Chapter 59 Self-recommendation
We didn't chat for too long.
Zhongxing Brigade is located near mountains and rivers, and the terrain is quite complex. The brigade leader is a talented person who knows how to adapt to local conditions.
Rice is planted near the river, corn is planted near the mountain, sorghum is planted in the irregular corners of the land, and soybeans are mixed in with the sorghum and corn fields. Sweet potatoes and potatoes are planted on Shapogang land, and soybeans, beets and peanuts are also planted.
They planted a lot of crops and they were all different. Although the autumn harvest was hard, everyone was smiling when the grain was distributed. After all, they only planted one crop a year, and no matter how hard and tiring the work was, it only lasted for a few months. Once it snowed, everyone would stay in bed and rarely go out.
The team is large and is divided into 16 production groups. The team leader assigns a rough area to each group, and the remaining detailed division of labor is the responsibility of their respective team leaders.
As usual, the team leader said a few words to encourage everyone to work hard, and then everyone received their tools and went their separate ways.
After everyone had left, the team leader looked at Xia Zhizhi, who was wearing a white shirt and white sneakers. She had a small bag on her body and a camera hanging around her neck. She didn't look like she was going to work in the fields, but rather on a spring outing.
The captain's name was Lin Guoyi. He had a square face with wrinkles all over it. When he saw her dressed like that, his brows were furrowed tightly together, looking like they could pinch a fly to death.
I was scratching my head and wondering where I should assign her.
This educated youth was so skinny. He vomited blood and fainted during his stay in the countryside for more than a week. I heard from other educated youth that he still has to take medicine three times a day as meals. The smell of traditional Chinese medicine has never dissipated in the educated youth compound.
What can such a hypocritical thing do? The captain was worried and scratched his head.
I was thinking, why not arrange some time to collect pig grass?
But there are enough people to cut pig grass.
The pigs always have some food left after eating every day. They have become so picky that they don’t even want to eat some unpalatable wild vegetables. They are harder to please than people. Anyway, the team leader has only seen picky pigs in all his years, but never a picky person.
His thoughts wandered, thinking about raising a few more pigs next year. After all, life in the team was better now than in the previous two years. Most families could have some surplus food as long as they worked hard. If he raised a few more pigs, everyone could share more meat at the end of the year. If they had any happy events, they could have two more dishes on the table and it would be more face-saving.
Xia Zhizhi had condescended to come here not just to work. If the captain arranged for her to weed the fields, she would immediately perform a blood-spattering show in front of him.
Seeing that the captain was taking so long to speak that he was about to turn into a Mediterranean, she mercifully went up to him and said, "Hello, captain."
The captain put down his hands and looked at her.
She held her chest and said with a straight face: "I have a red heart facing the sun. I followed the Chairman's call and traveled thousands of miles from Yang City to our Zhongxing Brigade to support national construction. I wanted to be like other educated youth and enthusiastically participate in the production activities of our village!"
At this point, she patted her thigh and complained, "But my body is really not doing well. Captain, why did I fall ill?"
"Seeing other educated youth working hard in the fields, I felt so anxious. I really wanted to fight alongside them!"
Lin Guoyi continued to look at her and watch her performance.
She said sincerely, "Today I feel better, so I came to report to you. I originally wanted you to assign me to the most tiring and difficult position. I am not afraid of hard work, but I am afraid that I cannot contribute to the country!"
"But my body!" She said with a self-sacrificing look: "But it doesn't matter. As long as the organization needs me, Captain, just give the order. I can do it no matter how hard it is. Even if you ask me to pick up shit, I will have no complaints. Believe me, I haven't vomited blood for two days. I can definitely do the job assigned to me by the organization!"
After saying this, she held her head and shook it a bit.
Seeing the captain's indescribable expression, she smiled weakly: "Captain, don't worry, I'm fine, I just feel a little dizzy after standing for so long."
Captain...
I am speechless.
Smelling the scent of the traditional Chinese medicine she had specially used, seeing how she looked like she would fall over if the wind blew, and then looking at her pale face, she wouldn't even need to put on makeup if she went out at night to pretend to be a ghost.
Lin Guoyi really couldn't understand what the people in the city were thinking. In her poor health, why didn't she stay in the hospital but had to run thousands of miles to their village?
Do you think it's unlucky to die in a hospital?
It would be unlucky for them to die in their village!
Of course, he is not afraid of seeing dead people, but what if someone dies in their team and it affects their evaluation as an advanced team?
The captain was a little angry.
He said in a bad tone: "The team is not busy right now, you should take good care of yourself first."
"But I can't contribute to the team. I'm really anxious. I can't eat or sleep..." Xia Zhizhi said aggrievedly.
The captain couldn't help but sigh: "Your greatest contribution is to stay alive!"
Bodhisattva, please don’t let me die in their village. I’ll have my old wife sneak under the old tree in the dark tomorrow to burn some paper. It must be because we didn’t offer sacrifices properly during the Chinese New Year last year, so this thing was distributed to their village.
Xia Zhizhi felt wronged and pouted, "But I still want to contribute to the team. Since you won't let me go to work, how about this?"
"I can't do anything else except writing some articles."
She took out a clipping of her previous article from her bag and handed it to the captain.
The captain came to his senses, took the notebook, opened it and looked at it, then looked at her, not understanding what she meant.
After all, how many people pay attention to the author's name when reading the newspaper these days?
She cleared her throat and pointed at the mosquito-sized author names.
I started to brainwash the captain. No, I recommended myself: "Captain, look, these are all written by me. I came from Yang City to work in the countryside. When I was at home, I often submitted articles to major newspapers. I am a well-known freelance writer in our city."
Anyway, few people read newspapers in a skipping manner these days. Once a newspaper is in hand, it is a basic practice to read it twice, so it is certain that many people have read her articles. Although 99.9% of people will not pay attention to who the author is, it is not wrong for her to flatter herself and say that she is a well-known writer.
"I have published articles in our local daily, Shanghai Youth Daily, Nanjing Xinmin Daily and many other newspapers." Xia Zhizhi pointed them out to him one by one.
Although he had never heard of any of these newspaper captains, it did not prevent him from thinking that they sounded very powerful. The captain looked at her seriously.
This was the first time I saw someone writing articles for a newspaper in real life. Perhaps because of her talent, she didn't seem as offensive to me as before.
He nodded and motioned Xia Zhizhi to continue.
"I was thinking, why don't I write an article for our village!"
The captain was a little confused: "What's there to write about our village? Even if we write about it, the newspapers won't want to publish it, right?"
"You are too modest!" She waved her hand and pointed to the cornfield next to her with great pride: "Our village is beautiful with green mountains and clear waters, the people are simple and honest, and the products are abundant. What a wonderful place! Look at how well the agriculture in our village has developed under your leadership. There is not a single piece of idle land in the village. All of them are scientifically arranged with suitable crops. This is so rare!"
She gave Lin Guoyi a thumbs up and said, "It's all thanks to our village having such a great captain!"
"Well, isn't this all for everyone to have something to eat?" The captain felt a little embarrassed by her compliment.
"I will write down the production methods of our village so that people from other places can learn from it." After saying this, she looked at the team leader again.
"I will do an exclusive interview with you later. You know, an exclusive interview means interviewing you specifically. I will also take a photo of you and send it to the newspaper. Then everyone will know what our village's thoughtful and conscious team leader looks like."
"You see, it's like this." Xia Zhizhi pointed to the article about the train conductor and said, "If the article is really accepted by the newspaper, you will be so powerful as the captain. People all over the country will take you as a role model. You may even be praised by the commune!"
The captain's eyes lit up as he stared at the clipping intently.
My God, is he still in the newspapers at his age?
Look at the person in the newspaper, his clothes, his demeanor, he must be an official!
How can he, an old man with such dignity, compare himself with other cadres? It's so embarrassing.
He touched his face, thinking about going home tonight and coaxing his wife into giving him a shave. She shaved cleanly, but she was usually not willing to shave him.
Then take out the blue and red sweater that San'er had brought back from the race car specially for him and put it on. It would be best to wear a white shirt underneath. He didn't have a white shirt at home, so he borrowed one from the accountant.
That would be like searching, and it would probably cost an egg to borrow it.
If I really want to exchange it for an egg, my wife might complain. Never mind, let her complain.
The team leader touched his hair again and found it was a little long. He had to find time to go to the commune to get a haircut.
I asked her, "Xia Zhiqing, don't rush to take that photo. I want to dress up. It's not that I like to dress up, but I don't want to embarrass our village."
"It's not shameful to be fine." Xia Zhizhi didn't understand romance at all: "Our main theme is to be hardworking and simple."
The captain was still unwilling to give up. How many times can a person appear in the newspaper in his lifetime? "Why don't we take the photo another day? Look at my hair, it's getting longer now. I have to keep it neat and tidy. Otherwise, people will laugh at our village for being sloppy."
"Okay, we're not in a hurry for the photo." She counted on her fingers and said, "Look, I need to learn about our village first, and then I need to come up with an idea. After I have the idea, I will interview you and then we can study how to take the photo. I can't write it for a while."
In fact, she could have gotten out in an afternoon, but she just wanted to be lazy for a while longer.
"It's no big deal to get it in the newspaper. If you just send it carelessly, they will definitely not accept it."
"You're right!" The captain nodded, his mind now full of thoughts about appearing in the newspaper.
He asked, "Does the village need any cooperation?"
She said, "I need to learn more about our village. It would be best if you could find me a guide to take me around the village so that I can have a deep understanding of our village. I can come back to you later if I need anything."
"Okay!" The captain nodded and called a little girl from the pig grass-cutting team to her: "This is Sanya."
He said to San Ya, "You don't have to go to work today. Take Xia Zhiqing around our village."
After making the arrangements, he earnestly instructed Xia Zhizhi: "Xia Zhiqing, please go back and forth. Don't tire yourself out. Take your time and take care of yourself."
But don’t work yourself to death. Even if you are going to die, wait until you finish writing the article!
After saying this, he left in a hurry.