Back to 1978

Chapter 218: Treat

Not long after the Spring Festival, Yang Liming was busy organizing people to expand the Zhongping Offset Printing Factory. He also used his connections with the County Federation of Overseas Chinese to change the name of the Zhongping Offset Printing Factory to the Zhongping Light Industry Processing Factory.

The offset printing factory is now a favorite in the eyes of county leaders, and Yang Liming is now a good comrade in the eyes of county leaders.

Although the calendars were only put into production last fall, when production stopped before the Spring Festival and statistics were taken, a total of 140,000 copies were sold thanks to Cheng Yunfei's connections.

This number not only shocked the entire brigade, but even the county was shocked.

Even if the cost control is not done well in the early stage, one can still earn three yuan from a calendar, and 140,000 calendars will make 420,000 yuan.

Even if half of it was taken away by the Hong Kong businessmen who were brought in by Xie Hushan, the Zhongping Brigade would still have 210,000 left.

Of course, if it was just because of the increase in county tax revenue, the offset printing factory and Yang Liming would be unlikely to receive praise from county leaders. It was mainly because of the customers that Cheng Yunfei introduced to the offset printing factory that excited the county leaders.

Let me put it this way, when the offset printing factory delivers goods to customers, the county arranges leaders to go with the offset printing factory.

The offset printing factory received an order from the Ministry of Health and produced a batch of calendars and printed wall hangings. The wall hangings were printed with promotional posters containing medical and health knowledge, and were mainly used to be posted in various communities, street clinics, etc. in Yanjing.

The calendars were distributed as welfare to comrades working in hospitals and sanatoriums such as Yanjing Jingji under the leadership of the Ministry of Health and its directly affiliated ministries.

Xie Hushan didn't know how the county leaders flattered the Ministry of Health, but he heard that the medical system of Bingyang County had benefited a lot.

Xie Hushan wanted to give Cheng Yunfei a share of the profits, but this guy was stubborn and refused to take it. Xie Hushan had no choice but to give him something in return. He asked his own Dadi Printing Company in Hong Kong to help publish the textbook "Boxing" for Cheng Yunfei's master, and then purchased it back in the name of the offset printing factory. Cheng Yunfei took the books to Yanjing and gave them to people everywhere.

Just like that, Han Laogou and others from the Zhongping Brigade felt sorry for Cheng Yunfei, thinking that he did not ask for any benefits. Finally, Han Laogou asked Yang Liming to come forward and take out 20,000 yuan on behalf of the factory, which was allocated to the boxing team of the Zhongping Offset Printing Factory as special sports funds. Only then did they feel relieved.

Even so, Han Laogou looked at the huge sum of money left in the account and tossed and turned for several days without sleeping well, because as the brigade secretary, he didn't know how to tell everyone, let alone how to spend it.

The wealth that Zhongping had accumulated from decades of farming was not even a fraction of what he had earned from two years of side jobs.

How can he tell everyone that it was a mistake for the country to let farmers focus on farming in the past?

But fortunately, we have Xie Hushan, a guy who can not only earn money but also dares to spend it.

"In the past, Shuangxi and I sometimes had meetings late and didn't have time to eat. The meetings ended at 11 or 12 o'clock in the evening. We thought about cooking in the brigade kitchen and eating. Even then, we had to keep a clear account of how much food we ate and deduct it from our share. Otherwise, if other members saw it, they would point fingers at us and scold the brigade cadres for eating late-night grass and using public grain to enrich themselves." At around 7 o'clock in the evening, Han Laogou sat at his desk in the brigade headquarters, looking at the sumptuous food and wine on the table, and said with a sigh:
"If I had dared to eat like you, my house would have been ransacked."

The food on the table was considered too sumptuous for Zhongping. There were two bottles of Fenjiu, four cold dishes with both meat and vegetables, and two boxes of Mudan cigarettes.

Not to mention that the kitchen was still buzzing with the sound of frying and preparing hot dishes.

The commune secretary Yin Qianfeng sat in the main seat, picked up the cigarette box on the table, opened it, lit one, held it in his hand and said:

"Searched? All must be smashed. The masses have no food to eat, how dare the cadres eat grass at night? Former commune secretary Lao Li, on his birthday, his wife brought some noodles from home and cooked a bowl of noodles for him in the commune canteen. Just like that, the masses smashed the pot in the commune canteen. Who told you to eat noodles? Everyone couldn't afford white flour, how dare you eat it?"

"What about this?" Xie Hushan said curiously, "I've been enjoying a good meal at the team headquarters for several days, and I haven't seen anyone want to destroy my business."

As the three of them sat at the table and talked, members who came to the team headquarters to pick up mail or passed by to drink water would occasionally take a look at the food on the table, smile and greet the three of them:

"Secretary Yin, Secretary Han, Captain Xie, please eat more and drink more. Can I add some more dishes for you?"

"Sit down and eat something?" Han Laogou greeted the other party with a smile, and the other party would wave his hand and say, "No, the child is saving a seat for me, let's go watch a movie."

Yin Qianfeng looked at the members who were walking out and said with emotion, "What a good group of people! Even if you beat Lao Li to death, he would never believe that the man who smashed his pot in the first place actually has a day to sit in the brigade headquarters and eat meat and drink wine."

"Stop talking about this." Han Laogou glanced at Yin Qianfeng and said, "It's a different matter. The young and old men in Zhongping are fighting with him for public grain, but he is still in the mood to celebrate his birthday and eat noodles. Who else should I hit if not him?"

If you want to know why this group of unruly people in Zhongping turn a blind eye to the behavior of the brigade cadres eating grass at night, it is of course because they get a share of the benefits.

On the day of the Spring Festival, Zhongping had more than 600 households, with nearly 3,000 people, and each household, regardless of the number of people in the household, received a dividend of 200 yuan.

This is equivalent to the brigade giving each household an extra annual payout of work points for a male laborer.

So now, let alone when Xie Hushan drinks some wine while on duty at the brigade headquarters at night, even when he goes to a member's home for dinner, each family is willing to cook a few delicious dishes for him.

No matter how many good things you say, it is not as real as giving money.

What's more, Xie Hushan used his connections on the railway to get a second-hand movie projector and a dozen film copies from the Railway Workers' Club, and set them up in the brigade's meeting hall, turning it into a cinema, showing movies on time at 7 o'clock every evening, two movies a night, one old Anti-Japanese War movie and the other an old foreign movie.

As for the reason for opening a cinema, this guy also made a high-sounding statement, mainly to respond to the country's call to control the population, so that everyone would not go to bed after dinner and busy themselves with having children. With food at home and money in pockets, people could go to the movies when they went out, so they didn't bother to watch what Xie Hushan ate when he was on duty. Besides, as long as he was paid, he could eat anything.

"Old Yang, that bastard, hasn't even been promoted yet, but he's already putting on airs?" Xie Hushan looked at the cold dishes on the table, picked up the wine bottle and pretended to unscrew the cap to pour the wine, and said to Yin Qianfeng and Han Laogou with a smile:

"Secretary Yin, Uncle Er, we have to deal with this kid. Otherwise, what will we do if he gets too arrogant? Now he dares to drink with you and be late. Tomorrow he will dare to ride on your neck and shit."

As they were talking, Yang Limin came in from outside, untied his scarf, took off his gloves, and warmed them by the fire. He deliberately criticized in a serious tone:
"The biggest problem with Comrade Xie Hushan is that he likes to criticize other comrades behind their backs. This is not good."

“You see, things are really different when you get promoted. You start speaking with an accent.” Xie Hushan said, holding a cigarette in his mouth and pouring wine into several people’s glasses.

The offset printing factory made a lot of money before the New Year, and just two days after Yang Liming returned to work after the Spring Festival, he received a notice from the organization asking him to hand over his work and go to the Provincial Youth League School for further studies in June.

Although Xie Hushan and Han Laogou were only brigade cadres and not official officials, and did not understand officialdom, the commune secretary Yin immediately asked Lao Yang to treat them to a meal, because Yang Liming was going to be promoted.

He also said that, judging by convention, after completing his further studies at the Provincial Youth League School, Comrade Yang Liming's position would inevitably be adjusted. He would either be transferred back to work in the county, or become the head of a small commune.

"Why don't you have any sense of crisis, Secretary Yin? He might just get you removed and become the secretary of Zhongping Commune himself." After Xie Hushan waited for Yang Liming to sit next to him, he handed him a glass of wine and said to Yin Qianfeng with a smile.

Yin Qianfeng put a mouthful of food into his mouth and said, "Hu San'er, this is a manifestation of your political immaturity. How could the organization do such a thing? If the organization wants Xiao Yang to take over my job, they must have informed me in advance so that I can be mentally prepared, right? It's impossible that Zhongping is so good, and I have no credit and no one to say hello, and then I will be fired? You think the organization is a makeshift team of your brigade, and who will be the deputy team leader today and who will be the women's director tomorrow is all a matter of impulse."

"Second Uncle, Secretary Yin has become so arrogant that he came to our village and said that our brigade organization is a makeshift team. This is a disease and must be treated. Should we wait until the time comes for the public grain issue before our brigade settles the account with him?" Xie Hushan put a glass of wine on the empty seat next to Yin Qianfeng and said to Han Laogou.

Han Laogou rubbed dried peanuts in his hands and put one in his mouth: "Do I need to teach you this? You are the team leader now, in charge of the team's work. You have to wait until the public grain is settled. The people of Zhongping don't have that patience. In the spring, the commune must organize all the teams to pay the unified funds. If, I mean if, you say that Zhongping Team is short of money in the spring and can't pay the unified funds, and it delays for three months or half a year, how many heart medicines will Secretary Yin have to take?"

"I say, your brigade invited the leaders to dinner, just to scare them first, for fear that they would eat a few more bites of food, right?" Yin Qianfeng was so angry that his hand holding the cigarette was shaking, "They didn't invite me to dinner sincerely, they just wanted to piss me off to death after the New Year so that your Zhongping Brigade can have double happiness. You can bring up whatever bothers me!"

In this era, in addition to the funds allocated by the superior leaders, a large part of the commune's finances needed to be coordinated between the commune and the production brigades under its jurisdiction. It was very difficult to get some money from the brigades. Usually, they were all good people and good cadres, but when it came to collecting money, they all turned out to be troublesome people.

Every year when collecting money, the people had to explain to these ancestors earnestly that the commune did not collect money to put it in its own pocket. Money was needed for the agricultural machinery stations and agricultural technology stations under the commune's jurisdiction to add equipment, to maintain and repair various irrigation wells, to build some basic roads, to prevent floods and droughts, and everything else. The money was absolutely taken from the people and used for the people.

But every year these unruly people play dumb, delaying as much as possible, and shouting at the top of their lungs that the country has money and asking the country to pay, saying that they have no money.

It is useless to complain to your superiors, because the county will not give you a penny more, nor will it help the commune to work with the masses. Instead, it will only stand with the masses to criticize the commune: your commune cannot collect the taxes because your commune leaders are incompetent and have not done a good job in mass work.

Therefore, Yin Qianfeng has two major frustrating things every year. One is the overall planning of funds, and the other is paying public grain. Each thing makes him feel frustrated for about half a year.

"Look, Secretary Yin is still anxious. Let me tell you, Secretary Yin, I have an idea that can get everyone to actively pay the unified funds." Xie Hushan saw Yin Qianfeng's angry look and spoke flatteringly.

"Wait a minute, where is your master?" Yin Qianfeng looked at everyone at the table vigilantly and suddenly asked Xie Hushan.

Normally, when this bastard invites people to dinner, his master Zhang Cheng will definitely be invited, no matter if it's for any reason or not. But today, Old Zhang was not there. Old Zhang and Yin Qianfeng are on the same side, so if there was any plan, they could have warned him. But now, Yang Liming and Han Laogou, the old and the young, are at the table, both in cahoots with that bastard Xie Hushan. He is afraid that if he is not careful, he will be fooled by these two and be buried by Xie Hushan.

"Here, here, the hot dishes are here. The cooking is just like this. Just make do with them. There are only two hot dishes." After hearing what Yin Qianfeng said, Zhang Cheng put on an apron and came over from the kitchen with two plates of hot dishes, then sat down next to Yin Qianfeng.

"My goodness, who is so arrogant? You are a team leader, but you ask your master to cook and serve you at the dinner?" Yin Qianfeng said to Xie Hushan in shock when he saw Zhang Cheng bringing out the dishes.

Zhang Cheng picked up the chopsticks and tasted the dish he cooked, then nodded with satisfaction:
"It tastes okay. I have to pat him, right? Captain Xie, you're really good. When he went home to call me to dinner, he actually threatened his wife, saying that if I don't come to dinner, the production team will give me money next year. Other families will get 200 yuan, but my family will get 500 yuan."

"Can someone translate this for me? Is this fucking a bluff? Isn't this blatant favoritism?" Yin Qianfeng looked at Zhang Cheng, wondering if the other party had misunderstood the word bluff.

Zhang Cheng picked up a cigarette and lit it. "Bullshit. He said he would give my family 500 yuan, and then he would use a loud speaker to announce that I had threatened him to do so by using my status as a cadre, and incite the masses. Then the angry people in Zhongping would get rid of me."

"This is indeed a very wicked thing that this kid could do, but your wife's temper is such that she can't be scared by Hu Saner." Yin Qianfeng nodded in understanding.

"After listening to him, my wife said to him, Hu Saner, don't wait until next year. If the brigade gives Master's Wife an additional 500 yuan this year, Master's Wife is willing to take the initiative to broadcast on the loudspeaker and lead everyone to get rid of me, and then use the money to find a new master." Zhang Cheng said with a smile:

"How about I chase him all the way with my belt in hand and beat him up at the team headquarters?"

Yin Qianfeng picked up the wine glass and invited everyone to take a sip together: "Okay, another year, Zhongping Brigade is doing well, the commune has benefited a lot from you, Lao Zhang has also finished cooking, Hu Saner, tell me, what did you mean just now, let's continue with the matter of paying the unified planning fund."

Xie Hushan took a sip of wine, looked around at everyone and said:

"I think the main reason is that Zhongping didn't make much money last year, so everyone has a headache when they hear about paying money. If we can make more this year, the pooling funds won't be a problem. I want Secretary Yin to help our team think about whether we can go to the Canton Fair?"

(End of this chapter)