Chapter 179
When Accountant Chang heard that the district was organizing a deputy county head-level delegation to visit Ping An Village, he became serious and said, "If they come to visit, shouldn't we ask each household to clean up and each production team to clean up the streets so that there won't be animal feces and chicken droppings everywhere?"
Xia Juhua was still struggling with the question of the tour guide: "Where can I find a tour guide for them? Can someone who is not familiar with Ping An Zhuang give a good explanation?" But Xia Juhua couldn't think of a suitable candidate among Ping An Zhuang's own people.
"Our brigade is originally from the countryside. Those leaders should have known this before they came. They won't ask us to do that, right?" Chang Huiji advised Xia Juhua: "If it really doesn't work, you should explain it yourself. Who in Ping'an Village knows the situation better than you?"
Let Xia Juhua explain it herself, that is, Accountant Chang said this, and Xia Juhua would have been angry if it was anyone else. She told Accountant Chang what she remembered the narrator to look like, and Accountant Chang was confused: "Then it's better to find a lady who dresses neatly and speaks more fluently. Why is it so difficult for you? Which of your two nieces can't explain it?"
Hongling and Hongcui? Xia Juhua shook her head without thinking. How could she talk to these nice girls when they were so reserved and kept strangers away? This interruption reminded Xia Juhua of someone, Chang Xiancao's daughter Li Wenlan.
The girl looked like her mother, with delicate features and a slim figure. If she wore a black suit and a one-piece skirt, she would look like a commentator in her previous life. Most importantly, she was a bit proud when she met her, which was similar to the impression Xia Juhua had of her.
Li Wenlan has already graduated from junior high school, but unfortunately she did not get into high school. However, she is considered highly educated in Pingan Village. The school taught Mandarin in junior high school, so at least when she was giving lectures, her accent could not be heard.
Xia Juhua had taken a fancy to the girl and ran to Li Changman's house without even having dinner. Chang Xiancao thought it was strange: "Captain, if you have anything to say, just let call me. Why did you come here by yourself?"
Although Xia Juhua was talking to Chang Xiancao when she entered the room, her eyes were on Li Wenlan. This educated child was different from the uneducated ones. Although Wenlan also held two large bowls, Xia Juhua just looked more beautiful than others.
You see, seeing Xia Juhua paying attention to her, Wen Lan felt a little shy. Although she was a little embarrassed, she still put down the bowl, stood up and greeted Xia Juhua generously, and then turned around to get a stool for Xia Juhua.
Xia Juhua told her not to worry, and sat on the edge of the kang. She said to Chang Xiancao, "Don't just look at me. Eat first, and then I'll discuss something with you."
She sat there and watched. Chang Xiancao didn't bother to chew his food slowly. He finished his meal in a few bites, sat down in front of Xia Juhua, and asked, "What's the matter?"
"Actually, I'm not looking for you. I mainly want to hear Wenlan's opinion. In two days, a visiting group will come to visit our Ping'an Village Brigade. Secretary Qi said that there will be a tour guide who will take the visiting group around our Ping'an Village and introduce it to them if they don't understand anything."
"Captain, how did you know I'm the school's interpreter?" Li Wenlan's shyness disappeared, and she looked at Xia Juhua with some curiosity, thinking that the captain was worthy of being the captain, and he actually knew about her school life - Ping An Village members were influenced by Xia Juhua and attached great importance to their children's studies. Li Wenlan became the school interpreter, and she was afraid that Chang Xiancao would think it was a distraction and affect her studies, so she didn't dare to tell her mother when she got home.
This is what it means to be given a pillow when you are sleepy. Xia Juhua couldn't help but pat her thigh: "So you agree to be a commentator? Don't worry, you won't be commentating in vain. You will get ten work points for your commentary, and I will buy you two new sets of clothes."
Chang Xiancao looked at the lady with a sharp look: "When did you become a commentator at school? Is there anything in your school that is worth explaining?"
Being stared at by her mother, Li Wenlan's voice suddenly dropped eight degrees: "It's to explain our school's history museum. Actually, we don't explain it every day, but only once, when an old alumnus came back to school."
Xia Juhua was afraid that Li Wenlan would be frightened by Chang Xiancao, so she patted her hands and said, "Our team is in urgent need of a tour guide now, and there will be many visitors in the future. Wouldn't it be better if Wenlan has a basic knowledge? You don't know how much trouble I have to find this tour guide. If Wenlan is not good enough, I will have to choose between you and Xianzhi."
"Xianzhi and I can't do it." Chang Xiancao was successfully led astray by Xia Juhua, and went from denouncing the lady for being a commentator without reporting, to analyzing the reasons why she and Zhao Xiancao were not suitable to be commentators.
Wenlan looked at Xia Juhua with admiration, and when her mother breathed a sigh of relief that she finally didn't have to be a commentator, she quickly gave Xia Juhua a thumbs up.
After the selection was made, the content of the explanation had to be familiarized. The explanation script was given to Liu Liqun, who wrote the explanation script for each factory, and Li Wenlan recited the explanation for each factory. When she felt that she had memorized it well, she went to the weaving factory to find her mother and let her listen to her speech to see if her pronunciation was correct and her accent was round.
Others listened with great interest, but Chang Xiancao was annoyed and said, "If the captain hadn't supported you, you wouldn't have been able to stop me from using my shoe soles."
Zhao Xianzhi pulled Wenlan over and put her behind him and said, "Why should we care? Our child speaks so well, this little voice sounds like a female announcer in a loudspeaker. Aren't you afraid that your child will surpass you in the future because he speaks better than you?"
Do you know that if you don't analyze it well, you will have to explain it? Chang Xiancao looked at Zhao Xianzhi with a righteous face and was so angry that he couldn't speak. He hated himself for talking too much that night. He might as well persuade Xia Juhua to let Zhao Xianzhi explain it directly.
She didn't know that even if she praised Zhao Xianzhi to the utmost, Xia Juhua would not let Zhao Xianzhi be the commentator. Now she was optimistic about Li Wenlan.
Secretary Qi also thought that Li Wenlan's explanation was good - the visiting group would arrive tomorrow, and the county had sent the director of the Propaganda Department to lead the team, who would go to Ping'an Village in advance to provide guidance. Secretary Qi would also be there in person to provide guidance, and naturally they would first take a tour according to Ping'an Village's own arrangements before offering their opinions.
"What the commentator said was quite good." Uncle Qi thought Xia Juhua was not honest with the organization: "When you complained on the phone that day, I thought you were going to come on stage and commentate in person."
"This is Team Leader Chang's daughter. She will graduate from junior high school in the first half of this year. I think she is the right person for the job." Xia Juhua looked at Li Wenlan with admiration. She felt that her mental outlook was different from that of Hongling and Hongcui.
Probably because of her young age, not long after Wenlan began to remember, the people of Pingan Village no longer worried about having enough food, and everyone's life became better and better. Li Wenlan was one of the children who followed Liu Liqun from literacy class to primary school, and then from primary school to junior high school.
Hongling and Hongcui were only six or seven years older than Wenlan, and they were so sensible and steady that it seemed as if they had never had a childhood. Wenlan, on the other hand, looked cheerful and bright, and her voice was full of confidence. Even though she was a little nervous when she first started explaining, her voice trembled, but she soon calmed down in her familiar environment.
Xia Juhua hopes that all the children in Pingan Village will be as confident as Wenlan.
Uncle Qi nodded after hearing this and asked, "Is it Team Leader Chang who is the sister-in-law of Deputy Director Zhao?"
Xia Juhua nodded: "Yes, who would have thought that the fairy grass would teach a young lady to be so encouraging."
Uncle Qi laughed, knowing that if Xia Juhua didn't have a good relationship with Chang Xiancao, she wouldn't say such things in front of the girl. But he had a suggestion: "Comrade Xiao Li's explanation is generally good, and he introduced all aspects. But he could speak slower and more naturally, otherwise it would feel like he was reciting a book."
"Secretary Qi must have a good ear. Didn't our child memorize it in just one and a half days?" Xia Juhua nodded twice to prove that what she said was true: "It's only been one and a half days. Aren't the leaders too anxious to come?"
The leaders cannot help but be anxious. Now the 19 handprints of the small village in Province A have been placed on the table. The discussion on whether the collective economy can exert its positive role or the individual economy can mobilize its subjective initiative has already begun on a small scale.
Ping'an Village came into the leadership's field of vision at the right time. They split into two groups, one to visit the small village in Province A, and the other to go to Ping'an Village first to understand the situation.
It was the first time for the members of Ping'an Village to see a procession of eight jeeps driving in one after another. They pointed at the jeeps and talked about who were the people inside and how they could ride in jeeps. In the past, when people from the county came to inspect work, only leaders could ride in jeeps, and the commune cadres had to ride bicycles and follow behind.
The people in the car were also talking about the old people sitting at the entrance of Team 5: "The clothes don't look too new, they shouldn't be newly made, right?"
"Who can make new clothes every day? Don't you see that those people are old? Maybe the clothes they wear have been at the bottom of the box for years." Clothes like that are only worn once when visiting relatives or attending banquets. They are not that old.
"No way, the clothes at the bottom of the box wouldn't have two marks from being pressed. I see their clothes are all quite smooth."
"It's just too flat. Don't you think that those people only look to be in their sixties? If people of that age in the countryside can still move, even if the ground is not flat, they can at least pick up some shit. Do they have time to sit at the entrance of the village and chat?"
Although they did not believe that life in Ping An Village was so good that members who were just over 60 years old did not have to work in the winter and could just idle around, the scenery around the jeep showed that they had arrived in the countryside, but the road under the car was extremely flat, without the potholes of ordinary rural roads.
Xia Juhua and other brigade cadres, led by Deputy Director Lin of the County Propaganda Department, stood in front of the brigade headquarters to welcome the arrival of the visiting group. Li Wenlan stood a little behind Xia Juhua, and when she saw the car approaching, she nervously grabbed Xia Juhua's collar from behind.
Xia Juhua didn't want to say anything more to her, so she held the little girl's hand and shook it twice with a little force to encourage her. Li Wenlan's heartbeat slowed down after she held it like this, and she took two deep breaths, blinked twice, and walked towards the parked car with everyone else.
Uncle Qi accompanied the acting deputy minister of the region to get off the first car. The acting deputy minister smiled and extended his hand to Xia Juhua: "Captain Xia, we meet again. The last time I visited Ping'an Village, I was deeply moved. So this time I brought my comrades here to visit and learn from Ping'an Village's advanced experience."
Xia Juhua shook his hand gently and said modestly: "Minister, your evaluation of Ping An Manor is too high. We are unworthy of it. We welcome all leaders to come to Ping An Manor to inspect and guide our work. Please give us more valuable suggestions."
During the conversation, the Acting Deputy Minister introduced the members of the visiting group to Xia Juhua and other comrades from Ping'anzhuang, and also told them the main purpose of their visit, which was not to listen to reports or experiences, but to see for themselves and focus on visits and interviews.
Xia Juhua nodded and winked at Li Wenlan. The girl's throat tightened, and she raised her voice and said in standard Mandarin: "Leaders, please follow me to the Ping'an Village Brigade Headquarters first."
The acting deputy minister, who had just said that he would not listen to reports or experience, was a little surprised to hear such standard Mandarin. Xia Juhua smiled apologetically and said, "This is our team's guide. She arranged all the activities for the leaders today."
Is it starting now? The members of the visiting group were a little curious. Did the Ping'anzhuang Brigade listen to the Deputy Minister, or were they not going to listen to him? If they were obedient, they should have taken them directly to the tour. Why did they take them to the brigade headquarters?
Besides, with so many brigade cadres present, why was a teenage girl arranging their tour itinerary? What was Ping An Village doing?
Everyone's curiosity was immediately drawn to Li Wenlan, and they all speculated where Ping'an Village had hired her from: the girl's clothes were obviously new, and although the style was the common small lapel, the waist was slightly fitted, making her look very slim.
The black leggings on her lower body were straight, and the hems of her trousers swung slightly when she walked, making her look very energetic. The only flaw was that the flannel cotton shoes on her feet were the thousand-layer soles commonly seen in rural areas. Could this girl be a member of the Ping'an Village Brigade?
Everyone's eyes were on the young girl. She walked upright half a step in front of the Deputy Minister and Uncle Qi, leaning slightly toward them. She raised her right elbow slightly, with her white little hand and forearm in a straight line, neither drooping nor bending, as if making a gesture of invitation:
"What you see in front is the headquarters of our Pinganzhuang Brigade. It was built in the autumn of 1948 and accompanied all members of Pinganzhuang through the fight against local tyrants and the division of land, as well as cooperative production... The decision to build a brigade-run factory in Pinganzhuang in recent years was also made at the headquarters."
As soon as Li Wenlan finished speaking, the members of the visiting group could not help but look at the ordinary adobe courtyard in front of them. No wonder it looks so old, it was actually built when Northeast China was just liberated. It has been in use for so many years, and the Ping'anzhuang Brigade must have been maintaining it. But I heard that Ping'anzhuang is very rich, why don't they say to renovate the brigade headquarters?
Uncle Qi came up to Xia Juhua and whispered, "How did you come up with the idea of bringing everyone to the brigade headquarters like this?"
"We were afraid that the leader would be too serious and unyielding, but we didn't expect that he would guess it right. People have come all the way to Ping An City, and you really can't even give them a sip of water?"
Just as Xia Juhua finished speaking, Li Wenlan's voice came from the other end: "Please follow me to the brigade meeting room. This is the place where Ping'an Village studies the brigade's production and arranges the production of the members. Several generations of brigade cadres have led the members here to develop production and live and work in peace and contentment." After she finished speaking, she stepped aside and asked the acting deputy minister to come in first. She politely invited the members of the visiting group to come in one by one.
The house is very spacious, which reminds the members of the visiting group of the scene when the country was just liberated, when a house full of farmers who had gained control of their own lives gathered here to discuss how to distribute the land and how to overthrow the oppression of the landlords.
"The water cups on the table represent the living conditions of Ping'an Village in different periods. There is sugar water when people's lives underwent earth-shaking changes just after liberation, plain water during difficult times, and tea after efforts to save themselves and improve their lives. Please have a taste, leaders and comrades." Li Wenlan smiled and handed the water cups on the two rows of long tables to the visiting leaders one by one.
Everyone took the cup with a smile. No matter whether the cup contained water or tea, they all tasted sweetness after drinking it. It relieved their spirits from traveling all the way and they couldn't help but admire Ping An Manor's ingenious ideas.
The acting deputy minister also gave Xia Juhua a thumbs up: "Captain Xia, you have made a very good arrangement."
Xia Juhua was modest: "We have just started the tour, the Minister cannot make a conclusion for us right away."
Uncle Qi joked with the acting vice minister: "The minister drank sugar water, right?"
The deputy minister raised his water cup and said seriously, "It's true. I think the water in Ping An Village is sweet."
The leader said it was sweet, so the members who already thought it was sweet naturally praised the water from Ping An Manor. Xia Juhua looked at Wen Lan who had retreated to the door and nodded to her to encourage her: "Little girl, you performed exceptionally well today. You are worthy of being a girl who grew up drinking the water from Ping An Manor."
Li Wenlan's face flushed slightly after receiving the encouragement, but she only looked at Xia Juhua for less than two seconds before focusing her attention on the leaders. Seeing that most of them had put down their cups, she said, "Please follow me, leaders. Our next stop is the Ping'anzhuang Vermicelli Factory."
Since hot and sour rice noodle and instant noodles are now sold to the public, most of the members of the visiting group know that the instant food, which costs two kilograms of flour per bag, is produced by Pingan Village. They are eager to see how the two best-selling foods are produced.
There was still some distance between the brigade headquarters and the hot and sour noodle factory. Li Wenlan used this time to introduce to the visiting group the original intention of establishing the vermicelli factory, the difficulties encountered during construction, and how to overcome the difficulties and increase production.
"Comrade, I remember that the hot and sour noodles are not called Ping'anzhuang hot and sour noodles, but Xia Xiaohuo hot and sour noodles. Is there any difference?" A member of the visiting group asked the question that had long been in his mind.
Li Wenlan knew the reason about the brand, but Xia Juhua was right in front of her, so she felt she couldn't say it out loud, and her eyes couldn't help but look at Xia Juhua.
Xia Juhua didn't think her nickname was embarrassing, so she spoke up: "It's like a joke. My nickname was Xia Xiaohuo before, and the members wanted to get back at me by naming the hot and sour noodles Xia Xiaohuo. They were just hoping that I would be eaten alive."
Everyone who heard it laughed out loud, and after laughing, they all thought, how capable must a woman be to be called a young man? ! The members insisted on using her nickname as the brand name, definitely not because they hated her and wished she would be eaten alive, but to commemorate her for finding a way to wealth for everyone.
Several deputy county chiefs were lamenting in their hearts, wondering why there was no such person who was so deeply "hated" by the members in the brigades they led.
After laughing, the deputy minister said, "If I were to say, the members' feelings are the greatest recognition of you. It also shows that the relationship between you is deep and indestructible."
By now they had arrived at the vermicelli factory. Xia Juhua said something to the gatekeeper, and the gate slowly opened to allow the visiting group to enter: Due to the increase in demand, the vermicelli factory has undergone a round of renovation, and now the factory buildings in the yard have been expanded from three rows to five rows, and the cold storage has been expanded from one to two, making it look more impressive.
Seeing the clean and tidy production workshop and the workers producing in an orderly manner, the members of the visiting group had an illusion that they had come to the production workshop of a large state-owned factory instead of a team-run factory.
Here, they also tasted the freshly brewed hot and sour noodles. It must be said that the hot and sour noodles made with rich oil, a large amount of chili and old vinegar immediately won over the members of the visiting group. They did not rush to disperse to visit the production line, but surrounded Chen Qiusheng, hoping to place an order to buy it.
As a result, when they heard that the orders for hot and sour noodles had been scheduled until March after the New Year and that the troops had to be supplied at any time, the members were shocked: as more reports were reported, more people paid attention to the war between the South and the White-Eyed Wolf Country. They all knew that the frontline soldiers were fighting in a harsh environment, so how could they have the nerve to take food from the soldiers' mouths?
So everyone settled for the next best thing, hoping that Chen Qiusheng could prioritize their orders after the March orders. Some even suggested that they could use sweet potatoes produced in their own county to exchange hot and sour noodles with the vermicelli factory. The vermicelli factory would decide how to exchange them.
However, after arriving at the instant noodle factory and tasting the various flavors of instant noodles, the leaders regretted that they had placed the order with the vermicelli factory too early: the hot and sour vermicelli was delicious, but the flavor was not as rich as that of instant noodles, and they really wanted to place an order with the instant noodle factory as well.
Looking at the county leaders who had become purchasers one by one, the acting deputy minister explained to Xia Juhua helplessly: "It's mainly because there are too few of your two foods on the market, and everyone wants to try something new." It was really his subordinates who were so ignorant.
Xia Juhua not only understood the leaders' feelings, but was also happy to see their desire to place orders. She called Chang Xiancao and said, "No matter how many orders the leaders place today, we will all ship them at a price of more than 10,000 boxes."
The acting deputy minister was puzzled and naturally wanted to ask the reason. Xia Juhua then explained to him the different prices of instant noodles of different grades. The acting deputy minister quickly waved Li Wenlan over and asked her to explain the situation to the members of the visiting group, so that Ping An Village would not make sacrifices and people would still think that the instant noodles were too expensive.
Sometimes it is necessary to make it clear who is being taken advantage of and who is being cheated.
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