Chapter 33: Spring Festival Gala (Part 2)

  Before 5 o'clock, the townspeople and nearby villagers began to gather at the evening party venue. In order to maintain good on-site order, the empty space at the evening party venue was divided into six areas with ropes, and a day ago, long benches that could accommodate 600,000 people were already set up in each area. Of course, these so-called long benches were simple, just a few wooden stumps with a long wooden board on top. For convenient viewing, all the long benches were lower when closer to the stage and higher when farther back.

  The audience seats in the venue are divided into three rows, with two blocks forming a column. The middle seat is reserved for ordinary people, and the two sides are reserved for troops. It is impossible for all the troops from the Security Command to come, and even if they do, there will not be enough seats. Each division can only send one battalion; the artillery regiment, logistics regiment, medical detachment of the command, direct communication battalion of the command, and other directly affiliated personnel are all present. There is also a cavalry regiment brought by Wei Guanghui, which has many Mongolians, so it was approved by Xiao Guodong to come in full force. The quota allocated to each division is too small, and several division commanders do not know what to say. Once they return to their divisions, it will be difficult to manage. In order to strive for the opportunity to send their own battalion, several regimental commanders quarreled loudly. In the end, it was not just one division that took the lead in sending a non-standard battalion, but rather each company dispatched a platoon, plus directly affiliated personnel. This somehow managed to calm things down.

  The personnel of the troops are easy to deal with, and if all else fails, they can be given a stern order. However, it's more difficult to handle the ordinary people, as each household has brought their entire family along, and the two middle seats that were left for them have already been occupied. There are still many people who have no place to sit and can only stand in the back.

  Except for the troops who stayed in the city to perform tasks such as defending the city, patrolling and being on guard, all other troops without tasks were taken to the scene by Ye Changgui according to Song Zhezhu's request to help Wang Xinggang's inspection team maintain order. A battalion of the special forces was guarding at the scene, while the rest of the personnel went to the outer cordon for vigilance.

  Song Zhe Wu accompanied Shang Zhen, Zhang Zhizhong, Lin Wei and others to the scene, when dozens of bonfires had already been lit around the venue, illuminating the surrounding area very brightly. The two diesel generators pulled from Wang Xu's communication camp roared in the distance, providing electricity that made dozens of spotlights shine with white light, the purple-red curtain on the stage and the colorful ribbons and tassels tied around it shone brightly under the lights, creating a festive and joyful scene.

  The thatched cottage for the noble guests, in order to keep warm, was semi-enclosed, with only one side facing the stage opening from 1 meter above the ground to the top of the cottage. The other sides were tightly sealed. Inside the cottage, a large round table was placed, filled with dried fruits and tea. In this era, during this season, there was no fresh seasonal fruit available. Around the four walls of the cottage, more than ten pots of red charcoal fire were placed, making the entire cottage warm and cozy.

  Song Zhe-wu led the crowd along the ladder from the small door behind the shed to the inside of the shed, and had Shang Zhen, Zhang Zhizhong, and Lin Wei sit in the middle position facing the stage at the round table. He and Xiao Guodong sat on either side, while the four instructors and Wang Xu, as well as Yan Yangchu, Meng Chu, and Secretary Chen sat on both sides.

  Everyone sat down, and the attendant came over to pour tea for everyone. Shang Zhen carefully smelled the fragrance of the tea: "Good tea! Wen Ge, this tea should be this year's 'Guizhou Yunwu', even with money it's hard to buy, when I go there, you must bring some for me." Shang Zhen didn't smoke, but he was extremely fond of drinking tea, and he wasn't polite about asking for other things, but for this tea, he made an exception.

  "This is a few Shanghai dyeing industry businessmen sent to me before the Spring Festival, a total of eighteen kinds, each eighteen kilograms. When you go back, each person will have one share." Song Zhe Wu said with some heartache. As soon as this tea arrived, it was snatched away by Sun Jiahui, Xiao Guodong, Wang Xu and others, each taking one kilogram. Zhang Yafei and three others heard that there was good tea and also went to get some, fortunately they didn't know how to appreciate tea, Song Zhe Wu picked out some slightly inferior ones from the eighteen famous teas and fooled them away, letting Wang Xu and Xiao Guodong say he was stingy and cheated honest people.

  Lin Wei and Zhang Zhizhong also have this hobby, knowing that such tea is valuable, Lin Wei smiled and said: "Wen Ge, these businessmen really dare to invest, these teas won't come down for less than tens of thousands of dollars."

  "Tens of thousands of dollars?" Song Zhe Wu thought, just those eighteen kilograms of good Yunnan Pu'er are worth tens of thousands of dollars, these teas can't be sold for less than two million.

  Shang Zhen took over the conversation. With some boastfulness, he said: "Lin, you don't know about this. The several tens of thousands of taels they spent on good tea is nothing. What's important is that Wen Ge didn't let his dye factory sell their cloth across the Yangtze River. This gave them enough face. Otherwise, if they had lost several million in a year, it would have been normal." Shang Zhen again carefully explained the situation of the Zhenbang Dye Factory to several people. Not only Zhang Zhizhong and Lin Wei, but also Yan Yangchu, Meng Chu, and Secretary Chen were all listening with wide eyes.

  Zhang Zhizhong looked at Song Zhe Wu in surprise and said: "Wen Ge, you have a good way of leading the army and training soldiers. You can be considered an outstanding military general; your political vision is unique. Your analysis of the situation is clear. It can be said that you have the foresight of a politician. I originally thought you were only proficient in economics, so I let you manage several factories with ease. I didn't expect you to also be well-versed in science and technology! Amazing! Amazing!" After saying "amazing" twice, he paused for a moment and then asked solemnly: "Wen Ge, what other outstanding aspects of yours do we not know about?"

  Xiao Guodong poured tea for everyone while saying, "Director Zhang, you were right. Wen Ge has some exceptional qualities. You'll see in a moment."

  At this time, Wang Xinggang came over to ask if the party would start on time in another thatched cottage where those reporters were being entertained. Song Zhe Wu nodded in agreement. Then everyone's eyes turned to the stage.

  In the midst of a lively melody, the purple curtain slowly opened. The stage background immediately caught everyone's attention. In the background, among the vast mountains, a magnificent and majestic Great Wall wound its way through. The nearby scenery of the Great Wall was towering and elegant, very majestic. "This is the Badaling Great Wall," Shang Zhen said with certainty. "Yes, Chairman Shang has a good eye for this. This is indeed the Badaling Great Wall." Song Zhe Wu flattered.

  Tonight's evening party was co-hosted by Fang Zhen, Wang Ya Li and Li Ru Juan. The three people's opening remarks won applause from the audience. After their joint sentence "Wishing Tianyuan military and civilians a happy night together!", the first program Peking Opera "The West Chamber" began. With the sound of drums and music, the theater troupe invited from Beiping started performing.

  The audience in the auditorium was extremely enthusiastic, and it's not easy to watch a play normally. Many families are struggling to make ends meet during the holidays. This year is different, Commander Song of the Security Brigade not only sent food but also clothes, and even invited a theater troupe to perform for everyone. It's said that these kind soldiers will also perform programs for the people, which made the audience even more excited, cheering from time to time.

  The soldiers were also excited, almost all of whom were from peasant families and rarely watched plays. They sat in the team with discipline and didn't dare to make a loud noise. The cavalry regiment was very lively, with frequent applause and occasional Mongolian cheers. Wei Guanghui couldn't sit still and shouted at the guard to stop them. Song Zhe Wu waved his hand to stop him: "Your troops are expanding rapidly, and there are many Mongolians, so it's normal for military discipline to be lax. We'll strengthen discipline education later. Today is a holiday, everyone is happy, and their excitement can add some festive atmosphere, so don't interfere."

  Unlike the enthusiastic reaction from the audience below, the people in the thatched cottage, except for Shang Zhen, Meng Chu, and Secretary Chen, were not very interested in these old-fashioned programs. At first, Yan Yangchu was chatting with Meng Chu and Secretary Chen, but when he saw that they were both attracted to the opera performance, and the several superiors of Song Zhe Wu on this side were all restrained by Shang Zhen, Zhang Zhong, and Lin Wei, not speaking much. The lively Yan Yangchu couldn't sit still, smiled and said to Song Zhe Wu: "Wen Ge, you can't be too stingy, I heard Xing Gang say that you still have some French whiskey, take it out, let's have a drink." Song Zhe Wu laughed and shouted at Wang Xinggang sitting on the side: "Xinggang, you leaked military secrets, punish you to immediately go get the wine." Wang Xinggang smiled at Yan Yangchu, and quickly arranged for someone to fetch the wine.

  It didn't take long for the wine to arrive, a total of 6 bottles of French wine. Yan Yangchu took one look and exclaimed in surprise: "Wen Ge, you're being too extravagant! 1840 whiskey is worth a pretty penny!"

  "Mr. Yang, you can't wrong me! I wouldn't buy such wine myself, these were all given to Manager Sun by those merchants from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. This time you came, I specifically asked him for it, you didn't see his reluctant look." Song Zhe Wu explained while glancing at the reed shed across, where Sun Jia Hui was accompanying the reporters.

  Wang Xu also helped Song Zhe Wu to mediate, saying: "Mr. Yang Chu, you are really wronging Wen Ge this time. When Wen Ge was in Germany, he could drink a lot and was often scolded by Xiao Da Ge for this reason. However, since the establishment of the Security Brigade, when there were no social engagements, Wen Ge did not touch a drop of alcohol."

  Zhang Yafei, who was sitting on one side, couldn't help but speak up. He was a talkative and cheerful person, but had been holding back because of the presence of Shang Zhen, Zhang Zhong, and Lin Wei. As soon as he saw an opportunity to join in, he immediately took over the conversation: "Wen Ge used to be able to drink a lot, but it's more like he was addicted to alcohol. When we were studying in Baoding, he got drunk again and passed out. We called in a 60-year-old traditional Chinese medicine doctor, who gave him a bowl of medicinal soup to drink before he came to. The old doctor advised Wen Ge: 'Drinking is not forbidden, but you must drink in moderation. Drinking hot wine damages the liver; drinking cold wine damages the lungs.' Can you guess what Wen Ge said? He said: 'Old sir, not drinking also harms people!' The old doctor was taken aback - he had never heard of that before - and asked Wen Ge: 'Young man, where did you learn that not drinking harms people from? I'm afraid I'm ignorant and haven't heard of it. Please enlighten me.' Wen Ge said: 'It's not from any medical classic, but something I figured out myself - not drinking harms the heart.'"

  Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then burst into laughter. Shang Zhen even spat out a mouthful of tea on himself. Song Zhe Wu's great feat was imitated by Zhang Ya Fei with such vivid tone that everyone laughed so hard they were holding their bellies, even Meng Chu, the normally stoic old master, couldn't help but crack a smile.

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