In June in Beijing, the weather is getting hotter and hotter, and the cicadas on the trees are making an annoying noise.
At the entrance of the Dongsiliutiao courtyard, Xia Chen held a kitchen knife in his hand and put a newspaper under his buttocks, sitting on the steps waiting for the person who wanted to pay.
He smiled bitterly. About three hours ago, this guy woke up and suddenly found himself reborn.
The scene at that time was as follows:
He opened his eyes in a daze, and suddenly found himself in a small and cramped room. The bed board under him was only 1.6 meters long and 80 centimeters wide. The four walls were painted white, and Teresa Teng and Teresa Teng were posted above the head of the bed.
Qi Qin's poster.
The concrete floor was filled with potholes and dampness, and white hair grew unchecked. Opposite the bed was a three-drawer table and a wooden chair. On the table were a quaint old clock and a feather duster, and a calendar hung above the old clock.
The calendar has been torn down to only half of it. The date on it is June 20, 1990, which is May 28 on the lunar calendar. Everything is not appropriate.
Xia Chen blurted out a "f*ck" sentence, it was so familiar. This is half of his cabin. Today is also an unforgettable day. My father died gloriously today in his previous life. It is indeed inappropriate for him to do everything.
The reason can be summed up in one sentence: the factory closed down, debt collectors came to the door, they got into a fight over a disagreement, a creditor wedged a brick in the back of the head, and they were not rescued after being sent to the hospital.
The crane is traveling to the west.
He jumped up from the bed, not knowing whether to be happy or sad. God miraculously sent me back, asking me to make up for the regrets of my previous life and save this family that was about to fall apart?
It should be.
I touched my trouser pocket, no cigarette.
Only then did Xia Chen remember that she was still fighting guerrillas with her father at the moment, and even had to smoke a cigarette secretly.
He walked to the table, opened the drawer, rummaged around, and found a crumpled peony at the end. He quickly closed the curtains, and the room suddenly fell into darkness. He squinted at this room with only a bed except the table.
In Quhut, Xia Chen smiled bitterly again.
I sat down on the chair, lit the cigarette, and took two long puffs, and my memory became clearer.
He won't go into details about the process of rebirth. He only remembered that it seemed that last night, a man was drinking to relieve his sorrows in a bar on Gongti Street. After getting very drunk, he was jumped by a little girl fairy and was rushed to "just in time".
The little girl's boyfriend slapped a bottle of wine on the back of her head and lost consciousness. When she opened her eyes again, she was back in this hot afternoon.
This afternoon was hot, but Xia Chen's heart felt cold.
The clock made a crisp "dong" sound, and he glanced at it. It was half past one, and there was less than an hour left before his father was photographed.
Something must be done.
He took two long puffs of cigarette, threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stamped it out with his feet. He rubbed his face vigorously with his hands several times, stood up and walked out the door.
The room next door is the bedroom of her father and stepmother. The door is closed at this time, but Xia Chen knows that they must be inside.
He raised his hand and knocked on the door. He quickly shouted "Come in."
Xia Chen pushed the door open and walked in. He saw his stepmother sitting on the broken sofa and smoking a cigarette. His father's eyes were bloodshot and he nodded at him with a sad face.
Xia Chen was still a little unaccustomed to having a living dad, whom he hadn't seen for decades.
As for the smoking stepmother, this woman has always been such a big-hearted person, and Xia Chen has long been used to it.
"Chenzi, we don't sell standing tickets." The first person to speak was stepmother Liang Yinghong. She is generous, cheerful, and enthusiastic. She possesses all the virtues of traditional Chinese women. She also has a resolute personality and would rather bend than bend.
"Stepmother..." Looking at the much younger Liang Yinghong, Xia Chen felt quite awkward, so he called out, walked to her and sat down. Seeing her cold face, he got used to it for a while, and then asked: "We had a quarrel.
?”
Liang Yinghong sighed, flicked the cigarette ashes and said loudly: "If something bad happens, your dad will die. I haven't said anything here yet. He is going to divorce me, saying that the family has failed. From now on,
Even if my life is difficult, he will never drag me down.
Damn it, listen, is this what your father said as a human being? Your stepmother, I am a mistress who despises the poor and loves the rich? If that were the case, I wouldn’t have married him in the first place without bringing him along.
You Ping’s second marriage.”
This was said in one breath, it was still the original recipe, and it still had the familiar taste.
Xia Chen felt so cordial, even the title was so cordial, he said: "You are right, Lao Xia, pole vaulting in the public toilet is too much."
"Aren't I afraid that my life will be difficult in the future? It will be difficult for you. Look at this home now. It's not too much to describe it as a bare house, right? I still have 6 yuan and 30 cents in my pocket. After I spend it, there will be more money.
No more, just go back to before liberation overnight. If you continue to live with me, at what point will you be the boss?" Xia Mingyu looked sad and depressed.
"Fuck your mother's bitch!" Liang Yinghong took two hard sips, threw away the cigarette butt, stood up, and said angrily: "Look at how cowardly you are, Xia Mingyu, if you really feel sorry for me, I will cheer me up.
Come on, isn’t the factory not yet in the black market? The investigation results have not come out yet. Even if it is confirmed that the production accident at the steel plant was caused by the unqualified low-voltage electrical appliances provided by your factory, the factory has become a yellow market and will live a poor life with you.
I admit it too!
It’s not like I, Liang Yinghong, have never had a hard time, this setback is nothing to worry about! Besides, do you also plan to break away from the father-son relationship with Chenzi and not even recognize your biological son? Let me tell you, you can’t even think about it.
Don’t think about it! If you don’t want to hurt us two, just cheer up and get the job done!”
These words are like radishes after autumn, crunchy and crisp!
Xia Mingyu was moved. After hearing what his wife said, the five-foot-tall man's lips were trembling and tears filled his eyes.
Seeing that his father showed signs of survival, Xia Chen quickly agreed with his stepmother and said, "Yes, Dad, my stepmother is right. There is no such thing as the Flame Mountain that I can't get through. Isn't it just that I owe some money?"
Owing this little money is really not a big deal. Now that it has happened, the only way to solve it is, how can a living person be choked to death by urinating?"
Xia Mingyu quickly wiped away his tears. His chest heaved violently. He gasped and slapped his thigh, saying: "You two are confident, so what do you have to fear from me, the pillar of support? At worst, just go out and do it! Sell the house to pay off the debt.
, let’s get through this first and then talk about it, what’s the matter?”
Liang Yinghong was so angry that she went up and gave him a kick: "You're just selling it! Even if a buyer is willing to buy it, how much is this one and a half house in our house worth? How much money do you owe outside?
Don’t you think you can count? Let’s not talk about whether it will be enough to pay off the debt after selling the house. The key question is where will our family of four live? Will we live on the streets?”
Xia Mingyu almost fell to the ground after being kicked by Madam Lu. After stabilizing his body, he said helplessly: "If you don't sell the house, how will you pay back the money? The debts alone are so heavy that I can hardly breathe."
Yes! With so much debt on my back, will my life be better in the future? I can pay back a little bit."
Liang Yinghong said forcefully: "How to survive? Just make do with it! You can live one day at a time, but you can't sell your house anyway!"
Xia Chen also said: "Yes, dad, the house cannot be sold. This is the foundation for our family of four to live and work. If the house is sold, we will not even have a place to stand."
Xia Mingyu scratched his head anxiously, "This is the only way. If we don't sell the house, how will we pay back the money owed to the supplier?"
Xia Chen said: "Dad, don't worry, I have a way to pay off the money without selling the house."
Xia Mingyu stared at his eyes and said: "You are a kid, you have a way to make shit, how about you blow it up? Don't make trouble, I will burn high incense."
Xia Chen gave a bad laugh and said: "If you don't believe it, just wait and see. However, these days, there is no one to help when the need arises, and there are many people who add insult to injury, but the nickname of "brother" is not that he specializes in dealing with all kinds of dissatisfaction.
It’s all for nothing.”
Lao Xia had no sense of expectation at all, and sighed heavily, thinking that I might as well continue going out on the streets to look for people in the afternoon. As long as I find the person, paying off the debt will not be a trivial matter.
Xia Chen didn't explain to him more, but he knew very well in his heart that the reason why his father's low-voltage electrical appliance factory closed down was because of a lot of tricks. Sun Youlin, the deputy director, turned his elbows away and accepted kickbacks from suppliers.
Purchasing and using a batch of substandard products was the main reason why the factory was inspected and eventually closed down.
Xia Chen gritted his teeth when he thought of this.
If you want to solve Dad's dilemma and save Dad's life, you have to take two separate paths. First, appease the supplier who is about to ask for debt, and at least make the supplier agree to delay the repayment for two days.
Secondly, hurry up and find Sun Youlin.
Glancing at the clock, he saw that the gang was on the way. He stood up and said, "Dad, something may happen later. I just want to say that no matter what I do, you and my stepmother don't have to worry about it."
Don't go out, just stay in the house, and I'll tell you two in detail after I finish handling the matter."
After saying that, before the two of them could react, he went out to the kitchen, picked up a kitchen knife and came to the entrance of the courtyard.
This wait lasted for more than half an hour.
The sound of footsteps reached Xia Chen's ears. Looking towards the entrance of the alley, Xia Chen sneered, the fun was about to begin.
My parents are still the same parents, my creditors are still the same creditors, and I, my friend, have been away for half my life, and I am still a young man when I come back!