Chapter 21: , Pretending Girl, Brotherly Love

The 12th day of the first lunar month, which is February 9, 1987, in the Gregorian calendar.

Heaven seemed to have been poked with a hole, with endless drizzling rain, accompanied by a north wind, damn cold.

Before dawn, Li Heng, who was in a dream, was woken up by Tian Run'e: "Youngest, the rooster has crowed for the third time, it's time to get up."

There was no watch or alarm clock at home. Previously, Li Jianguo's only mechanical watch was broken, and he had never had the money to fix it. If they wanted to get up early to catch the road, they could only judge the approximate time by the rooster's crowing and the sky outside.

Li Heng, who stayed up late writing until late last night, didn't wake up. His eyelids opened and closed weakly, his whole body was like paralysis, without a bit of strength, and he didn't want to move at all.

But he knew he had to get up. In this era, there was only one bus from the town to Shao City, and he had to catch it.

Otherwise, he would need to transfer 3 times in the middle, which was time-consuming and laborious, and it was very easy to encounter pickpockets and robbers, and accidents were easy to happen.

There were even many old hands who often went out and warned the villagers: some drivers had lost their conscience and colluded with local hooligans. Every time they passed Qijiang Town, they would pick a mountain road section with few people to let the social hooligans on and rob everything.

Therefore, even if Li Heng was a reborn person, he felt powerless in the face of this big dyeing vat of the era, so he had to obediently catch the early bus.

It is said that the driver was a veteran of the Vietnam War, full of righteousness, and the passengers who took his car almost never had any accidents. Slowly, the reputation spread, and it was well-known.

Just as he finished washing up, Zhang Zhiyong rushed over with a bag on his back. This saved trouble; otherwise, if he went to the Zhang family's door to call someone later, he might be chased by a dog.

Hmm... and he might even encounter the brainless guy's father dating some messy female ghost under a locust tree or in some grass.

This isn't just talking nonsense.

Regarding romantic affairs, there has always been a saying of the Three Vajras in the nearby villages, and Zhang Zhiyong's father is undoubtedly the first.

Even the Liang-surnamed grave-robber couldn't make the list.

After all, the Three Vajras are true feelings and true romance, never harming good families, and dare to take them out to show off and tease themselves. But the one surnamed Liang and his daughter-in-law getting together is purely lowly.

He took the various bottles and jars handed over by Comrade Tian Run'e and put them into his schoolbag. They were all filled with vegetables, including the cured meat he was incredibly rare.

Of course, there were mostly jarred vegetables like sour chili, sour long beans, and sour radish.

Li Heng asked Zhang Zhiyong: "Are you alone? What about Yang Yingwen? Is she really not going with us?"

Mentioning this, Zhang Zhiyong became an old angry youth, very unhappy, almost jumping up to scold people:

"Go fart!

I just went to call her, and her mother said she left yesterday afternoon. This stinky fart didn't even notify us when she left."

Li Heng thought for a while and judged based on his previous life's experience: "She might have stayed overnight at Xiao Han's house last night."

Speaking of which, it's ironic. Yang Yingwen is arrogant in her studies, but she is very timid and afraid of ghosts.

And it just so happens that the road from Shangwan Village to the town has two large graveyards.

One of them was a former execution ground, where people of all ages and all kinds of deaths were buried.

For example, those who hung themselves on beams, those who were shot, those who were beheaded, and also women who died in childbirth and children who died halfway, etc.

It sounds terrifying, and people without courage really wouldn't dare to pass by at night.

Carefully checking his schoolbag, the books were all there, and the manuscript was also there. After seeing that nothing was left behind, Li Heng turned back to say goodbye to Li Jianguo and Tian Run'e:

"Dad, Mom, I'm leaving. Don't send me off; the cold air outside is heavy, especially Dad, your health is not good, go in and rest early."

"Eh! You walk slowly, pay attention to the road, and if you encounter strangers, go around them from far away." The couple promised well, but still sent them to the entrance of the village.

As for their exhortations, it was not groundless.

In this era, there was no side business to earn money, and during the slack farming season, every household rarely left the village after dinner. At most, neighbors would visit each other and chat.

And those who traveled in the middle of the night were likely two types of people: those who had urgent matters, or those who had evil intentions.

Zhang Zhiyong shook his thighs and shouted: "Uncle Li, Aunt Tian, don't worry, I have a knife on me.

If any dead egg dares to provoke our brothers, I will definitely stab him with a blood hole, making him cry for his father and mother."

For this brainless guy's jumping character, Tian Run'e and Li Jianguo had long since learned, and they were numb, just smiled, and gave up the thought of persuading him.

About three miles away from Shangwan Village, the two came to Temple Street.

It's called a street, but this saying is not really for the living. This place is full of high mountains and steep ridges, and there has been no human smoke for 600 meters before and after. There is only a small temple hiding under a huge rock. The rock is very large, as wide as a basketball court, and the Three Lives Goddess is enshrined in the temple.

And behind the rock is a graveyard that cannot be seen from both eyes.

When they reached here, with the sound of hair-raising crows, Li Heng and Zhang Zhiyong, who were laughing and talking at first, suddenly had no sound.

Looking at each other, Li Heng familiarly touched a box of matches from his pants pocket, and after a burst of friction, the matchstick finally ignited.

Seeing this, Zhang Zhiyong didn't hesitate and hurriedly extended a bundle of straw he had carried under his armpit to the flame and lit it.

Li Heng put away the matchbox and asked as usual: "Are you ready?"

Zhang Zhiyong pulled the bag on his back and raised the straw with high flames, "Ready!"

Under the red firelight, Li Heng issued an order: "Run!"

As soon as the word "run" was spoken, the two stepped forward in unison and ran wildly towards the road ahead with their heads covered.

Don't look at the dirt graves on both sides of the road!

Even if there is a sound behind the back, don't look back!

Gathering their strength, they rushed through this gloomy mountain hollow in one breath.

In fact, the two of them dared to walk at night because they were forced out during the period when school started in the first year.

At first, they were often robbed of their living expenses by the two Liu Shuiwen brothers, and they had no money to buy vegetables, and they couldn't swallow the plain rice, so what to do?

They could only run home to get vegetables after finishing evening self-study.

This went back and forth, and the two's courage gradually practiced, and the two families got used to it, even if they traveled in the middle of the night, they wouldn't send them off.

To be blunt, the elders of the two families were even more cowardly than them in this ghost place; who sent whom was not necessarily true?

Running halfway, Li Heng suddenly asked: "Old Yong, are you afraid?"

Zhang Zhiyong gathered his courage and answered: "Afraid of a chicken, the old man brought a knife!"

Li Heng teased him: "Try blowing out the torch."

Zhang Zhiyong didn't understand: "What's wrong?"

Li Heng said: "Blow!"

Zhang Zhiyong obediently blew the torch.

Li Heng asked: "Did you see many hairy mouths blowing together?"

"Your grandpa!!!"

Zhang Zhiyong, whose heart had been tight, felt a chill coming from his heavenly spirit cover, bit his cheeks, and accelerated again, surpassing him.

Li Heng laughed loudly, followed by accelerating a bit, and said side by side: "Sing the national anthem."

"Sing!"

"Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves, let our flesh and blood..."

This is the two's reserved repertoire, witnessing their brotherly feelings all the way. Whenever they were extremely afraid in their hearts, they would sing a song together with their throats.

The singing was earth-shaking!

It was particularly conspicuous in the dark, and I don't know if the little friends on both sides of the road were scared to death?

Anyway, in the nostalgic scenes, Li Heng walked through the high mountain road that was frightened and came to the town.

At this time, the sky had not yet opened, the light was not very bright, and the houses on both sides of the street were reflected in shadows.

The early vendors had already opened their stalls. The most sold were breakfast fast food like buns, steamed buns, and steamed dumplings. When they saw people passing by, they tried to shout "Kid, are you eating breakfast?", the slogan was neither novel nor unique, and they would trick one if they could.

The bus station was located on the west side of the town, very small, relatively dilapidated, and full of wall slogans serving the people. Only a few buses entered and exited every day.

Its public toilet had been flowing with yellow water for years. People who wanted to go to the toilet didn't have the determination to die, so they didn't dare to enter, and could only drill into the mountain behind.

"Kid, where are you going?"

Before reaching the station door, the bus conductor had already run over to pull passengers, with such enthusiasm that saliva almost sprayed on his face.

Li Heng moved aside without a trace and asked: "Going to Shao City, are there any seats?"

"Yes! There are plenty, come up and sit." The conductor pulled his arm, as enthusiastic as ever.

Li Heng thought he had come very early, but didn't expect that after getting on the bus, he found he was still too naive. The conductor was clearly full of lies. He hadn't taken the bus for decades, and almost forgot this routine.

A rough scan, there were no less than 30 people in the car, and all the good seats inside were occupied, leaving only three lonely empty seats in the last row.

Unexpectedly and not unexpectedly, he met several familiar faces, all of whom were classmates admitted to Shao City No. 1 Middle School in the same batch of high school entrance examinations.

For example, Xiao Feng sitting in the penultimate row at the back. Don't look at her surname Xiao, but she had nothing to do with Xiao Han. Her body was thin, and she came from the Jin Mine side of Shiqiao Shop.

She was the person closest to Yang Yingwen. In a mid-term exam at her peak, she once lagged behind Yang Yingwen by only one point, almost cutting off Yang Yingwen's dragon vein and reaching the top of the school.

However, she had always been a top student. Even after entering Shao City No. 1 Middle School, she was a figure who stirred up the wind and clouds. If his memory wasn't wrong, this girl should have been admitted to Tsinghua University. As for the specific situation later, he didn't know; the two didn't have much contact.

Seeing Li Heng get on the bus, Xiao Feng, who had always been silent, quickly glanced at him with her eyes. Obviously, she had also heard of someone's romantic deeds during the winter vacation.

Receiving this girl's look, Li Heng greeted very generously:

"Good morning, Comrade Xiao Feng."

Xiao Feng was sparing with words, didn't make a sound, but still looked at him.

"Hehe, Li Heng, you are really handsome. Your legend can be written into the century's top 100 cases."

Replacing Xiao Feng to answer was another familiar face, Yangcheng sitting next to Xiao Feng.

This was a short, stout little fat man. His grades were fierce in junior high school, often ranking in the top five in the school, but in high school, he didn't know why, he fell behind, and squeezing into the top 100 in the school became his goal for hard work.

Li Heng stopped in front of him, lowered his head, handed over a fist, and asked: "Really praising, or want to be beaten?"

Yangcheng shrank his neck: "Heaven and earth are above, praising wholeheartedly!"

Li Heng retracted his fist and nodded happily: "Sure enough, excellent people have the same vision."

Just as he expected, Yang Yingwen really didn't leave yesterday. At this moment, she was sitting in the last row with Xiao Han, talking to the two people in the front row from time to time.

Of course, this one surnamed Yang was not authentic, so I won't waste ink, actually not calling them when leaving.

Xiao Han was wearing a red jacket today, her eyes bright and deep, her soft and straight long hair gathered on her greasy white neck, paired with those pink silk hairpins and earrings, still as beautiful as ever.

Or rather, this girl was too eye-catching, born to be a clothes hanger, and looked beautiful in everything.

Seeing Li Heng walking straight towards her, Xiao Han suddenly gathered her courage, slightly raised her right hand, and greeted with a smile: "Hi! Li Heng..."

Just at this moment, the conductor in front shouted loudly: "The bus is about to start, please prepare small change, we are collecting tickets."

This was the kindness of the conductor and the driver. They tried not to collect tickets halfway, just afraid that the pickpockets who got on halfway would keep an eye on the passengers' wallet placement.

With the conductor's voice interfering, Li Heng didn't notice Xiao Han's small movements, let alone hear her greeting.

Xiao Han stayed still for a moment, then immediately raised her left hand and pulled at her right arm with a calm expression. Afterwards, feeling that she was too spineless, she pinched the back of her right hand with her left hand.

Xiao Han stayed for a while, then raised her left hand, pulled her right arm calmly, and then felt that she was too unpromising, and pinched the back of her right hand with her left hand.

She comforted herself in her heart: No one noticed, right? It's okay, I'm still that indifferent pretending girl.

Zhang Zhiyong had always suffered from beauty phobia. Seeing his good brother occupy the window seat, he stood in the aisle, not daring to sit next to Xiao Han at all.

The brainless guy winked fiercely. Li Heng pretended not to see and closed his eyes to rest.

No way, Zhang Zhiyong used his trump card, "A small stir-fry."

Li Heng remained unmoved and continued to tease him.

Zhang Zhiyong increased the chips, "Two meals, don't go too far."

Li Heng opened his eyes and said leisurely: "Plus a catty of spicy sea flowers."

In this era, being able to eat spicy sea flowers in Shao City is definitely a superior person, costing one yuan a catty.

Damn expensive!

I don't know why those black-hearted vendors would mark the price so high?

Is it because of the difficulty of transportation?

Zhang Zhiyong's heart was bleeding, but he still endured: "Deal!"

Witnessing the plastic brotherly love of the two throughout the whole process, after they finished changing seats, Yang Yingwen spoke:

"Li Heng, Zhang Zhiyong, why did you two just come? The bus is about to start."

Li Heng and Zhang Zhiyong, who had just turned their faces, were brothers in heart, turning their heads to look out the window in unison, not paying attention.

PS: This chapter is over 4000 words, let's send it together as a two-in-one, too lazy to split chapters.

Now it's because of the recommendation slot that I can only send so much every day, and I will explode after it goes on the shelves.