In the canteen of Shangxi Commune.
Faced with this table full of sumptuous wild game feast, everyone swallowed their saliva.
Everyone was shouting in their hearts: "It's really right to follow Mr. Chen. We can eat delicious meals wherever we go. My colleagues will definitely be envious when we go back."
There was everything from pheasants to wild ducks, from wild rabbits to wild boars, as well as some meat from small animals whose names were hard to tell, and even a local specialty, the "stone frog", was spread out on the table.
Fortunately, this happened in 1983. If it had happened a few decades later, there would definitely be a lot of people who have been in prison for a long time. None of Chen Xia and his friends would be able to escape and would have been able to eat boiled radishes in salt water for free.
The game was brought in voluntarily by nearby villagers, and the parents of several children who had drowned even went home and spent all their savings to entertain the children. There was nothing else to eat in the mountains, but game was enough to satisfy one's hunger.
In his previous life, Chen Xia watched a CCTV New Year program where a reporter interviewed a fisherman from Changdao, Shandong. The old man on TV said that the old society was poor. The rich could eat meat, but the poor could only eat abalone and sea cucumber.
Chen Xia’s expression at that time was: ???
Shangxi Commune has a small population, with only more than 3,000 people in the entire commune. Because it is located in mountainous areas and lacks farmland, the people live in real poverty. Fortunately, this is Zhijiang Province, so there is electricity.
But we can only use 15W or even 5W light bulbs, which are probably not much better than kerosene lamps. We are so poor that we can only eat meat every day.
The director of the Commune Revolutionary Committee, Li Baocheng, the primary school principal, Hong Qikang, and a group of commune cadres were present in person.
First of all, the medical staff of Yuezhou People's Hospital are all lifesavers. If all five children had drowned today, they would have been held responsible.
Another one is Chen Xia, who is the leader and a section-level cadre.
The director of the commune is only at the deputy section level, and the primary school principal is not even that high. In this era when officialism is extremely serious, subordinates should maintain a humble attitude towards their superiors.
Director Li: "Chief Chen, doctors, come, I offer you a toast. Thank you for your selfless and fearless spirit today."
Chen Xia and everyone else also raised their glasses and drank a toast together. Everyone was in a very happy mood.
Especially the people from Yuezhou People’s Hospital, they are now heroes who save lives.
A hero, in the simple thinking of the 1980s, that was enough to bring honor to the whole family.
Even the female comrades started drinking the local glutinous rice wine, which was sweet and delicious, but Chen Xia knew that these people were doomed today.
Although this wine tastes good and you won't feel anything when you drink it, the aftereffects will be very strong after a while and you will definitely get drunk.
So Chen Xia signaled Wei Hongxing to hold off drinking for now. If the driver got drunk, he really wouldn't be able to return. Would he have to stay in this desolate little mountain village? He was even afraid that the quilt and bed would be covered in fleas.
After a few rounds of drinking and some meaningless talk, Director Li of the commune finally got to the point. He was also an old fox. This man from Yuezhou drove here himself. It was impossible for him to come to this poor mountain valley to count sheep, right?
"Section Chief Chen, I wonder if you're coming to Shangxi to visit relatives or..."
"Oh, I almost forgot something. My father-in-law likes bloodstone. He likes to carve it for fun when he's free, so I wanted to come to your place and buy some."
"Soapstone? What's the use of this thing? It's piled up in the warehouse and can't be sold."
A local cadre nearby asked curiously, and some other cadres echoed him.
Principal Hong is a cultured person after all, so he quickly explained to the people sitting at the same table:
"No one wants bloodstone now, but it used to be very precious. Scholars and intellectuals loved using it for seals. I heard that Emperor Qianlong's imperial seal was made of bloodstone."
Wu Shaochen was young after all, and he blurted out: "Isn't the jade seal made of Heshi Bi?"
Chen Xia rolled his eyes at him:
"You have no idea how much this Qing emperor loved imperial seals. He owned over 1,800 imperial seals throughout his life, including 25 of the most official imperial seals. He was also a seal-stamping maniac. If he saw a piece of calligraphy or painting he liked, he would stamp it densely with countless seals."
Hehehe, everyone laughed in support.
When Director Li heard that we were here to buy chicken blood stone, he felt relieved. There was nothing else like this in Shangxi, but there were quite a few pieces of raw chicken blood stone.
In the early years, the commune also established a "Chicken Blood Stone Cooperative". After mining, they wanted to sell it to the Federation of Literary and Art Circles in the provincial capital, as well as a cultural organization such as the Xiling Seal Society.
As a result, after liberation, due to some special reasons, intellectuals were basically sidelined.
In the past, these people were fond of romance, reciting poems and singing songs, which was very elegant. So bloodstone was quite popular as a high-quality material for seals.
As a result, intellectuals later became old farmers, busying themselves for three meals a day. How could they have the time to paint or write poetry?
In the past 30 years, almost no one has been interested in bloodstone.
Even jade factories don't accept it. Bloodstone is mostly used to make seals and ornaments, but rarely used to make jewelry.
So all the mined bloodstones were piled up in the commune warehouse, and now even the warehouse has become a dangerous building.
This is the same principle as stocks. Now that it has fallen to the bottom, you can make the most profit by buying when the price is low and selling when the price is high.
Director Li smiled and said, "Section Chief Chen's father-in-law is really a man of taste. I'll take care of this. After dinner, we'll go to the warehouse and you can take whatever stone you like."
A group of local officials also nodded, thinking that these city people were really pretentious for driving all the way here just to get a few stones.
Chen Xia was delighted when he heard this, and quickly raised his glass, and for the first time took the initiative to toast several local cadres.
After dinner, everyone went to the bloodstone warehouse. When the old security guard struggled to open the broken door, what appeared in front of everyone was a pile of gray stones of various sizes.
Wu Shaochen and the others all looked at Chen Xia quietly, wondering: Is that all? Why did they have to come all this way?
The only person at the scene who knew Chen Xia was Gu Lin.
She had seen her husband's vision. He had dared to go to Nanyun Province alone to buy jadeite. It was said that he could exchange a piece of cotton cloth for a pile of jadeite. Now it is a business worth hundreds of millions in Hong Kong.
The fact that he came all the way to this poor ditch today meant that this bloodstone would be very valuable in the future, so her eyes were shining.
This is what is called "A red flower becomes redder if it is close to vermilion, and a black flower becomes blacker if it is close to ink." Now even Gu Lin knows what is valuable. It is worth it that this couple will make a fortune in the future.
The other people at the scene were still looking stupid and disgusted. A few young nurses even covered their noses as they walked out, not even interested in taking a closer look at the stone.
Several commune cadres were also outside smoking the Hongtashan cigarettes that Chen Xia had distributed, looking very happy.
Look, this is the limitation of the times and vision, guarding mountains of gold and silver but not knowing it.
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