Chapter 65: Reaction
Twenty-some minutes later, Wang Defa, the chief of the county’s main procurement station, reluctantly returned with Sister Wei.
"Old Zheng, what the hell are you doing sending Sister Wei to get me so early in the morning? I hadn’t even finished my breakfast before she dragged me over. Have you no sense of organizational discipline? Who starts work this early? Don’t cadres need to eat too...?"
Before Wang Defa could finish, Zheng Guangrong cut him off from the other end of the line.
"Station Chief Wang, you need to get over here, quick! I’ve got a seafood haul!"
Wang Defa frowned. ’What’s gotten into Old Zheng?’ he thought. ’So jumpy and agitated. He doesn’t look anything like a model cadre or an exemplary Party member!’
"Old Zheng, why are you yelling about a little seafood? Just send it over and be done with it. You’ll get your commendation, don’t worry. Is it fifty jin? Several old leaders haven’t had ocean fish in ages; they’ve been cursing up a storm at the First Secretary’s office!"
"Three or four thousand jin! I urgently need your support!"
"For thirty or forty jin you still need sup... wait, how much did you say?"
Station Chief Wang suddenly realized something was wrong. ’Did Zheng Guangrong say three or four... thousand? Thousand jin?’
"Three to four thousand jin of Hai Pangtou!"
THUD!
Wang Defa had fainted.
"Hello? Hello?!"
Zheng Guangrong shouted anxiously into the phone. Three people had gathered around him—a post office employee, a Commune courier there to pick up newspapers, and the old caretaker. All of them were staring at Zheng Guangrong in disbelief. ’What did the procurement station chief just say? A haul of three to four thousand jin of Hai Pangtou?’
"Old Zheng, what did you say to the station chief? You shocked him so much he fainted?"
Sister Wei’s voice came through the receiver. When Zheng Guangrong heard that Wang Defa had fainted, he flew into a panic. His eyes bloodshot, he roared at Sister Wei through the phone.
"Sister Wei, if he fainted, then wake him up! Kick him! Slap him! Even if he’s about to die, make him finish this business before he croaks!"
Sister Wei was stunned. ’What kind of grudge does Old Zheng have against Station Chief Wang?’ she wondered. ’Is he trying to kill him?’
After a moment’s hesitation, she gritted her teeth.
"Old Zheng, he’s our superior! What if I slap him and he makes things difficult for me later? For this, I’ll need an extra jin of meat!"
Sister Wei was putting it all on the line. Her kids hadn’t seen a scrap of meat in two months. She was counting on Old Zheng’s two jin of meat to have a decent New Year.
"Fine! Slap him!"
Zheng Guangrong readily agreed to Sister Wei’s terms. He would have accepted even if she’d asked for another three or five jin, let alone one.
SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!
The sound of a palm hitting a face came clearly through the receiver, proof that Sister Wei wasn’t holding back. It was followed by Wang Defa’s long, sharp intake of breath.
"Huh? What happened to me? Wei Shufen, you dare to hit me? Are you tired of your job?"
"It wasn’t me! Zheng Guangrong told me to slap you!"
Wang Defa froze for a second, then immediately remembered what Zheng Guangrong had said. He scrambled to his feet and lunged for the phone.
"Old Zheng, are you sure about the three to four thousand jin of Hai Pangtou? Do you realize how big a deal this is? This isn’t the time for ’ten thousand jin per mu’ exaggerations!"
"I’m sure! I swear on my life! Wang Defa, you motherfucker, stop dawdling and get your people over here! If anything happens to this catch, you’ll be a sinner!"
Zheng Guangrong was so frantic he had started cursing. This jolted Wang Defa to his senses. ’Old Zheng is cursing at me,’ he realized. ’This must be the real deal.’ He didn’t dare delay any longer and shouted into the phone, "Wait for me! I’m on my way!"
Without even hanging up the phone, he scrambled out of the main procurement station and made a beeline for the office of Jiang Weimin, the Second Secretary of the county in charge of grain. He left Sister Wei standing there, dumbfounded. ’What did Station Chief Wang just say? How many jin of Hai Pangtou? I must still be dreaming.’
Five minutes later, the county’s only three large trucks were scrambled. Wang Defa and Jiang Weimin boarded quickly with staff from the main procurement station. A police jeep cleared the way in front, while militia members on winter training rode in the bed of the last truck. The convoy sped towards Qianjin Commune.
Back at the Qianjin Commune post office, Zheng Guangrong’s forehead was beaded with sweat. A crowd had surrounded him. The first wave of well-informed people in the Commune had arrived, including leaders from various units like Fatty Li, as well as several of the Commune’s deputy secretaries.
"Old Zheng, we’re just asking you to spare a few jin of fish. Look at you being so stingy! Where is it? Just tell us!"
"It’s at your procurement station, isn’t it? Spare me a few jin! My wife is in her postpartum confinement; she needs the nutrition!"
"Old Zheng, this is a credit to our Commune! You can’t hog it all for yourself!"
Zheng Guangrong kept his lips pressed tightly together, meeting all their insistent questions with silence.
Wang Defa’s words had reminded him. In these special times, filling bellies was the top priority for every region. A haul this large was a monumental achievement, one that would surely be reported up through every level of the hierarchy. ’If a few jin of Hai Pangtou were to end up on His Excellency’s dinner table,’ Zheng Guangrong mused, ’how happy would he be? It would show that the common people are not only feeding themselves but also thinking of him. And surely, he would also be very happy that the people were able to eat goods from Shanghai at a time like this, right?’
With this in mind, Zheng Guangrong’s resolve hardened. He had to protect this catch, and he had to protect Zhao Wendong and his men. If he let these people take even a small share, it would open the floodgates. The loss would be to his own future prospects!
Seeing Zheng Guangrong play dead, Fatty Li’s face darkened.
"Fuck, you’re really pretending to be some big shot now. It must be in the procurement station’s courtyard. Let’s go, we’ll go take a look!"
Hearing this, the crowd all agreed. Zheng Guangrong’s eyes darted. He suddenly pushed his way out of the crowd and sprinted towards the procurement station, shouting as he ran.
"Stay back!"
"It’s at the station! Let’s go, let’s go! After him!"
"Damn it, thousands of jin and he won’t even spare a few fish for our families. That Zheng Guangrong clearly doesn’t respect us!"
"Zheng Guangrong, don’t run! We all have to see each other every day. Do you still want to work in Qianjin Commune or not?!"
Zheng Guangrong watched the crowd rushing toward him and sneered inwardly. He stood at the entrance to the procurement station, blocking them with outstretched arms, and roared.
"The fish inside are state property! Anyone who forces their way in is breaking the law!"
Fatty Li was the greediest of them all. He hadn’t eaten seafood in a long time, and just the thought of Hai Pangtou made his mouth water. Seeing Zheng Guangrong’s do-or-die stance, his expression grew even more sinister.
"Old Zheng, we’re all here to serve the people. We’re all comrades. Are you really going to fall out with us over a few fish? It’s three or four thousand jin! Do you really have to deny us a single bite?"
"That’s right, Zheng Guangrong! Your family might be in the county town, but you work at the Commune’s procurement station. The Commune has the right of joint supervision, so get out of the way!"
"Stop wasting breath on him. Just grab him, search him for the keys, and we’ll open the gate ourselves."
While inwardly calculating how much longer until Station Chief Wang arrived, Zheng Guangrong’s face wore a sanctimonious expression as he yelled.
"I won’t let you. If you want a share of the goods or the credit, you can take it up with the county leaders when they arrive. Right now, my duty is to protect the procurement station’s property. I am the chief of this station, and everything here belongs to the state. I have an obligation to protect it."
"Fuck, give you an inch and you take a mile! Get him! Search him."
Fatty Li yelled, and several people from the crowd surged forward to restrain Zheng Guangrong. Hearing its master in trouble, the big dog, Dahei, began to bark furiously from inside the courtyard.