Reborn in 1966

Chapter Sixty: Drive Away

Director Feng and his group came through irregular channels. They originally intended to use crooked methods to obtain some materials and solidify the charges against the other party. Although things were somewhat chaotic the year before last and last year, no matter how chaotic things were, you still had to have a letter of introduction from your unit to do things. Otherwise, who would listen to you?

After hearing what his third grandfather said, Director Ma quickly said to Director Feng, "Director Feng, it's all a misunderstanding. Please take out your work ID and letter of introduction and show them to him, otherwise we won't be able to explain ourselves."

Director Feng had risen to office through vandalism, plunder, and sycophancy, so he had no interest in such things. He gritted his teeth and said, "You doubt my words? I didn't bring these things with me."

Upon hearing this, Director Ma became even more anxious and said, "Director Feng, if you don't have these things, we're in trouble today. You don't know, Shenjia Village is famous for miles around, and no one dares to mess with them."

Director Feng said, "Director Ma, who are we, and who are they? Why are you afraid of them?"

Director Ma said, “Director Feng, you’re not a local, so you don’t know what happened here. Before liberation, Shenjia Village was the leader of the anti-Japanese resistance in our area. Later, they led the people from all around to fight against the Kuomintang and the Hometown Reunification Corps. Now, who dares to mess with them? Everyone has been indebted to them.”

Director Feng said, “Comrade Ma, we can’t talk about gratitude like this. We have to stick to principles. There are counter-revolutionaries in their family. If we continue to indulge them like this, how can we carry out this revolutionary cause? Yesterday afternoon, we interrogated Shen Shengqin, but he ran away in the middle of the night. When we took people to their house to look for him, they actually gathered a crowd to resist us. Ma, this matter is extremely serious. I have to report it to my superiors.”

Director Ma grabbed Director Feng's arm and whispered, "Director Feng, please take my advice and settle this matter quickly. The people in that village are not people you can mess with."

Director Feng said with some anger, "Director Ma, how can you be so stubborn? You're just a bunch of peasants, why are you so afraid? Let me tell you, I won't show them my work permit or letter of introduction. Some things need to be kept secret. Don't you understand what secrecy is? How can you have no political awareness at all? Do I have to teach you how to do revolutionary work? I really don't know how you became the director of the Revolutionary Committee."

Director Ma's forehead was already sweating. He didn't understand secrecy, but he had political awareness. However, no matter how politically aware he was, in Xiping County, if he didn't do as Grandpa Tian said, he wouldn't be able to get by. Xiping wasn't a very big place, but it had a large population. The people of Shenjia Village weren't necessarily the most powerful or influential, but because they had helped so many people during the war, everyone still remembered the kindness of the people of Shenjia Village. Besides, Xiping was a small place. It was quite lively when the movement first started a couple of years ago, but later some parents saw that their children were behaving inappropriately and began to restrain them. The rebels in Xiping County were just shouting slogans; no one had actually been killed. They were all fellow villagers. If you acted badly, your own life would be difficult in the future.

Director Ma wiped the sweat from his brow, his heart filled with intense resentment towards this person from Beijing who had served Chairman Mao. "Don't you understand the wisdom of knowing when to back down? I, as a local, have already made myself clear, yet you remain obstinate. You arrested and beat people, and in the end, you just walk away, leaving me to cover for you." Director Ma gritted his teeth, suppressing his anger, and said kindly, "Director Feng, please listen to my advice. Let's let this matter rest and think of another way."

The incident this morning has already made Director Feng lose face. If it happens again, Director Feng's prestige will be completely destroyed. He also has several subordinates from Beijing with him. If he loses face in front of them, how will he lead them in the future?

Director Feng refused, and the Third Grandfather demanded an explanation, resulting in a stalemate. Only Director Ma, sweating profusely, tried to persuade one side and the other.

At this moment, the Revolutionary Committee's confidential clerk ran over and told Director Ma that there was a phone call from the province. Director Ma wiped away his sweat with a sigh of relief and quickly left the office, as he had felt extremely stifled inside.

The call was from a leader of the Provincial Revolutionary Committee, instructing him to quickly send the people from Beijing to the province. He was to ensure that neither the people of Shenjia Village had any objections nor the people from Beijing had any ideas. As for the degree of leniency, he was to figure it out himself.

Before Director Ma could ask any more questions, the call ended. Director Ma sat by the phone, racking his brains to figure out what the call meant. Finally, he gritted his teeth and decided to send the people from Beijing back. As for the people from Shenjia Village, he would just appease them.

Thinking of this, Director Ma returned to his office and said to Director Feng, "Director Feng, the higher-ups called and asked you to return to the provincial capital immediately. I think I should take you there first."

Director Feng turned around and looked at Director Ma seriously. Director Ma said softly, "It's a call from the leaders of the Revolutionary Committee in the provincial capital. You should go."

Director Feng's face was extremely grim. He had volunteered to come here, and now he was going back without having accomplished anything. He was truly unwilling to accept this.

What can you do if you're unwilling? Look at all these people sitting in the office, and think about Director Ma's change in attitude just now. You can only lower your head for now.

Director Feng stood up and was about to leave without saying a word when Third Grandfather said, "Director Ma, our Shengqin was summoned by them yesterday afternoon. I heard they were severely tortured, and we don't even know if they're alive or dead. You have to help us get them out."

Director Ma was stunned for a moment and said, "Really? Director Feng, what's going on?"

Director Ma hadn't seen Director Feng since yesterday afternoon. He only heard that Director Feng wanted to see the leaders of the Revolutionary Committee of the Machinery Factory about something, so he introduced Zhou Wende to him. He didn't pay attention to what happened after that, thinking that higher-ups wouldn't like anyone to accompany them when they came to do business, so he didn't ask any questions. Who knew that something like this would happen?

Director Feng said, "The person ran away on his own in the middle of the night, or maybe someone rescued him. Who knows?"

Director Ma became anxious upon hearing this. He knew that Shen Shengqin was the son-in-law of the Tian family, and the son-in-law of the Tian family's most favored daughter. If something happened to him, he would be in deep trouble.

Director Ma said, "Director Feng, you have to tell me the truth. What's really going on with the person? They say your people are torturing him. Did you really do that? What's his condition now?"

Director Feng said, "Nothing else, just that his leg is broken. I think someone must have rescued him, otherwise how far could a person with a broken leg go?"

The people of Shenjia Village were outraged when Director Feng spoke so casually about breaking someone's leg. Several young men were about to step forward and roll up their sleeves when Third Grandfather shouted, "All of you, step back!"

The group of people reluctantly stepped aside.

Third Grandfather said, “Director Ma, Shen Shengqin is a worker, which is an advanced class. I don’t know much, but I do know that without a strong ideology, one cannot enter this class. These people beat people up as easily as crushing an ant. I will not pursue other matters for now, I just want to discuss this matter with you.”

Director Feng said, "Shen Shengqin is a counter-revolutionary. Comrade Lei Feng once said that we should treat comrades with the warmth of spring, work with the passion of summer, sweep away individualism like autumn leaves, and be as ruthless as winter towards enemies. Shen Shengqin has not realized his mistakes at all, so it is justifiable for us to use some extraordinary measures appropriately."

Director Ma was furious to see Director Feng speaking so recklessly in front of so many people, but he had to smooth things over himself. He decided to put Shen Shengqin aside for now and get the person away first. As long as the person wasn't in his hands and something happened to him, he could handle anything!

Director Ma pulled Director Feng aside and whispered, "Director Feng, you're from Beijing. As the old saying goes, even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake. We're all going to get away with this today. I think you should go back first."

Director Feng gritted his teeth, suppressed his anger upon hearing Director Ma's words, and said, "Alright, we'll be going then."

Director Ma was very happy and quickly arranged for someone to prepare a car. He turned to his third grandfather and said, "Third grandfather, you see, although Director Feng is from Beijing, his working methods are not quite in line with the actual situation here. The higher-ups said to let him go back first. I think we should just let it go. Let's send him away quickly and then go find Shengqin. No matter what, people are the most important thing."

Third Grandfather nodded and said, "Alright then."

Director Ma was relieved. Now that both sides had reached an agreement, they should hurry up and send the person away.

But no one knew that Director Feng from Beijing was a vindictive person. He couldn't swallow his anger at being sent back so humiliated. A few years later, he returned to the place that had made him lose face and brought a great disaster to the kind people there. Of course, these are all stories for later. No one can see the future. The most important thing is to live well in the present.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the Revolutionary Committee's green jeep drove away.

Grandpa quickly took the bus to the city hospital to see his second uncle, Shen Shengqin. When Grandpa came back, he said that his second uncle had already undergone surgery at the hospital and would be able to come back after staying there for a few more days. Everyone was relieved.

The matter has finally come to an end. Uncle Shen stayed in the hospital for a few days and then went home to recuperate, and the Shen family courtyard returned to tranquility.

The wheat seedlings gradually grew taller and turned yellow, and the weather got hotter and hotter. The production team organized everyone to harvest the wheat. Sacks of plump wheat were carried to the team's warehouse. Everyone had smiles on their faces. This year was another bumper harvest. The elderly and children in the family could eat more white flour steamed buns and white flour dumplings. Adults and children are always happy when there is good food, aren't they?

The hot summer came again, and the corn grew tall. When it was time to harvest the corn, Party Secretary Tian went to a meeting at the commune and brought back several educated youths on the brigade's tractor. The vigorous "Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside" movement began.