"I'll be back soon." Li Wenjun told Gu Zhanyan, turned to the kitchen, picked up a large enamel jar and an aluminum lunch box, and walked out.
The bungalows with red bricks and black tiles built against the mountain behind them are exactly the same, arranged in rows as neatly as a square formation in a military parade.
New arrivals will get confused when they see this. Fortunately, there is a house number, so they won't enter the wrong house or find the wrong person.
Li Wenjun's house is No. 3, row 3.
Li Wenjun looked up at the sky, took a deep breath, and greedily looked at everything around him that was familiar but now felt strange.
The concrete road outside was as dusty as I remembered.
On the red brick wall painted with white powder, large red letters read: "Safety in production must be kept in mind."
Outside the wall are endless fields, trees and houses, which is another kind of land.
Inside the wall are a cinema, a post office, a hospital, a canteen, a bathhouse, a school, a supply and marketing cooperative and a kindergarten. There is also a train station next to it. It is a small city.
The loudspeaker has started to broadcast the news from China Central Radio.
The workers came out of each bungalow and greeted each other with smiles. Without exception, they all held enamel jars or aluminum lunch boxes in their hands.
"Comrade Zhang Aihua, your upgrade last night was really bad."
"Comrade Qian Duofu, you still have the nerve to say that it's not because your opponent is so unlucky that all the cards he draws are bad, which drags me down and keeps losing."
"Damn you, you blame me for your poor skills. Don't make me sit across from you tonight."
"I heard that on the anniversary of the mining area, a number of foreign movies will be shown in the auditorium and open-air cinema."
"Really? Let's go see it together then."
As soon as everyone saw Li Wenjun, they exchanged thoughtful looks. The two older ones began to tease Li Wenjun.
"Eh? What's the wind blowing today? The military commander actually came out to buy breakfast."
"Didn't Master Jun say you want to make a fortune? Take me with you."
Everyone called each other Comrade, but they called Li Wenjun "Army Young Master". This was not to respect him, but to regard him as a gangster and a playboy from the old society who was harming the entire mining area. They gave him such an ironic nickname.
But for Li Wenjun, when he heard someone call him that again after decades, he didn't feel offended, but felt particularly kind.
He quickly stopped and said hello solemnly.
"Good morning, Master Zhang, Master Qian. I drank too much last night and talked nonsense, which made you laugh. From now on, just call me Xiao Li. I really don't dare to be called Young Master."
The chubby Qian Duofu and the tall and thin Zhang Aihua were surprised and stared at each other.
One of them is the leader of the fitter team, and the other is the leader of the electrician team. They know Li Wenjun's urine properties very well.
Normally, the arrogant Li Wenjun would not pay any attention to their ridicule and sarcasm. He would just snort at most, let alone call them "Master" politely.
Although they are indeed his masters.
Looking at Li Wenjun's back, the two of them were thoughtful.
"This bastard is not awake yet, or his brain is broken."
"I think this little bastard must be holding a big move in his belly. Pay more attention to him at work today."
Li Wenjun couldn't help but raise his lips when he heard this.
"Young Master!!" Zhao Lin trotted down the slope towards him, shaking the lunch box in his hand, "Morning."
"Monkey." Li Wenjun hugged Zhao Lin's neck.
This is his best friend, a classmate from a technical school, and now he works in the same team as him. He is thin, wizened and active, so he is nicknamed "Monkey".
After Li Wenjun left, thanks to Zhao Lin's care, his mother was able to survive until the day he came back.
Unfortunately, Zhao Lin later died in a motorcycle accident and he was not able to see him for the last time.
Li Wenjun's eyes turned red when he thought of this, and he slapped Zhao Lin hard on the shoulder twice.
Decades of longing, gratitude and thousands of words have all turned into the power of these two palms.
Zhao Lin was so slapped that he coughed and shouted: "Take it easy, take it easy."
Li Wenjun grinned and held back the tears in his eyes.
It's not that his personality is as sentimental as a woman's, it's that he only understands how important these people are to him after experiencing the ups and downs of his life.
Zhao Lin took out a newspaper from his arms and said mysteriously: "Look at this."
Li Wenjun knew what was written on it.
It was an advertisement recruiting workers at an electronics factory in Shenzhen.
There were only two short sentences, but they gave him countless hopes and reveries.
He went to Shenzhen overnight after seeing that advertisement, and stayed there for several years.
"I originally wanted to give it to you at work, but I didn't expect you to come to buy breakfast today. It's so strange." Zhao Lin muttered.
Li Wenjun snorted and stuffed the newspaper into his pocket: "That's so long-winded. From today on, I'm going to change my mind and become a good man."
The two people had already entered the canteen and lined up behind the crowd.
When women saw Li Wenjun, young and old, their eyes couldn't help but drift towards him.
"Alas, I'm still very popular." Zhao Lin sighed.
Li Wenjun said nothing.
He knew that his face was very resistant to beatings, and it brought him a lot of convenience in his subsequent entrepreneurial career.
But when he was young, he felt that this face would only bring trouble. He wanted others to see his intelligence and ability, so he kept cutting off the most ugly cuts to reduce others' attention to his appearance.
This kind of thinking is really superficial and childish.
It's clear that God has given me an advantage by giving me food, so why not be grateful?
As long as you can succeed, let alone using your own advantages, sometimes you even have to give up your self-esteem.
He's smart and handsome, what's wrong with that?
Be confident!
"Look." Zhao Lin called out and pursed his lips to the side.
Li Wenjun turned around and saw that Wu Renxin was leaning against Qin Hongling and didn't know what he was talking about.
Qin Hongling lowered her head, obviously about to cry, but did not dare to escape or resist.
Wu Renxin's appearance is really ordinary, short and dark, with a broad nose, buck teeth and thick lips, but his main character is still poor.
There is no girl in the mining area who likes him.
However, he was extremely confident and looked down on the girls from the countryside who were introduced by others. Therefore, he was still unmarried in his mid-twenties and was one of the rare older unmarried young people in the mining area.
Ever since Li Wenjun was falsely accused of spying on Qin Hongling when she went to the toilet, Li Wenjun has become a gangster in the eyes of others, and the victim Qin Hongling has also become a "broken shoe".
Wu Renxin is the director of the Educated Youth Office and the brother-in-law of the mine manager Wang Yongqing. No one would offend him for a "shabby shoe".
Therefore, there are so many people present at this moment, but all of them are pretending to be blind and stupid.
If it had been in the past, Li Wenjun would have pretended not to have seen it.
He was either afraid of Wu Renxin, or he just didn't want to have anything to do with Qin Hongling anymore.
For her own good and to save myself trouble.
But things are different now.
Because he knew that Wu Renxin would use his status as an educated youth class teacher two years later to attempt to rape Gu Zhanyan, forcing Gu Zhanyan to kill Diandian and then commit suicide to protect himself and his children.
The hatred of wife and daughter is irreconcilable.
If it had been in ancient times, it would have been enough for him to go up and break Wu Renxin's neck now.
What are you still enduring?!
Li Wenjun stepped forward and kicked Wu Renxin hard on the back of his calf.
Wu Renxin's knees softened and he knelt down with a 'pop' sound.
