Return to the 1982 Staff Compound

Chapter 9: I've known you for a long time

Chen Suniang had already caught a glimpse of the bicycle parked at the door. She asked with a frown, "Where did this come from?"

"I borrowed it from a classmate. I'll use it for a few days to satisfy my liking." Qiu Huoming said, and winked at his elder sister.

"Don't break it. Remember to lock it and park it in the living room at night. You have a car. After dinner, you can take the meal to your dad."

Chen Suniang did not expect her son to lie, so she believed it immediately and assigned him a task.

"Mission accomplished!" Qiu Huoming raised the corner of his mouth, revealing eight neat, white front teeth.

The younger sister glanced at him and suddenly felt that her elder brother wasn't that scary after all.

After dinner, Qiu Huoming closed the lid of the aluminum lunch box containing the food, put it in a net bag, hung it on the handlebars, and the bicycle glided smoothly along the path in front of the door and rode towards the large iron gate of the staff compound.

The county party committee compound is on Beimen Street. Halfway along the way you will pass the Cultural Palace, where storytellers perform during holidays. There is also a theater next to it where local drama troupes often rehearse.

The cinema is also nearby. On the wall next to it, there is a poster of Shaolin Temple. A corner of it has been torn off, but the remaining part is still firmly stuck to the wall.

With a bicycle, our efficiency was much higher. We soon arrived at the county party committee compound. The old man guarding the gate was not there. He was probably going to the toilet.

He rode straight in.

Father Qiu Jianshe's office is in a two-story wooden building at the far end of the compound. The location is very remote.

Qiu Huoming thought that if his father was in the palace, his position would be roughly equivalent to that of the cold palace, a servant who could not see the emperor all year round.

The car stopped at the entrance of the wooden building. After locking the car and taking the key, Qiu Huoming slowly took the net bag off the handlebars, turned around, stepped on the creaking wooden stairs, and walked up by tapping the wooden railings. His father's office was on the north side of the second floor. This building was originally the residence of wealthy people in the county and was handed over to the state for use after liberation.

The original layout has not been changed much. There are three rooms on the second floor, one is the printing room and the other two are offices. Usually, my father is the only one in the office. When he was a child, Qiu Huoming often did his homework in his office and was very familiar with this area.

The weather was nice, and the county party committee compound was well greened, with clusters of flowers, which was very pleasing to the eye.

Qiu Jianshe is thin, with a square face, delicate features, and the stubbornness that is common among nerds. He is also marginalized by his colleagues because he is not good at managing relationships.

He was printing a document. The blue draft was covered with a fine mesh and covered with ink. Qiu Huoming walked in smelling the familiar scent of ink.

"Huo Ming, you're here. Wait a moment. I have a few more."

Qiu Jianshe raised his head and said with a smile.

"Yeah." Qiu Huoming responded, took off the net bag, put the lunch box on the wooden table, and looked around the printing room. Lead movable type was neatly arranged on the cabinet next to it, and there was a pile of manuscript paper on the ground.

On the other side were several stacks of outdated newspapers.

"Dad, do you have a 'Half Moon Talk' here? Where is it? I want to see it."

"It's on my desk, you can look for it yourself." Qiu Jianshe said casually without even raising his head.

Qiu Huoming turned and walked towards the north-facing office. On the table was a yellowed ceramic cup that his father often used, and next to it were a newspaper, two magazines, and a few folders.

Both magazines are "Banyuetan".

The date is from last month, so it seems that the magazine is published every two weeks. This magazine contains current political content, which is very helpful for understanding current policies. Qiu Huoming sat on the chair and began to read.

After a while, my father came in with an aluminum lunch box. His hands had been washed, but some of the blue printing paper color still remained. He used chopsticks to pick up the food in the lunch box and put it into his mouth while asking:

"You can ask me if you don't understand something. Some of the questions in your political exam should be about current affairs."

"Okay." Qiu Huoming agreed and continued to flip through the books in his hands.

The magazine of Ban Yue Tan was not thick. Qiu Huoming chose the ones that interested him and read them carefully. He finished reading it quickly. He looked up at his father and asked, "Dad, now everyone is encouraging economic development and production and management. Do you have any ideas?"

Qiu Jianshe finished his last bite of food, feeling a little unsatisfied. He wiped his mouth and said with a straight face, "Boy, don't try to run before you learn to walk. Study hard and don't have any bad thoughts."

Qiu Huoming glanced at him and thought, no wonder he was left out, what a conservative guy.

"Give me the lunch box. I'm going back. Can I take this magazine home to read?" Qiu Huoming said in a bad voice.

"Take it back. I'll bring it back in a few days."

"Let's go." Qiu Huoming put the book in his pocket and prepared to go downstairs with the net bag in hand.

Passing through the corridor window, there is an old woman's home on the other side, separated from the wooden building by only a wall.

On one side of the wall is a yard full of flowers. When Qiu Huoming was a child, he stood on the stairs of the wooden building and ate the fruit candies she handed over. Sometimes she would also hand him picture books. Every weekend, the old and the young would understand each other, one sitting on a bamboo chair in the yard and the other sitting on the stairs, chatting with each other.

The year he graduated from elementary school, the old lady passed away, and Qiu Huoming was sad for a long time. Later, his relationship with his father was not very good, and he almost never set foot here.

He leaned over to look at the courtyard below which was obviously in a state of desolation. The bamboo chair was already in tatters and was piled among the sundries. He shook his head and walked to the stairs with some sadness.

Suddenly his eyes flashed. There was a familiar bicycle parked at the door of the courtyard below, a Phoenix 26 model. He had only seen it after school in the morning, so he naturally remembered it clearly.

This special model is rare in small towns because it is expensive.

He walked back again, looking at Qiu Jianshe who was resting with his eyes closed, and called out, "Dad, whose yard is next door?"

Qiu Jianshe opened his eyes and said without hesitation: "County Magistrate Gu's home. His mother used to specially bring you candies. Don't you remember? You still called her Grandma Glasses."

Qiu Huoming's memory suddenly became extremely clear.

His family was poor, and when he was a child he was lucky to have enough food to eat, and snacks were out of the question. However, his grandmother with glasses always took out all kinds of delicious food, on the condition that he studied hard. She would test him in the yard, and as long as he got the answer right, she would hand him a snack as a reward.

I have been a good student since I was young, and my grandmother with glasses has contributed a lot to this.

Could it be that Gu Xiaoran is her granddaughter? Does that mean County Magistrate Gu is her father or uncle?

Qiu Huoming walked down the stairs in a daze. It was very quiet next door, and the courtyard door was ajar. He didn't know if there was anyone inside.

He rode his bike back, recalling an incident that happened during the summer vacation in elementary school one year. He stayed at the stairs as usual. The grandma with glasses was not in the yard. Instead, a little girl about his age appeared. She was wearing a little red dress, sitting on a chair, unwrapping the wrapping paper, and preparing to eat a popsicle.

Qiu Huoming is greedy for popsicles, so he offers to do a magic trick for her. He can turn her popsicles into paper airplanes.

The little girl believed it and handed him the popsicle. He took the popsicle and ran away quickly, and didn't dare to come over for several days.

Now that I think about it, not only is it embarrassing, but the deceived girl seems to be Gu Xiaoran herself...

Qiu Huoming was riding his bicycle, feeling as if he was about to die socially.