Black Gold 1983

Chapter 21 Nagging

As soon as the morning light spilled over Xishanliang, white smoke began to rise from the chimneys in the residential compound.

Hongxing Mine is a true example of an integrated mining and cooperative system.

The factory was the town, and the town revolved around the coal mine.

The hospital, school, supply and marketing cooperative, grain store, bathhouse, and auditorium were all under the unified management of the mine.

The family compound and the mine gate are only about a kilometer apart, a ten-minute walk. After work, employees can easily walk back to their compound. Every household is involved in the mine's work, so they share the same fate, whether it's prosperity or adversity.

From birth to adulthood, the children of miners rarely leave the mining area. They study at the mine's affiliated school, see a doctor at the mine's hospital, buy things at the mine's supply and marketing cooperative, watch movies at the mine's cinema, date in the mine's residential compound, and even after marriage, they are allocated housing at the mine.

This is a self-contained world, a small society surrounded by coal ash and loess.

Every morning at 6:30, the mine's loudspeaker would blare out, first an excerpt from "The East Is Red," then a summary of the evening news, and finally a production mobilization speech from the propaganda department.

The sound could be heard for miles, more effective than a rooster's crow, and would wake up everyone in the entire residential compound.

When Renye was a child, he hated this big loudspeaker the most. It was so noisy that it made people feel irritable. He always thought about carrying a long bamboo pole, climbing up, and poking the loudspeaker down.

Things are different now. It's not that we've gotten used to it, but the broadcaster who now stands in the mine's broadcasting room, broadcasting through loudspeakers throughout the entire mining area and residential compound, is none other than Tian Sui'er.

As dawn broke, before the daily radio broadcast even began, Li Yue'e's nagging had already entered the room.

"You did gain some face at the hospital last night, but what good is that? Without a proper job, no matter how much you complain, people will still look down on you behind your back. Sui'er is the mine's broadcaster, a proper employee, but you don't even have a permanent position. Where will I put my face if word gets out?"

While busy preparing breakfast, Li Yue'e muttered to Ren Ye through the closed door.

"You're not getting any younger, we can't be the two of us to support you for the rest of our lives, can we? Sui'er is a kind-hearted girl, she doesn't look down on you, but you have to make something of yourself. Look at Xu Dongsheng, he just puts on his wool coat, and people offer him cigarettes wherever he goes. And look at you..."

This barrage of criticism even caught Ren Shouyi, who was sitting quietly to the side, in the crossfire. He was subjected to several unwarranted taunts and shrank back, not daring to utter a word.

Li Yue'e, having probably cursed until her throat was dry, finally stopped and angrily said, "What time is it? Still lying in bed! You don't have a proper job, just wasting your days. What kind of future do you have!" After saying that, she pushed open the door and went to work.

Renye lay on the bed, listening to Li Yue'e outside nagging him one after another, and finally burst out laughing.

All those nagging words that I found annoying in my past life now sound sweet to my ears, every word like it's coated in honey. This long-lost warmth and the joy of having someone to talk to me is such a blessing!

Today is the first day of resuming production after the Spring Festival. Tian Sui'er got up early and, after a quick wash, rushed to the mine hospital with a lunchbox.

By the time she had served Tian Mancang breakfast and tidied up before leaving the ward, it was already broad daylight outside, with the morning light bathing the entire courtyard path.

Walking north along the cement road of the mine hospital, past the staff canteen and the supply and marketing cooperative, and then turning a corner, you will arrive at the two-story gray building of the propaganda department.

The small gray building was built five or six years ago in the Soviet style. The facade is not large, but it is neatly maintained.

There is an old locust tree on each side of the entrance. The trunk is so thick that one person cannot wrap their arms around it. It is said that it was planted when the mine was built, and it has been there longer than most of the miners’ years of service.

In the state-owned coal mines of that era, the propaganda department was one of the core departments, carrying considerable weight. It was responsible for all matters related to the mine's ideological construction, public opinion guidance, production mobilization, safety education, and cultural and sports publicity. The work was trivial but crucial.

The small gray building where the propaganda department was located and the blue brick building where the labor and personnel department was located were two completely different styles.

The small gray building is the "face" of the mine, while the blue brick building is the "inner workings".

It needs to look good on the outside and be effective on the inside.

The two buildings are very close to each other, separated only by a brick-paved path less than ten meters wide. A thin layer of coal dust is always on the path, which is blown up by the wind and lands on the doors and windows of the two buildings. Neither of them can claim to be clean.

The people coming and going are different.

Every day, female cadres, propagandists, and broadcasters come and go from the small gray building. They speak softly and walk at a leisurely pace.

The building, made of blue bricks, was frequented by team leaders, secretaries, and accountants. They walked with a brisk pace, spoke as if they were arguing, and always carried a stack of forms with illegible titles.

Almost at the same time, as Tian Suier stepped into the propaganda department building, Xu Dongsheng also stepped into the office of the head of the labor and wages department.

The office was simply furnished, with a green-painted desk, a swivel chair, two hardwood chairs, and a metal filing cabinet in the corner with a stack of yellowed old newspapers on top.

Xu Dongsheng stood.

He stood ramrod straight, his dark gray wool coat unbuttoned, revealing a navy blue sweater underneath.

He was spotless from head to toe.

This is rare in mines.

The men in the mine always had black under their fingernails and coal dust on their collars, but Xu Dongsheng was different. His fingernails were neatly trimmed and clean, as if he had never touched those dirty things.

Opposite him, in the swivel chair behind the desk, sat his father, Xu Hongbing, the head of the Labor and Wages Department.

Xu Hongbing did not turn around, leaving Xu Dongsheng with only a silhouette of himself in a crisp Zhongshan suit.

The collar of the Zhongshan suit was fastened tightly, and the top button on the collar was also fastened meticulously.

Xu Hongbing lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and exhaled smoke from his nostrils.

"I heard you went to the mine hospital yesterday and made a fool of yourself?"

Xu Dongsheng stood in front of the desk, his face looking rather grim.

"dad--"

"Don't fucking call me Dad! I can't afford to lose face like that!" Xu Hongbing didn't let him continue: "You and Tian Mancang's daughter should break off your relationship as soon as possible, or you should know what the consequences will be."

Xu Dongsheng retorted, his neck stiff, "You promised me back then that as long as I gave up being a teacher and joined the transport team, you would give me my freedom, and I could decide my own marriage. Are you going back on your word now?"

Xu Hongbing still had his back to him, his voice veiled with the decorum of a government official, yet his words betrayed a vulgar, scheming nature: "What was the point of all that trouble I went through to get you into the transport team?"

"You've been in the transport team for the past six months, so you should have tasted the good stuff by now. When the team is hauling coal, losing ten kilograms per truck is normal, twenty kilograms is within reasonable error, but thirty kilograms? That's where your skill comes in."

Xu Dongsheng remained silent.

He knew what his father meant by "profits".

When the mine's transport team shipped coal out, they would tamper with the weighing and accounting, secretly deducting dozens of kilograms of raw coal from each truckload. Over time, the difference in the price of the deducted coal would quietly end up in the pockets of a few people in the team.

With this clandestine income, he could earn in a month what he would have earned in a month as a teacher for more than half a year.