Xiao Lang, Liu Youjin, and Gong Zijun took the forged documents, successfully passed the gate of the Salt Lake Labor Reform Farm, and walked out in a dignified manner, until they got on the tractor, they couldn't believe it was true.

"It's not surprising that the management of the farm has long been chaotic and overstaffed." Xiao Lang said, he was the mastermind and leader of the escape, and he must have done research and research.

At first, they were a little frightened, and from time to time they looked back for fear that the motorcycles of their pursuers would come, but this proved to be pure worry.

The first thing the three of them thought of was to go home, their families all lived in the provincial capital, and it was very troublesome to go from the salt lake farm to the provincial capital, because it was difficult to move an inch without a letter of introduction, but fortunately they had the official seal of the radish and the letterhead of the labor reform bureau, and it was still easy to forge a letter of introduction.

There are three comrades Xiao Rufeng, Liu Siguo, and Gong Hanlin who are cadres of our bureau, and they went to the provincial capital to perform official duties, please cooperate, followed by the signature of the director of the labor reform farm, and the bright red official seal, this letter of introduction came in handy, and the labor reform prisoners have wage income, Xiao Lang and Liu Youjin have been reformed for ten years, accumulated dozens of yuan, and it is more than enough to buy tickets, and the three of them are all big people who have seen the world, have a good temperament and demeanor, and there is nothing wrong with pretending to be cadres.

In this way, I was afraid to transfer to Beitai first, the devastated city and the garden city in memory are completely different, there are no street trees on both sides of the road, only bare tree stumps, the riverside is barren, the camphor forest is nowhere to be seen, the buildings along the street are painted with slogans, the pedestrians on the road are all dish-faced, the radio loudspeaker is a passionate march, the three old guys look at the strange and familiar city, and are speechless for a long time.

Xiao Lang has a house in Beitai, he suggested going there first, inquiring about the situation and deciding on the next move, the house is located on the original Bo'ai Street, in the past, there have been several families, all of them are workers' families, it is estimated that the house was confiscated after the housing authority allocated to the people in need.

The three of them had nowhere to go, so they had to wander aimlessly on the street, Gong Zijun was hungry and wanted to buy a baked cake to satisfy his hunger, but he couldn't just have money, he also had to have food stamps, they were prisoners of labor where did they get food stamps, so they had to swallow saliva and walk away silently.

"Go to the train station waiting room and sit down, the benches there will be for sleep." Yoo Youjin proposed.

"The railway station is densely populated with police, and it's too dangerous." Xiao Lang said.

"Then go to the park?" Gong Zijun said.

"No, the three big men are wandering in the park, and if they are seen and reported by someone who cares, we will be finished."

"This doesn't work, that doesn't work, where is it okay to go?"

"Let's take a look."

……

Sino-Soviet relations broke down, Khrushchev withdrew all Soviet experts, the Soviet expert groups of the Chenguang Factory and the Hongqi Factory were gone, and the former Jiangwan Villa expert dormitory was empty, turning into the No. 1 guest house of the prefectural committee.

Chen Bei and Ma Chunhua received a notice to go to a meeting, and the door of the guest house was different from before, with a big five-pointed star on it, and a white wooden sign next to it: The First Guest House of the Jiangbei Prefectural Committee.

"This used to be my family's villa." Chen Bei said to Ma Chunhua.

"Cut, the bourgeois sense of superiority is coming again." Ma Chunhua was dismissive.

When he arrived at the front of the building, Chen Bei asked Ma Chunhua to go in first and go to visit his old friend Da Zhuang by himself.

Da Zhuang is a bear he raised since he was a child, participated in the War of Resistance Against Japan, sergeant, very humane, can smoke and drink, will help work, after the liberation has been raised in Jiangwan villa, the Chen family hired someone to take care of it, Chen Bei often came to see it.

Time flies, Da Zhuang has entered the twilight years as a bear, and he no longer has the liveliness of the past, especially during this time, people can't eat enough, not to mention animals, Chen Bei always has a faint premonition in his heart, feeling that Da Zhuang has not many days left.

When he came to the bear house, he saw that the workers were cleaning the empty room, and Chen Bei hurriedly asked, "Where is Da Zhuang?" ”

The worker pointed behind him: "Pulled by the kitchen man." ”

As soon as Chen Bei heard the word kitchen, the blood rushed to his brain, and he pulled his legs over, only to see Da Zhuang tied with iron chains, and there were four or five people standing next to him, holding sharp knives and axes with their sleeves rolled, and there was a big basin on the ground, probably for blood collection.

"Stop!" Chen Bei shouted angrily and hurriedly stepped forward.

When Da Zhuang saw the old master coming, he let out a weak cry, and tears flowed from his eyes.

Chen Bei went to unlock the iron lock, but he couldn't open the iron lock, and shouted: "Bring the key!" ”

"What unit are you from? Why interfere with our slaughter of bears? A man in a cadre uniform questioned Chen Bei, and it could be seen that he was the leader.

"This is my bear, why are you killing it!" Chen Bei asked rhetorically.

The cadre sneered disdainfully: "When did the public bear become your family, joke." ”

Chen Beidao: "Not only this bear, but also this house and this yard are all mine." ”

The cadre nodded: "I know, you are a member of the Chen family, since you want to debate, I will tell you that this villa was dedicated to the country by Chen Zikun, and now it is a state-owned asset, and this bear was donated together with the house, and it also belongs to the state property, and we have the right to dispose of it. ”

He said and beckoned to the cook: "Slaughter me!" ”

Chen Bei's eyes were red, and he kicked over, the cadres were on their backs, the cadres' hats also fell off, covered in mud, and pointed at Chen Bei and scolded: "You have delayed the leader's illness, you have to take full responsibility!" ”

"I'm responsible for you Malegobi!" Chen went north to fight, and was already stopped by a group of people, Ma Chunhua also rushed to hear the news, grabbed her husband and said: "What are you crazy about, this is a trick of the local committee!" ”

"Whoever dares to move big, I will kill whoever is strong!" Chen Bei didn't listen to anyone, and entered a state of rage, he snatched the axe from the cook's hand, struggled to cut the chains, and Da Zhuang regained his freedom.

Chen Bei didn't even have a meeting, he took Da Zhuang and walked away, a person and a bear walked on the street and attracted countless eyes, Gao Tupo family home can not go back, the place is too narrow, and it will disturb the neighbors, Chen Bei took Da Zhuang directly to the factory and raised it in the storage room outside the office of the security department.

Ma Chunhua then arrived and had a quarrel with Chen Beida, the focus of the quarrel was how to feed this brown bear with a huge appetite, and no one had anything to eat, let alone an animal.

Chen Bei also knew in his heart that he couldn't support Da Zhuang, but he was still very hard-mouthed.

"Then you can live with your bear, and never go home." Ma Chunhua left a sentence and left.

Chen Bei shouted at Ma Chunhua's back: "Don't come to this set, I think I'm afraid of you." Looking back, Da Zhuang stood up straight and whispered at himself.

It turned out that the provincial leader Ma Yunqing had a gallstone disease and needed bear bile treatment, and the bears in the zoo had already starved to death, and only Da Zhuang was left alive in the province, and for the health of the leader, he had to sacrifice it.

"Anyway, the bear is also old, it is better to slaughter it for the benefit of the people, bear bile can cure diseases, bear paws can supplement nutrition, bear skin can be used as hats, bear meat can be eaten, and the bear's body is a treasure." said the president of the union.

The cadre who was kicked down by Chen Bei in the prefectural committee also came, probably criticized by the leader, and his attitude has now become very good.

"Comrade Chen Bei, my attitude is not good, I apologize to you." The cadre stood up and bowed to him.

The chairman of the trade union said: "Director Chen, hand over the bear, wait for the pot." ”

Chen Beidao: "Da Zhuang is a hero of the Anti-Japanese War, and no one can touch it if he has won a medal." ”

The cadre said: "Heroes of the Anti-Japanese War, why don't I know? Who awarded it the medal? ”

Chen Zikun said: "Da Zhuang is an artillery sergeant of the Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army, and he has made great achievements, which are recorded in the Nantai County Chronicles. ”

The cadre smiled dumbly: "It turned out to be a bear from the Kuomintang army." ”

The chairman of the trade union also smiled: "Xiao Chen, don't talk about these jokes, hurry up and let the family pull the bear away." ”

"If I say no, I can't do it, I don't have to talk about it." Chen Bei is famous for his stinky temper in the factory, and the party secretary and factory director can't help him, let alone the chairman of the trade union.

So, they broke up unhappily again.

Chen Bei didn't go home that night, spent the night in the duty room, and the next morning he went to the canteen to get a porridge, and came to the storage room with a bowl to feed Da Zhuang, but found that the bear he raised since childhood had already died, and Da Zhuang tore his throat open with his claws.

Chen Bei found a flatbed truck, dragged the lame body to the barren beach and buried it, and smoked half a pack of cigarettes in front of the grave, he felt very uncomfortable, but he couldn't say why.

After sitting for a long time, Chen Bei staggered home, his mother was playing with Chen Guang, and his son saw his father coming home and rushed over to let his father tell a story.

No matter how bad Chen Bei's mood was, he became cheerful when he saw his son, he sat in the courtyard with his son in his arms, and said, "Dad will tell you a story about Su Xiu's forced debts." ”

This story is a folk tale circulating in the society, it can't be true, Chen Bei is also hearsay, he doesn't believe it at all, and he has the right to coax the child to relieve his boredom.

"The Soviets are not particular, they specifically pick us to force debts when we are in difficulty, and the broken copper and iron sold to us during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in the past, Khrushchev has to count the money, no money? If you don't have money, you will take grain and pork to settle your account. ”

Chen Guang, who was already seven years old, stared at his innocent eyes and asked his father, "Why are the Soviets so bad?" ”

Chen Beidao: "If you don't call it Su Xiu, they have always been big villains, they occupy a piece of our boss's territory and don't pay it back, and now they have to force debts, it's even more ruthless than the king of Hades." ”

Chen Guangdao: "Then shall we pay it back?" ”

"Return, we Chinese have ambition, Premier Zhou said, didn't he want pork, give him pig tails, so we gathered all the pig tails in the whole country and transported a full train, hundreds of wagons loaded with pig tails."

"How many pigs does that have?"

"More than a million, after it was shipped to the Soviet Union, when I saw so many pig tails, Khrushchev was scared to pee his pants."

Chen Guang laughed, leaned forward and back, and suddenly asked his father: "How to eat pig tails?" ”

"Fried, steamed, hot, cold salad, there are many ways to eat."

"I don't want to eat pig tails, I want to eat braised pork."

"The country is so difficult, how can there be braised pork."

"Dad lied, there are so many pigs, why don't there be braised pork."

Chen Bei couldn't answer this question, so he had to say, "This...... Dad will tell you another story. ”

Finally coaxed the child to sleep, Chen Bei went out for a walk, and saw three people coming over, and couldn't help but wonder: "Uncle Xiao, Uncle Liu, Uncle Gong, when did you come out?" ”