The Party Secretary realized he had scared people, so he quickly smoothed things over: "Also, if the grain quota is 1,000 jin, then 100 jin more is an over-quota."
Village Chief Ma choked. "Damn it, can I hit someone? How can you talk like that, panting like that?"
Seeing the village chief's indecisive state, the Party Secretary pulled out a bright red bill for a Red Flag brand bicycle from his pocket.
Upon seeing the bicycle ticket, Village Chief Ma's eyes lit up, and his earlier frustration vanished.
"Secretary, is this a bicycle ticket? I've been looking for it for a long time. Can you sell it to me? No, no, I mean exchange it for me?"
"Okay, what will you use to exchange?" the village secretary asked with a smile.
Village Chief Ma was dumbfounded. What should I use to exchange it for? How am I supposed to know what to use to exchange it for?
“Here’s what we’ll do. The educated youth will arrive the day after tomorrow. Your village has been allocated eight. You can take them back then. The educated youth’s food rations will be deducted later after they’ve eaten them,” the Party Secretary said.
"Also, take the piglets back with you the day after tomorrow. These are big piglets, easy to raise. I'll exchange my bicycle ticket for your piglets. How about it? Want to trade?"
"I'll take good care of the pigs and fatten them up. Don't worry, Secretary Ma." Village Chief Ma accepted the bicycle ticket. It's just raising pigs, no big deal.
Village Chief Ma started to get restless. His wife told him to take the money with him, in case there were any tickets and he wouldn't have to come back again. His wife was so wise.
The Party Secretary tactfully adjourned the meeting, though in reality, even if he continued, Village Chief Ma wouldn't be able to hear him anyway.
Village Chief Ma rushed to the supply and marketing cooperative. There weren't many people there, mainly because the things they wanted to buy were out of stock, and the things that were available were either too expensive or unavailable.
Just like the bicycle that Village Chief Ma is looking at, you can't buy it if you have money but no ticket, or if you have a ticket but no money. What's more, most people don't have either money or tickets.
There are Flying Pigeon, Red Flag, and Forever brands of bicycles. Forever is the best and most expensive, but Village Chief Ma doesn't have any Forever tickets.
The Party Secretary gave us tickets for the Red Flag, so we could only buy Red Flag tickets. They cost 140 yuan, which was 20 yuan cheaper than Yongjiu tickets.
Village Chief Ma circled the Red Flag bicycle several times, examining it carefully. Under the wary gaze of the salesperson, he took out his money and tickets.
The salesperson smiled, but inwardly cursed, "This country bumpkin, why didn't he just hand over his money and ticket earlier? He's making it sound like he's trying to rob me, making me super nervous."
Village Chief Ma finally rode his bicycle home. He had learned to ride a bicycle years ago, but he was a little rusty after not riding for a long time. However, it was just a matter of the handlebars wobbling a few times.
As soon as Village Chief Ma entered the village, news of the bicycle had already reached the ears of the Yan family and Ma's wife.
Yan Xiaonan was once again impressed by how quickly the villagers could spread information; it was even faster than a mobile phone.
Bei Nan ran out to see what the village chief's bicycle looked like, and whether it was the same as his own.
Village Chief Ma was slowly riding his bicycle around the village when the accountant saw him and quickly ran up to him, admiring the bicycle with great interest.
"Uncle, is this a new bike you bought? It looks nice. Can you get off and let me pedal it a few times?"
Upon hearing this, Village Chief Ma really wanted to kick the kid. How dare you be so arrogant? I'll kick you a few more times. Go as far away as you can.
At this moment, Village Chief Ma understood Yan Xiaoqiang's reluctance to lend the car. "If it were me, I wouldn't want to either. It's such a valuable thing; how can I just lend it out like that?"
I found a clean spot, carefully locked the car, took the car keys, and went into the village committee office.
"Xiao Ma, go to town to pick up the people early the day after tomorrow. This is the list of educated youth. Call their names one by one when you arrive," Village Chief Ma handed a list to the accountant.
The accountant's surname was also Ma. He was the child of a distant relative of Ma Village. He lost his parents at a young age and came to live with him after finally graduating from junior high school.
Mushroom Village was short of an accountant, and since Xiao Ma had only graduated from junior high school, the village granted him residency and land, and he settled down there.
"Uncle, picking people up is possible, but Third Uncle won't lend me his oxcart. What am I going to use to pick them up?" Accountant Xiao Ma was a bit troubled.
Yes, Third Uncle is a stubborn old man, nothing you say to him will work, except for Yan Xiaoqiang. Right, let Yan Xiaoqiang go and chat with Third Uncle.
Village Chief Ma rode his bicycle back to the Yan family's house.
Bei Nan was vividly describing Village Chief Ma's bicycle at home: "Grandma, I saw it clearly, the village chief's bicycle is a Hongqi, and ours is a Yongjiu."
Seeing Bei Nan's proud and smug look, Yan Xiaonan covered her face. It's just a bicycle, not a BMW, Mercedes, or Hummer. What are you so smug about?
Yan Xiaoqiang felt the same way. Just as he was about to speak, he heard the sound of a bicycle bell outside.
Then Village Chief Ma's voice came in: "Sister-in-law Yan, Qiangzi, I bought a bicycle, let me show you."
Grandma Yan and Yan Xiaonan exchanged a glance. Why are you showing us your car? But he's the village chief, and we can't afford to offend him.
Yan Xiaoqiang walked out, glanced at the bicycle, and thought to himself, just like Bei Nan, "Oh, it's a Hongqi brand, a little worse than my own. My own is a Forever brand."
Village Chief Ma, completely oblivious to the smugness in Yan Xiaoqiang's eyes, pulled Yan Xiaoqiang aside and clearly explained his purpose for coming.
Yan Xiaoqiang was in a dilemma. His third uncle's old ox was getting on in years and was at the age to retire. It wouldn't be fair to make it work.
But the village chief is right. If so many educated youths walked all that way, their legs would probably be worn out. So let's go and try it ourselves.
"Oh right, we also need to find a place to build a pigsty. We'll start raising pigs the day after tomorrow, and our village's quota is five pigs." Village Chief Ma remembered the important matter.
Yan Xiaoqiang's heart skipped a beat: "Uncle Village Chief, is it legal for individuals to raise pigs now?"
The village chief nodded with a smile: "An individual can raise one pig, but half of the pig's income must be handed over to the government."
"Okay, I'll raise one myself and one for the village." Yan Xiaoqiang decided to raise pigs; his pigsty was still empty.
Yan Xiaoqiang's words reminded Village Chief Ma that the village no longer needed to build pigsties; anyone who wanted to raise a pig could bring one with them.
Village Chief Ma happily rode away on his bicycle, ringing the bell all the way, as if afraid people wouldn't know he had a bicycle.
The loudspeaker started blaring for a while before the village chief's voice came through: "Villagers, villagers, the quotas have been issued from above, the quotas have been issued from above."
This year, our village has a quota of five pigs for raising pigs. Individuals can also raise pigs, but they have to hand over half of their quota. Those who want to raise pigs should register at the village committee.
The villagers were excited. In the past, when there was no food, it was difficult to raise even one chicken. Now that there is food, the regulations stipulate that each household can only raise two chickens and is not allowed to raise pigs.
Finally, I can raise pigs! I'd be willing to hand over half of them to the government. I'll raise one myself and help the village raise one, so we'll have meat to eat during the New Year.
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