Chapter 28 Success
Explosion site, no entry for outsiders, this shout scared everyone.
The road construction team members who were hiding in the corner of a valley turned their heads and saw two figures running hurriedly on the mountain road. One was tall and thin, like a bamboo pole, and the other was big and strong, with a full beard.
It’s Luo Xuan and Liu Bin!
Why did these two people come here?
Mao Peng rushed out from the corner of the mountain and stood in front of them, shouting, "Didn't you see the warning sign over there? Blow up the mountain immediately. It's dangerous. Don't go over there!"
When Luo Xuan heard about the danger of bombing the mountain, he immediately stopped and said breathlessly: "No bombing, do you hear me? Tell the people in front of you quickly not to bomb!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard Xiangbei shouting:
"burst--"
"Boom!" There was a loud noise and smoke and dust rolled up.
Luo Xuan and Liu Bin only felt a tremor under their feet, and in an instant gravel flew all over the sky. In front of their eyes, there was a white ash mixed with stones and soil blowing in their faces.
The two men fell to the ground in fear, trembling.
When the smoke and dust cleared, Xiang Bei's tall and sturdy figure appeared in front of everyone, and there was also a hearty and loud laugh: "The stone wall is broken--"
Seeing that the danger was over, everyone came out from behind the col and slowly approached the stone wall.
The steep stone wall that previously blocked the opening of the road has collapsed, and countless broken stones have piled up together to form a road surface about four meters wide.
As long as these stones are cleared, the road will be passable.
No more detours, no more worries about progress, the narrowest section of the road from Xiufengshan Farm to Quping Town has finally been completed!
"OK--"
The road construction team members jumped up excitedly.
Qiao Yadong pulled off the cotton hat on his head and waved it in the air: "The road to death is finally broken!"
Chen Zhilu excitedly hugged Hu Huanxin and started to make circles: "Hurrah - we did it!"
No one paid any attention to Luo Xuan and Liu Bin who were still lying on the ground. They rushed to Tao Nanfeng and shook hands with her excitedly: "Tao Nanfeng, you have done a great deed!"
Isn’t it a great achievement? With only seven holes opened, the entire stone wall was blasted into a pile of rubble. Who could have such precise control? Even if the most powerful explosives expert came, he would not be able to achieve such a perfect result at such a small price.
Mao Peng looked at the other two barrels of gunpowder stored at his feet and laughed happily: "Saving, saving, we only used two barrels of explosives, which means we can spend half the money!"
Yang Xianyong was a man of few days. Seeing that the gunpowder had not been used up, he quickly asked, "Can the remaining gunpowder be returned?"
Xiangbei walked over and replied with a smile: "It can be returned. I agreed to that when I bought it."
Chen Zhilu scratched his head and said, "That's great. It only costs over a hundred bucks." He muttered to himself, wondering if he could get half of the money he donated back. Fifteen dollars can buy a lot of things.
Xiangbei seemed to know what Chen Zhilu was thinking and looked at him: "Don't worry." He had not originally planned to use the money donated by the educated youth. He just left it to make them feel at ease.
Chen Zhilu's face turned red all of a sudden, and he stammered, "Why should I worry?" He felt a little embarrassed that his little thoughts were seen through by someone at a glance.
Xiao Aiyun couldn't stand Chen Zhilu counting money at such an exciting time, so she rolled her eyes at him, took Tao Nanfeng's hand and said excitedly: "Maybe it will be open to traffic this year, are you happy?"
Tao Nanfeng nodded, his eyes shining.
When Luo Xuan got up from the ground, he saw everyone shouting and jumping, and then he saw that the original narrow path was now full of rocks and the way down the mountain was completely blocked. He immediately put his hands on his hips and shouted.
"Who told you to blow up the mountain? Who gave you this right? Ah? Xiangbei, do you have any sense of organization and discipline? You made the decision on your own without reporting to your superiors. This is outrageous!"
He was covered in dust, with a patch of yellow mud on his forehead, and looked extremely miserable. At this moment, he was extremely angry, with his dark and thin face and clenched teeth, looking a bit like the landlord "Zhou Pa Pi" in the movie.
"Director Luo is right, you are really being unreasonable!" Liu Bin echoed from the side.
Since Liu Bin was removed from his position as head of the security department, he was transferred to the office to do odd jobs. Because of his strong physique, he was brought in by Luo Xuan and Jiao Liang to serve as their personal bodyguard. His eyes rolled around as he stared at Tao Nanfeng's beautiful face, swallowing secretly in his heart.
These two were not good people. Everyone had no good impression of them. They exchanged glances with each other, pretending not to hear what they said, and looked at Xiang Bei together: "Director Xiang, what should we do next?"
He waved his hand to the north and said, "Push the cart over here and move the rocks to the quarry."
There are many stones on Xiufeng Mountain, and stones are a byproduct of road construction. Stone crushing machinery is too expensive and farms simply cannot afford it. The huge rocks were processed into stones with a diameter of about 50 centimeters using iron cutters, crowbars, and hammers, and all piled up on an open slope halfway up the mountain, which was called the "stone field."
These stones can be piled there first and can be shipped out and sold in the future, or they can be processed manually and used as road paving.
Everyone said at the same time: "Yes!"
The sound was loud, causing waves of echoes in the valley.
Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, Luo Xuan blocked everyone's way, put his hands on his waist and shouted angrily: "Are you turning a deaf ear to my words? Go back and study politics, and rectify your thoughts!"
Mao Peng glanced at him and said lazily: "Labor is glorious and workers are great. If you want to learn politics, start with yourself!"
After that, he pushed a metal cart past Luo Xuan and said loudly, "Excuse me, please don't interfere with the work of our road repair team."
A cloud of dust rose again, and Luo Xuan was choking and coughing, so he had to step back and get out of the way.
Liu Bin was a fool. Seeing his leader being wronged, he stepped forward and kicked Mao Peng's cart: "Can't you see the director is here? Get away from me!"
Before Mao Peng could get angry, he heard bursts of angry shouts coming from the other end of the mountain road.
"Who dares to stop the road repair team from working?"
"The road construction team members work hard every day just to ensure that our fellow villagers can get down the mountain smoothly. Anyone who dares to stop us will be making trouble for us!"
"Yes! We are poor and lower-middle peasants. We are not afraid of anyone!"
On the winding path on the right side of the stone wall, seven or eight villagers from Beipo Village came running. Some of them carried hoes on their shoulders, and some carried bamboo baskets on their backs. Leading the way was Ximei's father, Lao Fan.
Old Fan ran over in a hurry, grabbed Xiangbei's hand, tears in his eyes: "You have done a great thing for the villagers! This path was dangerous before, and I don't know how many people fell down. Now it has been blasted and widened, it's safe, safe! My little sister...I thank you on behalf of my little sister!"
Another villager followed suit and said, "You are doing a great thing for the benefit of the villagers! We heard the cannon fire and knew you were going to blow up the mountain, so we were very happy. The village chief called on all the laborers in the village to come and help move the stones, and we run the fastest. Come on, come on, let's move them too."
A fierce-looking villager grabbed Liu Bin by the collar and without saying a word, lifted him up and threw him out!
Liu Bin fell to the ground with a loud "bang" and screamed in pain.
Everyone laughed at the side: "Zhu Hunter, take it easy, this kid can't take a beating."
Zhu the Hunter raised his leg and kicked Liu Bin to the side of the road: "Coward! Don't block the road of the road repair team, get out of the way——"
Liu Bin looked up at Zhu the Hunter, and saw that he was majestic, with broad shoulders and a strong waist. He remembered that his sister had mentioned that Xiang Bei wanted to introduce him to this burly man as a son-in-law. He couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat and hurriedly got up from the ground.
The villagers rushed forward, pushed Luo Xuan and Liu Bin aside, put the stones into the backpack, and cleared the broken stones bit by bit like ants moving house.
More and more villagers came over.
There were five villages in Beipo Brigade and six villages in Nanpo Brigade. The sound of the cannon made everyone excited and they spread the word everywhere: "The road construction team is serious. They are blasting the mountain to open the road. Everyone, go and help..."
There is strength in numbers. There were hundreds of people on the scene, shouting slogans. The working scene was extremely enthusiastic. Everyone had a strong desire in their hearts - to build roads and open them to traffic!
There were crowds of people in front of me, and everyone had sweat on their faces, with excitement shining on their faces. Such a united scene made Luo Xuan feel weak at the knees, and he backed away repeatedly, holding onto Liu Bin's arm.
He whispered in confusion: "How could this be? Isn't it just blowing up half a mountain and building a road?" Why is it so exciting, popular and invincible?
Liu Bin spat on the ground: "Bah! What's so great about that? Isn't it just buying people's hearts? Everyone can do that!"
This hit the mark of Luo Xuan's heart, his eyes lit up, "Yes, Xiangbei is good at winning people's hearts. When he was in the road construction team, he lived and ate with those guys, and they were as close as a family. When the educated youth from Jiangcheng came, he gathered them around him and deliberately opposed us. We have to think of a way to get these young educated youth here first, and we can't let Xiangbei build his own territory there."
Liu Bin thought for a moment, then leaned close to Luo Xuan's ear and said, "My sister went to the No. 6 educated youth point on the first day of the Lunar New Year to inquire about the situation. Now, among the 20 educated youth, 17 are in the road construction team, one is Wei Min as the section chief, and there are two girls in the pig farm. I think Tao Nanfeng has a high prestige among the educated youth. Why not bribe the two educated youth in the pig farm first, and then win over Tao Nanfeng?"
Liu Bin has his own plans. If he could pull Tao Nanfeng over from Xiangbei's camp, maybe he could win this beautiful girl over?
Luo Xuan nodded repeatedly: "Tao Nanfeng is a young intellectual with great strength but few words, so it's not easy to get close to her. We should only outsmart her, not attack her by force... Then we should start with her surroundings, what a good idea!"
The two men sneaked through the crowd like mice and walked back along the mountain road without attracting the attention of others.
At night, Tao Nanfeng returned to the educated youth point covered in dust, took a hot shower, changed into dry clothes, and sat on the edge of the bed, drying his hair with a towel. Ye Qin and Li Huilan sat beside her mysteriously, telling her about the strange things that had happened to them that day.
"Don't you think it's strange? Today, Director Feng from our pig farm talked to us and asked us what we thought about our work and whether we needed the organization's care and attention."
"I was a little confused when I heard that. Director Feng talks about politics all day long with a motherly face and a lot of principles, saying that female comrades should be independent, strong and self-reliant, and should compete with men. Why did she suddenly change her tone today and say she would take care of us?"
"Isn't it? I didn't dare to say it, but Director Feng said earnestly that the farm leaders were very concerned about us, the newly assigned Jiangcheng educated youth, and said that we were intellectuals and the farm wanted to use us, so they trained us first. Now that we are doing well, they are ready to promote us and asked if we have any intention."
The two looked at Tao Nanfeng together, their eyes full of trust: "What do you think we should do?"
Tao Nanfeng pondered in silence.
Perhaps because her mother died early, she learned to read people's expressions after her stepmother came into the family. At the age of ten, she was like a stray cat that had just been adopted by its owner, longing for warmth yet being cautious.
Her father's love for her is unquestionable, but her father is busy with work and is away from home all year round. Her daily life is taken care of by her stepmother. She goes to school with her step-sister Tao You, and it is hard to describe how she spends her days with these two.
The stepmother is virtuous and capable. She is the boss at home and outside, and she takes care of Professor Tao's life very well. With Feng Chun'e around, her father indeed had less worries and could devote himself to his career: writing books, composing papers, working on projects, and participating in the design of major projects. His reputation in the industry was growing.
However, beneath the stepmother's smiling face, there was a hint of vigilance towards Tao Nanfeng. It was as if she was the host and Tao Nanfeng was a guest who had been staying for many years. She had to entertain him warmly due to Tao Shouxin's favor, but some unhappiness would be revealed behind her back from time to time.
"Why do girls read so many books?"
"Beautiful, can beauty be eaten?"
"Don't bother your dad all the time. He's busy at work and I'm at home."
"Learn more from your sister. Don't be so sullen all the time. You have a stern face as if someone owes you money."
Tao You wants to surpass Tao Nanfeng in everything. If she can't compare with Tao Nanfeng in academic performance or looks, then she will compare with Tao Nanfeng in social skills and political performance. In a vague way, he said that Tao Nanfeng was a bourgeois lady who was arrogant because of her pretty face.
In such an atmosphere, Tao Nanfeng spoke less and less.
But in front of their father, the mother and daughter were more expressive than the other, enthusiastic, thoughtful and diligent. Tao Nanfeng was brought up to be too kind and simple by her parents. She didn't know how to resist such a soft knife. She didn't know that crying children get milk, and her personality became more and more introverted over time.
Seeing that Tao Nanfeng didn't say anything, Ye Qin hugged her arm and shook it, and said coquettishly: "Tao Nanfeng, just say something, we will all listen to you."
Li Huilan is the eldest sister at home and is not used to acting like a spoiled child. She took the towel from Tao Nanfeng to help her wipe her hair and said softly, "Please give us some advice. What do you think Director Feng means by this? Is he trying to corrupt us?"
The closeness and trust between the two roommates in front of her gradually opened Tao Nanfeng's tightly closed heart. She nodded: "Yes, I think Director Feng and Luo Xuan are in the same group."
Ye Qin was stunned for a moment, his expression a little excited, and he wanted to express his loyalty immediately: "Then...we must not join the enemy camp!"
Li Huilan gently wiped Tao Nanfeng's smooth and thick hair, and then said: "Well, then we should love what we do and make the pig farming business bigger and stronger."
When Tao Nanfeng heard this, he suddenly wanted to laugh for some reason.
She looked up at Li Huilan, the girl who cared about her like an older sister, but was actually only nineteen years old. The words he said sounded false and empty, and people could tell at once that they were spoken against his will.
At this time, Xiao Aiyun came back from taking a bath with a washbasin. After understanding the situation, she rolled her eyes and said, "Why don't you change units? Li Huilan, you want to study medicine, then go to the health center. Ye Qin, you like gardening, then go to the nursery. It's rare that Director Luo is kind-hearted. It's just right~"
Tao Nanfeng pursed his lips and smiled: "Xiao Aiyun is right, this is a good opportunity to make a request."
Li Huilan and Ye Qin looked at each other, both a little hesitant: "What if Director Luo has some bad ideas? Doesn't the book say that you can't accept anything without merit?"
Xiao Aiyun chuckled: "Just think of it as an undercover agent we sent out. The worst that can happen is that you will annoy Director Luo and then go back to feed the pigs."
"Yes! Go undercover." The four girls laughed together.
Sure enough, after Li Huilan and Ye Qin made their requests, the field office readily arranged them to their ideal positions.
Li Huilan grew up smelling medicine. Perhaps Liu Lili was not satisfied working in the clinic, as she felt it was dirty, tiring, hard and lonely, but Li Huilan enjoyed it. She was proactive, enthusiastic and generous, and was immediately valued by Dr. Jiang Kun, who planned to train her to be his assistant.
Ye Qinjia works in the Agriculture Bureau. He has been influenced by everything around him and has become very interested in breeding and seedling cultivation. He signed up to come to the farm just to experience the fun of planting flowers, vegetables and trees. Now that I'm assigned to the nursery, I feel refreshed when I smell the fragrance of the plants. I actively learn and ask questions from the nursery staff, and I do my work very efficiently.
The two people were delighted to find suitable jobs.
Seeing that the two of them were active, Luo Xuan thought that he had done his best, so he talked to them separately and asked them to persuade Tao Nanfeng to quit the road construction team and go to the office to manage the finances.
Li Huilan said with a straight face: "Tao Nanfeng and I don't have a good relationship. We don't talk much, so it's useless to persuade him."
Ye Qin's expression was very serious. "Yes, Huilan and I work at the pig farm, and she and Xiao Aiyun work at the road construction team. Although we live in the same room, our relationship is average. We are just ordinary roommates. If you want us to persuade her, that's fine, but there's no way she will listen to us. Anyway... let's do our best."
Luo Xuan didn't expect that the two girls in front of him were so cunning. They didn't look like students who had just graduated from high school, but rather like old hands who had been in officialdom for a long time.
——There are just as many benefits as before, but nothing needs to be done! Yet there is nothing wrong with it.
I clearly heard from Liu Lili that the educated youth from Jiangcheng were as close as one person, and the four girls were very close... No wonder they say all women are liars!
Luo Xuan had no choice but to laugh: "Very good, you try your best to persuade him, I am also thinking about Tao Nanfeng. It's so hard for a girl to work in the road construction team every day in the sun and rain! Sitting in the office is easy and comfortable, isn't it?"
Ye Qin looked at his old face that looked like orange peel, and felt nauseous. You are now saying that the girl is working in the road construction team, exposed to the sun and rain. What were she doing before?
It was you who used the "killing stick" to assign Tao Nanfeng to the road construction team, and it is also you who is saying that you want to pull Tao Nanfeng back from the office where he is taking it easy! If it weren't for the power grab with Xiangbei, these high-ranking field leaders would never truly care about the educated youth.
For the first time in his life, Ye Qin began to think about one thing: how to bring down this annoying leader in front of him.
Ye Qin's father was the deputy director of the Agricultural Bureau in charge of personnel, so there were always people coming to his house to give gifts and use their connections. My father is an upright old party member, incorruptible and honest, and is deeply loved by the staff of the Agricultural Bureau. There are three children in the family. The two older brothers have already married and have children. Ye Qin is almost eight years younger than his second brother and grew up being spoiled by his family.
Such a happy and simple environment made Ye Qin's character relatively simple. She was like a tomboy all day long, carefree and not worrying about anything. She herself had never thought that one day she would think about fighting for power.
It is really frustrating to work under such a leader.
Ye Qin was a very proactive person. Once she had an idea, she would put it into practice. She went home and wrote a letter, which she sent back home along with Du Chenzhe's poem.
Half a month later, Director Ye received a reply from his father. He attached great importance to his daughter's inquiry and gave the following reply seriously.
“First, unite the masses and gain their support; second, study hard and become stronger and bigger; third, learn to stand in line and take steady steps.”
It’s not easy for Ye Qin to do other things, but “learning to take sides”? This is easy.
Stand in line, whose side should you stand in? Of course, I will support whoever Luo Xuan opposes!
Who is Luo Xuan against? To the north.
The next evening, on his way home from work, Xiangbei was stopped by Ye Qin and Li Huilan: "Director Xiang, we are on your side. We hope you can work harder and drag Jiao Liang down so that you can be the director."
Director? Xiang Bei's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't show any emotion on his face and looked at the two girls calmly.
It was very cold in the evening. Ye Qin clasped his hands together and placed them to his lips, blowing hot air to warm his cold hands. She was a person who could not hide her thoughts. She raised her eyebrows and said straight to the point: "A soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier. Director Xiang, have you ever thought about bringing Jiao Chang down?"
Xiangbei still didn't speak. The two girls in front of him were among the educated youth in Jiangcheng, but they did not belong to the road construction team. He had little contact with them and was not willing to say much because they were not very close.
Ye Qin stamped his feet and said, "Hey, Director Xiang, don't think that we are sent by the enemy to test you. Tao Nanfeng and I are in the same group, and we are inseparable partners. If you don't trust me, why don't we go back to the educated youth site together? I'll let Team Leader Qiao and Tao Nanfeng talk to you, okay?"
Hearing the name Tao Nanfeng, Xiang Bei finally spoke: "Okay!"
When the stars sparkled in the sky, Xiangbei sat in the main room of the educated youth center. A kerosene lamp was lit. The transparent glass lampshade was smoked yellow, and the wick was burning, making crackling sounds from time to time.
The door was closed tightly, and twenty educated youth were sitting or standing, filling the square main room.
Ye Qin spoke first: "I think if we want to ensure that the road is open to traffic smoothly after it is built, we must first deal with Director Jiao and Director Luo Xuan."
Li Huilan obviously didn't understand this. She just felt happy being a nurse now and didn't want to be driven to the pig farm again, so she weakly replied, "That Director Jiao and Director Luo even want to take our bacon. They are not good officials."
When it comes to bacon, Wei Min gets furious.
"That's right! It's a good farm, but they haven't even repaired the roads for so many years. The educated youth live in thatched houses, and the living environment of the employees has not been improved. How much of the money collected by the Agricultural Reclamation Bureau every year is actually used for farm construction? I suspect that it was all embezzled by Director Jiao and Director Luo."
Chen Zhilu sneered, "It's 100% embezzled. Just look at the clothes that nurse Liu Lili is wearing—wool pants, lambskin boots, and a Plum watch. A woman whose parents are both dead and whose background is not good has such a comfortable life just because she has a connection with Jiao Liang!"
After all, Chen Zhilu was young and inexperienced, so he was embarrassed to say that Liu Lili was Jiao Liang's mistress, so he only vaguely said that they had established this connection. But who among those present didn’t know about this stupid thing?
Xiao Aiyun said: "I originally thought that Liu Lili was a persecuted woman with bitterness in her heart, but now it seems that she is not a good person either. Not only did she take advantage of her, she also wanted to help her bully brother find a wife."
The key point is that the person Liu Lili has her eyes on is Tao Nanfeng, which is too shameless. Xiao Aiyun didn't dare say this publicly, as he felt that even comparing Tao Nanfeng with Liu Bin was an insult.
The educated youth present expressed their opinions one after another. As the class monitor, Qiao Yadong stood up and gave a summary.
“First, Director Jiao and Director Luo have lost the support of the people.
Second, the educated youth are very resentful, which will be detrimental to farm construction in the long run.
Third, if the mine is to be sold after the road is opened, the power must be in the hands of one’s own people. ”
Tao Nanfeng didn't say anything, just said "hmm" softly. That sound was like the ending of a symphony, the cello strings ringing softly, the lingering sound lingering in Xiangbei's heart for a long time.
Xiangbei sat firmly in the chair, looking at the young faces in front of him, and said in a deep voice: "I agree with everyone's opinion. We must seize the power!"
Ye Qin was the most easily excited and he jumped up at once: "I'll write a letter of accusation! I'll report it to the Revolutionary Committee of the Provincial Agricultural Reclamation Bureau." After all, they were the children of leaders and they did things according to rules and regulations.
Chen Zhilu grinned, stretched out his hand and high-fived Ye Qin: "Beautiful! Have you thought of the crime?"
Ye Qin glanced at him and said, "Are you stupid? It's a good crime to have promiscuous relationships with men and women..."
Xiao Aiyun usually quarreled with her two sisters at home every day. When she heard about writing a letter of denunciation, she immediately became excited: "Does anyone know who Chief Jiao's wife is? Send a letter to his wife and make his backyard burn. He will have no choice but to leave."
"Yes, yes, yes. Don't forget Director Luo Xuan. It would be best if you find someone to check his accounts. With his stingy personality, he must have embezzled a lot of money. I heard that he only recorded seven work points for other educated youths, especially girls, and deducted four yuan and eighty cents from them every month. This money must be a huge sum if saved up."
Chen Zhilu added: "It's a pity that Section Chief Huang Xingwu has been transferred to another place, otherwise he must have evidence that Director Luo embezzled project funds."
Hearing this, Xiangbei laughed and stood up.
"Okay! I'll do it as you say." Xiangbei laughed in silence: It's true that the older you are in the world, the less courageous you are. Even the man with the sharp knife is not as courageous as these teenagers.
Why be afraid of retaliation or talk about rules and etiquette?
Do it when you think of it, and don’t regret it.
It was quiet outside, and the cold wind made a whistling sound. Tao Nanfeng looked at everything in front of him quietly, with a vague feeling.
Perhaps in the future, this night will go down in farm history.
The author has something to say:
When corruption reaches its extreme, it will inevitably lead to rebirth.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
