Wang Tiekui shouted, "You drank three cups in one go. Otherwise, the White Dragon King will be angry."
Li Rui did not know whether to laugh or cry. He asked, "So what if the White Dragon King is angry?" Wang Tiekui said, "There will be floods and landslides. Our village will be even poorer. We won't be rich for the rest of our lives." Li Rui was shocked. He did not dare to ask again. He raised his head and finished the wine in the cup. The wine entered his throat and passed through his esophagus and into his stomach. The uncomfortable feeling was indescribable.
But before he could rest, Wang Tiekui filled his cup again.
After three cups in a row, Li Rui felt dizzy. His stomach was so uncomfortable that he wanted to vomit. Just as he sat down and ate, the village director, who was also the village chief, came over with a cup of wine. He smiled and said, "City Leader, let's toast to you too. You must do me the honor."
Li Rui understood that although the village secretary was the highest-ranking leader in the village, just like the boss, Song Chaoyang, in Qingyang City, the village chief still had more prestige in the village. After all, he was elected by the villagers, so he definitely had a high prestige among the villagers. If it was for the sake of his future work, he could not afford to offend Wang Tiekui, so he could not afford to offend the village chief. Therefore, he did not waste time with him and drank three cups of wine.
The village chief left in satisfaction. He smiled and said to the woman director, "The City Leader is really good at drinking. I think he can still drink. It's your turn."
When Li Rui heard this, he almost wanted to cry. He saw the head of the women's department, a woman in her forties who was still attractive, walk over with swaying hips. She said coquettishly, "Mayor, it's my turn now. You have to drink these three cups of wine too. Here's to you …"
Before the banquet was over, Li Rui ran to the toilet and vomited. After a while, Ai Guowei ran over and vomited as well.
As the two of them vomited, they gasped for breath as though they were dreaming. Ai Guowei exclaimed, "Oh my God … Oh my God … It's said that village cadres are made from drinking. F * * k, it's really true. I'm going to die today. These people don't treat wine as wine. They drink it like water. Oh my god … I can't take it anymore. I'm going to get a stomach ulcer. "
After barely finishing half a bowl of rice, Li Rui couldn't take it anymore and felt dizzy. Gu Changshun hurriedly ordered Wang Tiekui to arrange for people to help him into the house to rest.
When Li Rui woke up, the sun was already setting in the west. Standing in the courtyard, he didn't need to look far to see the towering mountains in the northwest direction. The mountains were so close that they seemed to be within reach. The mobile restaurant had been evacuated, and the courtyard was empty except for the napkins and disposable chopsticks wrapping paper all over the floor. It was really a mess.
Li Rui frowned. He didn't want to hurt his head muscles. He immediately felt a headache. He reached out and pressed a few acupoints on his head and sides to relieve the pain. When he thought of the banquet in the afternoon, he still had lingering fears. He told himself that he couldn't drink like this in the future. Otherwise, he would be sacrificed at the banquet table before helping the poor. He heard that there were leaders who died at the banquet table and were later named as martyrs. It was really funny. He didn't want to be such a martyr. He glanced at the rubbish on the ground and thought to himself, Why are the people in the village committee so sloppy? They don't even know how to clean up the rubbish.
He walked around the courtyard but couldn't find Ling Shuyao. In the end, he ran to the outhouse in the southwest of the courtyard to relieve himself. This latrine was a typical farmer's latrine from his previous life. Using the existing western wall of the courtyard as the foundation, and the bricks and straw as the walls, it formed a small house in the shape of a 'gang'. Above the house, a small shed was built using gray straw, wood, and bamboo to shelter from the rain. On the ground, there was a hole made of bricks that was two feet long and twenty centimeters wide. Behind the hole was a pigsty, and human excrement would flow into the pigsty through this hole. If there were pigs in the pigsty, the pigs would run over to eat the excrement. Some hot-tempered pigs would even come over when they heard the sound of people urinating. They would open their mouths and block the hole, waiting for the excrement to flow down.
The outhouse was about 1.5 square meters in size. It was surrounded on the east, west, and west sides, and the north side was open for ventilation. Most farmer's outhouses in China were basically like this. It hadn't changed much for thousands of years.
Li Rui thought to himself that if he lived in the village committee in the future, it wouldn't be a problem for a man like him to go to the outhouse. Using a famous saying by the great storyteller Shan Tianfang, he was a man who went to the outhouse with his face facing the outside. However, it would be awkward for a woman like Ling Shuyao to go to the outhouse. For example, what if someone walked over when she was squatting in the outhouse? Wouldn't he be able to see her private parts clearly? It seemed that it was necessary to hang a curtain here. Anyway, the cotton cloth didn't cost much. It could be pulled up a few meters long with ten yuan. It was enough to cover the door.
Just as he was thinking about Ling Shuyao, Ling Shuyao came back from outside the courtyard. She was holding a thermos and drinking water leisurely. She glanced at him but didn't say anything. She just stood in the courtyard and looked around.
Li Rui saw her sipping water and felt thirsty. At this moment, he really wanted to be like her and drink two mouthfuls of hot tea. He thought to himself, If she were Li Yulan or Zhang Hui, they would definitely give me a big cup of hot water to quench my thirst when they saw me waking up from my drunken stupor. However, this woman completely ignored me. It was none of her business whether I was drunk or awake. She didn't have the slightest bit of camaraderie or care for me. It was ridiculous that I was still thinking about whether it was convenient for her to go to the outhouse. Haha, I really am the number one fool in the world. He was furious. How did he end up with such a coworker? So what if she was beautiful? Was there a lack of beautiful women around him? How much did he care about her?
From now on, if I ever think about her or help her again, my surname won't be Li anymore!
Li Rui fiercely swore this oath in his heart. He composed himself and asked Ling Shuyao, "Where are County Head Gu and the others?" Ling Shuyao said indifferently, "When you were drunk and asleep, they had already left." Li Rui felt that her words seemed to be mocking him. He couldn't help but say, "Do you think I wanted to be drunk? Wasn't it all because of Party Secretary Wang and the others? "Ling Shuyao sneered," Who told you to be so stubborn? You can't drink, but you insist on drinking. You can learn from me and say that you don't know how to drink. " When Li Rui heard her say it so lightly, he was furious. He knew that what she said made sense, but he still refuted, "Ling Shuyao, you are a woman. You don't know that when you are at the grassroots level, you have to interact with them through drinking. If you don't drink, you can't build relationships with them. If you don't have relationships, you can't do things. If you can't do things, how can you carry out poverty alleviation work?"
Ling Shuyao didn't give in at all and said, "Then you drank today, which means that you can do things. When will you start working?" Li Rui said resentfully, "Not today, it's too late. I will start tomorrow morning." Ling Shuyao said, "Tomorrow morning, after working for half a day, it will be lunchtime. If we drink at noon, we will be drunk for half a day again …" Li Rui was furious and said, "Who told you that I will drink at noon tomorrow? Don't talk nonsense. Today, they specially entertained us and made an exception to drink. This won't happen in the future. " Ling Shuyao heard his angry tone and glanced at him and said, "Let's not talk about drinking first. Quickly find someone to arrange a place to stay. Where will you stay? How will you stay? Also, how will you eat at night? Where will you eat? "
Li Rui glared at her and said in his heart, "You were sent by the Song Shuji to help me. How come when you are here, you don't do anything and just leave everything to me? Even if I am the person in charge, you can't be like this. " He regretted it very much and hated himself for being so blind to have a good impression of her. He didn't waste any more words with her and got up to look for Wang Tiekui.
Wang Tiekui wasn't in the courtyard and he didn't know where he went.
Li Rui walked out of the courtyard and went to an east-west dirt road in the village. He looked left and right and didn't see many people. He didn't know where to look for Wang Tiekui, so he went back to the courtyard and planned to find Ai Guowei and the others to discuss this. However, after searching the east and west rooms, he didn't find any trace of Ai Guowei and the others. He was very surprised and wondered if the four of them had gone back to the city. He saw that Ling Shuyao had found a small wooden stool and was sitting in the courtyard admiring the sunset. Her pair of beautiful phoenix eyes were slightly squinted and she had a relaxed expression on her face. However, he was very angry. He went forward and asked, "Have you seen the village's Party Secretary Wang?"
Ling Shuyao just shook her head.
Li Rui muttered to himself, "What if I can't find him?" Ling Shuyao said, "You're asking me, but who am I supposed to ask?"
Li Rui glared at her and wanted to kick her small and slender body off the stool. He felt that he wouldn't be able to get much information from her so he walked out of the courtyard again and followed the dirt road to the west. Whenever he met someone on the road, he would ask about Wang Tiekui's whereabouts.
A kind old man who was sunbathing at the gate told him that Wang Tiekui should have gone home and pointed him to Wang Tiekui's home address.
Li Rui sighed and followed the road.
He went through half of the village in one breath and took in the scenery along the way. He saw that the village wasn't small and was at least twice the size of Xishan Village. The entire village was divided into two parts. The eastern part of the village had a larger population and was located on a high mound. It could barely be considered a plain. The western part of the village had a smaller population and lived halfway up the mountain. The intersection of the two parts was a dried up river and there were a few dilapidated stone bridges on the river. To the east of the river was a plain and to the west was a mountainous area.
Most of the houses in the village were typical northern bungalows with side rooms. The houses were built with stone as the foundation, brick as the walls, and wood as the beams and rafters. They looked quite old. There were also some houses that were made of adobe and the roofs were covered with weeds. It gave people a feeling of desolation and decay.
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