The entire 1990s was a period of great construction in Shanghai. Roads and bridges were being dug and construction sites everywhere.
Yan'an Road, which runs through the entire urban area, is under construction with a viaduct. The wide road has been compressed into two two-way lanes. It is also the rush hour, and Li Tang is riding a motorcycle with difficulty through the traffic.
The road conditions gradually improved after driving out of the city. The accidental death in his previous life made him more cautious and cherish his life. Even on the 318 National Highway with not many vehicles, the speed of the motorcycle was still maintained at 60-70 yards.
It took nearly an hour to drive more than 40 kilometers, and it was already the beginning of the lights on the main road in my hometown county. This is a suburban county southwest of Shanghai. It is located in the lower reaches of Taihu Lake and the upper reaches of Suzhou River. It is a typical Jiangnan water town.
In the eyes of Shanghainese, everything outside the urban area is countryside. When people from suburban counties go to the urban area, they don’t say they are going to the city, but they say they are going to Shanghai. Because before the 1950s, the so-called Greater Shanghai was limited to the central urban area, and the nine surrounding suburban counties were all part of the neighboring province. Later, the administrative areas were redivided and the current Shanghai was formed.
The county town is not big, but it is very lively.
Li Tang was both familiar and unfamiliar with everything he saw. Not only did he inherit the memory of this body, he also integrated all the emotions of this body.
Familiarity is this life, unfamiliarity is past life. The air here is filled with more smoke and smoke than in the United States.
Go along the main road for a few hundred meters, cross the bridge and turn into a side street. This place is adjacent to the city river, with a row of facades and colorful signboards.
The small street that is nearly 100 meters away is a three-bay restaurant. Through the large glass windows, there is a lot of people inside. There are all kinds of bicycles and scooters parked on the sidewalk at the door, and there are several Santanas and vans in the open space next to it. You can tell that the business is booming at a glance.
Li Tang walked into a small alley next to the hotel. The front room was connected to the courtyard behind, and a door opened on the courtyard wall. He stopped the cart and walked in. Half of the small courtyard was occupied by the kitchen, with a pergola and a pool, where vegetables and dishes were washed. There are three bungalows along the river bank, which are the hotel's warehouses.
"Ouch, the little boss is back!"
"Little boss, you came back alone. Why didn't you bring your girlfriend back?"
There are two middle-aged women in the yard, one is killing fish and the other is washing dishes.
"Yeah, I'm back."
Li Tang responded vaguely, parked the car and asked, "Where is my dad?"
"In the private room upstairs, people from the bookstore are here."
"oh."
Don't underestimate bookstores these days. In addition to opening a store to sell books, they are also responsible for textbooks for primary and secondary schools in the county. They have a single business and are very rich.
Every month, the heads of various stores in the villages and towns below come to the county for meetings, and the catered meals are held in their own restaurants, which are also considered big customers.
"Little boss, what do you want to eat?"
"I'm not hungry now. I'll come down and eat by myself later."
Our hotel has three floors, the lobby on the first floor, the private rooms on the second floor, and the third floor where the father and son live.
Li Tang said hello to the two aunts and ran upstairs.
The third floor has a layout of three bedrooms and one living room. Please ask the aunt in the store to come up often to clean it up, so it is fairly neat and tidy.
Li Tang turned on the air conditioner first when he entered the door, took his clothes and got into the bathroom. Driving all the way back, my whole body was already freezing.
The hot water rushed, and the hot skin was a little red, and the man finally recovered.
He stood in front of the mirror with a big towel to dry himself off. The energetic young man in the mirror looked thin at first glance, but had strong muscles, clear contours, and smooth lines. With a handsome face and a height of 179.5, he was absolutely perfect based on his external conditions alone. Can be on the cover of a magazine.
After changing into a pair of cotton pajamas, I smelled a strong fragrance when I came out of the bathroom. There is a pot on the coffee table in the living room, with haggis, sheep blood, and thick white mutton soup, with a handful of garlic leaves sprinkled on it, and it is simmering over low heat.
Li Tang felt hungry instantly when he smelled the smell. He quickly walked over and scooped up a bowl of soup, blew on it and drank it in small sips. After a few mouthfuls, my stomach felt warm and my whole body felt comfortable.
"Why are you thinking about coming back now?"
Lao Li walked in from the door carrying a plate. A plate of neatly cut white water mutton and a plate of braised mandarin fish, which his son usually likes to eat.
"I'm busy. I just came back after the rehearsal today."
Li Tang traveled here for half a year and didn't come back a few times. It had been more than a month since he last went home. No wonder Lao Li was dissatisfied.
"How was the rehearsal?"
"It's very good. It will be officially performed after the New Year."
"Can you come on stage?"
"I'm Corner B, let's see the opportunity."
As Li Tang spoke, he eagerly picked up a piece of mutton with skin and dipped it in his own secret sauce. The mutton was fragrant, glutinous and soft, without any smell.
"Dad, let's have some old wine!"
This guy is delicious to eat.
"Well, eat a little."
After all, it was a happy thing for his son to come back. Lao Li took a bottle of Wuliangchun and poured it directly into the bowl without taking the cup.
When pouring the wine, he still reminded me: "If you are in Shanghai, don't drive a motorcycle after drinking old wine."
In fact, he has always been opposed to his son buying a motorcycle.
There are three generations of Happy Motorcycles, the Happy 250, commonly known as the "Cannon"; the 125 is imitated by Suzuki and the third-generation Happy 90 "Prince Motorcycle". Motorcycles are made of iron and are very dangerous. It is said that the first batch of people who fired the "cannon" were almost dead.
"I know, don't drive when you drink, and don't drink when you drive." Li Tang answered smoothly.
"It's good to know. Do you have enough banknotes?"
"It's enough! I've transferred all the living expenses my mother sent me to regular deposits, and I haven't touched a penny."
His current monthly salary is just over a thousand, with subsidies for rehearsals, extra money from dubbing, filming commercials, etc. He doesn't have to pay rent and he doesn't have a girlfriend, so it's enough for expenses.
Lao Li took a sip of wine, smashed the bar and said: "Tsk, you don't have to save too much. You don't have much money when you take a taxi (taxi). How can you drive a motorcycle? Oh, by the way, your mother will send you a mail this time." How much?"
"Old rule, five thousand yuan." Li Tang ate with a sip of wine and food, enjoying the meal.
Five thousand dollars is five thousand dollars.
Lao Li hummed: "A professor at an American university can earn more than 100,000 U.S. dollars for just a few lectures a year, 5,000 U.S. dollars, I'm sorry!"
Li Tang looked up at Lao Li with a displeased look on his face and explained: "It's not as exaggerated as hundreds of thousands. I estimate that she only earns seven or eighty thousand a year at most. Five thousand is pretty good if she can give me."
Then he comforted his father and said: "Actually, I told my mother last time she called me that I was already working and there was no need to send any more money..."
Before he finished speaking, he was rudely interrupted by Lao Li: "Why don't you want it? I'm afraid! Don't let Yi's dollars go to waste. This is what Yi owes you, know what to do!"
"oh."
Li Tang could only nod.
At the same time, he also sighed secretly. After so many years, his father's knot is still unresolved.
The son of a landlord, the daughter of a capitalist, fish after fish, shrimp after shrimp, or hug together to keep warm, are all caused by the humming era.
My father undoubtedly loves my mother. Even though he is married and has children, he still supports my mother's college entrance examination.
Go to college, study abroad, and then Huang He leaves forever, becoming a female version of Chen Shimei.
Li Tang once hated his mother, but now he understands it very well, because his mother, Ms. Tang, is the same type of person as his parents in the previous life.
In the 1980s, a college student who graduated from a prestigious school saw the colorful world of the United States again. It was difficult for him to fall in love with a buyer from a rural supply and marketing cooperative because they were from two different worlds.
Although Ms. Tang and Lao Li were divorced, they did not give up their responsibilities. The alimony payments have not been cut off for so many years. On one point, Li Tang quite agreed.
Besides, Ms. Tang has already reorganized her family in the United States and has two children, so why should she worry about it anymore.
He glanced at his resentful father and couldn't help but advise: "It's been so many years, so let's forget it. She's a professor at an American university now, but we're doing pretty well."
When his parents divorced, Li Tang was already in elementary school. Although it was not easy for my father to take care of him as a dragster at first, Lao Li was brave and shrewd, and he soon made his first pot of gold by selling foreign cigarettes.
Later, the supply and marketing cooperative was in recession, so he simply resigned and opened a restaurant. Over the past few years, the hotel business has become more and more prosperous, and I have earned a three-story house with nearly 400 square meters. Now I can easily earn 300,000 to 400,000 yuan a year.
"Forget it? Humph!"
Lao Li picked up the bowl bitterly, took a big sip of wine, picked up the haggis in the pot, and said nothing for a long time.
"Okay, I won't say any more. Dad, come on, let me respect you."
It was rare for the two of them to sit and drink together, and Lao Li didn't want to mention these unpleasant old things. He glanced at his son and asked, "How are you and Binbin doing?"
"broke up."
"Ah... no, what's going on?"
The chopsticks that Lao Li just stretched out suddenly froze, and he looked at his son in surprise.
"It's okay. I'm in Shanghai and she went to Beijing. It's definitely not realistic to be together." Li Tang shrugged and said nonchalantly.
"You can't think of a way to make her stay!"
"That's the Beijing Experimental Repertory Theater. Is it possible for her to stay? To say the least, even if she can stay in Shanghai, it's not certain whether she can continue." Li Tang said calmly.
"Well……"
Lao Li was speechless by his son's rebuke. He was stunned for a while, and then he let out a deep sigh: "What a good little girl. You are so unlucky."
"There are plenty of good little girls, take your time." Li Tangchao smiled and said to his father.
This is a woman destined to become a big star, and he doesn't want to be a stumbling block on her way forward.
"There are plenty of good little girls, please bring me another one." Lao Li was very dissatisfied with his son's understatement and scolded him.
He has a very good impression of Binbin, and she has long been his daughter-in-law.
"Don't worry, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future."
Li Tang didn't want to argue with his father on this topic, so he smiled and said, "How about you bring me a stepmother first."
"Hey, you little Quexi, it's my fault."
Lao Li put down the wine bowl heavily and held the chopsticks upside down as if to hit him.
Li Tangcai is not afraid of this trick. Ever since he was a child, Lao Li has never laid a finger on him.
As far as his father is concerned, he has little education and the seemingly rough and arrogant Lao Li is much better than his professor Daddy in his previous life. Living in a single-parent family since childhood, Li Tang can still grow up happily with a cheerful and open-minded personality, which shows that Lao Li is a good father.
