However, it was too late to discuss work. Gu Changshun, the deputy county magistrate in charge of poverty alleviation, dragged Li Rui and the others to have dinner first.
The dinner was held in the courtyard of the village committee. The village had spent money to invite a mobile restaurant in the village to cook and stir-fry dishes on the spot. It was not that they did not want to invite Li Rui and the other city leaders to a big restaurant. However, the nearest restaurant was in Longwang Temple Village, which was more than 20 miles away from Little Longwang Village. It was a bumpy gravel road. It would take at least half an hour to drive there. Therefore, they could only make do.
Li Rui looked at the "kitchen" of the mobile restaurant. In fact, there was no kitchen at all. It was just a tent set up near the west wall of the courtyard. Inside was a place for stir-frying. Outside, there were several simple stoves connected to liquefied gas tanks. They were stewing pork ribs and pork trotters. There was also an earthen stove that was boiling water. In the stove, there was a crackling sound of firewood burning red. There were a few wires scattered randomly on the ground. The other end of the wires was connected to an electric rice cooker, an electric fan (used to remove smoke and fumes), an electric kettle, and so on.
Some working women with sunburned faces and dirty aprons were running around in and out of the kitchen. They were either holding freshly cooked dishes or dirty dishcloths in their hands. It was a breathtaking scene. There were also a few khaki-colored firewood dogs that were walking around on the ground. They were mainly surrounding the big pot of stewing meat, hoping that fat meat would fall from the sky. The courtyard was filled with the rich aroma of meat. It was mixed with the fragrance of burning firewood and the smell of smoke. From time to time, charcoal ashes would fly up and fall all over the courtyard.
Although Li Rui was born in a poor family, he had lived in the city since he was young. Since he was young, all the weddings and funerals he had encountered and all the banquets were held in restaurants. When had he ever seen such a scene in a mobile restaurant? It was very interesting to see it, and he could feel a strong sense of homesickness.
Deputy County Head Gu Changshun noticed that Li Rui was looking at him. He knew that although his rank was not as high as Ling Shuyao, he was representing the Municipal Party Committee's Secretary, Song Chaoyang. He did not dare to slight him. He smiled and said, "Director Li, the conditions in the village are a little shabby. I hope you don't mind." Li Rui shook his head and said, "It's okay. In my opinion, you guys are already spending a lot of money on this. There's no need for this at all. It's fine as long as you have an ordinary farmer's meal. " Gu Changshun carefully sized him up and saw that there was a dignified expression on his face and there was no trace of sarcasm in his eyes. Only then did Gu Changshun let out a sigh of relief and said with a flattering smile, "Please take a seat. You have come from afar, so you must be starving …"
Everyone then took their seats.
A total of six people came from the city this time. Among the six people, Li Rui, Ling Shuyao, and Ai Guowei had the highest status. Therefore, Gu Changshun invited the three of them to sit alone at a table. He also called Liu Zhijun, Director of the County Poverty Alleviation Office, and the Secretary of the Dragon King Temple Township to accompany him. The other three officials from the Municipal Transportation Bureau were accompanied by the Deputy Director of the County Poverty Alleviation Office, the Project Manager of the Poverty Alleviation Office, the Deputy Secretary, and the Deputy Mayor. The other staff and village officials sat at the third table.
If an outsider came and saw this scene, and saw that the three tables were filled with more than 20 people, they might think that these people were just sitting around randomly. At most, they would simply arrange their seats according to whether they drank or not. In fact, the order of these people's seating was very particular.
For example, at Gu Changshun's table, Gu Changshun originally wanted to invite Li Rui to sit at the head of the table. However, Li Rui insisted and asked Ling Shuyao to sit at the head of the table. Ling Shuyao was a woman who did things her own way. She did not stand on ceremony at all when Li Rui asked her to sit. Of course, she was also a Deputy Director. As a guest, it was only right for her to sit at the head of the table.
When Gu Changshun saw her sitting at the head of the table, he invited Li Rui to sit on her left, and he sat on her right. He also asked Liu Zhijun, Director of the County Poverty Alleviation Office, to sit at the head of the table below Li Rui. Ai Guowei sat at the head of the table below Liu Zhijun. Gu Changshun sat at the head of the table below him.
Therefore, this simple table showed the status of everyone and the status of both the host and the guest. If someone from other places came to propose a toast during the meal, they could easily tell who to toast first by looking at the order of everyone's table. It could be said that the culture of officialdom was formed by the accumulation of similar things.
From the moment they started to eat, Gu Changshun and the other local leaders started to propose toasts to Li Rui and the others. If the food was made by a mobile restaurant and the quality was a little low, then the wine was quite high-end. It was a bottle of Maotai Flying Heaven. Li Rui did not even need to think to know that Gu Changshun had brought this wine from the county. This was because even the Dragon King Temple, the County Party Committee and the government definitely did not have the financial ability to enjoy Maotai Flying Heaven.
Of course, it did not matter where the Maotai Flying Heaven came from. It was none of Li Rui's business. What he needed to do was to drink the wine when the other party proposed a toast. It was fine if he did not do it, but he would be looked down upon by others. They would think that he was "not happy, not straightforward, and did not behave well after drinking." Now, everyone knew that one's behavior after drinking was one's character. If people thought that one did not behave well after drinking, it also meant that one's character was not good. How could he carry out his work then? He had no choice. He had to bite the bullet and drink.
After the county and township leaders had toasted one round, Li Rui estimated that he had drunk almost half a liter of wine. However, he did not eat much of the food and did not touch the rice at all. He felt very dizzy and was about to get drunk. From the corner of his eye, he saw that Ling Shuyao was busy eating and drinking beside him.
Ling Shuyao was a female leader. She had said that she did not know how to drink. Since her rank was high, no one was thick-skinned enough to make things difficult for her. Someone had boiled a big kettle of ginger cola for her. She seemed to like it very much and kept drinking. Her chopsticks did not stop moving as she started to crazily attack the delicacies on the table. Speaking of which, the culinary skills of this mobile restaurant were really good. The taste of the food was not inferior to that of the big hotels in the city. Because of this, she ate heartily. The more she ate, the more delicious the food became. The table in front of her was filled with bones, shrimp heads, fish bones, and other food scraps.
When Li Rui saw this scene, the corners of his mouth curled up. He scolded in his heart, "What a heartless woman!"
At this time, the village leaders came up to toast one by one. There were the village party secretary, village director, village accountant, village director, etc. These people were even more ferocious. The moment they came up, they clamored for Li Rui and Ai Guowei to drink three glasses in a row.
When Li Rui heard this, he was so scared that his liver turned green. He thought that if he was full, he would be able to fight with them. But from the start of the meal until now, his stomach hadn't had much food. His stomach was filled with wine. If he continued to drink, his stomach would be damaged. He might even get drunk and vomit. That would be too embarrassing. He smiled and said, "Party Secretary Wang, can you let this little brother off this time? I have drunk too much today. I will treat you another day. Let's drink alone. Anyway, I have been in the village for more than a day or two. Let's take it slow, okay? "
The village party secretary's surname was Wang. His name was Wang Tiekui. He looked to be in his thirties. He was not tall, but he looked very smart. When he saw Li Rui refuse, he laughed and said, "City leader, city leader, listen to me. Drinking in the future is a matter for the future. But today, you have to give me face. Let's drink three glasses in a row. This is also the rule of our Little Dragon King Village to entertain distinguished guests. Three glasses of wine at the beginning. Not a drop less. "Li Rui smiled bitterly and said," There is such a rule in the village? "
Wang Tiekui said, "City leader, you still don't know about this rule in our village. Then I will use this occasion to tell you. In the beginning, our village was not called Little Dragon King Village. It was called Stone Village. Why was it called Stone Village? It was because there were many stones in our village. Later on, why did we change our name to Little Dragon King Village? Because during the Ming Dynasty, there was a flood in the mountains. It washed away the Dragon King Temple in our Dragon King Village. There were three Dragon King statues in the Dragon King Temple. The big one was the Black Dragon King. The two small ones were the White Dragon King. They were all carved out of wood. When the flood washed away the Dragon King Temple, the three Dragon King statues were also washed away. Later on, in a cave near the river in our Stone Village, someone found a White Dragon King statue. It was one of the statues worshipped in the Dragon King Village. It was one of the three statues that were washed away by the flood.
The most amazing thing was that there was a white python in the cave at that time. It was coiled on top of the Dragon King statue's head. At that time, everyone in the village knew about this and went to take a look. Someone said that they should invite the Dragon King statue to the village to worship, but the white snake did not move. Everyone said that it was the reincarnation of the White Dragon King. Someone came up with an idea. They toasted it with wine and burned incense, asking it to leave quickly. In the end, after burning three incense sticks and toasting three cups of wine, the white snake crawled away. From then on, everyone said that there was spiritual energy in the village. Otherwise, the White Dragon King statue and the little White Dragon would not appear in the village. So they changed the name of the village to Little Dragon King Village. From then on, there was an additional rule in the village. Drink three cups of wine at a time. It is not proper to drink even one drop less. "
Li Rui listened to it like it was a miracle. He did not know if it was true or not, but the three cups of wine in front of him were real. Smelling the biting cold smell of the wine, he felt a headache. He turned to Gu Changshun for help.
Gu Changshun understood the meaning of the song. He said to Wang Tiekui, "I say, forget it. Ah, Li Rui rushed over from the city. He did not have any food in his stomach. It's fine if you want to toast him, but let him eat a few mouthfuls of food first." Wang Tiekui smiled and said, "I am not an unreasonable person. Then you can eat a few mouthfuls first. I will stand here. When you are done, we will toast."
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