Chapter 149

Technician Xue has already tested all the machines that can be tested in the Ping'anzhuang vermicelli factory. He has no idea about the dehydration machine that Xia Juhua requested, so he has to go back to Beijing to ask relevant professionals for advice. It would be a waste of time for him to stay in the Ping'anzhuang brigade.

So a few days ago, he had asked Xia Juhua to return to Beijing. In the past few days, he has been intensively training the operators of the Ping'anzhuang vermicelli factory, with the focus on enabling them to troubleshoot and repair minor machine faults by themselves.

If there is a major problem, you have to make a phone call to resolve it.

Technician Xue was able to stay in Ping'anzhuang for such a long time, helping to test and install the vermicelli factory's machines and doing his best to help the Ping'anzhuang vermicelli factory save manpower. If it weren't for him, Xia Juhua would have been even more worried about the shortage of manpower.

Therefore, he was very grateful to Technician Xue, and thinking of his good relationship with Technician Lin, he specially asked someone to invite Technician Lin to Ping'an Village so that the two could reminisce.

Now that Technician Xue mentioned leaving again in front of everyone, Xia Juhua still felt reluctant to let him go, but she also knew she had no reason to keep him, so she smiled and said, "If you like to eat, it's not hard to help. Anyway, you have vacation every year, so you can come back to Ping'an Village to eat during your vacation. When you get a wife in the future, you must bring her back to show us so that we can all feel at ease."

When the topic of getting married was suddenly brought up, Technician Xue was a little shy and didn't even respond. He just ate the food with chopsticks, which made Xia Juhua secretly laugh: the young people nowadays are different from those 20 years later. The young people back then would bring their wives home without being urged by their families. Of course, this was not Technician Xue's home. I wondered if he would bring his wife back to Ping'an Village to see her after he got one.

On the contrary, the two technicians from the Transportation Bureau felt more reassured when they saw Xue and Lin getting along with Xia Juhua and the people from Ping'anzhuang. It was similar to the situation when Technician Lin was sent to the Ping'anzhuang production team. They were not successful in the Transportation Bureau and were afraid that they would not be taken seriously after arriving in Ping'anzhuang.

Now it seems that the leader of Ping'anzhuang Brigade, who is no different from an ordinary rural woman, is actually a person who attaches great importance to knowledge, which makes them feel relieved.

Thinking about the fact that it was the director who personally assigned them the task, and who had encouraged them more than ever before when they set out, the two of them felt that working in Ping'an Village for a period of time might be an opportunity. They talked with Xia Juhua and the others, and gradually eliminated the barriers between them and became harmonious with them.

When the two technicians mentioned that road surveying seemed simple, but there were still many details involved in how to measure the road and determine the direction, Xia Juhua suggested that Ping An Village send a few young people to survey with the two technicians. They didn't need to learn how to survey, but at least they could help the technicians move the equipment and run errands to communicate with the passing teams.

The two technicians were more than happy to have them. Xia Juhua sent Shuanzhu from Sun Zhaodi's house and Qixi, who was engrossed in reading, over there. Qixi was given a task every day to take care of the two technicians' diet. In the eyes of others, Qixi was still a half-grown child. It was easy to let down your guard when talking to him, and they could better understand the needs of the two technicians.

Xia Juhua has always felt that no matter who she is dealing with, she must first do her best to gain other people's sincere treatment. She can't always ask others for favors and expect them to please her.

The survey work started here, and after seeing off Technician Xue, we went to the county immediately following the district's reply: the Ping'anzhuang Brigade was allowed to build the road.

As soon as the news came out, fundraising was immediately put on the agenda. Ping'an Village Brigade held another general meeting of all members. At the meeting, Xia Juhua reiterated the purpose of fundraising, which was that it was entirely based on everyone's willingness and the brigade would never distribute funds.

However, in order to motivate everyone, Xia Juhua handed five thick stacks of RMB to Li Changshun in front of all the members of the brigade. In order to supervise the use of the raised funds, Li Changshun, Liu Liqun and Wu Ye were elected as supervisors. Every penny used in the road construction project had to be agreed upon by the three of them before the accountant could spend it.

To Xia Juhua's surprise, Secretary Zhang and Uncle Qi actually showed up at the meeting and raised 100 yuan each in their personal names, expressing their optimism about Ping An Village's fundraising for road construction.

When this move was made, the members of Pingan Village were shocked far more than when Xia Juhua raised 5,000 yuan on her own: Uncle Qi was the county head and Secretary Zhang was the commune secretary. They both participated in the fundraising. Does that mean that this road should be built and will definitely be built? !

Xia Juhua was also shocked: the arrival of the two leaders was beyond her expectation, and they actually participated in the fundraising on the spot. She didn't even dare to think about it until the two of them took out the money.

So Xia Juhua's first thought was: "Two leaders, you can attend our Pingan Village meeting, all of us members are already very encouraged. On behalf of all the members of the Pingan Village Brigade, I assure you two leaders that this road can and must be repaired. But you two leaders don't need to raise funds..."

Uncle Qi looked at Xia Juhua with a smile and said in a loud voice: "Compared with you who has been commended by the provincial supply and marketing system and the ministries, Secretary Zhang and I certainly don't have much money, but this is our way of supporting the Ping'anzhuang Brigade in building roads. Besides, you still have to pay interest every year, it's not like you're taking my money for nothing. What's the matter, you don't want to pay Secretary Zhang and me the interest?"

Xia Juhua waved her hands repeatedly after hearing this, knowing very well that Uncle Qi said this in order to let the members of Ping An Zhuang know where her 5,000 yuan came from, so that one day in the future, no one would question whether her money came from legal sources.

Xia Juhua bowed deeply to Uncle Qi and Secretary Zhang and said, "Thank you, County Governor Qi, thank you, Secretary Zhang, and thank you for your support for the road construction of Ping'an Village Brigade. Please rest assured, both leaders, and the folks of Ping'an Village, that the funds raised this time will definitely be returned to everyone, and the interest promised to everyone will be paid one day before the funds are returned!"

At the end of her speech, Xia Juhua's voice unconsciously rose, and it was transmitted to the ears of every member through the loudspeaker, causing everyone to applaud spontaneously.

The collection of the fundraising funds went very smoothly and was completed in less than half a day. The accountants and general accountants of each production team worked separately and quickly counted the money received.

The amount of money collected was not the original 82,000 yuan, but a full 90,320 yuan. The amount collected from Ping An Village remained the same, and the small village head and the third team were the main contributors to the increase in money.

Such a large amount of money naturally could not be left at the brigade headquarters. It was already dark the day after the total was counted, and the accountant was still sent to the county town by Liu Zhifu on a tractor. With the help of Uncle Youqi, the bank opened a separate account for the Ping'anzhuang Brigade.

This is the first public account of the brigade-level unit in Pingde County. If we want to use large amounts of funds in the future, we have to apply to the bank in advance, which adds another layer of protection to the safety of funds.

On that day, Liu Zhiquan called back and told Xia Juhua that Deputy Director Gu had already known about the road construction in Ping'an Village. He had been in the provincial supply and marketing system for too short a time, knew too little about the situation, knew few people well, and his mother asked for too little time, so Liu Zhiquan had to ask Deputy Director Gu for help.

Deputy Director Gu was indeed an old supply and marketing expert. He quickly contacted Pingan Village with a stone factory in the province. Liu Zhiquan called back to tell his mother the address and contact information of the stone factory. He told Xia Juhua that Deputy Director Gu said that he would continue to contact the lime factory and asphalt factory for Pingan Village. It might take some time, but it was not a big problem, so Xia Juhua could organize people to repair the roadbed first.

The good news came so timely that both Xia Juhua and other Ping'anzhuang Brigade cadres were very happy, and the road construction team was quickly set up: this time Xia Juhua was no longer the team leader, and Li Daniu took over instead - Xia Juhua's main focus had to be on external contacts, but Li Daniu never lost out at work, so there was no problem in letting him manage the members of the road construction team.

Li Changshun's main task was to help Li Daniu coordinate the relations between several production teams. Liu Liqun was responsible for the liaison work with the brigades passing through the road. It was his responsibility to coordinate the labor force and divert the vehicles and people using the road.

The members who participated in the road construction were all led by the production team leaders as deputy team leaders, who started digging the roadbed from Ping'an Village to the commune. The personnel of each production team had to be adjusted again.

Xia Juhua once again felt that there was a severe shortage of manpower: the Ping'anzhuang production team had more than 90 able-bodied workers working in the vermicelli factory, and almost all the women in the village were engaged in mat-weaving work. In total, three-fifths of the people in the production team could not participate in the road construction, and they had to draw people from those engaged in field management to level the roadbed.

Fortunately, the sweet potatoes planted in the field are late, so the task of field management in the later stage is not heavy, otherwise it would be difficult to choose between farming and roads.

This alone was enough to make Chen Qiusheng's eyes red with worry. He had to run between the Ping'an Village production team, the vermicelli factory and the road construction site every day. Xia Juhua thought it was not a big deal and asked him to just take care of the vermicelli factory. If there was any problem with field management, he would find Liu Sanzhuang, and if there was any problem with the road construction, it would be Liu Erzhuang's responsibility. Now was the time to hire people. If Liu Erzhuang, who had been a production team leader, didn't lead everyone to work together, who would?

As for whether Liu Erzhuang himself would have any opinions, that was not something Xia Juhua considered - there was also Li Daya, who would tell Liu Erzhuang that he had his opinions to himself.

After the allocation of personnel for the Ping'anzhuang production team was settled, the coordination of labor for other production teams was equally difficult: although everyone was very enthusiastic about building the road, they were afraid of comparison in everything, and several production teams tried to allocate as many strong laborers as possible to the road construction project, leaving a shortage of manpower for field management.

In the early stages, the energy of several production team leaders was obviously more inclined towards road construction, and they wanted to dig the roadbed within a day.

這無疑是不現實的，夏菊花不得不再次把隊幹部們召集起來開會，讓大家明白一個道理，那就是修路重要，種地對平安莊大隊來說卻是根本。

別說現在還不是全民經商的時代，就是到了全民經商的時期，對農民來說，把地撂荒了也是痛苦的，夏菊花不想現在就看到這種情況發生。

将來真有那麽一天的話，她都想自己把那些撂荒的土地承包過來，雇上幾個人開個農場——農民不種莊稼那還叫農民？旱災的教訓剛過去幾年！

盡管夏菊花的話說得挺重，口氣也十分不客氣，幾個大隊幹部和生産隊長，卻沒人覺得她說得不對。就連李大牛那麽犟的人，也當場向夏菊花表态，自己一定回生産隊把田間管理和修路安排好，不再只重視修路對田間管理不聞不問。

至此工地上的事情才算理順了一些，夏菊花便請交通局的技術員，測算一下石子究竟需要多少，她好給人家石料廠打電話，确定運送石料的時間。

兩位技術員的勘測工作已經完成，還給修改了兩處可以取直的地方：那兩處都近湙河，取直後可以省出三裏多的路程，不過要重新築路基。雖然聽起來重築路基有些麻煩，不過平安莊大隊還是采納了他們的意見，讓兩位技術員覺得自己的專業知識受到了尊重。

現在夏菊花再請他們算用料，兩人更給出了更切實的建議：“如果按現在的标準，你們這路有三層就夠了，最下面把地基挖好，上頭鋪上石子摻石灰，再鋪一層瀝青就行。不過這樣的路五年以內出不了什麽問題，五年以後就難說。”

五年後，是一九八二年，國家經濟剛剛好轉，雖然有些地方已經提出要想富先修路，不過大規模的村村通還早着呢。而平安莊大隊五年裏，估計剛夠把這一次的集資款還完，再集一次資……夏菊花不由搖了搖頭。

兩名技術員見夏菊花搖頭，反而有些欣喜，他們知道夏菊花搖頭不是不贊同自己的話，而是覺得五年的時間太短了，接着說的話更有底氣：“所以我們建議這條路鋪五層，就是在瀝青下面增加一層土再增加一層石子摻石灰，這樣哪怕全都走載重車，保證十年以內不會出現問題。”

十年．夏菊花覺得，如果十年的話，哪怕國家不出修路的錢，平安莊自己再集一次資，社員們也不會太過反感。最主要的是她對粉條廠和編席組有信心，相信十年之後以這兩廠之力，就能修好這條路，根本不用社員集資。

“那就修五層。”夏菊花咬了咬牙，準備去說服大隊幹部和生産隊長們。

好在大家前面都贊同修路，現在當然願意修使用時間更長的五層路，哪怕有些擔心材料錢，哪怕已經挖好的路基又要加深，還是一至贊同。對此夏菊花是感激的，所以去石料廠談價錢的是她自己。

更讓她沒想到的是，石料廠那邊的價格根本不用談，人家開口就給了一個成本價。原因是石料廠雖然名“廠”，裏頭的工人卻大都是當地農民，每天上班之餘還會照顧生産隊的土地。

石料廠所在地靠山，否則也不會辦起石料廠。正因為近山，所以土地比較貧瘠，大莊稼産量不高，反而是紅薯這種雜料産量不小。

石料廠為了更好的在當地立足，同時為工人謀些福利，便要求平安莊粉條廠能按市價收購他們的紅薯，所以不介意把石料給平安莊一個成本價。聽上去粉條廠的原料價格增加了，不過現在用的紅薯都是部隊協調的，夏菊花相信他們不會讓石料廠附近的社員吃虧，便一口答應下來。

運輸也不是啥難題，平德縣自己有運輸隊，紅星公社農機站和平安莊自己同樣有拖拉機，轟隆隆的車隊一開，石子就源源不絕的運到了修路現場。

看着一堆一堆散落在路基邊的石子，李長順跟五爺說：“得讓大家加把勁把路基挖出來。”

五爺便點頭——兩位老人家是監督組的成員，買石子帶運輸花出去近一萬七千多塊錢，可把他們給心疼壞了，生怕有人趁着天黑偷回家去，便輪流盯在現場，兩雙眼睛看誰都十分警惕。

劉力群很擔心他們兩的身體，與夏菊花商量之後，不得不再次把民兵組織起來巡邏，才讓兩人晚上能安心回家睡覺，卻攔不住他們白天不停的出現在路邊。

“我說大隊長、五爺，你們還是回家歇歇吧。”這不，劉力群看到兩人小聲商量事兒，有些無奈的走過來勸他們：“這邊有人盯着，別的大隊挖的路基我也看了，都合标準，更有交通局兩位技術員盯着，出不了問題。倒是你們兩風吹日曬出點毛病來，大隊長還不得跟我拼命。”

都說家有一老如有一寶，這兩位就是平安莊大隊的寶貝。不光夏菊花願意他們一直身體康健，平安莊大隊的社員們現在已經有了共識，那就是這兩人不能倒，不光不能倒，還得活得長長久久的。

被人希望活得長長久久的五爺，自忖中是個普通社員，對劉力群這個民兵隊長說的話只是笑笑，李長順卻不耐煩的向劉力群擺手，攆他去盯着工地：

“你才比我們小幾歲，就敢看不起我們。把你的工監好，別讓那些人白拿工錢比啥都強。唉，菊花啥都好，就是這手太松了，給的工錢太高。拿那麽些工錢，他們要是還不好好修路基，你得跟他們大隊幹部說換人，別覺得面子下不來，就不好意思張嘴。”

劉力群聽了只是個笑，還說自己不老，聽聽這唠叨的話，轉了不知幾個意思了。也就是自己一直跟着李長順工作，才能聽明白他報怨的都是啥。

即知他在抱怨，劉力群就得替夏菊花說幾句話：“我估摸着，大隊長肯定覺得重賞之下必有勇夫，咱們把工錢開高一點兒，那些人再不好好幹就是他們的問題，咱們想開人也理直氣壯。”

這話倒是沒錯，李長順沒話反駁，卻可以接着攆劉力群去巡工地，把劉力群搞得哭笑不得，巴不得夏菊花自己出現在面前，好說說這兩個不服老的老人家。

夏菊花此時卻沒有時間，來跟李長順和五爺讨論其他大隊社員工錢是多、是少的問題，她正在接部隊首長的電話：“……所以首長，請你們千萬不要誤會，我們只是為了社員出行更方便，所以利用夏收後秋收前，社員不太忙的時間，整修一下道路。是的是的，我們沒有什麽困難，路基已經整修得差不多了。對，對，石子、石灰也都已經購買完了。”

電話那頭的部隊首長沉默了一下，又問：“那麽酸辣粉還能按時運出來嗎？”

這一點早在修路之前平安莊已經有了解決辦法，所以夏菊花還是很有信心的說：“請首長放心，肯定沒有問題。為了保證酸辣粉及時供應部隊，我們平德縣領導替平安莊在縣城協調了一個倉庫，我們的成品現在每三天會運到倉庫裏。部隊随時來車，随時可以運走。”如何從平安莊運到縣城的，夏菊花沒有說明。

但是電話那頭的人一想就能明白，路不通，只能用人力搬或扛。沉默了一會，話筒裏傳來深沉的道謝聲：“夏菊花同志，謝謝你，謝謝平安莊大隊的全體社員，也謝謝平德縣的領導同志們。”

很明顯，夏菊花剛才的辯解，并沒有說服對方相信平安莊修路只是為了自己出行，讓放下電話的夏菊花，恨不得給自己一巴掌。

都怪她怕部隊在外地協調的紅薯過多，不能收購石料廠附近大隊的紅薯，所以打了個電話給部隊的林宏亮，希望他再協調紅薯的時候，能考慮一下石料廠所在公社。

誰料想林宏亮如此敏銳，直接就問夏菊花咋認識石料廠的人，還替人家協調部隊購買紅薯——平安莊自己就種着紅薯，希望部隊買紅薯也應該優先平安莊大隊。

夏菊花怕林宏亮誤會，更怕他們覺得石料廠心懷不軌——現在大家的保密意識還是十分強的——便把平安莊與石料廠的協議說了，結果平安莊修路的事兒，就被部隊知道了。

也不知道林宏亮是咋跟部隊首長彙報的，今天首長的電話直接打到了平安莊，追問平安莊這次修路，是不是因為幾次運送紅薯與酸辣粉，導致路面破壞。

夏菊花當然不承認，一直強調是平安莊自己的問題。可部隊首長不是好糊弄的，人家最後的道謝，說明把平安莊的這份情記在心裏了。

這讓夏菊花心裏很不安。

She believed that the biggest beneficiaries of the road construction were still the Pingan Village Brigade and the members along the road, and the troops were only indirect beneficiaries. Besides, with the reputation of supplying the troops, Xia Xiaohuo's hot and sour noodles would not have to worry about sales in the future. They were like helping Pingan Village invisibly, so Pingan Village should remember their kindness.

"What do you think we should do?" Xia Juhua said to Chen Qiu Sheng, who was waiting to report the progress to her, with some worry: "The army must think that we built this road for them, and they will find ways to compensate us. You say this person is weird. In the past, I asked for benefits from the ministries, provincial supply and marketing system and regional supply and marketing cooperatives, and I didn't feel guilty no matter how much I took. But the army..." Xia Juhua felt guilty when she took even a little thing from them.

Because she knew that in less than two years, the war would start, and those tough guys who loved hot and sour noodles on the other side of the phone might be dragged to the battlefield, facing the gunfire and smoke, and maybe...

Why did they go to the battlefield, why did they face the smoke of gunfire, why did they bury their loyal bones everywhere in the green mountains? Wasn't it so that thousands of villages like Ping'anzhuang could develop themselves safely, and thousands of farmers like Ping'anzhuang members could eat their fill in peace?

For such a group of people, Xia Juhua felt that she could do very little for them, so naturally she didn't want to ask too much from them.

Unfortunately, the army chief already knows about it, and Xia Juhua has to call Uncle Qi to avoid the possibility that if the army chief asks Uncle Qi for confirmation, the two sides’ words may not match, which will make the army chief feel guilty about Ping An Zhuang.