Chapter 113
Hearing Director Zhang teasing her, Xia Juhua said, "If you want to deduct my salary, I won't be the team leader anymore." After saying that, she felt that it was not good to be so disrespectful to Director Zhang in front of Director Qi, so she smiled and said, "Even if I don't receive the work points and subsidies of the team leader, I still have to do my job."
Director Zhang couldn't do anything with her, so he had to let her take him and Director Qi to the vermicelli room of the Ping'anzhuang production team: the vermicelli factory of the Ping'anzhuang brigade has not yet taken shape, and they have to first see how the division of labor and cooperation that Xia Juhua mentioned works.
However, they did not go directly to the powder leaking room. Along the way, they passed by the mat weaving group and the pigpen. The two leaders inspected them and encouraged the women in the mat weaving group.
In the pig pen, they happened to meet the fifth master who supervised Liu Sizhuang and his wife. Both leaders took the initiative to shake hands with the old man and asked him about his family situation. The fifth master was naturally not stumped by the question, and he only spoke well of Xia Juhua:
"The old people in our brigade said that they never thought they could live such a good life now. Every production team gave five kilograms of white flour to the elderly over 65 years old. No matter how disrespectful the children and grandchildren were, they dared not touch the five kilograms of white flour, otherwise the brigade would punish them. Our old brothers and sisters really ate the white flour."
"In the past two years, our brigade has modernized its farming methods. We use tractors to plow the soil and sow seeds. I told our brigade leader that if we also use tractors to harvest wheat, those young people will have nothing to do."
"If we can find something else for them to do, instead of focusing on those few work points all day, their lives will definitely be better than they are now." The Fifth Master was very worried about the possibility of a surplus of labor in Ping'an Village in the future.
Xia Juhua faced the two leaders' questioning looks very calmly. She dared to assure the old men that these words were all thought out by Fifth Master himself and she had never taught him a word.
As for the fat pigs in the pig pen that were obviously more than the stipulated number, Fifth Master was dazzled by them and explained clearly: "Our team leader is too soft-hearted. He can't stand others being nice to him, so he always wants to repay them. Whether it was the commune's agricultural machinery station or the agricultural technology station, they bought piglets themselves and asked our team leader to raise them for them. Our team leader agreed without even being scolded, and even cut grass for the pigs every day."
Director Zhang, who was stunned by Director Qi's words, doubted whether the person that Fifth Master was talking about was Xia Juhua, whom they did not know very well.
When Liu Sizhuang and his wife learned that the big leader was coming, they had quietly come over, but then quietly retreated - even after a few years, Sun Guizhi still recognized that Uncle Qi was one of the two big leaders who sent her and Liu Sizhuang to the county red team that year, so now they dared not come forward.
Xia Juhua and Wu Ye both saw the shadows of two people out of the corner of their eyes. Xia Juhua didn't take it seriously, but Wu Ye wrote them down in his account book: Shameless things, what are you doing here at this time? Do you really think that he has eaten too much today and has to come to the pigpen to smell the stinky smell to digest the food?! They are the ones he is waiting for!
Director Qi and Director Zhang have been in officialdom for many years, so they were able to keep a peaceful smile when saying goodbye to Master Wu. They also assured him that Pingan Manor would have better and better days and that there would be no situation where young people had nothing to do.
After receiving this guarantee, Master Wu smiled so hard that his eyes could not be seen. He waved his hands to the two leaders and even took the initiative to invite them to come to Ping'an Village to eat the slaughtered pig dishes.
Since the two leaders were silent as soon as they left the pig pen, Xia Juhua had to speak up herself: "Fifth Master is a man who can't sit still and likes to walk around. But he has a high reputation in the village. No matter what he tells the members, everyone believes him."
"He is an old man who can speak." Director Qi said.
Director Zhang also nodded: "What you said makes me believe that Captain Xia is a good comrade with a soft heart."
Comrade Xia Juhua, who was soft-hearted, quickly shut her mouth: Anyway, they were almost at the powder leaking room, and the leaders would definitely want to observe more on their own, so there was no need for her to make unnecessary introductions.
The lively working scene is very contagious. If it is mixed with people's joyful banter and the sounds of people shouting as they work together, it will make the listeners' blood boil.
"How many people came in total? It looks like a lot." Director Qi got confused while counting and decided to just ask Xia Juhua directly.
"The male workers in the production team were divided into two groups, each with more than 100 people, working 24 hours a day without stopping." Xia Juhua told the two leaders: "When we say we are working overtime, we are really working overtime. We don't rest even when we are working."
Director Zhang couldn't help but ask, "Is it the same for the other four production teams?"
Xia Juhua shook her head and said, "That's why I thought of opening a vermicelli factory. The four production teams still distributed the sweet potatoes to each family to make vermicelli. Firstly, although the thickness and length were specified, it was difficult to standardize the length of time for drying. Secondly, each family had limited manpower, and people were not machines, so they had to take a break, so the progress of making vermicelli could not catch up with Ping An Village."
The two leaders nodded, but Director Qi had another question: "If the brigade is to set up a vermicelli factory, what should we do with the vermicelli room in Ping'an Village that is leaking?" Such a large place was only built two or three years ago, and it still has a brick and tile structure. It would be a shame to leave it alone.
Xia Juhua had her own plan in mind: "Qiu Sheng and Fifth Master have discussed it and want to move the mat weaving team over. The two leaders don't know that the mat weaving team has a lot of orders now, so they have to recruit another 20 people from other production teams. The space is a bit insufficient."
When the powder room was first built, for convenience, there were no partitions in the room, and only the drying room had a fire wall. That was not a big obstacle. According to Xia Juhua and her team's idea, if they really moved the mat weaving team over, they would also build fire walls in the slurry room and the powder room to prevent their hands from getting frozen while weaving mats in winter.
After hearing that they had made plans, the two leaders asked some more questions, and Xia Juhua answered them one by one. However, she also had some questions that she wanted to see if the leaders could help solve: "It's still the problem of sweet potato storage. If our brigade opens a vermicelli factory, we will definitely have to buy a lot of sweet potatoes, and how to store them will really become a problem. I heard that some places have cold storage, I don't know..."
"Forget it," Director Qi rudely broke Xia Juhua's dream, "There is only one small cold storage in the entire Chengping area, and it's not for us." He didn't explain why it wasn't for them, so Xia Juhua didn't ask any more. She said dejectedly, "In a few years, when we have money, we will have to build a cold storage ourselves. Then the members can leak powder every day."
Both leaders thought Xia Juhua was daydreaming, but neither of them said anything to break her dream.
Without dreams, life would be hopeless.
For example, if Xia Juhua takes out the result of her dream - the simple version of instant hot and sour noodles, and demonstrates to the two leaders how to make it, won't the two leaders feel that it was a wise decision not to attack Xia Juhua?
"What are you thinking?" Director Zhang was really convinced. This person must have a grudge against vermicelli. Why does she spend so much time thinking about vermicelli every day? She has figured out all kinds of things about vermicelli.
Xia Juhua still said the same thing to Qi Weidong and Liu Zhishuang, that is, to let the Pinganzhuang boys who were away from home as new soldiers have a taste of their hometown: "It is winter now, I think the seasoning can be kept for 20 days or a month. Even if the northwest is far away from us, it can be sent to the children after such a long time."
Director Zhang ate the hot and sour noodles and laughed at Xia Juhua for being so soft-hearted. Director Qi looked thoughtful and asked, "Is it hard to make this?"
Xia Juhua nodded and said, "I've let them try to make vermicelli balls directly. It's not a big deal. But the seasoning and the plastic bag are hard to handle, so I didn't dare to make more. I'll prepare for the children to write back. I'll make it and send it to them as soon as I know the specific address."
Director Qi nodded: "They should be writing back soon, so you might as well start preparing now. Plastic bags are not easy to get, don't you ask Qi Weidong?" Do you really think he doesn't know that the boy comes to Ping'an Village as if it's his own home?
Hearing him mention Qi Weidong, Xia Juhua did not hide the fact that she was familiar with Qi Weidong, and asked gossipingly: "Director Qi, you said that Xiao Qi is not young anymore, aren't the adults in your family worried about him?"
Parents have several things in common that they worry about their children. Besides work, marriage is at the top of the list, and it takes turns to top the list according to the age of the child.
Xia Juhua is not gossiping, but Qi Weidong is actually a little older than Liu Zhishuang. Liu Zhishuang is almost going to be a father, but he has not made any movement yet. Xia Juhua really thinks he should get married.
"He doesn't even talk about finding a formal job. Which good girl is willing to marry him?" Director Qi felt a little annoyed when talking about this. Is this something that they, as adults, should be anxious about? It's just that the brat is too opinionated.
Director Zhang was only responsible for eating his own food. He had to admit that the taste was definitely worse than the freshly made food. He commented bluntly, "It was just filling, without any oil or water. If it wasn't for the sour and spicy oil, who would want to eat it next time?"
Xia Juhua thought his comment was fair: "I thought about putting a little bit of soy sauce in it, but I haven't had time to try it yet. It's because the leaders came too suddenly."
"It would be even better if there were some vegetables." Director Zhang panted rudely when he was told that he was fat.
Director Qi put aside his dissatisfaction with Qi Weidong and also put forward two suggestions of his own. For example, the current vermicelli was too thick, and if it was thinner, it would be easier to soak, etc. Xia Juhua kept them all in mind, but did not take to heart Director Qi's words before he left, asking her to make more vermicelli.
現在還是試驗階段呢，哪怕她是大隊長，也不能讓人老是往家裏拿粉條，被人誤會了不值得。
人都架不住念叨，這不兩位主任離開沒兩天，新兵們就陸陸續續寄信回家了。劉志/軍和劉志亮兩個也都寫信回來了，不同的是劉志/軍只寫了一封信給親爹娘，而劉志亮除了給親爹娘的信外，還有一封信的信封上卻寫着夏菊花收。
他們告訴家裏，當兵的地方在甘、寧兩省交界的地方，得坐兩天多的火車才能到省會，到了之後又得坐大半天的汽車，才最終到達他們新兵訓練的地方。不過離家雖然遠，可部隊的夥食很好，他們每頓都能吃的飽飽的，每三天還能吃上一頓肉，讓家裏人別擔心，請長輩們自己保重好身體。
劉志/軍信裏還囑咐劉志國，讓他有點眼力見，多幫着家裏幹活，還讓他沒事多跟劉力柱學學文化——不出門真體現不出認字的重要性。
而劉志亮在信的末尾則請夏菊花多看着點劉紅娟，免得孫桂芝回來之後又被影響了，讓夏菊花哭笑不得。
對于劉紅娟，別看她曾經跟孫氏嚼舌頭引得自己被舉報了一回，夏菊花還真沒咋把她放在心上：一個小毛孩子，又不是她生的，好壞都跟她不相幹。
又不是劉志亮那樣自己努力向上的孩子。
不過劉志亮既然提到讓她看着點兒，夏菊花第二天在紅翠過來幫忙的時候，還是問了問劉紅娟現在的情況。紅翠有點沒回過神來：“大娘，紅娟又犯啥事了？”
夏菊花搖頭說：“沒有，這不是志亮寫信讓我看着她點兒，別再跟她娘學的嘴尖舌快的，我就問問。”
紅翠這才放心的說：“自從志亮走了以後，紅娟更誰也不理了。天天上學下學，就跟在力柱叔他們後頭，可就自己一個人那麽遠遠的跟着，也不跟別的小姑娘們玩兒。”
“以前也這樣？”夏菊花不由說道：“她剛多大呀，心裏想啥呢。”
紅翠心有同感的說：“可不是，有時候我們跟她打招呼，她就看看都不應一聲。也就跟我奶能說上兩句，跟我四叔四嬸一句話也沒有，惹的我四嬸天天罵她。”
說起孫桂芝來紅翠也有一肚子氣：“你說我四嬸咋還不消停呢，在外頭見誰也不敢說啥，可一回到家罵起紅娟來嗓門大着呢。”
夏菊花除了搖頭還能有啥表示？有些時候，欺負弱者最狠的，的往往是那些在別人看起來，同樣是弱者的人。因為他們被別人欺負了，只能用更惡劣的手段，去欺負比他還弱的人，來發洩心中的不滿。
孫桂芝出門就慫，回家後又不是孫氏和劉四壯的對手，就只剩下劉紅娟這個親閨女，可以讓她顯示一下當娘的威嚴了。
見夏菊花搖頭，紅翠就說：“大娘，有時候我都覺得紅娟怪可憐的。志亮在家的時候她還好點兒，話不多但時不常的還有個笑模樣。自從志亮走了之後，她從來都沒笑過。”
“唉。”夏菊花嘆口氣，把劉志亮寫來的信給紅翠找出來，讓她回家的時候悄悄給劉紅娟看看，讓她知道她哥還在關心她，并不是抛下她不聞不問了。
夏菊花也只能做到這一步了，她還有更重要的事兒要忙呢。
先就是得把想給劉志/軍他們寄的方便酸辣粉兒調料準備出來，再針對那天齊小叔他們提出的意見，重新晾一批粉條——那天足足泡了十幾分鐘，粉條才泡的半軟，夏菊花也覺得是粉條太粗了，要是細點兒的話能改善不少。
這任務可以交給劉志全，而去給大隊粉條廠定絞漿機、定扁篩、定煮粉的大鍋、訂裝漿的容器等等事情，就得夏菊花自己出面了。
誰讓她跟農機站的人打交道打出經驗來了，跟縣供銷社的關系也相處的好呢。
至于公社還沒批準平安莊大隊辦粉條廠，夏菊花覺得那就不叫個事兒——如果真不想讓他們辦的話，那兩位領導肯定連她的酸辣粉都不嘗，更不會給她提那麽些意見。
這要還不是同意他們辦粉條廠，那啥叫同意？
就在夏菊花每天忙碌着奔波于縣城和平安莊之間的時候，鄧春林竟然跳了出來，開口就想向夏菊花彙報思想，被夏菊花打發去哪李長順彙報後，又說知青也要為平安莊大隊做貢獻，想跟社員們一起替糧站漏粉兒。
“鄧春林同志，你如果對大隊或是社員有什麽要求，可以直接提出來，不過幫助漏粉兒的話就不用再提了——社員們現在為了完成糧站的任務，都忙成啥樣了，你們去了除了替他們燒火以外，能幫上啥忙？”
夏菊花真讓鄧春林一次次耍小心眼給弄煩了，說出來的話十分不客氣。
鄧春林被揭穿了心思，臉上紅一陣白一陣，小聲說：“大隊長，也沒有別的，就是我們知青的口糧裏頭，也有不少紅薯。我想着大家都休假的話，紅薯消耗的少了，放久了會壞，所以想學會漏粉兒後我們自己也漏成粉條。”
“那你們可得等一陣子了，現在各生産隊真騰不出人來教你們。再說你們也都下鄉這麽些年了，對農村的活計看看也能會，要不你們去誰家自己看着學吧。”
“大隊長，你知道，我們知青一直沒咋跟社員們接觸過，大隊是不是能……”鄧春林是咬着牙把這話說完的，他都能想得出夏菊花會用啥樣的聲調詞彙來回答他。
可他有啥辦法？自從夏菊花當着所有知青的面，說出他交過入黨申請書之後，他就被無形的孤立了——以往知青中不是沒有積極分子，鄧春林怕人家把他的風頭壓下去，就在知青中散布一些“假積極”、“拍馬屁”、“出賣知青讨好大隊”之類的言論。
因為積極分子自己勞動積極，一起幹活的人也不得不跟着賣力，心裏對積極分子的怨氣都不小，所以鄧春林的話十分有市場。知青們一起對着積極分子陰陽怪氣，直到把積極分子給打擊的不敢再出頭為止。
于是在知青之間，就形成了誰積極打擊誰的不良風氣。現在知青們卻發現，帶頭制造這股風氣的鄧春林，竟然自己也要做積極分子了，自然形成一股被背叛的逆反心理。
導致現在在知青點兒都沒人搭理鄧春林了，這讓一向以知青領袖自居的鄧春林如何甘心？
他得做出點對知青有利的事兒來，讓他們知道自己哪怕是做積極分子，也是為了讓所有知青的日子更好過，重拾往日一呼百應的局面。
不想夏菊花這個農村婦女竟讓他們自己去社員家裏學。他們進得去社員家嗎？
這些年知青不說跟社員們水火不相融，那也是心裏相互看不起。加之知青一直住在知青點兒，幹活也是各幹各的，相互之間沒有啥交往，人家憑啥讓他們學手藝？
夏菊花果然跟鄧春林想的一樣，一副要笑不笑的表情，說出來的話刀子一樣專往人心口上紮：“現在大隊要籌備隊辦廠，我實在沒時間給人打招呼。再說你是最早一批來咱們大隊的知青，應該跟社員們很熟悉了，自己去就行。當初你們下鄉的口號，不就是要跟貧下中農打成一片嘛，我相信小鄧你能做得到。”
說完，夏菊花騎上自行車又往縣城去了，完全不理會鄧春林鐵青的臉上表情是多麽扭曲。
不怕抽筋就自己扭去，自己當年仗着年輕有力氣，非得覺得社員有老有少，會占他們的便宜，死活不肯跟社員們一起勞動，現在反而想占社員的便宜，夏菊花可不慣着他。
“夏大隊長，你來得正好。”一到縣供銷社，夏菊花就被熱情的鄭主任給請到了辦公室：“你要是不來，我就得去平安莊找你了。”
“你幫我們買的鐵桶到貨啦？”夏菊花覺得鄭主任的動作還真是快。
鄭主任樂了：“想啥呢，哪兒那麽快就買到。你們要的鐵桶太大了，還得找人專門做，過了年能到貨就不錯。我找你是另外一件事兒。”
不是自己關心的鐵桶，夏菊花就有些興趣缺缺。鄭主任見此也不惱，笑呵呵的說：“地區供銷社給我們發貨的時候，有些布被雪水浸了，量還不小，我覺得你應該有興趣。”
這兩年平安莊大隊可沒少買供銷社的處理品，最多的就是布——處理品那點小瑕疵在平安莊社員看來，完全抵不過不要布票的實惠。
現在平安莊生産隊就不說了，哪怕是另外四個生産隊，社員的手頭都寬裕了不少，縣供銷社的布類處理品，都不用往各公社供銷社分配，都能吃得下。
看，現在夏菊花不就眼睛發亮的問：“有多少，都是啥花色的？全都浸了嗎，咋也得有點沒浸過的吧，我們大隊有幾對要結婚的，要是能有沒浸過的，就先給他們。”
Director Zheng was even happier when he heard this: "Don't worry, I'll take you to see the cloth in a while. But there's something I want to discuss with you, you see..."