Chapter 132
Deputy Director Gu shuddered when Xia Juhua called him. He forced a smile at Xia Juhua and said, "Just tell me what you want. Director Cheng has already told me before I came here. If you have any requests, as long as our supply and marketing system can do it, we will definitely do our best to help you."
When he said the word "you", he spoke it very hard because he wanted to tell Xia Juhua that she could talk about personal matters but nothing else - the two of them had not only talked but also cooperated at the expo, and he and Director Yang had rewarded Xia Juhua together, which made Deputy Director Gu feel that he still understood Xia Juhua: this person would not easily talk about her own affairs to others, and the fact that she called others after he left was most likely about collective matters.
Unfortunately, Xia Juhua was on IV drip and had been slow to respond these days. Or maybe she didn't want to hear what Deputy Director Gu meant, so she just said what she wanted to say: "Deputy Director Gu, when will the rubber we ordered from Roberts be delivered?"
See, he knew it was like this.
Deputy Director Gu shook his head helplessly, not expecting Xia Juhua to understand the hidden meaning in his words, and told her bluntly: "Since the commendation meeting, all regions have known that we bought 10,000 tons of rubber at the expo, and they are all crazy to find leaders to do work. In order to avoid unnecessary fluctuations and conflicts, the provincial leader in charge of industry organized a meeting in all regions the morning before yesterday to allocate the rubber quota."
So you'd better stop thinking about it.
Xia Juhua was not as disappointed as Deputy Director Gu had imagined. Instead, she said with a smile, "It's all distributed. It's quite fast. This way, rubber factories in various regions don't have to worry about not having enough raw materials. They can now start full production, right?"
Can't you just take good care of your health? What does it have to do with you whether they are in full production or not? Deputy Director Gu really couldn't understand why Xia Juhua suddenly cared about whether they were in full production, but he still told the truth: "Not to say they are in full production, but at least the production volume is more than before."
Xia Juhua was even happier: "That's great. I was worried about causing trouble for you, Deputy Director Gu. Now that the rubber products factory is operating at full capacity, I will shamelessly ask Deputy Director Gu for a favor. Can you help us coordinate with Pingde County to replace new tires for the tractors of the agricultural machinery stations and the cars of the transport teams?"
What does "a lion's mouth is wide open" mean? It refers to this rural woman in front of me who seems to be ignorant but has a clear mind!
Deputy Director Gu stopped looking at Xia Juhua and turned his gaze to Uncle Qi: "Director Qi, Comrade Xia Juhua is truly dedicated to the public."
If Xia Juhua only proposed to replace the tires of Pinganzhuang, Deputy Director Gu could believe that she was considering the collective interests. But she said that she was talking about the tires of the whole county, and Uncle Qi didn't know anything about it, so Deputy Director Gu would not believe it even if he was beaten to death.
Uncle Qi nodded with a bachelor's face: "Yes, Comrade Xia Juhua has always been so proactive in thinking about the collective. It's also my fault. She told me that she wanted to replace the tires for the tractor in Ping'an Village. But our county doesn't have the ability to do so, so I told her I had no place to find tires for her. She thought I was perfunctory, and I got angry and told her that she would not be perfunctory, and if she had the ability, she would replace all the tires in the county. Who knew she would be so stubborn... hehe..."
Xia Juhua wanted to tell Deputy Director Gu loudly that Uncle Qi was lying and that he was not threatening her in that way. However, Deputy Director Gu thought that there was indeed no rubber export factory in Pingde County and that the rubber factory in Chengping District was idle for half a year a year, so he actually believed Uncle Qi's lies and really thought that Xia Juhua asked him for help because she was angry with Uncle Qi.
In addition, Xia Juhua even asked for a favor, and Deputy Director Gu couldn't help but think of her performance and ability at the expo, and felt that she was worthy of this favor - as long as Xia Juhua recovered from her illness and placed a few more orders with Roberts, would there be any worry about L Province's lack of rubber? The entire province's rubber was guaranteed, so they didn't care about a few tires in Pingde County.
So Deputy Director Gu nodded to Xia Juhua's disappointment: "I can only say that I will try my best to coordinate for you when I go back, but I can only coordinate for one year's usage. As for next year, I'm afraid it depends on whether Roberts' subsequent orders can be received."
Xia Juhua knew how to leave the person alive, so she didn't take Deputy Director Gu's words seriously. She thanked him for his help with a smile and promised that when Liu Zhiquan went to work in the provincial supply and marketing system, she would go with him to visit him.
Finally, Deputy Director Gu happily left the room. Xia Juhua let out a long sigh of relief, and then she heard Lele, who had been silent the whole time, call out, "Honghong."
"What's red?" Wang Caifeng didn't understand what the lady said, so she asked. Xia Juhua subconsciously looked at her hand and found that everyone was just talking and didn't notice that the fluid had been transfused and the blood had returned.
As soon as she grasped the IV tube (at that time, IVs were still delivered with rubber tubes, not the plastic tubes used today), she yelled at the dumbfounded Liu Zhiquan, "Why don't you go call the nurse?"
The nurse pulled out the needle and looked at Liu Zhiquan and his wife with some dissatisfaction. However, the person who just came into the ward was not ordinary, so she couldn't get angry with them. She just coldly told them to be more careful next time they checked the fluid, otherwise the patient would suffer, and then she left.
Xia Juhua's right hand was swollen at this time, but she didn't take it seriously. Instead, she held Lele's little hand and thanked her: "Thanks to our Lele's sharp eyes, otherwise grandma would have lost so much blood."
The little girl was a little scared just now, but now she has recovered after hearing her grandmother's praise. She opened her little mouth and blew on her grandmother's right hand: "Blow it and it won't hurt."
"Well, I blew it, and grandma doesn't feel any pain anymore." Xia Juhua happily carried the little girl to bed, pointed at the nutritional supplements brought by Deputy Director Gu and his team on the bedside table and asked, "Which one does Lele want to eat?"
It's no wonder Xia Juhua loves Lele, the little girl is very tactful - when there are no outsiders in the ward, she never stops talking to Xia Juhua to relieve her boredom. Once there are outsiders, Lele stays quietly by herself, not saying a word, not like some children who go crazy and ask adults to do this and that when there are people around, and can't even talk properly.
Now Lele pointed at a can of oranges with his little finger and said, "Eat canned food."
Xia Juhua naturally signaled Liu Zhiquan to pick up the canned food for Lele. Liu Zhiquan was a little reluctant: "Mom, this is for you."
Xia Juhua didn't think that if someone else gave her something, other people couldn't eat it. Although she strictly prohibited people from Ping An Manor from visiting her, who in Ping An Manor wouldn't miss her when she was lying in bed? As a result, Xia Juhua felt that her words were not as effective as before. Every day, several members would come to take a look, put down their things and run away.
There were a lot of noodles, eggs, and brown sugar in the ward. Today, Deputy Director Gu and his colleagues brought cakes and even milk powder in addition to canned food. It would be a pity if such good things were not eaten and spoiled.
What could Liu Zhiquan do to his own mother? He borrowed a fruit knife from the nurse and pried the cans out bit by bit, muttering to himself as he pried: "Children nowadays have such a good life. When we were kids, we never had to eat canned food."
Xia Juhua became unhappy when she heard this: "It's good that you didn't starve to death when you were kids. Where can I buy canned food for you?" That was during the time of natural disasters.
Liu Zhiquan knew that he had said something wrong, so he quietly opened the can and took a spoon and put it in front of Xia Juhua. Xia Juhua handed the spoon to Lele and asked her to eat with it. She said to Liu Zhiquan, "You also heard what Deputy Director Gu said today. You have to go to the provincial capital even if you don't want to."
Liu Zhiquan was about to speak when his mother interrupted him: "Listen to me. I let you two join the supply and marketing cooperative not only to give you children a good future, but also to let you learn more from others. If there is an opportunity in the future, we can find more ways for ourselves."
Xia Juhua didn't say what the connection was, but Liu Zhiquan and Wang Caifeng both understood: Don't forget, Wang Caifeng helped Qi Weidong fry peanuts a lot.
Liu Zhiquan asked with shining eyes: "Mom, is it possible?"
Why not? In less than three to five years, the term "individual business" will appear on this land, and those are the first to get rich. supply and marketing system of the provincial capital."
Wang Caifeng was equally excited - in the past two years, she had two children at home, and if it weren't for the fried peanuts to supplement their diet, Xia Juhua would have to provide food and work points for just one of the children, so she knew all too well the profits involved.
She asked carefully: "Mom, Zhiquan is an honest man, I'm just afraid..."
Xia Juhua said nonchalantly, "I'm not asking him to steal things from the supply and marketing cooperative, nor am I asking him to do anything illegal. I just thought that the provincial capital is well-informed, and it would be much more convenient to find out which place needs what and which place produces this thing than in Ping'an Village."
"Why don't you just pull the strings or team up with Xiao Qi?"
My dear mother, is it really okay for you to talk about speculation so lightly? Both the son and the daughter-in-law looked shocked. Xia Juhua sneered: It's not like they haven't done it before, why are they pretending not to know? She is old, and pretending to be honest is just a way for young people to be bold.
"Auntie, I'm back." Speak of the devil, and he will appear. Before Liu Zhiquan and his wife could digest their mother's words, Qi Weidong pushed the door open and came in. He didn't pay any attention to the expressions of Liu Zhiquan and his wife, and excitedly shouted to Xia Juhua: "Auntie, do you know that thing..."
"Shut up." Xia Juhua had no choice but to yell at Qi Weidong. Only then did Qi Weidong wake up from his excitement. He chuckled at Xia Juhua twice and turned around to close the door.
As soon as the door was closed, Qi Weidong jumped up, ran to Xia Juhua, and slapped the military bag he was carrying on the bed: "Auntie, look at what this is!"
Xia Juhua smiled slightly: "It's just money, what's so good about it?"
Qi Weidong opened his mouth wide: "Auntie, how did you know?"
You were so excited when you came into the house. If you can't guess it, you'd be a fool. Xia Juhua looked at Qi Weidong as if he were a fool: "I know where you went. I also saw that you didn't take anything with you when you came back. I can't think of any other reason except that you dealt with everything in the provincial capital."
Qi Weidong silently gave Xia Juhua a thumbs up: "Auntie, you are so amazing. You don't know that people in the provincial capital are going crazy."
Liu Zhiquan walked over to pick up the bag, opened it and quickly closed it: "So much?"
Qi Weidong nodded vigorously: "That's all."
Xia Juhua reached out to take the bag, opened the lid and saw about ten large bundles of meat lying inside. She couldn't help but be a little surprised: "How much do you sell it for per pound?"
Qi Weidong slapped Xia Juhua: "Five dollars!"
Are you crazy? Xia Juhua looked at Qi Weidong with a strange look in her eyes: "How much is a pound of cooked peanuts? You dare to sell cashews for five yuan? Who would spend five yuan to buy this stuff?"
Qi Weidong smiled proudly: "Auntie, you underestimated me, didn't you? Since the day you asked me to go to the provincial capital to pick up the goods, I contacted two people I knew in the provincial capital. Although they had never seen cashews, they had heard about them from people in Beijing. They are from Africa."
"Africa is so far away from here. It's not easy to transport things here. People in the provincial capital have never seen this thing before. No, that's not right. Maybe some people have seen it, but ordinary people definitely haven't."
"When they heard I had it, they offered me three dollars a pound. I remember you told me that you bought it for one dollar a pound, so three dollars is not a small amount. But we had to negotiate the price, so I asked for four dollars, and in the end they negotiated it down to three and a half dollars."
"But the two guys didn't dare to ask for more at first. They only asked for 100 kilograms each, saying they were selling them first. Who would have thought that once they got the goods, someone really knew the value of the goods and bought all the 100 kilograms from one of the guys. That guy then came to me again to get more goods."
Qi Weidong glanced at Xia Juhua with pride when he said this: "I thought since he came to me to buy the goods in less than a day, they must be selling well, so I raised the price, and he actually bought it."
Xia Juhua was a little bit unconvinced. She thought that the monthly salary was only a few dollars now. Who would spend ten days' salary to buy such a few cashews? But the money was in front of her, and she couldn't find any reason not to believe it. It seemed that no matter what era, there was no shortage of people with money. In her previous life, she only felt that life was difficult in the 1970s because she had always been in Ping'an Village and had no contact with the outside world.
Seeing her looking at the money in her bag without saying anything, Qi Weidong said with a guilty conscience, "Later I found out that the provincial supply and marketing system had ordered a lot of that stuff. In order to transfer the money as soon as possible, they asked the provincial leaders and the people at the bank to taste it. The provincial leaders praised it for being delicious, and the people at the bank also said it was good. I don't know how people outside got to know about it, and the market went crazy for it."
Xia Juhua's heart sank when she heard this: many people from all over the province attended the expo, but she was the only one who bought a large number of cashews. As a result, right after the expo, when the provincial capital supply and marketing cooperative put out samples, cashews appeared on the black market. Is there any need to ask who sold them?
"Auntie, did I do something wrong?" Qi Weidong asked anxiously when he saw Xia Juhua's gloomy face.
Xia Juhua shook her head, trying to calm herself down. She fell ill in bed after returning to Ping'an Village after attending the expo. Her uncle Qi and the people in the hospital could prove this. Just now, Deputy Director Gu of the Provincial Supply and Marketing System came to visit her. From a normal point of view, she did not have time to sell cashews.
Since she didn't have time, she could just say she didn't know anything when asked. Xia Juhua figured it out and her expression changed, but she still reminded Qi Weidong: "You can't go to the provincial capital for a while, and you can't contact those two people anymore."
Qi Weidong didn't understand, but he nodded obediently: "Okay, I'll listen to you, auntie."
Xia Juhua then explained the pros and cons to Qi Weidong: "...Your price is a bit high. Those two people have to make money to sell it. Those who can afford it are definitely not ordinary people. Think about it, if such people want to investigate, it will be easy to find you."
Qi Weidong was frightened to death and broke into a cold sweat. All the excitement he had when he first entered the house was gone. "Auntie, I was too anxious. The main reason was that two soldiers were staying at my place. I thought about bringing the things back. It would be difficult for them to explain after seeing them. It would be better to deal with it in the provincial capital to save trouble."
"It's nothing. There aren't many of them anyway. Besides, there are many people attending the expo. Maybe they came from somewhere else." Xia Juhua had never seen Qi Weidong so depressed and couldn't help but comfort him.
Qi Weidong was still blaming himself in his heart. After hearing what Xia Juhua said, he took out all the money from his bag listlessly and stuffed it under Xia Juhua's pillow without saying anything: "Auntie, I was too impatient. Don't worry, if anything happens, I'll take care of it."
"What are you worried about? Take care of it." Xia Juhua turned around and wanted to take out the money to return to Qi Weidong, but he held her down and said stubbornly: "It's my fault. If something really happens to me, auntie, you just need to take care of Li Lin and the others. Those two guys have been with me for a few years, and they just have enough to fill their stomachs."
Xia Juhua was amused: "Then you should give them some of the money."
Qi Weidong shook his head: "This time I went to the provincial capital by myself and didn't let them know, so I said I would take care of it myself. Then I will say that I stole your delivery note when you were not prepared, so I didn't dare to bring the things back to Pingde County and dealt with them directly in the provincial capital."
Xia Juhua stretched out a hand and patted Qi Weidong on the back: "Why are you saying such sad words? Nothing will happen. You don't know that when I bought this stuff, Deputy Director Gu of the Provincial Supply and Marketing System knew about it, and he didn't even ask me why I bought so many cashews."
Hearing that Deputy Director Gu of the Provincial Supply and Marketing System knew about it, Qi Weidong relaxed a little: "He really didn't ask?"
"No." Xia Juhua said, and took out all the money from under the pillow. After counting, there was 10,200 yuan. She threw five stacks of money to Qi Weidong and said, "I'll keep the other 200 for myself."
Qi Weidong refused to do so: "Auntie, you haven't even earned your capital yet." He insisted on giving Xia Juhua another 2,000 yuan. Xia Juhua only accepted one wad and told Qi Weidong that he was the one who sold the things, and that 1,000 yuan was his hard-earned money.
To be honest, after all the black market business Qi Weidong had done over the years, he did not think that one thousand yuan was a big sum. However, Xia Juhua attached a different meaning to this one thousand yuan - he had exposed Xia Juhua to the eyes of the provincial supply and marketing system, and not only did Xia Juhua not blame him much, she also wanted to share the risk with him. Qi Weidong could not help but be moved.
He secretly made up his mind that if something really happened in the future, he would take all the responsibility on himself as he had planned.
Xia Juhua was not only relieved for Qi Weidong, but also felt that the current policies were becoming more and more relaxed, and the variety of goods flowing in the black market was increasing. It was not certain that anyone would notice the small waves caused by Qi Weidong.
It was not that Xia Juhua felt lucky, but she thought of the time and attitude of Deputy Director Gu when he visited the patient: Deputy Director Gu only arrived in Pingde County today, and arrived at the area at the latest yesterday, but the first batch of cashews from Qi Weidong had already flowed into the black market the day before yesterday. The supply and marketing system should have known about it long ago, and should have thought of it long ago.
But when Deputy Director Gu came to visit her, his attitude was cordial and kind, and his expression was calm when he spoke to her, so Xia Juhua felt that the possibility of pursuing the matter was slim.
She drank bitter medicine for two days in the hospital with a worried look on her face. She didn't hear any bad news, but she couldn't lie down any more. The doctor prescribed her several large packages of medicine and told her to take them regularly when she got home before he would let her go.
The driver who sent Xia Juhua back to Ping'an Village was Uncle Qi's driver. When he saw Xia Juhua, he smiled and said, "Auntie, you are finally well."
Xia Juhua also laughed: "I owe you a lot of trouble that night, and I'm bothering you again today."
The driver said nonchalantly, "Look at what Auntie said. Except when Director Qi goes to the countryside, I am idle in the team every day. I can get some subsidies by driving a car to pick Auntie up."
The words sounded so sincere that Xia Juhua felt it would be hypocritical to continue being polite, so she said no more and just asked the driver to have lunch at her house today.
The driver immediately agreed and said with a smile, "I heard that Auntie's hot and sour rice noodles are delicious. I'm in for a treat today."
Not only the driver enjoyed the feast, but also Li Hongliang and Lin Junqing, who had been waiting at Liu's house long before hearing that Xia Juhua was discharged from the hospital, enjoyed the feast as well. To celebrate Xia Juhua's discharge, Xiaoman and Wang Caifeng, who had brought Lele back the day before, prepared six dishes:
Stewed chicken soup, fried salted meat, eggs, boneless meat, mixed shredded vegetables, and a plate of sugar-coated peanuts.
When Li Changshun saw the food on the table, he smiled and said to Xia Juhua, "You have to eat more, otherwise the children's kindness will be in vain. It's a good time to take good care of yourself."
Xia Juhua naturally agreed with a smile, and then asked Wang Caifeng: "Why haven't you seen Master Wu?"
Li Changshun smiled and offered the food to Li Hongliang and the other man, and said casually, "Didn't I tell you the other day that he was hatching chicks?"
Wang Caifeng also nodded to her mother-in-law: "Zhiquan had invited them a long time ago, but Fifth Master asked Qixi to tell him that now is the most critical time and he cannot be left alone, so you should just entertain the comrades in the army."
Since the Fifth Master couldn't come, Xia Juhua didn't force him. After the table of people finished their meal, the driver drove away. Li Hongliang and his partner wanted to follow, but Xia Juhua stopped them: "Comrade Li, do you want to take a break at noon? If not, let's talk about the hot and sour noodles."
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