Chapter 67
"Chang Wang's, no, Zhao Xianzhi, since it was the captain who added more dishes to Fifth Master, you have to give Fifth Master more food." Hearing that it was Xia Juhua who specially added more dishes to Fifth Master, the people in the queue turned back embarrassedly and wanted to find Fifth Master, wanting him to get his dishes first.
Zhao Xianzhi's loud voice was not happy: "Why do you still need to worry about this matter? I have already reserved some for the Fifth Master. You are all eating scrambled eggs because of the Fifth Master. Don't say that I reserved too much for the Fifth Master later."
"Don't tell me, don't tell me."
"It should all be kept for Master Wu, and we can just try it out."
"You took half a bowl, did you take it to taste it? If you just wanted to smell it, then quickly return the scrambled eggs to Li Changwang's family and Zhao Xianzhi."
…
Laughter and clashing sounds could be heard from the front of each pot, which sounded a bit noisy but made people feel very relieved. As a result, everyone who had received their dishes did not want to leave, and they were willing to listen to others arguing or to find someone to argue with, even if they were not afraid of the dishes getting cold.
"This pot of cabbage and bone soup was prepared by Daxi and his grandchildren's wives for Fifth Master, wishing him a long life." Not to be outdone, Chang Xiancao knocked on the edge of the pot and told the person who received the dish the origin of the dish.
In fact, the bones belonged to the production team, and the cabbage was brought by Liu Daxi's wife Chang Guihua and her sisters-in-law. Chang Xiancao and Chang Guihua were both from Changjiazhuang and married to Pinganzhuang, so of course they had to speak for him, and also to prevent Zhao Xianzhi from being the only one to take the spotlight.
People envied the Fifth Master for his good fortune. Not only were his sons and daughters-in-law filial, but even his grandsons and daughters-in-law were all filial. The Fifth Master's face lit up when he heard this: "They are good children, all of them are good children." He turned around and asked Chang Guihua: "Does your mother have any cakes at home? If so, bring them over so that we can eat together."
Everyone kept pushing it away, saying that they had already made cakes at home. But Master Wu was really happy today. He was the man who usually wanted to squeeze every grain of food into sprouts, but he insisted that Chang Guihua go home immediately to get the cakes.
Xia Juhua winked at Liu Zhishuang and said to Fifth Master with a smile, "Fifth Master wants to have some fun with everyone. Tell me which of our families has posted a cookie and bring it over. Today, we won't go home and will stay here to celebrate Fifth Master's birthday together."
Liu Zhishuang had already moved the production team's table and the only chair out and placed them in front of Master Wu. Zhao Xianzhi brought over a large bowl of eggs that she had reserved for Master Wu, Chang Xiancao served cabbage and bone soup, and An Baoling served a bowl of pig stew, which contained not only the rotten pig head but also several pieces of blood intestines.
"Fifth Master, this is the dish we added for you. May you have happy days like this every year." Zhang Cuiping, on behalf of the Chen wives, brought a bowl of pig's trotters stewed with soybeans and placed it respectfully on the table in front of Fifth Master.
The corners of Fifth Master's mouth twitched twice, and his eyes began to turn red: "Okay, okay. I didn't expect that you would bother so much with my birthday. Thank you. I'm not greedy for this bite of food, I just hope that our Ping An Manor will be peaceful and smooth in the future. That would make me happier than giving me anything to eat."
Seeing that the old man was somewhat sentimental, Xia Juhua hurriedly stepped forward and said to Fifth Master: "Fifth Master, as long as you are happy, we in Ping An Village will celebrate your birthday together every year in the future. Come, let us wish Fifth Master good health and longevity together."
"I wish Master Wu good health and a long life." Everyone in Ping An Manor shouted out together. Their voices were filled with heartfelt blessings. They were blessing Master Wu, and He Chang was also blessing himself.
There was no wine, but the amount of pig dishes from Ping'an Village today was twice as much as in previous years. The meat was still the same pig head, offal and bones, but the side dishes were plentiful, and everyone was enjoying the meal.
Of course, Fifth Master would not be allowed to sit alone at the table. Uncle Dong, Seventh Grandma and six or seven other elderly people of the same generation and age as Fifth Master were supported by Xia Juhua and Chen Qiu Sheng to sit with Fifth Master. It was not clear whose family was getting the dishes, and how much could the elderly people eat?
Although there was no wine, Xia Juhua still felt a little tipsy, with a sense of unreality in her head: Even though she had experienced this for a lifetime, it was the first time that the whole village got together to eat a meal with very little seasoning and make it taste delicious.
Xia Juhua was not the only one who was tipsy. Liu Erzhuang held his bowl in one hand and a piece of cake from home in the other, squatted in front of Xia Juhua, and didn't say anything for a long time.
Li Daya looked at her man with some concern. She wanted to go forward but was stopped by An Baoling: "Sister-in-law, I think my brother has figured it out."
"With his stubborn temper, can he think clearly?" Li Daya showed her absolute distrust of Liu Erzhuang: "Sister-in-law is generous enough, and has not given him a cold look so far. If he dares to say something unpleasant to sister-in-law, you see, I will not be able to get along with him."
Xia Juhua was feeding Liu Baoguo who came over. She was a little surprised to see Liu Erzhuang squatting over, but she didn't show it. It wasn't like she was sorry for the Liu family, so she wouldn't take the initiative to talk to Liu Erzhuang.
"Sister-in-law," Liu Erzhuang looked at Liu Baoguo, who was eating with his mouth full of oil. It would be a lie to say that he was not jealous: "I made things difficult for you about what happened that day."
"We are all family, there is no need to say it is difficult. If I were to say, the one with the most difficult situation is not me, but Daya." Xia Juhua stopped there.
Liu Erzhuang turned around and saw Li Daya looking at him worriedly in the crowd. He felt even more guilty: "She has been worrying about me these days."
"Daya is sincere in wanting to live a good life with you, so you shouldn't bully her too much." Xia Juhua felt a little unfair for Li Daya, but after all, she had separated from the old family a long time ago, so there wasn't much she could say.
Liu Erzhuang took the initiative to talk to her today, which was beyond Xia Juhua's expectation. It was probably the limit of what Liu Erzhuang could do, so Xia Juhua took the opportunity to say a few words.
Except when dealing with the Sun family, Liu Erzhuang was a person who could distinguish good from bad. After talking to Xia Juhua, he felt as relieved as if he had moved a big stone, and even smiled and fed Liu Baoguo a piece of pork head.
Liu Baoguo chewed the meat that suddenly appeared in his mouth, looked at his grandmother in confusion, and said vaguely: "Meat."
Xia Juhua smiled and wiped the corners of his mouth: "Well, the meat that Second Master fed you is delicious, isn't it?"
Li Daya didn't feel relieved until Liu Erzhuang fed Liu Baoguo meat. She came over with her bowl and asked with a smile, "Sister-in-law, are you full? I still have some cakes here."
Knowing what she was worried about, Xia Juhua gave Li Daya a sincere smile and said, "It's almost time to eat. Don't just take care of the children, you have to eat too."
It was a simple sentence, but it made Liu Erzhuang look at the people squatting on the ground eating. Almost everyone was squatting together as a family. Women would occasionally pick out meat from their bowls and give it to their children or their men.
Just after reading it, Li Daya had already given a piece of meat to Liu Erzhuang, which made his eyes turn red: "Didn't sister-in-law tell you to eat it yourself?"
"I've almost finished eating too." Li Daya didn't notice the change in Liu Erzhuang's expression, and concentrated on picking meat from her own bowl for him. Liu Erzhuang looked at the four children who came with Li Daya uncomfortably, thought for a moment, and picked a piece of meat for Hongling and Hongcui respectively.
The two girls had never received such treatment before, and looked at Liu Erzhuang in disbelief, which made Liu Erzhuang even more uncomfortable: "You have worked hard these days to weave mats, so don't weave before the New Year."
The scene of a father picking meat for his daughter instead of picking it for his son occurred in several families. Xia Juhua was happy to see it, and the women gathered together to talk about the changes in their men.
Even though they felt horrified, they were still happy to see it happen, and they all felt that what Xia Juhua said was so true: girls only have a slightly easier life when they are at their parents' home, but once they become someone else's wife, they immediately have to take care of their own family, and even if there is meat in the bowl, they have to give it to the man and children.
So, shouldn't a father love his daughter more while the child is still at her parents' home?
The women who were thinking this way were most upset when they received Xia Juhua's notice in the evening and went to Liu's house to get the cloth. They suddenly realized that when they had calculated the cloth, they had more or less ignored the daughter-in-law and thought that the one who should have new clothes was the son.
They also said that men don't love their daughters, and as a mother, I don't love them that much either. So several people quietly asked Xia Juhua if they could buy more cloth so that they could make a jacket for the daughter for the New Year. During this period, it was not only Hongling and Hongcui who helped to weave the mats, but girls of the same age as them all helped to varying degrees.
Because Qi Weidong had taken away the fried peanuts when he delivered the cloth, and it was not known whether he would come again before the New Year, Xia Juhua did not dare to make any guarantees. She only said that if the people from the county supply and marketing cooperative came tomorrow, she would find a chance to ask for everyone.
Everyone knew that Xia Juhua always treated everyone's business as her own. When the women heard this answer, they were not disappointed, but rather looked forward to it. They were even thinking about what kind of fabrics they should buy to dress up their ladies.
Xia Juhua stood at the entrance of the village with the same expectation, waiting for the arrival of the supply and marketing cooperative leaders.
Liu Qixi looked at Xia Juhua who had been standing there since breakfast and advised her: "Sister-in-law, go home and wait first. Don't worry, I'll run to call you as soon as I see someone." It was so cold that the sister-in-law had to stand in the wind. If the grandfather knew about it, he would have to use his walking stick to support her.
"It's okay. Director Lin said he would bring a leader with him, so he will definitely come." Xia Juhua felt that the person coming was the leader of the county supply and marketing cooperative. Ping'anzhuang was reluctant to take out pork to entertain him, and all they could give was the sincerity of waiting a little longer.
好在又等了不到半個小時，路上終于出現了幾個騎自行車的身影，夏菊花激動的迎了上去，竟發現來人不是林主任和什麽供銷社領導，而是由夏隊長領頭的紅小隊。
“夏隊長，你知道我們要來？”紅小隊的夏隊長見夏菊花竟然站在村口，嘴角一歪帶着嘲諷問了一句。
夏菊花臉都快凍僵了，索性也不裝笑臉了：“夏隊長來了呀，是有誰又舉報我了嗎？”
一句話成功讓紅小隊隊長的臉陰了下來：“夏隊長，前天我才帶着人替你們家追回了一百一十塊錢，今天你就忘了？對了，我可讓你們民兵隊長帶話，讓你寫檢查呢，你寫完了？”
寫檢查？劉力群那天除了讓自己罵劉志雙之外，可沒提檢查的事兒。不過夏菊花是不會出賣劉力群的，努力讓自己的聲音平靜下來：“夏隊長，你知道我就是個農村婦女，字都不認識幾個，哪兒會寫什麽檢查。”
見夏隊長一直盯着自己，夏菊花以為他在等着自己道謝，不得不說：“夏隊長替我們家追回被卷走的錢，我心裏一直想着該怎麽感謝呢。想來想去，覺得還是應該寫一封表揚信給紅小隊的同志們，才能表達……”
上一次平安莊大了隊給供銷社送表揚信的事兒，整個公社都傳遍了，夏隊長也聽手下的人說過。當時他還是挺羨慕的，不是沒想過，要是紅小隊也收到那麽一封表揚信該多好。
自家人知道自家事兒，夏隊長對紅小隊在別人心裏的形象，心裏還是有數的，所以只敢在心裏想想，并不覺得有可能實現的一天。
現在夏菊花竟提出要給紅小隊送表揚信，說不動心是假的，可幾次跟夏菊花交鋒一直沒占到便宜的教訓，讓夏隊長懷疑夏菊花的動機：“你這是想拉攏腐蝕革命小将。再說我幫你們家追回錢來，也不是沖着你，用不着你寫表揚信。”
得，算自己沒說。夏菊花本就是順嘴一說，夏隊長不同意她幹脆閉嘴——紅小隊大張旗鼓的跑到平安莊來，有要緊的事兒自會說出他們的目的。
不說，不說就是沒要緊的事！
“夏隊長，我聽說你們平安莊一直在漏粉？”夏隊長見夏菊花竟然沒勸自己收下還沒影的表揚信，心裏又覺得憋屈了。他的原則一向是自己憋屈，別人也別想好過，直接不陰不陽的給夏菊花來了一句。
夏菊花心裏一緊，面上挺平淡的說：“對，正好趁着冬天地裏不忙，讓大家把紅薯漏成粉兒，免得開春了窖裏熱，把紅薯捂爛了可惜。”
“你們平安莊自己才分多少紅薯，怎麽快一個月了還沒漏完呢？”夏隊長緊逼不放。
夏菊花繼續擺事實：“夏隊長你一直關心革命群衆，還能不知道咱們農村都是親戚套着親戚。誰家親戚聽說有這種儲存紅薯的好辦法，扛着自家的紅薯找到平安莊，讓幫着漏點兒粉，社員們還能不幫忙？”
是，我們自己生産隊分的紅薯是漏完了，可也沒哪條規定說不能給親戚幫忙。貧下中農之間互相幫助，有錯嗎？
夏隊長的臉已經陰的不能看了：“那你們自己生産隊的生産任務，就不用完成了？”
“誰說的？”夏菊花突然嚴肅起來：“夏隊長，不管是誰又向你舉報我們平安莊，我都敢跟他對質。我們平安莊的生産任務，不說走在全公社前頭，可在平安莊大隊卻是最先完成的。”
“夏隊長，你咋等在這兒呢？”林主任遠遠就見平安莊村口站着人，連忙快蹬了幾下，發現竟是公社紅小隊的人跟夏菊花在說話，忙開口招呼一聲，要替夏菊花解圍。
跟夏菊花打完招呼，象是才發現紅小隊隊長一樣，林主任笑着點頭：“夏隊長你也在呀，是不是跟縣供銷社的領導們一樣，聽說平安莊社員們利用冬閑時間抓緊副業生産，來取經了？”
剛被夏菊花怼的無話可說的夏隊長，聽了林主任的話心跟吞了只蒼蠅一樣難受，卻知道林主任現在到縣供銷社工作，不是他一個公社的紅小隊隊長能輕易得罪的。
有心想再說幾句狠話吓唬一下夏菊花，跟林主任一起來的供銷社領導，已經騎着自行車過來了，見林主任停下，也都剎住車下來，等着林主任介紹。
林主任多面面俱到的人，先拉着夏菊花走到一個梳着背頭的中年人面前，笑着說：“夏隊長，來，介紹一下，這是縣供銷社鄭主任。鄭主任聽了我的彙報，對咱們平安莊生産隊的副業生産十分關心，一定要來實地考察一下。”
“歡迎你，鄭主任。”夏菊花學着上輩子電視裏頭的話，拘謹的跟鄭主任打了個招呼，多的話就說不出來了。
鄭主任臉白白淨淨的，看上去十分和藹的跟夏菊花打了個招呼，就跟林主任玩笑着說：“要是知道夏隊長一直等着我們，我們應該早點出發的，是不是呀林組長。”
有這一句玩笑，場面終于松快了一點兒。按理說夏菊花這時候就應該領着鄭主任一行回生産隊，帶着他們參觀一下編席的地方，再看看平安莊已經編好的席子，談一談下一步的收購價格。
可現場卻還有一群來意不明的紅小隊，夏菊花不知道該不該把他們也帶到生産隊去，只好看了夏隊長一眼。
夏隊長憋屈呀，自從當上紅小隊從來沒有的憋屈！如果是在運動初期，紅小隊的全盛時期，他管來人是公社供銷社的還是縣供銷社的，看不順眼先批/鬥了再說。
可現在紅小隊的全盛時期已過，紅小隊的經費都得由公社革委會下撥。而公社革委會除了正常經費，有一部分收入來源就是供銷社收購土産的差價，哪怕身為紅小隊隊長的夏隊長，也不得不向五鬥米折腰了。
認不清現狀會沒有經費，認清了現狀則是讓人無力的惱怒！
“我們也是聽說年前各生産隊有人偷雞摸狗，所以才各處轉一轉。既然平安莊沒出現這樣的事兒，那我們就不進村了。”想着經費，夏隊長不得不違心的給自己找了個蹩腳的借口。
夏菊花除了感謝紅小隊對平安莊生産隊的關心，還能說什麽？反正她就是一個不善言辭的農村婦女，感謝的幹幹巴巴，紅小隊應該也不會挑禮。
等紅小隊的人灰溜溜騎車走了，鄭主任才感嘆似的說：“夏隊長帶着社員搞副業，也不容易呀。”
都是明白人，不容易在哪兒，心裏都有數。
夏菊花想起婦女們的期盼，先鋪墊一下：“多謝鄭主任理解我們的難處。主要是秋天大家一火心的把葦杆割回來了，堆在那裏只能來年燒火，太浪費了。大家就想辦法多編點兒花樣，也好過年給孩子們做件新衣裳。”
說到這裏她有些不好意思的笑了一下：“就是咱們農民一年一人只有一尺布票，大家雖然掙了點兒錢，想買布也不容易。”
對于鄭主任這樣的老油條來說，夏菊花這點兒小小的鋪墊一眼就可以望到底兒，可他沒的揭穿，反而順着夏菊花的話說：“沒辦法，誰讓現在國家的生産力有限，大家只能一起克服一下。”
官腔，這絕對是官腔。夏菊花看了跟在一邊的林主任一眼，林主任默默推着自行車沒任何表示。
“鄭主任，要不咱們先到生産隊坐一會兒，喝點兒水暖和暖和？”夏菊花沒有跟當官的打交道的經驗，眼看着林主任提供不了幫助，企圖用自己的熱情感化鄭主任。
人家鄭主人是個踏實工作的領導，拒絕了夏菊花的邀請，非得要先去場院裏看看婦女們是怎麽編席的。
看就看吧，夏菊花跟婦女們打過招呼，讓大家今天都穿的幹淨一點兒，給縣裏的領導留一個好印象，所以并不怕鄭主任參觀。
沒等靠近葦牆，婦女們說笑的聲音就傳了過來，鄭主任笑着評價：“大家勞動熱情挺高嘛。”
那是，都知道你們今天可能來拉葦席，還會付現錢，熱情不高才怪呢。夏菊花上前推開葦牆上留的門，請鄭主任一行進去。
場面還是那個場面，不過地上散亂的葦杆特意收拾了一下，看上去顯得井井有條。鄭主任不時的點頭，慢慢踱着步子，一張一張看着婦女們手下正在成形的葦席。就見場院裏的婦女們一個個手指翻飛，看上去讓人眼花缭亂。
“同志，你幾天能編一張席呀？”鄭主任走近李招弟，生怕吓着她一樣，小聲而緩慢的問了一句。
大家早就發現隊長帶着人進來了，都想擡頭看看來的是什麽人，城裏人跟農村人哪兒不一樣。又都記得夏菊花的囑咐，強忍着編手上的席，只用餘光看着幾雙鞋在自己面前走來走去。
Li Zhaodi was staring at the leather shoes like everyone else, but she didn't expect that a pair of black leather shoes would stop in front of her and ask her a question in a low voice. What did he ask and how should she answer?
Li Zhaodi felt her mind go blank. She raised her eyes to look at the person who asked the question, then immediately looked at Xia Juhua for help.
After hearing Director Zheng's question, Xia Juhua became very nervous. She had told Director Lin that it would take three days to weave a mat. Director Lin must have reported this to Director Zheng, so he asked such a question out of the blue.
If Li Zhaodi said something different from what I said, I would probably reconsider the prices of all the reed mats, right?
Director Zheng was standing aside waiting for an answer. Now was not a good time to remind Li Zhaodi. Xia Juhua cleared her throat nervously and smiled at Li Zhaodi soothingly: "Director Zheng is asking you how many days it will take to weave a mat."