Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

Mu Wanqing suddenly raised her head, her eyes filled with reluctance and worry.

Where are you going?

Zhang Dabiao scratched his head: "Whatever, the company hasn't made any arrangements yet. We'll have to wait until after the New Year."

"Don't worry, I have money, tickets, a car, supplies, and I can fight. I won't starve anywhere."

Going to the countryside for research? Even planting trees in Saihanba wouldn't be a problem for Zhang Dabiao.

Mu Wanqing finally nodded. She knew Zhang Dabiao's abilities. Saying he was invincible was a bit of an exaggeration, but three or five people couldn't defeat him, and he was incredibly lucky. Besides, he always managed to get his hands on a lot of novel supplies, so he wouldn't starve no matter where he was.

The next day, Zhang Dabiao replied to Editor-in-Chief Li, saying that since they were going, they should arrange for them to go to the most difficult place, one that no one else wanted to go. That way, no one else could say anything when they returned.

After hesitating for a long time, Editor-in-Chief Li finally chose a place for Zhang Dabiao—

The eight counties west of Shanxi Province are a collective term for eight extremely impoverished counties in the Lüliang Mountains, including Xiangning, Xixian, Daning, Yonghe, Shilou, Jingle, Pianguan, and Hequ.

Zhang Dabiao was assigned to Xiangning.

How bad are these places?

Geology – Loess hills, lacking groundwater resources;

Vegetation – No forests, grasslands, or pastures;

Industry – No mineral resources, purely agricultural and “dependent on the weather”;

Location – a remote area along the Yellow River with extremely inconvenient transportation;

History of poverty – During the Qing Dynasty, a large number of people fled, and at its lowest point, only 1.8 people remained in the entire county;

Illiteracy rate – In 1942, 33% of village chiefs were illiterate.

A folk song describes it this way: "Brother and sister, singing with tears streaming down their faces"—this is exactly the tragic life sung in "Going West".

Why were people sent here in 1965?

Because of the "Learn from Dazhai in Agriculture" movement, the poorest areas like the eight western counties became key targets for "reform." In 1965, Shanxi Province specially organized rural cultural work teams to go to these areas to "eat, live, and work with the commune members," staying in the homes of poor and lower-middle-class peasants.

Task: Conduct field research in the "Eight Counties of Western Shanxi" and create artworks reflecting the theme of "Learning from Dazhai in Agriculture";

Creative formats: traditional Chinese painting, printmaking, sketching, photography (the publisher has provided a new Seagull camera). Duration: 3 months (departing in early April and returning at the end of June).

Specific requirements: Complete a series of paintings reflecting the "Learning from Dazhai in the Eight Counties of the West" campaign, for use as a National Day gift or in the publisher's annual picture album.

Zhang Dabiao didn't care; it didn't matter where he went.

Let's go out and have some fun.

There is just one troublesome aspect.

The rules for the "Little Nest" transit point are that "Little Nest" connects the courtyard cabins, the teahouse cabins in Lishuiqiao Village, the village houses in Agongyan Village in Xiangjiang, and the cabins in the backyard of the "Mixue Ice Cream" flagship store in Shau Kei Wan, Xiangjiang.

In other places, Zhang Dabiao could only enter his "little den" in the same spot and then come out in the same spot again.

In short, Zhang Dabiao is in Xiangning, a mountainous area in Lüliang, Shanxi. He can rest and recuperate in his "little nest" on the spot. Eating, bathing, and sleeping are no problem.

However, if one enters the "small nest" and then enters a courtyard house or places like Lishuiqiao Xiangjiang through doors and windows, then the original anchor point changes, and one can no longer return to Xiangning.

You have to travel a long way back to where you started. Not only does this take time, but you also suddenly leave the rural work team for half a month. How do you explain that?

We can't build a new log cabin just because we've been out collecting folk art in Xiangning for three or four months, can we?

Such behavior is wasteful and will attract scrutiny from higher authorities.

According to the arrangements in Hong Kong, Zhang Dabiao could open the door connecting the small wooden house in the backyard of the Mixue Ice Cream flagship store through "Xiaowo" and then send a few letters there.

As long as Qin Mancang and the others are notified to come and pick up and deliver mail regularly, the communication will be kept in order. Our own people don't need to go there, and Qin Mancang and the others won't ask any questions.

Besides, things are already on track over there, so I don't need to go there every day.

However, in the small wooden house in the courtyard of Beijing, even if Zhang Dabiao wanted to send a letter through the small wooden house, the question of how the letter would be delivered became a big problem.

Zhang Dabiao wasn't ready to be honest with Mu Wanqing yet, and he was also afraid that something might happen if others investigated.

Therefore, when he went to Xiangning, Lüliang, Shanxi, he could only contact Mu Wanqing through the most basic method of writing letters, which made communication very troublesome.

Go to the brigade headquarters to make a call; it's hard to say whether you can even make a call from there.

However, I thought that I would go at the end of February and return at the end of June, and then I could get a letter of introduction to marry Mu Wanqing after she graduated and win the heart of my beloved.

Zhang Dabiao tolerated it.

------------

On February 2, 1965, the compound held another New Year's gathering, but Zhang Dabiao was too lazy to attend. He did what he always did: on the first day of the Lunar New Year, he went to his workplace to wish Editor-in-Chief Li a happy new year and to visit Director Zhao of the Ministry of Foreign Trade. Director Zhao was having a tough time and was said to be going to be sent down to the countryside. After the New Year, he would be sent down as a work team member to Dayao People's Commune in Liuyang County, which was a key area of ​​the Four Cleanups Movement.

At this point, there was nothing to worry about; millions of cadres had been dispatched to the countryside, and Director Zhao was helpless.

Their task was to participate in and guide local movements, requiring them to live, eat, and work alongside the farmers for a period typically of eight months or longer. Theoretically, these individuals would return to their original units after completing their missions.

However, it's unclear what policies followed after the "Great Wind" began in 1966.

Zhang Dabiao patted Director Zhao on the shoulder: "Director Zhao, just write to me if you need anything. I won't say anything else, but there will be plenty of supplies."

"We're in the same boat, so don't try to screw me over."

[I can run away anytime you cheat me, but what about you?]

[If this large sum of money is determined to be fraudulent, Director Zhao, you'll only have one option left: execution.]

Director Zhao took a drag on his cigarette and gave a wry smile. Zhang Dabiao wasn't wrong.

Although the decision to allow Zhang Dabiao to handle the patent registration himself was made at a ministry meeting, no one expected that the amount of foreign exchange involved would be so large; millions of US dollars have already been deposited into his account.

Zhang Dabiao's patents continued to generate profits, and the relevant department, considering the foreign exchange gains, probably wouldn't touch Director Zhao or Zhang Dabiao.

But if the money runs out, things can get complicated when it comes to settling accounts.

The biggest argument within the ministry is that Zhang Dabiao's patent is the culmination of collective wisdom, the result of everyone's participation in negotiations and operations. Why should he keep it all to himself? Are we a public or private ownership system?

Furthermore, there's a huge hidden danger: the disposal of the antique shop's inventory, including those 100 million yuan worth of cultural relics, although handled through proper procedures, but...

With the Fourth Movement having reached this point, no one dared to make any guarantees; they could only take it one step at a time.

After visiting Director Zhao, Zhang Dabiao went to his former school to visit Teacher Zhou. Then, the next day, as usual, he took Mu Wanqing and Qin Jingru to Qinjiatun in the countryside to pay New Year's respects to their master, Qin Dingsong.

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, I took Mu Wanqing to Zhangjiatun in Zhangzhen, Shunyi District, to pay New Year's respects to the Zhang family. We didn't return to Beijing until the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.

At the end of February, Zhang Dabiao set off for Xiangning, Lüliang, Shanxi, arranged by the publishing house.

When they said goodbye at the train station, Mu Wanqing hugged him for a long time.

Zhang Dabiao patted Mu Wanqing's head one last time—

"Wait for me to come back, and then we'll get our marriage certificate!"