On the road, the truck stopped steadily in front of the gray uniform.
"Comrade driver, are you going to Tangshan?" Came in gray uniform, took out a red box of flowers from his pocket and handed it over through the car window.
Wang Weidong waved his hand: "Thank you, I don't smoke.
When passing through Tangshan, don’t enter the city. "
The man in gray uniform was overjoyed when he heard this: "It doesn't matter if you don't go into the city. How much is the fare?"
He was waiting on the roadside yesterday and encountered several trucks, but none of them passed through Tangshan.
"Tangshan is almost four hundred miles away from the capital. The cab is 1 yuan and the bucket is 5 cents." Wang Weidong frowned, recalling the detailed fee list provided by the captain, and said with a smile.
After such a long journey, sitting in the truck compartment on such a cold day would make me freeze like a popsicle.
"One dollar... is a bit expensive." The gray uniform hesitated.
In the store, pork costs 75 cents a pound, eggs cost 5 cents a pound, corn noodles cost 8 cents a pound, pigeons are more expensive at 15 cents...
At the Xinjiekou Cinema on Zhimennei Street, it only costs five cents to watch a movie.
There are so many things you can do with one dollar.
Wang Weidong shrugged his shoulders indifferently and shook his head: "Forget it if it's too expensive. Please give in, I'm still on my way."
As he said that, he held his hand on the gear handle and released the brake and stepped on the accelerator.
Seeing Wang Weidong in gray uniform, he refused to give in.
He could only sigh helplessly, take out a dollar that he had prepared long ago from his pocket, and hand it in through the car window.
He knew the price and just wanted to pay less.
Wang Weidong took the dollar, threw it into the iron box under the base, and pushed open the passenger door.
"Come up."
The gray uniform went up to the cab and took a look.
Spotless dashboard, clean seat cushions, wooden gear handle wrapped in soft cloth.
There is no vomit-inducing engine oil smell either.
"Comrade driver, your truck is very clean." He praised.
"The truck is the driver's home, so naturally it needs to be tidied up." Wang Weidong said with a smile.
While driving, he looked at the gray uniform with his peripheral vision and said with a smile: "Comrade, from the look of you, you should be a leader."
With a gray uniform and copper buttons, he is at least a junior cadre.
Moreover, he had a pen in his upper right pocket.
"In the unit, I am just a small section chief, not a leader." The gray uniform said with a smile.
The two of them chatted as the truck raced along the road.
After a while, Wang Weidong knew it.
The name in the gray uniform is Wang Jianguo. He graduated from high school and is the section chief of the Beijing Weather Station. He lives in Juer Hutong and has two children, a boy and a girl. He also has a golden poodle.
My wife works in a trust store. This time I went back to my hometown to attend my nephew's wedding.
He waited in line for a long time, but failed to buy a train ticket, and was about to miss the wedding.
I heard from a colleague that there are trucks passing by on the highway outside the city, and it costs only one yuan to get to Tangshan.
Although one dollar is a lot, it is nothing compared with the wedding of a loved one.
Wang Jianguo also thinks that Wang Weidong is a good young man who is worth dating. He is also a truck driver and can be used in the future.
The two left each other's addresses and office phone numbers.
Well, Wang Weidong picked up another friend on the road.
The truck drove quickly along the road and passed Beishi Village in the southern suburbs, which is the wealthiest village around the capital.
There are blue brick houses on the roadside, and the slogans "Strive to work hard, strive for the top, build the motherland with more, faster, better, save more" are painted in white on the walls.
A group of farmers wearing navy blue cotton jackets and black cotton trousers squatted on the roadside holding dry tobacco bags and pots.
They saw the truck approaching and waved from afar.
"Master driver, do you want to go to Ershilipo?"
"Passing by, 2 cents per person, ride in the carriage."
"Okay, give me the money."
...
"Master driver, I'm going to Xianghe."
"Xianghe, one hundred and twenty miles, 2 cents."
"Master, it's such a cold weather. I have 5 cents, can I sit in the cab?"
"The cab is full and there is only a bucket. Do you want to sit down?"
"Then...Okay, take the 2 cents."
These days, there are only a few cars on the road every day. If you miss this one, you will have to rely on your legs to walk.
...
Less than a hundred miles away from the capital, the truck cab and compartment were full of people.
Uh...and two big fat pigs that grunted.
Big Fat Pig also charges per head.
There was also an extra five dollars and eighty-two cents in the iron box under the seat.
That's extra money for truck drivers.
Sometimes in a month, the extra money is more than the wages paid by the factory.
Wang Weidong is not short of this money.
He could have pretended not to see it, let the passengers wait in the cold wind, and drove the truck straight to Anshan.
However, since everyone is poor these days, there must be a special reason why they are willing to pay for a ride.
Maybe I'm not in good health, maybe I'm in an emergency.
Wang Weidong is doing good things.
Of course, he can also let people ride for free without charging for the ride.
Then the hitchhiker gets a free ride this time, but will be unwilling to pay again the next time he encounters another truck.
Other truck drivers, who have no extra money, will not stop when they encounter these people who are anxious to take the truck.
This becomes Zigong redeeming people.
This kind of extra money has become a standard for truck drivers, and everyone takes it for granted.
There is even a fee schedule circulating among truck drivers, charging based on mileage, 1 cent for 20 kilometers.
On the first day Wang Weidong entered the team, he was forced by Niu Zhijun to memorize the charge sheet.
Making extra money usually doesn't lead to trouble.
However, after Wang Weidong joined the truck team, he still made a suggestion to Niu Zhijun.
After leaving the city, cover the license plate with a red cloth.
On the one hand, this can ward off evil spirits, and on the other hand, it can also cover up people's eyes and ears.
Anyway, there are no traffic police checking license plates on the road, and there is no fishing enforcement.
In this way, even if someone wants to make trouble and report it, they don't know who to report it to.
Wang Weidong chatted with "passengers" while driving.
He drives cars all year round and is well-informed. He occasionally makes some short jokes that make the "passengers" burst into laughter from time to time.
Especially in the back row, sitting next to the black iron pot, the young man with a scar on the corner of his mouth has already called Wang Weidong "brother".
Not long after, the truck passed Wangsi Camp, and the two big fat pig passengers got off.
Wang Weidong continued driving the truck and accidentally caught a glimpse of a skinny little daughter-in-law wearing a blue-gray cotton coat and trousers with a purple scarf on her head, walking hard in the cold wind step by step.
What caught his attention was that the young daughter-in-law had a red cotton bundle wrapping the child in her arms.
Judging from the size of the baggage, the child should be less than a month old.
There is no village in front of here and no store in back.
The cold wind blows on people's faces, like a knife cutting them.
It's so painful for a woman to take a child with her.
Wang Weidong slowed down and slowly approached his young wife.
He stepped on the brake, opened the car door, and shouted to his wife: "Comrade, do you want a lift?"
The little daughter-in-law stopped and looked at the truck in confusion at first, her big eyes filled with joy, and then she looked downcast again, her little head shaking like a rattle.
His eyes were timid and he pursed his lips: "No, brother, I have no money."
...
