Chapter 111 (1)
Director Zhang looked at Xia Juhua seriously. Seeing her taking it for granted, he was amused: "Didn't you tell me at the beginning that your brigade had to work overtime to collect all the sweet potatoes from the grain station? Why do you want to collect your own food now? Besides, do you really not know or are you pretending not to know that privately purchasing grain is a crime of speculation. Even if the Red Team is disbanded now, you will still go to jail!"
Xia Juhua automatically ignored the first question and only answered the second one. She said that she knew what Director Zhang was talking about and said firmly, "So we are collectively purchasing grains for the brigade, not for me personally. This is a collective action, and collective action cannot be considered speculation."
Director Zhang could see that this man was determined to get the sweet potatoes - after dealing with him for such a long time, Xia Juhua knew Director Zhang's character well. Director Zhang dared to make such a request to him face to face. Didn't Director Zhang understand how righteous Xia Juhua's idea was?
The air in the office seemed to freeze as the two looked at each other. After a long while, Director Zhang asked, "You just want to collect enough food for your team?" Why didn't he believe it?
Xia Juhua was very diligent: "Of course, there are only a few people in our team, and we can't harvest much. Who can eat hot and sour noodles for a meal?" You'd better just pretend to be confused.
At this point, Xia Juhua's heart moved, and her eyes became a little erratic. Director Zhang was worried: "If you collect more, let me know..."
Xia Juhua suppressed her excitement and continued to shake her head: "Director, you don't know me well enough. I said I would collect enough food for my own team members, so I would not collect more. If other teams are worried that we will not have enough food for them, we can exchange it for other food."
"You dare to touch the reserve food?!" Director Zhang was really anxious.
Xia Juhua said repeatedly: "What are you thinking? I dare not touch the reserve grain. I just thought that since the members want to eat, they have to exchange their own grain. It's just that's grain is put together, which is equivalent to a collective exchange. It's all the members' own grain, and the reserve grain will not be touched. Really, don't worry."
After Xia Juhua's repeated assurances, Director Zhang nodded slightly in doubt: "If I knew..."
"Don't move the stored grain and don't harvest more sweet potatoes." Xia Juhua looked determined and once again looked Director Zhang straight in the eye. She let him look at her without blinking, determined to make him believe what she said.
Director Zhang nodded doubtfully and said, "Then you can go and negotiate with other teams. If they have any questions, they can come to me."
This meant that they had agreed. Xia Juhua repeatedly expressed her gratitude to Director Zhang, who was understanding of the people's sentiments, on behalf of all the members of Ping'anzhuang Brigade, but was rudely kicked out of the office.
Riding all the way back to Ping'an Village, Xia Juhua asked someone to call Chen Qiusheng to her home and asked him, "How much food do we have in our production team's granary?"
Chen Qiu Sheng said in confusion: "There are a total of 1,000 kilograms of wheat. What's the matter, does the brigade need it?" If the brigade needed it, why did the captain call him home instead of telling him at the brigade headquarters?
Xia Juhua told him, "I just asked Director Zhang for permission to collect some sweet potatoes from other brigades. We don't grow sweet potatoes ourselves, and I estimate that the sweet potatoes in the grain station will be gone before the New Year, so we have to collect some ourselves in the future."
Chen Qiusheng and Director Zhang thought the same thing. They didn't think Xia Juhua just wanted to reveal the vermicelli that Ping'an Village ate. They asked, "Captain, do you want Xiao Qi to sell it for us?"
Xia Juhua smiled: "Vermicelli can only be sold at a good price before the New Year, so I want everyone to harvest sweet potatoes and add them to the sweet potatoes at the grain station. Otherwise, after the 15th day of the first lunar month, when it's time for spring ploughing, what are you grown men doing? You'll just stay at home and cook for your wives."
Chen Qiusheng understood it all at once and said with a smile, "This is a good idea. Although one pound of vermicelli can earn two pounds of sweet potatoes, it's still not as much as selling vermicelli myself. I'll tell everyone when I get back. By the way, you just asked about storing food, do you want to exchange other food for sweet potatoes?"
Xia Juhua nodded: "We don't think wheat is rare now, but half of the rations of other brigades are sweet potatoes. The New Year is coming soon, if they want to change to wheat, then let them do it." Who doesn't eat a few dumplings during the New Year?
Xia Juhua not only said this to Chen Qiusheng, but also to several other production team leaders. Now Team 3 was determined to follow Ping An Village's footsteps. When they heard that they could exchange vermicelli for cash, they were eager to follow.
Xia Juhua was not so polite to Li Daniu and the other three. "You all know what this is about without me having to tell you. If you hadn't come to me every day that year, wanting Zhiquan to join your production team to collect vermicelli, and complained every time he was late, I wouldn't have wasted my energy on you. I could have fried a few more pots of peanuts at home, and I could have made more money faster than exchanging vermicelli."
The four production team leaders could only nod their heads. They all knew what Xia Juhua meant by this, and promised to explain it to the members after returning to the production team. This was their own decision, just like that year. It was their personal behavior. Not to mention Xia Juhua, it had nothing to do with anyone in the team.
After hearing the guarantee, Xia Juhua finally smiled: "How to exchange sweet potatoes with other grains? You can discuss the quantity. Your production team can't exchange more and our production team can't exchange less. I have promised Director Zhang that we will only collect enough sweet potatoes for our members to eat."
The fifth team leader laughed and said, "There are more than 2,000 people in our team. Each person needs to eat at least 30 to 50 kilograms of food a year. What's the harm in collecting a little more?"
The fourth team leader asked: "Captain, does the agricultural machinery station still make pulping machines? I think our production team doesn't have enough."
"You can just go to the Agricultural Machinery Station and ask. Aren't you all familiar with those technicians?" Xia Juhua felt that matters dealing with the Agricultural Machinery Station should be left to the production teams themselves. Who knows if she goes there, whether the Agricultural Machinery Station will ask her to fry peanuts again.
Now that she hadn't finished frying the peanuts from the county supply and marketing cooperative, Wang Caixia had already started to order 1,000 kilograms. The director of the noodle factory had been replaced by Section Chief Chen, who had sold her noodles the first time. He had also asked Wang Caixia to tell him that he also wanted Xia Juhua to help fry 1,000 kilograms of peanuts before the New Year, to be distributed as employee benefits...
There is also Qi Weidong. That guy sent 2,000 kilograms of peanuts without even saying hello. Xia Juhua doesn't dare to take on any more work.
Hearing the disdain in Xia Juhua's tone, the production team leaders all became obedient: they just felt that if Xia Juhua stepped in, the work of the agricultural machinery station would be done quickly and in a timely manner, and it was not that they really could not solve the problem themselves.
Xia Juhua couldn't stay in the brigade any longer, so she told Accountant Chang that she had to go home to fry peanuts, and wanted to go home without any guilt. But Deng Chunlin was about to knock on the door, and when he saw Xia Juhua coming out, he looked a little embarrassed.
"Have you guys arranged your return home?" Xia Juhua held out her hand to him. "Who will be the first to leave? How many days will they be back? Who will stay on duty during the Spring Festival?"
Deng Chunlin couldn't produce a leave application or a shift roster, and he mumbled, "Captain, everyone wants to spend the Spring Festival at home. We've been arguing for a few days but haven't come to any conclusion. Do you think the team can..."
Xia Juhua smiled: "I remember that it was you who told Captain Li that the educated youth should manage the educated youth. Now that Captain Li has just retired, it would not be good for me, the new captain, to interfere." They can arrange things however they want. With this mediation, there will be continuous mediations until all the educated youth have left. really think she doesn't know?
"Captain, how can you be so indifferent to the educated youth? We are all here to help the farmers build..." Deng Chunlin's voice became smaller and smaller as he spoke angrily. He noticed that the smile on Xia Juhua's face had disappeared, and a sarcastic expression appeared on her seemingly calm face, so he could not continue.
As one of the first batch of educated youth to arrive at Ping'anzhuang Brigade, Deng Chunlin knew very well how the contradiction between the educated youth and Ping'anzhuang Brigade arose and how it became increasingly serious. He himself played an indispensable role in this.
Xia Juhua glanced at him with disdain. She thought this boy looked fair and clean and looked a bit like a scholar. How come he didn't have any scholar's backbone at all?
"I still say the same thing. Just arrange your shifts and bring in your leave requests, and I'll approve them. If not, then just stay and celebrate the New Year. Anyway, you're going to settle down in the countryside, and you want to make great contributions, so use this time to think about what you can do." Xia Juhua said coldly, then pushed her bicycle and went home.
Now the Liu family no longer had to hide their peanuts, they were all openly displayed in the kitchen or in the west room of Xia Juhua's main house. Not only were the people from the Ping'an Village production team not surprised, but even the people from other production teams knew that it was because their team leader fried the peanuts so well that none of the brooms they pulled out were thrown out, allowing them to get the cash smoothly.
In the past, the useless sorghum seedlings could now be exchanged for money. Did you dare to imagine that?
So in everyone's heart, they all wished that the aroma of fried peanuts would waft from the Liu family yard every day - the more peanuts their team leader fried, the closer the connection with other units, and the more the members of the Ping'anzhuang Brigade would benefit.
Didn't you see that the team leader brought a tractor two days ago and brought back two trucks of wheat bran for each production team? It was because the team leader was roasting peanuts for the noodle factory again this year, so the factory was willing to sell it to them.
How much white flour can be sifted out from those two truckloads of wheat bran!
Even though each production team received more wheat this year than in previous years, everyone has not forgotten the feeling of being stuffed by wheat bran during the most difficult year, and everyone has a deep affection for wheat bran.
Especially the elderly over 65 years old, they all remember the three catties of black flour they were given. It was also from that year that each production team gave an additional three catties of white flour to the elderly over 65 years old every year, and this year it was increased to five catties.
But Xia Juhua couldn't take care of the peanut frying right now. She wanted to put the idea she had in the commune into practice:
After having more material wealth in her previous life, Xia Juhua had seen instant noodles. After eating them for a long time, one would lose appetite when they smelled them. But when they first appeared in rural areas, only families who loved their children would occasionally buy them a bag of these delicious treats.
It was not difficult to show Xia Juhua the inside, but the problem was how to seal the seasoning. So when she told Director Zhang that people could not eat hot and sour noodles every day, Xia Juhua thought about whether she could launch instant hot and sour noodles before instant noodles became popular.
So she went home and parked her bicycle. Xia Juhua walked into the powder leaking room for a rare time and found that half of the male laborers in the village were busy working in this big yard.
There are dozens of people working at the six pulping machines, some are loading sweet potatoes, some are watching the pulping machines, some are ready to change containers at any time, and some are moving the large basins full of pulp into the drying room. They work in perfect harmony.
The drying room is bustling at the door, but it is not quiet inside either, as there is a constant flow of people delivering sweet potato paste and hanging powder for drying. There are also more than a dozen people stationed in the drying room, responsible for checking the starch clarification from time to time and then checking the drying of the finished products hung on the drying room.
The busiest place is the colander party. In front of the six large pots for twelve people lined up in a row, a rack was set up. The huge colander on the rack was made by a master craftsman who was invited to make pulper knives. On each of the colanders, there was a person holding a large basin and pouring the prepared sweet potato starch into it.
The starch paste was poured into the boiling pot through a colander in the form of thin round strips. After solidifying for two minutes, it was scooped out and carefully hung on the thin wooden poles that had been prepared earlier. When the thin wooden pole was full, someone immediately took it over, quickly walked to the drying room, and hung it on the prepared racks.
A handful of vermicelli was leaked out like this.
Although pouring starch paste and scooping vermicelli were both physically demanding tasks, everyone was smiling and joking with each other, and no one noticed Xia Juhua for a long time. She had no choice but to find Liu Zhiquan's stove and called out, "Zhiquan."
At first Liu Zhiquan thought he had misheard, but when he looked up he saw his mother standing in front of him. He couldn't help but grin and asked, "Mom, why are you here?"
Everyone then realized the captain's arrival and greeted Xia Juhua, asking her what she was doing. Xia Juhua didn't want too many people to know before the experiment was successful, so she just pulled Liu Zhiquan aside and said, "When you make flour in this pot later, don't hang it up to dry, and make it into a ball like this, okay?" She told Liu Zhiquan the size and shape she wanted.
This made Liu Zhiquan feel a little embarrassed: "Mom, if it clumps together right after it comes out of the pot, it will probably become a lump, and it will be difficult to soak it when eating."
"You don't think of a way to make it less clumpy." Xia Juhua felt that her eldest son was just not smart. How could he tell her about the difficulties without even trying when he just heard the request?
"Okay, I'll think of a way." Seeing his mother angry, Liu Zhiquan immediately froze and changed his mind very quickly. Xia Juhua told him unhappily, "You guys can try this pot by yourself, don't delay others from leaking powder."
Mom, don't you think your request is a bit high? Liu Zhiquan looked at his mother's back as she left, and regretted doing the job of leaking powder today. If he was in the drying room, his mother would not have given him such an impossible task.
Liu Zhu, who was lighting the fire, quietly ran to the door and saw Xia Juhua coming out of the powder room. He turned around and whispered to Liu Zhiquan, "Brother, the captain has left. What did she ask you to do just now? Why did she make you so worried?"
Isn't Liu Zhiquan worried? Even though the vermicelli leaking out of Ping'an Village now weighs thousands of pounds, for the farmers, every grain of food is grown with their sweat, and they would feel bad if they waste even a little bit.
But his mother asked him to try to roll the vermicelli and dry it. If it clumps together, won’t it be wasted? The grain station has a certain number of sweet potatoes delivered, and the vermicelli to be delivered must also match the number.
Everyone who was working in front of the same pot with Liu Zhiquan heard his worries. Although they continued working, the laughter stopped and everyone was racking their brains to figure out how to meet Xia Juhua's requirements.
No one thought that Xia Juhua should not have made such a request. In the simple cognition of the members of the Ping'an Village Production Team, they had already formed the concept that no matter what request Xia Juhua made, she must have her reasons.
What they have to do now is to complete the task she assigned - don't say that the captain only told Liu Zhiquan to try it out, they and Liu Zhiquan are leaking powder in front of the pot, so the task assigned by the captain must include them!
"I remember when my wife rolled out noodles, she would sprinkle some flour on the noodles so that the noodles wouldn't stick. Do you think we can sprinkle some starch on them as well?" Someone came up with an idea, and everyone assigned two people to experiment with Liu Zhiquan.
This idea was quickly rejected - although sprinkling starch on the noodles would prevent them from sticking, it would be too challenging to sprinkle the starch evenly on the noodles just out of the pot, and the captain certainly didn't want to waste so much time and effort.
Someone else suggested that the vermicelli should be rinsed with cold water directly after being taken out of the pot, just like the noodles. However, the attempt ended in failure - the vermicelli that had been rinsed with cold water immediately became hard and was difficult to roll into the ball shape that Xia Juhua required.
…
Xia Juhua left after giving her the task. When she came back, she saw Xiaoman frying peanuts with sweat all over her face. After she finished frying a pot, Xia Juhua took over and advised Xiaoman to go back to the house to rest for a while: "Although you have passed the first three months, you can't be too careless. This is your first child, and getting tired is no joke."
Xiaoman wiped the sweat off her face, her rosy face full of smiles: "Mom, I'm not tired." She could earn more than two yuan for cooking a pot of dumplings. She was thinking about how much money she could make in the end while swinging the spatula. Before she knew it, the pot was done. How could she feel tired?
Xia Juhua was both angry and amused: "Don't just think about making money. You are young and don't realize it, but you will know it when you reach my age."
Xiaoman suddenly became nervous, and his originally slow tone became hurried: "Mom, you don't feel well somewhere, go back to the room and lie down, I'll go call the doctor." As he said this, he tried to snatch the shovel from Xia Juhua's hand.
Xia Juhua gently made way for him and said, "I'm not feeling unwell, I just said this to remind you. But you, go back to your room and get some rest."
Xiaoman shook his head quickly: "I'll light the stove and use it to cook with mom. It'll be less tiring if we can talk together."
Xia Juhua shook her head in amusement and said as she fried the peanuts: "We have too many peanuts at home. How long will it take you to finish frying them all by yourself?"
"My sister-in-law is helping me fry after get off work." Xiaoman lit a fire and waited for the pot to heat up.
"She can only fry for a while at night. You have to fry alone during the day and cook three times. You have to find someone to help." Xia Juhua became worried when she saw the peanut bags on the ground. She could make money, but the process was too tiring.
Xiaoman comforted her mother-in-law: "Sometimes, Grandma Qi also comes over to help me light the fire."
Yes, Xia Juhua thought she could find someone to come over and do nothing but help Xiaoman light the fire, so that she wouldn't have to work hard on both sides of the stove. Xiaoman shook her head when she heard this: "Mom, they have learned the skills after a long time..." Of course, this was not a problem for Qi Nai, as she was an old woman living alone, and it would be useless even if she learned it.
This is indeed a problem. No matter Wang Caifeng or Xiaoman, they both started by mastering the heat, and after watching for a while, they dared to try it. Xia Juhua did not give up this plan, because she remembered that although roasted nuts are insignificant, someone became the richest man in the area by just roasting melon seeds.
So after dinner, Xia Juhua appeared in the old courtyard. Li Daya saw her and called out, "Sister-in-law, why are you here?"
The doors of the main room and the west wing opened at the same time, and An Baoling and Sun Guizhi, who looked nervous, came out. Unlike An Baoling, who walked into the room openly, Sun Guizhi looked around at people but didn't dare to say a word.
Xia Juhua really didn't want to pay attention to her, so she asked An Baoling to go back to the house and do her own thing. She came to discuss something with Li Daya.
An Baoling said casually: "I won't do anything you two want to say behind my back. I have to follow and listen." Then she went into the east room first. Li Daya smiled apologetically at Xia Juhua and let her in: "Sister-in-law, you should also come in quickly. It's getting colder day by day."
Liu Erzhuang had already been standing by the door waiting. He was about to call out to someone to see that it was An Baoling who came in, followed by Xia Juhua, so he hurriedly greeted her, "Sister-in-law, why are you here so late? What's up?"
Xia Juhua nodded, greeted him, and then accepted the greetings from Liu Hongling and Liu Hongcui. Nanwu Zhifu and Zhigui also came over.
"Go back to your own rooms." Li Daya saw that there were too many people in the house and drove her two sons away. Xia Juhua said, "You really need to buy a house. Even if Hongling gets married and leaves, there will be no room for you. Zhifu should find a wife."
Li Daya recalled the day when Liu Zhiquan tried to sell her bricks and tiles, and she joked with Xia Juhua, "I did remember that, but we don't have enough bricks and tiles yet. How about using Zhiquan's first?"
An Baoling also said: "I can also take over Zhishuang's."
"You two are done with it." Xia Juhua looked at them unhappily, and couldn't help laughing: "I don't know what those two bastards are thinking. They have to rely on me and refuse to apply for the homestead. If they apply for the two plots you two want, will you still have a share?"
The residential land for Liu Erzhuang and Liu Sanzhuang has been approved. It is an exactly three-acre plot of land. The entrance to the village is close to the road, making travel very convenient. Once the road is built in the future, they can directly expand the windows and turn it into a small shop.
Xia Juhua had long set her eyes on those two plots of land, but her son refused to apply for them, so she was anxious but there was nothing she could do - the family's household registration was together, and if Liu Zhiquan and his brothers did not show up, the household registration could not be separated, and she could not apply for the homestead.
Of course, Xia Juhua could also take advantage of her position as the team leader to change the household registration book into three books, but the same thing applies: if the person himself does not apply for it, what is the point of just changing the household registration book?
Li Daya and An Baoling, who felt that they had taken advantage of their sister-in-law, kept silent, smiling as they waited for Xia Juhua to explain her purpose. Xia Juhua came for no other reason than to ask Hong Cui if she wanted to help Xiao Man with the fire.
Hongcui wanted to say that she was in the weaving group and leading the girls to weave things every day, but Li Daya had already opened her mouth and agreed for her: "Why not? Her second sister-in-law is pregnant and can't help, so it's her duty to lend a hand."
Hongling pouted: "Auntie, you only care about Hongcui and not me now. Do you think I married far away and can't be filial to you? Why do you let Hongcui go and not me?" Hongcui, who was reluctant at first, was stunned and swallowed the words.
Xia Juhua smiled and tapped her forehead: "You have enough to do with the production team's accounts every day, so how can you have time to help your second sister-in-law? Unlike Hongcui, even if you can't afford to weave mats, your sister-in-law Cuiping is still watching over you."
After saying that, he looked at Hong Cui and said, "Your second sister-in-law will definitely not let you work in vain. She will give you 50 cents for a pot of fried peanuts."
"No, no, no," Hong Cui waved her hands repeatedly after hearing this: "How can I share Second Sister-in-law's money? I am willing to help Second Sister-in-law."
Li Daya also said: "Sister-in-law, you want Xiaoman to teach Hongcui craftsmanship, and she dares to ask for money?"
Only then did Hong Cui understand why her mother agreed to the offer so immediately, while her sister said that her aunt no longer loved her.
"Family is family, money is money." Xia Juhua was very adamant about this: "Even though I have to light the fire first, I still have to soak peanuts and carry the red and green vegetables. Fifty cents for a pot is not much."
Fifty cents per pot may not sound as good as recording work points, but Xiaoman doesn't just fry one pot a day. The most important thing is what Li Daya said, Hongcui can learn the skill of frying peanuts, which can't be bought with any money.
Haven’t you seen that Xia Juhua’s yard is filled with fragrance every day? It’s because Xia Juhua is a good cook, and the two daughters-in-law she taught cook in the same style as hers.
Many families who have a skill would pass it on to their daughters-in-law rather than their daughters-in-law, for fear that the daughters-in-law would bring it to their husbands' house. Moreover, Liu Hongcui was not Xia Juhua's biological daughter, but only her niece!
So Liu Erzhuang spoke up: "Sister-in-law, you taught Hongcui and her sister how to weave mats, and you taught them how to read in the literacy class. Now you want Hongcui to learn the craft from Xiaoman. If we charge them again, what kind of people will we be?"
However, Xia Juhua never took back what she had said, and in the end she even threatened Hong Cui not to help, and finally the matter was settled.
It was not until the fourth day after Xiaoman came to help that Liu Zhiquan came back with a plate in his hands, looking very happy. Before he even entered the kitchen, he shouted, "Mom, come and see if this is what you want."
Xia Juhua was frying peanuts, so she had to finish the whole pot before turning off the heat. But Liu Zhiquan couldn't wait, so he went into the kitchen and said, "Mom, I think it's done this time." He then showed the plate to Xia Juhua.
There were three small balls of half-dried vermicelli on the plate. Unlike the long strips in the past, each ball was curled up neatly, and the strands of vermicelli were very distinct. Xia Juhua asked Liu Zhiquan to pick up a ball and turn it around for her to see.
Very good, there is no lumps at the bottom, and you can add seasoning after soaking in boiling water for a while. Xia Juhua nodded with satisfaction: "That's what I mean, but there are a little less vermicelli, it should be enough for a bowl."
As long as the right method is found, the size of the vermicelli balls will not be a problem? Liu Zhiquan got his mother's approval, and his eyes lit up with joy: "Mom, is this all right?"
"It's not good enough. It's still far from being good enough." Xia Juhua kept on working and asking, "Is it troublesome to do this? Does it take up more space than hanging it to dry?"
"It's just an extra process of kneading, it's not a big deal." Liu Zhiquan pretended to be nonchalant and said, "If we make a few racks to put the flat sieves on, it will save space instead of hanging them to dry."
Xia Juhua nodded thoughtfully and assigned a new task to her eldest son: "Go to the county town to find Xiao Qi and tell him that I want clean plastic bags, the kind for snacks, thicker ones, both big and small."
Liu Zhiquan had already accepted his mother's momentary thoughts. He put his things down and went to push his bicycle, not even bothering to ask why.
Xiaoman didn't think it was a big deal, but Hongcui was surprised: "Big brother is really obedient. Zhifu jumps up and down whenever my mother asks him to do something."
"That was a light beating." Xia Juhua deliberately acted viciously, and Xiaoman laughed, then slowly asked Xia Juhua to face the truth: "Mom, I have never seen you beat Big Brother and Zhishuang."
"That was when I was beating them." Xia Juhua wanted to maintain her dignity. Even with this vicious appearance, whether anyone believed it or not was another matter.
In the afternoon, Qi Weidong followed Liu Zhiquan to Ping'anzhuang, and of course brought the plastic bags that Xia Juhua needed, both large and small, and let Xia Juhua pick out the ones she thought were suitable.
"Auntie, what are you doing?" Qi Weidong saw Xia Juhua carefully pour the prepared seasoning into a small plastic bag, align the mouth of the small plastic bag, carefully fold it over and put a small iron sheet in the middle, then gently heat it with a candle, and the seasoning was actually sealed in the plastic bag. He couldn't help but ask in surprise.
Xia Juhua took a dozen or so fried peanuts (the kind without icing) and some chopped pickled vegetables and sealed them in a small plastic bag. Then she took the small piece of paper she had prepared earlier and wrote the date on it, and that was it.
"I want to try and see how long these seasonings can be kept like this without changing their taste." Xia Juhua finally had time to answer Qi Weidong's question.
Qi Weidong was still puzzled: "What's so good about trying this? You're at home every day, you can just make it when you want to eat it, and it tastes so good." Chili oil tends to have a rancid smell if it's left for a long time, so how can it be delicious?
Xia Juhua shook her head and said, "That's why I want to try it." It would be great if there was the dehydration technology from the past, and I could put some vegetables in it. But Xia Juhua had already thought about it. When she had time, she would write a letter to ask Technician Xue if there was such technology in Beijing now.
Qi Weidong still didn't understand what was going on. But when he heard that Xia Juhua wanted to try to make hot and sour rice noodles that were easy to carry and only needed to be soaked in boiling water, he was impressed: "Auntie, you'd better stop being a captain. Let's be partners in the future. I'll listen to you and we'll definitely make a lot of money."
I was waiting for you to say this. Xia Juhua was not polite at all: "I will remember what you said. When I am no longer the team leader, if you don't cooperate with me, I will go to Deputy Director Qi to complain."
Qi Weidong had joked with Xia Juhua like this before, but he didn't expect that she actually nodded today, which made Qi Weidong very happy: "Auntie, when you are not going to do it, tell me in advance, and I will prepare enough money to wait for you to have a good time."
Xia Juhua did not continue the topic, but asked him to prepare more plastic bags that he had just used: "Tell me how much, but don't make too much money from me."
It was only then that Xia Juhua remembered that unlike in the previous life when plastic became white garbage, plastic today was still a good thing - when the supply and marketing cooperatives sold snacks, most of them had to use oil paper or paper boxes to package them.
She wanted to launch the hot and sour noodles first, just like she had done with instant noodles, but it might not be cost-effective. But since she had given it a try, she had to see it through to the end, so when Qi Weidong asked her how many she needed, she asked for 200 large plastic bags and 400 small plastic bags.
"Mom, what on earth are you doing?" Liu Zhiquan couldn't hold it in any longer and asked.
Xia Juhua thought of an excuse and said, "Zhijun and Zhiliang are so far away from home when they go to the army. I was afraid they would miss home, so I thought of making some ready-made hot and sour sauce so that they can eat it and feel like they are at home."
Liu Zhishuang was equally puzzled: "Didn't they all take vermicelli with them when they left? I heard that each family taught them how to make it before they left."
Xia Juhua, who was already angry about the high cost and the fact that she was facing failure in her own experiment, suddenly became anxious: "They are just young men, what can they learn in just a few days? Once they leave, they will worry about the whole family. Can't the team give them some gifts to comfort them?"
Qi Weidong, who rarely saw Xia Juhua angry, stepped out to smooth things over: "Auntie, they just didn't know and wanted to ask, they didn't say you can't do it. Don't worry, I'll take care of the plastic bag, and I promise I won't make a penny from you."
If you don't make money, won't the people selling plastic bags make money? Xia Juhua drove the three of them out of the house and thought of other ways.
We had to think of a solution, and we couldn't stop doing other things. Seeing that Hongcui had mastered the timing, Xia Juhua began to arrange the sweet potato harvest for the Pinganzhuang team.
When contacting other members of the team, some asked the same question as Director Zhang, that is, didn't you say you didn't have time to leak the powder for us? Why are you putting away the sweet potatoes now? You didn't want to leak it for us before. Are you afraid that we will take advantage of you?
Xia Juhua explained one brigade after another and stopped going to the third brigade: When you wanted the Ping'anzhuang brigade to help leak the powder, didn't you ever think of making them work in vain?
Xia Juhua's original psychological price was that the Ping'anzhuang Brigade would come forward collectively and the price of a pound of sweet potatoes would be four cents at least. She didn't expect that they would actually raise the price and offered a price of six cents per pound as if they had agreed beforehand.
She rode her bicycle directly to the county town to find Qi Weidong and said to him, "Auntie, I still need your help with this matter."
Qi Weidong laughed after hearing what Xia Juhua had said. "Those brigades must be crazy. Auntie, you have helped them so much, and you still don't deserve it? Come on, I will definitely take care of this for you."
Xia Juhua told him with some concern: "Don't let anyone find out."
Who is Qi Weidong? He had sneaked into the village to collect food more than once or twice. Almost every production team had his regular customers. Even those who had connections with him in the black market had a lot of sweet potatoes. That night, they quietly delivered 10,000 kilograms of sweet potatoes to the Ping'anzhuang production team.
It wasn't silent, as Liu Zhishuang had brought the sweet potatoes back with a tractor. But since Liu Zhishuang started using the tractor, the gate of Xia Juhua's house had been rebuilt so that the tractor could be parked directly in the yard. In addition, Liu Zhishuang often hauled things for the various teams, and it was common for him to come back late, so the members of the Ping'anzhuang weighing team were no longer surprised by the sound of the tractor in the middle of the night.
However, after everyone was notified to transport the sweet potatoes, they all understood what was going on. No one discussed it much and mixed the sweet potatoes into the pile of sweet potatoes transported from the Loufenfang Grain Station - with Chen Qiu Sheng and Hong Ling around, there was no need to worry about the accounts being unclear.
The other four production teams also received extra sweet potatoes, and it looks like more will be delivered continuously. Everyone is very happy.
All the members of Ping'anzhuang Brigade were more excited than Qi Weidong: the sweet potatoes that were transported later and the vermicelli that were made would eventually be sold through him. The price he paid to Ping'anzhuang Brigade was 45 cents per pound, and he was confident that he could sell it for 60 cents or even higher.
The two team leaders who had been contacted by Xia Juhua could no longer sit still in their own brigades - their brigades grew a lot of sweet potatoes, and one-third of the members' food supply came from that stuff, and the members were all resentful.
I originally thought that since Ping'anzhuang Brigade didn't plant much sweet potatoes this year, I could say a few words to Xia Juhua and then have the commune put some pressure on them, so that Ping'anzhuang Brigade could help turn the sweet potatoes into powder and also ease the resentment of the members.
Unexpectedly, the Ping'an Village Brigade didn't give them face and directly said that they would give flour to each grain station and didn't have time to take care of their affairs. They went to the commune to complain, but Director Zhang spitted in their face. They were furious, so when Xia Juhua came to them to collect sweet potatoes, they couldn't help but say a few more words.
Who would have thought that Xia Juhua would not buy it and rode away on her bicycle. As soon as she left, the two team leaders felt a little regretful: in addition to the Ping'anzhuang Brigade, there were more than just their two brigades in the whole commune. If other team leaders agreed to Xia Juhua's proposal, the members of their brigades would know about it and they would be in trouble...
They can only persuade themselves in their hearts.
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