In May 1978, I was re-elected as a deputy instructor for 16 consecutive years at the outpost farm in Fuyuan County, Heilongjiang Province, and I had been in the countryside for three years and eight months, and I made up my mind to take the college entrance examination that year.
In 1978, the college entrance examination had a preliminary examination and a re-examination. The date of the preliminary examination was approaching, and I took a few young people who had taken the exam with lianli to report to the field department. At the door of the guest house, I met Wang Yanmei, dressed up beautifully, and I was very enthusiastic when I saw me, and I said a few words of greeting.
Wang Yanmei was a new youth I received from the Taiping District of Harbin City in 1976, she was a student cadre at school, she was originally assigned to our company, and later because she had literary and artistic expertise, she was transferred to the farm propaganda team, she was not willing to go at that time, it was the farm zhao changchang who took a small car from the company, and she cried.
I asked her if she would take the gaokao, and she said she hadn't thought about it yet." Anyway, I'm going to take the exam again, and if I can't pass the exam, I won't take the exam again!" She said it casually and easily.
Exams are conducted in the Middle School of the Field Department, Liberal Arts Examinations for Politics, Language, and History. I prepared these 3 courses well, and the answers were very smooth. Several invigilators paid attention to my answers and said I had hope.
After the initial examination, spring sowing has ended and the busy work has eased slightly. Lianli has newly transferred a deputy company commander Zhang, who is more than 40 years old and is still stable. He grasped the infrastructure construction and strengthened his leadership. I told Lao Xu if I could give me more time to concentrate on reviewing my homework, and Lao Xu agreed. At this time, the results of the preliminary examination have been announced, and I am on the list and can participate in the re-examination, but my mood is not relaxed at all. Because I know that my most fatal weakness is that I am not good at math, I didn't like math in school, I learned very little, I never learned many courses at all, it was difficult to make up, but this was a difficult problem that I had to overcome. I grabbed every opportunity to review suddenly, but the results were not great, and I secretly felt that if I failed the exam, I would also lose this mathematics.
Wheat yellow ripening season, received the notice of re-examination, because our farm candidates are few, can not set up a separate examination room, so to the 24 regiment to go to the exam, the whole field of candidates in advance to the field department concentration, and then the field to send a car to the 24 regiment.
I first reported to the Political Department and the Organization Section, and the Wang Wenzhou of the Political Department had been dismissed for making a mistake, and it was said that he had escaped from the battle because he led the team to rescue the wildfire, and this person had always reported a kind of hostility toward me, and his dismissal made me breathe a sigh of relief. A new director Zhu, who seemed to be kind, told me that the field had considered not approving me to take the college entrance examination, but later agreed. If you are admitted, you will go to college, and if you can't pass the examination, you will come back to work with peace of mind.
Only more than 10 people participated in the re-examination, and a Nanjing "Gasi" was sent to send us. Everyone was sitting on the carriage board, waiting for the departure at the field headquarters, in the distance I saw Vice President He staggering over, I was trying to turn my face, but he had already seen me, still the expression that was not yin and yang, and the words were still full of sarcasm: "Aha, college student? How's it going?" I coped with him for a moment and turned my face.
The car bumped on the dirt road for a day, along the slopes, forests, oncoming wind, the constant sand on the road and the sky that has been accompanying us, the clouds, the sun, gradually calmed my churning heart.
Arriving at the 24th regiment it was late afternoon and we stayed in the guest house. Here are bunk beds, where everyone talks, exchanges information, and discusses some issues. The room was a mess, but I didn't have the heart to participate in their conversation, and I was bent on seizing the time to read more books, and time was so precious to me. I was the only company cadre who took the college entrance examination, and everyone was very kind to me, and I was also happy to be idle and read books by myself.
Most of these people work in government agencies or as teachers in schools, and the conditions for revision are better than mine. But judging from the words, I think most people don't have much hope, only one person in particular attracts my attention. This is a Shanghai Zhiqing, named Xie Weiyang, is a graduate of the old high school, after going to the countryside and has been a teacher, mathematics, physics and chemistry of foreign languages are quite good. Wearing glasses, polite, well-spoken, slightly funny and humorous, before taking this college entrance examination, he has directly participated in the postgraduate examination of the History Department of Jilin University, and has great hopes. Someone asked him why he still had to take the college entrance examination after he had already taken the graduate school entrance examination, and he smiled and said, "Double insurance!" A look of bamboo in the chest. Everyone was very impressed with him, and I also felt that he would definitely be able to pass.
3 days of exams in the blink of an eye, politics, language, history these 3 I feel ok, geography is almost a little, in school a day geography has not learned ah. Wait until day 3 to finish the math and English exams, I know, finished.
That evening, I walked slowly along the mountain road alone, watching the sunset. The sun was red in blood that day, and the sunset was beautiful, but when the sun set little by little, I felt that the hope in my heart was extinguishing little by little like the sun. As dusk fell, the sky was full of stars, and the night breeze was cool, I walked alone on this mountain road. Late at night, I returned to the guest house, everyone was already asleep, I didn't even eat dinner, lying in bed, it was difficult to sleep for a long time.
Back at the field headquarters, it was late, there was no car under the company, had to stay in the guest house for one night. Early the next morning, I went on my way alone and walked back to the company. The sun is like fire, the road is lined with yellow ripe wheat, and the wheat harvest is about to begin. There are constantly passing cars, but I don't have any cars, I just want to walk alone and meditate.
75 miles I sweated and walked for more than 6 hours. When I arrived at the company, many young people gathered around to ask long and short questions, and I had no intention of answering. The company was having a meal, and it turned out that there had just been a mobilization meeting for the wheat harvest division today. Lian Li killed a pig, and hundreds of people were drinking.
I naturally joined the ranks, everyone came to toast, I also came not to refuse, the large jar I drank a jar and a half, more than 2 pounds. I don't know when I lost my sanity, and when I woke up drunk, it was already the afternoon of the second day.
In the evening, the company cadres held a meeting, and a person greeted me, and when I fixed my eyes on it, I didn't know it. He was small, thin, with a pair of small eyes and a very energetic, with a back and a small mustache, and spoke quickly. He introduced himself as Xing, who had just been transferred from 12 consecutively. Lao Xu introduced that this was the captain of the 12th Company's aircraft maintenance platoon, who had just been transferred to our company to be in charge of the aircraft maintenance and was ready to be promoted to deputy company commander.
I had long heard that Lao Xu was preparing to transfer a few people from outside into the leadership team, but Lao Xu had never consulted with me. In this regard, the masses have long been talking about it, saying that Lao Xu is pulling his own team. I also don't know, that has the heart to fight with him for this, willing to do whatever it wants, as long as Lao Xu thinks it is appropriate, why should I be nosy!
Lao Xing took over the aircraft maintenance platoon in the name of "the person in charge of the aircraft maintenance", and the others were very elf and the aircraft maintenance business was also very skilled. At first, everyone was quite polite, he loved to play with guns and hunts, once hit two pheasants, stewed monkey head mushrooms, and brought me a bowl. After a little longer, his various problems were exposed.
He relied on Lao Xu to support him and exerted himself in the aircraft maintenance platoon: first of all, he squeezed out the old horse, the old chang, And Chen Qingshan, who were relatively high-level in the aircraft maintenance, and he thought it was difficult to manage. Then he co-opted some young people, ate and drank together, engaged in personal relationships, and placed them in important posts. A batch of 50 horsepower small rubber wheel tractors were put in the field, supposedly the products of the past to help Vietnam, this kind of car is small, powerful, fast, driving like a jeep, I even got into one. He turned the car into his own "car" that drove around the company all day. The masses had great opinions, and those who had been excluded by him were even more angry, and Lao Xu not only did not say anything, but instead held a meeting to praise him, saying how well Lao Xing had done a good job, and often spread the tone of the scene that he was about to mention him as the deputy company commander of the aircraft maintenance.
For the sake of Lao Xing's business, Lao Ma, Lao Chang, Chen Qingshan and some other people have talked to me, hoping that I can take care of it. I just understand the situation and comfort them, what can I say? I am very dissatisfied with this kind of method of pulling a gang to fight a faction, establishing personal prestige, and engaging in small circles. But Lao Xu is the company commander, the secretary of the party branch, the leader of the company, and he has the right to do these things. You can't say there's something wrong with him when it doesn't have big consequences. I have learned the lessons of last year, and I do not want to arbitrarily overstep my authority to manage anything, causing disunity in the team and causing heavy losses to the work of the whole company; Second, I am disappointed with the current situation of the farm: the conditions are difficult, the environment is backward, I am not afraid, and the attitude of the farm to Zhiqing makes me chill. No matter how determined I am to continue to do it, in the eyes of some people, people like us are going to leave sooner or later, and we can't believe it, can't be relied on, and can't be reused. Why should I? I only try to manage the division of labor as well as possible.
Probably the masses also saw my attitude, and some of them began to get closer to Lao Xu and Lao Xing. I don't think so, but most people still know my "greatness", and when they see me politely, they can't offend me.
The wheat harvest season is still quite exciting: the sky is blue, the sun is shining, the wheat sea is golden, the red tractor and the Combain break the waves slowly. Large pieces of wheat were cut down, and golden grains were transported to the yard in large piles, which made people happy to see. Holding the fragrant wheat grains in your hand, you can forget many troubles, a year of hard work, is not it for this wheat harvest, this is the most real harvest!
Now, in addition to grasping the political and ideological work of the whole company, the more specific division of labor is to manage the canteen, and my power has been restricted to the minimum extent. Lao Zhang grabbed the yard and animal husbandry, and lao Xing managed the aircraft maintenance. Anyway, everything is managed, I also fell at ease, one day staring at the canteen, running the yard when I have time, carrying sacks into hoards with the peasants and workers, I think the heart is the most fulfilling when I work.
At noon on this day, the correspondent Xiao Wang ran back from the field, this is a young man who has just moved from Shandong this year, although there is no original Xiao Wu and Xiao Yang's share of the spirit of urban youth, but there are also rural children's simplicity, and people are also full of diligence. Breathlessly, he came to me and said, "Deputy Company Commander Xing kicked the rice bucket and wants to go back to Lian to eat!"
"What?" I was in the cafeteria, and when I heard this, the busy cooks stopped.
"You say slowly, what the hell is going on?"
Xiao Wang probably told the situation in the field. During the wheat harvest season, the meals in the machine row are sent to the field to eat, because they are the first line, more important and hard, so the food given to them in this season is the best, it can be said that the meal has meat. These meals are all delivered to the ground as I watch, and even the ministry class helps the cooking class deliver rice, and today xiao Wang delivers rice to the land where Lao Xing is located. In the past few days, I have heard that Lao Xing always scolds the poor food in the field, and I am very disgusted by his attitude.
The old people who work in the northern wilderness have this stinky problem, feel that they are doing technical work, higher than other types of work, scolding the canteen at every turn, kicking the rice bucket, and driving back to eat well on the grounds that the food is not good. What job have I not done in all these years in the company? Why not work hard? In the two years that I have been in power, there have been strict orders for many meetings, and the company is such a condition, nothing more than steamed buns, vegetable soup, and then a meat dish, and the peasant and worker platoon does not have this treatment! Under the same conditions, take care of the aircraft maintenance platoon, and have opinions that can be directly reflected to me. However, it is absolutely forbidden to stop work on this ground and come back to make trouble, otherwise you will be severely punished! The maintenance platoon knows me this discipline and no one dares to violate it. Old Xing felt that he had Lao Xu's support, and now he began to challenge me, scolding me for a few days, and today he openly kicked the rice bucket, which was also a company cadre taking the lead in making trouble!
I asked Xiao Wang, "What did they say to others, did they come back?" Xiao Wang said that no one else said anything, they all ate a few bites of steamed bread and then went to work, only Lao Xing went home to eat.
I immediately went to Lao Xu and reflected this to him, and Lao Xu said: "The maintenance of the aircraft is hard, it is the first line, and the food should try to do a good job for them." I said, "That's not bad, but the company is in this condition now, how good it is." Isn't the peasant platoon hard, or is it not a steamed bun with soup? Besides, there are problems that can be reflected, and you can think of ways to openly scold people and kick rice buckets, should he be the person in charge of aircraft maintenance? Old Xing probably didn't come for a long time, he didn't know the rules, so I wouldn't look for him, would you talk to him?" Old Xu nodded and agreed.
News came from the field department that the college entrance examination score came down, and I scored 289 points. Language, politics, and history were okay, scoring more than 70 points; Geography 59 points; Math scored 6 points! Definitely no drama this year.