Chapter 16 The past is too painful to look back on
Just as he was talking, the big bus came, and people crowded onto the bus. It was not easy to take a bus. Liu Limin and Wang Xia were both squeezed onto the bus.
The conductors started collecting tickets one by one. Taking a bus was not expensive, only a dime.
Along the way you can see old streets and many overhead trains.
Forty years later, these scenes were rare to see, and Liu Limin felt countless emotions in his heart.
Longdu is the second city established in Sichuan Province. It is an old industrial city. Before the 1990s, it was pretty good in the province. It was the third largest city after the provincial capital and mountain city. However, after the 1990s, it became
Slowly, people are flocking to coastal cities, provincial towns, and mountain towns to work and do business.
Thinking back carefully, I once did some small business in Longdu and mountain cities in the 1990s. It’s hard to look back on the past!
Thinking about it, life was really hard at that time. Let’s say in the fruit business. At that time, I had to carry a load of more than 100 kilograms and walk from Dingxin Commune to Longdu City. I couldn’t make much in one trip.
money.
But at any rate, it was through my own efforts that my family was able to live a life of food and clothing. Thinking about how ambitious I was back then, I wanted to make a name for myself, but ended up running into obstacles everywhere. After I reached middle age, I could only
I can farm at home and make a living.
After her daughter got married, the ambition she once had had been worn away to nothing, and she spent the whole day in the teahouse.
Now that God has given me a chance, I have been reborn, and I have very powerful medical skills. I must seize the opportunity and work hard so that this time will not be in vain.
The Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine is located in the remote Machongkou. This area used to be full of cranes and salt wells. It was very prosperous in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. At that time, Longdu merchants were everywhere, claiming to have 100,000 salt workers and thousands of households.
Yan Zao, but now these scenes are gone.
When we got off the bus at Machongkou, it was already 12:30 noon. We could see the outpatient and inpatient building of the Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the distance.
Although it is said to be a building, it is actually only five floors. In Longdu in the late 1970s, it was indeed a very tall building.
As soon as I got off the bus, my stomach growled dissatisfiedly.
Liu Limin smiled and said: "Sister Wang, how about we find a restaurant first, have dinner and then go to the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital to report?"
Wang Xia smiled and said: "Okay, I heard that the mutton soup in Ma Chongkou is good, how about we go and have a bowl of mutton soup!"
Liu Limin nodded and said, "Okay, there's a restaurant in front that seems to be doing pretty good business, so the taste shouldn't be bad!"
As the saying goes, when you go to a restaurant, you should go to whichever one has the most people. This is absolutely true.
Although eating mutton soup seems a bit luxurious, Liu Limin really wanted to try the taste of this mutton soup.
In his previous life, this was unimaginable. Not to mention going out to restaurants, Liu Limin couldn't bear to buy two steamed buns. In the early 1990s, when he went to Longdu to do fruit business, he would make two gray-faced buns by himself.
, put it in a basket, take it out to nibble when you are hungry, how can you afford mutton soup?
Even in the new century, when everyone's living conditions have improved, Liu Limin rarely goes out to restaurants. Only occasionally, his daughter takes him and his wife to the next restaurant. The family's favorite is the mutton soup.
Think about that time, it cost more than 200 yuan for a family to eat mutton soup. Mutton is very expensive, 90 yuan per catty. If a family eats mutton soup, it must cost more than two catties.
However, many migrant workers like to eat mutton soup with rice. It is sold by the bowl. A bowl of mutton soup costs 20 or 30 yuan. There are only a few slices of mutton in it. It is mainly eaten with soup.
The same is true now. As soon as Liu Limin and Wang Xia entered the store, the boss came up to greet them warmly.
Liu Limin smiled and said: "Boss, two bowls of mutton soup!"
The boss smiled and said: "You two, the mutton soup in our store is famous far and wide. Do you want to add meat? The price of adding meat is only three yuan a bowl!"
Although Liu Limin was still as thrifty as before, with Wang Xia here at this time, he couldn't be too stingy, so he smiled and said: "Okay, let's have two bowls with meat!"
If Liu Limin came alone, he would definitely not ask for mutton soup with meat, or even drink mutton soup.
This is frugality that has been deeply engraved in his bones since he was a child. Liu Limin came from that difficult era. It was even more difficult when he was a child. He almost never had enough to eat, let alone eat meat.
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Therefore, Liu Limin will never change his habit of thrifting. Even in the 21st century, when living conditions have improved, he is still the same.
Sometimes a plate of food can last for two days. Even if it is oil soup, there is no leftover to eat with rice and I can't bear to throw it away.
Who knows that every meal on the plate is a labor of hard work? Liu Limin understands it more deeply than anyone else.
The mutton soup with meat was served. The bowl was big and there was a lot of mutton in it. It was really worth it.
Smelling the aroma of the mutton soup, even Wang Xia's stomach started to sing.
Wang Xia swallowed her saliva and said, "Xiao Liu, this mutton soup is really good. I haven't had a toothpaste for a long time. My sister is so greedy!"
Liu Limin smiled and said: "Sister Wang, I will serve you some rice. We two need to be full today!"
As he said this, Liu Limin picked up his rice bowl and filled a large bowl of rice for Wang Xia and a large bowl for himself.
The good thing about this mutton soup restaurant is that it has enough food. It has not been a meat restaurant for a long time. Both of them devoured it as if they had starved to death.
Take a sip of mutton soup and a big mouthful of rice, and this feeling of satisfaction will arise spontaneously.
Liu Limin thought to himself that he must let his family eat meat every day in the future. He wanted to eat mutton soup in a restaurant. That would be great!
I don’t know when I will be able to eat this mutton soup next time. There is no mutton soup restaurant in Dingxin Commune. After all, it is in the countryside. How many people are willing to spend money to eat mutton soup?
After all, the living conditions in the city are much better. An ordinary worker can only earn about fifty yuan a month, which is enough to eat mutton soup many times.
Neither of them wanted to eat the mutton first, so in the end, they had eaten two large bowls of rice and almost finished the soup, leaving only the mutton.
There was no package available at this time, so both of them chewed the mutton carefully. It tasted so good that they couldn't bear to swallow it.
After finally finishing the mutton, and even licking the oil stars on the side of the bowl clean, Liu Limin paid for the meal and left the mutton soup restaurant with Wang Xia.
Wang Xia said sheepishly: "Xiao Liu, thank you for hosting the reception. I will treat you to a good meal next time!"
Liu Limin smiled and said: "Sister Wang, we are all comrades on the same front, so there is no need to be so polite. Let's go report!"