1984 was called the "first year of China's modern company" by later generations.

Deng Gong's words were final. Development and experience proved that some places should be made rich first, special economic zones should be established, and 14 coastal cities should be opened up...

As soon as the news came out, it shocked the whole country, inspiring overwhelming enthusiasm and confidence among the public. This was also the beginning of the wave of people going into business in the late 1980s.

1984 was an extraordinary year.

It is a good start for the country, and even more so for Xu Haizhou's small family.

…

Xu Haizhou planned to take his wife and children back to Li'an on the fifth day of the New Year. He had almost had enough fun in the Northeast during the more than ten days he spent there.

He found a trader he knew before and waited for three days from the first to the third day of the Chinese New Year before he got two sleeper tickets, which required changing trains along the way.

Although it was a bit troublesome and took four hours longer than the previous trip, at least it was a sleeper bed.

Qiao Lu breathed a sigh of relief.

If you can buy a sleeper ticket, everything is fine. Otherwise, it would be really frustrating to squeeze into a hard seat.

…

The first day of the new year is the day for New Year's greetings. At dawn, Xu Haizhou woke up his wife and children with a soft, itchy voice.

It was probably only around seven o'clock, and neither the mother nor the son wanted to wake up.

One is hugging her mother and acting coquettishly, and the other is hugging her husband and acting coquettishly.

"Huh? So early? Wait, sleep a little longer, just a little longer..."

"Wait, Dad, I still want to sleep...sleep..."

As they spoke, they all fell asleep at once. Xu Haizhou didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he could only sleep with the two ancestors for another hour.

There is a custom in the north that the earlier you get up on the first day of the new year, the better your luck will be in the coming year.

After returning to the tube building to wash up and have breakfast, he took the children to visit the streets to wish everyone a happy new year.

All the aunts and uncles, neighbors, and uncles and aunts must be visited.

Paying New Year's greetings not only allows children to receive New Year's money, but also various candies and snacks. Wealthier families will also give some fruits, filling the pockets.

If they meet other children on the road, they will show off to each other to see who has the most New Year's money and who has received the most snacks.

There is no doubt that Qiao An, the sweet and cute kid, is the winner!

Not to mention that he was wearing a hat with panda ears, which was very cute! The rate of turning heads was soaring!

And the one she's wearing is a royal blue hooded cotton jacket made by Jolu herself. The jacket has delicate embroidery and the pockets are larger than those of ordinary cotton jackets.

And the color was not dull like the ordinary blue cotton shirt. On the contrary, it sparkled brightly in the snow, emitting a dazzling light.

The tube-shaped buildings in the Northeast were covered with snow upstairs and downstairs. Children, wearing new cotton-padded jackets and carrying all kinds of candies and a few cents in their pockets, ran around here and there, occasionally throwing a firecracker to scare people. Their laughter could be heard through several alleys.

Whenever we meet kids we know on the streets, they always try to show off to each other, wondering who is the prettiest kid on Shuiyang Street.

There is no doubt that little Qiaoan won without a fight!

…

Qiao Lu and her son were successfully accepted by the Xu family, and this trip to the Northeast was well worth it.

On the evening of the fifth day of the New Year, around five o'clock, the Xu family gathered in front of the train station to say goodbye.

"When will you come back? It would be so nice for the whole family to be together, why do you have to travel so far..."

She didn't feel anything when she came, but it was not until they were about to leave that Yu Zhilan realized how much she missed her second son and his family.

"Things are developing well in Li'an, and I have no plans to come back and settle down for the time being," said Xu Haizhou.

Hearing this, Yu Zhilan turned around and wiped her eyes. When she turned around again, she forced a bitter smile on her face: "What about next year? Will you come back?"

"Yes." Xu Haizhou nodded, sighed and hugged her, "Take care of yourself, write to me if you miss me."

Yu Zhilan opened her mouth, trembled, and could not utter a word for a long time. Finally, she squatted down and hugged Qiao An and cried.

"Mom can't bear to leave you. I really can't bear to leave you... The next time we meet, the children probably won't recognize me."

"Grandma~ Grandma, don't cry. An An has always known you. An An will always remember you. I keep you in my heart, here." As he said this, he placed Yu Zhilan's palm on his chest.

There, the young and vigorous heart is beating vigorously.

He wanted to wipe his grandmother's tears, but as soon as he stretched out his little hand, Yu Zhilan grabbed it and placed it on his chest.

Very tight, very tight against her heart, that rib, very hot, very scalding.

Xu Yonghe was still the same, tight-lipped. His eyes moved around his second son's face, and finally he lowered his eyes to look at Qiao An.

Without saying anything, he just took half a step forward imperceptibly and came behind Yu Zhilan.

No one can change Xu Haizhou's decision.

In front of the train station, with one hour left before departure, Xu Haiping pulled Haizhou aside to talk alone.

"Haizhou, there is something I still don't understand. We agreed to take the college entrance examination together, so why didn't you do it? Do you really like doing business so much?"

He seemed to have guessed that Xu Haiping would ask this and did not show much surprise.

"Yeah, I like it very much." Xu Haizhou laughed half-jokingly, "Besides, how would I have met Qiao Lu if I hadn't gone to Li'an to do business?"

How could she have such a lovely son?

After that, they both laughed, looking helpless.

Xu Haizhou turned around and looked at the two people, one big and one small, hugging each other not far away, with the corners of his lips slightly raised.

Xu Haiping sighed, feeling a little upset: "Yesterday, Mom told me that after our dad got sick, you paid for all the huge medical expenses. They don't know where you got the money from, but I guess it has something to do with your going to the south, right?"

The fact that Xu Haiping was able to get into university in 1977 proves that there is absolutely no problem with his IQ. It is not surprising that he could think of this aspect.

Apart from Xu Haizhou, Yu Zhilan was the only one who knew about this in the family. But when Xu Haizhou went south six years ago, he specifically told her to keep it a secret. Who would have thought that she would tell her eldest brother last night?

"That's about right." There's no point in pursuing many things any further.

He asked: "Don't you regret it?"

Xu Haizhou paused and asked him: "What about you? Do you regret going to the countryside?"

As if he had not expected his brother to ask this question, Xu Haiping pondered for a long time, seemingly lost in distant memories.

"Regret? Everyone regretted those hard days, but..." He suddenly looked at his brother, his expression focused and serious: "Haizhou, I am more fortunate than regretting. I am fortunate that it was me who went to the countryside instead of you."

"Why?" Xu Haizhou asked.

That was a period of time that he really didn't want to recall. Xu Haiping's eyes flickered: "Why? Because those days were too hard, too hard..."

The year Xu Haiping went to the countryside to work as a sent-down youth coincided with the worst drought in fifty years. Both male and female educated youth carried a shoulder pole and two buckets and walked a long way up the mountain to carry water to irrigate the wheat.

The mountain road was rugged, and the two heavy buckets of water pressed on my shoulders. By the time I walked back to the wheat field, my shoulders were red and swollen, and I was paralyzed on the ground and couldn't get up.

After finally getting through the drought, they had to rush to dig canals. Even the local men who were used to farming couldn't stand it, let alone these young educated youth from the city. It was truly a nightmare period.

No matter how hard and tiring the days are, we have to grit our teeth and persevere day after day. We go to work facing the rising sun every day and finish work under the setting sun. In winter, it is cold and sometimes we are too busy to go home for meals. When the meals are delivered to the fields, they are already freezing.

The steamed buns, which were not mixed with fine grains, required a lot of chewing. Sometimes I didn't have the energy to chew them, so I just ate them. Other times I lit a match to heat them up before eating.

"In fact, this is nothing. The hardest part is harvesting wheat in summer. The villagers call it "snatching food from the dragon's mouth". We have to get up at 3 a.m. to harvest wheat and work until noon. We work under the scorching sun until we are sweating and have a dry mouth... Then we carry the 150-pound hemp sacks on our shoulders and deliver them to the granary.

The one-kilometer road felt like fifty kilometers. I couldn't even breathe. I couldn't walk any more in the second half. My bones seemed to be broken. I was staggering and ready to fall. I'm so glad I didn't fall to the ground, otherwise my waist would be broken."

"It's too bitter. It's really too bitter."

While sighing, he actually smiled: "But what does it matter? Don't we have to keep working? No matter how hard or tiring it is, as long as we hold on, we can get through it."

Although life was much better after returning to the city, the years had left Xu Haiping with many changes. He was only five years older than Xu Haizhou, but he looked more than ten years older.

His shoulders were deformed into one higher than the other due to overwork in the countryside.

"Brother..." Looking at Xu Haiping's eye sockets that were sunken due to weight loss, and those eyes that always flashed with determination.

Xu Haizhou's vision gradually blurred, and his throat was filled with bitterness.

He knew that his elder brother had a hard life in the countryside, but he had never heard him talk about the details.

He didn't say, he didn't ask, the two of them had a tacit understanding, and they both had their own accomplishments and contributions.

As for what is fair, there is no such thing as absolute fairness in the world.

"It's nothing, people are forgetful. I felt very tired back then, but now when I think back, I really don't feel anything. The past is the past. Overall, I have regrets, but if I had to do it all over again, I would still make the same choice."

Every word he said was like a hammer hitting my heart.

"Brother, I feel the same way. Sometimes I regret it, but if I could go back in time, I would still make the same choice."

Some things don't need to be explained too clearly, it's better to be a little vague.

Whatever the past was, it is now reborn.

"Haizhou, you will always be my brother."

"Brother, you too."

"goodbye."

"goodbye."

The author has something to say:

Ahem, I wonder if six o'clock is considered daytime.