Chapter 615 Tiexi District
Taxi driving on the street.
It snowed two days ago and the streets looked a little muddy. Today there is still no sun and the sky is gray.
It should be said that the whole world is gray.
The sky is gray, the buildings are gray, and tall chimneys flash across the sky from time to time, and the air is filled with a faint smell of smoke.
Tiexi District is known as the "Oriental Ruhr". It has the No. 1 machine tool factory, smelting factory, transformer factory, chemical factory, tractor factory, blower factory, Northeast Pharmaceutical Factory... Each factory is the leader in various industries in the country, and China's The first national emblem, the first tractor, the first internal combustion engine, etc. were all born here.
But now, it has begun to decline.
My uncle lived in a place called Workers' Village. My father said that this place was once known as the "No. 1 Village in the Country", with electric lights and telephones, gas heating, a grain station, a large cooperative, a post office, motorcycle trams, and a labor park. , clubs, cinemas, everything. It is simply a small society.
When Fang Minghua and the others arrived, the place was indeed very lively. There were vendors with stalls on both sides of the street, video halls, and dance halls
Although it was daytime, they could still hear the sounds inside There is music.
Fang Minghua and his father rushed to his uncle's house and lived in a three-story building. This is a typical building in a workers' village. It was designed in the 1950s according to the drawings of the former Soviet Union. It also has a special name: "three-story ridged roof style". Residential".
It is also commonly known as the "Su-style building": the building is square, with wooden floors, brick-concrete structure, extremely thick walls, and a ceiling height of 2.8 meters.
The uncle’s family lives on the third floor.
They went upstairs. There were white couplets on the door. There were many people coming in and out. When they saw Fang Changhe and his son, someone immediately greeted them.
"Second uncle, Minghua, you are back."
The two entered the house. There was not much space inside, but there were quite a few people. Among them was an old woman with a haggard face, who was Fang Minghua's aunt.
Besides there are a few people wearing filial piety, who are Fang Minghua’s peers.
After a while of greetings, Fang Minghua was also put on a white filial piety veil.
"Where is my uncle's mourning hall?" Fang Minghua asked softly.
"It's in the third mourning hall of the funeral home. The space at home is small and we can't fit it in. Now we usually stay there. Mingjie and Mingjun are guarding there." The eldest aunt said.
"Dad, you rest first. I'll go over and offer some incense to my uncle."
Fang Changhe agreed.
Fang Minghua put down his luggage, then went downstairs and drove straight to the funeral parlor. As a junior, he did not forget to buy three wreaths and write on the wreaths the eldest sister, the youngest sister, and the members of his family. The name expresses the condolences of the younger generation to the elders.
When he arrived at the third mourning hall, Fang Minghua saw a coffin placed inside, with his uncle's portrait in front and several people wearing mourning hats next to him.
Placing the wreath against the surrounding walls, Fang Minghua knelt in front of the portrait. He first lit three sticks of incense and kowtowed three times respectfully. Then he stood up and chatted with his brothers.
The uncle has two sons. The eldest son, Fang Mingjie, took over from his uncle and joined the Fengtian Heavy Machinery Factory as a worker. The wife he found was a worker in the factory. The second son, Fang Mingjun, attended the technical school run by the factory after graduating from junior high school and is now also in the factory. At work, my wife is a kindergarten teacher in the factory.
It can almost be said that the uncle’s family all lives in this factory.
The brothers had not seen each other for many years and had no common experiences. After greeting each other, there was nothing to say. However, Fang Minghua felt that this was too boring, so he had nothing to say.
The eldest son was in his early forties and seemed to be a boring gourd. The second son, Fang Mingjun, was a little younger than Fang Minghua, so the two started chatting.
First they talked about the current situation of their respective families, and then Fang Minghua asked: "Mingjun, how is the efficiency of the factory?"
"Benefit?" Fang Mingjun showed a wry smile after hearing this: "What a benefit! Damn, I'm going to be laid off soon! Damn it!"
Fang Mingjun suddenly uttered a curse word, causing Fang Mingjie next to him to glare. glanced at his brother. Fang Mingjun was usually used to being casual, but he didn't dare to say anything in his father's mourning hall and kept his mouth shut.
Fang Minghua couldn’t say any more.
After staying in the mourning hall for a while, Fang Minghua decided to leave. First, he had to find a hotel and arrange accommodation for himself and his father - his aunt's house was so small that it would definitely not fit in.
In addition, as a junior, I have to take turns to keep vigil here at night.
According to Northeastern customs, people are usually buried on odd-numbered days after death, three, five, or seven days. Today is the third day after his uncle's death, which means he can be cremated and buried after two days.
Watching the vigil at night, Fang Minghua went back to catch up on his sleep during the day. For someone like him who had come from afar and was not familiar with the surrounding environment, they generally would not arrange any work for him, so he basically had nothing to do all day long until the next day. The memorial service for my uncle was held in five days, and then he was cremated and buried in the cemetery.
However, Fang Minghua followed his father and did not return to Xijing.
According to Northeastern customs, there is also a garden tomb, which means that on the third day after the deceased is buried, relatives and friends go to the mausoleum to round the grave, add soil, and burn paper.
Fang Changhe decided to stay and give his eldest brother his grave before going back.
Fang Minghua decided to look around to see if he could talk to a few more worker families, so he found his cousin Fang Mingjun.
"Brother Minghua, what's the point of talking about this?" Fang Mingjun didn't quite understand.
"As you know, I am a writer, and I want to write some articles that reflect the life and work of workers' families." Fang Minghua said his purpose.
"Okay, I haven't been working in the past two days. I'm familiar with the area. I'll show you around." Fang Mingjun readily agreed.
Putting on an old military coat and a locomotive hat, Fang Minghua took his cousin's motorcycle and braved the severe cold to go around the nearby factories and family buildings.
I ran for three days and wrote down the records of my interviews.
November 26, 1992, the first feeling.
The afterglow of the sunset enveloped the entire urban area. Standing on the once prosperous Jianshe Avenue, Fang Minghua truly felt the desolation here.
At the entrance of XX Industrial Mechanical and Electrical Factory, most of the word "Shen" in the name of the factory has fallen off, leaving only two dots on the left and right of "Ye". The factory building was empty, and most of the window glass inside was missing.
The cold wind blew through the window and made a whimpering sound.
Fang Minghua did not expect that he and his cousin would experience an "elevator scare" in the staff dormitory: when returning from taking pictures in this high-rise building, the elevator stopped abruptly on the sixth floor, and then quickly slid down, almost to the bottom Then he stopped.
Fang Minghua was still frightened and asked an old man on the same elevator: "Isn't this elevator repaired?"
The old man smiled bitterly and said: "This is an old problem and happens almost every day. Factory He’s almost gone, where can he still have the money to repair the elevator?”
This was the first impression left on Fang Minghua. And such factories abound here. Night falls.
Fang Minghua followed Fang Mingjun, riding a motorcycle from the factory area into the family area to chat. Fang Mingjun told Fang Minghua: "This used to be the most modern residential area in China in the 1950s.
The so-called 'upstairs, upstairs, upstairs' "Get off, electric light and telephone," that's what I'm talking about."
It's not yet 8 o'clock in the evening, and there are not many people on the streets of the workers' village. The lights in the buildings were dim and there was silence.
Fang Mingjun explained: "The workers have all been laid off, who still has the heart to have a nightlife?"
The only lights visible on the street are a few fruit vendors lighting their lights at the stalls small light bulb. When our car passed by, the stall owner shouted at us: "Yali! Three yuan and six pounds! Selling cheap!"
(End of this chapter)