As long as I can remember, I have often heard neighbors and relatives compliment me on my good looks, saying that I am kind-hearted and happy, and that I will definitely marry a beautiful wife when I grow up.
When I was in middle school, my classmates and teachers also said that I was handsome. The teacher also said that I looked like Luo Cheng described in the book "Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties", and said that I was more handsome than Luo Cheng. Later, my classmates gave me a nickname - Luo Cheng. At that time, I didn’t know who Luo Cheng was, but I somehow got connected with Luo Cheng.
When I graduated from junior high school, I had already grown to 173 centimeters tall. I often heard several female classmates talk about me in private, saying that I had a straight back and that the longer I grew, the more handsome I became. Later, I secretly looked in the mirror. My facial features were the same as everyone else's. There was nothing special about me, and I couldn't tell where I was handsome. At that time, I suddenly felt like I was being tricked.
After graduating from junior high school, my classmates and I responded to the country’s call and went to the vast rural areas to join the queue and settle down to receive re-education from poor and lower-middle peasants. I remember that in early January 1969, my classmates and I got on a bus from Jinan to the mountainous area of Lunan, which started my career as an educated youth.
A car full of Jinan’s educated youth drove for more than five hours from nine o’clock in the morning, and at two o’clock in the afternoon we arrived at the destination where we jumped in and settled down—the second production team of Luozhuang Brigade.
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The captain of the second team is called Luo Huaishan. He is in his forties, tall and burly, and speaks sonorously and forcefully. He is the captain of the second team and the brigade secretary of the Luozhuang brigade. Captain Luo expressed a warm welcome and cordial greetings to the Jinan educated youth who came to join the team and settle down. After a few cordial and simple speeches, Captain Luo took us to a small farmyard.
This courtyard is a bit desolate and desolate. It seems that no one has lived in it for a long time. There are three main rooms and a side room in the yard. The three main rooms are bedrooms on both sides and the living room in the middle, which can accommodate fifteen of us Jinan educated youths. There is a newly built stove in that side room. On the stove is a newly purchased large iron pot, and the basket bridle is also newly purchased.
When we walked into the courtyard, several women were busy in the wing. The room was steaming and very lively. Needless to say, dinner was definitely being prepared for us. By the time the folks helped us move our luggage into the house and clean the yard, the fiery red sun was already setting on the top of the Western Mountain. Captain Luo gathered us in front of the courtyard, hoping that we could nominate ourselves or nominate someone to be the leader of the educated youth group, who would be responsible for the daily lives of the educated youth and take care of everyone.
After a long time, Captain Luo saw that no one had expressed his opinion, so he pointed at me and said: "That big tall guy, you, the one with thick eyebrows and big eyes..." I may have been distracted at the time, and I didn't even hear Captain Luo's shout, let alone his movements and expressions.
Chen Dongyue, who was standing next to me, saw that I was distracted. He patted me with his hand and said, "Luo Cheng, I didn't hear the captain calling you." I was frightened and was about to speak when Captain Luo smiled and said, "Your name is Luo Cheng? You and I are from the same family. It's a good name. Why does it sound so familiar?"
After hearing Captain Luo's words, everyone laughed. When everyone stopped laughing, I blushed: "Captain, my name is not Luo Cheng. This is the nickname given to me by others. My surname is not Luo, my family name is Zhang, and my name is Zhang Xuejun."
Captain Luo didn't care about this with me, so he made me the team leader of the educated youth spot. When I turned seventeen, I became a cadre for the first time.
The first dinner was quite sumptuous. A group of us educated youths gathered around a dilapidated door in the middle room and had our first dinner. Decades later, I still remember that dinner had four dishes, including stewed pork with mung bean flour skin, stewed tofu with radish, stewed chicken with spicy pepper, cabbage vermicelli, and half a bowl of pickle strips. The staple food was sorghum pancakes.
It is said that the Jiefeng dinner was arranged by Captain Luo himself. In order to let the educated youth have a decent Jiefeng dinner, Captain Luo asked the accountant of the team to go to Wuli Mountain Road and buy pork and tofu. Captain Luo also donated a big crowing rooster from his family and half a kilogram of vermicelli and several pieces of mung bean vermicelli.Knowing what Captain Luo has done, the educated youth respect Captain Luo from the bottom of their hearts.
During the meal, there was a slender and handsome girl who kept helping us serve food and rice, running back and forth. After we finished eating, the girl helped clear away the dishes and washed the pots and dishes. At that time, everyone's eyes almost followed the beautiful girl, especially those of us male educated youths, whose expressions changed obviously.
After dinner that day, Captain Luo said that the team was taking advantage of the winter slack to carry out farmland water conservancy infrastructure construction. He asked us to rest at home for two days and also follow the villagers to participate in production work. Captain Luo also said that he had arranged for two female members to help us cook temporarily, so we didn’t have to worry about eating.
said goodbye to the villagers and Captain Luo, and we lay on the soft floor. Everyone inadvertently brought the topic to that beautiful girl. Chen Dongyue actually made a bet with everyone: "This beautiful woman must be a fairy descended to earth. If anyone can find a girl more beautiful than her, even if I have never seen the world."
That night, everyone fell asleep with even snoring at midnight. A group of junior high school students who had just walked out of the school actually openly talked about a beautiful girl and had wild fantasies. This was really inappropriate and made people feel blushing and ashamed.
After getting up the next day, I went to the yard to brush my teeth and wash my face. The first thing I saw was the beautiful girl. She was helping us cook with the aunt in the kitchen. The pretty girl smiled at me as a greeting. When I turned seventeen, it was the first time I felt panicked when I saw a beautiful girl.
That day, we learned the name of the beautiful girl. Her name was Luo Ying. She was the daughter of Captain Luo’s family. She was seventeen years old and a junior high school graduate. It was said that she was preparing to work as a private teacher at Luozhuang Primary School. Luo Ying also has an older brother named Luo Ming, who is three years older than Luo Ying. Luo Ming went to cook in the canteen of the Commune Revolutionary Committee a year ago. Although he was a temporary worker, he was the envy of the young people in the village.
During the period before the Spring Festival, our Jinan educated youth followed Captain Luo to carry out basic construction of farmland for more than a month. At the end of the year, Captain Luo announced a suspension of work and production in preparation for the New Year. After more than a month, everyone is completely different from when they first arrived. Calluses have grown on our hands, our skin has become rough and dark, and we have even lost two or three pounds in weight. Production labor really exercises people, and we all feel deeply about it.
Fast forward to the autumn of 1972. Captain Luo's son Luo Ming was getting married. In order to properly arrange for her brother's marriage, Luo Ying came to me and said, "Can you help me teach for a few days? I'm getting married to my sister-in-law, and I want to help with the arrangements at home." "I'm afraid that I can't teach and will affect the children's learning." I half-heartedly agreed to Luo Ying's request.
Since then, Luo Ying's relationship with me has undergone subtle changes. After Luo Ying's brother got married, Luo Ying took another two days off and went to school. I took her place for five days. I just found the feeling of being a teacher and continued to be my farmer.
Luo Ying heard that I liked teaching very much. She said that when there is a chance in the future, she would definitely let me become a teacher in school. If it didn't work, she asked me to be her private teacher. After listening to Luo Ying's words that time, I was so moved that I almost shed tears.
Just like that, I gradually fell in love with the beautiful Luo Ying. Luo Ying also said that I was the most handsome young man she had ever seen.
In the fall of the second year, the Luozhuang brigade got several job openings to work in the county cement factory, because everyone knew that the work in the cement factory was dirty and tiring, and no one wanted to work in the cement factory. Although Luo Ying promised to let me work as a private teacher in the school if I had the opportunity, the opportunity could not come for a while, so I had the idea of working as a worker in a cement factory. But Captain Luo said to me: "Just wait and see, maybe there will be a better job than going to the cement factory."
But in 1974, I still had not waited for a better opportunity. Two classmates went to the county foundry. They said that the work in the cement factory was similar to that of the cement factory, and it was also dirty and tiring.Just when I was hesitating whether to work in the cement factory or the foundry, Luo Ying secretly told me good news. She said that the commune film projection team was looking for a projectionist and asked me if I wanted to go.
I have loved watching movies since I was a child, and I have always envied those who work in film projection. Of course I really want to work in the commune film projection team. Luo Ying said to me very seriously: "As long as you promise to be good to me all your life, I will let you work in the commune film projection team."
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I agreed to Luo Ying's request, and Luo Ying kept his word. I really became a film projectionist. After participating in a short period of study and training in the county, a partner and I drove a movie projector to various brigades or battle construction sites to show movies to the villagers. Sometimes we also showed movies to commune cadres and their families in the commune compound.
To be honest, at the beginning, I really liked this profession. The work was not tiring. Every time I went to each brigade to play outdoor movies, the brigade would warmly entertain me, and some brigade cadres even gave me cigarettes and alcohol. But later, I discovered that one film was screened repeatedly in dozens of brigades throughout the commune for more than a month. It was often hit by bad weather such as wind and rain. I gradually hated this job. But when I think about how I got this job thanks to Luo Yingcai, I feel embarrassed to say anything else in front of them.
In the spring of 1977, Captain Luo had a conversation with me. He asked me how we were getting along. Captain Luo means that when my daughter is older, it is time to consider marriage. Although I am not too satisfied with my job, I am absolutely satisfied with Luo Ying. Soon I asked for leave and went back to Jinan, told my parents about Luo Ying and me, and showed Luo Ying's photos to my mother.
My mother is completely satisfied with Luo Ying's appearance. She just thinks that Luo Ying is a private teacher, and if she were a public teacher, there would be nothing to criticize. My parents didn't make things difficult for me and respected my choice. That summer, Luo Ying and I received our marriage certificate and held a wedding. I married the beautiful daughter of the brigade secretary’s family. The day before the wedding, my parents, my aunt, and my aunt all came to Luozhuang. Although the wedding was not very big, it was quite lively in Luozhuang.
That night, several male classmates who had not yet recruited workers into the city came to have a wedding ceremony. They took turns beating me on the blind ass, and while beating me, they said: "We have been waiting here for so many years, and a beautiful girl like a flower is leaving you alone. You are the best, you are so uninteresting..."
Several days after the wedding, my head still hurt, and those classmates were too harsh. Unfortunately, no one admitted that they had hit me hard. They all said they only hit me twice lightly, just for fun.
That winter, Luo Ying and I took the college entrance examination together. Luo Ying was admitted to the normal school, but I failed. From the moment I failed the exam, I made up my mind to be on the exam next time.
In the summer of 1978, I was admitted to a technical secondary school, left the film projection team where I had worked for four years, and returned to school. Luo Ying half-jokingly and half-seriously told me that she felt at ease after being admitted to a normal school, because at that time I was earning wages and she was earning work points .
After graduation, Luo Ying worked as a teacher in a middle school in the city. After graduation, I was assigned to work as a quality inspector in a steel factory. Although the job was not ideal, after all, we did not live apart in two places. This can be regarded as the care given to us by our superiors.
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This concludes my story of educated youth and emotional life experience. Although Luo Ying and I did not have a vigorous love affair or outstanding work performance, we both truly fulfilled our duties at work, and we both have a clear conscience about this. Although our married life is very dull, it is fulfilling and happy. Finding such a good wife like Luo Ying in this life is really a blessing from the previous life.
Someone once asked me what happiness is? I think that being able to live with the person you love for the rest of your life is happiness.
Author: grassroots writer
