Chapter 30 2. Sending to the countryside for reform through labor

At the beginning of 1970, before the snow had melted, Zhang Zhengfang came to the production team of Bodhisattva Temple in Haiyanghong Commune, Donggou County. Before that, she was sent to the "May 7th Cadre School" in Fengcheng County. She was a "May 7th Warrior". May 7th fighters". The "May 7th Cadre School" is a farm established during the "Cultural Revolution" to implement Mao Zedong's "May 7th Instructions". It accepts cadres from party and government agencies, scientific and technological personnel, and teachers from colleges and universities to work on the farm.Hundreds of thousands of cadres and intellectuals have been studied and "reformed" here.

"At the beginning of 1970, another document came after the Chinese New Year, saying that these people had to be reformed, that they could not work in cadre schools, and that they had to be sent to the countryside." Therefore, most of the "May 7 fighters" brought their organizational ties, wages, family members, The rations ("four belts" for short) came to the countryside to receive re-education from the poor and lower-middle peasants.Before leaving, Zhang Zhengfang was told that although she was not "wearing a hat", she was "holding the hat in her hands". Therefore, she was disqualified as a party member.The organizational relationship could not be brought to the countryside.

Fortunately, Zhang Zhengfang's application to go to Haiyanghong was approved.Because her youngest son came here in 1968 with the "army" of educated youths "going to the mountains and going to the countryside", Zhang Zhengfang thought, since she wants to go to the countryside, she should strive to be in the same place as her son, so that mother and son can be reunited and depend on each other.When she first arrived in Haiyanghong Commune, Zhang Zhengfang lived in a fellow villager's house and slept on a kang.She was alone, and the corn stalks allotted were not enough, and the kang was not hot enough.Fortunately, the fellow was very kind to her, and often cooked in Zhang Zhengfang's firepit, which was equivalent to burning the kang for her.

After living in a fellow villager's house for a period of time, the superior ordered Zhang Zhengfang and other "May 7th fighters" to build a house in the local area and settle down.I pay for the materials myself, the "soldiers" help each other, and the villagers also help out.In this way, she built three rooms.The house is halfway up the mountain, and it is very difficult to get water, but the youngest son lives in an educated youth spot one kilometer away, so every time she has to wait for her son to come to see her, she will help her pick it up.For a while, the house was leaking, and she thought that her son had her own work to do, so she mixed the mud herself and climbed into the house... The fellow villagers who worked in the nearby fields saw it and were frightened, so they rushed to take her away. The son called back and repaired the house together.Zhang Zhengfang still remembers that the winter was very cold at that time. Even in the house, once the towel was put on the rope, it would freeze and stick to it in a short while.When she woke up in the morning, there was frost all over the quilt.

When I first arrived at Haiyanghong Commune, I caught up with the construction of the dam.The construction site is full of male workers, only Zhang Zhengfang is a female worker.Since she is the object of transformation, she must also pick the frozen soil like the male worker.One load, one load, one trip, she can pick as many as the male workers choose.She is a lesbian and an actress. She doesn't have that much strength, but she understands that all she can do is persist and persevere.The most difficult thing is that she is the only lesbian on the construction site, and she has nowhere to go to the toilet.

"In retrospect, I don't even know how I survived." Fortunately, the relationship between the villagers and Zhang Zhengfang is not bad, but this is also the result of her own efforts to maintain it. When going to the countryside, Zhang Zhengfang brought a sewing machine with her.As soon as she got there, fellow villagers surrounded her and asked her if she could make clothes, hoping that she could help with sewing and making.Zhang Zhengfang readily agreed and said, "Okay, bring it." She didn't expect that as soon as she entered the house, before her things were packed, there would be old ladies and women holding children, cloths and old clothes.One said, make clothes for children, another said, mend trousers for old people, and some people said, make clothes smaller when they are too big.Zhang Zhengfang "never refuses anyone who comes" to the villagers, and has never rejected the requests of the villagers.But there are also fellow villagers who are happy to bring small clothes and ask her to "change small clothes into big ones". Put in a long cloth strip, or add a section under the trousers, and it can finally be worn.

At that time, she had to go to work during the day, so she could only finish dinner at night and light an oil lamp to do it.I often do it at two or three o'clock in the morning, or even three or four o'clock in the morning. In 1970, Haiyanghong Commune had no electricity and the oil lamps were dim. Zhang Zhengfang's eyes were red almost every day.But the next morning, when it was just dawn, the team leader would blow his whistle to call everyone to work, and Zhang Zhengfang had to start work on time. During work breaks, fellow villagers like to listen to her sing model operas. As soon as the folks liked it, they spread the praises, and the people above were very disgusted when they heard about it, and came here in their cars.They held another meeting in Haiyanghong Commune, which was similar to a criticism meeting.They warned fellow villagers not to be deceived by Zhang Zhengfang. Although she is also a "May 7th Warrior" now, she is actually different from others. Land, rich, counter, bad, right", specifically referring to landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries, bad elements, and rightists).Letting her go to the commune means reform through labor, and it depends on her performance.She is a person whose thinking has not been reformed. She is still "trafficking drugs", and she still wants to confuse you by singing model operas. You should supervise her labor and stop listening to her singing.

The simple folks were terrified when they heard this, and they never dared to ask her to sing in the workshop, let alone ask her to make or change clothes.From then on, Zhang Zhengfang was completely isolated. But she still firmly believes that as long as she uses her actual actions, works well, and has a good attitude, she can win the trust of the villagers.So when the dam was being built, her shoulder was broken and swollen, and she was in pain all over her body. She couldn't straighten her waist, but she never showed any pain in front of people during the day.Only when she returns to her shed after work is over at night can she confide in her son, and mother and son often embrace each other and cry.Her other sons also went to Haiyanghong Commune to visit their mother. Seeing this scene, they all burst into tears, but they were helpless.

Zhang Zhengfang is an authentic southerner. Although he has worked in the Northeast for more than ten years, he basically works indoors in the city.As for Haiyanghong Commune, on the ice and snowy seashore, the icy wind is biting every day, blowing on the face and body like knives and arrows.She said that she can only motivate herself every day: "I will figure out my problems organizationally. Although the conditions are difficult, if others are capable, I will do better than them. Persist! Persist!" After the completion of a phase of the dam project, her job was changed to "green manure". First, she carried a burden to collect human excrement from door to door, and was then assigned to collect chicken manure.She remembered her experience of acting in "The Story of Sending Fat".Wherever chickens and ducks have been, she goes there and collects them carefully.The manure in the corners of the chicken coop was dug out by hand.She has done an excellent job in this labor.The labor intensity is not so great, and the body gradually adapts to it.

At this time, the villagers felt that Zhang Zhengfang was not a scourge.As a result, their attitude towards Zhang Zhengfang gradually improved, and they were willing to approach her.According to regulations, the "May 7th fighters" were sent to the countryside for labor reform, but their wages and benefits would not change.So someone reported that Zhang Zhengfang earned more than 240 yuan a month, even if he sat there and held a meeting for a day, it would cost 8 yuan; and the labor points of the farmers in Haiyanghong Commune were only a few cents. Cents—that's a huge gap! How can we get close to farmers and prevent them from feeling distant?Zhang Zhengfang made a report and asked to reduce her salary to 54 yuan a month.I keep 19 yuan for living expenses, and send 35 yuan a month to my mother in Shanghai.All the rest of the money will be handed over.However, the report was typed up, but no one dared to criticize it.The captain of the commune talked to her, saying that we know about your attitude, but we have no right to approve it.

Therefore, Zhang Zhengfang said: "I will take 54 yuan a month, and the remaining 190 yuan will be handed over to the production team to support agriculture. You can spend whatever you want. Whatever is beneficial to agriculture, you will Yes, I don’t want it.” The production team accepted the money.Until 1979, the money was returned to Zhang Zhengfang. Life is indeed too hard.My son is an educated youth and has no salary; I am sent down from the "May 7th Cadre School". I have no rations, no garden, no private land, and I have to rely on the 19 yuan a month salary for everything, which is often stretched. With hard work and hard work, Zhang Zhengfang won the trust of the villagers.Not only that, but everyone gradually treated her as a relative and gave her extra preferential treatment. She remembered that the fishermen in the commune were catching sea crabs in the sea at that time, and those crabs were bigger than a bowl and weighed several kilograms.The fishermen secretly cooked it on the boat and brought it to her.She didn't dare to ask for it, so the fisherman said: "You eat what you eat. The leaders don't know how much the fishermen call up, so they pay as much as they want." Zhang Zhengfang said with a smile: "Think about it optimistically. At that time, in Haiyanghong Commune, everyone Shrimp and crab, I am too old to eat." At that time, Zhang Zhengfang could only get 4 taels of oil a month, so he couldn't cook any good dishes.During the Chinese New Year, the folks will deep-fry all kinds of food, and then send them to her after frying. Speaking of these 4 taels of oil, there is another story. Because there is too little oil, Zhang Zhengfang only puts a little bit in every cooking.After serving up the vegetables, there was still a bottom fire in the fire pond, and there was still oil in the pot, so she added a little water to the oil pot and boiled it, and drank the oily water as soup.As a result, other "May 7th fighters" who were sent down reported it after discovering it.What's wrong with that?However, a large group of people drove over to criticize it, calling it "slandering socialism." "You drink pot-washing water like soup, is our socialism so miserable?" Zhang Zhengfang really couldn't laugh or cry. "So, only the masses are the real heroes," Zhang Zhengfang said with emotion. "They saw me working so hard and making clothes for them, so they treated me very well, and they were very reluctant when they left." She said I remember very clearly that all the 273 people in the team wore clothes made by her, and some villagers even had two or three.She stayed there for three years, sewing for the villagers almost every day under the oil lamp. After the "Lin Biao incident", the "People's Daily" published an editorial "Learn from past mistakes to avoid future ones, cure diseases and save patients" (April 24, 1972), calling for the correct implementation of the party's cadre policy and "liberating" a large number of veteran cadres, experts and professors.Zhang Zhengfang also returned to the Peking Opera Troupe under such a background. After returning to the city, the first thing she did was to provide electricity to Haiyanghong Commune.With her influence in Dandong City and spending some of her own money, the Bodhisattva Temple team of Haiyanghong Commune was finally able to use electricity.So far, the old people there remember this incident and are very grateful to her.