Quincy's Quiet Contemplation Chapter 61

The next day, Lao Pi really left for the provincial government to receive the award. Liu Xueren and the office director organized a gong and drum team to see him off. The gong and drum playing level of Guofenglou was not very high. It was just a social fire tune. I hadn't sung Yin songs for a long time, and I had never touched gongs and drums. When I heard the sound of gongs and drums, I felt itchy and said to the drummer: Let me play. I played a section of "Three-sentence Tune" and a section of "Little Cowherd Tune". They were all stunned. Even Lao Pi said: How do you have this skill? I said: I learned it in my early years. He said: Great, great, can you teach them! I handed the drum to the drummer, and the crowd sent Lao Pi to the road. Lao Pi said: Look, how nice the folks are! He clasped his fists to the crowd who saw him off, bowed again, and said: Go back, folks, go back! His eyes were wet.

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After seeing off Lao Pi, Liu Xueren and Feng Xie went to the brick kiln in Heilongkou. Yan Liben kept them and did not let them go, saying that it was evening and we should have a lamb. This lamb was the one that licked the soles of Miao Tianyi's feet. It was not easy to eat meat at that time. Yan Liben wanted to treat them to lamb, so Liu Xueren and Feng Xie stayed. In the second half of the night, all the people who were renovating the brick kiln were asleep, even the management staff were asleep. Yan Liben asked the three team leaders to pull the lamb to the office, hold the lamb's mouth tightly to prevent it from making any noise, and start stewing it in the pot. Three bowls per person, six people ate the lamb cleanly. Liu Xueren said: It's a pity that our secretary didn't get to eat it. Yan Liben said: When I ate the first bowl just now, I thought of the secretary, and said to myself, this bowl is eaten for the secretary. Liu Xueren said: If he really came to eat, he would probably criticize us. Since he didn't get to eat it, let's get him back to receive the award to welcome him, which can be regarded as making up for him. Speaking of welcoming, Liu Xueren proposed to hold a meeting to celebrate. Yan Liben said: Meetings are inevitable, just meetings? Feng Xie said: Let's make a big red flower with silk, and buy a big red quilt cover for him to cover, we like to wear red and flowers here. Yan Liben said: I think we should give a plaque and hang it in the venue during the meeting. Liu Xueren and Feng Xie both said that this is a good idea, the plaque can be permanent, even if the secretary retires, it will be a glorious memorial to hang it in his old house, so they discussed how big the plaque should be and what kind of wood to use. Feng Xie said: Leave it to me, Qipan Village has good wooden boards and carpenters. Liu Xueren said: The wooden boards in our team are good, but I don't trust the carpenters in the village to do it, so we'd better pull the wooden boards to the county town to do it. In addition, what words should be engraved on the plaque? Yan Liben said: The secretary likes to talk about loyalty to the party the most, he is a model of loyalty, Liu Xueren, you have good handwriting, just write these four words! Liu Xueren said he couldn't write calligraphy, especially big characters, and that Miao Tianyi had to write. Feng Xie said: How can you let him write? ! Yan Liben said: I'll do it, you guys prepare the pen, ink, paper and inkstone.

The next day, Liu Xueren prepared the brush, ink, paper and inkstone in the lower courtyard of the commune, and Yan Liben took Miao Tianyi there. He only told Miao Tianyi to write four characters, but did not tell him what the purpose of writing four characters was, for fear that he would know about the arrogance and would refuse to be reformed in the kiln. Sure enough, when Miao Tianyi heard that he was asked to write four big characters, he asked the musheng who was running around to spread the paper. After a while, he said that the brush was too small, so he changed the brush, and then he thought the ink was too thick, so he mixed it himself. After mixing it, he asked if there was any cigarette. He wanted to smoke to improve his luck, because he couldn't write with enough energy. The person next to him gave him a dry tobacco pot, and he asked the musheng to light it for him. After writing the characters, Miao Tianyi said: musheng, bring me a bowl of water to drink. Yan Liben kicked him and cursed: Take him back to the kiln!

The wooden board and the characters were sent to the county town, and the plaque was completed a few days later. When Feng Xie and Liu Xueren used a frame truck to bring it back, they had five yuan left to make the plaque, so they bought two boxes of biscuits. In the afternoon, the frame truck was pulled to the lower courtyard of the commune. The office director had already led people to set up the meeting place in the courtyard, and the rostrum was set up under a gable. Of course, Tomb Sheng was indispensable when building the platform. He climbed up the ladder and nailed wooden pegs on the gable wall, and then several people carried the plaque and hung it up to see the direction. Everything was suitable, so I took down the plaque and told him that it would still be hung in Lao Pi's office after the pick-up party, so he took the plaque up to the courtyard and nailed wooden pegs to try hanging it too. Feng Xie and Liu Xueren asked the tomb student to carry it with them. The tomb student said, "I'm short, I'm afraid I won't be able to carry it up." Liu Xueren said: Why can't you lift it up? lift! The tomb student carried the front of the plaque, while Liu Xueren and Feng Xie carried the back of the plaque. After going up five steps, the tomb student fell to his knees on the road. Feng Xie scolded: You don’t stand up! The tomb student said: You carry it, and I will imitate the braying of a cow for you. After carrying the plaque to the upper courtyard, the tomb student measured the size of the plaque, nailed wooden pegs on the office wall, and hung the plaque up. Feng Xie and Liu Xueren sat there and ate biscuits. Tomb student said: What do you want to eat? Feng Xie said: Just eat biscuits. The tomb student said: Is it delicious? Feng Xie said: "It's delicious. It's very choking. Go to the bottom of the mountain to get some water." The tomb student went to fetch water. He wanted to spit in the water on the way, but there was no saliva. He cursed: If you eat biscuits and then drink water, you will die! After the water was brought back, Feng Xie and Liu Xueren ate and drank. Feng Xie glanced at Tomb Sheng. Tomb Sheng did not look at them. He raised his head and looked up at the sky. He said: What are you doing? Tomb student said: I am counting birds. Liu Xueren said: Do you want to eat? Tomb student said: Don’t eat. Feng Xie said: Don’t want to eat? Then I won’t give it to you. Tomb student said: Eat it. Liu Xueren said: I still don’t know what I want to eat! Gave him three biscuits. Tomb Sheng bit the first piece twice and swallowed it, then bit the second and third piece bit by bit. After eating, he went to drink some water, slurped the water in his mouth, rinsed it, and then raised his neck. Swallowed. It turned out that Feng Xie and Liu Xueren were eating the two boxes of biscuits for themselves, and they expected to finish them all. However, they didn't expect that they would not be able to eat anymore after eating more than half of them. Liu Xueren said to the tomb student, "Do you still want to eat?" Tomb student said: I want to eat. Liu Xueren said: The cart that pulls the plaque is from the kiln. If you return it, I will let you eat it. The tomb student said: OK! Then he ate the biscuits again, and even ate the rest in one go. Liu Xueren scolded: You are taller, but you eat more than me! Tomb Sheng smiled. He couldn't turn around and could only move his neck. He said, "Let me slow down. Once I get over, I'll send the car away."