Chapter 230: Paying Public Grain (Part 1)
Village Chief Liang quickly thanked him: "Secretary Zhou, if it weren't for your help, the villagers in our village wouldn't know what to do."
If something happened, he would not be able to escape the responsibility as the village chief, and he didn't know how to face Liang Zhishen's family. After all, when they came out with him, they were still fine, but they were gone after paying their dues.
"Village Chief Liang, it's just a piece of cake." The old branch secretary said indifferently.
Village Chief Liang took out his homemade dry tobacco and said, "Secretary Zhou, the conditions in the village are relatively poor. I hope you don't mind."
There was no way! He only had two boxes of cigarettes bought from the supply and marketing cooperative, which he used to bribe the grain station cadres. He definitely couldn't touch them.
"It's good if you have some." Party Secretary Zhou said indifferently.
Since Liang Zhishen had eaten something, he felt much better. Village Chief Liang had arranged for people to pick up the wheat scattered on the ground and put it in bags.
After seeing that everyone was fine, they continued on their journey.
However, the villagers of Shuangtian Village still have a good impression of the old branch secretary's generous behavior. After all, Liang Zhishen is a member of their village.
People can help Liang Zhishen, and if they were the ones who fainted, they would also help.
Village chief Liang felt puzzled because he had been to Zhoujiazhuang to borrow grain before, but the situation in Zhoujiazhuang was similar to that of their village at that time, so he went back without borrowing any grain.
Looking at the villagers of Zhoujiazhuang now, although they cannot be said to be gleaming with glamour, their spirits and energy are obviously better than before.
It looks like there is enough food to eat. It seems that I have to find out the answer carefully. After paying my taxes, it would be better to visit Zhoujiazhuang again.
There is no food in their village and they don’t know how they are going to survive!
Village chief Liang asked tentatively about the recent situation in Zhoujiazhuang.
The old branch secretary was also a wise man, and he either played dumb or muddled through the matter. He could not explain the current situation in Zhoujiazhuang, fearing that it would bring unnecessary trouble to Zhou Yimin.
Always be on guard against others!
After several rounds of probing, Village Chief Liang realized that he could not find out anything, so he did not continue. Otherwise, it would be bad to offend others. He would go to Zhoujiazhuang and see it with his own eyes.
Just then, a horn sounded from behind the team.
Everyone turned around and saw a large truck following behind them, which was loaded with bags of food, which shocked everyone.
The situation is similar in the nearby villages. I have never heard of that village having a large truck. After all, large trucks are rare nowadays and it is impossible for one village to own one. Could it be that a large truck driver appeared in that village? Otherwise, there is no other explanation.
Everyone immediately made way to let the truck pass.
Everyone present was envious. After all, there were few large trucks to begin with, and even fewer to see.
Zhou Xucai murmured quietly: "If I had known this earlier, I would have asked Yimin to drive a big truck to pay the public grain tax. This would have made our village more prestigious!"
Everyone in the village knew that Zhou Yimin could drive a big truck because he drove it to the village last time to buy things.
After hearing this, the old branch secretary slapped him and said sternly: "Zhou Xucai, don't say such things again. If I hear it again, I will let you know the village rules."
Yimin is the last trump card of Zhoujiazhuang. He cannot be easily exposed under any circumstances. The more people know about it, the more likely it is to cause trouble or even danger.
Zhou Xucai then realized that he had said the wrong thing and quickly apologized: "Old Party Secretary, don't worry, there won't be a next time."
You have to know that the village rules are no joke. If you get into trouble, you will be skinned alive even if you don’t die.
The old branch secretary was relieved after seeing Zhou Xucai's attitude and did not blame him too much, as excessive blame would be counterproductive.
After the big truck passed, everyone continued on their way.
In order to save time, everyone walked a lot faster.
Zhoujiazhuang is not bad, as we have ox carts and donkey carts, especially donkeys, we bought three or four of them before.
It came in handy just in time.
I finally arrived at the grain station at nearly seven o'clock and found that there were already quite a few people queuing in front of me. I hurried over, otherwise there would definitely be more people waiting.
After arriving at the grain station, the old branch secretary saw a man wearing a coat draped over his shoulders respectfully approaching him with a smile on his face. He whispered, "Leader, is it time to pay the public grain now?"
Then, he respectfully handed over two boxes of cigarettes with both hands, hoping that the cadres at the grain station would go to work earlier so that they could pay the public grain tax earlier and everyone could go home earlier.
The grain station official looked at the cigarettes and reluctantly took them. Then he said seriously, "It's not time to go to work yet. Hurry up and line up."
The door of the grain station should not be opened before eight o'clock. After all, there is no order without rules.
The man had no choice but to back out and queue up obediently. He had originally thought that he could get two packs of cigarettes so that he could get in earlier, but who knew that even after the cigarettes were delivered, he still had to wait until eight o'clock.
So everyone lined up and waited for the grain station cadres to come to work.
Some people began to feel hungry, so they took out the dry food they had prepared long ago and ate it with relish. If they choked, they would drink some water.
When the villagers of Shuangtian Village saw this scene, they could only swallow their saliva silently. Their village no longer had any extra food to make dry food to eat on the road.
When you are hungry, you can only drink water to relieve the feeling of hunger.
After eating and drinking, many people started smoking their homemade pipes. Suddenly the whole team was filled with the smell of smoke. For some non-smokers, it was quite uncomfortable, but there was nothing they could do but endure it silently.
Unlike the 21st century, there is a saying that secondhand smoke is harmful to health.
The villagers of Shangshui Village really couldn't stand it. After all, they only slept for two or three hours last night. It was not easy for them to hold on here. They just sat down and fell asleep leaning on the food.
Zhou Xucai said, "So what if you drive a big truck? You still have to queue up here like us."
"That's right, I don't know how long I have to wait!" said Chow Tai Fook.
Several people started chatting like this, but they all tacitly did not mention Zhou Yimin. After all, the old branch secretary's words were still lingering in their ears.
As time went by, more and more people lined up, and finally it was eight o'clock.
When Village Chief Wang saw the team start to move, he quickly called the villagers.
The villagers of Shangshui Village opened their eyes at this time. When they heard the village chief's shouting, they hurriedly got up and checked to see that there was no shortage of food. They were immediately relieved.
At exactly eight o'clock, the staff of the grain station finally opened the gate and began to let the first village in.
We must go to each village one by one, otherwise if everyone rushes in, we won’t be able to tell which village is which, and it would be bad if other villages took advantage of the situation.
(End of this chapter)
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