Chapter 56
Xia Juhua also heard the last rumor, and could only smile. She had no answer to this question - the pig that Sun had raised was sent to the pig pen of the production team too late. Even if Chen Lusheng gave the pig a small stove every day, it would not grow a few pounds of meat in a short period of time.
Now it seems that the pig does not meet the standards of a task pig at all, so it can only remain in the production team and be slaughtered to distribute the meat to the members.
The members who were expecting more meat would surely be disappointed, but Xia Juhua could not turn into a fat pig for them.
Xia Juhua is more open-minded this life than in the last. She doesn't dwell on trivial matters and lets go of them if possible. So she thought about the pig incident and let it go. Before the time came to hand in the task of Zhu He Xi, she went to Chen Qiusheng and told him that she wanted to take a day off.
The production team was about to kill pigs, so it was time for the noodle factory to distribute benefits. Xia Juhua wanted to build a good relationship with the noodle factory, and of course, if she could deliver the goods earlier, she would do so. She had to quickly fry the peanuts from the noodle factory.
Because they had to fry peanuts, and Wang Caifeng was going to give birth after the Chinese New Year, and there was also work to do at the production team stall, Xia Juhua's family did not buy reed stalks. This action was praised by the women again, and everyone felt that she did not want to take away everyone's way to make money, otherwise no one in the production team could weave mats better than her.
Being praised is better than being stabbed in the back. Xia Juhua selectively accepted some of the compliments, but decisively asked Chen Qiusheng for leave. Chen Qiusheng probably took over Xia Juhua's lifetime mission of smiling bitterly: "Captain, are you kidding me? If you have something to do, just go there. Why are you asking me for leave?"
Do you know that you are the production team leader of Ping An Village and only others can ask you for leave?
Xia Juhua said with certainty: "It's true that I am the team leader, but it's also true that I can't go to work tomorrow. If I don't ask for leave, don't you have to give me work points?" Xia Juhua never thought of taking advantage of the ten work points.
Chen Qiusheng was also convinced: "You said you can't go to work, but others came to your house to learn how to leak powder, and the production team didn't give you and Zhiquan two work points, so how do you calculate it?"
Yes, even though Xia Juhua was busy frying peanuts, she did not forget her big bowl of precious sweet potato paste. She even dried the sweet potato powder on the kang and instructed the two brothers Liu Zhiquan to make the sweet potato powder.
In the northern plains, where sweet potatoes and potatoes are abundant, some people have used rice flour to make rice noodle skins. However, these are all skills passed down from family to family, and only the family members are taught. Outsiders cannot find a way to learn.
Xia Juhua was different. After she herself exposed her powder, she told the people in Ping'an Village the good news and said that any man who wanted to learn could come to her house and learn from the two Liu Zhiquan brothers.
Who hasn't been given a few hundred kilograms of sweet potatoes in the fall? So after repairing the canal and transporting the fertilizer, the men in Ping'an Village followed the Liu Zhiquan brothers to learn how to make flour.
Why do men learn it?
Haven't you seen that the captain's family is full of men leaking powder! This shows that this powder must be leaked by men!
Not to mention, compared to women, men are stronger and can persist longer than women in shredding sweet potatoes, pouring sweet potato pulp, drying sweet potato flour, or straining the flour in a pot.
Anyway, when everyone in Ping An Village tasted their first pot of noodles, they all felt that noodles were meant to be made by men, otherwise it would not taste good.
As for the custom that men cannot enter the kitchen? Has Ping An Village ever had such a custom? Even the captain's family doesn't have this saying. Are you more capable than the captain? Then why don't you call yourself Xia Xiaohuo!
It can be said that once the powder leakage technology came out, Xia Juhua's status in the hearts of the men in Ping'an Village became the same as her status in the hearts of the women. Even if Chen Qiu Sheng had ten times the courage, he never thought that there would be a day when he would not give her work points.
"Captain, please don't make things difficult for me. If people find out that I deducted your work points, they won't dare to throw shit at our doorstep in the middle of the night." Chen Qiu Sheng almost bowed to Xia Juhua, hoping that she would not ask for leave again.
Xia Juhua was never one to take advantage of others. She thought about it and said, "Why don't you go and ask the seven families who owe you money whether they want to keep the sweet potatoes and eat them as before, or to mince some of the sweet potatoes. If they want to mince some of the sweet potatoes, I'll let Zhiquan and Zhishuang go and help them, and use it as my work points."
Helping to pay off the accounts is like helping the production team, so that should be enough.
Chen Qiusheng also thought it was a solution. As long as he was not allowed to deduct Xia Juhua's work points, he would do anything. After he asked around, he found that among the seven families, only Zhao Tiedan's family was willing to give up the powder.
The other six families disagreed for the same reason - compared to sweet potato noodles, steamed sweet potatoes are more filling and save food. But Zhao Tiedan's family agreed because sweet potato noodles tasted better than sweet potatoes.
As for wasting food, is that in the dictionary of Zhao Tiedanye and the other three? You said that making sweet potatoes into flour will lead to insufficient food at home and that people will go hungry in the future? That doesn't exist. Aren't there still production teams, brigades and communes? If you dare to let the members starve to death, then it is still a collective?
Xia Juhua was speechless when she heard this. She finally understood why Zhao Tiedan's family, which had three strong laborers, still lived in debt. But their lives were theirs, and Xia Juhua couldn't force them to do otherwise.
Forced? Xia Juhua asked Chen Qiusheng: "Isn't it time for the eldest son of Zhao Tiedan's family to get married?" She remembered that Zhao Dagou was almost 25 years old this year.
Chen Qiu Sheng didn't want to mention the three masters of the Zhao family: "Who would dare to marry a daughter to a family like that?" Even if one doesn't expect the married daughter to support her parents' family, one can't let the daughter go hungry half of the year.
"But their family is living like this, it's too unplanned. If there is a woman in charge, maybe it will be better?" Xia Juhua asked again: "Do they want to get married?"
"Which man doesn't want to get married?" Chen Qiu Sheng felt that the captain was too busy these past two days and actually asked such a question.
If you want to get married, that's easy. Xia Juhua whispered a few words to Chen Qiu Sheng, and Chen Qiu Sheng's eyes gradually became round: "Is it possible?"
Who knows if it will work? Xia Juhua thinks she has to give it a try. If she knew that she would run into big trouble, she would never put the idea into practice.
Xia Juhua has lived a lifetime, and now the environment around her has changed a lot compared to her previous life, which has gradually changed her cautious mentality. In her previous life, she was cautious all her life, but she got less and less. There are many things in this life that she would never touch in her previous life, but she has done them all. So Xia Juhua thinks that you have to try everything before you know whether it can succeed.
So Zhao Tiedan's eldest son Zhao Dagou (just by listening to this name, you can tell how perfunctory Zhao Tiedan was to his son) suddenly followed Liu Zhiquan and his brother and started to show off powder to the people of Ping'an Village. The people of Ping'an Village were a little surprised at first, but when they heard that Zhao Dagou helped others and the production team gave him three work points a day, no one said anything.
Now, except for the ignorant children and the immobile elderly, everyone in Ping'an Village is busy - relatives heard that they have learned the skill of leaking noodles, and they all want them to help leak some, so that they can have an additional dish during the New Year.
Xia Juhua taught people how to leak the flour in order to store as much sweet potatoes as possible. She welcomed people from other production teams to ask Ping An Zhuang to leak the flour from the beginning to the end - she couldn't interfere in other production teams' affairs, but if relatives helped each other, other production team leaders couldn't stop it.
Therefore, the skill of Pinganzhuang people in leaking rice flour is not like the new tricks of weaving mats, and cannot be taught to others. However, the members of other production teams are not as hardworking as the members of Pinganzhuang. They finish the canal repair and winter farm work early, but they still need to work every day, otherwise they will not get work points.
Therefore, not many people came to learn the craft, and many people asked relatives to help them carry sweet potatoes. Zhao Dagou was young and strong, and he was very enthusiastic in helping any family, which was very different from his previous sly behavior. Even if the production team gave him three days of work, the members could still accept it.
The members could accept it, but it didn't mean that the production team had to keep giving work points to Zhao Dagou. Everyone soon discovered that Chen Qiusheng seemed to know how much flour each family needed to sift. After Ping Anzhuang had sifted all the sweet potatoes it had allocated, they would ask Zhao Dagou for help, and the production team would stop giving them work points.
How can this be? People didn't dare to confront Xia Juhua, but they dared to confront Chen Qiusheng, saying that he was unfair as an accountant and favored some over others. Why did the production team give work points to Zhao Dagou when he helped other families, but not when it was their turn?
Chen Qiusheng, who was partial to one and not the other, was angry. Bullying, wasn't it? This idea wasn't his, so why did he go after him and not the captain? He shouted at the person he was looking for:
"Don't you know how many sweet potatoes your family got? It's unprecedented that Zhao Dagou can help his own production team. The production team gave him work points to promote his enthusiasm, but you are doing a favor for your relatives and you still want the production team to give you work points?"
The members were stunned by Chen Qiu Sheng's shouting, and they went home in a dusty state one by one - they had to leave, as Chen Qiu Sheng was in a very important position now. The team leader was busy making mats with the women and following the people at the grain station to mobilize the members to hand in surplus grain. He had no time to take care of the work points, as they were all in Chen Qiu Sheng's hands.
Zhao Tiedan refused to leave: "Brother Chen, the production team really won't give me work points anymore, so what should I do?"
Chen Qiusheng thought to himself, "Why should I care what you do?" But he had to complete the task that Xia Juhua had given him: "Have you finished leaking your own powder?"
Zhao Tiedan shook his head: "I'm done leaking. Brother Chen, didn't you say that if I leak powder to everyone well, I can get married? Now the production team doesn't give me work points, and people don't ask me to leak powder anymore. My wife..."
陳秋生四下裏看看，見街上沒有什麽人走動，叫過趙鐵蛋來小聲跟他說：“你傻呀，生産隊一天給你記幾個工？”
“三個。”趙鐵蛋想不明白陳秋生自己就是記工分的，怎麽還問這個。
陳秋生捏着鼻子把話說清楚：“三個工分值多少錢會算不？你悄悄問問剛才走的那幾個人，誰家忙不過來，用不用你給幫忙。要是用你幫忙的話，你不用要三個工分的錢，給兩毛你就幹。沒現錢的，給你兩毛錢的糧食也行。你想想？”
趙鐵蛋有點兒想不明白：“公社不是不讓搞剝削嗎？”過去長工才給地主幹活呢，宣傳隊都說了，那是剝削。
陳秋生快煩死趙鐵蛋了，都顧不得別人會不會聽到，直着脖子吼：“換工，換工你懂不懂？你又不下地，跟能下地的人換工，咋就成了剝削？！”
趙鐵蛋在陳秋生吼頭一句的時候，就把頭低下了，等陳秋生走遠了，才擡起頭來嘟嚷一句：“說的好聽，還不是讓我給別人扛活。”
說是這麽說，他還是走向一戶剛才追着陳秋生問的人家——以前他爹不下地，也不催着他們兄弟兩個下地，沒嘗過掙工分的滋味，趙鐵蛋自己也覺得天天混救濟沒啥。
可是幫別人漏粉後，天天知道自己掙的工分又增加了幾個，想着掙多少工分能娶上媳婦，趙鐵蛋就迷上了每天問陳秋生自己已經掙了多少工分的感覺。
就象媳婦站在前頭等着他，用白白嫩嫩的小手向他打招呼一樣一樣的。
夏菊花現在顧不上趙鐵蛋能不能問出結果來，她正一臉嚴肅的聽着糧站的同志批評平安莊的工作落後：“夏隊長，整個平安莊的竟然只收上來三百多斤餘糧，別說紅星公社，在平安莊大隊都排到了最後。”
“你是不是對糧站收餘糧有意見，沒有好好的動員社員？”糧站的人一拍桌子，把想着該交哪頭豬的夏菊花吓的一激靈。
“同志，你是不是誤會了。我們生産隊聽到大隊的通知之後，就給社員開過會了，讓他們有餘糧的趕緊主動交到糧站去。我們自己家不是也交了六十斤高粱嗎？”夏菊花可不擔拖後腿的罪名，連聲反駁着糧站人的話。
跟過來的大隊民兵隊長劉力群，也替夏菊花解釋：“夏隊長剛當生産隊長沒多長時間，也起到了帶頭做用。平安莊的社員自己不交餘糧，夏隊長也沒辦法不是。”
糧站的人知道自己沒理由責怪夏菊花，可是收餘糧的工作是按大隊分片的，平安莊生産隊交的少，帶得整個平安莊大隊的收購任務完成的都是倒數，回糧站之後他這個收糧的人臉上沒光。
所以哪怕劉力群出面說和，糧站的人還是一臉陰沉的放出了狠話：“夏隊長，咱們糧站和生産隊，一直是相互幫助的關系。你剛當生産隊長不知道，問問別的生産隊幹部，每年我們糧站的公糧款，都是怎麽撥的。”
不用問，夏菊花心裏門清。她聽完後咬着牙，臉一點一點變白，似乎真受不了糧站人威脅一樣吓的不輕。劉力群剛想說話，就見夏菊花站了起來。
“許同志，劉隊長，你們跟我來。”夏菊花的聲音很輕，仿佛風一吹就能吹到天邊去。她的身體在抖，仿佛雙腿不足以支撐身體。
劉力群有些不明所以的站起來，勸她：“夏隊長，許同志也是為了完成任務，不是想難為你。”
為了完成任務的許同志臉色更不好看，嘴角帶着譏諷：“劉隊長你可別這麽說，我這個人為了完成任務，也不是不能難為人。”
這句話又吓得夏菊花身子一哆嗦，回頭看了許同志一眼，連聲都不敢吭，自己腳下跟踩着棉花一樣出了門。劉力群沒法再勸，讓許同志先走，自己跟在最後頭。
就見夏菊花已經在開生産隊的糧倉，劉力群急了：“夏菊花，那可是生産隊的儲備糧！”夏菊花是吓糊塗了吧，難道她想把儲備糧當成餘糧交上去？
那就不是進學習班的事兒，而是進公安局！
夏菊花堆出一個笑來，還是什麽也沒說，直接把糧倉打開，向許同志招了招手，讓他自己進去看。
許同志竟真的探頭往裏面瞧了一眼，眼睛卻吃驚的瞪圓了：“你們生産隊的糧倉，咋就堆着點兒麥麸？！”
劉力群吓的扒拉開許同志，自己進了糧倉，直到在麥麸堆後頭看到了兩個糧食囤，才松了半口氣。他用手推了推糧食囤，推不動，一口氣全都松了下來。
夏菊花和許同志也進了糧倉，聲音還是不高：“許同志，你看到了吧，除了那兩個糧食囤裏是糧食外，我們生産隊的糧倉裏，只剩下這些麥麸了。”
“這些麥麸，還是我們大隊長出面聯系，我們各個生産隊才買到的。這可是整個平安莊生産隊的糧倉，儲備糧只有五千斤。可是平安莊生産隊，連大帶小的是五百七十七口人！”
夏菊花看了還處在震驚中的許同志一眼：“五百多快六百口人，五千斤糧食能頂幾天，許同志也知道吧？這是儲備糧，我們生産隊交完公糧之後，按國家要求必須留出來的。”
“去了公糧，留出儲備糧，許同志你算算一口人能分多少糧食，裏頭能有多少是主糧？”糧站就算是收雜糧，那也得是紅綠豆芝麻之類，紅薯什麽的是不收的。
許同志現在才找到自己的聲音：“那你們買這麽些麥麸？”
夏菊花臉上稍微緩回了點血色：“讓社員安心。”除此再無別話。許同志卻聽懂了，因為去糧站抗糧食包的，正是平安莊的社員。
“那個，夏隊長，我這個人是個急脾氣，你看剛才……”良久，許同志終于憋出這麽兩句話來。
夏菊花輕輕搖了搖頭說：“許同志也是為了工作，跟我買這些麥麸是一樣的。将來回糧站，還得讓許同志為難，是平安莊對不起許同志。”
許同志看着堆了多半個糧倉的麥麸，說不出話來。夏菊花也沒想着聽他再說什麽，幾個人沉默的出了糧倉，直到夏菊花把門鎖上，也沒人再開口。
當天晚上，許同志就帶着收上來的糧食，由平安莊的牛車送回了糧站，以後再也沒出現。
夏菊花從他來平安莊後一直吊着的心，終于放進了肚子裏：上輩子平安莊的人聽說糧站高價收餘糧，跟其他生産隊一樣，賣了不少，才導致第二年天災時好些人家吃了上頓沒下頓。
這回好了，整個平安莊才賣了三百多斤餘糧，大家手裏的糧食，總能多撐一陣子。還有漏出來的粉條，放點油鹽辣子，又能撐一陣。
全村人都不用怎麽挨餓，就能把天災度過去了吧。夏菊花是這麽憧憬的。
日子不是靠憧憬就能過下去的，重活了一輩子的夏菊花，深刻明白這個道理。所以夏菊花對家裏對生産隊的事兒，一點兒也不敢放松。
直到挂面廠來人把炒好的花生拉走，留下一百五十塊錢的加工費，夏菊花才重新露出了笑臉：“彩鳳，這二十你自己拿着，過年做身新衣裳。”
劉志雙眼巴巴的看着夏菊花手裏的錢，恨不得從眼睛裏長出一只手來。那眼神太露骨，夏菊花想忽視都不行，只好又從裏頭抽出兩張五塊的：“你們哥兩一人五塊，誰讓你們沒有彩鳳幹的多呢。”
劉志雙一把攥住錢，塞進自己兜裏才問：“娘，我們天天晚上也沒閑着，生産隊都給趙大狗記工分，咋不給我哥我們兩個記呢？”
“咋地，嫌少？”夏菊花看了他一眼，吓的劉志雙連忙把自己的口袋捂緊了。那沒出息的樣兒，夏菊花都沒眼睛看：“你自己手裏不是還有六十塊錢呢嗎，又沒花銷，記那麽多工分做什麽？”
劉志雙心裏咯噔一下子，想不明白親娘怎麽這個時候提起那六十塊錢。要知道他這些天拼命幹活，拼命在親娘面前表現，就是為了讓親娘忘了他手裏應該有六十塊錢的事兒。
難道是誰在娘面前嚼舌頭了？劉志雙心虛的不敢跟夏菊花對視，選擇低頭裝死。見他到現在還不跟自己說實話，夏菊花心裏真的冷笑了：
想娶孫紅梅的時候是這樣，被人把錢圈走了還是這樣，是不信自己這個當娘的，還是他的面子比錢還重要？真那麽要面子，還接自己的五塊錢做什麽，等着生産隊來年的分紅呀！
王彩鳳見夏菊花問完後劉志雙一直沒吭聲，善解人意的說：“娘，志雙這是想着多攢點兒錢，好相看人呢。”
夏菊花似笑非笑的說：“也是，再相看好了彩禮錢都得他自己出，現在想多攢點對着呢。不過咱們可說好了，家裏的活跟外頭的活兒一樣，誰幹的多就拿的多，別想着跟我說兩句好話把我的錢都糊弄過去。”
Liu Zhiquan and Liu Zhishuang, who still don’t know how much money their mother has, said: If your money is so easy to fool, why would you only give us five yuan each?
Wang Caifeng, who was very happy with the 20 yuan, could not understand the feelings of the two brothers. She smiled in agreement and said, "Mom is the most fair. She sees who works harder and who doesn't."