Around three in the afternoon, Zhou Cang arrived at Zhao Kaishan's house carrying two bottles of liquor and a small bag of peanuts. The others were already inside, chatting and joking, creating a lively atmosphere.
Seeing him enter with bottles in his hand, Zhao Kaishan quickly got up and greeted him, "Look at you, child. It's enough that you came, you didn't need to bring anything!"
"Captain, I went to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative around noon and got some scattered liquor. It's to warm everyone's stomachs!" Zhou Cang said with a smile, placing the bottles on the table. He then took out the peanuts from his pocket and opened the bag.
"Oh, Fugui, you... next time, if you do this again, I won't let you come!" Zhao Kaishan pretended to complain, but his hands honestly twisted open the bottle cap.
"Whoa! tiger bone wine!" As a Production Brigade Captain, he had drunk some good wine in better years. In the past two years, his family only had sweet potato liquor.
Zhao Kaishan was a bit moved. With these two bottles of tiger bone wine, the quality of this meal instantly changed.
"tiger bone wine?" The others heard and crowded around, their eyes gleaming.
"Hey, it smells so good!" Zhang Quanfu swallowed hard. He hadn't eaten his fill much these past years, and drinking alcohol was even rarer.
Zhao Kaishan's wife brought over a stack of bowls and poured about two ounces of wine for each person. They all looked at it eagerly, reluctant to drink.
Immediately after, a pot of stewed wolf meat with potatoes was brought out, along with a pot of coarse flour pancakes and a plate of spicy pickled cabbage.
Everyone felt a bit emotional. In these times, just not starving to death was incredibly difficult. They toiled daily for a bite to eat. Who dared to dream of drinking alcohol and eating meat?
During the winter slack season, every family ate only two meals a day. Perhaps only cadres in the city ate three meals a day?
But today, they were somehow eating meat and drinking alcohol!
It was simply because they had gone into the mountains with the Captain to look for someone. It was indeed dangerous. They first encountered wolves and then were chased by a tiger. Thankfully, Fugui was there.
Thinking of this, everyone, including Zhao Kaishan, looked at Zhou Cang.
"Huh? Why are you all staring at me?" Zhou Cang was taken aback by their gaze.
"Fugui, on this trip into the mountains, everyone's lives were actually saved by you," Zhao Kaishan said, holding his wine bowl.
"If you hadn't been there, we really can't say how many of us would have returned whole."
"Right," Zhang Quanfu also said from the side, "I have to thank you for saving my life. I almost got eaten by a Tiger!"
The others also nodded repeatedly.
"Come! Let's first toast Fugui!" Zhao Kaishan raised his bowl and said loudly.
"It's not necessary, everyone. Don't say that. We're all from the same village. Why be so clear-cut?" Zhou Cang smiled and clinked bowls with them.
They clinked bowls heartily but drank in small sips. Putting down their bowls, Zhao Kaishan pointed at the table with his chopsticks, "Come on, everyone eat! Eat your fill today!"
After speaking, he first picked up a peanut and put it in his mouth, slowly savoring it with deliberate reserve.
However, seeing the other guys unceremoniously grabbing and eating meat, he quickly picked up a piece of wolf spine bone and started gnawing on it too.
Zhou Cang looked at the crowd and smiled. At this moment, he finally completely integrated into this world. The people here were no longer just NPC characters to him, but real, living people!
This group of the world's most suffering and hardship-stricken mountain people would work honestly as long as they had something to eat.
As for the educated youths they saved together yesterday, whether they remembered their life-saving grace or not, everyone had already forgotten about it.
However, Chen Zhiguo at this time could not accept it. He had led several educated youths into the mountains wanting to hunt some pheasants, but returned missing one. How could he explain this?
After escaping back to the village with Wu Yuan and the others, everyone else went home to rest. Wu Yuan went to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to report the situation to his superior. Chen Zhiguo, on the other hand, secretly found Director Liu of the educated youth office.
"That's how it is, Director Liu, you must uphold justice for us! Their Second Team stole our game, Captain Wu didn't do anything about it, and they didn't even let us rest, forcing us to rush down the mountain overnight. As a result, we encountered a Tiger, and Comrade Wang Qi sacrificed his life for nothing!"
As he spoke, Chen Zhiguo started crying, "Director Liu, what should we do!"
Bang!
Liu Qifeng slapped the table and stood up, "This is simply lawless! Don't worry, the organization will not ignore this matter. We will definitely investigate thoroughly and give you an explanation!"
"You go to the Commune's small canteen first to eat something, then go back and rest. I will arrange for people to enter the mountain as soon as possible to try and find Wang Qi's body!"
Chen Zhiguo had made his complaint, and he was indeed hungry, so he didn't linger and went directly to the Commune's small canteen to eat.
It wasn't a wasted trip. The canteen had made stewed tofu with vermicelli today. The chubby cook at the canteen was also surprised; a small basin of food was wiped out by Chen Zhiguo in a few minutes.
"Oh my, he was really starving!"
The chubby cook was slightly overweight, clearly a person of fortune. It's true, no matter what disaster year it is, cooks truly never starve. From the chubby cook's physique, one could tell that the Commune should still have reserves.
On the other side, after waiting for a long time, Wu Yuan finally met with the Commune Party Secretary. He dared not hide anything and truthfully reported the situation. After all, when the incident happened in the mountains yesterday, there were educated youths and villagers present, and even earlier, there were Zhao Kaishan and others from the Second Team.
As long as the organization sent people to investigate, the whole truth would be clearly revealed. He wasn't concerned about what disciplinary action he would face, because he was already prepared. At worst, he just wouldn't be the Production Brigade Captain anymore.
However, he still decided to go to the Second Great Brigade tomorrow. On one hand, it was to thank Zhao Kaishan, and on the other hand, it was to communicate the situation.
While waiting for the Secretary, he saw Chen Zhiguo. Although they didn't come together, their destination was the same compound.
After a little thought, Wu Yuan guessed Chen Zhiguo's purpose for coming here. He must have wanted to shirk responsibility.
Even though those educated youths were led by him, Chen Zhiguo, now that someone had died, it became a matter for his Three Team!
Fortunately, he didn't hesitate and went straight to the Secretary. Otherwise, if someone stirred up trouble in the middle, things might develop in a skewed direction!
Such things have happened throughout history and are not new at all.
The same matter, told by different people, will have different presentations, and the information the listener receives may be problematic.
It's not necessarily false, but just by slightly emphasizing certain aspects in the description, it can lead to completely different results.
This is the art of language, and even more so, a struggle for the right to speak!
Whoever controls the right to speak can gain the upper hand. Whoever doesn't control it will be attacked!
Now that an educated youth has died, who knows who Chen Zhiguo will pin the blame on? Will it be considered an accident blamed on the Tiger? Or will it be considered his, Wu Yuan's, dereliction of duty? Or even blamed on the Second Team?
After all, Chen Zhiguo and the other educated youths were still resentful that the Second Team didn't share the wolf with them, completely disregarding the fact that they had saved them.
However, one thing is certain: anyone could be responsible, but he, Chen Zhiguo, will absolutely have no responsibility!