Back to 1978

Chapter 203: Change of Person
"I'll first drive back the seven or eight men from the third team who are acting as swordsmen in the hall of the supply and marketing cooperative. Don't let them get too cold and rush in and hack me to death on the spot when they see me eating with my mouth full of oil." Xie Hushan said to everyone in the room with a smile, then walked out of the brigade headquarters and waved to the few people who were standing at the door of the supply and marketing cooperative in the distance, acting as a lookout for the guerrillas:

"Go home and have dinner. How high are you? Are you still planning to stay and have dinner with me? Hurry up and go home!"

"Are you really alright? Ask carefully. Old Han and the Ma family are not good people. They can really lose face if they say they will turn against each other!" Damazi Chen came over and asked Xie Hushan:
"How about I let them go back and I'll stay and watch. I'm not picky about food, just follow along and eat a few bites. With me here, Han Laogou and the others won't dare bully a young man like you."

"Come on, if you say these two sentences, everyone will know that the Chen family is the worst. The production team cadres collect their own money for a meal, and you still want to take advantage? If you want to take advantage, you can pay fifty cents and we will reserve a seat for you." In the team office, Han Laogou, who heard Chen Damazi talking outside the door, stood up, lifted the thick straw curtain, looked at him, and cursed with a smile:
"Eat or not?"

Han Laogou and Chen Damazi are of the same age. When he was a child, Chen Damazi was often chased and beaten by Han Laogou. The relationship between the two is a bit like that between his son Chen Daxixi and Xie Hushan, both of whom were childhood playmates. However, it seems that Chen Damazi may not be able to get a position. It is estimated that his position under Han Laogou is similar to that of Daxixi under Xie Hushan, and he can only get the position of transport captain at best.

"I'm telling you, Han Laogou, everyone in Team 3 treats Hu San'er like their eyeballs now. If you bully him, don't blame me..." Chen Damazi wanted to say a few polite words to Han Laogou to show Xie Hushan his intimidation to the team leader as a troublemaker. But before he could finish, Han Laogou turned around and shouted into the house:

"Shuangxi, please keep an eye on our brigade seal. When Mazi comes to stamp next time, don't just stamp and open his letter without asking a few questions. Check his background carefully. If it doesn't work, call Xiaofeng as well. Have a joint trial. Start from the Qing Dynasty. I'm afraid there are omissions. If his background is not good and we let him run away, it will easily cause damage to the country."

"Han Laogou, you are a real dog. You started your investigation from the Qing Dynasty. Why don't you start from the time when Zhongping was established? Do you think this can scare me?" Chen Damazi pointed at Han Laogou and cursed him without any fear.

Xie Hushan looked at Chen Damazi and asked, "Are you really not afraid?"

"Nonsense, how can I not be afraid? Ma Laowu can stop me and force me to unload the truck, and Han Laogou will definitely squeeze me like a child of the world?" Chen Damazi felt that Xie Hushan was deliberately making fun of him, and he shouldn't ask such questions.

There is no troublemaker in Zhongping who is not afraid of Han Laogou.

Han Laogou said with a smile: "Just tell me, does scaring people work for you?"

"Okay, I'm leaving now." Chen Damazi was thick-skinned and used to quarreling with others. Looking at the situation in the brigade headquarters, it didn't seem like they were really going to criticize Xie Hushan, so he joked with Han Laogou for a few words and then left.

"We still have to let everyone live a good life. You have only been the team leader for a few days, and the members have all volunteered to be your bodyguards for fear that you might be assassinated." After watching the conversation between Chen Damazi and Han Laogou, a production team leader smiled and said to Xie Hushan who had returned to the house, "Sit down and eat."

Xie Hushan sat at the dinner table. Although he was not qualified to take the main seat among the elders, he was seated next to Han Laogou and was given enough attention.

As for the food, it was mediocre compared to others. It was called a sumptuous banquet, but in fact there were no special dishes. There was a large washbasin of sauerkraut vermicelli, a large washbasin of pig's blood and tofu, and the most delicious and oily dish was a large basin of boiled hairtail fish. The rest were a few cold dishes for drinking, such as fried soybeans, broad beans, and peanuts.

The only real meat was a small plate of sliced ​​luncheon meat, which was placed in front of Xie Hushan.

Xie Hushan was young, so he stood up and poured wine for everyone. The other production team leaders looked at Han Laogou:

"Secretary Han, everyone is here. Before we start drinking, you should say a few words to prevent this kid from escaping after wiping his mouth. Let me make it clear that if he does, the meal money will be charged to the brigade account."

Han Laogou looked at everyone, then at Xie Hushan, and grinned:
"Okay, let me say a few words. Today's meal was prepared by everyone present. Of course, I didn't eat for free. I provided some food and drinks. We have meetings every day, but we only sit down to eat together once or twice a year. You treated me to a meal sincerely for this kid."

As he spoke, he looked at Xie Hushan next to him, pointed at the people at the table and said:
"You uncles, aunts, and uncles are squeezing me to the point where I can't do anything anymore. Normally, each production team should be responsible for their own business and do their own thing. As long as the Third Team doesn't violate policies and doesn't go against the state, the brigade, the commune, or even other production teams have no right to make decisions. Besides, it's the slack season anyway, so there's nothing wrong with doing a sideline business."

"But San'er, the situation your team has created is a bit too eye-catching. Giving out bicycles to every family is fine, as long as everyone doesn't compete with each other. But as for the sideline business, the members of each team are bothering the team leaders every day, asking why their team doesn't do the same as Team 3, giving the capital to the members, splitting the profits 70% and using the slack season to do sideline business. Although these people are production team leaders, they are also honest farmers with nothing on their heads. If they keep silent when asked by the members, how can they do their job?"

"So I asked you to come over for dinner and help with some ideas, that's what I meant, right? You should eat and drink well today, and then help them think of some ideas after that."

"That's right! Let's drink and eat first." The other production team leaders immediately picked up their wine bowls and agreed, inviting Xie Hushan to drink and eat.

Xie Hushan smiled at everyone, picked up the wine bowl and drank with everyone, then said with a breath of alcohol: "I was just joking, it's not a serious side job, I just want to give everyone something to look forward to and tempt them to use their brains."

"Then can you help the people in our team use their brains and make some extra money during the slack season so that we can have a happy New Year?" A production team leader said to Xie Hushan with a smile.

Xie Hushan said with some embarrassment: "Uncle, this is not that easy to do. I didn't tell these people in our team to go on a long journey because I didn't think they would go out just because I said so. As for the seafood sideline, it took me several days to come up with it. As for Daxi, Shuanzi, and Dachong, I considered them carefully before arranging them to take the lead. It was not a random decision."

"That was after I got a handle on the financial situation of the three teams and the labor force of each family, I made such a plan. To be honest, you see that they can make money, but I have to take into account accidents such as losing money and even losing lives. For example, I gave your team an idea, and everyone in your team was happy and praised me for being kind and righteous. But if this side business loses money, the production team will lose money and lose several thousand yuan, so that everyone will have no money to pay at the end of the year, it's okay to scold me, but what about the lost money? To put it bluntly, if the person doing the side business goes on a long trip and dies accidentally, what will happen? At that time, the family members will point at my nose and scold me, saying that it was all because of me that he died. What can I say?"

"It's not enough to just watch the thief eat the meat, you also have to watch the thief get beaten. Let me tell you something unpleasant. You can't learn it because your team is not as rich as the third team. To put it more bluntly, when I was studying this matter, I even put a price on the lives of the people in the team. You don't have as much money as I do, so you can't learn these crooked ways from me. What I'm doing now is actually to coax them out to see the world as much as possible and broaden their horizons. Just like Chen Damazi, if he hadn't gone to Yanjing, he might never have known in his life that people in Yanjing need to season their noodles with braised shrimp oil."

"Your brain is not taught by others, but learned by yourself. My sixth uncle worked with animals all his life, but why didn't he teach my second uncle to be a veterinarian? How did my eldest uncle become a veterinarian? It was during that year when he went to Korea that he saw and treated all kinds of animals that others could never see in their lifetime."

"I give them bicycles so that they can go out and see what else they can do besides farming to serve others and earn some money."

After Xie Hushan finished speaking, everyone quieted down. They couldn't really do as he said, giving each family a bicycle first, and then the team would take out the money and let the members do whatever they wanted, right?
Xie Hushan's Production Team 3 has overt and covert support from the Luzhu Factory, the Brick Factory and even the Steel Rolling Mill, so they don't have to worry about money. Their team doesn't have such a huge income, and the money is limited. If they spend some today, they may have a few pounds less in seeds or fertilizers next year.

"You all heard it, right? Hu San didn't hide anything and spoke the truth. As the old saying goes, don't meddle in matters that are not your business. He gave some advice and lost money. In the end, the other teams will blame him. This is originally an internal problem of your teams, and you have to find a way to solve it yourselves." Han Laogou spoke up for Xie Hushan.

This made Xie Hushan feel a little bit unbelievable. Old Man Han was not the kind of old man who cared for his juniors. He only treated his juniors like animals. This bastard must have the word "but".

Xie Hushan felt that he couldn't let Han Laogou say the word "but", so he took the initiative to say:
"Actually, it's not that there's no other way. The brigade has money. The steel mill, offset printing plant, and pipe factory have paid a lot of money to the brigade this year. So I think each team can borrow some money from the brigade, then go back and make a plan, let everyone go out and brainstorm, and study what is appropriate to do."

Seeing that everyone was looking at Han Laogou, Xie Hushan breathed a sigh of relief, picked up a piece of luncheon meat and put it into his mouth, admiring the stunned look of Han Laogou next to him.

Old man, your head is buzzing, right? I made you hold your fart in.

Han Laogou really didn't expect that when he spoke up for Xie Hushan, this guy would just turn around and push him out. Seeing everyone looking at him, he was stunned at first, then he laughed:

"If you ask me, Hu San'er's idea is also feasible."

"Huh?" This time it was Xie Hushan's turn to be stunned. Han Laogou actually thought that the idea of ​​asking the brigade to pay out the money was okay?

What went wrong?
"Tell everyone in detail what they should do if the brigade provides some funds to each production team." Han Laogou smiled and asked Xie Hushan to continue with his previous idea.

This attitude made Xie Hushan feel uneasy, it was too abnormal.

Normally, it is impossible for the brigade to give back the money to the production teams. Even if it wants to spend money, the funds must be concentrated and spent. It is impossible to spend it in a dispersed manner. Although Han Laogou is a farmer, he has been the brigade secretary for so many years, so he must understand this principle.

"The team's problem is mainly attitude. If the team has no objection, then it's okay not to divide it. We can make an overall plan. For example, if all teams want to engage in side businesses, then we can make a unified plan. There are many kinds of side businesses, such as animal husbandry, manufacturing, and transportation. We need to make an overall... plan and optimize the team's labor force... No, guys, what do you want to do? Just get straight to the point. I think something is wrong." Xie Hushan looked at everyone, looking at Han Laogou for a while, then looking at his reaction. He always felt that they didn't care about what he said at all.

Just ask it directly at the table.

Han Laogou, on the other hand, was listening with great interest. He rolled a pipe beside him and urged, "Don't mind them. Keep talking."

"I...where was I?"

“The brigade’s labor force is optimally combined.”

"Count the expertise and abilities of each member, and allocate them reasonably according to the designated sideline plan to ensure that the staff are employed effectively, and the related sidelines are both dispersed and unified to form complementary... That's it."

"Really gone?"

"It's really gone. That's what Team Three planned." Xie Hushan said honestly.

Han Laogou used a pair of fire tongs to light the fire in the stove next to him, then picked up a piece of red-hot coal and brought it to the cigarette to light it. He took a big sip and then asked everyone, "What do you think of what Xie Hushan said?"

"it is good!"

"Can anyone of you say it out?" "No, only Secretary Xiao Yang and Accountant Shuangxi can come up with a few words like this." A production team leader said.

Han Laogou then said to Xie Hushan: "I personally paid for this meal to treat everyone, under the pretext that they wanted to criticize you."

"What do you mean?" Xie Hushan half lifted his butt off his seat, ready to run away at any time if he heard something wrong.

He even felt that he had been too hasty and should have left Chen Damazi and the others outside to wait for him to smash the cup as a signal.

"Sit tight, I won't criticize you, let's talk business. The county called Secretary Yin to a meeting two days ago. After Secretary Yin came back, he summoned the secretaries of all the brigades to the commune and conveyed the spirit of the meeting. There are two points. The first is to let everyone put down their ideological burdens and not have the previous concerns about making capitalist mistakes when selling two eggs. Some of them can be relaxed appropriately. The primary task of farmers is indeed agricultural production, but the state now also encourages communes and production brigades to shift from pure agricultural production to a combination of agriculture, industry and commerce without delaying agricultural production. The original words of the state are that it is still necessary to set up commune-run factories and team-run factories."

"Has the person above been replaced?" Xie Hushan asked sharply after hearing what Han Laogou said.

For Han Laogou to express such an open-minded attitude in public, it must not be as simple as a county meeting. Han Laogou is not a rash person who changes his attitude easily. He will definitely not give up until he sees the rabbit. There must be other news.

Han Laogou nodded and said, "According to the news Secretary Yin received in the county, that leader is no longer in charge of the specific affairs of the country's agriculture, so the direction of rural grassroots development has changed. They are no longer vigorously carrying out the policy of cutting off capitalist tails and cracking down on idleness in rural areas."

Xie Hushan let out a sigh of relief. That man didn't have a very good reputation in Zhongping and even in the rural areas of Bingyang. Most of the comments about him were negative.

Sure enough, after hearing Han Laogou mention that person, a production team leader nearby sighed and said, "He was a farmer who worked in the fields for half his life. What did he say and what did he do after he left? When he came to Bingyang, he didn't come to Zhongping. If he came to Zhongping and said those things, everyone would have to..."

He hesitated and didn't say anything too extreme.

Xie Hushan understood that the farmers here had a bad impression of him mainly because of the rural development line he insisted on.

He once said that the most important thing for rural development is to ensure that the value of farmers' daily work points does not exceed 1.5 yuan. Once it exceeds this value, farmers will easily feel that they are rich and develop some inappropriate capitalist ideas.

This is why everyone is dissatisfied with him. You have this industry and that industry, and any good rural policies the country has are given priority. After you got promoted, you turned around and let farmers in other places continue to suffer in poverty. You are even afraid that farmers will become petty bourgeoisie after they have money. What kind of talk is this?

Scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, which of those three earns more than the peasants? Which of their peasants eats and clothes better than other peasants? How come now the peasants become capitalists when they earn one dollar and fifty cents a day?

According to Han Laogou, he is an excellent farmer and a qualified brigade secretary, but not a qualified leader.

No wonder Han Laogou has changed his tone now. If this leader is still in charge of specific affairs, when what Xie Hushan did in the third team is reported, not to mention asking for credit, if it really gets out, Xie Hushan will be pulled out at a criticism meeting and reprimanded, and there will be a note in his file.

"This has nothing to do with me. Whether it's a trend or not, the third team is doing this. Even if no one is replaced, the best I can do is hold a meeting in the commune to criticize and ask them to write self-criticisms. It's not illegal to let everyone do side jobs to earn money for the production team." After listening, Xie Hushan said to Han Laogou.

Han Laogou rubbed a peanut:
"The second thing is about you. Secretary Yin told me this. It was like giving me some advance notice. It has been three years since the Yaoshan earthquake. The prefectural committee has been busy with reconstruction and has not had time to come down to the grassroots for research and investigation in the past two years. Now that the reconstruction work is almost done, the prefectural committee and government leaders also want to make time to come down and take a look. It is tentatively scheduled that before the New Year, a group of leaders from the prefectural committee and the regional government will come down to the grassroots level of each district and county to take a look."

"Our county newspaper's survey candidate is Zhongping Commune and other three places, but Secretary Yin reported our brigade. After all, according to this trend, Zhongping Brigade can show its face and let the leaders see the real changes in Zhongping. The brigade-run factory and the offset printing factory participated by Hong Kong businessmen can all be visited. These are the achievements created by our brigade while ensuring agricultural production."

"This has nothing to do with me. When we inspect the steel mill, I'll ask my aunt to prepare a few dishes in the cafeteria." Xie Hushan asked with a puzzled look on his face: "When the specific reception work is done, let the fourth girl accompany her and let her show up."

"You are still young, why can't you figure it out? You forget your roots after having two days of full meals. What's the point of me raising this matter? It's not easy for the leaders of the Prefectural Party Committee to come here, do you understand? Can you let them come all the way here for nothing? Zhongping should not let him leave some policy benefits or something?" Han Laogou asked back with some disgust when he saw that Xie Hushan still had a confused look on his face as if it had nothing to do with him.

Xie Hushan suddenly realized: "You should give the leader a hand."

"I'm not trying to take advantage of you. It's just that the leaders must have some policies when they come here. They can't come for nothing. They'll give it to anyone, so why not to us? As for what policies they are trying to take advantage of, how would I know? You're the one who developed our brigade's sideline businesses, and you're familiar with them. So, you're responsible for this matter, and I won't get involved. In a word, we don't want a loan from the state, and Zhongping doesn't owe the state any debt of gratitude for the famine. This is our face. As for the rest, it depends on your ability." Han Laogou said to Xie Hushan.

Xie Hushan nodded: "If that's the case, it would be appropriate to invite Lao Yang to have this meal together. He has a lot of ideas, but unfortunately he can't come. He can't leave during this period. He has to arrange all the matters of the offset printing factory and wait for the Hong Kong businessmen and the county to come up with a suitable candidate to take over."

"Don't give any advice. What I mean is that you, as the person in charge, should just go and talk to the leaders about it. For so many years, I have been the captain of our brigade concurrently. You have come up with so many side jobs. Many people think that you are more suitable to be the brigade captain than the director of public security. In this way, it will be legitimate for you to talk about it. Otherwise, it's not the Public Security Bureau that comes here to conduct research, so why would the leaders listen to what you, the director of public security, say?" said Xie Hushan from Han Laogou's team.

Xie Hushan immediately shook his head. My goodness, this is what is waiting for me?
"No! The director of public security is good, but the job of team leader is not good. I wonder why these 18 production team leaders cooperate with you, Second Uncle, you are really not a human being. You caught an obedient animal and used it to death?"

The brigade secretary and brigade leader of a production brigade are two positions, similar to the village party secretary and village head.

The secretary is selected from a list of recommendations drawn up by the commune, and the members of the brigade party committee are elected based on the list. The so-called party committee members are actually the members of the brigade who are party members. In Zhongping, elections are held every three years.

The election of the team leader has nothing to do with the commune. It is an internal election held by all members of the production brigade, just like the production team leader, once a year. Anyone who wants to run can do so as long as they are from Zhongping. They just need to inform the commune after the election.

It’s just that Han Laogou had a high prestige before, and everyone was too lazy to consider what the difference was between the secretary and the team leader. Anyway, Han Laogou would not cheat everyone, so the election of the team leader at the annual general meeting of all members was basically a formality, and Han Laogou was allowed to take on the position concurrently.

However, this year, many members of other teams, because they were jealous of Production Team 3, did begin to voice their opinions. They suggested that Han Laogou could continue to be the secretary, but they could consider letting Xie Hushan do the job of team leader. This way, he could make some money with everyone else. If he continued to focus only on Production Team 3, everyone would have ample reasons to blame him.

Xie Hushan never thought about becoming a team secretary or team leader. In his opinion, the team leader of the third team should be the last collective position in his life. He wanted to repay the kindness of Ma Laowu, Accountant Zhao and others from the third team who took care of him and helped him. He wanted to use his own abilities to let the young and old men of the third team live a comfortable life for a few days, so he agreed to let Ma Laowu be the production team leader for a year.

Otherwise, he would have gone to Yanjing or Hong Kong to enjoy life under the name of a joint venture office.

He had everything planned out. Although he didn't know when the production team would be disbanded, he could make a rough analysis of the situation by reading the newspapers. It would probably be a matter of three to five years. During this period, he would try to make more money and take advantage of the volatility of the Hong Kong stock market during the Sino-British negotiations in two years to buy at the bottom. He would also get Hong Kong citizenship for his family so that it would be convenient for them to travel and study abroad. Then he would go to Pengcheng to set up a factory or a company and live a comfortable life.

He does not have the awareness like Han Laogou that he is willing to devote his whole life to serving the people of Zhongping like a slave.

Besides, he himself is from Zhongping, and this place is full of unruly people, each one more difficult to deal with than the other.

When the captain leads everyone to make money, the captain is the boss, but if the team loses money and the money is released at the end of the year, everyone can let the captain see who is the boss.

The subordinate relationships in this place change all the time and are more complicated than Schrödinger's cat.

"You have to do it even if you don't want to. The words you just said are very good. When the leader really comes, you can use these words to tell the leader. It's different if Xiao Yang says it to you. Xiao Yang is a county cadre, and you are a local kid in Zhongping. If you really show up in front of the leader, you can't let outsiders take advantage of you." Han Laogou said confidently:
"Also, this year the brigade got a lot of money from the steel mill. The general meeting before the New Year distributed dividends. This is your contribution. How can I, at my age, take away your credit? How should this money be spent? Should it be distributed to everyone, or should the brigade make a unified plan? The person who earns the money has the final say."

"That's your credit. It's all because of your good leadership as an old party member. You have pointed out the direction for us young fools, okay? I..." Xie Hushan didn't finish his words when he saw Han Hongbing's figure outside the window. It seemed that he had something to look for him. When he saw that he was drinking, he smiled and turned away.

Isn't it because I was exiled to Hong Kong Island that this guy is busy making use of the last bit of time to express his love to that Miss Xiao Qiao?

But it doesn't look like there's any emergency.

"I don't know about side jobs. I will just be an old dog, guarding the team, sniffing, biting, and making money. I don't care about you, but I have to smell what's going on and know what to sing. You have to listen to me."

"I won't do it even if you sing your heart out." Xie Hushan said firmly.

Han Laogou lowered his voice and whispered in Xie Hushan's ear: "Can't I deal with you? Just one word, apart from anything else, you and the second kid stole someone's dog in Hong Kong Island and got yourselves Hong Kong Island residence. I will deal with you severely. If this gets out, the half of the profit you earned from Hong Kong businessmen in the offset printing factory will be confiscated."

"Well, Second Uncle, what exactly is the captain responsible for?" Xie Hushan asked loudly while holding up the wine bowl:

"I've never been in this position before, and I'm afraid I'll delay everyone. Since everyone trusts me, I can't be ungrateful. We'll have to hold a general meeting to see the election results. I agree that the vote count will determine the outcome of the general meeting."

Then he lowered his voice and said to Han Laogou:

"Just tell me who told you."

Old Dog Han chuckled: "Just be happy in private. If it weren't for Secretary Yang and Deputy Director Cheng to clean up your mess, you would have been punished a long time ago. You are just eating dry food for the Overseas Chinese Federation."

(End of this chapter)