No matter what human thoughts are, the world treats everyone the same; everyone has twenty-four hours a day. Time flowed silently over everything. The secretaries of the People's Party faced various document processing and meetings either calmly or anxiously. The comrades of the Military Commission were busy making plans to attack Shouzhou. Teachers at the Party School explained knowledge from books, and students listened excitedly or puzzledly, with some raising hands to ask questions from time to time. Cadets at the Military Academy performed neat formation drills and techniques for using weapons and equipment. The newly established Ministry of Industry was busy discussing around the transported machinery. Soldiers were either busy preparing for battle or listening to political propaganda from political commissars.

As for the common people of Fengtai County, they were enjoying the last day of their holiday, gathering with their families, discussing various news heard recently. From the distribution of the harvest to the news that there might be houses to live in.

The three-day holiday thoroughly enlivened the emotions of the common people. First of all, being able to reunite freely with their families was something that hadn't happened for a long time. But after the flood, houses had collapsed, so it was impossible to cook and gather on their own. Vegetation was drowned, and there was no firewood for burning. Everyone was a farmer; during the harvest, because grain had to be turned over, everyone secretly hid some potatoes. Now gathered together, they could only eat them raw.

Children were not willing to be lonely; having gathered by their parents' side for two days, they were bored by now. The little guys gathered together and started playing. Lacking game equipment, the game types were sports games learned during school, such as hopscotch, eagle catches chickens [tag], drop the handkerchief, and relay races. Watching the dolls in unified blue clothes gathering together like a flock of cheerful little birds to play, fight, and argue. Older children took the toddlers who just learned to walk with them, but in a blink of an eye, the older children ran off to play with other children, leaving the little guys behind. At first, the little guys were baffled, and then they started crying. The adults immediately shouted and scolded the older children who were derelict in their duty. But this was just ordinary scolding as parents. Finally, the mothers simply took the little guys to their sides. Having gained a sense of security, the little guys were quiet for a few minutes, but watching other children playing happily, they struggled hard in their mothers' arms anxiously, wanting to run and play with everyone. The mothers had to comfort these little guys. If it were in their own homes, this scene on the late autumn plain could really be called harmonious and happy.

In addition to this, many common people who used to sing flower drums began to set up stalls to sing songs. Everyone had no money on them, and there was no place to spend money in the Reclamation Brigade now. As long as you didn't want to get any "luxury goods," eating, accommodation, and clothing didn't cost money. The common people saw a single coin as bigger than a millstone; especially in these days, who was willing to spend money? Only those recognized prodigals would spend money at this time. Those singing flower drums and storytelling also knew they couldn't earn any money, but having a rare break, singing flower drums served to regulate their own emotions. As soon as the gongs and drums started, people immediately crowded around like a sea. More than a dozen crowds formed immediately.

regarding these situations, the guard team of the Reclamation Brigade stuck to their posts. Teams of blue-clad people patrolled the crowd from time to time. Everyone was accustomed to the existence of him or her. The guards passed by, and everyone didn't care, continuing to enjoy their rare holiday.

When the common people gathered together, their chatterboxes also opened. These days, they first lived under the threat of death every day. Although the People's Party fully intervened in Fengtai County affairs in the days that followed, saving the common people from the flood and finally stabilizing their lives, such a stable life did not come without a price. The People's Party and the Insurance Corps really managed everything from heaven above to earth below, and even had to manage everyone's shitting and pissing in between. After living such days for more than half a year, during this rare holiday in such a life, everyone had endless topics to talk about.

"Do you say the People's Party really wants to distribute houses to us?" This was the topic with the highest discussion ratio among all topics.

Through the propaganda during this period, the common people also knew the general political structure of Fengtai County now. At the beginning, everyone only knew the existence of the Insurance Corps; after all, everyone's children joined the Insurance Corps initially. Everyone thought this armed force was the actual ruler of Fengtai County. As the People's Party began to recruit local party activists on a large scale, everyone finally knew that above the Insurance Corps, there was a political organization controlling everything. All decisions were issued by the People's Party, and the Insurance Corps was merely an executive agency.

"That's hard to say. Reasonably speaking, they should give us houses." The one saying this should be an optimist, but the optimist's tone was not so firm.

Sure enough, someone immediately came out to ridicule, "According to what reason? If according to reason, this relief grain should have come down long ago. Why would we need to work so hard?"

This remark immediately received everyone's approval. "This Insurance Corps and People's Party are not the government; they don't have this reason."

"Isn't Magistrate Shang Yuan the government?" So the topic began to expand.

"Although Magistrate Shang Yuan is a government man, looking at it now, the one who speaks and manages things is still Brigade Commander Chen Ke. Look at ordinary days, when has Magistrate Shang Yuan ever walked in front of Brigade Commander Chen Ke? And whatever Brigade Commander Chen says, when has Magistrate Shang Yuan ever said no? The one in charge in our county is absolutely not Magistrate Shang Yuan."

"No matter who is in charge, as long as there are houses to survive the winter, anyone in charge is fine." A farmer with a dark red face, who seemed impatient with many things, said crisply, "Even this disaster year can be passed; I don't believe future days won't be good. Distribute houses, distribute land; I just want to live a good life. Didn't the People's Party say long ago that they would only collect thirty percent rent in the future, and besides that, we don't have to hand over anything? I just want to guard my own one mu three fen of land well."

These words spoke the ideal of everyone. Actually, what the common people wanted was just this simple. Having land, having a house, living with family. Haven't everyone lived like this for thousands of years? Although they had nothing now, with such a future prospect, no one did not hope these scenes could be realized immediately.

However, people who poured cold water were never lacking. Someone immediately said: "This land is not yours; it is borrowed from the landlords. If it has to be returned to the landlords in the future, what do you plan to do?"

"My family also has land; at most exchange land then. What else can happen? I am determined to have this house." The dark-red-faced one said indignantly.

"Will this house be given to you for nothing? Why should the People's Party give you a house? Do you think there is such a reason?" The one pouring cold water continued his speech of "everyone is drunk and I alone am sober."

Hearing this, the dark-red-faced one really got angry. "Eh? What do you mean? The People's Party and the Insurance Corps always say they are the team of our common people; why wouldn't they give us houses? I have no money, but can't I sell my strength?"

That calm cold-water party member smiled disdainfully. "We have sold our strength until now; what have they given us? What food do we eat every day, what work do we do? Can't you see even this? Just eating a meal from them makes us tired like this; giving us houses, not to mention how much work we have to do. Let alone seeing even a shadow of a house now. You want to be distributed a house? Dreaming, right?"

"My family has someone in the Insurance Corps; house distribution will absolutely not leave us out." The brother with the dark red face shouted loudly, "Since this Insurance Corps is the team of our common people, it's impossible for them not to make decisions for our common people." His voice was extremely loud; not only the people in this circle, but even people in other distant circles heard it. Everyone looked over one after another.

The one pouring cold water really didn't expect this dark-red-faced brother to be so agitated. Seeing the dark-red-faced brother glaring at him angrily, his momentum immediately weakened a notch. But even so, he wasn't willing to admit defeat easily. The one pouring cold water chattered: "You say the Insurance Corps stands on the side of the common people, so they stand on the side of the common people? Apart from letting us work every day, tell me what else this People's Party has done? They eat and drink enough themselves all day long, stroll around the fields, and then go back to enjoy blessings. If they say they are the team of the common people, they should let everyone eat enough first. Being so tired all day long..."

The dark-red-faced brother immediately interrupted this chatter. "Zhu San, you are just a lazy ghost, eating and lazy to work all day long. If not for living in this camp, I'm afraid you would have starved to death long ago. Who among those working in the same team as you doesn't laugh at you? For goods like you, even if houses and land are distributed, you will still be poor."

The one pouring cold water was surnamed Zhu, ranked third at home. Having his background exposed by the dark-red-faced brother like this, his face immediately couldn't hold it. He also craned his neck and shouted loudly: "It's not that I can't work. Have you seen such a camp? This bunch of People's Party brats calculate people more poisonously than those blackest-hearted old landlords. Even working, they don't let you work well; how much to do every day, how much to eat, they calculated long ago. Digging a ditch, they even have to set how deep to dig; everyone working just means getting the general idea done. Every time we don't dig that deep, or don't work to their satisfaction, they deduct rations. They draw a line, say a number, and we have to work to death. Isn't this tormenting people?"

Although Zhu San's words were said in desperation, they resonated universally with everyone. The common people of Fengtai County had never experienced communal living on such a scale, nor had they seen such big rules on ordinary days. Previously they always heard that rich and powerful families had big rules. Now these common people of Fengtai County personally experienced to what extent rules could be big. In the past days, when to get up and when to sleep was all up to oneself. Now early every morning, there is the reveille. It won't do if you don't get up; morning rice is supplied at a fixed time, no rice if you don't get up.

When going down to the fields to work, it was also a scene of tens of thousands of people working that had never appeared before. Initially being able to eat free food, everyone didn't think much. But the work assigned made them unable to accept it. For farmers, how to work and how much to work were their own affairs. Although the purpose of every project had to be explained publicly, these common people thought these things had nothing to do with them. You Insurance Corps want to build irrigation canals; it's not just watering my family's land alone, why should I do so much? You want to build roads; it's not just me walking alone, why should I spend so much effort to dig the roadbed and tamp the earth? For hundreds of years, haven't roads become more potholed the more they are walked on? Why must a good road be built when it comes to your Insurance Corps? Just repairing it casually should be fine.

The People's Party and the Insurance Corps claimed to be the team of the common people at all times, and the low-level officers and soldiers in this Insurance Corps were indeed mostly children of local common people. But the ones who could really speak on top were all those people from outside. Everyone had no kinship with these people; wanting to find these people to do some things wouldn't work. In the eyes of the common people, aren't fellow villagers all connections? When the connection is there, everyone can make things convenient. This is the significance of being a local; this is the significance of being a fellow villager. For thousands of years, everyone lived like this, and this was also the only way to guarantee one's own interests.

But like this People's Party, saying it's for everyone's benefit, actually just making everyone work harder. These are not our own people at all. If not because the common people knew now that to survive, they could only rely on eating the grain controlled by the People's Party, I'm afraid it wouldn't be just saying these words; someone would have started trouble long ago.

The dark-red-faced one rarely didn't object. Actually, he also had his own doubts. This was not like Zhu San's kind of people, haggling over every ounce of work. The reason he always "helped" the People's Party speak was that deep in his heart, this brother had a suspicion. Is the People's Party really on the side of the people? What the People's Party said actually made sense: if they couldn't take advantage of now to repair the water conservancy and level the land, there would be no harvest for next year's grain. And the locality would definitely become chaotic. This content instilled repeatedly was not only believed by this brother; actually, even people like Zhu San couldn't say any other reasoning.

The dark-red-faced brother knew that the more people spoke such big words, the more unreliable they were. When constructing water conservancy projects, people from the Insurance Corps side had already said that the few ditches currently being built as key points would all be built with bricks, and then surfaced with some "cement." There were quite a few Fengtai County farmers proficient in farm work; just hearing the volume of these projects, everyone immediately lost heart. Everyone wasn't clear what exactly that "cement" was. But everyone knew that these projects couldn't be finished at all without three to five years. For common people, who would be willing to work for benefits three to five years later? Whether they could live another three to five years was hard to say. This was the reason why those common people who were not afraid of work had worries.

However, even so, Zhu San's words did not make this dark-red-faced brother completely disappointed. The People's Party people looked like learned people, and up to now, they had achieved everything they mentioned. As long as they could really build houses for everyone before winter came this time, then it would show they didn't tell lies. This group of people would have the value of being followed.

Although many people were very dissatisfied with the camp of this Reclamation Brigade, anyone willing to work was clear that in this disaster year, if not done this way, everyone couldn't survive at all. Rice couldn't be eaten raw; everyone knew clearly how much trouble it took to collect fuel for fire on ordinary days. Everyone was also very clear about what a miserable state Fengtai County was in after the flood. If everyone were allowed to cook for themselves, not to mention anything else, just this firewood for burning could cause human lives to be lost.

The situation created jointly by the People's Party and the common people of Fengtai County was certainly chaotic and full of various contradictions, but at least it was still "contradictions among the people." In Fengtai County, there was another large group of people; even in the eyes of the People's Party comrades, they couldn't be completely classified into the "category of people." Even a large group of people simply regarded these people as trouble. They were the disaster victims gathered in Fengtai County.