Chapter 35: Suxi Township Without Electricity

Without too much entanglement, everything went as wished. After I paid the first sum of money, under the chairmanship of Liu Quan, the township government auditorium was officially handed over to the company under a contract.

With a place, my oil mill took root.

Although Section Chief Fu, Wu Qian's husband, was in the Industry and Commerce Bureau, his connections almost covered every corner of Hengyue City. He easily helped me get four brand-new oil presses, but only asked me to pay for one, which made me both moved and surprised.

As if I had eaten a soul-stealing potion, I happily called the installation workers and spent the whole morning installing the machines. It wasn't until the end, when I was about to test them, that I discovered a fatal error. Suxi Township had no electricity!

The installation workers laughed and suggested I buy a generator.

I immediately rejected their idea, feeling so ashamed I wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into. I had been planning a beautiful blueprint, but ignored the pencil needed to draw it. I had built an oil mill, but had no electricity to make the machines run.

Looking at the four brand-new machines standing in the township auditorium, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The problem of solving electricity was right in front of me; without electricity, these four machines were just a pile of scrap iron!

The school basketball court was in full swing. A leader from the County Education Bureau came and gave me a silk banner inscribed with "Passionate about Education."

Liu Quan stood with me in front of the machines, frowning and smoking one cigarette after another. Liu Quan had been the Suxi Township Party Committee Secretary for ten years, working his way up from a clerk to Secretary; his greatest wish was to bring electricity to Suxi Township. But more than ten years had passed, and Suxi Township remained the same, welcoming the dawn with thousand-year-old bean oil lamps.

Suxi, with its high mountains and long roads, had been waiting for light for generations.

"Go to the county." Liu Quan threw down his cigarette butt and ground it with his foot: "If the county can't solve it, we'll go to the city; if the city can't solve it, we'll go to the province. The problem will be solved eventually. New society, new era. The Party and the government won't forget us mountain people." He said it decisively and unswervingly: "If this problem can't be solved, I, your Secretary, won't do it anymore!"

I was moved; this was a good cadre.

I tried calling Huang Weiwei and the others, and told them straightforwardly about the idea of Suxi Township not having electricity and wanting to get it, hoping they could give me an idea.

Huang Weiwei clearly didn't know that Suxi Township still didn't have electricity; I seemed to see her mouth hanging open in surprise, unable to make a sound. After a long time, she asked me: "Your Suxi Township still doesn't have electricity?"

I cursed silently: "Nonsense!"

The phone was taken by Guo Wei next to her, and he said to me on the phone: "What are we? We are social education cadres! Social education cadres are cadres who do things for the people. The demands of the masses are the goals of our work, and the happiness of the masses is our purpose."

People who graduated from Beijing really have a high level of speech.

I said: "Secretary Guo, (Guo Wei was the Youth League Committee Secretary of Chengguan Town, on secondment) actually I also want to do things for the masses. But this matter is too big, I can't handle it."

Guo Wei said seriously: "No matter how big the matter is, there is the Party and the government. Believe it, there is no difficulty that cannot be overcome, and no problem that cannot be solved."

I asked humbly: "Look, how should we solve the electricity problem in our Suxi Township?"

"You write a report from the township, and I'll find a way to send it up."

Guo Wei's words moved me! This is a brother, worthy of being a comrade in the same trench. For a friend, one must be willing to go through fire and water, not to mention we are cadres.

After hanging up, I happily went to find Liu Quan and reported the result of the call in detail.

Secretary Liu Quan didn't hesitate to demand an immediate expanded meeting of the township Party committee; everyone in the township with a cadre title had to attend. The principal of the township middle school went to the county for a meeting, so he sent Xue Bing as a representative.

Secretary Liu Quan got straight to the point about Suxi Township wanting electricity. After he finished speaking, there was silence below; no one expressed support, and no one expressed opposition. Everyone looked at each other.

Secretary Liu said: "Why hasn't Suxi Township been prosperous for so many years? Everyone actually knows better than anyone else. Our place has neither roads to the outside nor waterways to the outside. What's fatal is that it's been almost forty years since Liberation, and we still don't have electricity; without electricity, we can't do anything."

He paused and used a very vivid metaphor: "Electricity is like a wife. If a man has never married a wife, he doesn't know the benefits of a wife. Don't men live their whole lives to marry a wife? Don't you think so? Secretary Chen?" He chuckled, as if a pretty little wife were standing right in front of him.

Old Zhao from the Finance Office spoke first: "Secretary, electricity is indeed a good thing. Look at the city, those lights at night, red and green, how beautiful they are." He sighed in admiration, his face full of longing.

Liu Quan nodded, encouraging him to continue.

Old Zhao sighed: "Indeed, electricity is like marrying a wife. You need money to marry a wife, and it's not just the money of a chicken or a duck. I remember ten years ago the County Power Bureau came to survey; at that time, we were the only township in the whole county without electricity. The county originally wanted to solve it, but who knew that after the plan was made, there was no news. I inquired, and for Suxi Township to get electricity, the money spent would exceed the total fiscal revenue of three townships."

Old Zhao's speech never left fiscal revenue; he was actually just a small finance and tax director, and in the isolated Suxi Township, there was almost no commodity economy to speak of. The thing Old Zhao did most was calculate the township retention every year.

Old Zhao's words caused a buzz of discussion.

Liu Quan picked up his teacup and tapped the table, his majestic gaze sweeping across the conference room. He cleared his throat and said: "I know there are difficulties, but now no matter how big the difficulty, we must find a way to solve it. I've been Secretary for ten years and am about to step down. I think, if I haven't solved the electricity problem before I step down, I will have no face to see the elders and fellow villagers of Suxi Township."

The Deputy Secretary of the township Party committee said slowly: "Secretary Liu, you give an opinion, and we will all follow it, okay?"

There was a chorus of agreement below, and the buzzing sound rose again.

Liu Quan pondered for a moment and began to announce: "The township Party committee and government are now establishing an 'Electricity Project Command Group,' with myself as the leader, Deputy Secretary Yu Qimin as deputy leader, Police Station Chief Hao Qiang as deputy leader, and Secretary Chen Feng as office director. All units in the township will unite to make a full effort to ensure electricity is connected before the New Year, and ensure the people of Suxi Township have a year with electricity."

Liu Quan's announcement came suddenly, basically allowing no room for my different opinions. After announcing the group list, he announced the end of the meeting and kept the command group members behind; we had to hold our first meeting.

I had a sudden urge to urinate and said to Secretary Liu Quan in a low voice: "Secretary, I'll be right back."

Liu Quan agreed muffledly, and I followed everyone out of the conference room in twos and threes.

Just as I stepped out, Xue Bing tugged at the corner of my clothes from behind and said softly: "You're really capable, but doing this now will be difficult."

I laughed: "Yu Gong could move even a Wangwu Mountain, and he was just one person. Our four thousand fellow villagers in Suxi Township are surely much stronger than his power alone."

"Yu Gong later moved the Jade Emperor and became an immortal; do you want to become an immortal too?" Xue Bing said with a hint of teasing.

"Maybe one day we'll move Heaven." I scratched my head and said seriously: "If I become an immortal, I'll take you up to heaven with me."

Xue Bing was embarrassed, blushed, and said in a low voice: "I don't have such good fortune."

I laughed: "When one person attains the Dao, even their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven! You are a living person, and a beautiful woman at that; I'm just worried, if you become an immortal, how will the Seven Fairies survive?"

Xue Bing's neck turned red from my teasing, and she gave me a shy glare: "I'm not talking to you anymore. Your glib tongue is too powerful."

She hurried away, and I watched her back, as graceful as a willow in the wind, feeling a surge of joy in my heart.

My lower abdomen tightened, I still had to urinate, so I quickly pushed through the crowd and ran wildly toward the restroom. ===== CHAPTER 36 =====