Back to 1978

Chapter 4: There is an old man named Han in Zhongping
Late at night, the movie had already ended. The 53-year-old revolutionary Han Chengsong, the branch secretary of the Zhongping Village Production Brigade, opened his sweatshirt to reveal his purple-red chest. He sat on a stool in the team headquarters, stuffing tobacco into his pipe while cursing in anger:

"It's so damn embarrassing! The projectionist came running over with his equipment to show the movie to our team. In order to cater to everyone's desire to watch the movie early, he didn't even have time to eat and just drank a few sips of water. Our team gave him two boxes of cigarettes and told everyone to watch one more show. He immediately said he would help us add one more show. What a sincere person! But what happened? When he lowered his head to change the film, when he looked up again, the box of cigarettes was gone!"

"Although the cigarettes are not worth much, this matter is very infuriating! What's the most infuriating thing? At that time, the militia of the third production team, Han Chenggui's second son was carrying a gun and helping the projectionist to change the film. How dare he steal things under the noses of the militia? This is simply lawless!"

Yang Shuangxi, the accountant of the brigade, was a man who was used to living frugally. He was reluctant to turn on the light and waste electricity, so he lit an oil lamp on the table. He used a thin bamboo strip to fan the flame of the lamp and used the bright light to calculate the accounts on the abacus. After he finished fiddling with the beads on the abacus, he wrote down the calculated figures in the notebook, then carefully screwed the cap on his pen and put it away, smiling and saying:

"It's possible that there were too many people and it fell to the ground. It's been a long time since anything was lost in our brigade. I think even if someone stole it, it was probably a young man from another village who came to watch the movie. The young people in our brigade are not capable of doing such a thing."

Han Chengsong lit up his pipe and took two puffs, calming himself down. Hearing that the accounting analysis was not something that someone from his team would do, he nodded in agreement:
"I don't think so either. The public security in our brigade is really good. Last time I went to the commune for a meeting, the public security commissioner Lao Feng praised our brigade, saying that the young members of our brigade are helpful and brave enough to fight against illegal acts. He especially mentioned the young militia platoon leader Hu San of the third brigade and his teammates. When they met a thief who stole the money from the egg sales of an old lady at the market, they chased him out and helped catch the thief and recovered the money. It's worth it..."

"Second uncle, Uncle Shuangxi." When Han Chengsong was praising Xie Hushan, footsteps were heard outside. Xie Hushan walked in with a smile on his face and greeted the two of them.

"Speaking of the devil, he appears. The secretary and I had just praised you for a few words, and you popped up? Were you hiding outside to eavesdrop on the thieves?" Yang Shuangxi asked with a smile when he saw Xie Hushan walking in from outside with a gun on his back.

Han Chengsong's wrinkled face also showed some smile lines: "Hu San'er, why haven't you gone back to rest yet? Didn't your team arrange any work for you tomorrow?"

"The show just ended. I went to the threshing ground for another walk after the show to see if there were any children who hadn't gone home yet, or if any benches had been left behind. I have nothing to do after walking around, so I came to the brigade headquarters to have a drink of water." While speaking, Xie Hushan put his gun against the wall, walked to a water jar in the corner of the room, lifted the lid, picked up the ladle, scooped half a ladle and drank it down.

"Hey, hey, hey, drink slowly. No one is competing with you for the water. If you drink too fast, you'll upset your stomach!" Yang Shuangxi said when he saw Xie Hushan drinking water in big gulps.

After finishing the water, Xie Hushan wiped his mouth, pulled over a stool and placed it opposite Han Chengsong. He took out a Beidaihe from his pocket and handed it to Han Chengsong, smiling: "Second uncle, change one, change one."

"Oh, a pipe? Where did you get it?" Han Chengsong took the Beidaihe cigarette with a filter and took a look at it. He couldn't bear to smoke it, so he put it on his ear and continued to puff on it.

"Hongbing specially helped me coordinate. Don't you know your nephew's ability? His coordination ability is definitely among the best." Xie Hushan deliberately put some emphasis on the word "coordination" with a sly smile.

The Han family is a big family in Zhongping Village. According to seniority, Han Hongbing is Han Chengsong's cousin in the Han family. So Xie Hushan starts from his childhood friend Han Hongbing and calls Han Chengsong "Second Uncle".

Han Chengsong didn't realize Xie Hushan was teasing him. Seeing the other person sitting opposite him, he took his pipe away from his mouth and asked, "What's up?"

"Yes, there is something." Xie Hushan did not beat around the bush in front of Old Man Han, and directly told Han Hongbing exactly what he had heard. He asked Han Chengsong, "Second Uncle, you said that the militiamen who ranked second in the competition can go, but I ranked first in the competition, so why didn't I receive the notice?"

After listening to this, Han Chengsong's face was confused at first, then he suddenly realized, and finally a layer of anger emerged, and his voice became much louder: "The militia in second place has gone, and you are in first place. No one notified you? You even rebelled against them? Don't ask, they must have used the back door to squeeze you out. Wait until tomorrow, I will go to the commune to find the leader and ask what's going on! What's the matter? Does the county think that our Zhongping Brigade is easy to bully? It's too blatant! The commune doesn't care, I will go to the county commune to find the leader! We don't want what is not ours, but what belongs to us men, not a little less!" He is an old revolutionary. During the Anti-Japanese War, he was a member of the Children's League and helped the guerrillas to keep watch and deliver messages. Later, he joined the Farmers' Association and the Party. After liberation, he became the captain of the 9th Production Team of the Zhongping Village Production Brigade. Until the death of the old and respected secretary of the village, he was elected to the position and served as the secretary of the production brigade for more than ten years.

Over the years, he has been supported by everyone to be the brigade secretary because of his fairness and integrity. His daughter was attracted by the fertile land in Zhongping Village. After marrying to another village, she felt that the land in her husband's village was too thin and the grain harvest in the production team was not good. She wanted to move back with her husband and settle down again in the name of marrying into the family. She joined the Zhongping Village Production Brigade, but was scolded by old man Han in front of the entire production brigade. From then on, his daughter was too embarrassed to set foot in Zhongping Village again and completely cut off contact with the family.

At first, the agricultural machinery drivers of the agricultural machinery station took advantage of the need of each production team to rely on machinery for sowing and harvesting, and took bribes when helping the production teams with sowing and sowing. They would not start the machines unless they were given enough benefits. When they arrived in Zhongping Village, they were all subdued by Mr. Han. If they were not given benefits and the machines were not started, then Zhongping Village would not use machinery, and would rely on livestock and manpower to complete the sowing and harvesting of the year. Still, the grain output ranked high in the city. It was not until the labor production commendation meeting of that year was held and he was asked to speak at the meeting that he made his big move. He directly pointed out the problem of corruption in the agricultural machinery station in front of the county and city leaders, and finally added: This year, all the people in their village would not thank the county, because the agricultural machinery in the county did not provide any help to Zhongping Village.

The masses don't thank the county? This is unacceptable. Just because of this sentence, the secretary and the mayor took turns to find Mr. Han to understand the situation. After understanding, the deputy county magistrate in charge of agriculture was transferred the next day. Then the entire Bingyang County began to investigate all the township and commune agricultural machinery stations in the jurisdiction, from station chiefs to maintenance personnel. Several serious cases were directly sent to prison. The son of a station chief had just been selected to serve in the army, but because his father accepted bribes, he was sent back by the army. The child jumped into the river and his wife went crazy. The station chief who got the news found an opportunity to drink brine while working in prison.

After that, no one dared to take bribes at the county’s agricultural machinery stations, and they developed the good habit of bringing their own dry food wherever they worked.

He said at the general meeting of all members of the brigade that since the county trusted him and the members trusted him, and handed over Zhongping Village to him to guard, it was a trust in him. Every member, every animal, and even every blade of grass and tree in this village was more valuable than his life. If anyone dared to have any bad ideas about Zhongping Village, he would be the first to rush up and show his teeth to the other party.

Because of this, he got the nickname Han Laogou, and many people made a rhyme about him: There is a Han Laogou in Zhongping, even the county magistrate has to avoid him.

Now someone has used the back door to squeeze out the opportunity for his own team members to go on business trips and earn subsidies. How can this be tolerated? Do they think that he is too old and can't bite people with bad teeth? Thinking of this, Han Chengsong couldn't help but slam the table.

Seeing Han Chengsong was trying to help him understand the situation, Xie Hushan's eyes lit up, and he stood up and said with gratitude: "Thank you, Uncle, you will be my dear Uncle from now on. The reason why our brigade is rated as the model production brigade of the county every year is because we have upright and tough old revolutionaries like you who are willing to help the members solve their problems."

Yang Shuangxi had been settling accounts while Xie Hushan and Han Chengsong were chatting. When old man Han slammed the table and wanted to go to the commune to ask the leader, Yang Shuangxi smiled and interrupted, "Secretary, calm down. I just heard what you two said. Actually, Hu Saner heard it wrong. This matter has nothing to do with backdoor dealings."

"The second place took the job of the first place. Isn't this a backdoor job?" Han Chengsong knocked the ash from his pipe with the sole of his shoe and said dissatisfiedly, "Even if you go to the end of the world, the first place is still ahead of the second place!"

"I actually know about this. Last winter, during the slack season, the county organized accountants from all production teams to come to the city for a three-day meeting and training. I heard the accountant from the Baijiaying team talk about this. This has nothing to do with the ranking of the militia in the martial arts competition. Their militia comrades can take the train on business trips because their team and the commune have done well in their sideline businesses. The fireworks from the Baijiaying Fireworks Factory have been displayed on Tiananmen Square and participated in the National Day ceremony. People from other places called the county's import and export trading companies and specifically asked to buy the products of the fireworks factory. The Baijiaying Fireworks Factory sent people and trucks to deliver the goods to earn subsidies. Of course, they chose people from their own village. Even if Hu Saner won the first place in the national militia competition, as long as he was not from Baijiaying, they would not send him."

"Ah~ I understand. The sideline business started by the commune has nothing to do with the county. If there is any benefit, it is indeed necessary to take care of the people in their own team. We do the same thing. There is nothing wrong with it." Han Chengsong nodded in understanding after listening to Yang Shuangxi, and then looked at Xie Hushan: "Hu Saner, listen to what your uncle Shuangxi said, this has nothing to do with the place you get in the competition. I said that you can't do it this way even if you use the back door. It's too blatant."

After hearing this, Xie Hushan was stunned. It had nothing to do with the militia's ranking. That guy went to Hong Kong Island because of the export of sideline products from his commune and brigade? Thinking of this, he continued to ask unwillingly:

"Second uncle, are there any sideline products from our commune or our brigade that need to be delivered to Hong Kong Island, Guangzhou or other provinces? Can you see if you can get me a quota for escorting them?"

(End of this chapter)