Like a Flowing River (Da Jiang Da He / 大江大河)

Proletarian internationalism is built on the notion of seeking truth from facts.

Only when you stand firmly,

insisting on seeking the truth from facts

can socialist modernization

move forward.

We can now enter university!

What has been undergoing, as a practice, is the only discussion we will have to examine the truth.

More practically, the core argument is to emancipate the mind.

Whether or not...

Ep 18

Where is the money?

Didn't get it, am I right?

Well, Brother Yuan said

his factory is also very tight on money recently.

After this quarter,

they will give the money back.

He said the same thing last time.

You forgot?

Well, Brother Yuan said,

he will definitely give the money back this time.

He'd rather pay us next month

than give bonuses to his workers.

They are a state owned factory.

Their accounting is supervised by higher authority.

Not like ours.

So what?

State owned enterprises have the right to not pay debt?

Your kept calling him Brother Yuan, so intimate.

Did that bastard buy you over?

No, I didn't.

I did everything that I could. I've asked him a whole day before he was able to give me a guarantee.

He called the Bureau Chief of the 2nd Light Industry Bureau in my presence.

He said that they will definitely return the money to us next month.

If he still doesn't return us the money next time...

If he still doesn't return us the money next month,

I will go and stay in the home of the Yuan family. I will not barge.

Sibao, drink some water.

That, Sister-in-law.

Sister-in-law, don't busy yourself with that. I won't drink. I'm not thirsty.

That, Older Brother, I have other things to attend to. I will go off first.

There is improvement today.

Your performance is not bad.

What improvement did I make?

Sibao didn't handle that matter properly,

but you didn't raise you hands against him.

You didn't reprimand him too severely too.

Your performance is not bad.

With you resting inside the house,

I'll be too embarrassed to scold or beat up anyone.

I will not allow them to come to the house to discuss work matters in future.

Otherwise, you might feel perturbed

when you hear it.

Go, go and rest a little bit more.

I am going to look for Shigen to discuss some matters.

Didn't Older Brother Shigen said that

you are not allowed to go to the Brigade these few days?

The creditors have been here the last few days.

Shigen is afraid that I might do big talks because I love my honor, so he's been holding them off in front all this while.

I can't be hiding all the time. Right?

And there is this Sibao.

He can't do anything right.

He just know how to talk his way out of things. He even got me these sugar-coated cookies.

Hey!

Don't throw them away.

We are all living in the same village.

He is after all a relative within these five generations.

If you threw these away,

won't that hurt his pride?

I'm bringing it to our mother.

I feel angry just looking at them.

I would like to have some of these apricot blossom cakes. Is it okay?

Okay. If you want to eat, just go ahead.

You are laughing at me. I won't eat anymore.

In all honesty, I didn't laugh.

You did laugh. You're laughing at me for being a glutton, for being a good-for-nothing.

Bring them to your mother.

No, when you eat it, it is like our son is eating it.

If mother knows that you want to eat them, she'll surely keep them for you. I really didn't laugh at you.

I was thinking about other things, that's why I laughed.

What other things are you thinking about?

Eat this first. I will tell you after you've finished eating.

Quickly eat.

Is it nice?

- You have some too. - I'll eat, I'll eat, I'll eat. You eat first.

- Quickly. Quickly. - You have crushed them.

Good.

Here, I want to show you something.

I was laughing because of this just now. Look.

What?

You bring everyone back first.

Okay?

This is because the higher-up owe us money.

As soon as the account is settled, we will return the money to you.

Why have you come over here?

That group of creditors are here. If they see you now, they will eat you alive!

Section Chief Shen of the cement factory is also here.

I told them that you are not in the village. Can you go back quickly.

Sibao has just been to my home.

He has given me some reliable news. I can't keep on hiding from them.

Where are the people?

- Over there. - Okay. Okay.

I know.

I am also in a difficult position now that all of you are here. Isn't it so?

- Section Chief Shen. - Secretary is here. Secretary is here. - Section Chief Shen. - Secretary Dongbao.

Secretary Dongbao, you are back at a last. You are back at last.

Say, I have been here a few times this month.

If I am still unable to get the payment for the goods,

- I will be sacked by the factory. Don't you know that? - Me too. - Secretary,

you have finally shown yourself.

Take it that I am begging you. Okay?

Just pay whatever amount that you are able to pay.

- That's right, just pay a little. - You can't hide from us.

Section Chief Shen, I am not hiding from you.

I would not have come here if I were hiding from you.

We are all honest people. I will not say flowery words.

We are also waiting for the construction debt that is owed to us by the city's wire factory.

But do not worry. They have given us some reliable news today.

They will definitely pay back by next quarter.

As soon as it is paid, I will bring the money to you.

We can't wait for that long.

I understand your situation.

But you have to understand our situation too. We really do not have any money.

Let's not talk about this first.

That, Shigen and Four-eyed, go and make the arrangements.

Go and have some drinks with everyone.

- Let's have some drinks together. - No, no, no. Please let us not drink anymore.

I have just been discharged from the hospital.

Secretary, I just want the money now. Let's not take about drinking anymore.

Dongbao, don't drink anymore. I feel like throwing up ever time we talk about drinking.

Don't drink anymore.

Then why don't we do this?

I will tell you in a straightforward manner.

By next quarter, if I, Lei Dongbao, do not return the money to you,

all of you can move into my home to stay and have your meals there.

Okay?

This is what you said.

This is what I said.

- Believe him for once. - Looks like this is all we can do.

Four-eyed, go and make arrangement for everyone to have a meal.

- Okay. That .. let's go, Section Chief Shen. - Go first. Go first.

- Shall we let's have our meal? Okay? - Let's have our meal first. - So we'll settle it as such, Secretary.

Okay, okay. We are so sorry about it.

Secretary has already said so. There will be no problems. Let's go, everybody.

Secretary.

This is really not how you should continue doing things.

If the wire and cable factory does not return the money next month,

I reckon that this group of people will really move in to stay at your home.

If the wire factory still does not return the money,

I will bring Old Shen and the rest to go and stay in the home of that rascal Old Yuan.

It's not my turn to get the headache.

Only you have the mood to joke at a time like this.

Can you make some calculations?

See if we can take some out to pay them.

I can see that it is not easy for them to come here time and again.

Please don't ever believe them.

They have been here for a few days already.

Everything was fine and they didn't say anything. They only started to tell their stories when you came back.

I reckon that

all these are the ideas of Old Shen from the cement factory.

There is nothing wrong with Old Shen.

Paying back one's debt is the right and proper thing to do.

If only Sibao could have been persistent with his stand, we would have gotten the money back a long time ago.

Then take a look at this yourself.

This month, there are some difficulties with the collection of payment

of the brick factory and the prefabrication factory.

Only the rabbit fur Purchasing Station seems to be smooth sailing.

The entire village is depending on this bit of money.

It won't be so easy if you are thinking of paying our debts.

Over at the Purchasing Station,

is the Old Macaque still being honest?

It's a rare opportunity that old thing is calm for a few days.

- What is it? Has he gone to look for you again? - No.

Such a large village and we are all dependent on that little bit of income from the sales of the rabbit fur.

You must keep a close watch over it. Don't let anything go wrong with it.

Why don't we ask the Old Secretary back to help us? I think—

I would have used him if I could a long time ago.

Old Uncle, he's too old-fashioned.

It's still alright for him to take charge of the brick kiln.

But can he be involved in business?

Then why not we ask Secretary Xu to help?

If Secretary Xu come out to help us,

then the wire and cable factory would at least give due attention to this matter.

Such a big thing has already happened to his family.

Don't give him anymore worries at this time.

What you are taking about?

Hello. Hello, how are you?

He's here. He's here.

Please wait a moment.

Dongbao,

Secretary Xu.

Hello, Secretary Xu.

There is no rain on the mountain paths.

The bright green air has dampened the garments of the people ( T/N from a poem of the Tang poet Wang Wei. ).

This is a very quiet place.

Does it suit you then?

The heart is untroubled and the spirit pleased. This is very good.

It is well worth the long mountain path we had to walk.

It's good that it's very good.

Otherwise, given this is a rare time for you to ask me for anything, if I'm unable to do it well, I'm so not a friend.

Dongbao, do you come here normally?