After a journey of three days and three nights, Wan Feng and his mother returned to the 42nd Company on the afternoon of the 13th day of the first lunar month.
When the younger brothers and sisters saw their mother back, they were overjoyed. They no longer had to eat noodles every day.
The younger sister held her mother's hand and complained to her mother tearfully, accusing her of noodles, saying that now whenever she heard the word "noodles", her head became bigger than a house.
Wan Feng could understand his younger brother and sister's feelings. The noodles made by his father were two fingers wider than the wide noodles in the restaurant. One meal would keep him full for two days.
So he sympathized with his younger siblings.
Who would have thought that my sister is no longer easy to fool, and no amount of sentimental words can comfort her heart that was broken by noodles. It takes money to make her smile.
And there is no laughter unless there is great unity.
Trying to get away with it by using the red female tractor driver and the green machine tool worker is impossible.
My father could only laugh foolishly.
In order to compensate my younger siblings for the smaller tummies caused by noodles, my mother cooked delicious food for two days.
My sister's face became round again as if it had been blown up.
My sister's face has changed, but there is no change in the 42nd Company. This season is the season for idle people. The adults play cards, chess and chat, while the children wrestle and play football in the snow.
Even the night of the fifteenth is boring here.
There is no fox fairy cave here, no stilt walking or yangko dancing, and at night there is nothing worth noting except for children carrying lanterns made of cans and wandering around like lonely ghosts.
On the night of the fifteenth, Wan Feng felt a little unwell. Thinking he had a cold, he went back to his hut and covered himself with a quilt to sleep on the kang. However, he suddenly woke up in the middle of the night, and he suddenly had the idea of going to the school to check it out.
This thought stubbornly drilled into his heart nerves like a needle-tip-sized rotating drill, tormenting him until dawn and refusing to leave.
Wan Feng took a deep breath, went downstairs, put on his military boots and ski jacket.
His mother had just gotten up and was about to light the fire to make breakfast. When she saw Wan Feng coming out of the hut, she asked in surprise, "Why are you up so early?"
"Mom, I want to go to Xiao Wu's house."
"What are you going to do now?"
"Something might be going on in the small factory. I want to go check it out."
His mother knew that he had opened a small clothing factory at school, saying that it was to make some money for his classmates, so she did not object to him going to Xiao Wu's house.
"But now the buses have all passed by, how are you going to get there?"
Yes, the bus only runs once at 6:30 in the morning. It is already 7:30 and the bus is almost arriving in the county town.
"I'll hire a tractor to cross the river."
Although the ice in the Longjiang River was uneven, it was no problem for a tractor to run across it. Moreover, the distance across the river was only more than 50 miles, so even if the tractor ran slowly for two hours, it would still reach the destination.
"Then go after you finish your meal."
"No, I'm going now. I might be out for two days, so don't worry about me."
Wan Feng went out and went straight to the company store. He knew that there were usually a lot of people gathering here.
Although it was still morning, he felt that some of the tractor drivers in the company would be here.
Because of the contracting system, the company's tractors were also contracted out, and the accounting was done on a per-vehicle basis.
Wan Feng believed that as long as he was willing to spend money, someone would provide a car.
The company's store had just opened and the stove had just been lit, but several idle people had already rushed over impatiently to warm up the stove.
It happened that the company's tractor driver Pan Renbing was there.
This guy must be from the same family as Pan Renmei from the Song Dynasty, otherwise he wouldn't dare to have such a name.
"One hundred yuan to take me to Xiao Wu's house from Jiangshang. If you want to go, start the car immediately. If not, I will find someone else right away."
Wan Feng pinched his fingers and ten Great Unity bills appeared in his hand like a fan, and his words were concise and powerful.
In 1983, Pan Renbing and his master Chen Xue contracted a tractor, but at the end of the year, each of them only earned a total of 500 yuan.
If Wan Feng makes a move now, one-tenth of their income from last year will come out.
Without saying a word, Pan Renbing ran to his master's house and told him what had happened.
The tractor was parked in Chen Xue's yard. Without hesitation, the master and his apprentice boiled water and started working on the tractor.
About forty minutes later, the locomotive of Dongfanghong No. 28, covered with a blanket, rumbled to the front of the store.
Chen Xue did not go, so his apprentice Pan Renbing went instead. He just drove an empty locomotive and did not need to follow.
Wan Feng got in the car and said, "I've already filled up the oil and diesel. I don't want you to dump it on the road. If you do that, we'll be in trouble."
"Don't worry about me, buddy. Okay? Let's go."
"Walk."
Wan Feng quickly threw over a pack of 35 cents Da Shengchan cigarettes and said, "Just deliver it to Xiao Wu's house by the river. No need to go ashore."
Pan Renbing was so happy that he almost burst into tears. He and his master would split the money, but the cigarette was his.
"It might be hard to walk on the river, why don't we take the mountain path?"
"The mountain road is too winding, and there are very few cars on it. Are you sure you won't get stuck in the snow? From Sijitun, we can get down the river and just cross a mountain to the horse farm. We can also take the horse farm."
A peak of Yijia Mountain extends to the river about five or six miles north of Sijitun. As long as you pass this peak, you will be not far from Yifenchang Horse Farm. If it is difficult to walk in the river when you get there, you can go ashore and walk along the horse farm to Dawu's family and then to Xiaowu's family.
“That’s fine.”
The tractor left Highway 42 and got onto the main road before quickly arriving at Sijitun. It then went down a small road under the Sijitun Wharf that extended into the river, then headed north.
When the Longjiang River is closed, it is not closed all at once, but it takes more than a dozen rounds of tug-of-war during the freezing and thawing process. Therefore, the surface of the river is uneven, and if a tractor runs too fast on it, it will be bumpy and unbearable.
Therefore, Pan Renbing controlled the tractor's speed at more than ten kilometers per hour and drove around the river bank in circles, looking for a place that was as flat as possible.
It took more than half an hour to walk from Sijitun to the top of a mountain that extends into the river, a short distance of five or six miles.
After passing the hill, the tractor ran along the river for another six or seven miles before finally arriving at the horse farm.
The horse farm was a place where the Red General Farm used to raise horses. Later, when the horses were gone, it became an ordinary company. It is about twenty miles from here to Dawujia.
The tractor entered the horse farm from the riverside, passed through the middle of the horse farm village and ran onto the dirt road leading to Dawu's house.
Half an hour later, the car arrived at Dawu's house. After passing Dawu's house, we drove another four miles and finally arrived at Xiaowu's house.
It is now 10:35 in the morning. I have been running since I left home for two hours and twenty minutes.
Pan Renbing's mission is completed here.
"Be careful on your way back alone, and don't wait for me to get home and ask your father for me."
"It's okay, I'm leaving!"
Wan Feng watched Pan Renbing drive the tractor out of sight before turning and walking towards his small garment factory.
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