Chapter 2 Jiaxiang Past

The sufferings and sins that have suffered in the past years,

The extremely difficult road I have walked,

All the ups and downs experienced have turned into tears.

The next day, Bao Zhan woke up with a split headache and didn't know where he was. After looking at him for a long time, he found that he had returned to Baojia Village and was lying on the bed in his old house.

Yesterday, the village party secretary got drunk and actually competed with Director Hao. Director Hao said that he had arranged a room in the hotel so that he could have a drunk Baozhan rested well.

Secretary Bao said: "Why did Xiao Baozi stay in a hotel? Where did he go? He got home and asked him to stay home!"

The hens outside the window were croaking and the shadows of trees were swaying. The old house had not been living for a long time. Although after a hasty cleaning, there was still a dull atmosphere in the house. The bedding was all new. It should have been carried by the Secretary Bao from home. The other things were so old, old boxes, old cabinets, and old chairs. Everything kept what they were when they left home.

The old house is part of the past.

If a person can return to his childhood home, he will feel like time traveling. When he sees the old calendar sticking on the wall, the page of the Chinese textbook on the table is "Young Runtu". The old TV is still in its original position. The old clothes he liked to wear were hung behind the door. The door, which he had been in and out many years ago, felt a little dazed, fresh and confused, strange and familiar.

Bao Zhan was born and raised here.

He died of both his parents since he was a child, and he had never seen his parents look like him, and had never had any memory of his family.

The old time of the pomegranate yard is filled with memories. Over the years, the pomegranate tree planted by my father and uncle has grown lush branches and leaves. Although it was summer, Bao Zhan was impressed by this tree one winter. Heavy snow flew across the village, and the pomegranate tree was lonely. He also stood alone in the snowy yard. He and the tree were silent.

Bao Zhan has been washing and cooking alone since he was very young, reading and writing alone, and falling asleep alone. Although he is taken care of by his close relatives, he always feels lonely, and it seems that the whole world has abandoned him.

This child experienced the suffering of life too early, which made him extremely strong.

There is a three-wheeled baby stroller in the corner of the wall. The young Baozhan often rides on it, playing alone in the yard, looking up at the sky, staring at the flying birds and falling yellow leaves. Now the baby stroller has long been rusted and looks sad.

The place where we played back then is now covered with moss.

Bao Zhan has become accustomed to the prosperous and indifferent urban life. When he returned to his hometown, he immediately felt the strong sense of humanity.

When all the close relatives of the village heard that Baozhang had returned, they came to visit him. The whole village belonged to a family, and the house was soon filled with relatives. They were all concerned about their well-being, without any politeness, only sincerity.

A simple middle-aged woman said: "Xiaobao, I know you are busy, so take the time to go home to have a meal. My sister-in-law will give you fried crispy meat. You liked it when you were a child."

Bao Zhan called out to his second sister-in-law and agreed repeatedly.

Two childhood playmates came forward to let the cigarette, and Bao Zhan said he would not smoke. The child who caught loaches together had now become a thirty-year-old man, smiling silly, with traces of life on his face. Bao Zhan recognized it for a long time before he shouted out their names in surprise.

An old lady with silver hair and a hunchbacked old man with a cane walked into the house. Everyone moved away. The old man was the old patriarch of Baojia Village.

Bao Zhan stepped forward and called out Grandpa and Fourth Grandma.

Bao Zhan was a little dull and feared by interpersonal interactions. He was originally an introverted man. Facing his enthusiastic relatives, he was at a loss and just took out the prepared gifts and distributed them to his elders. The fourth grandmother held Bao Zhan's head and cried in tears. He kept saying that Bao Zhan was a hard child since he was a child and had suffered a lot of sins. The fourth grandfather was talking nonsense. The old man was speechless, and Bao Zhan only heard a few words: Shanglin, burn paper.

The sound of car horns came from the yard. The Public Security Bureau sent a police car to pick up Bao Zhan. Bao Zhan was amnesty and took the opportunity to escape from the siege of the villagers.

The policeman who drove was named Sun Dayue, who was responsible for being a driver for Bao Zhan during the case handling. Although Dayue was a civil servant, he was in his thirties and had not yet gotten married. He had an old woman paralyzed in bed at home. He had been ill for many years. In order to treat his mother, the family was already poor and owed a lot of money. He was also a filial son and was unwilling to send his mother to a welfare home, so no girl was willing to marry him.

Also accompanying were female reporters and photographers from the county TV station, who planned to follow up on the "human centipede" case.

The car drove out of the village and headed to the rural road

, On both sides of the road are straight poplar trees, each leaf is dazzlingly green in the sun, and cicadas are heard from the trees, and the breeze gently blows through the surrounding golden wheat fields. The old shepherd leans on the grass under the tree to rest. In the distance, a harvester is cutting wheat in the field.

Bao Zhan remembered what the fourth grandfather said. When he passed by a small town, he bought some memorial supplies, incense, ghost coins, fire paper, and a bottle of wine. He found his parents' grave based on his memory, knelt down and kowtowed a few times, and then cried bitterly.

The hardships, sins, and extremely difficult roads that have been experienced over the years have all turned into tears.

The female reporter named Zhang Lei conducted a brief interview with Bao Zhan in the car.

Female reporter Zhang Lei said: "I watched that surveillance video, too. It's a bit like the corpse driving in the movie. Do you believe in corpse driving?"

Bao Zhan said: "Of course I don't believe that corpses can't walk or crawl."

Female reporter Zhang Lei said: "If the person carrying the fishing rod in front was a criminal suspect and the four victims crawled behind him, why wouldn't they run away?"

Bao Zhan said: "They may not be able to escape."

Sun Dayue said: "Now, the suspect has not been arrested yet, and the case needs to be kept confidential. Your TV station should not report on these."

Female reporter Zhang Lei said: "Don't worry, I'm just curious. Just ask, there is such a big case in our county town, and everyone is very concerned about it. These will not be broadcast after the case is solved."

Sun Dayue said: "Let Xiaobao take a break. He got drunk last night and probably still had a headache now. Please leave me a phone number and ask me if you have anything to do."

Female reporter Zhang Lei said: "Okay, please provide me with some revelations and I'll treat you to dinner. Where will we go next and will we go back to the Public Security Bureau?"

Bao Zhan said: "Let's go find a witness."

In that surveillance video, five people lined up in a queue and walked slowly. The man in the front was wearing a raincoat, medium figure, and carrying a fishing rod on his shoulder. The four people behind him were also wearing raincoats, crawling on the ground like a centipede, with a slow and strange posture. The group passed the intersection of the county No. 1 Middle School. It was raining at that time, and the surveillance camera was wet with the rain, and the scene captured was a bit blurry.

The video shows that it is at three o'clock in the morning and there is no one on the street.

Bao Zhan thought of a person named Lao Yang, who opened a breakfast shop at the intersection and got up at three o'clock every day to do business. He was likely to have witnessed the scene at that time.

There is a snack street at the gate of each school. The streets are often messy and sewage flows when it rains. The dumpling restaurant is next to the bun shop. Next to the Shaxian snack is Lanzhou ramen. The aroma of spicy hot pot and the smell of stinky tofu are spreading. The squid sounds of iron plates mixed with the hissing of chicken chops in the oil pan. The grilled sausage machine is still rotating. The shovel has just turned up the pancake steak, and the milk tea shop is covered with pieces of paper with students' messages written on it.

It is no exaggeration to say that at the school gate is the most unforgettable and delicious snack in a person's life.

Because after graduation, I can never eat it again.

Because these all contain the memories of youth.

Students who graduated from Jiaxiang No. 1 Middle School should not forget the local snacks: 虹花花.

The soup, which originated from Jining City, Shandong Province, is popular along the Grand Canal of the Jinghang River in Qilu, is said to be a famous food, but outsiders actually don’t know it. The soup is made of beef bones or sheep bones, and is served with spices, green onions, and ginger. It needs to be cooked over high heat for several hours to boil the soup to milky white. Break an egg in a bowl, pour hot bone soup and rinse it open, put thin slices of cooked meat, sprinkle with coriander, and drizzle with sesame oil. It has all the color, aroma and flavor.

This bone soup nurtures the hardworking, kind, simple and strong children of southwestern Shandong.

Lao Yang's soup was originally a wooden shed that was so simple that it could not be more simple. It was an illegal building. There was a sign hanging above the shed, but it had been so smoked by fireworks that it was difficult to recognize its original color. One year, the strong wind in winter swept away half of the sign, and now only the word "Lao Yang" is left.

Later, Lao Yang rented a small shop. There was a big pot in front of the shop, with several worn wooden square tables, and small stools scattered all over the floor. Lao Yang was the first person to get up at this snack street. He had to get up at three o'clock every day to make bone soup.

Ten years ago, if this soup was not added with meat, it would be sold for one dollar per bowl. Ten years later, Lao Yang would still be sold for one dollar.

Over the past decade, rents have increased dozens of times and meat prices have increased several times, and Lao Yang's soup has never increased.

Someone asked Lao Yang: "Why don't you raise the price? Are you stupid?"

Lao Yang replied: "What price is rising? Those who come to my place for breakfast are all those who work hard laborers, and they are all poor students. What price do you think will increase?"

Regardless of spring and summer

In autumn and winter, Lao Yang gets up at three in the morning every day to cook soup. Many years ago, Lao Yang was still Xiao Yang. The first group of people who ate here were loading and unloading at Dongguan Railway Station, working on construction sites, and dealers driving carts and donkey carts to pick up goods from afar, shouting that donkeys and horses should park their vehicles. This group of people didn't have to talk to Lao Yang at all. As soon as they sat at the small table, Lao Yang would bring a bowl of hot soup. If snowflakes were floating in the sky and the north wind was howling, they would sweat profusely after drinking this bowl of soup and were full of strength. Then they set off on the road and ran towards their lives.

In addition to selling soup, Lao Yang also makes oil cakes. This kind of cake is called Zhuangfu, which is very hungry and can eat it for a day.

The oil cakes are rolled with green onions and pickles. The pickles are pickled by Lao Yang’s wife. There is a large jar in the store, which is full of radish sticks and cucumbers. These are grown in his vegetable fields and are provided for free.

Lao Yang was very frank about money. His soup restaurant only sold for one morning, and after noon, he closed the door and went to play chess.

During the college entrance examination that year, Lao Yang made a major decision: all students who took the college entrance examination would go to the store to have free meals, and each person would have a portion of oil cake and a bowl of soup.

During the two days of the college entrance examination, Lao Yang's shop was filled with students eating. Lao Yang's kindness relieved the huge pressure of the college entrance examination. The student thanked Lao Yang, and Lao Yang said: "Child, don't worry about whether he was admitted to Peking University or Tsinghua University, go home more often in the future."

Lao Yang's wife muttered and complained: "I have eaten and drunk for free these two days, how much has I lost? I've been fighting for the seeds (fool)."

Old Yang yelled at his wife: "Get out of the way, don't be stupid (don't be disobedient). Go along, you are so sad (why are you causing trouble)."

Over time, this has become a traditional habit of small shops. For many years, whenever the college entrance examination is taken, students gather in Lao Yang's shop. It is said that drinking Lao Yang's soup on the college entrance examination day can perform more than usual and achieve better results, so many parents come to queue up for the students for good luck.

One year, the urban management wanted to confiscate Lao Yang's tables and chairs, and he was not allowed to set up a stall in front of the door, and even beat Lao Yang.

This is a hornet's nest. Almost every student who graduated from Jiaxiang No. 1 Middle School remembers Lao Yang's old kindness. Some have already held important positions. Some people in the municipal party committee and provincial party committee have asked about this matter. Under pressure, the urban management team leader personally went to Lao Yang's shop to bow and apologize.

The police car stopped in front of Lao Yang's store, Baozhang got out of the car, and greeted Lao Yang with a smile.

Bao Zhan worked as an apprentice in Lao Yang's shop when he was in high school and worked part-time, so he was very familiar with Lao Yang and did not have to be polite.

Lao Yang said: "Little bun, I heard that you have become a big detective. I will talk to you after I finish my work. You sit for a while, but you haven't eaten yet, right?"

Bao Zhan said, "Don't worry about eating, I'll help you first." He skillfully tied his apron, picked up the rolling pin and started rolling the cakes, picked it up and placed it on the rack, brushed it with some oil, turned it over, and soon baked the last few oil cakes.

The customers in the store gradually dispersed, and Lao Yang brought each of them a bowl of soup and a cake.

Bao Zhan was not polite, so he picked up the cake and applied spicy sauce. This spicy sauce was very spicy. It was made of pickled peppers called "Wangtian Monkey" in Shandong. Then he rolled them with shredded pickles, picked up a green onion, took a big bite, and then took another sip of the soup, praising: "This meal is much better than the big banquet yesterday."

Lao Yang asked: "Is it smelling?"

Bao Zhan said: "It's really a taste, it's still the same taste as before."

After dinner, Sun Dayue asked Lao Yang timidly: "Can you issue invoices here? No tickets cannot be reimbursed." Dayue is a grassroots policeman, and his salary is not much. In order to save my mother's medical expenses, he is usually very stingy. He hesitated whether he should rush to pay the bill for this meal.

Lao Yang said: "Where can I get invoices in this small shop? Xiao Baozi is my apprentice. Is it cost to eat here?"

After eating, Bao Zhan began to talk about the main business and asked Lao Yang if he had seen any abnormal situation on the day of the incident.

Lao Yang thought about it carefully and said, "It was raining that day, and I did see a few people wearing raincoats. Men and women couldn't see clearly. However, they were walking by my door, not crawling. You said it was too scary. How could anyone crawl on the street?"

Bao Zhan thoughtfully and said to Dayue: "It seems that when he reached the intersection, the four people knelt down and crawled."

Sun Dayue said: "What is the motivation for doing this?"

Female reporter Zhang Lei said: "At three o'clock in the morning, they walked past Lao Yang's door. Why didn't those people call for help?"
Chapter completed!