Chapter 1 The Beginning of an Era (please vote for me!)

"At 9:30 a.m. on June 7, 1915, Li Zicheng drove from the Guest House to the National Assembly. At about 10 o'clock, Li Zicheng was sworn in at the National Assembly. Subsequently, Prime Minister Li Zicheng delivered an inaugural speech of about 15 minutes, setting the

The tone of his future governance: change and rejuvenation.

Change and renewal!

This is not only the policy tone of a government, but also the tone of a country and an era.

Any observer of Eastern issues should see that when that voice spread along the radio waves to the whole of China and to all parts of Southeast Asia, this ancient country had already set off a revolution, and more importantly, as Li Zi

Just like the call answered by Prime Minister Cheng, everyone in this land responds to the call of the nation in their own way.

In this transformation, every citizen of this country has embarked on a journey, perhaps in different ways, but the goal is the same - the revitalization of the country and the rejuvenation of the nation!

Until now, some people regard the inaugural speech on June 7 as the "Thunder of East Asia", but looking back on history, I agree that it was the first cry after a nation's "Nirvana and rebirth"..."

1936 "New York Herald Tribune" - Lippmann's "Today and Tomorrow" column - "The Call of the Times"

When he woke up from his hazy state of consciousness, the woman had already woken up. As usual, she was holding a bowl, drinking boiled water provided on the train, and eating fried noodles.

This woman got on the train from Tongguan Station. She caught Song Chengjie's attention as soon as she got on. The first impression she gave people was that she had dark skin, and she looked like a girl from the countryside. Song Chengjie got on the train from Baoji Station, a train that has traveled thousands of miles.

Sitting down, although the train addiction is enough, it makes people feel a little tired.

As the train gradually approached Lianyungang, the woman's complexion became fairer in Song Chengjie's eyes. Perhaps because she was far away from home, and the more people he visited in the train, he unknowingly felt sad about being far away from his hometown.

Therefore, this woman who got on the bus from Tong'er made him feel a sense of intimacy.

At this time, in Song Chengjie's opinion, this woman in denim clothes looked a bit like Achun from his hometown in Dongtou. Before leaving his hometown, he only thought that Achun was a disgusting woman. There was no such shrewd woman around him.

It makes people feel a little lucky. But now that I think about it, people like Achun are not disgusting. They are fierce and aggressive, but they are much more generous.

Judging from her face alone, the woman in front of her is much more beautiful. Her tightly pursed lips, watery eyes, and forehead are not as broad as Achun's, which makes her look very comfortable. Therefore, Song Chengjie visits her every three or four times

He would raise his eyes to look at this woman every minute. Sometimes, their eyes would meet unexpectedly, and he would stare at the woman's appearance for a long time along the way.

However, although he was looking at this woman, Song Chengjie did not say a word to this woman who looked very Zhou Zheng along the way, and only looked at her occasionally.

Maybe she is going to Lianyungang too!

Going to Lianyungang, after the Longhai Railway was built, factories have sprung up on the land attached to the stations along the railway. For the people of Shaanxi, it was the first time they saw the appearance of a train.

They saw cars and modern factories for the first time. Likewise, they realized for the first time how wonderful the outside world is.

Like many young people who might have had to face the earth with their backs to the sky for the rest of their lives, Song Chengjie, who had a large family but little land, gave his mother a head and left his hometown with the twelve yuan that his elder brother exchanged for food.

, In the beginning, he worked as a part-time worker at Baoji Station. However, he was smart and had a broad vision, so he went to night school while doing part-time work. After receiving his junior high school diploma in half a year, he was not like other people.

Same as staying at Baoji Station, I chose to get on the train and go to Lianyun, which is a "big city" that only exists in pictures.

It was getting dark, and the electric light on the roof of the carriage turned on. Song Chengjie's stomach also started to growl. He took out the lunch box he bought at the previous stop and ate it. The lunch box was packed in an oil paper box. The rice was very simple, with red sorghum rice and

Some carrot sticks and potatoes, but there were two slices of pork belly in the middle, which tasted very rustic. Half of the meal was already eaten. In order to save money, he only ate one box of this at a glance, and that one cost a dime.

About two minutes after the train left a small station, the woman stood up, walked past Song Chengjie, and walked out of the carriage. At this time, the color of the woman's belt came into Song Chengjie's eyes. Song Chengjie was eating sorghum in his mouth.

Mi, watching the woman's back. As he kept eating, he thought that she might have gone to the toilet. After a while, when the woman came back, Song Chengjie's lunch box was almost at the bottom. He lowered his head and used chopsticks vigorously.

After two or three bites, the woman didn't seem to have returned to her original seat.

"She might..."

Song Chengjie thought about it and suddenly raised his head to see that the woman was standing opposite. Just when Song Cheng raised his eyes and looked around, the woman took another step. She walked past Song Chengjie and did not return to her seat immediately.

He continued to take two steps forward, turned sideways, stuck his head out of the car window, and looked out quietly.

The wind when the train started blew violently into the carriage, and the woman's disheveled hair on the temples caught Song Chengjie's attention. At this time, Song Chengjie threw the leftover empty box hard out of the window. The window where the woman was sitting was the same as the window next to Song Chengjie.

They were adjacent to each other, with only one row of seats in between. Then he saw the slate-colored lunch box lid that had been thrown into the wind and floated back with the wind. He thought, this is bad. He couldn't help but look at the woman's face.

The woman's face just stretched out the window; the woman silently retracted and wiped her forehead carefully with a printed handkerchief. Song Chengjie thought that it would be safer to apologize proactively.

"sorry."

"It doesn't matter."

the woman replied.

She was still wiping her face. Song Chengjie had no choice but to remain silent, and the woman said nothing, and she stuck her head out the window again. Three or four passengers looked sleepy in the dim light. No one spoke, and only the loud noise of the train was heard.

The roar of the car drove forward. Song Chengjie closed his eyes.

After a while, Song Chengjie heard the woman ask:

"Are we almost arriving at Lianyungang?"

When he saw it, she had already turned towards him, stretched her waist, and put her face next to Song Chengjie. Song Chengjie was surprised.

"This..." Song Chengjie responded. It was his first time going to Lianyungang and he didn't know anything.

"Are you also getting off at Lianyungang?..."

"Well, get off the car."

This train only ran to Lianyungang, and there was the sea in front of it, so it was natural to have such a conversation. The woman had been sitting diagonally opposite Song Chengjie, and for a long time, she could only hear the roar of the train.

When the train stopped at the next station, the woman finally spoke again. She wanted to trouble Song Chengjie with something. She said that after arriving in Lianyungang, a man blamed the uncle and wanted to ask him to help find a hotel. The woman insisted on asking her, and Song Chengjie also felt that this was the case.

Yes, but he didn't want to agree. After all, he and this woman were strangers, which made it difficult for him to make a choice. However, he didn't have the courage to refuse outright, so he had to deal with it hesitantly for a while.

Now, the train has arrived in Lianyungang.

When the announcement came from the train that the train had arrived in Lianyungang, the people in the carriage started to move. Like many people, Song Chengjie was only carrying a not too big rucksack. It was the bag he bought at Baoji Station, which was much less labor-intensive than a cloth bag.

, put on the big backpack and left the ticket gate.

And the woman followed him and walked out of the central train station along the passage. Although it was already ten o'clock, because it was summer, the street was still as lively as when it got dark, and the tall buildings on the street were still as lively as when it was just dark.

, Song Chengjie was just dazzled for a moment. He looked at the brightly lit domestic products exhibition hall and only thought about how people could live in such a high place.

Finally, after leaving the train station and walking through a few more intersections, there were two or three hotels in front of him. However, in Song Chengjie's opinion, they were too luxurious, so he had to pass by these brightly lit three-story buildings quietly and then take a stroll.

Moving forward. Where to go in this unfamiliar place? Of course he had no idea, he just wandered blindly in this city.

The woman followed him silently. After a while, she walked to a relatively quiet cross street and saw a "hotel" sign hanging on the door of the second house. This was a sign that was not very conspicuous. It seemed that

This place is suitable for both Song Chengjie and the woman. Song Chengjie turned around slightly and asked the woman,

"Is this okay?"

The woman looked at it and replied:

"fine."

They made up their minds and walked straight in. They had just arrived at the door of the room and had not had time to make a statement.

"The two are not together",

I heard a series of greetings:

"Welcome...please come in...lead the way...No. 16...",

The two had no choice but to silently follow the man into No. 16. When the waitress went to bring tea, they just sat facing each other blankly. When the waiter came in with tea and invited the guests to take a bath, Song Chengjie no longer had the courage to declare that this woman

Not with him anymore.

He carried a handkerchief, said "I'll wash it first", and walked to the bathroom. The bathroom was at the end of the corridor next to the toilet. It was dark and looked very unclean. Song Chengjie took off his clothes, jumped into the tub, and thought.

After a while, he thought to himself, this woman has really become a burden. He

While he was taking a shower, there were footsteps in the corridor, as if someone went to the toilet and came out again soon. Then they washed their hands. After hurriedly wiping themselves, Song Chengjie went back to his room. As soon as he entered the room,

The waitress came in with the accommodation registration book.

Song Chengjie took the registration book and wrote in a formal manner:

"Song Chengjie, Songdaodao Village, Baoji County, Shaanxi Province, 23 years old, unemployed."

It was the woman's turn, and Song Chengjie was a little at a loss. He wanted to wait until she came back from the shower, but the waitress kept waiting. Song Chengjie had no choice but to write randomly:

"Same county, same county, same village, same surname, name Ahua, nineteen years old."

Then he handed over the errand. During the errand, he asked a question specifically.

“How much does it cost to stay for one night?”

"Three cents!"

When he heard "30 cents", he completely gave up the idea of ​​asking for a room again. Thirty cents! It's too expensive! That night, in the narrow room, Song Chengjie, who was sleeping on the floor, didn't sleep all night. Likewise, the woman didn't sleep all night either.

Yesterday.

There were many things in Lianyungang that surprised Song Chengjie. First of all, it was the sound of the jingling bells of the trams that aroused his interest. With the sound of jingling bells, so many people were going up and down, which was really novel. Secondly, there was

First Street. However, what surprised him even more was that no matter where he went, it all had the same "Lianyungang flavor", and there were piles of wood and stones everywhere. The new houses were all one or two feet away from the road, and they looked very new.

Only half of the building has been demolished, and the front half has been carefully preserved. It seems that everything is continuing to be destroyed; at the same time, everything is under construction.

Just as the teacher said in class, huge changes are taking place in Lianyungang on the first day. When such changes spread to the whole country, it will be a day when China becomes stronger.

At this time, standing in this ever-changing city, Song Chengjie was simply stunned. It was the first time for a countryman from inland China to be in the center of the city. What an unusual mood and feeling it was! The knowledge he had learned in Baoji in the past was no longer the same.

There was nothing that could force him to calm down from this surprised mood.
To be continued...