Chapter 687: Craftsmanship
Spend time making handicrafts and contact tourist attractions to sell them, so that everyone can actually see the possibility of increasing income.
Qi Tongwei is even more caring towards the children in the village. He bought extracurricular books out of his own pocket, set up a small library, and regularly held reading activities to attract children with stories and knowledge. Seeing the growing desire for knowledge in the children's eyes, the attitudes of some parents have gradually loosened. A woman named Aunt Wang originally refused to let her daughter participate in extracurricular reading activities. Later, she found that her daughter had become cheerful and confident, and could tell her a lot of new things in the city. She couldn't help but sigh in her heart: "Maybe Secretary Qi is right. Reading can make children have a bright future."
As time went by, the villagers gradually saw the benefits of these changes. When the villagers working in the factory received their first month's salary, they were so excited that they told others about it. The crops grown with the new technology had higher yields and better quality, and were sold at a good price. The old farmers who were originally skeptical quietly put aside their prejudices. The children in the village made progress in their studies and won awards in various competitions. Parents began to pay attention to education and took the initiative to enroll their children in tutoring classes and interest classes.
Qi Tongwei's efforts finally paid off. When the villagers' meeting was held again, there were no more doubts and resistance from the audience, but pairs of eyes full of gratitude and trust. A gray-haired old man walked up to the stage, tightly held Qi Tongwei's hand, and said tremblingly: "Secretary Qi, we are old and confused, and we wrongly blamed you before. We have seen and remembered everything you have done for the village. You are our great benefactor." After he finished speaking, the audience applauded for a long time.
Qi Tongwei looked at the audience, his eyes moistened, his throat choked with sobs, and his thousands of words were condensed into one sentence: "Fellow villagers, as long as our lives are getting better and better, no matter how much suffering I endure, it will be worth it."
But just as he finished speaking, he suddenly felt a strong dizziness, as if countless needles were pricking his head, and his head was splitting with pain. Then, a scorching heat spread from his forehead to his whole body, and he realized that he had a fever. His legs also began to weaken, his body shook uncontrollably, and the scene in front of him became blurred.
But at that moment, Qi Tongwei roared to himself in his heart: I can't fall! At this moment, behind him is the expectation of the whole village and the responsibility given to him by the country. This powerful force is like a solid pillar, supporting his shaky body. He knows that everything he has done is not only for his personal achievements, but also to fulfill his promise to the country and the villagers, to lead this poor and backward village out of trouble and towards prosperity.
He gritted his teeth and relied on his tenacious will to keep his footing. The villagers in the audience noticed something was wrong, and several young people in the front row quickly ran up to the stage to support him. Qi Tongwei raised his hand slightly to indicate that he was fine. He tried to force a smile and said, "Fellow villagers, I'm fine. I may have been tired these days and have a slight cold. Let's continue. The village can be what it is today because of everyone's concerted efforts. We still have a long way to go in the future. We must continue to expand and strengthen the village's industries..." Although his voice was obviously weak and hoarse, it was still firm and powerful, echoing in the venue.
Hou Liangping was in the audience, looking at Qi Tongwei with concern. He knew that Qi Tongwei had been working so hard for the village during this period that his body was already overwhelmed. After the meeting, Hou Liangping immediately helped Qi Tongwei back to his residence and called the village doctor. After the doctor made the diagnosis, he frowned and said, "Secretary Qi is overworked and has caught a cold, which has caused a high fever. He needs to rest and recuperate for a while."
However, Qi Tongwei was not willing to rest and recuperate. He was lying in bed, thinking about the new agricultural product processing project introduced by the village and the cultural square that was about to be built. These were key measures for the future development of the village and improving the quality of life of the villagers. He struggled to sit up despite Hou Liangping's dissuasion and said to Hou Liangping: "Liangping, I can't just lie down like this. Many things in the village cannot do without me. This little illness is nothing."
Hou Liangping felt distressed and helpless. He knew Qi Tongwei's temper. Once he made up his mind, nothing could change it. So he could only assist Qi Tongwei as much as possible, running errands and passing on information, so that Qi Tongwei could understand the dynamics of the village from his sickbed and remotely control various tasks.
During Qi Tongwei's illness, villagers came to visit him spontaneously. Some brought freshly laid eggs, some cooked steaming chicken soup, and some volunteered to help with some village affairs so that Qi Tongwei could recover from his illness. Qi Tongwei was deeply moved by the simple actions of the villagers. He once again deeply realized that everything he did was worth it. The trust and support from the villagers could cure his pain better than any medicine.
As his health gradually recovered, Qi Tongwei devoted himself to his work again. He led the villagers to continue to forge ahead, and the appearance of the village changed with each passing day.
The newly built cultural square has become a gathering place for villagers in their spare time. Children laugh and play in the square, chasing colorful kites; old people sit on stone benches, basking in the sun, chatting about family matters, with satisfied smiles on their faces.
The machines in the village's agricultural product processing workshop are roaring, and bags of beautifully packaged local specialties are shipped from here to every corner of the city, bringing rich income to the village.
However, the road to development is never smooth. As the village's popularity gradually increased, some external problems also followed. A large enterprise took a fancy to a piece of land in the village and wanted to build a factory here. This was a project that could bring a large number of jobs and tax revenue, but the land acquisition compensation conditions proposed by the enterprise were extremely harsh and might even affect the future livelihoods of some villagers.
As soon as the news came out, the village was in an uproar. Some villagers were worried that they would not be able to make a living after losing their land, and they all went to Qi Tongwei to express their concerns: "Secretary Qi, our ancestors have relied on this land for their livelihood. If we sell the land, what will we do in the future?" Other villagers were skeptical: "Is this foreign enterprise really as good as they say? Are they trying to fool us?"
Qi Tongwei knew the difficulty of this matter. On the one hand, he could not easily give up this opportunity to promote the further development of the village; on the other hand, he had to protect the vital interests of the villagers. He organized several village meetings, invited enterprise representatives and relevant experts to attend the meetings, and explained in detail the planning and prospects of the project and the compensation issues that the villagers were concerned about.