Chapter 40.2: Director Zhao leads a team to the County Town

When Zhao Ke arrived at the Commune courtyard, she was indeed planning to find Director Zhang from the Women’s Federation, but on the way, Administrator Cheng stopped her and took her into the Commune’s meeting room.

The meeting was not about whether the cooperative could be established but about what adjustments were needed for the Zhao Village Production Team’s cooperative.

Zhao Ke was in a good mood and didn’t mind the official language of the meeting at all. Her pen flew across the page as she took notes and even managed to get a notebook and a bottle of fountain pen ink from the Commune.

After the meeting, Administrator Cheng informed Zhao Ke to come and pick up the documents the following morning.

Zhao Ke planned to stay at the Commune tonight and wasn’t in a hurry to leave. She stopped Administrator Cheng for a few minutes, asking him to help issue a certificate and an introduction letter.

Administrator Cheng agreed, “I’ll give them to you tomorrow along with the other documents.”

The next day, Zhao Ke arrived at the Commune courtyard right as the office hours began.

Around nine o’clock, Zhao Ke obtained the Commune-stamped document permitting the Zhao Village Production Team to organize a cooperative. Without delay, she got on her bicycle and headed back.

The Production Team had set the time for signing and bookkeeping from two to five in the afternoon.

At 11:30 a.m., Zhao Xinshan and the other two didn’t go home. They all sat in the team committee office, filling the room with smoke.

Accountant Niu stood by the window, constantly looking outside, “Why hasn’t Zhao Ke come back yet? Could something have gone wrong?”

Deputy Team Leader Xu paced back and forth with an enamel mug in hand, “Could it be that the Commune didn’t approve it?”

Zhao Xinshan held a cigarette between his fingers, the cigarette burning without being puffed, and said irritably, “Lao Xu, stop pacing. You’re making me dizzy.”

Deputy Team Leader Xu couldn’t sit still, so he went over to stand by Accountant Niu and looked outside with him.

A few minutes later, a young girl’s figure appeared in the courtyard.

Deputy Team Leader Xu and Accountant Niu got excited for a moment but quickly deflated.

It was Zhao Yunyun, not Zhao Ke.

Zhao Yunyun walked to the window, poked her head in, and was overwhelmed by the smoky air. Her eyes stung, and she quickly backed away, covering her nose as she said, “Dad, Mom told you to come home for lunch.”

Then she glanced around and asked, “Zhao Ke hasn’t come back yet?”

Accountant Niu replied, “Not yet. From the Commune to our village, even riding fast, it takes about three hours.”

“She should be back soon.” Zhao Xinshan didn’t move. “Tell your mom you all eat first; don’t wait for me.”

Zhao Yunyun had blind confidence in Zhao Ke, “There’s definitely no problem. You all don’t need to worry.”

Zhao Xinshan still sat where he was.

Zhao Yunyun first went home to inform her mother, Li Cuihua, then returned to wait for Zhao Ke with the others.

After a day, a night, and half a day, the entire Production Team already knew why Zhao Ke went to the Commune.

Under the old locust tree, there were usually many women. Today, besides the women, there were also quite a few men.

There was an unwritten rule in the village that the area under the old locust tree was the women’s territory, and men were not allowed to linger.

So, the men squatted a bit farther away, talking amongst themselves.

Everyone appeared to be doing their own thing, but in reality, they kept glancing toward the road leading out of the village.

The Commune’s approval of the cooperative mattered to everyone.

After another half hour passed and everyone finished their meals, many people who had nothing to do also wandered over to the village entrance, making the crowd under the old locust tree grow larger and larger.

Finally, a figure appeared at the end of the road.

Someone shouted, “They’re back!”

As Zhao Ke’s bicycle approached, an impatient team member loudly asked, “Director Zhao, did the Commune approve it?”

Zhao Ke didn’t stop the bike, riding through the crowd and shouting back, “Sign the contract with the team in the afternoon!”

Hearing this, many team members under the old locust tree smiled. With the Commune’s approval, the matter was now more secure.

Even those who were previously hesitant began making decisions.

The team members exchanged a few words and then dispersed to bring the news home.

---

At the team committee—

Deputy Team Leader Xu and Accountant Niu’s expressions brightened the moment they saw Zhao Ke on her bike.

“Finally back!”

Zhao Xinshan immediately stood up and quickly walked to the window.

Zhao Yunyun, less composed than them, waved enthusiastically from under the eaves and shouted, “Zhao Ke! Did it work?”

Zhao Ke shouted back, “It worked.”

All four people beamed with joy, and the heavy burden in their hearts was lifted.

Zhao Ke stopped the bike, got off, hooked the stand with her foot, and walked toward the window while taking out documents from her bag to hand to Zhao Xinshan.

Zhao Xinshan opened them and, seeing the red seal of the Commune, his smile grew wider. “Good, good, good.”

Deputy Team Leader Xu and Accountant Niu leaned in to look as well. Accountant Niu smiled at Zhao Ke. “Tired? Go home and eat. Come back early in the afternoon.”

Zhao Ke was indeed hungry, so she bid them farewell and rode off quickly on her bike.

Zhao Yunyun began urging them.

The three of them looked over the documents again, then locked them in the file cabinet before closing the windows and doors to go home for lunch.

---

At two in the afternoon, the courtyard was packed with people, almost as lively as election day.

With so many people crammed together, coming and going became inefficient.

Zhao Ke stood on a stool with a megaphone to maintain order. “Those who don’t plan to invest, please step aside a little to make space for those lining up to invest. Everyone, please cooperate. There’s enough time for everyone.”

When the team members started moving, Zhao Ke got off the stool and handed the megaphone to Deputy Team Leader Xu.

Zhao Ke entered the room and sat at the same table as Team Leader Zhao Xinshan. At the other table sat Zhao Yunyun and Accountant Niu.

The two tables were placed side by side.

Deputy Team Leader Xu called in the first team member in line.

The agreements were handwritten, in duplicate. One copy was kept by the team member, and the other was filed with the Production Team.

After briefly explaining the procedure, Zhao Ke instructed the team member on how to sign. Once they signed and pressed their fingerprint, Zhao Ke and Zhao Xinshan also signed and stamped the team’s seal.

The team member then moved to Zhao Yunyun and Accountant Niu to confirm the investment amount, hand over the money, record the transaction, sign, and complete the process.

At that point, Deputy Team Leader Xu called in the next team member.

The workflow was seamless.

After processing thirteen people, the next to enter was educated youth Fu Hang.

The inclusion of educated youth in the cooperative had been previously discussed. Although Zhao Village team members were generally exclusionary, the grain quotas of educated youth were tied to the Production Team, and they participated in team labor. They were undeniably part of the team.

So, the final decision was to allow their participation.

Zhao Ke, Zhao Xinshan, and Accountant Niu treated Fu Hang’s presence as completely normal and followed the procedure.

Zhao Yunyun, however, was visibly more enthusiastic, with personal bias evident in her overly warm explanation.

Her behavior was too obvious, making Zhao Xinshan’s face darken.

Zhao Ke lightly coughed to signal her, but Zhao Yunyun didn’t notice.

Zhao Ke kicked her under the table.

Turning her head, Zhao Yunyun saw her father’s stern face and immediately corrected her posture.

Zhao Xinshan had included her to help her learn and improve, hoping she might develop in the future.

If she didn’t take it seriously, she would definitely get scolded at home.

Then came Zhuang Lan.

Zhao Ke did not hide that she admired the female lead Zhuang Lan more than the male lead Fu Hang. When she saw Zhuang Lan, she gave her a smile.

When Fu Hang reached the door and saw this, his steps paused slightly before he lowered his gaze and took another step forward.

Zhuang Lan looked a little embarrassed, holding her pocket and asking, “I saved for a long time and managed to save up three yuan. Can I invest three yuan?”

This was money she had secretly earned doing odd jobs before coming to the countryside. Her family didn’t know, and it was her only savings.

Zhao Ke smiled and said in a casual tone, “There’s no limit on the amount in the first year. Three yuan is fine too.”

Zhuang Lan’s eyes curved into a smile, and she returned Zhao Ke a big grin.

All the members in line entered the office one by one. After Deputy Team Leader Xu confirmed repeatedly with a loudspeaker that no one else wanted to invest, he returned to the office.

Zhao Yunyun and Accountant Niu were calculating the total amount on the side. Deputy Team Leader Xu closed the doors and windows to prevent the members outside from eavesdropping and asked, “Is it half?”

“About.”

Zhao Ke glanced at the notebook by her side.

There were 56 households in Zhao Village Production Team, excluding the educated youth point, and 23 had participated. Adding the four from the team committee, that made 27 households.

Plus, three educated youth had invested: Fu Hang with 30 yuan, Lin Haiyang with 5 yuan, and Zhuang Lan with 3 yuan.

Altogether, there were 30 households investing.

For the first year, that wasn’t a small number.

After all, the outcome was still unknown to the members, and hesitation was understandable. Some families really didn’t have the money, like Wang Yinghui’s family.

Next to her, Accountant Niu’s abacus stopped. “Today, the members invested a total of 312 yuan. Adding the 650 yuan from before, that makes 962 yuan in total.”

With so much money, Zhao Xinshan suddenly felt uneasy about Zhao Ke taking just two people on the trip. “Let’s get two more young men from the village to go to the County with you.”

He asked Zhao Ke who she wanted to take along.

Zhao Ke named Wang Lao San, Wang Xiangquan, and Zhao Shuanzhu. Both of them were quite strong.

Zhao Xinshan agreed.

Afterward, they discussed how much to leave for building the pigsty and covering subsequent costs, as well as other tools to bring back from the County besides piglets.

In the end, they decided to leave 162 yuan and have Zhao Ke take the remaining 800 yuan to the County.

The next day, at dawn, Zhao Rui, Wang Lao San, and Zhao Shuanzhu were already waiting at Zhao Ke’s house.

Yesterday afternoon, Yu Xiulan had used scraps of fabric to sew five fist-sized pouches. The 800 yuan was divided into five portions, and Zhao Ke and Zhao Feng had already sewn their shares into their waistbands yesterday. Today, she sewed the remaining three shares into the waistbands of the others.

For all three, it was their first time carrying so much money. They were too nervous to care about being embarrassed while Yu Xiulan handled their trousers, their whole bodies tense.

At about three in the morning, Uncle Ban’er arrived at Zhao Ke’s house with the ox cart.

Zhao Feng brought out two bicycles from home. Two people rode bicycles, while three took the ox cart to leave the village.

Zhao Rui and the other two were so on edge that any little sound startled them. If someone passed by on the road, their eyes stayed glued to the passerby until the person was far away before they looked away.

Zhao Ke, who had been relatively calm, was affected by their nervousness and began to feel tense as well.

If the 800 yuan was lost or stolen, the entire village would be back to square one.

The responsibility was heavy.

Their route was to take a minibus from the Commune to the County.

Zhao Ke had made arrangements with Master Yu beforehand to store the bicycles at her dormitory, so Uncle Ban’er dropped them off at the bearing factory before leaving.

They had set off early, so they arrived before the factory’s work hours. Zhao Mian was already waiting for them and led them to store the bicycles at Master Yu’s place.

After leaving Master Yu’s dormitory, Zhao Mian said, “You haven’t eaten yet, have you? I’ll take you to the cafeteria for breakfast.”

Zhao Feng was carrying the two old hens that were promised to be brought to the coworker. To avoid missing their bus, they had to deliver them to the coworker’s home first.

However, as soon as Zhao Ke mentioned splitting up for a short while, Zhao Rui and the other two immediately insisted on going along with her.

Zhao Ke said, “It’s fine, the two of us won’t have any problems.”

Zhao Shuanzhu froze, stiff and nervous, his lips turning pale: “No, I’m scared.”

Zhao Ke: “…”

Alright then.