Chapter One

  Deputy Director Old Zhang of the "Daban" was arrested, this is almost the biggest news in Wuting Town in 1972, this event was the topic of conversation for three consecutive days in Tangbutou and Shijiao.

  Of course, Tongbutou is not a news authority, it's just a general term for rural people to wash their faces; Jiguijiaotou is the same, it's just a buffer corner of the street.

  Tang Pu Tou may not be impressive, but it is a reflection of rural life. People can thrive here for generations, occupying a pool of clear and bottomless living water. As the ancient Feng Shui theory goes, the water vein is considered the root of regional prosperity. A naturally formed pool like this is called 'Dragon's Mouth', and such a place will surely bring prosperity to surrounding villages.

  Few people know the real name of the pond at the village entrance, and men and women, young and old, are used to calling it "Ménkǒu Táng". The giant stone pillars surrounding the pond, stretching out in a seemingly random yet orderly manner, resemble the keys on a piano. Its existence is originally a melody of rural life, and while people enjoy its beauty, they also pour their love into the pond. Which naughty child dares to play with skipping stones in the pond? Any elder will glare at him and shout loudly: "Want to fill up the pond or what? No parents to teach you manners? Do it again and I'll hang you!"

  No wonder the adults are furious, it's a good pond, a water ditch from afar flows in and out of the other end of the pond, every summer many children swim and play here, adults never worry that kids will drown, old people say: "This pond has never drowned anyone, many years ago a woman tried to commit suicide by jumping in, but she couldn't sink!"

  Here, not only the water is divine, but also a group of ducks that have been living in the pond for years are extraordinary. After a long time, they have developed unique foraging methods. When you wash clothes, they won't bother you, but as soon as someone comes to wash vegetables, they will surround you. If you're not careful, the leaves in your hand will be snatched away by their long necks. These ducks are all so clever that they can tell whether you're an adult or a child. When they find out you're small, they'll even dare to snatch food from your hands. Many angry mothers will catch these annoying ducks and fling them tens of meters away.

  Tangbutou is a symbol of village harmony, but it also has another function that makes people yearn for it. In the era of information scarcity, this place was almost the center of information exchange in the village, and all kinds of gossip would be shared with others here.

  However, another place is not like Tangbutou where men and women, young and old gather together. The so-called Shibiji, is a place for gentlemen to gather and have fun. In terms of spreading information, this place is no worse than Tangbutou, but it's purely a place for chatting. The buildings in the Republic of China period all had eaves that were one meter wide, which provided shelter and made gatherings here unaffected by wind or rain.

  That place is actually a corner, a dim street lamp is embedded under the eaves of the corner house, and some large stones from the old temple ruins are placed along the wall. Here, regardless of age or size, after dinner, those with nothing to do will come here, can talk about big things like national affairs, small things like chicken feathers; those who can't talk can also listen carefully, staying there for a few hours is not uncommon.

  A group of men gathering together also has its benefits, as the ladies would say, it allows them to "save on cigarettes". In impoverished times, offering someone a cigarette was equivalent to cutting off a piece of one's own flesh. They understood etiquette and wouldn't smoke alone in public without sharing with others. So when they got addicted, as long as there were topics to discuss, they would hold back and not leave.

  Only after "fighting" Old Zhang was caught, these two places became the forefront of his crimes and people's accusations. Especially the women from Tangtou, as soon as they mention it, they become indignant, they hear wind and think it's rain. The gossip here says: "Hoo, that director, he embezzled several catties of Tianqi tobacco, worth over 70 yuan."

  "That side said: 'Of course, the collected cloth is taken back home for his wife to make clothes. The one in their house dresses up like a "landlord's wife" every day!'"

  Lao Zhang's affair would not have become a major news item for long at Tangpu Head, mainly because Lao Zhang's family lives nearby and this is where they come to wash every day. The poor family was ruined by the father's ugly affair and did not dare go there when many people were around to disgust others.

  In fact, this is just the beginning. The 'struggle meeting' at the revolutionary committee level will not fall behind. Since the incident of Dongchuang, many people with high awareness have been waiting for this struggle. The crimes by the pond can only be considered as rumors, and the final definition still needs to be exposed at the struggle meeting.

  A few days later, news came from Tangpu that Lao Zhang's struggle session was to be held at the Wuting Auditorium. On that day, poor and lower-middle peasants with high awareness, revolutionary cadres, worker representatives, men and women, old and young, all crowded into the auditorium. If the auditorium were a bit larger, even more people would have come to watch the excitement.

  The venue is too small, the old district party secretary who has already retreated to the second line has some minor complaints. On the eve of the Great Leap Forward, the Wuting District Party Committee unanimously agreed that a large auditorium should be built to carry out revolutionary education activities and obtained approval from higher authorities. At that time, the person in charge mobilized all the resources of Wuting District, the western mountainous area donated wood; there were many brick and tile factories within the territory, which inevitably allocated bricks and tiles; there were two or three mechanical plants in this place, so the steel for building the auditorium was obtained from these enterprises. Fortunately, the construction workers were readily available, and with a general mobilization order, several hundred skilled masons came immediately. The Wuting District Party Committee tightened its belt to build this large auditorium, busy for half a year, and finally completed it.

  The grandeur of the auditorium is 'magnificent', the skilled craftsmen in the Wuting area renovated the facade into a Soviet-style building, with three semi-circular arches at the top, and a red five-pointed star in the center. Below the five stars are relief sculptures of workers, peasants and soldiers with era characteristics, and below that are three arched doors, two sturdy concrete pillars supporting a buffer zone leading to the auditorium.

  The magnificent building had not been fully completed, the county party secretary happened to pass by Wuting on his way, and the jeep drove into the district party committee entrance. Seeing the grand auditorium standing tall on one side, the old man was surprised and circled around it. The district party secretary was still preparing to accept praise, but unexpectedly the old man scolded angrily: "Demolish it!" He uttered a ruthless sentence out of nowhere, then turned around and got into the jeep without looking back.

  The district secretary suddenly became a foolish monk, staring blankly at the dust disappearing into the distance. He didn't dare to be slow and rushed to the county town the next day, nervously walking into the county government office, only to find out that he had committed the crime of "exceeding regulations". The county town didn't even have a grand auditorium of such scale, let alone a small district seat being so extravagant, as if they were planning a rebellion.

  Later, the county party secretary took pity and did not order a complete demolition, but only had half of it removed from the back, preserving the facade of the grand auditorium.

  Time flies, and in a few years, it spread to Wuting like wildfire. The revolutionary masses and the Red Guards often held criticism meetings, which made the auditorium crowded. If the revolutionary masses did not attend, they could not release their revolutionary enthusiasm, which was no small problem. Some extremists even suggested that the county party secretary who had ordered the demolition of the grand auditorium at that time should be brought out for criticism and struggle, saying he suspected of sabotaging the Cultural Revolution.

  At this juncture, a clever proletarian revolutionary warrior made a suggestion to install a loudspeaker at the gate, and those who could not squeeze inside would stand outside.

  This constructive plan was implemented, and fortunately did not affect the large-scale holding of mass rallies. However, another strange phenomenon appeared, where the revolutionary masses inside and outside were shouting revolutionary slogans without giving in to each other, and the deafening slogans suddenly became very three-dimensional, with both sides claiming that their own side would absolutely win.

  The revolutionary movement that turned the world upside down had, by the 1970s, undergone a change in form. Those active Red Guard revolutionaries who participated in the 'Cultural Revolution' were all demoted to rural areas to receive re-education from poor and lower-middle-class peasants under the central government's policy of "Sending Educated Youth Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside". The current revolutionary situation is: "Grasp revolution, promote production, promote work, promote war preparedness, and build socialism faster, better, and more economically!" In the 'Strike Office for Speculation and Profiteering', revolutionary pests must be caught out and subjected to deep and thorough criticism.

  The grand auditorium had not been so lively for a long time. On the stage, three large spotlights were simultaneously turned on, making it extremely bright. The struggle session had not yet begun, but the audience was already in an uproar. The loudspeakers were also joining in the excitement, occasionally playing snippets of the revolutionary model opera "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy" into every ear. The atmosphere of the struggle session became solemn and stern because of this.

  The maintenance worker at the broadcasting station was busy on stage alone, he couldn't stand the giant portrait of Chairman Mao painted by a rightist on the back wall of the stage being covered in dust. He went to get a mop, as soon as he raised his hand, there was a commotion from below, someone jumped onto the stage, furrowed their brow and coldly scolded him: "How can you use a mop to blaspheme Chairman Mao's portrait? Are you trying to be beaten up tonight?"

  The repairman explained with a helpless expression: "This mop is new!"

  "New ones can't be used as mops, toilets are new, can they be used as water buckets?"

  "How can this be, the great leader is covered in dust, isn't that disrespecting him?"

  "Don't wipe with cloth!"

  The repairman was dizzy, he bluntly said to the soldier, "Since you're talking like that, then please help me, I'll go get the ladder!"

  People who come up without a head or brain can't be refused, otherwise, so many enlightened people in the audience will say that you 'put Marxism and Mao Zedong Thought in a flashlight, shining on others but not on yourself!' Maybe they'll even make a big deal out of it and make you suffer.

  He took over a brand new towel, shook it vigorously and climbed up the ladder, carefully wiping away. How big is this mural, it can't be finished in half an hour at all! On the surface, every wipe shows respect for the great leader, but in his heart, he has been regretting and blaming himself for being so impulsive earlier. These things were originally done by 'landlords, reactionaries, bad elements and rightists', but today he took it upon himself, what a big fool!

  The accused in the struggle session has been brought over, and the master of ceremonies has also arrived. Several people who are to expose the corrupt behavior sit on one side, filled with righteous indignation. Everyone is waiting because Chairman Mao's portrait has not yet been cleaned.

  The women sitting in the audience were all advanced women with high political awareness, creating an ideological atmosphere for this denunciation meeting. They took advantage of their natural sharp tongues to describe Vice Director Zhang's criminal process in groups, and every listener showed a certain astonishment on his face, with his mouth deliberately shaped like an "O", as if he had just woken up from a dream.

  The picture was finally cleaned up, and a middle-aged host came on stage, walked to the front of Chairman Mao's portrait, bowed and gestured, then leaned in to the microphone. With a serious expression, he said: "Great leader Chairman Mao taught us to 'struggle against selfishness and criticism of revisionism'. Now, in the struggle over the route, new trends have emerged. Some people corrupted by bourgeois ideology are secretly hiding within the revolutionary ranks, causing severe losses to the revolutionary troops. Now, let's bring out the unrepentant counter-revolutionaries!"

  As soon as the host finished speaking, a man and a woman sitting on the edge of the stage immediately led the chanting of slogans: "Long live the dictatorship of the proletariat!" "Resolutely strike down the hidden counter-revolutionaries within the revolutionary ranks..."

  On stage, the leader shouted slogans, and the people below, with righteous indignation, all raised their hands to follow suit. For a time, the slogans shook the eardrums and resounded through the skies.

  As the slogans rose, Vice Director Zhang also appeared from behind the stage, walking to the center of the stage with a trembling gait. He first bowed three times at a 90-degree angle in front of Chairman Mao's portrait, then walked to the front of the stage and bowed his head to confess his crimes to the revolutionary masses.

  It's really a turn of fortune, Deputy Director Zhang was the leader of "struggle and deal with", he played the leading role in countless criticism and struggle meetings. Many people were caught by him for reselling goods to make a living, their property was confiscated, not to mention being paraded through the streets with a sign around their neck. He did many things that went against human nature, today this fate has befallen himself, Old Zhang knows what fate awaits him, those peddlers who were dealt with by him were at most labeled as "speculation and profiteering" elements, only suffering from personal attacks; but he is a corrupt official, this is a matter of receiving labor reform.