Chapter 177
Well, Xia Juhua had figured it out. Reporter Zhang was going to push her to the limit today. She felt it was time for her to give up the struggle.
There was no point in not giving up. Once they entered the hot and sour noodle factory, the three reporters, two ministers and their entourage randomly asked questions to any worker. Everyone unconsciously shifted the topic to Xia Juhua, and talked about how she led everyone to build the noodle factory from scratch, and described it in detail.
The pride and identification in the tone made Xia Juhua, who was listening, want to find a hole to crawl into: I know you like to flatter people, but you say nice things and compliments to people in person for free, without considering the feelings of the person concerned?
No one at the scene paid attention to Xia Juhua's feelings. Reporter Zhang kept taking pictures of the workers, the machines, the vermicelli coming out of the pot, the dough balls being formed, and the smooth packaging line. Most of the shots were directed at Xia Juhua, with Xia Juhua pointing at the vermicelli factory sign, looking down at the production line, and laughing with the workers... He wanted to bring vivid pictures to those who questioned his choice of topic.
The reporters brought by the two deputy ministers were also busy, with their cameras clicking non-stop, just from different angles: they had received instructions from the two leaders to report on the Ping An Zhuang Brigade from all angles and all the changes before and after it smashed the criminal group.
The two leaders have communicated that they will simultaneously establish the Pinganzhuang Brigade as a model. This is a model for the development of production in Pingde County and even the Chengping region. It must be established, immediately, and firmly.
The two ministers made the decision after hearing the workers' introduction that Xia Juhua, against all odds, decided to supply the troops with hot and sour rice noodle, charging only 0.15 cents for each bag of processing fee and selling it to the outside world at 0.40 yuan.
In the face of huge profits, he was not tempted and was dedicated to ensuring the needs of the troops. Such a model is not solid. Will it allow those false and empty models to prevail? The criminal group has been destroyed for three years. It is time for the peaceful region to have a collective model of thriving after the destruction of the criminal group.
That's right, unlike the military newspaper's attempt to establish Lixia Juhua as an individual model, the region and the county all wanted to establish Ping'anzhuang Brigade as a collective model. Because the propaganda of this era still believes that collective power is greater than individual power, and that only a heroic collective can breed great individuals. They subconsciously ignore the role of individual personality charm in driving the collective.
Xia Juhua had no objection to this. Relatively speaking, she was more willing to accept the collective model set by the region and the county: her goal was to quietly earn some money, invest it in the agricultural and trade market that would soon be built in Qiweidong, and live a peaceful and comfortable life in the future.
Although it seems that she is getting further and further away from her goal now, she still hopes that after taking over the whole contract, everything will return to the track she wants.
The minister and the journalists on the other side, although with different goals, were surprisingly excited: there were too many attractions in Ping'an Village, not to mention the two food factories that provided strong support to the troops at the front, there was also the weaving factory that had not yet been seen and was the first to create foreign exchange for the country, which also sounded like there was room for development.
In addition to the weaving factory, the development of Pinganzhuang's sideline business also surprised them. After visiting the members, they found that their understanding was not accurate. The number of chickens raised by each member of Pinganzhuang brigade was not 30 at all, but more than 50. The only one who did not exceed this number was the brigade leader Xia Juhua herself.
The leaders selectively ignored the whereabouts of the extra chickens and were concerned about why Xia Juhua did the same as the other members and raised more chickens. Wouldn't that increase her personal income?
When asked why she only raised 30 chickens, Xia Juhua wanted to laugh: Although the quota for raising chickens has been relaxed, the average production team member raises more than a dozen chickens a day, which is considered brave in a production team. When she arrived in Ping'an Village, she raised 30 chickens, which turned out to be "only raising 30 chickens". What a sharp contrast.
Funny as it is, she still had to answer the question raised by others: "It was me who proposed to the members to help the brigade raise children and develop side businesses, so I can't use my job as an excuse to separate myself from the members, so the quota must be enough to support them."
Seeing that everyone nodded in agreement with her idea of raising chickens with a quota, Xia Juhua changed the subject and said, "But my energy is really limited. I don't have the ability to raise chickens above the quota. So I only raise 30 chickens a year to ensure the number I hand over to the purchasing station. I have a subsidy from the team leader, so I don't care whether the income increases or not."
Listen, what a noble character this is. Reporters and ministers have heard from members that Xia Juhua is concerned about every aspect of Ping An Village. Under such heavy workload, in order to stay in harmony with the members, Xia Juhua actually sacrificed her few rest time and always shared the joys and sorrows with the members. If we don't promote such a person, who else should we promote?
The two ministers discussed quietly and decided to highlight Xia Juhua's image when promoting the group - those who were in charge of publicity knew that a train can only run fast if it is led by the locomotive. Ping An Village had achieved such great success, and the role of Comrade Xia Juhua as the locomotive could not be ignored.
No one in the group noticed that the distance between the production teams of Ping'anzhuang Brigade was far. They let the jeep follow slowly behind them, walking leisurely on the flat and wide village road.
"If I hadn't experienced it myself, I wouldn't have believed anyone who told me this was just a village road." The acting deputy minister stomped his feet as he walked, "This is a smooth road, much better than the roads in Pingde County, Deputy Minister Li."
Deputy Minister Li looked a little disappointed, but he forced a smile and said, "This is all because the members of Ping An Village have a high level of awareness. I don't think people in the county can use all their assets to raise funds."
Xia Juhua dared not admit this, or she would have offended everyone in Pingde County: "Minister Li is too serious. This road is not only the result of the fundraising of Pingan Village members, but also the asphalt coordinated by the army leaders for us. This alone has saved us a lot of funds, so that we can build the village roads between the production teams while building the highway to the county."
Reporter Zhang said hurriedly: "Captain Xia, you are exaggerating. The army leaders have always been very grateful to Ping An Village for supporting the army. The hot and sour rice noodles and instant noodles you support the army earn more than 20 cents less per bag than selling them to outsiders. In a year, it is much more than the asphalt."
Although this is true, there is no need to bring it up now. Xia Juhua looked at reporter Zhang with some resentment, thinking that he was causing trouble for her. Reporter Zhang smiled silently: Why can't good comrades promote it, but have to make silent contributions? Only when such comrades promote it more can they lead other comrades to learn and make progress together.
Soon, we arrived at the Pinganzhuang production team and found that the streets here were cleaner than those of the three production teams we had passed. The ditches on the roadside had been dug. Although there was some soil piled up by the ditches, members would push carts to transport the soil away from time to time.
As soon as the small cart in front pushed the soil away, an elderly man or woman would come out of the yard and sweep the mud on the road with a broom, leaving no trace of the soil pile.
Deputy Minister Li also had to sigh: "The members of Ping'an Village all love their village very much."
Xia Juhua agrees with this: "We all live together in the village. If we see dirt on a daily basis, you sweep it and I shovel it. It doesn't take much effort. But if we pretend not to see it and no one does anything, it will be much more troublesome when everyone wants to clean up together."
This is the truth, but there are very few people or villages who can do it. The minister and the reporters looked at Xia Juhua with a different look. They all had an idea in their minds that this was the truth, and Xia Juhua must have instilled it into the members.
While thinking, the deputy director exclaimed: "Captain Xia, why do the houses on the east and west ends of your village look quite different to me?"
It would be strange if it wasn’t big. Xia Juhua calmly explained to the leaders: “The residential land we have allocated in the past two years is concentrated in the west of the village. The east of the village is full of old houses.”
So that's how it is. The deputy minister nodded gently, and walked towards the west of the village, comparing the difference between the houses on the east and west sides. This comparison made him even more shocked: "You have built a lot of new houses in the past two years." And they are all brick and tile houses.
Xia Juhua's heart was once again filled with an irrepressible sense of pride: "Yes. Compared with the other four production teams, Ping'anzhuang Production Team has the income from the weaving factory, and the members get more dividends. Everyone has more money, so they want to live better. I thought that since everyone wants to build a new house, we might as well build it as uniform, neat, and complete in facilities as possible."
Well, in an era when most rural areas were still worried about building a mud-brick yard, Captain Xia was indeed not an ordinary person to come up with these three points. Apart from other things, farmers often regard building a new house as their lifelong pursuit. Some families even build a new yard after several generations, so they naturally have their own ideas and plans.
But the well-regulated brick houses standing tall at the west end of Ping'an Village told the Minister and the reporters that the three points Xia Juhua mentioned were implemented exactly by the members of Ping'an Village. What a strong organizational ability and appeal!
"Captain Xia, which yard is yours? Let's go and identify the door. The acting deputy minister must be tired from walking, so let's sit in your house for a while." Reporter Zhang suggested. He wanted to capture the yard where Xia Juhua lived in the camera as well, to show people every detail of Xia Juhua.
不料夏菊花回頭看了一下說：“要去我家呀，咱們已經走過了。”現在他們已經快到村西了，離夏菊花家有幾十米的距離。
謝記者忍不住問：“夏大隊長你家咋沒蓋磚瓦房，是因為錢都集資修路了嗎？”如果是這樣可就太好了，又是一個夏菊花同志公而忘私的好素材。
可惜夏菊花同志實在沒有配合記者的經驗，張嘴就是大實話：“不是錢不夠。你們知道我兩個兒子都進城了，家裏只有我一個人，住啥房子也就是睡一覺的事兒。等啥時候我不用管大隊的事兒了，再蓋房子也不遲。”
謝記者與林記者都遺憾的搖了搖頭，只有張記者追問：“夏大隊長，你就不怕自己一直不蓋新房，被人誤會為沽名釣譽嗎？”
“啥？”夏菊花沒聽說過這個詞，不知道是啥意思。聽張記者給她解釋後哈哈笑了：“我就是一個大隊長，又不是國家幹部，要好名聲幹啥？社員們相信我，我就繼續幹這個大隊長，要是不相信我，我不幹不就中了。”真的從現在就不幹大隊長，正合她的心意。
所有人聽了又是一愣，他們都聽出夏菊花是發自內心說出這番話的。
“你想不幹大隊長，我們這些孤老咋辦？”一個蒼老的聲音突然插進來，只見一個老太太有些生氣的看着夏菊花，手裏還拿着納了一半的鞋墊。
夏菊花忙賠笑說：“七奶，這麽冷的天你咋出來了。今天領導來咱們大隊視察，我就是那麽一說。你放心，就算我不當大隊長了，誰接任大隊長，也不能虧了你們這些老人。”
代副部長等人頭一次見夏菊花如此向人賠小心，不由問：“這位是……”難道是夏大隊長的婆婆，可她婆婆不應該由她自己供養嘛，咋還有下任大隊長的事兒？
七奶癟了癟嘴，向代副部長等人介紹自己說：“我是平安莊生産隊的五保戶。自從菊花當了生産隊長，就對我們這些五保戶照顧着呢。口糧是跟大夥發一樣的，還給我們蓋了養老院，年底給我們分零花錢。我們自己養雞的錢，也都自己裝着。你們說，這麽好的人不當大隊長，啥人當大隊長？”
平安莊只是一個大隊呀，竟然建了養老院？代副部長覺得又一次被刷新了認知，看着七奶問：“你們養老院建在哪兒，一共有幾個人？是全大隊的五保戶都住在這兒嗎？”
七奶看向夏菊花，代副部長以為她在等着夏菊花的示意，看向夏菊花的目光裏重新帶上探究。不想七奶直接瞪了夏菊花一眼，說：
“我們養老院不是平安莊大隊的，是我們平安莊生産隊的。現在才我跟老董頭子兩個人。我都跟你說了，我們兩個活不了幾年啦，住自己的老房子就得。你說你非得費那老些錢，給我們蓋新院子。有那錢你自己蓋座磚瓦房，也省得志全他們兄弟不放心你，總想把你接到城裏不是。”
養老院竟然是新蓋出來的，還是平安莊生産隊以一己之力蓋的，代副部長一行人顧不得再走訪其他社員家庭，跟着絮絮叨叨的七奶，一起來到養老院門前。
牌子已經挂了一段時間，卻被七奶每天擦得幹幹淨淨，讓人懷疑是不是為了應付檢查新挂上的。可進院一看，這個疑問馬上被打消了：院子裏向陽的地方，豎着一個桌子，桌面上剛打好的袼褙平整的貼在上頭。
夏菊花不由說：“七奶，不是跟你說了這些房子你們随便用，直接給哪間屋子升着火，一天就能烘幹，費事晾在外頭幹啥。”
七奶繼續不滿的瞪夏菊花：“燒火不得費柴火。那柴火都是大夥幫着背來的，能省點就省點。這幾天仙枝她們又趕訂單，一時半會用不着袼褙，慢慢晾來得及。”
雖然她在瞪夏菊花，說出來的話也不算客氣，可代副部長他們就是覺得兩人之間十分親近，七奶的抱怨帶着些向夏菊花撒嬌的意味。
想想似乎有些詭異，可這種感覺揮之不去。
聽到動靜出門的老董叔，也向夏菊花說：“菊花，你跟他們說說，別老給我們送東西了。我還能背得動柴火，七奶養的雞下蛋也夠我們兩吃了。”
夏菊花跟沒聽見一樣，向代副部長一行介紹了七奶與老董叔。一聽來的是縣裏和地區的領導，老董叔就抹上了鼻子：
“我做夢都沒想到自己能住上這樣的房子。舊社會象我這樣的人，那就是自己死了沒人埋的下場。可你看看我現在住的屋子，吃的、穿的、用的，自己有兒女的人也沒我的好。”
夏菊花想反駁他的話：“你吃的……”
“你給我閉嘴。”老董叔不客氣的打斷夏菊花的話：“天天幹了啥事也不讓說，老不說你想憋死我？人家幹壞事怕人知道，你幹了好事憑啥不讓我說？”
行吧，這老頭住了幾天養老院，脾氣也長起來了。代副部長等人發現夏菊花拿老董叔同樣沒辦法，不由紛紛向老董叔打聽起平安莊的變化來。
老董叔平時沒事，就是在村裏走動，平安莊的變化都在他心裏裝着呢：“……要是沒有菊花，現在我們平安莊還得冬天挖渠、夏天挑河水抗旱呢，哪能過上這麽好的日子。”
“都是大家夥一起幹的，你咋老說我呢。”夏菊花沖着老董叔嘟嚷了一句，被他一瞪眼吓回去了。
代副部長四下裏看完院子，又進屋看了老董叔與七奶住的地方，發現外頭雖然寒冷，屋裏卻暖和得讓人頭上冒汗，不由向夏菊花伸出手。
夏菊花的手剛跟他握到一起，代副部長便說：“夏菊花同志，你做的這些事，讓我們這些當領導幹部的人，心中有愧呀。”
夏菊花松開他的手，連連搖頭說：“從我嫁進平安莊，幾位老人都是看着我成長起來的，以前都沒少幫我。現在大家日子過好了，總不能還讓老人們吃糠咽菜不是。”
代副部長這次不管她如何謙虛，把平安莊對老人們的待遇問了個詳細，幾位記者飛快的記錄着，老董叔與七奶想起一樣，就在旁邊補充一樣。
聽說除了兩位住在養老院的老人，五爺也一直幫着夏菊花出主意管理平安莊，代副部長提出要拜訪一下，夏菊花自然同意。
在領幾個人去五爺家之前，一行人還是把村西的三條短街都轉了一遍，對于夏菊花提出的不能往湙河直接排污水的理論，有了深刻認識，并表示贊同。
如果他們真跟自己表現的那樣重視，夏菊花覺得今天接待他們就沒白接待，至于自己是不是會當典型，倒沒往心裏去。
她是不往心裏去，平安莊的社員可看重這次采訪。不管記者走進哪家，都得到了熱情招待，社員們不僅給他們沏上茶水，還能拿出一兩樣糖果，讓記者們對平安莊的富裕有了更直觀的印象。
臨走之前，代副部長再一次握住夏菊花的手說：“夏大隊長，要是我們的大隊、生産隊都能跟平安莊一樣，實現農業現代化就不遠了。感謝你呀，給我們上了生動的一課，讓我們知道下一步農村該如何發展。”
帽子有點大，夏菊花覺得自己接不住，連連推托說自己沒幹啥，一切都是社員共同努力的結果。她是發自內心的這樣認為，平安莊的社員卻不認可。
幾個被記者照進鏡頭的社員，正好借送行的機會，跟記者約定把照片給他們寄來。聽到夏菊花說平安莊的發展跟她沒關系，幾人異口同聲的反駁她的錯誤觀點，讓她務必相信，沒有她的帶領，平安莊不可能有今天的成就。
如果不是領導與記者都在，夏菊花一定要大聲訓斥這幾個人，可惜現在記者的鏡頭還沒蓋上，她只能強擠出笑臉讓他們別說了，免得耽誤了領導們的行程。
吉普車行駛在柏油路上，沒帶起一粒塵埃，夏菊花看向李常旺、趙鐵蛋幾個人的目光，卻帶着殺氣。趙鐵蛋率先喊了一句：“我家鍋裏還炖着肉呢，可不能糊了。”扭頭便跑，剩下幾個人面面相觑。
幾個大老爺們跑起來，已經不再年輕的夏菊花自然追不上，她也不可能追，無奈的問五爺：“這幾個人是閑的吧？”
五爺笑呵呵的把煙袋鍋子往鞋底一敲，反問道：“他們哪句說的不是實話？”
就是實話才不能說呀。現在還不是突出個人的時候，搞不好會被扣上個人英雄主義的帽子！
五爺似乎看出夏菊花的擔心，笑眯眯的說：“我覺得這兩年，比前兩年松多了，多說說你也不見得有人會挑毛病。要不等過段日子，來參觀學習的人多了，整個生産隊都得跟着不消停。”
Xia Juhua was really stunned. She didn't expect that the Fifth Master had this idea: According to the Deputy Minister, Ping'an Village must be promoted as a model, so there will be a lot of people coming to visit and learn from it. During the movement, people from all over the country flocked to Dazhai to visit and learn from it. Xia Juhua had heard about this. If people come to visit and learn from it, there will be people to receive and explain it. The Fifth Master was going to sacrifice her so that others could maintain normal production!