Reborn to Strive

Chapter 29

Views:

After Guan Baiyu told Shi Zhen the good news that he had won the third prize of the city, he did not go home, but stood beside Shi Zhen and helped Shi Zhen collect the money.

Seeing this, Shi Zhen said, "Xiao Yu, go back to sleep first."

Guan Baiyu is reluctant: "Brother, I am very happy now, even if I go home, I can't sleep."

"Children should sleep longer at night."

"I'm not a child anymore! Brother, you're not much older than me!" Guan Baiyu said.

Shi Zhen said, "I'm already eighteen years old, I'm an adult, and you're only fifteen."

Guan Baiyu stopped talking, but just didn't leave.

Shi Zhen couldn't do anything about him, so he didn't chase him any more, just asked him how he's been studying recently—the senior high school entrance examination will be in two months!

Guan Baiyu rolled his eyes: "Brother, I think it's better for me to study by myself in Xinhua Bookstore than in school."

"Is there anything I don't understand?" Shi Zhen asked.

"I'll understand the math after reading more, and I can also read the reference answer in the back of the language. The reference answer is written better than what our school teacher said." Guan Baiyu said.

Shi Zhen was not surprised.

Nowadays, there are very few teaching supplementary books, and they are not produced by just one person. The quality is naturally good, but most of the teachers in rural schools are graduates of junior high school and high school.

Guan Baiyu's Chinese and mathematics can be taught by himself, and he is also good at chemistry and physics. His weak point is English.

Shi Zhen inquired about the price of English extracurricular classes in town.

It was done privately by a teacher who taught English in a junior high school in the town. He paid 30 yuan a month and had two classes twice a week for two hours each time.

This price is acceptable to Shi Zhen, but it is taught in large classes. Guan Baiyu's middle school entrance examination is about to take place, and he suddenly enters the school for two months, which may not be effective.

And listening to Guan Baiyu reading English words and memorizing words these days, I probably know where Guan Baiyu's English is poor.

Guan Baiyu learns dumb English. He can't speak or read. He only knows how to memorize by rote. In addition, he doesn't even have an English dictionary... He is vague about the meanings of many words.

Before Shi Zhen flipped through his book, he saw "dog" and "Doug" written under the word "dog". This was what he had learned. However, he could not read many words, and the words that were not written in the textbook were uninteresting. He doesn't know either.

Certainly not.

When Shi Zhen was in junior high school, because there was no English teacher in his school, he didn't learn English at all.

That is, later, one of his partners learned English for a long time in order to do export business, and he only learned a little bit.

But he didn't learn much, he would simply say hello to people, so naturally he couldn't teach Guan Baiyu at this moment.

But according to the method of learning English that his partner found at that time... If you want to learn English well, it is best to listen and read more.

Guan Baiyu is very independent, buy him a radio and an English-Chinese dictionary, and then find some English tapes, and he should be able to learn by himself.

But before he went to the Xinhua Bookstore, he didn't see any tapes... I'll ask again next time.

Even if books and tapes for learning English, such as New Concept English, are not yet available, there are always textbooks and English tapes that go with them.

While thinking about Guan Baiyu's studies, Shi Zhen swiftly made fried skewers.

There are several stalls in the cinema, and one of them also sells all kinds of skewered ingredients, but he sells not many kinds of things, mainly fried chicken wings and fried chicken legs, so Shi Zhen's business here is quite good.

After the sale was past nine o’clock in the evening, there was no one on the road. Shi Zhen put away the stall, moved everything on a tricycle, and went home with Guan Baiyu.

"Xiaoyu, there is a seat there, you can sit there." Seeing Guan Baiyu not getting on the tricycle, Shi Zhen greeted.

Guan Baiyu shook his head: "Brother, I'll just follow your car." The tricycle requires effort to step on, and Shi Zhen was tired enough after a busy day. He didn't want Shi Zhen to carry more than eighty pounds of meat.

Well, he might have more than ninety pounds now!

Shi Zhen was indeed a little tired, thinking that he might not be able to ride fast, so he didn't force Guan Baiyu to get on the car: "Alright, then let's go back slowly."

On the way back, Shi Zhen missed the battery tricycle a little.

He also bought a tricycle like this when he started to work alone in his last life and brought a few fellow villagers to build self-built houses for the rural people.

After two years of riding, he saw someone install a battery on the tricycle, so he went to install one, and finally saved a lot of effort, and no longer had to step on it tirelessly.

Of course, there is a safety hazard for the battery installed in this way... But for the bottom layer, it is always convenient.

It was completely dark, and after leaving the town, there were no street lights on the road.

Guan Baiyu was running behind the car, panting heavily, and Shi Zhen said, "Xiaoyu, when we have money, I'll go buy a van, so that it can hold more things! You don't have to run anymore."

Guan Baiyu said: "Well, brother... huh, you must do it!"

"Definitely." Shi Zhen laughed, but his expression quickly froze - there were raindrops hitting his face.

Shi Zhen and Guan Baiyu, who were rushing home with the cold wind, realized almost at the same time that it was raining!

The two did not speak, one ran, the other rode, and rushed home quickly.

The rain came suddenly, and it was quite heavy. Shi Zhen got wet when he got home. Fortunately, he covered the things in the car with plastic sheets, so that they didn't get wet.

It's still hot today, it's 20 degrees, so I shouldn't get sick.

It was almost ten o'clock when I got home. After a little tidying up and a simple scrubbing, Shi Zhen finally went to bed at half past ten.

At this time, Shi Xinghuo was already asleep, and he didn't wake up when he heard the movement.

It rained that night, and it didn't stop the next day, only a little less.

Shi Zhen and Shi Xinghuo brought umbrellas when they came out of the village, but they did not have raincoats, and Guan Baiyu only had umbrellas but no raincoats.

It is more convenient to wear a raincoat on a tricycle, so you need to buy at least one raincoat and three pairs of rubber rain boots, or one pair per person.

Shi Zhen looked at his savings and wrote down what he wanted to buy.

He and Shi Xinghuo came out to work. Guan Baiyu only had a grandmother before, and the three of them had no family background. They needed to buy everything. There were many places to spend money, and they needed to be careful.

Especially these days, things like rain boots and raincoats are quite expensive compared to per capita income.

Although it was raining, Shi Zhen rode his bike to town early in the morning and set up a stall selling rice balls and a stall selling pig head meat.

He thought about how to deal with the rain very early on. He bought a bag of cement from a nearby cement factory and poured several hollow cement piers with stones. When he arrived in the town, he inserted the chopped bamboo poles into the cement piers to support them. , the bamboo poles are tied horizontally on the top, and finally covered with plastic sheets, there is a simple shed, which can protect the stalls inside from the wind and rain.

On rainy days, people from the countryside generally do not come to the town to buy things, but people who work and live in the town still need to buy food and breakfast.

Riding a bicycle and wearing a raincoat from home, the people who hurried to the factory were too lazy to stop and take off their raincoat to go to the steamed bun shop to eat steamed buns. Many stopped right next to Shi Zhen's booth and asked for a rice ball to take away and eat.

Shi Zhen's rice ball business is actually a little better than before.

The pork head meat with money is also selling well.

The couple who followed the trend and sold cold-cut pig heads were laid-off workers in the town. They were inexperienced. Now that it was raining, they couldn't build a shed, so they didn't set up their stalls.

Without competitors, even if there are fewer people because of the rain, the speed of selling things is not slow.

Before nine o'clock, the rice that Shi Zhen cooked in the morning was sold out, so he simply closed the stall and went home.

When Shi Zhen came home, Guan Baiyu just came back with an umbrella - after he helped Shi Zhen this morning, he went to school.

Guan Baiyu's umbrella is a large black umbrella, the cover has been patched, and it is very old. Seeing Shi Zhen, he raised the umbrella a little higher, and smiled with two tiger teeth: "Brother, the guarantee is confirmed, I will take the high school entrance examination. As long as you don't do well in the test, you can go to No. 1 Middle School!"

"My Xiaoyu is awesome." Shi Zhenda felt proud from the bottom of his heart.

Guan Baiyu was smiling, but his eyes were a little sour for some reason.

His brother is so nice!

There's nothing really good about him, but his brother always

I think he is great!

Guan Baiyu put away his umbrella and came over to help Shi Zhen pack his things. After finishing packing, Shi Zhen grabbed him and said, "Xiaoyu, you slept late last night, go get some sleep, and I'll get some sleep too."

"Yeah." Guan Baiyu replied, a little bit wanting to follow Shi Zhen to Guan Jianguo to sleep - he always wanted to be like Shi Xinghuo, sleeping next to Shi Zhen.

But without waiting for Guan Baiyu to come up with his own ideas, Shi Zhenyou said, "I'll go to Xinhua Bookstore with you when I wake up and have dinner."

"Brother, are you going with me?" Guan Baiyu was a little overjoyed and forgot about sleeping together.

Shi Zhen nodded: "I asked people, and they said that it will rain these days. If it rains, no one will go shopping in the town at night, so I won't go to the stalls later."

On rainy days, those who should buy breakfast should still buy breakfast, and those who should buy vegetables should still buy vegetables.

But the fried skewers at night are snacks, and no one will buy them in the rain.

He can rest for a few days, tidy up the house, and deal with Guan Baiyu's English learning.

And Yan Jiangtao... Shi Zhen's eyes narrowed slightly.

He didn't let Guan Baiyu go to school these days and avoided Yan Jiangtao, but that didn't mean he didn't hold grudges.

Shi Zhen went back to sleep for two hours, and when he arrived at Guan Baiyu's house, it was almost twelve o'clock.

Guan Baiyu had already woken up, and when he saw him, he asked, "Brother, are you hungry? I'll go get you a bowl of noodles?"

"Okay." Shi Zhen didn't refuse.

Guan Baiyu ignited the straw with a match and stuffed it into the stove, then poured hot water into the pot with a kettle, and quickly put down a handful of dried noodles. Oil noodles.

There is also a plate of cold cucumbers and a plate of fried cabbage made by Guan Baiyu in the morning.

Shi Zhen was afraid that the nutrition of Guan Baiyu, who was still developing, could not keep up with the nutrition. He always paid attention to the combination of meat and vegetables. He had been with him for a long time. In the past, a bowl of pickles could eat Guan Baiyu for several days, so he was used to cooking every meal. dishes.

After dinner, Shi Zhen stepped on a tricycle and took Guan Baiyu to the town to read.

Guan Baiyu moved a bench and sat in the car of the tricycle, holding an umbrella and watching the mulberry tree by the side of the road kept retreating, for some reason he wanted to laugh.

After all, it was a working day, and there was no one in the Xinhua Bookstore. Shi Zhen asked Guan Baiyu to read the book, and he found the staff of the bookstore and asked if there were English tapes for sale.

The staff glanced lazily at Shi Zhen and said no.

In a few years, English textbooks will be distributed to students on tapes, and then they will be distributed to students on CD-ROMs, but now there is nothing.

"Where can I buy it? The children at home want to learn English." Shi Zhen asked.

The staff member yawned, but still replied: "Go to the city to see, maybe there are. There are tapes in the teacher's teaching materials. If you come here when the school starts, maybe you can buy them... Now Sold out."

Shi Zhen heard the words and thanked: "Thank you."

The staff member ignored him and leaned sleepily on the cashier counter.

When Shi Zhen asked about the information he wanted, he asked Guan Baiyu to wait for Qian Qiqi to find him, and left the bookstore first.

When he got to Qian Qi's place, Qian Qi was watching the rain with his chin up, looking very bored.

Since they had tricycles, they could bring more things to town, and when they got money, they would have a long stool to sit on. When he saw Shi Zhen, he immediately gave up half of the stool and greeted Shi Zhen to sit down, and excitedly followed Shi Zhen. Shi Zhen chats.

It makes sense that children from poor families should be in charge early. After Qianqi followed Shi Zhen to set up a stall, they matured in a very short period of time and looked like adults.

Now he goes to work every morning at six o'clock, and there is no rest time every day, but he has never complained a word.

Shi Zhen knew that it was not only Qian Qi who wanted to practice martial arts with him... Qian Qi was very serious about setting up a stall as a job.

He now pays ten dollars a day and includes food...

Qianqi's parents do not have stable jobs, and at most occasionally do odd jobs. Qianqi is already the most earned by their family.

After Shi Zhen sat down, he asked for money: "Yan Jiang

Did you hear about Tao? "

"I heard it!" Qian Qi quickly told about the Yan family.

Recently, Yan Jiangtao was beaten by his father several times. He was beaten last night because he was bad in the league test.

As for things at school... Yan Jiangtao always bullied Guan Baiyu before, but he never really hurt Guan Baiyu.

"What does Yan Jiangtao's dad usually do?" Shi Zhen asked again.

This is also what Shi Zhen specifically asked Qian Qi to find out. Qian Qi said: "Yan Jiangtao's father usually watches the machine at home, and will send a batch of cloth to the printing and dyeing factory over at Qiaotou every few days. After I go to Qiaotou to deliver the cloth, I will go to town to eat a bowl of mutton noodles and drink a bottle of wine.”

Qian Qi's house is not far from Yan Jiangtao's house. He and his friends live behind Yan Jiangtao's house. He inquired about their whereabouts very clearly: "By the way, Master, Yan Jiangtao's father will deliver the cloth tomorrow morning."

"Thank you," Shi Zhen took out five yuan to give the money, "hard work."

When the money got up, he refused to accept it: "Master, I don't need it, I didn't put any effort into it!"

"I can't let you do it in vain." Shi Zhen insisted on giving it to him.

Qian Qiqi still refused to accept it: "Master, my friend actually asked about this. He is also in town today. If you want to thank him, you might as well give him a cold pig nose later, he likes to eat it. this."

"That's fine." Shi Zhen had no objection, a cold pork head pork cost five yuan.

The friend of Qianqiqi came to town to sell the small crucian carp caught by the snails he touched. After the sale, he came to say hello to Qianqiqi, and Shi Zhen saw him.

This man looks a little anxious, only seventeen years old and looks like twenty-seven, Shi Zhen gave him a cold pig nose, he was very happy, and told Shi Zhen: "Yan Jiangtao's father usually at seven o'clock in the morning He set off for delivery, and went to eat mutton noodles after nine o'clock. He often said in the village that he would drink mutton noodles and drink, and he would ask people to add more or less mutton, so he would not be wrong."

Shi Zhen heard the words and gave him two more marinated eggs.

It still rained the next day, and the weather in J City was like this. Once it rained, it was easy to fall on and off for a long time.

Shi Zhen sold out the rice balls after eight o'clock in the morning. He simply cleaned up the stall, but instead of going home as usual, he went to the mutton noodle shop in town.

There are a total of three noodle shops in Anshan Town, one of which sells mutton noodles, and the other two sell noodles such as shredded pork noodles, pork liver noodles, and fish noodles.

And of all the noodles, mutton noodles are the highest grade.

The shredded pork noodles cost five yuan per bowl, and the mutton noodles cost five yuan per bowl!

The person who sells mutton noodles also sells mutton, because this is the only one in the town that sells cooked mutton, and his business is very good.

Shi Zhen remembered that he had been a foreman here for about 2,000 years, and heard Guan Baiyu say that this mutton noodle shop, which was bigger at the time, had a net profit of 1,000 a day, and could earn 20,000-30,000 a month.

At the beginning of the 21st century, this was definitely a high income. At that time, he had tens of thousands of dollars as a subcontractor and couldn't get it back, and he was so worried that he thought that the money and goods were sold every day, and he was so envious that he wanted to change his career.

It's a pity that the owner of the noodle restaurant can spend so much money and gamble... This person didn't become a big boss in the end.

Now everyone's income is low, and their purchasing power is not as high as five or six years later. The noodle shop will definitely not be able to make a thousand dollars a day, but no matter what, they make more than him.

He set up a stall when he had a decent shop, naturally he couldn't compare to others.

Although it was past nine in the morning, there were still many people sitting in the mutton noodle shop.

Some of them just came in to eat noodles, and some of them have actually been sitting here for a long time. They have already finished eating noodles, but they just keep looking for people to brag.

A van suddenly stopped at the door of the noodle shop, followed by a black and fat middle-aged man who got out of the car and entered the noodle shop.

"It's Boss Yan!"

"Boss Yan is here!"

Some of the people sitting in the noodle shop knew this person, and they greeted him immediately.

It was Yan Jiangtao's father who came. He entered the noodle shop and said to the boss, "Boss, cut me mutton for ten yuan, mutton for ten yuan, and a bottle of Jingjiu."

"Okay!" The boss

He responded with a smile, and soon brought out a bowl of mutton and a bowl of mutton leaves.

The mutton is fragrant, and the garlic leaves are sprinkled on it, which makes people feel particularly appetizing.

Yan Jiangtao's father took a bowl, poured himself a bowl of wine, and ate and drank.

Most people come over and eat only a bowl of mutton noodles for five yuan.

The mutton noodles here, noodles and mutton can be served separately. They let the owner serve the mutton first, and then go to the side to scoop a bowl of free bulk white wine, and wait until the mutton is eaten with the wine, and then serve the noodles.

Yan Jiangtao's father did the same, but he wanted a lot of mutton, and he didn't want the free bulk liquor in the store, but bought another bottle of Jingjiu.

It costs more than 20 yuan to eat and drink like this, and many people can't earn it for a day. It can be said that it is very expensive.

The people in the noodle shop looked at Yan Jiangtao's father enviously and kept complimenting him. The boss even came out to give him the best cigarettes.

All this made Father Yan in a good mood. While enjoying the flattery of the people around him, he revealed something from time to time, making the people around him even more envious.

For example, he didn't get back the payment of over 100,000 goods. For example, he bought a gold bracelet for his wife and his wife thought it was too heavy to wear. For example, he disliked his van and said he wanted to buy a car to drive on weekdays...

He runs a small workshop at home. In fact, it is very, very hard. He rarely has free time, and why is he working so hard? Don't you just want him to be envied by others

Every time I come to town to eat beef noodles, my father can feel comfortable.

Yan's father ate while drinking and eating for more than an hour.

Shi Zhen changed into tattered clothes, and walked around for a few laps in a bamboo hat and a shoji, feeling a little worried.

He was afraid that he would not find the opportunity to beat people.

No matter what Yan Jiangtao said, he was still a minor. Before, Yan Jiangtao kept saying that Guan Baiyu was dirty, so he asked people to throw dirty water, which was a tit-for-tat. But it is not appropriate for him to fight Yan Jiangtao, it is clearly bullying the weak.

So he planned to beat Yan Jiangtao's father instead.

The child does not teach, the father too.

And if it wasn't for Yan Jiangtao's father giving gifts to the teacher, and if Yan Jiangtao and Guan Baiyu were at the same table, Guan Baiyu would not have been bullied by Yan Jiangtao.

But... Yan Jiangtao's father came to eat noodles in a van. If he got into the van after eating the noodles and left... Shi Zhen might not be able to grab him and beat him.

Shi Zhenzheng hesitated when he saw Yan's father coming out of the mutton noodle shop, walking into the next alley in the light rain, unbuttoning his pants and pouring water on the wall.

The town in 1994 was not as prosperous as it was later. There was only one larger street in the town, and the others were all small alleys.

Because this mutton noodle shop is a unique business, it is not open in the center of the town but outside the town. There are no other shops around.

There is no one either.

Father Yan was addressing his physiological needs when suddenly a sack fell under his hood.

"Who?" As soon as Father Yan asked, holding his trousers, he was pushed to the ground, followed by someone who kicked him on his thigh and buttocks.

Yan's father let out a scream like killing a pig, but the man didn't stop. He only said in a hoarse voice: "Let your son look down on me, let your son look down on me!"

It was raining and the ground was wet, and Yan's father just went to the toilet next to him.

He fell to the ground, his head covered by a sack and couldn't see anything, but he could feel his clothes getting wet, and he knew that he must be covered in mud.

too disgusting!

Who is hitting him? Who the hell did his son offend

Why does this stinky boy make trouble for him all day long!

Yan's father shouted "forgive me" while being annoyed.

What Shi Zhen kicked were all parts of Yan's father's body that were not easily injured.

He didn't want to really hurt people.

After a few kicks, Shi Zhen was about to leave.

But just as he was about to leave, he saw someone coming from the noodle shop... Shi Zhen covered his face with a bamboo hat while trying to escape, but the man glanced at him and walked in the opposite direction of the noodle shop as if nothing happened.

This is... Don't plan to go back and call someone

Shi Zhen was speechless.

Shi Zhen left quickly. When Shi Zhen left, Yan's father came out of the sack. As soon as he came out, he found himself covered in muddy water. As for the injury... The man kept mentioning the fleshy part behind him, and at most kicked him. cyan.

He wasn't injured, but he was beaten in muddy water. This behavior was really insulting!

Father Yan was about to explode with anger, and immediately wanted to call the police.

But he didn't see who that person was, and he didn't get hurt or lost any money, so calling the police might not be useful.

Father Yan was righteous, and a group of people came from the noodle shop: "Boss Yan, we seem to hear you calling for help... What's the matter with you?"

Yan's father's trousers had not been zippered, and he felt ashamed that he had thrown it home.

When he gets home, he will beat up his debt collector son!