Just as the three Chen siblings were reminiscing about the past at home, the village cadres also held a meeting specifically for Chen Xia's matter.
In Qingfeng Village, Chen is the largest surname. Chen Yigen is the village party secretary and team leader. He is also the de facto patriarch of the Chen family. His words are absolutely law in the village.
Chen Bingkun is one of the few people in the village who eats public grain. As a doctor, he usually takes care of the villagers. Therefore, whether it is the affection of the same clan or the mutual help among the villagers, the village cadres of Qingfeng Village have no reason to watch the Chen family collapse.
Chen Yigen tapped his pipe and was the first to say:
"Today everyone is discussing the second son of the Chen family. I believe everyone has seen in the past few days that this kid is not cut out for farm work. For some reason, he actually tried to jump into the river to commit suicide today. Fortunately, he was rescued. If he hadn't been saved, we wouldn't have been able to explain to Bingkun and Chen Chun who died."
"Who says it's not true? At the beginning, Chen Chun and Chen Xia were both about to drop out of school. Everyone thought that Chen Chun was the first college graduate in our village and would be a cadre after graduation. It would be a shame to drop out, so they persuaded her not to drop out and let the second child drop out. But after only a few months, Chen Xia wanted to commit suicide. Oh, this incident caused a lot of trouble."
Chen Guoqing also said dejectedly:
"We all promised Chen Chun that we would take good care of her brothers and sisters. If she knew what happened today, she probably wouldn't be able to go to university. Then there would be no hope for the Chen family."
After Chen Bingkun passed away unexpectedly, Chen Chun, the eldest sister, took the initiative to drop out of school and return home to take care of her younger siblings after handling the funeral.
It was the village cadres' repeated assurances that they would take good care of her three younger brothers and sisters and let her go to school with peace of mind that made her give up the idea of dropping out.
In the end, it was all thanks to Chen Xia, a sophomore in high school. As the eldest son in the family, he had average grades in high school and was not sure whether he could get into college.
In addition, Chen Xia also didn't want her eldest sister to drop out of school, so she took the initiative to go home to take care of her younger siblings so that her eldest sister could go to school with peace of mind.
But Chen Xia had never done farm work since he was a child. After dropping out of school, he made a fool of himself since the spring plowing. The poor child couldn't even walk along the ridges of the fields.
Carrying a load of seedlings and walking on the edge of the field, I either fell to the left or to the right into the paddy field.
After much difficulty, he was taught how to plant rice seedlings, but his speed was even slower than a snail. Others could plant half an acre of land in half a day, but he could only plant two mu of land at most.
If it weren't for the help of the villagers, spring plowing would probably have been delayed.
Now that the rural areas have implemented the family contract responsibility system, other families have more land than the Chen family. Everyone is selfish and always wants to finish their own farm work and only help Chen Xia when there is surplus. This has also led to the Chen family's farm work never keeping up with the progress.
There were no chemical fertilizers in this era, and the quality of seeds was poor. In addition, Chen Xia didn't know how to take care of crops at all. As a result, when the harvest season came, the Chen family's output was obviously not as good as that of the surrounding families.
This has made the village cadres worried. Chen Xia jumped into the river today and wanted to end her life in this way. If Chen Chun finds out, this girl with a strong character will definitely be expelled from school.
If the four students all go back home to farm, the Chen family will be really finished.
Even the most ignorant old farmers know that only through reading and studying can children have the possibility of making the leap to success, escape from the rural pit, and have unlimited hope and a future.
For example, if you graduate from a university or technical secondary school, you can eat public food like Chen Bingkun, with a monthly salary of thirty or forty yuan, as well as food coupons, oil coupons, sugar coupons, coal coupons, etc.
Oh my God, what kind of fairy life is this.
You should know that before the contract responsibility system, even the strongest laborer in Qingfeng Village could only get a maximum of more than 100 yuan in work points a year.
A worker only earns three or four hundred yuan a year. This four-fold income gap is compounded by the food coupons that farmers can never get.
So the central idea that everyone discussed for a long time was that for the hope of the Chen family, Chen Chun, the first college student in the Chen family, must not be allowed to drop out of school.
Seeing everyone talking about how great Chen Chun was, Chen Yigen nodded and shook his head:
"Alright, alright. I know Chen Chun can't drop out of school. Now I want to talk about what to do with Chen Xia. Farming doesn't seem to be an option. Chen Qiu and Chen Dong are still young, so there's no hope either. So how are we going to make ends meet?"
Hong Lichang suddenly said, "Captain, Bingkun sacrificed his life to save collective property. Shouldn't he be considered a martyr? Does their unit have any advice? Can the children of martyrs be given special treatment and employed in the hospital?"
Everyone's eyes lit up. Chen Guoqing asked anxiously, "Are you saying that Chen Xia can take over Chen Bingkun's job?"
"That might be possible. After my cousin who worked at the Wang Xingji Fan Factory died, one of his sons took over the job, and he was a regular employee."
Hong Lichang said uncertainly.
"But Bingkun is a doctor, and this job requires very high professional standards. I heard that only college graduates or technical secondary school graduates can enter the hospital. Chen Xia didn't even finish high school. Will their hospital accept him?"
Chen Guogen, the team leader of the second team, reminded carefully.
Everyone suddenly felt that this made sense. Doctors are supposed to treat patients, and Chen Xia knows nothing, so how can he take on this job?
Hearing everyone's discussion, Chen Yigen seemed to have made up his mind.
"I can't care less. Bingkun sacrificed himself for the collective, after all. Even if Chen Xia can't be a doctor, she can just work as a cleaner in the hospital. At least she can have something to eat. Guoqing, come with me tomorrow and take Chen Xia to the Fourth Hospital. We'll talk to their leaders."
All the village cadres nodded and agreed with the team leader's proposal.
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