Chapter 121: Drawing Lots to Distribute New Year Goods

On the twenty-second of the twelfth lunar month, Deputy Manager Li and Yu Gaoshan came again to purchase products from the bamboo weaving factory and the specialty breeding farm. Yezhugou Village and Qishuping Village once again received a considerable income.

On this day, Lu Xiaoya also followed Deputy Manager Li to Menghuling. Their school had already started its winter break, and Su Xinghui accompanied her to play in Yezhugou Village for most of the day.

Anyway, he had already arranged the distribution of welfare in the township, so he didn't have much to do now. And since Deputy Manager Li and Yu Gaoshan's purchase was related to Su Xinghui's work, his accompanying them could be considered part of his job.

In fact, there wasn't much fun in Yezhugou Village in winter, but Lu Xiaoya's intention wasn't in the scenery anyway; she was just happy to see Su Xinghui.

When Deputy Manager Li and Lu Xiaoya saw the "Bamboo Village Autumn Rhyme" painting by Xia Zhu, they were both surprised. Was this really a work by someone who had been learning to paint for less than half a year?

Deputy Manager Li said that as long as Xia Zhu wove this "Bamboo Village Autumn Rhyme" painting, plus her other bamboo weaving paintings, they could completely take them to the Canton Fair. At that time, foreign merchants would definitely like them, and the price of her bamboo weaving paintings would likely increase further in the future.

Hearing Deputy Manager Li's words, Xia Zhu was naturally very happy. This not only meant that her income would increase further, but her efforts had also been recognized.

Lu Xiaoya said, "Xia Zhu, you are truly a genius. You were able to paint such a good painting in less than half a year. You will definitely become an amazing artist in the future!"

Xia Zhu felt a bit embarrassed and said, "Sister Xiaoya, how could my painting be as good as you say? This is all because Brother Xinghui taught me well."

Lu Xiaoya looked at Su Xinghui and said in a drawn-out tone, "Brother Xinghui, when will you teach me too!"

Su Xinghui said frankly, "Sure, as long as you have time, I'd be happy to teach you."

Lu Xiaoya said distressingly, "It's a pity we are so far apart, this isn't fair!"

Su Xinghui thought for a while and said, "How about this: we can use correspondence. You can mail your practice paintings to me, and I will comment on their strengths and weaknesses. You can practice at home according to my comments, and over time, you will naturally improve."

Lu Xiaoya's eyes lit up when she heard this, "Hmm, that's a good idea. From now on, we'll communicate by letter."

Having agreed on the correspondence method, Lu Xiaoya was very happy. On this day, she pestered Su Xinghui to cook a meal for her at Xia Zhu's house, and then had Su Xinghui and Xia Zhu accompany her to stroll through the bamboo forest for a while before she contentedly followed Deputy Manager Li's car back to Jiangcheng.

Before leaving, she also told Su Xinghui to come to her house to play when he had time. Su Xinghui naturally nodded and agreed; he would definitely go to Lu Zhenghong's house to pay a New Year's visit during the New Year.

When Yu Gaoshan left, he gave Su Xinghui one thousand yuan, saying it was for him to use during the New Year. Su Xinghui accepted this one thousand yuan and told Yu Gaoshan to deduct it from the company's profits; he would definitely need money during the New Year.

Xu Xiaoguang's construction site stopped work and went on break during the Little New Year, but he didn't go back. He wanted to wait for Su Xinghui to go back together. He knew that Su Xinghui would be distributing a lot of New Year goods and that it wouldn't be convenient to take the bus, so he wanted to help carry his New Year goods back.

With Xu Xiaoguang's car, Su Xinghui invited Xue Qin and Lei Ming to go back together in Xu Xiaoguang's car. Their vacation time was about the same as the township government's, and they would also receive some welfare.

On the twenty-fifth of the twelfth lunar month, Su Xinghui and Zeng Xianglin rented a small truck and went to the Green Ridge Reservoir together to bring back the fish. They agreed to start fishing at seven in the morning, so they set off at six.

When they arrived at the Green Ridge Reservoir, it was only six-thirty, and it wasn't dawn yet. However, Hu Jinshui had already gotten up, and he and some workers from the aquaculture farm were wearing waders, waiting for Su Xinghui and the others. The "Fish King" Old Chen was also among them.

As soon as Su Xinghui arrived, he started handing out cigarettes to the workers, all Red Pagoda Mountain brand. After handing them out, he threw a pack to Hu Jinshui and said, "Manager Hu, catch."

Hu Jinshui nodded and smiled, "Director Su is too polite."

Hu Jinshui and the workers smoked a cigarette, and the sky began to brighten. He shouted, "Let's go, time to fish!"

The workers responded in unison and began to board the boats to fish.

The workers cast the nets into the water, and when they pulled them up, the boat cabin was full of live fish jumping around. They threw the fish under ten jin back into the reservoir and kept only the big ones.

In just over an hour, Su Xinghui had enough fish. After the workers went ashore, Hu Jinshui had them pick out all the big fish over fifteen jin, put three in each snake-skin bag, and then weigh them uniformly.

Two thousand jin of fish were soon enough. The workers moved the bags of fish onto the truck, and Su Xinghui paid the aquaculture farm's accountant according to the agreed price before saying goodbye.

Hu Jinshui waved at him and said, "Director Su, come back to eat fish here next time!"

Returning to the township government, Su Xinghui had the truck drive directly into the courtyard. Everyone came out of their offices, and looking at these bags of fish, everyone's faces were beaming with joy.

Su Xinghui jumped onto the truck bed first and started unloading the fish. Zeng Xianglin also jumped up, and Peng Kehong and Fu Bo also went up. Luo Wenchang, who was playing with his son in the courtyard, also jumped onto the truck bed in one bound to help. Before long, all the fish were unloaded.

Su Xinghui and Zeng Xianglin washed their hands and got back into the truck to pick up the pork.

When they arrived at the pig farmer's door, they saw that he had already tied three pigs to three wide benches. Large basins for catching pig blood had been placed under the benches. The three pigs were screaming and struggling, but their struggle was destined to be in vain; their lives had already begun to count down.

The pig farmer's surname was Jiang. Seeing Su Xinghui and Zeng Xianglin arrive, he said enthusiastically, "Director Su, Director Zeng, I've already prepared everything, just waiting for you to come. Can we kill them now?"

Su Xinghui nodded and said, "Old Master Jiang, it's fine, kill them now."

Old Jiang agreed and started working. He killed three pigs in a row, and after draining the blood, he divided the meat into bags according to Su Xinghui's requirements, weighed them, and moved them onto the truck.

After Su Xinghui paid the money, he left with Zeng Xianglin. On the way, he went to the fruit shop where he had ordered fruit, moved the fruit and dried goods onto the truck, and then returned to the township government.

The people in the township government were still surrounding the bags of fish, excitedly discussing which bag had more fish and which had less. Perhaps this was ridiculous, but maybe this was the happiness of ordinary people.

Several people moved the meat, fruit, and dried goods down. Su Xinghui used white paper in the Party and Government Office to make slips, wrote numbers on them, and pasted them onto the bags of fish and meat. Then he used slips to make lots with numbers on them and shouted loudly, "Everyone come and draw lots!"

Everyone surrounded him, including township leaders like Chen Hongfu and Dong Jianshu. Su Xinghui said loudly, "For the sake of fairness, everyone will participate in drawing lots today, including township leaders. Whatever number you draw, you take that number. No regrets allowed. If you draw a good one, you can be happy; if you draw a bad one, don't be unhappy!"

Everyone laughed and agreed, "Fine, we'll be happy with whatever we draw."

Chen Hongfu smiled and said, "There won't be any too bad ones, today's fish are all over fifteen jin."

Su Xinghui said, "Secretary Chen, why don't you draw first?"

Chen Hongfu waved his hand and said, "No, for the sake of fairness, let the employees draw first, I'll draw last!"

Everyone cheered. They jointly recommended Cheng Taoxian to draw first. Cheng Taoxian let her son Luo Wei go up to draw two lots. After he drew the lots, he handed the paper balls to his mother. Cheng Taoxian opened the paper balls; one was fish number eight, and the other was meat number ten. Luo Wenchang then stepped forward and carried the two bags home, one in each hand.

Each portion of fruit and dried goods was the same, so there was no need to draw lots.

Everyone drew lots happily. Su Xinghui drew fish number two and meat number thirteen. He carried the two bags back to his dormitory and moved two boxes of fruit and dried goods.

Today's matter was handled to everyone's satisfaction. The whole process was open, fair, and just, unlike some units where distributing welfare was divided into three, six, or nine grades and was made particularly mysterious. In fact, Chinese people were all like this: they didn't worry about scarcity but about inequality. As long as it was fair, they wouldn't have any opinions.

Some leaders weren't greedy for that little bit of extra stuff; they just felt that dividing into three, six, or nine grades could highlight their status. Otherwise, what was the point of working hard to get promoted if the treatment was the same as ordinary employees?

Chen Hongfu was still quite open-minded. After Su Xinghui proposed this lot-drawing plan, he readily agreed, and he even did a good deed to the end by drawing last, so other leaders naturally couldn't object.

Of course, after distributing the welfare, Chen Hongfu also found that the township government employees respected him more, and there was more warmth in their respect. This feeling made Chen Hongfu feel good.

This afternoon, every household living in the township government began to slaughter fish and stew meat. Although there were still a few days before the New Year, the heat and fragrance permeating the entire township government courtyard already made people feel the atmosphere of the New Year.

In the afternoon, every household was chopping fish paste and meat filling; this was to prepare for frying meatballs. Suddenly, the ding-dong sound rang out, as if they had entered a blacksmith shop. This ding-dong sound was full of festive joy.

By the afternoon, every household had set up oil pans and started frying meatballs. When frying meatballs, every family would invite Su Xinghui to taste them. Su Xinghui tasted one or two meatballs from each family, and he was basically full.

On this day, the entire township government courtyard was full of joy. The Spring Festival was really getting closer and closer.