Chapter 1467

Along with the rumbling of the train, the wheels made a creaking sound as they contacted the tracks.

Wang Yan waved goodbye to Zhou Xiaobai, who had changed into a green military uniform on the train, on the platform.

At this time, Zhou Xiaobai was already tearful, ignoring the cold wind blowing, her head sticking out of the train window, looking at Wang Yan who was standing there smiling and waving, unable to see enough...

"Are you willing to let go, Brother Yan?" Li Kuiyong, who came to see her off, asked with a grin.

"What willing or unwilling? How can there be no separation in life? Speaking of which, how long have I known Xiaobai? I've known you, Dayong, for two years."

"Brother Yan, I'm really touched by what you said."

Wang Yan shook his head amusedly, his hands tucked into his sleeves: "Let's go, let's go do proper business."

"Got it." Li Kuiyong grinned foolishly, also tucking his hands into his sleeves and following.

"Hey, Brother Yan! Kuiyong!"

Just as the two were walking out, Zhong Yuemin brought Zheng Tong over, "You came to see someone off too?"

"Isn't that obvious? Who are you seeing off?" Li Kuiyong asked.

"Yuan Jun, and that Zhang Haiyang, you remember them, right?"

"Could I forget? Yuan Jun has a loose mouth, and Zhang Haiyang is full of schemes, he's the shrewd one."

Li Kuiyong had experienced these things throughout; the first conflict with Li Yuanchao was Zhang Haiyang wanting to wrestle with Wang Yan, and then when Li Yuanchao organized manpower to retaliate, this kid Zhang Haiyang became a spectator...

"So you two brothers didn't become soldiers after all?" Li Kuiyong laughed.

"We knew it beforehand." Zhong Yuemin laughed, not caring at all, "Brother Yan, what are your plans next? Why don't we go eat? We've been talking about going to 'Old Mo' (Moscow Restaurant), but we haven't gone yet."

"Not going, no time." Wang Yan shook his head.

"Something up?"

Li Kuiyong snorted: "Isn't it because of Li Yuanchao's bunch of grandsons playing dirty? Brother Yan originally didn't need to go to the countryside, but they stubbornly added his name to it. Damn, why don't they go?"

Zheng Tong interjected: "Hey, Li Kuiyong, don't say that. Even if Li Yuanchao and the others wanted to go, they couldn't. Their arms and legs are all broken, it takes a hundred days to recover from a broken bone, how could they go?"

As soon as he said this, Wang Yan and the others laughed.

"Alright, if we go, we go. No matter what, educated youth must be trained, that's correct, it's the supreme directive. If others can go, I can go too, it's no big deal." Wang Yan said with a smile.

Zhong Yuemin said: "Brother Yan still has high awareness. We brothers are also going to plug in (go to the countryside), maybe we can be assigned together."

"Northern Shaanxi." Li Kuiyong snorted, "We brothers are together."

He still couldn't stand Li Yuanchao and the others' filth.

Zhong Yuemin didn't express more, but instead asked: "Brother Yan, we're leaving soon. Besides enjoying ourselves and eating a few good meals to gain some fat, is there anything else?"

"Just going to eat something good." Wang Yan replied lightly.

"Hey, then I don't understand, why not go to 'Old Mo' if we're eating good food?"

"Brother Yan?" Li Kuiyong asked.

Seeing this, Zhong Yuemin understood that the two had a secret. Li Kuiyong wanted to tell him, but didn't know if he could say it, so he asked for Wang Yan's attitude.

Seeing Wang Yan nod slightly, Li Kuiyong knew, but he didn't speak. Instead, they walked until they were outside the train station, rode their bicycles for some distance, and when there was no one around, he took out cigarettes from his pocket and distributed them.

"No, what exactly is the matter? Why so mysterious?" Zheng Tong couldn't hold it anymore and couldn't help but ask.

Of course he was afraid of Wang Yan, but he hadn't offended Wang Yan. And from the few times they had met, and synthesizing Wang Yan's actions, he knew Wang Yan was a very reasonable person. As long as you didn't seek death yourself, there would be no problem.

This was also after getting to know Wang Yan, as they learned more and more news about Wang Yan, Zhong Yuemin and the others analyzed behind closed doors...

"Oh my, Kuiyong, just hurry up and tell us, aren't you afraid of suffocating?" Zhong Yuemin also echoed, he was too curious.

Li Kuiyong smoked a cigarette and sneered: "I have my reasons for doing this. On the east side of the city, you know there's a black market, right?"

"I know, I heard there are a few 'Old Cannons' (veteran hooligans) in that area who do a lot of ticket scalping, and also do foreign exchange coupons and such." Zhong Yuemin nodded.

"Old Cannon" wasn't just a simple title; it also represented status and a certain amount of influence.

"What's wrong?"

Subconsciously asking this, Zhong Yuemin thought of Li Kuiyong's previous words, widened his eyes and looked at Wang Yan, "Brother Yan, you aren't planning to target those Old Cannons and make a fortune before you leave, are you?"

"Is there a problem?" Wang Yan asked.

"No, Brother Yan, you must think thrice. If you really do this, this matter will be huge." Zhong Yuemin shook his head repeatedly, hoping Wang Yan could be sensible.

"What's huge? A bunch of hooligans, can they turn the sky upside down?"

"Brother Yan, they really dare to kill people."

Wang Yan shook his head and patted Zhong Yuemin on the shoulder: "Then keep your mouth shut, we'll meet again if fate allows. Let's go, Dayong, there aren't many days left, we brothers must seize the time."

Li Kuiyong nodded at Zhong Yuemin: "Yuemin, we're leaving, let's gather again when we come back in the future."

Zheng Tong complained: "That might be many years later."

Li Kuiyong didn't care at all: "There's always something to look forward to, right?"

The capital was already very lively, and many things happened every day. Relatively speaking, the series of broken-leg incidents involving Old Cannons that happened in a few days weren't worth mentioning.

Besides that, Wang Yan also caused a huge scene, from the neighborhood committee to the district, and then to the city...

This matter was actually quite annoying, because there were no hard rules for going to the countryside, but the scary thing was that there were no clear rules, and all middle school graduates had to go. This wasn't something you signed up for; it was statistics made by the neighborhood committee and others according to the area, and all middle school graduates were on the list.

For an orphan like Wang Yan, who also had a job, he could of course be taken care of. But if he really had to go, there was nothing wrong with it either.

Only children didn't have to go, and families with multiple children had to leave someone at home to take care of their parents and elders, which was something for the early 1970s. Now in 1969, the scale of going to the countryside was expanded to alleviate various problems in the city.

The overall principle was that educated youth must accept re-education from the poor and lower-middle peasants.

So when it came to Wang Yan, the point others targeted was his ideological awareness. His transcript fully reflected his extremely high ideological awareness. Well then, since his awareness was so high, let's add his name to the list and see if he goes or not?

Using Wang Yan's weapon to hit Wang Yan—if he doesn't go, his ideological awareness isn't enough, everything he said before was bullshit, completely negating him as a person. If he goes, naturally he'll suffer.

This was of course retaliation, but it was also an open conspiracy. Just say whether he goes or not, no one is forcing him.

So Wang Yan caused a huge scene, expressing his attitude. After getting the guarantee again that those who abused power would be severely punished, and that his name would be crossed off so he could stay in the city, he expressed his firm obedience to the supreme directive: go to the countryside!

If Wang Yan were truly a person of this era, without the care of a "living father," he would probably have softened. Conversely, if he weren't so awesome, he wouldn't have so much trouble. The source of his trouble, in the final analysis, was that he had no fear, which was given by the "living father"...

So Wang Yan finally packed his bags and got on the train with Li Kuiyong.

This was a special train transporting educated youth to Northern Shaanxi. It was the first one, but not the last one, and not even the last one today. In this year, nearly 30,000 educated youth from the capital were sent to Northern Shaanxi. Other educated youth went to support the border, to the Great Northern Wilderness, to farms, and to production and construction corps. All the young people who were idle all day were sent out of the capital in waves.

The educated youth on the train were quite lively, laughing and talking, speaking in dialects from all over the country. When eating on the train, they would take out various foods brought from home and exchange them with each other.

Of course, the most important thing was how to pass the time during the journey. The educated youth had plenty of energy, saying all kinds of messy things. If they had different opinions, they would argue, and often more than half of the carriage would participate.

There were also harmonious ones, that is, when they had nothing to do, everyone would have a chorus, mostly red songs, which were very enthusiastic. But there were also gentle ones, such as "Hawthorn Tree," a chorus of men and women, their voices mixed together, layered on top of each other, always moving people. Especially songs like "Hawthorn Tree," with their brisk melody and soft lyrics, were the romance of the working class.

The singing gently ripples on the water surface at dusk

The factory in the twilight has already emitted a flash

The train is galloping fast

The lights in the train window are brilliant

Along with the gentle singing, carrying the reluctance that no one said out loud, the green-skinned train rumbled forward toward the Guanzhong Plain, transiting through Changan and heading north, until they saw the endless loess plateau, and they were not far from their destination.

Along the way, the educated youth on the train kept getting off. The further they went, the more depressed the atmosphere on the train became. They were no longer as high-spirited as when they set off from the capital. Looking at the endless loess, perhaps they already understood what they were about to face.

Wang Yan and Li Kuiyong got off the train in An City. After a short rest, they were pulled by a military truck to Lin County below. After receiving the welcome and corresponding instructions and education from the county's educated youth office, they were picked up by people sent from various communes who had already arrived.

Wang Yan and Li Kuiyong were assigned to the Hechuan Commune under Lin County, and there were dozens of people who went together...

The commune secretary's surname was Zhang, a middle-aged man in his forties who was thin and dry, wearing thick black-rimmed glasses, the legs of which were wrapped with thin black thread. His skin was rough and dark, and his face was full of the vicissitudes of life, but he looked very spirited.

Secretary Zhang swept his eyes over his deputy, accountant, women's director, security captain, and others who were wrapping tobacco pipes beside him, then looked at the village cadres squatting on the ground wrapping tobacco pipes, and finally his gaze fell on the thirty-odd young men and women in front of him who were buzzing and chatting, and he couldn't help but sigh...

However, he had to face it.

He cleared his throat: "Educated youth comrades, you have come from as far away as the capital, you have worked hard all the way. On behalf of our Hechuan Commune, I welcome your arrival."

"Good!"

Some curious educated youth applauded, so everyone applauded.

Secretary Zhang pressed his hands down modestly. When the applause stopped, he said: "Let me tell you something. The county has allocated your grain rations to the commune, and the commune will allocate your grain rations to the villages you are going to.

After that, we will distribute them according to the list. The Chairman said, educated youth must accept re-education from the poor and lower-middle peasants, so you are not here to be masters. Let me tell you the rules: when you arrive at the place, listen to the village secretary. How much work you do, how many work points you earn, how much grain you eat..."

It could be seen that Secretary Zhang was a pragmatic secretary and a good public servant of the commune. Whether he was a qualified leader was not yet known, but he must be doing his best to serve the commune.

Because his speech was very dry and very real, without any falsehoods or empty words. The only nonsense was also earnestly telling these educated youth from the capital to stay there safely and not cause trouble.

People with a certain amount of social experience and knowledge should have had a prediction about the situation in front of them; this bunch of educated youth from the capital definitely wouldn't make people worry-free. Secretary Zhang also saw this, which is why he was so earnest.

"Alright, I've finished speaking. Next, let's distribute them. Those for Linyuan, come over..."

An old farmer-like man squatting there wrapping a tobacco pipe seemed to have accepted his fate, sighed, stood up, and muttered something, which clearly wasn't anything good.

"What are you muttering about?" Secretary Zhang sprayed directly, and then regardless of the people from Linyuan, he directly took the list and started calling names.

Those whose names were called went to gather with the cadres of Linyuan and followed them to Linyuan.

Just like that, name by name was called, and the educated youth were assigned their destinations.

Of course, the more unique one was that Secretary Zhang finally called the name of an educated youth, a tall, thin, and scholarly male educated youth wearing glasses. Secretary Zhang asked this kid to be the commune's cashier.

The scene at the time was very ugly. The educated youth exploded on the spot. Some said they wanted to write letters to report, pointing at Secretary Zhang's nose and cursing him as a bureaucrat, and some cursed that scholarly male educated youth for being unable to take care of himself.

"That guy is really something." Li Kuiyong also didn't have anything good to say; after all, his good brother was brought here like this.

Wang Yan shook his head: "Look at him being pointed at and cursed, is Old Zhang anxious? Isn't he still politely pacifying people?"

"Brother Yan, do you mean this old guy did it on purpose?"

"Not clear, I only know that if you really want to do things, you can't do it so roughly. At the very least, let this kid stay in the village for a while, and after things are stable, then bring him to the commune."

Li Kuiyong's look at Wang Yan was different: "Brother Yan, you even understand these things?"

Wang Yan knew that Li Kuiyong really regarded him as a reckless man, so without a word, he slapped him on the back of the head.

Li Kuiyong laughed, but didn't say anything else, followed Wang Yan, tucked his hands into his sleeves, sat in a row, held a cigarette in his mouth, and quietly hid in the team to watch the fun...

This was really fun, Wang Yan liked watching such scenes.

The commune leader was a proper cadre, especially as the top leader, he could be said to have the power to decide the fate of everyone in the commune, letting you be good, you could be good, letting you be bad, you could be bad, and it could be as bad as it could be.

Compared with later cadres, it was the status of a township secretary, which was exactly when townships abolished the People's Commune.

Then one could imagine what would happen to someone who pointed at a township secretary's nose and cursed.

Of course, it didn't mean that the grassroots level at this time was very good. After all, people were still the same, all the same birds. Instead, it was even more ruthless to deal with people at this time, after all, there was no such thing as public network supervision. Even if there was network supervision, not everything could spread...

Regardless, in general, there were relatively more people who dared to curse the chief official at this time.

What Wang Yan liked to watch was this enthusiasm, although it seemed that these angry, red-faced, neck-thick, vein-popping educated youth were part of Old Secretary Zhang's play, it didn't affect the experience.

The more noisy, the more indignant the crowd was. Most of the educated youth started cursing. Gradually, the villagers who were watching the fun around this big courtyard were also unhappy and followed suit to curse the commune leaders. They started to settle old scores, and there were a lot of messy things.

Facing such surging public opinion, Secretary Zhang was calm, facing the storm with a smile, just speaking out to pacify, and cursing the villagers who followed the trend to curse him, counting the messy things these people had done.

Secretary Zhang's old face didn't care, but that educated youth couldn't take it. After ten minutes, he shouted, controlled the situation, said he would also go to the village below, and said he would never come to the commune again.

Wang Yan and Li Kuiyong clearly saw the flash of smugness on Secretary Zhang's face.

Regardless, the problem was perfectly solved.

The farce ended, and Wang Yan and the others set off.

Destination: Baidian Village.

Being an educated youth who plugged in was also a fresh life experience for Wang Yan...

?? Daily thanks to the good brothers who tipped, voted for monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and silently read the book for their strong support!

? (End of chapter)