Exciting 1979!

Chapter 66: Fire (Please give me a monthly ticket, please read it!)
As they got closer, Wei Ming and Wei Hong could already see the fire.

At this time, an old man wearing a liberation cap and a blue jacket ran over carrying a bucket.

"Old Party Secretary!"

"Xiao Ming, Xiao Hong!" The old Party Secretary Zhou Xingbang glanced at the motorcycle in surprise and said hurriedly, "Hurry up, your house is on fire!"

When they arrived, the fire was still burning and the yard was full of villagers who came to help, but everyone had given up.

First of all, the fire is burning very fiercely, and it is difficult to put it out with just two buckets of water. There is a severe drought in Hengzhou this year, so it is better to save water.

Secondly, the location of the fire is not too important, and there are no other houses or flammable materials around. As long as fire isolation is done well, it can be over after it burns.

Wei Ming recalled that it seemed to be a shack made of reed mats, right next to the chicken coop.

Because Lao Wei sometimes brought the donkeys and mules home to take care of them overnight, he built a shack like this, which can't even be called a house.

At this time, Wei Jiefang was looking at the burning shack with a dusty face. When he saw Wei Ming pushing a motorcycle into the yard, he immediately showed his two rows of white teeth.

"Xiao Ming, you're back! Oh, old Party Secretary, you're here too."

When the villagers who came to help heard this, they all turned their heads to look.

"Yeah, Dad, Mom." Wei Ming called out affectionately, especially to his mother.

Although they were nominally separated for only one month, in fact it had been five years. He hadn't seen Xu Shufen, who was less than 40 years old, for decades.

Old Wei was about to act out the fatherly and filial piety act when the old Party secretary Zhou Xingbang asked sternly, "Jiefang, what's going on? You've alarmed half the village."

Wei Jiefang sighed and picked up a drooping chicken from the ground. "Shufen and I were cooking when we heard a chicken crow. I immediately pulled out a fire stick and saw a weasel carrying a chicken into the shed. I scared it and the weasel ran away. I also got the chicken back, but the fire stick fell into the shed with sparks on it and it started to burn. Oh!"

So that's how it is. Wei Ming thought that Old Wei was going to set off beacons to trick the princes.

The old branch secretary said: "It's good that everyone is okay, let's all go."

Of course he had heard the recent rumors, and he wanted to wait until everyone left to ask Wei Ming a few questions alone.

But no one wanted to leave. Wei Ming has become too famous recently. He even came back today on a motorcycle. They almost didn’t recognize this boy they had watched grow up. Today they all wanted to get to know him again.

Wei Jiefang didn't want to let everyone leave like this, so he winked at Wei Ming, meaning: Where is my radio!

Wei Ming smiled and said to Zhou Xingbang, "Old Party Secretary, the fire is still burning. Why don't we wait until it's completely burned out before we leave? This will be safer."

"Yes, yes."

Everyone echoed the response.

The old branch secretary nodded, and Wei Ming continued, "And all the uncles and aunts, as the saying goes, a friend in need is a friend indeed, and a distant relative is not as good as a close neighbor. Thank you all for coming to help put out the fire. I don't have much to say here, so please wait a moment."

As he spoke, Wei Ming opened his suitcase and first took out a fashionable small table lamp and handed it to Wei Hong.

Wei Hong's eyes lit up and she fell in love with it at first sight.

Then Wei Ming took out the radio again and asked Lao Wei to answer it. Everyone's eyes immediately focused on the small and exquisite radio.

"Oh, where did I put it? Wait a minute," Wei Ming took out another wine bottle box, which was the Shengui Yangrong wine that everyone was not familiar with.

Then there was another wine box, this time it was Moutai. Many people have not seen those two words but have heard of them. Moutai and Wuliangye are the Tsinghua University and Peking University of wine!

Not to mention the villagers, even Old Wei couldn't stop smiling when he saw it. He didn't expect to have such an unexpected gain!

Then some mooncake boxes and cans were handed to my mother. They were high-end goods that you wouldn’t normally see in the village. The packaging was different. Wow, the mooncakes were actually packed in tin boxes!
Then there were some magazines and newspapers. "Xiaohong, take this. Don't burn it for me."

"Brother, are these all the articles you published? These are all!" She exclaimed in amazement. There were too many of them.

Wei Ming smiled and continued to search in his bag: "Oh, I found it!"

Wei Ming took out a bag, opened it and started to sprinkle sugar.

"This is the local specialty White Rabbit milk candy I bought when I was on a business trip to Shanghai. Thank you for your hard work. It's not much, one for each person. Anyone who sees it can share."

Originally, Wei Ming bought it for Xiaohong, but there was a fire today, and the villagers were able to come to help, so he had to accept their kindness. Naturally, he couldn't be stingy, so it was most appropriate for him to share some of the sugar.

White Rabbit Milk Candy is a hot commodity in the city and even rarer in rural areas. Many people have only seen it in the supply and marketing cooperatives in the county, but few are willing to buy it.

A regular candy costs only one or two cents, but a White Rabbit candy costs ten cents.

Most people didn’t eat it right away. Some wanted to go back and savor it slowly, while others wanted to save it for their children.

Mother and Xiaohong also got some. When Xiaohong saw that her mother put the piece in her pocket, she immediately opened her own piece and gave it to her mother to eat.

Xu Shufen smiled with stars in her eyes, "Sweet!"

She also gave the pill that she had originally wanted to keep to her daughter, and immediately a rich milky aroma spread between Wei Hong's mouth.

This is too delicious!
She looked at her brother's bag and saw only a few pieces were left, so she quickly put them away. You could tell after tasting this kind of candy that it was not cheap.

After a while, some other people came in, Qi Kexiu, Accountant Jia and a few others, but they couldn't run as fast as the motorcycle. "What's the fire?" they asked hurriedly.

Wei Jiefang pointed at the fire and said, "Look how blazing the fire is. It's just like the life in Gouzi Village. It must be prosperous and growing stronger and stronger!"

Wei Ming felt embarrassed after hearing this. What's the value of that? Do you want to be the captain?

Unexpectedly, the old branch secretary was quite supportive and took the lead in applauding: "This optimistic spirit of Jiefang deserves recognition. Don't you agree?"

"Yes!" Many people responded.

Wei Ming was about to give some candy to Uncle Qi and the others, but when he looked down, he found the candy bag was gone, so he took out a box of cigarettes from his pocket and handed it to Old Wei, asking him to pass out the cigarettes.

Hey, Daqianmen!

Lao Wei felt that such good cigarettes were wasted on them, but today was a good day after all.

"Come on, come on, Xiuzi, Saner, give me one, give me one."

Qi Kexiu and Accountant Jia took the good cigarettes handed over by Wei Jiefang in surprise, while Wei Jiefang went straight to the fire to light it. Under the backdrop of the blazing flames, he was the first to puff out clouds of smoke, looking quite a heroic figure.

The villagers who arrived earlier have already started to explain the famous scene that just happened to those who came later.

"With cigarettes and alcohol, this little Wei Ming is really promising!"

"What kind of wine are you asking about? You've heard of Maotai, right?"

"There's also a tape recorder. It looks very high-end and is rare here."

"I think the iron box just now is mooncakes, the mooncakes in the iron box!"

“There are still a lot of cans!”

"The Wei family is really going to be prosperous in the future!"

Old Wei didn't even need to say anything. He just stood there and shook off the ashes from his cigarette, and the atmosphere was already filled with anger.

"Those are only worth a few dollars. The truly valuable thing should be this motorcycle!" someone else said.

Wei Jiefang said hurriedly: "The motorcycle belongs to Xiao Ming's friend. We can't afford it for the time being."

Listen to this, “temporarily”, which means that sooner or later you will be able to afford it!

Seeing Wei Jiefang's face, Qi Kexiu felt so uncomfortable. He thought, why is Wei Ming not my son? Why did my son only get 30 points in Chinese!

I'm so pissed off that Qi Kexiu wants to go back and beat him up right now.

There were only those few things in an empty shack, and the fire gradually weakened until it was extinguished. A neighbor even went home to get a shovel, and everyone worked together to cover the burnt ruins with soil to prevent the fire from reigniting.

At this time, Wei Ming's stomach was rumbling, and he winked at his father.

Lao Wei smiled and said, "Oh, thank you for your hard work, why don't you stay and have something to eat."

As soon as these words were spoken, it was time to leave.

Everyone was a little reluctant to leave, as there were good cigarettes, good candies, and good stories here. They were all waiting to hear Wei Ming's story, but Wei Ming didn't tell it, leaving it for Wei Ming to tell it himself tomorrow.

Everyone else left, only the old branch secretary and Qi Kexiu stayed.

"Xiao Ming, no one else can understand your novel except me, but there is only one newspaper copy. Do you have the full copy for me to see?"

Although Wei Ming, Uncle Qi's uncle, is also a weird person who likes to compete with Old Wei, I read a lot of his novels when I was a child.

So Wei Ming took out the three copies of Wenhui Daily and gave them to him. Old Wei hurriedly said, "Don't take them away. Just read them here. I need to read them later."

Qi Kexiu: "Do you understand?"

“If you don’t understand, just let the author explain it to me personally.” Lao Wei put his hands on his hips.

Xu Shufen was busy putting the food on the table. There was a desk lamp on the table, and the kerosene lamp was left for Qi Kexiu.

The old branch secretary had eaten, but Wei Jiefang still invited him to the table for a couple of drinks, but Qi Kexiu did not receive this treatment.

Old Wei was reluctant to open the bottle of Moutai, so he just picked up the Shengui Yangrong wine.

Qi Kexiu asked in amazement: "Xiao Ming, is this the very expensive medicinal wine in your novel?"

"Ah."

Wei Jiefang was stunned: "Is it very expensive? How expensive?"

Wei Ming: "Fifteen dollars a bottle."

Wei Jiefang said "Oh", then put the bottle of wine back smoothly and picked up the scattered white in the corner...

(End of this chapter)