RIRW – Chapter 89

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Since the telephone was installed at Zuo Dan’s house, people in the village would drop by all the time, whether they had a reason or not. Originally, the Old Zuo family lived on the outskirts, and no one really liked visiting their home, but now it had suddenly become lively.

People weren’t coming over for anything in particular—they just wanted to touch the telephone. Of course, no one dared to actually pick up the receiver and speak. The old master who installed the phone had warned them that making calls cost money. They couldn’t afford to waste money.

However, the educated youths did use the phone at the Old Zuo house to call their families. They gave their home the number, making it much easier to stay in touch in the future.

Zuo Dan figured that Wei Xiaojun and Wei Xiaohong, the brother and sister, would also be tempted. So, after lunch, she went to find them. “We’ve already installed a telephone at home. Do you want to call your family? Hey, even though your mother doesn’t care whether you live or die, she’s still your birth mother. If you soften your tone and beg a little, your eldest sister might even give you some things she doesn’t need.”

Hearing this, the siblings lost any thought of asking their family for help. They were part of the Wei family, yet if they wanted something from their own household, they had to beg as if they were asking for charity? They would have to rely on whatever their eldest sister didn’t want? They would never stoop to something so humiliating in their entire lives!

Seeing that they wouldn’t listen to her advice, Zuo Dan sighed. “Forget it. The village will be electing a new team leader soon. If my father is chosen, I’ll try to find more ways to help you in the future. Sigh, I just feel bad for you two. How did you end up with a mother like that?”

The siblings also felt miserable. How did they get so unlucky to have a mother like her?

In the suburbs of the provincial capital, the atmosphere in the house rented by Du Juan and Wei Guohua was gloomy. Ever since Wei Guohua lost his position, he had been like this all the time. Now, with the issue of the communal building, he had become even more dejected. He couldn’t accept it—he had been fooled for so many years by someone who was already dead, and it had caused such an embarrassing scandal for him. Depressed, he stopped caring about household matters, spending his days either drinking or sleeping.

Du Juan didn’t bother with him anymore. Her two children were about to return. They had jobs waiting for them, which meant all three of her children would soon be settled with careers. She felt like she had no regrets left.

She hadn’t married Wei Guohua out of love. She had simply wanted a man to rely on, a complete family so that people wouldn’t look down on her. Over the years, she had enjoyed whatever she could. Now that she was older and had children to depend on, there was no need for her to be as lifeless as Wei Guohua.

However, after waiting for so many days, she still hadn’t received any news about her children’s return. This made her uneasy.

After lunch, she informed Wei Guohua and went straight to the coal yard to find out what was going on.

“What? My children can’t come back? How is that possible? Didn’t you already notify them? How could they not be able to return?”

Du Juan was agitated as she spoke in the mining committee’s office.

She had come to ask the coal yard to contact the local commune and check on the situation—when exactly her children would be allowed to return. But she hadn’t expected to hear that her children couldn’t come back at all.

The young woman handling the matter in the mining committee, Clerk Zhu, explained, “The mine has already communicated with the local authorities. They said that Comrades Wei Xiaojun and Wei Xiaohong have not met the requirements for returning to the city. They must continue their rural studies. Additionally, the provincial leadership has informed us that, because Comrade Wei Guohua had issues related to the down-to-the-countryside movement, Wei Xiaojun and Wei Xiaohong are not eligible to return.”

“How can that be? Those positions belong to our family. We exchanged for them.”

“Comrade Du Juan, please calm down. Those positions don’t belong to any family—they belong to the mine. Previously, the Zhou family gave up two positions to allow your children to return. Since they are unable to come back, those positions remain with the mine. The mine has already reassigned them to others.”

Du Juan’s face changed dramatically. “How could this happen? Those were supposed to be our positions!”

Clerk Zhu’s expression darkened. What did this have to do with the coal yard? “Comrade Du Juan, what you’re saying is unreasonable. Even the mine director wouldn’t dare say that these jobs belong to him. How can you claim them as yours? That’s favoritism. It’s not that we won’t let them take the positions—it’s that they can’t return.”

“But you can’t just give them to someone else! My daughter is already working at the coal yard, in the cafeteria. If the jobs are given to anyone, they should go to her!” Du Juan’s face was flushed with anger, and she gritted her teeth.

“We can’t leave those positions vacant. Someone has to do the work. Since there was no news from your side, we had to find replacements. However, one of the positions is still open internally. It’s under the jurisdiction of the provincial coal yard, even though the job itself is in the local commune coal yard. If you’re willing, we can process the transfer immediately.”

Two thousand yuan for a public sector coal yard job… Du Juan’s eyes turned red. “How could this happen? I spent two thousand yuan on this…”

Clerk Zhu’s face darkened further. “We didn’t take a single cent. The position is available. If you want it, we can process it right away.”

“You… You…” Du Juan was so angry that she couldn’t even speak. “I’m going to find your superiors! I have to file a complaint. This is outrageous!”

“Comrade, what are you doing? We’ve explained everything, and there’s still a job available for you. If you don’t want it, that’s your decision. If you want to file a complaint, go ahead. Our leaders are in the meeting room. You can find them yourself.”

Clerk Zhu, having said her piece, bent over her desk and continued working, not bothering with her anymore. She had heard from the local officials that this family had even falsified documents to keep their children in the city. That was unfair to the other sent-down youths. Many of the coal miners’ children had also been sent to the countryside.

Du Juan still cared about her reputation and didn’t want to cause a scene, so she waited outside the meeting room, preparing to reason with the leadership.

After a short wait, Shao Aijun and Wei Jingren hurried over.

Someone from the mining committee had informed Shao Aijun that his fiancée’s mother was here to cause trouble, advising him to handle it himself to avoid affecting his job.

So Shao Aijun quickly went to find Wei Jingren.

“Mom, what are you doing? It’s the local authorities preventing Xiaojun and Xiaohong from returning—the coal yard has nothing to do with it!” Wei Jingren said anxiously. She worked at a government office and knew they couldn’t fight against the system. This matter was already decided and couldn’t be changed.

Hearing this, Du Juan frowned in frustration. “Jingren, are you trying to stop me? Everything I’ve done has been for you children, yet you blame me? I spent two thousand yuan! Now your siblings can’t come back, and we lost the jobs. What was it all for?”

She started crying in anger. Ever since Wei Guohua’s downfall, nothing had gone right. Everything seemed to go wrong one after another, leaving her feeling exhausted and hopeless. She had worked so hard, but in the end, she had nothing.

Wei Jingren’s eyes turned red with grievance. Her mother’s fussing wasn’t for her—it was all for Xiaojun and Xiaohong.

Shao Aijun couldn’t stand it anymore and said impatiently, “Auntie, to be honest, you handled this all wrong. If you had given the job to Jingren first, she’d be a formal worker at the coal yard by now. But you favored the younger ones, and now you’ve lost everything. And you blame Jingren for not being filial? If the other coal miners’ children were treated like Jingren, they would’ve cut ties with their families long ago.”

“Enough, Aijun,” Wei Jingren tugged his arm.

“I have to say it—I can’t stand this anymore. ‘Step Parents treat their own children differently’—this is exactly that!” Shao Aijun said angrily. If Wei Jingren had a job, they could get married right away instead of waiting for family approval.

“You… you’re all blaming me?” Du Juan stood up in anger, trembling all over. She had just suffered humiliation at the mine committee, and now even her daughter and her daughter’s fiancé were blaming her. What had she done to deserve this?

Wei Jingren quickly said, “Mom, I’m not blaming you. I just want you to stop making a fuss. The mine has already made its decision, and nothing can change it. If you keep making trouble, what will happen to Aijun and me? We still have to work here. Mom, I’m begging you—please stop.” Her eyes were full of pleading.

Hearing Wei Jingren’s words, Du Juan suddenly felt completely deflated, like a balloon losing its air. A deep sense of powerlessness overcame her. She thought back to when she was still a minister’s wife, and everyone looked up to her wherever she went. Back then, if she decided that Shen Yiming had to go to the countryside, he had no choice but to go and stay there obediently. Even at the transportation company, if she put in a word, the job could only go to her daughter. But now? Now, she was being bullied and had to endure it, for fear of dragging others down with her.

As the three of them stood there in silence, the conference room door suddenly opened, and the leaders walked out one by one. They all pretended not to see the three of them and walked past without a glance.

Xu Dapeng was the last to leave. When he saw Du Juan’s aggrieved expression, the corner of his mouth curled slightly. Back then, when she forced Yiming to the countryside, she had probably been quite pleased with herself. She never expected that one day, she would end up like this. Serves her right! He thought to himself that he should go have a meal with Yiming later and tell him about this.

Because she was afraid of making things worse, Du Juan didn’t dare to cause any more trouble. She returned home, completely dejected.

She had always thought her children would return soon, that the family would be reunited, and that they would all be filial to her. But now, that hope was gone. She felt like she had nothing left to look forward to.

Seeing Wei Guohua still asleep at home, the house felt so empty that she couldn’t hold back her emotions anymore. Covering her face, she sobbed bitterly.

Wei Guohua was woken up by the noise. He got up and saw her crying, feeling a bit impatient. “What’s going on? Weren’t you supposed to go to the coal yard to ask about the situation? Why are you coming back crying?”

Seeing that Wei Guohua was finally paying attention to her, Du Juan became more energetic and raised her voice. “Guohua, the kids can’t come back. The local authorities won’t let them. Do you think it’s that Yiming’s fiancée making trouble on purpose? It must be her! And that house—Yiming gave it to the Culture Bureau without even telling you! They’re obviously trying to harm us!”

“Stop talking nonsense. Yiming’s fiancée is just a countryside girl, not even a team leader. What could she possibly do? And as for that house… Why are you even bringing it up? I don’t care about Shen Yuehong’s things. It’s not like we can’t live without that house. He can’t do anything to us,” Wei Guohua said stiffly. He refused to admit that he was being outplayed by two young kids—especially one he never thought highly of.

How could that be possible? He had already been suppressed by Shen Yuehong his whole life. Was he supposed to be suppressed by her son now too?

Du Juan fumed. “It must be them! I’m going to the countryside to find Xiaojun and Xiaohong! I’ll also go see Yiming’s fiancée and get to the bottom of this. If she really pulled some tricks, I’ll report her!” She might not be able to deal with Shen Yiming, but could she really not handle a little country girl?

Meanwhile, in Zuo Family Village, Zuo Dan was busy preparing for the election with everyone. They had to get the ballots and the ballot box ready, as well as put up banners. There was no need to set up a stage—a simple bamboo bed would do just fine. Very convenient.

Zuo Dacheng, dressed in clean and tidy clothes, nervously touched his hair. “Dandan, how do I look today?”

“Dad, you look great today!” Zuo Dan praised him without hesitation.

Strictly speaking, Zuo Dacheng was still quite good-looking. Although he had aged and looked weathered from years of hard labor, he still appeared better than most men his age in the village. Moreover, since Zuo Cong had inherited part of his father’s genes, Zuo Dan was sure that Comrade Zuo Dacheng must have been quite a handsome young man in his youth.

Thinking about it this way, Zuo Dan couldn’t help but marvel at her family’s amazing genes—her parents were good-looking, her little brother was good-looking, she herself was good-looking, and even her fiancé was good-looking. If they had children in the future, they would surely be beautiful boys and girls!

Although he had been praised by his daughter, Zuo Dacheng was still nervous. He turned to his wife and asked, “Hui, what do you think?”

Li Hui blushed slightly and said, “Very good, just like when you were young.”

Zuo Dacheng clearly valued his wife’s opinion. Hearing her say that, his restless heart finally settled down. Even when Zuo Shuisheng called him to the stage, his legs didn’t tremble.

Next was the campaign speech. Although Zuo Shuisheng had nominated Zuo Dacheng, it was customary to have two other candidates participate in the election as well. Zuo Dacheng’s speech was written by Zuo Dan. The first few sentences were copied from the Red Book, but the later parts were straightforward:

“…I want to make sure everyone lives a good life. Every household will have enough to eat, and every month, we’ll have meat on the table…”

Zuo Dacheng suddenly felt nervous again. Could he really accomplish this?

“Our first task for the new year is to establish a primary school. We’ll apply to set up Zuo Family Village Primary School so that all the children in our village can get an education…”

Though Zuo Dacheng’s voice lacked confidence, the audience was extremely excited. He was speaking from the heart! Making sure everyone had enough to eat and could afford meat—that was exactly what a team leader should do! National development was important, but if they couldn’t even fill their stomachs, how could they think about development? They didn’t want to go back to the days of hunger. And as for the school, they really needed one. Otherwise, the children had to travel all the way to the commune for school, which was a huge inconvenience.

Zuo Dacheng’s words resonated deeply with the villagers. When he finished speaking, he was met with thunderous applause.

The other two candidates gave perfunctory speeches, completing their formalities before quickly retreating to their seats.

Zuo Shuisheng grinned, his face full of wrinkles. “Now, let’s begin the voting.”

Zuo Dan quickly distributed the ballots so that everyone could write down their chosen name. Since some villagers were illiterate, they used symbols instead.

Zuo Hongjun simply tore up his ballot, refusing to vote for anyone.

“I just won’t vote for him!” Xu Fengxia snorted and wrote a random number.

Soon, all the ballots were collected. The commune officials supervised the count.

In the end, Zuo Dacheng won by an overwhelming majority, officially becoming the new team leader of Zuo Family Village.

The villagers clapped enthusiastically in approval.

One of the older candidates suddenly jumped up, pointing at the blackboard. “Damn it! Who voted for me?! I voted for Dacheng! Who the hell put my name down? Are you trying to embarrass me?!”

Only then did the villagers notice that he had received a single vote. If he hadn’t spoken up, everyone would have assumed he had voted for himself!

Xu Fengxia’s face turned red like a pig’s liver.

With the election settled, Zuo Shuisheng and the newly appointed team leader, Zuo Dacheng, went to greet the commune officials. Meanwhile, Zuo Dan hurried off to call Shen Yiming and share the good news. After all, Shen Yiming had played a major role in getting her father elected, and she wasn’t the type to forget favors.

Shen Yiming had gotten into the habit of waiting in his office for Zuo Dan’s call every evening after dinner. He had just brewed a cup of tea when the phone rang, right on time.

“This is the Provincial Military District News Office.”

“Comrade Shen Yiming, I have great news for you! Your Uncle Dacheng has just been elected as the team leader of Zuo Family Village Production Team!” Zuo Dan’s mischievous voice came through the receiver.

Shen Yiming’s eyes crinkled with a smile. The exhaustion from work disappeared instantly. Supporting his chin with one hand, he chuckled. “Comrade Zuo Dan, please pass on my congratulations. But I have some bad news for you—someone’s mother has gone to the countryside to find her child, and she might be coming for you. I’m sorry, but she probably thinks I’m too difficult to deal with, so she’s going after you instead. But don’t worry, I’ve already spoken with Secretary Zhang. If anything happens, just call the commune, and they’ll have your back.”

Zuo Dan was immediately annoyed. “Do I look like an easy target? When did I ever give her that impression? Her precious kids are in my hands—I’ll just release them and see what happens. Comrade Shen Yiming, no need for you to worry about this.” Then she suddenly paused and asked suspiciously, “Wait a minute, how did you find out about this so quickly? Your intel is way too fast!”

“They’re staying in a rural area near the suburbs—the same place where we got vegetables from Uncle Liu last time. I asked Uncle Liu to keep an eye on them.”

“They really have bad luck, running straight into your territory,” Zuo Dan clicked her tongue. She didn’t want to talk about Du Juan anymore—it wasn’t worth the energy. Instead, she remembered something and asked, “By the way, Comrade Yiming, when are you getting a telephone extension? It’d be more convenient for us to talk in the future.”

Shen Yiming leaned back in his chair, smiling. “We always talk about serious matters. What inconvenience are you worried about? Comrade Zuo Dan, what exactly do you want to discuss privately? Is it about making green bean soup?”

“Shen Yiming! If you keep teasing me, I’ll actually make you green bean soup next time! That’s it, goodbye!” Zuo Dan slammed the phone down.

How dare he tease her! She had made up her mind—next time Shen Yiming called, she would let her father answer instead.

She wasn’t going to waste time on Shen Yiming. She had to go find the Wei siblings. The enemy was approaching, and as revolutionary comrades, they had to face it together!