The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 514: Going to the grassroots before the New Year!!!
It’s the end of the year again!
Liu Zhiye and his two sons got up early in the morning and were responsible for cleaning their own yard.

There is one disadvantage to having a big yard: it is very difficult to clean.

Liu Zhiye has not been home for more than two years, and this year he can finally spend a happy New Year with his family.

The brothers Liu Wen and Liu Wu will be fifteen years old after the Chinese New Year and are currently in the first year of high school at the No. 1 Middle School in Liujiazhuang.

The two brothers are good at studying and have not brought shame to Mr. and Mrs. Liu Zhiye. They have a good chance of being admitted to a prestigious university in the future.

Liu Zhiye has been in the army for the past few years and he noticed that his two sons were about to grow up. He wanted to talk to the children about their future.

Liu Zhiye smiled and shouted to his two sons, "Xiao Wen, Xiao Wu, stop for a moment and come over here."

The two young men were full of energy. After sweeping the snow for more than an hour, they were so hot that they had to take off their cotton hats.

"Xiao Wen, you will have to take the college entrance examination in two years. Have you decided what to do in the future?" Liu Zhiye asked.

Liu Wen scratched the back of his head and replied, "Dad, I haven't thought about it that far..." Liu Zhiye smiled and nodded, then looked at Liu Wu and asked, "What about you?"

Liu Wu said excitedly, "Dad, I don't want to go to college. I want to join the army after I graduate from high school. Is that okay?"

Liu Wu's face was full of excitement. He said to Liu Zhiye, "Dad, I don't plan to go to college. I want to join the army after graduating from high school. Is that okay with you?"

Liu Zhiye did not answer immediately, but asked: "Xiao Wu, then tell Dad why you don't want to go to college and insist on joining the army?"

Liu Wu answered enthusiastically: "Dad, I want to defend my country and become a hero like Brother Xiaohu..."

Liu Zhiye nodded. He understood the child's thoughts. Children of this age are full of youth and passion, and they worship heroes.

I thought: There's nothing wrong with this kid wanting to be a soldier. He will have his own care and he won't be a bad person when he grows up.

Liu Zhiye nodded and said, "You want to join the army, I agree, but you have to go to university."

Liu Wu was delighted at first, then became anxious: "Dad, didn't you promise me?"

Liu Zhiye waved his hand at him: "Don't worry, listen to me. I plan to let you enter the military academy. Our country's army is moving towards modernization. A modern army cannot just have passion, it also needs knowledge..."

"Do you understand what I mean?"

Liu Wu nodded solemnly: "Dad, I understand. From now on, I will work hard to get into the military academy! I will definitely live up to your expectations!"

As soon as he finished speaking, his face turned bitter again: "But what about my mother? She wants me to get into Peking University or Huaqing University. What if she disagrees?"

Liu Zhiye responded: "I'll go talk to your mother!"

When Liu Wu heard this, he shouted excitedly: "Oh, thank you, Dad! Oh, Dad is awesome!"

Liu Zhiye casually patted his son on the back of his head and scolded him with a smile: "What are you yelling about, little bastard! Go to work!"

"Oh, charge!" Liu Wen and Liu Wu pushed the snow shovels forward like two calves.

Liu Zhiye shook his head and turned to Liu Shuxian beside him and asked, "My dear, you will graduate in just over a year. Do you have any ideas?"

Liu Shuxian responded: "Dad, I want to be a reporter on the front line after graduation. Do you think it's okay?"

"Okay, of course. It's just that being a frontline reporter is hard work and can't compare to the comfort of being an editor. You have to think it over carefully." Liu Zhiye felt sorry for his daughter and didn't want her to run around.

Liu Shuxian said, "Dad, you are still here for me. If one day I don't like being a reporter on the front line anymore, you can find me another job."

Liu Zhiye has quite open-minded ideas. Unlike most parents of this era, he respects his children's ideas.

Now that the children have grown up and have their own thoughts, Liu Zhiye does not intend to interfere too much. He just wants to be a solid backing for the children and protect them from wind and rain.

Besides, given the Liu family's situation, as long as the children don't do anything stupid, they will have a bright future.

"That's enough, eat breakfast first and then clean up!" Liu Jingzhai shouted at them.

Liu Zhiye looked up and saw that he and his father had been busy for the whole morning but had only finished cleaning the backyard.

The snow at the end of the year lasted for three days in a row, painting the sky and the earth the same color.

Many buildings in Liujiazhuang were buried by heavy snow, and their original appearance is difficult to distinguish.

In the winters of those years, it often snowed heavily in Yanjing. It snowed so heavily that one often could not open the door of one’s house the next morning. That was because the door had been blocked by nearly a meter of snow that had fallen in the yard at night.

If it snows heavily for several days in a row, you can hear from time to time that houses nearby have collapsed under the weight of the snow!

Because these days, there seem to be only bungalows and tiled houses in the alleys.

The old bungalows with flat roofs covered with a layer of gray lime plaster are the most unable to withstand heavy snow. People often climb onto the roofs to clear the snow during heavy snow.

If a strong wind blows, the northwest wind will form a swirling wind in the alleys and courtyards, and the falling snowflakes will be rolled up and mixed with the falling snowflakes. The sky is full of snow and you can't even see people on the opposite side.

Unlike later Yanjing, there might not be a decent snowfall in a year. Snow had been forecast for several days, but there might only be a few sparsely falling fine ice fragments that were not enough to cover the ground.

If there is an inch or so of snow, it will attract people everywhere to excitedly take pictures of the snow scene.

The western area of ​​Liujiazhuang is deep in the mountains, with roads and paths connecting to each other, the sounds of chickens and dogs, and curling smoke from cooking.

The other three districts are full of lights, flowers, traffic and colors.

Many people find it hard to imagine that there is such a place in Yanjing, which is only an hour’s drive away. It is surrounded by mountains and gurgling rivers, like a paradise.

The growing festive atmosphere urges people to go home.

After a busy year, the day to go home for the New Year has finally arrived.

"On the 23rd, stick to the sugar-coated melons; on the 24th, sweep the house; on the 25th, grind tofu; on the 26th, cut the meat... stay up all night on the 30th."

Every day is packed with people, it’s so prosperous and has a festive atmosphere.

What is the flavor of the New Year?
Every household sweeps the house, puts up Spring Festival couplets and New Year pictures, children can wear new clothes and new shoes, eat mixed food and melon seeds, set off firecrackers, and the family gathers together to have a reunion dinner.

Two days before the 30th, Liu Jingzhai started writing Spring Festival couplets himself as he did in previous years.

Every time this happened, neighbors would bring red paper and ink to the Liu family to ask for calligraphy.

In fact, there are many people selling Spring Festival couplets in the market in Liujiazhuang, but everyone still prefers the ones written by Liu Jingzhai himself.

One is that Liu Jingzhai's calligraphy has been perfected after years of hard practice and is no worse than those of famous calligraphers.

Another reason is that some people are more superstitious and think that Liu Jingzhai is a blessed man and want to share in his good fortune.

A sticker saying "Fat Pigs Full of the Pen" was pasted on the wall of the pigpen, and another saying "Safe Entry and Exit" was pasted outside the gate wall. There were countless Chinese characters for "Fu" and couplets piled on the kang and the floor. Liu Jingzhai never found it troublesome, but instead was very proud of it. Everyone said, "Teacher Liu's calligraphy is really good."

Deng Ru was preparing dinner on the side, and would come over from time to time to write a few pictures to join in the fun.

Some of her peers even said, "My sister-in-law writes better." Deng Ru was so happy that she said in a false modesty, "What's good about it? I just wrote it randomly. It's okay."

Gan Ning and Xiao Xian melted a piece of red paper in a small bowl, and used chopsticks to dip the red water into it and put big red dots on the top of the steamed buns one by one.

Whenever it snows, it is the happiest day for children in Beijing.

They played snowball fights, made snowmen, and even ran in the thick snow using an ice sled made of stools, ropes, and ice skates made by adults, with several kids taking turns pulling and sitting on it.

If there are friends around, you can also take two branches or sticks and slide in the snow by yourself. Your little face will be red from the cold, and your thick cotton coat will be soaked with sweat.

When conditions permit, some parents will take their children to the ice rinks in Shichahai, Zizhuyuan and Beihai to play.

Because the New Year is coming soon, the streets are full of people.

Young and old went to the market or grocery store to buy New Year's goods. At that time, grain coupons and meat coupons were the most precious. People saved money and waited to use them during the New Year.

Children would ask adults to buy them delicious food that they cannot eat normally, such as fruit leather, figs, marshmallows, White Rabbit, and bubble gum. And what children look forward to most is a new set of clothes.

Liu Zhiye feels that the Chinese New Year celebrations in the early 1980s were full of festive atmosphere!

Taking some time out of his busy schedule, he took his three children back to the Nanluoguxiang courtyard to meet old neighbors he hadn't seen for many years.

During the Chinese New Year, as a leading cadre, Liu Zhiye needs to visit various departments to express his condolences, so he will not be so free at that time.

On January 20th, the Yanda Military Region held a year-end work meeting.

Although Liu Zhiye has not yet officially assumed his position, he is also one of the participants.

In your meeting room, all the military district leaders who were at home, cadres from the political and logistics departments, and military commanders of the subordinate teams were present at the meeting.

The main content is to listen to reports in which the heads of each military region summarize last year’s work.

He then arranged the priorities for the new year, and finally emphasized that as the Spring Festival is approaching, we must do a good job in safety and accident prevention, and that all troops in the region must have a safe and peaceful Spring Festival.

On the eve of the Spring Festival, some company and platoon cadres were arranged to go home to visit their families, while the remaining cadres had to stay at their posts.

This was Yi Yuanchao's first year as battalion commander. Fearing that there would be omissions in the work, he allowed Instructor Li and Deputy Instructor Zhang to go home for the New Year.

Deputy Battalion Commander Wu's family had already joined the army, so they stayed at their posts with Yi Yuanchao and celebrated the New Year with the soldiers.

In order to implement the spirit of the military district meeting and the requirements of the military leaders, Yi Yuanchao convened a company cadre meeting to convey the requirements of the superior authorities and leaders on celebrating the Spring Festival well, and asked all companies to conscientiously implement them.

In order to increase the festive and peaceful atmosphere and allow the soldiers to have a happy and joyful New Year, several activities were arranged during the Spring Festival.

It was emphasized that each company must do a good job in administrative management such as safety and accident prevention during the Spring Festival, and be prepared to welcome the military district leaders to visit the cadres and soldiers at any time.

On the afternoon of January 21, the second day after the military district meeting, Liu Zhiye, accompanied by military district personnel, came to Yi Yuanchao’s camp to inspect the work and visit the troops.

In the Cable Company, he walked into the dormitories of every squad and platoon of soldiers to see whether the housekeeping was well organized, whether the firewall was warm, how the measures to prevent gas poisoning were implemented, and how the meals were arranged for the Spring Festival.

After leaving the cable company, they entered the adjacent training team. Liu Zhiye learned that they were all new soldiers who joined the army this year, so he asked everyone if they missed home, whether they had received letters from relatives and friends, and whether everything was okay at home.

The soldiers were very touched to see the military chief's care and concern for them, but they were a little reserved and shy in close contact with the military chief, and their answers to questions were not clear, which often elicited kind smiles from Liu Zhiye and his entourage.

When Yi Yuanchao was about to accompany Liu Zhiye to visit the next company, the battalion headquarters signalman came running to report: "Report to the commander, the military district party committee office called and said that there is an urgent matter and you need to go back immediately."

Liu Zhiye said: "Okay, I understand."

After seeing off Liu Zhiye and his group, Yi Yuanchao breathed a sigh of relief, fortunately nothing went wrong.

As soon as Liu Zhiye's car drove out of the gate of their camp in Yiyuanchao, Captain Guo of the Communications Company called to ask, "Battalion Commander, will the military commander come to visit our company today?"

Yi Yuanchao told him: "The leader had urgent business and has gone back."

Captain Guo was very disappointed when he heard this and said, "Oh, we are all ready, why don't you come? If the commander doesn't come, why don't you ask your battalion commander to come and take a look?"

Yi Yuanchao smiled and said to him, "Okay, then Deputy Battalion Commander Wu and I will go to your company to take a look after dinner."

When Yi Yuanchao and his companions arrived at the communications company as scheduled, they heard loud gongs and drums and a lot of noise in the company cafeteria, which was very lively.

Captain Guo, who was waiting at the gate, pulled Yi Yuanchao and the other man into the cafeteria to serve as temporary audience for their rehearsal.

Seeing the battalion leaders coming, the male and female soldiers who were rehearsing in the cafeteria stopped and applauded to welcome Yi Yuanchao and others.

I saw that their rehearsal room had drums and accordion accompaniment.

Yi Yuanchao asked Captain Guo, "Your company has a lot of talented people, right? And with so many instrumental accompaniments, the quality of the program must be great."

Captain Guo told Yi Yuanchao and the others, "Some female soldiers in the military propaganda team have administrative and supply relations with our company. We invited them back to help rehearse the program during the Spring Festival. They were very happy and took the initiative to ask to perform on stage."

Yi Yuanchao said, "That's good. You should find a bigger venue for your Spring Festival Gala. Wouldn't it be better to invite military leaders and cadres to attend?"

Upon hearing this, Captain Guo slapped his thigh and said to everyone: "The battalion commander has instructed that we should invite military leaders to our party. Everyone must rehearse well and use a high-quality program to welcome the leaders and increase the festive atmosphere of the company during the Spring Festival."

"Good! Good!" The "actors" cheered and applauded.

When Yi Yuanchao and Deputy Battalion Commander Wu found a stool to sit down and watch the rehearsal, Captain Guo said: "We received a phone call from the headquarters' training department this afternoon, saying that Commander Liu will watch our female soldiers' live-fire shooting on January 28 and 29."

"Can your female soldiers shoot guns?" Yi Yuanchao asked him.

Captain Guo said: "At the beginning of the year, we all took part in the target shooting test during the common training, and our results were average. After more than half a year, I think few people can pass the test if they pick up the gun again. It's good enough if they don't miss the target."

"Female soldiers have to be on communications duty, rehearse programs, and practice live-fire shooting. Can they take care of everything?" Yi Yuanchao asked Captain Guo again.

Captain Guo chuckled and said, "Isn't this just working overtime? It's not a big deal that the female soldiers in the communications company can't shoot accurately. Being on duty is the top priority that cannot be neglected."

Yi Yuanchao said to Captain Guo: "When Commander Liu was still the division commander, he was the initiator of our army's new training method. His shooting training was well-known throughout the army.

I have heard him talk about how to train shooting, especially how to do shooting training well. You must prepare carefully!"

In the next few days, officers and soldiers will attend a joint military and local government report meeting on "Supporting the Army and Loving the People" and a pre-holiday political work mobilization meeting.

The directors of the military district headquarters went to the troops to solicit opinions and understand the ideological trends of the troops. The companies were also required to go and observe the basketball games held by the direct teams.

Just when they were busy, the communications company called and reported: "Commander Liu and Deputy Political Commissar Sun will come to visit the troops this morning." Yi Yuanchao and Deputy Battalion Commander Wu hurried to the communications company to wait for the arrival of the two commanders.

At 8:30 a.m., two cars stopped in front of the company's gate on time. Several battalion and company cadres from Yi Yuanchao lined up to greet them and stood at attention to salute the two leaders.

After shaking hands with them one by one, Liu Zhiye said to them, "The communications company has served our agency all year round, completing its tasks very well and with great effort, and has also received a lot of criticism.

Deputy Political Commissar Sun and I seldom come to the communications company, but as the Spring Festival is approaching, we will take some time to visit you all.

Normally, the female soldiers in your machine-guarding squad often come to our military commander’s office and home to check the lines, clean the phones, and learn about their usage. Now that the New Year is approaching, we would like to express our condolences and gratitude!”

Yi Yuanchao quickly said to the two military district chiefs on behalf of all the staff: "Don't be polite, chiefs. That is our job. It is the duty of the guards to visit the chiefs and their offices to check on their telephone usage."

Under the guidance of Captain Guo, Yi Yuanchao, accompanied by Liu Zhiye and other military district leaders, first entered the switchboard duty room.

I saw a row of four female soldiers plugging and unplugging in front of a switchboard with a flashing red and red light. "Hello, what do you want?"

"Go ahead!" The service terms of the connecting phone kept coming one after another.

Liu Zhiye and the others stood quietly by, bending over to watch the female soldiers work.

The female squad leader saw the leaders entering the duty room and immediately stood up to report to the leaders.
Liu Zhiye waved his hand hurriedly and said softly: "Don't report it. Your duty is to carry out your mission. We can't affect your work."

Walking out of the switchboard room is the automatic machine room, where a row of vertical and horizontal automatic switchboard racks emit a constant "clattering" sound.

The female soldier on duty told Liu Zhiye and others: "This is the sound of the automatic machine transferring the call."

Deputy Political Commissar Sun asked: "With an automatic switchboard, why do we still need to manually answer calls?"

Deputy Battalion Commander Wu was a former telephone operator. He explained to the leaders: "The current automatic switchboard is not advanced enough. It can only connect calls between nearby offices and squadrons. Long-distance divisions, brigades, and regiments cannot connect to automatic calls for the time being. The switchboard that manually connects calls must continue to be used."

The female soldier on duty at the automatic machine also went on to say that military leaders and military agencies generally have two phones, which can be connected both automatically and manually.

The leaders who passed by the telex room, carrier room and generator room asked about their uses and equipment conditions one by one, and expressed their cordial condolences to the soldiers who stayed at their posts.

After visiting the duty room, Liu Zhiye said to the accompanying cadres with some emotion: "After seeing it, I feel that it is not easy to do a good job in communication.

It takes so many people to stick to their posts all year round, working day and night to ensure that information is transmitted accurately. What a huge price it costs!
The officers and soldiers of the communications team are really working hard! "

According to the report from Captain Guo, many soldiers on night shift were catching up on sleep in the morning. In order not to disturb their rest, Liu Zhiye and others drove away from the communications company after checking the duty situation.

(End of this chapter)