Rebirth: My 80s

Chapter 697 Goodbye Lao Gao

"Tu tu tu tu——"

A walk-behind tractor was driving bumpily on the loess road, surrounded by fog and dust. The back bucket was covered with dry straw, with large and small bags on it, and two figures huddled.

"Kunzi, are you cold?"

"nonsense!"

It was so cold that Li Jiankun felt that his face was not even his own.

When we were in Xi'an, the temperature was still within the tolerance range of southerners. The lowest temperature in this season was about minus 4 or 5 degrees Celsius. But the Loess Plateau is so damn big, and Guanzhong and northern Shaanxi are not in the same area at all. The farther north you go, the colder it gets, and the current ambient temperature will not be lower than minus ten degrees.

In this temperature, southerners will shiver even if they stand still, let alone on a moving tractor.

Li Jiankun didn't expect to use this kind of transportation before he came. His ideal situation was to take a taxi in Xi'an and go straight to Suixian County, where Lao Gao was located.

guess what?

Although taxis are rare, they are available, and foreign exchange coupon drivers also like it. The problem is that they don't dare to go. In the exact words of the driver masters: "After this trip, all the wheels were gone."

While traveling to their destination, they discovered that in some areas of this loess land with rolling hills and crisscrossed ravines, buses were not even accessible.

Donkey carts are commonly used means of transportation for common people, and tractors are considered fashionable gadgets.

Before hiring this walk-behind tractor, they had to change vehicles five times. At this time, looking at the bare and undulating mountains around them, Li Jiankun and Hu Ziqiang both looked hopeless. If it weren't for Lao Gao, whom they hadn't seen for several years, they would have turned around and returned.

This is really a bitter cold place.

Only now did the two of them truly realize what a great thing it was for Lao Gao to give up the opportunity to stay in the capital and insist on returning to his hometown.

Here, a touch of green is a rare thing, and the color in the eyes is not only yellow, but also yellow. The dry and cracked yellow mountains, the air filled with yellow dust.

The environment here is not even suitable for survival.

If Li Jiankun and Li Jiankun hadn't wrapped half of their faces in gauze, their mouths, noses and ears would be full of loess.

"Kunzi, hug, hug me, I'm frozen." Brother Qiang's teeth chattered.

"You're still a fucking northerner." In fact, Li Jiankun was not much better than him.

A pair of brothers and sisters were cuddling together like this, huddled in the back of the tractor, approaching the destination at a very fast speed. What was heartbreaking was that they were still nearly 200 kilometers away from the destination.
-

Sui County.

If northern Shaanxi is a bitter cold place, then this county is a bitter cold place among the bitter cold places.

This area is a typical Maoliang-shaped loess hilly and ravine area, so there are crisscrossing ravines and rugged roads.

Fortunately, thanks to the national highway built in the 1970s, Li Jiankun and Hu Ziqiang were spared the trouble and took the bus on the last section into the county.

Along the way, through the car windows, they also took in the general appearance of the small county:

Still yellow.

The wheels of the CMB rolled up yellow dust all over the sky. Water must be a precious resource here.

In the county town, southerners like Li Jiankun see very few houses. They are almost all cave dwellings, earthen kilns built against the mountains in the distance, stone kilns and brick kilns built with stones on both sides of the streets. Even the fronts of the rare buildings In front of each door is the shape of a kiln with a large round arch.

People here seem to have a natural affinity for cave dwellings.

After entering the hinterland of the county, because the ground turned into cement road or stone road, the yellow dust was finally not that big. The world in front of us once again showed a pale color, with hazy sky, scattered bare tree trunks, and gray-brown street shops. Stone wall.

The blue-coated men walking on the streets add a touch of color to this pale world.

Like all over the country these days, bicycles are the main means of transportation for urban residents here, but the number of cars on the road is very rare. So far, Li Jiankun has only seen a car with a roof mounted on it, except for the minibus they were riding in. Big horn, khaki Phuket 212 with big red flowers on the front of the car, a big red plaque hanging in front of the car with a few big black characters -

Movie promotion vehicle.

Before this, Li Jiankun had never seen it in any city and claimed that the movie would use this specification. The vehicle drove at a very fast speed, attracting countless people to watch.

This shows how scarce entertainment activities are here.

Hu Ziqiang whispered to Li Jiankun: "We still hope that Lao Gao will become the county magistrate within three years. What good is there to be the county magistrate of this place?"

Li Jiankun glanced sideways: "You don't know anything."

"I understand Lao Gao's feelings for his hometown. It was because of the poverty here that he wanted to return to his hometown to change the place. But to be honest, I think he is fully qualified to start in the city."

Li Jiankun agreed with what Brother Qiang said.

Lao Gao's academic qualifications are certainly not bad, but he lacks some background after all.

This county is too poor and small. Even though Lao Gao is already at the deputy county level, the two of them still feel that they have wronged him.

The minibus happened to pass by the county party committee compound. Li Jiankun hurriedly shouted to stop, and the bus stopped. The driver helped unload their large and small bags from the roof of the bus. There were not many luggages in them, most of them were gifts. The two came over to pay their respects. Year isn’t it?

It is said to be a large courtyard, but it is not majestic at all.

There is not a single building inside, they are all cave-dwelling-style buildings, and they look quite dated.

At the gate, Li Jiankun announced Gao Jinxi's name. The man at the gate was quite enthusiastic and looked at them curiously. He also called for someone to help carry the package and led them to Gao Jinxi.

The poorer the place, the more attention it pays to the Spring Festival. The surroundings were very quiet, and it seemed that work had not officially started yet. Li Jiankun and Li Jiankun were taken to a row of brick kilns in the dormitory area and stopped outside the door of one of the kilns.

"Deputy County Magistrate Gao, we have a visitor!"

There was a banging sound from the kiln, as if something had been knocked over. Then the door of the red-painted room was quickly opened, and a middle-aged man wearing a blue coat that had been washed white rushed out. Looking at the two dusty people outside the door, Gao Jinxi's eyes turned red. He thought about what to say when he saw these two boys, but at this moment, his chapped lips were closed, and there was a soreness in his throat, but he couldn't say a word. Thousands of words finally turned into pounces. Two bear hugs.

Li Jiankun was in a particularly bad mood.

Lao Gao now looks completely different from his generation, even though he is a few years older. More like their father's generation. The skin is rough, the wrinkles are obvious, the body is thin, dark and thin, and there is some hoarfrost on the head.

He is only in his thirties.

Hu Ziqiang, such a heartless person, had tears in his eyes. He touched Lao Gao's skinny cheeks and dazzling white hair with trembling hands, "Lao Gao, what's wrong with you?"

"Hey, I've reached my age. Come on, come in quickly. It's cold outside. You've suffered a lot this time, haven't you?" Gao Jinxi didn't care, or in other words, he was happy from the bottom of his heart when he saw that these two boys were still in their prime.

It is a fairly spacious cave dwelling with all simple daily necessities, but if you consider that a family of four can live in it, it is obviously not very big and is very inconvenient.

In the south, this is a single room.

The most densely furnished area in the cave is around the red lacquered five-drawer table. There is a small bookshelf next to it, which is filled with various books and materials. At this time, there are several books spread out on the table of the five-drawer table. Books and a lot of information, the cap of a Hero brand pen was not screwed on the paper.

Li Jiankun looked at Lao Gao who motioned for them to sit down casually and happily poured them tea. The tip of his nose felt sore. Lao Gao had worked hard and worked hard for this small county town that neither he nor Brother Qiang had set eyes on.

It had been less than three years since he left the capital, and he had already aged like this.

"Where are my sister-in-law and the children?"

"In my hometown in the countryside, isn't this the New Year? It's still early for school to close for the holidays, and I don't want to go back to have fun." Gao Jinxi laughed.

"People work to make money and enjoy happiness. Lao Gao, you are risking your life. Look what you have become?" Brother Qiang said angrily.

Gao Jinxi smiled coquettishly: "It's not that exaggerated. The climate here is not good. How can anyone in their thirties not look old? But I am in very good health."

After that, he raised his fists and performed a few "martial arts" moves.

"Bullshit!" Li Jiankun scolded with a smile.

Gao Jinxi closed his fist angrily, "You guys have a sip of tea first, and I'll take you to eat something delicious later."

Brother Qiang curled his lips: "What good food can be found in this place?"

"Hey, then you are wrong. Aren't you also from the north? We are second in making pasta. No one dares to claim first. Keep it to your liking. Jiankun..."

"You don't know me yet? I'm not picky about food."

After chatting for a while, the three brothers realized that they must not have eaten well on the way. Gao Jinxi led the two of them out of the county party committee compound and went to a nearby restaurant.

"Deputy County Magistrate Gao."

"Hello, Deputy County Magistrate Gao."

People who recognized Gao Jinxi along the way would greet him with a smile, and their expressions showed genuine respect.

This is a restaurant specializing in mutton.

Since it was still early and there were no other guests in sight, Gao Jinxi ran into the kitchen after asking Li Jiankun and Hu Ziqiang to sit down at a half-person dining table away from the cold air at the door.

The cook's surprised voice came from inside. After a while, a middle-aged man with a beard appeared at the door of the kitchen. He looked at Li Jiankun and Hu Ziqiang carefully from a distance, trying to see what kind of distinguished guests could make the always-searching Deputy County Magistrate Gao be so willing. .

About ten minutes later, Gao Jinxi walked out of the kitchen personally carrying a wooden tray.

"Here comes the delicious food!"

There were two bowls of noodles on the tray, fragrant mutton noodles.

"This is Qiangzi's, you don't eat coriander."

"This is Jiankun's, I added extra vinegar for you."

The bearded cook then brought a tray with a bowl of plain noodles and a bowl of crispy stewed mutton.

Li Jiankun looked at the bowl of plain noodles: "Lao Gao, you..."

"I have meat," Gao Jinxi grabbed a piece of mutton from the pottery bowl, tore it into pieces and sprinkled it into his bowl of plain noodles. "Isn't this just meat?"

Li Jiankun and Hu Ziqiang were speechless. What would they do with mutton noodles?

"I want you to try it. The taste is different. When can I not eat it?" Gao Jinxi smiled and waved, "Come on, come on, eat it while it's hot."

The noodles are hand-rolled and extra chewy. Mutton is more lean and less fat, and not smelly at all.

Delicious indeed. It's hard to find such authentic mutton noodles anywhere else.

Seeing the two of them feasting happily, Gao Jinxi was very happy. His eyes narrowed with a smile, which made the wrinkles on his face deeper and deeper. He seemed to have forgotten why the two came here and what happened that made him unable to do anything.

Li Jiankun picked up a large piece of mutton leg meat from the bowl and put it into his bowl: "Eat! Let's talk about the refinery after we are full."

Snapped!

Gao Jinxi suddenly slapped his thigh and asked with a glare: "Right, didn't you say it can be done? Why are you two the only ones here? Where are the Hong Kong businessmen?"

Hu Ziqiang raised his head from the noodle bowl, glanced at him and said, "What a bastard Hong Kong businessman."

Although he was not particularly aware of Kunzi's troubles in Hong Kong City, he knew that Huadian was 100% owned by Kunzi. He had already had a company in Hong Kong City, and many of his employees were Hong Kong businessmen working for him.

He is willing to come over in person. Isn't this a matter of course?

(End of this chapter)