1980 My Literary Era

Chapter 37 Shabu-shabu mutton

Since the death of his mother, the life of Shi Tiesheng's family has been in distress.

In order to support his family and pay off his debts, he had to go to work in a street factory in a wheelchair every day. His job was to draw ladies on duck eggs. Day after day, he could earn more than a dozen yuan a month.

During this period, in order to get the government's disability subsidies and housing area subsidies for the disabled, he spent about two years traveling between the Civil Affairs Bureau, the Educated Youth Office, and the Housing Management Bureau on a weekly basis.

Finally, this year, I got the disability subsidy stipulated by the policy and a house with double the area.

The new house is on the other side of Lama Temple, No. 26 Lama Temple Street.

In the courtyard of the former Yongkang Hutong, when Lin Weimin and Qu Xiaowei arrived, Shi Tiesheng's family was packing up. Lin Weimin met Shi Tiesheng's father for the first time. He used to work in Yanjing Forestry College and was sent to South Yunnan Forestry College a few years ago. .Since his mother passed away, his father has been taking care of Shi Tiesheng's daily life.

Today came not only Lin Weimin, but also two friends of Shi Tiesheng, a man and a woman, a couple. Shi Tiesheng introduced their names as Xu Xiao and Zhou Meiying.

Qu Xiaowei whispered to Lin Weimin, "Their husband and wife are the main force of "Today."

"today"?
Lin Weimin has been traveling for more than a year, and of course he has heard of the name "Today". The magazine is sponsored by Zhao Zhenkai, Mang Ke and other heavyweight poets of the Misty School. It has been very popular in the past two years, and it has recently ceased publication.

After exchanging pleasantries, they seized the time to help the Shi family move.

Zhou Meiying found a tricycle to come over in advance, and Lin Weimin and Qu Xiaowei were responsible for contributing.

The Shi family's house is small, but there are a lot of things left out, Shi Tiesheng is a little embarrassed, "It's all old stuff, you are troubled."

Qu Xiaowei said with a smile: "What's so tiring, there are so many of us, we can finish the move in just two trips."

The situation is similar to what he said. The former Yongkang Hutong and Lama Temple Street are in a vertical T shape. The distance of moving together may not even be 500 meters. The few young people who came did not spend much effort.

Located on the edge of a shabby courtyard on the west side of the gate of Lama Temple, next to the main street, there is a public water tap. There is a courtyard on the left side of it. There are two bungalows in the courtyard. It looks old, probably The Republic of China is covered.

This is the house that Shi Tiesheng had been looking for for two years.

The area of ​​this house is indeed larger than the houses in the former Yongkang Hutong. Shi Tiesheng has a room all to himself. He rocked a wheelchair and walked around the house. He took out a tape measure from nowhere and wanted to measure the new house. area.

With the help of Lin Weimin, the area of ​​the house was calculated, and it was just over 12 square meters, exactly twice the size of the original house.

Shi Tiesheng smiled happily, as if his long-cherished wish for many years had finally come true.

Cleaning up the house is a hassle. After moving everything that can be moved into the new house, the men's work is basically done.

Xu Xiao took Shi Tiesheng's younger sister Shi Lan to take charge of cleaning.

Taking advantage of everyone's inattention, Lin Weimin dragged Qu Xiaowei out the door.

"Why go?"

"Go shopping."

"buy what?"

"Nonsense, let's eat. When you were in the institute last time, didn't you say that Tiesheng likes hot-boiled mutton?"

"It's not easy to buy, is it?"

"Are you afraid you can't buy things if you have money?"

In midsummer, mutton rolls were really not very easy to buy. Lin Weimin and Qu Xiaowei went to two vegetable markets and non-staple food stores, but there were none.

Lin Weimin thought of a way, and the two ran to Donglaishun. There was no mutton in other places, but here must be.

Lin Weimin paid for the mutton, and it was rare for Qu Xiaowei to want to be generous. Lin Weimin didn't give him this chance, so he could only buy some vegetables and sesame paste.

"By the way, does Tie Sheng's family have a copper pot?"

"It seems not."

I turned around and bought a copper pot.

Vegetables, sauces, eight catties of mutton, and a copper pot cost nearly 20 yuan. When Lin Weimin and Qu Xiaowei came back, Shi Tiesheng's family and Zhou Kaiying were very surprised.

Father Shi was a silent person, he pursed his lips and said, "It's costing you."

"Uncle, you are too polite. Today is your family's housewarming, so let's celebrate it."

Shi Tiesheng was not polite, but directly shouted happily: "It can be regarded as eating hot-boiled mutton! I haven't eaten for a long time!"

Lin Weimin smiled and said, "I'll let you eat your fill today!"

Everything was ready, and the poor things were cleaned up. The main force of the work became Father Shi and Xu Xiao.

The four men gossiped while they did their shopping.

Everyone is engaged in writing work, and they are kind when they talk about it.In the past two years, "Today" has been very popular in Yanjing's literary circles, and Zhou Meiying and his wife are also famous.

Although "Today" is now pornographic, the husband and wife have made friends everywhere. When I talked to Lin Weimin and the others, many people knew each other, and there were many people from the Institute of Literature.

"Let's all go to the table and eat."

The old Yanjing copper hot pot is slightly different from the southern hot pot and Dabian stove. The bottom of the pot is usually clear soup.

At this time, the bottom of the pot was boiling, steaming hot, and the weather outside was already thirty degrees, everyone sitting at the table was covered in sweat after a while.

But this heat does not delay eating, but makes people feel more refreshed.

"I think it's a must to eat hot pot this summer, it's so relaxing!" Qu Xiaowei grinned, sweating profusely.

"Shu Tan, really comfortable!" Zhou Meiying is a person who loves to eat, and after a mouthful of boiled mutton, he also had a sip of soda.

Shi Tiesheng ate while laughing, not forgetting to put some meat for his younger sister Shi Lan, while Father Shi silently watched the bottom of the copper pot and the food, and immediately filled in when he saw something missing.

During the meal, everyone did not forget to chat.

While chatting, they talked about the recent new works of several people. Zhou Meiying and his wife are more engaged in editing than creative work. Qu Xiaowei has no inspiration output for more than half a year.

Only Shi Tiesheng and Lin Weimin are here to create continuously.

Since last year, Shi Tiesheng first published his short story "The Fate of Love" in the journal of the Chinese Department of Northwest University. Not long after, he wrote a short story "Brothers", which was published by Xu Xiao on "Today" , and then it was reprinted by "Flower City".

Later, he wrote "A Corner Without the Sun", which was also published in "Today", and was reprinted by "Youth Literature", with the title changed to "This is the Corner".

"The "Death of Yula" in "Contemporary" was written by you, right? I read it, and it's really well written." Xu Xiao said to Lin Weimin.

"Not only that, this month he also published an article on "Zhong Shan", which is a novella." Qu Xiaowei boasted.

Zhou Meiying said in an appreciative tone: "Weimin's age is the time when the creative ability is flourishing!"

……

Everyone ate and chatted, and in less than an hour, the eight catties of mutton ran out of ammunition and food.

These days, there are not many people who are not short of oil and water in their stomachs.

Shi Tiesheng patted his stomach, laughed and said, "It's rare to have a full meal!"

His humorous tone also made everyone laugh.

After lunch, Father Shi and Shi Lan went to clear the table, but the father and daughter refused to help them. Let them chat with Shi Tiesheng.

In the afternoon, after a busy morning, Shi Tiesheng was very tired.

A few people didn't stay long and took the initiative to say goodbye.

　I feel like I'm going to die, my whole body hurts to the bone, and my internal organs are aching.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)