Literary Master 1983

Chapter 189 Two Sisters

He also bought a can of blue cookies in an iron box at an overseas Chinese store, and then ran all over Guangzhou looking for Teresa Teng's "Sweet Honey" tape.

Why did he run all over the city? Because it was easy to find Teresa Teng's tapes, but it was hard to find the genuine tapes.

At the Xihu Road Night Market in Yangcheng, Yu Qie found an original tape produced by Hong Kong PolyGram. This tape was originally controlled as decadent music in the mainland. Although everyone could sing a few lines, it was not easy to bring it to the table.

However, comrades from the Xinhua Society's Hong Kong local organization once invited Teresa Teng to participate in the Spring Festival Gala - although this did not happen, it shows how much the atmosphere has changed in recent years.

The tape was placed casually on the canvas. The cover showed a woman wearing flowers and with a small round face. It was none other than Teresa Teng.

"Isn't this woman beautiful? She's Teresa Teng!" said the boss.

"Beautiful!" Yu Qie gave a thumbs up.

Zhang Li also has this face shape. It seems that small round faces were very popular in the 1980s and aesthetic standards were also changing.

The universal version for both oval and melon-seed faces hasn't come yet.

"Thirty dollars!" the boss said again.

Damn, this is expensive! It's half a month's salary for an average person.

Without waiting for Yu Qie to speak, the boss just showed his surprised expression and said, "Those who know the goods need no further explanation, but those who don't can buy pirated copies. I imported this from Hong Kong, and my relatives brought it to me. Besides, I have to make a few bucks, right?"

Yu Qie began to bargain: "I met the ex-boyfriend of this female star on the tape, and he gave me a gift. Can't you give me a few dollars less?"

The boss laughed and said, "Even if you bring Teresa Teng herself to me, kiss her and pat her butt, I will still sell it to you for thirty yuan!"

???

Yu Qi immediately thought of Wang Meng's complaints and couldn't help laughing. After a while, he took the Sanyo tape recorder off the bicycle and put in a No. 1 dry battery as a power source.

"Sanyo M4500K? Brother! You are quite willing to part with it. Are you an overseas Chinese?"

Yu Qie didn't reply to him, but asked: "I bought the tape, but you have to let me try it to see if it's broken. That's not too much, right?"

Seeing that he could make a deal, the boss's attitude immediately improved and he removed the tape quickly.

"Go ahead. The tapes used by this machine are very expensive. Also, you have to put the tape into the B card compartment to reduce the chance of the tape getting twisted."

"Have you tried?"

"I haven't tried it. I haven't used this kind of machine. My friend in Hong Kong has used it."

As he was speaking, Yu Qie stuffed the tape in with a clang. A light blue indicator light came on as the hatch closed. After a melody, Teresa Teng's voice came out with a rustling background noise.

"Sweet, your smile is sweet
It seems that the flowers are blooming in the spring breeze
Blooming in the spring breeze~"

As he sang, Yu Qie replayed his experiences abroad over the past two months. He put down 30 yuan, bought a tape, rode his bike back to the guesthouse, and told Wang Meng, "I have to go home."

"You want to go home? Which home? Wanxian?"

"No, it's Yanjing. I'm still a student."

Wang Meng immediately said: "Look, you have bought a house in Yanjing, and you have a sense of belonging to Yanjing. Many of our writers have written many articles about homesickness, but after they make money and buy a house, they don't come back."

These words made Yu Qie feel deeply moved. Last year during the Spring Festival, he watched the Spring Festival Gala with a group of foreigners in the Yanda International Students Apartment. Now the Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon, and he will have to go back to Yanda.

This year's Spring Festival, he said he had to go back no matter what!
Wang Meng added: "Since you are 'going home', it is time for me to go home too. Let's go back together."

The two took the train north.

Wang Meng and he were in the same soft sleeper, a room with four berths. They were both on the lower berth. Above Yu Qie was an unfamiliar southerner who was dressed rather slovenly. The seat above Wang Meng was empty.

That is to say, there are three people in the soft sleeper.

This T16 train is an express train and the entire journey takes 33 hours, or a day and a half.

Two nights, one day. The Beijing-Guangzhou Railway is divided into the southern section and the northern section. Its construction history can even be traced back to the Qing Dynasty. For example, the northern section of the Beijing-Hankou Railway was completed and opened to traffic in 1906. It was originally called the Lu-Han Railway, starting from Lugou Bridge in the north and ending in Hankou in the south.

As the southern section had a tunnel and had to cross the Nanling Mountains, the construction conditions were more complicated and it was not opened to traffic until 36.

This railway connects the three major economic circles of North China, East China and South China, and is the "Grand Canal" of the new era. This railway accounts for one-fifth of the national railway passenger volume and is the "backbone railway" between the north and the south.

Moreover, the scenery along the way is very different, from south to north, there are masts of Danjia fishing boats, karst peaks, waves on the Yangtze River Bridge, and the vast plains that stretch as far as the eye can see in the Central Plains... Many people take this train specifically to travel and see the beautiful scenery from north to south. Every time the train stops, people from all over the place get on and off, bringing a sense of freshness.

Especially in the soft sleeper, once the curtain is opened, the scenery changes every few hours, which is pleasing to the eye.

Clank clank, chatting about trivial things every day, the days just passed by.

When he had nothing to do, Yu Qie would play tapes in his sleeper and sometimes listen to radio programs. But when the train was moving, the signal would weaken, and the interference would be even worse when passing through mountainous areas.

For example, Wang Meng particularly likes to listen to the opera channel of the radio station. Recently, they played "Mu Guiying Takes Command". However, when the tape recorder is playing, it often passes a mountain and suddenly makes a drowning-like sob:
"Zi La - you are collecting, collecting - Zi La -"

The singing voice of the female warrior was broken into pieces of porcelain in the valley. Occasionally, she would let out a half sentence of "Three cannon shots outside the gate", but it was immediately crushed out by the friction of the rails.

"The Japanese technology is unreliable!"

"Didn't the train stop at the station earlier and now it's entering the mountains again?"

Wang Meng said depressedly: "I don't want to listen to it anymore. I'd rather listen to the recorded music."

"This is what you said you wanted to hear, not what I want to hear!"

"——I said it!" Wang Meng patted his chest. "I'm responsible! I'll take responsibility!"

Yu Qie put the tape in, listened for a while, clapped his hands and said, "I have to go to the bathroom."

"Then come find me in the dining car later and I'll tell the public about it. Don't keep good things to yourself! That's the mentality of a nouveau riche!"

"Why aren't you listening in your sleeper?"

"I don't like the guy on the upper bunk. I tell him to keep his legs together, but he stretches them out. I tell him to turn off the radio, but he snores. I tell him to stop eating duck feet, but he smacks his lips while eating... I really can't stand it! He's a dentist, a crappy dentist!"

Wang Meng deliberately spoke very loudly, fearing that no one could hear her. Yu Qi went straight to the bathroom. The singing of "Sweet Honey" became obviously farther and farther away, indicating that Wang Meng really took the tape recorder to the dining car.

How come Wang Meng, who is in her forties, can’t hold it in any more than I can?

Wash hands, take out the bird's nest, drain the water... No, it seems like I got the order wrong?
After Yu Qie came out, he pressed the tap to wash his hands. Because the water pressure was insufficient, he repeated it several times and finally washed them clean. When he turned around, he found a person standing there, looking at him.

Hey! I got a sudden shock.

This person is pure and pretty, with twin ponytails. She looks quite similar to one of Yu Qie's comrades in Shanghai, but if you look closely, her face is a bit rounder.

Gong Xue?

But why did he become so stupid?
Moreover, she was looking at him intently, as if she had seen her ancestor.

"You are……"

She didn't answer.

"Do you know me? You look a lot like one of my comrades."

Continue not to answer.

Got it!
Although he looks cute, he's actually a fool.

Yu Qie was too lazy to respond, "Comrade, please make way for me."

As a result, the woman suddenly reacted, her face flushed, and she uttered a sobbing "shout": "Sister, sister! I think I saw Yu Qie!"

The voice was so loud that it could be described as hoarse, but the absolute volume was not loud enough for her sister to hear.

(End of this chapter)