Chapter 1223

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Wang Xiaohua passed Subject Four without any surprise as well.

In the blink of an eye it was afternoon, and Zhu Jiajun sent him back to Shanggou Village.

"Old classmate, after you get your license, who knows when we'll be able to meet again!"

When Wang Xiaohua got out of the car, Zhu Jiajun couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

Wang Xiaohua just smiled and replied to him:

"If we want to meet there'll always be a chance, after all we're in the same town!"

Zhu Jiajun, however, said:

"After you graduate you'll probably come back even less. I've never seen a university student who, after graduating, would still return to a rural hometown — a mountain pass like this — to develop. Everyone crowds into the big cities, either Guangzhou or Shenzhen, or at worst Zhuhai, Foshan, those places. Who would come back here?"

Speaking to this point, Zhu Jiajun let out a sigh:

"But the more university students don't come back, the less these mountain passes can develop."

Hearing this, Wang Xiaohua couldn't help but feel a sudden jolt in his heart.

Even he, a top student, had to admit that this old classmate of his, who only had a junior high diploma, spoke very reasonably.

Over these years, with the progress of urbanization, rural areas like Shanggou Village seemed to have already entered a vicious cycle.

People all ran outward; the more they ran out, the fewer people remained; the fewer people, the less development was possible.

This doesn't refer only to university students like Wang Xiaohua, but to the vast majority of young people — whether highly educated or lowly educated — all running outward.

The countryside is disappearing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In this country, looking across five thousand years up and down, this phenomenon has never appeared before!

One can only say, we are all in the torrent of history; the torrent of history is vast and mighty, yet most of us remain completely unaware.

Perhaps in some future years, history books may make a note of this trend of urban-rural development, just as history books years ago made a note of those famine years when people ate each other.

The only difference is, setting aside hometown sentiment, this urban-rural development is actually more beneficial than harmful to us ordinary people, unlike those famine years which had not a shred of benefit for ordinary people.

However, young people can leave, but there are always some people who cannot leave.

Take Wang Xiaohua's parents, for example — they have long been abandoned by the tide of the times; they can't even use WeChat properly, and all kinds of modernized equipment in big cities are, to them, one chasm after another.

Without exaggeration, how many rural middle-aged and elderly people don't even know how to ride the subway when they go to a big city.

There ought to be someone who notices them, cares for them.

On the road from the village entrance walking home, Wang Xiaohua thought of many things in his mind.

There was a moment when he suddenly had an extremely strong thought: perhaps he should do something for his hometown.

Only by helping his hometown do something would he feel that life still had a bit of meaning.

Otherwise he would feel very hollow, especially after Li Jianjia passed away — he lost his anchor, and from time to time in the deep quiet of night he would wonder, what is the meaning of living on?

When he went to think about this problem, he actually also realized that he had some depression.

It's just that his willpower is more tenacious than ordinary people's; he can always adjust his mindset in time.

But he can't keep forcibly adjusting his mindset like this forever, can he?

Emotional ups and downs easily make people gain-and-loss anxious, lose themselves.

A person living ought to have an anchor.

Otherwise, like a lone skiff on this boundless sea, it's really very easy to lose oneself.

So he thought, why not return to his hometown, go deep into the grassroots front line, and be a poverty alleviation cadre.

Landing in reality, doing concrete things, is always more meaningful than testing into those empty civil servant posts.

Once this thought appeared in Wang Xiaohua's mind, it could never be dispelled; not only could it not be dispelled, but it grew stronger and stronger, more and more solid.

Like a red-hot branding iron, it branded a mark deep in the depths of Wang Xiaohua's thoughts.

So much so that all the various civil service exams, official careers, career plannings he had thought of before were completely thrown to the back of his mind.

What Central Selection Graduate, what smooth official road, what promotion and fortune — he valued none of them.

Besides, he has always remembered that Li Jianjia, while alive, once told him she didn't want him to follow her father's old road.

And if he really entered officialdom for power, in this great dye vat, wrapped up all day in so-called human relations, surrounded by all kinds of open and secret struggles — could he really remain completely untainted?

Even Wang Xiaohua didn't dare be certain that he wouldn't have a day of being polluted.

But grassroots front-line poverty alleviation cadres are different — this is the most bitter, most tiring work; perhaps there will still be human relations, but open and secret struggles definitely won't be that many.

So when evening came and it was time to eat dinner, Wang Xiaohua said to Wang Zhanggen and Li Xiulan:

"Dad, Mom, if I develop back in my hometown after graduation, would you agree?"

Li Xiulan was stunned:

"Why suddenly say this?"

Wang Zhanggen, on the other hand, hurriedly said:

"Come back to farm — that absolutely won't do! But come back to be an official — that's another matter!"

Then he hurriedly added a sentence:

"If you're like your second brother coming back to farm the land, I'll break your legs! A university student coming back to farm — what kind of propriety is that!"

Wang Xiaohua didn't know whether to laugh or cry:

"Actually, second brother doing agriculture isn't bad either — he can earn money and it's very free, just a bit hard."

Wang Zhanggen, however, wore a long face:

"What use is earning money? In this world, no one respects us farmers — farming makes you inferior by default!"

Wang Xiaohua couldn't help but say a sentence:

"It's you who looks down on yourself."

But in his inner heart he also admitted that this confused father of his, the words he spoke this time actually had quite a bit of principle.

Although the government has various support policies for farmers, the current social atmosphere is like this: farmers in rural areas occupy the bottommost rung of society, and going out to cities to become migrant workers, they still remain existences at the bottommost rung of society.

Seeing Wang Xiaohua speak like this, Wang Changgen immediately got angry:

"If you really come back to plow fields, just watch if I don't break your legs! Don't think that because I'm old I can't beat you!"

Li Xiulan hurriedly said:

"Alright alright, say a few words less, the doctor said you can't get angry!"

Wang Xiaohua then hurriedly said:

"I didn't say I'm coming back to plow fields — if I come back it'll definitely be to be an official!"

Wang Xiaohua thought to himself: a grassroots poverty alleviation cadre is also a kind of official, right!

He indeed hadn't lied.

And when Wang Changgen heard these words, his complexion immediately turned pleasant.

"That's more like it! You brat have finally become sensible!"

He thought: with his youngest son's education, as long as he comes back to be an official, the starting point is at least Town Mayor or above, and with a bit of luck he might even become County Magistrate!

He was completely unaware that County Magistrates cannot be locals — this officialdom regulation.

But this is also normal; he's just an illiterate person, he only knows being an official is good, how would he know there are so many intricacies to being an official?

Li Xiulan also revealed a smile:

"Coming back to be an official is good — close to home, can look after things if anything comes up!"

Li Xiulan's thinking was very simple: it's just better for her son to be closer to home.

As for earning more or less, it actually doesn't matter much.