Chapter 62 Newspaper
There aren't many submissions these days that come with photos, and her content was very positive, so all of them were accepted.
The only difference is that the first one was published in the Northeast Daily, and the second one was published in the Longjiang Daily.
The content is secondary. The photo taken of Tiedan is particularly outstanding. The little baby is full of energy, with a chubby face and is very cute. At a glance, you can feel that people's lives are indeed better than before.
I paid her 16 yuan for two articles and two photos. I put the remittance slip away and planned to withdraw the money when I had time.
When submitting the manuscript, she specifically noted that if the manuscript was requisitioned, she asked someone to mail three copies of the newspaper, as it was inconvenient to buy newspapers in this village.
The editor was very helpful and gave her three copies of each newspaper. No wonder the letter was so thick. She kept one copy as a souvenir, one copy for clipping, and the remaining one was used to show off.
After taking a shower, she walked towards the big tree at the entrance of the village, holding the two newspapers.
The weather is hot right now, and after dinner and a shower, there is nothing else to do, so people like to fan themselves under a tree, chat, cool off, and listen to the radio.
However, most of the educated youth did not like to go there. They were all unmarried young men and women, and if they went there, they would easily be ridiculed by the village uncles and aunts.
The radio belongs to the captain, and it is taken out every night for everyone to listen to for two hours.
When she passed by, the captain's eldest son was debugging the channel.
Except for a few older ones who were sitting on the stone blocks with their eyes narrowed, waiting to listen.
The others gathered in a circle around the radio. Although they didn't know what was interesting, it didn't stop them from watching.
"Um, cough!"
She coughed loudly and everyone turned to look at her.
Satisfied, she took out the newspaper and waved it: "Fellow villagers, good news! Our Zhongxing Village has a newspaper!"
oh?
No one was watching the radio anymore, and everyone instantly became alert. Although more than half of the people didn't know what it meant, when they saw others gathering around them, they had to follow suit to avoid being left behind.
Xia Zhizhi stacked up the newspapers, put her tofu-sized article on top, and showed it to everyone: "Look, this is the article I wrote. It's published in the newspaper. This is Longjiang Newspaper, a big provincial newspaper. Am I awesome?"
"Awesome, awesome!"
Everyone treated her seriously.
Most of the people in the village are illiterate now, but they can read photos.
An old lady took the lead and pointed at the newspaper and said, "Isn't this my little cousin Tiedan?"
"Where is it? Where is it? Let me see!"
A young man of about twelve or thirteen squeezed in.
Crane your neck to look at the photo.
After seeing it clearly, he said excitedly: "It's Tiedan, it's Tiedan, this is the third grandfather, this is the fifth uncle, and the back view is the third cousin. I recognize the patch on his pants, it was scratched when we were picking bird eggs, and my aunt beat him when we got home!"
"Yes, yes, look at the guy smoking a cigarette. Even though it's blurry, you can tell at a glance that he's Lin Laogen!"
"It's amazing! How did it get into the newspaper?"
People sigh from time to time.
The captain came over with his pony in his hand. Seeing everyone gathered together, he asked loudly, "What are you looking at?"
"Master Wu, the iron egg from our village is on the newspaper!"
When the captain heard about the newspaper, his eyes lit up. He cut in line and forced his way in, saying to Xia Zhizhi, "Let me take a look."
She handed the newspaper to the captain, who could read. He took the newspaper and read it carefully. He couldn't suppress the smile on his face and kept saying, "Good, good!"
She looked at the captain, who was as happy as if her own son had won the top spot in the imperial examination. She was a little confused for a moment and thought that this was probably the so-called sense of collective honor.
She didn't know that the captain was thinking, if Tiedan'er, a few-year-old kid, could be on the newspaper, would he be the next one?
The captain looked at Tiedan in the photo, who had two marks on his face, his frayed sleeves, and his short trousers, and it was obvious that he was not dressed up when the photo was taken.
Taking photos is such a serious matter, how can you be so careless!
I thought to myself that I must go to bed early and get up early these few days, keep my spirits up, put on my most formal clothes, and dress like a commune cadre. I must take a good photo!
Some illiterate people looked at the captain without saying anything and couldn't help asking, "Captain, what's written in the newspaper?"
The captain said, "It's a compliment to our village. Let's go to the auditorium and have the third son of Lin Sihei's family read it for everyone to hear!"
Then he said to a child, "Go to Lin Laogen's house and ask them to pack up and go to the auditorium."
He also ordered someone to get the big red flower.
This style is quite impressive.
The auditorium in the village was built on the site of a former farm. Later, the farm and the commune merged and half of the auditorium was demolished, leaving only one room for the village to use. Meetings are usually held here.
After some arrangements, everyone entered the auditorium. The team leader used a loudspeaker to notify the villagers, asking everyone to come and share in the joy.
Lin Laogen's family of fourteen stood in a neat row on the stage, with Tiedan, who was standing at the front, having a big red flower tied on his chest.
Xia Zhizhi was worried that they would feel uncomfortable, but the whole family was in a good mood and didn't feel awkward at all.
Tiedan was especially proud of his little chest. He even refused his family's suggestion to hug him, as he felt it was not dignified to be hugged.
But a little carrot with a huge red flower stuck on its chest doesn't look very solemn.
The captain turned on the microphone and said, "Fellow villagers, great news! Our Zhongxing Village has a newspaper. This is the first time. I'll let someone read it to you first."
The third child of Lin Sihei's family is the only high school student in the village. With a dark red face and a serious expression, he took the newspaper, walked to the microphone, swallowed his saliva, and began his elementary school student speech.
"Hello everyone, my name is Lin Junfei, and I will read this article to you now."
"With my dream in my heart, I came to the Northeast of my motherland, to the Zhongxing Brigade of the Xinglong Commune in Mudanjiang. The scenery here is different from that in the south of the Yangtze River..."
"Although the conditions in the village were harsh, the comrades were kind and hardworking. When they learned that the educated youth had no place to sleep, they immediately organized people, from the 69th to the youngest, and soon built stoves and kangs... Here I felt the warmth of the motherland and the enthusiasm of the people... People asked me why I often had tears in my eyes, because I deeply love this land!"
Oh my...why is it a bit embarrassing? Has she become more shy recently?
Xia Zhizhi hid in the crowd, hunched her neck, and held onto the three-bedroom, one-living room apartment, hiding her achievements and fame.
I didn't think there was anything wrong with it when I wrote it, but when people read it, they understood what public execution meant.
Fortunately, when the captain suggested that she go to school, she directly refused.
"I've finished reading, thank you everyone!" Lin Junfei bowed and returned the microphone to the captain.