Taken in Yuncheng in the autumn of 1981
My father was traveling from Yuci, Shanxi to Xi'an to participate in the National Drama Seminar on behalf of his troupe. On the way, he got off the bus in Yuncheng and took a bus to Linyi County. When I returned to the barracks after training with my company comrades, the deputy company commander called the platoon leader and me to the company headquarters and told me that my father had come to the army to see me, and that he and a screenwriter had been accommodated in the guest room at the battalion headquarters.
Before the company celebrated the second Spring Festival, the instructor approved that I go back to my hometown to visit my family. During the 10 days I was home, my father didn’t say much to me. It seemed that everything that needed to be said had been said in the previous letters, and we still hadn’t said goodbye. By one year, my father actually found the army.
My father came to see me because he wanted me to be discharged from the army at the end of the year. He did not send me a message before coming, so the platoon leader was a little confused when he brought me to see my father. The platoon leader said a few polite words and went back to the company to arrange dinner. I chatted with my father about every detail of military life.
After dinner, my father sent his colleagues outside the house and solemnly talked about my future. During the conversation with
, I learned that my father had come prepared. Before leaving, he had met with Director Zhao of the Municipal Finance and Taxation Bureau (my father’s classmate at the School of Finance and Economics). The national finance and taxation system would transfer all employees to the state in the following year. As a formal cadre, since I worked in the tax office of the Finance and Taxation Bureau before joining the army, my father advised me to quickly give up the idea of joining the army and join the party. I must apply for discharge at the end of the year (the fact is that the army was reduced at the end of 1981 and I only need to apply for two years of military service to be discharged).
Not bad. I had worked in a grassroots tax office for a year before joining the army. At that time, I felt that it would take many years to join the party at the local level, which was not as enjoyable as joining the army.
I think that no matter what kind of soldier you are, you should have no problem joining the party during your service period. Only when I got to the army did I realize that it was not that easy to join the Party. The number of places for each company to join the Party in one year was limited. In this case, I feel that I still have more than a year to serve. As long as I perform well, there is still hope. If I leave at the end of the year, won't all my previous efforts be wasted?
Under the dim light of the guest room, my father said everything he needed to say. Seeing that I was stubborn, he got up and went to find his screenwriter.
The next day, Lian Li gave me special permission to take a day off to see my father off. After arriving in Yuncheng, my father and I took this photo. Although the photo was not good, it was very clear. Forty years later, this story remains with me. It is also very clear in my mind.
Did I join the party in the army? What will I do after I retire? It has been explained in Toutiao’s previous works, so I won’t go into details here.
