Chapter 38 Social Practice (3)

  "Lao Liao, how is Xu Shaojie in the following situation?"

  "Two days ago, Xu Shaojie went to the countryside alone in Yudu District. Someone from the Huai'an Municipal Party Committee office was going to accompany him, but he refused. What he said was quite interesting. He said that he came to conduct a social survey, and if someone from the municipal party committee office accompanied him, it would be an inspection tour instead. His words had some meaning, so no one accompanied him."

  "Oh, not bad, you have self-awareness."

  "Secretary Ding, you and Xu Shaojie are quite familiar with each other. I think this Xu Shaojie has an attitude that is neither arrogant nor humble. Qian Dazhi obviously wanted to make things difficult for him, but he didn't say anything and even went alone to conduct a social survey. He's not simple at all."

  "Young man, it's good to exercise more. Old Liao, I'm giving you advance notice. This Xu Shaojie, I was planning to come over and temporarily settle in the municipal party committee office. Next steps, I already have a plan in mind. At that time, I'll need your support."

  "Secretary Ding, what are the arrangements? Just say it, I will definitely carry them out without any compromise."

  "Lao Liao, as the Secretary General, I have been in Huaiyang City for over two years now, but the city's economic development speed has not accelerated. I am very anxious about this. We need to introduce some talents, not just attract investment, but also bring in some fresh blood. Among our cadres, there are some serious lazy thoughts that have accumulated over a long period of time. To thoroughly change this, we need to put in great effort."

  "Secretary Ding, you have done your best. In these two years, if it weren't for your strict management of cadres' work style, I don't know what the situation would be like now. The city's economy has maintained a steady and gradual upward trend, which is also very good."

  "Hehe, Old Liao, you always say some comforting words to me. Alright, go ahead and get busy. If there's any new development with Xu Shaojie, don't forget to tell me."

  After leaving Ding Yuan's office, Liao Hongyun regained his serious expression. He was Ding Yuan's absolute confidant and had been following him for two years, working diligently and earning Ding Yuan's trust. Although Ding Yuan was not old, he had the ability to get things done with authority, and the situation in Huaiyang City was complex, with various factions vying for power. Ding Yuan was able to manipulate everyone, demonstrating his exceptional abilities. Liao Hongyun had been serving as a member of the municipal party committee and secretary-general for only a year and a half, thanks to Ding Yuan's strong recommendation. Regarding Xu Shaojie's matter, Ding Yuan had previously discussed it with him without asking him to make any arrangements. Liao Hongyun was familiar with Ding Yuan's style, and the current arrangement indicated that Ding Yuan highly valued Xu Shaojie. Liao Hongyun also thought Xu Shaojie was impressive, feeling that he was humble and cautious, without a hint of arrogance, which was rare among university graduates. Liao Hongyun estimated that Xu Shaojie would be assigned to the municipal party committee office, but his stay there would likely be short-lived. Since Ding Yuan valued Xu Shaojie, he would soon be sent to the grassroots level, as new university graduates, no matter how capable they were, needed to gain practical experience and delve deeper into reality to make a meaningful impact.

  Xu Shaojie has been suffering for the past two days. He is not familiar with the rural situation, and these two days are just the busy farming season. The young and strong laborers in the countryside have all gone out to work, leaving behind mostly women and children who are busy with farm work, such as transplanting seedlings, plowing fields, irrigating rice paddies, etc. Xu Shaojie originally wanted to understand the income situation of the farmers, but after two days of visiting, he realized that he was too naive. The income situation of farmers cannot be understood in this way, and it is completely different from the concept of income in cities. If calculated in cash, it is impossible to calculate this account accurately. Through simple understanding, Xu Shaojie knew that farmers' incomes mainly come from two parts: one part is household income, including income from farming, raising pigs, and other domestic animals; the other part is income from working outside, which is difficult to calculate precisely. The district and county's unified calculation method is to collect all the money sent back by migrant workers, as well as the equivalent income of grain, agricultural products, live pigs, etc., and then distribute it evenly among all households. This way of calculating farmers' per capita income has some unfairness, but it is also the best way to calculate.

  Xu Shaojie lost his investigative target and felt a bit disoriented, but after visiting several villages for a few days, he gained a more realistic understanding of the situation. He found that farmers' lives were very difficult, with a huge gap between rural and urban areas. The living habits and hygiene habits in rural areas were also very poor. In every household he visited, the toilet and kitchen were together, with some having wooden doors to separate them, while others just had a piece of cloth to block the view. People were accustomed to this way of life and didn't think there was anything wrong with it. The main room of each house was cluttered with farm tools, looking messy and disorderly. Many people thought that rural areas were supposed to be like this, and those who kept their homes clean were considered to be showing off or being overly meticulous.

  Xu Shaojie couldn't help but feel a mix of emotions, realizing that such a casual and careless mindset was deeply ingrained and wouldn't be easily changed overnight. He thought back to his sister-in-law Liu Xiaomei's home, which was also in a similar state. In recent years, after the implementation of the household contract responsibility system, the problem of food had been largely solved, but the issue of wealth was still far from being addressed. While some people were able to become wealthy through migrant work, those families lacking labor force would struggle to make ends meet.

  Xu Shaojie worried about the future, thinking that with the current family planning policy, households would become even more dispersed. If all the labor force went out to work, who would be left to farm? He thought ahead to a time when everyone would go out to work, and in a few decades, perhaps no one would be left to farm. In a country like China, which was largely agricultural, this was not a good phenomenon.

  Xu Shaojie also knew that there were many advanced experiences abroad, such as large-scale mechanized farming, but China's current conditions did not allow for this level of development. Agricultural mechanization was still a distant dream.

  Accompanying Xu Shaojie was a young man named Song Tao from the Yu Du District Government, who seemed to be from the district's Communist Youth League. He didn't talk much and went to the village to conduct investigations on foot with Xu Shaojie. Xu Shaojie's physical strength was far inferior, and he wasn't good at walking long distances. Walking tens of miles a day wasn't an easy task for him. Additionally, Xu Shaojie had to record some conversations, which made him even more tired.

  When they arrived at the village, Song Tao suggested finding a village cadre to guide them. Xu Shaojie didn't object, but on the first day when they went to call on the village cadre, a small group leader came and kept saying how busy he was. Song Tao stood by with a red face, not speaking a word. Xu Shaojie quickly understood that Song Tao's status was too low, and the village cadres didn't take him seriously.

  Later, Song Tao suggested going to the township government, but Xu Shaojie hastily refused. He didn't want to have another encounter like this.

  At night, he stayed at the district office, where the light in the room was about as bright as a firefly's glow. The district office was located on the outskirts of the town, making it extremely quiet. Originally, there was a national highway here, but the highway was more than two miles away from the district office. All the bustling areas were by the side of the highway, and many of the district's direct departments were below. Few guests from the city stayed at the district office; they all lived by the side of the highway. Xu Shaojie naturally couldn't enjoy such treatment. After all, he was a university student who came to conduct social investigations, and no one would notice him. Moreover, Xu Shaojie had left early in the morning and only returned at night, so many people at the district office didn't even know there was a person named Xu Shaojie. After staying for three nights, Xu Shaojie told Song Tao that from now on he would be living in the village, walking back and forth every day, which seemed like exercise, but also required calculating the time well to avoid returning when it was dark.

  The leaders of the district are mostly in the city, and these days, there have been many meetings held in the city. Xu Shaojie heard that a few days later, the city will hold a three-level cadre conference, and all village secretaries and directors must attend. When Xu Shaojie first arrived at the district, he was received by Director Huang He of the office. Director Huang didn't even look at the documents and directly arranged for Song Tao to accompany Xu Shaojie on an investigation. After the arrangements were made, he went off to take care of other matters.

  Early in the morning, Xu Shaojie got up, and Song Tao was waiting outside. After a few days, the two had become somewhat familiar with each other. Xu Shaojie felt that Song Tao was an honest person who wasn't good at flattering others, but he did things properly. He followed Xu Shaojie for several days without any complaints, and every time they arrived at someone's house, Song Tao would hold a stick in his hand and walk ahead to prevent any guard dogs from running out and biting Xu Shaojie. Watching Song Tao loudly shout to see if anyone was home, Xu Shaojie felt a sense of emotion. A straightforward person like this didn't have much of a future unless he was extremely lucky and met a leader who truly appreciated him.

  Today's destination is Huaguan Village, which sounds nice. After breakfast, Xu Shaojie and Song Tao set off, both with low enthusiasm, feeling like they're doing useless work. Along the way, to liven up the atmosphere, Song Tao briefly introduced the situation of Huaguan Village. It turned out that Huaguan Village has some reputation in the area, mainly because the women in the village are beautiful and flirtatious. Seeing Xu Shaojie's strange expression, Song Tao quickly explained that the so-called beauty of Huaguan Village women is not actually true, but rather because there are too many men from the village who go out to work, leaving mostly women at home. In rural areas, women become very flirtatious after marriage, and some men try to take advantage of them. Song Tao doesn't know the specific situation, but it's said that some men have succeeded, so Huaguan Village has a bad reputation.

  "Song Tao, you've only heard it from others, it's not necessarily true, maybe someone didn't get the benefit they wanted, so they're spreading rumors to tarnish the reputation of the women in our village. Three people can make a tiger, after all, if this goes on for long, their reputation will naturally be ruined."

  "How did you know, Xujing University student?"

  "Haha, I was guessing, looks like what I said makes sense, you're not denying it."

  "I've also heard such sayings, but I don't know the specifics. I'm in the office every day doing some small tasks, and I won't be arranged to go to the countryside unless it's for collecting agricultural taxes or during the 'three deductions and five unifications'."

  "What's your main job, Song Tao?"

  "There's nothing specific to do, just doing odd jobs. The municipal party committee needs materials, and they are completed in a rush every year, without taking up several days of time. At other times, there is nothing specific to do, following the arrangement of the office."

  "So, it seems like the Youth League Committee doesn't have any specific daily work."

  "What can be done, in rural areas, who will develop team members? In schools, there is a league committee, developing team members is already done by themselves, the district league committee only needs to do a good job of statistics and doesn't need to do anything specific. The district league committee is just me alone, even if I want to do something, I can't do it well."

  "Are you the secretary of the Youth League Committee?"

  "I'm not, I'm a staff member, the League Secretary is also serving as Deputy Director of the Office, and has never been in charge of League affairs, mainly because there's nothing to worry about."

  "Which department in the district is the busiest?"

  "The main ones are the office and the personnel office, followed by the comprehensive management office. The rest of the departments don't have many things to do. The station's specific tasks need to be more."

  "Oh, I remember there's also the Women's Federation, isn't there anything going on?"

  "The Women's Federation is the same as us, there's nothing to do. The township government below has also set up a Youth League and Women's Federation, all of which are part-time, with no full-time personnel, mainly because there's nothing specific to do."

  Xu Shaojie found that Song Tao spoke very carefully, with a tone of obvious envy towards the office staff, and some hidden resentment. However, upon realizing his tone was not right, he immediately made an explanation.

  "There are quite a few leaders in this district."

  "It's always been like this, the district has a secretary, a district head, 5 deputy secretaries, including a standing deputy district head, an organizational committee member, a propaganda committee member, a disciplinary committee secretary, a people's armed forces department head, and an office director. The rest are just deputy district heads. Now there are 18 leaders, but the district committee members don't have that many, only 13 people."

  Xu Shaojie took a deep breath, unexpectedly there were so many leaders. Were there really that many things to do in the district? With so many leaders, wasn't their division of labor very clear?

  "There are many leaders, and they must be in charge of many things."

  "Not really, the main leaders are just a few people, the secretary, district head, and deputy secretaries. They all have clear divisions of labor and manage their own areas. Our Youth League and Women's Federation are managed by the deputy secretary in charge of organization, and there are also deputy secretaries in charge of agriculture, industry, politics and law, and enterprises. Every time a decision is made, they hold a secretary's office meeting, and major issues are basically decided upon."

  "Song Tao, you know quite a lot."

  "What's the big deal? I was transferred to the office, worked for a month, attended several meetings, and took notes. It's clear what happened. Besides, anyone who works in the district knows about these things. Actually, this time when we went to the village, if the district leader had made a phone call, it would have been much more convenient."

  "Does every leader have a foothold?"

  "The secretary and district head generally don't need to be stationed on site."

  Xu Shaojie secretly shook his head. There were too many leaders, and one meeting couldn't be held with everyone seated at the same table. It seemed that there were still quite a few deputy department-level leaders in the whole city.