Chapter 55 Qin Zhengguo
When I took out the letter and looked at the envelope, I realized that it was not sent by Lin Yan, but by Qin Zhengguo who was far away in Andong.
After opening the letter, Song Yuanchao read it as he went upstairs, but before he entered the house, he was stunned by the content of the letter. He quickly picked up the envelope and carefully looked at the postmark time on it, then calculated the time, exclaimed, turned around and ran downstairs in a hurry.
I went downstairs, unlocked the bicycle, jumped on the bike and rode out.
He moved so quickly that he didn't even have time to react when the neighbor aunt who was washing clothes next door greeted him. He pedaled out of the alley at high speed. Once on the road, his butt was off the seat and he wanted to use all his strength to pedal the bicycle faster.
More than 20 minutes later, Song Yuanchao arrived at Laobei Station sweating profusely on his bike. You should know that it usually takes at least 40 minutes to ride a bike for this distance on weekdays. Today, Song Yuanchao arrived in only half the time. You can imagine how fast he rode.
Arriving at the Old North Station Square, Song Yuanchao locked his car at the bus stop and rushed to the exit. He ran to the exit, anxiously searching the crowd around him, but after searching for a long time, he couldn't see any familiar figures.
Not seeing anyone, Song Yuanchao, who was a little anxious, asked his comrades at the train station about the train schedule. When he learned that the train was not delayed but would arrive around four in the afternoon, Song Yuanchao became even more anxious.
"Where did this guy go?" Song Yuanchao searched back and forth at the east and west exits but still couldn't see Qin Zhengguo. He put his hands on his hips and panted with a puzzled look on his face. Did this guy take the bus to his home? It's not impossible. Qin Zhengguo knows his home address. Otherwise, how could he send a letter? If that's the case, wouldn't the two of them have missed each other?
He thought about going home right away, maybe Qin Zhengguo would be waiting at the door when he got home. Just when Song Yuanchao was hesitating about what to do, Qin Zhengguo's voice suddenly came from behind him.
"Aid North Korea!"
“Jungguk!”
Looking back, the guy wearing a blue cloth jacket and green military pants, carrying a backpack, with messy hair and holding a steaming half-eaten baked potato in his hand, isn’t that Qin Zhengguo?
"Where have you been?"
"Blame me? I was going to ask you why you came just now? You've been waiting for so long and I'm almost starving to death. If you don't eat something, you'll have to sacrifice your life for the country." Qin Zhengguo ate the baked sweet potatoes in big mouthfuls and raised his chin towards the square. Looking in that direction, Song Yuanchao saw a stall selling baked sweet potatoes.
"I'm so sorry. I just received your letter and I saw that the time is now. I ran out of house but still couldn't make it in time. I kept you waiting for a long time." Song Yuanchao hugged Qin Zhengguo and explained to him why he was late.
Qin Zhengguo was busy with his unfinished baked sweet potatoes. He laughed when he heard this: "It seems that the letter is running slower than me. If I had known this, I would have come out a day later."
"You should have sent me a telegram."
"Send a telegram? How much for one word? I'm not as extravagant as you." Qin Zhengguo ate the baked sweet potato with big mouthfuls and rolled his eyes at Song Yuanchao. While eating, he said, "You know what, this stuff you guys in Shanghai bake is pretty good, not worse than mine."
"Okay, stop eating. I'll treat you to a good meal and let's go." Holding Qin Zhengguo in his arms, Song Yuanchao took him to the parking lot with a smile on his face. As Qin Zhengguo walked, he muttered that it was Song Yuanchao's fault for making him wait for so long. Not to mention a good meal, he should treat him to three meals.
Song Yuanchao agreed with a smile, but despite saying so, Qin Zhengguo did not waste food. He ate all the baked sweet potatoes in his hand in big mouthfuls, even the bits stuck on the skin.
When they arrived, Qin Zhengguo saw that Song Yuanchao had actually come on a bicycle, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
"You're doing pretty good, you bastard! You even ride a bike? Wow, this bike is pretty good, let me ride it for a ride first." As he said that, Qin Zhengguo put his luggage on the ground and asked Song Yuanchao for the car keys. Song Yuanchao smiled and shook his head before taking out the keys and giving them to him.
Qin Zhengguo unlocked the car and jumped into the car without saying a word. He started to drive around the square. After two turns, he came back to Song Yuanchao, squeezed the brake with his right foot and stopped. He said to Song Yuanchao, "Get your things in the car. Let's go."
“Hey, Jungkook, you asked me to get in the car when you don’t even know the way?”
"I don't know you, but you do. Why don't you just sit in the back and show me the way?" Qin Zhengguo said carelessly. Song Yuanchao didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he could only sit in the back with his luggage. As soon as Qin Zhengguo sat on his butt, he couldn't wait to ride. When he rode out of the square, Song Yuanchao hurriedly shouted from behind: "No, you're riding in the wrong direction, the other way around!"
"The wrong way? It doesn't matter. I can just turn right and then turn right again. You're so silly. Remember to point the way earlier next time. What are you thinking about? You're not even paying attention when pointing the way." Qin Zhengguo said excitedly while riding. Song Yuanchao, who was sitting behind him, was choked by his words for a long time. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Qin Zhengguo had been hungry for most of the day on the train and had only eaten a baked sweet potato. Song Yuanchao did not take him home first because there was nothing to eat at home.
Since he came back, Song Yuanchao cooked for a few days. After going to work in the school-run factory, he went out early and came back late every day and had no time to buy groceries and cook. So except for rest days, Song Yuanchao ate ready-made meals at Zhang's aunt's house.
When they were almost home, Song Yuanchao asked Qin Zhengguo, who was riding happily, to stop at a state-owned restaurant. The two locked the bike at the door and went into the restaurant.
It was almost past dinner time and there were not many dishes available in the restaurant. Song Yuanchao asked the waiter and ordered some random dishes. When the dishes came, the two of them wolfed them down without saying a word.
After dinner, Song Yuanchao took Qin Zhengguo to put his luggage back to his home, and then went to the nearby People's Bathhouse to take a bath. After feeling refreshed, Song Yuanchao also figured out why Qin Zhengguo suddenly came to Shanghai to find him.
Qin Zhengguo returned home at almost the same time as Song Yuanchao. Compared with Shanghai, Andong is one of the important cities in the north, but it also faces the problem of resettling a large number of educated youth returning to the city.
In order to implement the work, Qin Zhengguo's family and himself have thought of countless ways these days, but still without any results.
As time went by, Qin Zhengguo, who stayed at home without a job, became more and more depressed. He felt like a useless person. This kind of life was even worse than when he was repairing the earth in the northwest.
In the face of hopelessness, Song Yuanchao mentioned in his letter to him that he and his friend were doing clothes hanger business. Song Yuanchao only mentioned this matter briefly in the letter, but he did not expect that it would cause a huge wave in Qin Zhengguo's heart.
After reading the letter, Qin Zhengguo couldn't calm down. He suddenly realized that instead of staying in Andong and living such a hopeless life, it would be better to go to Shanghai to find Song Yuanchao and struggle with him. Maybe this was a way out.
Just like that, after several days of consideration, Qin Zhengguo finally made up his mind and bought a train ticket from Beizhili to Shanghai to join Song Yuanchao. Before leaving, Qin Zhengguo specially wrote a letter to Song Yuanchao, stating his train number and arrival time, and asked Song Yuanchao to pick him up at the train station. This is how today's scene happened.
"Yuanchao, this is my first time coming back to Shanghai. I don't know anyone here except you." With his upper body naked and a towel tied around his waist, Qin Zhengguo was half lying on the sofa in the bathroom lounge, smoking a cigarette and said to Song Yuanchao beside him.
Song Yuanchao smiled. He certainly understood what Qin Zhengguo meant, and immediately gave him a reassurance: "Don't worry, you won't starve as long as I have something to eat."
"I knew you were a good brother! We made the right choice by coming to Shanghai!" Qin Zhengguo grinned. To be honest, he was a little nervous just now, fearing that Song Yuanchao would reject him.
"You came at the right time. I'm really short of people these days, my own people." Song Yuanchao said after taking a puff of cigarette.
In fact, Song Yuanchao had thought about it when he picked up Qin Zhengguo at the train station. Qin Zhengguo was his best buddy when he went to the countryside, and his character was absolutely reliable. Now there were only Li Daqi and Gu Jie around him. Li Daqi was going to help him with work in the factory. Although Gu Jie was really reliable, he was still a little shy compared to Li Daqi.
Qin Zhengguo was different. He was a good talker who could make something dead come alive. Moreover, he was thick-skinned enough to call anyone "big brother" or "big sister". One year, the harvest was poor, and Song Yuanchao and his had no food for several winters. They only had corn and vegetable porridge for two days. If Qin Zhengguo had not shamelessly taken them to the county town to beg for food, they would have starved to death in the northwest.
