Back to 1978

Chapter 172: Fine

The entire Yaoshan urban area is divided into three districts: Shannan District, Shanbei District, and Huiyue Mining District.

The main urban area actually only consists of Shannan District and Shanbei District. Although Huiyue Mining District is also called an urban area, it is actually some distance away from Yaoshan.

Although Yaoshan, which was rebuilt with strong support from the country, has only been reborn three years ago, it already looks like a big city. The newly planned and constructed roads in the urban area are much wider than before the earthquake, and the buildings on both sides of the road are rising up in an orderly manner as the construction progresses.

The only drawback is that it seems like all the buildings and roads are carved from the same mold.

When they were in the countryside, they had all heard that the new buildings being built in Yaoshan were very sturdy and were all constructed to the highest earthquake-resistant standards. They were skeptical at first, but now that they had arrived in the city and seen with their own eyes the unfinished construction sites, they felt that the rumors were true.

The buildings seem to be like thick and wide matchboxes, as if they were wedged deeply into the ground by a giant with a hammer, with only half of the matchbox body exposed. If built in this way, it seems that unless the earth goes crazy and dances disco, it will be difficult to throw the buildings out of the body.

The young men and women in Zhongping Village, wearing fashionable clothes and riding stylish bicycles, looked at the various buildings on both sides of the road like country bumpkins. Some of them were short-sighted and occasionally made comments such as "Wow, a train passed by!" and "Wow, the buildings are so tall!"

Their dress also attracted the attention of city people on the street. Occasionally, when the two sides looked at each other, they could sense the similarities. The militiamen thought the others were fashionable and they were unfashionable, while the city people thought these people were fashionable and they were unfashionable.

Young workers would often catch up with the team and ask loudly: "Comrade, where did you buy your bicycles?"

Usually at this time, the Zhongping militiamen would start with Chen Daxi shouting one, two, three in a low voice, and then a group of them would answer loudly at the same time: "Hong Kong Island!"

Xie Hushan and Han Laoer thought that their behavior of talking and showing off together was very erroneous, but others did not think so. The people who asked them about it did not think so either. Instead, they gave them a thumbs up and said, "How awesome!"

Lv Yuan sat on the back seat of the bicycle and said to Han Laoer, who slowed down and followed behind her, Xie Hushan:

"When we turn the corner later, you have to tell everyone to follow closely. Otherwise, it's easy to get lost. The streets and buildings in this area are almost the same."

Such a large group of people wearing Hong Kong shirts and riding new-style bicycles attracted people's attention wherever they went. When Lu Yuan was instructing Xie Hushan and others, this strange convoy entering the city was spotted by a traffic policeman wearing a white uniform top and a wide-brimmed hat. He waved at them from a distance and signaled them to ride their bicycles over!

"..." Yang Liming suddenly reacted when he saw the policeman waving at him. He looked down at the imported ladies' bicycle he was riding, and then at the dozen or so picnic bicycles ridden by Chen Daxi, Ma Saner and others.

"Don't worry, nephew. These are regular bicycles, purchased by the County Animal Husbandry Bureau. How can they be without license plates?" Xie Hushan noticed Yang Liming's reaction when the traffic police asked them to pull over, and spoke up at this time.

Why did Jiao Peng ask Xie Hushan to purchase foreign goods and register them in the name of the County Animal Husbandry Bureau? It was because he had connections in the court and it was convenient for him to gain favor. It only takes a word to license or register things from public institutions. If farmers like Xie Hushan went to license or register themselves, they would be hard to guarantee that they would not be harassed.

"I'm talking to you! What's wrong with a dozen young men? You're still riding! Get off quickly and push your bikes over here! Don't you look at the traffic lights?" The traffic policeman was a middle-aged man in his thirties. He had a whistle in his mouth. He blew it once and then shouted to the crowd.

His shout made the city dwellers on both sides of the road look towards the dozen fashionable young men who jumped out from the middle of the road and pushed the carts. Some people who liked to watch the fun even followed and moved towards the direction of the traffic police.

Nowadays, cars on the street can drive back and forth without license plates, and they can stop wherever they go, even in the middle of the road for half an hour. The traffic police will not give you a ticket. Instead, they will kindly come forward and ask if your car is broken down and if you need help finding a comrade to help you push the car and start the engine.

The reason why people are so tolerant towards cars is mainly because there are too few cars and traffic police do not need to spend much energy to manage them. Moreover, it is easy to detect cars that flee after a traffic accident. After all, there are no private cars. If all units and factories in the city are checked one by one, they will definitely be able to find out clearly.

What really requires traffic police to make great efforts to maintain order is the massive number of bicycles, especially during rush hour in factories in county towns and urban areas. The scene of an entire street being blocked by bicycle traffic is definitely not an exaggeration, and the traffic is endless.

There are no traffic police or traffic lights to direct traffic. During rush hours, the intersections near factories in the city are almost completely blocked by bicycles.

In rural areas like Zhongping Brigade, bicycles can be ridden freely, but if you want to ride a bicycle on the road in the city and get away with it after being stopped and questioned by traffic police, you need to meet three hard conditions.

First, add a license plate to a conspicuous place on the bicycle, and stamp the number on the handlebars and tripod.

Second, when traveling by bicycle, always carry your bicycle license with you.

Second, bicycles must be equipped with a bell that can emit an audible warning.

If the second and third points are violated and you are caught by the traffic police, you will be criticized and educated, and fined two yuan. Even if you make two mistakes at the same time, you will only be fined two yuan.

Although the penalty is one for two offenses, two dollars is still a lot of money even for city workers, and it is enough to make the person who made the mistake feel painful for several days.

As for the first point, that is a bit troublesome because it and the second point will basically appear at the same time. How can there be a bicycle license without even a stamp?

Once a bicycle without a stamp is found, the traffic police will first ask about the source of the bicycle. It is definitely not possible to just pay two yuan and leave. You need to follow the traffic police to the booth to explain clearly. If there are co-workers or factory leaders who can help to testify and guarantee, then it will be better. The traffic booth provides stamp-breaking and license plate services. It costs five yuan per bicycle. After the stamp is broken and the license plate is hung, you can push the bicycle away after paying the money.

Moreover, the five yuan charge is not a deliberate harassment, it is very formal. After paying the five yuan at the traffic booth, a reimbursement invoice is also provided, which is stamped with the official seal of the tax bureau. It is absolutely genuine and not an arbitrary fine. It can be used as a reimbursement voucher when it is taken back to the factory.

Then they will ask you to take time out of work to go to the Public Security Bureau or the Tax Bureau and spend RMB 1.20 to get a bicycle license with a stamp and license plate.

If there are no co-workers or leaders who can testify, then don't even think about pushing the bike away easily. It would be good if you can register the owner and let him go. The traffic police will first check whether the bike has similar features to the recently stolen bikes. If not, the traffic police will carefully ask the owner where the bike was bought and other information before letting him go. They will then let the owner go but seize the bike.

Afterwards, someone will verify whether the car owner is telling the truth. If confirmed, the car owner will be notified to pick up the car with five dollars for the steel stamp and license plate fee.

If the characteristics are similar to those of the stolen bicycle, then neither the person nor the bicycle can leave. Go back to the police station and explain the situation slowly.

"Pull over and line up your bikes." After the traffic police waited for Yang Limin, Chen Daxi, Ma Saner and a large group of people to come over with their bikes, they were instructed to line up their bikes on the side of the road. They said in a dissatisfied tone:
"What are you wearing? You don't look like good people. How can you ride your bike without seeing the traffic lights? Don't go forward when the light is red!"

After hearing the criticism from the police comrade, the militiamen who had been shivering in their sunglasses just now took off their sunglasses obediently, put their bicycles away properly, stood beside the bicycles with their hands hanging down, looking as if they were listening attentively.

Seeing Han Lao Er driving over with Xie Hushan on a sidecar motorcycle, the police waved at the two of them:
"I didn't ask you two to come here on sidecar motorcycles. Hurry up and don't affect traffic!"

Basically, there is no need to check when riding a motorcycle, because no motorcycle is privately owned. They must belong to a factory or unit, and the documents must be complete. The most important thing is that even if you don’t bring the documents, there are no regulations on how to punish people who drive a motorcycle without carrying documents. The most is that after an accident, the motorcycle will be confiscated and the factory will be asked to send someone to collect it.

"Leader, we are from the same unit, and I am their leader." Xie Hushan said to the traffic police. "You are such a boaster, you dare to pretend to be a leader just by riding a shoulder bike." A small group of people watching the excitement nearby laughed. From the sound of their voices, it was clear that they were city idiots who didn't have a proper job and were hanging around all day.

Obviously, Xie Hushan looked too young. Usually, people of this age would have just entered a factory or unit not long ago, and would either be an apprentice serving a master or serving tea to a leader. But this kid said right away that he was the leader of this group of people, so naturally the onlookers didn't believe him.

"You are..." The police wanted to say, "Are you kidding me?"

But when Xie Hushan stepped down from the sidecar, he did not look like an ordinary worker. He looked quite intimidating, and indeed looked like a leader or a person in charge.

"Then comrade, please wait for a while."

The policeman then looked at these picnic bicycles and walked to the first one, Chen Daxi. Chen Daxi pointed to the steel stamp on the handlebar and showed it to the policeman: "Report to the leader, the steel stamp is engraved here."

"From Bingyang County?" The policeman looked at the stamped number and license plate: "Where's your bicycle license?"

When the onlookers heard that they were from Bingyang County, they couldn't help but talk:
"How can someone from the county below ride such a nice bike? Check it out carefully, it must be stolen!"

"That's right, check them out!"

A group of militiamen were about to glare at him, but Xie Hushan pointed at them and said, "Be good and cooperate with the leadership."

"I didn't bring it." Chen Daxi said to the police with confidence.

They didn't have that thing, and maybe Jiao Peng didn't consider that they came to Yaoshan to show off, so he didn't even go to get certificates for these bicycles. Anyway, in the urban area of ​​Bingyang County, no one would stop them just because of their local accent and the stamp.

Moreover, there are only three intersections with traffic lights in the entire county, and the chance of being checked is smaller than Chen Daxi's two eyes.

The traffic police walked towards the second car and said to Chen Daxi, "Wait next to it."

After carefully checking all the bicycles, the police nodded with satisfaction. All the bicycles had stamps and license plates, and were equipped with bells. The only problem was that none of these people carried a bicycle license.

The policeman saw that these young men had good attitudes. Although they were noisy when riding their bicycles, they were standing straight and looking at him at this moment. He smiled:
"My dear young comrades, I see that there are quite a few of you, and you are all from the same unit. Whether it is your unit's labor union or your workshops, don't they organize you to learn some traffic knowledge? You should know that you should stop at a red light and go at a green light, right?"

"The cars were all stolen, how can you understand this? Look at them, they don't look like princes even if they wear dragon robes!" The sarcastic voices in the crowd became more and more excessive.

Yang Limin was the first to react. He left his bicycle and Lu Yuan behind, quickly stood beside the smiling Xie Hushan, and lowered his voice: "Don't cause trouble."

The policeman looked back at the direction of the voice, frowned, and did not scold. He turned around and continued to calmly instruct the Zhongping militia:
"You must bring your driving license when you go out on a bike. You cannot ride without a license. This is for your own good. Whether it is the factory or your home, everyone is looking forward to your safe return home. To put it bluntly, if something goes wrong on the way, such as a traffic accident, and someone is seriously injured and unconscious, your license can at least let the rescuers know how to contact your unit and your family, right?"

Then he looked at Yang Limin who ran to Xie Hushan and said unhappily:

"Young comrade with glasses, please listen carefully when I speak. You look so good and gentle, but in fact, you have made the most serious mistake. It is not allowed to carry passengers on a bicycle in the city, especially on a main traffic road like this!"

"It's fine if you're secretly carrying people on a deserted side road, but there's too much traffic on a main road like this. If you're carrying someone on your back, it's easy for your handlebars to become unstable and you'll end up swerving on the road, and it's easy for you to bump into someone riding next to you. If you really fall during rush hour, it could cause a huge traffic jam or even widespread injuries!"

"Whether you and your lesbian are in love or a couple, go home and spend time together, or work hard and buy yourself a bicycle. Don't always ride a lesbian's bicycle. It doesn't look good for a grown man like you to ride a woman's bicycle, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Yang Liming blushed and nodded repeatedly.

The old policeman finally looked at Xie Hushan next to him and saluted him: "Are you their factory leader?"

"Leader, I am Xie Hushan, the director of Zhongping Steel Rolling Mill." Xie Hushan said with a smile.

The police nodded to Xie Hushan and said, "It's like this. Organize the workers in your factory to learn about traffic. Why did I call them over? They are obviously from the city. It's okay for them to come to the city. Just be careful. Your factory secretary or union chairman is irresponsible. Go back and ask them to implement it quickly. If something goes wrong, it will be too late to regret it."

Someone in the crowd said disdainfully: "Zhongping, that's a rural village. It turns out they are a bunch of bumpkins from the countryside!"

Xie Hushan suddenly opened his mouth, his voice roaring like a tiger: "Fuck you! Chief of Staff Han, kill those idiots!"

Han Hongbing had been staring at the man who had spoken. At this moment, he stepped on the accelerator, and the sidecar motorcycle sped up and crashed into the crowd of onlookers, emitting black smoke!
Amid everyone's exclamations, the motorcycle was about to rush into the crowd when it suddenly screeched to a halt, leaving three tracks on the ground and only a dozen centimeters away from hitting the person in front!

Xie Hushan looked at those people who were so scared that they were pushing and dodging each other and staggering, stared at them coldly and said:
"I thought people in the city weren't afraid of death."

"Fuck..."

A young man who was squeezed and staggered stood up and called his companions to stand up with him. He just opened his mouth to curse Xie Hushan, but after saying two words, it was as if his neck was strangled and he dared not say any more.

The dozen or so country youths who had remained well-behaved when facing the traffic police's questions took off the chain locks of their bicycles with their left hands, pulled out sharp bayonets with their right hands, bypassed the police and rushed towards the city youths in a semi-encircled formation!

"How do we deal with them, Commander Xie?" Ma Saner stared at a young man from the city with a bayonet and asked Xie Hushan.

Xie Hushan looked at Yang Limin, who had turned black, and said:
"Don't cause trouble for Lao Yang. If they surrender, let them go. If they don't surrender... let them surrender sincerely."

"Understood." Chen Daxi swung the chain and shouted at the other party: "Fuck you! Do you accept it? If you don't accept it, fight me. If you accept it, get out of here!"

"Leader, let them deal with their problems and we deal with ours. Tell me how to punish people who ride bicycles without licenses. I will make sure they pay attention next time and never make the same mistake again." Xie Hushan said with a smile to the dumbfounded traffic police.

The police looked at Xie Hushan and said subconsciously: "Fine two yuan each, and issue a receipt after paying the fine."

(End of this chapter)