Seeing Huo Qianli's solemn expression, Gu Daqiang also became serious, "Brother, what's the matter?"
Huo Qianli rubbed his fingers and said, "Brother, can you tell me more about the situation in the village?"
Gu Daqiang spread his hands and said, "Nothing's wrong! What could have happened in the village? Don't you know it?"
Huo Qianli said seriously: "It's things like hosting a banquet, these things in the village are different from before."
"Things in the village..." Gu Daqiang muttered to himself, then stood up and went back to the office to get cigarettes and lighters, and lit one.
As the smoke rose, he frowned and recalled what he had seen and heard in those days.
"First of all, it is obvious that there are more banquets in the village now than before. In the past, it was very rare for everyone to get together for a drink, but now every now and then a family will hold a banquet. The most important thing is that in the past, when people had a banquet, they usually gave twenty or fifty yuan as a token of appreciation. At most, they would give a hundred yuan for a big event, because no one had money, and no one expected to get rich from it. Now, the starting price for a casual banquet is one hundred yuan, and those with better relationships will give two hundred or even four hundred yuan. This has led to some people who originally didn't want to do this, but can't stand the excessive gifts, and they have to find ways to hold a banquet and get the money back."
At this point, Gu Daqiang hissed and looked at Huo Qianli, "This time when I came back, I felt that everyone was not as happy as before when they had a feast. I thought it was because their lives were better and they were not as excited as before when they finally had a feast. Now it seems that there may be another reason!"
Huo Qianli hummed, "What else?"
Gu Daqiang took a deep puff of the cigarette, then let it slowly come out from his mouth and nose, and murmured: "From this perspective, there are still quite a few. Take the gift-giving just now, for example. The reason why the gift money is so heavy now is actually because people in the countryside care about face and are afraid that others will point fingers at them behind their backs. Not only that, the cars in the house, the furniture in the yard, and even the clothes on the body all start to compete with each other. Those who can't beat them will bite their teeth and buy them, and then squeeze others out. It's not like before, if you don't have money, you don't have money, it doesn't matter if the clothes are a little old, as long as they are clean, and no one cares about face. If you can't afford to kill a pig for the New Year, you can just eat pig offal."
Huo Qianli shook his head slowly, "Comparison and exaggeration are unacceptable!"
"There's another question. There's a very popular thing in the village now, repairing ancestral tombs!"
Gu Daqiang looked at Huo Qianli who was somewhat curious and explained, "They just paid someone to pile up big stones around the graves in front of their houses, which were originally just a pile of dirt. They also put up big and beautiful stone tablets in front of the graves, with words engraved all over them. They also built a tribute platform, and it would be best if there was a platform in front and a few evergreens planted. It would be so classy. Bao Xingwa was the village chief for several years, and he even built a memorial archway on the grave of his old man."
Gu Daqiang chuckled, "Some households, when their parents were alive, they couldn't even get enough to eat, they were scolded every day, and they had to steal meat to eat. Now they are spending money on these things. Don't you think they are laughing?"
Huo Qianli sighed, "Expensive burials and poor care for the deceased are a very bad practice!"
"Indeed!" Gu Daqiang couldn't help but light up another cigarette, his brows locked with worry. "If you hadn't told me before, I wouldn't have thought so. Now that I've analyzed it this way, I've never seen this damn village for a few years, and there are still a lot of messy problems!"
Huo Qianli nodded, "If this continues, it will easily lead to conflicts."
"It's happening now. There are a lot more people quarreling in the village than before. They are like people who have eaten gunpowder and can be ignited at any time." Gu Daqiang said with a sigh, "Brother, what should we do?"
Huo Qianli smiled bitterly, "I can't think of a solution for the time being. Just stay calm for now and don't move. We'll come up with a solution later."
Gu Daqiang blew out two streams of thick smoke from his nostrils, "This is the only way!"
.......
After taking the car back to town, Huo Qianli sat in the office and thought for a long time, but still couldn't come up with a solution.
It was almost noon, so I had to get up and walk to the cafeteria.
After more than a month of adaptation, everyone in the cafeteria, regardless of their rank, lined up in the order of arrival. When Huo Qianli came in, everyone just greeted him respectfully, and no one said, "Secretary Huo, please go first."
Huo Qianli followed the team silently, took the food with a tray, found an empty table and sat down. He was thinking about it secretly when Xiao Yao also sat down next to him with a tray.
"What are you thinking about?" Xiao Yao paused on the table, picked up a piece of braised pork and put it in his mouth, and asked with a smile.
Deputy Secretary of the Town Committee Gao Yuanming and Town Mayor Cao Qingfeng also sat down at the table one after another. Huo Qianli began to tell about what he had seen and heard in Hushan Village today.
Gao Yuanming smiled and said, "As the economy develops, the farmers' education level cannot keep up, so naturally things like this will happen. As time goes by, they will slowly adapt and it should be fine!"
Xiao Yao frowned and shook his head. "This is the case in Hushan Village. I'm afraid the rest of the villages aren't much better. It's just a matter of degree. This is indeed a hidden danger to the stability and harmony of our grassroots!"
Cao Qingfeng also nodded. "I agree with Secretary Yuanming's judgment, but Secretary Yuanming may have forgotten another thing, which is how long this process will take. If the whole process takes too long and we don't intervene, the bad atmosphere in the whole society will in turn affect the overall economic development."
Huo Qianli hummed, "This is what I'm thinking about now. Let's all think about whether there is any good way to intervene. It always feels a bit wrong to rely on administrative orders for this kind of thing."
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