Chapter 115 Commendation
The members came in one after another. The captain couldn't argue with her here, so he could only walk away angrily.
Xia Zhizhi said "Hey~Hey~" while waiting for everyone to gather. When she saw that most people were there, she took a sip of water and cleared her throat.
"Good afternoon to all hard-working and brave comrades, today is our annual year-end commendation summary meeting of our Zhongxing Brigade!"
"In the past year, all members have worked diligently every day, getting up early and working late. I still remember that time... (omitted five thousand)"
"Thank you all for your hard work. In addition, our young comrades are also getting better and better. This year, they... (omitted six thousand)"
"Okay, I won't say much, let's get to the point."
When she finally got to this point and was about to stand up, he saw her taking out a thick stack of things from her bag, including newspapers, notebooks, and pencils.
"Next, we will commend the outstanding young comrades."
"Let us invite Lin Beibei, Lin Junjiang... and other young comrades to come on stage!"
When she went to Lin Junjiang to get the scorebook yesterday, the children participating in the reading aloud competition believed it and were waiting to go on stage today.
She called all the participating children up, and the little ones crowded onto the stage like newly hatched ducklings, each with their head held high, looking very proud.
"Now we will give out the awards for excellence. Comrades whose names are called, please come forward to receive your prizes..." Xia Zhizhi grabbed a handful of pencils given for submissions and began calling out names. She gave a pencil to each person who came forward. Those who did not make it into the top three were all awarded awards, and each was given a pencil.
The amount of the prize is not important. The most important thing is to be able to go on stage and have their names called out and praised. The children will be happy for several days.
After all the children received their pencils, she said, "Let's give a round of applause to the little comrades who won the awards!"
After saying this, he led the applause, praised them a few more times, and let them all go.
Then we will start awarding prizes to the top three.
The third place was a little girl named Lin Duidui, whose name is quite funny. She was rewarded with a notebook. The second place was the good student Lin Junjiang, who was rewarded with a notebook and a pencil. The first place was the king of exam papers, Lin Beibei, who was rewarded with a notebook and a newspaper.
She wrote an article about a funny story of kids picking beans. The photo used in the newspaper was of Lin Beibei. It was noon when the photo was taken. The sun was a little strong. Lin Beibei was wearing a lot of clothes and was sweating. Beads of sweat flowed down her forehead and hung on her eyebrows. She wrinkled her eyebrows and her eyes looked bright and energetic.
Lin Beibei held the newspaper in her hand, smiling so hard that her teeth could be seen. She walked down the stage and ran straight to her parents, where she began to show off. She was secretly planning in her mind that in the next round of competition, she, Lin Beibei, would still be the first place!
The weather was getting a bit cold at this time. Although it hadn't snowed yet, everyone's feet were frozen after sitting in the auditorium for a long time. Seeing that many people were stamping their feet, Xia Zhizhi took pity on them. She briefly summarized the situation and invited the captain to come on stage.
Lin Guoyi was originally very anxious and had prepared a lot to say, but when Xia Zhizhi really called him up, he spread out the banner in front of everyone, with a thousand words in his mind, and for a moment he didn't know where to start.
I don't know if he got cold, he sniffed and said, "Look everyone, this is our banner, our brigade's banner. Our Linjia Village... we have finally made it through. I, Lin Guoyi, have not let down the trust of my fellow villagers!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Guoyi choked up. In addition to him, some older members in the audience also had tears on their faces. They have come this far, through many ups and downs, and the hardships they have endured cannot be fully expressed in a few words.
Lin Guoyi didn't have as much nonsense as Xia Zhizhi. He opened his notebook and informed the members what he had heard in the meeting. Seeing that everyone was very angry, he let everyone adjourn the meeting and go home to their mothers.
Xia Zhizhi originally wanted to go up and add a few simple words, but Han Youran and Jiang Xiurong both felt their feet were frozen and numb, and they pulled her back to stop her from going. She had no choice but to watch everyone disperse.
Just as she was preparing to go back to the educated youth camp with them, the team leader called her, "Xia Zhiqing, come, come."
She put her hands in her sleeves, walked over and asked, "What's the matter?"
"Come on, let's go to my house for dinner. Your aunt killed the goose at home. I think it should be ready to stew by now."
Xia Zhizhi didn't want to go.
The captain packed up the notebook and tucked it under his armpit. He turned around and saw her standing there motionless, and said, "You have to go. If you don't go, you're not giving me face."
Lin Guoyi is a very insightful person. The conditions in their village are acceptable now, but there is no one at the top in the village. They are relying on the few connections in the village, and it is unknown when they can be rated as advanced.
For Xia Zhizhi, those few newspapers might have been just a matter of moving her fingers, but for the brigade, they were a great help.
However, the village had this condition and could not reward her with a hundred or eighty yuan. Several village officials discussed it and allocated her 150 work points as a reward. After all, it was a contribution to the village, but that was all they could do. If it was more, other people in the village would feel psychologically unbalanced.
The work points were a reward from the brigade to her. As for the brigade leader himself, he just invited her to have a meal as a token of his appreciation.
Since the captain said so, she would just give him some face reluctantly.
Lin Guoyi called the village party secretary to come along.
When we arrived at the captain's house, the goose was indeed cooked. Aunt Yang came up to us warmly: "Xia Zhiqing, come on, sit on the kang, it's warm."
The kang table was not particularly big and could not accommodate many people, so another table was set up below for the other members of the captain's family.
Fearing that she would feel uncomfortable as a little girl, Aunt Yang also ate with her on the kang.
Auntie Yang’s cooking skills are good. The goose is stewed to perfection, with a rich sauce, rich meat, and tender bones.
The two brothers Lin Guoyi and Lin Guorong didn't eat much vegetables. They just reminisced about the good and bad times with a plate of peanuts, starting from the time when they entered Guandong.
"Guorong, I remember when we first came here, you were only this tall. I don't know if you still remember that we had nothing to eat, so we went up the mountain to peel tree bark and grind it into flour. The people from the next door village saw that we were new here, so they lied to us..."
Aunt Yang kept picking up food for Xia Zhizhi and urging her to eat more. She grabbed the goose leg and gnawed on it while listening.
She had heard about the history of Zhongxing Village from the grandfather who drove a bullock cart. It was quite interesting to hear someone else tell it from a different perspective. While gnawing on a leg, she learned about several kinds of edible tree bark.
Seeing that the jar of dried shrimps was almost empty, the captain looked at his wife and shouted, "Ah Feng~"
"I'm ready. If I drink more, it will be too much." Lin Guorong drank the rest of the drink. "I have something to do tomorrow. I have to go to my father-in-law's house to pick up my daughter. I'll stop drinking here for now. We can drink to our heart's content some other day."
After saying that, Lin Guorong got off the kang and put on his shoes.
Lin Guoyi gave him a few words of advice and then let him go.