Chapter 119
The matter was settled just like that, decided by Qiao Wei and the Village Party Secretary.
As for Yan Lei’s Father, Yan Lei’s Mother, and the eldest brother… they had no right to express their opinions, only the duty to follow the arrangements.
The Village Party Secretary told them, “We leave in the afternoon. Bring two or three changes of clothes, and tell Yan Zhu’s wife to bake plenty of pancakes to eat on the road.”
After thinking for a moment, he added, “Bring towels, and make sure you have enough toilet paper.”
Since it was August, summertime, the clothing and such were light and easy to pack.
The Village Party Secretary had been to the provincial capital in his youth, but that was ten years ago. He wasn’t very sure about things, so he asked Qiao Wei, “What else do you think we need to bring? Should we bring bedding and mats?”
“No need, the guesthouse will have them,” Qiao Wei said. “That’s about it. If there are any prescriptions for the medicine previously taken, bring them along.”
The Village Party Secretary slapped his thigh. “Right, right!”
He then said to the three people, “What are you standing there for? Yan Zhu, go pack your things.”
“Yan Lei’s Mother, tell your daughters-in-law to prepare lunch.”
“Qiao Wei, can we talk more about what you said earlier?”
The Village Party Secretary’s word was law in the village; no one dared to disobey. Once he made the arrangements, Yan Lei’s Mother and Yan Zhu hurried off.
Yan Lei’s Father just sat there, not knowing what he should do. He looked left and right, picked up his bowl wanting to drink water, but fearing the pain when urinating, he endured it, dared not drink, and put the bowl down.
Qiao Wei then said, “The current situation began with the 11th Central Committee of the 8th National Congress last May…”
At this time, due to the lack of information, many people were actually in a state of confusion. Many people knew that something happened here or there, but they were very clueless about what was really happening across the country.
Many people just followed the crowd. If the province did something, the city followed; if the city did something, the county followed.
If Beijing and Shanghai did something, the whole country followed.
Having already gained the support of the Village Party Secretary, Qiao Wei no longer used confusing, high-sounding, and difficult-to-understand vocabulary. Instead, she used language that was as simple and easy to understand as possible to objectively describe the national situation as she knew it.
At this time, many people only saw the tip of the iceberg. However, the few village cadres in the small place of Yan Village were fortunate enough to glimpse the full picture from a time-traveler.
Many confusing things seen from the county town this year were explained here by Qiao Wei.
The Village Party Secretary was also a veteran revolutionary of many years who had carried a gun back in the day, but at this moment, he felt a sense of insignificance in the face of an irresistible torrent.
He let out a long sigh.
Someone wanted to speak, but Qiao Wei waved her hand. “We won’t discuss this. It’s enough for everyone to know what’s going on. The direction of progress is not for us to decide. In any case, everyone just remember: we follow our superiors, and our superiors follow their superiors. That’s all.”
She did not make any comments; she simply laid out the causes, trends, and major events of the entire movement for everyone, connecting the timeline so that everyone understood why things had suddenly happened like that in the county town.
It was merely a summary of information.
The Village Party Secretary nodded. “Got it.”
Qiao Wei said again, “Second Uncle, while everyone is here, shall we handle that other matter?”
The Village Party Secretary perked up. “Sure!”
Qiao Wei took an envelope out of her military-style satchel.
“Yan Lei left home at fourteen. It has been more than ten years now. While he has been shedding blood and sweat outside, he has never forgotten Yan Village for a single day. Although he is not in Yan Village, his roots are here.”
“I heard you say that the brigade’s farm tools are all old and damaged, but because the brigade’s production efficiency is poor, you don’t have the ability to replace them, and you don’t even dare to accept the procurement quotas issued by the commune. He hasn’t been able to sleep soundly because of it.”
“Here is one hundred yuan. Every cent was earned by Yan Lei through life-and-death struggles on the battlefield. He asked me to give this money to Second Uncle; this money is to be donated to our brigade for the purchase of farm tools.”
Qiao Wei leaned forward and handed the envelope to the Village Party Secretary with both hands.
The Village Party Secretary was also a man who had carried a gun; hearing about life-and-death struggles, he felt deeply empathetic. He knew how hard it was for a man to be a soldier away from home, losing his life at any minute on the battlefield. Some people in the village only knew how to be jealous of Yan Lei being an official outside, without thinking about how he had earned that position by risking his life.
Back then, he was the one who had stamped the introduction letter for him when he lied about his age.
The Village Party Secretary’s eyes grew moist. He took it and promised, “Tell Lei Zi not to worry. Not a single cent will be wasted; it will definitely be used for the brigade’s production!”
He took it, then handed it back to another person. “Accountant, you keep this.”
The accountant opened it on the spot, pulled out ten ten-yuan banknotes, and confirmed, “It’s one hundred yuan. I’ll enter it into the accounts later.”
Yan Lei’s Father watched that one hundred yuan flow from his daughter-in-law’s hands into the hands of the village committee, and his lips couldn’t help but twitch.
But it seemed there was simply no room for him to interject in this matter.
The son, the daughter-in-law, the Village Party Secretary—none of these three people seemed to think that such a large sum of money should be discussed with him, the father.
His son wasn’t here, he didn’t dare to speak up in front of the Village Party Secretary alone, and this daughter-in-law had an even more imposing manner than the Village Party Secretary; even the Village Party Secretary could only nod repeatedly in front of her.
Yan Lei’s Father moved his lips, but in the end, he didn’t dare to say anything.
The crowd of onlookers packed in the doorway and courtyard erupted in an uproar.
One hundred yuan!
What a huge sum of money!
The countryside and the city were very different. Everyone with an urban household registration had a unit and a job position, so they received a salary every month.
The countryside didn’t have that. They had to work hard on farm chores for a whole year and only settled accounts at the end of the year. The money they got into their hands couldn’t be compared to city people at all.
For less well-off families, a whole family might not even have one hundred yuan in savings.
With so much money, Yan Lei donated it just like that.
Qiao Wei picked up her bowl and took a sip of water.
This matter of donating money wasn’t just for this occasion. It was actually something Yan Lei had wanted to do for a long time.
There was almost no man who came out of the Chinese countryside who didn’t have this dream—to return home in glory, build roads and bridges, erect monuments to record their names, and be enshrined in the ancestral hall.
Men who came out of the countryside and didn’t do these things certainly lacked the ability to do so, not the desire.
The depth of the local attachment held by rural men was unimaginable to city people.
This news quickly spread to the kitchen.
Qiao Wei’s three sisters-in-law were all stunned. “What? One hundred yuan? She donated it just like that?”
Yan Zhu’s wife felt as if her heart, liver, and lungs were all aching.
One hundred yuan!
“Sister-in-law, how could she do that!”
“Sister-in-law, you are the eldest sister-in-law! You have to say something!”
The two younger sisters-in-law egged on Yan Zhu’s wife. After all, she was the eldest daughter-in-law, the sister-in-law.
But Yan Zhu’s wife wasn’t a fool either. She had gone to deliver water to the main room earlier, and her second sister-in-law was talking about things she couldn’t understand at all, yet the Village Party Secretary and the director were listening with rapt attention.
There was simply no place for her to interject.
She held back her anger. “Wait until she finishes taking Father to see the doctor, then we’ll settle scores with her!”
The lunch was actually quite good.
It must be said that if there was one thing the countryside was better at than the city, it was eating. Compared to the current limited rationing and planned supply in the cities, rural people’s food was self-sufficient.
There was only one woman at the dining table: Qiao Wei.
She asked, “My mother…”
Yan Lei’s Father spoke first. “Don’t worry about her; she’s eating in the kitchen.”
The sisters-in-law were nowhere to be seen either; they were probably all eating in the kitchen.
Even Yan Lei’s two younger brothers didn’t manage to get a seat; at the table, only Yan Lei’s Father and Yan Zhu from The Yan Household had seats.
Qiao Wei was the guest of honor, and the others, represented by the Village Party Secretary, were all prominent figures in the village.
At the table, Yan Xiang’s table manners and politeness drew their admiration.
“Never seen such a clean child.”
“Really refined.”
In the middle of the meal, one of the sisters-in-law came over with a smile, wanting to take Yan Xiang away to eat in the kitchen. “Come on, go with your brothers and sisters.”
Without Qiao Wei needing to speak, the table of men waved her off. “Go, go, go, let him be here, let him be here!”
That sister-in-law could only leave with a stiff smile.
Qiao Wei stroked Yan Xiang’s head.
With the Village Party Secretary making arrangements, Qiao Wei didn’t need to worry about anything here.
After the meal, the cart was already prepared, and a sturdy mule had been swapped in.
Qiao Wei was very grateful that Yan Lei’s Father could still walk freely. If he couldn’t walk, it would have been a real big trouble.
She remembered a movie from this era she had watched before, where patients who couldn’t walk had to be carried on shoulders by a dozen strong young men from the village using a board, taking turns to carry them for dozens of miles to the county town to see a doctor.
That was if they were willing to see a doctor.
There were even more who were sick but didn’t see a doctor and just waited to die.
Yan Lei’s Father, Yan Lei’s Mother, and Yan Zhu all got on the cart.
Yan Lei’s Mother was particularly anxious. “Do I have to go too? Must I go?”
Hearing they were going to the provincial capital, she was very uneasy. The farthest she had ever been in her life was a trip to the county town.
That was also to get the old man treated; the county town prescribed some medicine, but after taking it, it didn’t work, and the money was wasted.
Going to the provincial capital was something she had never even imagined.
She had originally hoped that Yan Lei would be able to come back and take the old man to the city.
She hadn’t expected this daughter-in-law to come back with such an imposing manner, ordering and arranging the Village Party Secretary and the director, and the moment she opened her mouth, it was about the provincial capital.
Let alone her, neither the old man nor the eldest son dared to speak up to refute her, letting her make all the arrangements.
The Village Party Secretary wanted to go along, but Qiao Wei said, “Please rest assured, the eldest brother and I are here. You don’t need to make the trip back and forth; it’s too tiring. I will accept Second Uncle’s good intentions on behalf of Yan Lei.”
The Village Party Secretary instructed, “Take good care of your father and mother, and keep the money and the introduction letter safe.”
He also shouted at Yan Zhu, “You need to be diligent. Carrying things and running errands are all up to you; don’t tire out Qiao Wei.”
Yan Zhu hurriedly said, “Understood, understood.”
Yan Lei’s Mother looked up and suddenly saw the eldest daughter-in-law far behind the elders, winking at her. She knew what she meant.
At noon, several of the daughters-in-law had told her to ask to leave Lei Zi’s son behind.
Yan Lei’s Mother hesitated and looked at Yan Xiang.
Yan Xiang happened to look up and smiled at her. His eyes were curved, his face was like an apple, and his white shirt was so clean there wasn’t even a speck of oil on it.
Yan Lei’s Mother’s heart melted.
How could the daughters-in-law at home take care of such a delicate child? Who knew how many days this trip to the provincial capital would take? If he came back bruised or bumped, she wouldn’t be able to answer to Qiao Wei.
She avoided the daughters-in-law’s winks and didn’t say a word.
The mule cart set off amidst the crowd’s farewells.
Many children chased after it for a long way, and it was quite lively.
Someone sighed, “Old Eight Yan’s family is really blessed; even for an illness, they get to go to the provincial capital for treatment.”
What everyone was talking about with relish was the one hundred yuan that Yan Lei and Qiao Wei had donated.
“Now, we can replace two new millstones, right?”
“That’s great!”
“One hundred yuan donated just like that, really generous!”
Because that one hundred yuan had brought such a great shock to everyone, and also because Qiao Wei had been surrounded by the prominent figures of the village discussing serious matters, no one else could get close. Therefore, some overlooked things were only discovered after the crowd dispersed.
After everyone dispersed, the sisters-in-law of The Yan Household discovered that the suitcase and bag Qiao Wei had brought were taken away exactly as they had been brought.
“What? She didn’t leave anything behind?”
The three women were all dumbfounded.
Nothing left behind; how she brought them, she took them away.
Cigarettes, alcohol, candy, pastries, new clothes, new shoes—the various gifts that distant relatives returning home in glory would bring for their family and even the villagers… not a single one was seen.
But Yan Lei had let his wife return to his hometown on his behalf; it was impossible that he wouldn’t have prepared these things.
Summer clothes were so thin, they wouldn’t have required a suitcase and a handbag; she must have brought things back.
But how she brought them, she took them away.
Qiao Wei didn’t even leave behind a single piece of candy!
