Chi Zijian essay: The invisible postman

　　Before going to the summer, after I connected the Internet cable to my home, the first thing I did was to ask my colleagues in the unit to help me apply for a free mailbox. The first letter I wrote was addressed to Teacher Nie Hualing. Before that, because I wasn't online, almost every half a month, she would call from the United States and ask about the latest situation with concern.

　　After I sent the letter out that night, I was a little nervous, thinking that with just a little mouse, would the letter grow wings and cross the mountains and the sea?

　　When I woke up in the morning, I ran to my computer to see if there was an echo. God, there is indeed a reply from Teacher Nie in the mailbox, and her first sentence is: "You have finally used the Internet, which is great!"

　　Without spending a penny, a letter to the United States arrived in an instant, which made me think that the Internet is a magician, and it is magical.

　　Before I went online, I wrote the manuscript, and if it was short, I printed it out on the computer and sent it to the post office. If it is long, it is copied in a floppy disk and sent to the disk. I still remember that in 2005, when I finished revising the long article "The Right Bank of the Erguna River" in Qingdao, I sent it to Harvest magazine as a floppy disk like a pancake.

　　Going to the post office is my happiest time. After sending the manuscript, I stopped by shopping malls, food shops, flower shops, video stores or snack shops. Sometimes I don't bother to cook, so I rush out at the time of the meal, find a restaurant, and eat comfortably.

　　After surfing the Internet, whether it is a long manuscript or a short draft, it can be sent out by Yi Mei'er. Newspaper interviews often require the distribution of photographs of the author. In the past, I would send a photo and mark it on the back with "Please return it after use", which was very troublesome. Now, ask someone to scan some photos, put them in their own photo library, where you need them, choose one to distribute it to, very convenient. Moreover, before the new book is published, you can see the cover designed by the American editor in advance, and if you are not satisfied, you can communicate and correct it in time. In the past, when the publisher let me look at the cover because I didn't use the Internet, I only got a proof, and the express mail delivered it.

　　More than 20 years ago, I graduated from normal school and was assigned to teach in the mountain village school in my hometown. Because I love to write and often submit articles, what I look forward to most every day is the arrival of the postman. The postman' surname was Tian, and he was a warm-hearted and kind man. Since he had a crooked neck and his head was always twisted to one side, and he rode a dark green mail truck on the mountain road, I often feared that he would be hit by an oncoming car because he could not see directly ahead. From the county seat to our mountain village, ten kilometers of road bar, he usually arrives at more than nine o'clock in the morning. If my language class happens to be over in the first section, I will meet him at the intersection. If there was a letter from me, he would get out of his bike, take it out of his pouch, and hand it to me. If the letter was thin, he would laugh and think I had received a notice of use; If it was a thick pile, he probably guessed it was a rejection, looked at me sympathetically, and smiled awkwardly, as if to blame himself for not bringing me bad news. I think this postman is remarkable, he does not look at the road that everyone looks at, but he still walks steadily, never misses, indicating that the road in front of him is already familiar to him. When you walk up to it, you can get unimpeded with just a cursory glance. Being able to use your eyes on the main road to "open up a different path" and look at the beautiful scenery of "side-by-side obliquely" that others have not seen is really a god!

　　With the Internet, postmen in mountain villages like Master Tian will gradually become unemployed. Our letters, in a matter of seconds, can travel the world without having to go around. There is an invisible postman in the network who can serve us twenty-four hours a day, ready to go. Although it is convenient to get home, sometimes I still miss the days when I went to the post office to send manuscripts. Because on the way back, if you buy a snack, you can taste it while walking; Buy a book, tired of walking, you can sit on a bench in the garden in the middle of the street, and have a sneak peek; And if you buy flowers and it rains, the bouquet of flowers will undoubtedly have dewdrops.