One day in July 2016, at 3 o'clock in the morning, I was in a single-family villa.
The rumbling thunder broke the tranquility of the night sky and woke 49-year-old Lu Haiyang from his sleep.
He opened his eyes suddenly, and a dazzling bolt of lightning lit up the entire room.
Lu Haiyang looked at the luxuriously decorated bedroom and was stunned for a while, then his eyes fell on the woman beside him.
Her figure is still so thin, her skin is still so fair, and the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes seem to tell her hardships and experiences in the past few decades.
Lu Haiyang looked at her quietly and couldn't help but put his hand on her face.
The woman woke up. She snuggled into Lu Haiyang's arms and stroked his chest. Lu Haiyang lowered his head and kissed him.
The woman warmly greeted the landing ocean.
After the tenderness, the panting Lu Haiyang said softly:
"Li Ping, I'm sorry, I'm really old, and I can no longer do as I did before."
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Lu Haiyang's tone was filled with apology and guilt.
The woman beat Lu Haiyang's chest with her hand and thrust her head into Lu Haiyang's arms, as if she wanted to integrate herself into Lu Haiyang's body.
"Don't talk nonsense. I have never been as happy and happy as I am today in decades. I never thought that we could still be together."
The two of them whispered. After a while, the woman fell asleep again in Lu Haiyang's arms.
Lu Haiyang still couldn't sleep.
He looked at everything in the room, looked at the lost and recovered woman beside him, and his thoughts began to wander.
Lu Haiyang closed his eyes, and the past came flooding back, one scene after another, one after another.
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After the college entrance examination in 1986, Lu Haiyang did not discuss with his parents when filling in his application. Undergraduate students, from junior college to technical secondary school, are all concentrated in one type of school, that is, maritime-related institutions.
Lu Haiyang insisted on becoming a seaman for two reasons. The first reason was that his family was too poor and he wanted to make a lot of money and quickly improve his family's economic situation.
The second reason is that he has loved the sea since he was a child and has had a dream of sailing. He is full of curiosity about the outside world and wants to travel around the world and see it.
At that time, rural people who were illiterate had no idea what kind of university they should go to.
In their eyes, there is only the difference between passing the exam and not passing the exam. As long as you pass the exam, it means you have left the countryside and have a public meal and an iron rice bowl.
This is the case for Lu Haiyang’s parents. When Lu Haiyang told his parents that he did well in the exam and planned to be a sailor in the future,When they were admitted to the exam, they didn’t make any comments, they just kept saying:
“It’s good if you pass the exam, it’s good if you pass the exam.”
Smiling The worries on the faces of Lu Haiyang's parents lasted less than a day before they were replaced by worries. Lu Haiyang knew in his heart that his parents were worried about his tuition fees.
Seeing his parents sighing behind their backs, Lu Haiyang decided to use this long summer vacation to make some money and share the heavy financial burden with his parents.
A new popsicle factory was built near the village where Lu Haiyang lived, and he decided to sell popsicles.
Selling popsicles does not require much capital, and there is no risk of losing money. It is nothing more than making more or less.
He found a wooden box from the side room, rinsed it with water, dried it in the sun, and painted it with a layer of white paint.
Lu Haiyang found another piece of plastic sheet, lined it inside the box, and asked his mother to make a small white quilt.
He found two wooden boards and fixed them firmly on the rear frame of the bicycle. Then he tied the wooden box to the wooden boards and everything was ready.
At 8 o'clock in the morning the next day, Lu Haiyang came to the Popsicle Factory. For the first time, he didn't know how the sales were. He only wholesaled half a box, then he got on his bicycle and went to a popsicle factory ten kilometers away. A very big village.
It was less than 10 o'clock when he arrived in the village. Lu Haiyang came to the middle of the village. The village committee is here. There is a big locust tree behind the village committee, and there is a shade under the big locust tree. .
Lu Haiyang put his bicycle under the big tree. Next to him, there were two stalls, one selling vegetables and the other selling watermelons.
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Lu Haiyang looked at the villagers who came by from time to time, expecting and feeling disappointed. Every villager who came by came either to buy vegetables or watermelons, and no one came to buy popsicles.
It was already 11 o'clock, and when Lu Haiyang was extremely anxious, a girl came out of the alley and headed straight in his direction.
Lu Haiyang immediately became excited, thinking that it would finally open, but when the girl approached, Lu Haiyang lowered his head in shame.
Lu Haiyang thought to himself, isn’t this the girl from Class 3? He didn’t expect that she was from this village. What would she think if she saw him selling popsicles?
The girl had already arrived. Lu Haiyang nervously held the handle of the popsicle box. Beads of sweat had formed on his forehead. He could hear his own heartbeat.
Lu Haiyang opened the quilt and pretended to play with the popsicles in the box, trying to hide his embarrassment.
The girl spoke:
"You are from Class 4, right? I am Song Liping from Class 3, what is your name?"
Hiding is hiding Not anymore, Lu Haiyang blushed and didn’t dare to look directly atGirl's eyes.
"I'm from Class 4, my name is Lu Haiyang."
"How do you sell these popsicles?"
Lu Haiyang feels better. Some, he said in a low voice:
"Today is my first time selling. When I wholesaled it, it cost ten cents and six pieces. I don’t know if it’s expensive for me to sell four cents for ten cents. You guys Do you usually sell this?"
"Let me see what kind of popsicles you sell."
Song Liping smiled, with two shallow dimples on her face.
Lu Haiyang took out a popsicle and handed it to Song Liping.
"Try it, it's delicious."
Song Liping took the popsicle, took a small bite, chewed it, and said with a smile:
< p> "These popsicles are quite sweet. Someone also sold them two days ago. He sold them for four for ten cents. You should also sell them for four for ten cents."Lu Haiyang heard this , I feel confident.
"I understand, thank you."
"Bring me another seven, and I'll buy one for 20 cents."
Lu Haiyang He took out 11 popsicles from the box, put them in a plastic bag, and handed them to Song Liping.
"Why did you give me so much?"
"We are classmates, I can't make money from you."
Song Liping laughed when she heard this .
"Haha, you will lose your business if you do this."
Song Liping said, took out four popsicles from the plastic bag and put them back into the wooden box, and then Throw down the two cents and walk away.
Lu Haiyang took out two more popsicles, chased them and put them into Song Liping's plastic bag.
"If you don't want the wholesale price, I'll sell it to you for five cents."
Song Liping wanted to take out the popsicles, but Lu Haiyang said pretending to be angry. :
"Come on, the popsicles have melted after being pushed around for a while."
"Thank you, Lu Haiyang."
Lu Haiyang looked at Song Liping's leaving figure and remembered the outrageous thing he did to her when he was a sophomore in high school.