The golden age began in 1977

Chapter 190 Labor Commando Team Support, Director Qian Rebuilds the Study Room
The weather is mildest in early May.

As evening fell, the afterglow of the setting sun bathed the mud-brick houses in a golden glow. The commune's tin loudspeaker had just played "All Commune Members Are Sunflowers" when it enthusiastically began playing "We Are Walking on the Great Road."

Then, the sound of rubber-soled cloth shoes clattering on the dirt road of the commune's main street did indeed echo.

After Qian Jin quelled the petitioning educated youth, he first asked them to go back to continue their farm work. When they finished work in the evening, they began to clean up the empty warehouse to use it as a study room.

Two vacant warehouses were temporarily selected: one belonging to the supply and marketing cooperative and the other to the commune.

The supply and marketing cooperative's warehouse was located on the outskirts of the commune's residential area, surrounded by crooked locust trees. When the time came, the old and new locust trees swayed with their newly sprouted green leaves, and the air still carried the fragrance of locust blossoms.

Many of the educated youth finished work early and came to the commune to gather with Qian Jin and Wang Zhenshan to get busy.

When they arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative's warehouse, production teams in the nearby fields were just finishing their workdays.

The accountant in charge of calculating work points tucked the work point book under his arm, pushed up his glasses which were tied to his legs with hemp rope, and shouted to the young men carrying hoes:

"The second team has stacked all the shovels; we'll water the wheat tomorrow!"

"Get off work!"

The crowd dispersed with a roar.

The group of educated youth gathered again in front of the warehouse. There were quite a few of them; basically all the young people who had come to petition in the morning were there, probably dozens of them.

A young man named Jiang Xingwang took the lead. After counting the number of people, he ran over to Qian Jin and saluted: "Director Qian, sixty-two people have arrived!"

Qian Jin looked at these young people.

Morale is high.

In addition, many more educated youths rode bicycles with their friends after officially finishing work, having heard the news, and came to visit.

It was a big deal.

This attracted other commune members to come and see what was going on. Many people in the commune also wanted to see what was happening, including Li Weidong and Yu Zhenfeng.

The two followed the crowd to the warehouse, their faces looking grim.

This is the secret base of the Ma Clique army.

Wei Quanmin closed the door of the buyback station and rushed over.

Seeing the educated youth lined up neatly at the warehouse entrance, he hurriedly asked Li Weidong, "Why are they here?"

Li Weidong gave him a wink.

They dare not speak.

Too many people, too much noise.

Qian Jin looked at Jiang Xingwang.

The young man was strong and sturdy, carrying a clean green satchel and wearing a blue cloth jacket with patches on the elbows, but the Youth League emblem on his chest was polished to a shine.

Qian Jin said, "Friends and comrades, there's nothing more to say. I've already called the Taishan Road Labor Commando Team, and they'll be arriving by truck tomorrow."

"They will bring tables and chairs, as well as repair tools. Your task today is to clean up our future study room. The rest of the work will be handled by the labor shock brigade comrades who have come to support us."

"do you understand?"

The youths shouted excitedly, "Understood!"

Wang Zhenshan gestured for Qian Jin to open the door, and Qian Jin said casually, "This warehouse has been abandoned for a long time. I asked this afternoon, and the key has been lost. Just break the lock."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xingwang asked for a small hammer.

He looked at the iron lock on the warehouse and said, "It's a good lock. It doesn't look like it hasn't been used for a long time."

Wei Quanmin and the other two exchanged glances, feeling a little flustered.

The hammer struck the iron lock with a crisp sound, the lock opened, and the door was pushed open completely. A musty smell mixed with the pungent odor of fertilizer and urea hit the door.

"Is there fertilizer in here?" The educated youth were very surprised when they smelled the familiar smell.

Qian Jin went in and took a look.

The sun was setting, and the light was dim.

The warehouse was filled with tattered sacks, rusty farm tools, and dusty shelves. Dozens of bags of urea were piled up against the north wall, while dozens of wooden crates marked "strategic reserve grain" were stacked in the corner.

"Can this be used as a study room?" Wang Zhenshan covered his nose and shook his head repeatedly.

The educated youth didn't pick and choose their places, nor did they have the right to choose their environment.

Jiang Xingwang led the way inside: "Let's clean up. Studying here is much better than in our dormitory!"

He kicked aside the tattered straw mat blocking his way, saying, "Come on, a team of men, clear this junk out first."

Qian Jin went over and kicked the urea bag.

A bit hard.

Jiang Xingwang pulled out a knife, cut open the bag, and exclaimed in surprise, "It really is urea!"

Qian Jin looked at the crowd with a cold smile.

Yu Zhenfeng, who had been peeking around in the crowd, was nowhere to be seen.

A young woman pointed upwards and exclaimed, "There are kerosene lamps here too, not just one. Look, there's even a gas lamp here!"

An old, eight-immortal table was carried over, and Jiang Xingwang went up to strike a match and lit the three lamps hanging from the top of the warehouse.

Everyone immediately realized something was wrong: "This warehouse doesn't look like it's been abandoned for quite some time."

Qian Jin laughed and said, "That's right. Then why does our supply and marketing cooperative's work report say that this warehouse has been scrapped due to years of disrepair?"

No one can give an answer.

In the dim light, the educated youth began to move miscellaneous items.

The men's muscles tensed as they carried sacks, their polyester shirts taut, while the female educated youths carried shelves in pairs, their short, ear-length hair flying with their movements.

Someone brought a transistor radio, which was playing "The Spring Water of the Frontier is Clear and Pure," and the song echoed in the warehouse along with the laughter of young people.

Some people are sweeping the floor, and others are collecting the trash.

Jiang Xingwang gathered up some cigarette butts and showed them to Qian Jin, saying in a low voice, "Judging from the ash marks, at least someone came here to smoke this week."

Qian Jin patted him on the shoulder and laughed, "I know, don't tell anyone."

He went out and circled the crowd of onlookers, while Li Weiguo and Yu Zhenfeng stood in the twilight, looking around.

When he came out of the warehouse, the two of them pretended to smoke, one pretending to tie his shoelaces, as if they had nothing to do with the warehouse.

Qian Jin deliberately walked over and said, "That's strange. Wasn't this warehouse supposed to have been unused for two years? How come there are still new cigarette butts here?"

Li Weiguo chuckled and said, "It's probably being used as a temporary warehouse by some production team."

Qian Jin said, "I don't think so. Do you think it's possible that enemy agents took advantage of the supply and marketing cooperative's lack of sensitivity to assets and chose this warehouse as their base?"

He nodded to himself, saying, "That's very likely. We need to send security personnel over to investigate carefully."

Yu Zhenfeng, who was standing next to him, jerked his hand and threw away the cigarette butt.

Qian Jin immediately asked, "Old Yu, what's wrong with you?"

Yu Zhenfeng hurriedly explained, "I... I burned my hand with a cigarette butt just now."

"What kind of cigarettes are you smoking?" Qian Jin asked him.

Yu Zhenfeng chuckled and said, "It's Daqianmen."

Qian Jin clapped his hands and said, "What a coincidence, all the cigarette butts we collected inside were Daqianmen cigarettes."

Wei Quanmin looked at the two of them with disdain and said, "Stop pretending! Director Qian isn't stupid. Does he not know what's going on? Look at you two, acting like you're asking for trouble!"

Then he said to Qian Jin, "Director Qian, I apologize to you. This is where we used to hang out randomly."

Qian Jin said, "So you all know there's urea in it? What's the deal with this urea?"

Li Weiguo and Wei Quanmin hurriedly looked at Yu Zhenfeng, their faces showing schadenfreude.

Yu Zhenfeng continued to feign deafness and madness, then hurriedly left, exclaiming, "Oh no, the door to the cooperative store isn't closed!"

There is strength in numbers.

It's too easy for a few dozen people to clean up a dilapidated warehouse.

As all the clutter was carried out, more than a dozen women swept the room clean before nightfall.

Wang Zhenshan, the commune secretary, was not an incompetent person.

Having promised to help the educated youth prepare for the college entrance examination, he coordinated a batch of desks and chairs from various units and brigades in the afternoon.

Under his leadership, the educated youth had already set up the first batch of desks in front of the warehouse, just waiting to clean up and move them inside.

In addition, under his arrangement, the commune government also contributed a wooden blackboard that was about 100 inches in size.

Two clerks stood on stools and hammered nails into the wall to hang the blackboard up.

Wang Zhenshan wrote the words "Strive to realize the Four Modernizations" on the blackboard with chalk.

Qian Jin shook his head.

It should be a countdown to the college entrance exam.

However, he couldn't say anything at this time, otherwise he would be seen as stealing the limelight.

Chalk dust fell to the ground in a soft rustling sound, and the night breeze carried the sounds of grandparents calling their children home for dinner from the production team not far away.

A gentle southerly breeze carries wisps of smoke, mingling with the croaking of frogs and chirping of insects, making the warm May nights exceptionally clear.

After giving the three men a warning, Qian Jin prepared to leave.

Li Weiguo suddenly grabbed his wrist with astonishing force: "Director Qian, let's talk in private."

He took the money and walked to the back of the warehouse to a decades-old locust tree.

In the shadows of the trees, Li Weiguo's voice carried an unprecedented plea: "Director Qian, I made mistakes in the past, and I have never thoroughly criticized myself to you. Please give me a chance."

“I’ve figured it out now. I want to completely sever ties with my past self, accept legal punishment and government reform. I’ll do whatever you need me to do.”

"I'm willing to personally identify Ma Defu! I want to send Ma Defu to jail!"

After saying this, he stood with his hands at his sides in the shadows of the trees, like a prisoner awaiting sentencing.

At this moment, he was no longer the arrogant man he had been when he first met Qian Jin; he looked dejected and aged.

In the warehouse next door, the educated youth were singing "Unity is Strength".

The sounds of youth vibrated so loudly that the paper windows of the warehouse's back window trembled, and the leaves of the old locust tree also trembled, though perhaps this was due to the night wind.

Immediately after the singing stopped, cheers erupted in front of the warehouse.

Jiang Xingwang ran over excitedly: "Director Qian, the comrades who went to clean up the commune warehouse came back and said they found a batch of wooden stools there, enough for each of us to have one..."

After saying all that in one breath, he noticed the strange atmosphere under the tree, and his voice stopped abruptly, leaving only a look of astonishment on his face.

Qian Jin nodded to Li Weiguo: "I can assure you that the treatment you receive will be the best among all of you."

Li Weiguo was somewhat disappointed that he didn't hear the answer he wanted, but once this step was taken, there was no turning back.

He believed this was the best way out for him.

So he nodded and left, forcing a smile as he patted Jiang Xingwang on the shoulder: "Young man, study hard and try to get back to the city."

Qian Jin stared in the direction he had disappeared, and Jiang Xingwang asked in confusion, "Director Qian, what's wrong?"

"It's alright." Qian Jin turned and walked towards the dimly lit warehouse. "Come on, we have tables and chairs. Let's set up those old shelves first and use them as bookshelves later. I'll try to get funding from my workplace to provide you with a batch of study materials."

Jiang Xingwang hurriedly ran to inform these people of the news.

The youths were overjoyed and shouted "Long live!"

The light inside the warehouse was getting better and better.

Many educated youth brought kerosene lamps from home and placed them on the makeshift platform. Some of the lampshades even had the word "award" on them.

Qian Jin stood at the door, watching the group of young people who were engrossed in wiping tables and moving books. Calling them young wouldn't be quite right.

The oldest among them is approaching forty, while the youngest is only sixteen or seventeen.

But regardless of age, their eyes now shine with the same light—the light of hope for the future.

The emergence of study rooms has increased their confidence in facing the college entrance examination.

They believed they could change their fate through the college entrance examination, and they believed they would leave the countryside for the city.

After the study room was tidied up and tables and chairs were put in, the educated youth immediately decided to study there that night.

They are happy and satisfied with the current conditions.

A talented young man took out his harmonica and began to play "Moscow Nights".

The sound of the piano drifted out of the warehouse, and Qian Jin left to the sound of the song.

He wasn't considered old among the educated youth, but he just felt out of place with them.

The conspiracies and intrigues in society greatly changed his temperament.

This made him hate Ma Defu even more.

It was people like Ma Defu who changed him; he was originally a sunny and passionate young man!

Ma Defu must be dealt with severely.

It's not too late yet, and the commune is quite lively.

After finishing their work, the commune members hurried to the supply and marketing cooperative and distribution station to make purchases. Some old men squatted by the mud walls of houses, smoking pipes and chatting with their children, looking very relaxed.

Women dressed in coarse cloth jackets carried willow baskets, either going into the supply and marketing cooperative to buy something, or carrying goods to see if they could meet someone on the commune road to do business.

Qian Jin saw that there were locust flower cakes for sale, a food made by steaming locust flowers and sweet potato flour.

He bought a stack of them; they were hot, sweet, and fragrant, with a unique locust blossom scent that smelled just like spring.

On the way, I ran into government employees coming out of the commune canteen, and they were all having the classic post-meal conversation:
"Did Chef Luo cook with his feet tonight?"

The aroma of scallions wafting from someone's window drew even more complaints from the workers.

Fortunately, there were still the commune's pigsties along the way. The sour smell of the composting next to them was unique and had a magical charm that always dispelled the workers' complaints about the unpalatable dinner.

Qian Jin suspected that the commune deliberately built the pigsty by the roadside so that the leaders would let those who were dissatisfied with the canteen food know that Chef Luo's cooking skills were actually quite good, at least much better than pig manure.

Inside the pigpen, the pig farmer walked around, banging on an enamel basin. The warehouse key and thimble attached to his belt jingled as he cursed the dog that was stealing pig feed.

Qian Jin looked back at this scene after he had walked away.

He hasn't really seen the nights at Zidian Commune yet.

The next morning, two trucks arrived at Zidian Commune one after the other, their cargo beds filled with people and goods.

The Taishan Road Labor Commando Team has arrived!

Upon seeing the arrival of two trucks—trucks with red flags tied to their fronts—Wang Zhenshan, who had personally led the team to receive the assault team, waved his hand, and the loudspeaker of the Zidian Commune began broadcasting "Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers Unite!"
"Forward! With one heart and one mind! Workers, peasants, and soldiers unite! Forward! Annihilate the enemy!"

"We are brave, we fight, we unite, we advance, charging towards the stronghold of the imperialist reactionaries; final victory will surely belong to us workers, peasants, and soldiers..."

A cheerful melody drifted in the warm May breeze as Qian Jin smiled and waved.

Wang Zhenshan took the labor shock brigade very seriously, after all, they were there to help him.

Another reason is that he knows these are Qian Jin's men, and he has to give Qian Jin face.

So today he specially changed into the new shirt he was given when he was awarded the title of advanced worker two years ago. However, in the past two years, he has become more and more plump, with thick flesh on his neck. The buttons on the collar made his neck turn red.

The truck stopped in front of the gate, kicking up a cloud of yellow dust.

Leading the group was Mi Gang, the former captain of the fourth team, who is now the captain of the labor assault team, while Shi Zhentao is temporarily serving as the deputy captain of the security assault team.

Putting everything else aside, the commando members all have a good appearance.

They used to work in the countryside, and after returning to the city, they had to do manual labor for the neighborhood committees. They were constantly working, which helped them develop a healthy and strong physique.

For the past six months or so, since they started following Qian Jin, they've been eating and drinking well, and they're all getting plenty of nutrition and growing strong. Young men and strong men are lined up side-by-side in the truck bed. An old farmer watching the spectacle commented:

"Like sorghum stalks after autumn, standing tall and straight!"

Although the truck made a breeze as it sped along, the May wind was warm, and the group of young men huddled together like a pile of stoves, their bronze faces glistening with sweat.

The assault team's uniform work clothes, with a pen clipped to their left breast pocket, combined labor with culture, drawing admiration from the onlookers.

"Reporting to Chief Qian, the Taishan Road Subdistrict Labor Commando Team is here to report!" Mi Gang jumped out of the car and saluted Qian Jin.

Qian Jin pointed to Wang Zhenshan: "This is our commune's secretary, Comrade Wang Zhenshan."

Mi Gang immediately saluted Wang Zhenshan again, his voice booming: "Comrade Secretary, the Labor Commando Team of Taishan Road Subdistrict, Chengnan District, Haibin City, is here to report!"

The other assault team members nimbly disembarked from the vehicle, skillfully lining up and forming a square formation behind Mi Gang.

When Mi Gang announced the number, Wang Zhenshan was very happy and clapped enthusiastically.

Once the line was completely formed, Wang Zhenshan rushed forward to shake hands with each person, shaking them enthusiastically.
"We've been waiting for you! You must have had a long journey!"

"Quickly, comrades, come sit in our canteen. It's all ready. Let's go over there, rest our feet, and have some cool tea to catch our breath."

This is an agricultural support project.

It was a project undertaken by the street office for the commune, and even just for that reason alone, Wang Zhenshan had to treat them well.

He could tell from Qian Jin's previous performance in soliciting sponsorships that Taishan Road had money and resources, and that Zidian Commune would have to benefit from the street's influence to develop.

Therefore, in his view, it was not important whether the labor shock brigade repaired the study room or not; what mattered was that they treated the people well and improved the relationship between the street and the commune!
But that's not how the labor shock troops see it.

They only listen to Qian Jin's arrangements.

Since Qian Jin said he was there to renovate the classrooms, they should get to work as soon as possible.

It just so happened that the educated youth were working in the morning, so both warehouses were empty.

Qian Jin arranged for Mi Gang to communicate with Wang Zhenshan and have Shi Zhentao lead a team to renovate the two study rooms.

Now, with the financial support of small collective enterprises, the labor shock brigades have been upgraded, with more talent and a full range of tools.

Especially since the study room on Taishan Road was just renovated during the first month of the lunar calendar, it has both experience and materials.

The study room was renovated with the support of the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, which provided strong material support. At that time, they delivered fifty bags of cement, which were completely unnecessary.

This time, Qian Jin arranged for a task force to bring ten bags of materials. They needed to do some repairs and also use charcoal black to paint a blackboard on each of the two warehouses.

As it turned out, Mi Gang was quite stubborn; he insisted on personally leading the team in labor and even said to Wang Zhenshan:

"Comrade Secretary, thank you very much for your warm hospitality, but we are here to work on behalf of the organization. We are all skilled workers, so let's not rest and get right to work."

Shi Zhentao added, "We've had enough rest on the truck along the way."

As he spoke, he pulled a notebook out of his green satchel: "Secretary Wang, Chief Qian, which of you would like to take us to see the warehouse first?"

"After receiving the call yesterday, I consulted with an engineer and came up with several renovation plans based on the environment described over the phone. Now I want to go and see which plan is more suitable."

Qian Jin nodded in satisfaction: "Good job, kid. You're quite comprehensive in your work now."

"Secretary Wang, how about we go take a look together?"

"What's the rush!" Wang Zhenshan wanted to be polite, but Qian Jin told him they were all on the same side.

He then said, "Then I'll arrange for someone to deliver the herbal tea over, so we can work and drink tea at the same time!"

Shi Zhentao said, "That's for the best. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can rest easy. I heard that there are over a hundred educated youths here who are going to take the college entrance examination? And you want to renovate two study rooms?"

Qian Jin led the way and explained the situation along the way.

The warehouse is still the same as before.

The walls are mottled with mud, the roof is drafty, and the ground is uneven.

The biggest change is that the cobwebs, dust, and trash have been cleaned up, the windows have been swept, and multiple sets of tables and chairs are neatly arranged in the room.

Qian Jin explained, "This is all thanks to Secretary Wang. He donated a batch of tables and chairs from the commune and also called on all the production brigades and production teams here to contribute a batch."

Wang Zhenshan looked smug and said, "It's what I should do, it's all what I should do."

Upon entering the warehouse, Mi Gang looked up and exclaimed, "Whoa!"

There was a hole in the roof, and sunlight streamed in through it, shining on his squinting eyes: "If it rains, this will definitely turn into a waterfall."

This is the masterpiece of the educated youth last night.

The roof originally had holes, but it wasn't leaking like this. Someone took a long bamboo pole, tied a broom to it, and started sweeping the roof.

But the roof had already crumbled; a hard shovel with the broom created a hole.

Qian Jin laughed: "So you have a heavy workload today, you need to fix the roof."

Huang Xuri, who was learning about electricity from an electrician, walked around the wall and said, "We need to reserve an entrance for the wires. The biggest task this time is probably in setting up the wires."

Qian Jin patted him on the shoulder: "This depends on you. You'd better do your best."

Huang Xuri laughed: "Chief Qian, what are you saying? Just watch my performance. Our Taishan Road Assault Team is not to be outdone."

"Director Wei said that when the city's outstanding labor shock teams are selected in June, our team has an eight or nine out of ten chance of winning an award!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhenshan immediately told his subordinates, "Quickly prepare a letter of thanks and be sure to send it to the relevant departments in the city."

"We need to order a banner and deliver it to the neighborhood committee on Taishan Road!"

Qian Jin smiled and said, "Secretary Wang is indeed very thoughtful."

Cao Youzhi kicked aside a pile of weeds with his canvas shoes, revealing several dark mouse holes: "This area needs to be smoothed with cement first. Good heavens, if these places aren't cleaned up, the mice will come and hold a sports meet!"

Shi Zhentao's notebook was already filled with sketches: "We can open two large windows here to let in good light. We can paint the wall over there white and put up study slogans."

He scratched his head: "We had half a bucket of blue paint left over from the renovation of the study room. I brought it with me, and I can use it to draw a timetable on the black border."

In less than ten minutes, the commando team had divided up their tasks.

Shi Zhentao pulled out several new tools that gleamed coldly from his canvas bag: "These were specially approved by the district for our task force, specifically to support the development of rural cultural work."

What happened next made Wang Zhenshan and the others nod in approval:

Mi Gang magically removed several panes of glass from the truck cab, and a young man with carpentry skills immediately measured the window dimensions to install new windows.

Some people carried water, some mixed mud, and some stirred cement; everyone did their job.

Some people even took out portraits of Chairman Mao to find a place to hang them up. The commando team often painted slogans, and they had all the necessary tools, such as brushes and red paint. All that was left was to choose the content of the slogans. They would just need to cut up newspapers with scissors and paint them with red paint later.

"Comrades, let's work hard! There's not much work to do today, and we have a lot of people." Shi Zhentao waved his hand vigorously. "Let's try to finish before sunset and not add any extra burden to the comrades in the commune tonight!"

Multiple tasks are being carried out simultaneously.

The five assault teams cooperated with each other, each busy with their own tasks, and performed their duties with great skill.

The yellowed old newspapers on the wall were torn off, revealing the original adobe wall.

The team members leveled the wall, applied paste, and re-attached new newspapers.

Team member Gong Guang mixed cement and quickly blocked up the rat holes, humming "We Workers Have Strength" as he did so.

"Watch out up there!" Mi Gang shouted.

Everyone looked up and saw that the ladders had already been set up on the outer wall, and some team members were climbing onto the roof like ancient siege warriors.

After patching the leaks with mud, covering them with a new layer of thatch, and laying new tiles, the warehouse quickly became dark.

The omissions have been filled.

But soon the warehouse was bright again.

The old-fashioned lattice wooden windows were removed, and the carpenter and his team installed new windows.

After checking that the hinges were fine, the panes of glass were installed into the window frame. Instantly, sunlight streamed through the new glass, casting a bright patch of light on the floor.

(End of this chapter)