Back to 1978

Chapter 185: Road Construction

Although the weather is still hot, the sorghum ears have turned red and the corn leaves have turned yellow. From a distance, the ears of sorghum held up by the sorghum stalks look like balls of flames.

Only the top of the corn ear still had a little green.

In the past, the veteran farmers and production team leaders from each team would gather at the fields early in the morning, looking at the little remaining green of the corn every day, and they would discuss it for half a day and make calculations every day.

Calculating when to start harvesting corn, when to plant wheat to best serve the interests of the production team, and how to make choices to take full advantage of the land.

This is also a helpless move. After all, there is only so much land. Harvesting corn a few days later can make the corn grow fuller this year and produce more corn. However, because wheat is planted a few days later, it will definitely affect next year's wheat harvest.

Therefore, every production team leader has a plan in his mind. He needs to decide whether to use next year's production reduction to exchange for this year's team's higher ranking, so that everyone in the production team can be proud, or to keep a low profile and harvest the corn two days earlier this year to ensure the growth of wheat next year so that everyone can eat more white flour.

However, today there are far fewer people observing the growth of corn in the fields than usual. Even the female militia on duty in the shacks set up to prevent thieves during the day are fewer than usual. Usually there are three female militiamen in a shack during the day, but today there is only one, and she is absent-minded, with her eyes always looking towards the village.

Because everyone has heard that a Hong Kong businessman is coming to Zhongping, and everyone wants to see what the Hong Kong businessman looks like and what he looks like to have such a good life.

It is said that people in Hong Kong Island live in Western-style buildings, wear Western clothes, and use foreign goods every day. In addition, the government gives them priority in supplying the best cattle and sheep at a low price. They are so lucky that they don't have a choice.

At the gate of the commune, a group of old folks gathered to watch the excitement. Ma Saner, Chen Daxi, Wu Shuanzi and other young militiamen looked towards the main road with eager eyes. Wu Shuanzi climbed up a locust tree by the roadside like a monkey, looking into the distance with his hands propped up. Every few minutes, a militiaman looked up and asked:
"Shuanzi, have you seen the jeep from the steel mill?"

The reason they came here was naturally because they had already heard privately from Han Hongbing, who had accompanied Yang Liming back before, that this Hong Kong businessman was the elder brother of Commander Xie and Chief of Staff Han. This elder brother was stupid and had a lot of money. As long as they admitted that the other party was the elder brother and they were the younger brothers, he would definitely give money on the spot, at least more than 300 yuan.

If there was such a good thing, he would have come early to wait for it. If he hadn't been stopped by everyone, Chen Daxi would have been ready to call him dad and wait to call the Hong Kong businessman "big brother".

As a result, they had been clamoring to come since the morning, and waited until the afternoon. Wu Shuanzi ate his lunch on a tree. Finally, at around four o'clock in the afternoon, he saw the jeep from the steel rolling mill appear and drive into the commune compound.

A group of people rushed forward, wanting to catch a glimpse of the Hong Kong businessman, but the person who got off the car was Xie Hushan, who had already been investigated by the public security organs and confirmed to be innocent by the county bureau and Lao Feng.

He said that the Hong Kong businessman was drunk yesterday by the leaders of the county United Front Work Department and the county party committee leaders. He just woke up at noon today, and before he could go out, he was stopped by the county Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese and the leaders of the county printing factory. He may have to drink for another one to two days.

The next day, Cao Tianbao was accompanied by comrades from the county United Front Work Department and the Overseas Chinese Federation to Zhongping Commune. Yang Liming and Han Laoer followed Cao Tianbao all the time. Xie Hushan did not show up. His main energy was used to prevent those militiamen who were only interested in making money by fleecing Hong Kong businessmen from embarrassing themselves in front of the county leaders.

These days, the identity of Hong Kong businessmen is very useful. In the eyes of everyone in Bingyang County, Hong Kong businessmen are people of status and wealth. If they can come to Zhongping Commune, it means that Zhongping Commune is very grateful and they must not be ungrateful.

Zhongping Commune certainly took it very seriously and sent most of the commune leaders and the entire leadership team of Zhongping Brigade to accompany the young man from Hong Kong Island on the inspection.

There were no complications in the joint venture to build a factory. The only small accident that made the people of Zhongping unhappy was that the county printing factory was not keeping its promise and was always trying to cut in. They tried to win over Mr. Cao Tianbao, who seemed easy to talk to, to cooperate with them and bypass Zhongping Commune and Zhongping Brigade.

Moreover, the county printing factory was so shameless that in order to achieve their ulterior motives, they even tried to use the beauty trap on the Hong Kong businessmen who came from afar.

He specially greeted the county leaders and put the county printing factory's own beauty on the accompanying list. She was a young female accountant who had just graduated from secondary technical school two years ago. She was young, beautiful, and outgoing. She also took the time to learn a few words of Cantonese from co-workers in the factory who had relatives in Guangdong Province. She took every opportunity to talk to Cao Tianbao, trying to find a chance to persuade Cao Tianbao to change his mind and cooperate with the county printing factory.

However, Mr. Cao Tianbao, a Hong Kong businessman, was no simple character. With just one sentence, he scared the county printing factory so much that the factory flower was removed from his side.

Because Cao Tianbao asked about the other party's salary, and then said, Miss, you are so beautiful and know accounting. It's a waste of your talent in a small county. Do you want to come with me to work in a company in Hong Kong Island?

Fortunately, Yang Liming, who was accompanying Cao Tianbao, informed the county printing factory in time. The county printing factory quickly transferred the factory beauty who was reluctant to leave Cao Tianbao back to continue working with peace of mind, thus preventing Cao Tianbao's dirty plot to abduct their own employees.

It’s not that the county printing factory is unwilling, but the main reason is that the beauty in the factory is already taken. Her partner is a technician in the county printing factory. What would happen if she was abducted by Cao Tianbao?
The husband worked so hard for the county printing factory, but the leaders of the county printing factory secretly arranged for his wife to accompany Hong Kong businessmen on an inspection trip in an attempt to win over the Hong Kong businessmen, but failed and ended up being abducted by them instead... If this were to get out, would the leaders of the printing factory still be able to live in Bingyang County?

Taking advantage of the fact that the beautiful woman was transferred away, Cao Tianbao expressed a bit of dissatisfaction towards the county printing factory, completely putting an end to their intentions.

Of course, Cao Tianbao would never be able to come up with such an idea, this was all thought up by Yang Liming for him. The pretty boy protected Cao Tianbao very well, and he did not fall into any of the traps set by the county.

Others may not know, but Yang Liming knows very well that the money on Cao Tianbao belongs to Xie Hushan. Protecting Cao Tianbao now is equivalent to protecting the wealth that originally belongs to Zhongping.

Xie Hushan did not show up for the joint venture of the offset printing factory, and Cao Tianbao only stayed in Zhongping Commune for one day before he was invited back to the county by the accompanying county leaders. The joint venture of the factory was decided in the county. It was agreed that although it was a joint venture between Hong Kong businessmen and the brigade, the director of the offset printing factory could not be appointed by the Zhongping Production Brigade itself. In order to protect Zhongping, the county decided to appoint Yang Liming, the second secretary of the Zhongping Production Brigade, as the first director.

It's called protection, but in fact he just wanted to hold the management authority of the calendar factory in his own hands. After all, Yang Liming was a cadre sent down from the county. Although he held the title of second secretary of the Zhongping Production Brigade, he might return to the county one day. The offset printing factory was in his hands, and in the eyes of the county leaders, it was equivalent to being in their own hands.

Zhongping Commune had no objection to this matter. Xie Hushan had already figured it out. Since it involved Hong Kong businessmen, the county would not let Zhongping Brigade do whatever it wanted. It would definitely have to intervene, but it also had to worry about intervening too much and causing resistance from Zhongping Brigade. Therefore, the best candidate from the county must be Yang Liming.

This is a happy incident for everyone.

As for the time when Xie Hushan was away, the pipe factory set up by Yang Liming and Ma Danao was still in trial production. Jiang Jingwen, the deputy director of the steel rolling mill who was previously in charge of production, has been transferred to take charge of the production of the pipe factory. Pipe making is not as extensive as steel rolling, but a little more refined. The products have different uses, strengths and sizes, so he needs to lead the workers to explore trial processing and master the techniques.

Ge Baosheng, the battalion commander of the brigade's militia, was arranged by the brigade to be the nominal deputy director of the newly built pipe factory, responsible for daily management. It was not that the brigade took advantage of Xie Hushan's absence to arbitrarily place people, but that the Zhongping Brigade had no idle wasteland, and the location of the pipe factory was very remote, almost at the boundary with other brigades, and nearly three miles away from the village. Unlike the steel rolling mill, it was built next to the brigade and only two steps away.

The pipe factory contains all kinds of valuable steel raw materials, and all the workers are farmers from Xishan who have no sense of belonging. There might be external or even internal thieves who want to steal something in the middle of the night while the factory is remote. So someone who can deter thieves must be arranged. From this point of view, Ge Baosheng is the best candidate, so the brigade arranged for him to select several alert militiamen to be responsible for the daily management of the factory, mainly to prevent thieves.

As for Xie Hushan, he stayed at home obediently for a while. On the day he came back, he was beaten by the old man and his wife.

Normally, the child was already over 18 years old, and the elders should not beat him if they could, but the grandpa and the aunt could not help it. The grandpa had been taking care of livestock for years and was very strong, so he subdued Xie Hushan in the same way he would subdue a beast, while the aunt was responsible for holding the rolling pin and doing the job.

Fortunately, the old lady has always been tough on the outside but soft on the inside. She was very aggressive in her clamor and held the rolling pin for a full ten minutes before only hitting it twice. The force was probably slightly greater than being hit by a tree branch while walking.

This made Daxiu, who was waiting to watch the fun and cheer, even doubt whether she was the aunt's biological daughter. If she was, why did her mother never show mercy when she beat her, but was so gentle when she beat her brother?

Before the autumn harvest officially started, the county had given the green light to the offset printing factory's procedures and approvals. Cao Tianbao left a sum of money in the offset printing factory's account and said that he was busy with business in Hong Kong Island and would come back after the factory building was built and the equipment was delivered. Then came the annual rural autumn harvest battle. Xie Hushan did not participate in the autumn harvest. He felt that Taozi's participation meant that he also participated. He stayed in the factory under the banner of controlling the production of the steel rolling mill and disappeared.

But it was not without expression. Although they did not participate in the autumn harvest, before the autumn planting, the steel rolling mill used tractors to deliver several trucks of fertilizer to Production Team 3. The fertilizer was almost piled up into a small hill, waiting to be spread on the fields when planting wheat in the autumn.

These white fertilizers made the young and old men of Team 3 feel that it was no big deal for Xie Hushan to be lazy. If he could find a way to solve the fertilizer problem every year, everyone even hoped that he would be lazy every year.

After all, one more person would only make the work only a few minutes faster, but with so much more fertilizer being spread on the fields, the wheat yield of their own team three will definitely be the highest in the county next year. Maybe all the families in the team three will be able to eat steamed buns for every meal tomorrow without having to mix them with sweet potato flour, corn flour or other coarse grains that can cause heartburn and acid reflux if eaten too much.

It was not until the weather started to get cooler, the public grain tax had been paid, and people started to wear coats when going out in the morning and evening, and the brigade entered the slack season, that Xie Hushan began to show up in the brigade again.

He asked Taozi and his grandmother to help prepare a table of food at home, and he went to invite Ma Laowu and Han Laogou. When he went to invite Han Laogou, Secretary Yin happened to invite Han Laogou to the commune canteen to have a meal and a few drinks together.

Xie Hushan was not as courageous as Han Laogou, who dared to leave Secretary Yin, the head of the commune, out in the cold. He simply invited Secretary Yin to his home for dinner.

Although Yin Qianfeng and Xie Hushan's relationship is not as deep as Ma Laowu and Han Laogou's, they are also very familiar with each other. Moreover, Yin Qianfeng is shy, so when he heard Xie Hushan invite him to his home for dinner, he went back to the office and got two bottles of Xifeng.

Unlike Ma Laowu and Han Laogou, who would come with empty paws when they heard about dinner.

"Secretary Yin, what can I say about you? We have known each other for so many years, and you have come to my house for dinner at least eighty times, right?" Han Laogou looked at Yin Qianfeng, who was smoking and twisting a bottle of wine, and had no airs of a commune leader, and said with a smile:
"You've never brought wine or food before. Today it's Hu San'er's turn to treat us, and you brought two bottles of Xifeng?"

Yin Qianfeng said without even raising his head: "What are you talking about? I'll get you two bottles of Xifeng. Can you help me with something? Can you help me with less public grain, or can you help me with less fighting with other brigades for machines?"

"Let's not talk about anything else, Hu San'er. At least lend the jeep from the steel mill to the commune. Think about it, when I first came here, what kind of shit did you do? I even went to your house to drink without bringing any food or wine. You're secretly happy, Han Laogou. I tell you, I didn't bring a kitchen knife to chop you to death. It was all because of the good training of the organization. The strict self-discipline of a party member saved you."

Xie Hushan took the bottle of Xifeng wine opened by Yin Qianfeng and filled the glasses of the three people. Then he and Ma Laowu listened to the bickering between Han Laogou and Secretary Yin. The two had been quarreling for so many years, and it could be said that they said more to each other than to their wives.

Han Laogou sniffed the aroma of wine and said, "What's the matter? I really don't remember. Normally, you just came to Zhongping, so there shouldn't be any conflicts. Everyone supports your work."

"Was it the time when his brother-in-law came to see him and gave him something?" Seeing that Han Laogou didn't remember, Ma Laowu scratched his chin and reminded him.

Yin Qianfeng nodded immediately: "Yes, that time."

"Do I need you to remind me? If you want to flatter the commune leaders, you have to consider that I'm still here." Han Laogou was exposed by Ma Laowu's words. He could no longer pretend to be confused and glared at Ma Laowu.

Ma Laowu immediately lowered his head, picked up the chopsticks, picked up a piece of luncheon meat and put it into his mouth, concentrating on enjoying the food.

"Stop talking nonsense. Your treat can't be for nothing. If you have something to say, just say it." Han Laogou raised his glass and clinked it with Yin Qianfeng. Then he took a sip of white wine and asked Xie Hushan.

After Yin Qianfeng finished drinking, he put down his glass and looked at Xie Hushan.

When members invite team leaders to their homes for dinner, generally speaking, it means they have something that they need the team's help to solve. However, Yin Qianfeng couldn't think of any problem that Xie Hushan needed the team's help to solve. He himself was a team cadre and the director of the steel rolling mill. Once the pipe manufacturing plant was officially put into operation, it would certainly be handed over to him. In addition, the offset printing plant was also related to him. It could be said that if Xie Hushan really encountered a problem, the team might not be able to solve it.

"It's the off-season now. I was thinking that if we arrange for everyone to repair the road for our brigade this year, and the brigade gives everyone work points, everyone will definitely agree."

"Drink." Han Laogou acted as if he didn't hear anything and raised his glass and clinked it with Yin Qianfeng's.

Xie Hushan looked at Han Laogou and said, "It's not in vain. There are several places on the broken road of our brigade where tractors loaded with goods get stuck and have difficulty climbing out. Repairing it will improve efficiency. We can make two more trips a day, and the brigade can get more money. Haven't you heard the jingle that outsiders use to criticize the roads in our brigade?"

"What's the jingle?"

"I'd rather get fucked than walk along Zhongping Road." Xie Hushan said to Han Laogou:

"The ditch on the road is more than half a meter deep. If you accidentally fall into it, you have to wait for other tractors to help pull you out."

"That was also pressed out by the tractor of the steel rolling mill, and you are the director of public security. The brigade is responsible for repairing bridges and roads and maintaining public order. This is all under your responsibility. How about I give you the key to the team headquarters, and you can go to the loudspeaker and tell everyone about organizing people to repair the road?" Han Laogou said to Xie Hushan.

"Based on the value of work points, the steel rolling mill will help to make up a part of the compensation. Do you want to negotiate..." Xie Hushan asked Han Laogou.

Han Laogou raised his palm and gestured to Xie Hushan:
"I think only if one person can do at least 50 jobs will people be willing to do that. Otherwise, they will definitely find work during the slack season. Don't think about it too long. Otherwise, if you delay for a few days, people will start to get busy and it will be difficult to organize people."

"You are not asking the steel mill to make up for part of the loss, you are asking the steel mill to recoup the wages." Xie Hushan disagreed:
"If the steel mill subsidizes 50 workers per person, then the ballast and sand brigade for road construction must be responsible for the problem."

He wanted to take advantage of the slack season to repair the main roads within the brigade, otherwise it would be very inconvenient to transport goods with tractors. The roads in many places were rutted by heavy steel, and over the past few months, the ruts became deeper and deeper. Now it has developed to the point where the tractor's wheels will get stuck in the ditch if one is not careful, and the goods must be unloaded or a tractor must be called in to tow it out.

Han Laogou said: "The steel mill has to provide meals."

"Second uncle, if I don't show you my skills, you really think I'm a fool." Xie Hushan pointed at Han Laogou angrily, then went downstairs and took out a notebook from the wooden box on the ground, and returned to the dining table with the notebook:

"I'll ask you again. I don't care about food, ballast and soil, but I'll give each person a subsidy of 30 jobs. Do you agree?"

Han Laogou drank slowly and said, "Then go by yourself..."

Yin Qianfeng picked up the notebook and flipped through it. Before he finished reading, he said to Xie Hushan:
"Hu San, the commune will organize people to build the road, and the sand and ballast needed for the road construction will also be provided by the commune. If you agree, I will make the decision."

(End of this chapter)