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>>>SHECAN>>>INVESTIGATING STORIES>>>Gelanghe02>>>

Gelanghe------the Clerk of the Villager's Committee

Dong Hao
 
 
  Before carrying out our investigation in village, we would according to the materials collected from the government of the country reconsider carefully and choose the specific villages to investigate. Since the three villages---Heilongtan Village, Mankesong Village and Shuihexin Village---all had investigation meaning, but we only arranged the time to investigate two villages. Which on earth shall we abandon? We hesitated until the day before we would enter the village to make survey.
That day when we were having supper, we met by chance the clerk of the Pazhen Villager's Committee to which Shuihexin Village belongs. The clerk was about 40 years old and his skin was dark. When he knew we were making social survey, he said to me voluntarily," come our village." Out of politeness, we agreed to go. After returning the doom, we compared and considered the conditions of the three villages, then decided to investigate Mankesong Village and Heilongtan Village, and abandon Shuihexin Village. So we could have enough time to visit and talk with these villagers. In addition, these days we were really tired, if we only investigate two villages, maybe we could have more time for sleeping and have a rest. As for the invitation of the clerk, we thought he would not pay much attention to it.
The next morning, eight o'clock, we just got up, and there was somebody knocking the door, which made us feel puzzled-----the country government begins to work at nine o'clock and nobody would call us. We opened the door to find the clerk was standing at front of the door, vegetables just bought in his hand.
"Today you will go to Shuihexin Village and I come to meet you," the clerk spoke mandarin with a heavy folk accent.
I was unprepared and said," oh….., you can sit for a while."
Seeing we just got up, he said," I will wait for you downstairs."
After the clerk went down, we were washing and considering how to do. After a brief discussion, we decided to stick to the origin plan, and give priority to Mankesong Village and Heilongtan Village. Now that he has come, we would send two members to Shuihexin Village with him. On one hand Shuihexin Village was still worth visiting, on the other hand, under the current situation, if we wouldn't go with him, it would be impolite.
After keeping the clerk waiting for more than ten minutes, another member and I with the clerk took the journey to Shuihexin Village. The mountain road was about 3 km from the place we lived to Shuihexin Village. The clerk walked so fast that we must run every now and then to keep up with him. After the arrival, under the leader of the clerk, we visited some families related with our project. The time went so fast. When we went to the office of the villager's committee to look up the materials, it was already 2 o'clock.
"Have lunch?" the clerk said slowly.
"Ok, we will give you money for the meal," I said.
The clerk showed a delighted expression, which was maybe too frank in our eyes. Then he felt a little shy, but couldn't find any formulae. His dark face was blushing. " I will cook a meal." He turned around and left the office.
The meal was prepared quickly. We sat around a low table made of bamboo, eating and chatting. The clerk told us since he took the post, he has seldom lived at home; most time he cooked himself in the villager's committee, and the labor of family was assumed by his wife. Then he introduced the condition of the village to us: from the specialty to the history, from the communication to the custom. In order to let us understand his accent, sometimes he was not fed up with repeating a sentence several times. When he said something happy, he would flourish like a child. That look made me feel sad.
After visiting eight families in Shuihexin Village, we set out for the place we lived. As the investigation target, this village is not as good as the other two villages, but we also learned about lots of useful materials that could be compared with that of the other villages. Of course, since we divided two people to carry out the work out of the plan, the investigation time in Heilongtan Village and Mankesong Village were tight. We had planned to go to bed early and get up early, now we had to stay late and get up early.
When the investigation in Gelanghe Country was almost completed, after a discussion, we thought now that we had made some visits in villagers' families, it was necessary to acquaint ourselves with the whole situation of Shuihexin Village. So we contacted with the clerk again. According to the promised time, I reached the villager's committee on time. I knew I shouldn't be late, because the clerk would wait for me on time.
Having assumed the post of the clerk for more than ten years, he was very familiar with various stats of the villager's committee. I was already accustomed to his accent. So the work of collecting the materials was completed quickly. It took about two hours to finish the task. It was early, so we talked about some "private questions".
"How many votes did you get when you was elected as the vice-director?" I asked. In Gelanghe Country the clerk was also the vice-director at the same time. He was elected by people directly in the first turn election. The villager's self-government was an emphasis in our investigation.
"Here," the clerk opened a notebook. The votes all candidates got in the election were written in the book clearly. Among the votes of about 1700, he got about 1500 votes. The other two candidates for the vice-director got the last votes.
"I was elected directly in the first election," he could not conceal his excitement and pride.
"Then do you want to take the post next term?"
"If my work is good; people are satisfied; they will choose me, and I will take the post again," he said frankly," my job need experience and statistical knowledge. The newer must learn for some time and take the job."
"So many people voted for you, do you want to be the director?"
"No. I just assume the post of clerk. I can do it well."
……
When I left the villager's committee, the sun has almost set. The clerk stuck to seeing me off. We walked for more than ten minutes and say goodbye formally. When I couldn't help turning around and looking his stocky figure, suddenly I was a little regret. Why didn't we arrange more days for the investigation? Just in order to talk more with these cadres like him. When I turned round, the remaining brilliance of the setting sun irradiated the cane field where the sugar cane just was harvested. A few women were working. The smoke from kitchen chimneys of the villages far away could be seen. The whole valley appeared calm, peace and refreshing beautiful.