Chapter 2336

Xixiaokou Village wasn't far from the Woolen Mill, less than five kilometers, so Zhou Andong decided to build the school and staff dormitories here to make it convenient for the children of the Woolen Mill staff to go to school.

And the name Xixiaokou, it is said, originated from the evolution of Xizhakou. In the late Ming Dynasty, there used to be a small river here, flowing from north to west, then turning south, and finally flowing into the Qinghe River. On weekdays, the water volume of this river was small, but every rainy season, the river water would rise rapidly, and the water volume would become very sufficient.

Near this river channel, there were two very small villages. One was in the east, and one was in the west, separated by about three or four li, mainly planting vegetables and rice.

In order to better use the river water for irrigation, the villagers built a small sluice gate on the river channel near each village. Thus, the villages were named after the sluice gates, getting the names Dongzhakou Village and Xizhakou Village.

With the passage of time, this river channel gradually dried up for some reason and finally disappeared completely. And the names Dongzhakou Village and Xizhakou Village, in this long passage of time, changed to Dongxiaokou Village and Xixiaokou Village by word of mouth.

In the early days of liberation, these two villages belonged to natural villages of Changping County. In the 1950s, the administrative division changed, and Xixiaokou Village was assigned to Haidian District, while Dongxiaokou Village still belonged to Changping County.

Xixiaokou Village, at the entrance of the village leading directly to the main road, there was an elm tree more than ten meters high, with lush branches and leaves, like a huge green umbrella, covering half of the intersection. It was currently a hot summer afternoon, the sun was scorching, and this elm tree became a good place to escape the heat.

Under the tree, there were more than ten people, squatting or sitting, men and women, old and young. Several old men were smoking leisurely, chatting with a middle-aged man who was squatting.

And beside the middle-aged man, there was a bicycle, and a large foam box was tied to the rear rack, with a piece of paper pasted on it, with the words "ice lolly" written crookedly on it.

There were also several old ladies, holding palm-leaf fans and shaking them, chatting about this and that, their eyes looking from time to time at the children squatting by the roadside watching ants carry caterpillars.

These little guys were watching with rapt attention, even though the sun in the sky made their heads oily, they didn't move, their eyes fixed on the ants, only occasionally sticking out their tongues to lick the ice lolly in their hands. Only at this time would a very enjoyable expression appear on their tender little faces.

Just then, on the main road, three small cars appeared, driving from far to near. When the three cars approached the entrance of the village, the speed slowly dropped, and then they stopped slowly, right beside those little guys.

The few little guys who were originally squatting on the ground, watching the ants carry caterpillars with rapt attention, immediately withdrew their gaze from the ants, then stood up one after another, opened their eyes wide, and stared curiously at the small cars in front of them.

This scene also attracted the attention of the group of old men and old ladies under the big tree. They stopped smoking and stopped shaking their fans, turning their heads to look over in unison, their eyes full of curiosity.

For the villagers of Xixiaokou, the Mercedes-Benz and Audi parked by the roadside, including the Peugeot 505 at the back, weren't anything rare. After all, their village was located beside the main road, and many vehicles came and went every day. Luxury cars like Mercedes-Benz and Audi weren't many, but they weren't unseen.

Sometimes, some out-of-town cars would stop to ask them for directions; after all, there was no navigation in this era, and drivers running long distances relied entirely on a map and a mouth.

And today, these three cars had Beijing license plates, meaning the people in the cars should be from the city and definitely weren't asking for directions, so they were very curious. Because besides the District Head, it seemed no big figures had ever come to their village.

As for why the license plate of the Audi in front was white, they didn't know, because it had already exceeded the scope of their cognition.

Zhou Andong and Wang Jianmin didn't enter the village but stood by the roadside at the entrance of the village, looking into the distance. Liu Lijuan stood beside them, and the others stood behind.

Zhou Andong took out a cigarette, handed one to Wang Jianmin, took out a lighter and lit it for him, then lit one for himself, took a puff, pointed into the distance with the finger holding the cigarette, and waved his arm, drawing a large arc.

"Taking that small three-story building as the center, just assign me 600 mu of land."

The Xixiaokou of this era was unfamiliar to Zhou Andong. However, the Xixiaokou twenty years later was a place he visited often, coming more than once. Because not only were there Zhongguancun Science City and Technology Park nearby, but there was also the Olympic Park, all on Subway Line 8, only four stops away. And across the road was the Dongxiaokou Forest Park.

The small three-story building and several rows of buildings Zhou Andong pointed to were the Agricultural Machinery Institute. Beside it, that piece of forest and wasteland would become the Xixiaokou Park in the future. He had included the future park in his sweep.

However, at this very moment, that piece of land, except for the Agricultural Machinery Institute and a few civilian houses, was full of wasteland and forest, desolate, with nothing.

Wang Jianmin looked at the Agricultural Machinery Institute and said softly: "Let's go over and take a look!"

Because it was still some distance from the Agricultural Machinery Institute, before Zhou Andong could open his mouth to say let's take a car, Wang Jianmin had already strode away.

Zhou Andong shook his head helplessly, followed quickly, and the others also accelerated their pace one after another, following closely.

After the group walked for a while along the roadside, they turned into a dirt road. This road had obviously been repaired, the road surface was relatively flat, and there weren't many potholes.

Zhou Andong observed the surrounding terrain as he walked. If he hadn't remembered wrong, this dirt road under his feet should be the future Yuxin Garden West Road.

Just as they were about to walk to the gate of the Agricultural Machinery Institute, a Suzuki AX100 motorcycle sped out from the village.

The rider was a lean young man. He skillfully stepped on the brake and parked the motorcycle steadily under the old elm tree, one foot supporting the ground.

"Old Guan, whose are the three cars parked by the roadside? Where are the people?"

Old Guan shook his head and answered: "I don't know, they just walked toward the Agricultural Machinery Institute."

The middle-aged man selling ice lollies asked curiously: "Dahe, where are you going on your motorcycle?"

"I'm going to the town to handle some business." Dahe responded, then waved his hand casually: "I'm off!"

As his voice fell, with a "boom," Dahe twisted the throttle hard, and the motorcycle sped out like a wild horse that had broken its reins.

"You rabbit cub! Are you in a hurry to go to a funeral, riding so fast?"

A fat old man ate a face full of dust and was so angry that he cursed at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing in the air, carrying uncontrollable anger.

"Pah!" Old Guan spat out the dust in his mouth and shook his head helplessly: "What's the use of you cursing? Wait until he comes back and I'll shave him."

Old Guan hadn't finished speaking when he saw Dahe, who had already ridden onto the main road, suddenly make a sharp turn. The motorcycle turned around instantly and headed straight for the Audi car.

Dahe braked urgently in front of the Audi, and the motorcycle made a harsh friction sound. He opened his eyes wide and stared dead at the license plate. After a while, this guy came to his senses, his body trembled suddenly, and then he twisted the throttle again. The motorcycle made a deafening roar again, like a beast that had been angered, roaring and rushing into the village entrance, bringing up a cloud of dust, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Cough... cough, cough, cough..."

The fat old man coughed a few times, fanning the dust in front of him with his hand, still muttering and cursing: "Did this little rabbit cub take the wrong medicine? Why did he come back again?"

At this time, Dahe had already arrived at the village office. He couldn't care about anything else, parked the motorcycle steadily in a state of anxiety, then leaped up the steps in a few steps, and walked toward the village Party Secretary's office with big strides.

As soon as he reached the door of the village Party Secretary's office, he didn't even knock, but pushed with both hands hard. That broken wooden door, which was already tottering, couldn't withstand such an impact, and with a "bang," it slammed hard against the wall.

The door hinge on top suddenly fell off and tilted down instantly. Although it was still connected by the bottom hinge, it looked tottering, and no one knew when it would fall off completely.

There weren't many things in the village, so usually, few people came to the village office, but the village office had an electric fan, which became the old Party Secretary's favorite in hot weather. He liked to sit in the office, drink tea, read the newspaper, and blow the fan.

This wasn't it; the old Party Secretary was sitting in front of the fan leisurely, holding a cup of tea in his hand, which had already been sent to his mouth, preparing to drink. Dahe rushed in very suddenly and made a big noise.

This sudden move caught the old Party Secretary off guard. His hands shook suddenly, and the cup slipped from his hand, and with a "pop," it fell to the ground, instantly shattering into pieces.

The old Party Secretary looked down in astonishment at the broken teacup. A burst of heartache. This was bought by his daughter, and it had been less than a week since he bought it. He treasured this teacup very much, but now it was shattered, which made his heart ache terribly.

The old Party Secretary slowly raised his head, his gaze first falling on the tottering office door that was about to reach the end of its life, and then his gaze slowly moved to Dahe, saying through gritted teeth.

"Hu Haihe, if you kid don't give me a reasonable explanation, I'll make you wear mourning for my teacup for three days!"

Hu Haihe hadn't expected the office door to be so fragile, and even less expected that this collision would scare the old Party Secretary so much that even the teacup fell to the ground and shattered.

This guy gave a dry laugh and then hurriedly explained: "Secretary, please don't be angry. I really didn't mean it. I have a very urgent situation to report to you!"

"Humph!"

The old Party Secretary hummed, his gaze falling on the already shattered teacup on the ground, a look of heartache on his face: "Less nonsense, I only listen to reasons. If it can't satisfy me, I'll go to the supply and marketing cooperative to tear five feet of white cloth immediately, and you kid just wait to wear mourning for my beloved teacup!"

"Big deal!" Hu Haihe said urgently: "Secretary, it's really a big deal. The city's No. 6 car is parked at the entrance of our village, but there's no one there. Old Guan is just at the entrance of the village. According to him, they went to the Agricultural Machinery Institute."