Chapter 152
The two workers turned their gaze to the technician. The technician looked at Captain Niu with some embarrassment and did not tell him his final decision. He thought it would be better to discuss it with Xia Juhua.
The two workers who were preparing to cook had already run back to their respective posts and quietly told their fellow workers the news that Ping An Zhuang would provide meals. The workers felt that they were taking advantage of Ping An Zhuang and worked even harder during the rest of the time - the workers knew why Ping An Zhuang would provide their lunch.
Xia Juhua saw that lunch was ready, so she came over to invite everyone. She was pulled aside by the technician and said with some complaint, "Captain Xia, you have given me a difficult problem."
Xia Juhua was a little puzzled: "It's just a lunch, what's the problem? I don't stew meat for everyone every day. I just want everyone to eat better so that they can do their work more carefully. Don't worry about it. I will report to your director later. The lunch is a voluntary thank you from our Ping'anzhuang Brigade to the workers so that he won't criticize you."
Is this a matter of criticism or not? This is a matter of taking advantage of Ping An Zhuang and getting subsidies from the bureau. The technician felt that he had to explain to the workers that they had already received the subsidies, otherwise he would feel guilty.
After he finished speaking, Xia Juhua was silent for a while before speaking: "I have already thought about the situation you are talking about. After all, the road construction in Pingan Village was agreed by the county and the district. Even if your Transportation Bureau is doing it for the county and the district to see, it will send the best people to help."
"But the emperor doesn't need hungry soldiers. How can we, Ping An Village, feel at ease to take advantage of the Transportation Bureau? You don't charge us money, and the salary is paid by the bureau. So all we can do is this lunch."
"Perhaps you think that since the workers have received subsidies from the bureau, Ping An Manor should not provide lunch for them. But have you ever thought that the workers are also human beings, and they have families to support. To put it bluntly, many of these workers come from rural areas, and their entire families depend on them, so they should be given some subsidies to support their families?"
Xia Juhua explained it very clearly, and the technician also figured it out - Xia Juhua was right, getting a job as a road construction worker in the Transportation Bureau sounded like a job with rationed food and monthly salary, but due to the nature of the work, such workers were not as respectable as other workers in factories or institutions, who were all recruited from rural areas in previous years.
Their roots are still in the countryside, and because they have become workers, they have great prospects in the eyes of the villagers. Their families have higher expectations of them than for their brothers and sisters who are still in the countryside, and their demands have increased accordingly.
As a result, they have to pay more money to support their families, otherwise they will be accused of being unfilial and of being workers who do not recognize their parents. Therefore, it is natural for workers to value the subsidies they have received and hope to keep them in their hands.
The technician said to Xia Juhua shyly, "Captain Xia, I'm sorry to make fun of you. Just like what you said, everyone..."
Xia Juhua looked at him with a smile and said, "We are all breadwinners, and this is the same everywhere. Don't feel bad. As long as everyone can repair the road, we in Ping'an Village will be very grateful to everyone." Although Xia Juhua did understand the difficulties faced by the workers, Ping'an Village still had to make progress.
"Don't worry about that." The technician patted his chest and assured Xia Juhua: "Although everyone likes to take advantage of small things, they are not ungrateful. The two of us will definitely watch them carefully and make sure they build the best road in Pingde County."
Just be content. Xia Juhua was about to explain to the technician that the stewed meat would only be eaten today and on the last day, and the rest of the time there would only be stewed vegetables and staple food, so that the workers would not think that Ping An Zhuang was fooling them. Now that the technician had said it himself, she didn't need to mention it again, and went with the technician to the place where everyone was eating.
The meal was delivered by Team Three, which was not far from the construction site. The smell of asphalt was still very strong, but it couldn't stop the satisfied smiles on the workers' faces - in this day and age, seeing two large pots of red, trembling potato stew and an even larger pot of white flour steamed buns that were the size of an adult's head in front of them, it was impossible to stop smiling.
I came to work for the Ping'anzhuang Brigade, so I guess I'm here.
The technician asked Xia Juhua to sit down and eat with everyone. She didn't hesitate and sat down on the open space. She smiled and said to everyone: "Why don't you guys pick up your chopsticks? Come and try it. I don't know if it suits your taste."
The workers still didn't start, and all looked at the technician who came with Xia Juhua. When the technician saw that everyone was looking at him, he put down the chopsticks he had just picked up and said, "The Ping'anzhuang Brigade is considerate of us big bosses and made rice with less salt and oil. They will take care of our lunch for the next few days."
"You all saw it, the members of Pingan Village were reluctant to eat meat, so they left it for us. They were reluctant to eat white flour steamed buns, so they didn't mix any corn flour in the steamed buns they made for us. We can't just eat and forget about the good things. We have to repair the roads for others, and people should be content."
"Captain Xia just told me that it's not easy to support a large family, and we have to take the little food subsidies from the bureau. I thanked Captain Xia on behalf of everyone. But I also told Captain Xia that Ping'an Manor should understand us, and we can't take advantage of Ping'an Manor. In the future, we only need dry food and pickled vegetables for lunch. If you feel sorry for us, please give us a bowl of hot soup, and we will be very grateful. But we can't stew meat or fry vegetables anymore. We can't afford it."
"Yes, that's right. We can't just remember to eat and not remember the good things."
"It's already a big hassle that they prepared meals for us. When we were building roads, we had to eat dry food."
Xia Juhua looked at the technician with gratitude and without saying anything polite, she once again asked everyone to eat quickly to prevent the food from getting cold.
How can a dish with meat be bad? Everyone was hesitant at first, but when they saw that Xia Juhua didn't feel uncomfortable as a woman sitting among a group of old men, they gradually relaxed, talked more, and moved their chopsticks faster. Soon, they had finished two full pots of stewed meat.
"This meal is enough for me to eat in a whole day."
"It's only been one day. Can you eat meat like this during Chinese New Year? I think the people in Ping'an Village have a better life."
"We have wheat as our food, and we have a vermicelli factory. Now we are even building our own roads. If this life is not good enough, what life can be considered good?"
…………
Seeing the workers walking towards the construction site while talking, Xia Juhua asked the technician: "Would you like to take a break?"
The technician shook his head and said, "Why should I rest? I'll feel bad if I rest after eating such a good meal."
Xia Juhua said nothing and just watched the workers smilingly start a new job.
Liu Liqun was still the one who stayed on the construction site to coordinate. He had not eaten with everyone just now. It was not until the technicians went to check the construction quality that he came over and said to Xia Juhua, "Captain, I'm watching over this. You can go back and have a rest."
The workers who had been working all morning were unwilling to rest. Xia Juhua felt that she was not that proud, so she shook her head and said to Liu Liqun, "No need to rest. I will go back and collect the number of adobe bricks that each production team has taken off. Tomorrow I have to go to the Xiawo Brigade to discuss and ask them when they will reopen the kiln for us."
Liu Liqun was delighted when he heard this: "I guess the Xiawo Brigade is looking forward to your visit now."
It's not that Liu Liqun feels too good about himself or says too arrogantly, but that Ping'anzhuang Brigade has not stopped burning bricks before the summer harvest this year. In addition to supplying adobe bricks themselves, coal is also coordinated by Ping'anzhuang itself. Xia'ao Brigade provides manpower, and Ping'anzhuang also exchanges workers for work according to the work points here.
If Xia Juhua's mother's family wasn't from the Xiawu Brigade, how could such a good thing happen to the Xiawu Brigade?
Xia Juhua didn't care about Liu Liqun's joke. She hadn't been back to her parents' home this year. She met her two brothers and their wives. It was Liu Zhiquan and Liu Zhishuang who came to see them off because they were moving. There were so many people and it was so busy that they didn't have a good conversation. It was a good opportunity to go back.
Xia Juhua was the only one at home now. She didn't eat many of the eggs that had been laid since last autumn. She took thirty from each of her two brothers and thirty from her third uncle. She didn't take anything else.
Seeing that she had brought back so many things, Xia Long's wife Xu Hongcui pushed her out directly: "Big sister, I won't let you in. You are the elder sister, how can I let you get things for us every time?"
Xia Juhua squeezed in with a smile: "You guys took a lot of things when you visited me, why can't I bring some back? Besides, this is not for you to eat, this is for Mantun and Manyi to replenish their brains."
Xu Hongcui couldn't really keep her elder sister-in-law out of the door, so she could only pretend to be angry and say, "Feng Ling and I are a very happy mother, how could we let your nephew down?"
Xia Juhua didn't want to argue with her over the eggs anymore, so she just asked, "Where are Xia Long and the others? Are they going to work?"
Xu Hongcui said proudly, "I went to see the brick kiln with my uncle. He said we need to clean up the slag inside. Otherwise, your team will come back to burn bricks. It will take time to clean up now. By the way, big sister, when will you come back to burn bricks?"
Xia Juhua came today just to burn bricks, so she told Xu Hongcui that the bricks would be delivered in two days, and the kiln could be started once the coal arrived. Xu Hongcui was delighted and said:
"That's good. Our captain has long wanted to ask Xia Long to go to Ping'an Village to ask, but I think if your team doesn't need bricks this year, wouldn't it be embarrassing for you if Xia Long went to ask? Let him wait for two days."
Hearing that her brother's wife was thinking about her, Xia Juhua was a little emotional: "It's not a big deal to ask. If there is such a thing again, just let Xia Long go. I can still meet and talk with him more often."
知道他們姐弟關系好，大姑姐更沒少幫襯自家，許紅翠一直把夏菊花當成親姐，小聲對她說：“我們當然願意多上平安莊去。可是大姐，你說要是我們一趟一趟往平安莊跑，人家覺得你是為了幫襯我們，才老找夏窪大隊燒磚，那不是給你添麻煩嘛。”
“我們大隊用磚的地方多着呢。”夏菊花對此并不在意，問：“我不是讓夏龍他們沒事的時候，多脫點土坯打點瓦片嗎，他們脫了沒有？”
許紅翠點頭說：“脫了，你沒見都拿麥稭簾子蓋着呢，就怕下雨糟蹋了。大姐，你讓他們脫這些土坯幹啥，你想蓋磚房？”
夏菊花搖了搖頭：“不是我想蓋，是我們大隊要再建個廠子，用的磚瓦少不了。可是平安莊大隊現在缺的就是人手，所以讓夏龍他們幾個沒事打點土坯，到時候賣給我們大隊，家裏不是又多個進項。”
“那你們平安莊大隊的社員不得有意見？”許紅翠當然願意家裏再增加一項收入，卻怕夏菊花因此被人非議，有些擔心的問。
夏菊花讓她放心：“都說了我們大隊缺人手，不光是你們家，咱們生産隊誰家有用不了的土坯，我們都想一起買過來。”
這個法子夏菊花早就想到了，也跟夏窪大隊的大隊長夏洪民說過一次，聽許紅翠這意思，倒象是夏洪民沒給夏窪大隊的社員說過這事兒。
許紅翠果然沒得到過生産隊的通知，聽說平安莊需要大量的土坯還替夏菊花犯愁：“你們要的量大的話，夏龍他們脫的這些怕是不夠。那天我和鳳玲數過了，兩家加起來的土坯一萬八千四百塊，瓦片一萬五千七百塊。”
“行，我正好要去問問夏洪民啥時候能開窯，順道讓他給我們大隊收點土坯。到時候我讓他先收你們家的。對了，要是有時間的話，讓夏龍他們接着打。我聽說我們生産隊好幾家要蓋房子，今年都忙的沒工夫脫土坯，到時候賣給他們也行。”
聽說夏菊花要去找夏洪民，許紅翠只好放行，嘴裏千叮咛萬囑咐，讓夏菊花中午一定要回家來吃飯，到時候她不來或是自己悄悄回平安莊了，就得讓侄子們去平安莊把人硬接回來。如此跟夏菊花笑了一回，又看着夏菊花騎車走遠了才回院。
夏洪民正在大隊部看報紙，見夏菊花來了馬上站起來：“菊花來啦，我正盼着你來呢。是不是要說燒磚的事兒，你放心，只要你們的土坯運來、煤到位，啥時候來啥時候燒。”
人家态度這麽好，夏菊花還有啥好說的，自然把平安莊大隊的土坯很快會拉過來，等煤再運來後就可以開窯的話又重複了一遍，才問：“大隊長，你們大隊能給我們提供多少土坯、瓦片，想賣多少錢一塊？”
夏洪民有些吃驚的說：“當時我只當你是客氣，回來都沒敢跟社員們提，免得到時不收了，咱們都落埋怨。你說吧，平安莊還差多少土坯、瓦片，我馬上就讓人給你們脫。”說完他懊惱的拍了一下桌子：“你說我咋就忘了，你這人從來不說沒用的話，是不是耽誤你的事兒了？”
夏菊花連忙說：“我們大隊的人也脫些，不過不太夠。你們大隊有多少我們先收多少，等收完了計了數，才能知道還差多少。就是這價錢……”
現在磚不好買，可是土坯上河邊推了土、出點力就能脫出來，所以不值啥錢，夏洪民并不趁此要高價：“現在一塊磚才一分錢，有一大半在人工和煤上。這樣，你覺得土坯一分錢三塊、瓦片一分錢兩塊咋樣？”打瓦片比脫土坯費工夫，價格就比土坯貴些。
這個價錢，比平安莊大隊社員自己脫土坯還便宜些，夏菊花當然同意：“行，那咱們就說好了。我讓夏龍他們兩個脫了些，算下來土坯和瓦片都有一萬多不到兩萬塊，到時候別忘了給他們記上。”
夏洪民連連答應下來，還陪着夏菊花一起到磚窯看了下，讓她好好給提提意見，看磚窯想擴大生産，該多建幾個窯合适。
對于夏洪民想擴大磚廠，夏菊花還是挺吃驚的，畢竟現在煤不好買，來燒磚的人少，擴大磚廠怕是一時賺不着錢。
不想夏洪民想這個問題不是一天半天，現在說起來也頭頭是道：“現在看來是不賺錢，可你們平安莊大隊也就這兩年忙着建廠子，社員們忙了些，顧不得自己家裏的事兒。等到你們不忙了，社員們是不是就想着起新房了？你們平安莊人個個手裏有錢，誰還願意蓋土坯房，那時候不就該需要我們的磚了？”
別覺得夏洪民把希望寄托在平安莊身上太想當然，要知道平安莊大隊的工分值，紅星公社各個大隊都看在眼裏的，再看那一車一車運來的紅薯，以及一車一車運走的酸辣粉和編織品，就能知道未來幾年，平安莊大隊的工分值還會增加。
農民手裏有了錢，頭一件想的除了吃，剩下的就是蓋房子。有一院新磚房，閨女兒子說親都能提高好幾個檔次，平安莊社員為了說兒媳婦、聘閨女，也得蓋新磚房。
夏洪民就是這麽相信平安莊。
聽了夏洪民的理由，夏菊花不得不佩服他這個大隊長的确有眼光，跟着點了點頭：“那倒是，光我那兩個妯娌就想着蓋新房呢，我平時聽着還有好幾家，沒想清楚是蓋土坯房還是蓋磚瓦房。我估摸着，等我兩個妯娌起了磚瓦房，他們也得跟着起。”
夏洪民樂了：“所以我覺得，擴大磚窯是早晚的事兒，那就趕早不趕晚。”說到這兒，他往四下看了一眼，才小聲對夏菊花說：“不瞞你說，要是滿倉他們兩個沒學會燒磚，我也不敢想着擴大磚窯。可三叔說滿倉、滿屋兩個都能出師、自己看窯火了，我這心就動了。”
滿倉和滿屋竟然可以自己看窯火了，讓夏菊花又是一個沒想到，不過馬上替兩個侄子高興起來：“這兩小子竟然能看窯火了，剛才見了都沒跟我說，看我回家不罵他們。這是好事兒，咋還瞞着我呢，真是不懂事，還怕我讓他們請客是咋地。”
華國家長，孩子有了進步心裏再高興，當着外人的面總要謙虛兩句，或是找出些不足說說，免得別人覺得自家炫耀。
夏洪民自然知道這個道理，如一般華國人一樣對夏菊花說：“那兩小子可能是不好意思，才沒對你說。兩個都是好孩子，才大半年就學會看窯火，三叔都說沒想到呢。你不誇人家還要罵，小心下回人家不接你回娘家。”
兩個侄子會不會接自己回娘家，夏菊花并不放在心上：一輩子親，兩輩子表，三輩子算拉倒。就算侄子真不親近自己這個姑姑，對夏菊花來說并不是啥損失。何況上輩子夏菊花那麽落魄，滿倉他們還跟着夏龍一起，到平安莊替她出頭，她才不擔心這輩子兩人反而看不上自己。
這幾次回娘家，幾個孩子的表現，夏菊花都看在眼裏呢。
夏洪民也就是開個玩笑，見夏菊花不當真自己也樂，轉而向夏菊花請求，如果夏窪大隊擴磚窯需要用煤和水泥，她是不是可以幫着協調一下。
對此夏菊花沒拒絕——現在夏窪大隊會看窯火的只有三叔和滿倉、滿屋三個人，擴了磚窯大工只能是他們三個，即對夏窪大隊也對娘家有利的事兒，夏菊花還是願意伸把手的。
見她如此痛快的答應下來，夏洪民高興的拉着她，一定要讓她到自己家吃飯。夏菊花正拒絕着，滿倉跑過來了：“大姑，我娘把飯做好了，讓你說完正事快點回家吃飯，我二叔他們都回家了。”
夏洪民情知請不到夏菊花，幹脆問滿倉：“光請你大姑，沒看到我這個大隊長也站着呢？”
滿倉面對大隊長，就有些拘謹，不過強撐着把話說得體面：“我當然想請大隊長，不是怕大隊長不賞臉嘛。”
“你這個小子，”夏洪民聽了哈哈一樂：“看你心疼的樣，我還非得嘗嘗你娘的手藝去。”
對于夏洪民主動與夏龍兩家拉近關系，夏菊花樂見其成，讓滿倉替自己推着自行車，幾個人很快回了夏龍家。果然如滿倉所說，院子裏擺上了過年吃飯用的大方桌，三叔已經坐在桌前，夏龍、夏虎兄弟兩個站在他兩邊說話。
見夏洪民和夏菊花一起進院，幾個人都有些吃驚，不過很快過來迎接，夏龍邊往裏讓人邊說：“大隊長還是頭一回上我們家，我都不知道說啥好了。飯菜不好，你可別見怪。”
夏洪民不在意的搖了搖頭：“按說咱們都姓夏，是一個老祖宗出來的，不過以前人人忙着糊弄肚子，才沒機會多走動。以後多走動兩回你就知道，我這個人也是有啥說啥，沒那麽些事兒。”
Xia Hongmin was so polite that Xia Long couldn't help but smile sincerely. He hurriedly asked him to sit in the seat of honor, and then turned around to ask Xu Hongcui and Zhang Fengling to serve the dishes. When the dishes were served, Xia Hongmin pointed at the six dishes on the table and said, "Your family's food is not good. You can't even eat it during the Chinese New Year."