Spring Festival in 1990.

Ankang came home with a net bag and found a strange man in a suit sitting in the living room.

Seeing Ankang enter the house from the outside, the man smiled at him and asked, "Are you Ankang?" ”

An Kang nodded.

The man didn't say who he was, just smiled and looked at Ankang. Ankang guessed that this person had come to visit the house. Although Ankang doesn't know who he is, he never cares about these things at home. This person is probably from the county seat. Although there are many people who wear suits to visit relatives during the Chinese New Year, it is rare to see people wearing such a neat suit.

Seeing that the man didn't speak, Ankang didn't say anything, but poured the lotus root with the pond mud into a wooden bucket in the living room with a net bag, and then took out a mace and squatted at the door to smash it against an iron bar. This is making a rabbit cage.

However, the rabbit cage made by Ankang is used to hold birds. He had heard that sparrows would not eat or drink until they starved to death after being put in cages. Ankang once killed seven or eight sparrows, and not a single sparrow starved himself to death. He was very interested in this and wanted to do an experiment.

Ankang concentrated on his work and did not speak, and the man concentrated on watching him work and did not speak.

After about ten minutes, Ankang's parents came back and saw the man in the living room hurriedly greeted him. While greeting each other, Ankang's mother was still crying.

At this time, An Kang knew that this man in a straight suit was his uncle. No wonder the mother cried so sadly.

Ankang was very excited, and without waiting for his parents to remind him, he threw a mace into the house and shouted "uncle" enthusiastically. Ankang was genuinely enthusiastic about this uncle, because he was indeed very happy. This uncle, whom he had never met, came to their house today not to pay New Year's greetings, but to pick him up and go to Shanghai to "look white and look white."

"White phase", this word is so interesting. Ankang only heard this Shanghai dialect a month ago, and understood that it meant to have fun, take a look, and go shopping.

Of course, I know what kind of place Shanghai is, but I don't know what kind of person this uncle is. Of course, it is impossible for such a big child not to know who his uncle is, but he has never heard of this uncle.

Here, if anyone has a relative in Beijing or Shanghai, not to mention that the whole village knows about it, even half of the people in the whole township know it. Although this uncle is a distant cousin, it is also a relative who makes the whole family flourish.

Of course, Ankang went to Shanghai, not just the "white and white" uncle said, his parents planned to let Ankang, the uncle, take him to Shanghai. After all, the quality of teaching in those schools in Shanghai is much better than that in my hometown. And his parents also told Ankang that this was a reward for his good academic performance last semester.

Ankang knew that there were rewards for good academic performance, but he didn't expect this reward to be so unimaginable. It's a lot better than buying a new dress and giving a few dozen dollars more.

This uncle, who met for the first time, is indeed the image of Shanghainese in Ankang's mind. He is polite and soft-spoken, and he can't hear what he says until he stands far away and doesn't listen carefully. Unlike the people here, who are naturally loud when they speak, the two of them bite their ears and whisper, and the whole village can hear it.

The uncle was very busy, so he didn't stay, and after lunch, he helped Ankang pick up his luggage and take Ankang on the road.

Ankang's mother was still crying very sadly. She cried a lot of times today. At first, I watched Ankang's uncle cry, and now I am pulling Ankang to cry.

The mother cried while chasing after her uncle and Ankang to send them away. When she was finally sent to the river embankment to break up, her mother simply stopped crying, but cried and grabbed the ground. The howling sound stunned the villagers on both sides of the river and the passers-by who were visiting relatives.

That scene can be described as earth-shattering and crying ghosts and gods, the grass and trees change color, and the rivers are cut off.

Ankang helped his mother, and he didn't know what to do for a while. He had never seen his mother cry like this.

The father pulled his mother's arm hard and said angrily: "The baby went to school in Shanghai." It's not that he won't come back. What are you crying about? ”

When my mother heard this, she cried even harder. Almost collapsed to the ground.

The father lifted the mother who had weakened with one hand, and waved at Ankang and his uncle with the other free, signaling them to hurry up.

The uncle pulled Ankang's arm, and the two of them quickened their pace and left.

After all, this is Ankang's first time going far away, and he is still going to such a far place. Of course, parents are reluctant. For her mother's crying today, Ankang understands very well. Ankang is also reluctant, but for a teenager who has been trapped in the countryside since he was a child, the big Shanghai that has been friends for a long time in movies and TV is even more desirable.

Since Ankang knew that he was going to Shanghai, he bought a map from the Xinhua bookstore in the county and hung it on the wall, and measured the distance between the surveyor and Shanghai with a ruler, and used the ruler under the map to convert it, estimating the time it might take on the road.

However, what he didn't expect was that it actually took a lot more time on the road than he imagined, and what Ankang didn't expect was that this time he went to Shanghai to take a sleeper by train. This is something that Ankang and his friends around him have never experienced before. There's also a bed of your own on the train, so you can do whatever you want. It's wonderful to think about.

With this strange uncle, Ankang was a little cramped, but after a few hours, the tension and uneasiness subsided a lot. Although Ankang didn't know this uncle at all, his uncle knew him well and took good care of him.

Even the boxed lunch he ate on the train, his uncle ordered him his favorite big chicken leg with poached eggs without asking. They drank drinks throughout the whole process, and it was the "Jianlibao" that Ankang always wanted to drink but was reluctant to buy. A drink that can be drunk in two or three sips costs a few dollars. Ankang drank seven or eight cans along the way. I feel distressed when I drink well. Embarrassed, he took the water cup out of his bag to turn it on.

But my uncle grabbed him and said, "What kind of boiling water do you drink?" Jianlibao is not very delicious. ”

When the food truck came, my uncle bought four more cans.

My uncle's family is quite rich. This is the conclusion that Ankang has drawn from the consumption of Jianlibao.

I originally thought that the train would arrive at my uncle's house when it arrived in Shanghai, but I didn't expect that my uncle's house was very far away from the Shanghai Railway Station.

On the bus home from the train station, I was very excited to see the high-rise buildings that I had never seen before. It may also be that he was overly excited, watching the tall buildings retreat backwards, and Ankang actually fell asleep on the bus.

It doesn't matter if you fall asleep, Ankang actually missed the Huangpu River and the long cross-river tunnel. I didn't even see the Bund that was broadcast at every turn in movies and TV.

When Ankang woke up, he had already arrived in Pudong. Looking at the surroundings, Ankang feels similar to the county seat of his hometown.

After getting off the bus, my uncle told Ankang that this is a suburb of Pudong, called Zhoupu. It is also known as "Little Shanghai".

Ankang really can't understand why this place is called "Little Shanghai", because these streets, these buildings and everything you see are so different from the "Big Shanghai".