Back to 1978

Chapter 72 All Gathered
"You're just letting him jump around like this, why don't we go down and deal with him?" Zhang Cheng saw Xie Hushan provoking him and Ge Baosheng, and immediately said to Ge Baosheng:

"He's rebelling. We taught him how to beat people, and now he's old, he still lets this brat show off in front of us?"

Ge Baosheng shook his head and smiled calmly: "I'm not going. If you don't agree, go and beat him yourself. My leg injury hasn't healed yet."

"Did you get in trouble when you went to the county to help the commune get farm machinery during the autumn harvest?" After hearing this, Zhang Cheng's smile faded a lot and he asked.

The county supports Zhongping Commune with agricultural machinery for the autumn harvest in high-yield areas, and the commune needs to send people to collect them.

Zhongping Brigade is nearly fifty miles away from the county seat, passing through four communes and more than a dozen brigades along the way. It takes real skills to take the agricultural machinery back to one's own commune without being intercepted by other communes.

Those were all on other people's land. If you didn't handle the problem well, not only would the people who were responsible for the machines beat you up, but the machines would also have to be seized to work for other commune members.

Ge Baosheng patted his left leg gently and nodded:
"I'll hold on for another two years, until Hu San'er and his gang are two years older, and they know how to control their fighting. Then I'll choose someone from among them to take over this damn job of mine. You're right, after the age of thirty, no matter how powerful you are, you can't scare anyone. So there's no need for me to do anything. Once I sign up, no one dares to say a word."

"Who did it? I'll use my connections to deal with him and vent your anger for you?" Zhang Cheng asked from the side.

Ge Baosheng smiled and said, "I broke both of your wrists. What's the point of cleaning them up? They're more seriously injured than me. They may not be fully healed until next spring."

"Then I can't just watch Hu Saner, this brat, yell at us!" Zhang Cheng heard that Ge Baosheng didn't suffer any loss, and stood up loudly, took off his coat and handed it to Ge Baosheng:
"Give me your Wusi, I need to teach him a lesson, to let him know how many eyes the Horse King has."

Ge Baosheng opened his holster and handed his service pistol to Zhang Cheng. Zhang Cheng also took out his Type 54 rifle from his waist, took out the bullets and put them away. Then he raised both guns with both hands and looked at Xie Hushan:
"You bastard, you dare to challenge the master! Come on! Don't try to capture the enemy and fight. I want to test your fighting speed and see if your hands are tired. If you beat me, I will reward you with five bullets, so that you can have fun firing five shots with the pistol."

When he heard that there would be bullets if he won, Xie Hushan nodded immediately. Although he had practiced the Type 54 disassembly and assembly gun many times, he had never fired a pistol because he was not of high enough rank. He had to be at least a company commander of an armed militia to get pistol bullets.

Usually when he played with the pistol, Lao Feng, Lao Zhang and Ge Baosheng would take out the bullets and throw the gun to him to play with for a while. In the entire Zhongping Commune, only these three people were qualified to carry pistols.

So Xie Hushan was unusually excited: "Keep your word, Minister. You can't just deny your defeat and then come back to talk about disciplinary regulations and level requirements!"

"Am I the kind of person who won't admit defeat? Dexing, do you think I'm you? You treat five bullets like they're nothing!" Old Zhang stared at Xie Hushan in dissatisfaction and said:
"I will definitely keep my word!"

The militiamen ran to the commune and carried out a table, which they placed in front of the two men. Zhang Cheng, smoking a cigarette, disassembled the parts of the two guns and placed them at both ends of the table, then looked at Xie Hushan:

"Let you choose your side first."

Xie Hushan walked to the right side of the table and stood still, with his hands on the table. Zhang Cheng walked to the left side, without raising his hands, and looked at Ge Baosheng who was standing in the middle as the referee. Ge Baosheng looked at the two of them, asked the other onlookers to step aside, and then said:

"I'll count to three, one."

"two."

Then Ge Baosheng deliberately stopped and lit another cigarette with his cigarette case. Xie Hushan almost ran out of the game. He was so angry that he yelled at Ge Baosheng who was lighting the cigarette: "Company commander, which side are you on?"

As soon as he cursed, Ge Baosheng immediately said, "Three."

As soon as these three words came out, Xie Hushan picked up the gun parts with both hands and quickly began to assemble them.

Zhang Cheng on the opposite side was not in a hurry at all. He first brought the cigarette butt in his hand to his mouth and took a deep puff. Then he threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stepped on it to put it out. Then he put his hands on the table and started to assemble.

As soon as Zhang Cheng took action, Xie Hushan knew that something bad was going to happen. The old guy was so fast that he was about to catch up with him in the blink of an eye. Xie Hushan immediately coughed hard!
Han Hongbing, who was standing next to him, glanced into the distance and suddenly shouted in surprise, "Secretary Yin, why are you here?"

All the militiamen who were watching the excitement turned around to look in the direction of the sound, except Ge Baosheng. Zhang Cheng didn't even raise his head, staring at the table. Ge Baosheng even cursed Xie Hushan in disgust:
"Der, this is the trick I used when I played snatch with Lao Zhang. I was in charge of the fight and you were in charge of the shouting. Now you are in charge of the fight and Han Lao Er is in charge of the shouting. You don't even change the words. Do you think Lao Zhang can be fooled?"

Before he finished his curse, Lao Zhang had already finished his gun and threw it on the table. Xie Hushan finished it a few seconds later than him. He smacked his lips with some regret and spoke in a deliberately sarcastic tone:
"There's that master, right? He doesn't act like a master at all. With so many people watching, you can't say he doesn't know how to save face for his apprentice. I don't know if he's sincere or intentional..."

"You didn't find a wife, but you took it out on your comrades. What kind of person are you?" Lao Zhang reached out and rubbed Xie Hushan's head, then took out five bullets from his pocket and placed them on the table:

"Go ahead, load it up. If there's anything bothering you, just fire a few shots at the target over there."

"Thank you, Master." Xie Hushan was afraid that Lao Zhang would go back on his word, so he quickly loaded the bullet into the pistol, walked away a few steps, aimed at the target twenty meters away, and fired five shots in a row while holding the gun with both hands.

Ge Baosheng didn't even need to ask anyone to look at the target. He took a few glances and reported the target directly:

"Two shots missed the target, one seven, two sixes. Considering it's your first time handling a pistol, it's not bad."

"This thing's accuracy is not good, not even as good as my uncle's." After Xie Hushan finished shooting, he looked at the Type 54 in his hand and said dissatisfiedly.

Lao Shu is the nickname of the Type 38 rifle he often carries. It was imitated by the Fengtian Arsenal. When it was produced, Xie Hushan’s second uncle was only four years old, so he named the gun "Lao Shu".

Zhang Cheng and Ge Baosheng were bragging to a group of young militiamen about their pistol shooting achievements when Han Hongbing suddenly spoke up again: "Secretary Yin!"

"Han Laoer, did you lend your brain to your Dahei or..." Before Ge Baosheng could finish his words, Zhang Cheng kicked him lightly and motioned him to look over.

The commune secretary Yin Qianfeng, the brigade secretary Han Laogou and 19 production team leaders were seen standing on the road in the distance, all looking in their direction. It was obvious that they had been attracted by the gunshots after the meeting and were walking over here to take a look.

"This is the result of the negotiation. Secretary Han has a smile on his face, while Secretary Yin looks like he has been bullied by Secretary Han." Ge Baosheng glanced at the people over there and spoke to Zhang Cheng.

Zhang Cheng nodded. The matter of the commune's bumper grain harvest had nothing to do with them, so they had no sense of participation in the matter and were just bystanders.

Sure enough, Han Laogou in the distance waved to the militiamen and shouted:

"Don't mess with Minister Zhang anymore. Go back to your respective teams and gather together. Our production teams need to hold a meeting right away!"

Zhang Cheng and Ge Baosheng put away their guns and urged their militiamen to disperse and return to their teams as if they were driving ducks. The issue of the grain harvest must have been discussed, and they were going to organize the teams to pay the public grain. These militiamen were the main force in paying the public grain and transporting the grain.

Xie Hushan, Han Hongbing and others walked towards the direction of Team 3. Han Hongbing looked at Xie Hushan's face:

"Commander Xie, what kind of girl did Sixth Aunt pick for you that made you feel so frustrated? What's going on? Is she Zhu Bajie's second aunt?"

"I'm not doing this because of the girl. She's a nice girl. I'm doing this because I have no dating experience and no emotional foundation. This is wasting her time... Forget it. You won't understand even if I tell you." Xie Hushan moved his neck and said depressedly as he walked.

Han Hongbing said disdainfully:
"What's there that I don't understand? I just don't want to marry this girl, but I can't beat Sixth Grandma. I don't dare to beat Sixth Grandma to death, but I can beat a few of us to death, right?"

"You are asking unnecessary questions. It must be right." Daxi said beside him:

"Commander Xie, when has he not been bullied at home, and is he taking it out on his revolutionary comrades or the unfortunate people from other villages?"

(End of this chapter)