In the eight years since the abolition of the college entrance examination in 1958, college admissions depended on the conclusion of the political examination.

The conclusions of the political review are divided into four categories: confidential majors (key universities); Admission to general majors (regular undergraduates); downgrading; Not suitable for admission.

Therefore, whether candidates can be admitted or not, and which type of school to admit to have been decided before the college entrance examination. How many outstanding students have been strangled in the time when they are not mature, such as the rice seedlings that are raised and filled with grain are encountered by the snow in June.

Jiang Lesheng's family lives in the archway brigade of the archway commune. The branch of the brigade wrote in the letter of external transfer:

His father, Jiang Qingyu, was a reactionary kulak. During the land reform, he bribed the work team, destroyed the unified purchase and sales, and secretly hid the land deed in a delusional attempt to change the sky, and was repeatedly beaten by the mass dictatorship headquarters of the brigade.

Xu Qihu, the branch secretary, signed and wrote eight words the size of a fingernail and crooked: resolutely disagree with going to college.

The composition of the family determines the conclusion of the political review. Lu Xinming, secretary of the Youth League Committee of the school, who was in charge of the external transfer, was shocked - the rich peasant component alone was enough, and with the reactionary father who was full of crimes, Jiang Lesheng undoubtedly fell into the fourth category!

Secretary Lu is no stranger to Jiang Lesheng. His wife, Wu Xiaoying, serves as the head teacher of (1) class, and at the end of each semester, he always helps to transcribe students' report cards. Jiang Lesheng has excellent homework and has always ranked in the top three in the overall score, which has attracted his attention. His wife told him, "This child is very smart, he studies very hard, he is the youngest in our class, he is the shortest, he is from the worst family, and he has the best grades." It's a pity—" The wife said with pity, "The ingredients are not good, hey——! ”

The word "hey" has an endless aftertaste.

So he noticed and got to know Jiang Lesheng - a short and thin figure, often wearing a patched dress. On the face of lack of blood, the two big eyes were timid, like a fourth or fifth grade elementary school student.

Lu Xinming couldn't help but wonder when he scrutinized the external transfer table: Since Jiang's father had such a serious problem, he should have been brought to justice long ago according to the situation at that time, why was it only the dictatorship of the masses who fought the matter? What are the conclusions of the government departments? The correspondence does not require an opinion on admissions, so why did the secretary of the brigade deliberately say "resolutely disagree with going to college"?

Lu Xinming reported his doubts to President Xu, and planned to transfer to the field in order to prevent deviations. Xu Yuanshao pondered for a long time and said: Your analysis is not unreasonable, you can go to the brigade to fight for it again. But I remind you that Lao Lu relies on local organizations for political trials, and we only recognize the official seal to speak, so as not to cause trouble and not make mistakes.

Early the next morning, Lu Xinming and his assistant Xiaohong rode bicycles to the countryside. It is planned to go to the archway brigade first, and then go to the commune for further verification if necessary.

In 1960, the vitality of the rural areas was greatly damaged, and there was a scene of depression and slaughter. The people were in a state of starvation, and most of them had swollen patients. At present, when the rice is blooming and the corn is spitting, the crops along the way are like their owners, sick, yellow and thin. On the wilderness under the scorching sun, the crowd of three or five people worked listlessly, and the red flag of the leaping era was gone. Before and after the Dragon Boat Festival, the zongzi should be fragrant, but no one picks the reed leaves on the river ridge - what do you take to wrap the zongzi without glutinous rice?

The village was lifeless, there was no laughter, no roosters and dogs barking. The chimneys of the public canteens no longer smoke. In order to satisfy hunger, people dug up wild vegetables and hollowed out the "Guanyin soil". The elm tree was stripped of its bark, and the skeleton of the white forest glowed with a terrible light. Only the old elm tree at the entrance of the village, which is more than 100 years old and is said to be often manifested, still has a few sparse green leaves on the top of the tree - the villagers and neighbors dare not and are reluctant to turn around and strip it of its skin, and the old tree god can survive and not die. A procession dressed in linen and filial piety, wept out of the village, and sent which starving ghost to another world?

The office of the Pailou Brigade is a landlord's house confiscated during the land reform, adjacent to the playground of the primary school. Six small brick houses are arranged in an inverted "L" shape: four main houses facing south are used as office meeting rooms, and two kitchen cow houses facing east are used as dormitories for cadres on duty, and they form a small courtyard surrounded by a bamboo fence wall to the south and an earthen wall door bucket to the east. The signs that have been hung here are: peasant associations, village offices, village governments and senior agricultural production cooperatives, and now there are two wooden signs: the right "Pailou People's Commune Pai Lou Brigade", the left "Pai Lou Brigade Militia Company".

The weather is hot and muggy. Lu Xinming and Xiaohong sweated and got out of the car in the shade outside the door. There were constant shouts of "will" and the sound of chess pieces landing on the ground. Under the pergola full of loofah seedlings, two people next to the table of the Eight Immortals were fighting: the knife face facing north, with an inch-long scar on his chin, wearing a rare watch at the time, a white vest and yellow shorts pulling a wooden plank, one foot on the ground and the other stepping on the stool; The south-facing man has long hair parted and a long slender neck, and his shirt is bare, and his flesh is almost invisible. He also has a stool that does not sit, and he leans forward and stands with his hands on the table of eight immortals, unable to see his lower body and feet. There were leftover cucumber stalks on the ground, and a few flies were fighting on them.

At the end of the first game, the parted long hair raised his fists and cheered: "I won again!" "It's like a football player who scores a goal and gets excited.

"Get out, I'm not going to go with you! What kind of skill is repentance? The knife's face turned red, and his hands pushed angrily, and the chess pieces rolled to the ground.

Parted with long hair, he hurriedly pulled out a cigarette, lit it for "Lao Tzu" first, and then bent down to pick up chess pieces. It was only at this moment that they discovered the visitors who were watching the chess without saying a word. I heard that someone said that I was looking for the leader of the brigade, so I pointed to the knife face with my long hair and said: Coincidentally, this is Comrade Xu Qihu, the secretary of our brigade and the captain of the brigade. My name is Wang Huaibing, and I am the deputy captain of the branch committee.

Lu Xinming shook hands with them and said happily: It's really a coincidence.

There is a well in the yard with a bucket basin next to it. Xiao Hong called water and wanted to wash his face, Wang Huaibing was busy and said I will come, I will come, went into the house and brought a half-new towel, picked two cucumbers from the cucumber rack, put the bucket to wash and handed to the guests: Eat a cucumber, our team leader planted it himself.

Lu Xinming showed a letter of introduction and informed that he came to verify Jiang Lesheng's external transfer materials, Xu Qihu immediately sank his face when he heard it, and asked in a reserved tone: Don't believe our reply? Or what else to verify?

Lu Xinming took out the external transfer table from the document bag and said: Xu Zhishu, please don't misunderstand. We are serious and responsible, and we want to get to the bottom of things. Jiang Lesheng's father's problem is very serious, its causes, processes, and results, and what conclusions did the government departments make......

Xu Qihu listened impatiently, and interrupted the visitor without waiting for him to finish: You mean that your school is serious, and our brigade is irresponsible? We only know how to farm, we don't know the ins and outs of external transfers, and we don't have time to listen to your classes! Tell me, what do you want to verify, one? Two? Three?

Xiao Hong was enraged by Xu Qihu's arrogance, and was about to have a seizure, when Lu Xinming touched him with his knee.

Secretary Lu opened the external transfer table and said in a calm tone: "Attempting to bribe and corrupt cadres in the land reform" is a criminal act to sabotage the movement, what is the purpose of his bribery? Why just fight?

Wang Huaibing grabbed the words: At that time, Xu Zhishu was the leader of the land reform team, and Jiang Qingyu gave him gold and silver jewelry, which was nothing more than not to classify his rich peasant components, but Xu Zhishu sternly refused.

Xiao Hong asked: How did you deal with Jiang Qingyu later?

Xu Qihu lit a cigarette for himself and calmed down and said: There are not many things to bribe, and you have a good attitude of admitting guilt after three days of fighting, and you will be pulled down when you achieve the effect of killing chickens and scaring monkeys. Of course, this is a serious matter.

Lu Xinming pondered for a moment and asked: What is the matter with destroying the unified purchase and sales?

It was Wang Huaibing who replied again: Jiang Qingyu colluded with several landlords and rich peasants, refused to accept the assignment of them to sell surplus grain, and instigated that 'the state did not let them sell surplus grain.'" The rich peasant Lu Scar-eye committed suicide and threatened the cadres, causing Xu Zhishu to bear the black pot.

Xu Qihu glared at him. Wang Huaibing realized that he had made a mistake in saying too much, and pretended to cough.

Xu Qihu sighed: It is difficult for our grassroots cadres to fight on the front line of class struggle! Jiang Qingyu buried the land deed and wanted to restore it, and the county newspaper published it as a negative example, calling on the poor middle peasants to keep their eyes open and resolutely repel the rampant attack of the class enemy. The brigade's 'group of special fingers' pulled him out and criticized him, and he should have been arrested and brought to justice, but the secretary of the commune did not agree.

Lu Xinming and Xiaohong were surprised and asked in unison: Why is that?

Xu Qihu said in a weird way: Leaning right! The famous secretary Ma Xiangrui, wasn't he removed from his post later!

Xiao Hong let out an "oh" sound, and seemed to suddenly realize that he was muttering to himself: right-leaning and rich peasants wear a pair of pants.

Lu Xinming asked: Secretary Ma has been dismissed, and Jiang Qingyu's question should continue to be investigated.

Xu Qihu hated and scolded: Pursue a fart! Jiang Qingyu was sent home from the forced labor team, and he died of illness for more than a year, and died on the day he received your letter! That's it, Mr. Lu, two of the three branch committees of the Pailou Brigade are here today, if you don't believe it, go directly to the commune party committee to understand. But I seriously state that the attitude of the brigade branch is very clear: Jiang Qingyu is reactionary and resolutely disagrees with his son's going to college! What grows what seedlings, what gourd blooms what scoop, although he is dead, our hatred for him is not over. This is the unanimous cry of all the poor and middle peasants!

Xu Qihu bit his lower lip with his upper teeth, and the two eyes on his knife face were like awls, staring back and forth on the faces of the visitors. He stood up and stretched out his hand in a gesture of sending off a guest. Wang Huaibing wiped his parted long hair, smiled and said kind words: The cafeteria is scattered, let the two teachers go on an empty stomach, sorry!

Lu Xinming and Xiaohong had no choice but to ride to the commune. Passing by a small noodle restaurant, I bought a bowl of Yangchun noodles for three taels of food stamps and one dime. Just as he was about to eat, a yellow and thin woman came in, holding a baby about one year old. The child's eyes were half-open and half-closed, his neck was thin and skinny, and his head was hanging and shaking in the crook of his mother's arms. The woman's fingers were like chicken feet, and she said sadly with an enamel bowl: Comrade is good, the baby has not eaten for two days, and she is dying of hunger. Let's enjoy the stuttering!

Lu Xinming looked pitiful and asked Xiaohong if he still had food stamps? Xiao Hong said that there was only one pound left. He took out a yuan from his pocket, took the food stamps handed by Xiao Hong, rolled them together, and stuffed them into the woman's fingers. At the moment when the woman took the money and food stamps and kowtowed to thank her, Lu Xinming Xiaohong bent down to help, rushed up to two dirty children in their teens, picked up two bowls of noodles on the table, scooped up the noodles with their hands and stuffed them into their mouths, choked and rolled their eyes, and their cheeks bulged like leather balls. Three more younger ones rushed out of the spurs, standing on their heels to grab the bowl and the bowl was empty. The five children kicked and cursed, and the noodle waiter raised a broom and blasted them out. scolded: These starving ghosts are like wolves, and they can't be driven away.

Lu Xinming and Xiao Hong shook their heads and looked at each other with a wry smile. There were no food stamps, so I had to push the cart into the commune on an empty stomach.

The commune compound was also dead silent, and the cicadas were annoyed by the cries at the top of the trees. The doors of each office were closed, except for the door at the east end, which was a slit wide of a palm. On the bamboo chair in front of the desk, there is a little old man in his fifties wearing black-rimmed glasses, holding a newspaper and dozing off little by little. The phone rang, the little old man was awakened, threw down the newspaper and went to answer the phone: Hey, where are you? I'm Secretary Wang, oh hello hello. Are you looking for Secretary Lin? Secretary Lin is not here, who? They all went down and went to the major teams to inspect their work. I'm on duty alone. Well, by all means. Good bye!

When the two entered the door, Secretary Wang dragged two chairs from the next room, picked up the hot water bottle and poured two cups of warm water, and said embarrassedly: There is no tea, drink a cup of boiled water.

The secretary is known as the third-in-command of the commune, and the secretary and president can be in charge when he is not there. Secretary Wang put on reading glasses, took the external adjustment table handed by Lu Xinming and looked at it, and said with certainty: I stamped this chapter. The words of the accountant Wang of the archway brigade were signed by Comrade Qihu. -- I am familiar with the signatures of the ten brigade secretaries of the commune, and I can't be wrong.

At that time, the production brigade did not have an official seal, and all external documents were signed by the brigade secretary and stamped with the seal of the commune.

Lu Xinming hurriedly said: Secretary Wang, we are not here to verify this. The external transfer table replied that Jiang Qingyu's problems were of a serious nature, and they should have been dealt with a long time ago, so why did no government departments come to a conclusion?

Only then did Secretary Wang understand that someone wanted to investigate whether the problems of a dead kulak element in the past political movement were true. He said with a sad face: Oh, Mr. Lu, these things happened below, how can the commune grasp the truth? The age of the problem is very complicated, and if you want to get to the bottom of it, you must set up a special task force, investigate and understand it from the leaders of the production team of the brigade and the people in the know, verify it with the original person in charge of the commune, and if necessary, verify it with the person concerned.

Seeing that Secretary Lu was thoughtful, Secretary Wang further enlightened: Have you ever been to the brigade? The original secretary of the commune, Secretary Ma, heard about it, transferred away, and left very unhappy, and now he is looking for him to bring up the old things, isn't it boring to be self-detrimental? Who would be the later leaders of the Commune who would be in charge of this trouble? The party Jiang Qingyu is dead, and the person can't speak when he dies. Besides, what if you don't die? Listen to him? Or listen to the cadres of the brigade and the cadres of the production team? Time has passed, who said that you should please? To be honest, I don't have the guts or the energy to poke this hornet's nest. I can't eat enough, isn't this okay to find trouble?

Secretary Wang spoke very well, and the sentences were reasonable. Seeing that Lu Xinming and Xiaohong listened carefully, his eyes flashed with a cunning light: I have been a secretary for more than ten years, and whoever does my principles will be responsible. I am only responsible for identifying whether this word was signed by him, can I manage anything else? The secretary of the whole commune brigade counted his tiger comrades with old qualifications, and the military district squad. This comrade has the merit of being very combative. I was under the impression that he had been punished for going too far in the unified purchase and sale of surplus grain, but he was soon reinstated to his post...... I just don't tell you that day, the accountant of their brigade came to stamp it, but I think the last sentence signed "resolutely disagree with going to college" is inappropriate, Lao Tzu to Lao Tzu and son to son, really do what you say, this child's future will be ruined, and it will be unreasonable! I went next door to ask the new Secretary Lin, who thought about it for five minutes, and finally knocked on the table and said, "Respect the opinions of the grassroots and build it." ”

Lu Xinming listened attentively. Secretary Wang said that Xu Qihu was punished for purchasing and selling, and he threatened the cadres with the suicide of the rich peasants mentioned by Wang Huaibing, causing Xu Qihu to turn his back on the black pot. But whether there is a connection with Jiang Qingyu and what connection there is is is still a mystery. As for the more complicated issues, who is going to go with the private land deeds and the dictatorship of the masses? Who knows? Thinking of the words that Principal Xu told him before going to the countryside that he "relied on the local organization, only recognized the official seal to speak, and did not make mistakes if he caused less trouble", his blood cooled down.

Secretary Wang crossed his five fingers, combed the little bald hair left, and said: Okay, Mr. Lu, I won't call the two of you to come in vain, and then mark it on the table, and you can go back and explain. After speaking, add a beautiful line in the space below the external adjustment table: Comrade Xu Qihu is the secretary of the party branch of the archway brigade of our commune, June 15, 1960. And a commune seal was stamped.

On the way back to school, the two stopped talking, only listening to the rumbling in their stomachs.

Jiang Lesheng's short stature, thin figure, and a pair of big timid eyes repeatedly appeared in front of Lu Xinming's eyes. His nose was sour, and his chest was suffocating.

The final political review conclusion of this year's graduates was that nineteen were "demoted" and four were "not suitable for admission". The word "unsuitable" seems gentle, but its power is comparable to the red hook on a murder notice! At that time, the policy concoctors were very good at writing.

Taking "Jiangzhong" as a sample, it is estimated that there are more than 50,000 unlucky people and unlucky ghosts who are "unsuitable" who have been "demoted" in the country, accounting for a quarter of all candidates.