Chapter 151
It was not until it was completely dark that Deng Chunlin showed up at the brigade headquarters. He looked very tired, but his spirits were very high. He spoke to Xia Juhua with a sense of pride:
"Captain, you have heard that the country is going to resume the college entrance examination. After the college entrance examination, we educated youth will no longer trouble Pingan Village, and the members of Pingan Village will not feel that we educated youth..."
Xia Juhua didn't want to listen to his smug words, so she coughed to interrupt Deng Chunlin's show-off and said, "I do understand what you're talking about. I called you here today to hear your opinion as the leader of the educated youth group. I think most of the educated youth want to take the college entrance examination, so what are you going to do with the land you planted? Do you have any plans to study or harvest first?"
"No, captain, the country has resumed the college entrance examination, so of course we have to review. This is a major national policy, and we are reviewing to respond to the country's call." Deng Chunlin looked at Xia Juhua with a look that said, "Are you making trouble?" He hoped that Xia Juhua would understand that they might pass the college entrance examination, return to the city, and become national cadres. Why should they still be responsible for those acres of land that can't grow any crops?
Xia Juhua did not do as Deng Chunlin wished. A trace of shame appeared on her face. She said with a straight face as always: "Of course I know that the country has resumed the college entrance examination. If you want to pass the college entrance examination, you must have time to review. But that land has always been cultivated by you educated youth, and the harvest is your food for the next year. If you let it go now, the harvest of the year will be wasted. What will you eat next year?"
He had already told Xia Juhua that the college entrance examination would be resumed soon, but she was still busy with the harvest of crops in the fields. Deng Chunlin felt unprecedented contempt for her in his heart. Rural women are rural women, and she probably doesn't even know what the college entrance examination means.
Thinking of this, Deng Chunlin felt that he was wasting his time talking to Xia Juhua, and said impatiently, "Didn't we say that the college entrance examination will be resumed soon? By then, we educated youth will all become college students. Will the government still ignore us?"
When you are young, sometimes your name is innocence.
Xia Juhua looked at Deng Chunlin's smug face speechlessly and asked, "Are you so sure that you can get into college? What if you fail?"
This sentence made Deng Chunlin feel offended. Did Xia Juhua, a rural woman, know what she was talking about? She actually dared to question whether he could not get into university. Did she look down on him?
Deng Chunlin was angry: "How do you know we can't get into university? I tell you, Xia Juhua, we can definitely get into university! You don't have to look down on us and think that we, the educated youth, owe you Ping'anzhuang Brigade. Are we willing to go to the countryside? Am I willing to farm? Just wait, you will regret it when we get into university."
Xia Juhua looked at the young face twisted with anger and felt that Li Changshun's decision to concentrate the educated youth in the educated youth center and prevent them from mixing with the Ping'anzhuang members was absolutely correct.
She answered Deng Chunlin in a somewhat cold voice: "People in Ping'an Village have never felt that the educated youth owe us anything. But if you feel that you do, we don't object. After all, the educated youth have done so much work, harvested so much food, and borrowed so much food from the brigade over the years, and they still haven't paid it back. You educated youth know the details, and the brigade's account books also record it clearly."
"I called you here today because you are the leader of the educated youth group. I want to ask you what the educated youth think, not to quarrel with you. If you think you can make decisions on behalf of the educated youth, then I will go with you to the educated youth site and ask the educated youth together to see if they agree with your decision." Xia Juhua was very disgusted when she heard that Deng Chunlin was still trying to pull all the educated youth to his side to build up his courage and wanted to label her as someone who looked down on all the educated youth. Naturally, she didn't give him any mercy.
As Xia Juhua's voice got louder, Deng Chunlin's arrogance died down a little. He suddenly thought of a problem, that is, if the educated youth wanted to take the college entrance examination, they had to get the approval and seal of the brigade before they could register.
He just said that to Xia Juhua, Xia Juhua could definitely find a reason not to stamp his registration form, so that he could not register. If he can't even register, how can he take the college entrance examination, become a college student, and then become a national cadre, and finally make all the members of Ping'anzhuang Brigade regret not building a good relationship with him in advance?!
Thinking of this, Deng Chunlin forced a smile on his face: "Captain, you see, my attitude just now was not intentional. It was because we went to the county town to look for books today, and we didn't find any, so we were a little anxious. I was angry and said something aggressive. Please understand that we educated youth are eager to respond to the country's call and hope to take the college entrance examination. Don't be angry with me."
Xia Juhua had experienced Deng Chunlin's face-changing skills during the Spring Festival holiday, so she didn't care at all now: "Do you know that your attitude is bad? I can ignore your attitude, but the crops in the fields can't wait, and the educated youth must have an attitude. Let's go to the educated youth site now."
Xia Juhua said it very generously, but once she and Deng Chunlin returned to the educated youth camp and explained the situation, would the educated youth not think about the pros and cons? Deng Chunlin, who was already unpopular, once again exposed his true colors in front of the educated youth.
Even if he wanted to drag the educated youth to fight against the production team, would he still do as he wishes after the educated youth once again recognized his hypocrisy?
Not all educated youth were like Deng Chunlin. For example, Hu Zhongshan and Li Youguang said that they still had to harvest the crops in the fields, otherwise if they failed to get into university, they would have nothing to eat the next year.
Half of the educated youth followed Hu Zhongshan's lead. Even if they were still teenagers when they first went to the countryside, with all those years of experience, no one was a fool and would not be unaware of the importance of food.
However, there were people like Deng Chunlin who felt that they were about to become successful. They said that they wanted to read books well and did not want to waste their limited time on harvesting crops. They also wanted the members of Ping'an Village to help them harvest the crops.
Xia Juhua had nothing to say to these people. She told them that if the members helped to harvest the crops, they would have to exchange them for food. These people disagreed. They thought that if they could get into college, they would bring endless benefits to Pingan Village in the future. Now the members should not haggle with them.
Not to mention Xia Juhua, even the educated youth who agreed with Hu Zhongshan and the others were amused by this: They were clearly taking advantage of the members, but they were also trying to make big promises for them. Did they really think the members had no sense at all?
The gap between the educated youth and Pingan Village is not a small one. If there are college students among the educated youth, it is unclear whether they can return to Pingan Village to take a look and bring benefits to Pingan Village. Unless the people of Pingan Village are daydreaming together.
Xia Juhua, who was not a daydreamer, was distressed about the crops growing in the fields. She agreed to let the members take over the autumn harvest for the educated youth, but they would have to collect a quarter of the output as labor fees. In the end, the educated youth voted under Xia Juhua's supervision, and Hu Zhongshan and others actually took the majority. Those educated youth who disagreed had no choice but to agree.
It was not difficult for a team from Ping'an Village to harvest their dozens of acres of land. Even though most of the people from the production teams were now repairing roads, a production team could easily take out a dozen people to harvest the land.
The members who helped to harvest the crops were delighted to see a quarter of the harvest stored in the brigade warehouse. Without a single complaint, they ran to the road construction site to lay the roadbed.
At this time, the roadbed from Ping'an Village to the county town had been paved to the fourth level. Xia Juhua led the production team leaders to observe the growth of crops in the fields and decided to withdraw half of the people to harvest in autumn. The rest of the people continued to lay the roadbed, and after the harvest was completed, they could lay asphalt in two days.
As for the sweet potatoes from Ping'an Village, it had been agreed upon the last time Lin Hongliang came that they would be purchased at market prices and handed over to the Ping'an Village vermicelli factory to be produced into hot and sour vermicelli. This saved a lot of time and transportation costs, which was equivalent to increasing the income of each production team in Ping'an Village by one season.
Technician Xue also called to talk about the machine for producing instant noodles. He has already started testing it and is just waiting for the test results to come out before it can be shipped to Ping'an Village for installation and production.
The plan to build an instant noodle factory had to be put on the agenda.
With the example of the vermicelli factory, the construction plan of the instant noodle factory was supported by all the brigade cadres and production team cadres. However, they had to wait until after the autumn harvest to organize the members to make adobe bricks and tiles, otherwise there would be no way to allocate enough manpower.
When the autumn harvest was over and the production numbers of each production team were tallied, the members were all grinning from ear to ear. They felt that under Xia Juhua's leadership, although the work was much harder than in previous years, the results were very satisfying:
The late sweet potatoes that were planted early had another good harvest after the wheat, with an average yield of 2,200 catties per mu. Even if we calculate it at 4 cents per catty, the income per mu has increased by nearly 90 yuan. This 90 yuan income will be distributed to the members in the form of dividends. How can everyone not be happy?
Xia Juhua really wants to tell everyone that there is no need to be happy so early. In a few years, high-yield sweet potato varieties will be widely promoted, and the yield per mu can reach more than 3,000 kilograms, or more than 6,000 kilograms. By then, Ping'an Village will grow wheat and sweet potatoes every year, and use them to produce instant noodles and hot and sour rice noodles. It will be hard not to get rich.
In the end, the words were not spoken, because the fourth layer of roadbed had been completely paved, and it was time to lay asphalt. The project that had taken several months was about to produce results, and none of the members could notice Xia Juhua's hesitant expression.
Seeing that the road was about to be opened to traffic, Xia Juhua was as excited as all the other members. She handed over the job of stamping the educated youth to accountant Chang, and arrived at the entrance of the third team village early. The starting point of the road was not the brigade headquarters, but the third team, so that all the production teams in Ping'an Village could walk on the asphalt road they built.
The entrance of the third team's village was full of people. When they saw Xia Juhua coming over, they all greeted her. Xia Juhua looked at the rosy-faced Captain Niu and asked with a smile, "Why are you out so early? The asphalt transport trucks of the Transportation Bureau have to leave from the county town before they go to work."
"I'll take everyone to check first. If there are any uneven spots or unpaved areas, we can fix them before the road is paved to avoid delaying the work of the comrades from the Transportation Bureau." Captain Niu kept his mouth shut, and his voice trembled a little because of excitement when he spoke.
Xia Juhua understood his feelings. After all, the work of laying asphalt was finally handed over to the Transportation Bureau. In the eyes of the members, the people sent by the Transportation Bureau to do the work were all workers who ate public food. The members did not feel confident talking to them or doing things for them.
But among those workers from the Transportation Bureau, many of them may not earn as much as the members of Team 3 in a month, but no one has ever thought about comparing them - in this era, in the eyes of ordinary people, the income of workers is always higher than that of farmers. Comparing them will only make you feel more inferior, so what's the point of comparing?
"It's coming, it's coming." Someone reminded everyone loudly, and along with it came the unique pungent smell of asphalt, which had already come over before the car arrived.
Captain Niu was too embarrassed to cover his nose, but he still said to Xia Juhua: "Why is it so smelly? The road we took to the county didn't smell that bad."
Xia Juhua thought, the roads in the county have been repaired for many years, if they still smell, how bad will the quality be? Now is not the time to explain to Captain Niu, she just shook her head at him and took the lead to meet the oncoming car.
As soon as they met, Xia Juhua discovered that the two technicians who helped survey Ping'an Village were still leading the team from the Transportation Bureau. She couldn't help but laugh: "I'm sorry to bother you again this time."
The technicians were also very happy to see Xia Juhua coming to greet them - Xia Juhua is now quite famous in Pingde County, and they felt proud that she came forward to greet them in person.
In order to make the light shine brighter, the two technicians introduced Xia Juhua to all the workers who participated in the asphalt laying, and also talked about some changes in Ping'an Village, which prompted the workers to applaud Xia Juhua together, and some people even urged her to say a few words to everyone.
Then just tell me.
Xia Juhua has held member meetings so many times that she doesn't know how many times she has held them. She is no longer afraid to speak in front of others: "Comrades from the Transportation Bureau, thank you for helping Ping'an Village pave the road. This road will not only make it more convenient for members of Ping'an Village to travel, but it will also be convenient for you to come to Ping'an Village to exchange vermicelli and eggs. So this road not only benefits Ping'an Village members, but also brings convenience to you. Don't you agree?"
It was a bit strange to say that helping with road construction was a win-win for both parties. The workers from the Transportation Bureau were stunned. All they could think of was changing vermicelli and eggs. They were wondering if the vermicelli and eggs in Ping An Village could be changed casually, and how?
Just as I was wondering, Xia Juhua changed the subject: "Of course, the main purpose of this road is to facilitate the members of our Ping'anzhuang Brigade, so on behalf of the members, I would like to thank the workers for their help. Thank you, the big brothers, for helping us farmers solve the old problem of travel difficulties. Come, let us express our gratitude to the workers for their selfless help with warm applause!"
Xia Juhua took the lead in clapping, and the members of Team 3 followed suit and clapped loudly. The workers, who had just come to their senses, felt it was not right to clap along, but it also seemed wrong not to clap along.
The technicians reacted quickly, and one of them stepped forward to take over Xia Juhua's words. He pressed his hand down hard, and pressed it again, and finally stopped the thunderous applause:
"Farmer comrades, the elders have said that workers and farmers are one family. Today, we can work together as a family to build the road in Ping'an Village. This is the honor of our workers in the Transportation Bureau and the honor of Ping'an Village members. Please rest assured that we will defend this honor and build the road in Ping'an Village smoothly and quickly!"
"Good——" Captain Niu shouted and led the applause again.
A road cannot be built just by clapping, so Xia Juhua decided to quit while she was ahead and asked Captain Niu to go back to the village quickly to organize people to boil water and send it over to quench the workers' thirst. She then got on the first asphalt-covered car.
The technician said with some concern: "Captain Xia, asphalt smells bad. It can easily give you a headache if you smell it for a long time. I'm afraid you can't stand it. Don't worry, the asphalt this time is of very good quality, and the machinery we brought is also the best from the Transportation Bureau. The quality of the road we pave will definitely be no problem."
Xia Juhua nodded to him: "With you two here, I'm definitely not worried about the quality. It's just that this is the first road built in Pingan Village. I want to see how the asphalt is paved and how it leads to the county town bit by bit."
Seeing one's own labor transformed into a finished product is something that everyone would have in mind. So the technician stopped trying to persuade the driver and told him to drive more steadily. He stood behind the car and observed the spreading of the asphalt at all times.
Xia Juhua followed only one car and then got off. The smell of asphalt was giving her a headache. However, she further realized the hard work of the road workers and asked someone to call the accountant Chang and arranged for him to provide good food for the workers.
Although the weather is starting to get cooler now, the smell of laying asphalt is not much better - during the laying process, a fire must be kept burning to melt the asphalt so that the asphalt can better fit the roadbed. The smell at this time is more pungent than after it is laid on the road surface.
Xia Juhua can't stand it with just one truck, but the workers have to repeat the same work all day long. So, right? Only by feeding them better can the workers have the energy to pave the road?
Accountant Chang, who received the order, did not go to buy meat himself, but asked the members on the construction site to do it for him. He bought more than ten pounds of meat at one time, put it in a pot and made it into braised pork. He also added potatoes sent by Team 3. Soon the aroma of the braised pork mixed with the stench of asphalt.
Before paving the road, the workers were informed that they had to cook their own lunch, so before 11 o'clock, two workers stopped their work and wanted to move the cooking utensils they brought.
Before they even reached the place where the cooking utensils were placed, they smelled the aroma of meat. They both sniffed at the same time, and one said to the other, "I've heard that life in Ping'an Village is good. Whose family is stewing this meat? It smells so good."
"Well, I heard that their food is all wheat, and sometimes the whole family eats white flour steamed buns."
"The whole family eats it." The person who heard it swallowed his saliva. "Then their life is much better than ours. We have food supply, but only two kilograms of white flour a month. That little white flour has to be saved for the old and the young, and we still have to eat cornmeal cakes. Didn't their team leader just say that we can exchange vermicelli and eggs with them? I don't know if it can be exchanged for white flour."
"The people in Ping'an Village are not very sensible. They eat meat behind people's backs and the smell comes over us. How can we swallow dry food at noon?" After the last person finished complaining, he noticed Captain Niu coming towards them and quickly kept silent.
Captain Niu greeted the two with a smile: "Comrades, are you going to cook? Stop working and sit down to rest. Our captain said that you are here to help us build the road, so you must do your best to show our gratitude. From now on, Ping An Zhuang will take care of your lunch every day."
What? The two workers thought they had heard wrongly - everyone was short of food now, and asphalt could not be repaired in a day or two, it would take at least ten days, and Ping An Village actually wanted to provide them with lunch? There were more than ten of them this time.
Before they came, the leaders did not mention that Ping An Manor would provide lunch for them, and they even gave them some extra food subsidies. The workers worked very hard for this little subsidy, but they did not expect that Ping An Manor would also provide lunch.
This made the workers feel a little uneasy and they declined: "No, we all brought food and pots. You can just lend us some firewood."
Captain Niu was such a stubborn person that he stepped forward and stopped the worker who wanted to move the cooking utensils. He refused to let go no matter what he said: "You came to help us build the road, but you didn't charge us for the work. We don't know how to thank you. If we let you make lunch by yourselves, what kind of people would we be in Ping An Village?"
Seeing Captain Niu's sincere attitude, the two workers were a little undecided, but in their hearts they were actually willing to try the food in Ping'an Village: even if there was no meat or vegetables, they could save their own food and their families could have one more bite to eat, which was a great temptation for people who ate supplied food.
So they found the technician in charge and told him about Captain Niu's objection to cooking. The technician walked up to Captain Niu with some helplessness and said, "I was afraid of this before I came here, so I thought of bringing my own pot and didn't dare to let everyone go to the village to borrow a stove. In the end..."
Captain Niu was a little proud: "Our captain knew you would be polite, so she didn't dare to tell you in advance. In fact, it has been arranged long ago. Technician, you have been dealing with our captain for a long time, you should know that she is not a person who will come for nothing. If she said she would provide lunch for everyone, then she will provide lunch for everyone."
The technician thought for a moment and said, "Okay, we appreciate Captain Xia's kindness. But the bureau gives us food subsidies every day, and we must hand it over to Ping'an Village."
The subsidized food was not included in the rations, and the technicians felt that this arrangement would not be a loss for either side. However, Captain Niu saw the distressed expressions on the faces of the two workers who were preparing to cook, and he felt that he had to make Xia Juhua's arrangement clear:
"Technician, you are slapping our team leader in the face. When our team was repairing this road, we had already taken this item into account, so you should take your food back with you." Whether the food is taken home by individuals or handed over to the Transportation Bureau, Ping An Village will not interfere.
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