2. Divergence

Li Minqiang returned home, washed his face, and the family ate and drank happily around the sumptuous dishes, and everyone was full of smiles. Li Baiwang put a chicken leg into Minqiang's bowl and said with a smile: "When you come back, our family's life will be better soon." Come! Let's have a drink. The two of them raised their glasses and drank together.

Song Xiuqin asked with a smile: "Minqiang, where are you going to work?" ”

"Shagang Village!" Li Minqiang replied without hesitation while eating chicken legs.

Li Baiwang was shocked and his eyes widened: "In our village? You're not an officer! Why do you go back to our village? ”

Li Minqiang smiled and said, "Why can't the officer go back to our village?" I grew up drinking water from Shagang Village, so I have feelings for this place. ”

"Did you make a mistake in the army?"

"What do you want? How could I make a mistake! It is very normal for cadres and fighters of the army to be reinstated and demobilized. ”

"Soldiers are rehabilitated, cadres are demobilized, and you have made meritorious contributions in the army. Qiangzi, if you don't worry, the government will definitely arrange a good job for you. Li Baiwang comforted his son and said.

Li Minqiang smiled and said: "Communist Party members are bricks, and they can be moved wherever they are needed. Come and drink. Pick up the bottle and fill it up for Dad, "Dad, let's do another one!" ”

At this time, Dong Datian came back from a meeting in the town and happily came to Baiwang's house: "Hey, you guys have it!" ”

The family quickly stood up.

"Datian, you can sit down and eat together." Song Xiuqin said with a smile.

Dong Datian smiled and said, "No, I'm sorry to disturb you eating." ”

Li Baiwang said: "What bothers or not, it's not an outsider." ”

Li Minqiang said, "Uncle Tian, sit down and drink some." As he spoke, he filled the wine up.

Dong Datian didn't sit down, stood and picked up the wine that Minqiang gave him, and said happily: "Then I'll have a cup." He drank the wine and put down the wine cup and said, "Qiangzi, you have been assigned to the county public security bureau, this job is not bad!" ”

"Daejeon, what are you talking about?" Li Baiwang asked.

"Minqiang is going to work in the county public security bureau."

"Really?"

Dong Datian said with a smile: "This is still false, it was told to me by Mayor Chang himself." It doesn't affect your meal, I'm leaving, I'll come back later. With that, he turned around and walked out of the house.

Li Baiwang said happily: "Qiangzi, I'm not wrong, right? You are a military officer who has made meritorious contributions, how can the government let you go back to the countryside to farm! It's not bad to work in the county public security bureau, and your partner also works in the county, and the two of you are together, which is great! Qiangzi, you will hurry up to report tomorrow, meet your partner by the way, settle down and quickly tie the knot, and also have a matter on our minds. ”

Li Minqiang said: "Dad, I don't plan to work in the Public Security Bureau. ”

"Why? Don't think the job is good? Piovan widened his eyes in confusion.

"It's not. Didn't I just say that I want to stay in our Shagang Village. ”

"Don't be stupid about what you can do in our village."

"I'm not stupid, I've thought about it, and I'll build our Shagang Village with everyone."

"Farming at home?"

"Hmm."

Li Baiwang tilted his head and said, "You're fine, right?" ”

Song Xiuqin and Xiaoying also stopped eating, and looked at Minqiang with wide eyes with their rice bowls.

"You really don't go to the Public Security Bureau?" Song Xiuqin asked Minqiang.

"Yes!"

"Think about it, it's not a trivial matter." Song Xiuqin said.

"I've made up my mind."

Li Baiwang glared and threw his chopsticks on the table: "Nonsense!" Are you crazy or stupid! ”

Song Xiuqin said: "Baiwang, don't worry, the family should discuss and discuss!" ”

"What's there to discuss!" Li Baiwang, who usually speaks little, has the green tendons on his neck jumping high, like a few old silkworms lying on his face. He said, "What else is there in our village but sand?" What is the love of the backbone of the earth? Who doesn't want to go to the city to live a good life with a salary and live in a building! If you don't do any work in the city, you come to the village to learn about the land, what are you doing? Trying to suffer and suffer? It's just confused! Stupidity! Fool! ”

Song Xiuqin said: "Tell the child well, what's the use of losing your temper." ”

Li Baiwang glared at his daughter-in-law and said, "Long hair and short knowledge, you know a fart!" Don't nag and just stay! ”

Song Xiuqin pouted, muttered softly and left with her rice bowl.

Xiaoying, who was standing on the side, saw that her father was so angry, her little face was flushed with anger, and she couldn't hold back anymore and said, "Why did my brother make such a big fire when he just arrived home!" ”

"It's not your share of talking! Get out of here! Li Baiwang angrily picked up a broom from the ground and was about to fight, but Minqiang stopped him. Xiao Ying put down her rice bowl unconvinced, pouted and ran out.

Song Xiuqin was silent, Xiaoying was driven away, the cheerful atmosphere disappeared, and the room became very deserted.

Li Baiwang sat on the chair next to the table, took out a cigarette pouch from his pocket, filled the cigarette pouch pot with cigarette powder and lit it, and smoked silently.

Song Xiuqin was uneasy.

Song Xiuqin is of medium height, with a well-proportioned figure, although she is not very beautiful, but her facial features are upright. She had just turned eighteen and was introduced to the door of the Li family, she was steady, cautious in her speech, kind-hearted, and had a good relationship with her neighbors. Her son didn't eat his first meal when he got home, how could she be calm. She washed the dishes and forgot to wash the chopsticks, fed the chickens and poured the chicken food into the pig trough, and forgot to add water to the pig's hot food, but she didn't expect her son to be so unhappy when he got home. supported Minqiang to persuade her husband, but she felt that what her husband said was also reasonable, and it was indeed better in the countryside than in the city; But Minqiang may also have his ideas in the countryside, and Minqiang is an assertive child. How can this be done? Her heart was like a mess of tightrope, both panicked and uncomfortable.

Li Minqiang is neither as angry as his father, nor as anxious as his mother. It's about taking advantage of it and being calm. Judging by his countenance, it was with victorious faith. He leaned closer to Baiwang and said in a gentle tone: "Dad, it is not easy for you and your mother to pull me apart, provide me with food and clothing, send me to middle school, join the army, you have always loved me and cared for me, and I remember all these in my heart." I also know that you asked me to work in the county town for a better life in the future, and I am afraid that I will suffer hardships in the countryside. ”

Li Baiwang moved his body, glanced up at Minqiang, and whispered, "It's good to understand." ”

"But the countryside also needs someone to build it."

Li Baiwang said unconvinced: "Without you, the countryside can't be built!" Did you know? In order to leave the countryside, many people in our village are now sharpening their heads and going to the city. But you're good...... Hum! After saying that, he twisted his head and continued to lower his head and smoke his cigarette.

Li Minqiang smiled and said: "They go to the city to work, this is a temporary phenomenon, and after the rural construction is completed, even the people in the city will still go to our rural areas." ”

"Don't talk in the middle of the day, it's impossible!"

"You don't believe it, but I believe it."

"I mean, you are an officer trained by the army, and you should do greater things when you have grown your ability."

"Growing crops is also a big deal, have you ever thought about it, people in the city can't do without us farmers who farm the land! Have you forgotten what people say? There are no mud legs in the countryside, and the city is starving to death. ”

Li Baiwang knocked off the ashes of the cigarette pouch pot and said, "Okay, okay!" I don't want to listen to your big truths, you have grown up, you have ideas, you have grown skills, you don't need me to care about you! After saying that, he stood up and hid out in a huff.

Li Baiwang came out of the house and sat on a longboard table in the courtyard. I put the cigarette pouch and pot into the cigarette purse again, and it took me a long time to get it full, and I pulled out the match, and I couldn't draw it for a long time. Because his teeth chattered, the cigarette pouch was in his mouth, and half of the cigarette was shaken off, and he angrily threw away the matchstick, and knocked half of the pot of cigarette powder to the ground, and sighed. His mind was tumbling up and down like hot porridge in a pot:

Who wants to be in this poor village? How many people sharpen their heads and drill into the city. Why did I support you as a soldier in the first place? Isn't it so that you can leave our poor village and live a good life? But it's better for you to leave it to work in the city, but to endure hardships in the countryside, isn't this a stupid boy! If you let the organization get rid of it, I can't be so angry, get on such a big fire, who told you not to grasp the scale and make mistakes, but you're not! You are a meritorious officer! Now that you have gone out, you must move forward well. It's not easy to serve an iron rice bowl and earn national money!

Your mother and I are worried about pulling you up, how easy should it be for you? After joining the army for so many years, if you don't take it to heart one day, you will be bored and panicked if you don't write from you for a month. You have made meritorious service in the army, you have become an officer, and you have added glory and face to our family, and I am happy from the bottom of my heart. Birds fly to bright places, and people go to high places. You have grown your skills, you should do something big, so that others can afford it, why do you want to come back to farm! Your object is a regular worker in the city, will you dislike you as a farmer? Will the old man in the woman's family agree? Alas, hadrons, hadrons! You think about the problem too simply! I asked you to work in the city, I didn't expect you to help, it was all for your good! Even if you have the ability, the people can afford you, and let you be a village cadre in the future, what's so good about that? Especially in our poor village, what can we do? Besides, rural cadres are so easy to be! It is difficult for one person to call the hearts of a hundred people, and when the people are not satisfied, you don't necessarily say hello to them all day long. Fried beans are eaten by everyone, and the frying pot is borne by one person, and it takes a lot of effort to maybe it will not be a body. Also, the countryside is not like your troops, obey orders and listen to commands! The land in the countryside is now contracted to individuals, and everyone grows their own land, who listens to you! The work is loose and poor, and the superiors are not satisfied; Grasp it tightly, and the people have opinions. Pressing up and squeezing down, it's a matter of a rat getting into the bellows and getting angry. How is Mu Qinglin being a secretary in the village for so many years? It's not that there are a lot of opinions, and everyone puts a corrupt hat on him; Daejeon can't be said to be a village director who doesn't work hard, right? What do you guys say about him? Give a mallet to take it seriously "two hundred and five"; and Wang Wensi, who doesn't know that he is a shrewd person, and it is not his character to be tied up with three people in his heart, when you were still in school, you became a village cadre, what did you end up with after so many years? has a reputation as an "old fritter", Zhu Bajie is not a person inside and out when he looks in the mirror. Your temper is called dead reason, and you don't have any flexibility, so it's not just a quarrel with others! You don't know how heavy it is to hit the moon with a grinding plate! Farming is also a contribution, and everyone will shout these big slogans. There are so many people in the village who still lack you? If you come to the village, our poor village can become a rich village? You think you're the savior! Don't exalt yourself.

"Brother Baiwang, is the strong son back?" Wang Wensi, deputy secretary of the village party branch, entered the courtyard with a smile on his face.

Li Baiwang glanced up at Wang Wensi, his buttocks didn't move, and he replied absentmindedly: "Ah, I'm back." ”

Li Minqiang heard the voice and hurriedly walked out of the house: "Uncle Wen Si is here." ”

Wang Wensi said with a tone of both joy and complaint: "Why don't you bring a letter in advance when you come back, so that you can pick you up personally." As soon as I heard Junko, I hurried to see you coming. ”

Li Minqiang and Wang Wensi walked into the house while talking, and sat on the chair next to the square table in the outhouse. Xiuqin took out a pack of cigarettes from the back room, put it on the table, and sat on the small bench next to her, sewing Xiaoying's clothes.

Wang Wensi had already sensed that the atmosphere at home was wrong, but he didn't know why, so he shouted outside: "Brother Baiwang, it's cold outside, why don't you come and sit in the house." ”

Li Baiwang didn't say anything, nor did he move, but continued to think about his thoughts.

Li Minqiang took out a cigarette from the cigarette case and handed it to Wang Wensi, Wang Wensi lit the cigarette and took a puff, and then spoke: "Qiangzi, do you want to stay a few more days when you come back?" ”

"I'm not going to leave when I come back this time."

"What's the matter, you're back in the place?"

"Well, the army has been reduced, and I have changed jobs."

Wang Wensi said in a comforting tone: "As the saying goes, it is difficult for a soldier in an iron-beaten barracks to work in the army for a lifetime. You have made meritorious contributions in the army, received awards, and are an officer, and you are a person who is both civil and military! The government will definitely give you a good job. In which department is it arranged? ”

"County Public Security Bureau." Xiuqin replied softly.

Wang Wensi said happily: "The Public Security Bureau is so good, it is a government agency, it pays salaries on a monthly basis, and it has a bumper harvest every month of the year!" Then he said, "If you shouldn't say something, it's better to do any job in the city than in the countryside, and what's better in the countryside!" Sweat on a sunny day, mud on a rainy day. The work of the Public Security Bureau is not bad, with the level of Hadron, you may be able to become the director of the bureau after a few years! ”

Li Baiwang heard Wang Wensi's words outside, and the wrinkles on his face stretched a little. I thought, "What's the matter, what I said makes sense, right?" Wang Wensi is a literate cadre in the village, so he must see the problem more thoroughly than me. He looked up, leaning sideways to listen to the conversation in the room.

"Uncle Wen Si, don't say it, I want to be in the countryside."

Wang Wensi was stunned: "What's the matter!" Don't go to work at the Public Security Bureau? ”

"Well, not going."

Wang Wensi shook his head and said: "Your idea is not appropriate, you don't want to think about it, who wants to be shirtless in the countryside and exposed to the sun?" Listen to my uncle's words, it's better to work in the city, what can you do in the countryside! Boring. ”

"I've already thought about building our Shagang Village with you."

"It's decided?"

"It's decided!"

"The whole family agrees?"

Song Xiuqin replied: "His father is having a temper over this. ”

"Brother Baiwang disagrees?"

"Not really."

Wang Wensi pondered for a moment and said, "I don't understand what Qiangzi did. Then he turned his head and said, "But then again, since Qiangzi is not afraid of hardship, he has recognized the way in the countryside, and he has his own reasons." Willing to farm in the arduous countryside shows that the ideological consciousness of the strong son is high, and we should also approve and support it. Doesn't it all said that "revolutionary fighters listen to the party the most, and they will go wherever they are needed, and they will settle down where they are hard," he said with a sigh, "and they are still good people in the army, and they can cultivate aspiring talents." ”

"Uncle, did you support me?" Min Qiang asked.

"Of course I support you! I am happy from the bottom of my heart that you are willing to work with us in Shagang Village, but I am worried that you will not be able to persevere. I also know that you are an ambitious and far-sighted person, and with people like you in Shagang Village, we will definitely do better. I approve from the bottom of my heart. He sighed and said, "Your father is still short-sighted, I have to talk about him." ”

Wang Wensi said and got up from his chair. walked out of the house and came to Li Baiwang: "Brother Baiwang, you can't be tempered, it's a good thing that Qiangzi is willing to stay in our village, you should support him!" ”

Li Baiwang was originally very dissatisfied with Wang Wensi's cat face for a while and a dog face for a while, so he stood up suddenly, glared at Wang Wensi with two eyes and said: "It's really not a backache when you stand and talk, it's good in the countryside, so why doesn't your son farm in the countryside?" If you say these things that are not right in your heart, you are not afraid of a big fan of your tongue. After saying that, he left the house in a rage.

Wang Wensi was stumbled by Li Baiwang's words that he had knocked down the south wall, and his eyes opened stupidly as if he had eaten a nest-necked chicken, and he was at a loss; The upper and lower gums are separated and cannot be closed for a long time. His eyes blinked a few times and he didn't say anything, looking at Li Minqiang who came out of the house, spreading his hands, showing that he couldn't do anything.

"Uncle Wen Si, my father is stubborn, don't worry about it."

Wang Wensi sighed and said, "Kindness is a donkey's liver and lungs", shook his head, and walked out of the yard with his hands behind his back.

As soon as Wang Wensi left, Yang Shulin came. When you enter the door, you shout: "Baiwang!" Piovan ! ”

Li Minqiang and Song Xiuqin greeted them from the house: "Second uncle, do you have something to do with Baiwang?" Xiuqin asked.

"Ahh I'll use your cart and wait for Tateyama to come back and bring the sheep dung to the fields west of the village. Yang Shulin walked into the house and took a look, and asked, "Baiwang is not at home?" ”

Song Xiuqin sighed and said, "He's out!" ”

Yang Shulin listened to Xiuqin's tone and expression a little wrong, she usually doesn't talk to people like this. Looking at Minqiang again, his face was not very good, so he sat down and asked, "Is it awkward?" ”

Although Li Minqiang and Song Xiuqin didn't squeak, Yang Shulin had completely understood.

"Why?"

"For my business." Min Qiang replied.

"What's wrong with you? You should be happy to come back, what kind of trouble is it? ”

Song Xiuqin made a cup of tea and sent it to Yang Shulin and said, "Second uncle, you can have a cup of tea." ”

Yang Shulin took the teacup, put it on the table next to him and asked, "Why is there something awkward?" ”

Song Xiuqin sighed and said: "Qiangzi doesn't want to go to work in the city, he wants to stay in our village, his father doesn't agree, so he doesn't even eat well because of this." ”

Yang Shulin asked Minqiang: "Have you really decided to stay in our village?" ”

"Hmm." Min Qiang nodded deeply.

Poplar was happy and said, "Wow! Our village is in need of someone like Hadron. Ahem, this Baiwang! I'll go to him. "I didn't take a sip of poplar forest tea, and the cart left in a hurry without borrowing it.

Although Yang Shulin is not a village cadre, he is fair, has no personal feelings, the prestige of the masses is high, and the generation is big, the villagers respect and admire him, and he is deeply trusted by everyone, and he is willing to discuss anything at home; When he encounters difficult things, he is willing to ask him for an idea, and he often comes forward to mediate things like family quarrels and conflicts. There are very few people in Shagang Village who don't listen to his advice, and even when a three-year-old child is messing with his mother, as long as Yang Shulin comes over and squints his two kind eyes and says a few words, he will immediately stop making trouble and become obedient. Today's incident happened to the descendants of his old friend Li Yunxiang, and he can't stand by and watch, he has to take care of it, and he has to manage it to the end.

Poplar Forest knows the roots of Baiwang and Minqiang.

Li Baiwang has a good hand in crop work, ploughing, planting, hoeing, and raking in the field; The fighting, lifting, and sifting in the field can also be picked up. He is honest, timid and afraid of things, usually uses his ears more and less with his mouth in front of everyone, and does not like to show his face. When encountering something that doesn't go well, you can endure it, even if you are a little wronged, you don't want to quarrel with others, he often says: quarrel with a red face and a thick neck, can't stand to eat and wear, but will have a grudge, there is a quarrel is better than to go to the edge of the ground to cut the grass back to feed their own sheep. As the saying goes, wilted radish is spicy to death. Don't look at Baiwang's usual wilting, if he is stubborn, he will also be the master of the six relatives who do not recognize the dead.

Li Minqiang is just the opposite of his father's temperament, he talks and does things, and he is a knife and a radish crunchy. He doesn't say what he is not sure of, and once the words are spoken, he must be fulfilled with actions, and there is no turning back when he opens the bow; Be fair and upright to people and things. Don't look at the age, you have the courage and energy to do things. In the eyes of Yang Shulin, Minqiang has been a promising child since he was a child. Now that he has made meritorious contributions in the army and become an officer, he has not forgotten the duty of working people, and he has not gone to the city, but wants to go back to the countryside to be a peasant to build our Shagang Village, and he has done the right thing! How much our village needs someone like Hadron in a strong son! But Baiwang he, cough, how could he be like this!

At this time, Yang Shulin had only one purpose in his heart, and he had to make Baiwang clear no matter what, so that he could not come to the hard one, and he could not let him set up obstacles for the hadron to stumble.