Looking back at the 80s, facing the hardships and transformations of life
Times have indeed changed. Today's young people may not be able to understand the first decade of the last century"Friendship"。
I believe that every era has its own traces, memories unique to a certain generation, and open but hidden secrets of this world.
It seems to be close at hand, but it is often far away.
We were born in the same world, but we were destined to have different perspectives.
The same moon rises and sets before our eyes again and again, but our feelings and thoughts are always different.
After all, people from different eras are doing the same thing, but they are difficult to get along with.
My son and his friend Little Lou got into a fight over playing a video game, and both of them were arguing in the room with headphones on.
I've seen and heard this in young people, but have never been able to understand it.
Lou and his son have played together since they were kids and have known each other since elementary school, so they have been friends for many years. I don't understand why such good friends would say such nasty things to each other in certain situations.
My son and Lou know each other because I am friends with Lou's father, Lou Sr.
My son and I, as well as Lou's son, were both married for a long time at this age, had children, and took on the responsibility of providing for the family.
But our son didn't do anything, he still fished for three days and dried his nets for two days. He is almost 30 years old, but he is still lazy and willful, just like a child who plays late every day, and only sleeps sensibly when the sun is shining the next day.
I'm okay, my wife is strict at home, and my son doesn't dare to be unfilial, at least verbally, but Lao Lu is not so lucky.
Every time I hear Lao Lu call him"Wild Dad"、"Wild daddy", he couldn't help but pick up his slippers and scolded Lao Lu, so that Lao Lu knew who his father was.
We don't feel old, but the world of young people is really incomprehensible to us.
If we live in an era where my son and Lu Xiaoman are qualified to call themselves"Lazy bones"We will surely be ashamed of these two old men.
When our sons were the same age, Lu Junyi and I would tow our scooters and hike back and forth between Shanxi and Henan to support our families.
At that time, it took half a month to go back to the city every time, and we suffered a lot on the way, but we made so little money that today our children don't even have enough money to order takeout.
In the 80s of the last century, in our heyday, according to a young man, the problem was not with money, but with the absence of money!
In my memory, it was a very prosperous and exciting time.
Many things that were previously only known by name suddenly appear in front of you, and the beauty of the whole world is at your fingertips.
As long as you have enough money, you can do all the work yourself.
Although people today like to criticize money, for us back then, the greatest advantage of money was that it was simple and straightforward, and before that, you could neither touch things nor think about them.
But our generation usually has several siblings, so parents are limited in what they can give, and people often don't have much money.
Then, when you were in your early twenties, your parents arranged a family affair for you to marry when you were ten years old, and then you were honest""I left home and lived a single life!
In those days, it was a big deal for your parents to do it for you, but you had to decide for yourself how you want to spend the rest of your life.
When I got married to Lao Lu, we had a poor life, so we had to follow others to survive.
In the 80s of the last century, natural gas was not yet popular, and people generally used coal stoves for heating and cooking, and the coal stoves were shaped like buckets and burned round briquettes with holes.
In those days, coal was in high demand and many times it was simply not available, so there were a large number of coal transporters.
It was a bit late when I went to transport coal.
At that time, many people had started to use diesel tricycles to transport coal, but I had no money and had to use human-powered trucks to transport coal. Science and technology are the primary productive forces!People step on gasoline, I step on the ground, not only pull more goods than me, but also run faster than me.
Lao Lu's situation at that time was similar to mine, he also started from a chassis truck.
Since Lao Lu and I lived not far from each other, and we were both coolie manual laborers, we met on a trip to pull coal.
In fact, Lao Lu's temperament is very different from mine, and fate is destined for us to become lifelong friends.
I'm a dull person, I don't usually like to talk, and I don't know how to please strangers. Lao Lu is not like this, he is very happy and knows how to get along with everyone.
I accompanied Lao Lu to transport coal, and he also took care of the dry goods store where I stayed on the way.
Spoken"Dry goods store"Today's young people may not even know what it means. Personally, I haven't seen a store like this for at least twenty or thirty years.
So-called'Dry goods store', is an inn that only offers one house and one bed, with or without straw.
Most of these dry goods stores are run by farmers or countrymen, and their families live on the roadside using their empty private houses, offering nothing but the good news that their advertising is cheap, often only a few cents a night.
Lao Lu is a trustworthy man and knows many textile shop owners, so he usually not only subtracts a few cents from a few cents, but sometimes asks the shop owner to provide small items such as beds and boiling water.
On the eve of the Spring Festival in 1989, Lao Lu and I planned to bring five or six hundred catties of coal from Shanxi back to our hometown to sell some money for the New Year.
We've walked this path many times, and it shouldn't be a problem. However, a snowstorm suddenly fell on the way in the afternoon, and heavy snow began in the evening.
Very profitable at the time!
The north wind carried the child's palm-sized snowflakes, and in less than two hours, the ground turned into a white and vast snow scene rarely seen in recent years. Lao Lu and I were planning to stay in a small town, but a sudden heavy snowfall interrupted our plans.
At that time, the asphalt road was still relatively small, and it was hard to imagine how difficult it was to drag five or six hundred pounds of things and walk on the yellow mud road in the wind and snow.
Because Lao Lu walked in a hurry, there was no brake at the bend of the dirty slope, and the car rolled down the dirty slope more than ten meters high.
Hearing Lao Lu's screams, I hurriedly filled the tires with the bricks I brought, and ran to Lao Lu's side to check on his condition.
There is a small river on the dirt slope, Lao Lu's car began to throw coal from the top of the dirt slope, and finally fell into the river together with the coal on the car, the weather is very cold, but the water of this small river is flowing, and some of the banks of the river have not yet been frozen.
Fortunately, Lao Lu survived!At the moment when the license plate car lost control, he jumped to the side, not being pressed by the car with the chassis, but because he didn't have time to untie the power rope on his shoulder, the car with the chassis was still pulling him downstream, and he was blindly floating in the river.
As soon as I saw the situation, it was false if I didn't scream in a panic, so I hurried down the dirty slope and stumbled a few steps in the cold, hard water, only to realize that I couldn't swim, and that it would be in vain to go any further!
At that time, I was wearing an ordinary military coat of that era, and I had an idea, so I hurriedly took off the military coat like a rope and threw it to Lao Lu, who hugged Lao Lu's head tightly and lifted Lao Lu up.
At that time, it was very cold, Lao Lu was wearing thicker clothes, he fell from the side of the mountain more than ten meters high, except for some tears on his head and face, there were no serious injuries on his body, but his ribs were slightly broken, and the pain was a little intense.
It was freezing and the road was empty.
I first put a quilt under his car, wrapped Lao Lu on his back, and then hurriedly walked to a nearby village to ask the villagers for help, and chased Lao Lu's car to the shore.
Since I had just finished buying coal and didn't have much money with me, I had to sell a truckload of coal on the spot, scrape together some money, and ask someone to help send Lao Lu to a health center in a nearby town.
After a preliminary examination, the doctor of the town health center found that Lao Lu may have a rib fracture, and recommended that he be sent to a qualified hospital for further **.
How much can this cart of coal sell for?It's too little, not enough for Lao Luo's expenses to go abroad for hospitalization!
But the doctor said that Lao Lu's condition was not suitable for sports, otherwise if he was not careful, he could lose his life regardless of whether his ribs were broken or not.
At that time, Lao Lu and I were in another country, there was no mobile phone at that time, and there was no other way to contact my family, so we stayed in the anxious city for most of the night, and finally decided to send Lao Lu and his chassis back to my hometown first!
So, I buckled Lao Lu's frame car upside down on my chest, tied it tightly with a rope, and then hugged Lao Lu, let him lie in the gap between the two frame cars, and wrapped him tightly with a quilt.
It was hundreds of kilometers from Shanxi to my hometown, and I stopped and stopped, dragging Lao Lu and the box back on the side of the road.
Can't be bumpy, because Lao Lu is injured, so I walk very slowly, Kang Kang Lele Lunar Twenty-eighth, in a few days I will be on the road for the New Year!
Lao Lu's sister-in-law saw Lao Lu sandwiched between two flatbed trucks, burst into tears on the spot, took my hand and said, their family owes me a life, and this great kindness will definitely remain in my memory.
Actually, I thought, remember it or not"Great grace"It doesn't matter, it's good to have coal money for the New Year.
All I know is that it's better to say it than to think about it.
After helping Sister Lu settle Sister Lu, I pulled the empty frame car home by myself. But when I arrived at the door, I didn't dare to enter the door, and I was a little embarrassed.
My wife was one of the few girls in middle school at that time, and she was pretty good-looking, and when she married me, we were living in poverty.
It's my first New Year since I got married, but my bookshelves are empty, my pockets are empty, and I don't have anything to give her this year.
I was embarrassed, I ran more than a thousand kilometers to get home, and I could only sit in a daze in the bottom compartment of the car.
I don't remember how long I sat on the frame until my wife, who had come back from her mother's house, saw me, stood quietly in front of me, and asked me if I had lost my keys again if I had not come back when I got home.
Although she tried to pretend that nothing had happened, I could see the redness and slight wetness in the corners of his eyes.
The look in his eyes broke my heart, but at the same time it made me even more ashamed.
I lowered my head, did not dare to look at him, and whispered to him that something had happened on the road, and the coal and money were gone.
But my wife didn't listen to me, just snoring and pulling me home, talking as she went"It's good for people to come back, go home quickly, it's cold outside. "
The two days leading up to the Chinese New Year that year were very difficult for both of us.
As newlyweds, we didn't have any savings, and the loss of a load of coal left us almost penniless.
Fortunately, my wife was very hardworking, not only did she not blame me, but she also borrowed money from everywhere to get through this New Year.
Only a wise woman would"It is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice"。
Although his wife borrowed money to buy a mule and more pork stuffing for the New Year, that year, she returned to her parents' house for the first time after getting married for the New Year, but she did not have enough money to buy a decent gift for her family.
Although my wife didn't blame me, as a big man, I still felt extremely ashamed and lost at the thought that I really couldn't buy a good gift for my mother-in-law in her first year.
In today's world, there are more or less men in our time"Machismo"。
I do not deny it, but our generation has a sense of responsibility and"Machismo"are mutually reinforcing.
I couldn't buy a decent gift for my mother-in-law during the Spring Festival, and despite my wife's best efforts, I was still depressed like a child when I got home.
On Chinese New Year's Eve, my eldest sister Lu suddenly came to my house with a big basket.
Sister Lu is a direct person, she doesn't talk much, and after entering the house, the contents of the basket spilled on the table with a bang, and there were several steamed buns, two envelopes of brown sugar, four cans of meat and two boxes of fruit.
These things seem trivial today, but they were very important in those days.
In particular, six cans of meat were relatively rare and delicious at the time.
After we finished eating the steamed buns, Lao Lu's sister-in-law told us with a smile that Lao Lu was admitted to the hospital because of a broken rib and could only spend the Spring Festival in the hospital this year. He originally planned to take the buns back to his parents' house for the Spring Festival, but this year it would be nice if Lao Lu could send two big buns to his parents' house like this!There is no point in sending these things anymore.
He knew that I had sold a cart of coal because of Lao Lu, and now that their family was destitute, they could take it in advance to express their gratitude, and we must not refuse.
I'm right'Ruined old Lu Nian'There are some regrets.
It is human nature that there are some things that you know you should do, but if you don't benefit from them, you will feel lost.
In this mood, when I saw the things that my sister-in-law gave me, I felt creepy, as if I was not a human being inside and out
As her husband put the things back in the basket, he told Mrs. Lu that we were all friends and there was no need for this.
Seeing that we disagreed, Mrs. Lu was very angry, picked up the fruit box and said:"Do you want it or not?If you don't believe me, I'll put it all in your house!
The wife knew that Mrs. Lu was angry when she said that she was going to throw away the box, and if she continued to quarrel, she would dare to throw the box away on the spot. She smiled and said, it's a pity to throw it away!We've all taken it!At that time, we were worried that we would not have anything to bring home with our mother!
Sister-in-law Lu turned her anger into joy, hugged her wife and talked for a while, and then rushed back to take care of Lao Lu.
During the Spring Festival that year, because of the six cans of canned food given by Mr. Lu, I didn't lose face in front of my mother-in-law, and I also received several words of praise.
After the Chinese New Year, my wife and I went to visit Lao Lu.
Although he was lying in bed, he was still in good spirits, saying that he felt that the injury was not a big problem and that he would soon return to normal.
However, Mrs. Lu, who was with him, told him not to move, because the doctor told him that he would have at least two more months before he could **.
Lao Lu was controlled by others after all, so he smiled shyly and said that in fact, she could have gotten out of bed earlier. Although Mrs. Lu was very angry, she was very polite to her husband, saying that I didn't say I didn't love you, so I was in a hurry to get out of bed.
My wife and I stayed at Lao Lu's house for a while, chatted with him for a while, and then left.
To be honest, we left early, not because we had nothing to say to Lao Lu and his wife, but because we wanted to save money to buy food for them. Today's young people can't even imagine how difficult it was back then.
After the Chinese New Year, I went to Shanxi to transport coal several times, and Lao Lu's health improved.
Lao Lu lay in bed for a few months, not only did he not come back to his senses, but he became more and more depressed.
On this day, Lao Lu came to me in good spirits and said that he and his sister-in-law were discussing the idea of a big business!They wanted to borrow money from my mother-in-law's family to buy a motorized tricycle to transport coal, the chassis was faster than the car, and they made more money, so of course they asked me if I could do it together.
To be honest, I'm a conservative person, and spending thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan to buy a motor tricycle is a bit risky for me!
Therefore, I hesitated to give Lu a clear answer, although I was a little tempted.
Later, Xiao Lu's sister-in-law had an idea and told my wife and asked her what I really thought.
When my wife heard this, she told me to tell the truth and not keep muttering and procrastinating.
I told my wife about my concerns: first, we didn't have any money on hand, and we had nowhere to borrow if we wanted toSecond, I am afraid that if I invest so much money, I will lose all my money if I am not careful.
My wife listened to me and changed her mind and said that we could go to my parents' house and borrow some money, so that we could not worry about losing all the money - there is no such thing as a guaranteed profit in the business field. So, it's just a matter of whether I want to do it or not.
My wife's words gave me a lot of encouragement, and I immediately decided to join Lao Lu!
Later, my wife went back to her parents' house and borrowed some money from my brother-in-law and sister, and I also borrowed some money from my brother. Lao Lu and I pooled the money together and bought a second-hand Shifeng tricycle.
The car was eighty percent new, and the first owner used it to transport manure. Because of his illness, he didn't drive for two years, and then he went to the hospital, found out that he had cancer, and the car had to be sold.
Lao Lu's old brother-in-law knew the owner of the car and helped him start the car before and after buying it.
After buying the car, Lao Lu and I invited the old man to drink together, and at first we said that we should give some according to the rules"Service Charge", but the old man refused.
That day, the old man drank too much liquor, took my hand and shouted: Don't talk about money anymore, you saved my son-in-law's life!If it weren't for you, my daughter would have been widowed for less than two years of marriage...
The old man said emotionally, but Lu's wife felt that it was inappropriate, and her red-faced father shouted:"Shut up!"..
The old man thinks that his daughter is too sensitive, spoiled, and can't wipe her face in front of people;Lu's wife thinks that the old man knows the occasion, the two of them are arguing with each other, and we are watching happily from the sidelines"Official"Of course.
As the saying goes, science and technology are the primary productive forces!After buying a motorized tricycle, Lao Lu and I started transporting coal, later fertilizer, and other people's old clothes from Beijing back to our hometown to sell.
One of the things I miss the most in the 80s is that no matter what kind of business it is, it is better than it is now!
At that time, people generally pursued stability, did not like to run around for business, and the living environment was relatively closed, so basically everything could be saved.
Lao Lu and I have been in business for less than two years, and we have basically paid off all our foreign debts and accumulated some reserves on hand.
As mentioned earlier, Lao Lu is a person who thinks twice before he encounters something, and when he has money in his hand, he is naturally more luxurious.
The year his son was born, Lao Lu began to fall in love with a widowed dry cleaner.
Although the widowed proprietress is two years older than Lao Lu and has a son with her ex-husband, Lao Lu is still attracted to her, and the sports car often comes home once a few days, how can she not wash it.
Later, when the widow saw that I was not at ease, she mobilized her sister-in-law to fool me.
But am I the kind of person who is easily deceived?Of course not!
It's just that his sister-in-law is young and beautiful, and when she talks, she always looks like she is just beginning to fall in love, and obviously her charm is getting bigger and bigger, so I was also fooled inexplicably...
During this period, I also followed Lao Lu, who had no children and no daughters, and I didn't start the car well, and ran to the widow's house twice in three days, and the widow's sister-in-law also bought a very fashionable tape recorder at that time.
But the good times didn't last long, and our relationship soon broke down.
As a result of my procrastination and my procrastination, our income plummeted.
One day, my wife, who was very hardworking, suddenly stopped cooking without salt.
When I asked her why there was no salt in today's meal, she said to me meaningfully: although salt is commonplace, it is just as bad without salt, so don't take it for granted...
Hearing my wife say this, I realized that she knew what was going on, so I gently criticized me.
Actually, I'm not surprised by this situation.
Because in life, I am a very stupid person, I have been married for many years, I buy my own clothes, I don't remember which size I wear, I hold the money in my right hand at home, and he counts some bills.
In recent months, I have watched my former Leuzer look at himself, and even though he doesn't listen to others, I can read his traces in and out of his accounts. Now, my wife has spotted me and revealed herself to me"Yellow card"。
I quickly found Lao Lu and told him that he couldn't go on like this, something would happen sooner or later, and Mrs. Lu knew his anger!If she knew, how would she live in the future?
Lao Lu apparently listened to me and began to reduce his visits to the widow, but their relationship remained uninterrupted.
Lao Lu's expectations made me persuade him again and again sooner or later not to listen, and then I left Lao Lu, listened to my wife's words, quit the shares of the stopwatch, and borrowed money to buy a small truck.
Not long after we left, that is, the year Xiao Lu was born, Lao Lu's wife found out what Lao Lu had done. Lao Lu's wife was so angry that she held the child in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other, and chased Lao Lu for half a street!
Old Lu, who was almost hacked to death, later repented, and he came back to my wife and me to convince Mrs. Lu that he really knew that he was wrong.
Of course, I didn't dare to take the lead in this matter, and in the end, after a few words of criticism, it was my wife who went to talk to Mrs. Lu with the child.
Since then, we have been on the road with Lao Lu and my wife to earn money. But Lao Lu's temper has not changed, and he makes fun of me from time to time. I've seen this kind of thing a lot, and I don't bother to tell him anymore.
In 1994, my mother was seriously ill and hospitalized. The family's savings were quickly depleted, and family life became very difficult.
At this time, Lu Lao generously donated $8,000 to our family and told us that he lent us money to treat my mother's illness and asked us to pay it back slowly.
At that time, my wife and I were very impressed with him, because we felt that although Lao Lu had a slippery personality, he was still quite reliable at critical moments.
Until the next day, Lao Lu's sister-in-law heard the sound and came to our house, she said that our two families had a good relationship, and Lao Lu borrowed 12,000 yuan from our family, but hid it from her and let her see that it was really a sum of money!If there is a problem with our family's money, just call him **, as long as he does not hesitate to ,..
My wife and I were stunned: 12,000?Eight thousand?How could Lao Lu"Fishing"To such money?
But when Lao Lu asked his grandfather and grandmother, we didn't dare to expose him, so we quickly returned the 8,000 yuan to him.
Decades have passed, and although Grandpa Lu and I no longer drive together, the friendship between our two families has become deeper and deeper.
My son and Grandpa Lu have been inseparable good friends since childhood, and this is all due to me and Grandpa Lu. It's just that their generation doesn't have to work as hard as me and Grandpa Lu. So, their friendship is limited to playing online games.
This kind of friendship in troubled times didn't come naturally after Lu and I lost our environment.
Some would think I'm mourning. But what I really want to say is.
It's really good!
We have worked hard all our lives, half of our lives, just to give them a better life.
Whenever I see the words and ** about our wars, floods, droughts, famines, and epidemics in Henan, I will think of my own personal experience and can't help but cry. It is precisely because our generation has endured hardship that I do not like or even hate suffering, and I do not want to learn from others to praise suffering.
I hope that our country will be stable and prosperous in the future, and that our children and grandchildren will never have to face hardship again...