Chapter 11 Chapter Ten: The Secret of "The Empress of the West Palace"

In late July, the sky was clear and blue, and there were no clouds in the sky.In the field at noon in midsummer, the golden rice is swaying, and with the slight breeze, the fragrant rice fragrance is blown.The production team members of the cooperative are busy harvesting happily under the scorching sun. The female production team leader, Liang Guifang, was at the forefront.The other production team members were not far behind, and they were racing one by one.Only "The Empress of the West Palace" fell to the last, cutting the rice with difficulty and sickle after sickle. While everyone was busy giving birth, Li Wenbin, the township clerk, came from the village wearing a straw hat and barefoot.Aunt Qiu cut a handful of rice, and as soon as she straightened up, she saw Li Wenbin walking on the field.So Aunt Qiu said jokingly, "Certificate, are you looking for Guifang again?"

"No, Mrs. Qiu." Li Wenbin said with a smile, "The township chief asked me to go to the mountains to investigate the way of sideline production." He went into the mountains while talking. Although Liang Guifang saw Li Wenbin coming, she pretended not to see it, because she was still a little dissatisfied with the letter, so she ignored him and was busy cutting the rice with her waist down. Not long after Li Wenbin left, the production team began to rest, and everyone went to the woods beside the mountain to enjoy the coolness and have lunch.Only "Empress Xigong" walked behind, twisting and twisting or walking slowly.

When Qiu Xiaoe saw the appearance of "Miss Xigong", she sarcastically said to the production team members: "Hey, you see, 'Miss Xigong' cannot walk without a sedan chair." After hearing Xiao'e's words, everyone looked at the ugly face of "Mistress Xigong" and laughed. "Empress Xigong" is about forty years old, and her scorched face is covered with freckles.In the past, when I was a wife, even though I applied an inch of face powder on my face, it still couldn't cover her flaws.Now that the production is being supervised, I dare not wear face powder anymore, so the freckles appear darker and denser.Seeing that everyone was laughing at her, she stared at her triangular eyes hanging down from both sides, and sat aside to eat without saying anything.

She just vomited after eating half a bowl of rice.Liang Guifang hurried up to her and asked, "What's the matter? Are you sick?" "Empress Xigong" grinned her wide lips, covered her stomach with her hands, sat on the ground, and said weakly: "Oh! I feel a little uncomfortable..." "Then go home and rest!" Liang Guifang said with concern as the production team leader. "Oh, how can I have the nerve to rest when I'm so busy with childbirth?" Nishinomiya said dutifully. "If you are sick, of course you should rest. As long as you work hard and reform yourself seriously, we will take care of you when you are sick." Liang Guifang said solemnly.

"Oh, I can thank you all!" Nishinomiya nodded and said while walking away. After "Nishimiya Niangniang" left, the production team started discussing again.Some said how she used to sit in a sedan chair, some said that she had been a little dishonest recently, complaining that she didn't have enough food every day, and some said that when she joined the labor force, she either had a stomachache or a pain in the buttocks. While everyone was talking, Aunt Qiu pulled Liang Guifang aside and said in a low voice, "Guifang, you are young and ignorant. According to Auntie, there is nothing wrong with 'Nishigong Niangniang'."

"She won't vomit even if she pretends to be sick?" "Hey, silly boy, what do you know?" Aunt Qiu said with a smile, "I think this shameless woman is dishonest and stole a wild man! Didn't you see that her belly is getting bigger day by day, and she vomits at every turn? What is it if you are not pregnant with a child?" Liang Guifang suddenly woke up and laughed. At around nine o'clock in the evening, there was a sudden thunder and lightning, and heavy rain poured down. The cold air immediately drove away the sweltering heat, and the room felt cooler immediately.

Liang Shouzheng, secretary of the general branch, asked his daughter and wife to sit at the door and watch, telling them not to allow anyone to come in casually.If someone comes to see you, just say that there is a meeting in the house and refuse to meet. In the inner room sat Liang Shouzheng, the village chief Li Anping, and an old man in his fifties with a black beard and a worn straw hat.Wearing a shabby green cloth short jacket and trousers, and a pair of straw sandals on his feet.This "old man" is not someone else.It was Zhao Yong, the head of the reconnaissance section.He was afraid of alarming the enemy, so he disguised himself and came to the village to meet Liang Shouzheng and Li Anping.

After Liang Shouzheng made a detailed report on the recent discovery to Section Chief Zhao, Section Chief Zhao said with great interest: "You have done a good job, and you have discovered the 'secret' of 'Nishigong Niangniang', which is very valuable." Section Chief Zhao touched the fake beard with his thumb and index finger, smiled, and continued: "According to your investigation, 'Nishigong Niangniang' didn't commit adultery with anyone at all, so where did the child in her belly come from? Possibly a 'ghost fetus'?" Liang Shouzheng and Li Anping both laughed when they heard this.

"I think Cai Gang is still here." Section Chief Zhao said with a positive tone. "Then why didn't he find it after searching his house several times during the land reform and suppression of counter-revolutionaries?" Li Anping asked suspiciously. "Yes, it has been eight years since Liberation, and the masses have demanded the elimination of counter-revolutionaries. I don't know how many times Aunt Qiu came to the township government, asking the government to arrest Cai Gang so that she can avenge her. In order to find out Cai Gang's whereabouts, Mr. Wan Changshou, I even went to Fujian to investigate, but I haven't even seen his soul! Where can he stay?" Liang Shouzheng was also surprised.

"I think our investigation work is still not deep enough. Either find out the wild man of 'Nishigong Niangniang', explaining that she was conceived by adultery, or Cai Gang is hiding somewhere, secretly going home and sleeping with his wife I just got pregnant. Otherwise, how could it make sense?" Section Chief Zhao further gave Liang Shouzheng and Li Anping some enlightenment. "Yes, it makes sense." Liang Shouzheng said in agreement. "My opinion is to assign special personnel to secretly monitor Empress Xigong, and there will always be some problems." Section Chief Zhao said to Liang Shouzheng.

"Okay, I will definitely find a way to arrange someone to monitor her." Liang Shouzheng said firmly. "Is there any activity for Yang Mazi?" Section Chief Zhao asked. "This guy doesn't leave the door all day long, doesn't go out the second door, and sits at home pretending to be a good person." Liang Shouzheng said. "Be careful! The enemy's activities are quite covert. Don't think that he is honest on the surface, but he may be engaged in some criminal activities behind his back." Section Chief Zhao turned around and asked Li Anping, "How is his nephew Li Wenbin?" ?” "I don't see anything suspicious. I asked him to go to the mountains this morning to investigate the sideline production, and he will be back after dinner," Li Anping said. After hearing what Li Anping had said, Section Chief Zhao immediately said to Li Anping kindly: "Old Li, don't ask him to run around outside in the future. This will make it easier for us to control and monitor him." Section Chief Zhao made some explanations, and then asked Liang Shouzheng if he had talked to Guifang about Li Wenbin.Liang Shouzheng said that he was going to talk to her, but he was afraid that the child would be emotional and cause problems. Section Chief Zhao looked at Liang Shouzheng and said, "You are right to be cautious, but if you don't talk to Guifang, if Guifang doesn't know how to be vigilant, it will be even worse. You should go to her as the party secretary and her father." Let’s talk about it.” He paused and said, “You should always be vigilant and not be paralyzed. As for whether Li Wenbin is an enemy, I have sent Comrade Han Lizhong to Guangdong to investigate his background and see what the results of the investigation are.” "Have you figured out Yang Mazi's origin?" Liang Shouzheng asked. "The Public Security Bureau sent a letter to Shimen, Hunan Province to investigate. According to the reply: 'There is no such person.' I also asked Han Lizhong to go to the local area to investigate in person with Yang Mazi's photo." Section Chief Zhao stood up after speaking. : "It's getting late, I'm leaving." "It's still raining outside, let's leave later!" Both Liang Shouzheng and Li Anping wanted to keep Section Chief Zhao. Section Chief Zhao said with a smile, "Lend me an umbrella. I can get out of the village while it's raining. No one else will see me." Liang Shouzheng brought an umbrella to Section Chief Zhao.Then he smiled and said, "Do you want to meet Comrade Li?" "No, it's very inconvenient, and there's nothing important." Section Chief Zhao took out a letter from his pocket, handed it to Liang Shouzheng, and said, "Give it to Aunt Qiu or Xiao'e when you find a chance, and ask her to send it to you." Give this letter to Li Ping." After finishing speaking, Section Chief Zhao left with an umbrella. After Section Chief Zhao left, Liang Shouzheng asked Li Anping to sit down, and said calmly, "Old Li, Section Chief Zhao seems to have some opinions on your assignment of Li Wenbin to the mountains." "An opinion? What's your opinion? Is it wrong for me to engage in sideline production and to increase the income of the company?" Li Anping had some opinions in his heart these days, and when he heard what Liang Shouzheng said, he said it out of nowhere. : "You are the party secretary. You work on cases every day and don't concentrate on production. If the production fails in the future, the agency will be ruined. I think who is responsible?" "Who is responsible? I am responsible! We are all responsible!" Liang Shouzheng was a little annoyed when Li Anping contradicted him. I am also a secretary, and if there are conflicts among comrades, they should be resolved through criticism and self-criticism.So he tried his best to control his emotions, but his voice was still a little excited and said: "Old Li!... You care about production and society, I know that, but now there are counter-revolutionaries who are sabotaging our production and construction. If we don’t eliminate them, can production be done well?” Li Anping saw that Liang Shouzheng's attitude had eased, and his anger dissipated a little. He knew that there was no way to quarrel with Liang Shouzheng, because Liang Shouzheng was like cotton in front of comrades, and he wouldn't get hard if he beat him.So Li Anping didn't argue anymore.He just lowered his head and smoked "Bah, bang".Liang Shouzheng saw that Li Anping was silent, so he said kindly: "Old Li, the county party committee has repeatedly instructed us to be vigilant. We have a problem here again, so we can't be paralyzed anymore!" He thought for a while before saying "Of course, I pay less attention to production these days, and your criticism of me is right, but if the counter-revolutionaries are not wiped out, our production will also be destroyed. Let me see it this way: you should take more care Production, I will do more case-solving work, isn’t this a good production and a good fight against the enemy? What do you think?” "Okay!" Li Anping stood up and said to Liang Shouzheng, "It's late, I'm going to bed with you." Then he left. After Section Chief Zhao came out of Liang Shouzheng's house, he was holding an umbrella and was about to walk out of the village in the rain when he ran into Li Wenbin.Li Wenbin saw an old man walking towards the road of the district government, and doubts arose in his heart. Why would anyone go to the district when it is so dark?Ever since Li Wenbin killed Song Dawu, his heart has always been uneasy. These days, it is really the same as when he just returned to the mainland from Hong Kong. Everyone he meets seems to be watching him, and he always feels fear in his heart.But sometimes he would comfort himself and think: This is the kind of neurosensitivity left to him when he was trained in the spy training class... Even though he thinks this way, this cunning guy still has a good understanding of all the problems he encounters. Investigate and confirm until your suspicions are resolved.Therefore, he smiled and asked Section Chief Zhao: "Master, where are you going so late?" "Ah? I'm from Shannan Township. I'm going to see the girl. I'm too busy during the day to give birth, so I have to go all night." Section Chief Zhao replied in the voice of an old man, and walked over in a calm manner. Li Wenbin saw that it was raining heavily, and what the "old man" said made sense, so he didn't have anything else to say, so he went home.