Chapter 3333 [Update 1]
Wucheng is not too close to Shanghai, but it is not too far either. There are direct buses from the bus station.
The money in Jiang Gui’s bankbook should be enough for Grandpa Jiang to have a physical examination. The problem is, how can she convince Grandpa Jiang to give up his job as a forest ranger, come to the city with him for the examination, and live with her in the city in the future.
Grandpa Jiang has never stepped out of the land that raised him in his life. The farthest place he has been is to a stretch of wild lotus riverbed at the end of the big river in the neighboring city. During the famine years, this lotus riverbed fed many people who were about to starve to death within a hundred miles.
In his time, all the educated youth were looking forward to returning to the city. He heard a lot about the big cities from them.
The ground in big cities is not yellow mud. When it rains, your feet will not sink ten centimeters deep into the mud.
In big cities, you don’t need to take a ferry. There are buses everywhere. You can take the bus to any place you want to go in the city.
I heard that the Friendship Mall is as high as six floors. How high is that? There are many things sold in it that he has never seen or heard of.
Now, the educated youth who went to the countryside to work in his brigade, except for the middle-aged teacher Xiao An, have all returned to the city, leaving only Grandpa Jiang, who has heard the stories of the city, with expectations and yearning for the city.
He knew that the city was a good place, a place a hundred times and a thousand times better than their countryside. He hoped that his granddaughter would be able to take root and grow up in such a good place in the future.
But he had never thought about going there himself. He had no special skills and could not survive in such a place. There was no soil for him to take root there.
He longed for the outside world, but was also afraid of it. His only wish was to let his granddaughter step out of the small mountain village and see the vast world outside that he had never seen.
Grandpa Jiang was still patrolling the mountain, and occasionally he would stand on the huge rock on the top of the mountain and look into the distance.
As far as he could see, the farthest place was the long river in the distance and the charcoal mountain on the other side of the river. He could not see anything farther.
He often went back to look at the charcoal mountain on the other side of the river. Not only did he often look at it, but everyone on this side of the river would often look at it. Whenever there was a power outage, everyone would go out of their homes to see if the lights on the charcoal mountain on the other side of the river were still on. If the lights on the other side of the river were flickering, then the power outage was a problem with their power station, and they could call an electrician to fix it. If the lights on the other side of the river were also out, then there was a problem with the power supply in the whole town, and there was no need to wait, there would definitely be no power tonight.
The family's debts had been paid off, and the family no longer needed to use his salary to pay off debts. His money would be saved for his granddaughter to go to high school.
He took the pheasants and rabbits he had shot down the mountain and asked Jiang's father to take them to the street to help him sell them when he was in a hurry.
He said, "I know you and your wife. You both love Jiang Song. No one takes care of Jiang Bai and Xiao Xiao. Jiang Bai is better off because he is a boy. At least you are willing to pay for his tuition. I know your wife doesn't want Xiao Xiao to go to school. I don't have any other ability. You have paid off your debts. I have never taken the money I get for guarding the forest. I will keep it for myself from now on and not give it to you."
"Xing Xiao needs tuition. I can't let her follow me around picking up scraps all the time."
Grandpa Jiang's annual salary was less than one thousand yuan, not enough to pay for Jiang Xiao's tuition for two semesters. He had to find a way from other places.
On the way back, he still had a snakeskin bag in his hand. He picked up all the bottles, jars, wire and iron lids he could see and put them into the snakeskin bag. When there were enough, he would sell them all.
Jiang Xi didn't know what Grandpa Jiang was really afraid of in the big city. She was satisfied with buying a house in the city, taking Grandpa home, letting the hospital check his health, and taking good care of Grandpa's health.
But she vaguely knew that Grandpa had no friends in the city. If he did nothing and just stayed at home, it would not be a good thing for the old man. It would be better to find him something to do so that he could make some money with his own hands and have an income, so that he would feel at ease.
She wanted to rent a shop near the school and open a small shop for her grandfather that would not require much effort, either selling dried goods such as melon seeds and peanuts, or going to the small commodity market to wholesale some snacks and sell them at the school gate.
Grandpa Jiang was not in good health and could not do any tiring work. Even if he bought a shop, it would be best if he could do light work.
Her first choice was the street where No. 1 Middle School was located.
There were two high schools standing opposite each other on this street, Wucheng No. 1 Middle School and Wucheng Senior Middle School, both of which were the two most famous key high schools in Wucheng.
Although there were two high schools, this street was not lively, and could even be described as deserted, especially compared to the street next door with No. 2 Middle School and No. 4 Middle School. The contrast was particularly obvious.
The reason for this was that both No. 1 Middle School and Wu Middle School were too strict.
Because gangster movies were popular in the 1990s, and many factories closed down, countless workers were laid off, and young people couldn't find jobs. Many young people in their teens and twenties who didn't have jobs became street vagrants, wandering around the streets in groups of three or five all day. With
so many people like this, it was inevitable that fights would occur. The
teachers of Wucheng No. 1 Middle School and Wucheng Senior Middle School were afraid that something would happen to the students, so except for letting the students go home on weekends, they kept the students in school and didn't let them leave for a moment.
Even on weekends, if you left school, you had to fill out a form, write down the time you left, what you were doing, where you were going, and when you would be back.
Jiang Xi had filled out that he was going to the small commodity market to buy things and would be back before 7 o'clock.
Since there was still time, Jiang Xi walked around the two nearby streets to see if there was a suitable shop to rent.
Unlike the quiet street of No. 1 Middle School, the street next door was very lively, with many young boys and girls in school uniforms walking around the various snack stalls on this street.
There were also two high schools on this street, No. 2 Middle School and No. 4 Middle School. No.
2 Middle School was also considered a key high school.
For the students in the town high schools below, if they could not get into No. 1 Middle School and Wu Middle School, the two most famous key high schools, it would be good to get into No. 2 Middle School. No. 2 Middle School always wanted to compete with Wu Middle School and No. 1 Middle School for the top spot, but it was always the younger brother and was never taken seriously by No. 1 Middle School and Wu Middle School. No. 1 Middle School only had Wu Middle School in its eyes, and Wu Middle School only had itself in its eyes.
Well... occasionally I would raise my eyelids to look at No. 1 Middle School, which could pose a threat to them.
No. 4 Middle School is a semi-arts high school, and the school atmosphere is relatively relaxed. Students are not prohibited from entering and leaving the school on a daily basis, so the business on that street is much busier than the street with No. 1 Middle School and Wuzhong.
Jiang Xi casually strolled on these two streets to see if he could find a shop to rent.
As a result, after a circle, not to mention the shops on both sides of the street, even the doors facing the alleys in the nearby alleys have been turned into fried skewers shops. The streets and alleys are all occupied by people who can't find work because they have been laid off. There are cakes, spring rolls, wontons, fried skewers, and all kinds of stalls lined up all the way to the alley.
There are four or five fried skewers, and there are also many spicy hot pots.
They string bean curd, gluten, rice cake, dried fish, ham and other things together with bamboo sticks, fry them in a pan, and then apply spicy and fresh sauce. It is the favorite of young people who lack oil and water.
There are also many people queuing to buy spring rolls.
Jiang Wu had eaten this spring roll once in his previous life and remembered it for many years. I don’t know if it’s the memory that beautifies it or it’s really so delicious. Anyway, Jiang Wu has never eaten such delicious spring rolls again.
The proprietress used an empty oil barrel to make a wide iron stove, and put a large flat pan on it. On the flat pan, more than 20 rectangular spring rolls were laid out, and next to it was a bucket of leeks and vermicelli that had been seasoned.
The lady boss took out a large spring roll wrapper, scooped out a large spoonful of chopped chive vermicelli, put it on the wrapper, folded it into a rectangle, put it in the pan, turned over the other crispy spring rolls, and started wrapping the next one.
Unlike the spring rolls that Jiang Wu had eaten later, which only had a little filling inside but were thick and rolled into thin strips, each spring roll wrapped by the lady boss was full of fillings.
Her hands moved quickly, and soon she had filled the empty space on the pan with new spring rolls. She then quickly handed the fried spring rolls to the people in line one by one, shouting, "Don't crowd! Don't crowd! The stove is very hot, I won't care if it gets hot!"
Jiang Xi also joined the queue, and soon it was her turn.
The spring rolls were a little hot when they came out of the pan. Jiang Xi waited for it to cool down a little before she couldn't wait to bite it. It was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, full of the aroma of vermicelli and chives.
It was the taste of memory.
It was delicious, but it seemed a little too oily.
Jiang Xi finally ate the spring rolls that he had been thinking about for many years. It was like he had let go of an obsession and finally stopped thinking about the delicious taste in his memory that he could never find again. He
walked down the street from the beginning to the end. It was hard to squeeze into a stall, let alone a shop. After all, no one is stupid. There are four high schools nearby. Where can you rent a shop? I'm afraid that the newly vacated shop will be snatched away immediately.
Jiang Xi, who had searched for a long time but found nothing, was about to go back, but suddenly heard a Cantonese accent that was different from the local accent: "Teacher Xi Meng, you are here too?"
Wang Yong really didn't expect to meet Xi Meng on the street after a few days of separation.
Wang Yong, who came from Guangzhou, was wearing bright and fashionable clothes that were different from the clothes in this small, gray county town. With his young and energetic face, even if he walked on the street without saying a word, people would look at him twice, not to mention that his eyes were shining and he ran towards a girl wearing a No. 1 Middle School uniform that was as big as a sack with joy?
The aunties and grandmas selling things on the roadside were not sure. They couldn't help but use their peripheral vision or openly look at Jiang Wei's short hair to judge whether she was a boy or a girl.
Of course, her face looked like a girl, but her hair and figure looked like a boy.
The boy just called him/her? What was it? Meng Laosi?
Is there anyone who calls such a strange name?
A big guy called this kid who looked like a student Laosi?
Their minds were full of curious gossip.
"Teacher Jiang Meng, what a coincidence? Are you here to see me? Have you finished the manuscript? Do you want me to copy it for you?" Wang Yong's eyes were filled with a clear and stupid smile.
Jiang Meng, who was asked to submit
the manuscript in person: ... Do you think I want to see you?
"Monday, I will write more on Saturday and Sunday, and I will bring it to you after the morning reading class on Monday."
Wang Yong nodded with shining eyes: "That's great. By the way, the total monthly sales of the first issue of "Da Song" published in "Wuxia" has come out, and the single issue has exceeded one million. The total monthly sales of our magazine this month has reached 3.2 million copies!"
When Wang Yong received the news from his colleagues in Guangzhou, he was so happy that he almost danced with joy.
The magazine sold well, and his editing had hope!
"Teacher Meng, our director said that you haven't replied to his email. Are you free now? Do you want to reply him? Of course, if you have anything to say, you can let me pass it on." Wang Yong is only a little over 1.7 meters tall. Perhaps because he just graduated from college not long ago, his face is filled with complete enthusiasm.
"By the way, do you want to apply for MSN? The magazine now has MSN, and you can contact the editor directly through MSN. I am your editor, and I will be responsible for contacting your manuscripts in the future." He took out a piece of paper and handed it to Jiang Xi: "This is my MSN and email number. If you can't find me by phone, you can also contact me directly through MSN and email."
Thinking that it was time for dinner, Wang Yong asked again: "Teacher Xi Meng, have you had dinner?"
He was about to say that he wanted to treat Jiang Xi to dinner, but suddenly he remembered that there was no restaurant nearby that suited his taste. They were all too spicy.
He had been eating so much these days that his hemorrhoids were about to grow out, and several pimples appeared on his forehead.
The people in Wucheng were so terrible that they even put spicy food in wontons.
After staying here for a few days, Wang Yong really couldn't get used to the food and wanted to go back urgently.
He saw Jiang Meng finished eating the spring rolls in his hand, and asked expectantly: "Teacher Jiang Meng, do you want to go back to write now?"
"By the way, our magazine has opened an email submission service. You can type out the manuscript on the computer and send it to us via email. Teacher Meng Meng, there is an Internet cafe in front. Do you want to try it?" After a pause, he said uncertainly: "Teacher Meng Meng, can you use a computer? It doesn't matter if you can't, I can use it, I will teach you!"
After teaching Teacher Meng Meng how to type, I don't have to copy the manuscript in the future, and I don't have to wait for a long time to receive the letter, for fear that the magazine will have a blank page!
He is really just an ordinary genius who rushes for manuscripts!
Jiang Xi also wanted to go to the Internet cafe, so he was half-pushed and half-shoved into the Internet cafe by him.
The Internet cafe is not on the street where the four high schools are located, but two streets away. There is a shortcut through the alley in the middle.
Wang Yong rented a small room in a nearby alley. He had nothing to do these few days, so he wandered around and discovered this shortcut.
The Internet cafe is very old, with only more than twenty computers in total, and the large computer monitors are like clumsy bricks.
Wang Yong had already diligently turned on the computer for Jiang Xi and told Jiang Xi: "Teacher Ximeng, this is the power button. Press it to turn on the computer."
"Yeah." Jiang Xi responded absentmindedly, but his attention was on the computer screens of the people around him.
At that time, there was no penguin chat software. The people who came to the Internet cafe were all students from nearby areas or unemployed young people in society. Most of them were boys, and there were only a few girls who came with boys and only watched but did not play.
Looking at their computer screens, most of them were playing a fighting game called "Virtual Fighter 2". Even Jiang Qi, who had never played games, knew this game. In the game arcades on the streets, there were 2D games like "Fighter" and "King of Fighters" everywhere. The one they were playing now was similar to "King of Fighters", but it was 3D.
Seeing that Jiang Xi's eyes were always on the game on other people's computer screens, Wang Yong became anxious and quickly asked Jiang Xi to sit down and draw her attention back: "Teacher Ximeng, come, I will teach you how to type first."
There are two types of typing software now, one is Smart ABC, which belongs to the original pinyin typing, and the other is Wubi typing.
To learn Wubi typing, you must first learn to memorize the radicals, which is a bit difficult for novices. However, Smart ABC has no entry threshold. As long as you know pinyin, you can get started in a second.
Wang Yong switched to Smart ABC and used two fingers to teach Jiang Xi: "Look, if we type 'hello', we need to find 'n-i' 'hao' on the keyboard and type 'wonton' 'yun' 'tun'." He handed the keyboard to Jiang Xi: "Teacher Ximeng, you try it."
Jiang Xi thought about where he had written the previous chapter, got a feel for it, and directly switched the input method to Wubi, staring at the computer, his fingers flying.