Chapter 113

Li Heng didn't go to the so-called Sunjialong, but rode the bicycle around the old station and returned to the entrance of the town middle school.

Parking the bicycle casually, he bought a few popsicles and struck up a conversation with the owner of the small shop at the school entrance.

During the conversation, Li Heng said: "Boss, your location is good. You should install a public phone. That way you can earn quite a bit of money."

The boss complained: "I have thought about this method, but installing a phone costs several thousand yuan, and you have to apply for it. I have a small business. Even if I sold all my fat, it wouldn't be enough. I can't afford it at all."

In an era where the wage was 1.5 yuan a day, several thousand yuan was definitely a huge sum of money. Even if a strong man worked as a coolie day and night, it would take more than 10 years to save up. It was indeed not something an ordinary family could afford.

That is, like the Xiao family, the public pays for it. Otherwise, in such a small town, who would dare to be so extravagant as to install a phone at home?

While chatting, he waited for a miracle to appear, hoping that the black-bellied girl could hear his heart's voice, that he was waiting for her.

Unexpectedly, only ten minutes passed, and a miracle really appeared.

I saw the tall Xiao Han wearing a blue-green plaid dress, her beautiful face without makeup, thin eyebrows and apricot eyes, slender and elegant, her shoulders and neck as white as beautiful porcelain, her waist smooth and flowing.

As soon as she appeared at the entrance of the town government compound, the owner of the small shop chatting couldn't help but exclaim: "Xiao Shuji really has good fortune, giving birth to such a beautiful and intelligent daughter."

Li Heng happily joked: "Boss, you are an educated person, 'beautiful and intelligent' is well used."

The small shop owner shook his head with a smile: "It's not that I used it. I also picked up the principal's words. Everyone says that if our town has ten buckets of spiritual energy, then Xiao Shuji's daughter occupies eight buckets alone. In the future, she will probably marry into a big city. Our small place can't accommodate her."

While they were chatting, Xiao Han, who was walking toward the small shop, also saw him. However, this girl was very self-respecting outside. She just glanced at someone, changed her direction slightly, bypassed the guard room, and entered the town middle school.

It was summer vacation now, so there was no one inside, and the school wall isolated the noise outside very well, and also avoided the prying eyes of interested people.

Li Heng understood and waited for four or five minutes before taking advantage of the small shop owner being busy selling goods to slip into the school.

Looking around at the school gate, he didn't find anyone. However, he wasn't in a hurry. He was familiar with the road and cut into the small path on the right. Sure enough, he saw her in the shade of the tree behind the cafeteria.

When he was in junior high, he and Chen Zijin liked to run to this place for dates because the place was relatively remote, there weren't many people usually, and it was very suitable for colluding and talking about love.

The weather was very stuffy. Li Heng ran over and handed her a cream popsicle warmly, asking happily: "How did you know I was waiting for you outside?"

Xiao Han lowered her head to peel the outer paper and said lightly: "Mr. Li, you misunderstood. I'm not looking for you. Dad is coming home for lunch at noon, and there's no soy sauce. Mom told me to come to the small shop to buy soy sauce."

She added a bitter sentence in her heart: In order to meet you, I pretended to drop the soy sauce on the ground. Mom said anxiously, "I just bought it! I only bought it two days ago!"

Li Heng was depressed: "Then you can't stay outside for too long?"

Xiao Han glanced at him and said happily: "It's not that there's no way. Why don't you go and bomb the government compound?"

Li Heng rolled his eyes, kept it short, told the story of what happened when he called at the telecommunications bureau, and then said: "There's a loophole, I came specifically to tell you."

Xiao Han listened and looked up at the blue sky in a daze. It wasn't until she sucked half the popsicle that she came back to her senses and asked crisply: "Are you that afraid of being discovered by Mom?"

Li Heng was stunned and immediately expressed his position: "No, I respect you. After all, my reputation before wasn't good. If you're not afraid, I can't wait."

Hearing the word "reputation," Xiao Han was silent for a long time. Afterward, she pointed to the osmanthus tree next to her and asked: "Are you still familiar with this?"

Li Heng looked at the osmanthus tree along her line of sight. Familiar?

How could he not be familiar with it?

This tree almost witnessed all the youth and ignorant love between him and Chen Zijin during junior high.

But he couldn't figure out the mind of the girl in front of him for a while, so he chose to wait quietly.

Sure enough, not long after, Xiao Han turned her head, pursed her lips, and asked with courage: "How much of the rumors about you and Chen Zijin are true?"

The so-called rumors, of course, referred to the matter of sleeping together.

Li Heng was stumped by this question.

If he lied, there would definitely be a day when it would be exposed later. After all, Chen Zijin wasn't that easy to provoke. If she made trouble at both ends, he would only suffer.

If he didn't lie, the progress between him and the girl in front of him would be infinitely delayed.

Just as he was hesitating, Xiao Han bit the last bite of the popsicle she hadn't finished into her mouth and said dejectedly: "It's my lack of self-knowledge, Mr. Li, I've made it difficult for you."

With that, she stood up and was about to leave.

Seeing this, the anxious Li Heng instinctively hugged her from behind like in his previous life.

With this hug, Xiao Han's body burned from 37 degrees to 100 degrees, burning hot.

The air suddenly became dead silent. After a long time, she touched her earlobe with her right hand and asked shyly: "Can you let me go? There are so many resident teachers in the school, they will see us."

And once they saw it, that would be a big deal, and it would definitely reach the Xiao family's ears.

Li Heng didn't act shamelessly and let her go, saying seriously: "Xiao Han, be my girlfriend."

Xiao Han refused crisply: "No."

Li Heng said: "Then be my wife."

Xiao Han raised her head and asked crisply: "Then Mr. Li, how many wives will you have in the future?"

Li Heng said to stabilize the military heart: "One."

"Oh."

Xiao Han said "oh" and said lightly: "Yesterday someone slept in my arms, but shouted Song Yu's name in his mouth. Then the wife is her, right?"

Li Heng was dumbfounded. He did have many dreams yesterday. Did he really shout Song Yu's name?

He subconsciously wanted to deny it, but when he thought of his mother and second sister's words, he couldn't be sure.

However, he still denied it. Because he felt that if he really shouted Song Yu's name, this black-bellied girl would have woken him up long ago.

Li Heng opened his mouth solemnly: "Xiao Han, it's a pity that we couldn't be together in junior high. Actually, I care about you quite a bit."

As soon as this sentence came out, the scene was quite cooperatively still for 20 seconds.

Afterward, Xiao Han smiled bitterly and said: "Sorry, I can't accept it for now."

She said silently: Sorry, I really care about you too, please forgive me.

She said silently: If you want to confess, you have to be formal. Pick a flower, say I like you, say I love you; or hold me, forehead against forehead, and say affectionately, I have loved you for so many years, you can't be so sloppy.

In fact, when she said the three words "I'm sorry," she regretted it and wished she could bite off her own tongue.

Her heart was roaring uncontrollably: Xiao Han! What are you doing? Waiting for 6 years, isn't it just waiting for this day?

But she wasn't willing!

She didn't know why she wasn't willing? Not willing for what?

Maybe she wasn't willing for him to have slept with Chen Zijin.

Maybe she wasn't willing for him to just say "I care about you," instead of saying I like you, I love you.

She just felt that our love could be even more earth-shattering, so that it would fit all her fantasies and expectations. For that moment, she had waited too long, too long, and it had to be perfect.

Locking eyes, the Li Heng in front of her was so good-looking, so gentle, standing meticulously and appearing calm, and under his gentle eyebrows was a sweet attack on her.

She appreciated it seriously until she felt a bit uncomfortable from blushing.

When Xiao Han wanted to pretend to be indifferent but felt she couldn't hold on, she chose to empty her head, let herself sink into a muddled state as soon as possible, and become numb to his sweet attack.

At one point, Li Heng reached out and pushed her shoulder. She swayed left and right like a tumbler, then returned to her position blankly, letting the monsoon blow her green hair into a mess.

It wasn't until Li Heng opened his arms and hugged her gently, then from light to tight, increasingly hard, that she suddenly realized.

Then she was startled by the mouth that was getting closer and closer, and hurriedly wanted to turn her head away.

But it was too late, and she was kissed.

With a dragonfly-touch kiss, Xiao Han turned her face away and resisted crisply: "Mr. Li, I've already refused you, why are you still kissing my mouth? Kiss my face, that way it shows I have dignity."

After speaking, the two people whose hearts were close to each other smiled at each other, and the two instantly reconciled, and the atmosphere suddenly became very harmonious.

As ordered, Li Heng obediently kissed her left and right cheeks once each, then straightened her body, forehead against forehead: "Do you want me to give you a chance to go back on your word?"

Her little heart beat wildly, her whole body went soft, she didn't dare to look directly into his eyes, lowered her eyebrows and said: "No, talk about it later."

"Okay."

Li Heng said okay and let her go decisively.

Because his ears were sharp, he heard voices coming from the side of the teaching building.

Xiao Han also heard it, and hurriedly hid under the rain shed behind the cafeteria.

Li Heng didn't move, leaning against the osmanthus tree, happily watching her hiding like a mouse.

It was indeed someone coming, 4 familiar teachers, one man and three women, discussing playing cards, and didn't notice Li Heng behind the osmanthus tree.

After the 4 people passed, Xiao Han showed a small dimple and said: "I have to go, Mom is still waiting for the soy sauce."

Li Heng said: "Dishes without soy sauce are healthier to eat."

Xiao Han smiled, thinking that without soy sauce, she could only sprinkle salt on the ground next time.

On the way back to the school gate, she simply told the story of the bus driver.

After listening, Li Heng asked: "Do you need me to block their mouths?"

Xiao Han touched her earlobe with her right hand and lowered her head to give a light "hmm."

Walking a few steps forward, Li Heng suddenly said: "I don't want to block the driver's mouth at all. I really hope they say it out."

Xiao Han looked back and smiled bitterly, "Are you hoping this earth will explode early?"

Xiao Han left, left the town middle school through the guard room, and bought a bottle of soy sauce at the small shop.

Li Heng didn't rush out, but waited for ten minutes or so before leaving.

"Hey, young man, where did you go just now? I was still looking for you to chat." Seeing Li Heng return, the small shop owner was particularly happy and even gave him a cigarette.

Li Heng waved his hand, indicating he didn't smoke, then pointed to the Bai Sha on the shelf and said: "Boss, get me a pack of Bai Sha."

The small shop owner asked: "You don't smoke, buying it for an elder at home?"

Li Heng, in order to make his departure just now look like it, said: "I have something to do with a school leader."

Hearing this, the small shop owner showed a smile of "I understand."

After riding around again, Li Heng left the town middle school. Thinking that it was still early for the bus to return, he simply walked around the town properly.

Today happened to be a market day, and there were quite a lot of people. He couldn't help but think that if he hadn't earned a manuscript fee and his family hadn't started making adobe bricks, Comrade Tian Run'e would have come to sell rice again.

Passing a fabric store, he found that the fabrics were very bright and fashionable, so he tore off several fabrics of different styles, preparing to take them back to give to his parents and eldest sister.

As for the second sister, she was expensive, and her eyes were picky, so forget it. Giving money was the most practical.

Later, he bought a razor for Comrade Li Jianguo, snowflake oil for his mother, and then it was his habitual trip to Qian Yuejin's Noodle Shop to reward himself.

"You're here." The plump proprietress had a lot of style when she said this.

"Yeah."

"Eating noodles or powder? Or the usual wontons?"

"Are you taking money? If you don't take it, I won't dare to eat."

The proprietress smiled: "I take it."

Li Heng sat down, "The usual, large bowl of wontons, add spice!"

Every market day, the business in the shop was always full, but even so, the proprietress still found time to chat with him while cooking the noodles and wontons:

"Why did you come alone today?"

Li Heng said: "I came to mail a letter."

The proprietress asked: "I've heard about your father's business. I heard he was framed by bad people. What is he doing at home now?"

Li Heng was surprised by the other party's question, but after thinking about it, he still answered: "He is in poor health. He usually reads books and cooks at home."

The proprietress sighed: "Such an educated intellectual is wasted at home. It's a pity."

Li Heng looked up and continued to eat wontons.

In the middle, the proprietress abruptly added a fried egg for him, "I admire intellectuals. My son is your reader."

Her husband worked at the grain station and managed more than ten people, which was quite capable in the small town. Otherwise, such a charming proprietress wouldn't have fallen to him.

When saying "reader," the proprietress deliberately lowered her voice, just not wanting others to know, because she understood that if it were exposed, this person might not come again in the future.

She also fantasized about letting her daughter meet him. Her daughter followed her, looked very pretty, and was also a college student at Lake University.

She didn't know if this little thought was right, she just wanted to try. This small town was hard to produce such a powerful figure. If she watched him drift away, she would sigh.

After eating the wontons, the sun outside was poisonous. Li Heng, who had nowhere to go, sat at the shop entrance for a long time, chatting with the proprietress.

When it was about 6:10 in the afternoon, Li Heng put the things in the corner and said to the proprietress:

"I have something to do. You help me watch the things, I'll be back in a while."

At this point, the market had long since dispersed, and the shop had gradually become quiet. The proprietress moved a stool and sat beside him, "You go, the things won't be lost if you put them here."

Li Heng rode his bicycle to the old station, then crossed the old station, drove about two li toward the county town, and then waited by the roadside.

In a while, the bus appeared in his field of vision on time.

Li Heng waved.

"Screech!" The bus stopped, and the conductor opened the door.

Li Heng asked: "Auntie, why didn't you carry a single passenger today?"

The conductor said: "It's summer vacation. It's always like this. There aren't many passengers. The last two just got off at Fushi Temple in front."

Li Heng handed the Bai Sha cigarettes to the couple and explained his intention.

The driver was stunned. The retired veteran who didn't speak much spoke: "You are Li Heng, I know you, you are a writer."

"Ah? Uncle knows me?" Li Heng had a little vanity.

The conductor smiled: "There are only a few people who go to Shao City First Middle School to study. It's been so many years, how could I not know? It's just that my husband doesn't like to talk, so he seems relatively cold."

The driver nodded: "I don't want the cigarettes, you take them away. We have never told anyone about you and the Xiao family girl, and we won't."

The conductor added a sentence on the side: "My parents-in-law are both retired teachers. My husband didn't have good grades since he was a child, but he admires people like you."

After pulling for a few rounds, seeing that the other party was determined not to take them, Li Heng pondered for a moment, opened the whole pack of cigarettes, took out two packs, and gave them to the other party: "Consider it my wedding cigarettes, Uncle, don't refuse again."

This time the retired veteran didn't refuse and took a pack.

After chatting by the roadside for a few minutes, they parted ways. When returning, Li Heng didn't pass through the old station but bypassed the noodle shop through the field path.

The reason he did this was to avoid bumping into Wei Shiman head-on.

Needless to say, he really guessed right.

Wei Shiman came out of the post office on time, greeted the bus couple as soon as they met, and then started a series of questioning journeys.

As for the result...

The result was of course imaginable, nothing was asked.

The conductor also gossiped seriously: "Hey, Shiman, is your girl too aloof? I haven't seen her talk to that Li Heng for several years. Do they have any grudges?"

Wei Shiman breathed a sigh of relief and smiled: "She, she has been as proud as a peacock since she was a child, and doesn't like to associate with boys. She gets along very well with Yingwen and Xiao Feng."

The conductor nodded: "That's true. Speaking of which, their group will all be college students soon, becoming dragons and phoenixes among people. I really envy you for having such a good daughter, I'm so jealous."

This praise hit Wei Shiman's heart.

She had two things to be proud of in her life: marrying a husband who loved her and giving birth to a beautiful daughter.

Especially her daughter, who could be considered her most perfect work in life.

Returning to the noodle shop, Li Heng asked the proprietress for a clean urea bag, packed the things inside, tied them tightly, tied them to the back seat of the bicycle, and then thanked the proprietress before rushing back to the village anxiously.

Can he not be anxious at this point?

There's only one person, and he has to pass through a graveyard with no one for three li later. Just thinking about it makes his liver tremble.

The bicycle was quite useful when going down, almost without stepping on the pedals.

But damn it, it was miserable going back! At least one-third of the road was uphill, most of which couldn't be pedaled and had to be pushed.

Fortunately, the graveyard was in a mountain col. Although the road had more turns, the trees on both sides were dense and gloomy, but Li Heng sang all the way and made it through.

However, his back was completely soaked, and his skull was damn cold now.

He secretly pondered that he would never walk the night road alone when it was dark in the future. Even if there was a faint moonlight, it was damn scary.

"Manzai, why did you just get back?"

Tian Run'e came to the village entrance to pick him up and was sitting on the stone arch bridge chatting with two sisters-in-law. Seeing her son appear, she immediately walked over.

Li Heng said: "I met an old classmate in town, so I stayed a while longer. Mom, you don't have to pick me up in the future. I'm so old, can I still get lost?"

Tian Run'e looked at the sweat on his forehead and smiled warmly: "Mom didn't dare to pick you up at the graveyard below, so I could only sit here and wait."

Li Heng simply didn't ride the bicycle, got off, and accompanied his mother while walking and talking.

Just as they were about to reach the crossroads, a burst of intense arguments suddenly came, "Mom, who is fighting?"

"Who else, the three big bullies. They didn't draw a good lot when dividing the fields, and they all wanted that piece of seedling field by the river. They've been fighting since the afternoon and haven't stopped. Your father and the village cadres were invited to be peacemakers, but I don't know if they can mediate well." Tian Run'e said.

There were three big bullies in Shangwan Village:

One was a Liu-surname butcher, with a violent temper, who liked to take a butcher knife at every turn, and always chased after other people's houses to slash wildly when he was angry.

The second was a Yang-surname bully, who inherited the bandit habits of his father's generation. He could carry 450 jin on his shoulders and lift a tree as thick as a bowl with both hands over his head. He often challenged the men of other families alone, and the outrageous thing was that he could always win. He was full of bandit spirit.

The last one was a thin old man with the surname Zou, who had been hunting in the mountains all year round. He wasn't good at single-handed fighting, but he liked to shoot cold guns and often didn't leave his hunting rifle. If you offended him, heh! Then pray not to meet him in the wilderness, otherwise, he would give you a shot. Even if he didn't hit you, he would definitely scare you to death.

Li Heng asked curiously: "The three big bullies fought, who won?"

Tian Run'e shook her head: "The old man Zou was pressed to the ground by the other two and his face was swollen. It is estimated that he couldn't swallow this breath. Manzai, be careful when you go out in the future, so as not to be accidentally injured."

After eating a bowl of rice at home, Li Heng specifically went to the scene to see, but found that the old man Zou had already gone home, and that piece of good seedling field had also been divided by the other two bullies.

However, this struggle obviously hadn't ended. After 3 o'clock in the morning, a few sharp sounds woke up the entire Shangwan Village.

Accompanied by the woman's crying, they learned that the butcher's house had been shot with cold guns, three pigs and two cows had died, and two shots had been deliberately fired at the window, but fortunately, no one was hurt.

The village cadres went to the old man Zou's house to find someone, but the house was already empty. The villagers discussed that it was estimated that he was hiding in the big mountains.

Cold guns were heard for three consecutive nights, and calling the police was useless. He was just a person with five guarantees, clearly wanting to fight you to the death. In the end, the butcher and his wife surrendered and admitted defeat, saying that they didn't want the seedling field, and the dead pigs and cattle didn't need to be compensated.

However, the Yang-surname bully was still stubborn and also got a hunting rifle, saying he would accompany him to the end. His wife and children couldn't pull him back, and the village cadres couldn't persuade him either.

On the afternoon of the 13th, the village cadres held a copper gong and hit it once while shouting: "The village is going to have electricity, 12 yuan opening fee. If you want electricity, hurry up and pay the money and work."

Hearing that they were going to have electricity, Li Heng was the most overjoyed. Without waiting for the family to take the money, he had already counted out 12 yuan and handed it over:

"Uncle, when will the electricity be ready?"

"This depends on how many people there are. We need to cut trees to set up utility poles and pull wires. If there are many people, it will take 20 days or so. If it's slow, it won't be ready for a month or so."

Don't look at Li Heng's young age, but no one in the village would put on airs in front of him. Even the three big bullies liked to take the initiative to shout when they saw him. The village branch secretary answered with a smile.

In these years, there were no so-called cement utility poles in the countryside. They were all tree heads. Sometimes when a typhoon blew, they were always swaying. If anyone was unlucky enough to be hit, they could only sigh that the King of Hell wanted to hook their soul. Anyway, every few years, you could always hear who was electrocuted to death, which was quite tragic.

The family was going to build a new house. Li Heng pulled the blockhead to help for two days, mainly practicing mud, commonly known as stepping on mud.

Before red bricks are formed, the mud needs to be stepped on repeatedly so that the quality of the fired red bricks can be guaranteed.

Second sister and brother-in-law each stayed in a corner of the field, making bricks with models.

The Zou family's in-law father also came to help. He was responsible for moving the embryos and drying the embryos. He had the most trivial matters, but he was always happy, with a smile on his face, and occasionally joking with neighbors, a very happy little old man.

As for his mother, Comrade Tian Run'e, she was even busier. Li Jianguo could only cook and feed the pigs at home. She had to manage all the big things inside and outside the house. When she was free, she would also help make bricks.

Busy and busy, time passed by until the morning of the 14th.

Thinking of going to the capital to see the big world, thinking of being able to go to the capital to see the world, Zhang Zhiyong was so excited that he didn't sleep all night. In addition to catching his cheap father, he also visited the neighbor's sister's house in the middle of the night. That is, Liu Chunhua's house.

Liu Chunhua had just transferred from the army yesterday. When she saw a sneaky shadow climbing on the balcony in the middle of the night, looking at her newly washed underwear, she was so angry that she was about to explode.

But when she saw clearly by the moonlight that the person was Zhang Zhiyong, she stopped and hid behind the door without making a sound, just watching the blockhead take down the underwear and smell it, then carefully put it back, and finally slipped away without a trace.

On the way to town to catch the bus, Li Heng listened for a long time without saying a word, and after a long while, he sighed:

"You! I don't know what to say about you! Aren't you afraid that she will come out and beat you up?"

Zhang Zhiyong touched his head and said with justification: "I'm not afraid, if she wants to beat me, I'll just lie on the ground and not move."

Li Heng was speechless: "Old Yong, sometimes I think you're quite perverted!"

The blockhead kicked a small stone gloomily: "Damn it! I also think I'm hopeless."

It was all downhill to town, much faster than coming back, but even so, it took more than an hour to get on the bus.

And after turning around, it was already past 4 o'clock in the afternoon when they arrived in Shao City.

As soon as he got off the bus, Li Heng was still squatting by the roadside to breathe. He was a bit motion-sick and had to breathe fresh air to recover.

As for Zhang Zhiyong, wow! This guy had already vomited on the way, and now he was vomiting for the third time.

Ten minutes later, the two left the station, and the blockhead asked with his neck stiff: "Where are we going?"

Li Heng said: "Go find the English teacher to get the train ticket."

"Where does that teacher live? School or downtown?"

"Should be at school."

PS: Seeking subscriptions! Seeking monthly tickets!

(End of chapter)