Liu Hongjuan suddenly cried out: "It's not me, it's not me, it's my grandma who asked me to go with them." Captain Xia laughed even more cruelly: "Liu Erzhuang, did you hear that? Your niece said it was your mother who ordered it."
"Captain Xia, do you think we should take this old lady and little girl who are disrupting production to the training class?" The captain of the Red Team seemed to remember something and turned to ask Xia Juhua with a smile.
Sun and Liu Erzhuang both looked at Xia Juhua expectantly, but she didn't even glance at them. She said calmly to the leader of the Red Team, "Leader Xia, doesn't the Red Team always have its own way of dealing with bad elements who frame revolutionary members? As revolutionary members, we must stand on the same side as the Red Team."
The leader of the Red Team laughed and said, "Captain Xia's ideological awareness has improved so quickly. He just led someone out of the Red Team two days ago, and today he saw us recapture the person. I thought Xia Juhua would continue to speak up for this little girl."
"Auntie, it's really not me. It was my grandma who told me to say that." Liu Hongjuan found that Xia Juhua seemed to decide whether she would be captured by the Red Team, so she cried and begged Xia Juhua.
Xia Juhua acted as if she didn't hear anything, even when Liu Erzhuang came to her side and begged her to speak up for Sun and Liu Hongjuan, she turned a deaf ear. But Li Daya couldn't stand it anymore, so she pulled Liu Erzhuang aside, almost crying:
"You really don't understand what your mother and your niece did. My sister-in-law finally thought of how to lead the women to engage in production, but they kept turning back and forth and couldn't stand seeing others do well. Do you think your mother is right to make your sister-in-law unable to be the production team leader, and the women will go back to the stove, and everything will be fine?"
Liu Sanzhuang, who had been standing at the door of the west wing without saying anything, also spoke up: "Second brother, it has not been easy for sister-in-law these years, and mother is always looking for trouble. You are filial to your mother, but if the comrades of the Red Team don't investigate it clearly today, how can sister-in-law's family live?!"
Liu Erzhuang was speechless, but Sun Shi started to curse: "Liu Sanzhuang, you beast, I would rather have thrown you into the chamber pot and drowned you when you were born."
"Mom, you have drowned me so many times with your words." Liu Sanzhuang said in a faint voice, and Sun was choked and speechless.
She was speechless, but Xia Juhua said, "Captain Xia, the old lady has already separated from Liu Erzhuang and Liu Sanzhuang. Why not weigh out the food rations for her and Liu Hongjuan while they are still at home?"
After hearing what Xia Juhua said, Sun's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. She didn't care about the pain in her shoulders and loudly scolded Xia Juhua for having a conscience that had been eaten by a dog. Xia Juhua pretended not to hear it and turned to ask Liu Erzhuang and Li Daya: "Maybe you will deliver the food to the comrades of the Red Team tomorrow?"
Even if Liu Erzhuang wanted to nod, would Li Daya agree? She had already come to Sun with a fierce face and asked her for the key to the warehouse. Sun naturally didn't want to give it to her. Red Team looked at her with contempt and pouted at Red Team, who was still carrying Sun's shoulders.
A member of the Red Team let go of Sun's arm and recklessly took the key from her waist. He went to the warehouse and tried it twice, and then he opened the warehouse. He looked inside and exclaimed in surprise: "Captain, how come there is so much food in this old lady's house?"
Liu Erzhuang did not bother to plead for his mother anymore, and quickly explained to the leader of the Red Team that before they and the brothers separated, the food for the whole family was put together. The leader of the Red Team only asked: "Now you have separated, right?"
Liu Erzhuang was speechless. It seemed that he was always speechless tonight.
No one cared whether Liu Erzhuang could speak or not. The Red Team had already rushed into the Sun family's warehouse and looked through the things inside. Xia Juhua did not go forward, but watched the Red Team carry out the staple food and miscellaneous food one by one. She could not help but sigh in her heart that Liu Erzhuang and An Baoling were both kind people.
Logically, the grains of the three families had been divided when the family was divided. Sun was the only old lady at that time, so even if the two families moved more grains, Sun could not grab them. However, looking at the remaining grains in front of her, it was obvious that the two families really only took what they were entitled to this year, and left all the savings from previous years to Sun.
However, these grains had passed through the eyes of the Red Team and might not be kept, so it would have been better for Liu Erzhuang and his men to weigh more and put it in their own rooms.
Xia Juhua was not making malicious assumptions about the Red Team. It was true that the Red Team was capable of doing worse things. For example, right now, the leader of the Red Team was already directing people to start looking for a cart, with the intention of moving all the food from the Sun family.
"Captain Xia," thinking of the natural disaster next year, and being the production captain of Ping An Village, Xia Juhua had to stand up and say to the leader of the Red Team: "How many days do you plan to educate them this time?"
The leader of the Red Team watched the team members pick out the food ready to be loaded onto the truck, and said in a gloomy tone: "Captain Xia, how many days do you think it would be appropriate for us to educate them?"
Xia Juhua shook her head and said, "It is the decision of the Red Team to send people to the class for education. How can I, a farmer, know how many days is appropriate for education? This food is enough for them to eat for two months. I want to ask if we should send them some clothes to change into."
"Oh?" The leader of the Red Team finally looked Xia Juhua in the eye: "Captain Xia, do you want to send them some clean clothes?"
Xia Juhua nodded: "Whether they framed me or not, they are all members of the Ping'anzhuang Production Team and will return to the Ping'anzhuang Production Team one day in the future. As the leader of the Ping'anzhuang Production Team, I still have the task of supervising their transformation."
After going around in circles, the leader of the Red Team understood what Xia Juhua meant. He nodded with a smile and said, "Yeah, who made you the production team leader? Forget it, leave some for them." Then he waved his hand at the Red Team who were still trying to move food, and the Red Team stopped moving food.
When the Red Team started to carry out the food, Sun Shi cursed a few times with her neck straight. After being kicked twice, she dared not curse anymore. She just watched helplessly as the food she had saved with great difficulty was loaded onto the car one by one, her eyes red.
Now Xia Juhua actually stepped forward to stop the Red Team from continuing to move food. Sun did not feel grateful at all. Instead, she felt that Xia Juhua was pretending to be a good person - she really did not want the Red Team to move her food, and she should not have reminded the Red Team to collect rations from her and Liu Hongjuan in the first place!
"Bah, you heartless unlucky person, you killed my son, and caused my younger son and his wife to go to study abroad. Now you are forcing me to go to study abroad as well. How dare you pretend to be a good person?" Sun, who did not dare to scold the Red Team, vented her anger at Xia Juhua.
Xia Juhua looked straight into Sun's eyes: "Did I kill your son? Would the Red Team have arrested Liu Sizhuang if he hadn't fired Liu Sanzhuang? Would they have been sent to the study class if they had honestly admitted their mistakes? Would they have reformed their minds in the study class? Would Captain Liu and I have only brought the two children back that day? Would they have stayed at home after bringing them back and not continued to frame me? Would the comrades of the Red Team have had to make the trouble of running there in the middle of the night?"
Each and every question was something Sun had never thought about or dared to think about. Now they were bombarded all over her head, making her dizzy and unable to answer a single word. But Xia Juhua hadn't finished speaking yet:
"You have always thought that others are to blame and never thought about whether you have done anything wrong. You taught Liu Sizhuang and his two children to follow suit, which is why so many things happened. I advise you to go to the study class and reform your thoughts. When the comrades of the Red Team think that your thoughts have been reformed, I will get a notice from the comrades of the Red Team and go to pick you up with the cadres of the brigade."
Whether you can get out of the Red Team's study class depends entirely on whether I go to pick you up, do you understand, old lady?
Before Sun Shi did anything, Liu Hongjuan started crying again, calling her "Auntie" all the time, saying that she was instructed by Sun Shi, and begged Xia Juhua not to mind her young age and ignorance.
As early as the day when Liu Zhiliang and his sister came back from the Red Army, they asked Sun Shi to apologize to Liu Erzhuang and his family. Sun Shi was a little disappointed with her granddaughter Liu Hongjuan. Now when she heard her say that she was instigating it, she couldn't help but spit at her: "You conscienceless little idiot, if you hadn't told me that your second mother and her mother went to Xia Juhua to learn how to weave mats, how would I know what they were doing!"
Everyone in the Red Team stopped moving food, not to mention Liu Erzhuang and Li Daya. Xia Juhua recalled what Liu Hongjuan said when she met her in the commune yesterday, and she didn't even have the interest to say another word to her.
Xia Juhua didn't want to talk, but someone wanted to listen to her. The leader of the Red Team patted the cart and asked with a smile: "Captain Xia, this is not the first time that Liu Sizhuang's family has framed you. Next time you go back to pick someone up, you should think it over before you go."
Xia Juhua nodded expressionlessly: "Okay. Captain Xia, next time you hear someone slandering me, you must also investigate thoroughly before coming to me."
The captain of the Red Team could no longer keep the smile on his face, but he could still wave his hand at his team members in a very imposing manner: "Take it away."
In addition to taking away Sun and Liu Hongjuan, they also took away more than 100 kilograms of food. For any family, it is not a small amount. Liu Erzhuang approached Xia Juhua hesitantly and whispered, "Sister-in-law, look at how old mother is..."
The first person to quit was not Xia Juhua, but the angry Li Daya: "Liu Erzhuang, are you done yet? Your mother is so old, doesn't she know what to say and what not to say? This is because my sister-in-law broke the sorghum straw herself to teach us three mothers, so we escaped. If something really happened, all the mat weaving business in Ping'an Village would be ruined. Will your mother compensate for the losses for everyone?"
"Tiantian, your mother is old. Did she grow up eating shit? She is like an animal, ignorant of human affairs and does whatever she wants. If she wants to raise pigs, you let her do it. Then everyone in the production team will eat less meat. Now you still want to protect her. If you really think your mother is right, why don't you follow her to the Red Team? Why don't you stay at home?"
Liu Erzhuang's hair was swollen from being yelled at. Hearing what Li Daya said was unpleasant, he raised his hand to hit her: "Are you talking to a human being? That's my mother."
Li Daya was almost going crazy, and she was about to charge at Liu Erzhuang: "Your mother has done nothing good, and you treat her like a ..."
Xia Juhua felt bad when she heard Li Daya speak, so she stepped forward to pull her back, preventing Li Daya from bumping into Liu Erzhuang. Instead, Liu Erzhuang slapped her in the face, intending to hit Li Daya. Xia Juhua suffered an unexpected disaster, as the slap landed right on her arm.
"Sister-in-law?" Li Daya called out with great guilt, looking at the bewildered Liu Erzhuang with hatred.
Liu Erzhuang was at a loss, and didn't know where to start to apologize. Liu Sanzhuang and his wife didn't want to get involved in Sun's affairs, and thought Li Daya's words would sober Liu Erzhuang up, but he didn't expect him to get angry and slap her.
The slap also landed on Xia Juhua. The couple quickly stepped forward to surround Xia Juhua, asking her repeatedly if it hurt and if she was okay.
Xia Juhua moved her arms and felt that it was not a big deal. She shook her head at the uneasy Li Daya and An Baoling, then looked at Liu Erzhuang and said, "Erzhuang, you have helped me a lot over the years. I am very grateful to you and know that you value family affection."
"But seeing the affection doesn't mean not knowing right from wrong, right?" After saying that, Xia Juhua turned around and walked out, no longer looking at Liu Erzhuang who was squatting on the ground with his head down. Li Daya and An Baoling sent Xia Juhua to the gate of the courtyard, and kept talking to her.
Can Li Daya and An Baoling be blamed for this? Xia Juhua is not a person who gets angry easily. Instead, she has to persuade Li Daya not to get angry with Liu Erzhuang when she returns home. It will be fine if the couple can talk it out.
After she finished speaking, she hadn't walked a few steps when someone opened the gate of his yard and greeted Xia Juhua, asking her what happened at the Liu family just now. Xia Juhua was in no mood to answer these questions, so she nodded and continued to walk home. The person who asked the question was complained by a neighbor who also opened the gate of his yard:
"Did you really not hear it or were you pretending? Can't you see that the captain is in a bad mood?"
"I just want to ask, can we continue to compile the banquet tomorrow? How did we offend the captain?"
"First it was your brother-in-law and then your mother-in-law. They came to the Red Team one after another to report you. How can you be in a good mood? You are pretending to be ignorant even though you know the truth! Bah."
Xia Juhua kept hearing whispered arguments all the way, but she ignored them all. After returning home, she tidied up the kang and lay down. Liu Zhiquan and Liu Zhishuang were so anxious that they went to the old courtyard again to find out if their mother was angry again.
When they heard that Sun and Liu Hongjuan had reported Xia Juhua together, the two brothers had the same expression, staring at Liu Zhiliang who was hiding at the door of the main room. When they heard Li Daya say that Xia Juhua was slapped by Liu Erzhuang, the two brothers looked at Liu Erzhuang with strange eyes.
Liu Zhiquan said in a dignified voice: "Second Uncle, my mother has never let you down."
"If the pigs raised by grandma are seen by the villagers, do you think they will scold you or my mother?" Liu Zhishuang said even more harshly. After one of them said another, the two brothers went home together, worried and unable to sleep well for half the night.
The next day, both of them got up early, one cleaned the yard and the other fetched water. After they finished, they realized that their mother was still not awake. Liu Zhishuang couldn't sit still, so he picked up some small pieces of sorghum stalks, squatted in front of the main door, broke them open, and slowly began to weave a windmill.
"You still have time to play this." Liu Zhiquan felt that his brother was too unreliable: "Your sister-in-law is almost ready to eat, why don't you ask your mother if she wants to eat?"
Liu Zhishuang looked at his brother with dissatisfaction, wondering why he didn't ask. The door was already open, and the two brothers showed their white teeth: "Mom, you got up, did you sleep well?" "Mom, why did you just get up?"
Needless to say, the first sentence was said by Liu Zhishuang, and the second sentence was said by Liu Zhiquan. Wang Caifeng, who had been listening attentively, wanted to pull her husband into the kitchen and ask him if he could talk. What if she thought he disliked her for getting up too late?
Xia Juhua didn't care much. She washed herself, ate a few bites, put down her bowl and walked out. Wang Caifeng said hurriedly, "Mom, why are you eating so little? Are you feeling uncomfortable? Otherwise, you don't have to go to work today."
"It's okay. I have something to discuss with Chen Qiu Sheng." Xia Juhua said without turning her head.
Soon, the whistle for work was heard on the street. Brothers Wang Caifeng and Liu Zhiquan looked at each other and urged them to hurry up: "Mom must have something wrong. If you two don't support her, who will?"
Wang Caifeng had the same mentality as Li Daya and Liu Sanzhuang, Sun Zhaodi and his wife, Li Changwang and his wife, Li Changman and his wife... Seeing the people running quickly towards the production team, Chen Qiusheng smiled and said, "Captain, I think you don't have to worry. In the past, if the whistle was blown early, everyone would have been slow to respond. It's nothing like now, where everyone is more enthusiastic than the team's dividends."
Xia Juhua asked Chen Qiu Sheng to blow the whistle in advance, not out of deliberate effort, but because she had this idea since last night: when she was walking back yesterday, many people wanted to inquire about her. They seemed to be concerned about why Sun was captured by the Red Team, but in fact they were worried about whether Xia Juhua could still be the production team leader and whether she could continue to be the editor.
Instead of letting everyone guess, it is better to make things clear.
Seeing that most people had arrived, Xia Juhua took two steps toward the crowd. Without shouting any slogans, she said directly, "You should have heard yesterday that Sun and Liu Hongjuan went to the Red Team to accuse me of stealing collective property. The Red Team found out that it was a false accusation, so they were taken away by the Red Team overnight."
"Now it is winter and our production team's income depends on making mats. Only when the mat-making members are well trained and make more and better mats, can the production team's income increase and everyone's dividends next year can also increase."
"All members who weave mats know that some members are slow learners. In order not to delay weaving mats, the accountant and I agreed to let them take some reeds home to practice after registration. But we also said that no matter how they practice, they must bring all the reeds back to the yard the next day. If anyone doesn't believe me, you can go to the yard to supervise them at the end of the day."
"If anyone has any opinions about the mat weaving people going home to practice, I hope he will raise them in front of everyone, instead of running to the Red Team to complain like Sun did. That would not only waste my time, but if the news gets to the supply and marketing cooperative, they won't dare to accept our mats, and that would delay everyone's dividends next year!"
At the end, Xia Juhua told everyone all her strength. Everyone in Pingan Village heard that Xia Juhua was not threatening them but stating the facts: the supply and marketing cooperative gave priority to buying seats from Pingan Village because Xia Juhua could keep coming up with new ideas. If Xia Juhua really got into trouble, Pingan Village would still want to sell seats at a higher price than other production teams. That would be a dream.
Everyone understood what he said, and even if they didn't, there was no harm in hearing Li Changwang's loud voice: "Captain, don't worry, we are not conscienceless people. You lead us women to make money for the production team in the middle of winter. If anyone goes to complain, I will curse his ancestors for eight generations."
Li Changwang's family is famous for being a big mouth in Pingan Village. She said that cursing someone's eight generations of ancestors is something she can do. Li Changman's family said dissatisfiedly: "What's the point of just cursing his eight generations of ancestors? His ancestors' bones are all rotten. It's better to curse him for not having a son."
You two are capable. Xia Juhua herself was embarrassed to listen: "Okay, that's it. I still say the same thing, if you have any opinions about me, tell me in person, if you think you can be a better production team leader than me, go to the brigade and tell them, there's no need to bother the comrades in the Red Team all the time."
"Don't worry, Captain. We all know what happened. There are a few people like Mrs. Liu who can't stand us all being on good terms." Someone shouted in the crowd, and some people actually started to cheer and applaud.
Chen Qiusheng was very glad that Liu Erzhuang didn't come today, otherwise he would be furious to hear everyone talking about him - he heard yesterday that Liu Erzhuang slapped the captain. If Chen Qiusheng said that Liu Erzhuang was crazy to dare to hit the captain, if the women knew about it, they would dare to drown Liu Erzhuang with their spit.
Anyway, now Chen Qiu Sheng dare not say a word bad about Xia Juhua at home. If he starts to say anything, his wife will immediately push him against the wall.
Chen Qiusheng couldn't even handle his wife at home, so how could he dare to challenge all the women in Ping'an Village? He looked at Xia Juhua inquiringly, and when she nodded, he stepped forward and assigned the production tasks to the male members: the same old routine, those who should repair the canal continued to repair the canal, and those who should transport fertilizer to the fields continued to transport fertilizer to the fields.
Someone actually raised an opinion: "Captain, you are not only finding ways for the women to make money, but also think about us male members, otherwise the women at home will be so angry that their tails will fly up to the sky."
The person who spoke was Zhao Huashan's brother Zhao Huajiang, who was one of the fertilizer transporters. Transporting fertilizer in winter was not an easy job, but it was much easier than repairing canals, and the corresponding work points were only two less per day. His wife was always very talkative, and she had been helping with the mat weaving, and now she could get six points a day. Everyone could imagine that she started talking loudly at home, so it was normal for him to complain.
Chen Qiusheng teased him deliberately: "Come on, your wife's tail is also very high."
"Chen Qiu Sheng, you are talking nonsense. Your wife is the one who is always fussing over things." Zhao Huajiang's family originally wanted to target their own men, but now they are pointing their spearheads at Chen Qiu Sheng.
Chen Qiusheng shrank his neck and did not dare to fight back against Zhao Huajiang's family. Other members followed suit and said, "Captain, you see, these old women are still like this outside, and they really don't cook for us when they go home. You have to think of a way for us too."
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