The Pentium Era - South to North

The Chinese restaurant of Wanghu Hotel is on the eighth floor, the top floor of the hotel, and the "Weeping Orioles in the Willows" box faces the West Lake.

On the side of the box next to the lake, the entire wall is covered with floor-to-ceiling glass. Although it is already night, the night has swallowed up the entire West Lake, and the lakeside has not yet had the colorful and colorful light show that was later seen. The sparse lights make the West Lake On this snowy night, it seemed particularly crisp and cold, but it had a different charm.

Boss Liu and Zhang Chen drank hot rice wine with ginger and shredded ginger, while Xiao Zhao drank warm apple juice. After a few glasses of the heated rice wine with ginger and shredded ginger, people felt completely refreshed. Every pore is open.

Once people became more lively, the atmosphere at the table changed. The coldness and politeness in front of them disappeared, and they started talking more to each other.

Zhang Chen thought of a question that he had always wanted to ask Boss Liu, that is, he was far away in Taiwan, and judging by his accent, he could not be from the south of the Yangtze River. How did he find the air-raid shelter under the Gemstone Mountain?

Boss Liu smiled and said, this is a long story. Do you want to listen?

Zhang Chen and Xiao Zhao both said they wanted to listen, and the story was not too long.

Boss Liu told them, I am a member of the Military Military Village. Do you know about the Military Military Village in Taiwan?

Zhang Chen and Xiao Zhao both shook their heads.

"This is very similar to the military compound in your mainland. However, there is still a big difference between the military community and the military compound. In the mainland, family members can only join the army after reaching a certain level. This military compound lives in a military compound. The courtyards are basically hierarchical and have a relatively single composition, which is the military cadre compound.

"Our military dependents' villages are different. The composition of the military dependents' villages is relatively complex. Of course, they are mainly military personnel who retreated to Taiwan from the mainland. There are officers and soldiers, veterans, veterans, and some teachers and low-level officials. After all, they are all government officials who have arrived in Taiwan with no fixed residence and little money in their pockets. They live in military villages provided by the government.

“The houses in the military dependents’ village were mainly military camps left over from the Japanese colonial period. They couldn’t accommodate them, so some simple thatched houses were expanded around them, and later converted into brick bungalows, including illegal buildings built by these people themselves.

"We villagers have several characteristics. First, they are from other provinces and came from various provinces and cities in mainland China. Second, they are poor. Those who have money have bought their own properties. Who would live in a dependent village where there is no toilet at home? Village? There are also people who have no power and power. Those who are powerful have arranged themselves well and will not live in military villages.

"In the 1970s, the real estate industry in Taiwan was booming. High-rise buildings and urban development plans were being built everywhere. Old houses were demolished and rebuilt. There were only military villages. Because the issue of land ownership was always unclear, there was no way to demolish and build. , so our military dependent villages have become the most dilapidated, crowded, and backward places, just like slums in the city.

“For this reason, the people in the military villages are looked down upon by others, especially those from the province who have recently become prosperous. But it is precisely because of this that we people in the military villages are particularly united.

"I was born in Taiwan, but I am from Shanxi. Next door to my house, there is an Uncle Shao. He and my father are close friends. He is from Hangzhou. When he left the mainland, he did not get married. When he arrived in Taiwan, he did not marry. I found the right one, and there was always one person. He was very good to the children in our family, and treated them like his own children.

"Children in our military dependent villages have one thing but one thing, that is, they are very courageous and can work hard. There are several types of children. One is that they are very good at reading, reading, reading, and studying at National Taiwan University. , go, go, go to America.

"They went to the United States to get their Ph.D.s and came back to Taiwan to become professors, scholars or politicians. They were all outstanding. Soong Chuyu came from the military dependents' village. Ma Liqiang, Zhu Lilun and Hu Zhiqiang were both from the military dependents' villages. Only Ma Ying-jeou was not. It's a military dependents' village. His father is a high-ranking official of the Kuomintang. They don't live in a military dependents' village.

"There is another way to start your own business. Those who do business can also do very big things, like Terry Gou. Do you know Terry Gou?"

Zhang Chen and Xiao Zhao both shook their heads and said they didn't know. Boss Liu continued:

"Then you will know in the future, he has now begun to develop in mainland China, and he is particularly famous in Taiwan.

"As for those in the art and literary circles, you must know many of them, such as Teresa Teng, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Ang Lee, Sylvia Chang, Wang Zuxian, Qi Qin, Zhang Yusheng, Liu Ruoying, Yi Nengjing... there are too many, they are all from military dependents' villages, and they are also There are writers like Zhang Dachun, Zhu Tianwen, and Zhu Tianxin.

"There is the last type, that is, I am not good at reading and have no other talents. I am very courageous and dare to do anything. I dare to poke a hole in the sky if I don't like it.

"In Taiwan, when children fight, no one can do it better than the children in our military dependents' villages. How can we be united as brothers? I joined the society at the age of fifteen. By the time I was twenty, I could be considered a bit famous. With a little money, he opened two nightclubs in Taipei.

"When family visits were opened, I knew that Uncle Shao wanted to go back to the mainland, so I encouraged him to come back. He was very scared and asked if he would be arrested because he had been a soldier of the Kuomintang in the mainland, so I accompanied him. When he came back, his hometown was here on Baochu Road. When he came back, except for his parents, he was no longer there. Fortunately, his brothers and sisters were still there.

"When I came back with him for the second time, I also ate like this. It's right here. You see, you can see the Baochu Pagoda from here. I remember that he was his nephew. I just took it as a joke and talked about this gem mountain. There is also an air-raid shelter that they often played in when they were children. The adults in the family would always tell him that this was used to hide from your Taiwanese uncle who would throw bombs.

"He knew that he had an uncle in Taiwan, but he just didn't understand why, since he was his uncle, he came to throw a bomb to blow himself up. But he didn't see the bomb. Now the real uncle is here, and everyone laughed.

"The speaker is unintentional, but the listener is intentional. I heard on the edge that there was such a place under the Gemstone Mountain, and I was very interested. I asked him to take it to see the next day. I liked this place as soon as I saw it. We Military military villages are not Japanese military camps in the past. They also have trenches, bunkers, and tunnels. When we were children, we often played in tunnels, but they were not as big."

Boss Liu raised his cup and said to Zhang Chen: "Originally, I thought that the entertainment industry would have a big explosion in the mainland. I just wanted to build a different entertainment center here. How? It’s different, hey, I just can’t tell. I got through to you at 1 o’clock that day, and I saw your paintings in the afternoon. To be honest, at that moment, I almost cried.”

"I almost cried too. I was worried you wouldn't like it." Xiao Zhao said.

"How is it possible, how is it possible." Boss Liu laughed loudly and said, "How does this feel? Manager Zhang, let me tell you, when I see your paintings, it feels like, when I was a child, I was in a military village. The feeling of being poor, miserable, depressing and hopeless has all come back, and this is what I want."

"Doesn't it sound a bit cheap?" Boss Liu asked.

"It's either a bit, or it's a bitch. The richer people are, the more they want to be high-end and fashionable. Why do you still want to go back and live a miserable life now that you are rich?"

Xiao Zhao said, and the three of them laughed.

Boss Liu said: "This is not about going back, it is about taking a nap occasionally. When you are rich in the future, I believe you will be rich. By then you will know that when you are tired of eating big fish and meat, you just want to Of course you can't bear to live a miserable life with a simple diet, but it's still good to occasionally bring back some memories of that kind of life.

"Just like when we look back now and think about the sufferings in the past, because you have come over, they have become beautiful memories. Only the good ones are left, and the bad ones are automatically filtered out. This is not only for our military dependents' village. Children, the same goes for you in mainland China. I met many people who used to go to rural areas to jump in queues or go to Beidahuang. They desperately wanted to return to the city.

"I know a friend in Beidahuang. He returned to the city to recover from his illness. He pretended that he was highly myopic and was about to go blind. He deliberately bumped into a tractor while walking. What is this person doing now? Be a writer, write novels for educated youth, and put himself That time in the Great Northern Wilderness was written like a paradise. Even in paradise, you still want to hit the tractor and crash back into the world?"

Zhang Chen and Xiao Zhao laughed. Zhang Chen felt that Boss Liu was right. There is indeed such a situation now. He thought of the salesperson from Yongcheng Stationery Store. He might also be participating in various educated youth sororities. He described his years of jumping in line into extraordinary years.

Zhang Chen is also curious about one thing, that is, Boss Liu, according to himself, joined the society at the age of fifteen, and he probably hasn’t read any books, but judging from his words and eyes, he doesn’t look like a Uninformed people.

Zhang Chen asked: "Boss Liu, I heard that guy complaining that you always said something postmodern to him, you are..."

Boss Liu laughed and said, "I understand what you mean. You want to ask, how do I know such fashionable words if I haven't read any books, right?"

Zhang Chen smiled sheepishly.

Boss Liu said: "I haven't read any books, but my friends have. They have read too many books. Didn't I say that the children in our military dependents village are very united? We are united when we are young, and we grow up together." It has become a friendship. When they come back from abroad, they will come to my place to sit. We often eat, drink tea and chat together. I know a lot from them.

“There is another director in Taiwan named Edward Yang. I don’t know if you know this, but he is also from a military dependent village. He often comes to my place and I have funded two of his films.

"In this society, it is important how many books you read. I now require my children to study hard. It is also important to know which friends you make. Many times, even the friends you make are more important than the ones you make. The books you read are still important. Friends are alive, and their influence on you must be greater than books."

"No wonder." Zhang Chen nodded.

"Come on, come on, Manager Zhang. Oops, I won't call you Manager Zhang anymore. Can you call me little brother? It's too annoying to call you manager. And Xiao Zhao, come on, let me toast you."

Boss Liu raised his glass and said to them: "I'm not bragging. I've been through ups and downs, and I can say that I've seen countless people. I still have a very good eye for people. I'm optimistic about you two, Xiao Zhao." , you are lucky to find a boyfriend like Brother Zhang, and it is also your blessing to find a girlfriend like Xiao Zhao, little brother, you must cherish it!"

Xiao Zhao quickly said "hmm", Zhang Chen also said yes, thank you, and the three of them drank it all in one gulp.

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