Chapter 115
"Captain, why are you here? Didn't I ask Li Zhaodi to bring you some reed bark? What's the matter? The reed bark she brought you is not suitable, and the color is missing?" After Zhao Xianzhi finished assigning the tasks, she realized that Xia Juhua had been looking at her for who knows how long. She hurried over to greet her and asked, "Do you think my way of assigning the tasks is okay?"
"Okay, of course." Xia Juhua really thought Zhao Xianzhi's division was very good: "With this division, the new recruits don't have to sit idle, and the old people can try more new varieties. I think we can find them all in a few days."
Zhao Xianzhi felt that being recognized by Xia Juhua was more gratifying than giving her ten more days of work points: "Captain, if you think it's okay, let them start soaking reed bark."
"There's no rush for Bubble Reed Skin. Xianzhi, have you forgotten something?" Xia Juhua looked at Zhao Xianzhi's expression, which gradually turned from calm to flustered because of her words, and teased her on purpose.
Zhao Xianzhi was nervous, at a loss, and annoyed. His mind was racing, but he couldn't remember what he had forgotten, and the captain discovered it all of a sudden.
After a while, she blushed and begged for mercy from Xia Juhua: "Captain, I really can't remember which one I missed. Please tell me."
Seeing that she was almost getting anxious, Xia Juhua deliberately imitated Xiaoman's leisurely tone and said, "Think about it, what did you say to Xiancao last night?"
What did I say to Chang Xiancao? Wasn't it just a quarrel about making some clothes for the family? Wait, making clothes? Zhao Xianzhi suddenly realized: "Oh, look at my stupid brain, how could I have forgotten it completely. Now the work has been divided up, and I don't know if the people from the supply and marketing cooperative have left."
Chang Xiancao couldn't stand it any longer: "The captain is still here. If the people from the supply and marketing cooperative come, won't they look for the captain?"
"Yes, yes, you are right." For the first time, Zhao Xianzhi agreed with Chang Xiancao's words: "What should we do? This job doesn't wait for anyone."
Zhang Cuiping laughed so hard that she couldn't breathe. After she calmed down for a long time, she suggested to Zhao Xianzhi: "Auntie Xianzhi, we have all been busy for several months. Why don't we give everyone half a day off today and go to the brigade to buy some things together? This will save everyone from having to think about the New Year's affairs at home in a few days and delay editing things."
Zhao Xianzhi was tempted, but his eyes still drifted towards Xia Juhua. Seeing that she did not object, he waved his hand and announced to the women in a very imposing manner: "Everyone, have you remembered the work you are supposed to do? If you have remembered, come with me to the brigade headquarters. The county supply and marketing cooperative will come to sell processed products. Buy whatever your family needs today."
This exaggerated method made Xia Juhua sigh in amazement, and at the same time, she was worried for Director Zheng. What if the things he brought were not processed products?
When the women in Ping'an Village heard that they could have a holiday and that there were processed products to buy, they did not have the worries that Xia Juhua had. They stood up, dusted off their clothes and ran home. They had to go home to get more money, otherwise the things they liked would slip away from them because of lack of money.
The women recruited from other production teams were a little confused about what to do. Zhao Xianzhi took some time to ask them: "Why don't you go home to get the money? Otherwise, the good things will be bought by others."
The 19 women looked at each other in bewilderment. One of them said, "Our production team notified us last night that our boss said I have to come and weave the mats. He can just buy the stuff."
"Tsk," Zhao Xianzhi sneered at this statement: "How can men tell what's good and what's not? Can you like the things they buy? We women have to choose for ourselves. We have to choose the color we like and wear it to feel comfortable."
The women from the outside team were even more amazed when they heard this: "Team Leader Zhao, you still want to make new clothes?"
Zhao Xianzhi said as a matter of course: "It's almost the New Year, why don't you make new clothes? Let me tell you, don't feel uncomfortable when you hear that it's soaked in snow water, why don't you think about the fact that this cloth doesn't need cloth coupons? Each person in the family has one piece of clothing, how long will it take to collect cloth coupons? Buy some now while there are disposals and make plans."
Ignoring the stunned expressions of the women outside the team, Zhao Xianzhi finally remembered Zhang Cuiping: "I was wondering why you didn't rush home to get the money. Didn't Qiu Sheng tell you yesterday? Other production teams have been notified, how could he not know? You didn't even remind me, and you were just waiting to see me make a fool of myself, right?"
Zhang Cuiping continued to laugh: "He told me. I was afraid that you, Team Leader Zhao, would be so focused on your work that you wouldn't let us go shopping. I didn't dare to undermine your prestige. By the way, Auntie Xiancao has returned with the money. Let's go."
Zhao Xianzhi then slapped his thigh and said, "I was so busy talking to you that I forgot to go home to get the money." After saying that, he ran home in a hurry.
The sight of groups of women walking together was quite shocking, especially when behind them there were a dozen or so girls dressed in new clothes, who would attract crowds of onlookers whenever they passed by any production team.
If Xiaozhuangtou and most of the people in Team 4 were not at home leaking powder, Xia Juhua had reason to believe that this group of people would cause quite a stir. Now it was almost time, and the women in Team 4 were already pointing and talking at their backs.
Compared to being told off in her previous life, Xia Juhua is much calmer now: she takes the women to buy things, and others tell her off because they envy the women in Ping'an Manor who are the real bosses and don't need a man's approval to buy things.
Just kidding, do the men in Pingan Village dare to say anything about what their wives buy? They need food and clothes, and the women in Pingan Village are very kind.
"Are you really going to take the money and leave?" Several people recruited from outside the team had already been working for about a month. They had become familiar with the women in Ping'an Village and their questions became bolder.
The woman from Ping An Village who was asked was proud in her heart, but she still managed to show off a little: "I earn as much as he does, and I don't buy things for myself, so why can't I just take the money and leave? The more I buy today, the more I save for my family."
The woman who asked the question wanted to say that it would be more economical if she didn't buy it. But for some reason, she couldn't say it. Not only could she not say it, but she also felt that what the woman from Ping'an Village said made some sense. What she thought deep in her heart was, if she worked in the weaving group for a while longer, would she be able to be like the woman from Ping'an Village and buy whatever she wanted by going home and taking money?
It wasn't just the women recruited from outside who were shocked. Director Zheng, who led the team to the Ping'an Village Brigade, was also shocked: "Captain Xia, you people in Ping'an Village are too rich. How come you buy things without blinking an eye?"
He really wasn't exaggerating. No matter what was on display, as long as the women from Ping An Manor liked it, they would basically buy it directly after asking the price, without comparing or hesitating. Everything seemed so natural.
Formal workers in the county town don't have the confidence they have when it comes to buying things.
Xia Juhua waved her hands repeatedly: "Director Zheng, I dare not say that. We in Ping'an Village don't have money. Even if we did have money, we wouldn't buy processed products. It's because they think that there will be no such store after this village. They are afraid that if they go to the county to buy it in the future, they won't have enough industrial tickets. That's why they buy more and keep them."
Director Zheng looked at Xia Juhua with a look that asked, "Do you think I'm stupid?" He thought to himself, if you don't have money, you have to calculate before buying salt. Should you buy two or three taels? How dare you buy more and keep it?
Fortunately, Xia Juhua made it clear yesterday. Director Zheng brought a lot of things today. He was not afraid of the strong purchasing power of the women in Ping'an Village. He was still concerned about textiles: "Captain Xia, do you need to buy anything else? If not, let's talk about participating in the expo."
Seeing that Director Zheng had brought another salesperson with him in addition to Director Lin, Xia Juhua didn't worry about being too busy, so she said hello to Director Lin and took Director Zheng into the house to talk.
When Director Zheng mentioned the series that had been discussed last night, he nodded repeatedly and kept praising Xia Juhua: "Captain Xia, I think the ideas you have for Ping An Village are good. Get ready. Let me know when you are ready so I can report to the district and have them come over to see the samples."
In order to show his support for Ping'an Village, Director Zheng asked Xia Juhua if there was anything else she needed help with from the county supply and marketing cooperative. Xia Juhua did not hesitate to tell him that she needed various dyes. Director Zheng promised to have someone deliver them to Xia Juhua the next day.
In addition to the products participating in the expo, Director Zheng has another concern: "Captain Xia, can you complete the original orders on time?" Some of those orders were also placed by friendly countries and were tasks assigned by superiors. If they were not completed due to participating in the expo, he would be the one to bear the blame in the end.
Xia Juhua had heard about Zhao Xianzhi's arrangement in the morning, but she felt it was necessary to improve Ping An Manor's favorability, so she said naturally, "It's still difficult. You just heard that there are many things that need to be figured out by someone first."
"Those who can think of new varieties are all veterans. The new recruits can only weave mats and so on, and their hands are slow. I am still worried here. Those who compile orders have high work points, but they can't weave finished products for several days when they are thinking of new varieties, and it is not easy to remember the work points."
Director Zheng of course expressed his gratitude: "I'm really sorry to make things difficult for you. But Captain Xia, don't worry, the supply and marketing cooperative has been dealing with Ping'an Village for a long time, and we will definitely not make things difficult for you."
He thought for a moment and said, "How about this? I'll report your situation to the district as soon as I can. The supply and marketing cooperative will provide some subsidies to the people in your production team who are involved in the production of new varieties. Of course, the subsidies may not be much, but it's just a token of my appreciation."
這波好感刷的真不虧，夏菊花樂呵呵的讓鄭主任盡管彙報去，就算是沒有補貼，只要是供銷社的任務，平安莊的婦女們也一定會努力完成。
屋裏談的滿意，屋外平安莊婦女們買的也很盡興，大家除了油鹽醬醋以外，買的最多的是水杯、暖壺、臉盆、水靴以及處理布。要不是鄭主任來前就跟林主任說過，讓他按夏菊花提的，把處理布沒浸水的留出來，怕是都得讓平安莊的婦女們搶了。
別的生産隊的婦女們，在平安莊婦女面前都不好意思說自己要買的東西了——人家看中的東西直接買買買，自己卻得算計着手裏的錢，把看中意的東西反複比較，買下最急用的那個。這種對比，讓她們看向被平安莊招去編織組的同生産隊婦女的眼神裏，充滿了羨慕。
剛來的路上還覺得大受打擊的編席組新成員，突然覺得自己的底氣足了，哪怕她們同樣看的多買的少，心裏卻多了一份希望：等明年供銷社再下鄉的話，她們說不定也能跟平安莊的婦女們一樣，把自己看中的東西都買回家。
幾個生産隊長也同樣過來了，他們沒有加入買東西的行列，而是站在外圍看着幾個生産隊買東西的差別。李大牛忍不住問陳秋生：“秋生，你說要是粉條廠辦成了，是不是也得跟你們編席組那麽掙錢？”
陳秋生腳下堆了不少東西，都是張翠萍買完後讓他看着的。聽到李大牛這麽問，有些不太确定的說：“大隊長想辦的話，應該能掙錢吧？”
牛隊長他們聽了一起點頭，覺得他說的有道理——以前誰能想到編個葦席，就讓平安莊富得流油？又有誰想到，把全平安莊大隊所有的土地，都改成水澆地，讓社員們的口糧，由雜糧為主變成以小麥為主？
夏菊花卻帶着大家都做到了，那麽現在她想辦粉條廠，一定也是有十足的把握才提出來的。那自己就好好配合她，跟着她把粉條廠辦好了，也省的自己生産隊的人在平安莊人面前，不自覺的矮了一截。
并不知道自己被寄予厚望的夏菊花，跟鄭主任出來正好看到幾個生産隊長，就招呼他們過去跟鄭主任打個招呼：“鄭主任，這是我們幾個生産隊的隊長。剛才我跟你說的，那幾家要結婚的孩子，都在他們生産隊。要是他們帶着人去買結婚用品，你可要多照顧照顧。”
現在的鄭主任十分好說話：“行，只要隊長們去找我，我一定盡量讓他們滿意。”
李大牛他們沒想到，夏菊花竟然記得自己生産隊社員要結婚，需要買結婚用品的事兒，還不用自己開口，就跟鄭主任打過招呼了。
幾個人一面對鄭主任表示感謝，一面想着自己回生産隊之後，可得跟那幾家好好說說，人家大隊長關心人都關心到實處了，以後還不好好幹活，對不對得起自己這個生産隊長兩說，對不起大隊長可別怪他們不客氣。
平安莊的婦女們已經買的心滿意足，卻都等着夏菊花忙完了一起回家。本來還想跟夏菊花問問粉條廠進展的四個生産隊長，只好無奈的目送她被一群婦女簇擁着遠去。
回家的路上，夏菊花幾個走在最前頭，商量的還是編織品的事兒：“現在有顏料先用着，能泡多少葦皮出來泡多少葦皮。筆筒和席子可以先編着，剩下的幾樣編出樣品來就行。”夏菊花擔心完不成前期訂單，提醒趙仙枝。
趙仙枝忙不疊的點頭：“今天我分人的時候都注意着呢，編席那邊分的人最多，肯定能按時交貨。”
得了她的保證，夏菊花回家看了一眼酸辣粉調料的變化，就開始琢磨着咋把挂飾編出來。她知道，上輩子那些挂飾所以賣的好，一是顏色喜慶，二是形狀逼真，讓遠離鄉土的人生出近鄉的親近感。
所以得在精巧上下工夫。
于是夏菊花把送來的葦皮重新加工，不求快只求精，試了足足有六七次，才算編出了一個小辣椒來。
通紅的身子不足五厘米，配上只有一厘米左右的綠蒂，看上去小巧可愛。夏菊花自己看了滿意，就一個接一個編了下去。足足編了四個，才發現沒有蒂上留穿繩的地方，又把頭四個的蒂拆了重新編過，忙碌的連王彩鳳帶着劉保國兄妹兩個回來了都沒注意。
“奶。”劉保國聽說今天他奶竟然比他回來的還早，樂颠颠的跑來跟夏菊花打招呼，就看到一溜排開的六七個小小辣椒：“奶，這是你編的？真好看。”
劉保國過年就滿六歲了，夏菊花由着他拿了一個辣椒細看，等被王彩鳳抱來的樂樂也想伸手的時候，就被她制止了——樂樂還不到兩歲，小孩子手上沒準頭，一把給捏癟了，可就白費工夫了。
可樂樂不滿意了，沖着夏菊花喊了一聲：“奶，哥？”大有質問夏菊花，為啥她哥能拿而她不能拿的意思，可把夏菊花給逗壞了：“你個小人精，還知道跟你哥比呢？他大了，等你跟你哥這麽大的時候，奶奶也給你玩兒。”
聽懂是不可能完全聽懂的，不過樂樂是個好哄的孩子，夏菊花把前兩天沒事兒給她做的小布老虎一拿出來，她就忘了要辣椒，專心的玩起布老虎來。
“奶奶，你手真巧，等我長大了娶媳婦，也娶一個象奶奶這麽手巧的，能給我孩子編好玩兒的。”劉保國一本正經的拍他奶的馬屁。
王彩鳳都愁死了：“你才多大呀就想娶媳婦，還連孩子都想到了，一天還有啥是你想不到的？！”
夏菊花聽着又是一重滋味，不知道自己該咋跟劉保國探讨這個問題，只轉過身來問王彩鳳：“現在幼兒園有多少個孩子，看得過來嗎？”
平安莊幼兒園兩個固定的保育員，一個是王彩鳳，另一個是王晚香，剩下的就是誰家有不足兩歲的孩子，孩子媽們換着班去看着。
因為王彩鳳比王晚香認字多，陳秋生就讓王彩鳳負責，所以夏菊花問她的問題，王彩鳳回答的十分輕松：“跟保國似的能離手的有九個，再小點兒的七個，還得抱着的六個。”
加起來二十四個孩子，不算多也不算少。夏菊花就問：“好教不？有調皮的沒？”
劉保國覺得自己有發言權：“他們都不敢調皮，誰要跟我娘調皮，我下課就揍他。”
夏菊花忙說：“你要給小朋友們做榜樣，可不能因為你娘當保育員呢，你就随便打人，知道沒？”這要是出個小霸王，才叫好看呢。
王彩鳳就有些緊張的說：“娘，保國就跟人吵過一回架，沒真跟人動過手。”
“那你平時也得讓他注意點兒，不能因為家裏大人咋樣，就以為自己了不起。在生産隊人家能看大人的面子，等大了到外頭，誰還管你家裏人是誰呢。”夏菊花覺得現在是時候敲打一下了。
見奶奶表情嚴肅，劉保國悄悄把手裏的辣椒放下，小臉也蔫巴了，悄悄看看夏菊花，又看看王彩鳳。夏菊花說這一句，更多的是給王彩鳳提個醒，至于王彩鳳回屋咋教育劉保國，她就不摻和了——誰的兒子誰管教，有那工夫多編幾個辣椒還能換錢。
就這麽在家裏窩了兩天，夏菊花總共編成了一串辣椒一串胡蘿蔔，那個玉米咋編咋不象，編茄子的葦皮又沒泡好，夏菊花幹脆全都放下，到大隊部看有沒有啥事兒。
還沒跟常會計說幾句話呢，就有人在外頭敲門：“大隊長，我是知青陳開武，想找你請假。”
常會計邊開門邊向夏菊花解釋：“小陳來過兩趟，我說可以代比，也告訴過他可以去平安莊生産隊找你，可他非得要等着你過來。”
進來的不止陳開武，還有上次鄧春林說要跟他一起頭一批休假的董進步。夏菊花手裏有一份鄧春林給她的知青排班表，也沒為難，接過兩人的請假條就要簽字，陳開武小聲說：“大隊長，我倆還有件事兒想請你幫下忙。”
請自己幫忙？夏菊花擡頭看了陳開武一眼問：“啥事？”
陳開武看了常會計一眼，常會計就想回自己屋裏，夏菊花把人給叫住了：“有啥事兒不能當着常會計說的，其實這一次你們想休假，我不在你們也完全可以請常會計代批，反正你們的排班表我都給過常會計了。”
不必整的有啥見不得人的樣子，她夏菊花從來沒有見不得人的事！
陳開武被夏菊花說的臉通紅，對常會計點了點頭表示歉意，才對夏菊花說：“大隊長，我不是不相信常會計，是覺得自己這個請求有點兒……”
"You tell me, if it can be done, the brigade will not make things difficult for you educated youth, after all, you are also part of the brigade. But if it cannot be done, you have to understand that the brigade has to act according to the principles." Xia Juhua saw Chen Kaiwu's embarrassment, but did not agree immediately - she didn't even know what the requirements were, and agreeing rashly would only cause trouble for herself.
Chen Kaiwu smiled at Xia Juhua again and said, "Captain, this is what we mean. We want to exchange some vermicelli from our members and take it home for our parents to taste. We also want them to taste the results of our hard work for a year." After saying that, he looked at Xia Juhua nervously, turned his head and looked at Dong Jinbu again.
I thought it was a big deal. It turned out that he just wanted to exchange some vermicelli. Xia Juhua looked at Accountant Chang and said, "Accountant Chang, then you can take Xiao Chen to Team 4. Team 4 is closer. Six pounds of sweet potatoes for one pound of vermicelli. Don't count the consumption. After all, he is a member of our Ping'anzhuang Brigade."
"Captain..." Accountant Chang glanced at Chen Kaiwu, called Xia Juhua disapprovingly, and did not move.