1978: Female educated youth, don’t want an illiterate husband

Because he was just dropping his mother off on the way back, Cheng Xuemin didn't stay in his hometown for long.

The promised flour mill and oil press were delivered to the brigade. Because of the enthusiastic invitation from Secretary Cao of the county, Cheng Xuemin went to the county to attend a symposium.

At the meeting, the original intention of creating "Wreath at the Foot of the Mountain" was discussed. It was a task assigned by the General Political Department. Cheng Xuemin personally went to the front line to collect materials, and it was the result of the creation.

Then, he gave Secretary Cao and the others a concise explanation of the current situation in Yanjing and the pace of reform and opening up. In any case, during the meeting, Cheng Xuemin offered many suggestions on the prospects for reform and opening up in the entire county.

After the meeting, Cheng Xuemin again expressed to the county his request to purchase flour milling machines and oil presses for the production brigade. Secretary Cao and the others praised him highly and assured him that the county agricultural machinery factory would send the latest machines over free of charge.

But how can we do it for free?

Cheng Xuemin cannot use his special status to pull strings in the local county and secure such a large benefit for his brigade. If word gets out that other communes and brigades are going to complain, it will cause a huge uproar.

With this in mind, Cheng Xuemin gave the county 30,000 yuan, which was originally intended by his wife, Feng Jiayou, to be brought back as a reserve fund to benefit the villagers.

Moreover, given Cheng Xuemin and Feng Jiayou's current financial situation, 30,000 yuan is nothing to them.

But for the people of Chengjiawan, it was truly a timely help that brought them great benefits.

Even if we don't remember Cheng Xuemin and his colleagues for their entire lives, they have made some contributions to their hometown, which has earned them a good reputation.

However, the subsequent installation and commissioning will take some time. In any case, the county agricultural machinery factory guarantees that the machine will be brought into the village for installation and testing before the autumn harvest is completed, and basic training will be provided.

Cheng Xuemin definitely didn't have the time to wait around in his hometown.

In addition, with the addition of a flour mill and an oil press, the brigade had a collective processing plant, so it was necessary to elect a plant manager and processing workers.

Good guy!
The processing plant has opened right at my doorstep, and there are even job openings for workers. This means I can work without having to go to the city.

These are workers!

Workers who used to have secure jobs and eat the government's rice bowl no longer have to toil in the fields to earn work points.

So before the machines were even brought into the village, some clever villagers started using connections to try and get jobs in the factory.

Moreover, as everyone knows, the factory manager is Cheng Xuemin's father, so they basically all go to Cheng Xuemin's house.

But Cheng Xuemin's father told him that, in fact, as early as when Cheng Xuemin proposed to set up a processing plant during the summer vacation, there had been people openly and secretly vying for these few worker positions that did not require working in the fields to earn work points.

So after Cheng Xuemin went to the county to get the machines sorted out, his father and the brigade secretary's uncle showed Cheng Xuemin the list of workers that had already been finalized.

The factory manager was indeed Cheng Xuemin's father. No wonder he kept saying he was too busy to go to Yanjing despite several phone calls urging him to. It turns out the reason was this.

Moreover, because of Cheng Xuemin, not only was his uncle promoted to deputy director in the commune, but his father was also elected by the villagers to be the captain of Chengjiawan Brigade.

He's the factory manager on one hand and the brigade leader on the other. His father will be very busy from now on, so there's no hope of him going to the city.

To this!

Cheng Xuemin didn't want to get involved much; his father was enthusiastic about the affairs of the brigade, which was fine.

After these few years, once his father has accumulated some management experience, he can set up a private enterprise for him to run, leading the villagers to prosperity. But that's a story for another time.

"Wait...this Xu Lingjun is a scholar? He's a scholar in the movie?"

"Wow, so it really is a Xuemin? I was wondering why Old Yang's daughter from the next brigade kept telling me that Xu Lingjun was one of our Xuemin. They had just seen the movie in the county, and we were completely confused at the time."

"Oh my, it really is Xuemin, it really is Xuemin! No wonder the projectionist from the county made a special trip down to show us the new movie 'The Herdsman,' it turns out there are Xuemins in it!"

"Why isn't Jiayou in the role? Why wasn't Xuemin's wife, Jiayou, cast as Li Xiuzhi?"

"If they were from the same family, they would be a match made in heaven!"

"That's right! It's all thanks to the female educated youth from Yanjing who bring good fortune to their husbands. Xuemin is so successful because he went to Yanjing to find his wife, Jiayou!"

……

The county specially arranged for a projectionist to go to the countryside and screen the newly released film "The Herdsman" in Chengjiawan Commune.

Although the film "The Herdsman" has been showing in Beijing for a month, the screening time in other places has been much slower due to the need to save on copies.

By the time Cheng Xuemin and his colleagues arrived in the county, it was already past the week. Following the normal procedure, it would have taken at least another month or so for the projectionist to go to the countryside.

It might even be until the end of the year that projectionists will bring out the newest films they've been saving for a while.

So, out of respect for Cheng Xuemin, the county cinema arranged for a projectionist to screen the latest film, "The Herdsman," in their brigade in advance.

However, by this time, Cheng Xuemin had already left Chengjiawan and arrived at the foot of Mount Lu.

Moreover, they faced the choice of whether to go up the mountain to join the film crew of "Romance on Lushan Mountain" or to find an oxcart or tractor to go to Chenjiagou, which was dozens of kilometers away.

Judging by the time, Huang Jianzhong's "Tai Chi" crew should have arrived in Chenjiagou a week earlier than him.

Logically, now that we're at the foot of Mount Lu, we should first go up and make a cameo appearance in the "Romance on Mount Lu" film crew, since Xie Jin has called us quite a few times to urge us.

But Cheng Xuemin also knew that once he went up the mountain, it wouldn't be so easy to come down. He was worried that Huang Jianzhong was inexperienced in outdoor filming for the first time and hadn't set up the location yet.

If we really wait for Cheng Xuemin to come over, wouldn't that delay our filming schedule?

So after thinking it over at the foot of Mount Lu, I decided to go to my own film crew first to arrange everything properly, and then come back to make a guest appearance and visit them when I have some free time.

But it's not so easy to stop oxcarts and tractors.

Cheng Xuemin flagged down several oxcarts, but unfortunately none of them went to Chenjiagou. Moreover, he heard that Chenjiagou was on the other side of the mountain, very remote and secluded. The villagers and commune members there might not come out for ten days or half a month.

Therefore, there were no direct oxcarts to Chenjiagou. You could only transfer along the way, and you had to be able to find one that was going in the same direction. Otherwise, if you missed a transfer, you might have to spend the night on the mountainside.

That's how it is these days. Transportation is extremely inconvenient, and Chenjiagou is the most remote village, with little interaction with the outside world. This is what's troubling Cheng Xuemin.

I don't know how Huang Jianzhong and his group of so many people got into the mountains and climbed over the ridges.

If all else fails, Cheng Xuemin is prepared to spend a lot of money to hire an oxcart to travel over the mountains to Chenjiagou.

The target had already been found when a car drove up the mountain road, instantly attracting the attention of the local villagers, including Cheng Xuemin.

"Secretary Chen's car, is Secretary Chen going to the commune again?"

"It should be. I've seen Secretary Chen's car before; he even visited our Garden Commune before."

Cheng Xuemin made some inquiries and discovered that the Secretary Chen the local villagers were talking about was actually the secretary of their county. No wonder!
These days, the concept of private cars doesn't really exist. A sedan like this is practically the only one in a county government office, and it's usually the secretary's car.

This is basically the same situation as in Cheng Xuemin's county.

Was it the car of Secretary Chen from their local county party committee?

Is this a trip to the countryside?

Judging from this direction, we're still planning to go into the mountains and follow Cheng Xuemin to Leyuan Commune, where Chenjiagou is located—it's in the same direction.

and so……

Cheng Xuemin waved directly, intending to stop the county official's car first.

"Deputy County Magistrate Ke, there's a young comrade stopping cars on the roadside. Should we stop or drive over?" The driver, who was driving, saw a young man stopping his car on the roadside and quickly reported and asked for instructions.

"Ignore him!"

"Secretary Chen just called back from the region and said that Comrade Cheng Xuemin, the pioneer of reform and opening up in Yanjing, is currently in Chenjiagou, Leyuan Commune in our county, providing guidance. He told me to send a car immediately to invite him back!"

"Secretary Chen will be back from the region this afternoon, and we'll definitely need to see him then, so we can't delay. We need to hurry up and go to Chenjiagou in the mountains to ask for his help!"

The person sitting in the car was not Secretary Chen himself, but Deputy County Chief Ke Xianfu. He was in a hurry to complete the task assigned to him by Secretary Chen and had no time to think about anything else.

Moreover, hearing that he was a young man, he was probably a lazy, good-for-nothing scoundrel looking to hitch a ride, so he was even less inclined to pay him any attention.

"Okay!" Upon receiving the instruction, the driver immediately stepped on the gas and sped off without even braking.

As the car sped past, Ke Xianfu turned around and noticed that it was indeed a young man. He was a stranger to the man, but he was taken aback by the young man's clothes and appearance.

He quickly said, "No wonder he dared to stop a car from the county; he must be coming back from out of town, and probably a college student!"

Ke Xianfu thought to himself, otherwise those local thugs, whose names were almost all registered in the county, wouldn't dare to block the road and stop Secretary Chen's car even if they had ten lives.

Even if it weren't for those few lazy hooligans, local villagers generally wouldn't dare to flag down county vehicles or hitch a ride.

If anyone tries to stop him, it must be someone who knows Secretary Chen and has a close relationship with him.

But they will also shout if they are blocking the road or stopping a car.

But the young man just now didn't shout, and he looked completely unfamiliar, so he definitely wasn't familiar with Secretary Chen.

Therefore, Ke Xianfu directly judged that it was probably a college student who went to university in the provincial capital or another city and wanted to hitch a ride back.

Normally, Ke Xianfu would definitely ask the car to stop and give him a ride.

But today is a special case!

That was a pioneer of reform and opening up from Yanjing, who somehow managed to go to Leyuan Commune under their county's jurisdiction without anyone knowing. Their Secretary Chen only found out when he went to a meeting in the region.

It's worth it!

He immediately felt like his pants were on fire and called back to the county, telling Ke Xianfu to come and pick up the person as soon as possible. He needed to see the person when he returned to the county in the afternoon.

But it's already past ten o'clock. Chenjiawan in Leyuan Commune is the most remote commune in their county, the one furthest in the mountains. Normally, it takes villagers a whole night to get in and out.

Even if they drive into the mountains, it's hard to say whether they can get back to the county before dark.

With time so tight, Ke Xianfu dared not delay on the road in any way.

"Judging from his clothes and appearance, I thought he was a college student! But these days college students are always in class and there aren't any holidays, so why would he suddenly come back?"

"Besides, he looks completely unfamiliar to me. I've met all the college students in our county who have been commended by the county, but I don't remember this one at all!" The driver chimed in, nodding in agreement with Vice County Magistrate Ke's words, but then expressed his doubts.

"Never mind that! Let's go and bring that pioneer of reform and opening up back to the county first!" After a brief moment of doubt, Ke Xianfu lost interest in that matter. The important thing now was to hurry into the mountains to pick up the person from Chenjiagou.

He then muttered a complaint: "I don't know what's gotten into that reform and opening-up pioneer, why did they suddenly come to our county!"

"And it's even more strange that it's in Chenjiagou, the most remote and secluded place in the mountains, far from the reach of the emperor!"

The driver nodded in agreement, saying, "It's really strange. How did he, a man from the capital city who was handpicked as a pioneer of reform and opening up, know about Chenjiagou in our county?! And why did he go all that way without giving us any prior notice?"

Could there be some great secret hidden in Chenjiagou?

"But the county hasn't heard any reports from Leyuan Commune, not even a little bit!"

The driver continued his analysis, but the more he analyzed, the more wrong it seemed, until Ke Xianfu came to agree, saying, "It's not like their commune didn't report anything. Didn't they even submit a report to the county last month requesting the installation of a landline telephone?"

"If I had known, I should have installed one for them!"

Now Ke Xianfu regrets it. If he had known that the reform and opening-up pioneers from Yanjing would be stationed in their Leyuan Commune Chenjiagou, he should have installed a telephone for them earlier.

If that's the case, they could simply call the commune and ask what exactly happened.

Now we're in a bind. We know nothing, so we can only send a car into the mountains as soon as we get to the Paradise Commune and then we'll figure it out.

The driver didn't respond to that, because the situation at Paradise Commune was indeed complicated.

Take installing a telephone, for example!
In principle, each commune should be equipped with one official telephone, which is actually the basic configuration for each county and commune.

But Paradise Commune is too remote and too far inside. Just running a telephone line in is a very difficult and demanding project. Otherwise, if it were easy to run, it would have been installed long ago. Why has it been delayed until now?
"Uh……"

Cheng Xuemin never expected that his hopeful attempt to stop a car would end up with him inhaling a mouthful of exhaust fumes.

Seeing that so-called Secretary Chen's car speeding past him, even stepping on the gas and crashing into him, leaving him covered in dust, he was dumbfounded!
What's going on here?

Not only did they not stop, they even accelerated past! Can't they have any manners?! Even if you said it was inconvenient to hitch a ride, you could at least be polite. How can you do this?
Sure!

Without the car to hitch a ride, Cheng Xuemin had no choice but to hire an oxcart to go up the mountain.

I asked a few people, but they all waved their hands, saying that the place was too far away and too far in, and they wouldn't go.

Fortunately, as always, a large sum of money will surely attract brave men. Cheng Xuemin paid a high price of five yuan to hire an old man's oxcart to take him into the mountains.

……

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