Chapter 128
Xia Juhua suppressed the sour feeling in her stomach and asked in confusion, "They are just two soldiers. Why are they giving you such a hard time? Compared to you, they are just new recruits. Why should you be afraid of them?"
Li Changshun's excitement when he first met Xia Juhua had already passed, and he said unhappily: "I am just a soldier in the army, and they are all cadres. Subordinates obey their superiors, and this cannot change at any time."
Okay, what you said makes sense. Xia Juhua invited Li Changshun to get in the car and said, "Then you don't have to stand here waiting in the middle of the night. Even if you are worried about me, it would be better for someone to come and take a look than for you to stand here and freeze."
It sounded like a complaint, but the concern inside was genuine. Li Changshun felt warm in his heart, but his face still showed a bit of annoyance: "What will happen if I'm not here? Qi kid can't get into Pingan Manor for several days. He wants to dig a hole in the ground and crawl through it."
Old comrade, do you know that the young man Qi you mentioned has his uncle sitting in the passenger seat? Xia Juhua smiled secretly and asked, "Why is he in such a hurry?"
Li Changshun sighed and said, "The leaders who have come from the army are now squatting in your vermicelli room every day and can't get out. Except for the vermicelli that has been delivered to the grain station, the rest can only be stored in the warehouse. Qi kid may have promised someone. It's time to deliver the goods to someone, and the vermicelli can't be shipped out. How can he not be anxious?"
After hearing Li Changshun talk about Qi Weidong's plan to ship vermicelli from Ping'an Village in front of Uncle Qi without any hesitation, Xia Juhua had to admit that the old hands are still the best - he knew the relationship between Uncle Qi and Qi Weidong, and it was obvious that he intended to make Uncle Qi stand on the same side with Ping'an Village.
It seems that the two cadres of the Northwest Military Region really have unclear intentions, which is why Li Changshun, who always demands the thinking of his own soldiers, wants to form an alliance with them.
"Where is Fifth Master? How is he?" Xia Juhua asked calmly about another piece of ginger.
Li Changshun sighed: "He is now at home hatching chicks every day. He said he can't leave people. No one can see him."
Xia Juhua turned to look at Li Changshun, wondering if he was joking or stating the truth, but it was too dark inside the car to see the expression on Li Changshun's face. But Uncle Qi in front heard it and asked, "The frost hasn't even thawed yet, and the chickens at Master Wu's house are already brooding?"
Li Changshun seemed stunned for a moment, then he burst out laughing, and his words were full of laughter: "Yes, it is nesting. It's not their chicken nesting, it's the old thing nesting itself."
After saying this, the image of the Fifth Master with white hair and dozens of eggs under his armpits came to his mind, and he laughed twice before he could hold it back. Xia Juhua was stunned by his laughter: "Why don't I understand, Fifth Master..."
Because he was still thinking about the two troops coming, Li Changshun didn't let Xia Juhua and Uncle Qi wonder for long, and told them the answer: the production teams of Ping'an Village Brigade had already decided to develop breeding industry after the spring. However, with more than 470 or nearly 500 households in a brigade, the number of chickens needed seemed astronomical at that time.
Let alone a hen bringing back 30 eggs, it would be the best. Even if the hens of Pingan Village team worked hard and laid 30 eggs in a nest, no one could guarantee that all the 30 eggs would hatch chicks - according to past experience, if 20 chicks could be successfully hatched, it would be a good hatching rate.
In the countryside today, every egg is a valuable commodity, and even though the Pinganzhuang brigade members had much better living conditions, they still didn't waste eggs. So within two days after Xia Juhua left, except for Pinganzhuang and the third brigade, the other three production teams all voiced concerns about raising chickens because they were afraid of losing money.
Some even said that Xia Juhua was so obsessed with showing off that she had forgotten how many eggs a chicken could lay and called on everyone to raise 30 chickens at once. Before she came up with such a fantastic idea, she hadn't thought about where the chickens would come from.
Somehow this got to Pingan Manor and was heard by the Fifth Master. The Fifth Master had long established the idea that as long as it was Xia Juhua's idea, it would be for the good of everyone. When he heard that someone from another production team had said something bad about Xia Juhua, the old man went straight to Li Changshun to settle the score.
Li Changshun also asked someone to investigate, but it was not easy to find out who said it first when it was said by people. He could not give Wu Ye a bank of communication, but Wu Ye wanted to give the whole Ping An Village team a result.
The old man actually asked Liu Zhishuang to take him directly to the Agricultural Technology Station to find Technician Lin. He didn't know who he met under the introduction of Technician Lin. After returning to Ping'an Village, he stated that he could hatch chicks by himself without a hen.
So six days ago, the Fifth Master stopped seeing people and stayed in his yard, hatching chicks. The two military officers arrived at Pingan Village the day before yesterday, and when they arrived, the Fifth Master had already closed the door and refused to let anyone in, leaving Li Changshun with no one to discuss things with.
"That old guy keeps doing whatever he wants. He doesn't even notice that he's in a very bad situation now, but he still has time to argue with others." After Li Changshun finished speaking, he also complained to Xia Juhua.
When Xia Juhua heard that Fifth Master hatched chicks by himself, she laughed at first. But when she heard that he went to find Technician Lin in person, she had an idea in her mind. Then she heard that Fifth Master would not let anyone into his yard, and this idea became certain: "Maybe Fifth Master can really hatch chicks."
In fact, in L Province, there is already a precedent of artificial hatching of chicks and ducklings. However, after ten years of civil unrest and the daily criticism of capitalism, the people have forgotten it. A family is only allowed to raise five or six chickens per person, and artificial hatching is too energy-consuming. If you hatch too many at once, you will be criticized for your capitalism. It is better for a few families to gather enough hens and let them take turns to sit in the nest.
Li Changshun didn't expect Xia Juhua to have such confidence in the Fifth Master. He turned his head to take a look, but saw nothing, so he turned his head back and snorted, "Let him do whatever he wants. How many times can that old man do that?"
Xia Juhua was too lazy to expose his hypocritical words. She was only concerned about whether Fifth Master's body could handle it: "Will Fifth Master just take care of it by himself? He doesn't see anyone every day, how will he eat?"
"You're still worried about him?" Li Changshun was really jealous of the Fifth Master at this moment: "He has seven or eight grandchildren, and one comes out every day to accompany him, and it hasn't been full turn yet. The meals are prepared by the daughter-in-law and the granddaughter-in-law, and then passed in through the wall. After eating, the bowls don't even need to be rinsed and passed out again."
Xia Juhua decisively stopped asking about the Fifth Master, to avoid Li Changshun crying out of jealousy, and turned to ask what the two officials were doing in the vermicelli leaking room. Li Changshun had been squatting with the two for two days, but he still didn't see anything: "Who knows? soak it and eat it."
It sounds similar to the problem of those who came to Ping'an Village to learn a craft, but neither Li Changshun nor Xia Juhua believed that they would travel all the way to Ping'an Village just to learn how to make vermicelli - if the army really needed vermicelli, even if the production volume was not high now, it would not be a difficult task. Is it necessary to learn it specially and send two cadres to learn it?
It's impossible to even think about it.
The answer can only be found when you meet the person. Xia Juhua saw the shadow of the brigade headquarters in the distance under the light of the car lights and asked Li Changshun: "Do they live in the brigade headquarters? How do they get food? What do they eat every day?"
Li Changshun nodded and said, "They live in the brigade headquarters. They said they came to see you, so they eat at your house every day and asked Caifeng to make hot and sour rice noodles for them every meal."
Xia Juhua's heart moved, and she asked Uncle Qi who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat: "Director Qi, since the two comrades from the army are staying at the brigade headquarters, why don't we go meet them now, so that we don't have to come from Ping'an Village later."
Uncle Qi asked Xia Juhua if she could hold on, and when she assured him that she was still energetic, he nodded. The driver stopped the car at the entrance of the brigade without waiting for anyone to give orders.
Uncle Qi glanced at the driver who opened the car door for him, but didn't say anything. Li Changshun politely said to the driver, "Park the car in the yard." The driver quickly shook his head and said, "No, no, I'll watch from inside the car. Nothing will happen."
Xia Juhua also helped Li Changshun persuade the driver: "Park the car in the yard, and find a place to rest and warm up. Otherwise, you will be frozen in this cold weather. We don't even know when we're going to finish this conversation, and it will be midnight by the time you get back to the county town."
The driver looked at Uncle Qi, and seeing that he didn't say anything, he got back in the car, started the car, and drove into the yard of the brigade. At this time, there were almost no cars in the countryside, and the noise was amplified in the dark. After hearing the noise, two military officers living in the brigade opened the door to check the situation.
They had dealt with Uncle Qi and Li Changshun before, so they recognized them as soon as they met. However, they had never seen the female comrade walking with them before. Not only had she ridden in the jeep with Uncle Qi to the brigade headquarters, they immediately figured out who the person was.
After figuring it out, the two of them became excited and stepped forward and held out their hands: "It's Comrade Xia Juhua. Hello, I'm an officer of the Logistics Department of the Northwest Military Region. My name is Lin Hongliang, and this is my comrade Li Junqing."
Maybe it was because she had been sitting in the car for too long and had just tried hard not to vomit, Xia Juhua felt a little dizzy. After a moment's hesitation, she shook hands with the man and said, "Hello, I'm Xia Juhua."
Li Changshun had only known these two people for the past few days as officers from the Northwest Military Region. It was only now that he realized they were logistics officers. He narrowed his eyes and smiled as he led them inside: "Come in and talk. It's warm inside."
Lin Hongliang smiled and insisted on letting his uncle and his friends go in front. Xia Juhua wanted to step back and ask them to go in first, but the two of them insisted on letting her go first. "Comrade Xia Juhua, you've worked hard on the way. Come in and have a rest."
Is this still the Pinganzhuang Brigade? Is she still the captain of the Pinganzhuang Brigade? Xia Juhua was a little unsure. However, she did not hesitate and asked Li Changshun to go to the front and then she went into the house.
The room was naturally much warmer than outside. Xia Juhua's body, which had been stiff from sitting in the car, shivered. Lin Hongliang, who was walking behind her, saw this and became anxious: "Comrade Xia Juhua, are you cold? Are you frozen? Drink some hot water to warm yourself up. Don't get sick."
As he spoke, he poured a cup of hot water from the thermos and stuffed it into Xia Juhua's hand. Now Uncle Qi realized something was wrong: these two people were too attentive to Xia Juhua. Uncle Qi inexplicably thought of his nephew's attitude towards Xia Juhua.
Qi Weidong treats Xia Juhua well, not only because he is impressed by Xia Juhua's personality and new ideas after they have been together for a long time, but also because he initially just wants to have long-term cooperation with Xia Juhua.
Can these two Northwest Military Region Logistics Department officials cooperate with Xia Juhua to make money? The army is not allowed to make money on its own.
Xia Juhua was also surprised, but she still took the cup and apologized: "You two comrades have been to Ping'an Village Brigade for several days, but I was attending the Expo and didn't know you two were coming. I'm sorry for the neglect."
"No, no." Li Junqing, who had been silent, looked at Xia Juhua and smiled. When he heard her say that he was neglecting her, he quickly denied it: "Captain Xia, you are going to the Expo to contribute to the country. We came without notifying you in advance, so don't feel bad about it."
Xia Juhua smiled when she heard this, and when she saw that Li Changshun had also poured water for Uncle Qi, she did not stand up to make any more arrangements. She just looked at Uncle Qi and asked him whether he or she should ask about the real purpose of the two people's visit.
Uncle Qi just exchanged glances with Xia Juhua, then lowered his head, picked up the cup and blew into it. His meaning was very clear: these two people have been here for so many days and haven't told us their purpose yet, so you should ask them yourself.
Seeing Uncle Qi's attitude, Xia Juhua curled her lips inwardly, but kept a smile on her face and asked directly: "I heard that the two comrades wanted to see me for something. I wonder what important matter it is that made you wait for so many days?"
Lin Hongliang and Li Junqing looked at each other, and then looked at Li Changshun who was sitting with them. Xia Juhua had already learned from Uncle Qi, and after asking, she lowered her head to blow the hot water in her hands, perfectly avoiding the two people's gazes on Li Changshun - although Li Changshun often has the idea of robbing the rich to help the poor, he is really dedicated to the public and sees things clearly, so there is nothing to avoid listening to.
After all, he is a retired veteran. Xia Juhua feels that Li Changshun is more qualified than herself to understand the intentions of the troops.
Li Changshun himself stood up following their gazes and said, "I'll go see if the driver has found a place to rest. Don't let him get frozen in this cold weather."
Uncle Qi was blowing his water cup as usual, but Xia Juhua looked up and said to Li Changshun, "Captain, why don't you continue chatting with Director Qi and the two comrades while I go take a look." After she said that, she put the cup down, swayed a bit, and stood up.
Lin Hongliang and Li Junqing looked at each other again, and it was Lin Hongliang who spoke first: "Just now I saw the driver went to the next room. There should be a heater in that room as well. It should be warm by now."
Li Changshun glanced at Xia Juhua with dissatisfaction, clearly blaming her for making trouble - the army's confidentiality system was very strict, he was no longer the captain of Ping'an Village, people didn't want him to hear secrets, and it was his duty as a veteran to avoid them.
Xia Juhua insisted on looking Li Changshun in the eye: It's fine if you push yourself to the position of team leader, but if you want to step back when something happens, no way. If something really happens, the three production teams will have to rely on Li Changshun to help coordinate.
Li Changshun had no choice but to sit down again and glare at Xia Juhua. He thought he had used a lot of strength in this glare, but Xia Juhua didn't feel any pain or itching.
Glaring won't hurt anything, but it can save you a lot of energy in the future. If the old man has the energy, just glare. Does he really think her brain won't work well because she's carsick?
Li Hongliang and Lin Junqing looked at each other, not understanding whether Xia Juhua was afraid of Li Changshun or respected the veteran. However, they did not want to investigate further and explained their purpose to Xia Juhua:
"Captain Xia, do you remember that before the New Year, you mailed five bags of hot and sour rice noodles to each of the new recruits of the Ping'anzhuang Brigade this year?"
The three people from Pingde County were all shocked when they heard this. Li Changshun looked at Xia Juhua with dissatisfaction, but at least he didn't glare at her. Xia Juhua still pretended not to see his dissatisfaction and only asked worriedly:
"Yes, I sent it. What's the matter? Is there something wrong with the seasoning? Did the children get upset? That shouldn't be the case. I tried the seasoning package at home a few times and it can last for at least 20 days or a month. Is the temperature in your northwest higher than here?"
Seeing that Xia Juhua was a little anxious, Li Hongliang quickly said, "No, no. Before you sent it, the new recruits from Ping'an Village all brought some vermicelli to the army. The new training regiment found that they went to the canteen every weekend to ask for some seasonings, and then soaked the vermicelli to eat. They thought that the army's food supply was insufficient and they were not full."
"Later, we learned that the recruits were homesick, and eating hot and sour rice noodles helped alleviate their homesickness. The leader asked us to think about whether we could include local foods in the supply, which would be beneficial to the training of the recruits."
Li Junqing glanced at Li Changshun and said, "Old squad leader must have experienced this. New soldiers must overcome the hardship and fatigue of training. The most difficult thing for new soldiers to overcome is homesickness."
Li Changshun nodded and said, "Yes, we are thousands of miles away from home. How can we not miss home?"
Xia Juhua did not respond. She felt that what Li Hongliang had just said was somewhat inconsistent with his initial question about whether she had sent the hot and sour noodles. It seemed like there was a missing connection in between, so she naturally wanted to hear what happened next.
Li Hongliang did not keep the secret. After getting Li Changshun's approval, he continued, "We went to the new training group to conduct research and tried the hot and sour rice noodles prepared by a new recruit named Liu Zhijun. I found that the sour and spicy taste is really appetizing and very suitable for eating in the cold northwest."
“The only drawback is that the vermicelli is too loose and the seasoning is not always available, so it is not easy to carry it during field training. I was a little hesitant about whether to purchase in large quantities. Who knew that when we went to the new training group again before the New Year to check the preparations for the New Year, Liu Zhijun said that the hot and sour noodles you sent to them came with a seasoning packet, so they could be eaten directly with just boiling water.”
"At that time, Liu Zhijun still had one pack left. Officer Lin and I shared it and thought it tasted better than what they made themselves. After reporting this to the leadership, the leadership sent us to ask you, Captain Xia, for help, to see if you can supply the hot and sour noodles that you sent to Liu Zhijun and his men in large quantities to our Northwest Military Region Logistics Department."
The two men's target turned out to be the hot and sour rice noodles that Xia Juhua had sent to Liu Zhijun. Such a small thing could be included in the army's logistics supply. Before Xia Juhua could say anything, Li Changshun had already responded: "It is an honor for Ping'an Manor that the army is interested in our things. It's not something expensive. We can supply it. We can supply as much as the army needs."
There's no need to wait for Xia Juhua to come back for this matter. If I had told him earlier, he would have agreed to it long ago.
Xia Juhua thought to herself, "Old comrade, we all know that you have a military complex, but can you face reality?" She looked at Li Hongliang and the others helplessly, "Captain Li's meaning is what I mean. But there is a problem now. It is almost spring, and the sweet potatoes from the grain stations are almost gone. Apart from the vermicelli handed over to the grain stations, there is not much left for Ping'an Village."
"There is another problem. You have tried the seasoning I made. It is not difficult to make it, but the difficulty lies in the packaging. It has to be packaged in plastic bags specially made for food. Other things cannot be packaged in it. This is a problem - we can't find so many old plastic bags in Ping An Village."
"Another thing is that the packaging is efficient. I spent three full nights packaging the 100 or so bags of instant hot and sour rice noodles I sent to the kids. If we were to produce in large quantities, Ping An Village wouldn't have enough staff."
"You have seen it, my bag of hot and sour noodles has a big plastic bag outside and three seasoning packets inside. One is salt and other seasonings, one is vinegar and chili oil, and the other is scallion oil. The scallion oil is made of coarse oil. I wonder if there are any comrades in the army who avoid it."
Uncle Qi saw that the two comrades in the army had obviously not thought that a packet of hot and sour rice noodles would have so many details to pay attention to. They were all in deep thought. The atmosphere in the room was a little cold. He smiled and said, "Captain Xia, you are great. The last time I ate with Director Zhang from your commune, why didn't you give us any scallion oil buns?"
Xia Juhua felt that he was picking on the wrong topic: "When you two were eating it, it was just tried out. At that time, you all complained that it was bland and lacked oil, so I thought of adding a scallion oil bag."
Li Hongliang and Lin Junqing had been whispering to each other when Uncle Qi and Xia Juhua were arguing. When the two of them finished talking, Li Hongliang asked, "Captain Xia, if we allocate sweet potatoes to Ping'an Village to solve the problem of plastic bags, can you guarantee the supply?"
Xia Juhua was not the kind of person who would push for more. She vaguely understood why the Northwest Military Region valued instant hot and sour rice noodles so much, so she suggested to Li Hongliang, "In fact, I heard at the expo that there is a thing called a plastic sealing machine. You put the edge of the plastic bag inward and it can seal each bag by itself. It is not only neat but also leak-proof. If you can find that thing, you can definitely guarantee the supply."
Uncle Qi had to remind Xia Juhua: "Comrade Xia Juhua, Ping'an Village Brigade has not yet been powered on." So the laminating machine could not be operated.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
