Chapter 176

The cement coordinated by Xia Juhua was delivered to Ping'anzhuang Brigade in just a few days. Members who needed it could go to the brigade and buy it back home or store it in the brigade warehouse according to the order of registration. Most members chose to store it in the brigade warehouse, as they were afraid that if they did not keep it well, the cement would harden and they would have wasted their money.

Before selling cement to the members, Xia Juhua made a request, that is, the members and production teams who were building new houses had to make a commitment and, like the Ping'anzhuang production team, build houses as evenly as possible and not build them haphazardly. They also had to repair and level the drainage ditches to prevent sewage from flowing on the village roads.

The members of each production team were very enthusiastic about this - the houses that had already been built in Ping'an Village were there, and after seeing them, everyone felt that there was no need to splash dirty water into the yard and the street. Whether it was their own yard or the front door, they would feel comfortable walking there.

For the sake of comfort, no one is afraid of being tired and everyone learns how to dig drainage ditches.

It was the coldest time of winter, so it was impossible to build a house, but we could still dig a drainage ditch if we put in some effort, so it was a good opportunity for us to dig a drainage ditch together. If we could dig the drainage ditch in winter, we could directly apply cement and use it when the weather got warmer in spring.

Xia Juhua and several other brigade cadres visited the production teams from time to time to check on the progress of the drainage ditches, which reminded Li Changshun of the time when they all worked together to repair the canals. He sighed to Xia Juhua, "I haven't seen so many people working together in years." At that time, everyone was still worried about having enough food to eat, but now they have begun to beautify their living environment. What a huge change.

Yes, Xia Juhua looked at the members arguing while digging ditches, and nodded: "If everyone hadn't worked hard to repair the canal that year, the land would have become irrigated, the production of wheat and sweet potatoes would have increased, everyone would not have to worry about food, and the vermicelli factory could not have been built." Not to mention the instant noodle factory.

"Captain Xia." Someone came over here on a bicycle, waving his hand at Xia Juhua and shouting, "It's the commune's phone call." While he was talking, the person had already arrived. Who could it be if it wasn't Chang Accountant?

Xia Juhua asked in some confusion: "Who is calling from the commune? Can't I tell you if there is something?" Accountant Chang spends most of his time in the brigade headquarters, so if there is any notification from the commune, people can usually tell him directly.

Accountant Chang had just ridden his bike in a hurry and was still out of breath. "Yes, it was Secretary Zhang from the commune who called. He said there was something important and asked you to call him right away. Call him back."

It was Secretary Zhang who called personally. No wonder he didn't tell Accountant Chang what was going on. Xia Juhua pushed her bicycle over and rode to the brigade headquarters. Her voice was anxious as she spoke on the phone: "Secretary Zhang, what's going on?"

Secretary Zhang's voice on the phone was quite calm: "It's like this, a reporter from the Southern Military Region wants to interview Ping'an Village, accompanied by reporters from the regional daily newspaper, county daily newspaper and comrades from the propaganda department, and two deputy ministers are with them. You must provide a good reception for them."

Why are you here for an interview? Xia Juhua was a little confused: "Interview? Are you here to interview Ping An Zhuang or the weaving team? Why are you here for an interview in Ping An Zhuang?"

"Neither. From what I heard from the Southern Military Region, it seems that they want to interview you personally this time." Secretary Zhang himself didn't quite understand what was going on, but he still had to do his job as he was receiving the interview:

"Although we are interviewing you personally, they must also take a look at the overall appearance of Ping An Village. After all, the achievements made by Ping An Village in recent years are closely related to you. So you must let the members be well prepared, and all production teams should pay attention to the appearance of the village."

Xia Juhua was not worried about the appearance of the production teams in Ping'an Village. She asked, "When will the reporters arrive? Do we need to prepare dinner for them?"

"Comrade Xia Juhua," Secretary Zhang called out on the other end of the phone, "Even if ordinary people come to visit Ping'an Village, you still have to entertain them. The reporter is interviewing you, and there are two leaders following him, and you don't even want to treat them to a meal?"

"No," Xia Juhua could tell that Secretary Zhang was still a little nervous, so she quickly explained and comforted him, "That's not what I meant. We have to entertain guests, and I'm not afraid that if we don't meet the standard, it will bring shame to the commune. Besides, the chickens I raised have all been handed over to the collection station this year, and my family is really... I have to arrange for someone to buy food for me."

Secretary Zhang said very firmly: "You may be able to fool others with this, but you are far from fooling me. How many chickens did you raise in Ping'an Village this year? You only handed over 30 to the purchasing station. I don't know how many you have left? Unless you eat a chicken a day, there must be plenty of chickens in your backyard."

All right, you are the leader and you have the final say. Xia Juhua put down the phone and felt that it was not a good thing for the leaders to know too much about the grassroots. For example, the number of chickens raised in Pingan Village had indeed exceeded the range of 30, but the number of chickens handed over to the collection station was still the 30 stipulated by Uncle Qi in 1977. The rest was digested by Qi Weidong, and some were left for laying hens. In fact, there were not many that could be killed.

But if this were said to Secretary Zhang, he would certainly not believe it. He would only remember that Master Wu had been hatching chicks continuously, and as a member of the Ping'anzhuang Brigade, he had never allowed his chicks to be exported.

So it is almost a foregone conclusion that a chicken in your backyard will be slaughtered.

Since we can't escape, let's add a few more. Xia Juhua opened the door of her office and wanted to call Accountant Chang to arrange for someone to buy meat - it's cold now, and the meat can be kept for a few days if it is bought early - when she heard the sound of cars coming from the road.

Xia Juhua had not expected the reporters to arrive so quickly. She hurried to the gate of the brigade headquarters and found that two jeeps had already left the rural road and were heading towards the brigade headquarters.

Accountant Chang, who followed her out, exclaimed, "Where did the car come from?"

Xia Juhua hurriedly told him that they might be here for an interview, and asked him to arrange to buy meat and prepare lunch as soon as he finished meeting the people. Needless to say, in recent years, Xia Juhua's family usually prepared meals, and Accountant Chang asked familiarly, "Do you still want to ask Xiao Man's mother to help?"

Xia Juhua nodded and walked with Accountant Chang to the parked jeep. The reporter from the County Daily Newspaper who got out of the first car had dealt with Xia Juhua twice before. He just nodded to her and quickly walked to the next car and opened the back door.

The three people who came down were all wearing blue-black Zhongshan suits with their buttons buttoned tightly. They looked very serious and kept turning their heads to look around the environment around the brigade headquarters.

After all the people got off the jeeps, Xia Juhua found that there were nine people in the two jeeps. She thought to herself, fortunately there was no such thing as overloading at this time, otherwise it would be very difficult for the traffic police.

"Captain Xia, come here, let me introduce you." The county reporter, who had met Xia Juhua once, called Xia Juhua to a man in a Zhongshan suit and said, "This is Comrade Li Honglin, deputy director of our county's propaganda department."

Xia Juhua smiled and said, "Hello, Minister Li. Welcome to the Ping'anzhuang Brigade to guide our work."

Minister Li's serious expression finally relaxed a little, and he took over the introduction responsibility of the county reporter and introduced to Xia Juhua the deputy commander of the regional propaganda department, Dai Hongzhou, the military newspaper reporter Zhang Tianming, and the regional daily reporter Xie Jingfei. As for the county newspaper reporter Lin Shutang, he did not need to introduce him.

Xia Juhua kept smiling and expressed warm welcome to every leader and reporter who came to Ping'an Village to provide guidance, and invited everyone to come to the brigade headquarters and sit down to talk.

After sitting down and pouring some water, the acting deputy director of the region spoke: "I heard that the Ping'anzhuang Brigade is doing well, but I didn't expect it to still maintain a hard-working and simple style. The office conditions of the brigade are very simple."

Seeing that his expression was calm and he had no intention of blaming her, Xia Juhua said, "The old man taught us that we must make sure our comrades maintain a hard-working and simple work style. We in Ping'an Village remember the old man's teachings and dare not engage in extravagance and waste."

"When the leaders came, they should have seen the road from Pingan Village to the county seat. It was built with funds raised by the members. Until now, the funds have not been returned to the members, so how can the brigade cadres dare to improve the office conditions themselves?"

"Oh?" The acting deputy minister showed a curious expression on his face: "Such a wide and smooth asphalt road, was it built by members' collective funds? How much did it cost to build the road, and how much did everyone raise?"

The Ping'anzhuang Brigade is not really short of money to return to its members, but the instant noodle factory has paid considerable dividends, so it would be better to let everyone continue to invest in the instant noodle factory. Therefore, the brigade did not even mention the repayment of the funds raised this year.

However, since the leader asked and there were reporters following, Xia Juhua had to think about her words: she had just put down the phone call with Secretary Zhang when these people arrived at Ping'an Village, seemingly trying to catch her off guard. Generally, such people are picky about questions, and if they answer carelessly, they are easily caught in a trap.

"If you want to get rich, build roads first. Although we farmers are the propertyless class and members of the revolution, we also need food and clothing. The old man led us to make a revolution so that the vast majority of the propertyless class can have their own land and live and work in peace and contentment." Xia Juhua first sang a few high-sounding words, and at the same time sublimated the behavior of the people of Ping'anzhuang raising funds to build roads.

Then she said, "In order to allow the majority of members to live a better life, and at the same time to allow the products of Ping An Village to be delivered in time to ensure the supply of the troops, we think that this road must be built."

The reporter from the military newspaper interrupted and asked her, "The products you mentioned that Ping An Village supplies to the troops, are you referring to instant hot and sour rice noodles and instant noodles?"

Xia Juhua nodded: "Yes. At that time, the road from Pingan Village to the county town was full of potholes, and the troops' vehicles got stuck in potholes several times. Pingan Village did not have any towing equipment, so the members had to carry the vehicles on their shoulders and dig them out with their hands. It took a lot of time and made us realize the urgency of road repair."

“可是縣交通局經費緊張，拿不出給平安莊修路的錢。社員們為了不耽誤供應部隊，不得不想出了集資的辦法。大家不僅出錢還出力，才把這條路修通了。”哪怕面對來意不明的宣傳部長，夏菊花說到最後還是有些小小的驕傲。

看吧，這就是平安莊的社員，他們的付出是巨大的，也是盡了全力的。

代副部長的眉頭卻皺了起來：“平安莊的社員這麽有錢嗎，我印象裏修路可是燒錢的事。這麽長的路，應該不是小數目吧？”

夏菊花認同的點點頭說：“的确不是小數目。我們平安莊的社員同志們，把自己的家底都掏出來了，大家一共集資了九萬零三百二十元錢。”

數字的确讓人震撼：來人中工資最高的應該是代副部長與軍報張記者，他們的工資都沒有過一百，聽到平安莊社員竟然一下子集資這麽多，感到十分震驚。

張記者又問了：“大家集資這麽多錢，生活咋保證？萬一家裏有急事咋辦？”

夏菊花覺得他的問題，比代副部長的實際得多，沖他笑了一下才說：“我們平安莊大隊的小麥畝産，這些年一直穩定在六百斤左右，所以大家的口糧是不缺的。由于大家集資後手裏沒啥餘錢，大隊又要發展副業生産，便決定每戶增加養雞定額。一來支持廣大市民的菜籃子，二來也可以增加一部分社員的收入。”

代副部長看着侃侃而談的夏菊花，聽她一樣一樣數說着平安莊的成就，眼神終于不再平靜，而是時時震撼，處處驚訝。

“也就是說，你們平安莊大隊，現在每年每戶上交收購站的成雞，都達到了三十只？”代副部長又問了一個不算好回答的問題。

夏菊花如同沒看到他神情變化一樣，依然點頭做答：“是的，每戶都是三十只。”至少每年交到收購站的是這麽多。

“那你自己呢？據我們了解的情況，你兩個兒子都帶着老婆孩子進了城，你又要忙大隊的工作，還要對外聯系編織組的訂單，你也每年交三十只嗎？”代副部長目光炯炯的看着夏菊花。

夏菊花與他直直對視，很肯定的點頭：“不錯，我也每年交三十只。領導如果不相信的話，我們各生産隊每年交雞時，都會做一下登記，誰家交了多少只雞、一共多重都有記錄，為的是交回來之後好給社員們分錢。”

代副部長仿佛抓住了啥把柄一樣問：“不是說社員是代大隊養的雞嗎，收入也應該歸大隊所有，咋還要給社員分錢呢？”

老狐貍。

夏菊花心裏暗罵了一聲，臉上還保持着得體的微笑：“社員是代大隊養的沒錯。可雞要吃糧食，得有人喂養才能變成成雞。我們登記的本意，就是要計算一下成雞的合格率。達到合格率的社員，大隊當然要給他們記工分、核算吃的糧食錢。”

對于她這個答案，代副部長看不出滿意不滿意，輕輕點了下頭又問：“剛才有一個問題我忘記問了。平安莊大隊社員集資修路，夏大隊長你集資了多少？”

當時集資的時候，夏菊花就把自己錢的來路向社員說了個明白，現在不怕再對代副部長說一遍：“我集資的錢有點多，一共集資了五千塊。”

如同一塊石頭扔進平靜的湖面，來人個個動容。他們都是國家幹部，每個月有工資收入，可讓他們拿出五千塊錢來，在座的沒有一個人能拿得出。

夏菊花一次集資就集這麽多，看向她的目光都帶上了探究與質疑。

夏菊花不緊不慢的說：“我所以集資這麽多，是因為這錢我自己拿着有愧，覺得不如用來修路，讓自己心裏好過一些。”

“你心裏的愧？”代副部長的眼神裏重新出現了審視：“為啥有愧，是因為這錢來得……”

“領導，我覺得你可能想岔了。”夏菊花沖代副部長搖了搖頭，把自己因為替國家節省了外彙資金，得到部委與省裏雙重獎勵的事情簡單說了一下：“……做為無産階級的一員，為國家做貢獻，是我義不容辭的責任。可是國家卻給了我這麽豐厚的獎勵，我自己拿着覺得有愧，正好用來給大夥修路，讓大家都能感覺到集體的溫暖。”

張記者率先鼓起掌來。他覺得自己來采訪夏菊花的決定，實在太英明了。那些覺得夏菊花只是給戰士們寄了幾雙鞋墊，沒有啥實質幫助的人，都來聽聽吧，知道知道夏菊花這個人，究竟該不該報道，她的事跡是不是突出！

他都想好了，等自己回去把報道寫好，就直接拍到那些質疑夏菊花人的臉上，讓他們知道知道，看似平凡的人，做着平凡的事兒，成就的可不一定是平凡！

代副部長已經站了起來，向夏菊花微微彎了下腰：“夏大隊長，我首先要向你道歉。”

夏菊花與在座的人都是一愣，她連忙站起來說：“代副部長，你這是從哪兒說的，你來指導我們平安莊的工作，我們高興還來不及呢，哪還用得着道歉。”

代副部長十分堅定的表達着自己的歉意：“在軍報張記者與宣傳部聯系的時候，部裏是不大同意他來采訪你的。在我們看來，你給戰士們郵寄鞋墊，是千千萬萬群衆都在做的事兒，雖然你堅持的時間最長，郵寄的數量最多，可終究只是鞋墊。”

“來到平安莊之後我才發現，部裏與我都狹隘了。你的堅持，證明你一直把戰士們放在心中，不是三分中熱度。你郵寄的數量那麽多，縫進鞋墊裏的是你牽挂戰士們的綿綿心意。”

“而平安莊社員在你的帶領下，都加入到牽挂戰士、為戰士辦實事辦好事的行列中來，這種帶動作用是不可估量的。所以這個歉我必須道，請你原諒我沒有調查研究就先入為主的主觀主義作風。”

縣宣傳部李副部長也坐不住了，站起來對代副部長和夏菊花說：“代副部長的主觀主義，歸根結底是我沒有向代副部長介紹好平安莊，介紹好夏菊花同志。如果說要道歉的話，應該是我先道歉。”

夏菊花讓兩人搞的有些忙亂：“兩位領導太客氣了，我們也沒做啥事，的确當不起軍報的報道。領導們能來平安莊看看，指出我們的不足，是為了我們以後更好的為集體做貢獻，可談不上道歉不道歉的。”

見兩位副部長還有說話，夏菊花覺得大家一直呆在大隊部，道歉這個環節只怕過不去，便提議：“既然領導們來了，是不是視察一下我們的粉條廠和方便面廠，順便給我們的工人鼓鼓勁？”

張記者馬上響應：“要參觀要參觀。我們戰士對平安莊的兩樣方便食品，都十分歡迎。尤其是守陣地的戰士，很多時候補給運不上去，全靠這兩樣食品補充體力。”

“戰士們都反應，吃上熱氣騰騰的酸辣粉或是方便面，踩着硬實的鞋墊，心裏只有一個想法，那就是一定要守住國土，讓全國人民都能平安吃到這麽好吃的食物，這樣才對得起牽挂他們的人民。”

兩位副部長剛才都已經聽出來，這兩樣食品平安莊都是優先供應部隊的，看向夏菊花的目光裏帶了佩服：很多人還沒做啥事，就吵吵的盡人皆知，生怕自己要做的事別人不知道。

夏菊花做了那麽多事，卻一點風聲都沒出平安莊，把謙遜的美德表現得淋漓盡致。

而他們，在來之前還對夏菊花有諸多猜測，以為她可能要賺好名聲。現在看來自己的猜測是多麽淺薄——人家還用得着賺好名聲？就憑部裏省裏的雙重獎勵，人家的名聲怕是早傳到他們想都不敢想的人耳中了。

可夏菊花見到他們後，還是那麽謙虛，并沒拿領導們壓人，也沒因為自己一開始有些刻薄的問題露出不滿，這份心胸讓人不得不佩服。

對兩位的心路歷程，夏菊花沒興趣探究，只要他們不再追着自己道歉就行了。她帶着大家先到了離大隊部比較近的粉條廠，代副部長一看粉條廠的牌子，又有話問了：“夏大隊長，不是說這裏生産酸辣粉兒嗎，咋叫粉條廠呢？”

夏菊花只好向他解釋，粉條廠建立的初衷，是解決生紅薯不好存放的問題，才組織大家成立粉條廠一起漏粉。因為平安莊的戰士們離家遠，怕他們想家，自己想讓他們吃到家鄉正宗的酸辣粉，才想出了包裝調料的辦法。所以哪怕現在廠子的主打産品已經成了酸辣粉，還是延續了粉條廠的叫法。

“原來從那個時候，夏大隊長就關心部隊的建設了。”張記都十分感嘆，一個人做一件事很容易，堅持幾年如一日做一件事并不容易，這件事與自己一點利益關系都沒有，那就更難了。

"It's not that I care about the army's development." Xia Juhua felt that reporter Zhang's tone became more elevated when he mentioned her today, so she had to calm him down: "To be honest, I just feel sorry for the children in Pingan Village. They have never been far away from home, and suddenly they are thousands of miles away from home. I am afraid that they will miss home, so I came up with this idea."

"But I understand that among the soldiers of Ping'an Village, none of your own children are there." Reporter Zhang disagreed with Xia Juhua's low-key attitude.

Xia Juhua wanted to keep a low profile: "But there are two of them, both of them are my nephews."

"From what I understand, the parents of one of the soldiers had conflicts with you. I think he is one of the nephews you mentioned." Reporter Zhang sighed, "Even if his parents had conflicts with you, you still treated that soldier equally. Captain Xia, you made the hot and sour noodles with this motherly love, right?"