Chapter 80 The Six Encounters Between My Fifth Uncle (6)

The fifth encounter is another summer. I took the train going west and went to F City for an interview.The fire-like sun was shining on the boundless field outside the car window, and the earth had turned into a green ocean. The inside of the car was extremely hot, and the passengers were sweating profusely.According to solar terms, it is the hottest time of the year.Social life is also in a warm atmosphere.In particular, the vast countryside showed excitement rarely seen in history.The production responsibility system in mountainous areas has been in place for two years, and the actual results have convinced skeptics.The changes in large-scale production methods there have greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of farmers for production, initially improved the extremely poor production conditions, and provided them with food and clothing.Of course, there are only a small number of top-notch households, and it is not like some literary and artistic works promote that all the farmers have already entered the heaven, and they buy the commodities from colleges and universities back home at every turn.Don't our peasants still understand?They were to some extent poor to the bone in the past, and the superiority of the new policy could not make everyone rich at once.For most farmers, it is a great victory to solve the problem of food and clothing.In addition, everything is still at the beginning, and many new problems and contradictions are coming one after another, which need to be resolved quickly and forcefully.However, some grassroots organizations of the party and their leaders themselves have some serious problems in terms of understanding to varying degrees, thus preventing many new contradictions from being properly resolved.There is no doubt that the progress of the entire rural areas of our country needs a long-term and continuous reform process.But this initial step already offers an encouraging picture.This is something anyone who is not blind can see.

Plain areas are also following the example of mountainous areas and beginning to implement production responsibility systems on a large scale.The first secretary of the provincial party committee has already called on the plains to quickly implement the production responsibility system in a question from the provincial newspaper reporter.However, the area where City F is located has been resisting in this regard and has been standing still for a long time.For this reason, the provincial party committee has transferred the main leaders there.The newly established new municipal party committee team resolutely carried out the instructions of the provincial party committee, and the rural areas of F city and the whole region were already in a state of rapid change.I just rushed to interview and investigate the rural situation in this area.

I was sitting on the speeding train, listening to the clanging of the wheels, I was inspired by a strong breath of change of the times.I remembered the name of a novel: "On the field, go forward!" "It was written about the great changes in rural China in another period.Now, too, we can shout with joy: On the field, go on! I got off the train in City F, passed the ticket gate, and came to the waiting room. It was night, and I wanted to find a place to stay soon, so I walked cautiously out of the street, past the scrambled travelers sleeping on the floor. When I got to the door of the waiting room, I was stunned.I saw a familiar face.Isn't this Zhang Zhigao?Yes, this is indeed Fifth Uncle. He is now lying naked in a corner of the gate of the waiting room with his head resting on his two shoes.Sleeping with a loud snore.He looked exhausted, with his head heavily on one side, beads of sweat covering his body and head, and the concrete floor beneath him appeared to be wet.His trousers were rolled up above his thighs, and his upper body was only wearing the red belly wrap in the countryside of our hometown. With his legs stacked together, he fell sideways on the ground, just like farmers in his hometown sleeping in the mountains.Uncle Wu, what are you doing here?Why do you live alone in this strange foreign land and suffer this foreign crime?

I stood hesitantly in front of this sleeping fellow, not knowing how to wake him up. I want to wake him up and ask him everything.I couldn't bear to wake him up again, he seemed too tired and slept so deeply, maybe he hadn't had a good night's sleep for a long time.I bowed down and saw that between the twitching corners of his mouth and the tight brows, there seemed to be a faint sign of some kind of gloom in his heart.At this moment, he may have returned to our dear Damahechuan in a dream, back to the village where chickens are screaming and dogs barking... No matter what, I can't imagine why Uncle Wu is sleeping here.

I hesitated for a while, sighed, and left the waiting room first.I think it's better to let him sleep in this dirty place for a while, and call him when I can find a place to live.Tonight, I'm going to let him live with me.He probably made do there because he didn't want to pay for the accommodation.I booked a room with two beds in the F Municipal Party Committee Guest House, packed my things, and hurried to the train station without even wiping my face. Uncle Wu was still sleeping at the door of the waiting room, and he didn't seem to move at all. I knelt down beside him and called him softly: "Uncle Wu! Uncle Wu!"

He didn't move.I called him again while lifting his sweaty body with my hands. He opened his eyes slowly, as if trying to figure out where he was?And what happened before?In an instant, he recognized me. Uncle Wu sat up and called out, "Junwa?" I nod to him.First he shyly wrapped his clothes around his naked body, put the two shoes under his head on his feet, and said, "I never dreamed of meeting you here..." There seemed to be tears in his eyes , affectionately grabbed my hand with sweaty hands.He was obviously quite excited, as if meeting me in a foreign country.

I sat down on a half-brick next to him, and asked him: "What are you doing here?" He didn't know why, his face flushed all of a sudden, and he said, "Oh, run a little business..." "For the collective or for the You?" "Collective? Is there still a collective? The collective has already disbanded! Go it alone! Capitalism!" He became annoyed in an instant. The stubborn man, he's still his old ways! "Then you ran out, what kind of land?" I asked him. "I'm not in the mood to take the capitalist road! Let my bastard fool me, I'm out to run some business. Isn't the new policy calling for people to do business?" He said a little mockingly. "What kind of business do you do?" "Small things..." He obviously didn't want to talk about what he was doing.I don't want to ask any more questions.This is a private matter belonging to others, and it may not be appropriate to ask again.However, I have a vague feeling that the "business" of this person who "adheres to the socialist road" is a bit unsocialist.But I am not from the Public Security Bureau, so I have no right to pursue these matters, let alone my fifth uncle. "Where did you go to record?" Liao asked me.

I told him that I came to this place and never left. I asked him where he was going, and he said that he would take the train to the provincial capital tomorrow morning.I immediately told him that I had booked a house and had a bed, and asked him to stay with me tonight. "I'm afraid I'll miss the train by an hour," he said. "Don't be afraid, the guest house is not far from the train station, and you will arrive in a few minutes. I got off the train by mistake. We live together, and we can chat about everyday things." He agreed, picked up the dusty black leatherette bag beside him, and walked out of the waiting room with me.I led him to a cafeteria near the train station first, and ordered some vegetables, steamed buns, beer and soft drinks.Uncle Wu is not used to drinking beer, saying it looks like horse urine.I bought him some liquor again.After a few glasses of wine, he was a little tipsy.Staring at a pair of slightly red eyes, he said to me: "You are a reporter, carefully record the situation in our countryside, and report it to the Central Committee and General Secretary Hu Yaobang! Just say that capitalism has been completely restored!"

I remembered the scene in the cafeteria near our county station last time, when he said these words at the dinner table, and he still says them now.At the same time, I also missed the poetry competition in the school yard many years ago, remembered his speech in the commune meeting room and the performance in the vegetable market, and also remembered the riot in the brigade... I looked at the table at this moment The drunken and hazy eyes on the other side felt heavy and painful.Abnormal times have created such an abnormal person, and he is also a leading cadre of a grassroots organization of the party.Such a person should have been removed long ago, but he still occupies a leadership position.Our reform should be aimed at such people first of all, but unfortunately, in some places, our reform is often led by such people.For example, in City F, a few years ago, a few people who opposed the central policy led an area with a population of several hundred.Of course, these people are much smarter than Fifth Uncle.What they adopted was a method of verbally supporting the new policy, but stubbornly resisting in actual work. They must resolutely implement the central government's spirit one by one at meetings, but in private, when sleeping with their wives, they are talking to their confidants. While playing poker, he ridiculed all reforms with a mocking tone.This is the biggest difficulty in our country's social reform in the new era.

After eating, I helped Uncle Wu and went to the room of the city guest house. Uncle Wu took off his coat, lay on the mat, sighed heavily, and said to me, "Oh, Junba, your fifth uncle is not living like a human being now..." I don't know what to say.He stared straight at the ceiling of the house, sighed and said, "In the past, what was my life like Zhang Zhigao? I was always standing in front of people! I was always advanced in my work, and I earned a wall of awards for Zhangjiabao. And the pennant. Who doesn’t value me, Zhang Zhigao, among the leaders of the commune and the county? Visiting Dazhai, going to the district and province to hold advanced meetings, how can I miss Zhang Zhigao? Back then, I often sat on the "rostrum" People! But now? They are like a beggar, and they have fallen to this level!... Hey, you don’t know, I used to visit these places when I visited and held meetings, and I lived in hotels with bathhouses like honored guests , but now lying on the floor of the waiting room, it's not even as good as a dog..." After he finished speaking, he turned over and lay down on the mat, sobbing and crying.I hurriedly persuaded him, but he didn't say a word, just whimpered.

The cry shook my heart violently. I could not comfort him, nor could I say anything sympathetic, so I walked out of the room.Let Uncle Wu cry quietly in the house alone for a while!I can't sympathize with him, but I pity him.Until now, he has not understood his tragedy.Yes, this is not only his tragedy, but also the tragedy of an era.It is a tragic era that produces such a tragic figure.In fact, in our lives, how many characters like Uncle Wu are there!History is often like this: a tragic era is over, but those tragic characters did not end their own tragedies.I wandered for a long time in the courtyard of the guest house At this moment, City F, which had been boiling all day, became quiet.The lights of the city went out one after another, but the stars in the night sky became denser and brighter.The evening wind blows gently from the distant mountain gorge, dispelling the heat over the city, making people feel a kind of refreshment.When I returned to the room, I saw Uncle Wu had fallen asleep at some point. I sat silently on the edge of the bed, lit a cigarette, and quietly looked at Uncle Wu who was sleeping soundly.I doggedly searched his tear-stained face for features familiar to me from childhood.I looked at Uncle Wu in his sleep for a long time, two tears had gushed out of my eyes at some point, and slid down from my hot cheeks, and it seemed that the tinkling of that long time ago could be faintly heard in my ears The sound of the earth sanxian...