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Aaron cut off his finger with a knife when he went to the country to make a summer mat.
It was less than a month before the Spring Festival. At the coldest time in winter, at 8 o'clock in the evening, after eating the last table, he put down his spoon, lit a cigarette and walked to the corner of the summer sleeping mat shed. The cold wind blowing from the countryside and fields was blowing head-on, and he narrowed his eyes and was exhausted.
Winter is the peak season for cooking in rural areas in northern Anhui. There are many weddings and funerals in rural areas. Aaron has been cooking for 28 days. People are in a trance, and their arms are shaking when cutting vegetables. But he calculated that there was almost no rest time before the year, and there were still several rural wedding banquets waiting for him.
The three or two tables under the mat shed gradually dispersed, and he got up with difficulty and planned to chop the ribs again. When he comes tomorrow, he can cook directly. A few light bulbs hanging on the stake are wobbly and flickering. He stared at the ribs, picked up a heavy machete and swung it down, but it was cut on his thumb. The thumb is almost completely broken from the joint, only a little skin is attached, and the blood rushes back and forth on the chopping board, and no pain is felt.
Aaron is 30 years old. After graduating from high school, he went to the city to make a living. He lived in the county town for over 10 years, during which he got married and had children. Yingshang County, Fuyang City, where the county seat is located, belongs to the Huangpan District of North China Plain. The Huaihe River flows along the southern boundary of the county seat, with twists and turns and vertical and horizontal sediment. Along's county life is spread out on this flat land.
Going to the countryside as a banquet is another drop in the life of Aaron, a young man from the county. Last National Day, several of our classmates got together in the county. He didn't come in a hurry until 10 o'clock in the evening because he was sitting in the country. I haven't seen him for two years. He has aged a lot, his bright eyes are dim, he says little, and he looks tired.
He had to get up at four o'clock in the morning to go to the country, so he didn't drink a mouthful of wine, just staring at the full glass in front of him. A classmate who is very interested in weddings and funerals asked, "How did you want to go to the countryside to hold a banquet? I haven't had a banquet in the countryside for a long time. " This sentence stopped the decadent Aaron.
"I went to the country with an uncle. He has been in this business for decades, and he has been asked to handle weddings and funerals in eight townships in the neighborhood. I did it. Rain or shine, whenever I have a job, I will carry a cloth bag with two machetes and three or four long spoons in my pocket and go to the village ... "He is mainly responsible for cutting vegetables and side dishes. He has to make dozens to hundreds of tables and seats in two or three days, and the kitchen knife keeps cutting. In his story, some students showed complicated expressions.
Figure | Country Cooking
In the rural areas of northern Anhui, most wedding banquets are cooked by village chefs, and few people from county towns go to the countryside, not to mention young people who like Aaron. But Allen had no choice. In the past ten years, he has opened a clothing store, a breakfast shop, delivered a courier, and done logistics, all of which ended in failure.
Almost five years ago, with the support of his father, Aaron bought a house in the county, paid a down payment, and finally became a famous city resident. Now the eldest daughter 10 is in primary school in the county, and the youngest daughter 1.5 years old. Money is needed at home and outside, and Aaron can only make a living with extraordinary diligence. The development space of the county is limited, and there are not many occupations to choose from. After the breakfast shop opened was closed due to the epidemic, Aaron had no choice but to take delivery and go to the countryside to cook a meal.
Like a broken finger, life in Along County is intermittent, and it is impossible to settle down after all. After rushing to the hospital to sew up his thumb, Aaron couldn't work. In the best season to make money, he had to stay at home to recuperate.
02
The county seat is the end of China's countryside and the starting point of the city. The county town on the hub node has extremely limited resources and space. Therefore, young people in the county rarely talk about opportunities and luck, but in order to make a living, they have to do their best to impact the low ceiling above their heads.
18 years old, when all the classmates were sprinting for the college entrance examination, he went back to town to help his parents do cotton business. At that time, he was independent. He did everything, such as quality inspection, bargaining, unloading, bookkeeping and giving money. Every time he collects 20 thousand Jin of cotton, he will hire a big truck and follow him to Heze, Shandong. The buyer stayed in a small hotel for four days without paying the final payment until the boss solved the problem.
Whether to study or not divides the road for young people in the county into two parts. Studying in college, the county is a starting point, Aaron doesn't study, and the county is all he has. After getting married early, Aaron's child was born the next year, and the pressure of life became greater. He and his wife decided to move from one town to another.
Aaron has three middle school classmates, one runs a restaurant in the county, one runs a small Internet cafe in the town, and one inherits the wedding photography shop at home. Internet cafes and photography shops are on the verge of bankruptcy, because Internet cafes are gradually replacing Internet cafes, and big photo studios are eliminating street wedding photography shops.
The development path of ordinary youth in the county is really limited. Without enough funds, Aaron can only do relatively low-end business. He and his wife decided to open a cheap women's clothing store in the county.
The women's clothing store is near a middle school in the county, which is a bustling city with people coming and going. The front shops on both sides sell clothes, and the consumption in small counties is low. There are no big brands in this street, and they are basically franchise stores. The clothes they sell are also miscellaneous brands, and they can buy three pieces for tens of dollars or even one hundred dollars.
Opening a shop and decorating is a big deal. During that time, Aaron and his wife were very active. They run from town to county every day, carefully study the decoration style, personally select the decoration materials and supervise the workers' construction. After more than a month, a clean and bright storefront was completed. Although it doesn't look much different from the clothing store next to it, Aaron is full of joy and dreams that this store can earn the first bucket of gold in his life.
I bought the goods for the second time and joined the head office. There was a problem. Not only is it out of stock, but the price has doubled. After half a year's efforts, fewer and fewer people come to the store. Coupled with the high purchase cost, the price exceeded the consumption level of the county people, and no one bought it. Finally closed down.
When he entered the county for the second time, Aaron encouraged two junior high school students to open a logistics station in partnership. At that time, it was 20 15, and the logistics and express delivery industries in counties and towns mushroomed. Aaron aimed at this direction and persuaded his classmates Ayan and Afu to join a newly opened logistics company in the city and set up a logistics sub-site in the county.
Like Aaron, Ayan and Afu are both young people who have been making a living in the county. Among the three, A Yan has the highest education, graduated from junior college, majoring in coal mine, and worked in a coal mine in the county after graduation. In those years, with the price reduction of coal, the mine became more and more depressed. His monthly salary has dropped from 8000 to 3000, but the number of trips to the mine has not decreased. When the child was born after marriage, a sense of family responsibility made him afraid to go down to the mine. Afraid of an accident, he resigned and went back to town to help his parents maintain the wedding photography shop. As the business is getting worse and worse, there is no retreat, so he can only choose to go to the county for development.
After graduating from high school, Ah Fu has been wandering around the county seat, decorating, installing air conditioners, selling houses, and chasing every outlet like a diligent "pig".
The warehouse of the logistics station is rented in the farmer's market. It's a ten-square-meter house with a roof five or six meters high. After unloading, there is no place to stand. Big trucks come from the city at seven or eight every night. The three men took off their shirts, unloaded the goods with bare arms, climbed up and down the truck. The goods are basically big pieces, such as steel, bed boards, barrel paint, etc. , each weighing tens of kilograms. After being unloaded for more than an hour, their pants were soaked.
Figure | Aaron, several people are unloading.
On the second day after unloading the goods, Aaron rode an electric tricycle to carry Ayan and Afu, and shuttled through the high-rise Chengbei Development Zone, delivering the goods to customers' homes one by one. At this time, Yingshang County is about to pass the high-speed rail, and house prices have been rising, with an average price of five or six thousand and a maximum of more than 10,000. As a logistics station, Aaron and others have no basic salary. They earn a dollar or two by selling a commodity. At the end of each month, three bosses can only earn one or two thousand yuan.
In less than three months, Ah Fu took the lead in getting out of here. Aaron understands Ah Fu's three-day hard-working personality and tells him that the headquarters will soon set up a system of basic salary plus commission for them, and pay five insurances and one gold. Ah Fu didn't believe this, and he didn't reply after he didn't come to work. Since then, he has never contacted Aaron again and continues to hang out with other businesses in the county.
In the second year, Aaron bought a house in the county, but his father gave him a down payment of more than 100,000 yuan, so he had to earn money for the decoration himself. Soon after, Ayan began to waver and often didn't come to work because of lumbar muscle strain. Aaron's persistence has not changed anything, and he can only earn one or two thousand yuan a month. The basic salary and five insurances and one gold promised by the headquarters have not been fulfilled.
Figure | Corner of the county seat
The county logistics market is so big, with several big companies stationed, it is difficult for new companies to develop greatly. The construction site ended hastily, and Ayan couldn't wait to return to work in the coal mine, preferring to dig more mines, and her salary would at least be more real.
Aaron's attempt to settle in the county was interrupted again.
03
Life divides the young people in the county into two waves, one is ordinary young people who have not studied, and the other is to go to the county as teachers or civil servants. The most obvious difference is that in the circle of friends, young people who have compiled their own daily lives, especially some photos of bathing, playing ball games and traveling. Aaron doesn't send a circle of friends once a year. Real life is enough for him to cope with.
After the house in the county town was delivered, in order to make up the decoration money, Aaron borrowed 70,000 to 80,000 yuan from credit cards and some lending platforms, with high interest every month. In order to make more money, he began to send express delivery at the express delivery site, earning four or five thousand yuan a month and paying off various loans, barely enough for a family.
In the county seat, there are more than 20 express delivery stations in one street. Aaron can earn four yuan by delivering express delivery and pay social security. Just when he thought the job could last for several years, in the second year, several sites started a price war for customers, and the price was getting lower and lower. Before he resigned, the store manager announced the closure of the website.
Figure | Aaron is busy at the express delivery site
The development space of the county always has a ceiling. Every time Aaron tried to jump, he was always stopped from falling. The fate of countless young people floats in this small water area of the county. Fortunately, Aaron has always been optimistic and has a good heart. The courier couldn't do it, and Aaron began to consider opening a breakfast shop.
With the previous experience of failing to open a shop, Aaron made full preparations for the breakfast shop. Never cooking, he went to the city to learn cooking for half a month and practiced at home for ten days after he came back. According to the taste of the county people, he is going to make steamed buns, how much oil and salt to put in a pot of steamed buns, and what materials to match. He kept trying until he and his wife were satisfied.
Breakfast shops need people to be diligent. They have to get up at three or four to mix noodles and cook porridge. When the first ray of sunshine comes in at dawn, guests will enter the store one after another. At work, Aaron and his wife wear white uniforms, hats and transparent plastic masks, which are rare in small restaurants in the county. Aaron summed up a set of word-of-mouth management rules: only buy the freshest vegetables in the morning, salad dressing and ketchup are big brands, others buy a bucket of hot sauce for tens of dollars, and he buys one or two hundred.
People in the county town who have a slow pace of life usually pay great attention to the quality of breakfast, and restaurants with good taste will soon be passed on from mouth to mouth. Business is getting better and better. People who sell vegetables and work nearby come to eat, and some people drive here from the south of the city. Without saying a word, they wiped their mouths with napkins and left. Under the management of the Along couple, the monthly profit of the restaurant has exceeded 10,000 yuan, which is already a very high income in a county with a per capita salary of only about 2,000 yuan.
The good momentum was interrupted in early 2020. After the outbreak, his breakfast shop could not be opened for three months. Meanwhile, his wife was pregnant with a second child during this period. After the epidemic eased, the restaurant reopened, but the business was not as good as before. When his wife's due date approached, Aaron realized that the shop was too busy for him alone, so he had to move it out.
Breakfast shop is the highlight of young Aaron's life in the county. After closing the store, life returned to an erratic state.
Unemployment, mortgage, and then a second child to raise, Aaron not only went to the countryside to cook, but also sent takeout in the city. He spends half his time cooking and half his time delivering takeout. He delivers goods 12 hours a day and can deliver 50 or 60 orders. If 700 orders are issued a month, each order is 5 yuan; if not, each order is only 3, 4 yuan.
Aaron is like a tireless horse, running up and down the roads in villages and counties, afraid to catch his breath. "I used to have a mind to go to KTV to sing with my friends, but now I don't want to go at all. When I am free, I feel like an ant crawling. " Only by working two jobs and delivering takeout at the same time can he maintain his family's life in the county.
The night Aaron chopped off his finger, my uncle saw his broken finger and cried with fear. The bus to the hospital was speeding on the country road, and Aaron was desperately clutching his broken finger, and blood kept oozing and dripping on his pants, seat and food stall. He even slept for more than an hour because he was too tired to work for 28 days in a row.
A few months later, Aaron was still recovering at home and couldn't do any work. His fingers were wrapped in gauze and his arms were hung around his neck by bandages. Occasionally, I will take my one-year-old daughter downstairs to play in a small park. Children in the community are on the rampage. He bent down, tucked his hanging arm into his arms, and put the other arm in front of his toddler daughter.
* The original text is taken from the true story planning (ID: zhenshigushi 1) "What happened to the young people who stayed in the county?" by Wu Xun.