Chapter 178
Seeing Xia Juhua coming over, Master Wu kindly explained to her, "You know my chicks are even harder to keep alive in winter. They are afraid of the wind. Besides, with so many people coming and going, who knows if they are infected? They can just learn from you and don't need to be brought to my house anymore."
So you are taking revenge on me by bringing Deputy Minister and others to watch you hatch chicks today? Xia Juhua really wanted to ask Master Wu, can we be reasonable? It was not her decision to bring them there, it was Deputy Minister's own request.
Besides, Master Wu has been hatching chicks all the time and rarely goes out of the house. People say that people who don't communicate well with others sometimes don't have enough brains, but why does Master Wu still have so many ideas?
In the end, Xia Juhua did not ask, because she wanted to see the Fifth Master who was in the mood to joke with her. Being in the mood to joke showed that he was happy and could see the happy things in life. Whether it was the Fifth Master or the Seventh Aunt, if they could keep joking with her and glaring at her like this for a few years, it would make her life more interesting.
With endless yearning for life, Xia Juhua became even busier: it was the end of the year again, and it was time to prepare for the birthday of Master Wu. This year, Pingan Village had raised 50 pigs, 40 of which had been delivered to the purchasing station, earning nearly 8,000 yuan, which would be added to the dividends distributed to members next year.
Chen Qiu Sheng had already discussed the remaining ten pigs with Xia Juhua and Fifth Master. Nine of them would be distributed to the members for the New Year, and the remaining one would be kept until Fifth Master's birthday to be slaughtered. All the people in Ping'an Village would eat the slaughtered pigs and the meat together, making for a great party.
Although Fifth Master said that there was no need to waste money and that he should pay for his birthday even if he had to kill a pig, his grinning mouth, squinting eyes, and wrinkled face all showed that he was very proud that his birthday was taken so seriously.
Xia Juhua knew that Fifth Master had money, so he could kill two pigs, let alone one, for his birthday. But she disagreed: "Seeing that our lives are getting better and better, you old man, please let us have fun on your birthday. In the past, we all did our best to celebrate your birthday and added dishes just for you. Now that no one wants to add dishes just for you, don't you feel that you are not valued?"
Master Wu couldn't help but laugh and scolded, "I'm just afraid that you think I'm a nuisance and don't want to celebrate my birthday. Look, you don't want to add more dishes to my meal this year, and next year you definitely won't even want to celebrate my birthday."
Having said that, it was decided once again that all members of the production team would have a dinner together to celebrate Fifth Master's birthday.
Xia Juhua had more than one thing to say. She went to the weaving group and learned that all the orders before the New Year had been sent out. What they were weaving now were the varieties that sold well this year, and they were preparing to store some goods to lay the foundation for next year. She discussed it with Zhao Xianzhi and others and decided to arrange for those on duty to take turns to take New Year's leave starting from the 26th of the Lunar New Year.
Hearing that the New Year holiday could be extended to the sixth day of the first lunar month, Zhao Xianzhi, who has a loud voice, shouted directly: "Finally, I can take a holiday. I haven't helped my family with the New Year celebrations for several years. This year, I must celebrate the New Year for them well."
At the end of her speech, her voice was quite heavy, Xia Juhua suspected that she was saying something in a different way. Li Changwang should be careful about how he spent the New Year. But even if Zhao Xianzhi was going to cause trouble, it would only be Li Changwang. They had been fighting for half their lives, so they probably couldn't do anything new.
It is a little difficult to deal with the weaving factories, instant noodle factories and vermicelli factories: the take-out orders can be suspended for a few days, but the troops' reservations are all expedited and must be supplied immediately when there is demand.
Chang Chunya was a little surprised that Xia Juhua was worried about this: "We have always worked in two shifts. During the New Year, if we let work only the day shift, everyone will be as happy as if it were New Year."
Xia Juhua couldn't help but laugh: "It's Chinese New Year, why should we be so happy as if it's Chinese New Year?"
Chang Chunya also realized that the second half of her sentence was nonsense, and she just looked at Xia Juhua and smiled without making any excuses. matter if the soldiers are fed badly."
The saying that we should not worry about the lack of wealth but the inequality of wealth applies everywhere. Although the weaving factory is only a factory of the Pinganzhuang production team, the workers of the hot and sour noodle factory and the instant noodle factory will also compare the two.
Especially the hot and sour noodle factory and the instant noodle factory, both of which hired some female workers. If you hear that the women in the weaving factory have a ten-day holiday, you will inevitably feel unbalanced. Xia Juhua doesn't even want to watch the women's ability to gossip.
Chen Qiusheng thought Xia Juhua didn't need to worry: "I heard that factory workers in the city who work during the New Year holidays are paid overtime. If that's not possible, we can just give some overtime pay. Or if someone feels that they can't rest everyone during the New Year, we can arrange for them to take turns to rest for a few days after the New Year."
This is indeed a way to quell the complaints. Xia Juhua had actually thought about it a long time ago, but was influenced by her previous life - she remembered that in her previous life, many people would rather not have overtime pay and were willing to go home to celebrate the New Year with their families, so she forgot that those who worked in the two factories stayed at home and could see their families every day.
More importantly, people in this period generally did not have a lot of money and were in the stage of primitive accumulation. It may be a bit serious to say that it was primitive accumulation, but people were willing to increase their wealth. With the double temptation of overtime pay and compensatory leave, people who wanted to work during the New Year might have to compete to achieve their goal.
Seeing that Xia Juhua agreed with his opinion, Chen Qiusheng was still a little proud, so he asked if he could start visiting. This is also a habit formed in Pingan Village in recent years. At the end of each year, all the five-guarantee households and military families in the brigade must be visited, and all the county units related to Pingan Village must also be visited.
At the end of each year, Xia Juhua spent the longest time on this task, which was irreplaceable: the relevant units in the county would never receive brigade-level personnel. It was because Ping'an Village was developing well and Xia Juhua was too famous that people would welcome her with a smile every time she visited.
Among the brigade cadres, the five-guarantee households and military dependents also trusted Xia Juhua more. There were some things they would not say even if other brigade cadres were present, and they would only speak their true feelings in front of Xia Juhua.
So no matter where they went, Xia Juhua had to go there in person.
Because it was winter, Xia Juhua was worried that the five-guarantee households might have problems, so she visited them first. Fortunately, there were only thirteen five-guarantee households in the whole brigade, and Grandma Qi and Uncle Dong were among them. Now their lives were well arranged, so Xia Juhua didn't need to make a special visit. Xia Juhua visited all the remaining eleven elderly people within one day.
Don't ask Xia Juhua why she acted so quickly or if she was just going through the motions, because the first old man she visited only made one request to her, which was whether he could live in Ping'anzhuang nursing home like Qi Nai and the others.
Xia Juhua naturally agreed to this: Although the brigade has provided the same subsidies to the five-guarantee households in each production team in recent years, the village customs of each production team are still slightly different. All those things were delivered to the elderly at home, but they were only delivered to their homes. It was very rare for other members to spontaneously deliver vegetables and firewood to the elderly, or help with laundry and bedding, like in Ping'an Village.
At first, there were only two elderly people who were covered by the five guarantees in Pingan Village, but they built a nursing home that occupied four residential plots, which reserved rooms for all the five guarantee households in Pingan Village. However, Xia Juhua couldn't force anyone to move in, but now that the elderly wanted to go, Xia Juhua warmly welcomed them on behalf of the Pingan Village members.
When Sun Qinglin, the leader of the Fifth Team, heard that the five-guarantee households in his production team were going to Ping'anzhuang nursing home, he felt a little embarrassed and tried to persuade the old man to stay in the Fifth Team, but the old man refused bluntly: "Captain, I know you have good intentions and are worried that I will find it hard to leave my hometown. But there is always someone to bury. Besides, Ping'anzhuang is only a little far away from our Fifth Team Team, so I am not leaving my hometown."
Sun Qinglin blushed at these words: he knew that the people in his production team were not as dedicated to the five-guarantee households as those in Ping'an Village. But that was because Team 5 was not as wealthy as Ping'an Village. When Team 5 became as wealthy as Ping'an Village, they could also build brick houses for the five-guarantee households like Ping'an Village.
Xia Juhua ignored Sun Qinglin's thoughts and said to him, "I think there's nothing wrong with moving to Ping'an Village. The five-guarantee households are provided with support by the brigade anyway, so it doesn't matter whether they are sent to Ping'an Village or to the Fifth Brigade. Besides, there are already two elderly people living in the nursing home. They can talk to each other, which is better than staying in the house all day."
Since both parties agreed to move, Sun Qinglin naturally had nothing to say. He asked the old man to pack up his things, and after he and Xia Juhua visited the other two five-guarantee households, they would send him to Ping'an Village.
After leaving the house, Xia Juhua said to Sun Qinglin: "Captain Sun, I think you should be more patient with the elderly."
Sun Qinglin's blushing face turned even redder: "I know my attitude today was not very good. But captain, you have seen that our production team has been taking care of him according to the team's standards, but he insisted on going to Ping'an Village..."
Do you feel embarrassed now? Xia Juhua said something impolite: "You only said that we will take care of them according to the brigade's standards. What are the brigade's standards? Taking care of people is not just about giving them food and drink. It's also about taking care of them.
Sun Qinglin was speechless for a moment. Xia Juhua sighed softly and said nothing more to him: It takes time for people's ideas to change. The members of Ping'an Village are now close to Grandma Qi and Uncle Dong, and help them with some work when they are free. This is also the result of her subtle influence over the past few years.
What's more, there are two five-guarantee households in Team 5 who still have to live here. She said too much, and Sun Qinglin became disgusted. The two elderly people will suffer.
The other two five-guarantee households did not want to see Xia Juhua, and they made the same request as the first one, saying that they wanted to bring their food and live together in Pinganzhuang Nursing Home. Even though Sun Qinglin's face was no longer good to look at, Xia Juhua still agreed to their request and simply told them not to rush to pack their things, and that she would send a tractor from Pinganzhuang to pick them up.
When they heard that she was going to send someone to pick them up, the two old people burst into tears, saying that they could pack their own things and carry them to Ping'an Village. After listening to the two old people, Sun Qinglin realized the gap between himself and Xia Juhua, and blushed and whispered to the old people that he would let his wife and children help pack in a while.
He can't order others around, but he can order his wife and children around.
Unexpectedly, when he took his wife and children to the three households, the community members saw them and asked them the reason. When they heard that the three elderly people were going to move to Ping'anzhuang nursing home, they all came over to help pack up, which made the three men cry again.
Among the people who helped to pack up were three of the elderly's closer nephews and nieces. No one tried to persuade them to stay, which made them more determined to go to Ping'an Village.
Before they had even finished packing, Liu Zhifu arrived in a tractor and said to the elderly, "Just bring your own clothes. The beddings in the nursing home are all new, so you don't need to bring anything else."
Xia Juhua asked him to convey this because people in rural areas now have poor hygiene habits. The elderly may not have taken a bath for a long time, and their bedding may not have been washed for a long time, so they don't know whether there are lice inside. It's better to throw it away than to take it down.
Old people who have lived a life of frugality naturally don't want to part with the quilts they have used all their lives. Liu Zhifu jokingly told them that the quilts prepared by the nursing home for them are all new quilts with a weight of seven pounds and three parts of the quilt inside and outside. Covering them with them is like lying in the clouds, so they should not be reluctant to part with their old quilts that are as hard as iron.
After hearing what he said, the old people didn't respond, but the next member of the cooperative started asking, "Who has a new quilt?"
Liu Zhifu nodded.
Someone asked again, "Now that we have new bedding, we should also make new clothes, or else the bedding will become like ironwork in a few days."
Liu Zhifu nodded again.
Seeing that he was calmly talking about the various treatments given to the elderly in the nursing home, and showed no dissatisfaction at all for taking in three extra elderly people who were not from his production team, Sun Qinglin wanted to find a way to sneak in even more in his already ashamed heart.
Secretly, he hoped that Liu Zhifu was Xia Juhua's nephew, and spoke well of Xia Juhua. Then he followed the tractor to send the three elderly people to the nursing home to see whether what Liu Zhifu said was true or not.
As soon as the tractor stopped at the entrance of the nursing home, Uncle Dong came out and greeted the three elderly people sitting in the tractor: "You are here, come down quickly. The same goes for Zhifu. It was so cold, but he didn't even ask them to cover their beds with blankets."
Liu Zhifu, who was complained about, smiled at Uncle Dong: "I thought the road was not far, and it would take only five or six minutes to get there. Everyone is dressed warmly and won't get cold."
Uncle Dong patted him lightly and told him to help unload the things. He then led the three elderly people who looked dazzled into the yard and said, "We will all live here for a long time. There are many days to come. Come in and warm up first. Grandma Qi is watering you. You will see her soon. Come, come quickly. This is your room. The kang has just been heated up. It will take a while for it to warm up. Why don't you stay in my room for a while?"
In other words, the elderly people all wanted to see the room where they would live in the future and would not actually go to rest in Uncle Dong's room.
There are seven rooms in the main house. Old Uncle Dong led them to the three rooms at the eastern end: "You can choose any of these three rooms. This room is next to mine. But I have to make it clear that I snore when I sleep. Those who snore lightly should not stay in this room."
The joke made the three new elderly people relax, and they followed Sun Qinglin to look at the things in the house. They all felt that Liu Zhifu was too conservative when he talked about the things in the house. There were not only new beddings in the house, but also those good things that they themselves did not dare to buy.
All of this will belong to them from now on!
Just as I was thinking about Liu Zhifu, his voice came from outside: "Seventh Aunt, why did you carry so many hot water bottles by yourself? Give them to me quickly."
"Do you think Seventh Grandma is made of paper? She can't even lift three hot pots?" Although Seventh Grandma refused to admit her age, Liu Zhifu still took two of them and she carried one into the room where people were talking.
Liu Zhifu put the other two hot pots into the room, stood in the yard and said loudly: "Seventh Aunt, Uncle Dong, I'm going to pick up the people from Team 4 first. My aunt told Uncle Dong not to carry the firewood by himself. I'll pick up the people and use the tractor to bring the firewood over in one trip."
"Go quickly." Uncle Dong said with a seemingly reproachful smile, "If you had the time, you should have brought the person here earlier."
The way he spoke to Liu Zhifu surprised the three old men in Team 5: "You talk to people like this, aren't you afraid that they will get angry? When you use the tractor in the future, no matter what you do, it doesn't matter."
"He dares." Uncle Dong said with a little arrogance: "Chrysanthemums can't kill him."
Grandma Seven shook her head in disapproval and said enthusiastically to the three newcomers, "You guys go put away your things. The room on the north side of the west wing is where we take a bath. It's warm inside. I've heated up the water in the kitchen. Whoever wants to take a bath can go ahead and take a bath."
Sun Qinglin almost wanted to run away, but he couldn't move his feet. He slowly helped the old man to clean up. Uncle Dong saw that they were busy putting things away, so he went to the kitchen to find Grandma Qi: "I heard that the fourth team will have two more people. I'm afraid you can't cook by yourself."
Grandma Qi didn't care: "I used to look forward to cooking for others, but I'm an old woman alone at home, and no one will eat if I cook too much. I can still cook for a few more days, and when I can't do it anymore, I'll let Juhua find someone else. Everyone in the production team has their own work, and I can't bear to let anyone serve us. Besides, Juhua will be in trouble too."
"Okay, from now on, I will be responsible for washing vegetables and making fire." Uncle Dong thought what Grandma Qi said made sense: they could still move on their own, so they should try not to cause trouble for the production team. As long as the two people from the Ping'an Village production team did not cause trouble, the outsiders would not dare to make trouble.
Sun Qinglin, who had never left, stayed until the end and was actually calm: except for the five-guarantee households in the third team, the five-guarantee households in the fourth team and Xiaozhuangtou, like their production team, were all taken to the nursing home by Liu Zhifu.
When Li Daniu saw Sun Qinglin, he gave him a wry smile and said, "We, the big bosses, are really not as considerate as women."
The fourth team leader sucked his teeth and said, "Don't say that the elders are careless, and don't say that the team leader is a woman who is careful. I can see that it's because we didn't pay attention. The five-guarantee households also saw it."
If they didn't see it, why did they all move to Ping'anzhuang Nursing Home? Was it just because it was more comfortable than their own shabby houses? Sun Qinglin couldn't help but think of the three elderly people wiping their tears as they packed their things: they must have been reluctant to leave the place where they had lived all their lives, but they knew that if they continued to live there, no one would know if they died one day.
It’s different when you live in a nursing home. There are a lot of people here, and if you don’t leave your room early in the morning, the people next door will ask you about it. The situations they worry about will not happen.
This is probably the biggest reason why the elderly must come to the nursing home.
What he thought of was also thought of by Li Daniu and the fourth team leader. The three of them were too embarrassed to go into the house, so they squatted in the yard and smoked, wanting to wait for Xia Juhua to come so that they could make a self-criticism to her before returning to the production team.
Unfortunately, Xia Juhua never showed up, but after Liu Zhifu delivered the firewood, several old men and women from Pingan Village came one after another. They looked younger than Qi Nai, with a slightly bent waist, but they walked very vigorously, carrying a basket on their arms, and went straight into the kitchen.
Soon, laughter and chatter could be heard from the kitchen. Smoke rose in the evening glow, bringing with it the aroma of stir-frying food.
Li Daniu stood up and said, "Forget it, let's go back. We can also send some food from the granaries of our respective production teams. Although Ping An Village may not be interested in it, we must do our best."
Xia Juhua didn't mean to ignore the elderly who had just moved into the nursing home. She was still answering Uncle Qi's phone call at the brigade headquarters: "...Okay, I got it. We at Ping'an Village will ensure a good reception. What? We need a full-time tour guide? Secretary Qi, aren't you making it difficult for me? Where can I find a tour guide for you?"
It turned out that Uncle Qi called to tell Xia Juhua that after the regional deputy ministers returned, they wrote an internal report to the regional leaders. The leaders were very interested in the development of Pingan Village and formed a visiting group with the deputy county governors to visit Pingan Village in two days.
Taking into account that this was the first group of people to visit Ping'an Village and that they were of high standard, Uncle Qi asked Xia Juhua to plan the tour route and then find someone to give an explanation.
Xia Juhua was overwhelmed after hearing this. The route was easy to explain, but her impression of the commentators was still the same as the ones she had seen on TV in her previous life: girls with good figures, black suits on the upper body, one-step skirts on the lower body, holding a small wooden stick in their hands, a miniature microphone hanging in front of their mouths, and a proud look in the corners of their eyes and eyebrows.
There is no such girl in Ping'an Village, and you can't find her even if you try to buy one now!
Xia Juhua was so worried that she didn't even want to eat. Accountant Chang saw that she hadn't gone home yet, so he asked, "Captain, what else do you have to do? Why haven't you gone home yet? Are you going to take all the five-guarantee households from each production team to Ping'anzhuang Nursing Home today? Are you afraid that those production team leaders will make trouble with you?"
She was not afraid of being teased, she had something more worrying: "In two days, the regional propaganda department will organize deputy county governors to come for a visit. What's so good about this icy and snowy place? It's not enough to just look at it, they also want someone to be their guide!"
Why don't you go up to the sky? Don't you have eyes? Just look, why bother explaining?
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