Beat Generation

Xingzhuang is a small mountain town that cannot be smaller.

In a small street less than 100 meters away, there are less than [-] households walking among the hills. There is only one barber shop in the whole town, and the barber is a nun. Because the nunnery on the mountain was demolished, the After moving down the mountain, I ran out of incense money, so I opened a small hair salon.

It took Zhuang Mei three days to learn to ride a motorcycle, and another 10 minutes to walk through tea plantations, rice fields, and patches of vegetable gardens to come to this small barber shop on a motorcycle.

When she came, gusts of mountain wind passed by the branches. When she took off the black helmet, the nun master put down the scripture scroll in his hand and looked at the door—only a gust of wind swept over the overlong bangs on her forehead. However, a pair of star-like eyes were revealed.

There are countless visitors in the mountain, but I have never seen such a person. He looks like a lonely girl and a fiery young man. His face is unspeakably expensive, and he feels vaguely familiar, as if he has seen it somewhere.

Zhuang Mei walked to the door with her helmet in her hand. The hair salon less than [-] square meters was full of people, all listening to the nun's lecture. Zhuang Mei stood at the door, not knowing whether to enter or exit.

"Master, is it convenient for me to have a haircut?" Zhuang Mei asked politely.

"It's convenient, it's convenient. Wait a minute, I'll give this benefactor a haircut." The nun stood up, put on a cowhide apron, and wrapped a white cloth around Zhuang Mei with great posture.

"What haircut do you want?"

"Look at it, just cut it shorter."

Zhuang Mei looked at the audience behind her in the mirror, most of them were housewives in slack, and some deaf and blind old women and fathers-in-law.

"I have been practicing Buddhism for the first half of my life, and only started to deal with the three thousand threads of affliction in the second half of my life. I haven't mastered the kung fu yet. Donor, you should look through this picture album and give me a picture of what you want to cut."

The nun really gave Zhuang Mei a torn-up hairstyle book. Zhuang Mei couldn't laugh or cry after reading it. Those hairstyles were probably popular in the last century when the imperial power was still alive. ten thousand years.

After flipping through from beginning to end, Zhuang Mei couldn't find anyone she liked.

In fact, all she wants is a neat boy's head, just shave it casually.

At this time, the nun master was cleaning the barber knife while preaching scriptures, and the audience became absorbed. Zhuang Mei also listened to something. When she was young, she was forced by her father to go to the temple to listen to many masters' lectures. She has basically paid homage to the temple and Buddha. Every time her father would hold her in his arms and sit cross-legged piously. Her father listened attentively, but she always dozed off without listening to a few Zen words. After a while, her little head would be blown red by her father.

What he didn't listen to in the past, now Zhuang Mei listens to it, knowing the joys and sorrows.

She suddenly couldn't bear to disturb the nun's master Xu Xu's story, Zhuang Mei began to look at the small hair salon until her eyes fell on an old calendar.

The calendar was in a certain year 40 years ago. Zhuang Mei stood up and took the rough old calendar in her hand. She wiped off the dust on the hard cover, and what she saw was her father, A group photo of Zhan Banbi's father and other national heroes not long after the founding of the People's Republic of China. In this group photo of only about [-] people, Zhuang Mei saw her extremely handsome father at a glance.

In the past, she really didn't think her father was so good-looking, but it was hard to hide his charm when he was placed in the crowd like this.

She flipped through each page again, and there were a few months of pages that had Bo Zhengtao's oil-painted formal photos alone. Zhuang Mei looked at her father when she was young, and then looked at herself in the mirror who was only a teenager now. , she finally understood why her mother always said that her father favored her, because she did look like her father, more like a god, while her younger brother looked more like her mother.

"Sponsor, do you want to have a hairstyle?"

"You dye me black, just do this hairstyle."

Zhuang Mei pointed to her father's hairstyle when he was young. The nun master took a look and couldn't help laughing: "Miao, Miao, I thought that the benefactor, you are really familiar, so it's because of this, you and the deceased Premier Bo does have some resemblance."

"Thank you master, I have to hurry. You can cut it for me."

"Oh. Benefactor, where are you going?"

"I passed by Xingzhuang, and I came here to collect some mountain products and sell them to the south."

Bits of short chestnut hair were cropped and dyed black.

The nun's speed was very fast, and she cut Zhuang Mei's new hairstyle in a short while. Before she bid farewell to the kind-hearted nun, she asked, "Master, I'm going to a faraway place. Will the gods bless me?"

"Almsgiver, your face is unspeakably precious. It can be seen that you have a buddha relationship since you were a child. I wish everything goes well without any surprises or dangers."

"Thank you master."

Zhuang Mei smiled and put on her black helmet, got on her motorcycle, and left in the dust.

For one week and two days in Xingzhuang, Zhuang Mei pretended to be a peddler who bought mountain goods, mainly collecting some rare medicinal materials and precious wild animal skins. She lived with a family in the col.

Zhuang Mei saw a wisp of cooking smoke coming out of the thatched cottage from a distance, presumably the hostess of that house knew that she was leaving and wanted to cook her the most sumptuous farewell meal.

After the motorcycle was parked, Zhuang Mei opened the shaft door, grabbed a small handful of wild wheat, and threw it into the chicken coop.

The family only had Tong Jianchun, a widow whose husband passed away last year, and her seven-year-old daughter, Xiao Gege. As soon as Zhuang Mei entered, Xiao Gege put down her homework and asked, "What did you do? You only came back now. "

"I went to get my hair cut. Little Gege is doing homework."

Zhuang Mei put the helmet back on and patted Little Gege's head, "If there's anything you can't write, just ask me."

"I'm very smart, I know all those topics. Did you buy me something delicious?"

"Of course." Zhuang Mei took out two small boxes of snacks from the trunk of the motorcycle, "It's all yours."

Little Gege jumped up and down happily, at this time Tong Jianchun came out of the kitchen and said, "You are really going to spoil her, buying her so many snacks every day, her teeth will be broken."

"this is for you."

Tong Jianchun opened the bags one by one and saw that they were all new clothes and some absolutely high-end cosmetics.

Zhuang Mei went to the vicinity of the Yu Railway Station to inquire about news, and by the way, bought something for the poor mother and daughter, as a token of their farewell.

"I'm a widow. It would be a joke if I wear such beautiful clothes and wear such lipstick."

As Tong Jianchun said so, she had already started to test the color of the lipstick on her lips. Zhuang Mei just smiled and watched her put on lipstick. She may have rarely put on lipstick before, so she didn't apply it well. Zhuang Mei saw this He took the tube of lipstick and carefully painted her chubby lips with bright colors.

It was only then that Zhuang Mei discovered that Tong Jianchun's lips were somewhat similar to Wen Xi's lips, they were both plump and fleshy.

"Oh, you are so kind to our mother and daughter, so you are not afraid that we will rely on you."

"There's nothing to be afraid of. You are so kind to me, and if you rely on me, it will be my blessing."

Zhuang Mei rolled up her sleeves and entered the kitchen. She sat under the stove and began to add fire.

"Smells so good, what did you do?"

"It's cold in spring now, and it's still quite cold. I made you some braised venison and wrapped it for you. You can eat it on the road."

"Then I'm lucky."

Tong Jianchun tried on a new dress, she went to the kitchen and said, "You can make so much money selling wild goods, I want to follow you in selling wild goods."

Zhuang Mei shook her head, "I've been lucky recently."

"Did you leave after lunch?"

"Yes."

As soon as she finished speaking, Little Gege walked into the kitchen and said, "Didn't you say that you will leave in another week?"

"In another week, let other people go to the south before me, and I won't be able to sell those things at a high price."

"...Then will you come back to see us?"

Little Gege was about to cry, Zhuang Mei held her in her arms and kissed her nose, "If I make a lot of money this trip, I'll come back to see you, okay?"

"..."

Little Gege hugged Zhuang Mei and began to cry.

Tong Jianchun said: "Whether you earn money or not, as long as you are free, you will come back. I will take care of you."

"it is good."

Zhuang Mei hugged Xiao Gege tightly. During these days in Xingzhuang, thanks to the mother and daughter, she avoided interrogation and was taken care of well. Her heartbeat has never been abnormal again, and she lives a leisurely life. Every day is either to receive the goods, or to pick up Xiao Gege from school.

During the short days in the mountains, the mother and daughter made her feel like a long-lost home.

At lunch, Zhuang Mei ate an extra bowl of rice.

When parting, she gave Tong Jianchun a strong hug.

Tong Jianchun and Xiao Gege waved to her in the crowd at the station, watching the unknown girl leave.

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Zhuang Mei chose the slowest green leather car, and she got into her berth with those mountain goods on her back. As soon as she got on the bed, she closed her eyes and fell asleep, and didn't talk to other people, but every night, the car drove in the dark mountains Zhuang Mei will wake up and check if there is any suspicious person in the car?She would buy something with the conductor pushing the trolley, and ask if there was any inspection or if any strange things happened at the last station?

The journey was calm and calm. Zhuang Mei slept during the day and moved at night. She would open the small and rough curtains of this cheap train to see where the train passed—there were barren deserts, verdant mountains, and rolling hills. Rivers, sparsely populated oil towns, crowded low buildings, and pointed stupas—further south, there are rich lands of fish and rice—she sometimes looks at the crowds at the morning market, and sometimes The night market with fireworks at night, sometimes you can see the dawn at a glance, the eyes blink slowly, and the heart beats slowly.Rarely in her life has she been so alone and unrestrained, she doesn't have to care about the etiquette of the upper class, she doesn't have to care about anyone's eyes, she can be herself completely.

Zhuang Mei couldn't prepare to express her feelings. She felt that the sky was so vast and the land so boundless. She was not in Wen Xi's cage, nor in Wu Ershan's swamp. After her father was hanged, she fell all the way to hell.

More importantly, when she looked in the mirror, she seriously felt that not only was she a teenager on the outside, but her mentality had also returned to that of a teenager. Vitality and hope slowly grew from her heart, and once she felt The uncontrollable longing for the future has grown savagely like never before.

The green leather car took Zhuang Mei to a county town next to the city where she had been imprisoned for five years.

She stayed in the county for five full days before she got a new identity and a new resume for herself. For this, she spent a lot of money. Zhuang Mei began to think that if she returned to that city, she had to find a job first. As a source of cover and earning living expenses.

On the second day after she got her new identity, she didn't dare to stay for long, and immediately got on a car and went to the city she hadn't escaped for a long time.

When the familiar welcome came from the familiar convenience store, Zhuang Mei instantly returned to the most normal urban white-collar life in the past five years. She went downstairs to Wen Xi's company and saw a few familiar faces. colleagues, but they just walked past, and no one recognized her.

On the second day, she squatted outside the military area, and it was not until the third day that she found a chance to enter the military area.

On this day, Zhuang Mei pretended to be a high school student, and entered the laboratory with a group of high school students who were going to visit the military area. When everyone was extremely curious about biological experiments, Zhuang Mei asked a researcher: : "I heard from our teacher that there is a very powerful Professor Chen in your military region? He is the originator of our country's biological experiments."

"Are you talking about Professor Chen Ziwang? Of course. Many of the experiments we are doing now follow his theoretical basis at that time."

"Then can I meet him? He is my idol, and I want to become a scientist like him when I grow up."

"Who doesn't want Chen Ziwang? But Professor Chen doesn't come to lecture with us now, let alone explain knowledge to you."

The researcher started to change the topic, and Zhuang Mei could roughly confirm that Chen Ziwang was still in the 891 Hospital.

After the first round of observation, Zhuang Mei went to the bathroom and, like Wu Ershan, jumped out of the window above the bathroom.

Walking through the woods and avoiding the crowd, Zhuang Mei came to the 891 Hospital according to the route she remembered. She lay down in the bushes and saw bodyguards guarding the door and a camera installed on a high place. She guessed that Chen Ziwang was probably He was under house arrest in the hospital.

Waiting until dark, the guards and bodyguards began to change shifts, and the shifts were very fast, and there was almost no chance for Zhuang Mei to sneak in. She had to go to the cafeteria to steal some food, and after filling her stomach, she continued to stay in the grass and wait for the opportunity .

When the moon was in the mid-heaven, the dog named DNA ran out of the hospital, and it walked towards the grass with bright eyes.

Zhuang Mei rubbed her eyes, and hurriedly hid deep in the grass - dna was squatting on the ground, defecating, Zhuang Mei couldn't wait for it to finish going to the toilet, so she hugged it and quickly tied its mouth.