Chapter 136

Speaking of reed stalks, An Baoling also started to worry: "But I've gone to every place you can, and even bought back the reed stalks that were too short and thin before. If I don't tell my sister-in-law, the mat weaving team will really have to stop working."

When there were no orders before, I used to worry about the piles of reeds. I never thought that now that there are more orders, I still have to worry about the piles of reeds. The only difference is that before, I worried that the reeds I bought would rot in my hands, but now I worry that the piles of reeds fall off too quickly.

Zhao Xianzhi knew how much Xia Juhua valued the weaving team and was determined not to let them stop working. He gritted his teeth and said to An Baoling, "Okay, then you come with me to find the captain tonight. We won't talk about those people's gossips, but just ask the captain if he has any way to find some reeds for us."

When the two arrived at Xia Juhua's house in the evening, the family had already finished dinner. Baoguo was doing his homework at the kang table by the oil lamp, Lele was lying on Xia Juhua's lap, saying something, and Xiaoman was strolling back and forth on the floor.

Zhao Xianzhi asked as soon as she saw him, "Xiaoman will be pregnant in a few days, right? I think her belly is getting smaller."

Xia Juhua wanted to go downstairs to greet them, but An Baoling stopped her on the edge of the kang and said, "Do we still need to be so polite?"

Although she said you're welcome, Wang Caifeng quickly poured a cup of brown sugar water for each person, and when she handed it to them, she smiled and said, "I also said that Xiaoman will be born soon, so I hope she can give birth soon so that I can see my nephew before moving."

Wang Caifeng's mother was afraid that her daughter's words would make her sister-in-law worried, so she glared at her and said, "When the time is right, the baby will grow a little bit longer if it stays in the belly for one more day. You've already given birth to two children, don't you understand this?"

Xiao Man hurriedly smiled and said, "Auntie, my sister-in-law is worried that I will be scared when the time comes, and she is at home to help me build up my courage, there is no other intention."

This made Wang Caifeng's mother laugh: "Yes, you are sisters, one helping the other, I am a bad guy for nothing."

Wang Caifeng said to her mother with a smile: "Mom, you are not a bad person for nothing. We two sisters are fine."

Wang Caifeng's mother smiled at Xia Juhua and said, "I just want to learn from you. How can you get along so well with your daughter-in-law and make them both think alike and get along better than real sisters?" Even real sisters can fight over a jacket. In the two days she had been here, she had not seen any disagreements between her daughter-in-law and her sister-in-law.

Xia Juhua herself had thought about this question many times before, and slowly said: "To be honest, I really did nothing. I didn't interfere with how the couple lived, nor did I interfere with how the sisters-in-law got along with each other. From the day I became the production team leader of Ping'an Village, I couldn't take care of the family affairs at all. Maybe it's because I can't take care of the family that the two sisters don't help each other, and there's no one to help them when they encounter problems, so they can't get along well?"

It is easier said than done not to mix. After all, the living conditions in rural areas are generally poor now. A large family pools resources together, and only through the redistribution of resources by the parents can everyone be guaranteed not to go hungry. So can parents really not mix?

This is the case with the Liu family. Except for the two children, everyone can earn money. Even though Xiaoman can only walk around with a bulging belly and cannot get out of the field, she can earn as much money from frying peanuts for a whole winter as an employed person can in a year. Only when the family has abundant resources can parents let go and let the small family arrange their own lives.

In addition, the most profitable person in the family is not the strong laborers Liu Zhiquan and Liu Zhishuang, nor is it Xiaoman who earns more by frying peanuts in a winter than others do in a whole year, but Xia Juhua. Therefore, Xia Juhua has the confidence not to take all the family resources into her own hands.

She has more money than her two sons combined, so there is no need to worry about her using one son's money to support the other. It would be strange if there were any conflicts between brothers and sisters-in-law.

As Wang Caifeng's biological mother, when she saw Wang Caifeng crying like that after returning home, wasn't the first person she wanted to persuade? Why did she keep making excuses for Xia Juhua? Wasn't it because she knew that her daughter had a good life, and it was not because of Liu Zhiquan but because of Xia Juhua, the mother-in-law?

It's hard to curry favor with such a rich mother-in-law, but I dare not let my daughter-in-law be distracted by her.

Seeing that Wang Caifeng's mother remained silent after hearing what Xia Juhua said, An Baoling smiled and tried to change the subject. She said to Xia Juhua, "Xianzhi and I came here today, but I have something to ask my sister-in-law to make a decision on."

Xia Juhua smiled and nodded to let her continue. Wang Caifeng's mother had already carried Lele over: "Lele is sleepy. I'll take her back to the house to sleep." Even though Lele struggled twice in her arms, she still insisted on taking the child away.

An Baoling was in no hurry to talk about business. She and Zhao Xianzhi sent her out the door before coming back to say to Xia Juhua, "Sister-in-law is so lucky. She has a good daughter-in-law and the in-laws are all very considerate." Wang Caifeng's mother was very considerate. When she heard that Wang Caifeng had something important to talk about, she immediately took the ignorant child away to avoid disturbing their conversation.

Xia Juhua was happy: "If someone in the family is diligent, they will raise a bunch of lazy people. I am lazy and don't know how to deal with people, so I force my family to be diligent and considerate, and even my in-laws have to give in to me. Okay, I know you two are busy people, just tell me what's going on."

Zhao Xianzhi and the other two came to ask Xia Juhua for advice, and without any empty words, they told Xia Juhua directly that there were not many reeds left in Ping'an Manor, and they could only support about seven or eight days at most.

Xia Juhua just remembered that she always felt like she had forgotten something when she came back, but she was so busy that she didn't think about it carefully. Now that Zhao Xianzhi and the others mentioned it, she remembered the thoughts she had at the Expo.

"Zhishuang, go get me some wheat straw." Xia Juhua assigned a task to her youngest son. Everyone in the room was very surprised. They didn't know why Xia Juhua wanted wheat straw when they were saying that there were not enough wheat straw. However, Liu Zhishuang still followed his mother's request and quickly brought back the wheat straw.

Xia Juhua took a close look at the wheat straw in her hand and removed the outer skin of the wheat straw. The smooth straw stalks even shone faintly under the oil lamp. Then Xia Juhua picked up the knife she had just found and broke the wheat straw in the same way as she had broken the skin of the wheat straw. She then carefully scraped the pith inside cleanly.

After testing the hardness and softness, Xia Juhua began to weave it. After a while, a small pepper was formed under Xia Juhua's hands. Although the wheat straw skin was not dyed, the shape was still recognizable at a glance, and its smoothness was no worse than that of the one woven with reed skin.

"Captain?" Zhao Xianzhi grabbed the pepper in disbelief and looked at it over and over again: "It turns out that wheat straw can also be woven into decorations."

Xia Juhua nodded and said, "When I received the order in Yangcheng, I was worried that we didn't have enough reed stalks, so I wanted to come back and try to weave with wheat straw. But I got sick after I came back, and then one thing after another happened after I was discharged from the hospital, and I forgot about it."

An Baoling took the pepper from Zhao Xianzhi and looked at it again and again: "That's great. Our team doesn't have much other things, but we have as much wheat straw as we want. This time we don't have to worry about not having any."

Xia Juhua shattered her dream: "Wheat straw is easy to break, but it's too soft. If you want to weave it to have the same effect as reed stalks, you have to use at least two of them. How can you make two pieces look the same as one? You can't weave something that doesn't go in and out. It takes a lot of practice."

"As for reed mats, we can't use wheat straw, we have to use reed stalks. Tomorrow I will go to the county seat and call the regional or provincial supply and marketing system to ask if they can allocate some reed stalks for us. We have to complete the orders in hand."

Hearing that Xia Juhua was going to the city, Liu Zhishuang asked: "Mom, are you well enough? How about I drive you there on my tractor?" His mother was busy driving again after leaving the hospital, so how could he feel at ease to report to the district.

"No need." Xia Juhua answered firmly: "You should teach Zhifu these few days. I can go there by bike."

It turned out that because Liu Zhishuang was going to work in the district, Xia Juhua asked him to teach Liu Erzhuang's eldest son Liu Zhifu how to drive a tractor. When the tractors first arrived at the Ping'anzhuang Brigade, it was agreed that one of them must be used by the Ping'anzhuang Production Team, so no one objected to Xia Juhua's decision.

An Baoling would not think that Xia Juhua took too much care of Li Daya's family. Her own son Liu Zhijun was able to join the army. Wasn't it Xia Juhua who took care of him? Why should she want all the good things to happen to herself?

Besides, her son Zhiguo is still studying. An Baoling really doesn't want Zhiguo to stop studying and go home to learn how to drive a tractor - driving a tractor seems to be very popular, but judging from the expression of her sister-in-law Xia Juhua, it is obvious that she values ​​children who can study more. As long as Zhiguo studies hard, he will have plenty of opportunities in the future.

Zhao Xianzhi and An Baoling, who had thought clearly and made up their minds, left Xia Juhua's house with a smile on their faces. All they talked about along the way was that the captain was the captain, and look at how smart he was. They said that he had already thought about their gray hair problems, but they were too busy to mention them.

The next day, Xia Juhua called Deputy Director Gu of the provincial supply and marketing system. However, she felt that her brain was not as smart as Zhao Xianzhi and the others thought, because Deputy Director Gu asked her a question on the phone, which was where did all the cashews she bought go?

"That is, we distributed it to the neighbors and the people in the production team so that everyone can have a taste of it." Xia Juhua was startled, but she still gave Deputy Director Gu the answer she had thought of long ago.

Deputy Director Gu laughed on the other end of the phone: "That's right, there are so many people in your Ping'an Village Brigade, and you have been back for such a long time, how could you have finished all the cashews?"

This did not make Xia Juhua relax. She asked carefully, "Deputy Director Gu, why are you suddenly concerned about my cashews?"

顧副主任不當一回事兒似的說：“也沒啥，就是不知道從哪兒流進省城黑市點兒腰果，弄得人心惶惶了幾天。好在那人膽子不大，見事不好就跑了，也沒抓着人。所以我今天跟你說一聲，讓你把自己的腰果看好了，要是都吃完了就算了。”

夏菊花輕輕籲了一口氣，看來腰果的事兒是顧副主任替她壓下去了，于是向着電話那頭鄭重的說：“顧副主任，謝謝你的提醒，我會注意的。”

電話那頭的顧副主任又笑了：“這算啥，與你做出的貢獻相比，只是提醒一下你不犯錯誤，又不是包庇你，你用不着感謝。對了，你說的那個葦杆，你走後我就讓人給你協調了，說不定這一兩天就能運到平安莊了。不過咱們可先說好了，葦杆費用和運輸費，都得你們平安莊自己出。”

夏菊花連忙說：“沒問題沒問題，只要有葦杆，我們平安莊一定會照價付款。顧副主任，真是太感謝你了，你什麽時候來平德縣考察，一定要到我們平安莊大隊做客。”

顧副主任笑了：“肯定有機會。我可是聽說了，你們平安莊這次又要做大貢獻了，這是我們全省人民的驕傲啊。等你們出了成品的時候，我們供銷系統會到平安莊學習取經的。”

夏菊花聽出顧副主任說的，是平安莊要給部隊供應酸辣粉的事兒，至于他是怎麽知道的，也很好理解：做酸辣粉離不了紅薯，現在這個時候部隊協調紅薯肯定離不了供銷系統。

又跟顧副主任在電話裏說了一下平安莊大隊粉條廠的建設進度，接受了顧副主任的鼓勵，夏菊花才十分滿意的放下電話。

聽着夏菊花打電話的齊小叔，把水遞給夏菊花後問：“這回放心了？”

夏菊花點了點頭：“嗯，這下子葦杆有着落了，顧副主任說一兩天就能運到平安莊。”

齊小叔不屑的嘁了一聲：“問你腰果是咋回事兒呢。”

夏菊花十分不滿的說：“齊主任，你不是說不聽我們說話嗎？”

“這是我的辦公室，你借的是我的電話。”齊小叔沒有被人識破的尴尬，仍在問自己關心的問題：“你不是說腰果就那麽多嗎，剛才顧副主任說的是咋回事？”

夏菊花肯定不能說實話，就拿顧副主任剛才跟她對好的詞來回應齊小叔，把人給氣得夠嗆：“別看現在沒□□了，可投機倒把抓的可還緊着呢，你和齊衛東兩注意點兒，要是出了啥事，別說我不管你們。”

哼，真不管還問啥？夏菊花信心十足的走出齊小叔的辦公室，回到平安莊便把好消息通知了趙仙枝等人，自是把負責采購葦杆的趙仙枝高興壞了：“這回好了，今天可真是雙喜臨門。”

“啥雙喜？”夏菊花一從縣城回來便來到了編席組，沒到大隊去，所以不知道趙仙枝說的另一喜是啥。趙仙枝很為自己的消息靈通得意：“常會計今天給各生産隊通知了，說是晚上就能各家通電，咱們晚上也能點上電燈啦。”

也就是說，不知不覺之中，平安莊大隊所有生産隊的電都接通了，今天晚上，天黑後便沉寂下來的平安莊，将迎來它有史以來最光明的一夜。

對夏菊花來說，通電的意義可不止晚上照明工具的改變，而是更多電器設備可以應用到生産之中。她都顧不得多跟趙仙枝幾個說話，騎上自行車又往大隊趕。

到了大隊部，常會計沒在，只有李長順守着大隊部。見夏菊花過來，老頭兒臉上笑的眼睛都眯成一道縫了：“你也聽說了吧，咱們今天晚上就能通電了。”

夏菊花多日來一直板着的臉上也有了笑意：“可不是，我從縣裏一回來就聽說晚上能通電了，就過來看看。”

“去吧，他們都在變壓器那邊呢。”李長順剛才自己已經去看過一回，覺得自己看也看不懂，就回來守着大隊部了。

夏菊花卻沒急着走：“大隊長，咱們通了電，變壓器得找個人看着，也得讓人學學電工，不能有點啥事兒都去麻煩公社的電工。”

對此李長順自然點頭同意：“是得派人去學學。聽人家供電局的人說，這電可不是鬧着玩兒的，一個不好就把人給電了。你覺得派誰去合适？”

是呀，派誰去合适呢？夏菊花也犯愁：平安莊大隊上過學的人太少，有數的幾個初中畢業生十來年沒摸過書本，怕是都就着粥還給老師了。

可那是電呀，要是連初中文化都沒有，靠死記能學出個啥樣來，夏菊花不敢想象。

一時半會兒的，夏菊花還真想不出選誰當電工合适。她只好搖了搖頭說：“算了，這也急不來，還是看看那些小子們将為學成啥樣吧。暫時還是先麻煩公社的電工吧。”不想麻煩也不行，自己剛才有點想當然了。

李長順知道夏菊花是個有主意的，現在除了替她鎮一下場子，一般的事兒已經很少發表自己的意見了。而且李長順發現，自從出了前五隊長的事兒，他鎮場子的作用越來越難發揮，看來以後他也要學着五爺的樣子，多呆有小莊頭，不用再操大隊的心了。

想到五爺，李長順便問了一句：“五爺還沒出來呢？”

夏菊花想起自己前天聽到的消息，覺得今天不是雙喜臨門，而是三喜臨門：“前天我去看五爺的時候，雖然沒進去門，可七喜告訴我說已經有小雞出殼了，還說到今天應該能出的差不多。”

一會兒回了平安莊，還得再去敲敲五爺的門，如果小雞全出殼了，說不定今天她就能進去門了。夏菊花算算時間，也覺得差不多了——五爺是在她回來前四天關的院門，她回來又過了半個多月近二十天，小雞可不到了該出殼的時候。

李長順一聽也來了興致，不急着放夏菊花去看變壓器，拉着她問：“七喜真說有小雞出殼了，出了多少，都活了沒有，糟蹋的多不多？”

這些問題夏菊花是真回答不上來，讓李長順很是遺憾的說：“只要這次能孵出幾只來，也算是重新摸摸門路，下回肯定比這回孵出來的多。”

夏菊花也是這麽想的，不過她聽七喜跟她說話的語氣挺歡快的，應該不會糟蹋太多。再說現在天氣都快近五月，好些社員家裏的母雞早就開始抱窩，過不上半個月也該出殼了，所以哪怕五爺這次不太成功，并不會耽誤全平安莊大隊的養雞大計。

其實李長順守着大隊部不失為一個正确的選擇：變壓器在夏菊花看來，就是一個鐵疙瘩，上頭的管呀線呀她也看不明白，看到的也就是一群人圍着那東西不知忙啥。

“大隊長，你過來啦。”一見夏菊花，新當選的五隊隊長、原大隊貧農主席孫慶林跟她打了聲招呼，怕她來的晚不了解情況，給她介紹說：“供電局的同志說了，只要變壓器一接好，一推閘各家拉的電燈就能亮了。”

夏菊花在李長順面前維持的笑臉，早已經收了起來，不過面對孫慶林這個前貧農主席也沒板起來，問：“晚飯前能接好嗎？”

孫慶林便向人群裏問了一句，得到了肯定的答複。夏菊花也順着往人群裏瞅，竟然發現胡中山、李有光兩人也在看熱鬧的人群裏。

自從夏菊花過年的時候規定知青只能休假一個月，又讓他們好好學知青管理規定，這些知青便老實下來，春耕也沒人向大隊叫苦，都老老實實伺候劃給他們的那點兒地——知青們去年口糧留的不多，再不好好種地，今年依舊得餓肚子。

夏菊花覺得，知青變得這麽老實，很可能是有人回家後聽到了啥消息，或是因為鄧春林這個攪屎棍被她揭穿，在知青中沒了威信沒法再攪和。

不過知青們還是很少和平安莊大隊的人打交道，今天胡中山二人咋來看熱鬧了？

“胡中山。”夏菊花覺得自己想不出所以然，幹脆叫胡中山過來，也沒開口就問他們今天為啥跟社員們混到一起，而是問：“知青點拉電線了沒有？”

胡中山沒想到夏菊花喊他是為了這事兒，遲疑了一下說：“我跟李有光那屋拉了，他們，他們的好象沒拉。”

夏菊花不用再問就明白了，各生産隊接到大隊的電線杆、電線雖然也是供電局出資，可是拉到社員家裏的那一段線以及家裏走線和燈泡錢，還是要社員自己負擔的，想來知青點兒也是如此。胡中山和李有光兩個人家裏條件好，有錢拉電線，剩下的人可就不一定了，說不定為了那點錢，又起了新的矛盾也未可知。

“好，不過你們還是要注意用電安全。”夏菊花明白了胡中山、李有光兩個是想來看今晚究竟能不能通電，便順嘴囑咐了他一句。

If Hu Zhongshan had said this normally, he would have just agreed and left. But today he did not move. Instead, he looked at Xia Juhua and said, "Captain, I heard that almost all the members' homes in the production teams have been wired."

Xia Juhua nodded. All the members of Ping'anzhuang Brigade had earned money last year and were very active in pulling up electric wires, just waiting for the day when electricity would be available so that they could have electric lights in their homes that would light up with a single pull and would not irritate the eyes, so that they could show off to their relatives who did not have electricity yet.

So Xia Juhua confirmed Hu Zhongshan's question: "Yes, almost every family has accepted it. What's the matter? What do you think?"