One day in August 1982, I went to the Education Bureau with a letter of introduction to report to Director Liu.

Later, Deputy County Magistrate Huang, who was in charge of education, talked to me and said that I should go to Geshui Middle School to be the principal. I smiled and said, "I have been at the grassroots level in the frontier for more than 20 years, and you want me to go to the grassroots level again?" "Go down to manage things first, there is a lack of a leader there, and it will be okay to adjust it later." I had nothing to say, so I immediately took office and came to Geshui Middle School as the principal. My wife, Zou Admission, teaches at Wenshui Primary School, and our home is in Wenshui Primary School. The eldest son, Xiaoyun, also teaches at Geshui Middle School.

Geshui's economy is underdeveloped, the school construction is relatively backward, the school building is dilapidated, the teaching style is sluggish, and there are only a dozen yuan in the financial account. The two-storey office building and teachers' dormitory are made of stone, and dust falls as people walk upstairs. School toilets, boys and girls "run out". Because the windows in the classroom are too small, the light is dim during the day, the students' dormitories are dark and damp, the beds and windows are tattered, and the steamers used to steam rice in the canteen are also rotten.

The teachers are not in a good state of mind, they are not at ease, they all want to be transferred to the county seat, and their work is sloppy, and the admission rate is low. The ideological work of teachers is relatively weak.

Difficulties are temporary, overcoming difficulties is a joy, and I am confident that I will run this school well. In view of the difficulties existing in the school, I discussed with the only party member in the school, first of all, we must rely on the organization to strengthen the ideological work of teachers and arouse the enthusiasm of teachers. Secondly, there is an urgent need to solve the problem of eating raw rice and toilets in the canteen. Third, improve various management systems, implement class evaluations, carry out teaching competitions, reward the good and punish the bad, and promote the regularization of the style of teaching and learning.

I went to the Education Bureau to ask for some money, and Director Luo went to the township superiors to solve the problem of wood cooking, steaming and repairing toilets. Within a few days, the money arrived, but the timber did not land. So I sent someone to the countryside to buy a few fir trees, and immediately asked someone to make a few new steamers, completely solved the problem of eating raw rice often, and at the same time repaired the problem of "running out" toilets, ending the situation of teachers and students "fighting guerrillas" and pulling wild everywhere.

Son Xiaoyun, he was assigned to this school in March 82, a semester before me, he said to me: the school has more than 20 acres of paddy fields and dry soil, teachers and students have to work twice a week, especially in spring sowing and autumn harvest, delaying too much time, affecting the quality of education, and the opinions of students' parents are greater. Although this is the case throughout the county, using agriculture to raise schools and improve the welfare of teachers, it is not a solution in the long run. I thought it was time to change that.

I proposed to Director Liu that most of the school's paddy fields and dry soil be contracted to the villagers, and that only one or two acres of vegetables should be left for planting by myself, so that teachers and students could be freed from heavy agricultural labor and concentrate on teaching. Director Liu said: At present, the county has not heard of any school that has contracted out farmland, and it is better for teachers and students to do some labor.

I said: Geshui Middle School is not an agricultural middle school, it is a full-time school, and it is difficult to ensure the quality of education due to too much labor. The reason was not less, but Director Liu still did not agree.

As soon as the autumn harvest was over in 1983, I took the initiative to turn paddy fields into fish ponds and contract dry land and surplus paddy fields to villagers, thus reducing a lot of labor time. In the spring of 84, the fish fry were put in, contracted to the class, the task was set, the grass was cut in the extracurricular time, and some manure was poured into the pond to speed up the reproduction of microorganisms, the management was simple, and the enthusiasm of the teachers was also mobilized. At the end of the year, the teachers distributed a lot of fish, and they were all happy.

After the contracted rape is harvested, a lot of oil is squeezed, which can ensure that the teacher's canteen does not need to buy oil to eat throughout the year, and the oil cake is made into feed for the pigs, and a few pigs are killed at the end of the year, so that everyone can go back for the New Year. I did this against the opinion of the bureau at that time, because there was no school in the city that contracted land and soil to the villagers. I thought: Big deal I'm not the principal.

In the second half of 1985, the bureau decided to hold an "Education Reform Seminar" at Geshui Middle School, and I took out our local specialties: grass carp, bighead carp, and carp to entertain the leaders. Director Liu tasted the fresh fish and said with certainty: "Your old Zhang is doing the right thing, and you are doing well." I hummed and said, "I'm still worried about being punished?" ”

"Meritorious, meritorious", the bureau leaders all laughed. Since then, the bureau has no longer uniformly required paddy fields to grow rice, allowed schools to operate in a variety of ways, and allowed to contract out fields and soil, and schools can only "sit and reap fishing profits".

In teaching, I emphasize that the quality of education is the lifeline of the school, and we must put the quality of education in a prominent position, take teaching as the center, and do everything to serve teaching. By strengthening the ideological education of teachers, perfecting various management systems, rewarding and punishing them heavily, and constantly improving the conditions for running schools and teachers' lives, teachers can feel at ease and enthusiastic about their work, and the quality of education has been markedly improved.

There is a large flat land outside the school gate, which used to be a place for militia training and cattle herding for ordinary people, which has affected teaching. I planted fruit trees in the middle of the lawn and forced the militia training in the village to move elsewhere. Maybe it's superpositionalism.

Later, I built a 300-meter circular track around the fruit trees to provide a venue for the school to carry out sports. I also raised funds to build a new classroom and a kitchen to improve the school.

In the autumn of 1986, the Education Bureau transferred me to work in the county title reform office. The school brought in a young principal, Sun Moumou, to take over my job. Principal Sun was reluctant to let me go, and felt that there was an old comrade who was more down-to-earth, and made a wish: You don't have to go to class, just be a staff officer. Of course, I am happy, because I know that I have to be responsible for handling the title work of teachers in the county to go to the "Vocational Reform Office", there are many and heavy things, and everything must be done personally, I am 58 years old, and it is time to rest.

During the four years I was in Geshui Middle School, I had some achievements in my work and was in a good mood. I often say to my teachers, "I will do what I ask everyone to do, and I will do it without any special work, and I will share the weal and woe with everyone to run this school well." ”

I have gained everyone's trust and established their prestige through practical actions. Every day out of the morning exercise, students and teachers have not yet gotten up, I have left the warm nest; The students ran one or two kilometers, and I accompanied them to the end; I don't specialize in life, what I eat in the canteen, I am also a dish.

At that time, my salary was administrative level 18, which was not low, but I rarely opened a small stove. My sons Xiaoyun and Xiaochun (in the third year of junior high school) and I live a hard life like everyone else. I am also in charge of language and politics in a class, what else does the teacher say? Now the bureau called several times to urge, Director Liu said categorically: "You must be obeying the assignment......", I had to obey the order and left Geshui Middle School.

……

In 1982, we returned to our hometown from Nanzhao Province after a 24-year absence, with a family of five, and housing was a big problem.

The leaders of Wenshui Primary School took care of the enrollment and divided a century-old house, because my children were not enough to live, so with the consent of the school leaders, a house was separated by wooden boards and cardboard on the upper floor of the public house, so that my son could live.

The eldest child Xiaoyun, during the Chinese New Year, posted a couplet at the door of this simple room, the right couplet is: "Si is the burrow", the left couplet is: "Only I have Xin", the banner is: "What ugly", everyone laughed happily after reading it.

The whole family's "big army" is back, but there are still Xiaoying and Xiaola's two tails that have not returned, which makes me and the enrollment anxious. Because both of them are workers, the enterprise units are reluctant to accept them. We asked people everywhere to find connections, and in April 1985, the third batch transferred Xiaoying back to Wenshan County Gelatin Factory to work.

Then with great difficulty, in January 1986, the fourth batch of Xiaola was transferred to work in Luling Forest Farm, who knew that Xiaola found a target again, tried to ask for help again, and transferred his object to the forest farm in 1987 in the fifth batch. Since then, I have been worried, begging my father to tell my grandmother, and the matter of worrying about the migration has finally come to an end. It's been a few years of my life that I've been restless, asking for the most people, and arguing with admissions the most, and it's not easy to make a big deal happen!

As the saying goes: you are not comfortable to be a person, and you are not comfortable to be a person. After all the hard work, the whole family was transferred back, and they faced the problems of getting married and not enough housing. In 1984, we spent 4,500 yuan to buy a 64-square-meter commercial house (one hall and two rooms), which temporarily alleviated the housing crisis.

I also asked someone to find a partner for the child, buy wood, and beat furniture, but I was busy and unclear. In the winter of 1986, the eldest daughter got married, the eldest son Xiaoyun got married on May 1, 1987, and the second son got married in 1989.

In order to fundamentally solve the problem of housing difficulties, as early as 1984, we bought a homestead in Lidong New Village, the county seat, and prepared to build a private house. However, according to the cost at that time, it cost more than 20,000 yuan to build a two-story 200-square-meter house, and we only had three or four thousand yuan in savings.

After 1983, with the improvement of the situation, many Taiwan compatriots and veterans set foot on the land of the mainland one after another, returning to their hometown after more than 40 years of absence, and shedding the most poignant and warm tears of wanderers.

One day in 1984, we got the contact address of the third brother Zhang Xuexi from a Taiwan compatriot, so we hurriedly wrote a letter to him. Since then, we have been in touch with the third brother and the eldest brother, and we have been writing letters constantly, telling about the lovesickness of the past 40 years.

In 1987, the third brother told us that he asked a friend to bring 1,000 US dollars to us, we were so happy to hear it, we made a special trip to Suicheng to find the third brother's client, converted it into more than 9,800 yuan, and took the return train on the same day, and carefully brought the money back to Wenshan along the way, which solved the big problem of making a house. So in the spring of 1987, we began to hire someone to build a 210-square-meter two-story ordinary residential house, and at the end of 1987, the whole family moved to a new house with joy.

After 1987, the compatriots in the island province returned to the mainland to visit relatives, and the relationship began to ease, and in the 90s, people with "overseas relations" became "fragrant and sweet", and the superiors were also very concerned about people with overseas relations, and I was recommended as a member of the Wenshan County CPPCC, elected as a director of the Municipal Taiwan Compatriots and Taiwan Friendship Association, and the president of the Wenshan County Taiwan Compatriots Taiwan Friendship Association.

It's true: woe and blessing rely on, and blessing and misfortune lurk. Thirty years in Hedong, forty years in Hexi!