Chapter 36 Chapter Thirty

That night, Li Xiangnan and the members of the Standing Committee of the County Party Committee stayed in Wolongzhuang, distributed meals to each household, and held several investigation meetings.The next morning, I planned to go to the Phoenix Ridge Brigade as planned.There is a big article for Li Xiangnan to do.The car broke down when crossing the river bank at Henglingyukou. The driver was sweating profusely and couldn't fix it for a while.Li Xiangnan looked at Henglingyu Village not far ahead, thought of something, and patted the driver on the shoulder comfortingly, telling him not to worry.He gestured to the standing committee members in the car: "Let's take the time to repair the car to see how the children are settled."

As soon as they entered the compound of Henglingyu Commune, they were stunned.It was deserted.Li Xiangnan and the members of the Standing Committee went through each room, but not only were there no signs of the children, there was no sign of vacating the house.The hunchbacked secretary appeared silently in front of everyone with a hunched back. "Why haven't the classrooms been moved?" Li Xiangnan asked. "Secretary Pan has said that in a few days, there is no rush." ​​Secretary Tuo replied carefully. Li Xiangnan gritted his teeth sullenly: "What did he do yesterday afternoon?"

"He went back to his village yesterday afternoon to celebrate the third anniversary of his father's death." Li Xiangnan didn't speak for a while.He slowly scanned the dusty room, and finally turned around and waved his hand with a horrified expression: "Go." The Standing Committee members hurriedly walked along the road yesterday. As soon as he crossed the single-plank bridge, he heard a voice from a distance: "Come on, come on." Fu Laoshun covered his mouth with his hands like a megaphone, and shouted towards the commotion in the village below, At the same time, the cries and screams of children were vaguely heard.After walking a few more steps, several children came running tearfully.They recognized yesterday's secretary of the county party committee, crying and pointing their hands back in the direction of the classroom: "Ms. Xiao——"

"What's wrong, Mr. Xiao?" The children cried out loudly, unable to speak clearly. People rushed to the courtyard sunken by the earth cliff in two steps in three steps.As soon as he entered the courtyard, he was shocked.The cave dwelling in the classroom has collapsed.Large and small soil clods have already blocked the entrance of the cave dwelling. "Ms. Xiao." "Ms. Xiao." Dozens of children cried and crowded together, digging the soil with their little hands.Lin Hong was digging desperately with a shovel bent over.Almost at the same time as the members of the Standing Committee of the County Party Committee, men, women and children who had heard the sound poured into the yard again.The cries of children, the exclamations of mothers-in-law and aunts, and the shouts of men rang out.

Li Xiangnan separated from the crowd and squeezed up, grabbed Lin Hong's shoulder with his hand and pulled her.Lin Hong turned her head and glanced at him, with anger flashing in her eyes. "What's going on?" Li Xiangnan asked. Lin Hong explained the situation clearly in three sentences: just now, the cave began to drop soil in the middle of the class, and Tingting immediately asked the children to move the small benches to the outside of the cave.Zhongzhong, the grandson of Tuo Secretary, dropped his eraser in the classroom and ran in to look for it again. At this time, the cave began to collapse. Tingting rushed in to pull the child while screaming, and the cave collapsed with a loud bang.

"You guys did a good job." Lin Hong said angrily. Li Xiangnan was confused by Lin Hong's indiscriminate statement.He was stunned for a moment, but he didn't have time to explain: "Tingting and that child are both trapped inside?" "yes." At this time, more people came in from the yard, and Pan Goushi also came running profusely in sweat: "Hurry up, dig quickly." He stammered and shouted. "Dig what?" Li Xiangnan stared at him like a knife. Pan Goushi shivered.He didn't expect Li Xiangnan to come back here today. "Everyone be quiet." Li Xiangnan waved his hand and shouted loudly, "Women each lead two children, and all go out of the yard. Hurry up. You are delaying things here." The women dragged the crying children out , the yard became a little quieter. "This cave cannot be dug indiscriminately." Li Xiangnan said, "If you dig the bottom, the top will collapse." He scanned the crowd, "Who is an expert in cave digging?"

People looked around and pushed an old man out. It was Jia Erhu. "Uncle Jia, what's your idea?" he asked. "It has to be dug out and supported by pillars at the same time." Jia Erhu said. "Yes, this is the way." Li Xiangnan said, "Where to dig and where to support, you stand here and give full command. I will lead the people to dig in front." He looked up at Pan Goushi, who was standing there in a daze There, "You lead the people to bring some wood immediately. No matter what, dismantle it and bring it. The sooner the better." People threw themselves into tense action together.Jia Erhu looked up, down, left, and right at the collapsed cave, and pointed at the back: "Dig here first, and don't move there... That big lump of soil supports it first... Put a pillar here, a shorter one. Change it to another." The root, a little shorter. Use your strength. Put a wooden board on top...Okay, dig in here. Secretary Li, be careful there."

"Secretary Li, stand back, I'll come." Panting, Xiao Hu dug forward with a shovel. "No need." Li Xiangnan said.He felt that there was another person pushing towards him, turned his head and glanced, it was Lin Hong. "Go away." Li Xiangnan ordered.Lin Hong ignored him and continued to bend down and dig hard. "You don't stand up to one of them here. It's in the way." Li Xiangnan grabbed her arm roughly and pulled it back. Lin Hong didn't break free, turned around, and looked at the grip on her arm with sweat all over her face. She raised her head to look at Li Xiangnan, with a hostile look in her eyes, but what she met was Li Xiangnan's tougher gaze.She bit her lip and stepped back, and Kang Le and a rural boy immediately took her place.

Some parts of the cave dwelling are solidified.In some places, clods of soil are left empty.People dug and braced from below, dug into a roadway as high as a person, and handed out baskets of soil.Gradually, the outside could no longer see the people inside.The people inside carefully dug and supported to get in.Be especially careful when digging below, for fear of hurting Tingting and the others.Finally, touch a hand.here it is.They carefully planed with their hands and dug Tingting out.She was bent over and lying on her side, apparently covering the secretary's grandson Xiao Zhongzhong with her body at the moment of landslide.Below her is the child, a wooden beam that used to cross the roof of the kiln is pressed against her leg.

The two people were carried out from the alleyway, lying flat on the ground, cleaning the dirt from their faces and nostrils, and they couldn't even touch their breath.Tingting's leg above the knee joint was probably broken, and blood seeped from her pants. "Tingting, Tingting." Song Ansheng cried while lying beside Tingting. "Why are you crying?" Li Xiangnan shouted, "Let's see if the person can be saved first." The old man Jia Erhu came up, opened the eyelids of Tingting and Zhong Zhong, looked at them, put his hands on their nostrils, closed his eyes for a while, and then raised his eyes and said with confidence: "There is still help. "

Song Ansheng immediately started artificial respiration for Tingting and Zhong Zhong together with the people. Jia Erhu took off the towel on his head, tore it vertically into two pieces, and tied it to form a cloth belt. He asked Lin Hong to roll up Tingting's trouser legs and tie up her bleeding leg.He looked back at the few women who entered the yard again: "I want hair, cut it quickly, I have a few more." When the scissors were brought, Lin Hong took them first.She loosened the hair that was coiled behind her head and draped it over her shoulders. She held the hair behind her neck with her left hand and cut it off with the scissors in her right hand.Two more rural girls had their hair cut.Holding his hair in his hands, Jia Erhu went to the small kiln where Tingting lived next door, and burned his hair with the fire, causing a scorched smell to fill the courtyard.He came over with a small amount of gray hair, spread it on Tingting's wound, and bandaged the wound with a white towel that Lin Hong handed over.People looked at him suspiciously. "Hair burnt to ashes is blood charcoal, understand? Chinese medicine to stop bleeding." Jia Erhu patted the ashes of hair sticking to his hands, squinting his eyes cheerfully and said. In this tense atmosphere, his words made everyone feel a little more relaxed. Tingting's eyelids began to move, as if a small bug was slowly wriggling under the eyelids.Xiao Zhongzhong's nostrils began to flutter slightly, and then he opened his eyes, as if awakened in a deep sleep, and then closed his eyes and fell asleep.Jia Erhu felt the pulse of the two of them, and his brows were further frowned. Under the eyes of everyone, he nodded in relief after a while, and stood up leisurely.His cheerful expression seemed to say, "Okay, it's all right now."While digging the shredded tobacco calmly with a pipe pot, he approached Li Xiangnan, and said in a low voice, "Secretary Li, hurry to the hospital. It doesn't matter if Zhong Zhong is there. If Tingting can't be sent to the hospital in three hours, she will die." Li Xiangnan turned his head suddenly, his questioning eyes fell on Jia Erhu's face. Jia Erhu wrinkled his forehead in the smoke, rolled his eyelids and glanced at him: "Quick, talking is useless." The old man's hand holding the cigarette pouch was shaking slightly.Li Xiangnan nodded, then turned to look at Pan Goushi: "Call quickly and ask the county hospital for an ambulance. The sooner the better." "I'll go, I'll run by the shortcut." A short young man said bravely. "Hurry up." Li Xiangnan said. The young man started to run, took only two steps, then stopped suddenly, turned around quickly, stretched out his hand and said to Pan Goushi, "Secretary Pan, write quickly." Pan Goushi looked at the young man, not knowing what he wanted.Pan Goushi was confused by the landslide. "Secretary Pan, hurry up and write something." The young man shouted anxiously.Pan Goushi was still in a daze, not knowing what to say. "Write a note quickly, make a phone call, write quickly, write a phone ticket." The young man was so anxious that he couldn't explain clearly, so he finally called out the "telephone ticket". Only then did Pan Goushi fumble all over his body to pick up pens and pieces of paper. Li Xiangnan was angry.Before I came to Hengling Valley, I had heard about "telephone tickets", but I didn't expect to encounter them at this critical moment.He pointed at Pan Goushi: "From today, your phone ticket will be abolished." He waved to the young man: "Go quickly, ask the county hospital for a car. Just say I want it." The young man turned around and ran away. "Look at what you, the secretary of the commune, have done." Li Xiangnan stared at Pan Goushi and said fiercely. Pan Goushi stood there with his legs crossed in embarrassment. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Li Xiangnan suddenly felt something, and in a blink of an eye, he met Lin Hong's eyes watching him not far away.He thought for a moment: his words were surprisingly similar to what Lin Hong said to him at the beginning. Long Jinsheng and Jia Erhu had already led the people to tie up the stretcher with the wood brought in by the emergency, and spread the quilt who didn't know who carried it on it.The young man who ran to make a phone call came back panting: "Secretary Li, the county hospital can't send a car." "What?" Stand up suddenly. "They said there was no car." "Let's go." Li Xiangnan followed the young man and took him away, taking a shortcut to the commune compound.Seeing the camel secretary running towards him like crazy: "Secretary Li, Zhong Zhong..." Seeing Li Xiangnan, the camel secretary slipped and fell to the ground.Before Li Xiangnan had time to say anything, he went up with the young man to help him up: "Go, it doesn't matter Zhong Zhong." He rushed to the commune compound. As soon as he wanted to make a phone call, Li Xiangnan said eagerly, "Is it the county hospital? I'm Li Xiangnan. There was a landslide here, and some teachers and students were injured. It's very dangerous. You should send an ambulance immediately." "Secretary Li, there is no... no car now." It was the office director of the county hospital who answered the phone, and he answered in a panic. "Don't the county hospital have two ambulances?" Li Xiangnan asked sharply. "Not here." "What did you do?" "Ok……" "What are you doing, do you hear?" "One is going to send people off, and the other is going to pick up people." "Who are you picking up and who are you sending off?" "Ok……" "Huh, what? You have to cover, and you are responsible for everything." "One, to take the secretary's daughter-in-law back to her natal home, and another one, yes, yes... to pick up the dean's brother-in-law at the train station." "Are the secretary and the dean here?" "Right here." "Tell them to answer the phone." "Secretary Li." The voice on the phone changed, hoarse and anxious, it was the Party Secretary of the hospital. "What punishment should you receive? You should make a report and send it to the county party committee. If you delay the rescue of the wounded and die, you will be held accountable. Alright, now you should make medical preparations for rescuing the wounded." Li Xiangnan pressed the phone with a bang.He immediately asked the county switchboard to connect him with the County Public Security Bureau and the County Armed Forces Department: "Whichever gets through first, which one you want first." The county Public Security Bureau connected first. "Is the County Public Security Bureau? Yes, I am Li Xiangnan. Is your car there?...Okay, please come to Hengling Valley immediately. Thirty miles away, within half an hour anyway. Okay, now is Nine o'clock, wait for your car before half past nine." He put down the phone and wanted to rush to the landslide site.Jin Sheng led the people to carry two stretchers. "Have you called a car?" Long Jinsheng asked, obviously he had already arranged everything. Li Xiangnan nodded: "I'll be there in half an hour." "Carry the stretcher here and wait for the car, the car can't go there." "Okay." Li Xiangnan scanned the crowd who came in carrying stretchers. Apart from the standing committee members and commune cadres, there were also a few dozen people including Lin Hong and Jia Erhu.Several children who insisted on not going home were standing beside Tingting's stretcher with tears in their eyes, and their parents stood behind them. "Look, if there is anything else to deal with, just deal with it quickly." Long Jinsheng said. Li Xiangnan nodded, feeling a little hot in his heart.He walked over to the stretcher and looked. Zhong Zhong closed his eyes and coughed from time to time, bloody saliva flowed from the corner of his mouth. The hunchback secretary gently wiped him with a handkerchief.Tingting was still in a coma. I heard that Song Ansheng squatted beside her when she opened her eyes just now. Li Xiangnan silently patted Secretary Tuo and Song Ansheng on the shoulders, then raised his eyes, glanced at everyone and said, "Comrades, let's hold a brief enlarged meeting of the Standing Committee of the County Party Committee." Pan Goushi and other commune cadres, and When Lin Hong, Jia Erhu and others heard this, they all prepared to leave this place. "You guys should join in too. This time, the enlarged meeting of the Standing Committee, please join us." Li Xiangnan stretched out his hand and beckoned everyone to stop.The stretcher was lowered gently into the ground.Li Xiangnan looked around at the people with heavy eyes.Lin Hong looked at him calmly.He gave her a gloomy look, and finally his eyes fell on Pan Goushi. "Tell me, what should I do now?" He stared at Pan Goushi. "I...I check." "Inspection?" Li Xiangnan snorted, and turned his attention to the Standing Committee members, "Comrades, the situation in Hengling Valley is obvious to all. I don't need to say more, comrades, please talk about how to deal with it." "I think," Long Jinsheng spoke first, "Comrade Gou Shi's continuing to serve as the secretary of the commune is not good for his work or himself. I propose to remove him from his position." It didn't come as much of a surprise, the proposal was all too natural. "I also agree to revoke Lao Pan's commune secretary," Hu Fan said. Several people expressed their support one after another. "What about everyone's opinions?" Li Xiangnan glanced at Song Ansheng, Secretary Tuo, Jia Erhu, Lin Hong and others, "Other comrades can also share your opinions." No one spoke. "Old camel, what's your opinion?" The hunchback secretary squatted beside the stretcher and raised his head, looked at everyone dully through the lens, then turned to look at Pan Goushi who was standing beside him with his head lowered, and sighed, "He does harm to others as well as himself." .” "Comrades," Li Xiangnan paused, and said, "I completely agree with Comrade Lao Long's proposal. If we allow comrades like Pan Goushi to continue to hold power, monopolize one side, and act wrongly, the people will definitely accuse us angrily:' Look at what you've done.'” He paused for a while, and looked at Lin Hong who was a little further away. Lin Hong's eyes were calm and quiet, while his eyes were gloomy and deep. "Standing members, please vote by showing your hands." Li Xiangnan said, "Those who agree to dismiss Comrade Pan Goushi as secretary of the commune, please raise your hands." More than a dozen hands were raised.Slowly, after a moment of hesitation, it was Feng Yaozu who raised his hand in the end. "Okay, starting today, Comrade Pan Goushi will be revoked from his position as Secretary of the Henglingyu Commune. The document will be issued separately," Li Xiangnan said. "I propose that Comrade Hu Xiaoguang concurrently serve as secretary of the Henglingyu Commune. This is also necessary for the County Party Committee Policy Research Office to work more effectively." Li Xiangnan added. A dozen hands raised again, and the proposal was approved. Li Xiangnan looked at everyone sternly, and said, "Is it enough to replace only one person for such a thing?" The people fell silent for a moment under his gaze. Xiao Hu suggested: "There should be a notification." Li Xiangnan nodded, which was exactly what he wanted.He asked the crowd: "Do you have any opinions?...Okay, I agree with Comrade Xiao Hu's proposal and send a circular." He turned to Kang Le and said, "Please write down the main points and draft the full text of the circular immediately." Kang Le took out his notebook. "First," Li Xiangnan frowned thoughtfully, "notify the entire county of the incident, its beginning and end, and the punishment of Pan Goushi. Second, in light of the overall situation of the Henglingyu Commune Party Committee, explain that such an incident is not Accidentally." He paused for a moment and glanced at Pan Goushi: "Thirdly, the leaders of the county party committee inspected Hengling Valley a year ago and heard the report on the situation of the classrooms, but they turned a blind eye to it and were insensitive and delayed until now. Explanation The reason is not only in the Henglingyu Commune, but the bureaucratic style permeates all levels of us." Kangle quickly exchanged glances with Li Xiangnan while writing it down. "Fourth, the comrade in charge of the current county party committee—that's me, roll call——Li Xiangnan, failed to deal with this problem and inspected it, which caused the relocation of the classroom to be delayed for another day, and finally caused an accident. Make an inspection, and report to the whole county in another document, and report to the prefectural committee." Someone wanted to say something to him, but met his iron-like gloomy gaze. "The last one," he said, "warns the leading cadres at all levels in the county that such a bureaucratic style that does not care about the suffering of the people can no longer continue." He turned his head to look at Kang Le and said: "Send Ting later Ting goes to the hospital, and you go back to the county with the car, and immediately draw up the full text. Don’t review it any more, and hand it over to the radio station to broadcast to the whole county tonight." "Okay." Kangle wrote the last few words and put them away.Li Xiangnan said to Hu Fan again: "Old Hu, when you return to the county tomorrow, do you think about arranging a general inspection of the school buildings in the whole county?" "Okay," Hu Fan immediately nodded and replied, "I think we can hold an on-site meeting at the site of the landslide." "Okay, it's settled like this." Li Xiangnan turned his face and told Xiaohu, "You are the secretary of the commune now. Look, Tingting is injured, who will teach her a stage class for her, arrange it, don't delay child." "Yes." Xiao Hu nodded. Li Xiangnan raised his eyes, and met the eyes of Lin Hong who was squatting beside the stretcher a little further away. Lin Hong rested her elbows on her knees, propped her chin with her hands, and was looking at him intently, with a trace of melancholy in her eyes.Seeing that Li Xiangnan noticed her, she lowered her eyes slightly and smiled in a trance.Then, Dafang looked at Li Xiangnan.She doesn't hide her emotions.If Li Xiangnan preached to her, she would not be interested; but the courage shown in his ordinary work charmed her.She feels this.The only thing she felt lost at this time was that Li Xiangnan didn't care about her: yesterday, when she was about to leave the classroom cave, she remembered to look back at her, and now she only occasionally glances here after half a day.Her existence is not important to him.This made her feel very uncomfortable. Of course Li Xiangnan sensed something from Lin Hong's gaze.When Lin Hong listened to his speech more than ten years ago, she often put her chin in her hands and looked at him with shining eyes adoringly.Since the reunion, he saw this penetrating gaze once again, which made him feel that Lin Hong was getting close to him. He quickly looked away, and said to the county standing committee members: "Okay, that's it." Pan Goushi shrank his neck as if collapsed.Li Xiangnan looked at him gloomily for a while, and asked, "Do you have any other opinions?" Pan Goushi shook his head. "We must learn to work for the people again." Li Xiangnan calmed down a bit, "We punished a cadre to save lives." He raised his head and looked at everyone, "I hope every cadre can learn from this." What Li Xiangnan said to Pan Goushi at the end aroused strong resentment in Lin Hong's heart.Hmph, to appease Pan Goushi, he is too good at being an official. A car horn blares outside.A medium jeep and a small jeep drove into the commune compound one after another, and Director Gao of the Public Security Bureau got out of the car.People carried Tingting and Zhongzhong to the car.At this time, Tingting opened her eyes on the stretcher.Her mouth moved slightly, her eyes asked something. Li Xiangnan bent down and looked at her: "What do you want to say?" "Are you asking Zhong Zhong?" Song Ansheng asked standing aside. She closed her eyes slightly. "It doesn't matter, he will go to the hospital with you." Li Xiangnan said, "Heal well, ah." She gave a small childlike smile, as if she was ashamed that she was hurt.Then he closed his eyes again and passed out. "Send it off immediately." Li Xiangnan waved and said. "Shall I take them there?" Xiao Hu asked Li Xiangnan for instructions after busying Tingting and Zhong Zhong in the car.He has taken on the duties of the commune secretary, "I can make arrangements for them when I go to the county town." "Can." "Secretary Li, do you have any instructions?" "Go, Hengling Valley will be handed over to you in the future." Li Xiangnan shook Xiao Hu's hand forcefully. The two jeeps drove away. "'You guys did a good job'... It's unfair for you to say it in such a general way." When all the standing committee members returned to the commune yard to rest and wait for the big car to be repaired, Li Xiangnan stood at the door and looked away. , Said to Lin Hong at the side. Both felt the need to say something. "What's unfair?" Lin Hong said coldly. "You are too extreme." "Who can be as orthodox as you?" Li Xiangnan smiled slightly and looked at Lin Hong: "Social ills, we should try to get rid of them. What's the use of complaining? We should always have our own foothold." Lin Hong suddenly became excited: "Standing? To put it bluntly, isn't it a position? Our positions are different. What is your attitude towards Pan Goushi? As a person, you may also hate him, but there are many such people Well, there are people who are more powerful and more corrupt than him. Don’t you have to join them in the end? Can you comfort Pan Goushi for the last time? I only hate them, only extreme. My position with you is that Same." Li Xiangnan looked at Lin Hong's excited expression, and said gently: "Lin Hong, we have all experienced various setbacks." "But in the final analysis, you are the darling of the times." Lin Hong interrupted him, "I know, you have been in prison and persecuted, and I know it without you telling me. But what is that? Compared with some You are the real darling of this era. You are a smooth and smooth person. We are different." Li Xiangnan was shocked.Only then did he realize that there was still such a sharp confrontation between him and her. Lin Hong restrained herself and flicked her hair: "So, I told you that I will not be changed by any preaching." "If you want to change a person's attitude towards life, you have to change her life." Li Xiangnan said a little harshly. Lin Hong smiled lightly. "Understood?" Li Xiangnan stared at Lin Hong gloomyly, "I want to change your life." Lin Hong looked at Li Xiangnan's desolate smile and slowly shook her head.That is impossible. Li Xiangnan stared at her for a few seconds, then waved his hand violently, ready to turn around and enter the commune compound.At this time, a big car appeared at the intersection in front.Long Jinsheng hurried out from the gate of the commune compound: "Xiangnan, I have to go to the Fenghuangling Brigade of Miaocun Commune for an on-site meeting at 10:30." "Okay, go to the Phoenix Ridge Brigade right away." Li Xiangnan raised his hand and said.