Zhu Qin sat on the rolling Yangtze River embankment, staring blankly at the undulating hills on the other side of the river, lost in his thoughts.
"Comrade Xiao Zhu…"
Hearing someone shouting, he slowly turned around and saw the military doctor who helped him with the physical examination that day walking towards him alone. He looked at the kind old man who was nearly 70 years old in confusion.
"Xiao Zhu, we're fated to meet. I'm Xia Mingyuan, the director of the Chinese Medicine Department of Dongjiang Military General Hospital. Can we talk?”
Zhu Qin looked at the stalwart old soldier in front of him, his eyes shining with a strange light. He thought that he was afraid that he would take things too hard and come to persuade him, so he said disapprovingly,"Thank you for coming to persuade me. It's okay. The sun will rise from the east tomorrow.”
" Alright." Xia Mingyuan laughed and said," I'm not here to comfort you. I just have a few questions that I don't understand.”
"Uncle, please ask."
"Xiao Zhu, from the strength of some muscles on your body and the color of your skin, firstly, you shouldn't have practiced the Little Hong Fist. Secondly, when you were young, your body was soaked in Chinese medicine soup, right?”Xia Mingyuan and Zhu Qin sat side by side and asked lovingly,""Can you tell me?"
" This…" Zhu Qin paused for a moment and said seriously,""I practice the Shaolin Vajra Fist. I learned the Little Hong Fist when I was in the fourth grade of elementary school. When I was six years old, my foster father soaked me in a water tank for two hours every night for six years.”
"That's right. You actually learned the Shaolin Temple's treasure. One more question. Have you studied acupuncture?”Zhu Qin looked at Xia Mingyuan in shock and actually forgot to answer.
" Haha…" Xia Mingyuan said,""There are many traces of acupuncture on your body. I'm guessing that not only have you studied Chinese medicine, but you've also practiced acupuncture. You're testing the needles on your own body.”Zhu Qin blushed and said,"You're really amazing."”"Who is your master? Can you tell me?”
"He has been dead for more than a year." Zhu Qin said sadly,"My teacher was a right-wing member at that time. He was guarding the fish farm on the east side of our Bawang Temple School. He said that he was fated with me and taught me martial arts. By the time I entered high school in the county, he was vindicated and transferred to the county's People's Armed Forces Department as the deputy minister. That's why I've been learning from my master for nearly ten years.”
"Can you punch a few times for me to see?”
Zhu Qin was infected by Xia Mingyuan and said readily,""Let's go to the river beach forest…"
Xia Mingyuan watched Zhu Qin practice the entire set of Vajra Fist very seriously and sighed,""You are full of strength and your fist techniques are exquisite, but your state of mind is not calm. One had to know that a real martial master was not affected by the environment and mood. The heart is calm, the heart is harmonious, and the spiritual altar is clean." Xia Mingyuan looked at him affectionately and said," I've already learned about your family situation. Your father's illness was saved temporarily because of your Chinese medicine skills. However, he must undergo stomach surgery as soon as possible. Otherwise, he will lose his life."”
" Thank you for your concern, Uncle," Zhu Qin said to Xia Mingyuan with tears in his eyes,""It's because of this that I refuse to repeat my studies. I want to gather all my strength and money to treat my father's illness.”
"You and I are fated. At my age, I wouldn't come out to participate in the military inspection. When I knew that I was on the Wu River this year, I followed to see the scenery. To tell you the truth, I'm an authentic Shaolin disciple. As I get older, I really want to find a qualified disciple to pass on Shaolin martial arts. You're the most suitable candidate I've searched for. Are you willing to go to Jiangning with me to learn martial arts?”
" This," Zhu Qin said awkwardly," But I have to earn money to perform surgery for my father."”
"Go home and pack up. You and your father will wait for me at the entrance of Bawang Temple School before 8 am tomorrow morning. I will bring your father to the military general hospital for surgery.”
"This…"
"What do you mean by this and that? I'll bear all the medical expenses.”Xia Mingyuan pushed Zhu Qin back and said,""However, there is a prerequisite.”
"As long as my father is cured, I can exchange my life for it.”
"Good child, the condition is that you work in Jiangning while learning Arhat Fist, Yijin Heart Sutra, and Chinese medicine from me. How about it?”
"Sure, but how can I, a farmer, find a place to work in Jiangning?”Zhu Qin said awkwardly.
" I don't care," Xia Mingyuan said mercilessly."Even if you have to beg and sleep under the bridge, you have to learn from me for a year. You can do whatever you want when the year is up. Will it work? No, forget it." Seeing Old Xia toss his hand and turn to leave, Zhu Qin gritted his teeth and shouted,""Master, I'm a real man, I'll learn from you for a year. But it has to be when my father has recovered."
"Hahaha…A gentleman's word."
Under Xia Mingyuan's operation and direct concern, Zhu Yushan successfully underwent gastrectomy. Xia Mingyuan asked Zhu Qin to personally serve his father for 15 days. In these 15 days, Zhu Qin officially became his master. He began to systematically read the theory of Chinese medicine, and practiced Shaolin Arhat Fist with his master every morning. At night, he learned Shaolin's "Yijin Jing" from his master. From the process of learning, he gradually learned that Xia Mingyuan's martial arts accomplishments were very high. He joined the Red Army led by Xu Haidong in Henan at the age of 24 and made an extremely important contribution to the establishment and development of our military's medical system. In 1957, he was awarded the title of Major General.
Zhu Qin's intelligence, eagerness to learn, and his spirit of enduring hardships made Xia Mingyuan very happy. He was glad that he had met a martial arts prodigy in his later years. In order to nurture this disciple well, he had formulated a whole set of plans.
Half a month later, Zhu Yushan was discharged from the hospital and returned home, while Zhu Qin stayed behind to learn. That night, Xia Mingyuan brought Zhu Qin back to his home in the family building of the People's Liberation Army Political College. His children were working in other places, and there was only his wife and himself at home. Master's wife enthusiastically prepared a few dishes, and the master and disciple chatted while drinking. After eating and drinking to his heart's content, Xia Mingyuan said,"Qin 'er, after I treat you to this meal, you'll have to find a job and a place to stay from tomorrow onwards."”
" Don't worry, Master," Zhu Qin said firmly,""No matter how difficult it is, I will keep my promise and never give up halfway.”
" Alright, here's 50 yuan. Take it." Xia Mingyuan handed the money to Zhu Qin and said,""The two bags on the sofa are clothes, blankets, and daily necessities. You have to learn patience and self-discipline when you're out. Tomorrow morning, I'll take bus No. 16 at the entrance of the college to Xiaguan Pier. It's easy to find a job there, and it's close to me. I'll come back to stay every Saturday night. Every Wednesday and Friday, at 5 AM sharp, they had to arrive at the academy square, rain or shine.”When his wife heard this, she was unhappy and said angrily,"You old fart, your children have been tormented by you. You're really cruel to torture Old Lian like this when he's just taking in a disciple.”
Zhu Qin hurriedly said,"Master's wife, I have to conquer the world myself. This is the agreement from the beginning."”
Early in the morning, as he watched Zhu Qin walk out of the house with his luggage, his wife said with tears in her eyes,""Old Xia, this child is from the countryside and has never seen a big city. Once he leaves the house, he can't tell north from south. He has never left home. Moreover, the educated youths can't even find a job when they return to the city. You're really…"
However, at this moment, Xia Mingyuan's eyes were also moist as he said,"Let me tell you, this guy might be a military genius. In just half a month, he can draw the traffic map of Jiangning City's main road. Let him go through all kinds of difficulties and dangers!”Xia Mingyuan took a deep breath of his cigarette and slowly exhaled the smoke. He said to a young man beside him,"Secretary Wang has been quietly following him for the past two days, watching him look for his unit. Regardless of whether the unit you find is good or not, you try to ruin it. Tomorrow afternoon, you can look for Director Li of the warehouse at Pier 5 and ask Old Li to arrange for him to pull the handcart.”
" Chief," Secretary Wang said," The hardest job at the dock is pulling carts. I heard that one cart has to carry more than one ton. It's very hard to pull carts to the warehouses in the city. He's only 18 years old…"
" Go and carry out your mission." Xia Mingyuan waved his hand, and Secretary Wang quickly ran out…
Zhu Qin walked around the streets of Xiaguan. The result was that either the salary was too low and he couldn't do it; Or, the other party didn't want it, but what made him disappointed was that the boss had gone back on his word and stood him up even though they had already agreed and were already on trial. Of course, he didn't know that all of this was Secretary Wang's doing.
The early winter night had already begun to get cold. Zhu Qin sat alone on the river bank's flood control embankment, biting on a sesame seed cake. He looked at the ships passing by in the river, tears streaming down his face. At this time, he missed his relatives on the opposite bank of the Wu River, and he wanted to return to his dilapidated but warm home. Secretary Wang, who was watching Zhu Qin from afar, felt his heart ache. He quickly used the phone of the Port Authority's military representative office to report the situation to Xia Mingyuan. Xia Mingyuan was silent for a while after listening and said,"Explain the situation to the representative office and ask them to pay attention to Zhu Qin at night. You can go back to the dormitory and continue tomorrow." After hanging up the phone, he muttered to himself," This child, I gave him money. Why didn't he stay in the hostel?
Zhu Qin slept on the levee with a bag on his head. When he woke up the next morning, he found that he was covered with a military coat. He felt very warm and puzzled. He took the coat and asked around but no one claimed it. Finally, the patrolling police identified it as the military representative office. He excitedly returned the coat to the soldier in charge of the representative office and began to look for a job the next day. Time passed hour after hour. The dock clock had rung four times. It was already four o'clock in the afternoon, but he still hadn't found a job. At this time, Zhu Qin was a little desperate. He walked along the riverside road with a withered expression, tears welling up in his eyes. He decided to find a place to sit down and rest. Tomorrow, he would go to Hunan Road.
"Young man, are you looking for a job?”An amiable middle-aged man smiled at Zhu Qin and said,""I'm from the warehouse at Pier No. 5. I'm looking for a tractor worker. Are you willing to do it?”Zhu Qin was stunned by this sudden question. The person continued,"We are a state-owned enterprise. I can tell from your expression that you are in trouble. Let's go and take a look. If you don't like it, you can quit.”Zhu Qin followed the middle-aged man to the warehouse. The middle-aged man introduced himself,""My name is Li Zhong, the warehouse manager. Can you introduce yourself?”Hence, Zhu Qin also gave a simple introduction of himself and took out a recommendation letter from the brigade. Li Zhong took the recommendation letter and said with a smile,"I'm also from Wujiang. My hometown is in Chengnan Village. If you come here to work, I can provide you with a free dormitory in the Port Authority dormitory. Although the handcart team was a heavy labor, the piece-rate salary was calculated by ton-kilometer for real goods and by piece for fake goods. As long as you were willing to work hard, it was not a problem to earn more than 600 yuan a month.”"More than 600?" Zhu Qin didn't believe it, because the monthly salary of the state-owned unit was at most four or five hundred yuan.
"That's right, I'm not lying to you."
"Director Zhu, I'll do it."
" Just call me Uncle Zhu," Zhu Zhong said."Let's go and report to the cart team first."
The warehouse workers at Pier 5 were basically female educated husbands who had returned to the city after getting married in the countryside. After returning to the city, the hukou and jobs of these people could not be arranged. At that time, they were respectfully called " half-family households ", which meant that half of them had hukou. In order to solve the difficulties of the " half-family " unit, the Jiangning Port Authority had set up several cart teams.
Li Zhong led Zhu Qin to the captain's office and said to Captain Fan Dahua,""If this young man comes to work here, you have to give him a handcart with new tires and ask Vice-Captain Jiang to personally take care of him for a week. Remember, no one is allowed to bully him. This is a political mission.”Fan Dahua quickly called Old Jiang, who had just returned to the team, and solemnly handed Zhu Qin over to him. Old Jiang immediately held a team meeting to let everyone get to know each other."It's almost time to get off work. Xiao Zhu, come tomorrow morning at seven. I'll get you the tools.”
Then, Li Zhong led Zhu Qin to arrange the dormitory and took him to the staff canteen. He gave him ten meal tickets and told him to go home.
Nothing happened that night. Zhu Qin arrived at the handcart team at 7 am the next morning. At this time, Captain Jiang was preparing all kinds of tools for him, including a brand new handcart, water bottle, rope, rain cloth, raincoat, work clothes, and shoes. After collecting the things, Old Jiang taught him how to pull the cart step by step, as well as the things to pay attention to when going up, down, and turning. "Thank you, Uncle Jiang!"”Jiang Jiming's face tightened." What are you thanking me for? I'm from Xiangshan Town, Wujiang County. We're from the same hometown."”
Today, the goods were bicycles. There were 10 bicycles in a box, and each person carried three boxes. The total weight was more than 900 kilograms. They were sent to the warehouse in the back street of Xinjiekou, and the piece rate was 36 yuan. Jiang Jiming and the other two craftsmen helped Zhu Qin load the cart and taught him how to fix the wooden box with ropes. Zhu Qin walked in front of Jiang Jiming. When Zhu Qin put on the shoulder straps and pulled the handcart forward, he didn't feel very tired at first, but after 30 meters out of the warehouse door and going up the slope to exit the gate of Pier 5, the novice Zhu Qin was moved and felt extremely tired. Before he could change the handcart, he went back down the slope. This was very dangerous, and there was a possibility of overturning or colliding with people. Just as Zhu Qin panicked, he heard Jiang Jiming loudly say,"I'm here. Don't panic. Pull forward.”It turned out that Jiang Jiming had been following behind his car. When danger first appeared, Old Jiang was already pushing the car on the left side. After the 60-meter long slope, Zhu Qin stopped the car, still looking nervous. Jiang Jiming said," This is a hurdle. All newbies will have this problem. It will be fine after pulling it a few times. Right, when we reach the entrance of the embroidered ball garden, stop and I will tell you how to go downhill. Then stop at the railway crossing of the West Yard. I'll teach you how to cross the railway crossing safely.”
Just like that, Zhu Qin, who was only 18 years old, began to work as a heavy and dangerous plank turning worker that people over the age of 30 could bear. From then on, he officially embarked on the road of life.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。