Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 589 Chapter 588 "Practicing Stall"

Fang Minghua soon returned to Xijing by train.

After returning home, I talked to Song Tangtang about going to Ningming again. Song Tangtang suddenly said, "Minghua, we haven't seen Brother Zhou for several years. I'm not too busy at work tomorrow. How about you accompany me to visit him?"

"Sure, Zhouzhi isn't far away anyway, and I want to meet him too."

So the next morning, Song Tangtang did not go to work. The two drove straight to Zhouzhi County and soon found the county agricultural machinery factory.

Fang Minghua parked the car on the side of the street and went down to ask the guard at the gate.

"Excuse me, Master, is Zhou Shunlai coming to work today?"

"Shunlai? Laid off!"

"Laid off?" Fang Minghua was surprised: "Why was he laid off?"

The guard glanced at Fang Minghua and sighed, "Shunlai was disabled and couldn't do many jobs, so he became one of the first workers to be laid off from the factory."

"Then do you know where he lives?"

"Yes, it's on Nanguan Main Street. There's a red brick building on the east side. That's the staff quarters of the agricultural machinery factory. You can go over and ask."

"OK, thanks."

Fang Minghua hurried back to the car and told Song Tangtang what he had learned.

Song Tangtang was also shocked when she heard this: "How could this happen?!"

Fang Minghua sighed: "Let's go and visit Brother Zhou's house."

Fang Minghua drove to Nanguan Main Street, found the tube-shaped building of the agricultural machinery factory, and met an aunt who asked about Zhou Shunli's residence.

The aunt told him enthusiastically: "It's in the two rooms on the east side of the second floor. But I haven't seen him and his family for several days. He has been laid off and his wife doesn't have a stable job. I heard that she has returned to her hometown in the countryside."

The two had to return home disappointed.

On the way back, Fang Minghua and Song Tangtang were in a heavy mood and didn't speak.

Seeing his wife like this, Fang Minghua comforted her, "It's okay, we'll come back and ask around later, maybe we'll get some news."

Song Tangtang nodded after hearing this.

The matter was put aside for the time being and everyone went back to their own business.

The first World Literature Award jury meeting is about to be held, and Fang Minghua has started to get busy with this matter again. The meeting will still be held at Tangcheng Hotel.

That afternoon, he talked with Manager Wang of Tangcheng Hotel about the upcoming meeting and asked the hotel to provide the best service to entertain the guests.

Manager Wang naturally agreed.

"Chairman Fang, the provincial leaders also attach great importance to this matter. There are also famous people from the cultural circles of Hong Kong and Taiwan among the delegates. I will select the best waiters from the hotel to serve the conference. You can rest assured about this."

The two discussed some specific reception details, and then Fang Minghua drove away and turned east along Hanguang Road.

At that time, the South Second Ring Road in Xijing had not been repaired yet. It was actually a sewage canal. The canal was filled with muddy black water flowing all day long. If you got closer, you could smell a strange smell. On both sides of the canal were tall trees and shrubs with dense branches, which completely covered the sewage canal. Under the trees were street stalls, which looked very lively.

From the 1980s to the early 1990s, especially with the arrival of a wave of layoffs of state-owned enterprise workers, setting up stalls in the city's busy streets and public places to resell clothes, socks and the like was called "practicing stalls."

This formed a "road economy." It only gradually disappeared after the emergence of urban management.

Fang Minghua slowed down the car and paid attention to the situation on both sides while driving. Suddenly, he saw someone he knew on the side of the road.

The front of his stall was the same as other stall owners, with a small stall selling socks, leggings and the like, but when he was taking the merchandise from customers, he only used one hand because the other sleeve was empty!
Disabled people!
Zhou Shunlai!
He actually came to set up a stall.

He was wearing a faded jacket, which made him look much older than he had been in previous years. Fang Minghua did not rush to stop the car, but drove over and turned into a side street, pulled over,

Then he got out of the car and walked back, pretending that he hadn't seen Zhou Shunlai. When he got close to him, he was surprised and shouted, "It's you, Brother Zhou!"

Zhou Shunlai was bargaining with a woman when he saw someone asking him to look up. It was Fang Minghua whom he hadn't seen for a long time. He smiled and said, "It's you, Minghua, wait a minute."

"Sister, this pair of leggings is of very good quality. Look at the elasticity." Wang Zhoushun was about to pull the trouser legs, only to find that he couldn't do it with one hand.

"How about this, four dollars! Four dollars is the cheapest!" Zhou Shun said.

"Forget it, no more!"

The woman turned and left.

"Hey, big sister." Seeing the woman squatting on someone else's stall and flipping through her leggings, Zhou Shunlai didn't know what to shout anymore.

"Brother Zhou, how is business?" Fang Minghua asked in a low voice.

"Not very good, you saw it just now." Zhou Shunlai sighed: "Look at the streets full of people selling pants and socks, how can the business be good?"

Fang Minghua couldn't say that he had gone to Zhouzhi to look for him a few days ago, so he asked, "Brother Zhou, didn't you work at the county agricultural machinery factory? Were you laid off?"

"Yes, the business is not doing well and I got laid off." Zhou Shunlai said calmly: "Nine out of ten people who set up stalls on this street are like me."

"My wife is now working as a waitress in restaurants in Xiaozhai. My child needs money to go to junior high school. I can't just sit around and do nothing, right? So I came out to set up a stall and earn some money."

"That's true." Fang Minghua nodded, and suddenly said, "Brother Zhou, didn't my wife Song Tangtang open a company? Some time ago I heard that she was short of security guards. Do you want to go? The treatment is absolutely excellent."

Zhou Shunlai hesitated and said, "Minghua, thank you for your kindness. You see, I am missing an arm, and I am not good at the job of a security guard. The factory laid me off because of this. I will not cause any trouble for you."

"What trouble!" Fang Minghua said hurriedly.

Fang Minghua is right.

Zhou Shunlai finally agreed.

Being a security guard is certainly much better than setting up a stall. At least, you can be sure of a good harvest regardless of drought or flood.

He also knew that Fang Minghua would not treat him unfairly.

Fang Minghua left Zhou Shunlai an address and asked him to go to the company tomorrow, and Zhou Shunlai agreed.

After saying goodbye to Zhou Shunlai, Fang Minghua drove home. On the way, he thought about his chance encounter with Zhou Shunlai today, and suddenly remembered that he had not come to this era, and the ending of Liu Feng in the book "Youth".

His life was a complete tragedy. After his youth and beauty passed, he sold pirated books, married a prostitute, and lingered on at the bottom of society.

But when Liu Feng's small business went bankrupt, the prostitute left him.

But no matter what, Zhou Shunlai would never go that far.

When Song Tangtang returned home in the evening, he told her what he had seen and heard that day.

Song Tangtang was naturally very happy.

"Don't worry, I will make good arrangements for Brother Zhou."

Fang Minghua would not doubt this.

It is now early April, and the final judging stage of the first World Chinese Literature Award has arrived.

(End of this chapter)