Back to 1978

Chapter 11 Going to the Military Camp to Borrow the Toilet
Xie Hushan, wearing a hemp rope belt and with a look of satisfaction on his face as he finished defecating, walked from the toilet back to the gate of the Xiguan Nursing Home.

The gatekeeper in the duty room at the entrance of Xiguan Nursing Home was a middle-aged man with a lame leg. When he saw Xie Hushan coming back, he was about to scold him with a dark face, saying that he was young and should not go too far. How could he borrow the toilet from others and even let his mother ask others to watch his bicycle for him?

The most infuriating thing was that this guy turned back and threatened me while running towards the toilet, saying that his bicycle belonged to the commune public security commissioner, and if I didn't keep a close eye on it and lost it, the commissioner would come to me with handcuffs to claim compensation...

The man was quite honest. He felt that a country kid would not be a good lier, so while he was in the toilet, he did not dare to return to the duty room. He kept watching the bicycle the man had ridden over at the door. He was prepared for the worst. What if the bicycle really belonged to the public security commissioner? If it was lost, it would affect the commissioner's execution of his duties.

But before the man could speak with a dark face, Xie Hushan had already taken out Beidaihe with a chuckle and handed it to the other party: "Uncle, take one first, take one."

Since the cigarette was already in front of his mouth, the man naturally opened his mouth and took it. Xie Hushan immediately struck a match and did not allow the man to speak. While helping him light the cigarette, he took the initiative to say, "Uncle, you didn't work here before, did you? I guess you were either an eighth-level worker in the factory's machinery workshop, or a master of operating agricultural machinery at the agricultural machinery station, right?"

"Hey, you can also read faces?" The man didn't want to pay attention to him, but he didn't expect Xie Hushan to guess his original identity with just one sentence. He couldn't help but ask curiously, "How did you guess it?"

Xie Hushan extinguished the match: "Hey, my dad was a tractor driver at the Zhongping Agricultural Machinery Station. Just now, when I had a stomachache and asked you to use the toilet, I smelled the same smell of machinery on you as my dad. This smell can't be removed even if you have changed jobs for many years..."

"You guessed right, kid. I used to drive a tractor at the agricultural machinery station. But there was an earthquake two years ago and my leg was broken. I can't drive the machine anymore, so I came to the nursing home to guard the gate and wait to die." The man said with a sigh when Xie Hushan reminded him of his style back then.

Being a tractor driver is a job that makes people look up to you wherever you go.

Xie Hushan chatted with the man for more than ten minutes about the tractor and the farm machinery station. Seeing that the man was still unhappy about the gap between now and before, he said:
"Being alive is better than anything else, uncle. Really. You are living in a nursing home and earning a salary. My dad died in the earthquake... Otherwise, why do I feel so kind to you and dare to make a joke with you? It's because you also have this familiar smell of machinery on you, just like my own elders."

After saying that, he tried to smile, then pursed his lips tightly, sniffed a few times, and turned his head away, as if he was about to give up and couldn't bear to let the other person see his red eyes.

The middle-aged man did not expect that Xie Hushan's father died in the earthquake. The dissatisfaction on his face had long disappeared with Xie Hushan's description. Instead, he patted Xie Hushan's shoulder in consolation: "Okay, kid, the difficulties are over, so live well and don't let your father worry about you over there."

"No more talking. Thank you, uncle. I'll go do some business first. I may have to come to the county town in the next two days. Then I'll bring you some homemade rice noodles from the countryside to try. I'm leaving now!" Xie Hushan wiped his face, pushed his bicycle, bowed to the man, and walked out of the nursing home.

"Why are you being so polite? Whenever you pass by, remember to come and have a drink and a chat with me!" The man waved at Xie Hushan, and after watching Xie Hushan disappear from his sight on his bicycle, he said with emotion:
"After all, he is a rural kid, very down-to-earth. He would bring something and say thank you next time just to use the toilet."

Xie Hushan turned the corner and made sure the man couldn't see him, then he slowed down and muttered, "The amount of feces in the toilet of this nursing home should be two large trucks, which is worth a trip. Add the eight trucks from the county hospital, the two trucks from Xiguan Primary School, and the one truck from the Animal Husbandry Bureau, and there will be thirteen trucks in total."

In fact, of the things he said just now, only the fact that his father died in the earthquake and his final sadness were true. As for what he said about the man smelling like machinery, he said that deliberately to get closer to him. It was not because of the smell that he guessed that the man used to drive a tractor at the agricultural machinery station. It was because when he was wandering around the toilet, he happened to meet an old man from the nursing home who also went to the toilet. He secretly asked the old man about the origins of the gatekeeper.

He had almost gone through half of the western part of Bingyang County, visiting all the government agencies, hospitals and schools. He estimated that the amount of manure he had found was about 13 trucks. He was sure that Han Hongbing's data in the east of the city could only be less than his, not more, because there was a large manure-producing site in the west of the city, the county hospital. After all, the county hospital had a large floating population and a large amount of manure. In other words, there were probably only a little over 20 trucks, and there were still nearly 10 trucks that had not been found. If he couldn't find it in the county town, he wanted to go to the city, which was nearly 50 miles away from Zhongping Village, tomorrow to see if he could scrape out 10 trucks of manure.

In fact, twenty carts of pure manure, after mixing with water, are enough to make thirty carts of so-called first-class manure for the manure pit. But for Xie Hushan, it is natural and right for him to produce thirty carts of manure for free. It is not considered a skill. He must not only not spend money, but also make some money. Only then can he show his ability in front of Ma Laowu.

Thirty truckloads of pure manure can be exchanged for at least forty truckloads. Then, thirty truckloads can be kept for home use, and the other ten truckloads can be sold to other teams to make another fifty bucks.

He was riding his bicycle, concentrating on where to find another ten carts of manure, and did not pay attention to the road under his feet. He unknowingly went west along the West Gate and out of the county town. When he came to his senses, he was surrounded by farmland, and in the fields were farmers who had returned from lunch to work in the fields.

He was just about to turn around and go back to the county town to reunite with Han Hongbing when he was suddenly stunned. He looked at the crops around him and then at the smooth road covered with ballast. He felt that something seemed to be wrong, but he didn't know where the problem was.

"This road is not built right!" After riding along the road for more than ten meters, he suddenly slammed the brakes with both hands, and thought of the source of his feeling that something was wrong. It was the road under his feet that made him feel strange!

He was so focused on where to find the other ten carts of manure that he didn't pay attention. When he came to his senses, he realized that the road in the western suburbs of the county was actually a wide, flat ballast road paved with fine gravel.

The bicycle creaked to a stop, and Xie Hushan put his feet on the ground: "This road is wide enough for cars to pass. The county town didn't bother to build such a good ballasted road, so they built it outside the city first. Is this Beijing moving to the suburbs of Bingyang?"

Thinking of this, he turned around and rode his bicycle along the ballast road towards the western suburbs. Less than three miles away, the view suddenly opened up and he saw a military camp in front of him. Although the buildings in the camp looked very simple, just rows of simple bungalows built on the leveled ground, the atmosphere was very awe-inspiring. There were many red flags fluttering in the wind in the camp, the gates were open, and on each side there was a sentry with his head held high and his chest puffed out, standing in military posture at the sentry post with a rifle in hand.

Judging from the scale of this military camp, it can't be a company-level garrison. It must be a battalion at least. Wow, a toilet for a battalion of soldiers, and he cleaned it himself!

Xie Hushan got off his bicycle from a distance, pushed it with both hands and slowly approached the entrance of the military camp. He took the initiative to speak loudly and stated his identity from a distance: "Comrade of the People's Liberation Army, I am the platoon leader of the militia from a nearby village. I am definitely not an enemy spy who is here to gather information. Can I come closer and ask you a few words?"

One of the sentries looked about the same age as Xie Hushan. He had a smile on his dark face and a mouthful of white teeth. "Comrade, is there anything wrong? From the way you walk and the vest you are wearing, I know you are not an enemy spy. Come over here."

Xie Hushan took a look at his vest. On the front was printed a large red star and the word "Award", with a circle of small characters above it: Outstanding Individual in Bayonet Combat in the Bingyang County Militia Military Exercise.

"Thank you!" Xie Hushan came over pushing his bicycle and finally stopped five meters away from the sentry: "Comrade, I am...hiss...no, well, maybe I drank too much cold water, hiss...my stomach hurts a little, comrade, can I borrow a toilet first and then talk to you about business?"

(End of this chapter)