Chapter 47 Chapter VII

Snowing.The first snow since winter.The pure white snowflakes shyly and gracefully threw themselves into the embrace of the earth from the high night sky.After a while, the ground was completely covered by soft snow.In some low-lying places, the snow is about half a foot thick.For a moment, this gray town also became clean and elegant, like a girl in plain clothes, quite charming.The street lamps came on, and under the bright lights, the heavy, leaden grayness, the ubiquitous vulgarity, all disappeared in a white snow scene. At Fan Fulin's house, the Yanghe wine on the table of the Eight Immortals was unsealed, and the three leaders of the Third World gathered in the small room.At the head of the table sat the oldest Liu Fushou, on the left was the master Fan Fulin, and on the right was the nerd Qian, who was dragged here by Fan Hua.It's always embarrassing to be a guest empty-handed, and it's not tolerated by the town's customary etiquette. Liu Fushou's wife offered a bowl full of scrambled eggs for the banquet, and Qian Shuner also brought a bottle of red wine.

Wine was poured into the cups in front of everyone, and the alluring aroma of wine began to permeate the air.Fan Fulin's face was red, and he raised his glass as the host. "Seeing that the Chinese New Year is coming, everyone has nothing to do, please come and talk, talk, have fun. Come, do it, and talk after you finish it!" The wine glass was brought to the lips, but before it was poured into the mouth, at least the glass in Fan Fulin's hand was not poured into the mouth, the door rang, and someone knocked on the door. "Is Lao Fan at home?" Fan Fulin put down his glass and opened the door.

There is a tall snowman standing outside the door. "Who are you looking for?" "I'm looking for Lao Fan, Fan Fulin!" "You are--" "My surname is Zhao, Zhao Shuang!" "What? You...you are Zhao... Secretary Zhao?" "What? I don't know each other anymore? We're still fellow sufferers! We spent three months together in the cowshed, remember? Om?" Not too possible.Fan Fulin winked vigorously, and then took another look at the snowman in front of him.The snowman is tall, wide and fat, with a looming brown scar on his left cheek, an unpredictable light hiding in his two protruding eyes, and a mocking smile hanging on the corner of his generous mouth.

Yes, Trance is him.But what is he doing here?Could it be that this small town parent officer who just took office will be so affectionate to a small subject under his rule?Fan Fulin had some doubts in his heart. "Hey, sit inside! Sit inside!" Zhao Shuang shook the snow off her body and walked into the house. Liu Fushou, who was sitting opposite the door, hurriedly stood up, and his thin leg hit the table leg in a panic. He ignored the pain, and while grinning and inhaling, he pushed a warm smile on his cheek in time. "Oh, Secretary Zhao, hurry up, sit here! Sit here!"

"Oh, old Liu, Master Liu, are you here too? What? Are you still in good shape?" "It's okay! It's okay! Thank you secretary for thinking about it! I was just saying, I'm celebrating the new year tomorrow, and I will go to see you with Lao Fan!" As he said that, Liu Fushou courteously pulled Zhao Shuang to the upper seat, as if he was the master here. Zhao Shuang stood still. "Secretary Zhao, hey, you, hey, do you want to drink?" "Drink some more? What do you mean? When I came to this small town, I didn't even drink a drop of wine!"

Fan Fulin was a little embarrassed. "You...you're not from Ruan...Mr. Ruan's house?" "What am I going to do at his house? Worship the land? I am not the secretary for him!" Fan Fulin was startled, but immediately realized that the smile on his face became more and more moving.The opportunity must not be missed, the time will never come again, taking advantage of his rare time to go down to earth, I have to mention the matter of the house.Damn it, let's talk about whether there is a date or not. "Hey, I know you, Secretary Zhao. Others don't know, but I don't know? You never take the surname Ruan! You, smack... Everyone... Hey, everyone respects you! So, As soon as I heard that you came back to work here again, I immediately went to the town committee to look for you, thinking in my heart that there must be a master Qingtian in our town! Hey, old brother Liu, did I say that?"

"Yes! Yes! You just praised Secretary Zhao for his clarity!" Liu Fushou gave Fan Fulin a favor. Zhao Shuang smiled, every muscle on his face was moving. "You want to pester me? Oh?! Old Fan, you are a famous figure in Liuwa Town now!" Zhao Shuang sat down on the bed beside Qian Shunery.Liu Fushou endured the pain in his leg and set the wine glass and chopsticks for him. In front of Zhao Shuang, the wine glass was scalded twice with hot water to show his piety.In his opinion, it is his honor to have such an emperor-like distinguished guest in the Fan family. Qian Shuner was a little numb, his indifferent face showed little expression, let alone excitement, let alone excitement.When Zhao Shuang sat down on the edge of the bed, he didn't even move his buttocks.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Shuang knew him. "Are you Xiaoqian? A technician in the lighter factory?" "Yes, how do you know?" "Many people have talked to me about you, saying that in order not to close down the lighter factory, you are studying to modify the existing equipment and switch production! Well, young man, you are capable!" The nerd rolled his eyelids. "What's the use of being capable? Here, slaves are more popular than talents!" "Hey, hey, Xiaoqian, don't say that, Secretary Zhao is here to take the helm, just wait, when you can show your talents! Come, let's have a drink!"

"Drink, drink!" Fan Fulin also yelled, "Secretary Zhao, hey, look, what are you drinking?" Zhao Shuang glanced at Fan Fulin, and immediately found many false things on his thin face, and these false things also coexisted on Liu Fushou's face.He felt a fit of embarrassment.He didn't know, since when did the morals of this small town degenerate into this state, and people's reverence for power reached such an unforgettable level!In the past few days, when he appeared in this small town society as a secretary of the town committee, he could see this pious hypocrisy, artificial enthusiasm, and hard-pressed smiling face almost everywhere.

He lit a cigarette and pushed his wine glass aside: "Old Fan, don't call me secretary, you still think I'm in the cowshed, we are equal!" "Hey, secretary, you, hey, you are joking. I also know that you were wronged at the time, hey, you, please don't get me wrong. Back then, I didn't report you. The one who reported you was a pig Damn it, I'm ignoring him now!" Zhao Shuang wants to cry, wants to cry well!When did our people become like this?Why did it become like this? ! Only three days after taking office, he felt like a piece of lead was stuffed in his heart.For three days, he traveled to every corner of the town, and what he saw and heard shocked him.It has been several years since the "Gang of Four" was smashed, but the sky over this land is still shrouded in heavy clouds.The vandals and rebels still hold part of the power in this small town. They rely on Ruan Shijie as a deep-rooted backer, and even dare to attack the Third Plenary Session in public without being punished.In front of the poker stand in front of the post office, in the storytelling hall in Dawazi, vulgar, still like an invisible monarch, ruled this land.Looking at those retired old workers sitting in the sun catching lice and rubbing the soles of their shoes, his eyes were red, and he felt ashamed.

He shook his head, picked up his glass, and drank it down. "Old Fan, I've heard all about you. In fact, they knew they had made a mistake ten years ago. At least they knew that you were not a colonel. You could tell your rank from that photo. But they did it out of political needs. , If you insist on making mistakes, you will be wronged, and you have been wronged for so many years!" "Oh? Is there such a thing?" "After the Third Plenary Session, they couldn't resist the pressure from above and rehabilitated you, but they didn't give you any help in life. This is wrong. I have formally notified the housing management office this afternoon to reassign you a house. You are a construction worker, a seven-level bricklayer, and you have built houses for our town all your life, and based on this alone, you should be given a decent house!" Fan Fulin was stunned, he took a bite of the dish and forgot to chew it.This... is this true?Is this what the party secretary of the town committee said?Is the world really going to change?Is there a real person born in this small town?He was half-believing, half-believing, he raised his eyes slightly, stared closely at Zhao Shuang's face, trying to find some flaws in that face.However, no, that face was full of sincerity and affection. "Secretary Zhao, no, Lao Zhao, is this true?" Zhao Shuang nodded. There was a hot flash in his heart, like a fire passing through, and a surge of electricity rolling through.The eye sockets were a little wet, the eyelashes were a little sticky, and his vision gradually became blurred. Zhao Shuang's face split into two for a moment, and both Zhao Shuang were smiling at him equally. "Old Fan, my old comrade, don't look at me like that, I feel bad too!" The smile on Zhao Shuang's face faded, and the corners of his mouth trembled. "It is not the Communist Party, at least not the real Communist Party, that prevents you from being serious and dignified! The 'Gang of Four' was smashed, but their foundation has not completely disappeared. We have to separate our party from them. Messed up my head!" Two drops of old tears unknowingly rolled out of the eye sockets, along the base of the nose, and slowly trickled down to the corners of the mouth.Fan Fulin wiped it away and nodded vigorously.He felt that he was dreaming, a long-awaited dream. "I want to criticize you too!" "Say it, old Zhao, tell it! I... I'm listening!" "In the past, the society treated you unfairly, but this shouldn't be the reason for you to give up on yourself and play with the society! Let's calm down and think about it, how did we get here in the past few years, are you worthy? We have no responsibility at all. Is it that easy to be a human?!" Fan Fulin couldn't bear it anymore, and grabbed Zhao Shuang's hand. "Old Zhao, you...you... scold me, beat me up, beat me up! Look at me, I don't look like a human being! Even a good son is blinded by me! I...I ...I regret it too!" Zhao Shuang sighed and said again: "Yes, our life can no longer go on like this. It's time for us to put an end to yesterday's days of immortality. This time I will return to the town to take charge of the work. I have a plan to save our place. Get rid of it, and sweep all the vulgar things left over from history to the garbage dump! We want to write a proud page for the chronicle of this town, and let future generations know that we did not live in vain, we did Something! Old Fan, you, a seventh-level bricklayer, should also stand up and contribute some strength, and lead our hundreds of unemployed young people to form a construction team to build a decent club for our Liuwa Town. We can’t see our seniors catching lice and wearing stinky shoes on the street with their bare backs. I’ve already told the Youth League Committee that young League members also come to the construction site in their spare time to attack!” "That's great!" Liu Fushou said, "If that's the case, I'll be one of them." "Old Fan, do you want to do it?" "Is...do you even need to ask? Old Zhao, as long as you say it, I...I will do it!" "Okay! Let's drink, come, toast, this is called concentric wine!" Several glasses filled with wine were raised at the same time... After a few glasses of wine, Fan Fulin became a little dizzy, and everything in front of him became in a trance.But his heart was still very clear, and he thought of Ruan Shijie again, and he couldn't help but feel a little worried in his kind heart, worrying for Zhao Shuang: If he doesn't buy Ruan Shijie's account, can he stand firm in the small town? ... Thinking about others is not in line with sloppy philosophy. The basic definition of sloppy philosophy is that the self is the axis.But today, he thought of someone else, which was another real improvement. "Old Zhao, don't you really want to go and see Ruan Shijie? He's at the first door of this house!" "Let's go another day! I have received many letters from people suing him, so I have to talk to him!" "What? Does anyone dare to sue him?" "Don't believe it? There is one of you here!" "Who?" "Small money!" Fan Fulin was excited: "Come on, Xiaoqian, let me toast you. You are stronger than my old Fan. If you follow my example, we will never be human!" Bookworm Qian took the wine and drank it down: "Did I say it a long time ago, have confidence! I don't believe that our party can't deal with him. I have paid attention to his words and deeds of forming cliques and opposing the Third Plenary Session of the Central Committee." , I made a note in my heart!" "Good! Good! It's time to settle the bill with them!" Fan Fulin staggered to his feet and shouted, "Fan Hua, fire the cannon! Let's celebrate the New Year early!" "Bah! Bah! Bah..." Firecrackers exploded in the night sky.A string of lights, a string of laughter.Confetti with the smell of gunpowder is accompanied by flying snowflakes, floating in the air... The sound of firecrackers alarmed all the residents of this house. Liu Fushou's wife, Qian Shuji's wife, all poked their heads out of their own doors. Ruan Shijie also opened the door and took a look. His face was still so majestic, but with a little more doubt and confusion.Suddenly, he saw a familiar face in the bursting firelight, a face that should appear in his home tonight, his heart tightened, and he felt in a daze that something seemed to change in this small town, no, it had already happened Something has changed... "Old Ruan, sit here!" It seemed that the face was speaking.He ignored it, and slammed the door shut, how he wanted to keep the change out forever!The explosion of the firecrackers disappeared, and there was a frightening silence for a while. He collapsed on the sofa and never wanted to get up again.A faint sadness hit his old and poor heart. He felt that he was old, really old, and he would die as soon as he closed his eyes. No!He struggled to sit up, put his majesty on his face, and ordered his wife in an irrefutable tone: "Go, pack my things for me, tomorrow, I'm going to the city!" ………… The snow is still floating, drifting from the deep sky to the solid ground, one after another, silently, as if covering the sleeping town with a thick quilt.The town sleeps peacefully, it is dreaming about tomorrow...