Chapter 126
September arrived, and it was noticeably less hot; the mornings and evenings had become cool.
When the summers were too hot or the winters too cold, Qiao Wei would take Yan Xiang to work and school by bus, but in the refreshing season of September, she preferred riding a bicycle.
Especially now that she had transferred to the Library; the Library’s working hours were later than the County Government’s.
The Library opened even later, as the first half-hour was reserved for the librarians to tidy up and clean. Only when everything was neat and clean would they open the doors to visitors.
Another difference between working here and at the Town Government was that the Library closed on Mondays, giving everyone the day off, but it remained open on Sundays, with staff taking turns resting.
This actually meant everyone had more time off than those in other units.
In fact, even on Sundays now, there were very few people in the Library.
The current atmosphere was not suitable for reading. Reading had become unsafe, and people naturally possessed an instinct to avoid harm.
The Library was deserted.
The weather was lovely that day, so Qiao Wei rode her bicycle, carrying Yan Xiang to school first.
The route she took by bicycle was different from the bus route; she went via the road on the other side of the Government Residential Compound.
At that time, she saw a parade already on the street.
Qiao Wei had originally intended to just push her bike to the side to avoid them, but suddenly, she saw the person being escorted in the middle of the procession.
He wore a tall hat and had a wooden sign hanging around his neck.
Having not seen him for a month, he had become terribly emaciated.
He was walking with a stagger, clearly having trouble with his legs and feet, as if he had been injured.
Rationally, Qiao Wei had always known that scenes like this were bound to occur frequently.
She had actually taken the initiative to go to Yan Village to take Yan Lei’s Father and his wife to see a doctor precisely because she wanted to avoid this scene.
Powerless, completely powerless.
But seeing it for real was still too much of a shock to the heart.
Qiao Wei turned her head in a panic, wanting to see if Yan Xiang had also seen it. Fortunately, Yan Xiang was craning his neck, and clearly, her body had blocked his view.
Qiao Wei hurriedly spoke up to distract him: “Let’s wait for them to pass before we go.”
She propped up the bike and shifted her body, blocking him more thoroughly.
Yan Xiang asked: “Mom, what are those people doing?”
Qiao Wei said: “They are parading.”
Parades were a common occurrence, so Yan Xiang wasn’t surprised and didn’t ask further.
He hadn’t seen the person being paraded either. If he had, he definitely would have recognized him: Uncle Meng.
Qiao Wei dropped Yan Xiang off at school, but she didn’t get back on the bike, pushing it the whole way instead.
She felt too miserable inside.
In the end, she couldn’t hide from it. She was living in this world, and this world was currently running through this era; how could she possibly avoid it?
Ultimately, she had seen it with her own eyes.
Qiao Wei didn’t want to speak all morning.
At noon, after picking up Yan Xiang, they all went to the Agriculture Bureau to eat. Qiao Wei remembered that thin, haggard face she had seen today.
Middle-aged men usually had a bit of a paunch, mainly because they often had dinners and drank alcohol.
But the face she saw this morning had sunken cheeks.
Qiao Wei was biting into a steamed bun, but she couldn’t swallow it.
In reality, the situations one would encounter and the treatment one would receive in that kind of predicament were things often seen in movies and novels.
Qiao Wei lowered her head and fiercely finished her steamed bun, then went to the window to buy two sesame flatbreads, asking for them to be wrapped in oil paper.
In the afternoon, she asked Librarian Zheng Ai: “Where is the former Director being held?”
Librarian Zheng Ai said: “Those people are all locked up in the Health Bureau. It’s that row of small houses in the back courtyard of the Health Bureau, their old storage rooms that were cleared out to hold people.”
Because the Health Bureau was right next to the Government Residential Compound, it was convenient to drag those people out for struggle sessions.
Actually, the term “cow shed” only came later. People didn’t call it that yet.
But Qiao Wei understood that those old warehouses holding people were indeed the “cow sheds.”
Qiao Wei asked: “What was the former Director’s surname again?”
“Xiao.”
Qiao Wei nodded.
She let Yan Xiang play by himself in the Library.
She wasn’t worried at all; once Yan Xiang entered the Library, it was like entering a treasure trove, and he never wanted to leave.
Qiao Wei tucked the two sesame flatbreads into her pockets, one on each side—any more and they wouldn’t fit, and it would be too obvious. She went to the Health Bureau.
She was familiar with the Health Bureau; that back courtyard had a back door.
She went straight over, and sure enough, the door was open. She went in and didn’t see anyone.
After taking a few steps, someone suddenly shouted: “Who is it?”
Qiao Wei looked and saw a person walking over from the door that faced the interior of the Health Bureau.
She strode up to meet them: “I am the newly appointed Director of the Library. Where is that person from the Library, the one surnamed Xiao? I have some work-related matters to ask him.”
“Oh, the Library Director? You must be Comrade Qiao, right?” The man immediately put on a smiling face and eagerly led the way, “Over there, the third room is where he is being held.”
“Are all these people from the county locked up here?”
“Yes, they are all concentrated here. It’s convenient.”
“Is Meng Zuoyi here too?”
“He is in the fifth room.”
“Alright, the third room, right?” Qiao Wei stopped at the door of the third room, “Is he there?”
“He is. He was taken for a walk in the afternoon and just got back.”
“How many times are they taken for a walk a day?”
“Once in the morning, once in the afternoon.”
Wearing a tall hat, hanging a wooden sign.
They were quite old.
Qiao Wei tugged at the corner of her mouth: “I wonder if these people have truly recognized their mistakes.”
The man waved his hand: “These bad elements can’t wake up. Just struggle them to death, that’s all.”
He pushed open the door to the third room and shouted: “Old man Xiao, get up, stop playing dead! Your leader is here!”
Qiao Wei walked in.
This wasn’t a room meant for living; it was formerly used as a storage room. A musty smell permeated the air.
There was nothing, only some empty wooden crates and a bed board—not even a bed frame, just placed directly on the ground.
Director Xiao slowly propped his body up from the bed board: “Getting up, getting up…”
He climbed up, dusted off the dirt on his body, and tried his best to stand straight and still, waiting to be lectured.
He was a little old man.
With hair, a beard, and thick glasses, he fit perfectly into the average person’s imagination of a “Library Director.”
“Alright, I have things to discuss with him, you can go out,” Qiao Wei said.
She didn’t speak very politely, like a leader.
Because she understood very well that the lackeys rushing to the front in these matters were actually at the bottom of the social ladder. They were the bottom-feeders who usually had no ability and couldn’t get ahead.
The more airs she put on, the more they fell for it.
Sure enough, the man was very obedient, leaving with a fawning smile.
There wasn’t actually anyone specifically guarding this place; that man just happened to be there.
The door here wasn’t locked; it was left wide open.
Because they weren’t afraid of them running away at all, and they wouldn’t run away anyway.
Who would run? They all had families, young and old; if they ran, they would implicate their whole family.
Even if they really ran, where could they go?
Without an introduction letter, one couldn’t move an inch. Without a grain ration book or ration coupons, one would starve to death.
The world was big, but there was nowhere to go.
The door was unlocked, yet it was locked.
“You are the former Director of the Library, right? I am the newly appointed Director, my surname is Qiao. Let me tell you, you left quite a few legacy issues in your work, leaving me with a pile of a mess…”
Director Xiao stood there honestly, listening to the leader’s lecture.
But as Qiao Wei spoke, she backed away until she reached the door, watching with her own eyes as that man went inside the Health Bureau door.
She stopped talking, walked up to Director Xiao, and lowered her voice: “Director Xiao, everyone at the Library is thinking of you. Are you able to get enough to eat here?”
Director Xiao had been listening to the lecture in a daze, but suddenly reacted, looking up slowly at the young woman in front of him.
She repeated again: “I am Qiao Wei.”
“I know you,” Director Xiao said, “I have read all your articles.”
Qiao Wei sighed and asked him again: “Are you able to get enough to eat here?”
Director Xiao’s reaction was noticeably slow; it took him two seconds to understand, and his eyes showed some urgency: “Do, do you have something to eat?”
Hunger was a pain that humans could not resist.
Qiao Wei took out a sesame flatbread and gave it to him.
Director Xiao began to wolf it down. He was eating too fast, and Qiao Wei was terrified he would choke to death on the steamed bun like an expert who had been starving for three days in a movie. She reached out to block his hand: “Slow down, slow down. Eating too fast is dangerous.”
Sure enough, the little old man choked and pounded his chest.
Qiao Wei looked around and saw a broken ceramic cup in the corner next to the bed board. She quickly picked it up; there was half a cup of cold water in it, and she hurriedly handed it to Director Xiao.
Director Xiao used the water to finally swallow the sesame flatbread.
He asked: “Is there any more?”
Qiao Wei said: “I can’t give you any more.”
Director Xiao nodded.
Qiao Wei asked: “Don’t they give you food?”
The little old man said: “A meal here and there. They gave some yesterday, but not today.”
He looked at her and said directly: “Meng Zuoyi is to the right when you go out, one room away from me.”
Qiao Wei fell silent.
After a moment, she asked: “How do you know?”
The little old man laughed: “Guan Tuwei told you to expose him, and you exposed his smelly feet; everyone knows that.”
Qiao Wei hadn’t expected that incident to have already become famous.
Everyone knew she refused to kick Secretary Meng when he was down.
But everyone also knew that she had offended Guan Tuwei because of it, yet nothing happened to her. Guan Tuwei, however, was dead.
Everyone knew her husband was the current Military Representative, and they also knew she and the current top leader, Department Head Huang, were colleagues from the same office.
Everyone knew that Qiao Wei could practically walk sideways in Bocheng County.
Only Qiao Wei herself had just found out about this.
She didn’t know whether to be happy or worried.
“Then I’m going over there,” Qiao Wei said, “Drink more water.”
The little old man nodded and watched the young woman leave the room.
He went back to lie down.
Qiao Wei felt her way to the fifth room; she was stunned when she looked inside from the doorway.
Secretary Meng was holding his knees and sitting on the bed board, looking at her.
He even grinned; he could actually still smile: “I faintly heard what sounded like your voice just now; it really is you.”
“Qiao Wei, do you have something to eat?” he asked.
Qiao Wei’s nose felt sore. She hurried over, crouched down, and took the other sesame flatbread from her pocket to give to him: “Eat slowly, it’s dangerous to eat too fast after being hungry for so long.”
Secretary Meng’s self-control was clearly much stronger; he ate with restraint and was very satisfied.
After finishing, he wiped his mouth and smiled again.
“I have been waiting for you; I knew you would come sooner or later.”
