all the way

It seems that the season is really here, no matter how much the weather looks like autumn before, a strong wind is enough to prove that at this time, winter is the real status of the natal emperor.

On the second day of Liu Xia's birthday, when he was riding his bicycle to send the cat to school in the morning, he obviously felt that the wind blowing on his body had become colder, and there was a slightly damp smell in the air. At that time, the strong wind subsided, and the snow came down one after another.

At [-]:[-], Liu Xia put on his down jacket, picked up the prepared things and went downstairs to deliver food to the cat.

Classes start at 01:30 p.m. in the county, and students usually finish their meals before one o’clock. Resident students eat at 05:30 p.m., only half an hour, and start evening self-study at six o’clock. Day students have no time to go home for dinner, but After several hours, they are hungry again, so many children will go to the small stalls at the school gate to buy hot biscuits or snacks such as instant noodles and ham sausages and eat them dry.

Liu Rui and Mao'er usually buy more food that they can take with them when they have lunch at the Public Security Bureau, such as steamed buns, steamed buns, oil cakes, etc. Sometimes the canteen does not provide these types of food at lunch, but Master Wang He is careful, besides Liu Rui and Maoer, there are also several children of his colleagues who work with him. He now prepares some good and hungry things for these children every day, and the price is very reasonable. The snacks sold online are simply incomparable.

But since Liu Xia came back, he didn't want Liu Rui and Mao'er to eat the cold food left over at noon in the winter. With a knife, one steamed bun is divided into two interlayers, with a few slices of ham sandwiched in each layer, and then steamed in a basket.

He also prepared a bowl of egg drop porridge with rock sugar for Liu Rui, and a thermos cup of hot milk for the cat.

This morning he bought three catties of milk, and he decided that when he was at home in the future, the cat's meal would be mixed with milk.

As soon as Liu Xia stepped out of the stairs, he saw Yue Desheng coming from the office building. When he saw him from afar, he yelled and beckoned him to go.

Liu Xia ran over with his things, he was stuck in order to deliver food to the cats, he was afraid of delaying time.

Yue Desheng said: "I'm going to find you. People from the Mining Bureau invited us to dinner. It's at Yuexiu at six o'clock. You are..."

Liu Xia said: "Go and deliver food to our Liu An, it will be almost six o'clock after he finishes eating, I'm afraid..."

Yue Desheng said: "It's okay later, they invited us, but we must go."

The engineers in the team are all intellectuals and basically don't like to socialize, and Yue Desheng is the same.

Liu Xia also wanted to come back and make a decent dinner for Mao'er, he didn't want to go at first, but since Yue Desheng wanted to go, he couldn't shirk anyway.

"Okay, but Yuegong, can we not take too long? I have something to do when I come back."

Yue Desheng nodded: "I don't like eating with people I don't know well either. Let's sit down and come back after a while. This procedure must be followed."

Liu Xia arrived at the gate of the county center just in time. He got off the car and saw Mao'er and Liu Rui arriving at the gate of the reception room.

The three of them stood under the eaves of the reception room, put the food on the window sill and began to eat.

The cat ate very enthusiastically, but still complained to Liu Xia: "You don't listen to what I say, look, my classmates always bring some cakes, ham sausages from home at noon, or buy something at the door Eat, my little brother Rui and we are not too squeamish, people can eat it and we can eat it too. Don’t give us any more things tomorrow! It’s so cold, riding a bicycle is the coldest hand, if you freeze What's wrong with frostbite?"

Liu Hui snorted and drank the egg drop soup, and said to Liu Xia: "It's my uncle, my classmates are like this, don't send me things every day, you go out to work all day, you finally have two days off, and you still have to take another day." You ran four times to pick up the cat, and you want to deliver something to me, how flustered you are!"

Liu Xia smiled: "Eat it well, if my uncle panics, I won't give it away."

Mao'er and Liu Rui ate so much that their mouths were full of oil. Liu Rui said, "Uncle, it's so delicious that you made the bun like this. Is this Jinhua ham?"

Liu Xia said: "Well, I will make it for you tomorrow when I see my uncle."

The cat stuffed the last two slices of ham into Liu Xia's mouth, and fed him two mouthfuls of hot milk: "Hurry up and go home, uncle, it's always cold outside."

Liu Xia handed a bag to Liu Rui: "This is two bags of Jinhua ham. There is someone in my unit. A relative sells this. She helped me get back two big boxes at a wholesale price. I bought several bags. You take these two bags back." For your third aunt, steamed as a dish, or steamed with steamed buns like I gave you two, it is very good."

Liu Rui took the bag and said, "My third aunt told me to tell Maoer specifically, and told him to tell you that instead of asking you to just buy things for me, you bought me braised pork from Sandaohe earlier. , I finish eating at night."

Liu Xia pushed him and Mao'er: "It's time to go to class, hurry up baby, I just happened to find it was cheap so I bought more, if it was expensive, I wouldn't be willing to buy it if you wanted it."

Watching the two little guys run into the school, Liu Xia rode his bike to Yuexiu Restaurant.

Yuexiu Restaurant is far away from here, near the train station, the snow is getting bigger and bigger at this time, the bicycle runs over the snow, making a creaking sound, but it can't run fast.

So it was almost 06:30 when Liu Xia arrived, Xiao Dong from the Mining Bureau, three other people, and Yue Desheng had already arrived, and the dishes were almost ready.

Introductions and pleasantries were routine, and Liu Xia got to know two other people, one was Deputy Director Wan of the Bureau of Mining, and the other was Chief Jia of the Surveying and Mapping Division.

During the meeting, everyone spoke very politely. Because Liu Xia was dealing with business customers for the first time, in order to avoid making mistakes, he seldom opened his mouth.

He was very worried about the kind of scene that Yanagawa said when talking about business, everyone desperately poured each other's wine. He had never been drunk, but he really didn't like the taste of wine. He couldn't understand why someone would be so fond of such a bad drink Life.

But it’s okay, maybe considering that they are intellectuals, the three people from the Mining Bureau just touched one of them symbolically, and let them do whatever they want.

Liu Xia was thinking about going home to cook for the cat, and he felt a pity for the big table in front of him, so his thoughts broke down a bit.

There were five people, and the other party ordered sixteen dishes, and it was impossible to finish them all. Liu Xia decided to try his best to eat, and strive to let there be less food left and less food wasted.

However, he still understood Chief Jia's words while he was absent-minded, which meant that when sending them the surveying and mapping report, he could be a professional for them, or say a few words about surveying and mapping Kemei for them. To put it bluntly, they are the administrative unit Well, the superiors required that there be such a department, so they set up one. It was indeed a bit lacking professionally. Fortunately, the leaders did not expect them to generate income for the unit.

Chief Jia said: "Actually, it is because of this that we have the opportunity to cooperate, isn't it? If I have work there, I will find a professional unit like you to do it; you have a high level, and the work is fine, and I will report it to you." There is also light on the face.

You have made money, and I am not ashamed, and the leaders of both of us can be satisfied, the best of both worlds, right? "

Yue Desheng nodded. During the whole process, no matter how absurd the other party's words sounded, he would always go along with the other party's words with a smile on his face, without refuting or deliberately trying to please him. What's wrong.

Today, Xiao Dong became a foil and waiter in the shop, and kept asking Liu Xia what else they would like to eat, leaving Liu Xia speechless.

However, after getting along with Xiao Dong for more than a month, he has a good impression of this person. At least, when the half-assed professionals and drivers of the Surveying and Mapping Department of the Mining Bureau find it hard work and stop running with them every day, Xiao Dong has been with him all the time. They ended up in all field parts of the operating area in Rongze County.

In the later period, he always tried his best to provide them with some convenience in life, such as preparing a whole box of instant noodles, ham sausage, pickled mustard, and all kinds of messy plastic soft-packaged drinks for them.

However, the latter, Yue Desheng, forbade Liu Xia and the others to drink, and in the end Xiao Dong dragged him back to his home.

While eating the food, Liu Xia kept thinking about the significance of today's dinner.

One week after the National Day, they have completed all the exploration work in Rongze County, that is, they have completed the entrustment of their unit by the Rongze County Mining Bureau. It has nothing to do with the Rongze County Mining Bureau. It has been more than a month since the incident, why do the people from the Mining Bureau still invite their guests?

After the last deputy director handed the two envelopes to Yue Desheng and Liu Xia respectively, Liu Xia finally understood: So it is like this!

The deputy director said: "Work is work, it is a matter between our two units, and has little to do with our work.

These are the hard work of the two engineers. The leader of my unit expressed a little bit of meaning to the two engineers. I hope that we will still have a happy cooperation next time.

My leader said that our report will be completed soon and will be handed over to our bureau, please take care of it! "

Xiao Dong went out again just now, and now reappeared in good time, carrying two bags of things in his hands: "The small shop opposite is very good at making duozi meat. Rong Ze is famous, and the chief of Jia asked me to give it to you alone." Buy some, don’t think it’s too little, there’s only so much left, I’ll cover it all at once.”

Liu Xia looked at the five catties big piece of meat like a colorful rock in front of him, and wanted to roll his eyes: This is not enough, a family of ten can't finish a meal, right?

After saying goodbye to the people from the Bureau of Mines, Liu Xia and Yue Desheng walked back together through the heavy snow. When they were at the door of the unit, he couldn't help but ask, "Worker Yue, the money they gave us..."

Yue Desheng said: "Didn't I tell you before going? This is a necessary procedure. We didn't take the initiative to ask for it from the other party. It is a customary rule of many units. If we don't go, they will not agree. Only the person in charge of the team and The main technicians are there, but the construction team and other technicians are not. They will have a little request. In fact, it is not under our control, but the other party does not know, because we issued the report, they may think that the decision is in our hands.

But don't worry, the signature they mentioned is not the same as what we said. What they asked for was an administrative summary report other than our technical report. Mention their names to prove that they are conscientious in this work and have made outstanding achievements. A lot of force and stuff like that.

You don't need to worry about these, I will write them, and you can make our reports and pictures the best. "

Only then did Liu Xia really understand what was going on.

As soon as he got home and closed the door, Liu Xia put the meat on the table and couldn't wait to open the envelope first: three hundred yuan.

Liu Xia counted the thirty ten-yuan bills several times. He knew that, as the person in charge of the project, Yue Desheng must have gotten more than him, but he still felt very uneasy.

What Yue Desheng said just now explained the reason why the other party invited them, but this does not make it legal for them to take the other party's money privately

He worked according to the requirements of the unit, and the unit had already given him a salary and a high bonus, but he secretly collected money from the other party, which is not right no matter how you look at it!

300 yuan may not be a big figure for him now, but for the employees of most of Rongze's units, it is at least three or four months' salary or a bonus for a longer period of time. Liu Chuan and Su Xiaohui's units are Rong Ze is quite good. Liu Chuan has won a bonus of 42 yuan a month at most, and most of the time their bonuses will not exceed [-], and Su Xiaohui is the same.

Liu Xia looked at the pot of sweet egg soup, still worrying about the 300 yuan.

He has only been in the unit for five months. If the leader knows that he took money from the cooperative unit privately, what will the leader think of him?

But if you don't take it, who will you give the money to?Turn in the unit?Didn't that sell Yue Gong?They even gave him a small technician during the internship period, so maybe he wouldn't give it to Yue Gong, the team leader?

Liu Xia was quite clear when he was struggling, and he didn't fry the cabbage and tofu, so the food the cat ate was normal. Although the taste was not a little worse than that made by Uncle Liu and himself, the cat loved it .

Liu Xia didn't turn to pick up the cat just now, the snow was too big for a bicycle to ride, he pushed the bike to pick it up, it was not as fast as the cat running back alone, but the most important thing, he wanted the cat to be able to eat when it came back. Serve hot meals.

Mao'er could see that Liu Xia seemed to have something on his mind. He didn't know that he had only been separated from his brother-in-law for more than two hours, how could his brother-in-law have already eaten and was full? Yes, but my uncle is obviously not like him.

Moreover, although Duozi meat is more delicious than sauced beef, my uncle shouldn't buy so much at once. It's snowing, and they can't go back to Liujialing on Sunday, and there is no way to send the meat back.

What the hell is going on?

When he was about to ask, Liu Xia stood up and said to him, "Uncle is in a hurry to go to Ma Pengcheng's father, and he will be back in a while. You can do your homework after you eat, and I will wash the dishes when I come back."

The cat nodded: "You come back early."

Liu Xia decided to go to Ma Qianli's place and ask about today's affairs, otherwise he would not be able to sleep tonight. He always felt that the money should not be his own, and it was not good to keep it in his room. I planned to go back, so I didn't tell Mao'er that the little guy is obsessed with money just like him. It's easy to give it to him, but it's hard to get him to take it out again.

As for Yue Desheng, Liu Xia was sure enough not to let Ma Qianli suspect anyone else, so he just asked from the side, if a similar situation happened, how would the unit handle it.

Ma Qianli and his wife Su Lirong are both at home.

Su Lirong is also an employee of the hydrology team and the section chief of the Instrument Management Section. When she saw Liu Xia coming in, she enthusiastically poured him a glass of water, brought melon seeds and a plate of apples, and accompanied Liu Xia to say a few words of greetings If so, excuse me to go back to the bedroom.

Holding a teacup, Ma Qianli asked Liu Xia, "It's snowing so heavily, what's the matter?"

Liu Xia's originally prepared words were stuck in his throat. He felt that Ma Qianli's eyes could see through everything. Just now, he felt that he could ask the matter clearly without exposing Yue Desheng. The confidence suddenly disappeared.

He suddenly had a quick wit, thought of Chu Fenghe, and decided to make up nonsense: "Oh, a friend of mine is in construction. He used to do small things to contract private houses. Now he has contracted a family building for a unit. This is the first time he has contracted such a large house." He is a little...afraid of quality problems, and at the same time wants to make a name for himself and have a good reputation in the future, so he asked me to ask, shall we accept jobs from private companies?"

Ma Qianli took a sip of tea: "Your friend? If I remember correctly, you seem to be under twenty, right?"

Liu Xia immediately said: "My birthday was just yesterday, so I'm 21 now."

"Oh——" Ma Qianli leaned on the back of the sofa, looking very comfortable and leisurely: "The 21-year-old private entrepreneur wants us to do surveying and mapping for his first large-scale project..."

Liu Xia had no choice but to explain: "No, he is several years older than me, and I went to school a little early."

Ma Qianli nodded: "That's it, are you sure he wants to ask our unit to do it for him instead of yourself?"

Liu Xia stared at Ma Qianli in a daze: "I am?"

Ma Qianli suddenly laughed, and put the teacup on the tea table: "Forget it, forget it, I won't play with you anymore, your little nephew must be eagerly waiting for you to come home!

Liu Xia, you came here to ask about the red envelope given to you by the Bureau of Mines, right? "

Liu Xia was completely stupid now.

Ma Qianli couldn't help laughing again: "I'm really a child, I can't hide anything. Okay, go back and have a good rest. I have been out of work for several months since I came here, and I have done a good job. The red envelopes are for Yue Gong I have already told me in advance, that is the usual practice, so feel free to spend it.

Hey, can you tell me how much they gave you? "

"Three hundred." Liu Xia answered honestly.

Ma Qianli slightly raised his chin and looked at Liu Xia, then said with gritted teeth: "Fucking, they send beggars, and none of my subordinates have received such a shabby red envelope in the past two years, no, I him Mom has to give Su Baofu a call, it must have been abducted by his gang of grandsons, they dare not cheat Yue Gong, seeing you are young, I think you don't understand, so..."

Liu Xia hurriedly stood up: "Don't worry, captain, three hundred is already a lot, but our team has a high bonus, don't you think, in fact, in the eyes of others, three hundred is really a lot of money, my elder brother Running tens of miles of mountain roads, I only earn one yuan and two dollars a day."

Ma Qianli shook his head: "You don't know, some people below are very used to playing this kind of tricks, they just think that you will definitely not tell other people in the unit about this, so they dare to do it.

If it wasn't for the fear that the Rongze government and the people in the nearby villages would know that our unit has lured people into our place, I would have scolded Su Baofu in the face. "

Liu Xia settled his concerns and decided to leave quickly.

When Ma Qianli opened the door for him, he suddenly said: "Don't be discouraged, isn't it just a few hundred dollars missing? Maybe he came back from other places."

Before Liu Xia had time to digest his words, he smiled and said, "After the new year, Ma Pengcheng and Chu Hao will come to Rongze to go to school, and then you Liuan will have someone to play with."

Liu Xia asked in surprise: "Really?" He really hoped that Mao'er had a few playmates of the same age, but other children in the team who were the same age as Mao'er basically went to school in Yuancheng, and a few of them were in Yunqiao. Go to the old base.

Ma Qianli said: "The teaching quality of Rongze High School has been very good in the past few years, not bad at all compared to several key high schools in Yuancheng, and we don't live in the school, as long as the teaching quality is good, there is no need to consider other things.

Ma Pengcheng's bastard is getting bigger and bigger, his grandfather can't control him anymore, I have to get him to my side and deal with him. "

When Liu Xia got home, he first took out the envelope and gave it to Xiaocaifan, told him what the money was about, and told him about Ma Pengcheng and Chu Hao also going to Rongze to go to school after the New Year.

The cat smiled happily at the money, and then locked it in the cabinet immediately.

Chu Hao is Chu Yuan's son. Both he and Ma Pengcheng belong to the monkey genus just like Mao'er. They are both born older than Mao'er. Both of them are in fifth grade now.

Mao'er had fun with the two of them during the summer vacation, especially Ma Pengcheng, who was also a wild boy. He didn't look like a kid who grew up in the city. The technology of roller skating is very envious. The two had originally made an appointment to communicate with each other next summer, but now it seems that they don't have to wait so long.

The cat vowed: "I will definitely learn to roller skate. I can skate faster and more versatile than Ma Pengcheng."

Liu Xia carefully filtered it in his mind, Rong Ze didn't seem to have any place to sell roller skates, it seemed that the third brother had to buy them in Yuancheng, but the third brother would definitely not ask for his money, it was a bit difficult to handle.

There was no snow at all when it wasn't snowing, but now it can't stop. It has snowed three times from Liu Xia's birthday to New Year's Day. If the pots in Xia's house were filled with water, a thick layer of ice would form overnight.

Liu Xia couldn't bear to watch the cat get up every morning. He felt that the winter vacation should be as long as the summer vacation, or even longer. It is really inhumane to let children get up before dawn to go to school in winter.

He has already forgotten that he got up at four o'clock and went to school on the mountain road for dozens of miles. He didn't think it was so unbearable at the time.

Liu Xia was depressed because he couldn't go back to Liujialing because he had a rest day, but at the same time he was happy that he could cook for the cat every day with peace of mind.

Before the unit summary meeting and New Year's Day party, Liu Xia also thought about whether the words Ma Qianli said to him at the door that day had any special meaning, but after thinking about it several times, he couldn't think of any other surprises he might have. He felt that he must have thought too much about the source of his wealth, and Ma Qianli just casually comforted him at that time.

But today, he heard Ma Qianli announce at the plenary meeting: "The "Geological Survey Report of the Phase I Exploration Project of Heilongzhai Thermal Power Plant" made by Comrade Li Jiyue and Comrade Liu Xia in August this year was awarded the title of "Geological Survey Report" by the Central Plains Geological Prospecting Bureau. Measurement Report Standardized Sample Contest' First Prize, which is a certificate issued by the General Administration.

After collective discussion among all the members of the leadership group of our team, in order to commend these two comrades for the honor they have won for our three teams, a bonus of 1000 yuan will be given to each of them. Now, these two comrades are invited to come to the stage to receive the award. "

Liu Xia ecstatically went on stage with Li Jiyue, and took the passbook under the watchful eyes of the whole team.

Chu Yuan sat in a corner far away from the rostrum, and shouted at them loudly: "Hey, Li Gong, Xiao Liu, come to me within 30 seconds after the meeting ends and ask for the password. Don't wait when it's over. I'll report the loss right away. Then I withdrew the money myself, but the bank only recognizes the password.”

The leaders on the rostrum and the people below all burst into laughter.

Liu Xia's originally nervous mood dissipated in this kind laughter.

After the summing-up meeting, there was a party immediately. All the family members who were waiting outside poured into the auditorium. The cat was as sensitive as a real kitten. He slipped through the crowd and ran in first. It's about getting a bonus, so when I saw Liu Xia, I stretched out my hand: "Give me the passbook quickly, and you won't lose it in a while."

Liu Xia scolded him as a "little money fan" in his heart, and obediently handed the passbook to him. Mao'er only glanced at it, then narrowed his eyes with a smile, then carefully folded the passbook, and put it in the pocket of his cotton-padded jacket .

When the family members were all seated and everyone was about to start watching the show, Yang Hong suddenly tapped on the microphone: "Comrades, be quiet, be quiet, I forgot one thing just now, that is, after New Year's Day, our unit will Let me introduce a few new comrades, they have arrived today, now I will introduce them to everyone, the new comrades whose names I mentioned, please stand up."

The originally noisy auditorium immediately quieted down. People are always full of curiosity about newcomers, although countless times have proved that newcomers are no different from acquaintances after getting acquainted.

Yang Hong looked at a list and read: "Zhang Peng."

Liu Xia was taken aback. He suddenly thought of Zhang Peng who had taken him and Liu Hai many times in the Luogezhuang Coal Mine. He followed Yang Hong's gaze and looked back expectantly, but saw a completely unfamiliar , The face of a man in his thirties.

He turned his head in disappointment, but happened to meet Zhang Shubao and a young man he didn't know beside Zhang Shubao.

The moment Zhang Shubao and Liu Xia made eye contact, they immediately turned away, while the young man with glasses beside him seemed to be looking at Liu Xia exclusively.

Liu Xia withdrew his gaze, and said to Mao'er, "It's not your sixth uncle's former classmate, I thought he was here too."

Mao'er felt Liu Xia's loss, but he didn't know how to comfort Liu Xia in this kind of thing, so he just hugged Liu Xia's arm and leaned closer to Liu Xia.

Yang Honglian called the names of the four people, and then introduced: "These are all transferred from the army to our unit. Let us welcome these comrades with warm applause."

There was warm applause, and then Yang Hong continued to call his name: "Wu Xiaolin."

"arrive."

A high-pitched answer stunned everyone, and then everyone looked at the place where the voice came from: a boy who was not too tall and a little thin stood there a little awkwardly.

Yang Hong pressed his palms, indicating that he could sit down, and then read: "Yuan Xiuhua."

A girl with a ponytail stands up near the pillar at the rear right.

"Ding Hongliang."

This time, Liu Xia saw the young man sitting next to Zhang Shubao stand up. He was quite tall, maybe less than 1.8 meters.

Ding Hongliang turned around and looked around, allowing almost everyone in the auditorium to see him clearly before sitting down.

The party started, and Liu Xia didn't know about the New Year's Day party in advance, so he didn't make any preparations, and he saw that almost all the performers on stage were administrative and logistics personnel who usually don't need to go out for field work, so he felt more at ease He thought that nothing was wrong with him, and watched the show with the cat sitting on his lap with peace of mind.

The show was nothing new, at least it couldn't compare with the New Year's party or New Year's party when he was in college, but the excitement and joy were the same, so Liu Xia watched it with great interest, applauding or cheering with the people around him.

An unexpected scene happened when Su Lirong and Ning Xiaoqian came to the stage. Ning Xiaoqian was Chu Yuan's lover. The program reported was that she and Su Lirong sang "Dedication of Love" together. When Ning Xiaoqian and Su Lirong walked to the center of the rostrum When I picked up the microphone, someone suddenly shouted: "Sister, how about I play the guitar for you?"

Liu Xia, Mao'er and everyone turned their heads to see that Ding Hongliang had stood up, looking at the stage with a smile.

Su Lirong smiled and waved: "Come up, come up, we haven't enjoyed the treatment of live accompaniment yet, what about Xiaoqian?"

Ning Xiaoqian amused: "No, since I was young, I hoped that a Prince Charming would accompany me with a guitar, and this time I can fulfill my wish."

It seemed that Ding Hongliang was well prepared. He ran to the back of the auditorium under everyone's gaze, and soon came over with a guitar in his arms.

Liu Xia thought of Zhang Fusheng, Hei Deqing, and Huang Youguang, and a feeling of warmth flowed in his heart. He looked at the guitar in Ding Hongliang's hand with hope, expecting to hear the moving chords again.