Chapter 1 Absurdity

Lin Hongwei woke up in the morning with his eyelids twitching. He was already feeling unwell, but after his wife kept saying "a twitching left eye means good fortune, a twitching right eye means bad luck," he felt even worse.

On his way to the brigade headquarters, he kept thinking about what major events had recently occurred in the brigade.

Lin Laosan's wife is about to give birth again. She's already had four daughters, and his mother has said that if it's another girl, she'll make her daughter-in-law go back to her parents' home. She'll have the women's director come to their house. Lin Ergou's been slacking off lately, always hiding in the mountains, and he always comes out with a greasy mouth. I need to find a time to talk to him; if things get out of hand and he gets sent to a farm for re-education, don't come crying to me…

Along the way, Lin Hongwei kept thinking about the trivial matters among the brigade members, which made him feel much more at ease.

These days, the harvest is better. Although the brigade isn't wealthy, everyone has enough to eat. Unlike back in the 1960s, when famine was rampant and people were starving to death every few days, making the cadres live in constant fear. Hmm, the educated youth team needs to be kept in check. A bunch of teenagers sent to the countryside, not many of them can stay quiet.

Lin Hongwei planned to go to the brigade headquarters, first to convene a meeting of the brigade cadres to discuss how to implement the latest policies issued by the higher authorities, to organize the commune members to study the documents that needed to be studied as soon as possible, and then to talk about the next plan and whether any major events had recently occurred in the brigade.

The meeting lasted for half an hour, after which everyone returned to their respective offices.

Lin Hongwei sat down at his desk, reached out and touched his eyes. They seemed to have stopped twitching? But the thought had barely crossed his mind when his eyes started twitching wildly again.

Just then, a young man from the brigade came in from outside and said in a low voice, "Secretary, someone's here outside."

"Who?" Lin Hongwei asked, covering his eyes and sounding annoyed.

The young man said, "They said it was Secretary Zhou from the commune."

Upon hearing this, Lin Hongwei opened his eyes and strode out. When he reached the door, he saw three people standing in the courtyard. Who else could it be but Secretary Zhou of the commune at the head? Ignoring his twitching eyes, Lin Hongwei smiled and walked up to them, saying, "Secretary Zhou, what brings you here? Come, come, please come in." He then told the young man to quickly pour some water.

Secretary Zhou waved his hand and said, "Didn't we get a document from above that tells us leaders to go to the grassroots level more often? I came over today since I had some free time." He then asked Lin Hongwei if he wanted to come along.

When the leader speaks, Lin Hongwei never refuses and quickly agrees. The young man who went to pour tea overheard their conversation and asked dumbfoundedly, "Secretary, are you still going to pour the tea?"

That was incredibly tactless. Lin Hongwei almost choked on his words, but he still asked Secretary Zhou, "Why don't you have a cup of tea before you leave?"

Before Secretary Zhou could speak, the young man in military uniform beside him said, "Secretary Zhou, after we finish visiting the Linjiazu Brigade, we still have to go to the next brigade."

Lin Hongwei had noticed the young man in military uniform long ago, firstly because of his good looks, and secondly because his demeanor was different from ordinary people, more like a soldier. Seeing that the man was unfamiliar, he couldn't help but wonder when the commune had transferred a retired soldier.

"Commander Xie is right, we won't drink this tea," Secretary Zhou said with a smile, gesturing for everyone to leave.

Lin Hongwei was taken aback when he heard Secretary Zhou address the young man as "Commander Xie?"

As they walked, Secretary Zhou asked, "Old Lin, you don't recognize him yet? This is Comrade Xie Wei. Don't let his young age fool you; he's already a regimental commander."

Xie Wei was a well-known success story in Xingfeng Brigade, so how could Lin Hongwei not recognize him? He chuckled and said, "Yes, yes, Captain Xie of Xingfeng Brigade is the same person as Commander Xie, right? Come to think of it, we've met before, but Commander Xie was quite young back then, only this tall." Lin Hongwei gestured to his chest as he spoke.

"That must have happened before Commander Xie joined the army, right?" Secretary Zhou asked with a smile.

Xie Wei nodded and said, "That happened fourteen years ago."

“That’s right. Back then, Secretary Xie was still alive, and Regiment Commander Xie was still in junior high school, right?” Lin Hongwei asked. Seeing Xie Wei nod, he added, “I remember that Regiment Commander Xie had excellent grades back then and even said he wanted to go to university. I never expected that he would end up joining the army.”

Secretary Zhou chuckled and said, "It's better to join the army. If Commander Xie goes to university, wouldn't our army lose a tiger general?"

Lin Hongwei nodded solemnly upon hearing this; he had also heard of Xie Wei's deeds. Xie Wei joined the army in 1962, was sent to an overseas battlefield in 1965, and did not return to China until 1970. Not long after returning, he was promoted to deputy regimental commander for his military achievements, and now, three years later, he has been promoted to regimental commander.

That's the regimental commander!

His rank is equivalent to that of a county head, and even if he's demoted by half a rank after his transfer, he'll still be a deputy county-level cadre. Moreover, Xie Wei is only twenty-eight this year; he'll definitely be able to get promoted again before his transfer.

Every time Lin Hongwei thinks about this, he marvels at how incredibly lucky the Xie family is!

If Xie Wei had followed the conventional path to university, would he have achieved what he has today?

...

Before going to the brigade headquarters, Secretary Zhou and his two companions had already toured the brigade and learned about the general situation of Linjiazui Brigade from the villagers. They called Lin Hongwei out now simply to get more detailed information.

Secretary Zhou was transferred to Yutian Commune this year and is eager to make a difference. Although the situation of each brigade is in the documents, he also wants to take advantage of this trip to the grassroots level to understand it more thoroughly and comprehensively, integrate resources, and then consider future development.

Therefore, after leaving the brigade headquarters, they did not go back to the village where the commune members lived, but instead walked along the fields and all the way to the back mountain.

As Lin Hongwei walked, he said, “In the spring and autumn seasons, we also organize the members of the brigade to come up the mountain to pick bamboo shoots and mushrooms. But as you know, there are mountains everywhere in our Yutian Town. Bamboo shoots and mushrooms are not rare things. Even if we go through the trouble of picking and drying them, we can’t sell them for much in town.”

"That……"

Before Secretary Zhou could speak, Xie Wei interrupted him, saying, "Someone's here."

Secretary Zhou paused slightly, watching Xie Wei walk step by step to the bank and part some of the tall, withered weeds. Secretary Zhou and Lin Hongwei walked over and saw a stream below, with a girl squatting by the stream, beating and pounding clothes. Lin Hongwei exclaimed in surprise, "Isn't this...?"

But before he could speak, Xie Wei shushed him with a serious face, so he swallowed his words and looked at Xie Wei with a puzzled expression. But he didn't speak, he just pointed to the stream.

Lin Hongwei dared not offend him, so he looked at Secretary Zhou. Secretary Zhou was also a little puzzled, but he had met Xie Wei a few times in the past few days and knew that he was not the type to make a fuss. So he nodded to Lin Hongwei.

As they quieted down, an impatient voice came from the weeds: "Why don't you say something?"

When the sound rang out, the group realized there was another person by the stream, but they hadn't seen them because the weeds obscured their view. While the others couldn't recognize the voice, Lin Hongwei immediately recognized it as Old Lady Lin's, and his brows furrowed involuntarily.

I had heard that Old Mrs. Lin was mean to her adopted daughter, but I never expected her attitude to be so terrible in private.

As Lin Hongwei was pondering this, he saw the girl washing clothes by the stream stop her beating and say, "What do you want me to say? I said I don't want to, but did you listen?"

As the girl spoke, she turned her head. In the sunlight, her face looked somewhat pale, and her eyes were red.

The girl by the stream was Lin Qingqing. She had come here with her bamboo basket after Zhao Liye visited the Lin family that morning. There were three places in the village where people washed clothes: the pond at the village entrance, the stream at the village end, and this was the third place. Actually, it was part of the same stream flowing through the village entrance; this was upstream, and because it was far from the village, few people came here.

Therefore, Lin Qingqing and Xie Wei decided to choose this location.

As she had predicted, after Zhao Liye arrived, Old Lady Lin felt it wasn't convenient to talk at home, so she came out to find her. Once there, seeing that no one was around, she told her about having a child for Lin Ying.

Catching a glimpse of people on the shore out of the corner of her eye, Lin Qingqing quickly lowered her head and continued to beat her clothes.

Old Mrs. Lin was enraged by her words and took two steps forward, saying, "Why can't you listen to me, child? Your third sister has been so good to you, yet you won't even agree to such a small thing!"

"Good to me?" Lin Qingqing stopped hitting her again and looked up at the old lady. "You say she's good to me, but where was she when I was raising chickens and ducks? Did she help me when I was chopping wood and carrying manure? Over the years, I've done the most work and eaten the least food, has she ever said a word in my defense?"

Lin Qingqing stood up and smiled sarcastically. "No, she spoke up for me. This morning, she gave me half a bowl of porridge. But tell me, why is she suddenly being nice to me?"

Old Mrs. Lin never expected that her obedient adopted daughter would change so drastically in just half a morning. Her face turned pale with anger. "I knew you were an ingrate! If I had known you were so heartless, I should have strangled you when you were brought back!"

"Yes, you should have strangled me a long time ago." Lin Qingqing lowered her head, wiped away her tears, then looked up, sniffed, and said, "If I were dead, I wouldn't have had to work so hard all these years, taking on all the housework, just to have you look at me once. If I were dead, I wouldn't have had to hear you say things like, 'Third Sister can't have children, so I should have a child for her!'"

Upon hearing this, Lin Hongwei's eyes widened suddenly, and he blurted out, "How...?"

His words had barely left his mouth when Xie Wei covered it. The young soldier, who had been silent until now, had furrowed brows, and a chilling aura emanated from his dark eyes, sending a shiver down one's spine. Lin Hongwei was startled and quickly covered his mouth with his hand, taking a step back and looking at Secretary Zhou.

Secretary Zhou hadn't expected to hear such a secret from this mother-daughter argument, and his expression gradually turned serious.

Women’s status has greatly improved since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, but many problems still exist in rural areas, such as domestic violence and the issue of whether to have a son or a daughter.

But what this conversation reveals is more serious than these problems.

Old Mrs. Lin by the stream was stung by Lin Qingqing's words. "Do you think I've mistreated you? Haven't I fed you or clothed you all these years? Which girl your age in our brigade wasn't married off by her parents for dowry money? I'm just asking you to have a child in place of your third sister, so what?"

"Besides, if it weren't for my man, you would have starved to death long ago. Can't a child save your life?" Old Mrs. Lin was furious. If her daughter hadn't been unable to have children, and Lin Qingqing dared to speak to her like that, she would have sold her to the deep mountains and forests long ago!

Thinking of this, Old Mrs. Lin took a deep breath and said, "Lin Qingqing, let me tell you, I've prepared everything. You have to agree tonight, whether you like it or not! After it's done, you'd better obediently give birth to our son, and I might even take pity on you and find you a good family! If you piss me off, I'll marry you off to some remote mountain village and see if you'll have a good life after that!"

Upon hearing this, Secretary Zhou could no longer contain himself and angrily exclaimed, "Absurd!"

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