stjorthotic Chapter 10 Why is living so difficult?
Chapter 10 Why is living so difficult?
Sun Changkui was amiable, while Wu Laowai was crooked and had a sharp head.
After firing his gun, Chu Maolin looked at the strings of crucian carp seeds on the snow crust and said in a sarcastic tone:
"Chen Tuo, these things in the river and mountains are, in principle, public property..."
Before Chu Maolin could finish speaking, Wu Laowai, who was smoking a pipe, retorted.
"Little blind man, Chen, the educated youth, was sent down from above! Why didn't you arrange work for him or allocate him a quota?"
Wu Laowai, true to his name, is not only a well-known old vagrant in Songling, but also has a crooked mouth. When he's in a bad mood, he'll pick a fight with anyone he can.
And this old codger is never in a good mood.
Aside from Wu Laowai, a vagrant who makes a living by running around in the mountains and has a crooked mouth, most people in Songling don't dare to mess with him.
However, Chu Maolin, the deputy head of the security section of the Forestry Bureau, is clearly not among them.
"What business is it of yours, Chen Tuo, to manage the affairs of the forest farm?"
The impressions of the wooden house were not enough for Chen Tuo to discern Chu Maolin's personality.
When this guy did it again, Chen Tuo knew he was just a toad looking for trouble.
"Chu Maolin, is that it? You're trying to say that this belongs to the public, and all the profits should go to the public, right?"
Unlike Wu Laowai, a familiar face, Chen Tuo, a educated youth left behind, was known to very few people in the entire Songling area.
Those who were truly close to him had already returned to the city.
The "return to the public" that he said was different from the one that Wu Laowai said.
If he really manages to extort money from the forest farm, that would be a problem.
Chu Maolin was unaware of the intricacies involved, but Sun Changkui understood the complexity of the issue.
I've been in Songling for almost ten years, does that count as seniority?
Once you're actually in the forest farm, will you be given any benefits?
Should I apply for a professional title?
These aren't things you can just say offhand; there are rules from above!
But the forest farm was also scratching its head about what kind of treatment to give the stranded educated youth.
If you give them too little, they definitely won't be happy.
If you give too much, will the forestry workers be happy?
Actually, the forest farm's idea was very simple.
For unregistered individuals like Chen Tuo, who have no legal status, they can simply leave and that's it; no one will bother with them.
It's cleaner now that they're gone.
The forestry farm takes care of him, but does it take care of the children of its unemployed employees?
They took care of the children of employees, but what about the migrant workers from Shandong and Henan provinces who came to the Great Northern Wilderness to beg for food in 1961 and 1962?
Do they care about their children?
With the increasing demand for timber.
The original pioneers of the Songling Forest Area have gradually withdrawn from the front line of production.
In the Songling Forest Area today, most of the leadership, technical, and low-workload positions are filled by people who know Sun Changkui.
Most of the people on the front lines of logging, transportation, and storage were newcomers he didn't know.
Even so, the forest farm wouldn't give this educated youth Chen the simplest temporary jobs like pulling ropes or pruning branches.
They really gave it to me.
We also need to prepare at least several hundred more jobs.
Sun Changkui was deep in thought, so he spoke slowly. Before he could open his mouth, Chu Maolin nodded.
"yes!"
"Then all these fish belong to the forest farm. Tomorrow, I'm going to the forest farm for a meal. If they don't give me food, I'll starve to death at the forest farm gate!"
After saying that, Chen Tuo ignored both the fish in the fishpond and the sled on the snow crust.
Carrying an axe and a clearing knife, they went straight to the riverbank and walked towards the educated youth settlement without looking back.
"That kid's really sharp. Now he's all set, he'll be staying at the Forestry Bureau's guesthouse from now on..."
After making his sarcastic remarks, Wu Laowai didn't do what Chen Tuo did—busy for a while and then leave empty-handed.
Instead, he pulled up the sled, pointed to the wolf skin and wolf meat on it, and said:
"Little blind man Chu, I'm really looking for a place to retire! If you say this is a government-run place, I'll stay at the guesthouse tomorrow!"
Chu Maolin dared to bully Chen Tuo because he was young and because he was an educated youth.
But I really wouldn't dare say that Wu Laowai's things belong to the public.
If you actually take his things, he'd dare to stay at the forestry bureau's guesthouse, or even the farm director's house, let alone the forestry bureau's guesthouse.
Only after Wu Laowai had pulled the sled away from the river bend did Sun Changkui speak:
"Xiao Chu, Chen Zhiqing's matter is no small thing. If he stands in front of the Forestry Bureau tomorrow, those people pulling traps and pruning branches will dare to join him in making trouble!"
Just as Sun Changkui had said, Chen Tuo, walking back to the educated youth settlement, had already come up with a title for causing trouble.
Why is living so difficult?
Songling Snow Plain.
Songling's Iron Age and more than a dozen other novels...
If he could do it all over again, he still wouldn't be able to remember the original text of these novels.
But mastering the general ideas and understanding the highlights are essential skills for him.
He could endure having no money, no status, and even no food.
Fishing and hunting were prohibited, and everything was made public, effectively cutting off his last means of survival.
Since he wasn't allowed to live, he had no choice but to smash the pot...
The required courses in Chinese literature not only taught him modern and contemporary literature.
How else can you create an emotional scene?
The twenty jin of cornmeal and two sacks of potatoes in the gatehouse of the educated youth settlement were enough to support him in writing two or three short stories.
As long as he can publish even one book, the problems he faces will no longer be problems.
As for the Songling Forest Area, which has been fabricated, what will happen?
They won't even let him eat, so who cares what happens to him?
Filled with resentment, he returned to the gatehouse of the educated youth settlement.
Chen Tuo did not write anything in the black-backed, red-covered diary.
Instead, he tore off pieces of birch bark, laid them on the simple, rough dining table, and wrote the title, "Why is living so difficult?"
To take the riches and honors of life and bring them back twenty years later.
By drawing on the experiences of educated youth from various regions and combining them with the hardships they endured in life, Chen Tuo wrote a novel about trauma, which was his means of retaliation.
Arguing with Chu Maolin about whether the fish belong to the public or private individuals will not result in a winner or loser.
Even if I win a fight against him, what good will it do?
Besides, there were more than ten of them carrying guns!
How do I play?
Who hit whom?
These are all problems.
Words can be used to record and praise, or they can be used to satirize and criticize.
It can also be used for leisure and entertainment.
Of course, it can also be used to evoke emotions...
Pick up a pencil and write on the birch bark:
Wealth and honor, your family has eight members.
Wealth and honor, your family has seven graves.
My father starved to death...
My mother starved to death...
Jia Zhen starved to death...
Youqing starved to death...
Fengxia starved to death...
Erxi starved to death...
Kugen starved to death...
Fugui also starved to death, which made enough for eight graves...
On a piece of birch bark no bigger than the palm of my hand, I wrote down the anger in my heart.
Following the self-introduction in his survival diary, Chen Tuo wrote another beginning.
My name is Fugui. I graduated from elementary school in 1973 and had just started junior high school when I came to the forest area of Beidahuang: Songling.
There were soybeans and sorghum growing all over the mountains, but I didn't get to eat a single bite...
Just as Chen Tuo was about to begin writing, Wu Laowai pulled open the door of the gatehouse from the outside.
A gust of wind blew by, scattering palm-sized pieces of birch bark all over the ground.
"Uncle Wu..."
Looking back at the troublemaker Wu Laowai, Chen Tuo's face showed no anger or resentment, only a gaze and reluctance towards the birch bark.
"The wolf and the water buffalo are both on the sled. If you want to survive, you have to go to the Forestry Bureau tomorrow."
Wu Laowai pulled Chen Tuo back from the snow, and Hu Yuling rescued him as well.
This means that he has become involved in the relationship between the two individuals and their respective families.
The fear of being extorted was only one factor. If Chen Tuo were to freeze or starve to death at the educated youth settlement, whether it was someone who pulled him away or someone who rescued him, trouble would be inevitable.
Old Wu was enthusiastic, but only to avoid unnecessary trouble; he wasn't genuinely concerned about Old Wu's life...