Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 477 Remembering the bitterness and remembering the sweetness
Zhang Jianlin led the two of them and walked in the alleys of the village.

The village was very quiet, with mostly adobe houses and occasionally some brick houses. Most of the people they met were elderly people, basking in the sun at the door and looking at these "uninvited guests".

"Why are they all elderly? Where are the young people?"

"Many of them have gone out to work." Zhang Jianlin explained as he walked:
"As you know, the land in our area is barren and the grain yield is low. We can barely fill our stomachs after working hard all year round, but we can't make much money. The children need to go to school, the elderly need to see a doctor, and we have to pay the "three levies and five unified taxes". How can we not go out to work?"

As the three of them were talking, they came to the village committee in the center of the village.

That is the former brigade committee. The adobe house in the courtyard has not changed much from more than ten years ago. Even the slogan "Agriculture Learns from Dazhai" painted on the wall is clearly visible, but there are more slogans of this era:
"If you want to be rich, build roads first" and "Family planning is the husband's responsibility".
"Uncle Guisheng, someone is here to see you." Zhang Jianlin shouted in the yard.

Soon, an old man with gray hair, wearing a blue Zhongshan suit, and holding a pipe in his hand walked out of the house with a village committee sign.

He saw Zhang Jianlin and asked, "Didn't you go to the county? Why are you back? Who's looking for me?"

"Secretary Zhang, do you still recognize us?" Zhao Hongjun asked with a smile.

The old branch secretary was smoking his pipe, squinting his eyes and looking Zhao Hongjun up and down, then looked at Fang Minghua next to him and immediately remembered something.

"You are the educated youth Fang Minghua!"

"Are you Zhao Hongjun?"

"Yes, Secretary Zhang, I'm Zhao Hongjun."

"Hey, I haven't seen you for more than ten years. You've become so fat. Come in and tell me."

Fang Minghua and his companion followed Zhang Guisheng into the room, where there were still old tables and chairs from more than ten years ago. Of course, the six standard portraits of great men that had originally hung on the wall had disappeared.

"Secretary Zhang, I remember that you were the secretary when we were sent to work in the countryside here. I didn't expect that you are still the secretary now." Zhao Hongjun said with a smile.

"No one is willing to do it. I once wanted to train Jianlin to succeed me as the branch secretary. Did you ask him if he would do it?"

Zhang Jianlin smiled and shook his head.

"Our Bandeng Village is a poor village and we don't have any collective enterprises. Unlike the village party secretaries near the county town, who are all rich, there are still a lot of things to do in the village: family planning, three improvements and five unifications, petitions and maintaining stability. Which one is easy to do?" Zhang Guisheng sighed.

"Uncle, the Red Army came from afar to visit our village, not to listen to your complaints. If you want to complain, you should go to the township secretary Liu."

Zhang Jianlin is Zhang Guisheng's nephew and speaks casually.

"You're right," Zhang Guisheng laughed. "Hongjun, you two come and see if our Bandeng Village has changed since before."

"There have been changes. Look at Jianlin. He has become a boss." Zhao Hongjun said with a smile, "Also, we just walked in the village and found that the houses are better than before. There are no houses with half of them collapsed."

"Of course, it has been more than ten years since the reform and opening up. At least I am no longer like before, when I always had to issue letters of introduction from the production team to farmers who went out to beg for food." Zhang Guisheng laughed.

Fang Minghua still remembers this.

Before the land was distributed to each household, when the harvest was scarce, like now, the brigade secretary would be busy with one thing: issuing letters of introduction from the brigade to farmers who went out to beg for food, otherwise they would be sent back.

At the worst time, half of the 200 households in the village had to go out to beg for food, usually to Baiyin, or to Lanzhou if it was farther away.

Every beggar was leaning on a begging stick. The men carried two baskets, and the women carried cloth bags. Some adults brought their children with them to beg, crying and looking pitiful.

The state provided these educated youth with food rations, 44 kilograms of raw grain per person per month, all wheat, which was still not enough to eat, but was enough to survive. Now recalling those scenes, I feel a little sad.

"It's just that the village isn't as lively as before." Zhao Hongjun added, "We just walked along the road and it was very quiet."

"Yes. Before the land was divided, the masses all worked collectively. And you educated youth also worked together. The red flags waving in the fields were very inspiring." Zhang Guisheng said with emotion, as if he was immersed in those fiery years.

"Secretary Zhang, are you willing to go back to that era?" Fang Minghua suddenly asked.

Zhang Guisheng replied without thinking, "Even a fool wouldn't want to go back, right? It looked hot back then, but everyone couldn't eat enough and had to tighten their belts to work. Now, as long as you are willing to work, a family of more than ten acres of land can have enough food to eat throughout the year as long as there is no major disaster. Of course, you can't get rich."

"To get rich, you have to be like Jianlin," Zhao Hongjun added.

"Yes, it's my nephew. He has become rich, but he doesn't want to help others get rich first. He doesn't have the awareness of a party member!" Zhang Guisheng glanced at Zhang Jianlin and said.

Zhang Jianlin became anxious when he heard this.

"Uncle Guisheng, why wouldn't I want to encourage others? Look at my construction team, which has more than 20 people. Most of them are from our village. Each person can earn 300 to 500 yuan for a project, which is much better than growing crops! Isn't this called encouraging others? I just didn't agree to let you be the branch secretary. I'm really too busy."

What the hell!

It seems that the uncle and nephew have quarreled about this matter more than once.

Fortunately, with the presence of outsiders, the two did not argue anymore.

Just at this moment, there was a "dang dang dang" sound coming from outside, like the sound of hitting metal.

"Is that the sound of the school bell? I remember it used to be a piece of scrap metal. Is it still the same now?" Zhao Hongjun asked.

"Yeah, nothing has changed. I'll take you to see it."

Everyone followed Secretary Zhang out of the village committee and walked towards the school.

In fact, the school is just next to the village committee, only a few steps away. When a few people went in, they saw a group of children running out with their schoolbags on their backs, laughing. It turned out that the school was over.

"This school really hasn't changed." Zhao Hongjun sighed.

Yes, nothing has changed.

This primary school was originally a temple. After liberation, the clay sculptures inside were removed to build a school. Decades later, the school has become dilapidated, with only the withered yellow tiles on the roof rustling in the wind. The roof of the dilapidated temple is very high, but the windows are very small, which makes the light in the house dim.

The walls of the house were gray, and in some places the paint had peeled off, revealing the dirt and straw underneath.

There is a small blackboard on the wall, which is made of cement. There is no podium or desk in the classroom, and the children do not have wooden desks. In the middle of the room, there are several cement slabs supported by bricks, which are the so-called "desks".

In Fang Minghua's memory, this was the case when he joined the team more than ten years ago, and it is still the case now.

"Secretary Zhang, I remember that before we returned to the city, you said you wanted to build a school. More than ten years have passed, why is it still the same?" Zhao Hongjun couldn't help asking.

Zhang Guisheng suddenly became embarrassed.

After a while, he smiled bitterly and said, "No money."

(End of this chapter)