The Most Simple Wish

Leaving the small building of the Education Bureau, Tao Huizhen's watch needle has pointed to one o'clock in the afternoon. Along the road, Tao Huizhen went back. She stops in front of a telephone booth, puts in a coin, skillfully dials the number, and holds the microphone to her ear.

In the streets and alleys of Shenyang, there have been few public telephone booths in the past two years, and many of them have been demolished because they were abandoned. Most people use mobile phones, and the coin box is becoming an antique. However, in the small town of Mengla County, there are several, which have a somewhat retro cylindrical appearance. They are placed under the trees on the sidewalk and can be seen from a distance. Let Tao Huizhen feel like a moment back a few years ago.

In the summer of 2003.

Looking at the faded red telephone booth, Tao Huizhen's mood is as warm as the weather.

On lazy afternoons, she always finds a phone booth in the corner of the road to call Wenxiu, who is far away in Australia. At that time, Wenxiu had just been to Australia for about a year, and it was relatively cheap to make international calls at the telephone booth. Tao Huizhen spent an hour or two chatting with her, and the summer in China was just the winter in Australia. Wenxiu often shivers with cold, and the two end the conversation.

Later, the phone booth where Tao Huizhen often called was demolished, so she bought a mobile phone. Probably never used a public phone booth again. Now, a few years later, she is doing familiar actions again. Relying on the glass door of the telephone booth, Tao Huizhen finds a feeling of long absence, like returning to her student days.

She called home, reported safety, and said something about her feelings in Dai Township during this period of time. How did the 28 students make her feel great responsibility and strong sense of honor. How to talk about the simplicity of Dai People's temperament and the purity of life. Here is a place completely different from the city.

My parents have nothing else to say but to tell me. Because Tao Huizhen's mobile phone couldn't get through, the second elder asked Tao Huizhen's specific address and emergency contact information. He also said that other dance troupes had visited her recently, and hoped that Tao Huizhen would carefully consider the way out in the future. Although she has resigned from the original small dance company, as long as she goes back, the company will employ her with satisfactory salary.

"I know you won't think about it. You're more determined than anyone else. I just want to tell you that when you're OK, you should think more about the future. Well, don't worry about us. We are all very good, at least better than your gully. " Dad cut off the phone ahead of time.

The sound of "dudududu..." made Tao Huizhen feel stunned. She held the microphone in her hand, and her father's strong northeast accent was still ringing in her mind. After a while, she hung the microphone on the telephone.

Walking on the street, Tao Huizhen is holding a small purse in her hand. She just received a subsidy of more than 100 yuan, which is very shabby.

She thought about what she should buy for her students. It's not easy for her to come to the county town once. The time is limited. After all, the distance is too far. Think of in the back of the school building, bookshelves on the display of several dilapidated books, children have been read hundreds of times. The contents can be recited, but they regard it as a treasure and put it in order. Tao Huizhen can't help but want to buy some extra-curricular reading materials for children.

But the problem is that the money can't buy a few extra-curricular books. Brand new books will be read by hungry students in a few days. Is it a bit too extravagant compared with the textbooks they don't have? She couldn't help but count hard again.

Holding her wallet, she couldn't help remembering the message from her parents on the phone. Another dance company, willing to pay a lot of money to invite her to join. Compared with the current subsidy of more than 100 yuan, it will be a considerable income. It's not difficult to buy 200 books, but she can't dream of unrealistic things. At present, she is a supporting teacher, she can only earn the income of supporting teachers, and the dancers have nothing to do with her.

Down in the mind of wishful thinking. Tao Huizhen saw the corner of the alley diagonally opposite. The house was painted green. It was a post office. She walked towards the house. In front of the post office, Tao Huizhen also saw the green mailbox. Her pace slowed down a lot, and her face showed some nostalgia.

Don't know if the mailbox is still in normal service? Maybe someone will write letters, but this must be the end of the way in which letters convey information. It won't be long before the post box, which could be seen everywhere in the streets ten years ago, will completely disappear from people's view.

Ten years ago, Tao Huizhen was a young girl who just came into contact with dance. She wrote letters to post boxes on the street, so she would miss the services and facilities that were popular at that time and gradually faded out of people's view. In other words, from that time on, she occasionally missed the past.

In the past decade, not only some facilities have disappeared. With the rapid development of the country, people's lifestyle has changed dramatically. Some traces can only be seen from some small cities to see the blooming of their afterglow. Their brilliance has become history or stories in some novels.

Every change of the times is a cultural innovation. Some things are no longer there, some things are coming. Some cultures are worth passing on and remembering. Tao Huizhen thought of Wenxiu again - really can't disappear.

Standing at the gate of the post office, Tao Huizhen has a broad view of the whole town. She can't imagine what China will look like in another ten years. Where she would be and what she was doing. But in the ten years since 1996, through the analysis of China's rapid development. In the next decade, China's development will be more stable and faster.

Tao Huizhen's mood suddenly became calm and complicated. She had a premonition that in another ten or fifteen years. Everything she could feel at that time would be different.

"By mail?" A man looks at Tao Huizhen from a glass window. Maybe Tao Huizhen has been staring at the mailbox in a daze, suspicious, afraid of her sabotage, just to take the initiative to ask.

Tao Huizhen bent her head close to the small window and saw the man's face with glasses. He should be a post office worker“ Hello, can I order a newspaper here? " Tao Huizhen asked.

"How long? Where to? "

"Well, for several months in a row, to dachacun primary school."

"Dachacun primary school?" The man in the post office, his glasses are flashing with doubt.

"Yes, there is an education point in dacha village. Don't your postman know it?"

As soon as the man's neck shrank, he seemed to understand it. His voice became loud several levels: "you mean dacha village on the other side of dacha mountain, where there is an education point. This is the first time that people from dacha village have come to order newspapers. It's too difficult for us to deliver newspapers in that place. Our newspaper carriers haven't run so far. It takes two or three hours to ride a bicycle back and forth. "

"Is there a distance requirement for delivering newspapers here? It's 15 kilometers from dacha village to the county seat. " Tao Huizhen said seriously.

It is not difficult for a man to tell from his accent that Tao Huizhen came from a place outside Dai township. He pushed the eyeglass frame, put his finger into the lens, rubbed his eyes, and then said: "we usually only send newspapers to a few families around the county. People in the village don't read newspapers. What newspapers do you read? If it's not for the current affairs section, I suggest you lengthen the delivery period, for example, once a month to help you send newspapers to such a far place, what do you think? "

"A month..."

"There's really no way. The road in dacha village is too hard. It's hard to send it once a month. But in the village, we should support those who can order as many newspapers as you do. " The staff of the post office expressed their sincerity to Tao Huizhen.

Obviously, newspapers should be delivered every day, but it's a long way and winding mountain road. In a small post office, only one messenger can't do the hard work.

Tao Huizhen's intention of ordering newspapers is to use newspapers as extracurricular reading materials of dachacun primary school. She can't afford a large number of extracurricular books, so she has to think of cheap newspapers. If, as the man said, the newspaper, which should have been read every day, is delayed for a month, it seems to have no great influence. Let children increase the amount of reading and knowledge is also achieved.

Finally, Tao Huizhen agreed to the staff's suggestion and shortened the time from one month to 20 days. In this way, every 20 days, children can not only read new things, but also understand what is happening outside the mountains. Children can learn about the outside world from the news. Even events that happen far away from home. Tao Huizhen is satisfied with her sudden fantasy.

In the end, she chose two newspapers, one is people's daily and the other is ethnic newspaper in Yunnan Province. Two newspapers cost one yuan a day. Tao Huizhen ordered them for five months in a row, and the subsidy she received today is just enough.

The order date for the newspaper starts tomorrow and ends in five months. I paid the money and registered it. By the way, Tao Huizhen took a copy of today's newspaper and prepared to return.

"Dacha village is high in the mountains and has a long way to go. If you want to go back, you can't see the road before you get home." After learning that Tao Huizhen came to the county on foot, the eyes behind the post office man's glasses gathered a trace of sympathy. He looked at the clock on the wall behind him. It was almost three o'clock.

Tao Huizhen didn't stay any longer. She walked along the road of the county, and soon saw the boundless fields and terraces. Behind the small county gradually disappeared at the bottom of the field of vision, like a small village, insignificant.

She noticed from the front page of the newspaper in her hand that on this day, China's Qinghai Tibet railway, two phases of construction, went through more than 40 years, and finally completed.

This day is July 1, 2006.