Wang Jin quickly explained:
"Village Chief, my boss is not only a wealthy man in Hong Kong, he's also a high-ranking official. He came to visit my relatives and to conduct research in the countryside."
The old village chief's brain was no longer enough at this time:
"Ah, aren't people from Hong Kong foreigners? Can foreigners be officials in the country? Don't lie to me."
Lin Sanqi smiled and said in Cantonese:
"Uncle, I'm originally from the mainland. My father is mainly in charge of the Hong Kong industry, and I am still responsible for the work in the mainland."
Several commune and county officials nearby nodded repeatedly, which made the old village chief believe it:
"Then leader, please come sit down with the villagers. The conditions in our poor mountain valley are too poor."
Lin Sanqi looked into the village. It was a village built on a hillside, and the houses were built from the foot of the mountain to the middle of the mountain.
You can see that most of them are mud houses or wooden stilt houses, but there are also a few brick and tile houses that are very eye-catching.
Wang Jin proudly said to Lin Sanqi:
"Boss, the best houses over there are our 10 homes."
As the head of the hall, Wang Jin earns HK$10,000 a year, while the other nine earn HK$6,000 a year.
It only costs 300 yuan to build a brick house in the mountainous area of Andu County, which is a drop in the bucket for these veterans.
Huang Xiaoji also happily introduced at this time:
"Boss, we deposit most of the Hong Kong dollars you gave us in banks in Hong Kong, and then send 100 Hong Kong dollars back every month, but the county will exchange it into RMB for our families.
"With just over 100 yuan a month, we can be said to be the richest family in the county. Even the county governor doesn't have as much money as us, haha. I have to thank the boss for this."
Lin Sanqi laughed and scolded:
"Look, you guys should learn more from Xiaoji and learn how to flatter your superiors."
Hahahaha~~~
These veterans had no reason to be so excited. Just look at the other villagers who were all wearing tattered clothes, while the families of these veterans were all wearing new clothes, and you will know the difference between them.
The countryside is very realistic.
Because your family is poor, many people bully you. Even when the village distributes fish, the ones that get your family are the smallest ones.
Your family is rich and powerful, and there are many people in the village who want to curry favor with you. Your whole family is superior to others, and they walk with their feet treading.
Wang Jin and his companions took the risk of "escaping to Hong Kong" back then, just for this day.
After Lin Sanqi entered the village, he lived in Wang Jin's house.
Wang Jin's family built five brick houses, where his parents, wife, and two sons live together.
Even Wang Jin's brothers and sisters were all in debt. Whenever anyone was short of money, they would come to Wang Jin's house to borrow money.
A poor couple has many worries, but if they have money, the sister-in-law will naturally be more generous and willing to help her relatives, so the family relatives will be more harmonious.
Lin Sanqi gave the other nine people a holiday so that they could reunite with their families.
Lin Sanqi was protected by four Nanzhonghai bodyguards, so he felt safe enough and so he boldly ate and drank with Wang's father and the old village chief.
After dinner, Lin Sanqi, the old village chief, and other village cadres sat together and started a discussion around the fire pit.
Lin Sanqi drank the local tea and asked:
"Village Chief Huang, how many people are there in your village now? How do they make a living?"
The old village chief quickly replied:
"Minister Lin, our Dizhu Village currently has 120 households and a population of 410. Currently, the entire village relies on farming for a living. When the fields are not busy, the village also organizes villagers to go hunting in the mountains, or collect some mountain products, and then carry them to the county town to sell."
(They should be production brigades and teams, but for convenience, they are still called villages here)
Lin Sanqi asked again, "How about the income? How much dividends can the village get in a year?"
The old village chief smiled bitterly and said:
"Not starving is the greatest victory. How can we even expect to see dividends? After working hard for a year, there's not even enough food for the whole village.
However, our mountainous areas are better than other places. The villagers secretly reclaimed some wasteland in the mountains and planted their own crops. The harvested grain belongs to them personally and they do not have to pay public grain.
We in the village all turned a blind eye. We are all from the same village, and we can’t just watch some villagers starve to death, right?”
Lin Sanqi was a little surprised:
"Hey, how dare you tell such a high-ranking official like me about such a secret matter? Aren't you afraid of making a mistake?"
The old village chief and other village cadres all chuckled:
"Minister Lin, A Jin and the others wrote to us long ago that you, a high-ranking official, are different from other officials. You are more open-minded and more sympathetic to the people at the bottom. So when you go to the countryside for research this time, we will tell you the truth and will not hide anything."
Lin Sanqi nodded, thinking that he should do more good deeds in his daily life so as to gain the trust of the people.
"So, in addition to the collective land in the village, you also have private land. These lands deep in the mountains don't have to pay public grain. Then you people should have a pretty good life."
The old village chief shook his head and denied it:
"Minister Lin, our area in Guangxi is different from the plains. There, there are endless fields and the yields are high. Here, we only have a small amount of land on the hillside or by the stream. The soil is barren, so we can't grow much food.
Sometimes, the crops we worked so hard to cultivate are washed away by a flash flood, and we can't even get back the money we paid for the seeds. That's why life in our countryside is so hard.
The pork and chicken we're having tonight are only because Jin and his people have made a fortune in Hong Kong. Ordinary villagers would only eat potatoes a few times a year. If you want meat, go catch field mice yourself."
Lin Sanqi thought that the lives of ethnic minorities in the mountains were relatively good.
At least the dried goods and game produced in the mountains can be sold openly, and you can always get some money back.
If this were a Han Chinese, who would dare to sell it? Aren't they afraid of being chopped off?
Thinking of this, Lin Sanqi prepared to get back to the point:
"Today I walked from the county seat to your Rendizhu Village, and it took me a whole day. It was very inconvenient. Village Chief Huang, let me give you an example. If someone in your village fell ill, how would you handle it?"
Village Chief Huang chuckled and pointed helplessly at the hilltop opposite:
“Emergency or serious illnesses are all buried on that mountain.
Not to mention that we can't treat the disease in our village, even if we send it to the county town, what will happen? Relying on a few Chinese medicine doctors is still a dead end, and no one wants to waste the money.
As for minor illnesses and disasters, it's okay. Minister Lin, look, the open space in front of A Jin's house is full of Chinese herbal medicines drying in the sun. If you have a headache or a fever, you can just boil some herbs and drink them yourself. Whether it works or not is up to fate."
Lin Sanqi suddenly asked:
"Do you want to have a doctor in the village?"
Village Chief Huang and other village cadres were delighted when they heard this:
"Of course I do. We dream of having a hospital in the village, but is that possible?
Our Andu County is so big (4,000 square kilometers), but there is only one hospital and a few doctors. It’s impossible for us mountain people to get a doctor.”
Lin Sanqi chuckled and asked:
"Let me give you an example. If our superiors assign a village doctor to your village, how will your village support you?"
Lao Cunhe was stunned and fell into deep thought along with other village cadres.
A team leader spoke up at this time:
"If a doctor is really assigned to our village, we will definitely treat him like a treasure. As long as our village has any, we will be willing to provide everything."
Another village cadre also took over and said:
"One more doctor is equivalent to one more life for each of the 400 villagers in our village. We definitely take this very seriously."
"That's right. Anyone who opposes the doctor is going against the whole village. We can't kill him."
When Lin Sanqi heard this, he felt relieved and thought that the barefoot doctor system would be able to gain strong support and endorsement from the masses.
With a mass base, many things will be easier to handle.
So Lin Sanqi didn't intend to keep it a secret anymore and said seriously:
"Village Chief Huang, I came here specifically to solve the problem of difficulty in seeing a doctor in rural areas.
Our idea is to select a literate young man from each village, give him a short medical training, and then return to the village to become a rural doctor.
As for medical equipment and medicine, the county will arrange them, so you don't need to worry about that. You just need to prepare people and housing. What do you think?"
When Village Chief Huang heard this, he was immediately excited and stood up.
"Are you serious? That's great, there's nothing better than this. But this, this should be extremely difficult to implement, right? Otherwise, why hasn't anyone done this in the past few thousand years?"
Lin Sanqi smiled and motioned the old man to sit down:
"It's difficult if you say it's difficult, and it's not difficult if you say it's not difficult. Without the money, everything is difficult; once the money is in place, all difficulties are easily resolved.
I mentioned earlier what kind of support the village can get. The first question is, are there any literate young people in your village? Are you sure the whole village is illiterate? (End of this chapter)
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