The golden age began in 1977

Chapter 24 Commendation Conference for Supporting Agriculture and Preparing for Autumn
The family savings plus money borrowed from neighbors.

The Luo family collected a thousand yuan.

Father Luo threw a cloth bag onto the eight-immortal table. The scent of ink from the Great Unity mixed with the musty smell of food coupons rushed straight into his head.
"Count, leave a breakup letter, and get out!"

Luo's mother didn't dare to look at this scene.

She was sobbing in pain.

Qian Jin counted out the stacks of Great Unity and looked through the tickets.

Mr. Luo was cunning. He used used stamps to make up the number.

Qian Jin saw at a glance the "Women Hold Up Half the Sky" International Women's Day commemorative stamps issued in 1975.

However, he was open-minded and didn't care. He handed the bag to Liu Sanbing and shook his head: "Let's go!"

He went to pick up the two net bags he had brought with him.

Luo's mother screamed like a pig being castrated: "What are you doing?"

Qian Jin said puzzledly: "Let's go..."

"You, the gift you brought..." Luo's mother said unwillingly.

Qian Jin explained, "Oh, this is for my mother-in-law—do you want to recognize me as your son-in-law?"

"Get out! Get out now!" Father Luo pushed him out of the door rudely.

It was very fitting. Someone next door was singing "Red Lantern": "Before leaving, drink a bowl of wine from my mother..."

"Drink your mother's soup!" Father Luo cursed with gritted teeth.

After cursing, he looked at Qian Jin walking away on the street with a gloomy face from the upstairs window.

Luo's mother couldn't help it, and tears welled up in her eyes again:

"One thousand yuan! This is the one thousand yuan our family saved with great difficulty."

"I was thinking of keeping his two bags of goodies, at least to help the family, but he actually took them!"

"His father, what should we do? Let this bastard bully our family like this?"

Father Luo gnashed his teeth and said, "No one can bully me yet. Just wait and see. Once I find out more about him through my connections, I will definitely punish him ruthlessly!"

"How can I treat it? Can I get back the thousand yuan?" Luo's mother said with tears in her eyes.

Luo's father grinned grimly: "What do you want that thousand yuan for? I'm going to send him to jail!"

Qian Jin handed the net bag to Liu Dajia and Liu Eryi who were waiting on the street.

While waiting for the bus, he opened the last page of his diary.

There is a group photo taken in the winter of 1972 pasted inside.

On it, Luo Huijuan wrote in pen "Rooted in the countryside for life."

Just throw the money away.

In front of the wall behind the waiting station, street sanitation workers in white coats were painting new slogans on the wall.

Lime water was splashed over the old words "The working class leads everything", and they were about to be changed into the bright red outline of "Science and technology are called productive forces, and scientific and technological personnel are laborers."

Qian Jin turned back.

He regretted that he didn't have a camera, otherwise he could have taken a picture of this scene and published it in People's Pictorial later.

Workers today have a unique social status.

The Municipal Federation of Trade Unions held a commendation meeting for this action to support agriculture and prepare for autumn harvest.

Qian Jin was quite surprised when he received the message from Zhang Hongbo.

He was specially invited to attend the commendation meeting, but was not qualified to speak.

Xu Weidong winked at him and said, "Comrade, I was also specially invited."

"I guess Uncle Liu teamed up with cadres from several other production teams and had the commune write a thank-you letter or something and send it to the city."

Only one of the five labor assault teams of Taishan Road Subdistrict was invited to attend the meeting, and that was naturally Team 2.

The other four teams were very dissatisfied and had strong opinions about this, so they deliberately made trouble during work.

Team One was the most violent. Zhang Hongbo could no longer tolerate it and rolled up a newspaper, pointing it at them and yelling:
"Don't embarrass yourself. Go to the countryside and do some work. If you can't stand it for a day or two, you have to go back to the city."

"Let me tell you, the qualifications for participating in this commendation meeting held by the labor union and the Agricultural and Industrial Bureau are very simple. As long as you didn't desert during your time in the countryside supporting agriculture, you can go."

"You can't go not because the neighborhood committee doesn't support you, but because you are not motivated enough!"

Captain Wang Dong was unconvinced: "Ha, isn't it your permission that allowed us to come back?"

Zhang Hongbo was furious and pointed at him and cursed: "You spicy guy next door, what are you saying?"

Zhou Yaozu hurried to carry Zhang Hongbo away.

Wang Dong spat behind him.

After get off work, Zhang Hongbo left Qian Jin and whispered, "My watch..."

"What's wrong?" Qian Jin's heart skipped a beat. "What's the problem?"

Zhang Hongbo stretched out his wrist and touched its smooth case with fascination, as if he was touching the slippery skin of his young lover.

He said, "No problem, no problem. It's like this: someone saw it and liked it, so they asked me to ask if you can still get it."

Qian Jin quickly shook his head and firmly stated that he could not get it anymore.

Zhang Hongbo refused to give up: "Can't you think of another way? To be honest with you, a leader wants to ask you to find a place for the child!"

Qian Jin still shook his head.

Unless necessary, it is better not to display 27-year-old products in front of people with discerning eyes.

Low profile is king.

On September 9, with the other four teams looking on with envy, Team 25 rushed to the auditorium of the Workers' Cultural Palace to attend a commendation meeting.

The scorching autumn sun shone fiercely on the cement square of the Municipal Workers' Cultural Palace. There was a banner for a commendation meeting at the gate, with black words on red paper pasted on it.

This banner must have been modified from the red silk used in last year's National Day parade. Qian Jin looked carefully from behind and could see the faint golden words "Warmly Celebrate the 27th Anniversary of the Motherland's Birthday" protruding.

It was the first time for the labor commando team to participate in such a grand event. The team members were very excited and looked here and touched there.

Workers from large state-owned factories brought cameras and took photos together or in pairs.

Just like taking selfies and checking in later.

Zhu Tao drooled over the factory worker's camera. "What brands are they? How much do these things cost?"

"Look at what you've accomplished!" Xu Weidong poked him in the waist. "Let's go to the photo studio after we get the certificate. We'll look even more handsome with the certificate and the banner!"

Zhang Hongbo asked the team members to put on their clothes and put on the red armbands of the "Taishan Road Labor Commando" and said:

"Everyone, be alert. When you see the leaders later, you should shout 'grasp the key points and govern the country to achieve fruitful results!'"

Xu Weidong was walking around carrying a red flag with curled edges.

He heard a "Excuse me, excuse me", but someone deliberately bumped into him with his shoulder.

Xu Weidong took a look and got angry.

The man who bumped into him was a fat young man wearing a new work suit with the name of the 'State-owned Haibin No. 7 Rubber Factory' clearly written on his chest!

They were the three people who had failed to compete with them for the "Dongfanghong" at the Red Star Commune Agricultural Machinery Factory.

"Hey, hey, hey, which unit are you from? Don't block the way of our state-owned No. 7 glue!" A young man in the team said in a sarcastic tone.

"Which unit? Just look at the armband and you'll know. It's the Labor Commando, not the unit." The team burst into laughter.

Someone pinched his voice and imitated the street office's loudspeaker: "Unemployed vagrants, gather together! The toilet in the big outhouse on Taishan Road is blocked..."

More laughter came in.

Qian Jin clenched Xu Weidong's trembling fist.

Xu Weidong trembled all over, his eyes reddened. "Old Qian, if you're scared, go away. The worst that can happen today is that you'll be taken away by the police. I'm going to kill them!"

Zhu Tao angrily shouted, "Count me in! Damn it, I don't want this commendation!"

Even Feng Guangyuan and others who were not on good terms with them were ready to roll up their sleeves and take action.

Qian Jin said calmly: "Why are you in such a hurry? Who's afraid? Leave them to me!"

After saying this, he looked contemptuously and walked to the front of the Workers and Peasants Mutual Aid Team:
"So you're from the Seventh Rubber Factory. We were all from the same family who had supported the Red Star Commune's autumn harvest together."

"Who's your own? What kind of jeep are you pretending to be?" the fat young man sneered. "We're workers. I don't know what you are. Don't try to get close to us!"

The young man with the "Yellow Sea Pioneer" badge on his chest patted the leather wallet at his waist:

"See? My factory gives out 15 yuan as an autumn harvest subsidy! I'm afraid the vagrants in your neighborhood don't even get an extra food coupon, do they?"

The commandos were very angry, but they had to endure it.

What they say may be harsh, but it is the truth.

Feng Guangyuan was filled with grief and indignation: "What is Qian Jin doing? He is bringing shame upon himself! Does he think he can always get ahead?"

Xu Weidong couldn't bear to see his brother being laughed at, so he went up to pull him away.

Qian Jin waved his hand to stop him and sneered:
"I don't want to be one of you, but that's what Captain Luan from Red Star Ferry said when he asked us to drive a tractor to help."

After coughing twice, he imitated Captain Luan and said in a deep voice:

"Comrade, please help us! The workers who were supposed to support our production team ran away early. Not only did they run away, but they also messed up our crops!"

"They just pooped all over my team and left their butts sticking out. You're one of us, go clean their butts!"

The commandos finally found a way to vent their emotions.

The laughter got louder.

Xu Weidong smiled and waved a red flag to attract more people to watch.

The members of the No. 7 Jiao Workers-Peasants Mutual Aid Team were furious and started cursing at each other.

The labor commandos came up and started cursing at each other.

Qian Jin waved his hand, and more than ten people shut up one after another.

From using aluminum popsicle boxes instead of curling stones to driving tractors in the countryside to support agriculture and now breaking through the enemy's defense with his own efforts, these people have already acquiesced that he is the team leader.

Qian Jin looked around and saw that there were enough people.

Then his face darkened and he asked:

"Comrades, that's not right. Aren't those who can attend the commendation meeting the team who went to the countryside and worked there from the beginning to the end?"

"But when we went to the Hongxing Maotoudu Production Team, they hadn't harvested all the crops yet. The Worker-Peasant Mutual Aid Team had already left!"

He stepped forward and stared at the fat young man. "Comrade, are you the ones supporting the Red Star Maotoudu Production Team?"

"Then I have to ask everyone, why are you still able to attend the commendation meeting when you clearly ran away early?!"

The fat young man's scalp exploded.

The group of people behind subconsciously shrank their necks.

Zhu Tao and Xu Weidong exchanged a glance and said, "Fuck, that's right!"

Qian Jin looked around at everyone and said sternly:
"Comrades, the work of going to the countryside to support agriculture and the autumn harvest is so tiring. We have all experienced it firsthand. But which comrade present here retreated? Or ran away?"

Many people nodded.

"This commendation meeting is a victory meeting! It is a meeting where comrades are united as one, and it embodies the class sentiment that workers and peasants are always one family!"

"Why did a deserting team sneak into the conference?"

Zhang Hongbo realized that something was wrong and came over to pull him.

Qian Jin shook his hand away and said in a louder voice:
"We're letting a team that's capable of fighting tough battles and winning battles be honored alongside a bunch of fucking deserters? What's going on?"

Xu Weidong jumped up and shouted, "Comrades, if word gets out that Mr. Nan Guo sneaked into the commendation meeting, wouldn't that be a disgrace to the working class?"

"Everyone, stand up! We must defend the purity of the agricultural support team!"

(End of this chapter)