Chapter 139
Xia Juhua smiled at him and said, "No one has ever seen a truck before. We gathered around out of curiosity. I hope you are not scared."
The driver felt that those members clearly did not mean that, but he did not say it out loud, and just chatted with Xia Juhua. Hearing his confusion about Liu Zhiquan's family moving to the provincial capital, Xia Juhua knew that Liu Zhiquan was a little offended, and said casually:
"Thanks to the care of the leaders, they don't have to live apart. Zhiquan is still young and has just arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative. If he doesn't understand something in the future, he can't always bother the leaders. I'll have to ask you to remind him more."
The driver was a smart man. He understood what Xia Juhua meant, which was that Liu Zhiquan was someone who was taken care of by a senior leader. He also saw that Xia Juhua did not look down on others because of the leader's care, and spoke in a gentle and polite manner. His impression of her became better, and he was very polite to her along the way.
When they stopped for lunch at noon, Xia Juhua ordered four hearty dishes lavishly. The driver felt that this family was no ordinary one. When he and Liu Zhiquan returned to Ping'an Village, Liu Zhiquan's order for lunch had already made the driver smack his lips. He didn't expect that his mother was different from other rural women who were reluctant to spend money on food and drink. She ordered more dishes than Liu Zhiquan.
If you don’t have money, who would dare to order like this?
They talked happily all the way, but the closer they got to the provincial capital, the more silent Xia Juhua became, and finally she stopped talking. The driver thought she was carsick, so he shut up and let her rest, but Xia Juhua was wondering why Deputy Director Gu asked her to go to the provincial capital.
I couldn't think of anything to do. It was already dark when Xia Juhua drove to the tube-shaped building where Liu Zhiquan was assigned. When she got off the car, she saw that there were five or six buildings that formed the dormitory complex of the supply and marketing system, which showed the strength of this unit. The car stopped in front of a four-story building. Like all buildings of this era, except for a layer of cement on the front wall, the remaining three sides were all red bricks.
Judging from the age of the bricks, the building was built not too long ago. The corridor was vaguely filled with things, so people must have moved in. At this time, all the residents had returned home. The orange lights shone through the windows, giving the whole building a gorgeous coat, causing Baoguo and Lele to exclaim a little.
"Grandma, we're going to live here from now on?" Baoguo was a little bit unconvinced. Lele pulled Xia Juhua and was eager to climb the stairs. Liu Zhiquan pointed to the dark window on the fourth floor close to the west end and said, "Mom, that's the house I was assigned."
Xia Juhua thought it was understandable that Liu Baoguo was given a house in such a small location: the provincial supply and marketing system was such a large organization that it certainly had a lot of employees. If the location was not bad, it would not have been vacant until Liu Zhiquan started working and the house was not allocated yet.
"Okay, let's go up and take a look." Xia Juhua let go of Lele's hand and said to her, "Lele, walk up slowly by yourself until there are no more stairs, okay?"
Hearing that they could climb stairs, Lele nodded happily: "Okay." Then he started climbing with his short legs.
Liu Zhiquan had already started unloading the truck with the help of the driver and handed a hot pot and a washbasin to Xia Juhua: "Mom, just take these."
Xia Juhua handed the two things to Liu Baoguo, and asked him to walk faster and keep an eye on Lele. She just picked up the big bag containing quilts, threw it behind her back, and turned to walk upstairs. Liu Zhiquan called out to her twice but failed to stop her.
At this time, several people came down the stairs, greeted Liu Zhiquan and started to help unload the truck. Xia Juhua nodded in her heart, thinking that the people in the city were not as cold as she imagined.
Wang Caifeng followed closely behind her mother-in-law, also carrying a large bag. She was a little out of breath after going up two floors, and she advised Xia Juhua: "Mom, if you are tired, put your things down and take a rest."
Xia Juhua thought that climbing the stairs was a matter of one-shot, so she shook her head and refused. Fortunately, both of them were in good health, and even though they were panting heavily when they reached the fourth floor, they still managed to carry the things into the house.
At this time, the door was already open, the lights were on, Baoguo and Lele were answering questions from a female comrade with short hair. The female comrade saw Xia Juhua and her partner coming in with something, and smiled before saying anything: "Auntie and sister-in-law, right? Brother Liu left a key at my house before he left, and I heard the children went upstairs, so I opened the door for them."
Xia Juhua smiled at her and looked at Wang Caifeng again - it was Wang Caifeng who would be living here for a long time in the future, so Wang Caifeng should be the one to talk to others first.
Liu Zhiquan probably told Wang Caifeng about entrusting the key to a neighbor. When Wang Caifeng saw her mother-in-law looking at her, she understood the intention. Although she was worried, she smiled and thanked the person: "It's Comrade Li, right? Zhiquan told me that he has been bothering you two these days. You have to take care of the house for us when he comes home."
Comrade Li originally thought that Liu Zhiquan was recruited from the countryside, and his family must be genuine farmers. Wang Caifeng was also a rural woman, so she should be shy when she went out to meet people. Unexpectedly, although she looked a little nervous, her words were very polite and appropriate. He couldn't help but look at her with some respect: "Sister-in-law, don't be polite. We will be neighbors from now on. You just arrived, just tell me where you want to go, I know everything."
"Stop talking nonsense." Someone else came up from the door carrying some things and said to Comrade Li in dissatisfaction, "Why don't you take the two children to our house if you have the time? Otherwise, they will be bumped into while you're carrying things."
The man who came in was a big and strong man, half a head taller than Liu Zhiquan, but what he said made Xia Juhua frown - if a man from the Ping'anzhuang production team dared to talk to his wife like this, Zhao Xianzhi would bring a group of women from the mat weaving team to his house and scold him one by one. I didn't expect that an employee of the provincial supply and marketing system would embarrass his wife in front of her new neighbors.
Wang Caifeng also glanced at the man. Comrade Li thought they were just embarrassed to see a stranger, and introduced them to the two of them with a smile: "This is our husband, the driver of the small car team." There was a hint of pride in the last part when he mentioned the man's position.
Xia Juhua and Wang Caifeng both smiled at the people as a greeting, told Baoguo and Lele to listen carefully to Comrade Li's words, and turned around to go downstairs to move things.
Comrade Li hurriedly held them back and said, "Auntie, sister-in-law, let the men move in. I heard that Brother Liu had already ordered all the furniture before he left. All they're moving in this time are some clothes and quilts. There's no need for you to go down again. Come on, let's all sit in our house for a while, so they don't have to come up and complain about us getting in the way."
Wang Caifeng thought that she was young and it was no big deal to go downstairs once more, but her mother-in-law was too old, so it was better for her to go to their house with Comrade Li. Xia Juhua raised her hand and looked at her watch and said, "If you want to go downstairs, go downstairs. I'll clean up first."
Comrade Li saw Xia Juhua's watch and thought to himself: Isn't it said that this family is from the countryside, why is the old lady wearing a watch? Even if the family can afford a watch, it is not given to the son who already works in the provincial capital, but worn on the old lady's hand. It looks like a powerful one.
In addition, Xia Juhua and Wang Caifeng were used to talking casually at home. Comrade Li felt that the mother-in-law was ordering her daughter-in-law around and didn't take it seriously. He secretly sympathized with Wang Caifeng. He thought that after getting familiar with Wang Caifeng, he would persuade her. Since she had left her mother-in-law to live in the provincial capital, she didn't need to be so afraid of her mother-in-law in the future.
What is a powerful mother-in-law in the countryside? She is nowhere to be found in the provincial capital. After Wang Caifeng lived in the city for half a year, she saw more of the world and had the family's money in her hands. The mother-in-law wanted to ask her son for money but couldn't get it, and wanted to enjoy the life in the provincial capital but couldn't either. Let's see if she dares to show disrespect to her daughter-in-law.
Xia Juhua, who had no idea that she had been labeled as an evil mother-in-law as soon as she met him, was looking at the layout of the room: when Liu Zhiquan came home, he said that the house was only more than 30 square meters, and Xia Juhua had no idea what it meant. Now, looking at the house that she could see the end of, she felt a headache.
There was a large straight room, with two 1.5-meter beds placed at the north end, each with a brown mattress, which completely occupied one wall. Curtains were hung on the front and back windows, but the color was still Liu Zhiquan's favorite khaki color. If Xia Juhua planned to live here permanently, she would definitely tear them down for him.
Is this the new home that Liu Zhiquan said he had prepared? Xia Juhua resigned herself to putting her bag on the bed, opened it, and first found the quilt she had prepared at home and spread it out, then covered it with the Songhe Peony bed sheet. The room finally felt a little lively.
Seeing a desk and several chairs in the room, with a lot of wire and nails piled underneath, Xia Juhua began to measure the length of the two beds with her feet without hesitation, picked up a pair of pliers and cut the wire, then pulled over a chair and stood on it, and began to nail the nails into the wall.
"Mom, what are you doing? Put it down and let me do it." Liu Zhiquan, who was carrying things up, was startled and stepped forward to support his mother. Comrade Li was just shocked by Xia Juhua's efficiency, and now seeing Liu Zhiquan so worried about his mother, he felt that Wang Caifeng must be bullied at home - the husband was too concerned about his mother-in-law, and the daughter-in-law must be the one who was wronged.
Xia Juhua pointed to the spacious room and said, "I thought you had a partition in the room. Since there is no partition, just use a curtain to block it first. We'll have to find something to partition it later. Otherwise, it will be inconvenient for Baoguo and Lele to live together."
Liu Zhiquan smiled and helped his mother off the chair and said, "I have ordered a partition, but it will take a few days to arrive."
"We have to buy a closet, otherwise where will you put your clothes?" Xia Juhua looked at the empty house and couldn't understand where Liu Zhiquan got the courage to say that he had cleaned up the house.
“衣櫃也定了，還定了一個圓桌，都得跟隔斷一起送過來。”劉志全看出親娘對自己的不滿，臉上笑的更加誠懇。看在李同志眼裏，便是娘兩個是一條心，完全不理會還在搬東西的兒媳婦的感受。
于是迎接又一次上樓的王彩鳳的，便是李同志同情的目光。王彩鳳來回上了兩趟樓，累得不輕，完全沒看出李同志眼裏的同情，把東西往地上一放就對劉志全說：“志全，你快下去搬東西，我是走不動了。”
說話的語氣裏帶着些理所當然，聽在李同志耳裏有些不可思議：受氣的人，跟男人說話也能這麽漫不經心嗎？不由扭頭看劉志全會不會對王彩鳳發火，便見劉志全笑呵呵的看着自己媳婦說：
“行，也沒剩下啥東西了，你跟娘歇着吧，一會搬完了我就帶你們吃飯去。”
李同志的目光又轉向了夏菊花：要是處處拿捏兒媳婦的婆婆，這個時候肯定得嗔怪兒媳婦，咋這麽不知道心疼上班掙錢的男人——當着婆婆面還敢指使男人幹活的兒媳婦，李同志見過的不多。
不想夏菊花沖王彩鳳說的是：“你坐椅子上歇會兒吧，我看剛才下去的人不少，你別再下去了。”口氣依然不算好，可話裏的內容誰也不能否認是在關心兒媳婦。
李同志有些拿不準兩人之間究竟有沒有受氣了。倒是在她身邊的樂樂，見夏菊花已經鋪好了床，邁着小腿吧嗒吧嗒跑過去，拉着床單就要往床上爬。
李同志便想起自家男人剛才跟自己說的話，上前抱住樂樂：“奶奶剛鋪好的床單，咱們不上去。去阿姨家玩兒好不好？”
其實李同志自己說阿姨兩個字也挺別扭，不過為了顯示自己城裏人與農村人的不同，還是把兩個字咬得清清楚楚。她不知道自己為啥要這麽做，下意識的便想在夏菊花婆媳面前顯示自己的優越感。
樂樂卻搖頭：“不去，跟奶奶呆着，幫奶奶幹活。”
李同志臉上的笑有些發僵，小孩子不裝假，誰對她好她就願意跟誰呆着，看來這個自己心中的惡婆婆，對孫女倒是不錯。
夏菊花手上一直沒閑着，已經開始給被子裝被套，又把李同志看得一呆：現在各家還延續着給棉被縫一條寬白邊的習慣，為的是好拆洗，用被套的人不多。
這家子農村人竟然每床被子都有被罩，還挺講究，就是不知道她們哪兒來的布票。
正想着，樓道裏傳來好幾個人一起走路的聲音，屋裏人都沒當回事兒——剛才下樓的人就好幾個，應該是他們一趟把東西都搬上來了。
“娘，顧副主任來看你了。”劉志全的聲音偏在這時響了起來，夏菊花忙放下手裏的活計，王彩鳳也從椅子上站了起來，李同志卻呆住了。
顧副主任可是供銷系統的大領導，別看李同志的男人是小車班司機，卻只給一般科長們開車，并不是哪位領導的專職司機，想見顧副主任一面并不容易。加之顧副主任不住在筒子樓裏，人家分的是最前面一棟樓裏的單元房，隔着兩三座樓呢，他是咋知道夏菊花到了，又親自來看一個農村婦女呢？
沒等李同志想明白，顧副主任已經一馬當先的進了屋，老遠向夏菊花伸出了手：“夏菊花同志，我們又見面了。你身體都養好了，沒有啥不舒服的地方了吧？”
夏菊花跟他輕握了一下手，笑着說：“謝謝顧副主任的關心，我早就好了。”
“好了就好。”顧副主任笑呵呵的打量了一下屋子，帶着一絲抱歉說：“志全來的時間短，屋裏沒收拾好，你看着心疼了吧？”
夏菊花的确有不滿意的地方，可那是劉志全自己辦事不力，怪不到人家顧副主任頭上，當然搖頭：“他一到單位就能分上房子，一家子不用兩地分居，已經是領導照顧他了。我要是再不滿意，那就是不知足了。”
幾個跟着顧副主任一起上樓的人，一邊放東西一邊注意聽着夏菊花與顧副主任的對話，心裏品評着夏菊花與顧副主任之間的關系。
雖然他們都是普通職工，可是參加工作的時間不短，一般的判斷力還是有的。聽顧副主任與夏菊花的對話就能知道，兩人之間絕不止是顧副主任關心下屬家屬的關系那麽簡單。
這不，顧副主任聽到夏菊花的回答，竟然還在抱歉：“按理說他們家人口多，一間屋子不夠住。可是供銷系統近期沒有蓋房子，暫時也只能克服一下。”
幫忙衆人：領導，你說這話的時候，忘記身後的這幾個人家的孩子，都不比劉志全家裏的少，甚至他們的孩子都比劉志全家的大嗎？
後頭的那座筒子樓，每間房只有十幾平米，才是剛參加工作的人應該分的好不好？
因為大家都看出顧副主任與夏菊花之間的關系不一般，所以沒有人把話當面問出來。大家默默的把東西放好，就有眼色的退出房間。聽呆了的李同志，也被自己男人給拉了出去。
王彩鳳倒是送了出來，向大家道謝後，又說等她們安頓好了，請大家吃飯，才回屋想燒點水招待顧副主任。可惜找遍了房間，也沒發現爐子在哪兒，只好求救的看向劉志全。
顧副主任是聽司機彙報，知道劉志全的家搬來才過來看看的，看出王彩鳳想給自己倒水，便不讓她忙，開口要帶夏菊花一家子去吃飯，美其名曰給夏菊花接風。
見推辭不過，又想知道顧副主任非得讓自己來省城到底是啥事，最後夏菊花還是同意了顧副主任的提議，帶着劉志全一家鎖上門，跟着顧副主任下樓。
一直注意着隔壁動靜的李同志，回身問自己男人：“這個劉志全到底是咋招工進系統的，一來就進了采購科，顧副主任還親自來看他娘？”別是顧副主任的親戚吧，可剛才聽着兩人打招呼也不象呀。
她男人瞪了她一眼：“管那些幹啥，人家咋認識顧副主任跟你有啥關系？”李同志便說不出話來了。
再說跟顧副主任一起走的夏菊花等人，沒走多長時間便來到供銷系統內部招待所，裏面已經有顧副主任的秘書在等着，也是一見夏菊花便笑着打招呼，把幾個人迎進了一間屋子。
屋子裏有一張大大的圓桌，上頭已經擺好了四個涼菜，看來顧副主任說早已經準備好了，不是虛客套。夏菊花便說：“實在太麻煩顧副主任了。”
顧副主任任由秘書張羅諸人入座，自己專心跟夏菊花說話：“算不上麻煩，你來咱們省供銷系統自然要好好招待。”
夏菊花聽他說得鄭重，有些坐不住：“這麽一說，我都有點兒不敢吃了。”別是鴻門宴吧。
顧副主任被她逗得哈哈笑了幾聲，才說：“放心吃吧，就算是找你有事兒，也不差這一頓飯的時間。”
你還是直接說比較好，要不這頓飯還真吃不安生。夏菊花心裏這麽想，眼睛便一直看着顧副主任。顧副主任無法，只好把非得叫夏菊花的來意說明了：“你還記得羅伯斯吧，他近日要來省城。”
“羅伯斯要來？”夏菊花覺得奇怪：“他不是剛回國不長時間嘛，咋突然要來省城呢？”
顧副主任輕輕敲着桌子說：“博覽會上，咱們不是跟他訂了兩噸腰果嘛，他打電話來要親自送貨上門。人家這麽有誠意，我還能不讓人家來？”
跟一萬噸橡膠比起來，兩噸腰果确實不值一提，羅伯斯卻非得說送腰果，裏頭肯定還有別的事兒。夏菊花便問顧副主任：“是他自己來還是跟別人一起來？是直接來省城還是先到羊城？”
“他是随G國代表團一起，先到京城再到省城。”顧副主任把自己了解的情況說了一下，那就是G國代表團回國之後，發現華國的市場很大，不滿足于博覽會的訂單，跟國家有關部門協商之後，再次派出代表團來訪華國，想更多的推廣自己的産品。
夏菊花聽了覺得可以理解：現在華國各種物資都短缺，最缺的還是能讓人們填飽肚子的糧食。而G國占了地利之勢，随便往地上撒點兒種子就能長出糧食來，他們的産品正是華國需要的。
所以這個代表團的到來，滿足兩國共同的需要，用上輩子夏菊花聽過的詞就是雙贏。不過羅伯斯也能跟着代表團一起來，還指定要到L省，還是讓夏菊花有些不解：“羅伯斯既然是代表團成員，不跟着代表團一起行動嗎？”
顧副主任便說：“聽說他們代表團要到各省參觀，因為時間比較緊，所以會分開行動。”
這就難怪了。夏菊花記得羅伯斯在博覽會上，是跟她說過會到自己這邊看看，當時夏菊花以為他是客氣，沒想到這人行動力還挺強。
"Deputy Director Gu, you can just tell me about this over the phone. You know we are busy building the vermicelli factory now, and I can't be away for too long."
Deputy Director Gu shook his head at her and said, "Do you think that since Roberts and his team went their separate ways, he would be the only one to come? Director Yang from Beijing must have someone to accompany him. Plus the translators, there must be at least five or six people."
"Whether we take it seriously or not will be judged by our superiors, who will decide whether we have enough time to prepare and whether all the necessary personnel are present. This is also the first time that the provincial supply and marketing system is receiving foreign guests, so you may have to accompany them throughout the whole process."