Song Yin in the last days

Boss Hu sat under the pergola watching the scenery.

It's the beginning of May, and it should be the late spring when the grass grows and the warblers fly. However, despite the chaotic grass, the flying warblers are hard to find. Forget it all, the only saving grace is the weather.

Since the accident in Xianyang that year, the winter will not end until the end of April, and then the temperature will rise sharply, and it will enter the midsummer mode as long as a week or as short as three to five days. The weather like this is neither cold nor hot, only ten or so a year God, every day is one day less.

A neighbor passed by the arbor and said hello to the boss: "Fourth brother, the weather is so nice, why don't you make a cup of tea?"

"Who can still afford tea these days?" Boss Hu saw two empty buckets picked up from his neighbor's shoulders, and asked casually, "Going to water again?"

The neighbor sighed: "Yeah, it doesn't matter whether it's useful or not, we still have to do what needs to be done. Maybe this year will be lucky, and God will reward us with a bite of food."

Boss Hu nodded again and again: "That's the reason, it's the reason, God rewards hard work." Looking at the neighbor's back that was getting farther and farther away, he curled his lips secretly, and said that he would do it if he didn't die in the sun in two months. Die, what's the fuss, it's better to learn to sit in the pergola and watch the scenery by yourself.

In fact, there is not much scenery to see in his arbor, and now he can't wake up all day long, except for the hot months, every day is gloomy and gloomy, and the flowers and plants will freeze to death. Don't die, there aren't even a few trees left, and the wind and sand are getting bigger and bigger. In two years, they will probably be in the northwest... Look at the scenery?Do you want to see the scenery of yellow sand bouncing around in the grass? !

Alas, it's only been two years, why did it suddenly change like this?

Two years ago, no matter what, he couldn't believe that there was a day when he couldn't even bear to drink the worst tea. In just two years, everything changed, and it was all because of that Xianyang!

Xianyang had an e-virus, and he was still donating money at that time.As a result, the people in Xianyang recovered, but the e-virus came out, and my parents and niece were gone.Forget about the parents, they have watched what they should watch and eaten what they should eat after living in their 70s, but my niece has just graduated from college, what a good girl, polite and capable, so it's gone...

Boss Hu has no children himself, and has always regarded his niece as a half-daughter. When he thought of such a good child, he could not help but feel a little wet in his eyes. Fortunately, his wife called out, "It seems that someone is coming", and brought him Pulled from memory.

People really came. Two tall men appeared on the road in the twilight, with a child beside them. It's just the temperament of flirting with cats and dogs... Ha, that's how boys should be. He likes this kid.

The smile on Boss Hu's face was a little sincere, and he walked out of the awning to meet him.

"Do you two want to eat? The small shop has stir-fried dishes, snacks and tea, and the prices are reasonable." He pointed to the price tag on the wall, and looked at the two people's attire. "Look, it's almost five o'clock now, and it's going to be dark soon. The small store also provides accommodation, so you don't have to go to the hotel after eating. A single room costs 200 yuan a night, and you can't find such a fair price in the entire city of C. The price of the..."

Boss Hu sells very hard.There are very few people eating out these days. With such good weather, they only received eight guests a day today, including the three in front of them.

The visitors looked at the price list on the wall and looked at each other. One of them asked, "Is your water clean?"

"Clean, clean." Boss Hu quickly led him to the water tank in the house, "You see, we all get water from the well, and we also use water purification tablets, which are bought directly from the government, which is absolutely safe. "

The two men looked at each other again, and the thin young man outside with a sick face who felt like he would collapse in the wind took the child into the arbor and carried the child to the bench. The child looked around and kept asking questions. , looking curious about everything.

The man next to Boss Hu started ordering:

"Let's start with two taels of clear soup, this one is for children, don't put any chili. Then two bowls of three taels of pork dry noodles, less spicy, cook six taels of vegetarian dumplings, and then a bowl of meatball soup."

Big buyer!

Boss Hu finally managed to hide the light in his eyes, and offered a price: "Two taels of clear soup cost 120 yuan, two bowls of three taels of meat dry noodles cost 300 yuan, six taels of vegetarian dumplings cost 300 yuan, and a bowl of meatball soup cost 280 yuan, exactly 1000 yuan. Sir, do you want some tea?"

"Is the noodle soup okay?"

"Yes, yes, ten yuan a bowl."

"Then add three more bowls of noodle soup."

"Okay, three bowls of noodle soup cost 30 yuan, a total of one thousand and thirty." Boss Hu looked at the man with sparkling eyes.

The man took out his wallet from his pocket to pay the bill, Boss Hu counted it correctly, and then yelled at his wife by the door: "Hurry up and cook the noodles, stand by the door and be the door god."

The proprietress happily went into the kitchen—it's not that she's lazy, these days they pay the bill first and then fire, who knows if these people have money.

Boss Hu poured three bowls of noodle soup and brought them to the table. He also stood beside him and chatted with the guests.

"This kid is so energetic, how old is he?"

The little guy was short, knelt down on the bench, stretched out his hand to pull the bowl, but retracted his hand when he heard the question, and fell towards the sick man.The sick-looking man looked like the father of a child. He raised a bowl and fed him: "Tell Uncle how old you are."

The child took a sip of the noodle soup, tilted his head on his father's shoulder and looked at Boss Hu. His big eyes were flickering, very agile, but he was not very talkative. He stretched out three fingers and gestured for a "three".

"Hey, he's already three years old." Boss Hu smiled. He really likes this kid.

The sick man explained to the boss: "Three and a half years old, we rarely take him out, he is a bit shy."

Boss Hu sighed: "Understood, understood, now it's not like in the past, no one's children are taken out. It's not like before, a little bit older is going to the amusement park and the zoo, and you have to carry a bowl behind you when you have a meal." Chasing... Well, these children have not caught up with the good times."

The handsome man who ordered the food sat down at the table after washing his hands. He picked up the child on his lap and wiped his hands with a wet towel. He said warmly, "Boss, how is life at your house?"

"Oh, don't mention it. City C had a population of 800 million two years ago. Is there 18 now? Since the power was cut off in September last year, everyone with a way has moved away, and even migrant workers have gone back to their hometowns. It's hard for us native-born and Those who have no ability and no connections can only live here bitterly, open a small shop and have few customers a day, fortunately there are 20 catties of rations every month, otherwise they will be hungry."

"There is also a good thing, the housing prices have not all fallen, and now everyone has a house to live in." The man ordering food joked.

Boss Hu laughed: "That's right, now you can live in any house in the city center, and no one cares if you live in three sets. If you think about those good houses that can't be bought for two or three million yuan, no one wants to throw them away now. It’s also really fun.”

……

While talking, the proprietress beckoned the boss to go over and fetch the hand-made noodles. After serving the hand-made noodles, Boss Hu looked at the sky, lit a lantern and put it on the guest's table, and then went to the kitchen to mix the freshly cooked noodles with minced meat and serve them out to the guests. .

He just finished his work here, and five more soldiers walked into the shed talking and laughing, and one of them was the first to hand over the plastic bag in his hand: "Old Hu, how many voles were caught today, can you take a look?"

Boss Hu took a look and was amused: "Yo ho, it's not small. As usual, I'll peel the skin right away, and it's 140 yuan per catty after weighing."

"Sure, you can figure it out. But don't give me cash. The price of goods varies a week. You count it as boiled eggs and give me it. It's safest to keep things in your stomach these days."

Boss Hu weighed in on the plastic bag: "It must weigh two or three catties, right? Battalion Commander Zhao, can you take twenty or thirty eggs back and eat it?"

Battalion Commander Zhao laughed and scolded: "You think I caught this thing? I'm an old man, what can I do? This is the result of an afternoon of hard work by a group of soldiers below. Take twenty or thirty eggs back. One point is not enough for them to bite their teeth."

At this time, the soldiers had already sat at the table and began to order: "Old Hu, get us half a catty of wine, two cold dishes, and two hot dishes. Look at it, hurry up."

Boss Hu immediately went into the kitchen, took a small bottle of wine and five small wine glasses, and then turned around and brought a plate of crispy peanuts and a plate of cold enoki mushrooms to the table.He was about to go back to the kitchen to cook, but was stopped by the table next to him.

"You have eggs here? Why isn't it written on the signboard?"

"Oh, how dare I write it. After two years of no crops, people are almost out of food now. How can anyone feed chickens and pigs? I bought it from Wucheng at a high price. They are usually reserved for our junior soldiers, so don’t say I’m partial, without them, how can our place be peaceful? I’m afraid my shop has been hacked long ago.”

"Old Hu, you said it as if we ate your food for nothing," Commander Zhao turned his head, "If we hadn't bought you some voles and bamboo rats from time to time, you would have sold meat in your shop?"

The hand holding the chopsticks on the next table froze.

Battalion Commander Zhao was in a good mood, and comforted the two foreigners who seemed to be living a good life: "Actually, it's nothing, it's all protein, just get used to it. It's like this in City C. The power has been cut off for more than half a year. It’s almost time to go, the supplies are very scarce, and the price of goods has risen sharply, and the Wucheng side is better.”

"What's the matter, the prices are skyrocketing, there are not many restaurants that can eat meat, the TVs are not turned on, and the electricity bill is so expensive... These days are really fucking unbearable." Another soldier Han muffled his drink.

Boss Hu said: "Hey, company commander Zhou, don't say that. From what I've seen, your life is better off. The prices are high, but your wages are also rising."

"Increase, it's an increase, [-] a month, it scared people to death two years ago, and now it's enough for a family of three to pay for food, and quarreling with my wife every day, this mother... I should have never married if I knew it." Zhou Lianchang The expression is not healed, it is estimated that the elements of being scolded are more than quarreling.

The neighbor saw that the building was getting more and more crooked, so he quickly pulled it back: "Can the boss sell us a few eggs, you see, it's fine for us adults, don't we have a child here?"

Boss Hu looked at the child, and he had already eaten up the chao shou in the bowl in just a short while, and was holding the bowl to drink soup, wishing to swallow the bowl, and sighed: "20 yuan a piece, at most Five."

The price was higher than what was charged to Commander Zhao just now, but the customer took out his wallet without the slightest hesitation: "Let's cook two first, I don't think he can eat it tonight, we will stay in your shop today, Cook three more tomorrow morning."

Boss Hu took the money and went into the kitchen, but Battalion Commander Zhao looked at the two big and one small, and asked seemingly casually, "Where are you guys going?"

"Going to Wucheng, I just wanted to ask which is the fastest way to go." The man said.

======

After closing the door, Song Yin first took out the toiletries from the small backpack on the top, and took him into the bathroom to brush his teeth.There are all kinds of facilities in the bathroom, but there is no electricity and no running water. Fortunately, the boss has prepared candles, a large bucket of cold water and a bottle of boiling water, which is not bad.

While serving his little son to brush his teeth, he answered his [-] whys. After brushing his teeth, he took out a folding plastic tub and mixed hot water for the little guy to wash his face and take a bath.The bathtub is for babies, and the little guy can't sit in it because of his current size, so let him stand in the bathtub and rinse.Ding Ding was really tired today, he fell asleep in the middle of washing, making his father's clothes look ugly.

Wipe the top clean and stuff it under the bed, Song Yin also went to the bathroom to take a shower, Xu Lingfeng came back before she had time to put on her clothes after washing.

"How is it?" Song Yin asked.

Xu Lingfeng looked at Ding Ding and fell asleep, and leaned against the bathroom door frame to watch the handsome guy wipe his body, let alone watching the handsome guy under the candle, the more he looked at it, the more he got angry, but the timing is not right today.

With a sigh of regret in his heart, Xu Lingfeng said: "It's done, we will leave at eight o'clock tomorrow, and we will arrive at Wucheng at four o'clock in the afternoon. There is still electricity in Wucheng, but there are no means of transportation such as airplanes now. No one dared to sit, so after Wucheng disembarked, we had no choice but to take the train or bus to Jiang'an City."

"Have you bought all the tickets?"

"Buy it. Tomorrow at 06:30, a donkey cart will come to pick us up to the pier. The donkey cart costs 100 yuan per person, and the top is 20 yuan. The boat ticket to Wucheng is 8000 yuan per person, and the top is 3000 yuan."

Song Yin paused while she was putting on her clothes. Looking at Xu Lingfeng, she almost thought she heard it wrong: "Take a donkey cart?! It costs [-] from C City to Wucheng?!"

Xu Lingfeng laughed loudly: "It's true, do you feel like you have traveled through time? Fortunately, the banknotes can still be used..."