In the evening, Yan Jiecheng returned home dejectedly. He ignored everyone and went into the house, where he started to eat and pack up his bedroll.
The third uncle saw something was wrong and asked him why.
When he learned that Yan Jiecheng was sent to Yexi Bandao, the old teacher was relieved.
"Jie Cheng, did you make a mistake?"
"That's right." Yan Jiecheng told the story of the bad words at the morning meeting.
"How could you kid make such a simple mistake?! It's my fault too. When you started working, I didn't teach you the trick."
Yan Jiecheng's eyes widened: "Dad, this thing is still... Do you have a special trick? "
"Of course, your father and I have never made any mistakes in all the years we have been working, and it is because of this special trick." The third uncle adjusted his glasses frame and pretended to be mysterious. .
The third aunt was worried and urged him: "Old man, please tell me quickly, otherwise the child will be anxious."
Yan Jiecheng was anxious, and the third uncle had to put on airs.
The third aunt knew the third uncle well, so she quickly poured him tea, and also specially put the old tea leaves at home.
The third uncle sat down and sipped the tea beautifully, then Yan Jiecheng said something in a leisurely manner: "Remember when you hold meetings in the future, no matter what the leader says, there are two things you can do. One raised his hands to agree, the other applauded. "
"Then what if I disagree? The purpose of the meeting is to discuss things. If everyone raises their hands and applauds, wouldn't they become leaders? "Yiyantang?" Yan Jiecheng asked, scratching his neck.
"It's okay if you disagree. Aren't you going to the crossing station now?"
The third uncle narrowed his eyes and pointed at Yan Jiecheng with his finger: "You made a mistake this time. Strictly speaking, it shakes the morale of the military. Even if the leader fires you, you are not unjust.
I guess the boss treated you lightly because of your patriotic brother's reputation. "
When the third aunt saw Yan Jiecheng transformed into Gang Jing, she also persuaded Yan Jiecheng: "Just listen to your father. Your father has eaten more salt than you have ever eaten rice. "
Yan Jiecheng felt aggrieved: "I mean, I actually regret it now. "
"There are no young people who don't make mistakes. Okay, don't regret it. Work hard when you get to the switching station. It won't be long before you can be transferred back. "
"Go to the mountain, dad is going to give you a gift. ”
Yan Jiecheng was quite moved. His father was really considerate.
Then the third uncle went into the house and came out holding a wooden box.
There was dust on the wooden box. The third uncle shook it off twice, and the room was filled with smoke.
"Dad, what is this?" Yan Jiecheng pinched his nose in surprise.
"A gift for you." The third uncle opened the box and found a shotgun inside.
The shotgun looked to be old, but was well maintained.
The wooden butt of the gun was rubbed smooth and moist, and the black barrel shone coldly under the light.
Yan Jiecheng was shocked by this gun, "Dad, you still hide this thing?"
"This is a life-saving thing. Before the liberation, I used a piece of ocean to get rid of it. It was obtained from the rebel soldiers and once saved the lives of our whole family."
The third uncle skillfully filled the gunpowder, and it seemed that this was not the first time he had done it.
Yan Jiecheng is also interested in the past affairs of the Yan family.
He was still young at that time, and he only remembered that his family once owned a pawn shop, and he took advantage of his old nose to make money.
Why did the pawn shop disappear and the Yan family became small proprietors? He didn't know the reason, and the third uncle also strictly prohibited them from asking.
When Yan Jiecheng saw the third uncle taking the initiative to bring up the past, he took the opportunity to ask: "You, have you ever fired a gun? Have you ever killed anyone?"
"Back then, our family was a gunman. People from all walks of life come to pawn shops.
The gang of hungry soldiers went into the pawn shop and shouted, "Sir, please give me a price for this gun."
If you give a price, you have to give money. This is not a pawn, it is clearly a money grab.
So, your grandfather had the foresight to let me go to the sports club in Jincheng to learn marksmanship in advance, and he also bought several fast guns to keep at home.
When the rebels came to the door, I hid on the beam with my spear. Your grandma poured boiling water into the fire-fighting water gun and stood behind the railing on the second floor. Sufficient preparations have been made. ”
This was the first time Yan Jiecheng heard about these things. When he thought of the scene of the confrontation between the third uncle and the rebels, his blood suddenly surged.
"Dad, I didn't expect that you are still practicing as a family. Have you ever fired a gun?"
The third uncle said with a smile: "That's not true. Those rebels know that our pawnshop has been popular. Generally, they don’t dare to make trouble. Even if they come in, they will run away after being frightened by us.” , what is Kaihong? "
The third uncle usually pretends to be an old teacher, but he really thinks of himself as an honest and honest old teacher. Now he can feel Yan Jiecheng's burning eyes, and he is vaguely back to that chaotic era.
He took a sip of tea, squinted and said, "Before our pawn shop opened, your grandfather spent money to bribe the government.
The government took the prisoners who were supposed to be sent to mass graves for execution to our pawn shop.
Your grandfather will give the executioner another piece of ocean. The executioner will wait for the time when our pawn shop opens, and then chop off the prisoner's head with a single click of his knife.
The blood sprayed out a foot or two high, right in front of our pawn shop.
At this time your grandpa just lit firecrackers. The paper is red and the blood is red. This is called opening red. ”
Yan Jiecheng was so shocked that he couldn’t help but swallow his saliva.
Bribe the government and kill people in the street!
His ancestors were really generous!
"Dad, our family is so powerful, why is the pawn shop gone?" He suddenly realized a big problem.
"Hey, two fists are hard to beat with four hands. We are not afraid of a few rebels. I can deal with them by myself. Later, those few rebels escaped and attracted two to three hundred people, and they even attacked us. A grenade was thrown in the pawn shop." The third uncle's lips twitched when he thought of the past.
He turned to look at Yan Jiecheng and glared: "Hey, you kid, when will you get rid of this bad habit of talking."
Yan Jiecheng: "."
The third uncle handed Hanyang Zao to Yan Jiecheng.
Yan Jiecheng took the Hanyang product in a daze and asked in confusion: "Dad, what do I need this thing for?"
The third uncle blinked: "The switch station was built in In the mountains, right? You go back this time and bring me a wild wolf every time.
The wolf skin and wolf meat can be brought to the pigeon market to exchange for food. You haven’t saved enough food yet, but you may not know that there is no food left in Zuojiazhuang.”
Yan Jiecheng: "."
He felt that if the third uncle was placed before liberation, he would be Huang Shiren.
At this time, the incandescent lamp hanging on the roof flickered twice, and Yan Jiecheng hugged Han Yangzao and was startled.
The third uncle turned his head and shouted outside: "Yan Jiedi, don't be lazy, push harder."
The sound of Yan Jiedi gasping for breath from exhaustion came from outside the door.
Yan Jiecheng: "."
He thinks the third uncle is Huang Shiren.
At night, Yan Jiecheng lay on the bed and touched the Hanyang gun, and suddenly remembered something.
Today he asked the third uncle if he had killed anyone, but the third uncle never answered directly.
"How is that possible? When that old boy thinks about pulling the trigger and spending ten cents on bullets, he will definitely feel distressed. How could he kill someone?"
******
The next day is the day to go to the measuring switch station and road maintenance work area.
Li Aiguo took Zhou Ke and the officers from the Materials Department to the crossing station early in the morning, measured the nearby land, and planned an area that could be farmed.
Farming is a hobby, and the railway industry is my job. Farming should not affect the safety of railway transportation.
When the switchmen learned that land was to be farmed nearby, they all raised their hands to express their approval and cooperated as much as possible.
They stay in the switching station every day, so lonely that they can only talk to the birds in the sky. In the future, the families of railway employees will come to farm, and there will be people to chat with them.
Li Aiguo has participated in railway planning and is familiar with railway safety regulations. In just a few days, he traveled to more than fifty switching stations by train.
Li Aiguo still underestimated the area occupied by the switching station and maintenance area. According to specific measurements, there are more than 1,200 acres of land available for farming.
And because those lands have been idle all year round, their fertility is far higher than that of the fields in nearby communes, so the yield should be higher.
After determining the amount of fertile farmland, the Qianmen Locomotive Depot announced its land-farming plan to subordinate railway employees.
In order to avoid suspicion, the name of the specific plan was changed by Li Aiguo to "Self-reliance and Carrying forward the Spirit of Railway Corps Plan", referred to as the Self-reliance Plan.
Deputy Chief Zhou, who has always been good at ideological work, agreed: "We farm for self-reliance. If anyone dares to gibber, let him take out hundreds of thousands of kilograms of grain!"
As for the implementation details of the plan, Li Aiguo referred to the model of the Farm Reclamation Corps.
The families of railway employees who participate in farming will receive a ration just like the workers of the Farm Reclamation Corps.
Furthermore, the Qianmen Locomotive Depot also allows employees’ families to grow vegetables in areas that do not affect railway transportation safety and cannot grow food.
Seeds and agricultural tools are provided by the locomotive depot, and the harvested grain also belongs to the locomotive depot.
As soon as this plan was announced, hundreds of families of railway employees signed up that day.
The locomotive depot was worried that some family members of employees did not know how to farm, so they decided to invite veterans to Weizhuang Commune through Li Aiguo for guidance.
“There’s no need to rush this matter. You have driving duties these days. Just help with the trip on the weekend. Of course, our locomotive depot can’t lose money to its members. Each member will be given one dollar a day. Subsidy.”
The locomotive depot was just short of food, not money, so Section Chief Xing offered a high price.
"Don't worry."
Li Aiguo agreed immediately.
Search Liu of the Materials Section learned that Li Aiguo was going to Weizhuang Commune and handed him an envelope.
A while ago, the locomotive depot entrusted Weizhuang Commune to purchase a batch of mountain goods. This time Li Aiguo went to Weizhuang to bring them back.
Yi Zhonghai took advantage of his off-duty time in the past two days to visit several communes, even Zuojiazhuang, where the third uncle often went.
But all the food was taken away by those who were well-informed.
"It can't go on like this. If I don't keep some food at home, I always feel uneasy in my heart." Yi Zhonghai walked around the room with his hands behind his back.
Auntie suggested: "Why don't you go to Jiajiazhuang to collect grain? The Jia Zhang family has many heads there."
"Forget it, last time I sent the Jia Zhang family back to the countryside. Everyone in the village has a problem with Jia Zhang. Even if they have food, they will not sell it to Jia Zhang. "How could it be possible? Lao Jia is a worker in the city after all." >
The eldest mother was surprised.
Family affection is still relatively strong these days. Even if there are any grudges, when help is needed, they will still lend a helping hand without hesitation.
Besides, if the Jia family has entered the city, they should be considered a respectable family in the eyes of the villagers. People in the village are willing to associate with such a family.
"It was Jia Zhang who broke the road." Yi Zhonghai sighed: "After Lao Jia moved to the city, Jia Zhang was worried about being dragged down by the poor relatives in Jiajiazhuang, so he cut off the relationship. When dealing with the Jia family, I only went back once to collect rent. "
"Although the members of the commune are living in poverty, they are not willing to be warm to Jia Zhang's cold butt."
"Well, this Jia Zhang family has such a temper." The aunt sighed, "Then where are you going?"
"The south and west are no longer available, I am going to collect some food from the communes in the northeast. "
"Northeast. Are you going to Weizhuang Commune?" Auntie panicked and grabbed Yi Zhonghai's arm: "Old Yi, you forgot what happened last time. Dare you go to Weizhuang Commune?"
"Can you forget that! I have never suffered such a big loss, and it is all the fault of that boy Li Aiguo."
Yi Zhonghai waved his hands angrily: "Don't worry, this time I won't go to Wei Zhuang, but to the communes next door. I don't believe it, and the people in those communes will also believe Li Aiguo."
"Then be careful."
For some reason, Auntie always felt a little uneasy.
"How about you bring Jia Dongxu with you, so that multiple people can take care of you."
"Jia Dongxu is a burden! You will be in trouble every time you work with him."
>Yi Zhonghai said a word, turned around and entered the house, changed into tattered clothes and put on a tattered cotton gauze mask.
He found a few more broken sacks, carried a scale with its head cut off, and dressed up like one of those hawkers who went to the countryside to collect food. Then he left home, borrowed a bicycle, and headed straight to Bama. Go to the commune.
Yi Zhonghai is scheming and has done enough homework before going to the countryside.
Bama Commune is more than 20 miles away from Weizhuang Commune. It has a lot of fertile farmland and a small river, so its annual grain output ranks among the top of the communes around the capital.
It is said that Bama Commune still retains a lot of private farmland. You will definitely receive food when you go to Bama Commune this time.
The bicycle wandered along the road for a full half an hour. Yi Zhonghai left the capital and just turned the last corner when he saw a familiar figure riding a bicycle toward the northeast.
"Li Aiguo? Why is this kid here? By the way, he must be going to Weizhuang Commune to collect grain. Do you want to deal with him today?" Yi Zhonghai's eyes rolled around.
Reselling private grain is a serious crime. If Li Aiguo is caught, even the locomotive depot police station will not be able to protect Li Aiguo.
After a while, Yi Zhonghai gave up the idea.
The relationship between the party secretary of Weizhuang Commune and Li Aiguo is as good as that of brothers.
Even if he went to the police station to file a complaint and was protected by the militiamen in the commune, nothing could be done to Li Aiguo.
He is not a brainless guy like Jia Dongxu, and he will not do such a thankless thing.
“Li Aiguo is too cautious in doing things, leaving no loopholes.”
After Yi Zhonghai thought about it, he sighed with regret and rode his bicycle towards Ba Ma Heading towards the commune.
“The old man looked familiar just now, who is he?”
Li Aiguo also saw a familiar figure, but the bicycle was faster, so he flashed away without seeing clearly. Pass.
Li Aiguo kept the mission in the locomotive depot in mind, but did not take it to heart. He rode his bicycle and went straight to Weizhuang Commune.
At this time, the commune members were busy in the fields under the leadership of production captain Wei Dazhu.
Seeing someone riding a bicycle, Wei Dazhu raised his head and covered his eyes with his hands. When he saw clearly that it was Li Aiguo, the production team leader ran over quickly.
"Brother Patriot, why are you here today?"
Li Aiguo took out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it to Wei Dazhu: "Where is Village Chief Wei? I have something to discuss with him. ”
Hearing this, Wei Dazhu suddenly became excited. Every time Li Aiguo came to Wei Zhuang Commune, something good would always happen.
"The village chief is having a meeting in the commune, come on, I will take you there." Wei Dazhu turned to the commune members and shouted: "I am leading the patriotic comrades to see the party secretary, so don't be a foreigner! If anyone dares to be lazy, who will I blame when I come back?”
Seeing that all the commune members agreed, Wei Dazhu took Li Aiguo to the commune.
“Patriotic brother, you don’t know that since eating from the big pot, the lazy people in the village have lived a good life. They pretend to go to work every day and do not work hard, which makes me very angry.”< br>
“Do you have work points? Can’t you just give him a few less work points every day?”
"Hey, you don't understand the situation.
Those lazy people don't care about their work points. Take the two landowners in our commune as an example. They just play when they go to work every day.
If you don’t give her work points, she won’t be in a hurry.
When it’s time to eat, you can’t stand in front of the big pot with a rice bowl.”
"The commune didn't think of a solution?"
"What can we do to people who are not positive in their thinking? We can only hold a meeting at night."
While chatting, the two came to the commune. Wei Dazhu ran in quickly and shouted.
Village chief Lao Wei came out with several commune leaders.
“Patriotic brother, long time no see.”
“Uncle, you are still going strong.”
When Li Aiguo saw that they were in a meeting, he didn't say much. He told the Qianmen Locomotive Depot how to hire an expert to teach the family members of the Locomotive Depot employees how to farm.
"This is easy to handle. I will find you some of the best tricks! As for wages, I don’t need them. You have helped us so much. If I still charge you for this little thing, then Isn’t it heartless?”
Those commune leaders know very well that the life of Weizhuang Commune is better than that of other communes.
It’s not because the members are diligent, nor because of the large amount of fertile farmland in the commune, but because of the relationship with the Qianmen Locomotive Depot.
Now the mountain goods delivered to the Qianmen locomotive depot every month can bring huge profits to the commune.
They also expressed their opinions.
“I’m just borrowing a few members, do I need to pay for it?”
“Isn’t this a slap in our faces!”
“Patriotic brothers, what are you doing again? In this way, we will not be able to communicate with each other in the future."
Looking at the excited commune leaders, Li Aiguo cupped his hands and said: "Brothers and uncles, one thing should be treated as one, this is the paragraph. You don’t want me to break the rules, do you?”
These commune leaders had once arrested Dieter together with Li Aiguo, and they knew that he was not that flamboyant. Seeing that he was resolute, they said nothing more.
Old Village Chief Wei pointed at Chief Wei Dazhu and prepared to ask him to find the members.
Li Aiguo smoked a cigarette and pointed at Wei Dazhu: "Uncle Wei, a bird cannot fly without a head, and a beast cannot walk without a head. The members must have a leader. Let me call your name, Comrade Wei Dazhu. An indicator."
Village Chief Wei was stunned for a moment and nodded: "Dazhu, this is Patriot's trust in you, you have to behave well."
Wei Dazhu will do the same now. Extremely happy.
After his son was killed by a wild wolf in the middle of the night, he and his wife did not recover for many years.
I finally figured it out in the past two years, and my wife gave birth to two more sons one after another.
Although he holds the position of production captain, Village Chief Wei is a person who can't rub his eyes with dirt. If he, the production captain, dares to take one more sip of porridge, he will be kicked in the butt.
So life is hard.
If you can go to the locomotive depot to "farm" with the members, you will definitely make a lot of money.
"Patriotic brother, don't worry! I will help you recruit people now, and I will definitely recruit the best farming skills for you."
Wei Dazhu turned around and ran away in a hurry.
Each commune member was given one yuan as wages per day. This was a job that was difficult to find even with a lantern job. Those commune members enthusiastically signed up after learning the news.
Wei Dazhu selected four old commune members who were down-to-earth and willing to work and brought them to the commune to meet with Li Aiguo.
Li Aiguo knew at just one glance that Wei Zhuang Commune had brought the best members.
People who can really grow crops well always have the same simple and down-to-earth temperament as the crops.
That group of young people may be stronger than these members, but they are far from the opponents of these old farmers in terms of growing crops.
Old Village Chief Wei patted the table: "This is Driver Li from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot. You follow Driver Li to the capital this time and work hard. Who dares to disgrace our Wei Zhuang Commune? , Don’t blame me for being ungrateful.”
We can get one yuan in wages for going to the city this time. Wei Dazhu just said that the accounts will be divided into four and six in the commune.
They can earn 40 cents a day, and their monthly income is higher than that of Village Chief Wei.
In addition, when we arrived in the capital, the locomotive depot would definitely take care of food and housing. Village Chief Wei and Mute had eaten in the canteen of the locomotive depot and heard that there was meat oil in boiled cabbage.
“Secretary of the Party, don’t worry, if we collapse and have diarrhea, you will deal with me!”
Afterwards, Wei Dazhu went back with the members to prepare for the trip to the Beijing locomotive depot, and with his wife The child said goodbye.
Village Chief Wei called on the militia captain Wang Stutter to transport the mountain goods to be sold to the locomotive depot from the granary.
“This time there are a total of five hundred catties of dried wild vegetables, two hundred catties of chestnuts, and sixty catties of pecans.”
Village head Lao Wei counted the mountain goods one by one in front of Li Aiguo.
“You don’t need to be so meticulous, can I still not trust my uncle?” As he spoke, Li Aiguo reached into the sack, grabbed a pecan and squeezed it hard, with a click, the shell of the pecan was squeezed. Broken.
There are plump walnut kernels inside. If placed in the pigeon market, these walnuts could be sold for at least two cents a pound.
“They are all good goods.”
Li Aiguo checked all the mountain goods and made sure there were no problems. Then he took out the envelope he had prepared long ago from his pocket and handed it to Village chief Lao Wei.
Inside the envelope was a pile of banknotes. Village Chief Wei also said, "We have been dealing with each other for so long, and I still can't trust you." However, he kept counting the money one by one in his hand.
Li Aiguo and Village Chief Lao Wei both know that they do not represent themselves personally.
(End of this chapter)