Chapter 55
Although Wang Caifeng didn't know why her mother-in-law's expression suddenly changed, she hoped that her mother-in-law could be happier and wanted to be closer to her. While watching Xia Juhua eat noodles, she chattered about everything and told Xia Juhua everything that happened in the village today.
The biggest event in the village was that the pig raised by Sun was accidentally discovered. Seeing that the pig had turned into such a good condition, many people secretly scolded Liu Erzhuang. Liu Erzhuang had already returned to work in the morning, but after hearing everyone's discussion, he stayed at home to rest in the afternoon.
Xia Juhua didn't want to comment on Liu Erzhuang. She had more important things to worry about: "When Zhiquan comes back later, ask him to change the water in the sweet potato paste. Don't do it yourself."
Xia Juhua really couldn't bear to ask a pregnant woman who was six or seven months pregnant to change the water in such a big bowl of sweet potato pulp.
Wang Caifeng was even more moved: "I already asked him to change it once at noon, does he need to change it again at night?"
That's not necessary, just change the water in the sweet potato pulp once a day. Xia Juhua was curious about how Wang Caifeng could persuade Liu Zhiquan, who had always refused to enter the kitchen. Wang Caifeng was a little embarrassed by the question, and smiled with a little pride: "I told him that if he doesn't change, I will tell mother that he is not sincere in doing housework."
All right, they are all taking advantage of the power of others. Xia Juhua also felt that she could deal with Liu Zhiquan in this way - who said that women have to do all the work in the kitchen? Zhao Tiedan's family has three bachelors, so they won't eat?
Wang Caifeng saw Xia Juhua eating happily, and she was happy too. She had rarely talked to Xia Juhua about daily life in her life, but now she couldn't stop talking. Plus, Liu Baoguo couldn't speak fluently and loved to mix things up, Xia Juhua couldn't help but relax, slowly closed her eyes, and fell asleep.
"Baoguo." Wang Caifeng called her son softly, put on his shoes, carried him off the kang, and gently covered her mother-in-law with a blanket before pulling her son's hand and walking out. Liu Baoguo seemed to understand and remained silent until he reached the door and said in a baby voice, "Grandma, I'm tired."
"Well, grandma is tired. Don't speak loudly and wake her up, okay?" Wang Caifeng looked back at her mother-in-law who was sleeping soundly, just like her son. The corners of her mouth rose slightly unconsciously: "Grandma is tired from worrying about us."
Xia Juhua slept soundly that night and did not hear Liu Zhiquan and his colleagues leaving work. When she woke up, they had not only eaten, but also weighed the peanuts sent by the noodle factory.
This made Xia Juhua speechless. Did they have nothing to do? The noodle factory was not relying on the peanuts to make money. They wanted to provide benefits to the employees. If there were less, there would not be enough to share in the future, and they would be in trouble.
But hearing Liu Zhishuang's excited face counting to her, Xia Juhua couldn't keep a straight face: "One pound of fried peanuts makes eight ounces of cooked peanuts. The noodle factory wants one thousand pounds of cooked peanuts, so of course the amount that needs to be shaved in the middle has to be counted in." Who does he think is as stupid as you?
Wang Caifeng always helped Xia Juhua, and could more or less calculate how many cooked peanuts Xia Juhua could get from one pound of fried peanuts. She asked uncertainly, "Mom, I think you can get more than eight ounces per pound."
But my mother-in-law never told the supply and marketing cooperative about the extra peanuts.
Liu Zhiquan looked at his wife with dissatisfaction: "That's because my mother is a good cook. I like the taste of her cooking."
Xia Juhua nodded, not feeling embarrassed that Wang Caifeng found out that she could earn more raw peanuts: "Zhiquan is right. When I stir-fry peanuts, no matter how many raw peanuts I use, as long as the quantity is enough and the taste is good, it's fine as long as others approve of it. Besides, there's sugar, so sugar doesn't count for the quantity, right?"
The supply and marketing cooperative may not have failed to realize that sugar would account for a certain proportion, but they thought it could be ignored and just accepted it.
Wang Caifeng looked at her mother-in-law with admiration. It turned out that frying peanuts could not only earn her processing fee, but also peanuts. She just didn't know how many peanuts her mother-in-law earned. No wonder there were always peanut crumbs in Baoguo's bowl these days. When she cooked, her mother-in-law also told her not to be reluctant to use oil.
"Mom, let's fry the peanuts now." Wang Caifeng couldn't wait to fry the peanuts. She always felt that only if she gave the cooked peanuts to the noodle factory, the remaining peanuts would truly be hers.
Now that the conversation was over, Xia Juhua Gancui asked Liu Zhiquan to weigh out 100 kilograms of raw peanuts and put them in the west room of the main house in front of everyone: "When we prepare New Year's goods in a few days, we will find a way to exchange them for some peanut oil."
This made Liu Zhiquan and his friends even more motivated. When Xia Juhua arrived at the kitchen, the peanuts were almost soaked. Even the firewood was brought back by Liu Zhishuang. Since they loved to work so much, Xia Juhua let Liu Zhishuang light the fire while she fried the peanuts herself.
Not only did she fry the peanuts herself, she also asked Wang Caifeng, who was putting her child to sleep, to watch. In addition to having her instruct Liu Zhiquan on when to add firewood and when to turn down the heat, the most important thing was to teach Wang Caifeng how to coat the peanuts with icing sugar.
"If you want to spread the icing evenly and save sugar, the key is to control the temperature of boiling the sugar..." Xia Juhua said carefully and Wang Caifeng listened attentively. No one noticed when Liu Baoguo appeared outside the kitchen barefoot.
"Mom, I'm tired." The child held onto the door frame and tried to step over the threshold with his short legs. The threshold that an adult could easily step over was a huge obstacle for a one-year-old child. He tried several times but couldn't step over it, so he spoke out to remind his mother.
Didn’t you say you were tired? Why are you asking you to do the work again?
He frightened Xia Juhua so much that she dropped the spatula in her hand into the pot. She hurriedly picked it out and burned her hand: "Didn't you say the child was asleep? Why did you get out of bed by yourself?" I hope he didn't fall.
Liu Zhishuang, an idle man, picked up Liu Baoguo and wiped the dirt off his feet with his hands, saying, "You little brat, you woke up, why don't you go and say hello to your mother instead of running out on your own."
Wang Caifeng was even more annoyed. She stepped forward to take Liu Baoguo, but was sent back to the house by Xia Juhua to coax the children, leaving Liu Zhiquan and his brother to fry peanuts with her.
Thinking of the processing fee of 1.5 cents per pound, Xia Juhua cooked three pots in a row before stopping. Liu Zhishuang couldn't help but grab a few peanuts and put them in his mouth to taste them. He gave his mother a thumbs up and said, "Mom, if I sell these peanuts myself, I have to sell them for one yuan per pound."
Liu Zhiquan didn't take any himself, but Xia Juhua grabbed a few for him. After he finished chewing, he said, "Everyone knows that Mom fried peanuts for the supply and marketing cooperative. If Mom sells them, people will think that Mom kept the peanuts from the supply and marketing cooperative. If the Red Team hears about it, will they let Mom go?"
Oh, Xia Juhua has to look at her eldest son with new eyes. She has always thought that her eldest son is not as smart as her younger son, but she didn't expect that he can see things much better than Liu Zhishuang who only sees the present.
"That's the reason." Xia Juhua glanced at Liu Zhishuang and said, "It's the same reason why I didn't let you go to the commune to exchange food that day. Now that I'm the production team leader, I have to pay more attention to many things."
Liu Zhiquan's face lit up, he looked at Liu Zhishuang proudly and asked, "Mom, shall we continue cooking?"
What are you cooking? Why don't you check the time? Xia Juhua suddenly remembered that she was so tired that she fell asleep when she came back in the afternoon. She didn't even plan to go to the dregs and bran tomorrow. She had to get up early tomorrow to plan it.
Alas, Xia Juhua couldn't let go of either the production team's work or the peanut roasting. She felt the burden was very heavy.
No matter how heavy the load is, if it is on your shoulders, and you carried it on your shoulders by yourself, how can you put it down? In her last life, Xia Juhua never put down her load, and even if it is heavy in this life, she will not put it down.
The next day, she got up early, washed up, and went to knock on the door of Fifth Master's house. Thanks to Fifth Master's age, she felt less, otherwise Xia Juhua would have felt guilty. Fifth Master was happy to hear that he could go to buy dregs and bran. He didn't think Xia Juhua came too early at all. He shouted towards Liu Daxi's house and called him over.
"Grandpa, why are you calling me so early in the morning?" Liu Daxi was really sleepy. Hearing the Fifth Master's call, he dared not delay, and spoke with some resentment. After he finished speaking, he saw Xia Juhua in the yard, rubbed his hands and asked, "Is it my sister-in-law who is here? What do you want to talk to me about?"
"Good thing!" The fifth master ignored Liu Daxi's resentment: "That bastard Erzhuang has been lying down for the past two days. Your sister-in-law needs someone to help you. Call your brothers, and you will do whatever your sister-in-law asks. What are you doing?”
With just one sentence, all the men from the three neighboring courtyards were gathered together. Xia Juhua once again admired the prosperity of the Fifth Master's family.
Those who were of the Sun family did not come out. The people in front of Xia Juhua were all of Liu Daxi's generation, thirteen in total. They all looked confused and listened to Liu Daxi conveying the Fifth Master's orders to them in confusion.
Regardless of whether they understood or not, whether they were willing or not, none of the Fifth Master's grandchildren said no, so Xia Juhua asked them to get ready and went to find Chen Qiu Sheng. Chen Qiu Sheng was in charge of the production team's money, so he was destined to be busy all day.
"What?" Everyone in Chen Qiu Sheng's family was stunned: "Captain, you said that our production team should buy reed poles from other production teams and then keep weaving mats?" After saying that, he pinched Chen Qiu Sheng in disbelief, causing him to scream.
Chen Qiu Sheng rubbed his arm and asked uncertainly: "Can the county supply and marketing cooperative really accept 400 seats from us at one time? And we have to ask people to buy dregs and bran today?" How much will this cost?
Their female team leader can earn money but she is also very brave to spend it. Clearly, no one from the county supply and marketing cooperative has come yet, so how dare she collect reed stalks from other production teams?
Xia Juhua nodded affirmatively: "Director Lin will not deceive us. You can calculate at home how much we can afford to buy reed stems after spending money on dregs of rice and bran. The brigade wants us to pay in cash."
“美不死他們。”陳秋生家的一聽炸了：“他們交公糧的時候也沒直接拿現錢吧，憑啥幾根葦杆還想要現錢？”
本來夏菊花是找陳秋生說事兒，他媳婦一直在旁邊聽着就讓夏菊花有些犯嘀咕，現在聽她一嘴一嘴的插話，不由看了她一眼。
陳秋生家的一下子蔫了，陳秋生臉上也覺得挂不住：“閉嘴吧你。隊長跟我說話，你瞎插什麽嘴。我可告訴你，要是你這回再敢出去瞎叭叭，我就把你送回娘家去。”
“我這不是，就是覺得隊裏錢不多，都給了別人……”陳秋生家的在夏菊花越來直冷的目光下，說不下去了。
“秋生家的，”夏菊花把臉沉下來了：“不管隊裏有多少錢，不是你該知道的事兒。隊裏的錢怎麽用，也不是你該摻和的事兒。你要是把我今天跟秋生說的話傳出去，那我不光不敢讓你再編席，也不敢讓秋生再當這個會計了。”
陳秋生家的臉騰一下紅了，心裏比陳秋生前天晚上罵她還難受。她就是忍不住，見到隊長來了怎麽也不願意離開，希望能給隊長幫上點兒忙。
誰知道隊長這麽嫌棄她。
夏菊花看着陳秋生家的臉都快滴下血來，心裏終歸不落忍，語氣也輕緩了一點兒：“我知道你心裏向着生産隊，可你不是生産隊的幹部，也不了解生産隊下一步要做什麽，就非得插嘴。”
“這是秋生耳朵根子硬，換個耳朵根子軟的，不就順着你的想法走了？我還敢讓他當這個會計嗎？”
“隊長，我錯了，以後不管生産隊的啥事兒，我都不問了，秋生想告訴我我也不聽。只要你還讓我繼續編席就行。”陳秋生家的如蒙大赦，恨不得對天發誓。
本來還想罵她幾句的陳秋生：……
他知道自己媳婦一遇到隊長，就跟沒腦子似的，可沒想到沒腦子到了這種程度。
人家還不給陳秋生說話的時間，對夏菊花保證完後，飛快的回屋，還把門呯的一聲關上了。
陳秋生：……
夏菊花倒樂了：“你媳婦倒是個直性子。”
除了抓抓自己的頭發，陳秋生不知道自己還能做什麽。夏菊花是來跟他商量事兒的，不是看他尴尬的，正好對他說自己的安排：“隊裏只有一輛牛車，用來拉麥麸吧。糟就人挑，運肥的活先停停，把糟先挑回來。”
說起正事兒，陳秋生就不那麽尴尬了：“一個人最多挑百十斤，怎麽也得去二十個人，工分咋記？拉麥麸倒好說，可是五千斤麥麸再加上糟，是不是有點兒多？”
夏菊花搖頭，來年任務豬肯定要養，還得養夠份量，買這些她都覺得不夠呢。好在平安莊比別的生産隊先買出了一千斤，以後還需要的話，她可以自己單獨走走陳科長的門路，能再弄出來點兒。
明年一開春，就不能讓豬搶人的口糧。還有各家的雞呢？那可是各家的小銀行，如果雞都不下蛋，好些人家想掙個零花錢都沒門路了。
突然，她心裏一動，問陳秋生：“你說咱們要是讓婦女們自己收點兒葦杆，編出來的席跟生産隊的一起交到供銷社，行不行？”
陳秋生眼睛瞪圓了。這個隊長膽子也太大了，他連連擺手：“隊長，這可不敢幹。你忘了你婆婆舉報你的事兒了？”
夏菊花點頭說：“我沒忘。不過這次和上回不一樣。這次是供銷社出面，替咱們跟各生産隊定的葦杆，為的是完成縣供銷社的任務。咱們生産隊的錢不夠，社員們覺悟高，主動替生産隊承擔葦杆錢，有啥不行的？”
道理還能這麽講？陳秋生明明知道夏菊花說的是歪理，可一時想不出反駁的話，只能查漏補缺的問：“那個人買的葦杆編出來的席，咋記工分呢？要是耽誤了生産隊編席任務怎麽辦？”
唉，夏菊花心裏嘆了一口氣，陳秋生同志還是沒意識到，為了多掙點兒錢，人的潛力是有無限可能的：“生産隊已經給編席的人都定下了任務，只要按時間完成生産隊的任務，檢查後質量沒有問題，那麽就給人記工分。”
“至于社員自己用替生産隊買下的葦杆，利用自己休息時間編出來的席，只是讓生産隊代捎着上交一下，生産隊也不是不能幫忙。要是真有人敢為了自己編席耽誤了生産隊的任務，那就不記工分也不代賣不就行了。”
陳秋生這才想到，不管是席的銷路還是新花樣，都掌握在自己對面的夏菊花手裏，所以她不怕有人為了多掙錢，只編自家的席而不到場院上工，耽誤生産隊給供銷社交任務。
夏菊花出了陳秋生家的門，才發現自己又多了一件事兒，那就是得找到李常旺家的，讓她悄悄把自己剛才的想法，說給每一個編席的婦女。
別看她當着陳秋生說的輕松，心裏卻知道這事兒還是不能讓平安莊外的人知道，所以交待李常旺家的時候，她的神情是嚴肅的，語氣是冷硬的：
“我這是為了讓大家多掙兩個過年錢，才想出來的辦法，要是讓外頭人知道了，我被紅小隊抓進學習班，供銷社也不敢收平安莊的席。你們買葦杆的錢白出，編席子的工夫也都白費了。”
“問問她們，是一時嘴上痛快了好，還是悄悄掙點兒錢給孩子做件衣裳劃算。”
她都這麽說了，李常旺家的對婦女們說的只有更狠。等夏菊花帶人拉着第一車麥麸回到平安莊的時候，李常旺家的聽到信就跑到糧倉來找她：
“隊長，我跟她們都說了，沒背着一個人，是大家一起說一起聽的。人人都起了誓，誰要是說出去，自己馬上跟男人離婚，兒子娶不上媳婦打光棍，閨女嫁不出去，嫁出去的也讓人送回娘家。”
除了給李常旺家的一個震驚的眼神，夏菊花做不出別的表情。
太狠了，這時候的農村婦女，在意的男人、孩子都被李常旺家的誓言給圈進去了，誰敢說出去？
既然沒了被舉報的後顧之憂，平安莊收葦杆的事情，也在各生産隊拉完糟和麥麸之後展開了。其他生産隊争先恐後的往平安莊送葦杆，還為誰先送來的起了口角，生怕平安莊收了別的生産隊的，到自己生産隊時拿不出錢來。
等拿到葦杆錢，各生産隊隊長湊到一起，議論的就是平安莊編席掙了多少錢，各生産隊賣的葦杆錢加到一起，足足上千塊！
現在哪個生産隊剛分完紅，能拿出上千塊錢呀！
“算個屁算，”李大牛把煙屁股狠狠扔到地上，還用腳撚了又撚：“再算平安莊也不會分給咱們一分，還是想想來年咱們怎麽掙點兒錢吧。要不等年底分紅，就該有人想把戶口遷到平安莊來了。”
都知道李大牛說的就是氣話，可是生産隊長們無不感覺到了危機：社員一年到頭盼的就是分紅，農村又是親戚套親戚的關系，哪個生産隊工分高哪個生産隊工分低，不出半天全大隊都能知道。
要是真被平安莊落得太多，自己還不得被人笑話不如個娘們？
“誰讓咱們生産隊沒個夏小夥呢！”三隊隊長重重的往地上吐了一口吐沫：“平安莊的人是不是吃錯了藥，咋就選夏小夥當生産隊長了呢。”
原來劉二壯當生産隊長多好，各生産隊的公分差不上二分錢，誰也不比誰矮多少。
“要不是人家夏小夥，咱們能拉來那麽多糟和麥麸？”二隊隊長是忠厚人，再眼紅平安莊的紅火，也替夏菊花說了句公道話。
做人不能忘本，剛得了人的好處就說人閑話，算什麽男人？有本事，多想點兒讓生産隊掙錢的路子，比幾個大老爺們一起光知道抽煙強多了。
李長順早把這幾個生産隊長說的話聽到耳朵裏了，等二隊隊長說完了才出聲：“幾個慫貨，人家生産隊能編席，你們就不能搓繩，不能紮掃帚，哪樣交到供銷社不來錢？”
幾個生産隊長一咧嘴，誰也不敢反駁李長順的話。李長順更覺得他們連點兒囊氣都沒有，背着手一瘸一拐的走了。剩下的人覺得沒意思，帶着各自送葦杆的人也離開了平安莊。
李大牛路過葦牆的時候看了眼，心裏仍然納悶，平安莊的婦女們都不怕冷嗎，大冬天的在家裏生個火盆烤火多好，非得湊到一起編席。
還都在笑，還都笑得挺歡，他在葦牆外頭聽的真真的。
平安莊的婦女們當然要笑，每個人的笑都發自內心：她們不光白天能掙工分，晚上還能在家裏編席。晚上編出來的席，賣出的錢都是自己的，出的那點兒葦杆錢雖然也心疼，可跟一張席兩塊五毛錢比起來，就不算啥了。
兩塊五毛錢，大人做件新衣裳都夠了。
Besides, it was not only them who earned work points, the men were busy all winter and earned work points every day. Even when the fertilizer transporting work was almost finished and the canal was about to be repaired and they would soon have some free time, Xia Juhua found new work for the men.
Originally, women thought that men could have two days off, and they were tired after a year, so they could have two days off. But the captain could come up with a way for men to make money, so why should they take a break? Are grown men afraid of being tired when they make money?!
You said that Captain Xia made more money from frying peanuts every night than the whole family combined? If Captain Xia hadn't fried peanuts in the beginning, would the supply and marketing cooperative have raised the price of new mats from 2 yuan a piece to 2.5 yuan a piece? Would the production team have been able to buy so much bran and dregs?
Speaking of braised pork, the people in Ping'an Village heard that the pigs of the production team have been eating the braised pork bought by the team leader these days, and their hair has become much smoother. By the end of the year, maybe each person can get an extra 2 taels of meat.