Chapter 25: Brave and Responsible
That’s because Li Caiyun left first.
At first, Secretary Zhang didn’t guess the purpose of Li Caiyun’s departure. What else didn’t he understand at this moment?
If Li Caiyun hadn't gone back to tip off, how could things have developed to this point?
Secretary Zhang knew that he had suffered a loss, but he could not blame Zhou Yong openly.
When leaders come for on-site inspections, village cadres will naturally follow them and introduce village affairs to them.
Secretary Zhang laughed silently when he thought of this. He seemed to remember Zhou Yong.
Li Baotian had no idea what Secretary Zhang was thinking, so when he saw him smile, he quickly smiled back.
The group walked down the mountain beating drums and gongs. Secretary Zhang felt even more uncomfortable when faced with the enthusiastic people of Huaixi Village.
The problems of Huaixi Village should have been solved long ago. Due to financial problems, the villagers are living a miserable life.
It was also at this moment that Secretary Zhang made up his mind to implement the mountain moving project for Huaixi Village.
As he spoke, Secretary Zhang, accompanied by hundreds of villagers, took a tour of Huaixi Village.
In addition to conducting an on-site inspection of the village, Li Baotian followed Zhou Yong's instructions and took Secretary Zhang to inspect the fields.
Although Huaixi Village is surrounded by mountains and covers a large area, there is not much arable land. The main reason is that most of the land is sandy and cannot be cultivated at all. Apart from the grain that must be handed over every year, it is difficult for the villagers to have enough food.
Secretary Zhang remembered every scene he saw. He said to Li Baotian: "Village Chief Li, I didn't understand the situation of Huaixi Village before, which was a dereliction of duty. Today I understand the situation in the village. Please rest assured that I will solve these problems for everyone one by one..."
The inspiring words immediately caused thunderous applause, and some people even jumped up and down with excitement.
Li Baotian was even more excited. He shook Secretary Zhang's hand with tears in his eyes, "Secretary Zhang, your words are enough."
Secretary Zhang withdrew his hand, patted Li Baotian on the shoulder, and looked at the simple villagers.
Most of them were wearing clothes with patches on top of patches, and even some of the children's shoes had their toes exposed.
"I promise you that I will help you remove the mountain and solve your problems of not having enough food and having difficulty going to school..."
There is a primary school in Huaixi Village, but there are only dozens of students in the village with more than 500 households.
Why is this happening?
Because many people know that even if they finish elementary school, it is too difficult to go out of the mountains to study, and every family has many children, so in order to save money, they simply do not let their children go to school.
Someone was laughing and then started crying uncontrollably. One person started crying, and then gradually more and more people started crying.
The villagers of Huaixi Village are suffering so much that they are in despair.
If the policy did not allow it, many people would probably move away from here.
Now that the dawn has finally come, how can they not be excited?
Secretary Zhang's eyes turned red as he looked at the villagers in tears.
Li Baotian wiped his eye sockets and said, "Everyone should go home."
The villagers listened to Li Baotian and walked towards the village in groups of three or five.
Secretary Zhang sighed and thought about how to bring benefits to Huaixi Village.
"Secretary Zhang, let's go home and talk."
It was already noon. Secretary Zhang rarely came, so Li Baotian told Zhang Guifang to make lunch at home early.
Secretary Zhang looked at the time and saw that it was almost 20 o'clock: "I have already understood the situation in the village. I will not go home. I have to go to the county for a meeting in the afternoon..."
Now that we’re here, how can we let Secretary Zhang go back hungry?
"Secretary Zhang, you have to eat even if you are busy, right? You come to our Huaixi Village, why do you have to eat before you go back..."
At Li Baotian's enthusiastic invitation, Secretary Zhang went to Li's house.
As soon as Secretary Zhang entered the yard, he smelled the scent of chicken stewed with mushrooms, and he couldn't help but frown.
"It's actually chicken stewed with mushrooms?"
Li Baotian said calmly: "Secretary Zhang, to be honest, the reason why we can eat chicken stewed with mushrooms is thanks to my son-in-law Zhou Yong. If he hadn't hunted a pheasant in the mountains, I wouldn't know what to use to entertain Secretary Zhang..."
June is the season when vegetables in the vegetable garden have not yet matured in large quantities, so most people eat old potatoes, dried vegetables, pickles and wild vegetables from the mountains.
Secretary Zhang relaxed his frown and looked at Zhou Yong after understanding the situation.
"Zhou Yong is your son-in-law?"
Li Baotian nodded and Secretary Zhang smiled.
"Comrade Zhou Yong is great. He is brave and resourceful at a young age. He has a promising future."
Zhou Yong, who was walking nearby, raised his hand and touched his nose after hearing what Secretary Zhang said.
Xu Jianmin lowered his voice and followed him: "You are a good kid. You actually got the praise from the secretary."
It's just a compliment, it can't be eaten or drunk.
Zhou Yong used to take these things very seriously, but now he just laughs them off.
Zhang Guifang came out of the house wearing an apron and was a little stiff. Li Baotian introduced his wife to Secretary Zhang.
Secretary Zhang parked his bicycle and followed Li Baotian into the house. He saw the stewed beans on the stove and looked surprised.
“Are your beans ripe?”
Li Baotian smiled and said: "Secretary Zhang, you don't know that in order to eat vegetables earlier, my mother would grow seedlings in advance every year..."
Secretary Zhang nodded continuously: "This is a good idea, it is worth promoting."
Li Baotian smiled bitterly and replied: "Secretary Zhang, our seedling cultivation technology is not mature at present and cannot be promoted..."
The Northeast is extremely cold in winter, making it difficult to grow vegetable seedlings.
And no one in their village understood these things, and the women all came up with the seedling-raising methods at home.
If you want to grow vegetable seedlings on a large scale, you need expert guidance and a certain amount of space to grow the seedlings.
Secretary Zhang nodded continuously: "You are right. I oversimplified the matter."
Li Baotian smiled apologetically: "Secretary Zhang, please don't say that. It's mainly because you don't understand the situation in our village..."
It is said that a city surrounded by mountains has warm winters and cool summers, but this statement depends on the geographical location.
If Huaixi Village was located in the south, the situation would be completely different from it is now. Unfortunately, it is in the north, where it is cold for nearly six months a year. Just imagine how hard life is for people living in the mountains.
Li Baotian and Secretary Zhang walked into the house while talking, and Zhou Yong glanced at the stove.
"Mom, what do you need me for?"
Zhang Guifang smiled and said, "You don't have to do anything. The dishes and rice are ready. Let's set the table and eat."
Seeing this, Zhou Yong moved the kang table into the room, and Li Caiyun opened the bowl rack and picked up the bowls and chopsticks from the table.
Xu Jianmin came out of the house to help serve the food, and soon six dishes were on the table.
Stewed beans with oil, stewed chicken with mushrooms, home-cooked cold dishes, braised tofu, dipped in pickles, and a salted duck egg cut in half.
Secretary Zhang looked at the food on the table and said with a smile, "I'm sorry to trouble you."
Li Baotian took over the conversation and suggested drinking some wine, but Secretary Zhang refused.
Secretary Zhang has to go to the county for a meeting in the afternoon, so he must not drink any alcohol.
If Secretary Zhang was late for the meeting due to drinking, he would definitely be criticized.
"Secretary Zhang, I won't try to persuade you anymore. Mother, just bring the food over..."
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