Chapter 14 election

The village chief died, and a new village chief had to be elected. The election of the village head is very solemn, and the head of the village personally leads the battle.The township head and the village head have some relatives.It's nothing, but the village head promised the teenage girl to the township head boy baby.The head of the township was originally a farmer, and his family lived deep in the mountains, so it was not easy for children to find a wife. The village head said: "Book my daughter to your baby." The head of the township said: "Wow." That's it.The township head bought some city clothes for the village head's girl, and the girl wore them.Right now, the village chief is standing in front of the village chief's grave, smoking.fog

steamy.It was cold, and the smoke slowly rose in the cold.There was no sun, and the sky was dim.The grave of the village head is still fresh, but the smell of the loess has faded.The village chief died more than a month ago. The town chief stood there for a while, dropped his cigarette butt, wringed it out with his toes in front of the grave, took out a letter from his pocket, read it, and said: "I'll give you my wish." No one knew what happened. The village chief's woman, Li Gui's son, and the widow's child were taken away by the village police for no reason, and then released for no reason, all thanks to this letter.

The letter said, Mayor Zhang, I will die when you read this letter; I can't stand the pain, and I'm afraid someone will laugh when I'm in pain. Seeing people laugh, I might as well die suddenly by myself.My own death would scare the villagers and make them less happy for a while.I'm dead, I ask you two things, one is not to let my woman remarry, you must try to stop her, I can't let others use my woman.The second is that my eldest is twenty-seven years old and can read and write. You must let him be the village head, so that I have worked with the Communist Party for nothing.I also closed my eyes in peace of mind.

The township head held a half-monthly meeting in the county to deepen rural reforms, so he sat in the county government's limousine and visited the south for more than ten days.After returning, when he opened the door, he saw the letter stuffed into the room through the crack of the door, lying on his back, covered with thick dust.After dismantling it, I hurriedly took the phone to ask, and wept on the phone, thinking: People, if you say you will die, you will die. A month or so ago, the two of them went to the township health center side by side, talking and laughing. The village head said, "Give our village a few tons of fertilizer."

The head of the township said: "The family planning work in your village is the worst." The village head said, "Didn't you see me scolding her ancestors at the gate of the superbirth household?" The mayor said: "I know you let that woman go first and then scolded her... The village head laughed, and the town head laughed too.Before the laughter dies away, the person dies.After returning from the grave, the path on the mountain ridge was twisted and tortuous, unable to carry many thoughts of the mayor.The township head thought of the many advantages of the village head, and felt that there was no village cadre in the whole town who was more capable than the village head.The roads in the county are repaired to the villages.The cemeteries are not smooth, and the farmers will not let them.There was a section of the road where the village head was in command to repair it. When the grave was crossed on this beam, the whole village sat still in the graveyard and had to suspend work. They had no choice but to ask the village head to come forward.The village head walked around in front of the villagers at the cemetery and said:

"Anyone who doesn't want to move the grave can do it. Pay me to invite the village cadres to have a meal—one table for one grave." The graves were all moved, and the road and river passed the mountain ridge smoothly.The head of the township stepped into the road on Liangshang from the small road, and stood by the side of the road for a while, looking at the man. The road was gray and gray, twisting and turning like a puff of smoke and dust in the cold weather, taking shape with objects, and touching the scene to create emotion. The township chief sighed and slowly entered the village.The oldest person in the village is Erye.The second master is seventy-one years old, in good health, and he is no worse than a human being when he walks long distances.The seniority is the highest, even Li Gui wants to call him uncle.The township head bought two catties of biscuits in a red box from a small shop in the village, which was auspicious, and brought them to the second master's house.The second master was warming up the fire in the house. When he saw a stranger coming, he said it was the village head. He was shocked, so he hurriedly gave up his seat and cooked poached eggs.The mayor is approachable.I had a long talk with the second master, asking about the cold and warm, and finally the mayor said:

"I really want you to come out and be the village chief." The second master was even more surprised: "You are joking." The mayor said, "It's not a joke, but it's a pity that you are old." At this time, the eldest child of the village head's family brought a bag of chemical fertilizer into the house and put it behind the door, saying that there are guests, Er Ye, I will send you a bag of chemical fertilizer, so don't ask others to leave behind. The door is bought, but it cannot be bought.I will buy it for you when there is not enough fertilizer for spring wheat.The second master went to the house to withdraw money.The village chief's son threw the money on the ground and said angrily:

"Second Master, you don't see me as your grandson!" The second master picked up the money in a daze. The son of the village head went out. The mayor said: "Who's child is smart and capable." The second master said, "You don't know the village chief's family?" The head of the township said: "I don't know him well, Jingchang is so old." He also said: "It is best to choose the village chief, who is young and willing to do things for the villagers." The second master said: "He is really suitable. He has seen the world with his father."

The head of the township said: "How can you choose him?" The second master said: "Yes, I can do it if I say yes." The mayor had a meal at Erye's house, talked a lot with Erye, and left.In the next few days, every customer in the village got a bag of food that they could not buy. Japanese urea bought from the back door.They were all bought with the help of the village chief's son.In the next few days, the mayor not only went to Er Ye's house, but also went to many other houses to promote democracy and get the villagers to cast a sacred vote.In the next few days, all the houses that the mayor went to were the second master's first visit, or they were called away by the second master's messenger to say something.No matter where the township head went, he said that no one could be trusted by others. People with the surname Li accounted for two-quarters of the village. A person with a different surname should be chosen as the village head, even if you choose a person with the surname Li, it is best not to choose the head of the village head's family, so as not to make people feel that it is hereditary.And so on.Everyone in the village said that the village head is fair, not the kind of person who bends the law for personal gain, and he seemed to have a good relationship with the village head in the past, but now that the village head is dead, it turns out that the relationship between them is also very ordinary.Otherwise, how to mobilize the villagers not to choose the son of the village head?

The election day is at the end of the month, after noon, when the sun is flat and south.All villagers over the age of eighteen came.In fact, all those under the age of eighteen also came.The children ran around the world at the venue.The sun is yellow and warm, and the opposite mountain ridge undulates into a row of hunchbacks.The meeting place is set in the dining ground in the village, a large piece of land is flat and flat. In the past, cattle and sheep were tied here, but now it has become a dining ground and a meeting place.At the flat east end, there are two tables and a stool, which is the venue.The people of the four natural villages are all gathered here, sitting in a crowd.Before the election, the head of the township spoke about the legal system, democracy, etc., which are often mentioned in various meetings.Finally the names of the candidates were proposed.Among the candidates, there is only one surnamed Li, and three people with foreign surnames.The township head read out the list of candidates, and everyone surnamed Li in the village was outraged.Of the four candidates, three have foreign surnames, but only half of the villagers have foreign surnames.However, they could only remain silent.Candidates have conditions. First, they must be under the age of 40, and second, their wives must have been sterilized according to family planning.Moreover, this condition was not set by the mayor, it was read from the document.If a person surnamed Li meets this condition, he is the head of the village chief's family.Besides, it's really fortunate that the elder of the village chief's family had his wife stabbed a few days ago, otherwise, there would not even be a candidate for this.After reading the list of candidates, the head of the township put four bowls on the table, with the names of the candidates written on each bowl, and distributed a grain of peanuts to each of the villagers, whoever agreed to be the head of the village would be given peanuts. Whose bowl is the rice thrown into?In order to prevent fraud, the head of the town invited the respected second master to come to the stage to supervise. All villagers over the age of 18 must throw it once, but one person must not throw two pills.

When it was over, the mayor shouted: "Now the election begins, let's throw it all away." The sun is warm, but it feels very cold.Second Master was sitting on the stage, with a silvery white beard shining brightly in the sunlight.No one moved at the venue, Er Ye coughed After spitting, the granddaughter went to put a sheepskin coat on him, and threw a grain into the bowl of the village head's boss.The peanuts are big and full, bright red and shiny, and they jingle when they roll from the side of the bowl to the bottom of the bowl. It all started to get lost. The first ones who were thrown away one after another were all people of mixed surnames. They lined up, or here and there, the situation was grim and clear, and none of them were thrown into people with the surname Li. bowl.It's not good if things are like this, and this has aroused the blood of the people surnamed Li.People surnamed Li would naturally not throw peanuts into bowls of people surnamed other people.Besides, the second master's gaze is rare, Lee.Cold, unblinking, every person surnamed Li who went to throw peanuts became cold under that gaze, threw peanuts into the bowl of the village chief's son in a panic, and walked away eagerly. Come down and be silent for a long time.There are also people who want to throw a grain in their hands into the bowl of a foreigner, such as Li Gui, but they take a look at the second master on stage, and the second master says: "Gui, go and close my coffin in a few days." Li Gui responded, and threw the peanuts into the village head's son's bowl.The village head's son has a bowl in the center, and there is already half a bowl in the bowl.Fried enough for the next meal Woolen cloth.There were not many in the bowl of the foreign surname, and they were scattered in three bowls, three grains and two grains, which was pitiful and obvious. Speaking up.There was only one person surnamed Li who threw peanuts into the bowls of other surnames regardless of the second master's gaze, and that was the village chief's woman.When the second master was gouging her with his eyes, she said, second master, you are in good health today, and because of my filial piety, I didn't take care of you.Saying this, he threw that peanut into someone's bowl in public.No one knew that the name on the bowl was the one she was going to marry. The second master looked helplessly at her. However, in the end, the son of the village head was elected to succeed the village head.The peanuts in the bowl, chosen by the public, far exceed the three white bowls of miscellaneous surnames. The number of peanuts, the announcement of the election of the surname Li, there was sporadic applause in the venue, sparse, and the filming was very ironic and desolate.However, after all, everything was expected, and the village chief invited the son of the village chief to give a few inaugural speeches.The village chief's son also stood on the stage in a dignified manner, talking about the village and urged to raise funds and collective project food.Please hand over the grain money to the village committee tomorrow.He explained that after breakfast the next day at 8:30, he was waiting at the village committee to register for the scale. The meeting is over. It's cold and people walk very fast.The mayor walked last, left the meeting place and turned a corner, and saw a group of old people and men standing in a mess, all of them were mixed surnames in the natural village.The head of the township walked over, sighed to everyone, and said: "I really didn't expect the election to turn out like this." Among the crowd of mixed surnames, an old man in his sixties knelt in front of the village head and said: "Satisfied, if your township head honors us with a foreign surname, we will burn incense." Helping the old man up in a hurry, he sent the crowd to the beam. When saying goodbye, the crowd of mixed surnames knelt down and kowtowed to the head of the township.Watching them gradually disappear on the beam, the village chief turned and went to the village chief's house.The village chief's woman and the township chief knew each other well, and when they met, they naturally said that life was unpredictable and that life and death were unpredictable. If you are the village head, your life will be easier after all. No one dares to walk around in front of the door just because you are a widow, so let your children live a good life. The village head's woman said nothing, and went to cook a few dishes for the village head, and warmed half a catty of wine. After the town head and the new village head drank and ate, they were about to leave the village.A jeep came to pick him up. The mayor said he would bid farewell to the village chief's grave, and walked to the grave.Accompanied by the village head's woman and son, the jeep was parked on the side of the road, and they all watched the village head walk slowly to the village head's grave, stood silently for a while, took out the letter, lit a match, knelt down and burned it. up.Fire is golden, brightening graveyard glazing on gray winter days.The mayor said: "I did as you said, don't worry, I will marry my little daughter away in three to five years, and I won't lose her. It's time to close my eyes. I'm here in the world." The fire went out. The mayor got up and patted the ashes, got in the car and left.