The three girls looked at each other, and seeing the shyness in each other's eyes, they all said in unison: "Go to hell!"
Ji Su smiled but said nothing, Ning Xiaoning was as cold as ice, only Xu Yao smiled and stretched out her index finger to lift Wen Liang's chin, blinking her innocent big eyes and said, "Why don't you get a room? Tell me, please?"
Ning Xiaoning hated Xu Yao's mischievous look the most, and her heart thawed immediately, and she burst into laughter. Xu Yao kept teasing her, raised her left foot and kicked her lightly, Ning Xiaoning turned her head away, but she could still see the smile on her face.
Uncle Wen was a man who was not afraid of Xu Yao's tricks. He coughed and said, "There are not many hotels in the county, and most of them are single and double rooms. If there are two men and two women, two rooms will suffice. Now we want to open three rooms, but I'm afraid there won't be enough rooms. What are you thinking? Your thoughts are too unhealthy, too unhealthy!"
Ji Su whispered something in Xu Yao's ear, and Xu Yao smiled and said, "Okay, you're putting the blame on someone else, right? Actually, I, Su Su, and Xiao Ning don't mind booking a few rooms tonight..."
Wen Liang was surprised and asked, "Really?"
"You are such a fool! Idiot, idiot, pervert, Susu knew you wouldn't be able to hide once she tried..."
"Ah, Ji Su, why are you becoming a bad person now?"
The three men grabbed Wen Liang and beat and pinched him. The laughter echoed by the Baiou Lake and slowly dissipated.
Wen Liang was not in a position to speak up for what happened next, so Xu Yao took Ning Xiaoning and Ji Su to ask for leave from the vice principal, saying that a car from the parents would come to pick them up later. The vice principal knew Xu Yao's identity, so he let her go after giving her a few instructions. He had no qualifications or courage to actually ask Xu Fuyan to verify, so he was not afraid of this lie being exposed.
After the school buses left the memorial hall, the four of them stood by the lake. Wen Liang suggested that they go rowing again. They had been so busy competing that they had no time to enjoy the scenery. The suggestion was enthusiastically responded by Ning Xiaoning and Ji Su. They did not board the boat because they were envious of Xu Yao's passion during the competition.
The four of them rented a boat at the small dock, rowed the oars, and slowly rowed to the center of the lake. The sun was setting, and the golden sunlight sprinkled on the lake, rippling with the boat, creating a continuous halo. Occasionally looking back, I saw the sparkling waves and the flowing water, reflecting the young man in the boat, just like this pure youth.
Somehow, there was an indescribable happiness and joy that filled everyone's heart. Everyone smiled at each other, as if they had known each other for three lifetimes, without any barriers or schemes, only the memory of youth, which would never change.
Ji Su leaned against the side of the boat, dipped his slender fingers into the water, stirred up shallow splashes, and sang softly: "Let's row our oars, and let the boat push away the waves..."
Xu Yao and Ning Xiaoning clapped their hands and sang in harmony: "The beautiful white tower is reflected on the water, surrounded by green trees and red walls..."
"The boat floats gently in the water, and a cool breeze blows towards us!"
Wen Liang looked at the beautiful girl in front of him. It was a beautiful time when everyone was young and green, but for some reason he suddenly remembered the poem "Flowers do not last forever, people can never be young again". He thought of the past that he once had and lost, and the desolation of the young heart that was nowhere to be found. Memories seemed to outline the appearance of past and present lives like fragments, emitting little light in the nothingness. The people and things that could not be let go, the heaven and earth that could not be reached. If he could live again, he would only wish that his heart would be as pure as a child and as deep as the sea.
The singing accompanied by the sunset left the last perfect note for this autumn.
We walked along the bluestone road in front of the memorial hall, through the woods, and across several small stone bridges. We still didn't see any taxis on the main road. In 1995, there were probably very few taxi companies in the county-level administrative area, not as common as in later generations. Most of the transportation was done by buses, motorcycles and tricycles. The roads were still paved with crushed stones and soil. The difficulty of ordinary people's travel was beyond the imagination of young people in the future. Wen Liang still remembers that in the summer vacation of 1993, he went back to his grandma's house with his mother to visit relatives. It rained heavily and the car was stuck in the mud and couldn't move forward. All the people in the car had to get off and walk in the rain. It took several hours to get home. Wen Liang's brand new leather shoes had a big crack, and he was secretly sad for a long time.
After walking for a while, a tricycle came slowly over, and the three girls jumped on it, very excited. Wen Liang pouted, thinking that they had never seen the world, what was so exciting about a broken tricycle, and he would take them to ride a donkey-drawn cart tomorrow, that would be cool.
The tricycle stopped at the entrance of Yishan Hotel. The driver was a middle-aged man in his forties. He asked for five yuan. The three girls didn't think it was too much, but they started to bargain with him. The middle-aged man saw that they were well-dressed and could stay in a big hotel in the county, so he naturally refused to give in. Xu Yao had no choice but to glare at Wen Liang and said, "Aren't you good at talking? Why don't you say anything? You can't even give me a discount of fifty cents. I'm so angry!"
Wen Liang smiled and said, "Of course I can't give you a 50 cent discount, but I can cut the price in half." These days, three-wheeled vehicles in the county charge a maximum of 50 cents per person. If business is really bad, two people can get a ride for 60 or 70 cents. This guy saw Wen Liang and his group of kids and immediately asked for a lot of money. He really has some business sense.
Wen Liang pointed at the seven-story hotel and said, "Do you know what this is? It's where your county party committee and county government receive guests! Master, you have to look carefully before you kill someone, okay? I'll ask again, how much does it cost for four people?"
The middle-aged man was obviously afraid, and he stammered, "Two dollars, no, one dollar and fifty cents will be fine!"
Wen Liang smiled and took out five yuan and handed it over: "That's right! But if it weren't for you just now, we would have had to look for it for a long time, so the extra money is just a thank you."
The middle-aged man had a weather-beaten face, and the cracks on the back of his hands were an inch deep. He earned his money through hard work. Wen Liang felt sorry for him and didn't want to argue with him, so he waved goodbye and let him go.
The middle-aged man smiled so hard that his eyes narrowed, and the wrinkles on his brows looked like they were cut by a knife. He thanked her without a word and drove away on his tricycle.
Xu Yao gave him a thumbs up and praised, "I found that this silly boy is average in everything else, but his ability to use a tiger's skin as a banner is really amazing."
Ning Xiaoning said with disdain: "You are the only one who thinks he is stupid. I don't know how many people scold him behind his back, saying that he is cunning and not a good person."
Ji Su still had a sense of justice, and defended Wen Liang, saying, "It's true that he's cunning, but Wen Liang isn't that bad..."
Although these words sounded strange, Wen Liang was still moved to tears. Just as he was about to hold Ji Su's hand to express his gratitude, Xu Yao hugged Ji Su into her arms and said, "You want to take advantage of this opportunity? No way!"
The two women walked into the hotel hand in hand, laughing sweetly. Ning Xiaoning said coldly, "Do you have a headache? Men, humph, men!"
Wen Liang stared at Ning Xiaoning's tall and beautiful back. Her raised buttocks already looked quite proud. He raised his eyebrows and said to himself, "If you don't suffer, you won't be able to rise to the top. You don't understand, little girl!"
What’s more obscene is that Uncle Wen deliberately emphasized the word “上” in the phrase “人上人”.
Arriving at the front desk, Xu Yao asked, "We are staying here. What rooms are available?"
A waitress in her early twenties at the front desk was trimming her nails. She didn't even look up and said in a cold tone, "We're full." She was brief and to the point, as if she would die of exhaustion if she said one more word.
Although Xu Yao was born into an official family, she didn't care whether others were respectful or not, nor did she get angry. She turned her head and shouted, "What should we do? There are no rooms." Ji Su and Ning Xiaoning were also disappointed. Did they have to stay in a small hotel? Although they were not familiar with the world, they knew that in a small county town, apart from the hotels designated by the government, other places were not clean or safe.
Wen Liang pressed his hands down, signaling the three women to be patient, squeezed in between them, climbed on the platform and asked, "Please check the room that County Magistrate Yang has booked."
Xu Yao and the other two opened their eyes wide at the same time. They thought Wen Liang was just making up stories to threaten the master, but they didn't expect that it was really arranged by the county leaders.
The waitress at the front desk immediately woke up from her lazy state, and her impatient face was filled with a warm smile. It would be a waste of her talent if she didn't use it to act when she could change her expression in an instant.
"Ah, I've been waiting for you. County Magistrate Yang has specifically told us to give you a good reception yesterday and today. Please, please come this way."
Xu Yao suppressed the urge to interrogate Wen Liang, and several people gathered together to go upstairs. Wen Liang turned around and saw a black Mercedes-Benz driving from the other end of the road outside the glass door and stopped on the side. He couldn't help but feel a little confused.
In this small place, is the chance of encountering a Mercedes-Benz so high
As soon as they turned the corner on the second floor, they suddenly ran into a group of people who were unexpected but reasonable. Gu Wenyuan, Mu Shanshan, Bai Huan, Hou Qiang and others were about to go downstairs, and they were all stunned.
Wen Liang was not surprised. Gu Wenyuan was soaked, so he naturally had to find a place to take a shower and change clothes. Yishan Hotel was the only choice. It was obvious that the Mercedes-Benz outside was here to pick him up. Everyone could accidentally run into each other like this. I really didn't know what to say!
Gu Wenyuan frowned and sneered, "Xiao Ning, I didn't expect to see you. When did you become so depraved as to be willing to check into a hotel with a country bumpkin?"
Ning Xiaoning was too lazy to get angry with him now, and said calmly: "It's none of your business who I want to go out with."
Xu Yao didn't want to be in a bad mood by quarreling here, so she took a step forward, and her always smiling face was rarely serious, and said: "Gu Wenyuan, the competition is a competition, there is no right or wrong. I don't want to hear any more criticism today, you go!"
No one expected that Xu Yao, who always appeared cute, would have such a powerful aura when she was serious. Gu Wenyuan finally didn't want to offend Xu Yao openly, so he snorted and led everyone downstairs, got in the Mercedes and left quickly.
From beginning to end, he never looked at Ji Su again.