Chapter 174
Xia Juhua had not expected that the military families in Ping'an Village had such a high level of self-awareness. The brigade took the initiative to offer them work opportunities, where they could earn cash every month, but they all refused. This made her more determined to take good care of the lives of the military families. Such good soldiers and such good military families should not be taken for granted that they are made of steel and can handle all difficulties on their own just because they have high levels of awareness.
Xia Juhua visited each family one by one, explaining that the three factories were currently receiving too many orders and were looking to recruit more people. The awareness of the military families was obvious to all, so the brigade gave priority to selecting people from the families of military families. This decision was also made so that the children would not have to worry about the future and could concentrate on their training in the army.
Whether their family members go to work in the factory is actually related to whether their children can train in the army with peace of mind. The military families agreed involuntarily - the soldiers in Ping'an Village have completed their three years of compulsory military service and are all kept in the army for training, indicating that they are likely to be selected as volunteers.
Volunteers and conscripts are two different things. Even after retiring, the state will arrange jobs for them, and they will become city dwellers. Although the work points of Pingan Village are now no less than the wages of city workers, people still think that having the opportunity to become a city dweller and having a stable job in the state is much better than being a farmer who depends on the weather for food.
I just don’t know, among the 21 warriors who came out of Ping An Village, whose children will actually be selected as volunteers, and how many of them will have to return to the land of Ping An Village to live again.
Arranging positions for military dependents in the factory was the first step. Xia Juhua and the brigade cadres were discussing the second step: in the first two years, the mother of each soldier could have her work points reduced by half. Xia Juhua knew that was not a long-term solution. Because in less than two years, the big contract responsibility system would be implemented, and everyone would farm independently and no longer exchange work points for food. The so-called care would become a piece of paper, so they still had to think of a long-term plan.
So her opinion was that the profits of the two factories (the weaving factory was the property of the Ping'anzhuang production team and was not considered a factory of the brigade) would increase year by year, so it would be better to directly give each military dependent a cash subsidy of 100 yuan each year in the future to avoid the situation where the work points of several production teams were different, with some military dependents getting more and some getting less.
If everyone's life gets better in the future, the amount can be adjusted along with the rise in living standards, and the military families must not be left at a disadvantage. This money will be paid directly by the brigade, and the production teams do not have to bear the cost.
No one had any objection to this: firstly, the brigade paid directly, which indirectly saved the production team's expenses, and it was easier for the production team leaders to explain to the members. Secondly, who knew whether there would be another recruitment in Pingde County next year. If their children or those of their relatives became soldiers, they could also receive subsidies after this discussion and decision.
Only Li Changshun looked at Xia Juhua after the discussion. After the meeting, he stopped her and asked, "Do you think..."
Xia Juhua didn't remember exactly when the war started, but she remembered that February and March were the most intense periods of the war. It was already late February, and it was estimated that reports would soon reach Ping An Manor. Television was not popular in that era, and information was still mainly disseminated through newspapers and radio. News was not spread as fast as in previous generations. Unfortunately, Ping An Manor didn't have many radios, and the one Xia Juhua got herself had only been turned on a few times after she got it back, and it had been sitting on the top of the cabinet, gathering dust.
She shook her head at Li Changshun. Even with the memories of her previous life and all the clues from this life, she couldn't let this news out.
Li Changshun limped on the ground and turned around twice, looking at Xia Juhua and asked: "Our children..."
Xia Juhua's eyes were red, but she still shook her head at Li Changshun. The old man patted the table beside him, his eyes almost popping out of his sockets: "The American devils can't stand us getting better every day, and we didn't beat them into submission last time! Damn it, I wish I could fight them again."
Maybe he had some misunderstandings about the war, and Xia Juhua did not say anything to correct him. In her heart, she knew that all the scolding was wrong, but the Americans were still determined to destroy us and would not scold us wrongly.
"You don't have to worry about anything else, just keep an eye on the vermicelli factory and the instant noodle factory. How many bags of instant noodles can the factory produce in a day now? Can they supply the troops?" After cursing, Li Changshun quickly adjusted his state and asked about the output of the instant noodle factory.
Xia Juhua was also happy that he stopped dwelling on this topic. She told him about the output of the instant noodle factory and that Chang Chunya had become a qualified leader after more than a year of training, so she didn't have to worry much about the instant noodle factory.
However, Li Changshun felt that only if Xia Juhua looked after the two factories could the members of Ping'an Village work steadily, and he reiterated his suggestion that she should not worry about other things.
Xia Juhua was naturally concerned about the two factories. After all, the production of hot and sour noodles needed to be adjusted, and the demand for instant noodles increased a lot. However, she understood that the two factories now had their own factory managers and team leaders, so she only needed to check for omissions and fill in the gaps, and could not interfere in everything, lest the two factory managers lose their prestige.
Chen Qiusheng and Chang Chunya did not disappoint Xia Juhua and arranged the work in the factory in an orderly manner. Even after the New Year, 21 workers were suddenly recruited, with 10 workers divided between the two factories, and they were arranged without leaving any trace.
Only Liu Sizhuang was not very popular with both factory managers. In the end, Chen Qiu was afraid that Chang Chunya was too young and could not control Liu Sizhuang, so he arranged him to work in the hot and sour noodle factory.
In fact, they were worrying too much. Liu Sizhuang had been bullied by the members of Ping'an Village over the years and had lost all his temper and was not lazy enough to steal. The person in charge of the farm work in the Ping'an Village production team now was Liu Sanzhuang. How could he be polite to Liu Sizhuang, who had once broken his head?
Every time there was a job assigned, Liu Sizhuang was always assigned the heaviest and most tiring one. Was he being lazy? Liu Sanzhuang had already divided everyone's tasks in detail, who would dig which ridge, who would harvest which field, and how long it would take to finish, all of which were average for everyone. If you, Liu Sizhuang, can't finish the work, then you can arrange for someone else to help you finish it, but you should only record 10 work points a day. If someone else helps you, then you can credit them according to how much they helped you.
Liu Si also argued twice at the beginning, and Liu Sanzhuang told him directly: It's okay if you feel tired or feel it's unfair, you can choose the work yourself and also say when you can finish it. But there is one thing, it's not okay to be below the average level of everyone, and it's not okay to delay the farming season.
Liu Sizhuang spent a long time picking the crops himself, and then he realized that there weren't many jobs in Pingan Village that would make people exhausted. For wheat, corn, and sorghum, which were large crops, seed drills and harvesters were used, so how could people be so tired? Sweet potatoes had to be harvested manually, which took a few days. For farmers, it was not that tiring, as it used to be a light job that everyone fought for.
Since he couldn't pick out easier work, he had to complete his own quota: Liu Sizhuang, who had always been lazy, had been recording his work points on other people, and he felt the pain: Ever since Sun Guizhi deducted half of his work points from his food rations, she felt that she earned more than Liu Sizhuang, and she kept scolding him in new ways. He didn't want to be scolded every day, and he urgently hoped to surpass Sun Guizhi in making money again.
Unfortunately, it was not enough to just complete the quantity. Liu Sanzhuang also had to look at the quality. If the seedlings were crooked when the workers were weeding the land, they would be punished. If too much grain fell when the workers were harvesting the land, they would be punished. If water leaked when the workers were watering the land, they would still be punished. Sometimes Liu Sizhuang would even wonder, how did Liu Sanzhuang know that he had already blocked the water?
Later, he discovered that all the members of Ping'an Village who worked in the fields were keeping a close eye on him, hoping that he would make a mistake. Liu Sanzhuang had said that if they found that Liu Sizhuang did not do his job well and reached the standard for deducting wages, the wages deducted from him would be charged to the person who exposed him.
After several years of hardship, even the lazy ones learned to work carefully and try not to let others find fault with them so as to keep their work points. Therefore, after entering the vermicelli factory, Liu Sizhuang really didn't dare to be lazy, let alone disobey orders - he and Sun Guizhi had a fierce fight at home because of who got to work in the factory, and he narrowly won.
After being squeezed out by Sun Guizhi for two or three years, Liu Sizhuang finally had the chance to surpass her, and he felt that he had to seize it. Even though Chen Qiusheng assigned him to the most tiring moving group, he dared not complain or be lazy, for fear that if he complained or was lazy, the factory would fire him directly, and Sun Guizhi would laugh at him when he returned home.
That’s right, the couple now dare not express any dissatisfaction in front of the public of Ping’an Village. They can only rely on despising each other at home to retain a little joy in life.
As long as Liu Sizhuang did not cause trouble in the factory, Xia Juhua and the others did not care about what happened between him and Sun Guizhi. Because the news of the start of the war had spread to every corner of Ping An Village through newspapers and radio.
It was not until the exact report came that Xia Juhua called Lin Hongliang to ask if the soldiers from Pingan Village had gone to the front line. The answer she got was no, Xia Juhua took a long breath and turned to look at the military dependents who surrounded the room.
The military families all had thankful expressions on their faces; they had already figured out the reason behind Xia Juhua's recent series of actions to take care of the military families, thinking that their own children had been dragged to the battlefield.
Now, hearing that the children are still doing well in the training in the northwest, everyone, like Xia Juhua, breathed a sigh of relief. But Xia Juhua knew that they were relieved a little too early. Although the most intense fighting was in February and March of this year, small-scale local conflicts existed until 1989, and many soldiers across the country participated in the rotation of war.
Unless the soldiers of Ping An Village retire this year, they may still have the possibility to go to the battlefield. She also understands the gratitude of the military families and does not look down on them for showing such expressions:
做爹娘的，哪個不盼着孩子平平安安，誰願意白發人送黑發人？而戰場，便是生命收割機，誰也保證不了每一顆流彈的軌跡。
到現在平安莊的軍屬沒有一人哭鬧、報怨，也沒有一個人向她或是部隊提出，要去探親看望戰士，更沒有人當着她的面說讓自己家的孩子退役，夏菊花覺得他們已經很堅強了。
現在有了戰争的消息，粉條廠與方便面廠便實行了兩班倒，工人們同樣沒有怨言，他們全都相信夏菊花所說的，自己生産的酸辣粉或是方便面，可以送到戰場上，為戰士們填飽肚子，讓他們有力氣守護家園。這是一項光榮的任務，苦點累點怕啥？
加班還有加班費，又光榮又得利，工人們高興着呢。
大家都覺得沒過多長時間，就聽到西南的戰争趨于緩和的消息，夏菊花卻知道，真正殘酷的對峙戰，拉開了序幕。
部隊下的訂單，随着戰争緩和的消息，直接減半。林宏亮特意跑了一趟平安莊，告訴夏菊花他們，剩下一半産能生産出的方便面，跟酸辣粉一樣可以供應普通群衆了，而小麥、油以及紅薯，部隊還是能幫助協調。
對于這種近乎補償性質的協調，夏菊花是拒絕的。她覺得部隊的精力，不必放在平安莊的小事兒上，着眼于他們應該着眼的東西便好。
林宏亮笑了：“夏大隊長，你不用太客氣。畢竟現在你們的産品還供應部隊，協調一半是協調，全部協調也不費啥事。”
聽他說得懇切，夏菊花不得不點頭同意，不過還是告訴他，紅薯就不用部隊操心了，承平地區自種的紅薯，現在一收獲都想送到平安莊大隊來，他們自己收購的就足夠生産。
林宏亮聽了點頭：“正好，我可以跟人少交接一樣協調單位。”
夏菊花聽了心頭一緊：“你不在後勤工作了？”
林宏亮向她搖了下頭說：“我還在後勤工作，不過單位要調動了。領導覺得我這幾年協調各項物資能力還行，要給我換個地方。”
“去哪兒？”夏菊花一臉緊張的問他。
林宏亮默默指了一下南面的方向，夏菊花眼圈猛地一紅。她讓林宏亮在大隊部等一會，自己回家拿來幾副鞋墊就往林宏亮的手裏塞，把林宏亮鬧愣了，馬上清醒過來，緊緊攥住還帶着少許寒氣的鞋墊。
他努力向夏菊花笑着說：“夏大隊長，你不拿鞋墊我還忘了告訴你呢，你們平安莊大隊今年寄到部隊的包裹，可算是出了名了。”
夏菊花見他轉移話題，自己也努力輕松有笑着說：“都笑話我們寄的東西太不值錢了吧？”
“哪能。”林宏亮搖着頭否認：“不光沒人笑話，大家都羨慕着呢。平安莊的戰士們拿到鞋墊，一個個尾巴都快翹上天了，走起路來都帶風。”
“孩子們能用上就好。”夏菊花輕輕感嘆了一句。
雖然她的聲音不大，可林宏亮聽清楚了，臉上帶着笑，眼角也有些發潮：“我當時聽說也羨慕的夠嗆。你知道我們那膠鞋，結實是結實，就是有點捂腳。有個鞋墊墊進去，吸汗防潮別提多得勁了。”
聽着他故做輕松的語氣，夏菊花的心更沉重了。哪怕林宏亮只是後勤幹部，可上了戰場哪兒分得那麽清楚？部隊的慣例一向是上了戰場，指揮員犧牲下一級直接沖上去替代指揮，依次類推，直到戰至……
“只要對你們有用就行。如果你墊完了就給我打電話，我再給你做。就是你的戰友們有要用鞋墊的，你也可以告訴我，平安莊雖然能抽出的人手不多，可能做一雙是一雙。”夏菊花能說的，能做的，也就只有這麽多。
林宏亮并不覺得夏菊花做得少。據他所知，部隊這一次所以把他這個西北的後勤幹部調動到前方，就是因為酸辣粉與方便面，幾乎是他替部隊發掘出來的，還與平安莊一直保持聯系，如果真有需要，由他與夏菊花聯系，要比別人減少好些溝通環節。
做了這麽多的夏菊花，卻覺得自己做得遠遠不夠，這讓林宏亮對她的尊敬再上一個臺階，說出的話也比以往少了些客套：“你要是真能給大家都做些鞋墊的話，大家可就太高興了。你知道，有時候，不是一雙鞋墊舒不舒服的問題，而是戰士們知道有人在牽挂他們，鼓舞士氣的問題。”
夏菊花點了點頭，告訴林宏亮，他到南面之後要及時把地扯提供給她，她會多組織些人納鞋墊，直接給他郵寄過去。
這一次的告別，不知何時再能相見，夏菊花在自己家裏準備了十分豐富的晚飯，李長順與五爺、陳秋生等人做陪，與林宏亮話別。
雖然沒上酒，可大家吃到最後都有些微熏的感覺，林宏亮更知道了平安莊戰士當成寶的那包黃土，是五爺替他們準備的，向老人家豎起了大拇指：“您老人家想的周到。我聽說平安莊好幾個戰士，收到後都掉了眼淚，還有好幾個第二天就交了參戰書。”
“出息，看到點黃土哭啥。”五爺回了下頭，順手抹了把臉，轉回頭時神色裏帶着點嫌棄說：“那幫臭小子，在家時候看黃土還沒看夠，至于為那麽一把黃土掉眼淚？”
至于不至于，桌上的人心裏都明鏡似的，只是誰也不說破，第二天全都一張笑臉，高高興興的送林宏亮離開。
得知方便面也能對外出售，齊衛東又是頭一個跑來下訂單的。別說現在他現在算是半個平安莊人，就算普通找上門來的人，只要手裏有介紹信，方便面廠也一律笑臉相迎。
現在再走進方便面廠下訂單的，就不是只出加工費，而是真金白銀的付人民幣，是平安莊的財神爺，不笑臉相迎不是把財神爺趕跑？
平安莊可沒有國營挂面廠那種高高在上的心态，他們尊重每一位拿錢來下訂單的人。尊重歸尊重，價格還是要談的。借鑒了酸辣粉外售經驗，方便面的對外售價訂了三個檔次：
一次性下單一萬箱以上的，每箱售價十五塊錢，合三毛錢一袋。
一次下單位五千箱以上不足一萬箱的，每箱售價十六塊錢，即三毛二分一袋。
一千箱以上五千箱以下的，每箱售價十七塊錢，即三毛四分一袋。
一千箱以下沒再劃分，都是十九塊錢一箱，仍然比酸辣粉那邊一袋少了二分錢。
所以這樣訂價，是因為方便面是初次與大家見面，要搭着酸辣粉的渠道銷售。等到銷量上去了，如果大家對方便面的選擇更多的話，再降酸辣粉的價格不遲——酸辣粉現在還是半自動生産，調料包也比方便面費事些，人工成本比方便面高。
對于這樣的定價，齊衛東是滿意的。別忘了他在方便面廠入了股，方便面廠掙得多了，他能分到的紅就跟着增多，他是傻了才不願意方便面比酸辣粉賣得好呢。
以前給酸辣粉下過訂單的單位，都接到了平安莊寄送的方便面樣品，請他們試吃後自己做出決定。方便面的銷路一下子打開，當月盈利近萬元。
常春芽看着帳上的數目字，以為自己看錯了，用手指一個數一個數點着又念一回，才發現沒看錯，不由看着自己的親爹問了一個讓他無可奈何的問題：“爹，你沒算錯？”
一年多來已經沉穩不少的閨女，竟然質疑他這個三十幾年的老會計，常會計氣憤又無奈：“你爹算了這些年的帳，還沒算錯過。”
常春芽輕聲笑了一下，看着帳本上的餘額咋也看不夠，眼睛一直盯着不動，不過還知道跟親爹解釋：“我不是不信爹，是覺得咋一個月能盈利這老些。這還只是一半的産量呢，要是……”
“你想也別想。”常會計十分嚴肅的看着女兒說：“那一半的産量是幹啥的，你當廠長還能不清楚？你要是敢打那一半産量的主意，大隊長可饒不了你。”
常春芽沖親爹縮了下脖子，搞怪的說：“我就是這麽一說，還能不知道？”
知道就好，常會計可是知道夏菊花對供應部隊的事兒看得多重。再說他是大隊會計，對兩家廠子的原料如何來的心裏清楚着呢，沒有人家部隊幫着協調，方便面廠從哪兒弄那老些面粉和油去？
沒有原料，你東西做得再好吃，也不過是畫餅充饑，沒人買帳的。
哪怕粉條廠與方便面廠只有一半的産量往出賣，到年底的收獲還是讓所有大隊幹部都不淡定：今年有了收益，集資款的利息就要支付給社員們，還有社員用集資款入股方便面廠的分紅，同樣兌現。
集資最多的夏菊花，連利息帶分紅，足足到手四百三十塊錢。集資最少的七奶，也能分到四塊三毛錢，整個平安莊的社員，光是利息與分紅加起來接近八千塊錢！
Ha, the fund-raising back then was equivalent to letting everyone raise a golden hen that lays eggs.
Everyone's income is not just the dividends from the two factories. There is also the income from the factory workers, the income from the crops in the fields, the income from raising chickens, and the income from raising pigs by each production team... All in all, the income of most families exceeds two thousand yuan!