I was married off to a disabled hero in lieu of marriage; my in-laws doted on me and I aspired to gr

Zhou Zhonghai went to the county committee to see He Youcai. As expected, He Youcai took him to the designated commune to see the peaceful collective labor, and finally asked for some high-quality wheat and corn seeds, which would complete the task.

Zhao Jintao and Zhou Zhonghai split up and went to the bus station, where they caught a passenger bus to Yuetang.

The bus was full of elderly farmers, and the driver shouted, "Wait a little longer, the bus will depart at noon sharp. Take out your tickets, we'll check them later."

Zhao Jintao's seat was by the window, and it was taken by an older man who said hesitantly, "Comrade, I get carsick, could we switch seats?"

Zhao Jintao readily agreed, "Sure. Uncle, are you visiting relatives in the city?"

"Yes, my older brother works in the city and was hoping to get a bicycle ticket, but alas, his abilities are limited, and he couldn't get one." The uncle looked worried.

"Bicycle tickets? Even leaders might not be able to get them."

Zhao Jintao was quite surprised. Those were hot commodities; bicycle tickets were hard to come by, and buying a bicycle cost over eighty yuan, which was no small sum.

"Uncle, there aren't many families in the countryside that own bicycles, are there?"

There wasn't a single bicycle in Dashui Village, except for one at the brigade headquarters, which was used by whoever needed it; it belonged to the public.

"It wasn't me who wanted it, but our commune secretary, well, he knew my older brother was in the city, and said it would be easy to arrange."

"You can refuse if you want."

"Refuse? If you refuse, my family's wheat will have to pay double the amount of grain as tax."

"How could that be? Isn't the grain tax standardized? Who would dare ask you to pay more?"

"You're not from our commune, you wouldn't understand."

The middle-aged man sighed deeply and refused to say any more.

The grain tax is to be handed over by the village team leader, so why does this uncle have to hand over the grain tax himself?

Could it be that they've also been allocated land to individual households?

The man didn't want to talk about it, so Zhao Jintao didn't press him further and casually asked, "Uncle, where are you getting off?"

"By the Moon Pond, are you also in town on business?"

"No, I'm going to Moon Pond."

Zhao Jintao was surprised. Yuetang, Uncle Zhou had sent him to Yuetang, and sure enough, there was a problem.

Do you have relatives in Yuetang?

"Uncle, I'm from the seed company. I'm going to Yuetang Commune to collect a debt. They still owe us money for seeds." Zhao Jintao lied randomly.

"Seed money? That can't be right. We can't afford to pay a penny less when buying seeds."

"Really? Maybe the harvest isn't finished yet? Uncle, how much does your wheat cost per kilogram?"

"The price is the same throughout the county, 25 cents a pound."

Twenty-five cents? Zhao Jintao was very familiar with the price of wheat seeds. As the team leader, he had to go to the commune to buy wheat seeds every year. Ordinary wheat seeds cost two cents each; only the high-yield wheat seeds from their research institute cost one yuan per jin. How come it was two cents and fifty cents in Yuetang Commune?

If the price is the same throughout the county, then it's not just an isolated problem in Yuetang Commune.

How poor are the farmers? Yet, even low-level officials are still embezzling and accepting bribes.

Even Zhang Wei only dared to accept rice, noodles, and meat. The secretary of Yuetang Commune probably wouldn't care about rice, noodles, and meat; he wanted money and a bicycle. He had quite a big appetite.

Zhao Jintao's mind raced, and an idea came to him. He tentatively asked, "Uncle, do you really need a bicycle ticket? I can get one."

The middle-aged man was startled, then his eyes dimmed: "Young man, I'm so old, how could you lie to me? Even if you had it, it would be worth a lot of money if you sold it to someone else, you wouldn't give it to me, would you?"

"I'm selling it to you."

"Really? How much?"

Offering bicycle tickets is a scam; giving money is perfectly reasonable.

"Fifty." Zhao Jintao had a general idea of ​​how much a bicycle ticket was worth.

"Okay, when do you have tickets?"

"It'll be around the end of the month. Where do you live? I'll deliver it to you at the end of the month, and you can verify its authenticity before we exchange money for goods."

"That's great, brother! I live in Xiaokanzi Village. Why don't you come over to my house for a drink of water and get acquainted with the place?"

"Alright, then I'll take the trouble to bother you."

"No trouble at all. As long as the bicycle ticket issue is resolved, my family can pay about fifty yuan less in grain tax. If we can pay less for five consecutive years, that's two or three hundred yuan."

Zhao Jintao was very puzzled. How exactly did Xiaokanzi Village operate? How could the grain tax be reduced or exempted?

The bus traveled for more than an hour on the rugged road and arrived at Yuetang Township. Zhao Jintao did not go to the commune, but followed the uncle to Xiaokanzi Village.

Along the way, many farmers were busy in the fields. Zhao Jintao could tell at a glance that the land here had been distributed to individual households. Because of the collective, everyone worked together and didn't work in small groups.

"Uncle, your village is quite advanced; you've already distributed land to individual households."

Zhao Jintao spoke casually, and the uncle turned pale with fright: "Young man, you can't just say things like that, we didn't... we didn't..."

Zhao Jintao laughed: "Did you sign a waiver of right and wrong? You can't mention it to outsiders?"

The man was startled and asked, "How...how did you know?"

"I also come from the countryside, and that's how it is in my village," Zhao Jintao laughed, revealing a set of white teeth.

The uncle chuckled sheepishly, "So that's how it is. Our commune secretary forbids us from talking about it."

"Distributing land to individual households is a good thing; every household will have surplus grain."

"It's good, but it means we have to pay more grain tax. So, the Party Secretary told me to get a bicycle ticket, which will reduce the amount of grain tax I have to pay." The uncle said, his head drooping.

Why should we pay more?

"The Party Secretary said that the extra grain we pay isn't going to the commune, it's going to the county. We also raise pigs, and we have to hand over ten catties of the best pork from each pig. If anyone doesn't hand it over, the militia will arrest them and they'll never be allowed to raise pigs again. In short, we can raise anything, but we have to hand over a portion. Hand it over, at least we'll be able to eat meat during the New Year."

So that's how it is? The secretary of Yuetang Commune used his power to distribute land to households and encourage everyone to raise pigs, chickens, and ducks, on the condition that they pay tribute.

Whether the tribute goods actually reached the county or remained in the commune is unknown.

When I arrived at the uncle's house, the aunt was home. Upon seeing a stranger, she busied herself boiling water.

"Mom, make some noodles. My brother and I haven't had lunch yet."

"Alright, buddy, you drink some water first, I'll go roll out the dough, it'll be quick."

"Thank you, Auntie."

Zhao Jintao was indeed hungry. He had eaten a steamed bun at school that morning, and it was already 2 p.m.

"Uncle, if the land is distributed to individual households and we are allowed to raise pigs and chickens, and the government provides you with high-yield wheat seeds, we won't have to pay more grain taxes or send pork to the commune. What do you think?" Zhao Jintao asked earnestly.

The middle-aged man panicked slightly: "You can't say that, brother. The leaders risked their lives to allocate land to us, how can we not pay more? It may be a little more, but it's still better than not having land allocated to households at all, right?"

They were actually successfully tamed; these are our poor farmers.

Two large bowls of handmade noodles were served, drizzled with sesame oil, filling the room with their aroma.

"Eat up, buddy. There's more in the pot if you're not full."

No wonder the uncle was willing to get bicycle tickets for the commune secretary. With land allocated to individual households, people in the countryside could finally eat dry noodles. Life was hard, but at least they could have enough to eat.

Zhao Jintao ate a large bowl of noodles, not daring to ask for a second bowl, thanked the uncle repeatedly, and said goodbye.

I also need to go to the commune to meet that mysterious commune secretary.