The sun has just risen, and there is still a light layer of mist floating on the fields on both sides.
Most of the autumn crops have been harvested, but occasionally a small patch is still standing there alone, probably late-maturing corn. On the slope not far away, the figures of one or two farmers working flashed by.
Sitting on the bus from Fengcheng to the provincial capital, Li Ji stared out the window.
This was a scene he was once familiar with. When I was a child, I lived with my mother in an elementary school in the countryside, surrounded by acres of crop fields.
He often wanders alone in the wilderness. Mostly at dusk, school is over and the campus suddenly becomes quiet.
In the nearby villages, far and near, wisps of smoke were already rising, and the faint sounds of cattle and sheep could be heard.
Li Ji looked at the long-tailed tadpoles in the creek, watched a group of ants dragging a big meat worm into the nest; picked a few small wild flowers, chased a few butterflies, or simply dug a few carrots from other people's fields.
The sunset burned in the western sky, like a fire. The wilderness is vast, with insects chirping, birds chirping, wind blowing and grass moving, and everything making sounds. Li Ji felt that the whole world belonged to him.
At that time, I always wanted to go outside and have a look. You have to go to towns, counties, or provincial capitals; go to college and earn a lot of money.
As he grew older, when all of this, except "a lot of money", became a reality step by step, he suddenly missed that elementary school and those days when he sat alone in the wilderness, listening to the wind and watching the clouds.
Li Ji felt increasingly confused and uneasy.
He gradually learned that people are not that simple, and this society is much more complicated than he imagined.
When studying, your grades depend more on yourself. As long as you work hard and find the right method, there will always be results.
But in society, your destiny is almost in the hands of others. Many times, just trying hard is useless.
Choice often outweighs effort. In the workplace and officialdom, the essence is to follow others, stand in line, and answer multiple-choice questions. Every seemingly inadvertent choice and the final accumulation become your destiny.
Li Ji didn't like the feeling of being treated as a pawn, just like a woman who sold her body and couldn't help herself from now on.
He wants to take more control of his own destiny, and the only way is to climb up.
Autonomy and freedom are often directly proportional to the level of power. Only by continuing to move up and in a higher position can you have more space and have more control over your own destiny.
This is secular truth, but it is a naked reality.
Now, Li Ji is eager to seize any opportunity that may change his destiny. Therefore, he did not give up the examination for the Rural Credit Cooperative.
Looking at the entire province, it is rare for financial institutions to conduct large-scale, national recruitment like Fengcheng Rural Credit Cooperative, let alone in a small city like Fengcheng.
The examination location is also at the Municipal Finance School. On the day of the exam, a large number of reporters from newspapers and TV stations gathered in front of the school, and it was as lively as a festival.
Li Ji was a little shocked when he saw the scene, which was like a college entrance examination. Unexpectedly, the recruitment of such a local rural credit cooperative could attract so many people from other places to participate.
It seems that as long as the money is in place, there is no need to worry about not being able to recruit people. In addition to the position, I am afraid that the salary, which is several times higher than that of peers, is the most attractive factor.
In addition to being surprised, Li Ji also gained a little more confidence. With this kind of recruitment, there should be much fewer opportunities for black-box operations. It is impossible for rural credit cooperatives not to take their reputation seriously.
The exam questions were difficult, but Li Ji did it smoothly. He was very grateful for the hard work he had put into studying these days. If this were not the case, many of the questions would have to be "looked at with excitement".
Walking out of the examination room, Li Ji felt a little excited, as if the long-awaited opportunity had finally come.
At this moment, sitting on the slightly swaying bus, Li Ji was still a little excited as he recalled the scene during the exam.
This is the earliest shuttle bus to the provincial capital. There were not many people in the car, and they were scattered here and there.
Other colleagues in the line reported to the Provincial Cadre School yesterday. Li Ji got up early today to catch the first train.
The car was driving on a gentle highway. Looking at the changing scenery outside the car window, sleep gradually came over him, and Li Ji closed his eyes.
Fengcheng is close to the provincial capital, but the bus journey takes more than two hours at the fastest. In the ups and downs, Li Ji slowly fell asleep.
In a daze, I felt like the bus stopped several times. Some people get on and some get off.
Suddenly, the car made a "bang" sound, braked suddenly, and stopped suddenly.
Li Ji was sleeping soundly when he was suddenly woken up. His body swayed forward and his head slammed against the backrest of the front row.
There was a sudden pain in my forehead. He reached out and touched it, and picked up a bag that was not too big or too small. Li Ji was a little angry and couldn't help but look forward.
As soon as the car door opened, two young men wearing floral shirts, with short shaved hair and tattoos all over their necks came up, one fat and one thin.
The two people got on the bus, looked both ways, walked straight to Li Ji, and sat down next to the two passengers, one on the left and one on the right.
There are many empty seats on the bus. Most of the passengers who got on the bus originally occupied two or three seats. Some were leaning on them, some were lying down, and they were all sleeping or napping.
It was a bit strange that these two people had to sit next to others when there were so many empty seats.
The two passengers were obviously bored, but they were very sleepy. Looking at the appearance of these two people, they did not dare to say anything. They could only take a hard look, muttered, then closed their eyes and continued to sleep.
Li Ji shook his head. He was no longer sleepy. He leaned back on the chair and stared out the window blankly.
The car restarted and moved forward slowly. The carriage became quiet again. After a while, soft snoring sounded.
Li Ji silently thought about his thoughts.
The sun gradually rose, and the light swayed on the car window glass. Seeing that he had walked less than half the distance, Li Ji closed the car curtains and wanted to sleep for a while.
Suddenly, his gaze stopped.
Li Ji saw that the thinner young man sitting on the left was quietly reaching out and gently opening the bag of the passenger next to him.
The passenger leaned back comfortably on the chair, his body rising and falling with the sound of snoring, and a long stream of saliva flowed from his half-open mouth.
It was a black bag, bulging. The passenger was originally holding his hands tightly in front of him. At this time, one of his hands had been released, and only the other hand was weakly placed on the bag.
The young man paused and glanced at the passenger. Seeing that he had no reaction, he slowly took out a wallet from his bag.
He quickly handed the wallet to his companion. His companion quickly took it and put it in his trouser pocket. The young man reached back and took out a small bundle of banknotes from the bag.
There was a golden light in his eyes, and he was about to hand the stack of money to his companion.
"There's a thief!" At this moment, Li Ji shouted.
The young man was startled and hurriedly put the stack of money back, then turned around, leaned on the back of the chair, and folded his arms as if nothing had happened.
The passengers in the car were startled, and the driver stopped the car suddenly.
The passenger also woke up suddenly, wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth, frowned, and looked forward confusedly.
Suddenly, he seemed to remember something, lowered his head subconsciously, and immediately shouted out loud: "Oh, my money!"
The zipper of the bag had been opened, and a corner of a wad of money was exposed.
He hurriedly opened his handbag, rummaged through it nervously, and his expression changed: "My wallet! My wallet is missing!"
The driver has parked the car on the side of the road. The passengers in the car all turned their heads and looked over together.
"I saw it, he took it!" Li Ji stood up and pointed at the thin man.
The thin man panicked at first, then glared at Li Ji fiercely: "You kid, stop talking nonsense, who took his wallet?"
"You took it, I saw it just now!"
"I took it?...Then you search it!"
The thin man stood up, looked at Li Ji with evil eyes, and rummaged through his pants pockets.
"If not, I will destroy you!"
The thin man sneered, with a fierce glint in his eyes. Another young man also stood up and leaned towards Li Ji.
"The wallet is on him!" Li Ji pointed at his companion.
"I think you're tired of living, kid!"
The fat man showed his fierce look and put his hand into his trouser pocket.
The passengers in the car looked on in panic, but no one dared to speak. The passenger who lost his wallet was also stunned, his mouth wide open, and said nothing.
"Forget it, forget it, stop arguing," the driver took off his gloves and shouted to the back, "I think I'd better take you to the police station."
"Fuck you, go to some police station!" The thin man turned around, "Open the door, I get out of the car!"
The driver was stunned for a moment: "You, you..." Then he stared blankly, unable to say another word.
"We can't let them go, go to the police station!"
Li Ji was a little anxious and shouted, and couldn't help but look at the passenger.
The passenger held his bag tightly, looked at Li Ji, then at the two young men, and lowered his head timidly.
"Boy, I think you just eat enough to hold on, a dog takes a rat!"
The fat man held the backrest and stared at Li Ji.
Li Ji got angry and was about to step forward when he saw the fat man stretched out his hand and with a whoosh, he took out a bright dagger from his waist!
Li Ji instinctively stepped back and grabbed his backpack.
There was silence in the carriage.
More than a dozen passengers, you look at me, I look at you, they all stayed where they were, no one said a word.
"Stop being so nagging, open the door quickly!"
The thin man walked up to the driver and shouted sharply. The driver shivered and his gloves fell off.
"Damn it, you know what's going on, open the door quickly!"
The fat man slowly backed up and reached the door.
"Can't open the door!" Li Ji shouted.
"Be honest when you step on the horse!" The fat man shook his dagger at Li Ji, "Shut up if you don't want to die!"
Turning around, the fat man put the dagger against the driver's chin: "Hurry up and open the door!"
The driver's face suddenly turned pale and his lips trembled: "I, I, I'll drive right now, I'll drive right now..."
Then the driver shook his hands, slowly turned around, and pressed the button in front of him.
With a "bang" sound, the car door slowly opened.
The two young men quickly turned around and jumped out of the car. I ran a few dozen meters along the roadside, caught a taxi, and drove away.
A dozen pairs of eyes watched the taxi drive away, and the car was silent for a while.
After half a day, someone suddenly woke up and said: "Quick! Call the police!"
Everyone looked at the passenger, only to see that he was still holding his bag and staring blankly out of the car window.
The driver withdrew his gaze, gasped for air, silently picked up his gloves, and silently started the car.
The car hummed quietly and slowly started to drive again.
Li Ji looked at the passenger who had lost his wallet and felt a little angry. Damn it, the emperor is really not in a hurry and the eunuch is.
"That person saw it, why didn't he tell it earlier?"
"Yeah, wait until the wallet is taken away. It's too late."
"Well, it's not my wallet, I don't feel bad..."
The passengers in front were talking quietly and turned to look at Li Ji.
Damn it, I'm really like a dog.
Li Ji was so angry that he threw his backpack on the seat and turned his head out of the window.
