"What was this place used to be? How do you know this person?"
Ming Hongling and the others chose a room of about ten square meters and asked Liang Liang questions while tidying up.
"I met him by making a phone call from a phone booth in front of this dance hall that day, and we chatted for a while."
"You're not only popular with women, you can also hook up with men."
"What are you saying? Are you implying that I'm attractive to both men and women?"
"Who knows? Maybe you're just a two-faced bum." Ming Hongling mocked Liang Liang.
"You only have two boxes of water, your whole family only has two chairs."
Liang Liang chose a small room of about five or six square meters for herself.
There was a bed in the cabin, and just enough space to fit his electric guitar and electric bass.
As for the drum set, let's leave it in the hall for now.
He chose such a large but small room simply because he was lazy.
The three women, all from farming families, were not lazy. After tidying up their rooms, they went to the front hall and frowned at what they saw.
Without anyone giving any instructions, the three girls swept the floor and wiped the tables, keeping busy all morning.
When Zheng Tuo got up at midday, the hall had already been cleaned and was bright and clean.
Zheng Tuo was displeased: "Aren't you guys just bored? Why are you cleaning it up?"
“They are all clean people. They can’t stand the fact that your place looks like a livestock shed. Let them tidy up if they want. It’s better to have it clean.”
"What's so great about being in a good mood? Let me make this clear first: you can stay here, but I can't take care of your meals. I'm having trouble even feeding myself."
Although the floor and seats in the lobby of the dance hall were wiped clean, the sofas were not so clean that wiping could remove all the dust. Although the surface dust was flicked away, they were still dirty.
Liang Liang walked around the hall twice and stopped on the small stage in the dance hall.
His disassembled drum kit was placed on the small stage.
“Brother Zheng! You’re only in your thirties. It’s not good to keep being so decadent every day. If you continue like this, you’ll just rot away. You need to find a way to do something.”
Zheng Tuo was slurping down his instant noodles, replying without looking up, "What? What future do I have looking like now?"
The room was filled with the distinctive smell of instant noodles.
Liang Liang hated the smell of instant noodles so much that she didn't even dare to breathe through her nose.
"So you're just going to loaf around and wait to die? Don't you want to pull yourself together, do something, get married, have kids? Of the three unfilial acts, the greatest is having no descendants!"
Zheng Tuo put down his bowl, seemed to think about it seriously for a moment, and then picked it up again and continued eating with a slurping sound.
How can someone be so gluttonous when they eat instant noodles like that?
"See this? This is a person who has been tormented by fate and turned into a dazed and confused person. Besides being human, can you tell anything else about him?" Liang Liang asked Zhang Hua, who was standing behind him and also looking at Zheng Tuo.
Zhang Hua remained expressionless.
"Have you finished eating?"
Zheng Tuo lit a cigarette: "What?"
"Since you own a nightclub, you should know a bit about the nightclubs in Lianwan City. How about you take me around?"
"No time! I need to sleep!" Zheng Tuo refused without even thinking.
"All you do is sleep. Aren't you afraid that once you close your eyes, you'll never wake up again?"
"Pah! Pah! You jinx!"
Since Zheng Tuo was unwilling to move, Liang Liang had no choice but to set off on his own. Over the next three days, he visited almost all the famous dance halls and bars in Lianwan City, covering almost all five districts of the city.
The bars and nightclubs are open from late afternoon until after midnight.
Therefore, he has been returning home around 1 or 2 a.m. these past few days.
"What have you been up to these past few days? You came back in the middle of the night? Damn it, why were you sleeping naked?"
That morning, before Liang Liang even got out of bed, Lan Zhi ran into his room, pulled back the covers, and then saw someone's white buttocks.
When Liang Liang came back last night, she washed herself with water but couldn't find her underwear, so she went to bed and thought she would look for it again when she got up tomorrow.
"What are you up to, coming here so early in the morning with ulterior motives? Just say what you want, it's not like I don't understand the needs of you wretched women."
"Pah! Hurry up and put it on."
"Then why don't you turn your face around? You're all righteous and indignant, but your eyes are glaring like a thief's. Do you want me to turn around so you can see what's in front of you?"
Lanzhi blushed and said, "Who cares?" Then she left Liang Liang's room.
A few minutes later, Liang Liang came out wearing a t-shirt and a pair of shorts.
"Is it white?" Liang Liang asked deliberately, noticing Lan Zhi's evasive gaze.
"Tell me what you've been up to these past few days?"
"Wander around and take a look."
"We haven't had any income for four days, and we're just sitting here eating our meager savings. If this continues..."
"Don't worry! We won't make you work as prostitutes."
"Pah! Not a single kind word he said."
"Don't rush! I still need to make some preparations. We'll talk about what to do when I feel it's ready. I'm going to find someone today, and I'll be back very late tonight. Don't go out tonight either. I won't be responsible if you get kidnapped and made into a bandit's wife."
After washing his face, Liang Liang left the Haiyun Dance Hall, then took bus number 2 from the nearby bus stop for five stops, and transferred to bus number 6 to arrive at an area full of identical low-rise buildings.
Seeing these historic two-story buildings, Liang Liangxin felt a little excited.
I took a deep breath.
This is No. 17 Baishui Street, Lianwan City, the staff dormitory of Lianwan Hongxing Machinery Factory.
These small buildings were all built by the Japanese before liberation, and their mottled walls seem to record a great deal of history.
This place was once inhabited by Japanese residents, but it became state property after liberation.
It seems that everything is not much different from the previous life. The only thing that is not connected with my memory is the plane trees on both sides of the street. They are still young and obviously planted not long ago.
In his previous life, he worked here as a temporary worker for several years starting in 1995, and he has deep memories of everything here.
If he's not mistaken, the person he's looking for should be here. Hopefully, he won't disappear into the long river of history due to changes in time and space.
Following her memory, Liang Liang walked to a small building numbered 12.
"Who are you looking for?" A young man, yawning and carrying a toothbrush cup, walked out of the small building and frowned when he saw Liang Liang standing in front of their building.
"Excuse me, does Wang Fan from the machining workshop live here?"
"Who are you?"
Liang Liang felt relieved when the other party answered like that.
This means that Wang Fan still exists.
“I’m from the same hometown as him, from Yahe.”
"Room 203, they're probably still sleeping right now."
What time is his shift today?
"Tomorrow morning at four o'clock."
Hongxing Machinery Factory operates on a four-shift, three-rotation system. If Wang Fan is scheduled to start his shift at 4 a.m. tomorrow, then he will finish his shift at 4 a.m. today.
It's 10 o'clock now. He's already slept for six hours, so it's time for him to get up.
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