Chapter 39: Social Practice (4)

  Arriving at Huaguan Village 15 miles away, Xu Shaojie and Song Tao chatted while walking towards the village. Within two hours, they arrived. The weather was a bit chilly, but their bodies were warm from walking. Both of them took off their jackets. Xu Shaojie noticed that Song Tao had tucked his sweater into his pants waistband, which he found somewhat amusing as he had never seen anyone dress like this before.

  "Song Tao, pull out your sweater, it doesn't look good like this."

  "Oh, I'm used to it."

  Song Tao quickly pulled out the sweater, but unfortunately it was a bit long and didn't look quite right. He decided to tie it up, which made it somewhat better. However, Xu Shaojie didn't say anything, as he was used to sweaters not being tied up.

  "Xu University student, wait a minute, there's a house in front of us. I'll go take a look to see if anyone is home. At this time, many people are busy working in the fields."

  "Never mind, there's nothing to ask about. Just walk around and take a look. Wait for a while, find a restaurant, we'll have lunch. Same old rules, you order, I pay."

  "Xu university student, forget it, who would want your money? You're a university student, the people here haven't even had time to welcome you yet. It's just one meal, who would ask for money? Later I'll contact a family, in Huaguan Village there are some families that eat three meals a day, I'll think of a way to contact such a family."

  "Alas, I'm not used to this eating habit of two meals a day. Having lunch at 10 am and dinner when it gets dark, isn't one hungry during such a long time in between?"

  "You'll get used to it."

  The village was very quiet, with ordinary homes and contracted fields not adjacent to the houses, but rather separated by a distance. As a result, many farm households went to work in the fields after breakfast, while others ate their meals in the fields to save time. After spending several days together, Xu Shaojie discovered that Song Tao may have rarely visited the village. Although Song Tao was familiar with the local customs, he did not know the farmers well, except for the first day when they were accompanied by a team leader. For the rest of the time, the two men had to ask questions and introduce themselves. Xu Shaojie remembered that when it was time to eat, the farm households would hastily prepare food, including stewed meat, which took several hours to cook. Xu Shaojie and Song Tao were so hungry that they could hardly wait for the meal to be ready. After returning to the district office, Xu Shaojie did not need to eat dinner, as he had eaten a large lunch at 4 pm after walking many miles. The farm households' bowls were big, and Xu Shaojie ate three bowls of rice for the first time, which made the host family laugh and praise him. After this experience, Xu Shaojie became smarter and would enter any household that had smoke coming from their kitchen, supposedly to conduct an investigation but actually to eat. As long as he was hungry, he didn't care what dishes were served, and he found that the simple dishes prepared by the farm households were not bad, although they were too salty, which made him drink water constantly.

  Two people strolled leisurely, actually both paying attention to the fact that there was smoke coming from the roof of a house. Now it's already past 11 o'clock, and they could have lunch. The two of them had been wandering around for quite some time but hadn't seen any smoke coming from anyone's rooftop. Song Tao looked at Xu Shaojie with a smile, and Xu Shaojie smiled back at Song Tao. They decided to find a place to sit down and take a good rest.

  "Xu University student, look quickly, there is smoke in front."

  The two men didn't know how long they had been sitting there. Xu Shaojie felt hungry and looked at his watch to find it was already past 12 o'clock.

  "Song Tao, your performance is great today, worthy of praise, let's go and conduct an investigation."

  "Xu University student, what survey? Go and get some food, I'm starving."

  "Song Tao, how can you be so honest? Our purpose for coming down here is to investigate, but eating is also a must. This is called not neglecting work and life. Don't say such things in the future, or people will think we're just here to swindle food and drink."

  Xu Shaojie was a bit impatient, this Song Tao is too honest, it seems that he has been sitting in the office for too long, and really needs to go down and take a walk. Xu Shaojie had heard Zhang Shaocai say before that leaders who come from the grassroots are very good at talking and reacting quickly, and cannot be careless at all. But this Song Tao seems to be an exception.

  As he approached, Xu Shaojie realized that the family's condition was not very good, which could be seen from the appearance of the house. The house had earth walls and a thatched roof, and a little girl was hugging firewood in front of the house, wearing clothes that were not very clean. It seemed that this family did not have a watchdog. Xu Shaojie looked at the little girl's height and thought she should be in school, but she was doing chores at home instead of going to school. He felt uncomfortable in his heart, as he had learned in the past few days that some rural households did not attach much importance to girls' education, thinking that girls were meant to be married off and were like spilled water, unwilling to spend money on educating them.

  The girl saw Xu Shaojie and Song Tao, got a bit flustered, and hurriedly carried the firewood back home.

  "Little girl, we are from the district, here to investigate in the village, is your family's adult at home?"

  The little girl didn't answer and walked towards the house shouting: "Mom, we have a guest."

  Xu Shaojie glared at Song Tao.

  "Song Tao, you rascal, when there are elders at home, why scare the little girl? You should help the little girl carry firewood and then kindly hold her hand to walk into the house."

  Song Tao didn't react for a moment, hastily nodding his head, but he quickly came back to himself.

  "Xu university student, I'm here to have dinner with you, oh, and investigate this kind of thing, it should be you who does it."

  "No, no, this kind of thing must be done by you, you are the leader of the district, you need to go deep into the grassroots, visit villages and households, strengthen ties with the masses, how can you connect? Doing such things is strengthening connections, however, you must pay attention to style issues, here is Huaguan Village, beware of Huaguan becoming a green crown."

  Song Tao couldn't outtalk Xu Shaojie, so he simply fell silent.

  Soon, people came out of the house. Xu Shaojie and Song Tao immediately stopped talking. Fortunately, the other party did not hear what they had just said.

  It turned out to be a young woman, who was quite pretty and had a pale complexion, clearly not the kind of woman who worked in the fields for a long time. Both of them thought of the rumors from Huaguan Village and felt a little guilty. The woman's face wore a smile, but Xu Shaojie discovered that the smile concealed sadness.

  "It's the leader of the district, please come in and take a seat."

  Xu Shaojie and Song Tao looked at each other, this woman is not a local, her accent is not right. The two still went in, who cares, the goal is to eat, who cares what identity the other person has or where they are from. After entering the house, Xu Shaojie found that the interior was tidy and relatively clean, it should belong to the kind of family that rural people call "not doing a proper job". Xu Shaojie felt a little guilty, looked at Song Tao, and Song Tao was also looking at him.

  "This is Xu Shaojie, a university student from Xilin University. I am Song Tao from the district Youth League Committee. We have come to the village to conduct an investigation and would like to ask you some questions. We'll also have lunch here at your place, and we'll pay for it."

  A look of panic flashed across the woman's face and quickly disappeared.

  "It's a great honor for university students and district leaders to come to my place for dinner, don't mention money, there's nothing prepared at home, you sit down, I'll go prepare a few dishes."

  Xu Shaojie didn't care about anything else, if a woman was preparing to stew meat, it's estimated that the two of them would have dinner at dusk today.

  "No need to prepare anything, we'll eat what you're eating, if there's not enough rice, we'll just cook some noodles."

  "How can that be? You are honored guests, I mustn't neglect you, let me go and prepare."

  The woman walked into the kitchen while talking, and Xu Shaojie followed her in. The little girl who had been carrying firewood earlier was standing in front of the stove, adding wood to it. A large pot on the stove was covered with a lid, and Xu Shaojie couldn't tell what was being cooked inside. He walked over and lifted the lid, revealing that it was cornmeal and cabbage that had already become mushy. Xu Shaojie turned around to look at the table, where there was only one dish - a bowl of vegetables with some chopped chili peppers inside.

  Xu Shaojie felt a lump in his throat, during the busy farming season, eating such meals was unbearable.

  "No need to prepare anything else, let's just eat this."

  "Yes, Xu University students are city people, rarely eat this, we just eat this, no need to prepare, little girl, where is the bowl? I'll go get it."

  The woman was very embarrassed, hanging her head low and not raising it for a long time. The little girl quickly brought over the bowls, and Xu Shaojie and Song Tao filled four of them, placing them on the table. The woman didn't sit down at the table, holding her bowl as if she didn't know where to go eat. After eating one bowl, Xu Shaojie couldn't swallow any more; he already felt that this household was not only poor but must have encountered some problem. Song Tao also only ate one bowl; normally their appetites weren't like this, but this time they both simultaneously felt unable to eat anymore.

  After putting down his bowl, Xu Shaojie was ready to take his leave.

  "Is big sister at home?"

  As the voice approached, Xu Shaojie found that the little girl's body shook slightly, and the expression in her eyes was clearly not right. Song Tao, who was beside her, seemed to be familiar with this voice and stood up. The woman quickly entered the kitchen, put down the bowl, and prepared to go out. Xu Shaojie discovered that the woman's expression was somewhat flustered, but also resolute.

  Xu Shaojie and Song Tao came out to see a man in his 40s, whose eyes were clearly not right, staring at the woman with unbridled lust, as if he wanted to swallow her whole. The man obviously didn't expect the woman to have guests at home, but after seeing Song Tao, he visibly let out a sigh of relief.

  "Is it Comrade Song? When did you arrive at the village? Why didn't you give us a notice?"

  "Director Yu, this is Xu Shaojie from Xilin University, who is conducting a social survey in the village. The district arranged for me to accompany him. Mr. Xu is a university student, and this is Director Yu of Huaguan Village."

  "Oh, you're a university student, what a rare guest!"

  Xu Shaojie shook hands with Secretary Yu, staring at his eyes all the time. He understood that if someone had a guilty conscience, they would usually avoid eye contact. Sure enough, Secretary Yu quickly shifted his gaze away.

  "This family is a difficult household in the village, previously they were not badly off. The man went out to dig coal and was unable to return, the compensation was also inadequate, it's been several years now. The woman is from outside the village, she has no land here, the small piece of land belonging to her husband is being farmed by his family, and there are no other sources of income. As the village secretary, I must show concern for them. And look, today I came to see the situation, unexpectedly I found Xu University student here."

  "Secretary Yu, how does the village usually solve problems for households in such difficulties?"

  "It's tough, the village doesn't have money either. After negotiating for several years, my husband's family is still unwilling to give up their private land. We only have this small piece of land in front of and behind our house. We've been studying it for many years, but we just can't think of a good solution."

  There was an irrepressible anger in the woman's expression, and Xu Shaojie had already understood the reason. He thought for a moment before speaking slowly and calmly.

  "Secretary Yu, I was sent by the Huaiyang Municipal Committee to understand the situation. The situation of this household, I will learn more about it later. Such a difficult household needs to be solved by the village, but there are still difficulties. However, the village should try its best to solve the difficulties. I will report the situation of this household to the municipal committee."

  Yu Secretary was shocked for a moment, apparently didn't expect that Huaiyang Municipal Party Committee was more important than heaven in his eyes.

  "Definitely, definitely, the villagers will try their best to think of a way. University student Xu is coming to my house for dinner this afternoon, I'll go back and prepare, you must come!"

  Yu Secretary finished speaking and hastily left, Xu Shaojie gestured for Song Tao to follow him. This meal, he wouldn't be eating it. Turning his head, Xu Shaojie saw the woman with tears in her eyes, and was somewhat surprised, slowly walking into the house. The situation didn't need to be asked, why the little girl hadn't gone to school, everything was clear. Obviously, the village wasn't helping, and this Yu Secretary had an ulterior motive that he couldn't reveal, and since it hadn't been fulfilled, the village's help wouldn't be forthcoming until the woman gave in.

  Xu Shaojie pulled out 200 yuan from his body, which is a considerable amount of money. In rural areas, the annual net income is not high, and 200 yuan can support several months of living expenses.

  "Sister, daughters still need to go to school, going to school is the way out."

  The woman saw Xu Shaojie's movements and tears came out. Soon, a situation that shocked Xu Shaojie appeared. The woman asked the little girl to go out, closed the door, and started taking off her clothes quickly. Xu Shaojie's mind was blank. When the woman was about to take off her top, Xu Shaojie reacted and rushed forward, grabbing the woman's hand.

  "Sister, I'm not that kind of person, nor did I mean it that way. Not every man is like this. Hurry up and get dressed, don't let others see you."