Chapter 6 1976--1996

Li Furong stretched out a trembling hand and took off the "commissioner" oxygen mask, which forever determined her fate for the rest of her life. Among the last batch of documents signed by the "commissioner" before handing over the important responsibilities and missions that he had assumed for a long time, was a list of important counter-revolutionaries drawn up by relevant departments to be arrested and brought to justice. The "commissioner" scratched out the three characters "Li Furong" from the top, and the pen slipped from his fingers.The people next to him hurriedly helped him adjust his posture, and lay on his back on the sick bed again.It took him a long time to open his eyes, which were closed due to pain, and tell the reason why he crossed out "Li Furong": "Forget it. A yellow-haired girl."

This was more than a year after Li Furong took off his oxygen mask.Li Furong's final recklessness was not so much a serious damage to his health as a psychological blow to him.When he retired from the front line and leaned back on the bed every day, dictating his memoirs to his wife, his conclusion about Li Furong was that this was one of the most tragic failures in his entire political career.Yet it was not just a personal failure of his. Li Furong, who was isolated and introspected during the entire investigation process, was naturally defeated when the county party committee was re-elected, and was assigned to the county people's congress as director, retaining only the county level.The county people's congress is in charge of the daily work by a deputy director, who is very capable and has a good theoretical level. He does not need manuscripts for meetings, and it takes half a day to talk.Li Furong couldn't intervene, so she could only sit with her.After sitting like this for a few years, the man retired and felt that being in the county was meaningless, so he insisted on going back to Li Bawan's old house and forced Li Furong to go back with him to cook.Li Furong was under the retirement age, so she still made a report.Just in time for the reelection of the county people's congress, the higher authorities did not recommend her as a candidate for the next director of the people's congress.

Li Furong followed the man back to Li Bawan.When I first came back, Xie Zhen was the mayor.She visited Li Furong several times in Li Bawan. Xie Zhen graduated from junior high school in the provincial capital in 1965, responded to the call to participate in rural socialist construction, and chose Li Bawan, a place where rabbits don't shit.For this reason, the provincial newspapers made a lot of publicity.After a few days, I realized that she could still write good articles. The article on her experience of "living in a hut with the world in mind, stepping on the mud and seeing the world" in the provincial newspaper was written by herself, and she never wanted a reporter. Ghostwriting, and you don't need to change a word, you can post it.This is really like a phoenix flying into a chicken coop. Li Furong, the mayor of the town at the time, naturally valued it very much, and the town government would often give her compensation for lost work, and lent her to the town to write about using three pockets of dung and three stones to defeat Dixiu. Anti-summary, report, news report.Xie Zhen is also good-looking and quiet. With her present, when making tea, or taking notes, the superiors or reporters listening to the reports are always full of interest, and they are very straightforward in expressing their opinions. They are all good words to affirm the achievements. "It's lucky to have such a gold pen holder!" Li Furong often sighed sincerely.She understood the importance of public opinion in theory: people are the same, things are the same, and it makes a big difference whether to publicize or not.There is a piece of meat in the mouth, red on the left and green on the right.

Li Furong proposed at the town party committee meeting that Xie Zhen should be trained as a successor, and everyone agreed.But as soon as it was transferred outside, reed flowers appeared.Xie Zhen was not originally called Xie Zhen. Her biological father was a rightist who died on the farm during the labor reform period.Later, her mother took her to remarry a worker named Xie.Li Furong and the others were very angry, and complained that the provincial newspaper was irresponsible, and for the sake of propaganda, they described the daughters of the rightists as daughters of the working class.

Of course, Xie Zhen did not take it as his successor, even the golden pen holder could not be made anymore, so he had to live in a thatched hut with peace of mind, stepping on the mud, and lived in Li Bawan for more than ten years.It was not until 1977 that he was admitted to a branch of the Provincial Agricultural College in the special area, studied for two years in junior college, was assigned to the county agricultural bureau, and was selected as a leading cadre echelon to train at the grassroots level.Because I am familiar with Li Bawan, this grassroots was chosen in a small town.Xie Zhen thus became the third female mayor.

After Xie Zhen left office, no town cadre came to Li Furong's door again.Many years have passed, not to mention the counties, provinces, even small towns, few people remember Li Furong.The cadres in the town changed from group to group, and occasionally someone talked about the past in the town, and when they mentioned Li Furong, it felt like they were talking about characters from the Three Kingdoms.Li Furong fell back to the ground like a fresh, shiny leaf, and soon disappeared without a sound. But Li Furong herself couldn't stay idle.The two daughters have long been working and married, and both live in the city.The man lost his previous anger, and spent his days with a few disgraced old restaurants, buried in low-quality cigarettes, alcohol, and tattered and dirty cards.Fortunately, the bet is not big, just being poor and having fun, so as not to ruin the family.Li Furong was still full of energy, she couldn't sleep for a few hours a day and felt that she had to get up and move around, busy with other things.But there are only two people, she is not busy enough.Three meals and a litter of chickens are just ironed and pasted, and they will be bored.The house in the country has adobe walls, but it is tall and empty. Sitting in it alone, one would feel panic, and often miss the days of going to work, holding meetings, listening to reports and talking to others.That day is not far away, it seems like yesterday.After so many years, she still has a faint feeling that that day will start from scratch tomorrow.This hope is naturally slim.Year after year, except for the two daughters and grandchildren who come back to Li Bawan after a long time, no one needs her anymore.Just review yourself and feel that you have not done something useful to others.Her personnel establishment is in the county, so it is inconvenient for her to participate in the activities of retired veteran cadres in the town.The retired old cadres in the town don't have any activities, just like their own men, wiping cards, playing chess or squatting on the wall to bask in the sun.She calculated carefully and found that there were several people in the same situation as her in Li Bawan, so she went to connect with them and organized a "service group for the elderly" to help the pickle factory in the town cut radishes and wash pickle jars. .The pickle factory provides two meals as compensation.Because all the young and middle-aged laborers have gone to Guangdong to work, this pickle factory with low efficiency is on the verge of closing down, and there is no one to do the dirty, hard, and troublesome things.The few Li Furong persuaded were people who had the same free time as her, but no other interests.Li Furong became the team leader of this service team, so she was naturally busy, and she smelled sour from old pickles all day long.The man didn't think much of it (he smelled even more badly because he was covered in tobacco, alcohol, and dirt). The two daughters accompanied the son-in-law and brought their children to visit relatives.They eat a lot, and wear a lot. Isn't this hard work deliberately embarrassing the children?Li Furong listened, her eyes were red, she lowered her head.As soon as they left, she restored everything again.

Then, finally, something happened that made her very excited.Xiao Wu, an educated youth in the provincial capital who had been in the team at Libawan before, later became famous in writing novels when he worked as a temporary worker in the town cultural center, and was transferred back to the provincial capital to become a professional writer.After more than ten years, I happened to think of going back to the small town to "find some feelings", so naturally I went to Li Bawan, the hometown, and asked about Li Furong, and I couldn't help being very interested.I feel that the ups and downs of her fate can become the material for writing shocking works.

Li Furong was called back from the pickle factory in the town, and when she saw Xiao Wu, who was getting a little fatter after being hugged by the town cadres, she was at a loss for a while.Like the earliest time many years ago, when someone suddenly called back from the field to face a group of unfamiliar cadres and reporters, it took a long time to murmur, choked with sobs: "Thank you to the superior, thank you to the province, and remember me." It seems that Xiao Wu and the reporter are the same thing, they are both "pen holders", who are propagandists, that is, people who represent the intentions of their superiors.

Xiao Wu looked at her deeply, and his heart was full of compassion.What kind of demeanor Li Furong was back then, although lean, but hot.Now walking and talking, the most prominent feeling is: dry.Hands are like dead branches that have been broken for many years; hair is like sparse dry grass; eyes are like dry wells, no matter how big the impulse is, it will not inspire a single tear. Xiao Wu felt that he couldn't bear to watch, so he said emotionally: "You take care, I will come to see you later." He politely pulled out the hand that Li Furong was holding tightly.Li Furong grasped his hand very heavily and tightly, as if it was a glimmer of hope that suddenly appeared.

Xiao Wu walked a long way, then turned back.Li Furong was still standing there in a daze.Her two hands still retained the posture when they held him just now, but there was nothing in the two embraced palms.Behind her is a bamboo summer bed with feet tied with rusty wire, and behind her is her old house.The old house seemed to be a magnification of her image: the doors and windows were all cracked; the weathered parts of the adobe walls had peeled off; Squeezed by a pile of loose firewood.The thatch on the roof has rotted and turned gray, and occasionally one or two stalks of tall, fragile grass protrude from some places, and all of them died early.The bleak sunset reflected everything indistinctly, looking like a blurred photo that had been accumulated for many years.Only on the dilapidated bamboo cool bed, the bowl of tea that Li Furong had just offered to Xiao Wu was still emitting a tinge of greenness.

Xiao Wu turned around, not daring to look back. But Xiao Wu's visit gave Li Furong great significance, and greatly encouraged her confidence in herself again. When Li Furong was a model, mayor, secretary of the county party committee, and member of the provincial party committee, she never offered to do private affairs for her relatives.Even the conversion of her man into a national cadre was first proposed by the county personnel department.For this reason, after Li Furong's downfall, few relatives felt sorry for her.Some even said harshly: You also have today!It seems that I have reached the day when I can feel proud and elated.Li Furong felt guilty for seeing this kind of wink too much, and felt really sorry.The most painful thing is that there is no chance of compensation.Not to mention distant relatives, Li Furong's only younger brother had a carbuncle on his foot and died on the bed for many years.When Li Furong gained power, he wanted her to bring her two nephews into the factory in the county, but she just refused.After Li Furong returned to Li Bawan, several nephews honestly let them grow vegetables at home, and they didn't even enter a town-run enterprise.Both older ones have families.The youngest one graduated from high school last year and did not enter university. He wanted to be a soldier, but he did not intercede.In the winter of this year, my younger brother suffered from illness and died. Before he died, he said to Li Furong, "I don't blame you. After all, our Li family is not tough." Li Furong cried, but did not make a sound. The appearance of Reporter Wu (after Xiao Wu left, Li Furong kept talking about "Reporter Wu", and she believed in her heart that he was the reporter) inspired Li Furong's courage.Since there are still reporters in the province who remember her, she won't lose face at all.On the day when the conscription work began in the fall of this year, she got up early and rushed to the county town to set up a target for her nephew to serve as a soldier. The county seat has been greatly improved.The former old city was in Hexi.Now a large development zone has been opened up in Hedong, which is actually a huge infrastructure construction site, with potholes dug everywhere and piled up high and low.Because the development is carried out by dismantling capital or loans, many project funds cannot be in place on schedule (some will never be in place), and they stop at the beginning of construction, leaving a lifeless mess.The new buildings of the county party committee and the county government had been erected early, looking very eye-catching in the mess.Li Furong got off the long-distance bus, and when she looked up, she saw the two buildings standing in the wind and dust. The construction site for the new building has not yet been cleared.The watcher was the former concierge of the county party committee, who also retired early, and was hired to watch the show.He actually recognized Li Furong, and after feeling a lot of emotion, he quietly told her like a thief that a group of leaders of the county party committee hid in the empty room of the old county party committee for a meeting today, and the research was on the distribution of conscription quotas.I need to hurry up to find them, it's almost noon, and the meeting is about to adjourn. Most of the county party committee compound has been evacuated, only some scattered clothes are still hanging on the balcony of the single dormitory building.The yard was empty, the weeds quickly grew, and the birds were jumping in it.Li Furong walked to the porch and was hesitating, when suddenly a group of people poured out from the broken glass door, laughing and making noise, very happy.At first glance, they look like a group of soldiers, and they are indistinguishable. All of them are uniformed in suits, and their faces are young, round and full of vitality.They talked and laughed happily all the way, and they didn't care about Li Furong at all when they walked past Li Furong.These days when the county party committee was relocated, it was inevitable that there would be old women picking up junk every day.Seeing that everyone was about to leave, Li Furong became anxious and shouted: "I am Li Furong." Those people didn't pay attention at first, but she shouted again: "I have something to do with you, I am Li Furong!" One of those people probably knew some local anecdotes, turned around, looked at her, and asked, "Are you Li Furong?" "I am, I am Li Furong." Li Furong replied quickly. "She is Li Furong." After the person finally confirmed, he turned to greet the group of people in front, "She was the secretary of our county party committee before." The group of people stopped together, turned their heads and looked at Li Furong up and down, their eyes were strange, as if looking at an ancient figurine that was unearthed suddenly.After reading it, I felt that there was nothing special about it, so they all dispersed and went to their own cars. There were all cars, but there was not a jeep that Li Furong shared with several county party leaders.The two leading ones are shiny, with foreign codes marked on the rear, and the others are half new and old.The convoy "sizzled" (it was not as frighteningly roaring as a jeep), and meandered out of the county party committee compound in a very quiet and orderly manner. Li Furong stayed alone in front of the porch of the old county party committee building, paralyzed and trying to lie down.The porch was tall and wide, with a triangular vault supported by two thick concrete pillars.On the pillars were previously written "sea sailing depends on the helmsman" and "all things grow depends on the sun"; on the triangular surface of the vault, blue waves were previously painted, supporting a round of red sun and radiant golden light.Now there are only some faint traces left. The long-distance bus station is east of the river.Li Furong got on the Chaoyang Bridge somehow, and couldn't move her feet, so she lay down on the bridge railing to rest.Just now I was looking for someone in a panic, so I didn't pay attention when crossing the bridge. Now I can take a good look at the bridge that I haven't seen for many years.This bridge was once closely connected with her name. Autumn is deep.The river is very thin.The spring flood widens the river, so the span of the bridge is longer and the bridge is taller.Standing in the middle of the bridge and looking down to the river, several wooden boats are like fallen leaves drifting with the water, hanging in the distance, which makes people's brain tense and eyes darken.Li Furong recalled the situation when she asked the director of the Provincial Revolutionary Committee many years ago to build this bridge, and remembered that many people suggested calling it "Furong Bridge" or "Wynne Bridge", but she disagreed.In fact, it was really called that way, and who of these people who happily drove over in a car now would remember anything.Later, there was a widely circulated saying: the director of the Provincial Revolutionary Committee gave Li Furong a bridge because Li Furong worked for the director of the Provincial Revolutionary Committee overnight.The director of the Provincial Revolutionary Committee has always had a good appetite, regardless of age, beauty or ugliness.Li Furong has a criminal record.People can't help but believe things that are said with eyebrows and eyes. "Thirty years in Hedong, thirty years in Hexi." Li Furong remembered the old saying that has been passed down from generation to generation for countless years. "Is it the old mayor?" A person behind her suddenly startled her and woke her up. Li Furong blinked her eyes for a long time, but couldn't remember who the other party was.That person remembered her firmly.He built a house many years ago and filed a lawsuit for the eaves water. Because of his high status, according to Li Furong's judgment, the house he built could only be one head shorter than the other family's eaves water. Li Furong's heart said "Gordon", once the early things were brought up, she remembered them all very clearly. "I can't help you..." Li Furong said nana. "I don't blame you. In those days, there was no other way." The man said with relief.He later sold the house in the town and came to the county town to start a small business. He made money, built a new house in the county town, opened a shop, and moved his family here.He is old now, and his son is in charge of the shop.He invited Li Furong to go home.Li Furong said, no more.He hesitated to leave.He felt that Li Furong's face was ugly, and he was worried that something would happen to Li Furong. Li Furong smiled with difficulty and said: "It's nothing, nothing, don't worry." Li Furong was indeed thinking in her heart, why should I seek faults?Reporter Wu is still coming to see me.As long as Reporter Wu writes articles, many people will remember me.I can do many other things.