Chapter 181

Like the people of Ping'an Village, who hoped that their lives would get better year by year under the household contract responsibility system, as Xia Juhua remembered, before the autumn harvest of 1980, the famous document on the liberation of the peasants was issued. After being passed down through layers of government, it soon reached the Red Star Commune.

On this day, the Red Star Commune held a meeting of all brigade cadres to specifically convey the policy of contract responsibility system to everyone. The brigade cadres then went back to convey the policy to their respective members and implemented it.

Xia Hongmin sat with Xia Juhua, and while listening, Xia Hongmin asked Xia Juhua in a low voice: "Are you going to divide up the several factories in your brigade or not?" Didn't they say that it was based on the principle of farmers' voluntariness? If the brigade leader was unwilling, could they resist?

Several team leaders who were sitting close to each other all looked at Xia Juhua. In their hearts, the team that they least wanted to split up must be the Ping'anzhuang team. After all, there were three factories there, and the team leader would have to get some benefits no matter what he did. If everyone was contracted to individual households, and everyone did their own thing, then the factory leaders would have the final say. Who would listen to you, the team leader?

Xia Juhua ignored everyone's gazes: "The superior's policy is there, we have to share even if we don't want to. We are just brigade cadres, how can we go against the national policy? It is better to listen to the superiors, the superiors will not harm us."

This is true, but the people's communes have been established for more than 20 years, and suddenly the combined land has been divided up again, allowing individuals to work on their own. The production team and brigade cadres are no longer needed. Isn't that a step backwards? Do we still need collective leadership?

Not only the team leaders were worried. Secretary Zhang, after studying for a few days, was still obsessed with painting. After the meeting of all cadres, he kept Xia Juhua and asked the same questions as Xia Hongmin.

Xia Juhua said one more thing than Xia Hongmin: "If the members want to withdraw the funds, then they can do so. But the instant noodle factory and the hot and sour noodle factory not only sell to the outside world, but also supply the troops. They must not fail."

Secretary Zhang also knew that these three factories could not fail, otherwise the income of Ping An Zhuang members would be greatly reduced: "What if the members insist on withdrawing their investment?"

Xia Juhua had made a plan for the past six months: "The money in the brigade's account should be enough to return the money to everyone who withdraws their investment, plus this year's interest, so it's a bit tight. If it's not enough, I'll ask Xiao Qi if he can invest a little more. We have to keep the two factories going."

Secretary Zhang was moved: "The weaving factory is owned by the Pinganzhuang production team."

Xia Juhua is more confident about this: "Now all the women in Pingan Village who can weave work in the factory. Almost every family makes money from the weaving factory. No one will watch it fall apart."

She not only said this to Secretary Zhang, but also to several key members of Zhao Xianzhi after returning to Ping'an Village: "It can be said that the weaving factory was built by us, and we must not disband it. Go and ask for the opinions of each family. If there are those who do not want to work in the weaving factory, return the money to them when we divide it up in the future."

Xia Juhua dared to say this because she had the confidence from Qi Weidong. She believed that if she agreed to let Qi Weidong invest in the company, the guy would be happy to pay to join.

Zhao Xianzhi slapped the edge of the kang and said, "We must not disband. Not only the weaving factory, but also the entire Pingan Village. Anyway, I have to follow you all the way. If you don't want me, I will stay here today and not leave."

Looking at An Baoling, Zhang Cuiping and others who nodded along with Zhao Xianzhi's words, Xia Juhua felt a little overwhelmed: "The superiors have a policy to contract output to households. How can it be called contract output to households if the land of the production team is not divided? The land has been divided, and you can plant whatever you want and whenever you want. How can you still follow me? Besides, I am almost fifty years old. How many more years can I follow you?"

Chang Xiancao said angrily: "I don't care how many years you can work. Anyway, you sent my daughter to the district. You have to take me forward as long as you are alive."

You are being unreasonable, aren't you? Xia Juhua asked Chang Xiancao helplessly, "Wenlan wants to go to the regional TV station. Do you agree? Besides, you have to call me sister-in-law in terms of age. Why are you comparing me with Wenlan?"

Seeing the excitement, Zhao Xianzhi and the others thought that Chang Xiancao's words were indeed easy to make people think wrongly, and they all laughed. After laughing enough, they said, "That's what we think. If you take us with you, we have to do it. If you don't take us with you, we will rely on you, and you can't just walk away."

Xia Juhua ran to Fifth Master to complain about her grievances, "Look at these people, aren't they just trying to take advantage of me?"

The fifth master was still on the kang, fiddling with his cock leisurely: "It doesn't matter if they are lazy or not, but look at the dozen people in the nursing home. If the production team and the brigade are all disbanded, will there be anyone to take care of them?"

Xia Juhua took a deep breath and wanted to tell Master Wu that although the production team level would be abolished, the brigade would still exist, but it would soon be renamed a village.

But what Fifth Master was worried about was not without reason. Although Pinganzhuang Brigade had two factories to support it, with the arrival of the economic boom, people's attention would be more focused on money. Even his own parents might become empty-nesters, and the elderly in the nursing homes...

Seeing that she had taken his words to heart, the Fifth Master gave her another strong warning: "You said you would celebrate my birthday every year. If the production team is disbanded, will you be able to gather everyone for my birthday? I don't want to just see you. I want everyone to be there for the fun."

That was definitely not possible. Xia Juhua left Wuye's house absentmindedly. When she was walking home, she found a person squatting in front of her yard. When she got closer, she saw that it was Xia Long. She couldn't help asking, "Why are you here? What happened at home?"

When Xia Long saw his elder sister, he stood up and said, "Sister, I want to ask you something."

Although his action scared Xia Juhua, she was still very satisfied with Xia Long's legs and feet at this time - at this time in his previous life, Xia Long's rheumatoid arthritis had become quite serious, and although his legs had not been deformed, he was not as agile as he is now.

I have been very grateful to Technician Lin for helping Xia Juhua plant her private plot with castor seeds every year. Two years ago, when Xia Long started to have joint pain, Xia Juhua dug up castor roots for him to boil in water, and it seemed to be of some use (1).

The two sisters entered the house, and Xia Long directly explained his purpose, which was that Xia Hongmin had already held a meeting with the production team leaders and talked about the household contract responsibility system. He had a good relationship with the production team leaders in recent years, and the production team leaders had specifically told him about it in advance.

Xia Long was unsure when he heard the news, so he wanted to hear his elder sister's opinion: In the past two years, his family has lived a better life than other families. Xia Long and his brothers think that it has a lot to do with Ping'an Village always making bricks in Xiawo Brigade. Mancang and Manwu became masters of brick making because of Xia Juhua.

"You're just asking me, but what do you think in your heart?" Xia Juhua asked back.

Xia Long rubbed his hands and whispered, "I think it's a good thing to have points. Otherwise, whether you do a good job or not, you get the same work points. Who would be willing to work hard? Only the production teams in Ping'an Village like yours can work in the factory if they do a good job in the fields. No one dares to be lazy. The production of our production team is getting worse every year."

"Besides, Mancang and Manwu have already mastered their skills in the past two years. If they were separated, Xia Hu and I would like to build a kiln for them, and we would make bricks and sell them ourselves. The price would be much better than the two dead money those two boys take every day."

"That's why I still have to trouble sister. If the brick kiln is short of coal, sister, you have to help me find a solution." At the end of Xia Long's words, he glanced at the eldest sister with some embarrassment, feeling that his son had already married his daughter-in-law, so he still had to The eldest sister was a little embarrassed to help.

After hearing what he said, Xia Juhua was not angry at all, but felt unusually happy. It turned out that what Xia Long was unsure about was not whether the land could be divided, but whether he could open his own brick kiln.

She immediately gave her brother some advice: "It would be good to build a brick kiln by yourself, but the brigade already has one, so you might as well step forward and contract it when the land is divided. In any case, apart from the three of you, Uncle San, no one else in the brigade knows how to make a kiln, so we shouldn't compete with you. If you build a new one by yourself, and the brigade lets someone else take over, and then they hire someone from outside to make bricks, they will have to compete with you, which is not a good deal."

Xia Long smiled when he heard this: "It would be great if we could contract the current brick kiln, but I don't know how much the brigade would charge for it."

It depends on whether Xia Hongmin has a long-term vision. If he only looks at the present, he can contract it for one or two hundred yuan a year. If he looks a little further, Xiakuo Brigade will have to export thousands of yuan.

However, Xia Juhua habitually put herself in the shoes of the Ping'anzhuang Brigade. She felt that she would rather Xia Hongmin had a longer-term vision and did not want her brother to suffer too much, so she told Xia Long that if he could get the contract, he should sign a contract for as long as possible, the longer the better.

Since the Xiawo Brigade had already held a production team cadre meeting, the Ping'anzhuang Brigade could not lag too far behind. The next morning, Xia Juhua called the five production team leaders, Liu Liqun, and Li Changshun to the brigade headquarters through a loud speaker to convey the spirit of the commune meeting yesterday.

The person who reacted most strongly was Li Changshun: "Did the superiors make a mistake? The elders led the people in the revolution to achieve common production and common prosperity. How can they be separated now? Has everyone worked in vain over the past few decades?"

Of course, it is impossible to dry the white wine in white. As far as Xia Juhua knows, some large-scale water conservancy facilities were built on the basis of these years. Industrial bases, the Third Front construction, and large-scale mineral deposits also played a role in collective construction.

But these are far from enough. The experience of the previous life has proved that the household contract responsibility system, which is being carried out throughout the country, is the only way for everyone to fully solve the problem of food and clothing. There is no common prosperity, and the gap between the rich and the poor may even widen, but it is an indisputable fact that the number of people who are hungry has become a very small number.

但是這些她不能跟李長順說，免得他更覺得自己的認知是正确的，只好說：“大隊長，人民公社以來大家是共同生産了，可真的共同富裕了嗎？”

李長順極不服氣：“咱們平安莊還不算共同富裕？”

夏菊花直接給他擺事實：“可紅星公社別的大隊呢？不僅紅星公社，整個平德縣甚至承平地區，有幾個大隊能跟咱們大隊一樣？所以上級的政策咱們就得擁護，幹部還得帶頭。”

陳秋生昨天就知道平安莊生産隊婦女們的态度，明白那些娘子軍一出馬，夏菊花別想甩開平安莊生産隊，所以心裏不象別人那麽焦急。

其他生産隊可坐不住，李大牛的問題是：“以後要是都單幹了，除了分地，家夥式咋分？還有大隊的拖拉機、兩個廠子又咋分？”

他率先提起兩個廠子，幾個生産隊長都兩眼放光，李長順卻氣得直拍桌子：“把你們給燒得不輕，還想分兩個廠子，那廠子能分嗎？分了你們指望着地裏的那點莊稼，能換多少錢？土裏刨食沒刨夠是吧。”

被他連吼帶罵，幾個人臉上都讪讪的，李長順轉頭問夏菊花：“你是個啥打算？”

夏菊花想都沒想說：“我同意大隊長的意見，咱們兩個廠子肯定不能分。我覺得可以這樣，當年建粉條廠的時候，各生産隊與大隊都出了錢算了股，每個生産隊按自己的股多少，算一下自己生産隊有多少人，一人攤多少股，每年年底按股領分紅。也讓社員們多一份保障。”

“那大隊的股？”孫慶林很關心大隊入的股，哪怕李長順一直陰沉着臉，還是問了出來。

夏菊花認真的看了他一眼說：“大隊肯定不會撤銷，如果不掌握些資金的話，象救濟困難戶，給五保戶、軍屬發補貼大隊就拿不出錢。所以我的意見是，大隊的股分紅仍由大隊統一掌握。”

有理有據的話，讓孫慶林提不出反對意見。陳秋生和牛隊長是肯定站在夏菊花這一邊的，李長順與劉力群都是退伍老兵，自然也希望軍屬能得到些照顧，同樣不會反對。就連四隊隊長也覺得，自己生産隊的五保戶在平安莊養着，要是大隊出錢的話，他這個生産隊長臉不至于太無光，同樣表達了支持。

李長順重重從鼻子裏哼了一聲，目光跟兒狼一樣看着一屋子的人：“大隊不能一點錢沒有，這事兒就這麽定了。”

粉條廠一定，方便面廠如何分配利潤也等于定了下來：當初方便面廠社員集資占了百分之十八，齊衛東（含夏菊花）投資占了百分之十，剩下的百分之七十二皆由大隊出資。

夏菊花提議大隊繼續占股百分之十二，剩下的百分之六十，每個生産隊占百分之十二，如何計算到社員頭上，就是各生産隊自己的事兒。

“這個分股方案，将來全體社員大會上，咱們都是要跟社員們講清楚的。各生産隊回去之後，要公平的計算到每一名社員，按人頭均分。”夏菊花索性把醜話說到前頭：“要是發現有人暗地裏給自己多算股，就別怪社員們堵家門罵人的時候，大隊不出面替你們說話。”

李長順又惡狼一樣看生産隊長們，重點關注的就是孫慶林和李大牛兩個，氣得李大牛嘟嚷了一句：“各生産隊社員又不是不走動，大家股都是一樣的，一打聽不就打聽出來了？”

李長順直接說：“各家集資的錢不一樣，那股能一樣得了？就怕有人覺得自己聰明，趁着集資股與分配股攪在一起，給自己撈好處。”

夏菊花由着李長順發威，心裏感謝他把自己還沒來得及說的說出來了，堵往有些人的小心思。孫慶林可能覺得以後大家都單幹了，那就不用客氣，直接對夏菊花提出質疑：“那大隊長現在粉條廠和方便面廠，都開着工資呢，以後還開嗎？”

夏菊花又看了他一眼，嘴角帶着一絲冷笑：“開，為啥不開？”

孫慶林站了起來：“不管是粉條廠還是方便面廠，都有廠長，大隊長你也不咋參與管理，憑啥還在兩個廠子開工資？要是大隊幹部都在兩個廠子開工資，那我們年底的分紅不就少了嗎？”

夏菊花連眼皮都沒擡，直接問他：“酸辣粉是啥牌子、方便面又是啥牌子，用我告訴你不？反正大家現在都要單幹了，你說我自己再建這麽兩個廠子，是啥難事兒不？到時侯我說兩個廠子的牌子是假的，你說人家是信我的還是信那兩個廠子的？”

酸辣粉叫夏小夥牌，方便面同樣叫夏小夥牌。夏菊花說出來之後，孫慶林臉就是一白。

陳秋生笑了：“大隊長，我是粉條廠的廠長，就算分股以後，粉條廠也是我說了算。我知道這些年要不是有你對外聯系，粉條廠的原料不會那麽充足，冷庫不能建起來，生産線也不能說上就上。”

他不屑的看了孫慶林一眼：“要我說，現在給你開跟我一樣多的工資，都委屈你了。等股份算清以後，咱們粉條廠得重新定一下工資，也得把使你名字做品牌的那份，給加進去。”

孫慶林一聲也不吭的低頭坐下，四隊長看着他嘆了一口氣，沒象以往一樣出頭替他打圓場——沒有夏菊花，就沒有那兩個廠子，現在還分個屁！得了人家好處覺得是人家該做的，還嫌人家拿多了，四隊五隊走得再近也不能睜着眼說瞎話。

盡管孫慶林的兩個問題，浪費了一些時間，但大隊、生産隊幹部們按少數服從多數的原則，最終統一了意見：分配股各生産隊會計先算，常會計複核。土地重新丈量後，按好中差分類，按比例分配給每一名社員。

不過李長順突然想到，現在已經在親娘肚子裏還沒出生的孩子，算不算一口人，要不要參與分配？夏菊花自己也吃不準，當着所有人的面，把電話直接打到張書記辦公室。

張書記的答複十分肯定，那就是政策下達之日起，也就是在前天公社開大會那天以前，出生的都參與分配，那天之後的，對不起，不能參加。

好在這幾天各生産隊都沒有新生兒，算是減輕了一點工作量，各生産隊長都回生産隊去準備。

平安莊生産隊只量了總體面積，又重新與三隊和小莊頭确定了一下分界點，就沒有下一步動靜，陳秋生天天帶着紅玲姐兩個，算社員該從兩個廠子分多少股。

紅翠雖然每天跟陳秋生和紅玲一起，卻只算編織組的股份，陳秋生交待的很明白：夏菊花自己占百分之十，剩下的百分之九十全生産隊的人再分。

紅翠問：“那養老院裏的人算不算？”

“算七奶和老董叔的就行。”陳秋生覺得剩下的八名老人，平安莊代為照顧可以，真要讓他們占平安莊生産隊的股，從他這兒就不同意。

夏菊花聽了也沒說啥，反正大隊每年仍有收入，不擔心幾個老人少了供養：“分配股讓紅玲姐兩算就行，你還是得操心一下分地的事兒。”

陳秋生笑得人畜無害：“分地不急，眼看着就該收紅薯了，社員們都想再集體收一次。”

這種心情，跟大家又突然一起挖水溝差不多，夏菊花便不再催他，而是每天跟李長順一起，給各個生産隊斷不完的官司：

一涉及到分地，還是可能十五年內都不會變的分法，原本和氣的各生産隊，社員之間、社員與生産隊幹部之間，總有些小意氣：你分得地劃的時候多了一條垅，我的地咋比別人多了一塊中等地，為啥隊幹部家的地離村近，自己家的地遠的要騎自行車？

哪怕是一向安靜的三隊，也為拖拉機究竟咋分，把夏菊花叫過去一趟。夏菊花都被牛隊長搞樂了：“牛隊長，牛衛國開的拖拉機可是大隊的，不能因為他每天把拖拉機開回三隊，你們就覺得它成了三隊的財産。不是三隊的財産，你們分啥？”

牛隊長老臉通紅：“這話我都跟他們說過了，可他們就是不聽，我有啥法子。你威信高，說出來的話他們都信，你跟他們說一遍，說一遍，要不還有得吵吵。”

夏菊花能咋辦？說吧。的确如牛隊長說的那樣，夏菊花跟社員一說，大家就表示明白了，不分拖拉機了，卻都把夏菊花圍在當中不讓她走，問的是原來在廠子裏上班的人，以後還能不能繼續上班。

聽說還能上班，大家又問廠子還招不招人，要是不招人的話，那些一個人也沒在廠子上班的人家，不是虧了嗎？

The problem does exist, but Xia Juhua cannot give in now and directly recruit people from those families to work in the factory. She can only promise that when the factory recruits people in the future, it will give priority to families that don't have a single person working in the factory: "But I have to say this in advance, priority is not set in stone, whoever fails the selection will definitely not be able to enter the factory!"

The selection process at both factories was not very strict, and most people could still pass, so everyone made a waiver and let Xia Juhua leave. Captain Niu, who was waiting outside, smiled at Xia Juhua and said, "Just wait until the land is divided. I won't bother you anymore."

Although the words were spoken openly, Xia Juhua could still hear the disappointment in his tone. After thinking for a moment, she said to Captain Niu, "If you want to work in the factory, there will always be a place for you."

Captain Niu shook his head and said, "My two sons and one daughter are all in the factory now. If I go in, the factory will no longer belong to us."

Xia Juhua laughed and said, "Old Cow, this is not the time to show off."