Rebirth: My 80s

Chapter 695 Zhong Ling returns home

On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, there was a heavy fog in the morning, so thick that people and animals could not be distinguished from five meters away.

Li Jiankun drove Li Guifei's big Phoenix, with a net bag hanging on the left and right handlebars for New Year's greetings. There was also a snakeskin bag tied to the back seat, which contained ten pounds of fat meat. He left home at dawn. , due to bad weather and difficult country roads, we didn’t arrive at our destination until almost nine o’clock——

Three big crops.

This area was not called this name in the past, but it was changed after liberation. In the early years, it was called Zhongjiawan.

Generally, a village is named after a surname. There are two situations: first, most of the people in the village have the same surname; second, the most powerful person here has this surname.

Zhongjiawan belongs to the latter.

"Zhong" was once the surname of the landowner on this land.

That is, the Zhong Ling family.

If she had been born during the Republic of China, she would have been considered the daughter of a wealthy family. As we all know in the subsequent history, the decline of the Zhong family is inevitable. As arrogant as it was in the past, it will be miserable in the future.

However, the real landlord, Zhong Ling's grandfather, actually passed away a long time ago. Those lands and family property have also been divided up long ago.

As the old saying goes, death is like a lamp going out. Zhong Ling's father was somewhat affected, and some things cannot be blamed on Zhong Ling, who was only born in 1960.

Li Jiankun felt regretful in his heart, complaining that he had never thought of coming over a few years ago to take a look. The embarrassment of the Zhong family could probably be imagined. Zhong Ling once said that her father was a "waste".

Putting aside the lifelong emotional relationship between him and Zhong Ling, at least she was still a relatively close classmate of hers. They were admitted to the capital together from Wanghai High School, and Zhong Ling chose to study in the capital in the first place largely because of him.

Zhong Lingyuan was studying in Eastern Europe, and it was difficult to return home and remit money. God knows what happened to the Zhong family.

With shame and self-blame, Li Jiankun entered the village and began to look for people.

"Fellow, how to get to the Zhong family? The one where a daughter named Zhong Ling lives."

Li Jiankun originally thought that he would not receive any good looks, so while holding the bicycle on his waist, he quickly took out the Bao Huazi and smoked. What he did not expect was that before the uncle opposite him took a closer look at the cigarette case in his hand, , already responded enthusiastically:

"Oh, Zhong family, let's go, I'll take you there."

After saying this, the uncle raised his hand to take the cigarette. His eyes gradually widened and his attitude became more attentive. He talked along the way and asked about the relationship between Li Jiankun and the Zhong family.

This made Li Jiankun somewhat surprised. It seemed that the Zhong family's life was much easier than he imagined.

"Old Zhong! Old Zhong, you have a distinguished guest!" After walking around the village for about ten minutes, the uncle suddenly raised his voice and shouted.

Following his line of sight, Li Jiankun saw a series of three adobe houses.

The walls are made of mud bricks made of yellow mud mixed with straw, and the roof is covered with arched black tiles, just like his old house that no longer exists.

There used to be many such adobe houses, but with the development of the times and the improvement of people's lives, they are slowly being rebuilt. For example, in Qingxidian, there are only a few of them, and they are the residences of the poorest families.

But Li Jiankun noticed one detail: in the corner of the small yellow-brown square in front of the house, where the cleaned garbage was accumulated, there was a thick layer of broken firecrackers, like a tattered red quilt.

This is his family, and they have never set off so many firecrackers during the New Year.

Following the shouts of the fellow countryman, from behind the slightly dark threshold of the main hall of the Tsuchiya, a middle-aged man with a back stooped as an old man stepped out. His face had a kind of dullness and dullness that had formed over the years, but there was a bit of light in the turbid pupils. brilliance.

Although he had never seen him before, Li Jiankun suspected that he was Father Zhong.

He looked at Li Jiankun with a puzzled expression, obviously unable to remember that he had such a relative.

As a digression here, New Year greetings are a long-standing custom in the local area. Some relatives who are not so close to each other often also pay New Year greetings. Usually the man who is the head of the family will not show up, and they have to go to more important New Year greetings. , will send their sons to go out, but for these juniors, relatives may not have been seen for a long time, and they really cannot recognize them at a glance. At this time, you have to ask "Which family are you a child of?" "Where do you live?" "Who is your father?" , to understand the situation.

Father Zhong is doing the same thing.

Just when Li Jiankun was about to explain the situation, a slim figure stepped out of the hall. This made Li Jiankun pause before he started speaking, and his eyes suddenly widened:

She was wearing a tan woolen coat, blue jeans, and a pair of black leather boots.

The waist-length black hair is tied back with a big red hairpin, and an oval face is revealed without any concealment, with curved eyebrows, smart eyes, small nose tip, red lips, and smooth, white and tender skin. She is much fairer than in the impression, like a snow doll walking out of the ice and snow.

Although her appearance and even temperament have changed a lot, and she has become mature, confident and intellectual, Li Jiankun still recognizes her immediately.

Who is it if it’s not Zhong Ling?

Their eyes met, time seemed to stand still at this moment, everything around them no longer existed, and there was only each other in their eyes. When Li Jiankun was looking at Zhong Ling, the latter was also looking at him.

A lot has changed, she thought to herself. He is more calm and restrained. Behind the temperament that seems to be deliberately hidden in a blue cotton-padded jacket, a little calmness and nobility overflow. His figure is thicker, and his youthfulness has completely faded. He is tall and handsome, and looks very responsible and secure. Charming.

"When did you come back?" Li Jiankun grinned.

"I returned home before New Year's Day, and I haven't been home for a few days." Zhong Ling raised her red lips and smiled back.

Only then did Father Zhong realize that the two were classmates, and he knew that Li Jiankun, a classmate, was the provincial champion with his daughter, and later studied in the capital with his daughter.

He looked at Li Jiankun again. He was really a talented person!

"The child's mother, pour tea, pour tea."

After Zhong's mother learned about the situation, she also smiled and narrowed her eyes. Her daughter came to the door as soon as she came back. In rural terms, she was a bit anxious. She thought: Xiao Ling is now quite old, the other person did better than she did in the exam back then, and now it is impossible for him to work as a cadre, and he is a local, and he is good-looking... They are a match made in heaven.

Li Jiankun couldn't stand the enthusiasm of Zhong's parents. After taking a few sips of tea, he pointed to the door and invited Zhong Ling to go out for a walk. The two of them did not go to a crowded place, but walked around the back of the house towards the fields where rapeseed was planted, wandering around and talking to each other.

"excuse me."

"what?"

"I should have come here earlier."

"You can't stay home for more than a few days every Spring Festival, right? Besides, aren't you here now?" Zhong Ling winked playfully, feeling a little happy after all.

People who have been wandering in a foreign country for a long time are most worried about being forgotten. It feels good to have someone caring about you.

"You now?"

"I was sent by the government to study abroad. Since I returned to China, I should accept the assignment and be assigned to work in the Northeast, in a material management bureau, mainly engaged in trade with Eastern Europe."

After Zhong Ling said this, he seemed to be talking to Li Jiankun, and added with a smile as if talking to himself: "I am also a cadre."

Li Jiankun gave a thumbs up. I finally understood the reasons for several unreasonable things I found after entering the village.

She single-handedly changed the fate of herself and her family.

Talents like her who have returned from overseas can be described as feathers and phoenixes these days. They are a hot commodity when entering any government agency. Starting as a principal or deputy director is easy.

Who among the three major families dares to look down on her and her family?

"What about you? I heard that you didn't accept the assignment and are starting your own business."

Li Jiankun joked: "Do you still have any eyes and ears?"

"That's it," Zhong Ling said with a pout, "Bei Yu is only a few steps away from Peking University? You are a famous person in Peking University. It is not difficult to find out information about you."

She may know more than Li Jiankun imagined.

A person in a foreign country will always be eager to exchange letters with his hometown. Most of her classmates are now scattered in major institutions in the capital, doing liaison or diplomatic work. In a word, Very well informed.

"I don't really like the step-by-step work of government agencies and busy doing business."

Zhong Ling knows all this, and she also knows that he is definitely not "working in vain". His business should be quite big. The profit he makes in a year may be worth ten years of work for a person like her with a basic salary of more than 100 yuan.

In foreign terms, he is now a rich man.

Zhong Ling pursed her red lips and hesitated to speak. She didn't care much about it. She didn't even care about money. She really wanted to get rich. She had too many channels.

"Do you want to ask Xu Qing something?" Li Jiankun noticed her expression.

Zhong Ling nodded and frowned: "Why did it come to this point?"

"I can't answer you this question, because the words that come out of my mouth may fall into your ears and become a slander against him, and it will be the same for someone else."

Li Jiankun stopped on the bank of a promising rapeseed field and looked at this rare green scene in winter: "Why don't I give you a report on what happened between us after you left? What is right and wrong? Distinguish for yourself.”

Zhong Ling put his hands in the diagonal pockets of his woolen coat, stood side by side with him, and said "ok".

Li Jiankun immediately started talking, using the tone of a narrator without adding any personal emotion, talking about the past that he was reluctant to look back on.

After a long time, Zhong Ling sighed and said: "His desire to compare is indeed too strong. The whole school thought he would be the first in the college entrance examination, but it turned out to be you. The seed was planted at that time."

Li Jiankun shrugged and did not comment.

"several years?"

"Seven years."

"Hey, it's already thirty when I came out."

"It's impossible. With her family background and her mother's character, she will definitely use any means to get him out." Li Jiankun paused at this point and asked sideways, "You want to see him, right?"

Zhong Ling nodded slightly and laughed at himself: "You have never liked me. The first time I felt the taste of love in my life was from him. And... when I went abroad that year, he was the only boy who saw me off. No matter how bad he is, he has never done anything to regret me. Shouldn’t we go and see?”

Li Jiankun opened his mouth and wanted to explain these two things:

In fact, I liked her before, but it was in a previous life. But there is no way to say that.

He really didn't know anything about it when they saw him off, but when the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back. This is not a reason, if you really care about someone.

"Probably." He said, "I don't know if he has changed inside. Frankly speaking, I'm not particularly optimistic about it. You can mention it to me and see what his attitude is. If he still has red eyes, advise him: Don't mess with me!"

A trace of sadness flashed across Zhong Ling's dark eyes: "Even if I persuade him, he can never go back to the past, right?"

She missed the past. She didn't know many boys, but the two of them had the deepest friendship. She very much hoped that the three of them would have the opportunity to sit down and have a meal together in the future.

Li Jiankun answered with silence.

(End of this chapter)