As expected, Xia Juhua came home late that day. She was not the only one who came home late. The men, whether they were repairing the canal or transporting fertilizer, noticed that all the women who went to work in the fields came home late.
After asking around, it turned out that the team leader had come up with a new trick today, and the women all wanted to learn the new trick as quickly as possible, so no one paid attention to the whistle for the end of work. It was not until Wang Caifeng saw that her mother-in-law had not returned home and took Liu Baoguo to the yard to look for her that the women remembered that they had not cooked yet.
Many people envied Xia Juhua for being able to have hot meals when she returned home, and Wang Caifeng felt a little embarrassed for praising her. She secretly resolved to do better in the future - the feeling of being praised was so good that people couldn't help but want more.
Xia Juhua had not expected that she would be able to weave the new mat so smoothly. Thinking of the few words she knew, which were taught to her by Liu Baoguo after he went to school, she could not help teasing Liu Baoguo and talking along the way.
Wang Caifeng was delighted to see her mother-in-law smiling for once, "Mom, Zhiquan brought some noodles to my parents' home and he said my mom asked him to tell you to stop thinking about them and eat when you need to."
Xia Juhua asked, "Did Zhiquan tell your mother how much we have at home?" Don't tell everyone how much we have at home.
Wang Caifeng was amused: "Although Zhiquan's words are not clear in his mind, he still has the necessary numbers in his mind. He told my mother that there are still some at home, but from what he said, he didn't say how much we have."
In between the lines, he did not forget to get back the money for Liu Zhiquan. Xia Juhua was so happy when she heard it: "Okay, I get it."
Mother said she knew, so she was no longer angry with the man? Wang Caifeng asked tentatively: "Then mother, are you no longer angry with Zhiquan? Since you ignored him yesterday, he felt that he couldn't sleep well and couldn't eat. I think if you two talked about what was wrong, wouldn't everything be fine?"
Haha, a person who drinks two bowls of porridge for one meal and says he can't eat anymore, is it okay to lie with such open eyes? Xia Juhua looked at Wang Caifeng from the side, and she was looking at her sincerely.
Liu Baoguo thought Xia Juhua was looking at him, so he stepped on the few pieces of snow on the side of the road and shouted, "Grandma, come on, step on it."
Xia Juhua walked over and took his hand, holding it as she walked, asking, "Don't step on it. Your shoes will get wet soon. Are you cold? What did your mother cook for today?"
Wang Caifeng didn't get an answer from her mother-in-law just now, so she finally found a place to interrupt. She looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to her and her mother-in-law, so she whispered to Xia Juhua, "Mom, before you left, didn't you say that everyone would eat noodles tonight? I've made the soup and am waiting for everyone to go back and cook the noodles."
Those are white noodles. When Liu Baoguo was just weaned, his mother-in-law gave him a few meals of them. Now the whole family has to eat them together. It’s exciting just to think about it.
The eating scene is even more lively!
Because Wang Caifeng was eating white noodles (even if they were a little broken, she couldn't deny that they were made of white noodles. She rounded them up and they were white noodles. Wang Caifeng wouldn't accept any arguments), she added a spoonful of oil when she was cooking the food. She sautéed the green onions and garlic until fragrant before putting in the finely chopped cabbage hearts. The smell alone was enough to make one salivate.
When the noodles come out of the pot, apart from the fact that it is difficult to grab some, it is Chinese New Year for the Liu family - just a spoonful of white noodles is served with stewed radish with crushed peanuts, and when you put it in your mouth, you can taste the aroma of oil, noodles, and the crispy aroma of crushed peanuts. Who would believe that it is not Chinese New Year?
Liu Zhiquan and his brother each held a large bowl, their heads almost buried in it, and the sound of them slurping noodles could be heard from miles away. Compared with them, Xia Juhua's action of carefully picking up a few noodles, blowing on them twice and slowly putting them into her mouth seemed out of place.
Wang Caifeng started eating like the two brothers, but after a while she felt something was wrong. Why did her mother-in-law eat so...civilized? She ate like the people in the movies. She couldn't help but imitate them, and found that blowing on the food to cool it down before putting it in her mouth didn't slow down her eating speed.
Why are you chewing so loudly? It's like he's eating something. Wang Caifeng looked at the man with some disdain and said to Liu Baoguo, "Baoguo, eat slowly. No one is competing with you for food. Look, grandma is not in a hurry. Chew it for a while so that it can be digested better."
Liu Zhiquan and Liu Zhishuang raised their heads from their bowls and looked at Wang Caifeng. They felt that she was hinting at something, but they had no evidence. Xia Juhua was happy to see Wang Caifeng speak out loud instead of making secret plans. She smiled and scolded her:
"You're the only one who talks too much. Eat quickly, or they'll serve more and you'll only be able to drink the soup."
Wang Caifeng could not help but hear the smile in her mother-in-law's words, and she also smiled: "Even if it's just soup, there's still a lot of white flour in it, so you can still eat as much as you want." Which daughter-in-law in the village can eat as much white flour as she wants? If there is white flour, the husband and children must eat it first!
She, Wang Caifeng, is probably the first one!
The two brothers Liu Zhiquan felt embarrassed and finally slowed down their conversation. Liu Zhishuang asked, "Mom, do you think I can go and exchange food tomorrow?"
"Where are you going to exchange for food?" While talking to her son, Xia Juhua's face gradually became stern again. The hearts of Liu Zhiquan and his brother sank, and they looked at Wang Caifeng at the same time: When did she bribe their mother? Why is their mother talking and laughing with her?
But I still had to answer my mother's question: "I was thinking of going to the county to exchange it. I heard that there is ..."
Before he even said the word "black market", Xia Juhua's face had turned even uglier, and Liu Zhishuang wisely shut up. Then he heard his mother say, "No. Sun Guizhi and her husband insist that I'm a profiteer. Maybe the Red Squad is secretly watching our family, waiting to catch us."
After thinking for a while, Xia Juhua said, "Don't go to exchange food until the dry canal is repaired. Wait until the team kills the New Year pigs, then you can go." After ten or twenty days, the Red Team probably won't have the patience to keep watching their home.
Liu Zhishuang nodded and became attentive again: "Okay, I'll listen to you. Is there anything you want? I'll go to the county and buy it for you." After he said that, he remembered that he had no money and wanted to slap himself in the face.
Xia Juhua glanced at him with a half-smile: "I don't know how much money you have, so keep it well. If you fall in love with a girl someday, you should save the money for her betrothal gift."
Liu Zhishuang always felt that there was something not quite right with the way his mother looked at him, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong, so he had to continue eating the noodles in the bowl.
Soon the meal was over. Xia Juhua told Wang Caifeng to leave some noodles so that she could add some to Liu Baoguo's stove from time to time. The rest were moved to the west room of the main house - the peanuts she had originally put in the vegetable cellar had been moved there long ago, and the west room now became where Xia Juhua stored her fine grains.
With food in hand, she was not at all worried. Lying on the kang, Xia Juhua calculated that the various grains in her hands weighed nearly two thousand kilograms. She slept very soundly, and was very energetic when she counted the new mats with Wang Caixia the next day.
Wang Caixia was still a little worried about her, so she found a chance to ask, "Did you have a quarrel with your son when you came back yesterday?"
Xia Juhua shook her head gratefully: "Why are you arguing with him? That's his own money. If he can't afford the bride price when he finds a wife in the future, it's his own problem."
Wang Caixia didn't know what to say. After a while, she said, "You are really generous."
If she wasn't too careless, she wouldn't have locked him out before taking the medicine. Xia Juhua replied in her heart, but she said, "I made you a new mat for you to use during the Chinese New Year. Don't worry, it doesn't have the Chinese character for happiness, it's a new pattern I thought of."
"What are you doing?" Wang Caixia declined repeatedly, but finally realized that if Xia Juhua wanted to give her something, she could never refuse. Who made Xia Juhua say: "Yesterday, I took advantage of Chen Xiaoman, and I wanted to thank her. But if I just give it to her, I'm afraid she won't accept it. Besides, this thing takes up too much space, and it won't look good if I take it to the supply and marketing cooperative. I'll send it to your house quietly, just as if Caifeng is hanging out with you two sisters."
"You have to help me with this." Xia Juhua looked at Wang Caixia with pleading eyes. People who didn't know would think that she was asking Wang Caixia for something instead of giving something to her.
What else could Wang Caixia say? She couldn't say that she didn't want to help Xia Juhua, but she still pretended to be serious and said to her: "If you are so polite next time, I will really not recognize you."
Xia Juhua smiled, and not only she smiled. Seeing the mats being neatly laid out on the carriage, everyone in Ping'an Village smiled, including the men who were angry with their wives yesterday and complained that they were late for cooking.
How could they not laugh? They heard that the money from the mats had been collected, and the production team's income had increased significantly, which meant that the income of all members had also increased. They heard that the supply and marketing cooperative had ordered new mats, and the men felt that if things continued like this, not only would their meals be a little late, but even if they had to cook one or two meals a day, it would not be unacceptable.
Finally, Xia Juhua asked Liu Daxixi to deliver the mats, mainly because Liu Daxixi had met with Section Chief Chen yesterday and asked him to secretly slip some fried peanuts into the cart when returning it so that Section Chief Chen would not be afraid to accept it.
When Liu Daxi came back and told Xia Juhua that Section Chief Chen had asked if their production team needed to buy some wheat bran to feed the pigs, Xia Juhua couldn't believe her ears: "Did Section Chief Chen really say that?"
"Well, three cents a pound. If you want to buy it, you have to go in the afternoon." Liu Daxi came back jogging. Although he didn't understand what Xia Juhua and Wu Ye said yesterday, he still understood that the two wanted to buy wheat bran.
This was just like a golden opportunity. Xia Juhua put down the mat and wanted to leave, but Li Changwang grabbed her and said, "Captain, you can't leave. We haven't learned it yet."
現在夏菊花正在編另外兩個福字，因為她希望編出來的效果是四個福字的一點都向着席子中間，所以每次接新葦皮的地方都不一樣，不是學會了頭兩個字就知道下兩個字怎麽編。
夏菊花知道大家夥都着急學會好編席賣錢，不過編席不是一天能完成的，可以等一等。陳科長那兒等不了，誰知道人家會不會變卦，麥麸還是得早點兒買到手時才踏實。
所以夏菊花不為所動：“新來的是不是都學會起頭了，她們起的頭你們檢查過沒有，緊實不緊實，會不會卷幾次就散邊？要是誰教出來的人讓我發現有那樣的問題，就別跟着我學新花樣了。”
李常旺家的很想說那不公平，畢竟有的人手巧，有的人手笨，學習的進度不一樣。新手起的頭兒收的邊兒更是容易出現散邊、露葦皮等等問題。可是話到嘴邊，就讓她自己生生咽下去了。
現在的夏菊花可不如以前好說話了，以前你說啥她只是看你一眼，一句話都不會反駁。現在誰說了什麽，夏菊花都能有理有據的同意或是反對，誰要是再想反駁，她還能拿自己的手藝壓人一頭。
想明白的李常旺家的，只好沖圍着夏菊花的婦女們吆喝：“都圍着隊長幹啥，該教人起頭的教人起頭，該挑葦杆的挑葦杆，破皮好的接着破皮！”
呵，李常旺家的都被鍛煉出來了，劉大喜默默沖着夏菊花豎了大拇指，覺得爺爺說的沒錯，跟着夏菊花跑腿幹活，真能學會不少東西。
等見夏菊花讓陳秋生把生産隊的牛車趕出來，劉大喜才知道夏菊花可不光能讓人學辦事，還能讓人學着眼大。生産隊是養着七頭豬，可是還有二十來天就該交任務豬、殺年豬了，能吃多少麥麸？推兩個架子車不就夠了，還用得着趕牛車？
眼大的夏菊花，坐在裝得滿滿當當麥麸的牛車回到平安莊，五爺正站在村口等着，她趕緊從車轅上下來：“五爺，這麽冷的天你咋站這兒了，凍着了可咋辦。”
劉大喜也埋怨：“你前兩天剛好，要是再凍病了我爹又得罵我。”
五爺的眼睛都沒離開牛車上的麥麸：“我這不是怕白歡喜一場嘛。”說着把長着老年斑的手，往麥麸裏插，發現插不進去，掉了好幾顆牙的嘴笑的直露風：“好，好。”
陳秋生跟着是去付錢的，這一牛車一千斤麥麸花了三十塊錢，陳秋生不是不心疼。看到五爺跟夏菊花一樣高興，忍不住問了一句：“五爺也知道買麥麸的事兒呀？”
五爺疑惑的看了夏菊花一眼：“秋生不知道？”
夏菊花無聲的搖了搖頭，五爺明白了，說出來的話也變了：“嗯，是我給大壯家的出的主意，隊裏的幾頭牛不能老吃糧食，摻點麥麸能省點糧。豬也能吃，這一冬天應該夠用了。”
冬天都過去一小半了我的五爺。陳秋生聽出老頭兒敷衍他，也沒追問——他就是個會計，還是生産隊的會計，不聽生産隊長的話聽誰的。只要他的帳記明白了，将來誰說不應該買麥麸，也跟他沒關系。
不過他還是提出了一個夏菊花沒想到的問題：“隊長，年初養豬的時候，你婆婆說他們家人口多剩飯多，非得要一頭豬的指标。現在有麥麸了，給不給她送去點兒？”
咋還繞不過那個老太太了呢？夏菊花無奈的看了五爺一眼——把買來的麥麸說成用來養豬牛，是她跟五爺商量好的說辭，要是讓孫氏知道了，她一定會來鬧着要。
五爺吧嗒着旱煙袋，含糊不清的說：“不給，她要是非得不講理，那咱們也不用跟她講理，讓她把豬交回來，連應該剩下的飼料也一起交回來。”
現在農村養豬，跟伺候祖宗差不多，因為收購站不是什麽豬都收，不夠一百五十斤的豬都算沒完成任務，不光要挨批，下年上級配發的生産資料也會被相應扣除。
正因為這樣，家家提起養豬都頭疼，劉二壯就提出還是生産隊集體養豬，派一個飼養員專門伺侯豬祖宗，每頭豬每年補貼一百斤高粱。
平安莊的飼養員是陳秋生的叔伯兄弟，叫陳路生，是個老實人，從沒克扣過啞巴牲口的飼料，每年平安莊交任務豬都挺順利的。結果因為太順利，就被孫氏給盯上了。她認為是個人養豬都能跟陳路生養的一樣好，年初的時候鬧着要自家也養一頭。
劉二壯那時還沒明面上不聽孫氏的話，捏着鼻子認下這事兒，連豬帶飼料一起抱給孫氏。現在已經快到年底豬出欄的時候了，把豬收回來也不是不可以。
只是在場的人都不怎麽看好孫氏養的豬。五爺把煙袋鍋子在鞋底上磕打兩個，對劉大喜說：“你把二壯給我叫來。”
趁着劉大喜叫人的空兒，他們已經把牛車趕到了糧倉邊上，陳秋生和夏菊花一起打開糧倉門，同時嘆了一口氣：糧倉裏的糧食太少了。
這麽少的糧食，平時生産隊也沒有動用的資格，因為裏頭糧食的名字叫儲備糧。
“隊長，你不是覺得咱們儲備糧太少，想着放點麥麸看着好看點兒吧？”陳秋生聽到夏菊花的嘆氣聲，半開玩笑似的說。
夏菊花明白陳秋生對自己沒跟他說買麥麸的事兒，有些不滿，也沒打算瞞着他：“你還別說，我真是這麽想的。我倒願意這些麥麸永遠別用上，真到了用上那天，總比吃樹皮強吧。”
啥？陳秋生看夏菊花的眼神不對勁了，啥年頭讓人連麥麸都得吃，做為有過一次經歷的人，他心裏太清楚了：“隊長，你可別吓唬我。”
夏菊花苦笑了一下，她都多長時間沒苦笑過了：“不是吓唬你，你不覺得今年冬天雨水太少了？”
她不說陳秋生還真沒注意，一說起來可不是咋的，就今天那一場地皮都蓋不全的小雪，跟往年真沒法比。不過他還抱了一絲希望：“咱們不是修渠了嗎，修好了不指望着增産，不減産就行呀。”
“上頭可不是這麽算的。”夏菊花打破陳秋生的幻想：“每年修渠的任務都是上頭定好的，修了多少渠增加了多少水澆地上頭比咱們自己都清楚。旱地變成水澆地，公糧數就跟着變成水澆地該交的數，不減産咱們也交不起那麽多公糧。”
愁死個人了。陳秋生又嘆一口氣，搬麥麸的速度更快了。
更愁人的消息是劉二壯帶來的——他娘孫氏養的豬，據他目測連一百四十斤都到不了。五爺直接炸了：“我去生産隊的豬圈看過了，哪頭都是一百六十斤朝上，你娘把豬飼料料自己吃啦？”
本來是句氣話，可是劉二壯低下的頭，讓人認識到一個可怕的事實——孫氏根本沒把所有的飼料，都用到豬身上。
“這樣不行二壯。”夏菊花很想問問劉二壯到底知不知道他娘是個啥脾氣，年初咋就放心把一頭豬交給她養。這豬可不是劉二壯自己的，是全生産隊人一年到頭吃肉的指望！他咋能為了自己的娘順心，就讓全生産隊的人都不順心呢。
五爺也氣的直喘粗氣：“你現在就回家把豬送到生産隊的豬圈裏去，讓路生養最後幾天，還能長幾斤肉。要是放到你娘手裏，說不定最後連一百斤都剩不下。”
劉二壯覺得自己一個人完不成這個任務，期期艾艾的不願意獨自回去面對孫氏，氣的五爺拍了他一巴掌：“你這沒囊氣的勁！難怪這些年讓你娘給捏的死死的。你不當這個生産隊長算對了，要不全村人都得跟着吃不上肉。”
這話說的就有些重了，夏菊花不得不拉了拉五爺的衣襟——劉二壯做出跟孫氏分家的決定，應該是把對孫氏的不滿都發洩淨了，現在說不定心裏對孫氏起了內疚，不願意再跟孫氏正面沖突。
可是生産隊的豬，是真不能讓孫氏再養了，所以五爺和夏菊花、陳秋生一起來到了老劉家，開門見山的跟孫氏說明了來意。
孫氏不出意外的不同意——一百斤高粱是全年的豬飼料，現在還差二十多天，她不想把剩下的豬飼料退出來。
“你自己看看你養的豬，說是一年豬有人信嗎？”五爺指指趴地圈裏的豬，又指指孫氏的鼻子：“這是全村人的指望，你這豬交任務人家收購站不得把你攆回來？”
“當初我說不養，是生産隊生逼着讓我養的，它不長肉我有什麽辦法？”孫氏颠倒黑白的功力又見長，當着劉二壯說出這樣的話一點兒心裏負擔都沒有。
聽到動靜的李大丫和安寶玲早已經站在各自的門前，見孫氏說瞎話眼睛都不眨一下，雙雙露出諷刺的表情，連李大丫都沒上前，就在看看劉二壯有什麽可說的。
Liu Erzhuang was speechless! He opened the door of the pig pen and said to Chen Qiu Sheng, "Qiu Sheng, give me a hand and drive the pigs to the production team's pig pen now."
Sun stood in front of the pig pen door, pointed at Liu Erzhuang's nose and shouted: "Who dares to touch my pigs?"