Chapter 13: I Am the Village Chief
I have never been to Widow Zhang's house three times, and she is not afraid of gossip, so she pulled me to the door of the shop, Zhang Fang stood at the door, showing resentful eyes, frightened me to speed up my pace, and followed Widow Zhang back.
Her house was very small, there was no hall, only a bedroom and a back kitchen, and after settling me in the bedroom, she went to Zhang Luo for lunch.
The room was cluttered, the quilts on the bed were crooked together, giving off an almost erosive smell, and to my surprise, the headboard had a crack in it, and there were a few thick blue threads embedded in the seams, which were found only in jeans.
I thought about the whole village, and only me and the Shorty Man wore jeans, and I couldn't believe that the Shorty had been in this bed in the morning with his panicked appearance and torn crotch.
I couldn't be sure what the dwarf and Widow Zhang were doing, I was afraid of being devastated, so I dared to wait for lunch, so I sneaked away while Widow Zhang was not paying attention.
The sun was very strong at noon, and I didn't dare to go to the shop to hide, and I wanted to go home but I was afraid that the dwarf would come back without a boat to pass, so I had no choice but to take refuge at the butcher's place.
Unexpectedly, the butcher guy carried a pig ear, saying that it was for Widow Zhang, and asked me to come back later, he locked the door and went out, and I waited left and right and didn't see the butcher come back, wondering if they should be like that again!
I regretted that I did not go to the village with the dwarf, and came to the way back to the village with my head down, and sat under the big tree and waited for the dwarf to come back.
It wasn't until after the sun went down that the dwarf came back in the dark, but he walked with a pout, as if he had broken his feet, I stepped forward to look at him, took a lot of plastic pipes, and glared at him, but unfortunately I couldn't see his expression clearly, and took him home with a few words!
Lighting the kerosene lamp, I was about to ask the dwarf what he had done at Widow Zhang's house in the morning, but when I glanced at him, I found that his nose and face were swollen, as if he had been beaten.
"What's wrong with you, who beat you, damn it, let's go and kill him!"
I took the dwarf's hand and prepared to rush to the village overnight to avenge him, but the dwarf left me, limped to the edge of the bed and sat down, looked at me and said.
"Who else, not the bastard in the county, seeing that I have no relatives and no reason in the township, he will give me a good beating when he presses on the ground, damn it, and beat Lao Tzu's eyes to fire!"
The dwarf complained, spat a mouthful of bloody phlegm, I knew he was in a bad mood, so I didn't ask him about Widow Zhang, but he was beaten as my brother, and I had the responsibility to vent my evil anger for him, and after preparing to hand over the village chief, I went to the county seat to get that bastard.
"Shorty, I'll remember this hated brother, when I sit in the position of village chief, I have to let you beat you back, you have to rest at home for the past two days, and prepare for the big event the day after tomorrow!"
The dwarf rubbed his purple face, got up and lit the fire, and we made a hearty dinner, ate and drank, and went to sleep.
I didn't dare to go out for two days in a row, and the dwarf also accompanied me to watch "Ten Thousand Laws Return to Tibet" at home, until the morning of the third day, when the gongs and drums were beating on the other side, I knew that there was going to be a meeting, and told the dwarf to say.
"I'll go to a meeting, you should be smart, if it's dangerous to go down, come up, don't be strong!"
"Brother Shanzi, you can take a look, after this time, you have to propose to Fangzi for me!"
As soon as the dwarf man said Zhang Fang, his eyes lit up, I looked at his appearance, and secretly thought that he was only afraid of dying in a woman's bed in his life, so I got on the boat with him, and came to the other side, I instructed again.
"Be careful, pay attention to any details, any mistake can kill your dog!"
Looking at the departing back of the dwarf, I shook my head and smiled, and prayed for him for a while before getting up and going to the village headquarters, which was very lively.
Men, women and children are here, Zhang Fang is also there, it can be seen that I am coming, she glanced at her, pulled a child into the crowd and disappeared, I was about to catch up and say a few words to her, but the old village chief waved at me above.
"Shanzi, here, you come up!"
The crowd was very noisy, and the village chief's mouth was moving, but I only heard this sentence, waved at him and walked up, at this time, the sound of firecrackers suddenly crackled outside the house, and the thick white smoke instantly filled the house, smelling this festive smell, I was very excited.
There was a row of tables in front of me, and several cadres in the village were sitting upright, and the old village chief pulled me to my side, introduced me one by one, and asked me to shake hands with them.
They smiled at me, and some people got up and patted me on the shoulder, and when I walked up to Fangzi and her mother, I scratched my head in embarrassment, but she grabbed my hand and said.
"Shanzi, do a good job, we old things will support you!"
The old village chief walked into the middle, raised his hand to silence the crowd, and then sat down in his chair and began to speak in a grand manner.
I don't remember what he said at the time, but I know that he spoke for nearly an hour, and the applause of the crowd was like firecrackers, crackling, and ranging out again and again, and when he got tired of speaking, after a few sips of tea, he pulled me in the middle and said to the crowd.
"Next, welcome the new village chief to say a few words to everyone, everyone applauds!"
The applause was very intense, and I could see that my impression in the hearts of the masses was not bad, and I cleared my throat and said a little nervously.
"Hello everyone, you all know that my name is Li Shan, my parents left early, and I have survived to this day thanks to the care of all the villagers on weekdays......"
I talked a lot, from gratitude to the management of the village, and then to the future, the old village chief looked at me with great satisfaction, and the applause was more intense than the crowd.
In order not to be ashamed, I had been brewing these words for a few nights, and when I finally finished speaking at noon, firecrackers were lit outside the house, and at this time, Fangzi and her mother came up, took the horn and said.
"Don't go, everyone should not leave, the village will eat and drink at noon, and there will be a theatrical performance in the afternoon, we have to congratulate the old village chief on his promotion and welcome the new village chief to take office!"
The crowd suddenly burst into applause, and I accidentally saw Zhang Fang standing with a few female classmates, they pointed at me and didn't care, but her mother looked at her, holding a loudspeaker and yelling.
"Zhang Fang, you don't want to help your father Zhang Luo, and you don't look at what day it is!"
Zhang Fang stomped her foot very dissatisfied, and ran out angrily, but the crowd around laughed, and after a while, her father and son brought a few boxes of Beijing instant noodles, and the first few people held a plate of preserved eggs, and the old village chief pulled me off the stage and distributed these things to the masses.
I thought about eating meat and drinking wine, but I didn't expect that it was a pack of instant noodles and preserved eggs for one person, and I was suddenly a little disappointed, but the old village chief was so happy that I had to distribute it.
Seeing that it was almost over, the old village chief pulled me to the place where the village cadres of the commissary were eating, and pointed to the village cadres gathered around and said.
"It's time for us to eat, Shanzi, today is a good day, I can warn you, you must each toast a glass of wine in the making!"
Fangzi and her mother came in and lifted the lid on the food, I took a look, there was a pot of pork rib soup, and some home-cooked side dishes were placed around, thinking that the village cadres usually eat this, but it was too cold.
"A few old brothers, it is rare to eat meat in the village, today I borrow flowers to offer Buddha, and we will toast everyone together!"
As he spoke, the old village chief held the wine bowl, so I had to stand up and drink a bowl with everyone, and then the old village chief gave me a detailed description of the duties and rights of the work, and finally let me toast.
Like this kind of beer, I can do more than a dozen bottles of beer alone, and I don't feel dizzy after a circle, at this time, Zhang Fang brought food in, but the old village chief stopped her and asked her to have a drink with me.
Zhang Fang didn't know if he had eaten gunpowder or what's wrong, he looked at the old village chief, pointed at my nose and said, "Uncle, I didn't say Brother Shanzi, he is a coward, he can't do this village chief!" ”
"Hehe......" The old village chief smiled, looked at Zhang Fang and asked her where I coaxed the bag, but I didn't think that Xiao Nizi said in front of everyone.
"Uncle, this is what you want me to say, Brother Shanzi obviously likes me, but he doesn't dare to admit it, do you think he is a coward?"
The old village chief waved his hand, unwilling to listen to Zhang Fang anymore, and poured a bowl of wine before saying: "Nizi, I don't favor anyone, but this emotional matter, we are old, you young people have ideas, I believe that under the leadership of Shanzi, the life of the masses will become more and more prosperous!" ”
"Okay" I took advantage of the strength of the wine, put the bowl down, the table full of dishes and bowls jumped wildly, looked at Zhang Fang and said: "Fangzi, I love to listen to the words of the old village chief, we ordinary people want to live a good life, what kind of love, can you eat?" ”
Zhang Fang held his face, pointed at the leaders in the room, stomped his feet, and dropped a sentence: "You ...... You guys...... You raccoon dogs! Then he ran out in a huff.
After three rounds of drinking, a table of dishes has bottomed out, the masses are watching the play, but several village cadres have gone home under the pretext that their heads have risen, the old village chief is happy, and he drank too much, I called Fangzi and her father, and helped the old village chief to the bed, because he was worried about the short man, so he had to go home early.
When I came to the edge of the reservoir, the dwarf was already sitting in the boat waiting for me, and by the look of his excitement, I knew that he had caught something good.
The dwarf rowed the boat into the reservoir and took out a boxy, fingernail-sized object from his pocket and gave it to me.
I took it and took a look, the thing was a sauce yellow, there was a warmth to the touch, I turned it over and looked at it, there were words at the bottom, but unfortunately it was carved upside down, and I couldn't recognize it for a while.
"Brother Shanzi, this thing is a seal, you don't know, there is a skeleton shelf with a mask under the water, the thief is fucking scary!"
I put away the seal, picked up the water, rubbed a few handfuls of my hot face, thought about it, and said to the dwarf: "Let's go to the police station and call the police!" ”