Chapter 5: The Pie Hits Him on the Head

  Yang Daqing's home was not in Dashiqiao Township, but in Shilin County Town.

  After getting off the bus from Kaihe to Shilin, Qin Aimin rented a single room in a hostel near the bus station. The small room of over 10 square meters only had an ordinary wooden bed and a large ceramic basin under the bed.

  He stuffed the cigarettes and liquor under the bed, washed his face, and then wandered around the county town until nightfall. He casually ordered a quick meal at a nearby restaurant to fill his stomach, and afterwards Qin Aimin held a bottle of Maotai in his right hand and two Laughing Mouths in his left hand, and set off straight for Yang Daqing's house under the cover of darkness.

  Shilin County is not big, and the bus station is located in the center of the county. Although it was still snowing, and there was snow everywhere on the road, Qin Aimin still walked to Yang Daqing's house in less than ten minutes.

  According to Yang Daqing's habit, he would only take the village's only Santana back home after dark every day. Every morning at 7:30, he would prepare to leave his house and head back to the countryside. That Santana had been Secretary Yang's ride since he settled in Dashiqiao Village.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, before long, that familiar Santana gently came to a stop downstairs, and Yang Daqing, wrapped in his military coat, quickly jumped out of the car.

  "Old cow, come back to pick me up tomorrow afternoon and take me back to the countryside for a trip. In the morning, just stay at home with your wife and kids, and help buy some New Year's goods."

  Santana's driver, whose surname is Niu, is in his 40s and can also be considered an old man in Dashizi Township. It is said that after retiring from the army and returning to his hometown, he has been following Yang Daqing all along. After Yang Daqing became the township head, he has been Yang Daqing's full-time driver. Although he doesn't talk much, he gets along exceptionally well with Qin Aimin. The arrangement of Yang Daqing's schedule is also told to Qin Aimin by Old Niu.

  Watching Santana slowly slide into the snowy night, Qin Aimin hurriedly carried things and caught up with Yang Daqing who was about to walk up the stairs.

  "Secretary."

  Yang Daqing turned his head slightly strangely and saw Qin Aimin. Although he was a bit surprised, he wasn't particularly shocked.

  "Comrade Ai Min, how are you here? How long have you been waiting? Why didn't you go upstairs? Isn't your aunt at home?"

  Yang Daqing took another glance at what Qin Aimin was holding in his hand.

  Qin Aimin smiled awkwardly. Then he said humbly, "I just arrived. I didn't expect to run into the secretary on his way back."

  He smiled and said this. Qin Aimin certainly knew that Yang Daqing would not take it seriously.

  "I didn't just come from home today. I missed the bus to the countryside, so I thought of coming to wish you and Auntie a happy new year first."

  Yang Daqing's face was all smiles. "Alright, let's go inside and talk more. This cold is really unbearable."

  Yang Daqing's wife was about ten years younger than Yang Daqing, but she looked only about forty years old. When she saw Qin Aimin follow Yang Daqing in, her face lit up with a smile, and it was unclear whether she liked Qin Aimin or the two bags he was carrying.

  He called out to his aunt, made a New Year's bow, and Qin Jiamin finally sat down on the sofa by the stove. For just a few dozen minutes, although Qin Aimin was in good health and wore many layers of clothing, he had still been chilled to the bone in the cold wind, thanks to the relatively mild winter in the south compared to the north.

  He took a cup of hot tea, Qin Aimin pretended to be curious and looked around the room. Although Yang Dazheng had been in Dashizi Township for most of his life, the economy of Dashizi Township was not good, so Yang Dazheng's home was still simple and didn't have anything luxurious. If there were valuable things, it would only be that 21-inch TV and a few calligraphy paintings on the wall that seemed to be from famous artists.

  Yang Daqing, although he only attended night school, was well-known in Dashitou Village for his good calligraphy and painting. However, there were people who secretly scolded Yang Daqing as a mouse carrying a turtle shell, pretending to be a big shot.

  "Ai Min, you've been in Dashitun Village for almost half a year now."

  Qin Aimin was taken aback by these words, as Yang Dazheng Secretary always addressed him with the word "comrade", and this title lacked the two characters for "comrade", which made Qin Aimin somewhat unaccustomed to it for a moment.

  "It's already been half a year since the festival." Qin Aimin, who was originally struggling to find something to talk about, immediately responded.

  "It's been half a year, and the days have passed so quickly." After finishing speaking, Yang Daqing couldn't help but let out a sigh. At his age, life was indeed fleeting. Half a year might not seem like a long time for young people, but for 58-year-old Yang Daqing, it felt far too short.

  "You're the first college student in our village, do you have any specific ideas?"

  Qin Aimin felt that Yang Daqing, the secretary, was a bit strange today, especially this specific idea made him scratch his head, but he still quickly said: "After the New Year, I plan to see if I can think of ways to bring some investment to our town, especially the cement factory. I think our town has great potential in this area, as long as the factory is built, I believe our town will change greatly in no time."

  The cement plant was something Qin Aimin had strongly advocated for after he went to Dashitown, as the town was surrounded by stone mountains and limestone resources were exceptionally rich.

  Yang Daqing shook his head as soon as he heard this, "I have not been idle about the cement plant for half a year, but the county already has a municipal cement plant, so the county does not plan to build another one."

  As soon as Yang Daqing said this, Qin Aimin secretly curled his lips. Shilin County indeed has a cement plant with a history of over 30 years, but the quality of the cement produced by this factory is really not commendable. Even the villagers in Dashitown prefer to buy more expensive cement from other cities when building houses.

  "The secretary, the cement produced by the municipal cement plant, can't even be used to build a road, it cracks as soon as it's pressed, and when used to build a column, it starts cracking after just a few days. Even when used to build a pool, it falls apart in blocks after just a few days of soaking. Except for our city occasionally buying a few bags from them, who else would buy their cement? Even the municipal government has specified that many projects cannot use their cement."

  Kaihe City Cement Factory, although located in Shilin County, is a municipal enterprise. Yang Daqing is no stranger to this cement factory. In the planned economy era of over a decade ago, Yang Daqing often racked his brains to get a few more bags of cement from the factory for his hometown.

  But in the later market economy era, this situation was immediately reversed, and the cement plant had a headache to let the local people buy a few more bags of cement.

  But those sons are indeed enough to be sons, in over a decade, there has been no change at all. The cement quality is not up to standard and they don't want to make any corrections. The two previous factory leaders only know how to wander around the city every day, the original foundation has been spent, but the workers in the factory are getting harder and harder to make ends meet.

  "This situation is clear to both the city and county, but the cement factory in the city has been there after all. Building a new one would be unacceptable to both the city and county. I have submitted reports to the city and county for half a year now, unfortunately it's also difficult at the top."

  After finishing speaking, Yang Daqing didn't wait for Qin Aimin to respond and continued: "Don't mention the cement factory for now, I actually have something else I need to talk to you about today."

  He paused, under Qin Aimin's curious gaze, Yang Dajing took a deep look at Qin Aimin before saying: "Deputy Township Head Li can no longer continue working, the county is currently studying who will take over Deputy Township Head Li's work."

  Qin Aimin subtly curled her lip, that poor Deputy Township Head Li, although Qin Aimin had not yet had the chance to visit him, was said to have suffered severe third-degree burns over a large area, and it was certain that he would no longer be able to continue working. The township had already been discussing who might become the next unlucky deputy head in charge of family planning, and it was said that the directors and heads of the township's departments had been living in fear for days, afraid that this task would fall on their own heads.

  "The opinion of the county is to select a suitable candidate from our township, and I have been considering who is more suitable in these days. What do you think about family planning work?"

  As soon as Yang Daqing finished speaking, Qin Aimin was startled. In Dashiqiao Township and even the entire Shilin County, it is said that no deputy township head in charge of family planning has ever been able to move up further, so much so that everyone privately refers to the deputy township head in charge of family planning as the "lifelong deputy township head". But from Yang Daqing's words, it seems like he wants to take on this role himself.

  "Secretary, what opinion can I, a single man who just graduated from school, have on this family planning work?" Qin Aimin didn't think and directly pushed away Yang Daqing's words, at this time, the idea of getting along with Yang Daqing was thrown to the back of his mind.

  Yang Daqing looked at Qin Aimin deeply, "In two more years I will reach the retirement age limit. It is possible that in one or two years' time, I will step down from the position of secretary first. At that time, a deputy township head may have a good chance to move further."

  Stop, stop, seeing Qin Aimin still pretending not to understand this, Yang Daqing finally couldn't help but say: "How can you be so unplanned, little comrade? If you take on this deputy township head position, a year later when I retire and Yu Township Head takes over my secretary position, with your qualifications and rank, you can completely become the township head of Dashitownship. This is a rare opportunity for you."

  Qin Aimin was stunned, completely intimidated by Yang Daqing's plain and simple words. For half a year, he had been accustomed to Yang Daqing's official tone and couldn't believe that Yang Daqing could be so down-to-earth at times.

  "I know that family planning work is indeed very difficult, but precisely because it's so hard, it's also easier to achieve results. As long as you can find a way to solve the problem of overpopulation in the countryside, I can assure you that this position of village head will definitely be yours."

  Qin Aimin's heart was slightly moved by Yang Daqing's words, although he couldn't fully believe them, but also not completely disbelieve. However, when it came to the family planning work in Dashixiang, he had absolutely no confidence at all. To think that those villagers with a bandit-like air about them would not have children was simply impossible.

  At this time, Qin Aimin couldn't care less whether Yang Dajing was good-hearted or bad-hearted, and replied: "Secretary, aren't you aware of the family planning work in our village? It's simply a fire pit."

  "What's wrong with you, college student? Are you useless? Can't you think of a way to solve this?"

  Yang Daqing's words paused here, "If all else fails, can't you think of a way to stabilize for one or two years?"

  After hearing Yang Daqing's humble words, Qin Aimin finally felt a bit of goodwill from the other party, but Qin Aimin still didn't dare to completely trust Yang Daqing, who knows if Yang Daqing was intentionally luring him into the fire pit.