Chapter 116
In the view of Accountant Chang, who had been working in the brigade headquarters, the educated youth were all trying to cause trouble for the brigade from time to time. Now that Chen Kaiwu suddenly wanted to exchange the vermicelli, he might want to leave evidence that the Ping'anzhuang Brigade had exchanged vermicelli privately and report to the commune.
By then, all the witnesses and evidence will be there, and Xia Juhua will not be able to explain herself even if she has a hundred mouths.
Xia Juhua figured out why Accountant Chang called her. She glanced at Chen Kaiwu, smiled nonchalantly, and said to Accountant Chang, "It's okay. Just take Xiao Chen to Team 4 and let him bring his own sweet potatoes. He can exchange as many as he has. I'm sure Xiao Chen will understand that we members can't exchange more for him."
Did you hear me? If we say exchange, we will exchange it with sweet potatoes, six pounds for one pound. Don't even think about buying it with money. When someone asked about it, Xia Juhua had just explained that because the educated youth were also considered members of the Ping'anzhuang Brigade, the members would rather suffer a little more and consider it as helping them to leak the powder.
Chen Kaiwu's face turned red and blue, and after a long while he said, "Captain, Accountant Chang, don't worry. There are people with bad intentions among the educated youth, but I am not one of them. I am grateful to you for exchanging vermicelli for me, and I will not do the kind of thing that says nice things to your face but stabs you in the back."
At this point he obviously hesitated for a moment before saying to Xia Juhua, "Captain, I heard that the members of the commune compensated the grain station for leaking vermicelli, and they gave me one pound of vermicelli for every seven pounds of vermicelli. Just give it to me according to this ratio."
Accountant Chang couldn't help but glance at Xia Juhua. He could tell that Chen Kaiwu obviously knew that someone among the educated youth was up to something, so he used the excuse of wanting to change the vermicelli to remind Xia Juhua.
I was just being mean-spirited. But I often regret it. Under the leadership of Xia Juhua, the entire Pingan Village Brigade now mainly eats wheat. How could they have dared to dream of such a good life before? Now that he is right beside me, I must remind Xia Juhua.
Let him be a villain, as long as everyone can live a good life, he will accept the title of villain.
Xia Juhua was still very touched by Accountant Chang's reminder, and smiled very easily: "Okay, Accountant Chang, then you can take Xiao Chen with you, and we can exchange the money according to the ratio he agrees to."
Watching the two people leave, Xia Juhua checked the people among the educated youth and figured out who might be trying to do something. The smile on her lips turned into a sneer: first he wanted to learn how to leak vermicelli from the members, and then he wanted to find out the bottom line of Ping'an Village's exchange of vermicelli. Deng Chunlin's little brain is quite useful.
It's a pity that it was not used in the right place. Xia Juhua figured it out and didn't take it to heart. Even if Deng Chunlin got hold of something against the Ping'anzhuang Brigade, the only places he could complain to were the commune or the county. Was she familiar with either of these two places?
It was obviously a futile effort, so it was strange that Xia Juhua took him seriously. I heard that Chen Kaiwu also used seven kilograms of sweet potatoes to exchange for one kilogram of vermicelli. Did any of the educated youths in the entire educated youth site exchange vermicelli with the members of Ping'an Village?
Their food supply is not even as much as that of the other members. Sweet potatoes still account for one-third of their food supply. If they replace all of it with vermicelli, they will be hungry in the early spring!
What the educated youth didn't know was that on the day Chen Kaiwu and Dong Jinbu returned home, they happened to meet Liu Zhishuang driving a tractor to deliver goods on their way to the county town. Not only did he take the initiative to invite the two to ride on the tractor, but he also gave each of them a pound of vermicelli when they left, saying that it was a rare opportunity for them to get along so well, and asked them to take some to their families to try.
Among the vermicelli that Chen Kaiwu exchanged, there was one for Dong Jinbu, which was packed in the luggage of the two people. How could he take Liu Zhishuang's vermicelli? But Liu Zhishuang was stronger than them, and he sent the two people to the bus station and ran away. The two were afraid of missing the bus, so they had to accept this gift.
"Qian Bu, when we come back from vacation, don't tell them that Liu Zhishuang asked us to be his hitchhiker." Chen Kaiwu instructed his companions.
Dong Jinbu was no fool: "I know, the captain must have asked Liu Zhishuang to escort us so that we wouldn't suffer any loss. I just don't understand, Deng Chunlin has been struggling every day, but he hasn't come up with anything, why doesn't he give up?"
It's a good thing that someone can understand your intention, but Xia Juhua doesn't care. She has already soaked the reed skin for braiding eggplants, and has also figured out how to braid the corn realistically, and she is busy at home.
As for Xiaoman's Hongcui, the person who was called to help light the fire was Xia Hu's wife Zhang Fengling - Xia Long's wife Xu Hongcui had to cook for everyone at home. In addition, Xia Mancang had already found a partner and decided to get married in early February (lunar calendar), so he was busy preparing things for the wedding at home and did not come.
The progress on Grandma Qi's side was also going smoothly. Her lifetime of experience in knitting things came in handy. She knitted a nest of chicks that were so lifelike that Lele took one in his hand and wouldn't let it go.
Wang Caifeng was very embarrassed and wanted to snatch the chicken from Lele's hand, but Lele, who was always very obedient, refused to let go. Grandma Qi hurriedly told Wang Caifeng not to snatch it: "It's not a big deal. Let the child play with it. I will go back and make another one."
Xia Juhua didn't get involved in this topic at all. She had looked at it carefully and found that the reed bark that Qi Nai used to weave the chicken was the same as the one she used to weave the peppers. Both were re-split and much narrower than ordinary reed bark.
"Seventh Aunt, do we need to ask the people who broke the reed skin to break some of the reed skin used to weave these little things?" Xia Juhua asked.
Grandma Qi was looking at a bunch of chili peppers that Xia Juhua had already strung together. She smiled and said, "You have to break them a little, or you'll waste your time breaking the skin all over again."
Now, not only is the division of labor and cooperation clear in the powder leaking room, but the breaking of reed skins, weaving of things, and dyeing of colors in the mat weaving group are also separated. Each step has a clear division of labor, which saves a lot of time.
After the six series of things were compiled, Xia Juhua asked Liu Zhishuang to take her to the county supply and marketing cooperative on a tractor so that Director Zheng could check it. Director Zheng was very happy when he saw Xia Juhua - this speed was too fast. He originally thought that it would take another six or seven days for Ping An Zhuang to be ready.
Then we could see that Xia Juhua had filled the conference room with things.
The colorful woven fabrics put together created a huge visual impact. Director Zheng clapped his hands excitedly, "Captain Xia, you Ping'an Village people are really smart. Once these things are sent to the region, I guarantee that there will be no problems in other counties."
Director Zheng sighed like this because other county supply and marketing cooperatives saw that Pingde Supply and Marketing Cooperative had become popular with its weaving products, so they went back and organized local members to start weaving. As the saying goes, if people with skills study it for a while, Pinganzhuang's original products are still easy to be imitated.
That's why Director Zheng reminded Xia Juhua last time to pay more attention to varieties in order to prevent others from imitating her quickly.
After hearing the whole story, Xia Juhua was angry but could do nothing - such things had been shown on TV all her life, and even high-end things like VCDs and DVDs were imitated by people, not to mention Ping An Zhuang's textile products that had no technical content.
She could only keep this incident in mind, reminding herself all the time that no matter what new tricks Ping An Zhuang came up with, she had to make up enough money before releasing it.
Now she could only ask Director Zheng: "When are you going to deliver it to the region?"
Director Zheng was in a conflicted mood - if he sent it too early, he was afraid that others would learn from him; if he sent it too late, he was afraid that the regional supply and marketing cooperative would not be interested in it, and he would not even have time to think about new varieties. So he asked Xia Juhua: "Captain Xia, do you have any good ideas?"
Xia Juhua thought for a moment and said, "How about Zheng Yuren, when you send the samples to the district supply and marketing cooperative, you sign a confidentiality agreement with them. Whoever leaks our new tricks will pay compensation to Ping An Manor?"
Director Zheng found this very unbelievable: "Providing local specialties to the district supply and marketing cooperative is our county supply and marketing cooperative's obligation. How can we let the district supply and marketing cooperative sign a confidentiality agreement with us?"
Xia Juhua was a little speechless to Director Zheng: "Director, you said that other counties have also imitated our Pinganzhuang products. If we don't sign a confidentiality agreement this time, what if someone from a county supply and marketing cooperative has a good relationship with someone in the regional supply and marketing cooperative and shows our products to others, and they learn and make up their own version, wouldn't our efforts be in vain?"
Director Zheng was speechless after being asked this question. After a while, he said, "But Captain Xia, the regional supply and marketing cooperative is the superior unit of our county supply and marketing cooperative. They are the only ones who give us tasks. We have never..."
Since Director Zheng didn't have the guts to ask the regional supply and marketing cooperative to sign a confidentiality agreement, Xia Juhua simply said, "Then we'll wait until the last minute to send it. If they like it, we'll give them all the edited copies. If they don't like it, we'll find a way to sell it to someone else. What do you think?"
Director Zheng was a little afraid that his limelight would be stolen by others because he couldn't report the good news to the regional supply and marketing cooperative as soon as possible, so he hesitated and couldn't make up his mind. Xia Juhua didn't have time to waste with him: "Director Zheng, you have seen the samples, so just tell me what you think of our products."
Seeing that Xia Juhua was no longer as easy-going as before, Director Zheng also realized that his performance just now was a little poor, so he tried to make amends and said, "Of course it's good. Didn't I just say that if it is taken to the district, no one else will have anything to do with it."
Xia Juhua nodded: "Then Zheng Yu, you can set a price for these things. If we want our Pingan Village's weaving products to participate in the expo, we have to weave 100 pieces of each product. Do you think we should pay the deposit first?"
So they entered the pricing stage. Except for the pen holders and calligraphy mats, which had previous prices, Xia Juhua and Director Zheng argued over everything - the items woven later were too labor-intensive, and coupled with the increase in work points in Ping'an Village, the price of woven products could not be raised, and they would not be able to give work points to the women when they returned.
The final price was 8 yuan per set of chicken family, 15 yuan per set of twelve zodiac signs, and 6 yuan per pendant. Director Zheng discussed with Xia Juhua in a very difficult way: "Captain Xia, how about you only make 50 of each? This price is really too high. Even if we take it to the expo, I'm afraid it will be..."
Xia Juhua thought about it and agreed: At this time, everyone is still struggling to solve the problem of food and nutrition. The knitted products whose prices we just discussed will definitely be sold to friendly countries in the end. At this time, there are only a few friendly countries. It is better to knit less than to lose money if we can't sell them.
"Okay, then we'll make 50 of each of these, and 100 for the writing mats and pen holders."
Director Zheng felt a little embarrassed when he saw that Xia Juhua understood him so well. He gritted his teeth and asked the accountant to pay half of the deposit to Ping An Zhuang immediately, and arranged for someone to put the things into the warehouse.
Xia Juhua shook her head and said to him, "Director Zheng, let's take this thing back to our Ping'an Village, otherwise if something goes wrong we won't be able to explain ourselves."
Director Zheng thought about it and nodded in agreement. He watched Xia Juhua and Liu Zhishuang load the things back onto the tractor, and kept reminding them to be careful not to damage the things.
"Mom, why are the things we weave not good enough?" Liu Zhishuang didn't ask until the tractor left the county supply and marketing cooperative.
Xia Juhua shook her head and said, "Okay, Director Zheng thinks that what we edited is the first of its kind in the region, but he's afraid that someone will copy it, so he'll take it back to Ping'an Village first. Well, let's not go back to the village yet, let's go to the post office and mail it to the volunteers."
It turned out that when she came to the county town, she had already loaded the instant hot and sour noodles for the new recruits onto the tractor, so that they wouldn't have to make a special trip. Not much was sent, only 105 bags. She wrote very clearly in the letter to Liu Zhijun and Liu Zhiliang, asking them to give five bags to each of the new recruits, so that they could celebrate the New Year with their families - according to Xia Juhua's calculation, the children's military service would be celebrating the New Year when the mail arrived.
Who said there was no express delivery at that time? The transportation was too inconvenient.
After returning home, he naturally called Zhao Xianzhi and others home again, explained the situation to them, and then handed the deposit of more than 4,000 yuan to Chen Qiu Sheng and Liu Hongling, letting them count it in front of him.
Seeing so much deposit, Zhao Xianzhi said with regret: "If we make a hundred copies of each, we will have to spend tens of thousands of dollars."
In an era when the average wage per worker was only 20 to 30 yuan, what did tens of thousands of yuan mean? Even if everyone in Ping An Village shared it together, each person could get 20 yuan!
Xia Juhua had to remind her: "It's a lot of money, but you have to select people to learn how to weave new patterns, and you have to brew the required reed skin according to the color. You also have to complete the previous orders. You have a lot to do."
Zhao Xianzhi knew that the burden on his shoulders was heavier than ever, but he still assured Xia Juhua: "Captain, don't worry. When I arranged the personnel that day, I assigned the newly recruited people to weave the mats. The baskets will still be made by the girls, and the pen holders will not be a big deal."
Hearing that she had a plan in mind, Xia Juhua felt relieved. However, she had to teach how to make the ornaments herself, and Seventh Grandma also had to teach people how to weave animals. Xia Juhua simply took the people she had chosen and went to Seventh Grandma's house every day to weave together.
I was editing this day when Accountant Chang came over with a smile on his face and said, "Captain, Director Zheng from the county supply and marketing cooperative is here."
Xia Juhua was still puzzled: "It's not like I haven't been here before, why are you so happy?"
Accountant Chang was still smiling: "He didn't come alone, he came in a jeep, and I was lucky enough to ride from the brigade headquarters to Ping'an Village."
How could this accountant not grasp the key point? Xia Juhua stood up suddenly and asked, "Where is that person now?"
"They all went to the weaving group. I saw Zhao Xianzhi call everyone in, so I came to find you. It seems that Zhao Xianzhi has asked someone to call Captain Chen." Accountant Chang has not yet recovered from the excitement of riding in the jeep, and he finally explained the situation with a smile.
"Seventh Grandma, you guys continue weaving first. I'll go over and take a look." Xia Juhua said to Seventh Grandma as she hurried out.
She had no choice but to send the samples to the regional supply and marketing cooperative first, but since they had come to Ping'an Village, she, as the team leader, had to show some enthusiasm.
"Captain Xia, you're here. Come, let me introduce you. This is Deputy Director Xue from the regional supply and marketing cooperative." Director Zheng introduced Xia Juhua to her as soon as he saw her.
"Deputy Director Xue, welcome to Ping'an Village to give us guidance."
"Hello, Captain Xia." Deputy Director Xue spoke almost at the same time as Xia Juhua and extended his hand to her. Xia Juhua smiled at him but did not shake his hand. Deputy Director Xue withdrew his hand very calmly without a trace of embarrassment.
This made Xia Juhua feel more favorable towards him, and she introduced the current Ping An Village editorial team in much more detail. When the introduction was almost done, Director Zheng smiled and said to Xia Juhua, "Captain Xia, Deputy Director Xue came this time mainly to see your product series. Should we take Deputy Director Xue to have a look now?"
Xia Juhua glanced at Zhao Xianzhi and saw her nod slightly, so she smiled and said, "Okay, Deputy Director Xue, Director Zheng, let's go this way." Then she led the people out of the yard.
Director Zheng asked in confusion: "Captain Xia, aren't the samples in the weaving group?"
"No." Xia Juhua told him confidently: "Didn't I tell you last time, Director Zheng, it's not easy for us in Ping'an Village to come up with a new idea, and we would be very sad if someone else learned it. Now that the East and West Regional Supply and Marketing Cooperatives haven't said whether it can be used or not, we will put it into production."
Ping An Zhuang has done a good job of keeping the secret, so if someone learns about it, it won’t be our problem anymore.
Deputy Director Xue smiled and said, "Captain Xia has a strong sense of confidentiality. Personally, I think that if more people learn it and compile it, the supply and marketing cooperatives can collect a lot more products, and more production teams can also increase their sideline income. This is a good thing that has the best of both worlds."
Best of both worlds... Xia Juhua suppressed her impulse, discarded the impression she had just given to Deputy Director Xue, and re-scored it before saying, "What Deputy Director Xue said makes sense, but I think that no matter which production team or brigade wants to do well in its sideline business, they should use their own brains to come up with solutions instead of just copying other people's ideas."
"Oh?" Deputy Director Xue was still smiling: "Captain Xia, do you think so?"
Xia Juhua also imitated his smile: "Maybe it's because I'm a rural woman, I'm petty and like to haggle, so I'm not so selfless. I just know that if there are more people weaving these small things, it will be difficult to collect the reed stalks and the price will go up. Can the people who weave things still make money? The weavers only know how to weave without anyone teaching them, and the sizes, specifications, and colors of the things they weave are all different. When the time comes, people outside may not be willing to buy them. If the supply and marketing cooperatives collect them, won't they have to keep the money?"
After listening to what he said, Deputy Director Xue thought for a while and said with a smile, "Well, Captain Xia also has a point."
As they were talking, they had already arrived at the production team, and Chen Qiu Sheng was waiting at the door. After Xia Juhua briefly introduced them, Chen Qiu Sheng led a few people to a room at the easternmost end, took out the key, opened the door, and invited them in.
Xia Juhua was naturally the first to come in. She quickly took a look at the display and nodded with satisfaction: Although the conditions in the production team were simple, Chen Qiu Sheng had brought in several tables and filled them with samples in the same way that Xia Juhua had done in the county supply and marketing cooperative.
"Deputy Director Xue, we have added more calligraphy this time..." Xia Juhua introduced the calligraphy to Deputy Director Xue softly. Unlike the introduction in the courtyard just now, Xia Juhua picked up the real objects one by one and talked about their uses and meanings. Deputy Director Xue and Director Zheng nodded continuously.
"Captain Xia, if you had introduced it to me like this that day at the county supply and marketing cooperative, I would never have asked you to make only fifty pieces of each." Director Zheng complained to Xia Juhua in a complaining tone.
Xia Juhua smiled and said, "Director Zheng, we have dealt with each other many times. The things we compiled are what rural people are used to. I thought you must be tired of hearing them, so I didn't say anything."
Deputy Director Xue picked up one item, looked at it, put it down, picked up another item, looked at it, and put it down again. He looked at each item for a full minute or two, and the last one he put down was the chili ornament woven by Xia Juhua: "Captain Xia, these things you woven are very good, and what you said just now is also very good."
Xia Juhua shook her head humbly and waved her hands: "I just said it casually. I'm afraid the two directors would be bored and bored."
"Can you weave these things yourself?" Deputy Director Xue asked with a smile, seemingly having little confidence in Xia Juhua's craftsmanship.
Director Zheng explained on behalf of Xia Juhua: "Captain Xia's weaving skills are the best in their production team. These hanging ornaments were woven by Captain Xia, and the original word mat was also thought up by Captain Xia."
"What about the other ones?" Deputy Director Xue insisted on getting to the bottom of it, no matter how Director Zheng explained.
Xia Juhua felt that Deputy Director Xue must have wanted to use this to hit her because she had not agreed with what he said on the way just now. She couldn't help but feel unwilling to admit defeat and said, "I can also make up a few other words." She answered very easily and looked into Deputy Director Xue's eyes.
"That's good." Deputy Director Xue looked at Xia Juhua for less than two seconds before he turned his gaze away and asked another question: "If we increase the workload for Ping An Village now, can it be completed before the Expo?"
Since everyone had a bad impression of each other anyway, Xia Juhua simply said, "If it's within 300 pieces, there's no problem. But for the things we edit at Ping An Zhuang, we have to pay a deposit first."
Deputy Director Xue glanced at Director Zheng and asked, "Director Zheng, do you think this order is from the regional supply and marketing cooperative or the Pingde County supply and marketing cooperative?"
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