Chapter 75 The Six Encounters Between My Fifth Uncle (1)

The sixth time we met was probably the winter of the year before last, when I was writing a report for the newspaper at home. It was about nine o'clock in the morning, and I heard someone knocking on my door non-stop. It seemed that the knocking sound was not asking if I could come in, but that I must come in time. The annoying thing happened again, so I had to throw my pen on the paper and go to open the door.During this process, the knocking on the door continued and was rather unruly, and I was extremely annoyed.As soon as the door opened, I saw a stranger standing before me. The visitor was not very old, about eighteen or nineteen years old, his face was dripping with sweat, a pair of black eyes moved nimbly, and he opened his mouth and smiled timidly at me.From his half-new and half-worn uniform and the big, dusty black artificial leather bag in his hand, it was obvious that he was from my hometown.I couldn't remember for a moment who he was.

"You are Uncle Liu?" "Yes." I said.Listening to him speak is indeed a hometown accent. "I'm from Zhangjiabao." He said. "Whose doll?" I asked. "My father's name is Zhang Zhigao. You know..." "Oh..." I saw some familiar features on his face now.Yes, he is simply the Zhang Zhigao I knew in my childhood. I let the fifth uncle's descendants into the house, made him a cup of tea, and put the sugar box in front of him.He restrainedly took the teacup, sat on the chair, held the bad tea, and refused to drink it. "What business do you come to the province for?" I asked him bluntly.

The young man's face turned red all of a sudden, and he murmured, "My father is detained here. I'll come and see him." "What?" I stood up from the chair in surprise, "Why?" I asked him. "For reselling food stamps." "Where is it now?" "Xincheng District Public Security Bureau." "Have you seen him?" "No...my mother told me to come and find you when I left..." I sat in a chair, my mind was like a mess. I looked out at the gray winter sky through the watery windowpane and began to figure out what I was going to do about it.

I know what Aunt Fifth meant by telling her son to come to me.In the eyes of people in our hometown, reporters are also a kind of "official", even my parents think so.Over the past few years, people from their hometowns who have come to the provincial capital to do business, including those half-baked cadres I know in the county, have come to me and asked me to let them go through one or another "back door".Of course, they never came empty-handed, and they always brought me some local specialties from my hometown; naturally, I also had to take care of their meals.My wife has already complained about these things, and quarreled with me several times.I'm quite annoyed myself.But there is no way, folks from the village, if dust from a long distance comes to your door, can you drive them out?This is not to say that I have "cultivated" and look down on people from my hometown; nor is it that I am too stingy to take care of them.The point is that these things consume too much human energy.My home has almost become an office, and some people even turn it into a meeting place for their business and business in the province.And ask me to "go through the back door" for them from time to time.In fact, I am not very good at this, so I can only help them find hotels and buy train tickets.

Now, Uncle Fifth's son has come to the door again, and he must ask me to find a way to get his father out.What a joke!How dare I break the sacred law? "Is your father still the brigade secretary?" I casually asked Uncle Wu's son. "In front of me." He said, still restrainedly holding the cup of tea that he didn't drink. "Have you stayed?" I asked him again. "I'm staying here, at Jianhua Hotel, not far from your place." I thought about it, and said to him: "I'm busy writing a manuscript now, you go back first, and wait until I finish writing the manuscript."

The young man stood up immediately, with a grateful expression on his face, and went over cleverly to pick up the black artificial leather bag. I was also keenly aware that I was facing the same old routine again, and rushed to pre-empt him, went to grab his hand, and prevented him from leaving me with those gifts that I had become familiar with and hated.I know that although these people are illiterate and have never seen the world, they understand a classic adage: You have to tell me something if you eat mine! As a result, Uncle Wu's son used the strength he had gained from labor to slap me into a corner like a fight. I couldn't stand still and kicked over the spittoon on the ground.The young man quickly unzipped the black leather bag while I was packing up the spittoon.He was afraid that I would come to resist him again, so he dumped the package of red dates, melon seeds, and unhulled peanuts on my desk in one fell swoop.I am a person who loves cleanliness. Seeing that the dusty gift made a mess of a clean desk, and even the manuscript paper, notebooks and pens were buried, I rushed over in despair.In the end, another customer slapped me and pushed me back to where I was standing.There is a barbaric sincerity in this form of gift-giving.Although I was angry and anxious, I couldn't attack it yet, so I had to swallow my anger and accept this annoying gift.

Uncle Wu's son saw that I had lost the confidence to refuse, so he ran away satisfied.I stood in the corner of the room in frustration for a long time, unable to move.I grieve for Uncle Wu, and I grieve for myself.I came to the balcony with a painful heart and smoked a few cigarettes one after another. The question now is, should I go to the detention center to see Uncle Wu? After much deliberation, no matter whether I can see him or not, I should go there once.This is not to say that Uncle Wu’s son poured a bunch of local products on the desk; nor does it mean that I have any way to get him out of the detention center; Brother, and he gave me that kind of caress when I was a child; I also had such a happy mood, lying beside him with his old yellow dog, listening to him play the tinkling three-stringed earthen string... …

The next morning, I didn't even eat breakfast, so I went straight to the Xinzai District Detention Center to see my fifth uncle.It has just snowed and the streets are in chaos.In some places the snow has turned into water, and in some places it has frozen again.A torrent of bicycles and pedestrians surrounded the trams and cars, flowing on the streets shrouded in severe cold, and the oncoming people sprayed white mist from their mouths.As I walked in this huge and chaotic whirl, I couldn't help but think of the winter morning in my hometown.In such days, the mountains and fields in my hometown are already desolate.The mottled snow reflects the sun; the cold wind whistles through the frozen river and the cold village lanes.There was a complete silence in the four fields, only one or two crows could be heard occasionally.The crops had been harvested and there was not much stockpiling in the threshing field, but the people were still working in the fields.Pulling manure, collecting firewood, weaving baskets, repairing broken farm tools, cutting hay for large animals... Although this year is over, it is time to do all the labor for next year.The world is cold, but life is still steaming.This is the hometown I am familiar with.It is from this land that the man I am going to visit now, who should have been there now, working like everyone else for next year's work, is now detained in the provincial town.What is even more puzzling is that the leader of a grassroots organization of the party actually came out to engage in such tricks.But there's more to the problem than that.The question is: "Why do you let such a person lead a grass-roots party organization? Before this, I had met Uncle Wu several times, and I felt that he could no longer take up this position, but he was still the leader of the Zhang family. The party secretary of the Fort brigade... I walked on the messy sidewalk, and my mind was also messy.

I went to a non-staple food store to buy some snacks. I felt like going to the hospital to visit a sick relative or friend, and came to the detention center in Xincheng District with deep sorrow. After I went through some necessary procedures in the detention center, a cadre from the pre-trial department received me.The cadre told me that the problem of the person I wanted to question was basically cleared up. He belonged to reselling food stamps, but the quantity was not large. go back. I asked if I could meet him? The cadre said that according to the current regulations, after the investigation of the major cases of minor crimes, relatives can meet with the staff in the presence of the staff, but they must assist the staff in the transformation education work of the offenders.

I said that although I am not his relative, I will definitely help with the work.The cadre told me to sit here and wait, and he went out. After a while, the public security cadres led Uncle Wu in. I was taken aback first: I didn't recognize Uncle Wu all of a sudden.His face was gray, his hair and beard were unshaven, his back was slumped, and he seemed to be a lot lower in size.The two eyes, which had been aggressive before, were now lifeless and sunken in their sockets.The originally strong body seemed to have lost a lot of weight all of a sudden, and the clothes and pants looked abnormally loose and did not fit well.A strongman with power and authority in his homeland has no weight at this moment.

When Uncle Wu saw me, his lips trembled violently, tears streaming down his stubbled face in distress.From time to time, he looked at the public security officials timidly, and his eloquent mouth seemed to be kicked by a donkey's hoof, and he was so dumb that he couldn't utter a word.I said to Uncle Wu: "You must explain the problem clearly, don't hide anything, and strive for leniency, the party's policy..." Before I could finish speaking, Uncle Wu hurriedly caught up and said, "Be lenient when confessing, and be strict when resisting..." Uncle Wu is familiar with the policy.I have nothing more to say, just repeat what I just said.Uncle Wu has also repeatedly stated that he must explain the problem well, and he will be convicted and punished.When the prescribed talking time was up, the staff took Uncle Wu away.Before going out, Uncle Wu turned his head and gave me a sad look, which made my heart ache like a needle prick.Yes, in any case, it is a great misfortune that he is now reduced to this state.Uncle Wu, how did you go from the simple and enthusiastic young man in my memory to where you are today? I left the detention center with an indescribably heavy heart, and came to the crowded and lively street again.The torrent of trams, cars, bicycles and pedestrians still flows on this wide avenue, like a river that is always surging.Yes, the river of life is always turbulent, but there will always be some ships that are stranded. The sun has risen from the gray buildings in the east, casting a faint orange-red light on the straight road where the snow has turned into water-stained roads, and there is already a slight, moist warmth in the air. , You can even smell the earth and grass from the distant fields and valleys. I was walking in a hurry among the crowded crowd, the chaotic crowd and vehicles, the rows of brown and black branches of Chinese locust trees that had lost their leaves gradually became blurred, and the unshaven beard of Uncle Wu His face was clearly shaking in front of his eyes.I quickly remembered the scene of my last encounter with him...