Lin Lan pushed Cao Guangrong out to block Qiu Aihua, and she called a clerk named Wang to accompany her to understand the environment here.

Han Qingsong said that he found the blue stone in a river called Yuqing River in the commune. This river is actually a tributary of Changqing River, which is similar to the largest river in Shanshui Commune. Generally, such rivers are built into reservoirs to store water. It is said that a few decades ago, when the water volume was high, ships could sail there, and it was called the Little Jiangnan in the North.

At this time, Han Qingsong had already led people to Xiaoyujia Village. Director Tan did not go, and was accompanied by Minister Tan Zhaomin and Director of Public Security Wang Aiguo.

Lin Lan got on Han Qingsong's bicycle and asked Cao Guangrong to communicate with Qiu Aihua. She took Wang, the official, with her.

If you want to understand the propaganda work of the commune, you can't see anything in the commune. You have to go to the rural brigade to see what the members' mental outlook is like.

As a result, as she walked along, Lin Lan discovered that this place... looked several years behind Shanshui Commune.

In the summer, the crops in the fields should be growing lush and green, but their fields are... sparse, which is really frustrating.

As long as the environment is not too harsh, such as lack of water, strong wind and sand, or bad soil, there is water in the river and the land is okay. The local area is not like Lankao and other places that are invaded by strong sandstorms from the northwest. Then, the environment is good. How can the crops be grown like this?

In Han Yongfang's words, "Lazy, you deserve a beating!"

Lin Lan instantly had a bad impression of this group of people.

Although the production team is now working collectively and the members are not enthusiastic, no matter what, if you want to eat, you have to rely on the brigade to distribute food. How can you ignore your own stomach? You can't just let others do the work and then divide the food yourself, right?

"Third brother, their commune has big problems."

Han Qingsong hummed but said nothing. This was his habit. He rarely expressed his subjective opinions on anything.

When we arrived at Xiaoyujia Village, we were received by the brigade secretary and the brigade leader.

The brigade secretary Yu Kangri was in his forties, but with grey hair and wrinkles on his face, he looked like he was in his fifties.

As soon as he saw the commune cadres, he approached them cordially and offered them cigarettes.

Tan Zhaomin and Wang Aiguo both took it. They had a natural sense of superiority over the cadres and members of the brigade, because the commune guided everything and the brigade's production, harvest and other matters were all decided by the commune.

Yu Kangri handed Han Qingsong a cigarette, "Sir, have a cigarette."

He saw Han Qingsong wearing a police uniform and said that he had some of the habits of the old society.

Han Qingsong frowned slightly, "No, Han Qingsong, deputy director of the county public security bureau."

When Yu Kangri heard that it was a county cadre, he bent his waist even more and nodded, "Excuse me, Director Han, welcome."

Han Qingsong lowered his head and glanced at him with a sharp look in his eyes, which made Yu Kangri slowly straighten his back.

"Director Han, you must help us catch the food thief." Yu Kangri looked like he had aged ten years when he talked about the stolen food, and the wrinkles on his face seemed to fall off.

Han Qingsong did not respond, but took people to their warehouse to investigate first. In his opinion, there was nothing difficult to catch.

Lin Lan winked at him, indicating that she would go and find out about the promotion situation.

Han Qingsong looked around and, in addition to Wang from Qingshi Commune, he assigned a policeman who was on duty here, "You are responsible for protecting Lin."

The policeman wondered what danger there could be here, but he went there obediently anyway.

Lin Lan and her friends walked through the village. The further she walked, the more exhausted she felt: This village was too poor and dilapidated, with low thatched houses and yellow mud walls everywhere. Many of the walls of the houses were still collapsed, and naked figures could be vaguely seen wandering inside. They were probably elderly people or children who could not go out.

She even saw some men chatting under the trees.

This is the time after the wheat harvest when we are busy with summer management, weeding, fertilizing, watering the land, and tending to crops such as cotton and corn. We are definitely not idle.

It is said that the local farmers have no time to rest except in winter. Even in winter, the brigade will organize side jobs for members, such as making baskets, mats or something else, so that there is always something to do.

But this village is really hard to describe in words.

Lin Lan saw some women and children and wanted to interview them, but they would hide when they saw her. After walking around for a long time, Lin Lan didn't find anyone to talk to. It was a bit hot, so she said she would go to the river to wash her face.

Seeing that the riverbed was covered with stones, she happily ran down and took off her shoes to try the shallow water. The riverbed was covered with pebbles, so the water was clearer and cleaner than the muddy riverbed.

Unfortunately, they were all ordinary stones, without the little blue stone that she had been longing for.

At this time, a few children with ragged clothes, pale faces and skinny bodies came over to wash the grass.

Lin Lan looked at them curiously. It was strange that the children were out working while the adults were idle at home.

These children were so skinny that they looked like skin and bones, with their ribs clearly visible and their eyes looking particularly large. They washed grass in the river while picking grass roots or edible wild vegetables to stuff into their mouths, chewing until their mouths were full of dark green juice.

There was a girl among them, wearing a tattered vest that only covered her chest. She was skinny, with messy hair and dirty clothes, and it was almost impossible to tell that she was a girl. The boys were even more casual, one wearing torn pants, and several of them were naked, walking around without a care. But seeing her, a clean and beautiful outsider, they felt a little embarrassed.

The girls scolded the boys, "You eat so ugly, turn around and eat."

Lin Lan smiled at the girl and said, "It's so cool in the river."

The girl glanced at her. Although there was a hint of wariness towards outsiders in her eyes, girls will always be curious and even a little inferior when they see beautiful girls of the same kind.

"You..." The girl hesitated.

Lin Lan took out a small blue stone from her pocket and said with a smile, "I picked this up by the river. It's so beautiful." She squinted the stone against the sunlight. It was really beautiful.

The girl saw this pretty female cadre as a child and felt friendly to her. She was no longer as wary as she was with others. She grinned, with wild vegetables still stuck on her teeth, and said, "We have picked them too."

Lin Lan's eyes lit up, "Where is it?"

The girl pointed to the river and said, "The big ones were thrown into the river as skipping stones."

Lin Lan felt so distressed that she wanted to jump in and pick it up. She looked into the river and sighed.

The girl said, "This stone is useless and not as pretty as glass. I made several pieces before and threw them away. I still have four blue ones left. If you like them, I'll give you two."

When Lin Lan heard that she wanted to give it to her as a gift, she was happy but also a little embarrassed. After all, the girl didn't know the future value of the stone.

"Excuse me, I'll give you the money."

"I don't want money, or...give me something to eat." The girl swallowed her saliva and stared at Lin Lan eagerly. For a hungry child, nothing is better than dry food. Food coupons need to be bought with money. She has no money, so she can't buy food with money, and she needs food coupons. So it's best to give her food.

Officer Wang laughed and said, "Officer Lin, why are you getting these stones? You're not going to eat them. They look pretty, but they're not as transparent as glass beads. And if a child grabs the stones, they'll get tangled up in his hands." He was afraid that Lin Lan was kind-hearted and would be fooled by the little girl.

Lin Lan smiled and said, "I think it looks good."

Wang, however, felt that her childish nature was very different from the image of a publicity expert that everyone talked about. "How much gold and silver was thrown away in the past two years? Even stones are too painful to throw on the street."

They were so hungry that they took out everything they had at home to exchange for food. Gold and silver are not as good as iron, let alone this kind of stone. What use is it except that it looks good? Paving a path? What kind of stone can be used for paving? They really don't know how to live!

Lin Lan: "Then I like this one. If anyone has it, I'll trade it with him for my Wo Wo head."

Officer Wang thought that Lin Lan had a common problem among beautiful women, that she liked to have a bad temper. He also thought that she was really a spendthrift. She actually exchanged a nest for a stone just because the stone looked good. Was she stupid? How did Director Han find such a wife? If it was his own wife, he would definitely slap her in the face.

But he didn't say anything to avoid offending Lin Lan.

When the children saw Lin Lan using the nest head to exchange, they all said they wanted to exchange. Those who could swim went down to the river to look for it, and the girl also went home to find the few small stones she used as toys.

Soon the girl came over with a few small stones, some blue, some green, and some purple, all very pretty. She was a girl, so she basically wouldn't take the big, ugly ones, and only kept the ones she liked.

Lin Lan gave herself some psychological support. Isn't it that antique collectors are looking for bargains? They buy at low prices because the sellers don't know how to buy. She wasn't bullying a child, and she wasn't buying it back to make money. She would still lose money, so she wasn't mean.

When she was hesitating, the girl thought she didn't want to change and said anxiously, "Sister, sister, you must keep your word."

Lin Lan gave her a few nests and took a few small stones.

The girl happily stuffed a bun into her mouth and said, "Sister, my name is Yu Kucai, I'll be back soon." She quickly carried the buns home.

One of the boys who went down to the river picked up a piece and held it up to show her happily, "Look, I found a nest, too!"

Lin Lan: "Come up, I'll give you a nest."

Several children thought she was the kind of fairy that the adults told stories about, coming down to earth to save poor boys. Otherwise, who would trade a nest for a stone? She's not stupid.

But Wang thought Lin Lan was just a fool, maybe she was sick. How could she really exchange a nest for a stone? You can just coax the child and ask for it directly, right?

He complained to Public Security Officer Chen who was in charge of protecting Lin Lan: "Officer Lin is... really interesting. It's so easy to deceive."

Policeman Chen said sternly, "Our Officer Lin is so smart, how could he be easily deceived? She is just being kind."

Only a fool could not see that she was pitying the children. She was clearly helping them. And Lin was smart enough to know that he couldn't just give away things casually. If you give people things for free, they will only complain that you gave too little and won't be grateful. But if they get something unexpected with their own labor, they will feel that they have gotten a great deal and will be very grateful.

If they exchanged for ordinary stones, it would be the same as giving it for free, but by exchanging for these relatively rare blue stones, they would be happy if they had stones, and those who didn't have stones couldn't blame Lin Lan for not giving them nest stones, but could only regret that they didn't have stones.

So, how can Lin be stupid? He is obviously kind and smart.

Policeman Chen also told Wang about the various propaganda works done by Lin Lan in Shanshui Commune, and said earnestly: "Our Secretary Lin is kind and smart. She does practical things for the members. The elderly and children all like her."

Wang smiled and said nothing more. Fortunately, he did not directly call Lin Lan stupid, otherwise he would have been beaten.

Some children were afraid that others would know, so they went home and quietly told their family members that they knew someone close to them had the blue flint, and asked them to go and exchange the blue flint for the nest to prevent it from being taken away by someone else first.

At this time, Han Qingsong also led people to check every household in the village. When he heard the adults in the village muttering that there was a fool who exchanged nests for stones, his already serious expression became even colder, and the members were so scared that they hurriedly entertained him for a few days when they saw him.

The children, like Yu Kucai, thought that Lin Lan was a fairy who saved them by exchanging the nest for stones. The adults, like Wang Ganshi, naturally thought that this woman was a fool.

Lin Lan collected more than a dozen blue and green stones of various sizes, and distributed all the stones in a bag. Some people were still very disappointed because they did not get anything.

Lin Lan couldn't bear to see them disappointed, "Now that the Wo Wo Tou are gone, they can be exchanged for 5 cents to 11 cents." Some people exchanged them back, while others did not want money but food coupons. Anyway, as long as someone brought the real thing, Lin Lan would exchange it.

Of course, there were people who had evil ideas and tried to fool her by using ordinary stones dyed with blue ink, but she just rolled her eyes at them.

"You are lying to the police and they want to arrest you. Aren't the police in the village?" Lin Lan said bluntly.

Someone murmured: "Isn't she a fool? How can she tell?"

Some people also murmured: "Isn't it said that she wants to give everyone a treat when she does good deeds? What stone is not a stone?"

Some people also brought their other broken things to Lin Lan to exchange for food or food coupons. Lin Lan said that she didn't want to accept antiques, and even if she had any, she would give them to the museum in the future. Moreover, this village was so poor that even if there were some good things, they would have been exchanged away when people were starving to death a few years ago. Now there is nothing good to offer.

So she only wanted stones. Of course, Lin Lan was not just exchanging for stones. She took the opportunity to get closer to the villagers and find a breakthrough to talk to them.

Han Qingsong and his team conducted investigations posing as public security officers. The members were wary and afraid of them and were not willing to open up to them easily.

But when she changed the stones like this, Yu Kucai and a few other children immediately became familiar with her and started calling her "sister" all the time, which made her feel embarrassed.

She repeatedly told them that they should call her aunt or auntie, but they didn't listen and insisted on calling her sister.

She avoided the adults and took a few children to the river bank to play in the water and chat, telling them stories and asking them questions.

Yu Kucai likes her very much. Yu Kucai is 10 years old this year, but due to malnutrition, she looks like a child of seven or eight years old.

"Kucai, the food in your village has been stolen."

Yu Kucai curled her lips and said indifferently, "It's a good steal."

Lin Lan was stunned, "How to steal it?"

Yu Kucai saw that there was no adult around, so she whispered, "Sister, I'll tell you, don't tell anyone else."

Lin Lan nodded: "I won't tell you."

Yu Kucai: "Anyway, they didn't give us any food. They took it away. If they stole it, it wasn't ours. So they deserved it, didn't they?"

Lin Lan looked at her, the girl's eyes were black and white, but she showed hatred without hiding it. Speaking of village cadres, commune cadres and the like, she was full of contempt and anger, "They always ask us for things, and we work hard to grow crops, but in the end they don't leave us a single grain, and take everything away. Sister, don't you think they are bad?"

Lin Lan nodded: "What do you want to eat?"

Yu Kucai bit her lip and said, "Every few days, the brigade would distribute two kilograms of grain to each household. We would cook a pot of bran and vegetables and drink a small bowl of it every time. As long as we didn't starve to death, it was fine. My parents were so hungry that they had no strength and couldn't go to the fields."

This is the returned grain for food.

Lin Lan felt jealous seeing that she was about the same age as Sanwang, but not even as tall as Xiaowang.

She took a handkerchief and dipped it in water to wipe Yu Kucai's dirty face. He had been hanging around the river every day, so why was his face still so dirty? Maybe they had no concept of hygiene. Maybe they didn't even have enough food to eat, so they didn't have the energy to wash their faces.

She knew that the child didn't understand the policy, but Yu Kucai could let her understand the most direct things - to this day, the members of their village still couldn't afford to eat, and they were still implementing the old system from ten years ago. Their village didn't even share food, but handed in all the food, and then bought back the food to eat!

She must find out what is going on in this village and ensure that villagers can have their share of food so that they can no longer suffer by eating only the returned grain.

Lin Lan: "I am in charge of publicity for Shanshui Commune, specializing in cultural knowledge and policies. Once I understand the situation, I will report it to the leaders above and make improvements for you."

When Yu Kucai heard this, she happily grabbed Lin Lan's hand, but then realized that her hand was dirty and quickly let go, pursing her lips embarrassedly.

Lin Lan smiled and said, "It's nothing. I can report it for you, but you have to tell me the truth. Otherwise, if I make a false report, the leader will remove me from my position and arrest me."

Yu Kucai was so anxious that he kept shaking his head. "I didn't lie. Everything I said was true. Look how hungry we are. We can't even carry a hoe."

Lin Lan looked around and saw no adults. "Then I saw some men hanging around under the tree and not doing anything?"

Yu Kucai whispered, "Those are the people arranged by the brigade cadres to keep an eye on us. They don't allow us to go out casually, let alone leave the village, for fear that we will go begging."

Lin Lan: “!!”

At this time, a ragged man on the shore strode down the river bank and walked towards them, "What are you doing?"

Yu Kucai immediately said, "Sister is exchanging the nest for stones."

The man glared at Lin Lan fiercely.

Lin Lan stood up immediately, ready to run at any time, "If you want to change it, it's gone now. You can get it for five cents a piece."

The man suddenly became furious and cursed: "We can't even afford food, and you still use your money to buy stones. You are eating our food!"

Lin Lan immediately ran ashore and called out to Public Security Officer Chen, who was talking to Officer Wang not far away, "There's a lunatic here, catch him!"

Yu Kucai also shouted to the man: "Sister is a good person, give us some food to eat."

Policeman Chen immediately ran over and asked, "Who is it?"

Yu Kucai waved her hands and said, "Sister, it's okay. This is my father, not a bad person."

Lin Lan was not afraid because she had Chen Gongan protecting her. She said to the man, "Why do you say I eat your food? I'm from Shanshui Commune. We grow our own food. We can't eat a single grain of your sorghum!"

Sorghum is a coarse grain, and she was afraid that saying wheat would irritate the man more.

The man calmed down, but still looked at them with hatred, "None of these officers are good."

Lin Lan retorted, "That's because you're not an officer."

Sure enough, the man was so angry with her that he was furious and wanted to come up to argue.

Lin Lan winked at Public Security Officer Chen and asked him to arrest him.

Policeman Chen shouted, "I think you want to steal food. Come with me to the brigade."

The man tried to run away immediately, but was stopped by Police Officer Chen, who grabbed his arm.

The man didn't have much strength, and he was restrained in less than two rounds, and handcuffed from behind.

Yu Kucai was anxious, "Sister, don't arrest my father, he didn't steal food."

Lin Lan smiled and said, "Don't worry. I was afraid that he would beat someone up, so I took him back to question him. It's okay." She stretched out her hand towards Yu Kucai, "Let's go. You can watch over him with peace of mind."

Yu Kucai hesitated for a moment, but still didn't have the courage to hold Lin Lan's hand. Her sister's hands were slender and white, not as dark and rough as her own.

Lin Lan took people to find Han Qingsong. They had already surveyed the warehouse and checked the village, but there was no obvious gain.

The villagers' houses were dilapidated and their belongings were shabby. You could see through them at a glance and there was nothing to hide. In addition, even if the yard was only the size of a palm, you could still see if there was any newly dug soil if you looked carefully.

Han Qingsong saw her come back and let the others continue. He walked to Lin Lan and looked at the man and Yu Kucai.

Lin Lan pulled him aside and told him all the information she had found out.

Han Qingsong glanced at Yu Kucai, and Yu Kucai was so scared that she immediately hid behind Lin Lan.

Lin Lan: "Third brother, don't scare the child."

Han Qingsong: “…”

Lin Lan whispered, "Third brother, no matter who stole the food, look at these members, they are all skinny and ugly, they don't look normal no matter how you look at them."

When she first entered the village, she thought it was a famous lazy village where the men did not work but waited for government relief food. But after exchanging stones for stones, she found that there were very few children in the village, almost as few as bitter vegetables, and she did not see any children younger than one or two years old, nor did she hear any children crying.

She asked Yu Kucai, there had been no children in the village for several years, and the few that existed had no one to feed them.

Moreover, the villagers in this village are all skinny and thin, and it is obvious that they have been suffering from long-term malnutrition. Not to mention working, they would gasp for breath just by walking a little.

So she revised her understanding. It is true that some people are lazy, drag their feet, and take advantage of collective labor, but it is impossible for the whole village to be like this. She suspected that the brigade secretary and the brigade leader were conspiring to oppress the members.

Therefore, she hoped that even if the villagers stole food, he would temporarily let them go and not arrest them directly. Once arrested, it would be a serious crime, and if they didn't die, they would be sentenced to life hard labor, which would not be fair to these members.

Han Qingsong had his own judgment. He had felt it in Dawang Village, and it was even more obvious in Xiaoyujia Village. The commune was renovated and more respectable than Shanshui Commune, but the members of the brigade lived in shabby thatched houses. Moreover, when they went down to investigate, the members looked alert and panicked, and they could tell what was going on at a glance.

"There is a problem." He naturally thought more deeply.

Lin Lan looked at him. "What?"

"If Yu Kangri is up to no good, he will definitely resist us entering the village." If Yu Kangri really sent people to monitor the members and not allow them to leave the village, then he would be afraid of the working group entering the village to investigate. However, from Yu Kangri's look, he welcomed him and did not prevent them from entering the village to investigate.

Lin Lan: "He lost more than 20,000 kilograms of public grain. What should we do if we don't let the police come? Can he at least pay for it? First, charge him with negligence."

Lin Lan suspected that the members had colluded to steal the food and hide it, so she just needed to find a way for the members to break in and get them to hand over the food.

After solving this case, we can then solve the problem of the villagers having no food to eat.

Han Qingsong said he understood, looked at her, then looked at her schoolbag, and asked, "Did you find the stone?"

Lin Lan said proudly: "That's right, the nest head was changed."

Seeing that she could be happy at such a time, Han Qingsong smiled and said, "Go take a break."

He asked Chen Gongan to take the man and Yu Kucai over.

Lin Lan walked over, squatted down and said to Yu Kucai, "Don't be afraid, this is the deputy director of the county public security bureau, who specializes in helping the people beat up bad guys. If you have anything to tell him, he will help you."

Yu Kucai nodded and followed Han Qingsong.

By around four o'clock in the afternoon, Han Qingsong was already impatient and wanted to take Lin Lan home.

He simply drove everyone out, sat in the house himself, and then asked someone to call Yu Kangri in.

Yu Kangri thought that Han Qingsong wanted to interrogate him together, so he went to sit next to Han Qingsong as soon as he entered the room.

Han Qingsong glanced at him and pointed to the stool opposite.

Yu Kangri was stunned for a moment, "Han Bureau?"

Han Qingsong said coldly: "Sit down."

Yu Kangri sat down nervously and said with a smile: "Director Han, why are you still asking me?"

Han Qingsong said coldly: "Yu Kangri, tell the truth, what are you trying to do by crying wolf?"