocker and patted the door, and then waited quietly. But after a while, there was no business inside, Song Yuanchao frowned slightly and knocked on the door again, this time using a lot of strength, but still no one agreed.

"Young man, who are you looking for?" Maybe it was Song Yuanchao's sound of knocking on the door a little loud, no one answered on Ying's side, but the door of a family diagonally opposite opened, and an older white-haired mother-in-law poked her head out to look at Song Yuanchao, who was standing at the door of Ying's house, and asked.

The mother-in-law's old-fashioned official dialect has a strong Jinling accent, although Jinling belongs to the south of the Yangtze River, but the local dialect is different from Wu dialect, more like Huizhou dialect.

However, Song Yuanchao and Ying Caixia have been educated youths together for several years, and although they can't speak Huizhou, they can still understand it, and immediately replied in Mandarin: "Hello mother-in-law, this is Ying's family, right?" I'm looking for Ying Caixia. ”

"Are you ......?" The mother-in-law looked at Song Yuanchao with suspicious eyes, as if she was examining his origin.

"I am Ying Caixia's comrade-in-arms in the countryside in the northwest, my surname is Song, my name is Song Yuanchao, and now I am also a college student at Beijing Normal University, isn't this a school holiday, I stopped by on the way home to visit, do you know that Ying Caixia lives here?" Song Yuanchao replied with a smile, and deliberately pointed to the emblem of Beijing Normal University pinned to his chest to show his identity.

The mother-in-law glanced at it, and when her eyes finally fell on the school emblem on Song Yuanchao's chest, her vigilant expression eased, and a smile appeared on her face.

"Oh, that's right, Caixia isn't at home now, she should be at work at this time. Xiao Song, right, why don't you come and sit with me for a while? Drink a glass of water and wait for her to come back? ”

"This won't bother you, will it?"

"It's not troublesome, it's all old neighbors, I grew up watching Caixia, she's not at home, you're her comrade-in-arms, and you're not an outsider, what's the matter with coming all the way to see her standing outside in winter? Come on, come on, come in and sit. ”

The mother-in-law smiled and waved at Song Yuanchao, Song Yuanchao hesitated and felt that it was inconvenient to wait outside, so he thanked the enthusiastic mother-in-law and carried his luggage into the mother-in-law's courtyard.

The mother-in-law's house is also a large family, but the yard and house inside look a little dilapidated, although some places have been repaired, but it can be seen that they are all made of ordinary materials, and they have not been repaired in place.

Although the yard is old, it is clean, and there are some flowers and plants planted in the corner, but because it is winter, the flowers and plants have withered, and only dead branches and leaves remain.

beckoned Song Yuanchao into the front yard, and the mother-in-law poured a glass of water for Song Yuanchao in the first room, and then asked Song Yuanchao to drink water with a smile.

Song Yuanchao thanked him, and then sat down and chatted with the mother-in-law.

Mother-in-law is not young this year, she is born in Guangxu year, and now she is in her early seventies, her mother-in-law's surname is Sun, and Song Yuanchao called her Grandma Sun.

Grandma-Sun's husband died ten years ago, and now Grandma Sun lives with her younger son, the eldest son does not live here, the second daughter and the third daughter have already married, the younger son and his wife are both working and go to work, and the youngest grandson is in kindergarten at the age of four this year, so the family is also Grandma Sun.

Grandma Sun is the eldest lady from a large family, and she grew up with Ying Caixia's grandmother, and she is also a female college student who graduated from Jinling Women's University together.

Jinling Women's University was founded in 1913 and officially opened in 1915, and the first five graduates graduated in 1919 and were awarded degrees, which was the first batch of female college students with bachelor's degrees in Chinese history.

Grandma Sun and Ying Caixia's grandmother graduated in the late twenties, and there were very few women who could go to college at that time, let alone female college students who could complete their studies and finally graduate with a bachelor's degree.

Looking at Grandma Sun's white hair neatly combed, she spoke clearly, her thinking was quick, and her words were enthusiastic and polite, which vaguely showed the demeanor of the year.

Knowing that Song Yuanchao was a student of Beijing Normal University, Granny Sun was very interested in Beijing Normal University, and also told some past stories about how she and her classmates went north to Yanjing and went to Beijing Normal University.

Fifty years have passed in a flash, and the young girl of that year has long since lost her beauty, leaving only the impression in her memory, which can't help but make people feel emotional.

After chatting some gossip, Song Yuanchao asked about Ying Caixia's recent situation.

After returning to Shanghai, Song Yuanchao wrote a letter to Ying Caixia, but Ying Caixia only replied with a letter, and the content of the letter was very simple, just saying that she had returned to Jinling and everything was doing well. As for the other Ying Caixia, she didn't mention it in the letter, and she never wrote back since.

Just now I heard Grandma Sun say that Ying Caixia was at work, Song Yuanchao asked curiously, and saw that Ying Caixia had found a job, which was a good thing for the educated youth who returned to the city.

Unexpectedly, when Song Yuanchao opened his mouth to ask about this, Granny Sun's face was no longer smiling, replaced by helplessness and sighs.

"Caixia is now working as a temporary worker in the street factory, the kind of lake carton." Grandma Sun sighed and said: "This child is not easy, the Ying family was in a big trouble ten years ago, her grandparents were pulled out and wore a high hat, and after coming back, they couldn't stand it and left together, Caixia and her father went to the car accident a few years ago, and her mother survived until Caixia came back, but this god just refused to let go of their family, and a few days after coming back, her mother got sick and went, and the huge Ying family is now ......Caixia alone. ”

Listening to Grandma Sun's narration, Song Yuanchao's expression became serious, and his brows furrowed.

He didn't know much about the situation of Sun Caixia's family, because Ying Caixia rarely mentioned the situation of his family when he was in the northwest.

Now Song Yuanchao knows that the raw material Ying Caixia has no relatives like himself, and what happened to him is not much better.

Grandma Sun's family is a scholarly family, and her ancestors have been big officials, and after the Qing Dynasty was gone, Grandma Sun and her husband's family did not continue to engage in politics, but only relied on the industry left by the ancestors to maintain a decent life.

Later, because of the war, Grandma Sun's real estate was sold one after another, and in the end only this ancestral house was left. But then again, Seong didn't know if he was blessed, and it was precisely because of this that Grandma Sun's family didn't encounter anything too difficult, and it could be regarded as surviving.

But the Ying family is different, the Ying family is a big family in Jinling, not only has a good way to do business, but also had the children of officials before the liberation, it is said that the second son of the old grandfather Ying, that is, Ying Caixia's uncle, is still a high-status official in the other party's organization, and left Jinling before the liberation and finally disappeared.

The Ying family is rich and powerful, and has a head and face in the place, and in the blink of an eye, the once prosperous Ying family is left with Ying Caixia alone.