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After the “Four Clear-ups Movement”, I was not taken down, but enjoyed more prestige among the masses.Later, the old party secretary wanted to quit, and he really wanted me to take his place.Secretary Zhao of the Hengdian Commune also insisted that I be the secretary of the Hengdian Brigade party branch.At this time, my friend who went to Shanghai together with me, Mr.Zhou, wanted to be the secretary.He had also sided with the old secretary, but when the old secretary didn’t agree with him to take over as secretary, he began to oppose the old secretary and me at the same time.Actually, at that time, I didn’t want to be the secretary myself, but all the other party members didn’t approve of Zhou as a secretary either.Several party members said that if he became a party secretary, we would all suffer, and we might even lose our lives.They came to me and almost got down on their knees to beg me! They really wanted me to be the secretary.
Under this circumstance, I couldn’t say no again.I accepted the offer of the position.However, I had one condition.I said at the party congress that since everyone trusted me so much and elected me to be the secretary, I would take over the work, but I would not take office until I had finished building my family’s house.
At that time, my father was married to another woman, whom I called auntie.Not long after, I was also introduced to an accountant, He Caixian, from Shangcheng Brigade.She graduated from junior high school, and was very beautiful.I heard that she was introduced to several government officials, but she didn’t choose them.She liked me.We were very poor.When we got married, we just invited our relatives from both sides, set a few tables of wine and food, and called it a wedding.
Wedding Photo of Xu Wenrong and He Caixian in 1964
When I got married, the house became even more cramped.Besides, after years of fighting with the rich peasant for the half of the house, I really didn’t want to live there anymore.I suggested giving back the houses which we rented from the rich peasant, and selling the houses we got from the land reform to find another place to build a new house.My father supported this idea.The commune and the brigade knew that I was going to build a house, and they offered me the courtyard of a former Kuomintang officer which had been put into the collective ownership during the land reform.I refused.Mr.Zhou took it later, which was opposed by the public.At that time, I found a place on the beach of the east stream outside the village and started to build a house with stones.It was when I started to build my house that everyone began pushing me to be a secretary.I agreed, but not until the house was built.I said at the party congress that if I became party secretary and then built my house, some people would say that Xu Wenrong built his house with embezzled money and took advantage of the commune.I was upright and had to take office after the house was built.Fortunately, the party members and people understood me very well.
Sometime after this, I went out to do small business and earn some money to build the house.In order to build this house, my wife and I woke up early in the dark.I pulled the cart of soil, and my wife mixed mud and dirt, just like the swallows building their nests bit by bit.I asked a friend of mine from Anwen to buy wood for me, and then I walked more than 40 li to get them back, cartload after cartload.We worked agonizingly hard to build our own house.When the house was finished, I made good on my promise and became secretary of the party branch of Hengdian Brigade.