South of Chutian

At 07:30 in the morning, Tang Heng stood outside the hotel cafeteria. He got up early and had already had breakfast, while other teachers and students were still eating.

It seemed that there had been a light rain in the early morning, but the sky had cleared up now, and the sun fell on the slightly damp blue-gray ground.Tang Heng was distracted looking at the lines on the blue bricks when he heard footsteps behind him.

Lu Yue was carrying a backpack and smiled at Tang Heng: "Junior brother, didn't you sleep well last night?"

"A little insomnia," Tang Heng also smiled at her, "I have a bad complexion?"

"Dark circles are a bit heavy."

"Oh, I'm fine." Tang Heng thought to himself, no wonder the students who met him just now seemed to have seen a ghost, quickly said "Good morning, teacher", and slipped on tiptoe.

"I heard you vomited yesterday." Lu Yue pulled a few strands of hair behind her ears and asked with concern, "Did you drink too much last night?"

"You can't expect brother to drink alone," Tang Heng said with a smile, "take it easy today."

Lu Yue nodded, with a somewhat apologetic voice: "There should be dinner today, and it will be fine to go to the village to investigate tomorrow."

"It's okay, sister."

The two stopped talking, each looking at the blue skyline in the distance.Tang Heng felt somewhat remorseful. Last night when Sun Jihao asked him if he had been to Guizhou before, he said that he came to pay his respects as if in revenge... now Lu Yue probably knows too.Calm down and think about it, saying this is purely a flash of tongue.Li Yuechi was running a small shop and talking about love, but he made a rumor for himself out of thin air.

Since the high-speed train arrived in Tongren yesterday afternoon, until now, one bad thing after another.The investigation lasted for ten days, and according to Director Xu, the work schedule was very full——Tang Heng hoped it would be so.He was dragged on a business trip by Director Xu in a daze, and his only wish at the moment was to complete the work smoothly, and nothing else would happen.

As for what has already happened, it is best to pretend that it did not happen.

At 45:[-], all the teachers and students gathered outside the cafeteria. Today's arrangement is divided into two groups. Tang Heng and Sun Jihao took the students to investigate the meat processing factory, and Director Xu Lu Yue took the students to visit the downstream sales chain.The car sent by the local government had already arrived. Walking out of the hotel gate, I saw a long string of black seven-seat SUVs parked end to end on the side of the road.

Tang Heng was stunned for a moment, and Sun Jihao smiled lowly beside him: "I didn't expect it, this battle."

"You were also like this in Guiyang last year?"

"It's even more exaggerated than this. We lived in the city at the time, and the transportation was more convenient. The local area specially found an etiquette team, and there was a hostess lady standing in front of each car, holding a sign of 'Welcome' in her hand-all wearing cheongsams. , imagine that scene."

Tang Heng: "..."

Although there is no hostess, this long string of shiny SUVs is enough to make people trance-didn't they come to poor counties to investigate poverty alleviation?This battle is like a representative of the National People's Congress going to Beijing to report on his work.

Director Xu and Lu Yue took the lead to lead the students into the car. Sun Jihao was still greeting the deputy director sent by the factory. The deputy director claimed that his surname was Huang, and he looked in his early 40s. He repeatedly asked Sun Jihao to call him "Old Huang", Sun Jihao said , Huang Dong is too polite!Huang Dong said, no no no, you can call me Lao Huang, Professor Sun!Sun Jihao said, haha, then... Then Lao Huang, don't call me Professor Sun, why are you so serious... Lao Huang and Sun Jihao had enough of being polite, and they turned to hold Tang Heng's hand again, with a pair of hands down Triangular eyes are piercing, Mr. Tang!I take the liberty to ask, are you Gui Geng?I guess no more than 25 years old, definitely no more than 25!

Tang Heng didn't sleep well last night. He was sleepy at first, but now he felt his head was getting bigger. He said in a cold and perfunctory voice, "You guessed wrong. Let's hurry up and set off."

Seeing the wind, Lao Huang nodded again and again: "No problem, no problem, let's start now!" After speaking, he personally led Tang Heng to the second SUV in the convoy. The driver had already opened the door of the back seat and stood aside respectfully.

Tang Heng didn't think much, and sat in with a bow.The carriage was as tidy as new, with a faint lemon scent in the air, but Tang Heng had an ominous premonition—although he deliberately didn't eat much breakfast, perhaps this motion sickness was inevitable.

He had a strong reaction to motion sickness medicine, and would vomit every time he took it, so he only used motion sickness stickers.When Sun Jihao bought motion sickness medicine last night, he didn't say anything. He thought that one more thing is worse than one thing less. If there is no motion sickness sticker, he will carry it by himself first.It was noisy outside, and Lao Huang was greeting the students again. Tang Heng closed his eyes and leaned gently on the seat.The driver was still standing outside the car, and the closed car was uncommonly quiet.

After a while, the sound of people outside gradually died down, and Tang Heng heard a "click", which meant that the car door was opened.Tang Heng knew that the driver had gotten into the car, but he still had his eyes closed. The smell of lemon made him dizzy and he didn't want to talk.

After waiting for about half a minute, the car did not move.The driver didn't say a word, he was as quiet as a cloud of air.Tang Heng opened his eyes in a daze, and then became sober in an instant.

Li Yuechi was sitting in the passenger seat, turning around and staring at him.

He wore a gray stand-up collar jacket, jeans, and a very cropped cropped head.He just stared at Tang Heng unabashedly for half a minute, maybe longer.

Tang Heng suddenly remembered the cold and mocking smile on his face when he said "You want to confirm whether I like women or not" last night.

"...Why are you here?" He thought he would never see him again.

"They asked me to come and receive the leader." Li Yuechi bit the word "leader" very hard.

Tang Heng was speechless, and said after a while: "The other team is responsible for researching the sales chain." He thought that even if Li Yuechi was called to receive them today, he should not be the one receiving them.

"Can't you see?" Li Yuechi sneered, "They think I 'know' you, and they want to rely on me to get close to you."

"..."

Tang Heng was blocked by him and couldn't speak, what should I say?He and Li Yuechi did know each other - and more than an understatement of "knowledge"?It's a bad debt between them, so it's better not to talk about it.

If those people knew what happened between him and Li Yuechi, they would probably try their best to prevent Li Yuechi from appearing in front of him.

Tang Heng squeezed out a sentence: "Won't it delay your business?" Then he thought again, "Oh... your girlfriend can help you look at the store."

Li Yuechi sneered: "That's right."

Tang Heng shut up and stopped talking, and Li Yuechi also turned around, looking like he didn't want to say any more.Tang Heng looked at the back of his head silently. The black stubble reminded him of six years ago, when Li Yuechi's hair was longer than now, so long that when his fingers ran through his hair, it could barely be covered. live.

Li Yuechi suddenly said: "Did you get motion sick yesterday?"

Tang Heng was stunned for a moment, and said, "I walked in a hurry, I didn't bring a motion sickness sticker."

Li Yuechi reached into his pocket, and Tang Heng immediately became alert, afraid that he would take out another pack of female cigarettes.

However, before he had time to take a closer look, Li Yuechi threw the paper box into his arms and said in a low voice, "Paste it."

It's a box of motion sickness stickers.

The workload on the first day was not heavy. I only visited two factories throughout the morning, one producing beef jerky and the other producing sausage.Tang Heng and Sun Jihao led twenty or so students to stop and go. Lao Huang followed and introduced them graciously. Behind them, the factory leaders and workers who were on call at any time followed. The formation was very large.

"Teacher Sun, look, this is our air-drying equipment, imported from Germany," Lao Huang pointed to a machine and introduced, "After the funds from Macau arrived last year, the factory had the money to buy them."

Sun Jihao folded his arms and smiled: "Oh, not bad."

"That's true! Without Macau's assistance, our factory would not be able to open at all!"

"Yes, yes," a middle-aged woman came over, she was wearing the uniform green work clothes in the factory, "especially us women, we can't go out to work like their men, we can only idle around the house, now Well, the factory is right in front of our house, it is convenient, and we have work again..."

Sun Jihao nodded and said: "This is the best. For poverty alleviation, we must solve the employment problem for everyone."

Hearing what he said, several workers gathered around and said in one go: The factory pays 900 yuan a month, which is much more profitable than planting fruit trees; the national policy is good, and they have found jobs for them; Macau is really rich... For a while, the atmosphere was as lively as a commendation meeting. Sun Jihao was probably used to seeing this kind of scene, with a calm smile on his face, and from time to time replied "should", "really" and "yes". Class words.

Tang Heng was a little uncomfortable. They were just entrusted by the Macau Liaison Office to inspect the implementation of poverty alleviation projects. To put it bluntly, they neither paid nor worked hard. A group of university teachers and college students, and even "officials" Can't stick to the edge.

These people are so enthusiastic that they are almost flattering, in fact, it is only because their research results will affect the Macau government's investment in poverty alleviation in the future.

There were beaming voices everywhere, Tang Heng turned his head a little bored, and saw Li Yuechi standing at the end of the crowd.He was tall, broad-shouldered, and his gray jacket looked out of place amidst the green overalls.

He looked sideways at a machine, seemingly in a daze, with a rare soft expression.

In the next second, Li Yuechi turned his head and met Tang Heng's eyes as if he had a tacit understanding.He blinked, as if he didn't expect Tang Heng to look at him, his eyes were incredibly gentle.However, after he reacted, his expression changed in just an instant.

He looked at Tang Heng, his eyes turned cold, seemingly indifferent, like mocking.

At noon in the canteen of the factory, you can choose from eight dishes and two soups. The dessert after the meal is mousse cake and mung bean paste. Lao Huang personally served the mung bean paste to the students and said with a smile: "The master in our canteen specially learned it. Mung bean paste, haha, let’s try to see if it’s authentic or not!”

They had a lively meal, but Li Yuechi was nowhere to be seen.Tang Heng finished eating absent-mindedly. Seeing that Sun Jihao and Lao Huang were chatting happily, he said, "I'll go for a walk."

Lao Huang quickly stood up: "No problem! I'll find someone to guide you..."

"No need," Tang Heng couldn't hold back, "Let Li Yuechi lead me the way, what about others?"

It seemed that it wasn't until this time that Lao Huang realized that Li Yuechi hadn't eaten with them at all, so he let out an "ah" and said, "Teacher Tang, wait a moment, I'll go find him."

After finishing speaking, he hurried out, and Tang Heng followed without saying a word.

In fact, Li Yuechi was in the back kitchen next door. He and several drivers stood in front of the stove, each holding a white lunch box.When Tang Heng arrived, they were eating, and there was rice and some soup in the lunch box—it could be seen that it was the soup left over from the eight dishes and two soups.

In front of Tang Heng, Lao Huang smiled awkwardly: "Hey! Xiao Li! I was looking for you when I was eating just now, why did I come here to eat by myself! Let's go, let's have a drink."

"Don't bother the leaders," Li Yuechi smiled respectfully, "I'll finish eating right away."

"Oh, let's go and eat a few more bites, there are mung beans over there..."

"Huang Dong, let him eat quickly," Tang Heng said, "Take me around after eating."

Just now he was called "Old Huang", but now he is "Huang Dong"——Old Huang laughed so hard that his cheeks hardened, so he had no choice but to pat Li Yuechi on the shoulder: "Then treat Teacher Tang well, ah."

Li Yuechi was quite cooperative: "No problem, don't worry."

It's a pity that as soon as Lao Huang left, he seemed to be a different person, and his whole body became cold.Several drivers came over to say hello to Tang Heng, and Tang Heng responded one by one, his eyes flicking towards Li Yuechi from time to time.

Holding the lunch box in one hand and chopsticks in the other, he kept pushing the rice into his mouth, and his Adam's apple was also rolling up and down, just gobbling it.Tang Heng couldn't help thinking, could it be that he was in a hurry to leave?

Soon Li Yuechi finished eating. He threw the lunch box into the trash can, took out a napkin from his pocket, wiped his mouth, and walked towards Tang Heng: "Let's go, Teacher Tang."

Tang Heng nodded, and walked out of the back kitchen with Li Yuechi, and came to the factory area.There was still a motion sickness sticker from Li Yuechi behind his ear, and Tang Heng felt that he was just reciprocating: "Are you in a hurry? If you have something, you can go to yours first."

"No."

"Oh... I see that you are in a hurry to eat."

Li Yuechi said calmly: "This is how we eat inside."

Tang Heng felt as if he had been slapped on the face for no reason.This pain was more intense than when Li Yuechi said "there's no need to smoke" last night, like the morning of a hangover, the headache accumulated all night surged.

It may be because there is a pot of crayfish in the eight dishes and two soups at noon.

They were in Wuhan six years ago. After the band performance in the evening, they often went to Wansong Garden to eat red braised crayfish.He is here, Jiang Ya is here, An Yun is here, and of course Li Yuechi, a non-staff member, is also there.He was too lazy to peel the shrimp and always asked Li Yuechi to do it for him, but Li Yuechi never refused.Holding the bright red shrimp with both hands, he patiently pinched the head, removed the tail, and picked out the shredded meat from the shrimp claws, with such a concentrated expression, as if he was doing something great.

Li Yuechi said, "Where do you want to go?"

Tang Heng withdrew his thoughts and said in a low voice, "Just walk around."