Chapter 5 Township

The XX service group of more than 80 people arrived in XX County at about nine o'clock in the morning.These young men and women are very enthusiastic and excited to go to the countryside to promote. Some red and green slogans were posted beside the city gate, and the big stage near the county government gate was also cleaned up and prepared for performances.The street speeches were held in three groups, and they borrowed teahouse benches and stood on them to speak.The condolence team went out of the city to ask Baojia in nearby villages for questioning.Those who write home letters on behalf of the family members of the expedition will go everywhere to inquire about the family members of the expedition, and write letters in public in front of the teahouse.

There are only four hundred households in the small county town, so it suddenly becomes lively.Everyone was unknowingly flustered and excited, especially the deacons of the county office. It was no child's play to prepare ten tables of banquets and tea for a hundred people.The local school is not rushing to the street. The city usually sells side dishes with corresponding supply and demand. There are too many people here. Where do you get so many things to eat and drink?The county magistrate is loyal and warm-hearted. He feels that the visitor is a guest, and he has to enjoy the friendship of the host and guest, so he has no choice but to think of a way.Therefore, all the forces of the county office were mobilized to make an idea to the nearby countryside to buy vegetables, chickens and ducks at market prices.I received the "regiment leader" in the reception room, and talked about local construction, education, and stories about the war of resistance and conscription.While talking, I couldn't help but feel a little anxious, because I heard that these students had to go back to the city that afternoon, and I was afraid that lunch would not be ready at twelve o'clock, which would hinder "propaganda".And with so many people coming, ten tables of meals, the cost is no joke.

The director of the construction bureau wore a gray cloth shirt, and took a security team to the Wang's house, the richest man in Kang Street, about a mile away from the city, to talk to Mrs. Wang about buying some chickens.Mrs. Wang was sitting on the porch winnowing buckwheat, removing small stones from the buckwheat. Three fat hens beside her just wanted to take the opportunity to pounce on the buckwheat.Mrs. Wang was thinking about something while resisting.There are two painters in the side room, who are painting the new century-old wood of Mrs. Wang, and their work is more leisurely than ordinary work.People are still alive, what is there to be busy with?Squatting on the threshold and smoking a cigarette, the two workers laughed when they saw the style of golden nanmu, which was worth 800 central banknotes.That is, things rise and talk about current affairs.

"Master, I heard that glass coffins are used when foreigners die. Have you ever been to the city? Are there any in the city?" "Foreigners in the city are old and never die. The Shoumu in the city are the same. A good four-headed one is worth 2,000 yuan!" "Is this too expensive?" "Why don't you pay a higher price? Needless to say, people can't live these days, and they can't die! Xiang (he puts his mouth to the corridor of the main house and nunu) The old lady is blessed, I am afraid that she will not need five thousand yuan to send her up the mountain! "

"It's always easy to have money. You and I can't die. It's really difficult to stretch your feet." "What's the problem? You and I rolled up a blanket of mats and rolled up the mountain, poured the soil with two hoes, buried it, rotted, rotted, and maggots and ants sucked it up. Save yourself from living in the world to eat expensive rice!" "Where are the wives and children?" "Get married!" The black dog barking in the yard was about to get up, and the director of the construction bureau entered the house, raised his hand and shouted "dead dog, dead dog".

Mrs. Wang hurriedly put down the dustpan, her two one-inch jade earrings dangling around her ears, and went down the steps to greet the guests. "Director, Chief." The chief's eyes were staring at the fat hens that were pecking at the buckwheat. Mrs. Wang hurriedly chased the chicken again: "You dead flat-haired bastard, grab it whenever you are free. If you are full, I will kill you to stew and eat." Although she said that fiercely, her tone was full of caressing .Because the three chickens are laying eggs, three big eggs are laid every day, and the market value is 30 cents.Although the old lady has 300,000 yuan in property, the kerosene in one house, the green salt in three warehouses, the boxes of fields and the paper deeds of the house seem to be of little concern to her.Although these family businesses became more and more tiring, they could not change her outlook on life or way of life.In particular, the old rich man's outlook on life and the way he treated her could not be changed.

The old rich man brought his concubine to live in another big house in the same village. If the old lady was to be the head of the house, all the rights were abstract, only the obligations were concrete.According to her habit, there is only "busy" in her life, busy to and fro according to seasons, and busy to and fro in the morning and evening. When I was too busy, my energy was exhausted, and I died.After her death, her sons and daughters changed her into old clothes, and carried her into the newly-painted nanmu longevity wood in the side room, recited menstruation for ten and a half days according to the rules, and performed religious rituals. Record the date of birth and death on a stele, and everything will be over.People are not done yet, and it has some meaning to her existence, that is, pigs give birth to piglets and chickens lay eggs.The bedroom was dark, and there were a dozen or so jars of different sizes to store dry food, vegetables and fruits.In addition, near the bed, there is a big flat basket with some bran in it, which stores eggs.She put a mark on each egg, and there were forty-two in all.She is preparing to hatch chicks next month, but she has not yet decided to hatch three nests and two nests, which is a lot of hesitation.Once the director came, the problem became simple and clear.

Mrs. Wang was afraid she had something else to do, so she asked the director if she wanted to call the old official.The chief shook his head like a rattle. "Old lady, why don't you go to the city to watch the excitement today. Hundreds of students from the province, men and women, came together to promote and sing civilized dramas and catch traitors." The old lady was a little confused, "How can there be traitors in our place?" "Acting! There is a traitor Mao Yanshou in the play. Wang Jingwei is Mao Yanshou, a traitor!" "Who caught Wang Jingwei?"

"Fake, old lady, fake! Just look at it and you will understand. There are also female students singing, wearing the same clothes, queuing up to sing the anti-war song, 'Bomber, Bomber', the voice is very nice, go and listen to it. The county magistrate Tell everyone to go." "Is there a plane? Was it really shot down by our artillery team?" Obviously, the old lady and the director of the construction bureau did not talk much about each other.Therefore, the director said again: "Old lady, these chickens of yours are really fat, I'm afraid they weigh four to five catties each."

"The flat-haired beast is disgusting!... You come to snatch me again, don't call for help if the weasel bites you." The old lady had already walked to the corridor, and raised the dustpan high, ready to put it on the high desk at the entrance of the hall.But the chicken is a flying thing, no matter how high it is placed, it will not help. Before the buckwheat was put on the table, a chicken had already jumped onto the table.Seeing this situation, the director-general happened to speak up and said: "Old lady, I don't go to the Three Treasures Hall for anything. There are too many students from the province today, and the county magistrate will entertain and prepare ten tables of meals temporarily. How do you prepare in this big city? You want me to buy some chickens? How about selling the chicken to me?"

Before the old lady could understand the problem, the director patted the leather belt on his waist, saying that everything was bought and sold now, "Old lady, we will buy according to the market price, and we will never lose you after we have checked the scale. The county magistrate is fair, you understand of." The old lady was taken aback when she understood what she said, and shook her hands, as if resisting something that was under heavy pressure, "No, no. Director, I don't sell chickens. The chickens are laying eggs. I want to sell them." Hatch a chick, don't kill it." "Don't you hate it? Do you want weasels to eat it? It's a public matter, and the county magistrate is hosting entertainment. You can't say no to selling it! Everyone joins together, and it's the guests who come. They come from afar, so as to make them starve." "You go to the street to buy Liu Bao's chickens. His family has a lot of chickens. I can't sell this chicken." "What about Liu Baochang's family? He is generous and generous. He heard that the county magistrate will donate five chickens to his guests. We will catch them. We will pay for your fat chickens. Two counts as two." The security guards and the painters soon joined in this war of words.In the end, of course, "business affairs" defeated "selfish desires", and two chickens were caught, leaving the beautiful bamboo shoot shell-colored hen to accompany the old lady.Before leaving, the director put eight yuan on the bench, fearing that the wind would blow it away, he pressed a small stone on it and told the painter, "What are they doing here? The students are here to publicize, go and listen!" The painter grinned and looked at the old lady, "Will the old lady let us go to the theater? The director said..." Mrs. Wang was not happy, and said angrily: "The director wants you to go to the theater, you don't want to go to the theater today Just look at the work. I won’t die in a day, so I don’t rush into the coffin. You go and eat the chicken bones!” The painter strikes up a conversation and walks past Shoucai, still smiling in his heart.The chief left with two chickens.But within a short while, someone from the county came to pass a message, asking someone to listen to the propaganda, and called the painter away.The old lady pinched a few bills and went to the bedroom, putting the bills under the pillow.I opened the basket and counted the eggs for a while, feeling very upset.When I got out of the bedroom, I didn't want to do anything with the dustpan anymore, and I didn't bother to see the chicken pecking at the buckwheat.Strolling to the side room to look at her hundred-year-old material, she picked up the painter's pen and brushed it twice, and saw a fly sticking to the paint, and said softly: "Damn you!" She seemed to hear The rooster crowed, thinking that the director must be catching chickens at Liu Baochang's house.Remembering what the director said about Liu Baochang being "generous and generous, he is eager for public good and righteousness", he was not convinced, and was about to go out to the village to see if he really donated five chickens. The old rich man came home. After the old rich man left, he took the eight yuan with him.The old man said that the chickens eat the millet from the Wang family, and the money they get from selling the chickens cannot be kept as a private house.Had a few quarrels with the old lady.The old lady couldn't argue, so she had to let him take the money away.The old lady was very angry and refused to eat.But it was irrelevant, and neither the daughters-in-law nor the grandson had noticed it.After dinner, everyone went to the city to watch the "propaganda" and catch up with the excitement. At about three o'clock in the afternoon, the propaganda team rode dozens of horses hired by the county office, left the small county town, and headed for the station in a mighty manner.After the county magistrate saw off the propaganda team at the city gate, he went to the street to have a look. The owner of the teahouse took three letters and showed them to the county magistrate, saying that the propaganda team wrote to the frontline family members on behalf of the family members who went to the expedition today. There were three letters in total.I don't know the army number of the recipient, nor the location of the garrison, so it's not easy to post, so I ask the county magistrate to decide.The county magistrate looked at the letter and wrote: My loyal athlete, the wheel of the times has turned, the end of imperialism has come, and the determinants of history cannot be escaped.In the front, you are bleeding and fighting hard, and in the rear, the propagandists are sweating and working, and the final victory of the whole people has come... The county magistrate couldn't understand it, couldn't stand it, frowned, thinking, this is the city. The vernacular written by the students in the village cannot be understood by the country people, and the country people do not need it. Why don't you talk about crops, rain, the situation of big yellow cattle and little pigs?Sleeve the letter and go to the government office.There are many slogans pasted in front of the government office, written in artistic calligraphy, crooked, not very recognizable.The county magistrate sighed softly, and said to himself: "Art calligraphy, what's the matter? Why don't you write He Shaoji and Liu Gongquan?" At that time, several security guards were carrying tables, chairs and benches borrowed from people's houses. At the same time, the elementary school students in Kangjie Village came back from watching the excitement. Everyone learned a song against the enemy. A teacher student led the children to sing the newly learned song happily and loudly, and paraded in front of the village and behind the village.The painter was returning to Mrs. Wang's side room to clean things up.Mrs. Wang was standing in the courtyard. When she saw the two painters, she said, "Zeng, you're back! You're not counting today. If you want money, go to the county magistrate and sue me." Hearing the singing, I remembered what the director of construction said, and then said: "Bomber, bomber, fried eight pieces of chicken, what did you do after eating my chicken! The big bucket bomb fell from the sky, and you hugged the bomb Jump into the river?" The two painters cooed and didn't know what to say. The old lady said again: "You have been to the theater, haven't you? To tell the truth, today is not considered wages." "It doesn't matter, old lady. You have a million dollars, so you don't want to give the money? The old man said that he will buy us a drink tomorrow, and promises to drink half a catty for each of us." When the old official was mentioned, the old lady was so angry that she couldn't speak.Picking up stones and chasing the bamboo shoot-colored hen, "You flat-haired bastard, you'll die of plague tomorrow, what are you doing alive?" The next day, the newspapers in the city talked about this trip to the countryside for propaganda, including performances, speeches, condolences, interviews, and writing letters on behalf of the families of the soldiers who went to the expedition. How busy a small county magistrate was, and how much it cost.Mrs. Wang's misfortune is a small matter, so naturally she won't mention it. Author Notes Everyone talks about "going to the countryside for publicity", so this is naturally a good thing.But publicity is not only based on "enthusiasm", it also requires knowledge, which seems to be more than enthusiasm.If you want to educate the country people, you have to learn from the country people first, and understand a little more about what the country is, what it needs, and how different it is from the city.I saw a private service group go to the countryside, and there was a little relative who enthusiastically accompanied this organization to the countryside and took on the job of writing letters, and wrote the above-mentioned letters.And told me that the trip to the countryside was "very interesting".I also saw the county magistrate and the old lady.It's really sad.Behind all our good wishes and good actions is enthusiasm, and what we hope to achieve is results.What is there and what is needed in the countryside should indeed know more, and it is worth knowing more.Although what is written here is only the situation in a small county in the southwest province, maybe it can be used as a reference for friends who are going to the countryside!