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? They ask every day how thin the vermicelli can be, how much can be leaked in a day, and whether the vermicelli out of the pot is cooked, and whether it will upset your stomach if you 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. Xia Juhua opened the door on her side, walked around the back of the car to open the door for Li Changshun, and when she helped him out, she saw that Uncle Qi had also gotten out of the car, and she couldn't help but smile.
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."
李長順幾天來只知道這兩人是西北軍區的幹部，到現在才知道人家是後勤幹事，眼睛不由眯了一下，笑着往屋裏讓人：“都進屋說話吧，屋裏暖和。”
林宏亮笑了下，非得讓齊小叔他們走在前頭，夏菊花還要往後躲、請他們先進屋，不想這二位說啥也要讓她先走：“夏菊花同志，你一路辛苦了，快進屋歇歇。”
這兒到底還是不是平安莊大隊，自己還是不是平安莊大隊隊長呀，頭發昏的夏菊花有些不敢肯定了。不過她沒再謙讓，請李長順走到前頭，自己随後進了屋。
屋子裏自然比外頭暖和多了，夏菊花坐車坐得發僵的身子不由打了個哆嗦，走在她身後的林宏亮看到眼裏急在心上：“夏菊花同志，你冷嗎，是不是凍着了，快喝口熱水暖和一下，可別生病了。”
說着，從暖壺裏倒出一杯熱水就往夏菊花手裏塞，這下子齊小叔都看出不對來了：這兩人對夏菊花的态度太殷勤了，齊小叔莫明的想到自己侄子對夏菊花的态度。
齊衛東對夏菊花好，除了兩人相處久了折服于夏菊花層出不窮的為人和新點子，一開始單純就是為了與夏菊花長期合作。
這兩名西北軍區後勤部的幹事，還能跟夏菊花合作賺錢不成？部隊不興自己賺錢吧。
夏菊花自己也被驚了一下，不過還是接過水杯來，嘴裏說着道歉的話：“兩位同志到平安莊大隊好幾天了，可我去參加博覽會，不知道你們兩位來，怠慢了。”
“不怠慢不怠慢。”一直沒說話的李俊青看着夏菊花一直笑呵呵，聽她說怠慢自己連忙否認：“夏大隊長你去博覽會，也是為國家做貢獻，我們來又沒提前通知，你別覺得過意不去。”
夏菊花聽了一笑，見齊小叔那裏李長順也倒了水，就沒再起身張羅，只用眼神問齊小叔，是由他問還是由自己問這兩位的真正來意。
齊小叔只跟夏菊花對視一下，便低頭捧起杯子吹起氣來，意思很明顯：這兩人來了這麽些天都不說出目的，還是你自己問吧。
看到齊小叔這個态度，夏菊花心裏撇了下嘴，臉上笑容不變，開門見山的問：“聽說兩位同志找我有事兒，不知道是啥重要的事，讓你們等了這麽些天？”
林宏亮和李俊青對視了一眼，又看了看陪坐的李長順。夏菊花早學着齊小叔，問完後低頭吹自己手裏的熱水，完美避過了兩人看李長順的目光——雖然李長順時常有劫富濟貧的觀念，可人家真是一心為公，看事兒還是挺明白的，那就沒啥不能聽的。
說起來人家還是退伍老兵呢，夏菊花覺得李長順比自己更有資格了解部隊的意圖。
倒是李長順自己，順着兩人目光站了起來：“我去看看司機找着歇的地方了沒有，大冷天的可別把他凍着。”
齊小叔一如既往的吹他的水杯，夏菊花卻擡起頭來對李長順說：“大隊長，要不你先陪齊主任和兩位同志聊着，我去看看。”說完杯子已經放下，人也搖晃了一下站起來。
林宏亮和李俊青又對視了一眼，還是林宏亮開的口：“剛才我看司機到隔壁去了，那屋裏應該也有暖壺，現在應該暖和過來了。”
李長順不滿的看了夏菊花一眼，分明是責備她胡鬧——部隊保密制度多嚴格，他現在都不是平安莊大隊長了，人家不願意讓他聽秘密，回避一下是他老兵的職責。
夏菊花堅持與李長順對視：把自己推到大隊長的位置上也就算了，遇到事兒還想靠後，沒門。真有事兒了那三個生産隊，還得李長順幫着協調呢。
她這個态度，李長順真是一點辦法也沒有，只好重新坐下，再重重的瞪夏菊花一眼。他自以為這一眼用了十分力氣，夏菊花卻覺得不疼不癢。
瞪兩眼又不會掉一塊肉，将來卻可以省自己好大的力氣，老頭兒有勁只管瞪好了，真當她暈車腦子就不好使了？
李宏亮和林俊青對視一眼，都沒看懂夏菊花是懼怕李長順呢，還是尊重這個老兵。不過他們沒想深究，對夏菊花說明了來意：
“夏大隊長，你還記不記得年前，你給平安莊大隊今年的新兵，每人郵寄去了五袋酸辣粉？”
平德縣三人聽了心裏都一驚，李長順更是不滿的看了夏菊花一眼，好歹沒再瞪人。夏菊花還是裝看不見他的不滿，只擔心的問：
“是寄了。咋啦，是不是調料出了問題，把孩子們的肚子吃壞了？不應該呀，那調料包我在家裏試了幾回，咋也能存個二十天一個月的。是不是你們西北那邊氣溫比我們這高？”
李宏亮見夏菊花有些着急，趕緊說：“沒有沒有。你寄之前，平安莊的新兵不是都帶了些粉條到部隊嘛。新訓團發現，他們每到周末都到食堂要一些調料，然後把粉條泡開了吃，還以為是部隊夥食供應不足他們吃不飽呢。”
“後來一了解才知道，那些新兵是想家了，吃了酸辣粉後覺得想家的情況能緩解一點兒。領導就讓我們想想辦法，是不是把各地特有的食物納入供應內容，這樣有利于新兵們的訓練。”
李俊青看了李長順一眼說：“老班長一定有體會，新訓苦一點、累一點都要以克服，新兵們最難克服的是想家關。”
李長順聽了點點頭：“是呀，好幾千裏地，都是沒離開過家的孩子，哪能不想家。”
夏菊花卻沒有搭話，她總覺得剛才李宏亮說的內容，跟一開始問自己是不是寄了酸辣粉兒有些接不上，好象中間缺了點聯系，自然要聽聽下文。
李宏亮也沒賣關子，得到李長順的認可之後，接着說：“我們到新訓團進行了調研，也嘗了一個叫劉志/軍的新兵調出來的酸辣粉，覺得酸酸辣辣的的确很開胃，很适合在西北寒冷地方吃。”
““美中不足的是，粉條太松散、調料也不是時時都能齊全，所以野外拉練的時候不好攜帶，就有些猶豫是不是要大批采購。誰知道年前我們再到新訓團，檢查過年物資準備情況的時候，劉志/軍說你給他們寄去的酸辣粉自帶調料包，只要有開水就能直接泡着吃。”
“當時劉志/軍還剩下一包，我跟林幹事分着嘗了，覺得比他們自己調的味道還好一些。向領導彙報了這個情況之後，領導就派我們來向夏大隊長你求助，看你能不能把給劉志/軍他們寄的那個酸辣粉，大批量的供應給我們西北軍區後勤部。”
兩人的目标竟然是夏菊花給劉志/軍他們寄去的酸辣粉兒，那麽小小的東西能夠進入部隊的後勤供應，不等夏菊花說話，李長順已經張口應了下來：“部隊能看上我們平安莊的東西，那是我們平安莊的榮幸。那也不是啥金貴東西，我們能供應。部隊需要多少，我們就能供應多少。”
就這事兒還用等夏菊花回來，早跟他說他早應下了。
夏菊花心說老同志，大家都知道你有部隊情結，可是你能不能面對一下現實？有些無奈的看向李宏亮兩人：“李大隊長的意思，就是我的意思。不過現在有一個難題。那就是現在已經快開春了，各糧站的紅薯我們平安莊也快漏完了，除了交給各糧站的粉條，我們平安莊自己剩不下多少。”
“還有一個問題就是，你們也嘗過我做的調料，那東西調起來倒沒啥難的，難就難在包裝上。包裝得用裝食品專門的塑料袋，別的東西都不行，這是個難題——我們平安莊找不來那麽老些塑料袋。”
“還有就是包裝得有效率，給那些孩子寄的一百來袋方便酸辣粉，我自己足足包了三個晚上，大批量生産的話平安莊人手不夠。”
“你們看過了吧，我那一袋酸辣粉，外頭一個大塑料袋，裏頭還得有三個調料包。一包鹽末加別的調味料，一包醋加辣椒油，還有一包是蔥油。蔥油用的是大油，不知道部隊裏有沒有同志忌口。”
齊小叔見兩名部隊同志顯然沒想到一包酸辣粉有這麽多講究，臉上都是沉思之色，屋裏氣氛有些冷場，笑着調節氣氛：“好你個夏大隊長，上回我跟你們公社張主任吃的時候，你咋沒給我們上啥蔥油包呢？”
夏菊花覺得他這理挑的不是地方：“你們兩吃的時候，不是剛試出來的嘛。當時你們都嫌味淡沒油水，我才又琢磨着加了個蔥油包。”
李宏亮和林俊青在齊小叔與夏菊花鬥嘴的時候，已經小聲咬起了耳朵，等兩人的話告一段落，李宏亮問：“夏大隊長，如果我們給平安莊調撥紅薯，解決塑料袋的問題，你們能保證供應？”
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.