Chapter 37

"Excuse me, please move your legs and make way."

Zhao Hong led Chen Lanjun through the green train carriage with difficulty. As they struggled through the various simple luggage bags, fertilizer bags, buckets, backpacks, and the ducks lying in the baskets and quacking, Chen Lanjun kept holding her waist. There was an embroidered inner pocket on her clothes, which contained a huge sum of 400 yuan, half of which was earned by herself and half was given by her parents. There could be no mistakes.

If it was five years later, Chen Lanjun would not have dared to carry so much money on the train even if she had eight courage. Someone would have robbed every carriage with a knife. Fortunately, it is still the early stage of reform and opening up, and most people have not yet fully woken up. The order is relatively good.

But Chen Lanjun still didn't dare to relax, after all, this was her entire fortune.

After walking two carriages, Zhao Hong finally called out in surprise: "Sister Lan, there is a seat here."

Chen Lanjun breathed a sigh of relief, holding the cardboard train ticket and squeezed to the empty seat by the window to sit down, and Zhao Hong immediately followed. Nowadays, the train ticket only says hard seat, and there is no specific seat number. You have to grab a seat. The locomotive of the train is still steam, the kind that hums and smokes, pulling a string of green cars, which is very retro.

There was a small table and chair on the left side of the chair. Opposite him sat an old man wearing a black Mao suit and glasses. Next to the old man was a very strong man, sitting upright. His eagle eyes quickly looked at Chen Lanjun and Zhao Hong. A gentle-looking little sister and a decent-looking little brother, they didn't look like dangerous people. After confirming this, the man's tense muscles relaxed.

The man in the Zhongshan suit chuckled and said, "You look older than this little girl, why do you call her sister?"

As Zhao Hong put his luggage away, he said, "Yes, I am her cousin, but she is very good at what she does, so all her friends started calling her that. I got used to it, so I started calling her that, too."

There was a hint of arrogance in his tone.

While they were talking, Chen Lanjun looked at the man in the Zhongshan suit calmly.

He was dressed in all manner of style, and was accompanied by a man who seemed to be from the military, probably an official of high status.

So Chen Lanjun put on her signature business smile and started chatting:

"We are going to Baoan County to visit relatives. Where should I get off?"

"Like you, it should now be called Pengcheng City."

"Wow, Uncle, are you from there? This is our first time there, can you tell us the way?"

When she smiled, she looked innocent and well-behaved, and her look was very intimidating, especially to elders.

The man in the Zhongshan suit was also an elder. He was happy to see the little girl like this, so he said, "I'm not from here, but I've been there a few times. But I brought a map with me, you can study it."

Seeing that he really took out a map of Baoan County, Chen Lanjun was a little surprised. You know, in order to prevent illegal immigration, the maps of Baoan County and surrounding areas were confidential documents and were not allowed to be circulated. It was not until last year that the new policy was implemented and Baoan was upgraded to a city, and the map ban was lifted.

But the map that the uncle took out was clearly a version before 1979, which is not simple.

"Sister, where are you going?"

"Dongfanghong Commune, Nanfeng Village." Chen Lanjun came back to her senses, her eyes swirled on the map, and she pointed to a place: "Here."

"Here? I guess there's no direct public bus there. We'll have to walk for a while."

"It's okay. I'm from the countryside. He was also an educated youth. He's used to walking."

"Really?" The man in the Zhongshan suit asked in surprise, "You don't look like that."

"How are they different?" Chen Lanjun laughed. "We country girls are pretty and capable."

"Okay, hahaha, well said." After hearing her say this, the uncle in the Zhongshan suit felt more favorable towards the girl in front of him.

Zhao Hong took the opportunity to show off his sister: "She is still a prospective college student! She is just waiting for the admission letter to be sent, and she will go to college in September."

"Oh, that's excellent."

After chatting for most of the way, Chen Lanjun saw that the man in the Zhongshan suit was very friendly, so she decided to confirm something.

"Uncle, judging from your appearance, you should be an official, right? Or an educated person. Can I ask you something?"

The man in the Zhongshan suit did not comment, but just said, "You tell me first."

Chen Lanjun pursed her lips and said, "I have a sister who fled to Hong Kong a few years ago—"

Zhao Hong's face changed and he pulled her arm violently.

Chen Lanjun ignored him and continued to ask: "I heard that now, if someone like my sister wants to come to visit relatives, she is allowed to do so and will not be arrested and sent to a shelter. I want to ask if you have heard of similar policies, uncle?"

The man in the Zhongshan suit pondered for a moment and said, "So that's the situation."

"Don't worry, there's no problem now." He adjusted his glasses. "A provincial leader made a special speech on this situation. Indeed, before 1979, this would be defined as an enemy-enemy contradiction, and illegal immigrants. But these people are actually outflowing, not escaping. This is an internal contradiction among the people, which can be adjusted."

"The reason for the outflow is that our construction is a little behind, so we should work hard to build our hometown well. We should not treat the outflowers as enemies."

The man in the Zhongshan suit smiled and said, "If your sister wants to come back to visit you in this situation, then come back to visit her. I can't guarantee other places, but at least in Pengcheng City, the situation you are worried about will not happen."

"Really?" Chen Lanjun smiled happily. "That's great. I'm thinking if there's a chance, I'll persuade my sister to come back and invest."

"That's a good idea," said the man in the Mao suit. "If you want to invest, you can go to the 'Negotiation Office' where there are people in charge."

"Uncle, wait a minute. I'll take note."

Chen Lanjun searched for a while, took out a small notebook, and took out a pen: "Uncle, can you please write down the specific information?"

"OK."

The man in the Zhongshan suit wrote a line on the notebook. His handwriting was very distinctive, with a bit of cursive style.

"The Negotiation Office, also known as the Foreign Economic and Technical Liaison Office, is located here. It was also established not long ago. If there is a chance, please ask your sister to promote it there. We welcome all compatriots to invest."

The train pulled into the station. Amid the "woohoo" sound, Zhao Hong pulled Chen Lanjun to the door in advance to reserve a seat for her.

"You are so brave. Why did you tell others about your sister? If it were in the past..."

“You also said it was in the past.”

"That's right... that's not right." Zhao Hong was almost confused, but came to his senses, "How do you know your sister went to Hong Kong?"

"I know everything." Chen Lanjun raised her chin slightly and was the first to step onto the platform.

However, her heroic and high-spirited demeanor completely disappeared when she stood on the steps at the exit.

The two of them stood on the stairs in a daze.

Zhao Hong turned around and asked her, "You know this too?"

What a vast expanse of turbid water, with a smelly shoe floating slowly by occasionally.

Wow, it doesn’t feel like I’ve been to Pengcheng City, it feels more like I’ve been to Venice.

The passengers next to me took off their shoes as if they were used to it, picked them up in their hands, and waded through the water slowly, crossing the depression in front of the train station.

"Well, I can learn it." Zhao Hong bent down to take off his slippers.

Chen Lanjun wanted to say, "If you walk barefoot in the water, what if you step on something sharp and cut your foot?" But then she thought, "Oh, now is an era when shoes are more valuable than human feet."

She had no choice but to take off her shoes, hold up her things, and walk through the water with difficulty.

After walking for about ten minutes, the water gradually disappeared.

There were two or three bicycles parked nearby, and the men sitting on the bicycles rang their bells fiercely, "Where are the pretty girls and pretty boys going? Do you want to take a bicycle?"

Otherwise, why is it a special zone? There are special bicycle riders surrounding outside the train station.

Chen Lanjun reported the place name and asked, "How much for the two of us?"

The words she spoke were not quite in the local accent, and the other party smiled and said, "One for each person."

...This method of overcharging customers is also market-oriented.

Chen Lanjun turned around and called Zhao Hong and left: "The train ticket is only a few yuan, and I'll give you one yuan back."

Zhao Hong also thought it was outrageous: "How dare you shout that? The bus ticket in Suicheng is only 1 cent."

"Okay, okay, less is better."

After some bargaining, Chen Lanjun and Zhao Hong each sat on the back seat of a bicycle and bumped forward.

At that time, Pengcheng City still looked like a county town. There were several narrow cement roads in the main urban area. The small buildings on both sides of the road were no more than four or five stories high, and most of them were two or three stories high. The main structure was made of red bricks, supplemented by wood, and the buildings extended continuously forward. At the quieter intersections, you could occasionally see a rooster walking slowly by.

What is different from other county towns is the slogan on the wall. A white wall at the intersection is painted with a bright red background. It reads: "Mobilize all factors to strive to build our country into a modern socialist power."

After leaving the city center, the road becomes a dirt road. After several heavy rains, the dirt road is soft and loose. When a bicycle passes by, it leaves a deep track, and some mud inevitably splashes onto the calves.

Chen Lanjun couldn't help feeling a little emotional.

This was the first time she had seen such a young Pengcheng City.