Rebirth: Starting from a Trainee Teacher

Chapter 628: The Execution of Chen Shimei

On the second day of the first lunar month, Zhou Jing went to the village committee after having lunch at home.

The opera is performed in the village primary school next to the village committee. The primary school has long been closed down and has become a venue for activities in the village. The opera starts at 12:30. The stage has been set up and many people gather nearby.

"This Mercedes-Benz is so cool, I wonder which rich guy owns it."

"This is not a Mercedes-Benz, it's a Maybach, which is several levels higher than a Mercedes-Benz!"

"This is the legendary Maybach. It must be Zhou Jing from the former village."

"I heard that Zhou Jing alone paid for the repair of the village committee."

"My second daughter Xinyi received two grants from Zhou Jing last year. The village gave 2,000 yuan and the school gave 1,000 yuan. Almost all the students in our village received grants from Zhou Jing."

"."

When he arrived outside the village primary school, Zhou Jing lightly stepped on the accelerator to slow down and found a place to park.

"So handsome, how old is he and yet he's so amazing."

"About twenty-four or twenty-five. We played together once when we were kids. I remember he was one year younger than me."

"Such an amazing person came out of our poor village."

Everyone present focused their attention on Zhou Jing's car. When they saw Zhou Jing get off the car, the villagers started talking about it.

"Thank you for troubling Mr. Zhou. The village committee has made dumplings. Let's go in and have some."

Village official Zhao Jianguo was waiting outside the village primary school. He trotted over to Zhou Jing and shook his hand.

"I just had dinner at home, why would I bother with things in my own village?"

Zhou Jing said politely.

"Happy New Year, Mr. Zhou."

"Happy New Year handsome guy."

The boys and girls were taking photos and wishing each other a happy new year.

"happy New Year to all."

Zhou Jing took out a thick stack of red envelopes from the car and gave one to each of the children and young people.

"Thank you, Mr. Zhou."

"Wow, two hundred dollars!"

"Happy New Year, Boss."

Seeing that there were red envelopes, and they were big red envelopes worth two hundred yuan, some uncles, aunts, grandpas and old ladies also joined in the fun. It was New Year's Day, and the villagers were greeting Zhou Jing in person. He certainly couldn't be stingy. There were enough red envelopes in the car. Gu Jia packed two hundred red envelopes in the morning for Zhou Jing to take. Zhou Jing simply gave one to everyone, young or old, male or female.

"As expected of the big boss."

“I came at the right time today.”

After receiving the red envelopes, the adults smiled from ear to ear and were happier than the children.

"Those who received the red envelopes should disperse. Everyone cooperate. County officials will be here soon. Mr. Zhou needs to prepare."

village official Zhao Jianguo exclaimed.

"How many people are there in the troupe?"

After distributing the gifts to the villagers present, Zhou Jing asked Zhao Jianguo.

"Including the driver, there should be 16 or 17 people in total."

“Give them one too!”

Zhou Jing counted out twenty and gave them to Zhao Jianguo.

"Okay." The troupe members were putting on makeup and preparing in the backstage. Zhao Jianguo went to distribute them himself. "Our village boss Zhou gave them to everyone. One for each person."

"Is the boss of Ideal Technology really from your village?"

"How could this be false? The county officials came here just to see him."

"Your village is truly blessed with talented people and beautiful scenery. Our two speakers are ideal."

"."

After greeting the villagers, Zhao Jianguo took Zhou Jing to visit the village committee. The village committee was built with funds from Zhou Jing. It was a small courtyard with a five-star red flag fluttering in the wind on the flagpole. There were offices, reception rooms, chess and card rooms and activity rooms for the elderly in the courtyard. Because there were visitors from the county today, the chess and card room was not open to the villagers.

After Zhou Jing left, his car became a check-in spot for young people to take photos.

"This year we are going to encourage villagers to plant jujube trees to improve their poverty situation. Mr. Zhou is very knowledgeable. Do you know any ways to make rural people rich?"

Zhao Jianguo walked beside Zhou Jing without any airs, like a younger brother meeting his boss.

"You can plant some sour jujubes appropriately. The price of sour jujubes is not worse than that of jujubes. The yield of sour jujubes is lower than that of jujubes, but they are more adaptable and will not crack due to heavy rain in autumn. You can also raise cattle, sheep and pigs on a small scale and plant some grass on land with poor conditions. Raising a few cows is better than farming. Raise more cows, ewes and sows."

Zhou Jing is half a rural person, and he knows the principle of living off the land and the water. As long as the family has land and is diligent, they will not be too poor. It is not scary for rural people to be poor, but it is scary that they are poor in mindset and do not know how to adapt. In poverty-stricken areas like Qing County, the mountains are obviously not suitable for growing crops, but some people insist on farming and do not go out to work, nor do they adapt to growing grass fodder and raising livestock. In the same village, those who know how to adapt are not doing badly.

"Yes, raising cattle is indeed good. You can easily earn five or six thousand yuan by raising a calf for a few months. Lambs are quite valuable." Zhao Jianguo nodded and said, "No wonder the country strongly supports college students to become village officials. It is still the educated people who have ideas."

Zhou Jing said: "Villages like ours need to get out of the traditional mindset of just farming."

"That's right. Many people in the village are too conservative. They work hard to farm the land but don't make much money in the end."

Zhao Jianguo said with deep agreement.

Zhou Jing smiled and thought that Zhao Jianguo was not a very capable village cadre. He had done many disgusting things in the past, including exchanging votes for the five-guarantee households and relief items.

Upon receiving the news that county officials were coming to the village, Zhao Jianguo took Zhou Jing to the outside of the village primary school to prepare to welcome them.

A few minutes later, two black Volkswagens drove over from a distance. The first one arrived first and made way. The people from the township government got off the car and immediately went to greet the car behind.

"Welcome Secretary Li, Director Wang, Director Zhang. Happy New Year. This is Zhou Jing."

Zhao Jianguo stepped forward and shook hands with county official Li Shi'an, and at the same time greeted the county education bureau director Wang Jianhua, poverty alleviation office director Zhang Qiang, township head Liu Huijie and others who followed him.

"Happy New Year Secretary Li, Happy New Year to everyone."

Zhou Jing smiled and shook hands with everyone in a neither humble nor arrogant manner.

"Happy New Year, Mr. Zhou, you are the pride of our Qing County. Zhou Jing's name is well-known."

Li Shian held the phone in both hands for a long time.

"Secretary Li, you are too kind. It's all just empty praise."

Zhou Jing said with a hint of modesty.

"It's true. Mr. Zhou has made real contributions to the development of science and technology in our county, city, province, and even the country."

Li Shian said with a smile.

“On behalf of all the students in our county, we would like to thank Mr. Zhou for his generous assistance.”

Wang Jianhua, director of the Education Bureau, shook hands with Zhou Jing and said.

“It’s all what should be done.”

After the handshake, Zhou Jing took a few people to the village committee lounge.

With Zhou Jing around, Zhao Jianguo's importance was not enough to be on the stage. Zhou Jing entertained the people from the county, and Zhao Jianguo was responsible for serving tea and water. The people from the county acted as if Zhao Jianguo did not exist. They only talked to Zhou Jing and left Zhao Jianguo completely alone.

After some polite exchanges, they started talking about business. From the entourage brought by Li Shian, Zhou Jing knew what the county was thinking. As time was limited, Zhou Jing did not keep it a secret.

It would cost money for county officials to make a personal trip during the Chinese New Year, and Zhou Jing was caught and robbed, so he might as well just do it.

Education Zhou Jing took the initiative to offer to help improve the township kindergartens across the county, investing 2 million yuan each year to improve the infrastructure and food of township kindergartens, improve the salaries of township kindergarten teachers, and subsidize 500 yuan per month for township kindergarten teachers. The funding target does not include towns in the county.

In terms of poverty alleviation, Zhou Jing will provide 500 cows and 2,000 ewes to Qing County every year in the next three years. The cows and ewes will be raised on a small scale by poor rural households. Zhou Jing expects to spend about 15 million yuan each year on these two projects.

"On behalf of all the people of Qing County, I would like to express my gratitude to General Manager Zhou."

After hearing this, Li Shian stood up and shook hands with Zhou Jing again. The support Zhou Jing provided far exceeded his expectations. If this level of support is maintained, Qing County will be able to get rid of the label of extreme poverty in three years.

"I've seen some vendors on the Internet who do whatever it takes for profit, such as providing low-quality or even smelly pork and chicken to kindergartens. I hope that the children here can eat safe meals."

Facing the people from the county, Zhou Jing said some things directly. Spending so much money cannot go unnoticed. Not harming the health of the children is Zhou Jing's bottom line.

Zhou Jing temporarily promised for three years, a period of one or three years. The implication was that if they could not satisfy Zhou Jing, it would be hard to say whether Zhou Jing would continue to provide funding after three years.

"Don't worry, Mr. Zhou. This kind of thing will never happen in our Qing County." Li Shian looked at Wang Jianhua and said, "This is your job."

"I will definitely implement supervision in a practical manner."

Wang Jianhua nodded and said.

The work was discussed quickly, and a play had already started outside. The people from the county interacted symbolically with the villagers and then left the village.

Zhou Guozhong drove the new car Phaeton that Zhou Jing had bought for him, and took Gu Jia, Wu Suqin, the old man and the old lady to watch the show. There was no mobile phone signal in the village and they could not be contacted. Zhou Jing recognized them in the crowd at a glance. Gu Jia was still conspicuous in her down jacket and mask.

"It's really a great honor for Li Shian to come and see you in person."

"You got it wrong. It was Zhou Jing who gave Li Shian face."

"That's right. Normally, Li Shian may not be able to see Zhou Jing if he wants to."

Zhou Xing, Zhou Wei and others who came to watch the show said.

"Businessmen are nothing compared to them."

Zhou Jing smiled and looked towards the stage, and suddenly felt a little annoyed. The play being performed now was about Bao Zheng angrily beheading Chen Shimei. Isn't Zhou Jing the contemporary Chen Shimei?

Zhou Xing said, "I heard that a quarry has opened in Huashiya. Do you want to go and take a look?"

"Let's go!"

There were too many people in the theater, so Zhou Jing wanted to go somewhere else to get some peace and quiet.

Driving Zhou Jing's car, Zhou Xing wanted to experience the Maybach S680. Zhou Jing gave him the key, and Zhou Wei went with another neighbor.

Huashiya is at the end of the river in the village. After Huashiya is another village. Huashiya is the only interesting place in the village, with rocks and pools. Zhou Jing came to Huashiya to swim during the summer vacation when he was a child. There are not many changes here from what he remembers. There is a ravine between the two stone hills, and there is a more than 30-meter-high cliff that has been weathered in various shapes.

I don’t know if the adults were trying to scare the children, but when Zhou Jing was a child, he heard from the adults that any children who died in the village were sent to the crevices of the rocks on the Huashiya cliff. One time, Zhou Jing actually saw half a piece of red cloth exposed on a part of the cliff, and he thought it was used to wrap up the deceased babies. So when he came here as a child, he always felt it was eerie.

The water in the Huashiya ditch and the rock walls froze, forming thick white ice layers and icicles, which looked quite spectacular. Zhou Jing took a few photos and prepared to share them with Gu Jia when he returned.

"I don't know how the quarry business is going."

Zhou Jing said at the stopped quarry in King Zhe’s valley.

Zhou Wei said: "Generally, that kind of slate weathers easily and is not valuable."

After strolling around Huashiya, Zhou Jing returned to the theater and found Gu Jia to ask if the play was good.

“It’s quite interesting to watch it calmly.”

When Gu Jia was young, she could not appreciate opera at all, but as she grew older, her heart calmed down and she was able to appreciate it slowly.

At this time, the area below the stage was full of people, and a group of people were standing behind watching. Zhao Jianguo specially brought a few chairs from the village committee for Zhou Jing's family to sit on.

"Daddy hug~"

The child in Wu Suqin's arms called Zhou Jing in a baby voice.

"Come."

Zhou Jing held the child and kissed her cheek, warming her face with his own.

“Are you sleepy?”

Gu Jia held the child's hand and said softly.

"Hmm~"

The little girl was hypnotized by the opera and fell into drowsiness, so Zhou Jing held her and coaxed her to sleep.

"What kind of drama is this? It shouldn't be Qinqiang or Peking Opera, right?"

Gu Jia approached Zhou Jing and said.

"It should be Daoqing. Do you know Daoqing?"

"know."

After watching the show, "The Execution of Chen Shimei", Zhou Jing and Gu Jia went home first. The child fell asleep, so Gu Jia held the child in her arms while Zhou Jing drove.

"Safe travels." Gu Jia looked at the Spring Festival couplets posted on the windshield and read them, saying, "Time flies by during the Chinese New Year."

"What time do we leave for the county town tomorrow?"

Zhou Jing touched Teacher Gu's thigh and said.

"Let's go after lunch, and take a bath at home in the county town. How was the talk with the people in the county?"

Gu Jia’s three best friends went to Qing County for a reunion on the third day of the Chinese New Year, saving Zhou Jing the trouble of going to Yulin City.

"It's fine to talk, let's see what they do next."

Zhou Jing told Gu Jia about the project to support the county.

"We can't hold out too much hope for this kind of thing. It would be good if we can achieve half the support effect."

Gu Jia was worried that the boy's good intentions would lead to greater disappointment. Human nature is too complicated. First, the managers would certainly not be able to do their job completely. Second, the people being supported might not be able to afford the support. Some were extremely poor because they really had no other options, and some were just too lazy. Even if they were given cattle and sheep for free, they might not be able to persist in raising them. Raising cattle and sheep requires care. Some people would rather be poor than suffer, just like the beggars on the street who have arms and legs but choose to ask for help.

Of course Zhou Jing knew that he didn't have too much hope, so he just hoped it wouldn't be too outrageous.

There was a play being performed in the village and most of the neighbors went to watch the play, so the streets were very quiet. When Zhou Jing returned home, he put the still sleeping child on the kang, carefully took off his shoes and down jacket, and covered him with a quilt.

"You should get some sleep too."

It was less than three o'clock in the afternoon when Gu Jia said to Zhou Jing.

"not sleepy."

Zhou Jing opened the photo album on his phone to show Gu Jia the photos he took today.

"This is where?"

Gu Jia said while looking at the photo.

"Go further into the ditch from the village primary school, at the end of the village, there is nothing to see in winter, except for the weathered stone hills that look like the work of nature."

"The wind has blew the stone mountain into this state. It must have taken thousands of years, right?"

Gu Jia lamented the power of time. A stone mountain dozens of meters high could be completely changed by the wind.

"It may be more than a few thousand years old. When I was a child, I found fish's feet in the weathered gravel here. Later I learned that they might be fish fossils. If they are fish fossils, then this place might have been an ocean in ancient times."

"It's entirely possible."

The countryside was too comfortable, so Gu Jia went to lie on the kang for a while and let Zhou Jing rest with her.

"How are you these days?"

Gu Jia had just finished her period before returning from BJ. It was inconvenient to return to her hometown, and she hadn't had sex for more than ten days, Zhou Jing said while hugging Gu Jia.

"Try it gently at night?"

Gu Jia said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)