Taozi was my deskmate in middle school. As our father is a classmate, we grew up together and the two families are family friends. We have all moved from the southern mountainous areas to places near the Yellow River. Thirty years ago, there were deserts and rubble everywhere. The only advantage is that it is close to the Yellow River. After the desert land is leveled, water can be diverted from the Yellow River for irrigation, which is much better than relying on the sky to eat in the mountains. When our father met again in the relocation place, his identity had changed a lot. After finishing school, Tao Zi's father worked as a teacher for several years, and then caught up with the immigration policy and was transferred here to become a cadre in a government unit. It is said that my father had the opportunity to teach. After all, there were not many people studying in the mountains at that time, but according to him, he felt very painful when he saw the back of the students and the podium, and he gave up the opportunity. I didn't know it was true until I went to school. After graduating from high school, my father chose to go home to farm. Going home to farm makes grandpa feel that the scholar is so much. It is better to let children feed sheep and cattle at home and be farmers. As a result, my uncle and aunt couldn't go to school.
When school started, my father took me to Tao Zi's house after completing the formalities for me. Tao Zi's home is not far from the school. It's a small yard behind the facade house facing the street. Just the opposite of the layout of our country yard. Tao Zi's family has two children, a man and a woman. What is he? When I first met him, I was too stiff to talk to him. What's more, I feel particularly inferior, because each other's clothes have clearly divided our class. Just like the difference between farmers and cadres. If nothing else, the big black blog sneakers on his feet are in sharp contrast with the shoes on the bottom of my tire. My father asked me to call Tao Zi's father and uncle. My uncle asked me something about going to school and said, let me be in the same class as Tao Zi. He will say hello to the school leaders. In this way, Tao Zi and I became classmates and deskmates. After school, I slowly forgot the difference between shoes and clothes. On the contrary, my relationship with Tao Zi is excellent. Tao Zi gives him pocket money at home every day. He eats three meals a day at home. Home is far away, and we eat once a day. Steamed bread or cake is my breakfast and lunch. Tao Zi often buys me some instant noodles or soda with pocket money, but I have a strong self-esteem and most of them will refuse him. Later, the two of us reached an agreement, which made me feel that I was equal; I help him with his homework, change his soda or make instant noodles. What makes me grateful is that Tao Zi often leaves me the seasoning package of instant noodles for me to eat with steamed bread. ......
In the past few years at school, we have become bosom friends, working hand in hand, that is, girlfriends. Go to school together, fight with other children together, and secretly go to the video hall to watch martial arts movies together. I admire Tao Zi in many ways. He plays mostly by himself. For example, at that time, there were game consoles with handles playing Contra and billiards rooms in the game halls on the street. The game inside is to find an opponent to play with. As long as you play well, the cost of the game machine and the cost of playing billiards are paid by the loser, which belongs to gambling. In the past, it was basically the base camp of social gangsters, but now we can't see these places that shelter evil people and shelter evil practices. No matter whether Tao Zi plays games or billiards, most of the time his opponent pays for him. I stood by and helped him with his clothes and schoolbag. I'm not very interested in this kind of game. After all, I don't have pocket money, and I'm afraid I won't have the money to pay the bill if I lose.
After graduating from high school, the Taozi family went to the county seat, and I also went to school in other places. I haven't seen you for years. In the second year after I joined the work, I went home on annual leave and met Tao Zi again in the street. Although we haven't seen each other for many years and we are both young people in their early twenties, we still smiled at each other and gave each other a big hug. He smiled and said, How can you make your eyes nearsighted? You are not material for reading. You are not an intellectual, haha. After that, we went to the farmer's market and found a steamed stuffed bun shop to eat steamed stuffed buns. This time, I took the initiative to pay the money, which is to thank you for giving me so many instant noodle seasoning packages. During the dinner, he said that after the county seat, he was in trouble at school again. In the more serious case, several people were re-educated through labor together, but he was directly expelled from school and could not continue to go to school. The party was short, and I went to work in the south after the holiday.
I went home for vacation at the end of 2009 and made a special trip to find him. I found that he gained a lot of weight, his eyes were a little dull and he talked less than before. At this time, his uncle looked particularly old. When Tao Zi returned to his room, my uncle told me with a sigh that after Tao Zi dropped out of school, he and his aunt were busy working. Tao Zi spends every day playing games in Internet cafes. After a long time, he has some mental problems. I didn't realize the scene I saw Tao Zi just now. I felt an inexplicable panic in my heart. I immediately got up and went to Tao Zi's room. After entering the room, he looked at me and said, do you think I'm abnormal, too? I saidno. What are you talking about? Then I asked him, who am I? He looked at me and said, Jiang Weiwen! How could I not know you, you coward? I said, look at you, coward, okay? I laughed. He went on to say, well, I won't talk nonsense with you. Since you are a working class, if you want to treat me to something expensive, go to the old-fashioned Guo Lin in Xijiekou and have some mutton. He dragged me all the way to the restaurant. After I went in, he called the front desk and opened a private room in Juxian Pavilion for us. .....
After we robbed the mutton in the private room of the restaurant, he told me the truth about dropping out of school. He stood up for the girl he liked and killed a social gangster in the roller skating rink. Later, the girl went to college. Before going to school, the girl told him that everything Tao Zi did was wishful thinking. She won't like a boy like Tao Zi, and she won't thank Tao Zi for everything. After that, Tao Zi played games in the Internet cafe every day to make himself forget this sad thing. After a long time, he suddenly felt that he was mentally ill. I told him, let's go out and find something to do. Tao Zi said his life was a waste, that's all; Games are his only spiritual sustenance. And make fun of me: you grew up, no one has the same hobbies as you, and you won't understand my things. In Tao Zi's eyes, I am a particularly boring person, and I think I am such a person myself.
Later, I went to work in a farther place and went home less often. It has been more than ten years. At the beginning of the epidemic last year, my wife told me that your classmate had left. Who am I talking about? She said it was the one who played the game. The family searched for it for three days and finally found it at the foot of Niu Bei Mountain. When he found it, he was already sitting in the car. .....
Late at night, I sat by the window alone, thinking about the dribs and drabs of Tao Zi. When I came to my senses, a cup of hot tea was already cold. Peaches, you are a coward. In the end, you still failed to make peace with yourself. Stubborn and stubborn, you still bid farewell to this world under the back of a cow! I really don't know your inner world, and I don't want to know it. But I will still think of you, my joint efforts, my iron son, my dear Tao Zi.