Chapter 183 The person is missing
"Generally speaking, after the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, if the weather is good, even if it is relatively warm, we will start plowing the land, carrying manure, and then planting potatoes, and then we will plant spring corn."
Xu Qingming took a stick and poked it gently in the fire: "Then I definitely won't go back. It takes a week to get home by bus from here to the county town, and half a month to go back and forth. Forget it."
Lu Dongping was stunned for a moment: "So far?"
Xu Qingming sighed, "Yes, it's very far. The little girl was angry with her family and chose a place so far away from home."
Lu Dongping chuckled and didn't ask any more questions: "It's okay if you don't go back. It's also lively to spend the New Year together here."
As they were talking, the aroma of meat wafted out of the house.
For just our family, we can just put two tables together and squeeze them into the kitchen. The pig-killing dish is very juicy. Lean meat, bones, and a little soy sauce are stewed with radish. It's a big pot and divided into two. There's also the butcher's head meat, which is cut and stir-fried with fermented black beans. Cabbage stewed with pig's blood is also in a big pot.
Zhang Hongying made dry rice with soaked beans, corn and rice, which was quite luxurious.
Xu Qingming had brought the wine, and Lu Dongping had also prepared some. The men ate and drank at the table. Wen Wan had a bowl in front of her, along with her own lunch box. In the bowl was cabbage stewed with pig's blood, and in the lunch box was braised lean pork ribs. She lay quietly, nibbling on a bone, watching Lu Dongping and the others drink and then start playing finger-guessing games.
"Five leaders, six hundred and sixty-six, seven clever ones—" He spoke so loudly as if he was afraid that others couldn't hear him.
Chuyi was also infected by the lively atmosphere. He made a lot of noises, and even with his two feet tied and wrapped in the quilt, he kept kicking up and down hard.
He was already feeling tipsy after drinking more than thirty glasses of wine, and at this moment, Huang Wancheng came to his door.
"Uncle Minghai, Secretary Lu!"
On a snowy day, Huang Wancheng was running with sweat all over his forehead and was standing at the door of the kitchen, breathing slightly.
Zhang Hongying stood up and greeted him, "Huang Zhiqing, come on, come on, come in and sit down."
Huang Wancheng waved his hands: "No, no, Uncle Minghai, Secretary Lu, something happened at our educated youth camp. Comrade Zhang Yun is missing!"
He was startled by what he said. He was a little dizzy at first, but he suddenly sobered up.
Lu Dongping stood up and walked out: "What's going on?"
It was almost dark outside, and even with the snow covering it, it was hard to see clearly.
Lu Dongping went inside to get a flashlight. Lu Minghai and the others also came out. Huang Wancheng briefly explained the situation to them: "We haven't seen her all day. After breakfast, she asked if anyone was going to the commune. It was snowing so hard that shoes got wet, and no one wanted to go. Then, after a while, she disappeared. We thought she might have gone to the commune on her own. Then, in the afternoon, until now, we haven't seen her. It seems like she went to the commune and never came back."
Lu Dongping was angry: "Didn't we inform you before that it's unsafe recently? Why are you all running around with nothing to do?" After saying that, he hurried to the educated youth point, got to know the situation, and got almost the same thing as Huang Wancheng.
"Did anyone see Zhang Yun go to the commune? Did she visit someone?"
After a long while, Zhou Guoping finally said, "I saw her heading towards the wheat field, heading towards the commune."
Xu Wenfang continued, "I haven't seen her getting close to anyone. I only saw her at breakfast this morning. We didn't leave the place all afternoon, and we didn't see her. It's already dark, and we still haven't seen her."
Lu Dongping raised his hand and pointed. "We're all educated people. You take us roughnecks for granted, don't you? Didn't we say women must be accompanied when they go out? Don't you have any brains?" Then he stormed off. He had to report the incident to the commune, and maybe even the county. It had been a whole day. If nothing had happened, the man would have returned long ago. If there had been an accident, after so long, he was probably in grave danger.
Leaving a group of educated youth there, Lu Minghai said: "Don't stand here, get some torches, light up the torches, and look for it in the team again." He probably wouldn't be able to find it even if he tried, but he had to do something at this moment. If he didn't do anything, he would always feel uneasy.
Human traffickers, please don't ever run into one. It would be a disaster for your ancestors and bring you the worst possible luck.
Everyone was called away halfway through the meal, and the room suddenly became deserted.
Even Lu Dongfu and Lu Donglin ran away, leaving only a few women at home.
"What's going on? The female educated youth is missing? Could it be the human trafficker we mentioned earlier who's hiding and hasn't been caught?"
Gao Xiulan sighed, "Who knows? If that's the case, then my daughter is doomed. Damn these beasts, why can't they behave like human beings? They are so cruel and ruthless, and they are so bold. They are still being held, and they start trouble again as soon as they say they will."
Zhang Hongying turned around and looked at Wen Wan and Lu Chun'e and said, "You two better be careful. Chun'e, you should always go up the mountain with someone else. Oh, and by the way, the pigs have been killed, so there's no need to pick pig grass for the time being. Just stay home and write, and don't run around."
Lu Chun'e replied, "I see." She was terrified. She hadn't been frightened by the teacher's warning about human traffickers approaching, but now a living person had vanished, right before her eyes. Her scalp was numbing.
The flames shot high. The kitchen had been cleaned up long ago, and none of the men who had gone out had returned. Lu Minghai called the men in the team and asked them to walk around with torches and shout. They turned the entire production team upside down, but there was still no movement.
There was no possibility for her to run away on her own. The food supply was in Lujiazui, and she could not survive anywhere. Moreover, without a letter of introduction, she could not even buy a train ticket. Where could she go?
Everyone thought of only one possibility: it must have been taken away by a fugitive human trafficker.
After trying for most of the night without any results, everyone knew clearly that this female comrade was in great danger.
Lu Dongping was frozen to the bone, and after returning home to warm himself by the fire for a long time, he finally recovered. Everyone in the house was asleep, and he sat by the fire with a gloomy expression. Although Zhang Yun's gossiping was extremely annoying, he had even considered finding an opportunity to teach her a lesson, but he never expected that she would be gone in the blink of an eye.
If I were really caught by human traffickers, it would be the end of me.
Not to mention other places, just in Ganling, the mountains are undulating and it is extremely difficult to find someone. If the person runs away, it is even more impossible to find him.
Thinking about Zhang Yun, then thinking about his sister and wife at home, Lu Dongping felt uneasy. If he couldn't be caught, who knew where he was hiding? Such a sudden and unexpected attack was simply impossible to guard against. But there was nothing they could do except be more careful.
The next day, the news that a female educated youth was missing from the Lujiazui educated youth site spread throughout the production team and even the Xihe Brigade.
Although Zhang Yun's accident did not happen in the team, it is very likely that the accident happened on the way to the commune. However, since she could not be found, Lu Minghai, the production team leader, had to take responsibility. He had to go to the brigade and the commune to report and prepare the materials to pass on to the higher-ups.
The same goes for Lu Dongping. During this year, incidents occurred one after another in the Lujiazui Production Team. Although it had nothing to do with him, he was in the Armed Forces Department and his job was security.
The entire Lujiazui team was filled with a sense of depression. Even on a snowy day, fewer people visited each other; everyone stayed in their own homes, as if they would be arrested if they left the house. This went on for several days, and then, in the blink of an eye, it was time to collect the admission notices from each school.
Grades and rankings had been tallied long ago. On that day, Wen Wan arrived at school early and wrote the names of all the students on the small blackboard at the back of the classroom, sorting them by grade. She then wrote the winter break homework on the large blackboard in front of the podium, handed out the exam questions, and then praised and encouraged those who deserved praise. When she returned to the office, Wang Xiannian came to see her, "Teacher Wen, are you ready? The commune has sent a notice, and it starts tomorrow. It's almost the end of the year. We'll start performing in the commune on the second day of the first lunar month, and we'll have to complete the tour of the commune's brigades by the fourteenth day. On the fifteenth day, we'll have a cultural performance in the county."
Wen Wan smiled and said, "I'm just going there to study. What do I need to prepare? I haven't even seen the New Year's Festival here! Principal Wang, do they say when it's going to be held?"
Wang Xiannian said, "That's not what he said. It can't be too early. I guess he's following the working hours of the big courtyard over there in the commune. Doesn't Secretary Lu go to the Armed Forces Department every day? Can't you just go with him?"
Community fire is a traditional program for celebrating the Spring Festival in the Northwest region, and Ganling is no exception. Even though life is still hard now and people can't even afford decent clothes for the New Year, the community fire will still be held at the end of the year. In addition to rowing flower boats, walking on stilts, dancing yangge, and lion dances along the way, they will also stop at a place to perform.
In the past, operas were performed by Hualian actors in Ganling, but this year, because the city art troupe went to the countryside to perform, all the schools and cadres in the commune agreed that operas were outdated. They could still perform, but they had to add something new to it, otherwise it would be the same thing every year and there would be nothing interesting to watch.
At that time, the commune did not have a specific plan for cultural and artistic activities. It was basically the Women's Federation that took the lead, and the junior and primary school teachers in the commune helped out. The lion head dance was borrowed from the county, and the yangko was performed by the more open-minded women from the nearby brigades.
The rehearsal place was in the open space behind the commune compound. Wen Wan went to the commune with Lu Dongping. Lu Dongping took her directly to the place. When they arrived, there were already quite a few people there.
Lu Dongping has been here for a few years and is familiar with most of the people. He gave her a brief introduction first, and introduced Wang Chunmei, the women's director of Ganling Commune.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
