Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

"Well, I estimate that in two or three years, I'll be able to return to the commune with solid achievements."

Zhao Youzhi nodded. Having managed the Jiaolongxia Production Brigade for so many years, he knew very well the intricacies of promotion within the commune.

"Doesn't that all make sense? Ginseng takes many years from planting to harvest, and Zhang Aimin has only been the team leader for a few days. Who would bother with something that doesn't bring him any benefit?"

Zhou Rui's words broke the ice, directly revealing what Zhao Youzhi hadn't figured out.

Zhao Youzhi remained silent for a long time; he hadn't really thought about this matter deeply before.

I used to judge others by my own standards, and I always thought that village officials should take care of the villagers first.

They never even considered that Zhang Aimin was an outsider, and what he wanted was never the village's harvest, but rather the political achievements that would help him advance his career.

"Let him be. Anyway, the ginseng planting project has already been approved by the team committee. Whether he's there or not, we can move forward. I'll personally oversee every step from now on."

Zhao Youzhi turned to leave. He had been unable to figure out Zhang Aimin's thoughts before, but now that the mystery was solved, he was too lazy to waste any more time on it.

"Secretary Zhao, how can you just let go like this!" Zhou Rui quickly stepped forward and grabbed his arm.

This is no ordinary, trivial conflict; it's that the two people in charge of the team aren't working together.

If we don't overcome this hurdle now, every step of ginseng cultivation in the future will inevitably encounter many unexpected complications.

"Think about it. If you don't convince Zhang Aimin now, when you need to allocate strong laborers to manage the ginseng fields later, he'll say that the work in the fields is too demanding and he can't spare any manpower."

"You want to apply for fertilizer and special supplies, but he says there's no way to get them approved. What if all the plans we've been working on for so long just quietly fall through?"

"You have to talk to him and get him on our side, otherwise it will really ruin the important things for the whole village."

"Then what do you think I can use to persuade him? He'll be transferred in two years, and when the ginseng harvest comes in, he won't get a single ginseng root, not even a title. Why should anyone help us set up a platform?"

Zhao Youzhi spread his hands and stared intently at Zhou Rui. This kid was quick-witted; he was the one who raised the problem, so naturally it was his turn to come up with a solution.

Zhou Rui hadn't expected the old Party Secretary to be so cunning, unwilling to put in the effort himself and instead trying to pass the hot potato to him.

But he was the one who started this whole thing, so he couldn't just abandon it at the last minute. He could only stand under the sun, pondering the matter, and soon the back of his neck became burning hot.

He found a shady spot under an old locust tree, sat down, and took out a cigarette he had brought back from the city, handing it to the person in question.

Zhao Youzhi happily accepted it. He usually smoked the dry cigarettes he made himself, and since these were in high demand and good quality cigarettes, he figured he might as well smoke them.

Time slipped by little by little, and the cigarette in Zhou Rui's hand burned down to almost nothing. A wisp of grayish-white ash was swept by the wind and fell onto the muddy ground.

He suddenly slapped his thigh: "I've got it!"

"Just tell Zhang Aimin that when the ginseng is harvested in the back garden, you should specially invite him to shovel the first spadeful of soil, and also invite the county's messenger down with him."

Take, for example, the path to prosperity through ginseng cultivation in Jiaolong Gorge. It was decided by him during his tenure. When the results were achieved, the whole village remembered his kindness and said he was a good leader who guided everyone towards a better life.

"Are you asking me to flatter him?"

"It's not just flattery; it's giving him a political achievement."

Zhou Rui suddenly became anxious. How come Zhao Youzhi still hadn't figured it out after all this?

He patiently explained things to the old Party Secretary, sentence by sentence.

"Think about it, if he gets promoted in two years, he can't possibly stay in the village, right? He'll definitely go to the commune to become a cadre."

The commune's achievements aren't so easy to earn. But our ginseng fields in Jiaolong Gorge will be fully harvested in three to five years.

This credit goes entirely to him. Do you think he'd be happy about it? Wouldn't he go out of his way to make things easier for our ginseng cultivation?

"That's right! No, that's not right." Zhao Youzhi was about to clap his hands when he immediately changed the subject.

"Once he's transferred, and the higher-ups send a new captain, when the ginseng harvest is plentiful, will the newcomer be happy to attribute the credit to him?"

"Hey, this isn't difficult at all. Let me break it down for you in two ways." Zhou Rui's mind was completely clear at this point, and his words flowed out like a spring that had been opened.

"The first reason is that Zhang Aimin was afraid someone would steal his credit, so before he left, he proactively suggested to the commune that the next brigade leader be chosen from our village. Isn't that exactly what you wanted?"

"That's a brilliant idea!" Zhao Youzhi exclaimed with a broad smile.

"To be honest, I'm always a little worried about cadres sent down from outside to get some experience."

"Like Zhang Aimin, although he has connections at higher levels and can get us a lot of supplies that we can't get elsewhere, he is ultimately not of one mind with us."

"If all the leaders of the brigade in the future are native to us, and everyone works together with one heart and one mind, then our lives will truly become more and more prosperous."

"Secretary Zhao, don't rush to express your feelings yet. I haven't finished explaining the second situation." Zhou Rui quickly interrupted him, otherwise he would be talking non-stop for half an hour.

"The second scenario is that they really sent another cadre to gain experience. We told the newcomer that the old team leader, Zhang Aimin, has always been concerned about our village's ginseng fields."

"At that time, Zhang Aimin was already a leader in the commune. How could the newcomers not give him some face? When the harvest was good, the newcomers could also benefit and share in the political achievements."

"In the end, they both gained achievements that would lead to promotions, while our village received real benefits from ginseng cultivation. No matter how you look at it, it was a sure thing."

Zhao Youzhi went over these words in his mind several times, and each time he went over them, he felt that things became clearer.

"So, according to you, as long as we get Zhang Aimin on board, our ginseng cultivation project will be a done deal?"

Zhou Rui looked at him and nodded emphatically: "Not a single mistake."

"Alright, I'll handle this personally. Even if it costs me my reputation, I'll persuade Zhang Aimin to stand firmly with us."

Having finished speaking, Zhou Rui had nothing to do and thought that he seemed to be a little feverish these past two days, so he decided to go to his own field to pick some cucumbers for a cold salad.

Halfway there, I ran into Chen Datou, whom I hadn't seen in a long time.

Before Zhou Rui could speak, Chen Datou spoke first.

"Ruiwa, where did you go? I went to your house yesterday to look for you, but you weren't home."

"Looking for me?"

Zhou Rui glanced at Chen Datou. Wasn't this backwards? Hadn't he been waiting for Chen Datou for the past few days to find out what his relationship was with Zhao the Widow Zeng Ping?

"It's good that you're home. Just wait here. I'll go get someone now. We need to talk at your place later."

After finishing his sentence, Chen Datou hurriedly left, leaving Zhou Rui completely bewildered.

Zhou Rui blinked, feeling that Chen Datou seemed strange no matter how he looked at him. He just left after saying a few words and ran away, and he didn't know what was wrong with him.

However, he wasn't a particularly meticulous person; he would put aside what he couldn't understand for the time being, since he hadn't even picked the cucumbers yet.