Back to my 1980s

On the bus back to Shuanghuai Village.

Zhao Hua hummed an unknown tune with a delightful smile.

Seeing how happy he was, the people around him were infected by Zhao Hua's emotions and patted him on the shoulder with a smile, saying, "Dude, what good news happened? Why are you so happy?"

Zhao Hua was initially startled, but relaxed after hearing the question that followed. He realized the man wasn't there to cause trouble. Turning around, he smiled and said, "The spring breeze of reform is blowing across the land, aren't you happy?"

The person who asked the question paused for a moment, muttering "crazy" to himself, but dared not contradict him and forced a smile, saying, "Haha, happy, happy." After saying that, he turned his head away and no longer looked at Zhao Hua.

People around them heard the conversation and looked at the two of them curiously. Zhao Hua was fearless. As long as I'm not embarrassed, it's others who are embarrassed.

He looked back at them one by one until they all avoided his gaze or lowered their heads before he looked away and started humming the song again.

After a bumpy ride, the familiar scenes of Shuanghuai Village finally came into view, and Zhao Hua finally cheered up.

The bus was only passing through Shuanghuai Village. Zhao Hua stood up, steadied himself, and cleared his throat with saliva before calling out to the driver, "Driver! Stop at Shuanghuai Village ahead!"

After hearing the driver's response, Zhao Hua didn't sit back down. The car was about to stop, so he squeezed his way toward the exit.

Fortunately, it's only a few stops away from the final stop, and there aren't many people on the train right now, so it's still manageable to squeeze in.

When the bus stopped, Zhao Hua squeezed to the exit. He felt a poke behind him and turned around to see a girl who looked about thirteen or fourteen. She looked familiar, but he couldn't remember whose child she was.

It seems he was about to get off the bus when he followed closely behind, and accidentally poked himself.

Turning his gaze away, Zhao Hua got out of the car and headed straight for the convenience store. He had come back from a long trip and wanted to bring some food back for his younger sister and nephews. He hadn't bought anything in the county town because he didn't want to carry anything on the way.

He figured he could just buy something from the village store to make do; they'd be happy as long as they had candy. Zhao Hua thought to himself, without stopping.

As he approached his house, he saw Zhao Ru playing jacks with the boys. He waved the candy in his hand and called out to Zhao Ru with a smile, "Zhao Ru! Look what I have in my hand!"

Hearing this, Zhao Ru looked up and immediately saw the orange candy in Zhao Hua's hand. She threw down the pebble she was holding and ran over excitedly, saying, "Orange candy! Brother, did you strike it rich today? Why did you bring candy back?"

Zhao Hua handed the candy to Zhao Ru and said with a smile, "What? Can't I buy you candy just because I haven't made a fortune? Don't just eat it yourself, share some with those little guys too."

When the children heard that they could get candy, they didn't run over immediately, but stood there watching longingly, their eyes fixed on the candy in Zhao Ru's hand.

"Okay, brother, where did you go today? Dad asked me, and I said I didn't know." Zhao Ru took the candy and started counting heads to prepare to distribute the candy.

"Let's go inside and talk. Stop playing around and come home with me. Look at you, all dirty, lying on the ground like a little boy. What kind of girl acts like that?"

Zhao Ru's delighted smile vanished, and she glanced at Zhao Hua, muttering, "How dare you say that to me? You yourself went out to play all day and weren't home."

Zhao Hua glanced at Zhao Ru without saying a word and walked into the house. After putting the remaining change into the drawer, he returned to the main room.

Seeing that Zhao Ru had finished distributing the candy and had followed her in, Zhao Hua looked at Zhao Ru with a puzzled expression and asked, "Where are Mom and Dad? Why aren't they home?"

Zhao Ru chewed on a candied orange. Now that she was a little rich, she didn't have to put it in her mouth for a while before she could bear to eat it. "Dad was asked to go to work and won't be back until tonight. Mom doesn't know. She just saw him."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Hua rubbed his chin and said, "Nobody's home? Then I'll go out and have some fun too."

Zhao Ru quickly replied, "Where are we going? I want to come too!"

Zhao Hua waved his hand and said, "You stay here to look after the house; it can't be left unattended."

Zhao Ru glared angrily at Zhao Hua and said, "Fine! You went out to play for half a day and left me at home, and now that you've finally come back, you're going to leave me at home again and go out to play by yourself!"

"I'm not going anywhere, I'm just wandering around the village. Okay, I'm leaving now," Zhao Hua waved his hand and walked out.

When I first came back, it was raining and the roads were bad, so my childhood friends didn't come to see me. Later, even though I was out early and back late, I still didn't run into them. Today, I finally had some free time, so I went to see what they were up to.

After Zhao Hua went out, he turned left and right and went into a small courtyard. Before he even entered the house, he could hear the sound of dominoes being smashed and people cursing.

Sure enough, they were all still there. Zhao Hua happily pushed open the door and went inside.

A thin, young man in his early twenties, wearing a floral shirt, turned around at the sound of the voice. Seeing it was Zhao Hua, he smiled and said, "Hey Hua! What a rare guest! Haven't seen you in days! Where have you been? Did your family say you went fishing when we went to your house?"

Zhao Hua looked at the young man in front of him with a smile and said, "Of course, what else could I do?"

People around chimed in, "Really? Where did you catch it? I heard it from someone else before but didn't believe it."

Zhao Hua found an empty seat on the bed next to their table and said, "I got a small boat over there on the Qing River, and I moored it on the shore. Haven't you seen it?"

"Ah! So that's yours?"

"Huh? That's yours? We saw it before and were wondering whose boat it was. Zhu Zi even said it was someone's and was thinking of untying it and kicking it into the river. Luckily, we didn't." As they spoke, the group turned their attention back to the dominoes in their hands.

Zhao Hua smiled but didn't reply. He knew it was just a joke. If it was tied up on the edge of the village, it belonged to the villagers. They wouldn't mess with a fellow villager's boat. These days, even if high-ranking officials came to the village, they would still need the cooperation of the village cadres.

Zhao Hua patted the side of the bed, looked up and focused his gaze on the group of guys, matching each name with the people in front of him.

The young man who first spotted Zhao Hua looked at him and said, "Want to play a couple of rounds?"

Zhao Hua shook his head and said, "I'm not playing anymore. You guys play. I just came to watch."

The young man nodded without saying anything and went back to playing cards. They didn't share Zhao Hua's sentimental feelings...

Zhao Hua stayed inside for a while, but found the smoke too pungent, so he went home. As for the idea of ​​helping his brothers out, he was just a nobody; he could help them out later when he had the opportunity.

"Brother, why are you back so soon?" Zhao Ru asked curiously as she ran over to Zhao Hua, who had returned home so quickly.

Zhao Hua reached out and patted Zhao Ru's head, laughing, "I just went out for a walk, didn't I just tell you?" There was no way around it; it was just too convenient...

Zhao Ru turned her head away from Zhao Hua's hand and said, "Mother is back. She was just asking about you."

"What did you ask?"

"They're just asking where you went, what else could they ask?"

"Okay, I got it."

Zhao Hua withdrew his hand and walked into the house. He had also wanted to discuss Song Xueping's matter with his mother.