Chapter 150
When the call was connected, Xia Juhua's tone was a little depressed: "Chief Qi, the army leaders know that our brigade has repaired the road. I think they may call you. I don't want the troops to think that the road was destroyed because of them. I'm worried about the troops..."
Uncle Qi laughed at the other end: "Your call was late. They called me first to verify the situation before calling you. I told the head that you were the one who couldn't stay idle and thought the members had nothing to do during this period, so you called on everyone to build the road together. You didn't tell them about your fundraising."
Just because Lin Hongliang guessed the intention of Pinganzhuang Brigade to build a road based on just a few words and reported it to the leader in time, Xia Juhua could not be as optimistic as Uncle Qi. She also knew that Uncle Qi's optimism was to relieve her from such great psychological pressure, so she only reported the progress of the road construction to him on the phone, and did not say that she was worried that the army leader would give Pinganzhuang some extra care.
This worry is not groundless. Why did the military chief call Ping'anzhuang after calling Uncle Qi? Wasn't it to test the waters of Pingde County and see if the road was funded by the county?
Although Uncle Qi is a cunning man, saying the above words to his superiors is probably his limit. He cannot and dare not lie to the superiors.
He would certainly tell the truth if the county could not afford to build roads.
As long as the army chief knew that the county did not provide funds, he would not need to know too much about where the money for building the road in Ping'an Village came from - even if the money was obtained by Xia Juhua through begging, she still had to do a favor, and the army would not let her owe anyone a favor for no reason.
The troops care so much about Ping An Manor, how should Ping An Manor repay the troops? Xia Juhua on this end of the phone fell into deep thought, and Uncle Qi on the other end did not hear Xia Juhua's response for a long time, and asked curiously:
"What's the matter? Are you worried that the troops will pay Ping An Zhuang extra processing fees? I think even if they do, it's reasonable. After all, Ping An Zhuang only charges one cent for a bag of hot and sour noodles, just to make the troops feel at ease when accepting them." Ping An Zhuang only makes labor costs from it.
Only one cent for the processing fee, wouldn't that give me peace of mind? Xia Juhua answered the phone, "Yes, I understand." She was still thinking along the same lines as before, and answered in a somewhat careless manner.
Uncle Qi thought she was still worried about the compensation from the army, so he didn't ask any further questions and instead hung up the phone.
Xia Juhua was calculating in her mind whether her plan was feasible: the troops needed a large amount of hot and sour noodles, mainly for the convenience of carrying and for having soup and water to keep them hot when eating.
However, the taste of hot and sour noodles is a bit monotonous, and eating it for a long time will inevitably make people feel annoyed. She thought of a substitute for hot and sour noodles - instant noodles. Compared with the monotonous taste of hot and sour noodles, the taste of instant noodles varies a lot. Moreover, after deep-frying instant noodles, sprinkle some seasoning on them, break them apart and eat them dry even without boiling water, which is more suitable for troops to use during operations.
We had never thought of making instant noodles in advance before, because with the little white flour produced by Ping An Zhuang, the members only dared to make dumplings during the Chinese New Year, so we were reluctant to give it a try.
Things were different now. Ping'an Village's summer grain was all wheat. In addition to the rations distributed to the members, each production team's warehouse also stored a lot of wheat in preparation for the public rations. Xia Juhua also had enough white flour in her own warehouse for her to experiment with.
Xia Juhua tried to make it that night. Mixing the dough, letting it rest, and cutting the noodles were not a problem. But the question of how to make the noodles into the kind of square pieces she had seen in her life and ensure that they would not fall apart gave her a headache.
Fortunately, she quickly remembered that the instant noodles she had in her previous life were all curved. Was that the reason they didn't fall apart? Xia Juhua decided to try again, and she succeeded.
The next step was to fry the dough. It took Xia Juhua several nights to figure out how long to fry the dough so that it would be crispy and not mushy. In order to keep the time accurate, she kept a small notebook at hand and wrote down the time each time the dough was put into the pot for future reference.
Because of her concentration, Xia Juhua focused every night to the point of being oblivious to what was happening outside.
"Captain, Captain." Chen Qiu Sheng knocked on the door twice, but no one answered, so he couldn't help but shout at the top of his voice.
Sun Zhaodi poked her head out from the next yard and said, "The captain isn't home, I guess. I haven't seen her since dinner."
Chen Qiusheng shook his head and said, "He should be at home. I didn't see him at the brigade headquarters or the construction site."
Having said that, Sun Zhaodi became a little anxious. Where could Xia Juhua go so late at night?
She walked over while complaining, "You said the team leader just wouldn't listen. The other day Zhishuang came back to move, and I told her to let Xiaoman and the kids leave behind, but she didn't listen. Now she's the only one left living in a big yard, and no one knows anything that happens." After saying that, she ran back to her own yard and asked Chen Dongsheng to set up a ladder, intending to let him jump over the wall to see if Xia Juhua was in trouble.
Everyone in Ping'an Village remembered Xia Juhua's two previous hospitalizations. If she became seriously ill again and no one knew about it, Sun Zhaodi felt that he had to help the sinner of Ping'an Village.
Just when the ladder was set up and Chen Dongsheng had already climbed to the top, Xia Juhua's voice came from the door of the main room: "Chen Dongsheng, you have become more capable, right? You can even climb over the wall."
Chen Dongsheng was also a little anxious: "Are you okay? You scared us. Qiu Sheng called you for a long time but you didn't open the door. We thought something happened to you. If you didn't climb over the wall, could you have come out?"
"What can happen to me?" Xia Juhua found it funny when she heard it. Seeing Chen Dongsheng coming down the ladder, she went to open the gate. Sure enough, Chen Qiusheng and Sun Zhaodi were standing in front of the gate with nervous faces.
"I was doing something in the main room and didn't hear Qiu Sheng knocking on the door." Xia Juhua hurriedly explained to the two of them. Otherwise, if they allowed the two of them to stand in front of the courtyard gate for a while, the whole Ping'an Village would know that she was missing in the middle of the night.
Sun Zhaodi took a closer look and made sure that Xia Juhua was fine before he heaved a sigh of relief: "In the future, hang a light bulb at the door of the main room and turn it off when you go to bed at night. If there is anything wrong, just turn on the light and I will know. Don't scare me like you did today."
In such a short time, Sun Zhaodi actually came up with the idea of asking me to light a lamp to report safety. She must have had a lot of wild thoughts while waiting for me to show up. Xia Juhua couldn't help but hold her hand and said, "Okay, whatever you say is fine. But I'm in good health, nothing can go wrong."
In Sun Zhaodi's mind, the possibility that Xia Juhua might be in trouble and no one knew about it became more and more real, and she insisted that Xia Juhua agree to turn on the light now. Xia Juhua knew that she meant well, so she would never refuse. She agreed to let someone install a light under the eaves of her main house tomorrow, which appeased Sun Zhaodi.
Only then did she have the opportunity to ask Chen Qiu Sheng why he came, which made Sun Zhaodi feel a little embarrassed. She took Chen Dongsheng and walked home so as not to delay Xia Juhua from discussing business with Chen Qiu Sheng.
Chen Qiusheng also found it funny that he had made such a big mistake by knocking on the door, but he still got down to business first: "The army's truck carrying hot and sour noodles arrived today. It went directly to the county warehouse according to the address we gave. But Comrade Lin also came and is now at the construction site."
Xia Juhua had expected Lin Hongliang to come, but she didn't expect him to come so soon, and to come to the construction site so late at night. She asked hurriedly, "Did you tell everyone not to tell Comrade Lin about our fundraising?"
Chen Qiusheng smiled bitterly and said, "Comrade Lin has come this far on his own. When he met me, he had already asked me all the questions he needed to ask."
Xia Juhua also felt that her idea of trying to hide it from the army was a bit naive - she knew how strong the army's reconnaissance capabilities were, and it was too unrealistic to want to hide it now that people were here.
Unable to hide it, Xia Juhua had to meet Lin Hongliang as soon as possible, so she pushed her bicycle out and went to find Lin Hongliang with Chen Qiusheng. As soon as they met, Lin Hongliang extended his hand to Xia Juhua, shook it tightly, and said only two words: "Thank you."
What was he thanking for? Lin Hongliang didn't say anything and Xia Juhua didn't ask. Everyone smiled and looked at the progress of the road construction before returning to the brigade. Lin Hongliang took the cup that Chen Qiusheng handed to him and slowly put it on the table. He organized his words in his mind before speaking:
"Captain Xia, this is it. I was entrusted by the head of the army to discuss the double-hugging work with Pingde County. We are going to do a pilot project in Ping'anzhuang Brigade. It just so happens that you are building a road, so the first double-hugging will be on this road."
He spoke lightly, without even mentioning why Pingan Village was building a road. Instead, he defined the upcoming help from the troops as being on Shuanghui, so that it would be more logical for the troops to provide help to Pingan Village.
Xia Juhua's mind quickly recalled when the word "double-hold" appeared, and found that it seemed that this word had always been rooted in her mind and had never gone away.
In other words, this work has always existed, but after only ten years of movement, this term faded from people's minds and became the term "student army".
Xia Juhua and Chen Qiusheng knew in their hearts that the army's re-mention of the dual possession was just a reason, hoping that Ping An Manor would not feel that it had taken advantage of the army. How could Xia Juhua and Chen Qiusheng not be moved by such tactful consideration of Ping An Manor's feelings?
They also cannot refuse.
So Xia Juhua said to Lin Hongliang openly: "So, Ping'an Village is taking advantage of the troops again. Thank you so much to the leaders and comrades of the troops for your concern for Ping'an Village. But Comrade Lin, the materials for road construction in Ping'an Village are almost ready, so the troops don't have to worry too much."
Lin Hongliang smiled and said, "We really don't need to worry too much. I heard that you have already prepared the stone and lime, and you just need the asphalt. That saves me a lot of trouble. Don't worry, the asphalt will be handled by the troops, and don't mention to me that Ping An Zhuang will pay for it."
Seeing Xia Juhua opening her mouth to refuse, Lin Hongliang waved his hands at her repeatedly and said in a pleading tone: "Okay, my Captain Xia, don't refuse. I have already reviewed the road construction for Ping'an Village. If you still don't accept asphalt, I will have to take off my military uniform on the spot and be driven to Ping'an Village to dig the roadbed."
Pingan Village was building a road, but Lin Hongliang was asked to make a self-criticism. Xia Juhua was very uneasy and felt sorry for Lin Hongliang: "Why do you have to make a self-criticism? The chief is a bit unreasonable. We didn't discuss the road construction with you in advance, and you only found out about it afterwards, right?"
Seeing that she was trying to speak up for him, Lin Hongliang smiled and said, "The reason why the chief criticized me is that I did not consider the bearing capacity of Ping'an Village Road when I organized the transportation, and I did not find out in time when the road surface was damaged. This was indeed my negligence in my work, and I am willing to make this review."
Although Lin Hongliang said that he was willing to make the self-criticism, Xia Juhua still felt a little bit reluctant. The next day, she gave Lin Hongliang some instant noodles that she had tested almost to a taste. Her purpose was naturally to hope that Lin Hongliang would bring the new product back to the army so that he could "make up for his crime with merit."
Lin Hongliang, who had already had enough of hot and sour rice noodles, was amazed when he ate instant noodles: "This is made of white flour, how come it smells so good."
Xia Juhua smiled and said, "How can it not smell good if it's fried in oil? Even lumps of earth smell good if they're fried in oil."
"That's different." Lin Hongliang refuted Xia Juhua's joke seriously: "This is made of white flour and fried in oil. It can be eaten dry."
Xia Juhua thought that Lin Hongliang was a military man, and that he had the ability to get to the point: "Indeed, it can be eaten dry, and the taste is richer than hot and sour rice noodles. If someone doesn't like sour or spicy food, just use a different seasoning packet."
Lin Hongliang's eyes lit up when he heard this: "Can it be mass-produced?"
It can be produced, but Xia Juhua didn't guarantee it: "The current machines for producing hot and sour noodles are not very suitable for producing instant noodles. I want to learn from the noodle factory and see how to modify the machine."
The idea of going to the noodle factory to learn was something that came to Xia Juhua’s mind these past two days: if you want to produce instant noodles in large quantities, you can’t rely on hand-cutting noodles, because the speed won’t be fast enough, and Ping’an Village can’t mobilize that much manpower. The noodle factory produces large quantities of noodles, so how to shape and dry the noodles must have its own mature methods.
Although the final shape is different, instant noodles still have to add a frying process, so there should be a lot to learn from in the early stages.
Lin Hongliang heard that mass production was not a big problem, and laughed happily: "Then can I report to the commander when I return to the army, and then see how we can cooperate. However, if Pingan Village can also supply instant noodles, the demand for hot and sour noodles may be..."
Xia Juhua was not only not worried about this, but also welcomed it - Ping'an Village made almost no money by supplying hot and sour noodles to the troops, and if the troops' demand decreased, they could sell part of it to outsiders.
So Xia Juhua assured Lin Hongliang: "Don't worry about this. I am very familiar with the regional and provincial supply and marketing systems. I can sell the hot and sour noodles through them. If you want to produce instant noodles in large quantities, it will take some time to build machines, build factories, and coordinate flour and oil. I'm afraid it won't be possible in a short time. When you go back to report to the leader, you must make it clear and give Ping'an Village about half a year. As for the demand for hot and sour noodles, you don't have to worry about whether it will be unsalable, and then you will be embarrassed to ask us to reduce the supply."
Lin Hongliang felt that Xia Juhua was too considerate of the troops, so he said to her, "Okay, I will report the situation to the commander truthfully. But you have to promise me this time that if there are any problems with the coordination, you will notify us immediately so that we can work together to find a solution."
They had worked together for such a long time and they were all considerate of each other, so Xia Juhua nodded without hesitation. Lin Hongliang was also not polite to her and took away dozens of packs of instant noodles of different flavors prepared by Xia Juhua, preparing to take them back to let the leaders decide which flavor should be produced in large quantities.
After seeing Lin Hongliang off, the officers of Ping'anzhuang's brigade and production team held another meeting. After Xia Juhua informed them that the troops were going to solve the asphalt problem for Ping'anzhuang's brigade, she stated her work focus for the next period of time: to focus on the research of instant noodles and the improvement of machines.
Xia Juhua didn't feel embarrassed when she said that she had improved the machine: So what if it was Technician Xue who finally improved the machine? Who else could have contacted Technician Xue and made him willingly help improve the machine if not her?
Xia Juhua thought it was okay to round off the improvement and say that he improved the machine himself.
As for her going to the noodle factory for inspection and study, it was not a problem at all. Uncle Qi did not even need to show up. Secretary Zhang just made a phone call and the director of the noodle factory personally received Xia Juhua and said to her with a smile:
"Captain Xia, when your road is completed, our noodle factory will also benefit from it. I have long wanted to go to Ping'an Village to thank you. You said you were going to inspect the noodle factory, so why did you ask Secretary Zhang to contact us? We would also welcome you to come by yourself."
Xia Juhua shook her head repeatedly: "Factory Director, I really came here to learn from our noodle factory, but it can't be called an inspection." The leaders are the ones who inspect. When she went to the noodle factory before, she asked people to buy wheat bran. This time she said she came here to inspect, but who would believe it?
The factory manager's smile didn't fade away: "I said it was an inspection, and you are the great benefactor of all the factories in Pingde County. If you hadn't come forward, we wouldn't know when we could get new tires for those cars. To be honest, I couldn't sit still at home when the driver was out, for fear that he would have a flat tire. Now it's all right, the county has held a meeting for us, saying that all the tires of the vehicles will be guaranteed in the future, so we can drive with confidence."
It turned out that the factory director treated Xia Juhua like a superior for another reason, which made Xia Juhua feel like she had made a great contribution by accident. After being humble for a while, Xia Juhua stated the purpose of her visit, which was to take a close look at the production line of the noodle factory, and it would be best if there was a skilled repairman who could explain the use and function of the machine to her at any time.
The factory manager agreed immediately and wanted to go with Xia Juhua, but Xia Juhua refused. After all, it would be better for the factory manager not to listen to some of the questions she wanted to ask, lest he think Ping'an Village wanted to steal the noodle factory's business.
Although instant noodles will squeeze out the market of dried noodle factories in the future, instant noodles are likely to be the main supplier now and will not cause conflicts with dried noodle factories. There is no need for factory managers to feel resentful.
Xia Juhua knew her own worth, so she did not come alone this time, but asked Hu Zhongshan to be her assistant. Hu Zhongshan thought it was incredible at the time: as an educated youth, he knew too well the relationship between the educated youth and the members of Ping'an Village, and he never thought that Xia Juhua would come to visit the noodle factory and ask him to come along.
Deng Chunlin said some sarcastic words about this, but Hu Zhongshan didn't take it to heart at all. He was determined to do a good job with Xia Juhua. Last time, he listened to Xia Juhua's reminder and wanted to repay her. He took the initiative to explain the knowledge of electrical safety to the members of Ping'anzhuang Brigade. Now the members have treated him differently from other educated youth.
Hu Zhongshan was not stupid, and he would not give up the opportunity to win Xia Juhua's further trust just because of Deng Chunlin's sour words. So he listened a lot, remembered a lot, and asked a lot of questions. He asked and wrote down many things that Xia Juhua herself did not understand, so that Xia Juhua could be more targeted when she called Technician Xue.
Xia Juhua saw Hu Zhongshan's behavior and kept it in mind. She didn't say anything for the time being, but that didn't mean she really didn't do anything. At the end of the call to Technician Xue, she asked Technician Xue to pay attention and collect any college entrance examination review materials and mail them to her.
Technician Xue was thinking about the several machine improvements proposed by Xia Juhua. He didn't take them seriously at first, but Xia Juhua kept reminding him every time she called. So he found a lot of books, packed them up and had them mailed to him, regardless of whether they were useful or not.
Now the book is still on the way, and the loudspeaker has already broadcast the official notice that the country will resume the college entrance examination. Suddenly, not only the educated youth points are excited, but the Ping'an Village team is also discussing it.
Different from the focus of discussion among the educated youth at the educated youth site, the members of the commune are more concerned about the crops that the educated youth are now planting. Do they still have the energy to take care of them? It would be a pity if they were left to go to waste. It is already September now, and the corn and sorghum planted by the educated youth are about to be harvested. The old farmers feel distressed if they just leave them in the fields.
Xia Juhua had to show up at the educated youth center again, only to find that more than half of the centers were empty. After asking, she learned that after hearing the broadcast, the educated youth did not even take a vacation and ran to the county town to find review materials.
"Deng Chunlin isn't here either?" Xia Juhua was still asking Hu Zhongshan - this guy and Li Youguang were very patient and did not follow the crowd to the county town.
Hu Zhongshan was also holding a book in his hand, but he answered calmly: "Well, they left without having lunch, and they probably won't be back until dark. Captain, what do you want to talk to him about?"
Xia Juhua could not say anything to Hu Zhongshan, so she just asked him to tell Deng Chunlin to come to the brigade headquarters to find her when he returned. Before leaving, she told Hu Zhongshan: "Although it is said that grinding wood warehouses on the battlefield is not fast, but you must also take care of your health and not overwork yourself."
Hu Zhongshan was grateful for Xia Juhua's concern: "Thank you, captain, I will remind them." As for whether the educated youth listened or not, it was not something he could control.
Hu Zhongshan and Li Youguang were different from the other educated youth who were only interested in reading for three minutes. After returning from the Spring Festival holiday, they did read a lot of books. But when the news came late, they soon returned to their old ways and threw the books away. They never put down their textbooks, but there were too few books to refer to, and they were afraid that they would not meet the requirements of the college entrance examination.
Hu Zhongshan and his companions had thought about going to the county seat today, but when they saw that the educated youth site was quickly emptied, they gave up the idea. There were so many people looking for books in the Ping'anzhuang Brigade educated youth site, how many people were there in the whole Pingde County? The county seat was so small, and there were only so many books. If everyone went together to look for books, they might not even find a corner of the paper. It would be better to write a letter home and let their family think of a solution.
When Xia Juhua saw that Hu Zhongshan had agreed, she nodded to him and went back to the brigade headquarters to wait for Deng Chunlin.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
