On January 10th, she got up early and hurried on the road with the luggage she had prepared. To go to town s, you have to take a car to the county seat and then reverse to the bus to town s.
It was bumpy for several hours, and it was already noon when we arrived at the county seat, and there was only a little more left for the last bus to S town. She ate a bowl of noodles at the small restaurant in front of the station, and then got on the worn-out yellow bus to S Town.
It was very cold in the carriage, and there were a few passengers sitting sparsely. They were wrapping their coats tightly and kept tiptoeing. She chose to sit in the front row by the window. The car set off from the county seat and drove east for about two miles before turning onto a dirt road leading to the northeast. The dust kicked up by the car quickly penetrated through the gaps in the broken car and shrouded the car like a smog. She used The scarf covered half of the face, leaving only two eyes staring out the window. As the car moved forward, the scenery outside the window became more and more desolate. In the desert-like endless field, there is not a single sapling to be seen. In the distance, a few camels are leisurely gnawing on the frozen pale grass. Under the gray sky, the air is cloudy, as if it is going to snow.
Looking out the window for a long time, her neck was a little sore, she turned her head and closed her tired eyes, and fell asleep in a daze after a while. I don't know how long it took for someone in the carriage to shout "S Town is here". She opened her eyes and saw a small village not far ahead, a group of scattered and uneven dilapidated earthen houses. This is probably S Town. . As the two sides of the road ahead of the car gradually exposed rows of gray brick and wooden doors, she looked at most of them were small restaurants, and there were also a few small hotels and small grocery stores. There was no one to be seen on the cold street, so she asked the driver where the S town government was, and the driver said to get off at the intersection ahead, and walk a few steps north and you will see it.
After getting out of the car, she looked at her watch and it was only half past five. The sky was overcast, and night fell early. There was a thick layer of dust on the luggage, and she thought she had become a complete native. A severe cold snap hit her and made her teeth chatter. This is Pingchuan between two mountains, and the temperature is lower than her hometown.
She patted the dust off her body, carried the heavy luggage, and walked northward from the crossroad for about two hundred meters. On the left side of the road, a wide courtyard appeared. Two mighty stone lions stood at the entrance of the courtyard. The sign of the town government of S Town is hung on the concrete gate pier of the iron gate.
On the north side of the yard near the gate, there are two malnourished young locust trees rustling in the cold wind. There are three rows of houses evenly distributed in the middle of the big yard. There is an independent small yard on the west side of the middle row of houses. There is a moon door opening on the brand-new red brick wall, which seems to have been built not long ago. She guessed that the row to the south was probably staff dormitories, and the row to the north was probably a cafeteria, conference room, and office. The row in the middle is painted with pink paint facing the gate, and there is a side room protruding forward on each side. She thinks it is probably the office of the secretary or the mayor. Walking in front of the east side room, she found that the row of rooms was almost locked, and there was chatter and laughter in a room near the west side room with the sign of "Finance and Accounting Room". She walked over and opened the door to enter. The sound stopped abruptly, and everyone looked at her in unison. I saw three men sitting on the sofa against the west wall, one was short and fat, the other was thin and tall, and the other was of medium build with a little fat. year women. Seeing her carrying luggage, a short, fat man with a small nose, small eyes, and a face like a steamed bun asked if he was a newly assigned college student. She said yes.
"Secretary, is the mayor here?" she asked. The short and fat man said: "We are all meeting in the county seat, and we may not come back in a few days. Sit down and warm up for a while, and then stay at the Zha Town Guest House." He stood up and went out. She walked to the stove next to the door to dry her frozen fingers, and looked around the room. There were two red and semi-old desks in the small room, and an old red filing cabinet stood against the wall behind the dilapidated couch. The chubby elder sister asked her endlessly like checking her household registration, where is your home? Graduated from that school? What did you study? How many sisters? How old is this year? She took the trouble to answer one by one. After a while, the chunky man came back and said that the eldest sister who managed the guest house had come and was waiting in the service room, and said that she had something to do and asked her to go there as soon as possible. After finishing speaking, the short and fat man helped her carry her luggage and entered through the moon gate she had seen before. The small courtyard inside was paved with cement bricks with engraved patterns. The row of rooms on the south side looks very luxurious, probably for the reception of superiors, and the north side is an ordinary room. The chunky man led her straight to the north row of houses. I saw a medium-sized slightly fat woman coming out of the service room on the far side, holding a large bunch of keys in her hand, opened the room next to the service room, and told her that there was water and coal in the boiler room on the right side of the cafeteria. Make a fire and fetch water yourself, she has something to do, and then ran away in a flash. The short and fat man put down his luggage and said that the cafeteria opened at 6:30, so he would go in a while, and then left.
The furnishings in the room are very simple, with a bedside table between two beds, two bulky wooden sofas, and an enamel washbasin on a washbasin stand at the door. In the cold room, people were shivering with cold. She found an iron dustpan and tongs from the carbon frame behind the door and started to light the fire non-stop. When there was faint green smoke from the stove, she ran to the cafeteria to eat.