Returning to hometown to farm: The apocalypse system arrived ten years earlier?

Chapter 128: Unanimous election as village chief and "one-man show" (please subscribe, please vote for the monthly ticket)
Li Xiang actually got up at about the same time as Jiang Caier, and opened the door to set off fireworks at around 88 a.m. They set off a large plate of "2.0 bangs" and a box of rounds of fireworks, also named "Bringing Wealth and Fortune", but with a larger caliber (-inch straight barrel) than yesterday.

When setting off fireworks privately at home, you can only use small-caliber fireworks, because these fireworks come with their own paper barrels. If you use large ones, such as six-inch, eight-inch, or ten-inch fireworks, they will look like big round balls and need special salutes to fire, and they need to be operated by professionals.

Li Xiang naturally liked Jiang Caier’s circle of friends. The girl who does exercises at four or five in the morning on New Year’s Day is the most beautiful!

There are no other resources in the countryside, so you can only rely on hard work.

In fact, Jiang Caier’s classmates should thank her, because in the college entrance examination a year and a half later, many people achieved unprecedented good results, which was inseparable from the fact that Jiang Caier helped them prepare the exams.

They were competing with students from all over the country, not just Jiang Caier. But because of Jiang Caier's leadership, everyone's grades were better than in their "previous lives".

After daybreak, Li Xiang took some red envelopes, a few packs of cigarettes, and a bag of chocolate candies, and went door to door in the village to wish everyone a happy new year. He gave cigarettes to the men, chocolate candies to the women and children, and wished each other a happy new year. And each underage child also received an extra red envelope.

There isn’t much in it, only 18 yuan for one, just for good luck.

In fact, for the children in the village, this amount is already very large, and they are very happy. If it is larger, it will be bad, because if it is 50 or 100 yuan, it will be taken away by the parents. But 18 yuan, hey, the children can spend it on themselves, buy snacks in the store, or buy small fireworks and firecrackers to play with.

When they arrived at Jiang Caier's house, Jiang Caier naturally had a share. Li Xiang specially prepared a big one for her, which cost 666 yuan. He gave it to her secretly and asked her not to tell her parents.

She can't bring a cell phone to school, so it would be best to give her cash so that she can buy some necessary things at school. Although Jiang Jianguo will also give her pocket money, it probably won't be much.

"Brother, there is something I wanted to ask you at the dinner this afternoon. Now that you are here, please help me answer it." Jiang Caier quietly told him about her situation.

"Let me take a look." Li Xiang held her hand. Jiang Caier was a little shy and nervous, but did not struggle.

Li Xiang's spiritual power slowly penetrated into Jiang Caier's body, and after traveling through her meridians, he had a clear understanding of her cultivation status.

Jiang Caier's heart beat faster and she felt that this feeling was so wonderful.

The breathing method she practiced actually originated from the same source as Li Xiang's, but this breathing method was very strange. According to each person's understanding and physique, the spiritual power was similar. The most important thing was that no one knew what the awakened superpowers were. According to Li Xiang's understanding, it might be random, or it might have its own internal mysterious rules, but he didn't figure it out.

"It's okay. Come to my house tomorrow or the day after tomorrow and I'll give you something good to eat to replenish your body." Li Xiang immediately knew that it was because there were no extraordinary particles in the air that Jiang Caier's practice had stopped. If he gave her some spiritual medicine to eat and spent some time refining it, she should be able to break through.

"Yeah." Jiang Caier nodded obediently. She knew that her brother had hidden a lot of things from her, but since it was inconvenient not to tell her now, she would not ask. When the time came, her brother would definitely tell her.

"This is a secret between us, don't tell anyone else." Li Xiang warned.

"I'm not that stupid!" Jiang Caier smiled and pouted her red lips.

For lunch on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the villagers basically ate last night’s leftovers, but things were different in the afternoon.

At about 1 p.m., many people gathered at the entrance of the ancestral hall at the east end of the village. Li Jinyu led people to move a lot of food ingredients, and some people helped to build the stove and make fire to cook. This year's "Drinking Ding Wine" was chosen on the afternoon of the first day of the Lunar New Year.

This is because everyone has to visit relatives on the second, third and fourth days of the Chinese New Year, and on the fifth day many young people have to go out to work and have already started their journey back.

The ancestral hall is old and shabby, but there is a large open space in front of it, where the annual "Dingjiu" is held. At the same time, sacrificial activities are also held in the ancestral hall to worship the ancestors of Lijia Village.

Jiang Caier's family also came. Although they did not participate in the sacrifice, they were still qualified to "drink Ding wine" as people in the same village.

In the past, "Yingdingjiu" was a dinner party for adult men over the age of 16 in the village. Later, with the evolution of the times, it was not limited to this. Everyone, men, women, young and old, could participate, eat together and enhance their feelings.

To use the words from "Preface to the Lanting Collection", "all the wise men and women are here, young and old alike."

What we prepared today is the standard "Jiudou bowl", which is mainly steamed dishes, such as steamed pork with rice flour, steamed turtle, steamed chicken, steamed duck, steamed rabbit, etc. Because it is a buffet and the quantity is large, steamed dishes are convenient to make.

"Dou" means "big" in Sichuan dialect. For example, "doudan" means "bold" or "as bold as a bucket".

As mentioned before, in many places, the "Eight Big Bowls" (Fa Fa Fa) and "Ten Big Bowls" (Shi Wan Shi Mei) are usually even numbers, which are considered auspicious. However, in some places in Sichuan Province, "Eight Big Bowls" and "Ten Big Bowls" are actually taboos.

Because when setting up a buffet, beggars often come to beg for food. They don't beg for nothing, they also show their talents, such as singing "Lotus Fall". In ancient times, if you don't have some talent, how can you beg for food? You want to drive away other people's banquets? Kuaiban and Yugu were the common instruments used by beggars to beg for food in the past. It is also a kind of folk art.

For such "beggars", the host will naturally not drive them away, but will entertain them warmly. However, what they eat is different from ordinary banquets. The host will prepare an octagonal table and set out eight bowls of rice as a reception for them.

So this table with eight large bowls is also called "Beggar's Banquet".

As for the Ten Big Bowls, “十” and “石” have the same pronunciations, and the troughs used by farmers in Sichuan province to feed pigs are often made of stone, so the Ten Big Bowls are also unlucky.

Therefore, nine bowls are the standard for a buffet in Sichuan Province. The poorer ones will set out seven bowls, while the richer ones will set out eleven bowls.

For example, Lijia Village had Dingjiu for several years, but because they were so poor, each table only had seven dishes. Now that conditions are better, it only has nine dishes.

In the past, women and children were not allowed to participate, probably because people were too poor. Now that conditions are better, everyone comes to eat and have fun.

But even so, today's dishes are far inferior to the New Year's Eve dinner in many people's homes. After all, this "Dingjiu" is funded by the village committee and the budget is limited, so it cannot be made too good.

In some places, everyone pools money, or each household contributes a certain amount of food, but that’s boring. Eating for free is the happiest thing.

After the ancestor worship was over and before the banquet began, Lijia Village held the village chief election meeting held every five years. The final result, of course, was that Li Xiang was elected unanimously!
In fact, China's village head election is the most formal "universal election" in the world, a true democracy. The village head of each village is truly elected by all men, women, young and old, with one vote each.

Elections like the one in America are called universal elections, but in fact they are not. They can only determine the election results in each state and which party wins. Moreover, the candidates are determined, and there are only two or three competing. After the election in each state, there will be a voting process for the "electors". There are only more than 500 of these electors, and the votes of these more than 500 people are the votes that truly determine who will be in power in the end.

The votes of ordinary people are a joke, especially in those states where the voting base is already fixed. No matter how you vote, it will not affect the final result. Otherwise, how can it be called a fixed voting base? Only in swing states, it has a little effect. It does, but not much.

The results of the village head election have come out. As for the village party secretary, Li Jinyu has already mentioned it to his superiors and recommended Li Xiang.

It is unlikely that a person from outside the province will be parachuted into such a remote and poor countryside, and in most rural areas (according to statistics, about 95%), the village director and the village party secretary are served by the same person. So it is basically a done deal, and the documents from above will probably come down after the Chinese New Year.

"Everyone, please welcome our new village chief and say a few words to everyone!" Li Jinyu shouted. His iron voice and copper lungs were naturally full of energy when he sang "The Case of the Chopping of the Beauty". Although he is old now, he almost couldn't breathe when he sang the high notes that day, but that was because the rhythm of Bao Longtu's "怏板" was too fast. The pitch was high and the rhythm was fast, and most people really couldn't sing it.

But now, Li Jinyu has no difficulty speaking normally. Without a microphone, the whole village can hear her.

Everyone cheered and applauded loudly.

Li Xiang came on stage and pressed his hands together, and everyone quieted down.

Having lived two lives, experienced the end of the world, and been a transcendent, Li Xiang naturally would not be stage-frightened at this moment. He looked around at everyone and bowed: "Let me first wish a happy new year to all the grandparents, uncles, aunts... and all the children in the village. I wish you all a new year and a better year than the last!"

His voice was also loud enough. After all, he was a superhuman being. His rumbling voice could be heard from far away and everyone could hear it.

The applause rang out like a tide.

Li Xiang did not come with those empty inaugural speeches like "I have a dream". He knew that everyone was waiting for the meeting to start. If he talked too much, everyone would get impatient. So he made a long story short and got straight to the point: "I have a very important matter to discuss with you. It concerns the development of our village. I have mentioned it to Jin Yubo before. He has no objection, but he still wants to hear your opinions."

So, he gave a brief introduction to the travel company. The village provided land and held 10% of the shares, and he invested 90 million yuan and held % of the shares.

"When we make a profit, next year we will serve 10 bowls instead of bowls for Dingjiu! The remaining %, if any, will be used to improve the village's infrastructure, such as repairing roads, canals, and ancestral halls."

The ancestral hall behind him was dilapidated and the paint was almost peeling off in many places. It was time to repair it, but Li Xiang didn't want to do it himself because it was everyone's ancestral hall, not his own.

If the travel company makes a profit, then the 10% will be sufficient funds and can be used to do this.

"Then, we have many other benefits, such as organizing trips for everyone every year, distributing holiday gifts to every household during festivals, so that we rural people can also enjoy the treatment of city people! What do you think?"

The villagers naturally applauded. Maybe a few people thought that Li Xiang was just talking nonsense, but most people actually believed it, because with Li Xiang's amazing ability to make money, there was a high probability that he could really achieve it.

Even if it cannot be realized, they don't have to spend any money to try it. Li Xiang can do it himself, and all the villagers have to give up are useless vacant land and mountain land that cannot grow crops.

Even if it is good land, not many people are willing to plant it now. Everyone's source of income is basically working outside. Farming at home not only does not make much money, but often even loses money.

Seeds, pesticides, fertilizers... every one of them costs money, and prices are high now.

Anyway, if I don't do it, there will be no hope. Let Li Xiang try it. Maybe there is an 80% to 90% chance of success?
"Brother Xiang, we support you, just go for it!"

"Raise your hands if you agree!" someone shouted.

Then, many people raised their hands, and some even raised both hands in agreement.

"Then it's settled. Let's start serving the food. Enjoy your meal!"

Following the order from the new village chief, the women began to carry plates and serve the dishes one after another. They were all steamed dishes that had been steamed long ago, so they were served very quickly.

Li Xiang carried a bottle and a glass of wine and toasted at each table, staying at each table for three to five minutes to chat with everyone. The village chief must understand the situation of each household and build good relationships with everyone.

When he came back, no one at his table had started eating much, but there was still a lot of food left.

Li Xiang was sitting with his grandmother, third grandmother, Jiang Caier, Jiang Jianguo, and Aunt Jiang. Since the table was small, a round one, only six people could sit there.

Li Xiang went to other tables to drink and eat. Their table was equivalent to five people eating nine large bowls, and the portion of each bowl was quite large.

"I'm actually full, Auntie San. How about I pack these dishes for you to take back?" Li Xiang asked.

"Good good."

Grandma San took out a few crumpled plastic bags from her pocket, which was obviously prepared in advance. Naturally, no one had any objections, and no one laughed at her. After all, Grandma San was alone, and these leftovers could be eaten for a long time after taking them back.

Yesterday her little daughter took her over to celebrate the New Year, but they just had a New Year's Eve dinner and sent her back in the evening.

Aunt Jiang, Jiang Caier and Li Xiang helped Third Grandma pack up the food. Jiang Caier saw that other tables had finished eating and everyone had left, but some dishes were still untouched, so she ran over and brought them over to Third Grandma.

In the end, the plastic bags prepared by Grandma San were not enough.

"I'll go find you a few big bowls and take them back with me," said Li Xiang.

Grandma San quickly stopped him and said, "No, no, there's too much and I don't have a refrigerator. If I keep it for too long, it will go bad."

Li Xiang thought about it and decided to let it go.

Then, Li Xiang followed Li Jinyu to the village committee's office. Li Jinyu handed over the specific situation and called several people from the village committee over to discuss with Li Xiang how much land was needed.

Everyone sat in a circle, and Li Xiang drew a schematic diagram on the small blackboard for everyone, indicating which areas of land and hills they needed.

He was a new official and the village's big moneybag, so naturally no one would offend him. Holding meetings to discuss was just a formality, and basically whatever Li Xiang said was the final word.

"Don't be like this. It makes me seem like I have the final say." Li Xiang joked.

Li Jinyu smiled and said, "It's up to one person to have the final say. In our small village, we don't need too many opinions. If you can do something, just go ahead. Anyway, if you need our help, just ask!"

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(End of this chapter)