Shengsheng

Liang Sheng was determined to find the child who had been given away, but Jin Ping and his wife were very anxious.

On the one hand, Hexi is really not close to the city, with more than half of southern Jiangxi and the Yangtze River separated. At the beginning of 2002, I took the green leather train, and it took at least three or four nights to get there by long-distance buses.

In particular, I heard that the land there is not peaceful. Those who do small businesses say that some people are very repulsive to those from other places when they go home during the Chinese New Year. In addition, the local police are difficult to control those who are mixed with fish and dragons, so their reputation outside has not been very good in the past two years.

On the other hand, if you want to go to the local area to find a child, you must find a relationship and spend money. Then the ticket, travel expenses, meal expenses, and the money for staying in a guest house are completely worthless.

But Wang Ziqiang, one of the first offenders, has not been caught by the police station yet, and Zhang Chengyuan and Dong Fen, who are temporarily detained to receive criticism and education from the police, don't know anything about it.

There is no detailed address and no informant to help, and only Liang Sheng himself, who is so poor and has just obtained his ID card and household registration, no one can believe that he can give that child to the real one. get it back.

Regarding these, Liang Sheng was obviously aware of this in his heart, and he also understood the various concerns and worries of the couple.

But this time he seemed to be determined, even after he went back, Cao Maocai and Jin Ping tried to persuade him all night.

On the second day, he still kept silent and packed his luggage by himself, leaving a note explaining his specific whereabouts, and then went to the police station to issue a certificate, and then went to Liu Xiu.

He didn't intend to trouble Liu Xiu, and of course, he didn't want to make a big fuss and make Jin Ping and his wife bear the expensive food and travel expenses.

He just felt that no matter what, he had to say a few words to this woman himself, to leave an explanation for some things he had cared about for two lifetimes, and to put a full stop.

But Liu Xiu, who opened the door for him with a pale face early in the morning, looked at this young man who was carrying a broken luggage bag and had a rice bowl, canned food, biscuits, and four or five big apples in a plastic net in his hand, and was surprised. Crouching at the door of his own house, he was a little caught off guard.

Then something happened to the family, and the poor woman who just had a baby in her belly saw him take out more than 100 yuan of loose change from her pocket and put it on the ground, then bowed her head and said such words.

"I bought the things under the kitchen window that day, but it was not my money. I will return them to you."

"..."

"Eat the duck and milk earlier, it's good for the new confinement body."

"..."

"I picked up all the rubbish you left at the back door. Thank you for taking care of Liang Sheng for five months. After this time, you have no troubles. I'm leaving."

"..."

"Also, I may have forgotten to tell you something. Since I was a child, I think you are the most beautiful in lotus leaf skirts. You are more beautiful and temperamental than the female stars on TV, so I don't know how you were before. I don't like to be angry with you, but I want to protect you like an upright man, because you are so beautiful, a man should treat you well, and a man like Zhang Chengyuan is not worthy of you at all."

After saying this, Liang Sheng, who had been bowing his head to see his expression clearly, picked up his broken rice bowl, luggage and dry food, and left.

He didn't introduce himself from the beginning to the end, but he knew that a woman should understand what he meant and why he came.

Liu Xiu, whose face was full of tears and whose eyes widened suddenly, also seemed to be frightened when she saw this, and hurriedly reached out to catch up, but she seemed to shrink back inexplicably just as she took a step.

And Liang Sheng, who seemed to have expected something, didn't seem to have any fluctuations in his heart, so he paused for the last time, and then left.

He walked quickly, as if he didn't have any such or such memories about No. 16 Pomegranate Lane in his mind.

It's like swallowing a love-breaking pill that is always mentioned in martial arts novels.

This time, I finally completely put the last bit of sadness, anger, and complaints in my childhood behind me, and I will never look back with nostalgia.

On July 2002, 7, it was just dawn at seven or eight in the morning.

Leaving everyone behind him, Liang Sheng went to Hexi alone to look for the child, took his own luggage, took the clues and certificates provided by the local police station, and bought the train ticket for the day to South Gannan.

The ticket was at one o'clock in the afternoon that day, and his old luggage bag contained a pair of school pants, a flashlight, three pairs of socks, seventeen or eight cans of 'Maojin' brand horse head fish, a bucket of evergreen biscuits, four or five Apple, and the 130, six, seventy cents left over from buying train tickets.

This is all his belongings, besides that, he still has an old photo with him.

This photo is a file he specially retrieved from the police station. It shows his parents and himself, and it is also the certificate left by Xiao Liangsheng when he was born.

This can indirectly prove their kinship status, and it can be regarded as the only evidence of missing persons that can be found so far.

Liang Sheng had never seen this photo in his previous life, but now it seemed that he was willing to let go for a while.

After rubbing the face of the silly kid above with his fingers repeatedly, he got some hot water from the rice bowl at the train station, rinsed his mouth, and got on the train.

For the next three nights, with this precious photo hidden in his arms, he would not move as soon as he lay down, and he spent the bumps and turns one after another.

Speaking of which, the 130 yuan in his pocket was the only savings he had saved from living frugally some time ago.

But other than the basic expenses, he didn't plan to spend it in a hurry, because the money was far from enough for the next trip to find the sound of Xiaoliang.

Even if he travels far away casually, he still has to eat, live, and keep asking people for directions. These things cost money everywhere.

But Cao Maocai’s canned fish business has just started to improve. The initial cost of investing in a large number of canning factories has not yet been recovered, and everyone has not received ready-made banknotes. borrow money.

Therefore, before leaving this trip, he did not say anything else except leaving a note in which he told Cao Maocai and Jin Ping to let the family continue to purchase first and increase the supply of canned fish at various sales points.

As for how he himself should go to Hexi, thousands of miles away, with the pitiful travel expenses at hand, and how to follow the clues left by Wang Ziqiang to find Xiao Liangsheng's whereabouts, he didn't mention a word in the note left behind. .

This is not to say that Liang Sheng didn't have any ideas and methods in his mind.

On the contrary, it can be seen from these strange and bulky luggage that he brought that he should actually be prepared for this trip.

At least apart from the apples and biscuits, those seventeen or eighteen 'Maojin' brand fish cans are superfluous and cumbersome, but Liang Sheng seems to know this, but still chooses to do this, which seems a bit puzzling.

And as expected, as Jin Ping and the others had expected, when the train approached north and south of Jiangxi, Liang Sheng took his luggage and transferred four or five times to the countryside.

The first problem he encountered was that there was not much travel money left on him.

The apples and a whole pack of evergreen biscuits that Wangdouzi brought out as dry food were already eaten by him in the car. The young man in his early twenties already had a big appetite, so he broke the biscuits and soaked them in water to eat along the way. Didn't top a few meals at all.

If ordinary people encounter this situation, they should retreat. After all, people who are not familiar with this road, even those with inflexible brains, should understand that the road ahead is definitely not easy.

But Liang Sheng didn't back down, he just took out the canned fish that he had been carrying all the way, and got off at the first stop he arrived at, Wushi.

What does he want to do?Actually did nothing.

He just took out some of the heaviest things in the luggage bag and found a local canteen nearby, and exchanged them for two packs of cigarettes, two mops, five bags of instant noodles and four large water buckets at the same value.

Because these things must be much lighter than the seventeen or eight heavy canned fish in his bag.

In particular, there are so many local small commodity processing cities in Urumqi, so Liang Sheng only got off the car here to exchange things after inquiring with someone.

In addition, most people who go out to do business in this era are also willing to accept this method of exchanging goods for everyone's convenience.

In particular, some new things brought by outsiders are very popular, so Liang Sheng, who is good at dealing with people, did not encounter any major obstacles.

After carrying these mops, instant noodles, buckets and other groceries in his hand, he continued to board the bus and headed to the next station. In the next few days, he exchanged cigarettes for leather shoes, mops for bread, and water buckets at several stations along the way. Got towels.

The leather shoes were exchanged with two people from Wen County.

At the moment, this kind of fake leather shoes is popular all over the country. Liang Sheng changed two pairs at random and sold them at the next stop.

Then to the local area in southern Gansu, the broken luggage bag on Liang Sheng's back has already accumulated a lot of special products at the train stations along the way by relying on this magical way of exchanging goods.

There are sesame cakes, small pumps, lighters, and a large bag of change earned by raising the price difference of specialties between the two places.

Not only did he not spend all the money, but he also made a small profit, which was enough to cover the travel expenses, board and lodging expenses for the search all the way without spending a penny.

On July 2002, 7, the fourth day after he left City Y, he arrived in Jiangnan and North Jiangxi with his luggage and the special products he exchanged along the way.

Logically speaking, this should be a joyful and vaguely hopeful thing,

But what makes people feel extremely frustrating is that before he bought the train ticket to come here, the people from the local branch office in City Y told him that Wang Ziqiang had a home in southern Jiangxi.

But after Liang Sheng finally came in person, he went to the local police station to inquire, only to find that the local gang of unreliable police officers gave him the old file from four or five years ago.

The family's house is long gone, even the tiles and foundations are gone, let alone a living person who knows what happened, asking the police station is like a panacea.

"Yes, I'm sorry, comrade, look at what happened to this matter, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, otherwise, why don't you buy a ticket to go home and wait for news? We will give you an answer after we have carefully investigated Wang Ziqiang's interpersonal relationship in a month. After all, it takes time to investigate and collect evidence. We keep in touch with each other, and you have to trust the government and us. Your brother will definitely be found by us sooner or later..."

"..."

These words were almost the same as those of the City Y branch office. Liang Sheng, who was squatting at the gate of the Gannan Police Station with his luggage, finally couldn't find a suitable word to answer.

He didn't want to tell the people's police that these things had nothing to do with him. In order to come to Gannan to look for Wang Ziqiang, the last 15 yuan he had on him was gone today. of.

And this is on the premise that he didn't dare to stay in a guest house during the two days along the way, and he just rushed here after a hungry and full meal.

But in the end, you should go home first, maybe someone will hear about it in a month, but this person who has been struggling to find here is easily dismissed.

But he can't go home, because his home is not here at all.

If he couldn't find his home, how could he go home alone?

"So, where is Wang Ziqiang's brother's hometown?"

On the bench of the police station, the strange, unkempt young man asked.

"What, what?"

The local police in Gannanbei who were in charge of handling the case didn't seem to expect this kid to ask such a question, so they were all a little stunned.

"Gannan must have district files. I won't bother you. I got the clues and went door to door in the countryside. My brother can't wait for a month, and no living person can wait for a month."

"Uh, yes, but I told you the file, but you can't find the person, what should I do?"

The police comrade asked again.

"You can give me a certificate. If I find someone this trip, it will be my own. If I can't find it, I won't drag it down and don't blame the country. I know it well."

Liang Sheng replied.

2002 7 Month 17 Day.

Liang Sheng, who still didn't get any useful clues from the police except for a vague villager's address, left Jiangxi by train again, heading for his last hope, Hexi Mao Village.

At this time, he had less than 50 yuan on him.

He exchanged the sesame cakes, inflators, lighters and other specialties from various places in southern Jiangxi in exchange for small businesses along the way into cash, and collected 680 yuan before embarking on the road of finding the last ray of hope.

Before leaving, he ate a bowl of hot and sour noodles with a marinated egg at the resident food stall in front of the Gannan Police Station.

This was the best meal he had eaten in so many days. After eating, he felt that the limbs, hands and feet that had been emptied earlier seemed to have strength, and he was so satisfied that he even drank the last bit of soup.

He didn't think about whether he could find Xiao Liang Sheng who had been sent away for almost 20 days.

But he knew in his heart that this was his last chance, if he failed, he would never find his way home again.

And probably because the experience of finding people this time was really profound.

Many years later, when Liang Sheng really had a lot of money in his pocket and became the respected and well-respected boss Liang, he would often think of it.

He thought to himself, where was his self-confidence and stubbornness back then?

Obviously the police and others told him to forget it, and he would definitely not be able to find him, but he still wanted to find him.

Later he also understood, because this person is different from things. If you lose something, you can say that you have money and buy it again, but if you lose it, you can never get it back. In this case, he can't rely on anyone. on his own.

So he is not afraid of disappointment, nor is he afraid of difficulties. With his life, he will continue to search, probably... that's how it feels.