all the way

Liu Xia spent the entire early spring on the beach of the Yellow River. When he returned to Rongze in mid-March, he realized that Liu Hai had arrived in France ten days ago. Xin also just returned to Liujialing the day before his return.

Liu Xia was wearing a cotton-padded jacket, holding the cat sitting in his arms, looking at the painting spread out on the quilt in front of him. The name of the painting was "Home", which was given to Liu Xia and Mao'er by Liu Hai and Liu Ling before returning to the capital. What was left behind was the painting that he hadn't drawn for half a year in Kyoto last time. This time, he finished it two or three days before leaving home. This painting is as realistic as a copy of a Chinese painting from a photo:

On the big persimmon tree, Liu Wei is carrying Liu Yun on her back, Xiao Xin is holding Xiao Lei, Xiao Rui is blindfolded, and the cat is quietly approaching Xiao Rui to attack;

Liu Kui and Liu Yu standing under the tree looking at the children, and Liu Ling and Liu Xia reading the letter on the swing.

The only difference is that Liu Hai has selected and adjusted the screen, on the screen, you can see Xiumei and the others busy in front of the stove in the window;

In front of the cave, Liu Changqing and Liu Mao seemed to be smashing walnuts or almonds;

Sun Chang'e is doing needlework;

Liu Changqing was engraving a seal, and the ones lying beside him were Liu Chuan and Liu Hai himself.

It was originally the black and white and elegant style of ink painting, but Liu Hai added a few bright colors:

The tiger-toed shoes in Sun Chang'e's hand are red;

The clothes on Liu Yun and Liu Lei are the most common floral cloth in rural areas;

For Mao'er's pants, Liu Hai also used a light orange color that is not heavy, but very delicate and warm.

The black-and-white ink painting becomes extraordinarily vivid because of the few strokes of color.

Liu Xia touched the cat's pants on the painting and said, "I don't know what the artist thinks of this painting, but I really like it very much. Your sixth uncle will definitely become the best painter."

Mao'er folded the painting carefully: "Well, I really like it too, Uncle Six must be the best."

This is not the only news that surprised Liu Xia.

Wen Yongfang is already working in Mazhai. She arrived on the [-]th day of the first lunar month. Liu Chuan originally wanted her to play in Rongze for a few days before going directly to Mazhai, but Wen Yongfang insisted on going to Liujialing first to visit Liu Changqing and Sun Chang'e said that this was what her parents and elder brother Wen Yongsheng repeatedly asked her to do before she came here.

The girl is just as hard-working and ingenious as her brother, but she has less words, but everyone understands her. She has just experienced such a thing and is new to a place. It is right to work more and talk less.

Another is that Yang Dongyan gave birth to a fat son whose birthday was on the [-]th day of the first lunar month. He was named Zeng Jianliu, because that day happened to be the Awakening of Zhes solar term, so he was nicknamed Fat Chonger.

Ma Xiaojun's wife gave birth to a son named Ma Jiaju during the Lunar New Year.

All are happy news, but Liu Xia feels very uncomfortable in his heart. He left on the first day of work after the Spring Festival. He hasn't come back for three weeks. He just came back today. He doesn't know how to open his mouth to say the following to the cat. things.

Unexpectedly, after lying down again, the cat got into his arms, hugged his neck tightly, and said to him first: "Uncle, I know you only come back for two days, Ma Pengcheng told me last week, you guys He took over a large key project, and his father said he would let you participate in it."

Liu Xia didn't know what to say, but just hugged the cat tightly: "Good..."

The cat said: "It's okay, you can go. I am obedient at home. I take Brother Xiaorui to the Public Security Bureau for dinner every day. Grandpa Wang gives us a few meals that are ready for the afternoon every day. Hurry up and finish the work early." can come back."

Liu Xia blurted out: "Tomorrow is Saturday, uncle will treat you to be good for half a day. For these two days, uncle will not go anywhere, but will stay at home with you."

The cat looked up at him in disbelief, then hugged him even tighter, couldn't help grinning: "Well, I'll hold dumplings for you at home."

The next day Liu Xia and Mao'er got up normally, Liu Xia asked Mao'er to feed milk and buy meat on Gudukou Road, and went to ask for leave for him.

The cat was so happy that on the way back, he sat on the beam facing backwards, hugging his waist and giggling all the time.

Today happened to be the day when the unit paid wages. Liu Xia saw that the cat put salt, monosodium glutamate, soy sauce, and sesame oil into the meat stuffing, but he couldn't do it himself, so he came out to get the wages first.

As soon as he reached the stairs, he heard a fierce quarrel from the financial office. It was the cashier Feng Hongxiu who was arguing with someone.

Everyone has a heart for gossip, and Liu Xia also likes to watch the excitement, so he ran up in three or two steps, and at a glance, he saw several people standing in the corridor at the door of the financial room, all whispering, and there was a message from the financial room. An angry voice: "You don't care who is in charge? You sent the money, so you have to explain it to me. The same work, why should we take so much less than them?"

Liu Xia recognized Ding Hongliang's voice this time.

"Are the logistics staff a head lower than the technical staff? I also work eight hours a day, and so do they. Why is my bonus less than one-third of theirs?

They are both full-time national employees and graduated from universities. He only came here half a year earlier than me, so why is his bonus so much higher than mine?And this, why, he is only a junior college student, why does he get 200 more than me?Are they working hard in the field?Who doesn't work hard?When they come back, they go to work if they want to go to work, and if they don’t want to go to work, they can just rest at home, cook, go shopping, and the logistics department has to guard the office every day. Isn’t it harder than them?

In the same undergraduate course, when someone comes to live in a room by himself, you say he is a professional match, okay, I can bear it, but now, a junior college student has a higher bonus than me, and he actually has three or four times more than me... ..."

Several people in the corridor stopped talking and turned to Liu Xia. Liu Xia rubbed his nose and smiled.

The two workers from the construction team closest to him smiled and nodded at him, stepping aside to let him walk over. The faces of the other people in the logistics department were a little embarrassing, and Liu Xia followed with a bright smile on his face. They greeted each other and walked into the accounting room.

"...You guys are bullying people, blatant job discrimination, dividing employees into three..." Ding Hongliang, who was waving his arms and roaring at Feng Hongxiu, saw Liu Xia, and his roar stopped abruptly.

Feng Hongxiu leaned on the back of the chair, crossed her arms, looked at Ding Hongliang with a sneer with squinting eyes, and when she saw Liu Xia coming in, she immediately lowered her arms and laughed: "Oh, Xiao Liu, it's rare that you can be on time, I thought I have to come over and send it to you in the middle of the night someday! Hurry up, come and sign, it's the highest again, don't you have to ask the eldest sister once!"

Liu Xia said with a smile: "Okay, let's go together later, you can order whatever you want, as long as it doesn't exceed the money I received today, whatever you want."

As he spoke, he acted as if he hadn't heard the roar just now, and nodded at Ding Hongdian with a smile.

Ding Hongliang didn't express anything, and kept his original posture of glaring at Feng Hongxiu.

Liu Xia took the salary slip, signed it, took the bonus slip, signed it, and pushed both slips back to Feng Hongxiu.

After Ding Hongliang was assigned the dormitory that time, he never publicly expressed any particular dissatisfaction with him. Liu Xia has been very busy, and they basically have no chance to interact. In addition to his judgment, there is no further fact to prove how bad Ding Hongliang is and how bad he is, so Liu Xia feels that there is no reason to intentionally fight against him.

Hearing Ding Hongliang's words that clearly pointed to him today, Liu Xia sneered in his heart, hitting his chest.

He and Ding Hong nod their heads, not as a sign of friendship. His seemingly relaxed and friendly attitude can let Ding Hongliang know clearly that he, Liu Xia, is here. After hearing what he just said, Ding Hongliang doesn't have to pretend to be confused. There is no possibility of getting close to him.

Feng Hongxiu took out an envelope with Liu Xia's name on it and handed it to him: "Count it again."

Then she resumed the posture of crossing her arms and leaned on the chair, and said to Ding Hongliang in a strange way: "Hey, why don't you say it? It's over?

Hmph, you're done talking, then listen to me again, the bonus distribution system is formulated by the team, and I, a small cashier, just implement it;

Attendance is reported by your respective supervisors, and I just keep counting;

The matter of house distribution was decided by the leaders after research, and it has nothing to do with me at all. Do you hear me clearly?Didn't hear clearly I can say it again.

If you hear clearly and have the guts, go to Captain Ma and your Chief Zhu;

It’s okay if you have the guts and the ability, to make a measurement report and pat it on Captain Ma’s desk, I guarantee it will be more effective than you slapping my desk here.

You have no guts and no skills, hehe, what the hell do you want to do if you smash this kind of table into pieces! "

Liu Xia was counting the money, he felt that Ding Hongliang's eyes seemed to be looking at the money in his hand uncontrollably, and he secretly shuddered.

"It's 680, nine yuan and seventeen cents in total. By the way, I'll go first, Sister Feng." Liu Xia put the money back into the envelope.

Feng Hongxiu smiled: "Let's go, remember to treat Eldest Sister to a meal later."

Liu Xia put his hands in his pockets, whistling gracefully as he descended the stairs, followed by the sound of "tom tom" footsteps, followed by Ding Hongliang, who quickly walked past him: "Damn it, China is given to you by you officials and lords!" If it becomes like this, China will be buried in the hands of moths like you sooner or later, there will be no democracy, no freedom, envy of the virtuous and capable..."

Liu Xia looked at Ding Hongliang's back, raised his eyebrows, and replaced "Song of the Young Pioneers" with "The Internationale".

I heard that Ding Hongliang and Zhang Shubao are cousins, not to mention, these two people are really similar in some ways.

Along the way, Liu Xia met several people who came to collect their wages, and they all greeted them cheerfully as usual. His mood was not affected by the incident just now. He doesn't care about a person's affairs;

As for what Ding Hongliang said against him, he didn't mind even more. The reality is that he himself lives in a single dormitory lavishly, and Ding Hongliang and Wu Xiaolin share a collective dormitory, and Fu Dong puts it there. The new recruits have no place to live, and they may be divided into dormitories at any time. The team decided that the dormitory standard is four people per room.

So, if there must be one person who must be angry, it shouldn't be Liu Xia!

Mao'er was very happy to see Liu Xia took the money home, and smiled at him as he stirred the dumpling stuffing with his little hands.

When Liu Hai left, Liu Xia was not at home, and Maoer gave Liu Hai all the family's savings of 500 yuan according to what he had discussed with Liu Xia in advance.

Giving Uncle Smelly Six money, Mao’er was not at all reluctant. Thinking of Uncle Smelly Sixth going to a place so far away from home, he might not see his family for several years. Still a little flustered.

Now, the family has money again.

But the little guy didn't put down his hands and ran over to count the money like before. He mixed the stuffing and dug out the dough before coming over to collect the money. Liu Xia went over to make the dough.

It turned out that Maoer refused to let Liu Xia make noodles, but he did it himself. Later, Liu Xia heard from Guo Liping that making noodles was a laborious job, and it was very tiring for his wrists. I didn't let the cat make peace once.

The size of the dumplings made by the little guy is basically normal now, but it is still not enough to have a round belly and stand in line. The dumplings he makes are all flat and crescent-shaped. The locals also call dumplings "" Flat food", what Maoer packaged is worthy of the name.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye, and Liu Xia set off two hours after delivering the cat to school on Monday.

Their team this time was the original team of Yellow River Surveying and Mapping. Except that the team leader was replaced by Yue Desheng, Wu Xiaolin still followed their team.

The car kept heading west, turning from the national highway to the narrow and dilapidated local highway. At three o'clock in the afternoon, when Liu Xia was almost desperate, they arrived at a small county town, which looked more primitive than the old city of Rongze when he was in high school. Quiet little town.

But this is not their destination. Their destination is in the mountains about [-] kilometers southwest of the small town. Compared with the mountains here, Liujialing should indeed be considered a hilly area.

Liu Xia started almost the same life as when he was an intern. In the depths of the isolated mountain, more than a dozen people ran points, set out lines, piling, staked, recorded, calculated, and drew every day.

Everyone works very, very hard. They start their homework every morning as long as they can see the numbers clearly. The total time for three meals a day does not exceed two hours. Finish work here as soon as possible and get out.

When Liu Xia and the others came, Ma Qianli initially estimated that they should need five weeks to complete the data collection part, and Liu Xia hoped to advance this time by at least one week.

But he forgot an important force majeure factor - the weather.

After Liu Xia and the others worked continuously for seventeen days, it started to rain continuously. If it weren't for the experienced people from the local land bureau who cooperated with them, Liu Xia and the others might be isolated on the mountain road, just like he was in Liujialing, ten days Can't get out for half a month.

They stayed in the guest house in the county seat, and while sorting out the calculation data, they waited for the weather to clear up.

They lived in the guest house for a whole week, and Liu Xia tried his best to do calculations and drawings every day.Their project is different from the surveying and mapping of the Yellow River. It is a routine work. The results are stored as data and accumulated data. They are not of any specific use at the moment, so they can calculate slowly after going back.

The current project is to sort out the measurement data as soon as possible, provide accurate and reliable information, and prepare for the upcoming construction.

When Liu Xia returned to work after the new year, many people in the unit bought BB phones. With the increase of BB phones, the number of public phones on the street also increased rapidly. Although the small town where Liu Xia and the others are now seems to be lagging behind Rongze Lots, but there are also two payphones on the street.

But for some reason, Liu Xia rushed to make a few phone calls when the cat was out of school at night, and the phone was connected, but every time there was a mess of noise inside, and it was impossible to hear what the person on the other side was saying. The situation of several people is exactly the same as his, and it is the same when they change the phone number of another company.

On the fifth day, Liu Xia, who was always kind, finally quarreled with the owner of the sugar, tobacco and alcohol shop. He was paid a few dollars a day, but he didn't even know where the phone call went.

The boss insisted that his phone number was fine, so he dialed a phone number from his friend's unit in front of Liu Xia, and Liu Xia heard a clear voice with a strong local accent: "Hey, who are you looking for?"

Liu Xia angrily threw two yuan to the boss, and went back to the guest house with Wu Xiaolin, lying on the bed panting.

Returning to the work area again, they continued to work for thirteen days. Just when everyone was relieved and felt that they could finally go home, they received a message from the person in charge of the local coordination work:

Another point of this huge system project is [-] kilometers northeast of their current location. After they completed the surveying and mapping task here, they rushed directly to the next operation area from here.

Except for Yue Desheng, the whole team is very irritable. Although they often have fieldwork tasks, it is very rare for such a long-term continuous operation in such a place that is almost isolated from the world. At least the eleven of them They have never experienced it. They have a feeling of being abandoned by the world, and a feeling of being stuffed in a small, confined space. All in all, it is very uncomfortable.

Liu Xia knew that this was his job and he had no choice. What he wanted now was to allow them to go back, even if it was just to let him talk to Mao'er when he got home, and then return immediately.

As an adult, he was in a relatively isolated environment with more than a dozen of his colleagues, and he felt abandoned. Maoer stayed alone in an empty house for more than a month. What would he think?

He has always known that the seemingly carefree and mischievous cat, in fact, has always hidden fear deep in his heart. Liu Xia, whom he relies on most, has been repeating the process of returning and leaving since he was a child. A cycle, and in this cycle, the time of leaving is far longer than the time of his return.

Mao'er grew up in the memory of losing his uncle at any time since he was a child. After he became sensible, he realized that he was not a child of Liu Xia and the others. No matter how much Liu Changqing's family loved him, he did not belong to The fear of Liu Xia and his family has been deeply imprinted in Mao'er's heart.

After being separated for a long time without any news, Mao'er may fall into the imagination of being abandoned. Just thinking about the feeling that Mao'er might have, Liu Xia felt a feeling of wanting to explode in his heart.

But they didn't have the right to choose. At dusk three days later, they arrived at another small county town that was quiet like in an ink painting.