The afternoon sun shines in through the glass of the balcony window, making it somewhat warm.

Near the balcony, there is an old wicker chair with some age. Song Yuanchao is sitting in the chair. To his left, there is a thermos cup on a square wooden stool that serves as a coffee table. The lid of the cup is removed and set aside, and the cup is filled with water.

The strong yellow tea was steaming, the TV in the room was on, and news reports came intermittently.

This is an ordinary community located in the outer ring of southern Shanghai. Such communities are everywhere in this international metropolis. Most of them are resettlement houses built in the late 1980s and 1990s. The same is true for the house where Song Yuanchao lives.

After the old house in the city center was demolished, we got two apartments, one to rent and one to live in. I have lived here for nearly thirty years.

Time flies by, and Song Yuanchao, who was still middle-aged when he moved here, is now nearly seventy years old. He has been retired for many years and lives alone with no children.

Song Yuanchao was married when he was young, but this reluctant marriage only lasted less than three years and ended in breakup.

After the divorce, Song Yuanchao had no intention of starting a family again and has been living alone until now.

As he gets older, his health is getting worse than before. Especially after he accidentally fell while going downstairs last year, Song Yuanchao's health has been deteriorating. Coupled with the epidemic that has lasted for several years, Song Yuanchao has not been able to go out this year.

The time is getting less and less, and I spend more time just like now, sitting quietly and basking in the sun, recalling the past.

Life is short, and life also has many helplessness. Many past events seem to be within reach when you close your eyes, but yet they are so far away.

Before retiring, Song Yuanchao had the habit of writing a diary. In his diary, he recorded his life in various stages of his youth, youth, and middle age. Several thick diaries with rough edges can be said to represent Song Yuanchao's life.

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When he was young, Song Yuanchao was also a scholar, scolded Fang Qiu, pointed out the country, and promoted writing. He also had a girl he secretly loved, and he also had a beautiful dream for the future...

But all of this disappeared, and what Song Yuanchao was left with in the end was a pile of chicken feathers and deep helplessness. Now that he has gradually reached the last stage of his life, there is no chance to recover those regrets.

Slowly standing up, Song Yuanchao stood up and went to the bookshelf nearby and pulled out a photo album.

Opening the photo album, there are some old photos in it. Song Yuanchao in the photo is so young and his smile is so bright.

Slightly trembling and boring fingers caressed the yellowed photos one after another. This was not touching the photos, but touching the memories of his vanished youth. After an unknown period of time, Song Yuanchao sighed sadly and closed the photo album...

When he was about to put the photo album back into place, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest, as if a pair of invisible hands suddenly stopped his heart.

With a groan, Song Yuanchao's face turned pale, and a large amount of sweat oozed from his forehead. He couldn't hold the photo album in his hand and fell to the ground. He tried hard to take out the first aid medicine from his breast pocket, but he couldn't get it to go.

I couldn't take it out with my hands.

With a muffled thud, Song Yuanchao fell to the ground helplessly. At this time, the paralysis in his whole body had replaced the severe pain. His consciousness began to fade away. When he finally fell into darkness, his eyes stayed on the open book on the ground.

In the photo album, this is a group photo of four people. There are two men and two women in the group photo. Song Yuanchao is standing second from the right. To his right is a man about his age, who is holding his arm affectionately.

on his shoulders.

On his left, there are two young girls, one of whom is a green girl with braids. The girl and the female companion with short hair beside him are holding hands and smiling greenly at the camera. All the people in this photo

Everyone was wearing very old blue-gray coarse cloth clothes, with their trousers rolled up high, and Jiefang shoes on their feet. A field of freshly harvested crops could be vaguely seen from behind...

Song Yuanchao smiled, and soon his expression gradually solidified... At this time, a song was faintly heard from somewhere.

"All the honors of yesterday have become distant memories.

I have spent half my life working hard, and tonight I am facing the wind and rain again.

I can't just drift with the tide, for the sake of my loved ones.

No matter how hard it is, you must be strong, just for those expectant eyes.

If the heart is in the dream, it is there, there is true love between heaven and earth

Looking at success or failure, life is heroic, just starting over from scratch

All the honors of yesterday have become distant memories.

I have spent half my life working hard, and tonight I am facing the wind and rain again.

I can't just drift with the tide, for the sake of my loved ones.

No matter how hard it is, you must be strong, just for those expectant eyes.

If the heart is in the dream, it is there, there is true love between heaven and earth

Looking at success or failure, life is heroic, just starting over from scratch..."

"Comrade! Hey! Comrade wake up!"

Urgent shouts continued to ring in Song Yuanchao's ears, and at the same time someone was pushing him hard. When he opened his eyes dimly, Song Yuanchao couldn't help but feel a little dazed.

"Hey, comrade!" A man in a blue tunic suit looked distant and his tone was obviously impatient to urge.

"Ah...oh..."

Song Yuanchao opened his mouth and made two meaningless replies, turned his slightly stiff head, and suddenly he realized that he was actually sitting on a chair on a train. This was a familiar yet unfamiliar old green leather train, and the carriage was filled with people.

The smell of smoke, sweat, alcohol, sourness, fishy smell...all kinds of different mixed smells.

Such old green trains were eliminated as early as the 21st century and were replaced by high-speed, clean trains and high-speed rails. Even if similar green trains still exist on the few remaining lines, they are only similar in appearance.

, its interior has also been significantly updated.

"What's going on? This...?" Song Yuanchao looked around in a daze, unable to react for a moment.

Didn’t he die? Died at home due to a sudden heart attack?

How come I'm actually on a train when I open my eyes? And it's still an old green car like this? What's going on with the people around me? They are all wearing the same gray, blue, and black clothes as they were decades ago, with patches on them.

clothes and pants? What is going on with all this?

"Comrade, you have to wait until you get off the car to find a place to sleep. We're already at the station. How can I get out if you don't let me?" Song Yuanchao tried hard to understand what was going on. The man in Mao suit said impatiently.

It rang again, and then Song Yuanchao came back to his senses. It turned out that he was sitting at one end of the corridor, and his whole body and a huge package blocked the small space leading to the corridor.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Song Yuanchao quickly and subconsciously apologized to the man in Mandarin, stood up, lifted his luggage and made way for the passage.

"I met a red guy today...a country bumpkin!"

The man in Chinese tunic suit walked over to Song Yuanchao with a dark face, holding a black artificial leather bag in his hand. On the lower right corner of the bag was printed the word "Huhai" in fine art style, and below there was a line of pinyin for the word "Huhai" in the same fine art style.

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The man in Chinese tunic suit walked toward the car door and muttered something in Shanghainese dialect. Song Yuanchao was stunned when he heard it. He was about to retort when he looked up and saw that the man's figure had disappeared on the other side of the car door.

Ten minutes later, Song Yuanchao, carrying his luggage, stood blankly at the exit of Laobei Station.

Old North Station, also called Old Shanghai Station, was built in 1950. It is called North Station because it is located in the northern part of Shanghai City. In addition, it looks a bit shabby after being used for a long time, so people in Shanghai also call it

"Old North Station".

In the late 1980s, after the new Shanghai-Hai Railway Station was built, the Old North Railway Station was decommissioned. The new railway station was also called the New Station. After that, Shanghai built two more railway stations in the southern suburbs and the western suburbs. So far, Shanghai

There are three major railway stations in Hainan, namely Xinjiao Station, Nanjiao Station and Xijiao Station.

The current Laobei Station is not the place that has been depressed for a long time in my memory. The small square outside the station is very lively. The walls outside are painted with various era slogans. The old dragon buses that have been eliminated long ago come and go at the square station.

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It took a long time for Song Yuanchao to come to his senses. Now he is no longer an old man, but a twenty-four-year-old young man.

Today is February 14, 1979, which is Valentine’s Day in the West. Of course, in this era, few Chinese people may know what Valentine’s Day is.

The Spring Festival of 1979 was on January 28. Today is only three days since the Lantern Festival, and the streets of Shanghai still have the atmosphere of a festival that has just passed.

Song Yuanchao is from Shanghai. It has been eight years since he left Shanghai. Eight years ago, Song Yuanchao, who had just turned 16, went to the mountains and countryside in the northwest before graduating from high school and spent eight full years on the Loess Plateau.

Cold and heat.

Originally, Song Yuanchao thought he would stay in the northwest for the rest of his life, but who would have thought that things would turn around last year.

In 1977, national policies changed. First, the college entrance examination was resumed. However, Song Yuanchao was unable to take the college entrance examination for some reasons at that time.

On October 1, 1978, the country's policy for the return of educated youths was officially announced. A fierce wave of educated youths returned to their hometowns suddenly set off across the country. Song Yuanchao was no exception. In order to get the quota for returning home, he and several companions arrived first

The brigade worked hard and then walked dozens of miles of mountain roads to the commune revolutionary committee. They struggled there for several days relying on a few cornbread, and finally got the return home certificate stamped with a big red seal.

Originally, Song Yuanchao could return to Shanghai before the Spring Festival, but as it turned out that it was already approaching the Spring Festival, several close educated youths decided to spend the Spring Festival together before leaving after discussion.

After all, everyone is so far apart this time around, and we don’t know when we will get together next time.

On the night of New Year's Eve, Song Yuanchao and his friends who had shared joys and sorrows in the loess land for many years were all drunk. Everyone, both men and women, held their heads and cried happily together.

After the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, everyone left the place where their youth had been buried one after another, and embarked on the journey back home without hesitation.

From the mountains to the commune, and then from the commune to the local area, first on foot, then by bullock cart, then by tractor, car, and train... It took Song Yuanchao ten days and ten nights to finally set foot on the land of Shanghai and Shanghai again.

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At this moment, Song Yuanchao burst into tears.

Song Yuanchao never expected that God would allow him to return to this era again, an era that he had worried about countless times in his dreams, and that he yearned for and missed so much.

Song Yuanchao's home is located in the northwest district of Shanghai City. It takes two buses to get to his home from Laobei Station.

At this time, buses were still charged based on the distance between stops. The fares for fuel buses were 5 cents, 1 dime, and 10.5 cents respectively. The trolley bus charges were 4 cents, 7 cents, 1 dime, and 10.3 cents.

Originally, there was another type of bus in Shanghai, which was the oldest tram bus, and the fare was cheaper. However, now the tram buses have all been replaced by the new trolley buses with two pigtails.

According to some vague memories, Song Yuanchao first took a bus at Laobei Station and then changed to a trolley bus. It cost him nine cents and took nearly an hour and a half to get there.

After getting off the bus, Song Yuanchao looked towards an alley not far from the station. His home was in this alley.

Song Yuanchao was still a big child when he left home, but now he is an adult full of vicissitudes of life when he comes back.

Song Yuanchao's father, Song Guangzeng, is a Chinese teacher at a key middle school in the region, and his mother, Wang Sufen, is a worker in a textile factory.

In the past, such a dual-income family was very enviable, but due to the times, Song Yuanchao's father was beaten from a respected teacher to a bad old man overnight, and he suffered serious consequences in the endless campaign.

The root of the disease.

In the second year after Song Yuanchao went to the countryside, his father died of illness. His father's death made his weak mother unable to bear the excitement, and she cried all day long. A year later, her mother also passed away with her father, and when she learned that her parents had died one after another

When the news arrived, Song Yuanchao, who was in the northwest, knelt down on the loess soil with the letter in his hands and cried heartbrokenly toward his hometown.
Chapter completed!