Time passed day by day, the weather became colder and colder, Wang Zhong sent a few people on the blast furnace to watch the pretense over there, and he and Niu Daring and others led the rest of the villagers to engage in winter irrigation, pulling the stone mill to suppress the wheat seedlings that were growing well.

Into the wax moon, the north wind like a knife is blowing in the sky, the weather is getting colder and colder, the reservoir also stops working, the eighth night of the lunar month, a light snow only floats down in the middle of the night, but it only lasts for half a night and it ends.

Early the next morning, Wang Chong brought a bag of pancakes from the ginger and red fruit stalls, carried a kettle, and carried a bow and arrows into the mountain.

"Big worm, go into the mountains?" As soon as Wang Chong went out, he met Niu Daring.

"Isn't it okay lately, I'm thinking about going into the mountains to see if I can hit anything." Wang Chongdao.

Niu boldly looked at the quiver behind Wang Chong curiously and asked, "Didn't you use all the arrows to make steel, how do you still fight them?" The king took out one and handed it to Niu Daring.

"This is? Made of bones? The cow boldly looked at the white arrows in amazement. Wang Zhong smiled and said, "That's right, it took me a lot of effort!" ”

"Hey!" Niu boldly sighed and returned the lost arrow to Wang Chong: "Be careful when you enter the mountain alone, I heard that wolves have emerged in the mountains in recent years." ”

"Don't worry, I'm very familiar with the mountains!" Wang Chong went for three days and two nights, and when he returned, it was already the third night.

"Who?" Hearing the noise from the backyard, Han Chunmei immediately sat up from the kang, stood on the edge of the kang, and shouted loudly at the backyard.

"Me!" With Wang Chong's voice sounding, Da Hong Erhong also followed the 'Wangwang' bark a few times, Wang Chong reprimanded a few times, and the two dogs whimpered twice and got into the kennel in the corner.

Jiang Hongguo couldn't wait to open the door and walk through the corridor to the backyard. Looking at Jiang Hongguo, who was wearing a military coat, Wang Chong hurriedly said, "Why did you come out!" It's so cold outside. In the dark, Jiang Hongguo came to pick it up and smiled: "Why did you come back so late?" ”

"Come into the house and say! Come into the house and say! When Jiang Hongguo entered the house, he saw clearly that Wang Chong was carrying two gray wolves on his burden.

"The head of the house, met a wolf? Did it hurt anywhere? Jiang Hongguo grabbed Wang Chong's clothes nervously, and looked up and down and left and right around Wang Chong.

"Don't worry!" Wang Chong grabbed Jiang Hongguo's wrist and said with a smile: "I'm fine, let alone a few wolves, even the tiger and lion will be cleaned up." ”

"Phew!" Jiang Hongguo saw that Wang Chong was really fine, so he breathed a sigh of relief, and said angrily: "It's still a tiger and a lion!" Then his face changed, he looked at Wang Chong, and his voice was a little pleading: "Master, or let's not enter the mountain in the future!" ”

"If you don't go into the mountains, where will you get meat to eat." Wang Chongdao: "This time I walked deeper and only met these wolves, but they have all been cleaned up by me." ”

"How many?" Jiang Hongguo's eyes were round, and the child's hole shrank.

"There are only five in total, all of them have been cleaned up by me, and I have eaten one with Da Hong Erhong in the past few days, and I have hidden two more, and I will bring them back tomorrow."

"If I don't go deep in the future, I'll be on the periphery, and I'll shoot some pheasants and rabbits, right?"

"That's fine!" Jiang Hongguo said: "I'll add some firewood and boil the water to take a bath." ”

"Hmm!" Wang Zhong smiled and took out the knife, and skilfully skinned the two wolves. After taking a bath, having a cloud and rain with Jiang Hongguo, Liao comforted the lovesickness that they hadn't seen for a few days, and the two fell asleep.

Early the next morning, the news that Wang Chong had beaten the two wolves spread throughout Maixiang Village. Most of the villagers also saw wolves for the first time, and many people came to Wang Chong with food and money to exchange wolf meat for food that day.

As for the wolf in the water, they are all big red and two red. The remaining two wolves, the wolf meat was remade into jerky by Wang Chong, and Jiang Hongguo was put into the cellar, and the wolf skin was peeled off by Wang Chong, and it was ready to be made into several wolf skin jackets by Jiang Hongguo, and then a few hats and gloves were made from leftovers.

In the blink of an eye, it was the early summer of '59, and the exaggeration became more and more serious. In May, seeing that the weather was getting hotter and hotter, on this day, someone from the commune came and said that Wang Wanchun had asked Wang Chong to come over.

Wang Zhongxin knew what Wang Wanchun told himself to do in the past. When he arrived at the place, Wang Wanchun served tea and poured water, with a smile on his face, and a little flattery, and after symbolically asking Wang Chong a few words, he was interrupted by Wang Chong and let him get to the point.

"Starting with 10,000?" Wang Chongshu smiled and said, "Secretary Wang, why don't you let me pick the stars in the sky for you." ”

"All he wants is a number, and he doesn't care if you want food." Wang Wanchun said.

"You can't say that if you don't want food, isn't this deceiving the country and the government! Secretary Wang, we can't do this kind of thing. Wang Zhong said with a straight face.

"Big worm, this wind has been released, the county has asked each community to send someone to our commune, to hold a vivid on-site production estimation meeting, you should help me, do this well, so that the face on the top is also good-looking." Wang Chong said: "The face above is good-looking, so what should the members of our brigade do?" What if the public grain is levied according to the yield of 10,000 catties per mu? Where are we going to find so much food to hand in? ”

"No, it won't!" Wang Wanchun said: "This is a formality. ”

"Secretary Wang, we are our own people, you also walked out of our brigade, this kind of lake makes children, just talk about it, let's report this number today, what if the county sends someone to public food according to this number tomorrow? Do you have to let the members of our brigade smash pots and sell iron to hand over the public grain? ”

"No, we don't have a pot to smash now, when we were engaged in large-scale steel smelting last year, those in the village who had a little bit of iron were smashed if they could."

"I'll tell you the truth, that's what I let go, and at this time, you can't dismantle my platform!" Wang Wanchun said.

"Secretary Wang, it's not that I dismantle your platform, it's that I really can't do it! The yield per mu is 10,000 catties, and if you fold my more than 100 catties into it, there is not so much. ”

"Big worm, you are a powerful person in our Maixiangling Commune, our commune has a bumper harvest of grain every year over the years, you have contributed a lot, you also said it just now, I also came out of our brigade, I am now riding a tiger and it is difficult for you to see death without saving it!" Wang Chong's attitude was still very resolute: "Secretary Wang, if you can help, if you speak, I will definitely have nothing to say, but I really can't help you in this matter." ”

"If you want to say that the yield per mu is five hundred or six hundred, I can still give you ideas, but this is 10,000 catties, I can't promise you!"

"It's going to be a production meeting in a few days, if you don't help me, I'll really ······"

"Secretary Wang!" Wang Chong also had a straight face: "I'll just ask you a question, you said that the yield per mu is 10,000 catties, what should I do if the public grain is really levied according to this figure at that time?" Do you want me to take the villagers and refuse to pay the public grain? ”

"I ······" Wang Wanchun was speechless when asked by Wang, and he didn't know how to answer.

"Don't say it's our Maixiang brigade in this matter, think about it yourself, among the dozens of our Maixiangling brigades, which brigade dares to agree to you about this?"

"Secretary Wang, can you just beg me, don't embarrass me, food is the lifeblood of our people, just for the sake of a momentary spirit, do you have to let us ordinary people take their lives?" Wang Wanchun looked at Wang Chong, who was serious and sincere, and for a moment, he was stunned, staggered back a few steps, sat on the chair, his chapped and white mouth opened, but he didn't make a sound, his eyes were scattered, as if he had lost his soul.

After a while, Wang Wanchun came back to his senses, grabbed Wang Chong's wrist tightly, looked up at Wang Chong, and asked with a worried face: "Then what should I do now, it will be the on-site production assessment meeting in a few days." Wang Zhong sat back opposite Wang Wanchun and said: "A lie often needs to be fulfilled with countless lies, but lying and bragging have to pay a price." ”

"Is it important to help you lie, or is it important for a brigade of hundreds of people to eat and live?" Wang Wanchun was speechless, with a look of entanglement and regret.

Wang Chong continued: "If you really want me to say, it is the most important thing to stop the loss in time at the moment, we are wrong and correct it in time, and there will be a chance in the future, but if the people lose their hearts and push the villagers to the opposite side, then it will be ······." Wang Wanchun suddenly shrunk, became more and more nervous, and grabbed Wang Chong, like a drowning person grasping a life-saving straw: "Then what should I do now?" Wang Chongdao: "I suggest that you better go directly to the county now, go to Secretary Zhou to admit your mistakes, admit your mistakes directly in person, and ask Secretary Zhou for help, you have such a good relationship with Secretary Zhou, as long as you admit your mistakes sincerely, with Secretary Zhou's temperament, you should not sit idly by." Wang Wanchun's eyes suddenly lit up: "Yes, yes, yes, I can find Secretary Zhou, I can also find Secretary Zhou." ”······ After returning to the village from the commune, Wang Chong immediately called Ma Renlian and Niu Daring to a meeting and told everyone about Wang Wanchun.

"10,000 catties per mu?" When several people heard this, they were all shocked.

"Even if you plant grass, you don't have 10,000 catties!" The cow boldly bared his teeth and glared at the bull's eye.

"That's it!" The crowd responded.

"This is too big!" Zhao Youtian and Ma Renlian were also frightened.

"This is not the most important thing, the important thing is that if the above really believes that it can produce 10,000 catties per mu and collect public grain according to this figure, what will happen when the time comes?" As soon as these words came out, several people changed color.

"Not really!" Ma Renlian said with a frown.

"This kind of thing is better to believe in it than to believe in it." Wang Chongdao: "If there are too many lies, there will naturally be more people who believe in them, and now in newspapers and magazines, there are fewer examples of thousands of catties per mu and tens of thousands of catties of a pig?" ”

"How do the leaders above know about the lives of our people? Isn't it through these figures in our newspapers, through these articles interviewed and reported by reporters? Zhao Youtian said: "The big worm is right, don't be afraid of 10,000, just in case, we can't risk ourselves." The rest of the people immediately united with the two.

Wang Chong said again: "I have rejected Secretary Wan Chun, stated the interests and disadvantages to him, and suggested that he go directly to Secretary Zhou, admit his mistakes, and stop losses in time, but I am afraid that he will not be reconciled, if he wants to promote this matter, and then find you, everyone should know what to say, right?" That night, Wang Chong and Ma Renlian, as well as Niu Daring, and Zhao Youtian were all called to the commune for a meeting, Zhou Yihu and Secretary Zhou and Zhang Defu, the deputy county in charge of production, were personally present, and both of them had black faces throughout the whole process.

first reprimanded Wang Wanchun severely, Zhang Defu also took advantage of the topic to play, scolded Wang Wanchun, and finally announced the punishment of Wang Wanchun in front of everyone, deducted his salary, and demerited, but fortunately, his position was kept, and Secretary Zhou took this opportunity to unceremoniously criticize this exaggerated style.

After the meeting, Wang Wanchun called Wang Chong alone and went to his office.

"Taste, the authentic West Lake Longjing is different from the Renli Lake Lane yours." Wang Wanchun poured hot tea for a few people.

"How can Ma Renli's high end compare with West Lake Longjing!" Wang Chong also smiled and said, "It's not a grade at all!" After taking a sip, Wang Chong couldn't help nodding, and then said cheekily: "Secretary Wang, such a good tea, do you want me to order it?" Let me take it back to my house and taste it too? ”

"Go, go, I only have a little left of myself, and I'm about to be blown away by your kid! No, no, no. Wang Wanchun said angrily.

"I said Secretary Wang, you are the secretary of our commune, I have helped you so much, even if you order tea, you are not happy!" Wang Zhong joked: "You obviously want the horses to run, but you don't want to feed the horses to graze!" Wang Wanchun was stunned for a moment, pointed at Wang Chong and shook his head helplessly and said, "You kid is a monkey!" Having said that, he still took out an oiled paper bag from the drawer with a painful face and handed it to Wang Chong: "Take it quickly!" ”

"Don't feel distressed, when the summer harvest is over, I'll go into the mountains to hunt a pheasant and return it to you!"

"That's pretty much it!" Hearing that there was a pheasant, Wang Wanchun had a smile on his face.

"Big worm, you're right, I'm just thinking about it now, let's engage in production, we still have to be down-to-earth, step by step, and it's comfortable in my heart."

"Those big words about crossing the Yellow River this year and crossing the Yangtze River next year, everyone can listen to it, don't take it to heart." Wang Wanchun said self-deprecatingly.

Not to mention anything else, Wang Wanchun's heart to change when he knows his mistakes is better than many people.

"Secretary Wang, I don't agree with what you say!" Wang Chong's voice changed. Wang Wanchun looked at Wang Chong and said, "What? Wang Zhong said: "Is there always a goal to have, we croppers farming, isn't the picture just a bumper harvest and high yield!" If it doesn't work in one year, we will do it for two years, and if it doesn't work in two years, it will take three years, five years, ten years, let's go step by step, accumulate experience little by little, sum up lessons, one day, we will definitely be able to achieve high yields, cross the Yellow River, cross the Yangtze River. ”

"We can't judge gains and losses by temporary success or failure, Secretary Wang, there are so many brigades and so many team members in our commune, but we all need you to lead our big guys to increase production and get rich together and live a good life!" Wang Wanchun sighed, and said with some worry: "If the above really collects public grain according to the reported output, the villagers are afraid that they will really smash the pot and sell iron." Although the Maixiang Brigade has gone solidly, step by step, steadily, without false reports or exaggeration, it is difficult to say about the other brigades of the Commune, and now the newspapers are overwhelming with thousands of dollars per mu, and the original benign competition has gradually evolved into an exaggerated style of comparison, and Wang Wanchun himself has suffered from it.

Thinking of the feeling when he stood at the top and said the unrealistic words in his mouth at the county's production summary meeting that day, Wang Wanchun only felt like a dream.

"You have to hit the south wall to know that it hurts!" Wang Chongdao. Hearing this, Wang Wanchun couldn't help but sigh, with a little worry in his eyes.

Within a few days, the wheat in the field was ripe, and when it was time to harvest the wheat, those who were cheating and lazy on weekdays were not lazy at this time, and they all worked hard to harvest the wheat in the field.

Nearly 1,000 acres of wheat land in Maixiang Village, nearly 200 people, only five or six days of hard work, all of them were recovered, and they were dried in the grain field for three or four days one after another before they were successively included in the village's grain depot.

After seeing the sacks of dried wheat weighed, it was moved into the warehouse, Zhao Youtian, the deputy captain, was responsible for weighing and reporting, Ma Renli and Ma Renlian were responsible for recording, and the other was calculating.

The faces of the onlookers were full of anticipation and a little nervous. With the last sack of wheat on the scale, Zhao Youtian fiddled with the scales and verniers, and only after determining the number did he shout loudly: "One hundred and six catties and four taels!" Hearing this number, the villagers of Team 8 counted it in their hearts.

There are a total of eight squads under the Maixiang Brigade, each squad has seven or eight households, and the number of people is also around 20, and there is not much difference.

"Renlian, benevolent, have you counted it?" Wang Zhong asked.

"It's out!" Ma Renli said, Ma Renlian hurriedly handed the notebook recorded in his hand to Wang Chong. Wang Chong carefully flipped through it, his eyes swept over all the data one by one, and his brain began to work rapidly, but it was only a few hundred data, which was easy for Wang Chong, but after a while, he made sure that there was no mistake.

"Folks, the results are out!" Wang Chong held a big horn in his hand and said loudly: "The first team collects 36,223 catties of wheat, the second team collects 37,862 catties of wheat, and the third team collects 35,646 catties of wheat·····

"This year, our Maixiang Village has a total harvest of 280,000 ····· of wheat, and the average yield per mu has reached 280 catties, of which the highest yield is still the second team, and the biggest improvement is the seventh team, and each member of the second team and the seventh team will be rewarded with 100 points."

"Why is it the second team again!"

"No way, who told our big bug brother to be in the second team!"

"It's been a few stubbles, but the highest output every year is still the second team, where is the reason." Folks, you look at me and say a word, although there are regrets, but the joy and smile on your face can't be hidden.

Since the establishment of the senior society, the land of the whole village has been divided into eight areas according to the direction, originally eight groups, now there are eight production teams, and they rotate every year, but no matter which land the second team assigns, the output is the highest every year.

Wang Zhong stood at the door of the warehouse, holding a loudspeaker in his hand, and said loudly: "It's still the old rule, let's go to the commune today to hand over the public grain, Renlian and Renli will take people to count, tomorrow at six o'clock in the morning, everyone will come to gather and distribute the grain." ”

"Brother Big Worm, can you give us more food this year?" I can't eat enough, and I coax my head with a shy smile.

"What you kid thinks is pretty beautiful!" Wang Chong also smiled and said: "Your kid has taken a handsome daughter-in-law, and his life is very beautiful, don't think about it too beautiful!" ”

"Hahaha!" ······ Early the next morning, the villagers pushed the carts and carried the burdens, and gathered outside the warehouse, Ma Renlian read aloud one by one with the account books, Niu Daring and Zhao Youtian led the militia to distribute food to the villagers.

The sun-tanned faces were full of bright smiles from the heart. Only if I can't eat enough, I can only take two bites, and the smile on my face is a little bitter.

"Ma Renli, Cai Baozi, did you miscalculate, why do we have so much work?" Listening to Ma Renlian's report, he couldn't eat enough and looked at Ma Renli next to him unwillingly.

Ma Renli said: "That's right, Renlian and I have calculated three times, and the branch secretary has also checked it, that's all!" No problem. Ma Renlian also said: "It's really no problem, that's all." ”

"······" I wanted to say something more when I couldn't eat enough, but as soon as I opened my mouth, I was boldly interrupted by the cow who was in charge of distributing food.

"I can't eat enough, you kid don't mess around here for me, I don't see you being diligent when I usually work, if you really want to share more food, you will be diligent in your work in the future, don't cheat and play tricks, earn more work, and this food will be there."

"Brother Daring, I ······" The lack of food was interrupted again, this time it was Wang Chong: "Okay, the people in the back are still waiting, don't delay everyone's time." ”

"That's it!" The villagers in line behind him also spoke impatiently one by one.

"If you can't eat enough, you're embarrassed to toss!"

"Usually the two of you are lazy and stealing the most······" The eyes of the big guys are bright, they can't eat enough to turn around, and they are lazy and can't straighten their muscles, and when they used to be in the mutual aid group and the primary club, they could still be lazy, but they set up a senior club, and Wang Zhong became the branch secretary, and after the implementation of the work division system of more work and more rewards, these two people can't be lazy.

Listening to the big guys' gossip, Xiao Zhuan only felt that his face was like a fire, and he was embarrassed to find a crack in the ground to get into, and the toes hidden in the cloth shoes could be pulled out of three big houses.

Raised his hand and beat him a few times: "What eyes are there here!" Let's go! "I didn't have enough to eat, and I knew that I was at a loss, so I suffered twice, and I let Xiao Zhuan pull him away.