He left the Revolutionary Committee and immediately went back to prepare. His eldest brother would also help with the plan. The two brought 300 Yuan and a few other gifts.
He thought that Sun Zhuowen would help them to delay things— that even if the sentence was pronounced, they would have to wait until after dinner before going to the farm. As a result, when they hurried to the Shanshui Commune, Luo Haicheng, that active man, had personally escorted the five of them to the labor farm without food.
The two Zhao brothers didn’t have the time to get angry as they immediately divided their routes—the elder brother would go after the sentenced team and Zhao Anpin would head to Han Qingsong.
Han Qingsong was having a meal in the cafeteria. He saw that there was no oil residue and there were just ordinary dishes, so there was no need to send some home.
He packaged some rice and used the two of the tickets for buns with fine noodles in exchange for six steamed cornbreads and some mixed noodles. After he was done packing it up, he sat there and ate some potatoes that were stewed with radishes.
He ate quickly and cleaned the lunch box before taking it back to the office.
No one else in the office besides a man that he did not know.
He glanced at him, “Who are you looking for?”
Zhao Anpin stood up immediately and said with a smile, “I was late. Had I been early, I would have invited Director Han for lunch,” Despite his brightness, his heart seemed to be full of anger.
Han Qingsong poured himself some boiled water into the lunch box and drank two sips. His tea jug was left at home for Lin Lan, so he usually used his lunch box to drink water while he was working.
“I will send whoever invites me for a meal during work hours to jail,” Han Qingsong said casually, but his face was very serious.
Zhao Anpin choked up for a moment, “Director Han really knows how to joke.”
Han Qingsong, “I’m not joking.”
Zhao Anpin felt that the other party was just as tough as a stick; nothing seemed to be able to penetrate through his defences, making it hard for others to try and make a move.
How could such an unworldly person be the Director?
Why wouldn’t he just change his career and set off to fix the world instead?
He’s just pissing people off!
Zhao Anpin couldn’t help but slander that Han Qingsong must have offended the leader of the army, leading him to be driven back to his hometown despite building so much credit. If those military credits were in the hands of others, they would have long climbed their way to the top of the army ranks.
Damn, it would have been better for him to be promoted instead of harming the peace that they had here.
Zhao Anpin deeply felt the sadness of the local officials who once pooled money to promote Hairui(3). He would be happy to promote Han Qingsong if he could to make sure he leaves this place!
(T/N: Hairui was an honest scholar-official in the 16th Century. His colleagues hated that he hadn’t an ounce of desire for corruption or connections, so they once schemed to try and make him leave the bureaucracy)
“Director Han, let’s not go round in circles and make things difficult,” Zhao Anpin started to get to the point.
Han Qingsong looked at him, “Zhao Jianshe’s family is exempt from interfering. The verdict has been read out and the criminals have also been sent to the farm. You can visit them there as there are no restrictions.”
Zhao Anpin felt like he was going to spit out a mouthful of blood at any time.
“Director Han, let’s not speak as if the matter is settled like that. We should be accommodating…”
Only then did Han Qingsong look at him seriously, “Are you the uncle of Zhao Jianshe?”
Zhao Jianshe was the one who arrogantly claimed that he had connections yesterday, demanding Han Qingsong to get out of the way.