The train driver in the courtyard

Li Aiguo and Village Chief Lao Wei were chatting in the office. It was almost noon when they heard Zhang Dashao's voice outside the door.

"Secretary, it's almost noon. I heard Aiguo is here. Should we have some fine noodles for lunch?"

Before Village Chief Wei stood up, Zhang Dashao pushed open the door and walked in.

"Secretary, how about fried pancakes? I haven't had them for half a year."

"Patriots are honored guests, they don't come easily, Lao Zhang, you..."

Village chief Wei was about to agree when Li Aiguo stopped him: "Uncle, I'm not an outsider, there's no need to be so polite. Besides, we're eating fried pancakes, so what are the members eating? Isn't it the same as before?"

"That's too unfair to you."

Village chief Lao Wei also understood Li Aiguo's good intentions. He looked at him gratefully, stood up and said, "Aiguo is here at noon. Our commune will improve its living conditions and eat Sitian rice."

When Zhang Dashao heard that they were going to have Sitian rice, he was originally feeling depressed because he couldn't eat the fried pancakes, but now he immediately grinned.

"Okay, okay."

Zhang Dashao was afraid that the village chief would go back on his word, so he stared at him and asked him to go get the food.

Village chief Lao Wei took out the granary key from his waist and walked out. Li Aiguo was also curious about Sitian rice and followed him into the cafeteria.

The canteen was similar to the past, with a shed set up in the open air. Several female members were making fire in front of a large stove. Two stoves, one large and one small, were burning at the same time.

Zhang Dashao called his young apprentice to bring two and a half buckets of water, and poured them into a large iron pot every meal.

Then he picked up a sack and poured the corn meal and broken sorghum into the pot.

The female member started a high fire and used a large shovel to stir the water. Soon the pot was boiling and golden waves were seen surging in the pot.

Seeing that Village Chief Old Wei had not come yet, Zhang Dashao urged him again at the top of his voice. Only then did Village Chief Old Wei come into the canteen carrying half a bag of grain.

Zhang Dashao propped open the mouth of the bag, revealing white rice. Village chief Old Wei scooped half a bowl of rice into the pot.

Li Aiguo finally understood and handed Zhang Dashao a cigarette: "Lao Zhang, is this the Sweet Rice? What about the Bitter Rice? Does it have no rice added?"

"It just so happens that today I have to prepare bitter remembrance rice for a few backward-minded people. You will understand when you wait and see."

As Zhang Dashao was speaking, he lifted the lid of the small pot and brought out a sack from the corner. What came out of the sack was wheat bran and rice bran.

"This thing looks like pig food, right?" Li Aiguo frowned.

"Pig food? Only our commune is rich enough to allow its members to eat corn dregs and broken sorghum. In the neighboring communes, the members eat nothing but this stuff."

Zhang Dashao picked up the spoon and stirred it for a while, then knocked the spoon against the iron pot, making a clanging sound.

"Those backward-minded people take the attitude of "if you don't eat the public food, it's a waste" and will not stop until their stomachs are full.

The worse the food is, the better, so as not to waste the food in the commune."

It seems that Zhang Dashao is very dissatisfied with those people.

Come to think of it, these days farm work all depends on physical effort. If you're lazy and don't put in enough effort, others will have to put in more effort.

Village chief Lao Wei was obviously very short of food. After locking the rice in the warehouse, he returned to the canteen.

He used a broken pen and a large spoon to calculate the food consumption, and even recorded the amount of wheat bran and rice bran in the notebook.

The current Weicun Commune is more professional than before and has implemented various systems of the advanced people's commune.

The nature of the members is similar to that of agricultural workers. They go to get off work and leave on time and work three shifts a day.

I get up at six in the morning, work in the fields for about two hours, and come back for breakfast.

In the morning, I work in the fields for about three or four hours and then have lunch.

Rest for two hours, work until six in the afternoon, have dinner, or attend a production team meeting in the evening.

The members had no watches, so they used the bell at the entrance of the village as a signal. When the bell rang, the members would rush in from outside in a crowd.

They first rushed into the cafeteria and saw rice in the rice pot. Everyone's eyes widened with excitement.

"Today is Sitian rice. After eating this rice, our lives will have a purpose." Zhang Dashao picked up a big spoon and filled the bowls of the members with Sitian rice.

The members who had eaten the sweet rice were all delighted.

Those backward-minded people could only wait until the other members had served their food before they lined up in front of the small pot.

When they saw that it was filled with wheat bran and rice bran, everyone frowned.

"The bitter rice we ate before wasn't like this, wasn't it so bad?"

"Yes, the bitter rice we ate before was just a little watery, and sometimes there were too many wild vegetables, but no matter what, it was still food for people to eat. Today's rice tastes like pig food. How can we eat it?"

The two landlords' wives in Lao Wei Commune jumped particularly hard, holding their waists and making loud noises.

"Aren't you insulting me? We are also members now. Why should they eat rice while I have to eat pig food?"

Wei Dazhui had just come in from outside with four members. Seeing the landlord's wife making trouble again, he walked over and started scolding her.

"The members of the cooperative were working in the fields, and you were sleeping in the fields. The members of the cooperative were busy harvesting grain, and you stole grain from the threshing ground in the middle of the night.

You always make excuses when you are working, but you always think about the best when you are eating! What good things have you enjoyed?

You have to eat this bitter memory meal today. Whether you eat it or not is a matter of attitude. Not eating it means you are ungrateful! "

Wei Dazhu is tall and looks particularly scary when he gets angry.

At this time, the members were holding their bowls and drinking, pointing and talking at the landlord's wife.

The two landlord wives turned pale and silently handed the bowl to Zhang Dashao.

Without the landlord's wife taking the lead, the lazy men in the commune all became obedient.

Li Aiguo watched this scene with a smile, took a sip of the rice made from corn dregs and chopped sorghum, and said with a sigh: "This rice is so sweet!"

After lunch, Li Aiguo prepared to return to the capital.

Five hundred kilograms of dried wild vegetables, two hundred kilograms of chestnuts, and sixty kilograms of pecans were packed into eight large sacks.

Li Aiguo rode a bicycle. If he could use the spirit of pulling and carrying more, he could pile all the sacks on the back seat and bring them back to the capital by himself.

However, Wei Dazhu and four other members were also going to the capital this time, and they brought a lot of luggage with them.

"Jie Ba, call the driver to drive the ox cart over and take Aiguo and the other members away." Village chief Old Wei waved to Zhang Jie Ba.

Zhang Jieba responded and left quickly. A moment later, he came over with a ox cart.

Wei Dazhui and the four members put the luggage on the ox cart. The driver cracked the whip, and the ox cart left the small mountain village under the gaze of Village Chief Wei and the members.

The ox cart was not going fast, so Li Aiguo had to slow down on his bicycle.

Walking alone is too boring, so I can have a good chat with Wei Dazhu and other members.

"The world changes so quickly. When the commune was first established, people could eat barley paste and rice porridge, as well as dried radish and pickles. Now we are lucky if we can eat sweet rice every few days."

"Everyone was going crazy at that time, but fortunately, with the support of Village Chief Wei, we were able to take things slow and steady.

The communes next door, they raise pigs, harvest wheat and plant crops, slaughter pigs for banquets, and have meat twice a month. Now they are even worse off than us. "

"How much can we save just by saving food? It's all thanks to our patriotic brothers who helped us get in touch with the locomotive depot."

"Heiwa, shut up. No one will think you are dumb if you don't speak."

When Wei Dazhu heard Heiwa talking loudly about the commune and the locomotive depot, he immediately interrupted him.

Although the relationship between the commune and the Qianmen Locomotive Depot was reasonable and legal, Village Chief Wei was worried that other communes would be jealous, so he strictly prohibited members from leaking the information to outsiders.

Wei Dazhu turned his head and looked at Li Aiguo: "Brother Aiguo, when will these hard days be over?"

"It won't be long. Perseverance is victory."

Li Aiguo originally wanted to say three years, but after thinking about it carefully, wouldn’t that be the same mistake as in the magical TV series “The Eight-Year War of Resistance is about to begin”?
If it was just a mistake, then it wouldn't be a big deal. But I'm afraid that someone with ulterior motives will bring it up and then I won't be able to explain it clearly.

Be careful and cautious. Li Aiguo kept reminding himself while riding his bicycle.

The ox cart was not moving very fast and it took a full hour to leave Wei Zhuang Commune and enter Bama Commune.

As soon as I turned a corner, I heard a noise coming from the front.

"Tell me the truth, who sent you to sabotage our commune?"

"Leader, it's just a misunderstanding. My family is struggling to make ends meet, so I thought of collecting some food from your commune. I have absolutely no ill intentions."

"You went to the homes of our members to collect food. You mean our members hid the food, right?"

"what?!"

"You are destroying the construction of our commune! You want us to suffer twice, to endure twice the punishment. We will not agree to it a thousand times, ten thousand times!"

"I'm a good person. It's a misunderstanding. It's all a misunderstanding."

After turning the corner, Li Aiguo saw a group of militiamen surrounding an old man in tattered clothes in front of him.

The old man seemed to be the one he saw when he left the capital in the morning.

When he got closer, Li Aiguo was so shocked that he couldn't close his mouth.

Wow, it’s Yi Zhonghai!

Yi Zhonghai was shoving and pushing with seven or eight militiamen at this time. When the militiamen saw that Yi Zhonghai dared to resist, they slapped him in the face, and Yi Zhonghai became obedient.

A militiaman on each side skillfully held up Yi Zhonghai's arms.

"Tell me the truth, were you sent by Dieter to exploit and oppress us?"

A man in cadre uniform (military casual clothes) came forward. His pants were green, his clothes were whitish, and he wore a blue felt hat. He was a middle-aged man with fair skin.

The man in cadre uniform walked up to Yi Zhonghai and kicked him. Yi Zhonghai could only lower his head and huddle closer to his feet.

Yi Zhonghai's face flushed red and he tried his best to explain but to no avail.

The ox cart swayed past, attracting everyone's attention.

Zhou Dazhu took the initiative to greet the cadre: "Zhou Landlord, are you on duty today?"

The man in cadre uniform greeted Zhou Dazhu warmly, but his eyes fell on Li Aiguo, with a hint of vigilance in his eyes.

"It's Brother Dazhu, what are you doing?" "This is a friend from the city, visiting our commune. It's getting dark soon, so Village Chief Wei asked us to send him back."

Upon hearing that it was the guest of Village Chief Lao Wei, the cadre's expression softened a little and he turned around to continue dealing with Yi Zhonghai.

Li Aiguo lowered his voice and asked Zhou Dazhu: "Dazhu, what is Zhou Tudi doing?"

“I don’t know his real name, but he’s the business manager of a local product company in the county.

Recently, people from the city have been frequently coming to the countryside to collect grain.

The county then sent Zhou Tudi as a special commissioner to arrest those who collected and sold grain. Several people from the neighboring communes were arrested.

The last time I went to the locomotive section with Village Chief Lao Wei to deliver mountain products, you reminded us that the villagers' food is their life-saving food and cannot be sold no matter how much money you offer.

Village chief Lao Wei had a good relationship with Party Secretary Lao Chen of Bama Commune and also informed Bama Commune in advance.

Landlord Zhou has never been able to catch anyone in our two communes, but what happened today? A young man unexpectedly ran into the gun."

Zhou Dazhu also felt puzzled. If the members of the cooperative did not sell grain, you, the person who collected the grain, would turn around and leave. No one would make things difficult for you, and there was no need to alarm Zhou the landowner.

Li Aiguo almost laughed out loud after he figured out the whole story.

After all this time, it turned out that the matter was related to me.

When the ox cart passed by Cadre's office, Zhou Dazhu said hello to the cadre and prepared to drive away.

At this moment, Yi Zhonghai, who had been hanging his head while being criticized, heard the noise, raised his head, and saw Li Aiguo riding a bicycle at a glance.

Yi Zhonghai was immediately excited when he saw that Zhou Dazhu had a good relationship with the cadre service, and he shouted at the top of his voice:

"Aiguo, why are you here? Come on, help me explain to these comrades."

Those militiamen didn't expect Yi Zhonghai to struggle and were almost pinned down. They became annoyed and increased their strength, ready to beat him up.

The cadre noticed something was wrong and waved his hand to tell the militiamen not to take any action.

He turned his head and looked at Li Aiguo: "Comrade, do you know this grain dealer?"

Li Aiguo did not answer Cadre Fu's question immediately. He smiled and took out a pack of Navy cigarettes from his pocket, took out a cigarette and handed it to Cadre Fu.

After the cadres took the cigarettes, Li Aiguo took out a few more and handed them to the militiamen present. Even an auntie who was standing nearby watching the fun did not receive one.

A box of navy worth 52 cents was spent, and Li Aiguo said slowly: "Leader, I am Li Aiguo, the train driver of Qianmen Locomotive Depot."

He gave away more than a dozen cigarettes in one breath, and they were all high-end cigarettes. The cadre's impression of Li Aiguo became much better.

Now that he heard that he was a train driver, he waved his hands and said, "Comrade train driver, don't call me leader. My last name is Zhou. Dazhu and the others call me Zhou the Landlord. You can just call me Lao Zhou."

"Comrade Lao Zhou, I do know this person." Li Aiguo also took out a cigarette, reached into his net bag for a lighter, and the cadre in uniform struck a match to help him light it.

Li Aiguo took a puff of his cigarette, pointed at Yi Zhonghai and said, "This man's name is Yi Zhonghai, he's a worker at the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill in Beijing, and he lives in the same compound as me."

"Did you hear that? I'm a good person, this is all a misunderstanding." Yi Zhonghai just became happy, Li Aiguo continued: "As for whether he is a grain dealer, or whether he was sent by Dieter to sabotage the construction, I don't know."

As soon as these words came out, Yi Zhonghai's face suddenly changed: "Li Aiguo, we are neighbors. Have you forgotten what I told you? We should unite as residents and help each other!"

"Yi Zhonghai, our superiors have taught us to seek truth from facts! Let me ask you, are the relationship between our two families good?" Li Aiguo walked up to Yi Zhonghai while smoking a cigarette and glanced at him sideways.

Yi Zhonghai was so angry that his teeth almost broke. He wanted to slap this arrogant boy in the face to make him understand what it meant to respect the elderly and love the young.

But when he looked at the militiamen who were watching him eagerly, he could only suppress all his anger in his heart and forced a smile on his face: "Great, our two families are neighbors, how can our relationship not be good?"

"Then tell me, how can we have a good relationship between our two families?"

"I think you are the most upright and promising young man in the compound."

He wanted to tear the guy opposite him to pieces with his bare hands, but now he had to rack his brains to praise him. Yi Zhonghai felt so aggrieved.

"You respect the old and love the young, unite your neighbors, are willing to help others, do not pick up things on the road, get up at the sound of the cock-crow, are highly respected, upright, and kind to others."

Li Aiguo was stunned. He had never realized that he had so many advantages.

"You are simply a perfect man!" Yi Zhonghai said a lot of words in one breath.

Li Aiguo said calmly, "I think he is doomed. Yi Zhonghai, you have said so much, but you haven't mentioned anything related to the good relationship between our two families."

"I" Yi Zhonghai was a little confused as to why Li Aiguo kept harping on this point.

"If the relationship between our two families is not good, how can I know you? How can I know that you are not Dieter? Are you not hiding in the courtyard for some ulterior motive?"

People's hearts are hidden. Li Aiguo's statement was reasonable. The cadres and the militiamen looked at Yi Zhonghai with unfriendly eyes.

Yi Zhonghai was struck by lightning and his face darkened.

He realized that it was impossible for Li Aiguo to save him.

In that case, don’t blame me, Old Yi, for being rude.

Yi Zhonghai raised a sinister smile, suddenly pointed at the ox cart and shouted, "Leader, I want to report Li Aiguo. This guy came to the countryside today to collect grain.

He colluded with the village chief of Weizhuang Commune and resold the commune's grain to the pigeon market in the city to make huge profits! You should arrest him quickly."

This is what it means to be so insane!

Li Aiguo felt that he had underestimated Yi Zhonghai's moral bottom line.

The cadre in uniform was smoking and was startled by Yi Zhonghai's words. His eyes fell on the sacks placed on the ox cart.

"Driver Li, are these sacks all yours?" The man in cadre uniform frowned.

Now that someone has reported it on the spot, he will definitely have to investigate.

Li Aiguo nodded: "There are just some mountain products in here."

The cadre didn't believe it and called a few militiamen to open the bag. Zhou Dazhui and a few others jumped off the ox cart and blocked the militiamen.

"Gou Wa Zi, you've become the militia captain, what's wrong with you? Are you so arrogant that even your brother Da Zhu doesn't recognize you anymore?"

The militia captain of Ba Ma Commune obviously had a good relationship with Zhou Da Zhu. He rubbed his hands and said awkwardly: "Brother, Zhou Tudi is watching over here, let me take a look."

Zhou Dazhu felt embarrassed and wanted to argue with the militia captain, but Li Aiguo waved his hand at him and said, "Dazhu, don't cause trouble."

"Just wait, kid. I'll tell your sister when I get home and ask her to sew the soles of her shoes and hit you!" Zhou Dazhui is Gouwazi's brother-in-law. The reason he stopped Gouwazi was to prevent him from offending others. Now, after hearing Li Aiguo's words, he stepped aside.

The militia captain walked to the front of the ox cart, checked each sack one by one, and then nodded to the cadre: "Zhou, they are indeed mountain products, including wild vegetables and walnuts."

"No, it's impossible. Those things can't be eaten. Li Aiguo can't accept those things."

Seeing that Yi Zhonghai didn't believe it, the militia captain escorted Yi Zhonghai to the front of the ox cart and let him see the mountain products in the sack with his own eyes.

Yi Zhonghai’s gaze left the sack and he looked at Li Aiguo with an incredible expression.

"You have such a good relationship with Weizhuang Commune, and you rode your bicycle for dozens of miles just to buy some mountain products? Are you stupid? Don't you know that the capital is short of food now? As long as you can get food, you can make a lot of money."

"Old comrade, do you think driver Li's ideological awareness is as low as yours?" Zhou Dazhu said, pointing at Yi Zhonghai's nose.

Yi Zhonghai's eyes suddenly turned, and he raised his hand and said, "Even if there is no food, reselling mountain products is speculation. Chief Zhou, if you only arrest me and not him, and do not hold Weizhuang Commune responsible, I will not accept it! I will report you."

Zhou Tudi now realized that the reason why Yi Zhonghai was biting people like a mad dog today was not because he was crazy, but to exonerate himself.

It’s just that Yi Zhonghai has a very clear understanding of the policy, and reselling mountain products is indeed speculation.

Wei Zhuang Commune was the most stable and best-equipped commune among the surrounding communes. The construction of roads and canals in the county still relied on the labor force of Wei Zhuang Commune.

If Weizhuang Commune is really involved, things will get out of hand.

Besides, it was just a few sacks of mountain products, there was no need to make a big deal about it. Zhou Tudi began to hesitate.

Yi Zhonghai saw that Zhou Tudi didn't say anything until he finally got a hold of him, and his expression eased up: "Leader, I'm really not Dieter. Let me put it this way, as long as you let me go, I will pretend that I didn't see anything, and I will definitely not tell anyone about the illegal sale of mountain products in Weizhuang Commune."

As he spoke, he winked at Zhou Tudi.

Blink of an eye at you, Dier!
Li Aiguo took out a list from his pocket and handed it to Zhou Tuodi with a smile: "Comrade Zhou, this is the purchase list and letter of introduction of our Qianmen Locomotive Depot. This batch of mountain products is purchased as passenger materials for trains, which is in full compliance with regulations."

Zhou Tudi took the list and took a look at it. He immediately perked up and nodded, saying, "First, it provides convenience for passengers, and second, it benefits the members of the commune. Comrade Patriot, you have done a great thing at the Qianmen Locomotive Depot."

"This is inseparable from the support of local comrades." Li Aiguo handed Zhou Tuodi a cigarette while speaking: "It's getting late, shall we leave first?"

"Go, go, go." Zhou Tudi handed over the list with both hands, took the cigarette, and waved at the militiamen.

The militiamen made way for Wei Dazhui and several members of the commune to get on the ox cart. The driver pulled the reins and the carriage started again. Li Aiguo followed beside on a bicycle.

"Hey, why did they leave? Leader, that letter of introduction must have been forged by Li Aiguo. You don't know how cunning this guy is!" Yi Zhonghai did not expect such a result and shouted at the top of his voice.

The cadre's face turned cold: "You want to create a misunderstanding between us and the railway. You have ulterior motives, old man. Arrest him, take him to the commune, and give him a thorough trial!"

"He can represent the locomotive section, and I can also represent the steel mill. Please listen to my explanation."

Yi Zhonghai was originally planning to drag Li Aiguo into the incident, but he never expected this would be the result.

He wanted to continue quibbling, but the militiamen didn't give him a chance and rushed forward to hold Yi Zhonghai's arm.

Li Aiguo heard the noise behind him and felt a little strange: "Who gave Yi Zhonghai a call?"

He just saw Wei Dazhu whispering with the militia captain for a long time, so he should understand the situation.

Sure enough, Wei Dazhu turned his head to look at Yi Zhonghai and whispered, "It's the widow Chen from Ba Ma Commune."

"widow?"

"The old man went to Widow Chen's house to ask for water and took the opportunity to strike up a conversation with her. Widow Chen was a woman, so he knew everything about her in just a few words.

Upon learning that Widow Chen had grain at home, the old man offered to buy it. The members of the Bama Commune all knew that private grain could not be sold, so Widow Chen naturally refused him.

Who would have thought that this old man would actually threaten Widow Chen and report her hiding of grain to the commune."

At this point, Wei Dazhu blinked and smiled, "You also know that there are few rural widows who are easy to mess with. After her husband died, Widow Chen was able to guard the house and live with her children in Bama Commune. How could she be easy to mess with?

Now, Widow Chen called the militia captain, and the old man got scared."

It’s not easy to mess with young widows in the countryside, and it’s not easy to mess with young widows in the city either!

Li Aiguo sighed, pedaled his bicycle hard, and rushed towards the capital city against the setting sun.

(End of this chapter)