The Pentium Era - South to North

Zhang Chen and the others drove to the front, and after meeting up with Zhao Zhigang and the others, they were worried that they would enter the Shanghai boundary and there would be inspections of one kind or another along the way. They reorganized the convoy, with Wu Zhaohui driving at the front, Wang Hainiao second, and three trucks. Following Wang Hainiao, Zhang Chen and the others were last, so that if something happened, they could pass ahead at any time.

Zhang Chen asked Zhao Zhigang to sit in Wu Chaohui's first car. Zhao Zhigang held up the walkie-talkie and said to Liu Ligan, now I am No. 1 and you are No. 3. Liu Ligan stared at him and could only acquiesce.

When He Hongmei heard that they were going to follow the big truck, she refused to drive and asked Liu Ligan to drive. As soon as Liu Ligan raised the walkie-talkie, He Hongmei cursed, "You are already No. 3, why are you still directing the battle?"

People in the car laughed, but it turned out that Liu Ligan drove the car. Zhang Chen took the walkie-talkie and sat in the passenger seat. He Hongmei went to the back seat and sat with Ge Ling and Zheng Huihong.

The motorcade started, and Zhao Zhigang's excited voice kept coming from the intercom along the way: "This is No. 1, this is No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3. If you hear me, please answer!"

"Press, press, press the intercom." Liu Ligan shouted loudly.

"What?" Zhang Chen asked curiously.

"Quickly press it and bring it over." Liu Ligan said.

Zhang Chen pressed the intercom button and brought the intercom closer to Liu Ligan. Liu Ligan shouted: "No. 1, No. 1, are you farting? It stinks so much along the way?"

The people in the car laughed.

They were delayed for a while in Jiashan. It was almost ten o'clock when they arrived at Xinzhuang. Zhang Chen was still worried on the way. Wu Zhaohui said that they would queue up for car washing. If they were delayed for another hour when entering the city, and then drove to Nanjing Road, it might be midnight.

But they were getting closer and closer to the toll station entering the city, and the car wash station never appeared.

Zhang Chen called through the intercom: "Wu Zhaohui, where is the car wash place you mentioned?"

Wu Zhaohui was also surprised. He felt that he had passed that place a long time ago, but it seemed that he had not passed it yet. When he arrived at the toll station entering the city, Wu Zhaohui couldn't help but ask the toll collector, was the car wash place still in front?

"What kind of car wash?" The other party was surprised.

“When I came to Shanghai before, didn’t I have to be stopped and had to have my car washed before I could enter the city?”

The other party asked: "In what year did you come? Are you in the 1990s now? That was all in the 1980s."

When Wu Zhaohui asked, Zhao Zhigang pressed the button on the intercom. Zhang Chen and the others laughed when they heard the toll collector's words.

…

When the car arrived at Xujiahui, looking at the lights in the tall buildings outside, Zhang Chen couldn't help but think of the first time he came to Shanghai. At that time, the car from Yongcheng to Shanghai took a day, and he and the people from the Yongcheng County Library It was the first time for Xiao Guan to come to Shanghai. It was winter at that time, and it was already dark outside at around seven o'clock.

It was here that they saw for the first time that there were such tall buildings in Shanghai. Zhang Chen clearly remembered that for him, a child who came out of a ravine, the first face of Shanghai shown to him was... He was shocked. Looking at the lights in the high-rise buildings outside, he couldn't help but think, how great it would be if he could become a member of this city and live in such a high-rise building.

He even felt that the plane trees and orange street lamps on the road outside, including the iron fence walls on both sides of the road, were very attractive, and he wanted to take a walk on such a road.

The little supervisor beside him who had been chattering all the way fell silent at this time. Zhang Chen knew that she must have the same idea as him. For people like them from small places, every face in the big city would be a source of surprise. They are stunning.

He caught a glimpse of Xiao Guan's dull eyes looking out of the car window in the darkness, shining dimly, and he could even hear her swallowing.

Zhang Chen's first trip to Shanghai was to the No. 1 Department Store at the junction of Nanjing East Road and Tibet Middle Road. Shanghai No. 1 Department Store is almost synonymous with Nanjing Road. All photos of Nanjing Road seem to be centered on it. .

This is also the reason why Zhang Chen immediately felt like an electric shock when he heard Ge Donghai talk about Shanghai 100.

They went to Shanghai that time because the Yongcheng County Library received a letter from Shanghai No. 1 Department Store, saying that the Pujiang brand hand-crank printing machine they ordered had arrived, and notifying them to come to Shanghai 100 to pick up the goods. .

At that time, speed printing machines were in short supply. After receiving this letter, the Yongcheng County Library felt like it was a treasure. The director decided to send the librarian Xiao Guan to Shanghai to pick up the goods. However, the librarian was a girl and it was difficult for her to go out so far alone. I was worried, but there was no other man in the library except the director himself.

It happened that Zhang Chen was helping them draw Lu Xun and Einstein in those days. The director asked Zhang Chen if he could accompany Xiao Guan on a trip to Shanghai. The travel and accommodation expenses would be borne by their library. Zhang Chen had never been to Shanghai. Of course I agreed.

They took the letter to pick up the goods and a letter of introduction from the curator to the Yongcheng County Agricultural Committee. The letter of introduction was addressed to the Shanghai Agricultural Committee Guest House. Accommodation in Shanghai was very tight at that time, and the Shanghai Agricultural Committee The Committee of Agriculture sends people from the unit to Qiandao Lake every year. When their people arrive in Yongcheng, they all live in the guest house of the Yongcheng County Agricultural Committee.

Therefore, the Agricultural Committee Guesthouses in the two places have become sister units. As long as you have a letter of introduction issued by the Yongcheng County Agricultural Committee, the Shanghai Agricultural Committee Guesthouse will give priority.

People with connections in Yongcheng County would basically go to the Agricultural Committee to get a letter of introduction when they came to Shanghai. They stayed in the hostel of the Shanghai Agricultural Committee. The old curator also got them a letter of introduction with his old face.

That night, they stayed at the guest house of the Committee of Agriculture. The guest house of the Committee of Agriculture was in a three-story old house with red-painted wooden boards on the floor. Although the room Zhang Chen lived in was a three-person room, it was very tidy. , to Zhang Chen's surprise, he saw a bed covered with a bedspread for the first time here, and slept on Simmons, whom he had only seen in books, for the first time.

That feeling was really the same as when Chen Huansheng sat on the sofa for the first time in Gao Xiaosheng's "Chen Huansheng Goes to the City". Zhang Chen sat on the bed, and the bed suddenly sank. Zhang Chen was startled and stood up quickly. I thought I had broken the bed by sitting on it. When I stood up and took a look, the bed returned to its original shape.

Looking at the bed next door, he saw that the bed sank when they sat down, so Zhang Chen sat on it again.

Sleeping on such a soft bed, he didn't sleep well this night. When he woke up the next day, his back was sore. Zhang Chen secretly laughed at himself. After all, he came from a ravine. It seemed that he could only sleep on a hard bed.

They checked out early and took the bus to People's Park and got off. Standing there, they were stunned by the International Hotel opposite. The two of them raised their heads and counted for a long time, but they couldn't count how many international hotels there were. layer.

Especially at the door of the hotel, there are still doormen wearing purple uniforms and white gloves, just like in foreign movies. They walk back and forth in front of the door, looking in, and they don't dare to go in at all.

When they walked to the door of the First Department Store, it was almost nine o'clock. They thought they were late, but they didn't expect that the door was crowded with people waiting for the door to open. Only then did they know that the opening time here is different from that of the department store in Yongcheng. It's also different, it's not half past eight in the morning, but half past nine.

They waited until the door opened and went to the corporate business service department on the first floor of the store mentioned in the letter. This department specializes in ordering goods and services for units in Shanghai and all over the country. There are more than a dozen people in an office area of ​​30 to 40 square meters. In the office, there was an open window several meters long, and they handed the letter to a little girl at the window.

The little girl looked at their letter and called inside. A middle-aged man with a clean face stood up and came over. He took the letter and looked at it. He asked Zhang Chen and the others to wait a moment, and then he walked back to himself. I opened a bill of lading at my desk and told them that you should go to the stationery counter on the fifth floor to pick up the goods.

They climbed the stairs to the fifth floor. Outside the window of the stairs was Nanjing Road. From here, they could see the bustling flow of people below. There were many people going up and down the stairs. The air was very dirty. Even in winter, it was very hot here. But every window , all sealed with iron bars.

Xiao Guan told Zhang Chen that she had read in the Xinmin Evening News that the windows of the No. 1 Department Store were sealed because suicidal people liked to jump from here.

Why do they have to choose a special place when they are all going to die? The steward asked Zhang Chen, but Zhang Chen couldn't answer at the time. Now he knows that this is their last sense of ritual, and the sense of ritual can increase their courage.

When they arrived at the stationery counter on the fifth floor, the person inside looked at the delivery list and told them that it was out of stock and had been sold out.

Xiaoguan and Zhang Chen were both anxious. Zhang Chen showed the letter to the other party and asked them, you wrote the letter asking us to pick up the goods. Why are you out of stock when we arrive?

The other party rolled his eyes at him and said, "It's not like the letter asked you to come today. If you came yesterday, the goods would be available, and if you came in a few days, the goods might be available. Why did you come today?"

The supervisor was also anxious and cursed: "Aren't you being unreasonable?"

The other party was also annoyed and shouted: "Chun Na, why am I being unreasonable? Come on, come on, this letter is not written to you by us. You can go to whoever wrote it to you. We just have out of stock here." "

Zhang Chen and Xiao Guan stood there, but they ignored them and looked at them with disdain. They even told their colleagues that they were from Xiangwo Ning. The two had no choice but to go downstairs. They arrived at the first floor of the basement and found When the middle-aged man heard this, he said how could it be possible? This was what the customer ordered, how could they sell it?

He picked up the phone and called upstairs. The person upstairs told him that it was indeed sold, and he didn't know who sold it. Just let them come in a few days.

"Cena, I'm from a tiled land." The middle-aged man also became angry.

But the goods have been sold, and the middle-aged man has nothing to do. He can only tell them apologetically that the salesperson upstairs did not understand this speed printing machine and sold it. What do you think? Either you go back first, and when the goods arrive in a few days, I will definitely keep them for you.

When the supervisor heard this, he stood there and burst into tears. There were no business trips in the library. This time the business trip was to Shanghai. The leader assigned him such a good job. He was worried and sent someone Accompany them, but when they arrive, their things are gone, and I have to go back empty-handed. What should I do? How can I have any dignity?

The young man cried and said, "I won't go back. I don't have the face to go back. I would rather die in Shanghai than go back. If the window on your stairs is not sealed, I will jump from there."

The middle-aged man panicked when he heard this, and quickly advised him, "Don't be anxious, don't be anxious, I'll think of a solution."

Zhang Chen saw that his already pale face turned even paler. He walked to the phone and kept calling, begging for something in a sincere tone. It was such a cold winter that sweat broke out on his forehead, but with every call, All disappointing.

After making more than a dozen calls, he finally showed a happy face, hurried over and told them excitedly, "I found it, I found it for you. I will help you find another one in Jiubai. I have asked them to keep it. I will help you right away." To open a transfer order, would you like to go over and pick up the goods?

Xiao Guan burst into tears and smiled, nodding his head again and again.

The middle-aged man issued a transfer order and also drew a map in detail on a piece of paper, teaching them how to take the bus from here to Changde Road, how many buses to take, and where to transfer. Even the price of the bus ticket is written on the back.

Zhang Chen and Xiao Guan took the transfer order to the Ninth Department Store on Changde Road and picked up the speed printing machine.

After getting it, their first thought was to rush to Yongcheng instead of having fun in Shanghai. They didn't even go to the Bund or Nanjing Road that they had planned on the way here, including Zhang Chen. I didn’t go to any of the planned Shanghai Art Museum on Nanjing East Road.

They were holding this hard-won speed printing machine, feeling as if it would disappear if they stayed in Shanghai for a while.

The speed printing machine was very heavy, weighing forty or fifty kilograms, and was very large. The outside was packed in a pine board box. The buses in Shanghai were very crowded at that time, and they couldn't get on the bus with such a heavy and big thing. The two decided to walk from Changde Road to Shanghai Railway Station.

They went to Shanghai Railway Station not to catch a train, but to take a bus at the long-distance bus station next to the railway station.

So, Zhang Chen carried such a big box, Xiao Guan carried his and Zhang Chen's bags, and held a map in his hand, and the two of them walked awkwardly on the streets of Shanghai.

Although the cold wind was biting, Zhang Chen's whole body was soaked after carrying the machine for a while, and he felt like he was about to collapse.

The box made of pine boards seemed to have worn out the skin on his shoulders, causing him to feel excruciating pain. Xiao Guan took out his handkerchief and kept wiping Zhang Chen's sweat, and then pushed him against the side with his body. , using her hands from behind to help pinch his waist, wanting to share some of the burden for him.

She really hated that she was a woman and couldn't take turns with Zhang Chen.

They walked and rested, but did not dare to rest for a long time, because they did not know what time there would be a car. If there was no car, they would not even have a place to live today.

The two of them walked for almost two hours before reaching the long-distance bus station, and finally arrived at their destination. They slumped down on a bench at the station, feeling like they were about to faint. Xiaoguan couldn't help hugging Zhang Chen and burst into tears. At that moment , Zhang Chen didn’t know if he also shed tears.

The bus from Shanghai to Yongcheng only leaves every two days, and it's still around six in the morning. They can only buy tickets to Hangcheng at 2:30 in the afternoon. Anyway, as long as they can leave Shanghai, as long as they can leave Yongcheng Just closer.

Zhang Chen didn't know if the kind-hearted middle-aged man was still in that office, or if Xiao Guan was doing well now. Not long after she returned to Yongcheng, she went to Shenzhen.

Zhang Chen looked at the big world passing by outside the window and took a deep breath. In front of him was Shanghai 100. Zhang Chen heard a voice saying to himself, I am back again.

Thank you for your monthly pass from Danghuangyouyou and mmmmliuliu! Thanks for all the votes and reading! I wish you all good health!