Chapter 148
An Baoling was not worried that there was anyone else in Ping'an Manor who was making Xia Juhua angry. She was just afraid that someone would say something unpleasant to make Xia Juhua angry. When she just left the hospital, she saw from a distance that Sun was walking towards Xia Juhua.
Xia Juhua paused for a moment and said, "Who can say anything bad? I heard that Seventh Grandma also wanted to raise funds, so I wanted to persuade her not to do so. But she didn't do it, and I felt a little sorry for her."
An Baoling was relieved, and took Xia Juhua to the west wing of the old courtyard to sit down, and said carefully: "Sister-in-law, how much money do you think I should collect?"
Xia Juhua was a little surprised: "Didn't I say that the amount of money raised is voluntary and must be based on your own family's money."
"But sister-in-law, you were the one who proposed this. If our family doesn't raise enough money, won't others think you are gossiping? They will think that no one in the family believes in you and doesn't join in the fundraising. How can the road be built?" An Baoling expressed her concerns.
Xia Juhua never took what others said to heart: "Whoever wants to say it can say it, I am not afraid of it myself, so why should you be afraid?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Li Daya asked An Baoling at the door if her sister-in-law had come. After getting an affirmative answer, she came in and asked the same question as An Baoling.
Xia Juhua said to the two people, "Don't think that you have a burden just because I proposed this. Don't worry that you will not collect enough and people will think that you don't support my work. I don't know your situation. Aren't you all thinking about building the house in autumn? Just build it when it's time. Nothing is more important than building a house."
As soon as the words fell, there was a clang in the yard, as if something heavy had fallen to the ground. Li Daya happened to be standing at the door. She looked into the yard and saw Sun standing in the yard in a daze, with a basket of scattered sweet potato vines under her feet. Her eyes were looking towards the west room, and they met Li Daya's gaze.
Then they both looked at the sweet potato vines and baskets scattered on the ground, and no one said anything. When Sun looked up at Li Daya again, she saw that she had turned her head and went into the house, without even asking why she picked the sweet potato vines and why she scattered them on the ground. She felt mixed emotions.
After Li Daya entered the house and whispered to Xia Juhua and An Baoling about the situation in the yard, the three of them remained silent. What were they talking about? Now it seemed that Sun Shi was indeed a bit pitiful, but the three people in the house were all victims of the things she had done with Liu Sizhuang and his wife in the past few years, and no one could pretend that it had never happened. Not actively looking for trouble with Sun Shi and the others was already their last bottom line.
Only when the sound of picking up sweet potato leaves could be heard in the yard and then disappeared without a sound did Xia Juhua say to Li Daya, "Whatever you and Baoling do, don't consider me. Discuss it with Erzhuang and Sanzhuang first."
The two were in no mood to argue with Xia Juhua anymore. They sent the man out of the courtyard, smiled bitterly at each other, and both felt that what Xia Juhua said made sense: they should build a house quickly and move out. This old courtyard was no longer habitable.
Soon, Hong Ling summarized the data on the possible fundraising of the Ping An Zhuang production team and reported it to Xia Juhua: together with her 5,000 yuan, the Ping An Zhuang production team expected to raise 47,100 yuan, with an average of 500 yuan per household!
Xia Juhua, who heard this number, thought the same thing as Li Changshun and the others when they heard Xia Juhua say that they could raise 5,000 yuan. They asked Hong Ling, "Did you calculate correctly?"
Hongling smiled and said, "Auntie, I've calculated it several times, and I'm sure it's correct." Then she handed Xia Juhua the list of people who wanted to raise how much money.
After taking it and looking at it, Xia Juhua asked, "Why did you collect so much? Did you collect all the money you saved? What will you use as your dowry when the wedding date is set? Your parents are going to build a house, so I'm afraid they won't be able to give you much."
Hong Ling didn't take it seriously at all: "Auntie, what are you talking about? Our family doesn't ask for a dowry from Xiao Zhao. Just give as much as you can. What can their family complain about? Besides, this money is my own savings. My parents didn't ask for it. I can spend it however I want. I raised the money for a year and there is interest. Isn't it free?"
Hong Ling is no longer the beautiful girl who was given a little more than one yuan by her mother. It is written in black and white that she needs to raise 300 yuan. This money must have been earned after she joined the editing team.
Hearing that she had her own ideas and said things in a set way, Xia Juhua did not try to persuade her - she had turned a blind eye to the two children she gave birth to, and no matter how sensible her niece Hongling was, she could only remind her at most: "I can see that your parents didn't ask for your work points. No other daughter can compare to you. Don't forget how good your parents are to you."
Although Xia Juhua no longer advised Hong Ling not to raise funds, she still had to say what she should say on behalf of Li Daya and her husband.
Even in the Ping'anzhuang production team, the money earned by the unmarried girls in the mat-making group was only given to the girls by Li Daya and her husband. They let the girls keep it all for themselves, and the rest was taken by their parents to support their brothers at home - habitual thinking formed over many years cannot be changed overnight.
"Auntie, I know everything." Hong Ling came up and sat next to Xia Juhua. "My parents love me and Hong Cui, and we all remember it in our hearts. Let me tell you, Auntie, I raised all my money and left a hundred yuan. I will give it to my parents when they build a house. It means that my parents have not raised me in vain."
Therefore, among family members, no one side is allowed to give all the time. Look, Li Daya and her husband love their daughter, and doesn't Hongling love her parents in the same way?
"Sister, are you also going to raise funds?" Hong Cui suddenly came into the room and shouted at Hong Ling: "Why didn't you tell me?"
Yes. This was also the one that Li Daya and her husband felt sorry for, as she was considered a wealthy girl. Xia Juhua smiled and asked her to sit next to Hong Ling, and reconciled the two sisters: "Your sister is different from you. She is about to get married, so she will not pay with the family. The interest earned in the future will be her own. You don't even have a partner yet, so if your parents pay, you will have to pay."
Hongcui has grown up a lot in the past two years. As the accountant of the editing team, she has to record the rations for the women every day. She has been trained to speak and do things more smoothly than before: "Auntie, don't always side with my sister. Yes, she is getting married, but she is still a member of the family. Besides, road construction is a time when money is needed, so I have to do my part. Auntie, I want to help you build the road."
It would be a lie to say that she was not moved. Xia Juhua felt that if she rejected her niece's request, which cared so much about her, it would hurt the child even more. So it would be better to accept the fundraising money now. There would be interest every year anyway, so she could just consider it as saving money for them.
When they got married, Xia Juhua wanted to bring a generous gift so that they would feel more confident.
After hearing that Xia Juhua had agreed, Hong Ling no longer objected and wrote down the 200 yuan that Hong Cui was going to raise. Accountant Chang also compiled a list of the money that the other four production teams might raise:
Team 3 raised the most money, 12,050 yuan, followed by Team 1, Team 4, and Team 5, all of which raised less than 10,000 yuan. Among them, Team 1 raised the most money, and it was expected to raise 9,500 yuan.
Seeing that Li Changshun seemed a little dissatisfied with the amount of money raised by Xiaozhuangtou, Xia Juhua advised him: "It is said that the fundraising is voluntary, so everyone should contribute as much as they are willing to. If you have to compete with each other, won't it become a stall? In my opinion, the whole brigade can raise more than 80,000 yuan, which is already a lot."
Li Changshun wanted to say that the Ping'anzhuang production team accounted for half of the more than 80,000 yuan, but when he thought of the 5,000 yuan that Xia Juhua paid out of her own pocket, he swallowed his words.
Xia Juhua was right. In this era, every family in Ping'an Village had extra money and was willing to spend it to repair a road that they might not walk on many times. The members had already done their best. It would be a bit unreasonable to compare the amount of money that each production team could raise.
After all, everyone was still worried about hunger in the past two years. Normally, if they had a little extra money, they would want to hide it, and even their family members didn't know where to put it. Now, with Xia Juhua's call, they had to take out the money they had hidden with great difficulty. Every member who wanted to participate in the fund-raising had made a great determination.
Don’t those members who are ready to participate in the fundraising still believe in Xia Juhua?
Uncle Qi was also very surprised at Xia Juhua's appeal - he knew that Xia Juhua had a high reputation in the Ping'anzhuang Brigade, but he didn't expect it to be so high.
Nearly 83,000 yuan, if she holds on tight, she can really build this road.
So Uncle Qi read the report written by Liu Lizhu carefully, and asked very carefully about the parts he didn't understand. Then he asked Xia Juhua to wait for him in the office and went out with the report.
Not long after, the messenger came to inform Xia Juhua that Uncle Qi asked her to go to the secretary's office. Xia Juhua was nervous, but she walked into the door the messenger knocked on with a calm face. She heard Uncle Qi introduce her: "This is our Secretary Chen. Secretary, this is Comrade Xia Juhua, the captain of Ping'an Village."
Secretary Chen shook hands with Xia Juhua cordially, asked her to sit down, and then asked her why she wanted to build a road, what standard of road she wanted to build, how she planned to build it, where the funds would come from, whether she planned to repay the debt, etc. All of these were in the report, and since the secretary wanted to listen to it again, Xia Juhua naturally had to explain them in detail one by one.
Secretary Chen did not answer immediately after listening. He paused for a while before saying, "Comrade Xia Juhua, in order to ensure the agricultural and sideline production of Ping'anzhuang Brigade, you are going to lead the members of Ping'anzhuang Brigade to build roads. You are so active and proactive in your work. County Chief Qi and I are very moved."
“這讓我想起了紅旗渠，沒想到我們平德縣也要出一位打通城鄉橋梁的女英雄。好，這種想法很好，平安莊大隊的社員們在你的帶領下覺悟這麽高，主動要求集資，好發展平安莊大隊的農副業生産，同時為部隊、縣裏排憂解難，是很了不起的壯舉，我和齊縣長，代表全縣人民感謝你們呀。”
夏菊花先還聽得一頭霧水，最後兩句話時明白過來，原來領導是在給她們的行為定調子——平安莊大隊修路，不是她夏菊花一個人異想天開，而是全體平安莊大隊社員的決定，為了更好的發展農副業生産。
她不由感激的向陳書記說：“是，我們平安莊大隊全體社員，願意為部隊和縣裏的建設添磚加瓦。”
見夏菊花明顯聽懂了自己的意思，陳書記臉上的笑容更多了，把茶幾上的水杯向夏菊花推了推，說：“當然，你們大隊想修路這事兒，縣裏應該全力支持。可是齊縣長應該已經跟你說過了，咱們縣的經費有限、供銷社的協調能力也有限，恐怕除了人力上支援一下平安莊，物資這塊得讓你們自己想辦法了。”
只要縣裏同意讓修路就行——從平安莊到縣城有三十多裏地，那路并不是平安莊一個大隊在用，修起來勢必有一段時間讓途經的大隊出行不便。縣裏同意了，将來出現矛盾就會幫着協調，省得路修不下去。
夏菊花聽了連連點頭：“我們都想好了，不管路修到哪個大隊，都用那個大隊的勞動力，跟他們換工。”該表的态一定要表達到，免得領導協調的時候不好跟別的大隊說。
“這樣很好，”陳書記對夏菊花的每一個主意都很贊同：“用途經大隊的勞動力修路，可以增加他們大隊社員的收入，也可以有效的避免矛盾。對了，物資方面你有啥想法沒有？”
夏菊花能不考慮這個問題嗎？她向書記表示，自己兩個兒子一個在省供銷系統、一個進了地區供銷社，昨天她已經給兩個兒子都去了電話，讓他們幫着打聽一下哪裏能買到修路用的石子和水泥。
陳書記笑着問：“聽說省供銷系統的領導，一直很關心平安莊大隊的發展，你沒想過找他們想想辦法嗎？”夏菊花敢以一個大隊之力修路，能跟省供銷系統協調溝通，應該也是她的底氣，咋就沒想着用一用呢？
夏菊花有些不好意思的笑了一下，說：“我還不知道縣裏同不同意我們修路，所以沒好意思麻煩供銷系統的領導。就怕萬一修不成，人家供銷社卻幫着協調完了，不是白麻煩人家了嘛。”
“那部隊呢？可以說平安莊的路被破壞，跟部隊一直運送紅薯和酸辣粉有很大關系，你沒想過讓他們出一份力嗎？”陳書記聽夏菊花說還沒想好是不是麻煩省供銷系統，又問了一個問題。
盡管問問題的是一縣書記，夏菊花還是正了顏色，有些嚴肅的說：“雖然路壞了跟跑大車有一定的關系，可人家部隊不是有意的。部隊忙的都是保家衛國的大事兒，咋能為這麽點小事給他們添亂呢。人家讓我們幫着加工酸辣粉，是對平安莊的信任，不是我們向人家要好處的理由。”
“好！”陳書記輕輕拍了一下茶幾：“夏菊花同志，你這個覺悟真的很讓人敬佩。的确，部隊忙的都是保家衛國的大事，我們不應該認為替部隊做了一點兒工作，就處處想占部隊的便宜。”
問題是自己從來沒想過占部隊的便宜，是你自己先提起的。夏菊花有些狐疑的看向陳書記，發現人正目光炯炯的盯着自己，心裏猛地意識到，陳書記這是在提醒她，一旦部隊發現平安莊修路，也不能讓他們覺得，這路是為了替部隊運送物資才修的。
盡管心裏有些委屈，夏菊花還是向陳書記點了點頭，表示自己明白了領導的意思。陳書記很是滿意的站了起來，說：
“那好，既然你們都考慮清楚了，那麽縣裏會盡快把你們要修路的情況彙報到地區。不過你也不要報太大希望，地區肯定會同意你們修路，不過經費同樣緊張，可能也不會給你們提供啥實質性的幫助。”
本以為只要縣裏同意就可以開始修路的夏菊花，那天齊小叔說要彙報地區的時候并沒放在心上，現在聽陳書記也說要彙報到地區，有些發蒙：“我們沒指望地區出錢，還用報給他們嗎？”
齊小叔笑了：“這是工作程序，不能因為你們自己集資，就不向上彙報。難道等你們的路修好了，地區還不知道自己管理的地方，出現了一條高等級的鄉路？那成啥話。”
理自然是這麽個理兒，夏菊花有些擔心的問：“那我們可以開始準備了嗎，還是得等地區批下來再準備？”
陳書記與齊小叔對視一眼，向夏菊花點頭說：“可以開始準備了。對了，你們跟交通局聯系過沒有，請他們過去勘測過了嗎？”
夏菊花再次搖頭：“不是就在原來的路上修嘛，還用找人勘測？”
齊小叔看了看手裏的報告，上頭還真沒寫何時勘測的事兒，便知道夏菊花是真不懂，有些無奈的搖了搖頭說：“書記，我覺得你剛才誇早了。她這不是考慮周全，而是全憑着一腔孤勇，想幹就幹呀。”
陳書記倒替夏菊花開脫說：“平安莊大隊一直搞農業生産，修路對他們來說是頭一次，不知道應該先勘測好路基甚至可以去彎取直，這也正常。這事就由你替平安莊協調一下吧？”
雖然挖苦了夏菊花，齊小叔對于協調的事兒并沒有推托，帶夏菊花回到自己辦公室後便打出一個電話，很快交通局長便來到他的辦公室。
聽說平安莊大隊要自己修路，交通局長同樣一臉驚奇，再聽說縣主要領導都支持，馬上答應會派兩個技術過硬的技術員幫着平安莊勘測。
“對咱們平德縣來說，平安莊大隊修路都是一次創舉，也是溝通城鄉的大好事，同時減輕你們交通局的負擔嘛。”
齊小叔對交通局長的上道很滿意，說出來的話裏有肯定也有鞭策：“所以你們局裏也有配合一下，畢竟那路修好了，不是平安莊大隊一個大隊用。人員問題你們要解決好，人員的工費問題也要自己解決好。”
兩個技術員，是在辦公室裏喝茶看報還是勘測道路，交通局都給他們開同樣的工資，所以局長把胸脯拍得很響：“請縣長放心，雖然我們交通局資金有限，可是幫助平安莊解決一下技術上的問題，還是可以抽出人來的。”
對此齊小叔可以看後效，夏菊花卻熱情的向局長保證，平安莊一定會照顧好兩位技術員的生活——不管是薛技術員還是林技術員，對平安莊的幫助都十分大，所以聽說要去的是技術員，夏菊花還沒見人就覺得親近。
既然縣裏已經同意修路，還給安排了技術員，夏菊花便趁熱打鐵，當天就讓李大牛、劉志福接技術員到了平安莊，把兩名技術員安排在大隊部以前林宏亮兩人住的屋子裏，晚上更是在自己家裏給兩人接風。
孫招弟自從小滿開始坐月子，便兩個院來回跑着照顧，聽說夏菊花要替勘測道路的技術員接風，又跑回自家要禍害養的那幾只老母雞，被夏菊花給攔住了：“你快饒了那幾只雞。從小滿坐月子到現在，你那雞都快被吃絕了，今天說啥也不能殺了。”
孫招弟被她說得想笑：“你自己看看，那三十只不是我養的，到年底一樣能殺着吃肉。”說完讓拉着夏菊花去看自己的雞圈。
夏菊花不為所動，告訴孫招弟她已經讓劉志福去買肉了，虧不了兩名技術員的嘴，孫招弟才算做罷。晚飯夏菊花親自下廚房，炖了一鍋紅燒肉，又炒了肉未茄子和手撒包菜，攤了金黃的雞蛋，讓兩個交通局的技術員暗暗吃驚。
難怪平安莊大隊自己就敢修路，原來他們的生活已經這麽好了。
真的別怪兩名技術員眼皮淺，現在雖然比那十年寬松多了，可不管城裏還是農村，想買肉一樣需要肉票，這麽一大盆實實在在的紅燒肉，他們這些拿工資的人，一年到頭也舍不得吃上一回。
更別說除了紅燒肉外還有肉末茄子，他們見都沒見過這種吃法。
被夏菊花叫過來一起吃飯的薛林兩位技術員，看出交通局技術員的震驚，笑着當起了主人，給兩人讓菜讓飯，倒省了夏菊花的事兒。
“我跟你們說，嬸子家最好吃的可不是紅燒肉，”薛技術員咽下一口肉後，很沒有說服力的回味了一下，對兩名交通局技術員說：“是嬸子現調的酸辣粉兒。”
夏菊花有些好笑的問他：“那天天給你吃酸辣粉兒，你別挾紅燒肉了。”
Technician Xue said nonchalantly, "Red-braised pork can be made anywhere, but the hot and sour rice noodles you make are still the best. When I was leaving for Beijing, I kept thinking about when I could eat enough hot and sour rice noodles."
"Haven't you eaten enough these days?" Xia Juhua found it even more amusing: "Didn't I send you some in the mail?"
"How can it taste the same?" Technician Xue raised his voice, "I'm talking about the one you made right now. After I return to the capital this time, I'll have to miss the hot and sour rice noodles from Ping'an Village for a long time."